Chapter 20: Pluto and the boys hunting Deviants in the Bronze Age, 3000 – 1300 BCE (2)

[2000 BCE, Thrace]

We are now in Greece again, around this time, the previously wandering people started to slowly settle, forming small settlements around Greece.

We arrived at what would eventually become Thrace, and we're visiting a small settlement that has just been built.

We have our cloaks, and we're scouring the place to find some clues about our next target.

Then, we saw something quite interesting in the middle of that settlement.

"What the hell are we seeing right now…" Kingo murmured with a deadpan expression.

"It seems that humans are more capable than we think." Gil said with an amused expression.

We saw four horse-like deviants, being tied up by the humans in the middle of the settlement. And the humans were trying to tame it, so they could ride it…

The four horse-like deviants were tied up, but from the looks of it, it won't hold them for long.

"Well, we need to kill it…" I said.

"Should we buy it from them? We have tons of food and gold right here…" Gil suggested.

"We'll see first." I said.

We approached the crowd of people who were trying to tame the deviant, and we now stood in front of the crowd, watching the event unfold.

"Greetings travellers." a man suddenly walked up to us and greeted us. "What brings you here?"

"We were just passing by." I said. "What's this all about?"

"The gods have sent us some blessings." the man smiled while looking at the deviants. "They've sent us powerful mares so we could use it."

"Did you feed it?" I asked.

"We tried giving it apples, grass, and bread, but nothing worked." the man shook. "So the priest suggested that we should try to feed it with virgins."

We frowned as we heard what he said. "Virgins?"

"Young girls in the area." said the man, he said it like he wasn't wrong.

"Who are these gods you're talking about?" I asked, curious about it.

"You must've come from a place far away if you don't know our gods my friend." the man shook his head. "We sacrifice to a specific god… we do not speak his name, we do not search for him, we simply respect him."

I hummed. "Where did you hear of this god?"

"My Grandfather told me that one of our ancestors came across a child bearing stories…"

Sprite huh. "Continue…"

"She told us about a story of a god… A god that will judge us when we die. A god that controls monsters beyond our imagination. She warned us not to do horrible things, or the unseen one will punish us heavily…"

I hummed. "So what does this god have to do with this horse?"

"We simply believed that he gave us a blessing in the form of this majestic mare."

"Believed? You believed this mare is a gift from god, so you feed it virgins?"

"It is the unseen one's will."

"I'm afraid that's not the case." I said.

"Pardon me traveller?"

"Those are no mares." I commented.

The man frowned. "A stranger has no right to judge what the gods gave to us."

I just shook my head and hummed. "Be careful with those." I looked at my travelling companions, and said. "Let's go."

The others looked at me confusingly, but they still followed me nonetheless.

"Wait a minute…" Kingo murmured as we walked away from the settlement. "Is he talking about you?"

"'A god that controls monsters beyond our imagination'... I'd say it's obvious enough." Gil remarked.

"So… they're giving the deviants young girls because they thought that it will appease you?"

"Sprite probably didn't tell them what 'doing horrible things' meant." I said sarcastically.

"What do we do now?" Ikaris questioned.

"Well we can't just let them continue this, otherwise they'll just continue to feed the deviants they encounter with their own kin again and again…." Gil stated. "We also need to kill the deviant."

"So we should go back?" Kingo asked.

"If we attack it in broad daylight, they'll probably attack us." Ikaris said. "We do not want to attack humans… Ajak made sure to tell us that."

"We know Ikaris." Gil hummed. "So what are we going to do?"

I thought a bit before suggesting. "We wait until midnight, when the humans are sleeping."

"That's good." Kingo hummed. "What happens if the deviant breaks loose before that though?"

"We step in." I shrugged.

"Alright then."

"But…"

"But what?" Gil questioned.

"I think I'll go alone this time." I stated.

"What?"

"It's my mess to fix honestly." I shrugged. "Well, it's Sprite's mess, but it's under my name… and last I checked, I never told anyone to give me virgins…"

—

[3rd POV]

Now, the night is dark and full of invisible terrors, the deviants were still tied up in the middle of the settlement, trying to break the ropes and chains they were tied with.

And after a full day of struggling, the chains and ropes were finally broken.

The four deviants then roared loudly as the chains broke. It probably woke up the entire settlement.

"The mares are released!" one of the ones who guarded the deviants shouted in panic, warning the entire place.

The man who shouted then pointed his bronze spear at the deviants, and tried to stab it, but the bronze spear just broke.

"H-Help me!" The man backed off frantically, as he didn't want to die. But it was too late, the man's head was bitten off by the deviants, killing him instantly, his body then were thrown off to the nearby house, breaking the door.

The humans inside the house screamed as loud as possible..

And after that, chaos enveloped the area. The surrounding houses were attacked, and a lot of people were hurt. But then, something appeared.

Countless golden hounds suddenly rushed to the scene, attacking the deviants, it was Pluto's constructs.

"Looks like I'm a bit late." Pluto murmured. He then commanded his hound constructs to quickly incapacitate the four deviants.

He rode on the back of Fluffy, and rushed to the scene.

The deviants were quickly taken care of, as it was just a normal deviant, not some hybrid.

Pluto then absorbed the four deviants, making the body withered instantly.

