The trap.

We appeared in a clearing outside what looked like an outhouse, small, old and dirty, but that was a camouflage.

In truth, it was just a veneer hiding the Wellspring of all magic.

Well, not the actual Wellspring TM.

No, that was downstairs. And by downstairs, I mean on the flip side of this flat earth.

Yeah, Fillory was the flat earther's dream.

On the reverse side of the world, a hellscape of volcanoes and monsters that contains Castle Blackspire.

And inside Castle Blackspire, lay the true Wellspring.

If the Wellspring was a water aquifer, the wellspring here was a hand pump drawing from it and pumping the magic into Fillory.

Brass tacks, I know, but I like to be thorough.

I opened the door and walked in, as Yue looked about wide eyed.

Inside, lay a space far larger than what it appeared from the outside.

It was the exact replica of the study at the Plover Estate, the place where Martin was molested.

I shook my head.

"Martin, Martin, Martin. For all your running, you never could escape your past, could you, boy? You made this whole subspace into a copy your childhood trauma for what? To feel some false sense of triumph over your failings? Is that also why you tortured that child molesting freak, Plover?"

"Oh, he deserved it." The beast swivelled on the plush leather chair behind the desk, coming face to face with me like a B-movie villain.

Can't lie though, it was pretty cool.

"Just like you will deserve what is coming for you and your pet monster."

I smiled as the humor left my eyes.

I gently squeezed Yue's hand, and she smiled back at me.

Oh, he'll suffer now.

My Yue is not a monster. She's the cutest, most adorable vampire ever.

So much so that I planned on saving alternate versions of her to form a whole harem of Yues once I become a higher being.

"Is that so?" I switched on the reality anchor as the whole picket dimension overlayed onto the wellspring flickered and collapsed, space shattering like glass around us.

The Beast's eyes widened with fear as he sat up alert.

"What did you do?"

I smiled wider.

"I wonder~"

The Beast shivered as he tried to cast the same head ripping curse as before to no avail.

He looked down at his hands and then back at me.

"You done? My turn!" I said and Yue giggled as she walked forward, as my nanite musculature came together on my body.

"No, no, we can talk about this. I can-I can...you want Fillory, don't you? I'll give you Fillory-"

I grabbed him by the neck and no clipped him through the table, lifting him up into the air.

He clawed at my grip with all his power but under my nanite assisted strength, it was of no use.

"I'm sorry if I gave you the worng impression." I said politely, with a creeping chill to my tone, "The time for talking was over the moment you called my wife a monster. The rest....was just courtesy."

"Yue, baby if you'd do the honors?" I said, and she grinned.

"Gladly."

With one swift move her hand tore through the fabric of his pants and went right for his groins, shattering his pelvis through like Sub-Zero in Mortal Kombat.

And with a single pull from her vampiric grip, she ripped his balls right off.

"Fatality!" I mimed with a chuckle as he screamed in pain, his eyes rolling over as he went limp in my hand, blood and bile and chunks of shattered bone pooled onto the floor.

"Usually, I'd deliver a pun or a shitty one liner. But I'm afraid we're on a bit of a crunch today." I placed the memory extractor helmet on him.

"... Jay. Liar." Yue cleaned her hands with the Beast's pocket square and a '62 Dalmore.

Waste of good Scotch, but eh, not the time for a drink.

"You just couldn't think of one, couldn't you?"

".....no." I pouted, "I've been busy."

Yue giggled cutely and planted a kiss on my lips.

"Awkward Jay is cute too." She licked her lips seductively.

We hadn't had any free time the past two days in Fillory and for people who fucked eight times a day, on a slow day, well... It was not good.

But!

"Not now, Yue."

"Umu!" She huffed.

"You're not going to be satisfied with just a quickie, my little bunny." I booped her nose.

"I know." She sighed.

I cupped her face, and brought her close.

"Once we're done here, we'll have plenty of time." I assured her.

"I just... After seeing those girls .... and Offee and the kids... I want my own children. Our children. Lots of them."

She kissed me passionately.

"Lot's ahn~d lot's and uhm~"

I kissed her back as the helmet pinged.

"Extraction complete."

"Haah." I separated from her and scanned through the interface as she gave the helmet a hateful glare.

Picking out the paralysis spell, I stored the rest of his memories away with the helmet and gestured at Yue, turning off the reality anchor.

She nodded, a spark of blue flame lit up on her fingers and with a snap, she burned off his arms and legs.

I pulled out the Leo Blade and knelt down on the floor beside the half dead Beast.

Tears rolled down his eyes as he awoke from the heat and searing pain of being turned into a humanoid mutton chop.

"Please..." He rasped, "Forgive me...I... I don't want to die...I don't wan-"

"Nope." I sliced his throat mid-sentence and cast a spell on the blade that I had stolen from the mirror world version of the poison room when my drones combed through it.

A banned spell hidden in the deepest parts of the libraries archives.

Ars Deicidium.

The Art Of Killing Gods.

The spell usually required an insane amount of magic, the kind only accessed when a demigod or god died.

But the Beast, being a mutated grandmaster magician, one even capable of matching gods, would certainly do.

With his death, a massive burst of magic flew forth, moths and butterflies, swarms upon swarms of them buzzed out from his slit throat, spilling out like blood, before turning to ash in my spell, turning into pure magic.

A golden shimmer burst out from within the Beast's body and covered the blade in shimmering primordial runes, laying golden veins into the blade, enchanting it with a god-killing attribute.

In the show, Julia used it on a bullet.

Stupid move. A bullet becomes useless after one shot.

A blade however?

