Volume 4. Chapter 1. Crumbling

Discord: discord.gg/krr2hTX9PD

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In the depths of a forest, a gray wolf was hunting for something.

It hasn't eaten in a while and was at the brink of losing its mind from hunger.

As it was passing through a tree stump, it saw the shadows of a deer.

At first, it was suspicious, since these creatures didn't leave their heads at night, even if one of their members were wounded or sick, but the grumbling of its stomach erased any worries it had.

When the wolf pounced, the elk turned its head towards it, opened its mouth, and bit the head off of the wolf as if it was a snack.

*****

'Not enough.'

'Not enough. '

'Not enough. '

'Duck.'

'Eat more.'

'Grow.'

"SHUT UP."

I swallowed the last part of the wolf.

It was disgusting, it just had a hint of madness in it, but it was caused by hunger.

How far have I fallen? I have been eating top-quality humans and drinking pure madness. Now I am here in the forest, eating a bloody animal.

The worst thing was that I was absorbing its traits.

From this meal, I grew black fur, hiding my skinny body.

What the fuck did my life come to?!

I cursed, trying to think.

The first thing I need to do is to figure out where the fuck I am and what are the rules of this place. I don't have any strange energy and I can move quite normally.

I could try to find one of the cults worshiping me and bunker there down till I decide what I will do.

'Destroy.'

'Consume.'

'Collect ducks.'

Ignoring the voices, I went deeper into the forest, looking for something more…succulent to eat.

While I walked deeper, I tried to turn back into a human form, but I couldn't do it.

Maybe I need to eat a human to turn into one? Well, it doesn't bother me, but it would be nice if it were an insane woman. One struck with grief sounds lovely…

Salivating for my next meal, I climbed atop a tree and looked around atop of it.

"Tree, tree, three, three trees, three fish, tree, tre- wait, fish?"

Sure enough, as I scouted the horizon, I saw several sardine-like fishes fly before my face.

"The fuck, am I?"

Flying fishes? What next, cows digging tunnels?

Laughing aloud I looked at the night, almost choking at what I was seeing.

Above my head, soaring the night sky, was a whale. An actual whale, swimming in the clouds like water, singing happily. Its blue skin was dazzling in the moonlight, while its flippers slashed the clouds, surrounded by the fishes flying next to it. On its back was something green, maybe some algae, but I wouldn't even be surprised if it was an entire forest!

"I-I saw this before."

As if it breaks through a wall, the image of this creature made me remember things I have long forgotten.

I remembered fragments of my human life, I remembered about me being summoned here, the refugees, the city…the prince.

"I-I returned. I am back into this world. How long have I been gone? Has any time passed? That girl, Card is doing okay?"

'Why do you care?'

'Kill her. Kill them all.'

'Ducks.'

As the memories slowly returned to me, my body slowly changed.

Before it was complete, I hopped down on the ground.

As the transformation finished, I was human again.

I had a pale complexion and was slightly chubby.

I tried to touch my face but the deer skull was in the way.

'Is this what I used to look at when I was a human?"

Looking at my body, it started to change again.

It grew slightly, losing all the extra weight it had and my nails turned into black claws.

"This must be how I looked like when I was a demon."

Slowly, this form also disappeared, and I was back in my old, beast-like appearance.

"Too short. I need more time. Wait, if I remember correctly…Status."

Speaking the familiar words, a transparent blue screen showed up before my face displaying different information.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Name: 'Antlered King' Melino

Race: Fallen Evil God of Madness

Age: 1.345. 654

Job: [God of Madness] [Mad Alchemist Master] [King of Crossroads] [Bain of Creation]

LV: Incalculable

HP: 454. 673/1. 454. 673. 8294(+345)

MP: 245/ 4. 645. 682. 8934 (+345)

STR: 1. 443. 544

VIT: 1. 000. 434

SPD: 343. 24

MRES: 3. 000. 342

Skill PT:

Physical attributes: [Dark Vision] [Liquid Body] [Madness Embodiment] [Immortality]

Skills: [Madness Magic] [Soul Shattering] [Mind Manipulation] [Four Elemental Magic] [High Universal Weapon Knowledge] …

Titles: [Broken Soul] [Enemy of Creation] [Escapee of the Void] [Killer of worlds] [Taboo Breaker] [Eater of Kin]

_____________________________________________________________________________________

There were more skills written on it that I could count.

This makes sense. Even if I lost the souls themselves, the memories remain.

"Nothing less from a god."

I swapped aside the screen and breathed in the fresh air of the night.

"In terms of power, I should be fine till my opponent isn't a god. Speaking of them I am surprised they aren't jumping at me right now. Probably busy by the hole I left in the universe. Speaking of holes, they should be going off soon."

*****

Ban Yei (Samurai) POV:

Stepping into the divine realm, I felt a sense of 'holiness' fall upon me.

The place was seemingly made from solid gold, shining with a bright light that was emanating from the air itself.

Around us small baby-like creatures flew by, reaching only dressed in a diaper and had a pair of white wings on their backs.

"Follow us, we have several things to discuss."

The Queen of Gods, went forwards, the other gods behind me urging me to follow her.

"Damn, you guys should change the deco here. It's too shiny."

"At least we are not crawling in our own filth like you, Lucifer."

The god of the seas and the devil himself, locked eyes as literal sparks flew between them.

Gods are scary. Will I really have to work with these people?

Following the queen, I found myself in a golden room, which looked like a council room.

There was a big round table in the middle, with several sets placed on elevated platforms.

The queen took her seat on one of the chairs and nudged me to do the same on one of the ones facing here.

When I did, she cleared her throat and spoke.