And this scene was watched by the newly awoken humans.

He turned around, with the energy still enveloping him as it was waiting to enter his circle.

His eyes still glowed in the darkness, golden hounds were gathering around him, and the sight of a humongous three headed hound standing behind him… it was terrifying.

One of the humans suddenly kneeled in front of him. "M-My lord!" he said as he kneeled before him.

After the man kneeled, everyone followed, all of the humans that were present were kneeling, not caring about the burning house around them.

[1st POV]

Seriously? Kneeling? Your house is burning over there and you're kneeling? Bloody hell… humans are stupid…

Guess I'll play along…

"Stand up." I commanded lazily. The humans followed my instructions, and stood up, but they seemed to not want to look at me…

"Look at me…"

"W-We wouldn't dare my lord…"

"Why?" I questioned, really curious about the answer.

"W-We wouldn't dare to stare at death itself…" the man nervously said.

That fucking Sprite… she must've said that intentionally…

I just sighed. "Are you the priest?"

"Y-Yes my lord…"

"You told them to feed these beasts virgins?"

"W-Why yes my lord… it's your gift for us! We would give it the best of care!"

"Who told you it was my gift?" I questioned. "This thing is a fucking monster, and do you think I would ask my followers to sacrifice virgins for me?" I said again, really annoyed.

"W-Well –"

"Do you think it's because of some stories that I control monsters that you would think I would enjoy seeing virgins get eaten by these so-called mares?" I questioned again. "You think I'm evil, priest?"

"N-No m-my lord…"

"Then why'd you tell them to sacrifice virgins for me?"

"I- M-My lord…" the man pleaded. "If you think what I did is wrong my lord… I will accept your punishment…" said the man, but his face looked really pale.

"Punishment?" I raised my eyebrow.

"Y-yes… you are a fair god… judging every soul that entered the underworld…"

I hummed. "Fine, call the families of the virgins."

"P-Pardon me my lord?" he questioned, still not looking at me…

"I said, call the family of the virgins you 'sacrificed' for me." I repeated.

The other men who heard my command quickly dragged the families of the virgins in front of me, without actually looking at me…

"M-My lord…" said a woman in her mid thirties.

"You're one of the sacrificed virgin's family?"

"I-I'm the mother of the sacrificed my lord…"

I hummed once again as I sat on a stool near me. "Do you hate me?"

"I- I wouldn't da-"

"Speak honestly."

"A-A little bit my lord…" the woman murmured. "My child is dead because of you…"

"But I didn't say I want virgins though…" I said rather loudly. "Virgins should be fucked, not sacrificed for these… monsters…"

"But the priest said so my lord…"

"Well, I didn't say anything about that…'' I repeated again. "So was it my fault? Or the priest's fault?"

"I- It was the priest's fault my lord…"

I hummed, I then turned to the priest. "Why do you think I need virgins to be sacrificed, priest?"

"I- I just speculated, my lord…"

"Speculated?" I raised my eyebrow. "You caused a lot of people's death because of speculation?"

The priest just gulped.

I sighed. I then turned to the woman again. "What do you want now then?"

"P-Pardon me my lord?"

"What do you want? You want revenge? Compensation? Or something else?"

"I- I want to see my daughter…"

"I'm afraid I can't do that." I shook my head. "Anything else?"

"Then revenge it is…"

"Okay…" I hummed. I walked to a nearby soldier's corpse, and grabbed his bronze spear. I then walked to the woman, and gave the spear to the woman. "Here."

"My lord?" The woman nervously asked.

"You want revenge right? Kill the priest then."

Then, I could hear the priest begging for forgiveness from my back, but I ignored it.

"My lord… I-"

"Do you want revenge or not? Or do you want to attack me instead of the priest?"

"N-No I wouldn't dare my lord…"

"I can't…"

I sighed. "Fine then." I then turned around, and threw the spear right through the priest's heart, impaling him to the ground, killing him instantly.

A lot of people gasped, but no one had said anything.

"Anyone want to be judged again?"

The crowd went silent.

"Good." I nodded. "You can slaughter pigs or cattles for all I care, but killing your own kin because someone speculated that it will appease an entity?" I shook my head. "That is no good deed."

After that, I just walked out of the settlement, not caring about the mess I just created. Once I was at the edge of the settlement, my three companions were waiting for me.

"You killed a human." Ikaris stated while frowning.

"So? It's just one." I said.

"Why did you do it?" Gil questioned.

"To set an example." I said. "If they continued the practice of sacrificing their own kin, we're practically feeding the deviants… and a lot of mothers lost their child to that priest as well, I just gave them some closure."

"But you disobeyed Ajak's order." Ikaris continued.

"It's just one human Ikaris, it's not going to hurt in the long run."

"Our mission is to protect the humans, not kill them."

"I protected a lot of humans because I killed that priest Ikaris." I said. "That priest's thinking is quite demented, who knows if he fucked those virgins first before sacrificing them.."

"Still…" Kingo murmured. "Was that your first human kill?"

"I think so…" I hummed. "Unless I accidentally killed some for some reason."

"Well, keep it at a minimum." Gil stated.

"I'll try Gil, but no promises."

---

A/N: If you know the monster myth behind the deviants in this chapter, I'll give you a historical meme that I myself don't understand.