46

Chapter Forty Six

G O O D B Y E S : A WALK IN REMEMBRANCE OF GROWTH PT 1

"So you're really not going to use buffers in the city?"

"That's right."

"But why?"

The man sounded desperate. He did have a new kid on the way or something.

"How many is it now?"

"Five."

Osiris had to double take.

"Five?! I thought it was ten."

"We were only at war for three years. I only had two before."

Osiris squinted at him.

Straight bastard.

"Don't make me repeat myself."

Haldir appreciated the warning.

"Apologies."

"Just get them out of town before I arrive."

"Are you not using the portals?"

Osiris gave it a wary eye. Everyone was happily lined up to return home, despite his over bearing aura.

"I'm thinking more along the lines of walking back. I want to take my time. I'm in no rush to return to that hell infestation. Tell Boshop if there are any of his pests in my castle I will kill him."

"C-copy."

Osiris took a step back and created a hand microphone and faced his victims.

"And don't forget to greet me when I arrive 'home', capish?"

All their jaws clenched but as one they responded.

"Ca-peach."

".."

He'll take it.

"Ready men!"

Everyone stood at attention.

"MARCH!"

Their journey home commenced as everyone began to walk through the portal one by one.

He sighed lovingly at the blind obedience.

He was but a god amongst mortals.

Haldir looked pleased at the news and waved before dashing to the front of the line. He's become spoiled since his kingly privileges.

Osiris stretched.

Reaching the eighth ring brought him up into a different playing bracket. S Rank. He could feel for hundreds of miles who was where and how strong they were. Occasionally he'll brush against another big boy and usually they just pass on by.

The bracket was mind shattering.

What made it even funnier was he could feel something beyond that. He rubbed his chest. The other funny thing was, he could feel the possibility of breaking even further.

Osiris pulled himself back to the present.

His entire team was officially A Grade, excluding Goss. He found that feeding her what he ate made her coming of age jump straight into a golden goblin. Even if she can't teleport anyone else, she can. She can move around a room however she wants, however many times she wants.

He's taught her everything he knows and even conned her into a fifty fifty split deal for any of her future endeavors. He'll supply her with the funds she needs at the start and any future success will be split with him.

It took nearly the entire time to convince her to let him take whatever he wanted whenever he wanted it.

".."

She still got attached to things sometimes. It's the hazard of working with goblins. He turned to his sooks who were napping by a tree. He kicked a rock at them.

"So you three aren't going?"

"I thought we were your 'personal knights' now?"

Sunnie yawned.

"You three can survive without me, you know?"

"But can you survive without us?"

Osiris walked over to his bag.

Another blessing he was learning about was artifacts. They make portable inventories as well as fucking credit cards. Or something close to one. Shops tap the card on a little glowing stone and the exact change is summoned for them to take.

Osiris now banks with a guild, no attachments needed, he even grabbed a guild membership. He left the guild business to Goss to run so she couldn't join like the rest of them. She was very mad at him for that.

Goss jumped into his arms crying.

"You promise to join my guild when it's done."

"I promise."

He kissed her forehead. This was their goodbye. She was an adult now. It was time she made her own path. He's done all he could for her.

"And I promise to visit sometimes."

"You don't have to if you don't want to. Just tell me where you settle and I can visit too, you know."

"Promise?"

Osiris rolled his eyes as everyone started crying. They would see each other again. He was sure of it. If not, pray to heaven for he will have no wrath lik-

His bag rustled.

Osiris pushed Goss away and looked into it before he screamed. He chucked the thing clear across the continent.

A flash of red, white, and black shot across the sky.

"What was that?!"

"Holy shit your voice still hasn't dropped?!"

"Fibble."

Osiris looked side to side. He relaxed.

"Just a bug."

Tenku was unsure what just occurred but he was sure of one thing.

The journey back was going to be long.

G O O D B Y E S : A WALK IN REMEMBRANCE OF GROWTH PT 2

The party stood at the edge of the cliffs staring down at eldritch waters.

".."

"We probably should have teleportated across the sea at least."

".."

Osiris looked across the canyon with a hand blocking some of the sun.

"I think I can make it."

"Make it, make what-"

Osiris, now much bigger than before, scooped up his men and jumped.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

Like a game with boosters Osiris used his feet like a jetpack. He laughed as they screamed and tore at his clothes to hold on. Osiris was mid cackle when something giant jumped from the water. Its mouth stretched across the entire canyon.

Osiris started to scream too as that monster kept coming out of the water.

Like a bullet Osiris shot them straight across, barely missing the teeth as the thing closed its mouth. The landing was rough.

Everyone choked on dirt as Osiris crawled back to the edge to look down.

A giant eye stared back.

"Is this the abyss?"

"What the fuck was that Osiris?!!"

His men peaked beside him.

"That's fucking terrifying."

"Yeah…"

".."

"Let's do it again."

"No!"

"Beast bodies really go fast, don't they?"

Their former prison was a wasteland of decaying wood and bones.

The streets were empty and quiet, only the noise of an occasional daring bird calling for a mate could be heard through the silence that is Osiris. He was a predator amongst predators and his ego was unbearable these days. They thought he was bad before…

"Puberty."

"Fibble, this is why you stayed a pack mule for so long."

"You three are one to talk. Just the other day I walked in-"

Sunnie covered Osiris's mouth and turned red.

"T-that was an accident."

Osiris slapped her hand away.

"Yeah, no shit." Osiris kicked a skull, it melted instead of flying. ".."

"No one wants to see their kids fuck."

"We are older than you, and not your kids."

Osiris waved her off.

"Do you think Goss will be okay?"

"She'll be fine. We've gone over this. Unless the traps are S Grade, she won't be caught. We even set up twenty hideouts that I know about, and ten I don't."

"She only let me hold her three times, you bastard."

"How was I supposed to know she'd hate you."

Vep covered Fibble's ears.

"Osiris."

He snickered.

Fibble slapped the hands away.

"I still heard him."

Cue a few waterworks. The god looked at her prophet patronizingly.

About a month before his attack on the capital Goss was starting to get antsy. He could tell she was ready to leave the coop. These three refused to see that.

I mean she left, like, immediately after she gave them all a hug..

"Funny, isn't it."

"Here we go."

"Shh."

Osiris smiled.

"Such terrible things happened here."

The sooks looked at him.

"Yet look at you."

Osiris sighed happily.

"Isn't it great to see something you hate burned to the ground?"

The three stayed silent and followed Osiris as he walked past each of the places he found them in.

Vep looked into the hostel he was working at. The shattered skull of a wolf could be seen against the back wall.

Fibble glared at the dog house as they passed. There were no bones but black staines and broken chains littered the little front yard.

And lastly, Sunnie peered down at the giant house of a bear. It was nothing but a pile of wood chips and ash.

Osiris turned to them at the edge of the city, hands on his hips. The children had to look up.

The three busted out laughing.

"It feels great."

"Good."

"I'm pretty satisfied with the results."

".."

Osiris laughed.

They were back at the start.

Osiris threw all of his six feet through the fields of grass as he cartwheeled through the tangled planes.

He changes geography with his fights.

The taiga forest was leaking into the tundra, and the tundra was freezing chunks of flattened forest ground. Each and every fight they've crossed, nature has reclaimed the land at a frightening speed.

The difference was drastic.

When he looked where he fought, to where others fought, the land laid burned and charged, lifeless. But where he played the world flourished. He could almost hear the land sing. He felt welcomed. Osiris threw himself into the grass and laid facing the sky.

"It's all a give and take."