"First of all, we want you to thank you for killing Melino and bringing us to his lair. We already confiscated several of his dangerous weapons and freed the prisoners."

"What about the world, Dealmaker destroyed."

"Yes, we fixed that one-two, after he healed that poor kid. It seemed like that soul fragment became an integral part of his being, so we put it back, erased its memory, and sent it away. They and everyone in that world shouldn't even remember about Dealmaker."

There was silence for a second before she spoke again.

"Truth to be told, we need your help for something."

From me? What can I possibly do?"

"…All right, listen. This is something that almost no god knows about, not even Melino."

The goddess hit the floor with her staff, creating a golden hologram to appear over our head, displaying something that reminded me of a star map.

"The notion of infinite worlds is fundamentally wrong. There are too many for me to count right now, but their numbers are finite. The whole thing is connected to each other through the rivers of energy and soul pathways. All of this is enclosed in this."

The image started to be compressed showing a single ball of light.

"This is a barrier, a wall separating us from the nothingness. And in it are these."

Several other balls of lights showed up, shining in different lights.

"Different realities, ruled by different versions of gods. Some are almost the same as us, so different we couldn't even describe it. Between these realities, creatures wanting nothing, but death live with powers that could destroy us entirely. What Melino did, while you were fighting, was kick a hole into the barrier, allowing the things out there to attack us here. And now, the hole disappeared. We have no idea where it is, or what can come out from it."

She tapped her staff again, making the light disappear.

"This is where you come in. You are close to godhood even when you aren't a demigod. I want you to search for this hole and close it."

"…How do I do that, exactly?"

"You don't. When you locate it, pray to us and we will fix it. "

"…I still can't understand why you need me for this."

"Because you are still a mortal. Gods and demigods are bound by restrictions, but mortals can go wherever they want. You are free to reject me, but you may potentially save hundreds of lives."

I tried to think this through, trying to figure out what I wanted to do, when one of the angels flew in, looking extremely scared.

"Ma'am, we are receiving a transmission from all frequencies! It's Dealmaker!"

"WHAT?!"

I and the other deities shouted, before running after the cherub.

The place where he brought us, looked like a control room, with several blue screens displaying various fat

The biggest one showed something very familiar to us.

The skull of a deer with jewelry on his antlers.

"Dealmaker."

Seeing this monster again made me furious beyond belief.

"[This is an automated message. Playing message:]"

The voice of this recording was cracked and distorted giving it an ominous feeling.

"[Hello. if you are seeing this it means that I died, and I stayed this way. Don't cry, I am as said as all of you!]"

At his mocking comment, several angels shouted in rage.

"[Anyway, I decided that my end shouldn't be something boring, but exciting with a lot of surprises! Why make people sad and grim when I can put a smile on their face!]"

One of the angles next to me muttered something.

"This can't be good."

"[As for today, I initiated my 'Early -Death-Plan' consisting of three parts. First is which all my experiments, mutants, and weapons, hidden in several words will be released and sent into different realities!]"

Suddenly several red screams showed up displaying several other pieces of information!

"Mummies sighted in a Viking world!"

"Nukes! Nukes are being detonated in a castle!"

"Why are tentacles in a sports festival!? There is only man there!"

As the chaos swept through them, the Dealmakers recording continued speaking.

"[As for my second act I sent a separate message to all my blessings and followers giving them the green light to do anything they want. I also opened the gates of my own world so have fun dealing with those things!]"

More red screens showed up, making the angels cry. The gods tried to help them but there were too many of them popping up.

[AND for the finale, everyone's favorite, nobody wanted them, the gods tried to seal them, SOUL BOMBS!]"

The entire building was shocked as black screens showed up, with letters written with red colors.

"Three words disappeared!"

"Several dimensions have collided! innumerable casualties "

"There are even more tentacles!"

"[I hope you all will enjoy my gifts and I wish you all a good descent into OBLIVION! Dealmaker Melino, over and fucking out!]"

When the face of Dealmaker disappeared, more and more black and red screams showed up, piling on each other, somehow forming a shape, which reminded me of a crooked cross.

"Even in death, he is a pain."

"IT'S HAPPENING! WE ARE GOING TO DIE! REALITY IS CRUMBLING!"

"EVERYONE QUIET DOWN!"

Several high gods rushed to them, amongst them was Lucifer, Poseidon, and others I didn't recognize.

Lucifer grew a pair of wings and flew over everyone's head!

"QUICKLY! Activate each planet's reality anchor! We need to save as many words as we can!"

Poseidon joined in, slamming his triton into the floor.

"Cut all energy flow from infected words and leave only soul absorption on!"

"But sir, then those planets inhabitants-"

"They are already dead! The moment a breach touches their planet, they are unsavable! At least we can get their souls back! Do it!"

Boom!

"A BREACH APPEARED!"

"IT'S A DIMENSIONAL ONE! WE ARE COLLIDING WITH ANOTHER PLANET!"

"RAISE THE SHIELDS! RAISE THEM TO MAXIMUM!"

Over our heads the roof turned to dust, showing me something incredible.

As the sky crumbled away like sand, I saw a planet slowly approaching us, meteorites falling all around us.

the queen slammed her staff into the ground, which became pure light.

"Divine Weapon, Tenth Form: Wall of Peace!"

The staff shot out into the sky, exploding into several balls of lights, which quickly grew into a pure wall of light.

T-This is the power of the queen of the gods>! How could Dealmaker possibly imagine fighting against something this strong?!

Soon the number of black screens increased it hid this amazing view, repeating the same thing over and over again.

[RAGNAROK EVENT STARTED]

"Dealmaker… What did you do?"