Completely different story.

I twirled the blade in my hands, walking over to the now visible wellspring.

With the collapse of the subspace, there was nothing left to hide the dilapidated old well in the outhouse.

I took out a small seed made of divinity crystals from Tortus, and threw it down the well into the wellspring, causing the whole world to shake violently.

Damn.

The Beast really drank greedily from it huh?

The magic level was already at a critical point.

And if that wasn't enough, that tremor just alerted everyone of significance to the shenanigans going on here.

Gods, or at least Ember will be all up in this business soon.

"Tch!" I clicked my tongue and put up a series of wards and forcefields around the wellspring.

Add in a dimension anchor and I had turned this place into a black hole for anything supernatural.

This should hold over for a while, till I can gather enough magic to condense a god seed myself and create an artificial god.

For now, onto the next target.

I grabbed Yue by the hand and we disappeared again.

This time back to Earth.

.

Murs, France.

Reynard looked up at storm clouds brewing up above, circling around this farmhouse in a whirpool of thunder amd lightning, pour and hail.

A sign of HER descent back into the mortal plane.

It had been a while since he had been here.

A while since SHE abandoned him here.

Ages. Centuries.

He growled as an old rage bubbled within him.

The wound in his heart ached.

"You always did like your theatrics, didn't you?" He said, as his smile turned into a mask of fury.

"Come out ready you attention hogging greedy whore! You can't hide from me forever!" He was shouting now.

It felt good to shout.

Let it all out.

With but a thought, the storm clouds above thundered, and lightning struck down like a symphony from the heavens. His cage for the 40 years. Now broken.

And now even his mother was back.

His revenge was at hand.

Reynard grinned evilly.

This was his age. He just knew it.

But then, something happened he did not expect.

He felt a presence behind him.

Half-man, half god.

His very own blood.

He turned around to look at the man as his expression softened.

"Is this real?"

"Hello, Father." The man said, venom laced on his tongue and a murderous intent in his eye.

It was then that he knew.

He fucked up.

He was a trickster god after all. And he knew a trap when he saw one.

And as if on cue, he felt himself freeze in place.

"Son. There is no need for this. I am your father-"

"You are a monster!" John shouted.

"I have seen what you have done. The blood, the bodies piling up. Men, women and children slaughtered like cattle."

"Because they are cattle!" Reynard shouted back, "They are cattle, my boy. Prey for us. They are meant to be ruled. They want to be ruled. By higher beings like us. We, you and me. We are alike. We are the same-"

"I am not a MONSTER!" John cried, tears pooling in his eyes, "This.... this is what I was afraid of....Of being like you." John's voice cracked as he spoke, "You know I didn't want to believe it, when I first found out, but here, now? I can feel it in my blood. The valling, the resonance.....

I am your son. YOUR...." There was a deep disgust in his tone, and self loathing in his heart.

"...foul spawn."

"A demigod." Reynard corrected.

John looked back up at the god and wiped his tears.

"That.....that is why. This ends here. Today. Jay!"

"Coming right up!" A cheery voice came from behind John as another man followed by a tiny blond vampire emerged from the shadows of the barn.

.

"Hey there. Reynard right? Quite the charming body you picked to possess. I do have a question though. What happened to your old body? Your real body? Gods don't die after all right? Notoriously hard to kill. I even had to get this made, especially for you." I twirled the knife in my hands.

"So you must be behind this. Manipulating my son to your side.

Despicable little creature." He hissed, "Straying my son from his rightful path."

"Keeping him in touch with his humanity, you mean." I shot back.

"His rightful place is as the ruler of all mankind!" Reynard snapped, "And he will attain it under my wing once I deal with you-"

"Atatatat! That's bad parenting you know? Shouldn't you at least ask him what he wants to do? Did you ever even think of asking him? Probably not huh?

Guess it's true what they say, like mother like son-"

"Don't you DARE compare me to my- To her!"

"Ooh, touch a sore spot, did I?"

"I will skin you and turn you into a hat you degenerate-"

"What did I just say!" I wagged a finger at him, as a sinister smile spread across my face, "You seem to be under the impression that there will be an after. There won't. Not for you. See this?"

I pointed at the knife in my hands.

"God-killing artifact. Freshly made. Right off the assembly line. And you're the quality control set."

I walked over to him and put the knife to his neck, as he shivered, fear trickling into his eyes for the first time as it cut into his skin and a single drop of blood trailed down it's edge.

"You can't kill a god. It's impossible."

I swiped the blood off the blade and brought it to his eyes.

"No? Then whose blood is this?" I licked the blood up and groaned in pleasure as the devouring power within me went wild, an aspect of my code leaking out it's presence shocking Reynard and John.

Reynard especially as he realized exactly who he was dealing with.

"Uhmuhuhuhun! De-li-ci-ous! It's been a looong time since I last ate a god. Been craving some, really. And you'll make a fine brunch, don't you think?"

"A horrorterror.... An old god....." He gasped, tearing up, "...P-please. No. Your majesty. Your excellency. Please! I can't- Not like this-"

"Did you stop when your victims begged for mercy? To relish their fear maybe. Too bad. Not that I would have ket you go otherwise but ey, that's neither here nor there." I shrugged, pulling back the knife for a dramatic final blow.

A pretense of course. A lure for bigger fish.

And almost instantly, I felt the line tug.

"Wait!" Came a voice from above as the world went awash with light and a woman clad in white robes appeared before us, dark marbled skin and gleaming eyes filled with divinity.

And I grinned.

Hehheheheheheheh.

Caught ya.

Hook line and sinker!