Ban Yei (Samurai) POV:

Slowly the barrier put on by the queen slowly disappeared, revealing the still fractured sky.

In the fracture, thousands of giant rocks were floating, with the planet nowhere to be seen.

“How many people died?”

“Don’t know. Billions at least not counting plants and animals.”

Lucifer walked next to me, putting his hand on my shoulder.

“What? Do you think that’s sad? Wait, just we calculate how many words got destroyed.”

“…How can you be fine with this? Smiling as nothing happened.”

“Well, call it business.”

The devil let go of me and tighter his tie.

“Even if words got vaporized, most of the souls got saved and an extensive portion of them will be sent to yours truly. Even if this puts a hole in my long-term plans, I am happy for this short influx. I wonder if we have enough-“

Without thinking I hit the bastard in the face.

Some sort of barrier must have protected him, I could fall on impact all the bones and muscles in my arm, breaking and tearing.

“Sunofa…”

As I fought the pain, I saw that my own blood had taken on a goldish color as my broken limb repaired itself quickly.

Suddenly he grabbed me by my neck and made me look into his red eyes.

“This one is a freebie. The next one will cost you.”

As he spoke his eyes changed for a second, becoming two red sons, burning the skin around them, showing the scorched black bones.

“Lucifer! That’s enough!”

One of the gods, wearing gold armor, shining like sunlight, pushed him aside, letting the grip go of me.

“Damn it, Apollo. Shouldn’t you be dead?”

“Shut up, sinner. This is all your fault. You had the chance to kill that monster and you didn’t act.”

“I admit, there was a time when I could do it. But I had a plan, so I didn’t, and now I regret it. But at least I didn’t get my ass handed over by him when he wasn’t even a god.”

I could feel the heat rising between the two of them as they faced each other.

“Okay, girls break it up. We have things to do here.”

Several gods pulled them away from each other before they fought, letting the queen to speak.

“It's true that today we have lost many worlds. Even mine was affected. But we managed to save some of them and that’s all that matters. While the cherubs assess the damage, I will send some of you to these worlds to guide the inhabitants. They must be shocked since such a catastrophe must have caused unimaginable damages.”

“Why would we, the dark gods, follow you?”

“Simple, Lucifer. Your leader isn’t present right now and you are far weaker than me. If you don’t want to be thrown out into nothingness, you shut up and do what I say!”

The devil stayed quiet for a moment then he raised his hands, his still burning eyes returning to normal.

“Alright, Alright. I will play ball. For now.”

“That’s all I need. Now come here I will send you all to your destination.”

Somehow, even when I was closest, the other gods managed to get in front of me, being sucked into columns of lights.

When I finally reached the queen, I was the only one left.

“For you, I have a special case. My own world was affected by this whole thing, lasting for a couple of seconds, before we put on the barrier. I will send you there and see if that place is salvageable.”

Before I could say anything, the light surrounded me, taking me away.

*****

“Wow.”

While gazing at the night sky, I saw several more wails flying by, a whole herd of them.

Meanwhile, the sun was slowly rising, painting the landscape in a reddish glow, giving it some divine feeling.

For such a long time, I felt some sort of peace.

Sitting on top of a tree, gazing upon the sky, using my ability to make paper out of my own skin, making origami ducks.

It was calm, without the need for me to work on something, to hide from anyone.

Inner peace.

“Such a beautiful sight. Truly nature is something that shouldn’t be disturbed.”

‘…I prefer ducks. Make a big one!’

‘BURN THEM! BURN THEM ALL!’

“And my zein moment is gone.”

I breathed in slightly while forming a pair of bat wings on my back, lying over the forest.

“Okay, the first thing of business, find something intelligent to eat, to gain its memory and figure out what the current situation of the world is.”

‘Eat.’

‘Eat.’

“Yeah, yeah.”

While flying through the sky, I tried to reshape myself into a more adequate form, but all I managed to do was lose some of the fur covering my body, exposing my naked black body.

“ Yeah, definitely feeling naked like this. Come back my fur coat.”

After soaring through the skies for a while, I saw smoke rising in the distance.

“Finally.”

‘Diner time.’

Keeping out of trouble, I landed on top of a nearby tree and observed.

It seemed like this was some sort of camp of different humanoid creatures, all looking worn out and tired.

“Is this world also discriminated against by other intelligent races? Seriously, when will humans change?”

‘Never.’

‘Eat them’

‘Boil them.’

“You guys aren’t helping.”

I waited, observing ready to attack, but I didn’t.

Something told me to wait. Wait for something.

‘What are you doing?’

‘Eat.’

‘Kill.’

“Shut up. I am doing what I want.”

I waited, waited so long that the sun was about to set when something finally happened.

A small goblin leads a black-caped person into the camp, to the biggest tent of the settlement.

“…Familiar. Why is it familiar?”

Why does it feel familiar? Was I in a similar settlement? Have I seen somebody wearing a similar robe? Why am I waiting?

“I need to wait. I want to see it. I want to see what happens now.”

‘Why?’

‘You know everything.’

‘We know everything.’

“Jesus, is my ego really this big? Knock it off in there, or I swear to god, I will find a way to make you shut up.”

‘…Maybe it's time to give up on the pedals.’

From my back several snake-like tentacles grew out and tangled around my body, holding me down.

“What the hell are you doing?!”

‘What we need to do.’

‘We are hungry.’

‘We need strengths.’

‘The weak are useless.’

“You are useless.”

One of the snakes faced me, taking on a face resembling mine.

“Just go to sleep. We will take care of things.”

“N-NOT HAPPENING!”

“With a burst of strengths, I ripped these things off and returned into the air, flying towards a nearby range of mountains.

‘What are you doing?’

‘We are one .’

‘You can’t escape us.’

Now, from various parts of my body, arms emerged and grabbed or ripped out parts of me.

One of the strongest caught my wings and ripped them cleanly off.

“You idiot!”

Losing altitude, I braced for impact, using the extra arms as cushions.

The strength of the fall was so strong, it made a small crater, but I couldn’t rest, several more arms grew out from my body, trying to rip me apart, some even had mouths on their palms.

“Just sleep.”

“You are exhausted.”

“Fuck off!”

I ripped and tore, not caring about the pain I felt by damaging myself or the voices.

“I will not lose.”

I will not lose. I will not lose. I will not lose. I will not lose. I will not lose. I will not lose. I will not lose. I will not lose. I will not lose. I will not lose. I will not lose. I will not lose. I will not lose. I will not lose. I will not lose. I will not lose. I will not lose. I will not lose. I will not lose. I will not lose. I will not lose. I will not lose. I will not lose. I will not lose myself. I will not lose. I will not lose myself. I will not lose. I will not lose myself. I will not lose. I will not lose myself. I will not lose. I will not lose myself. I will not lose. I will not lose myself. I will not lose. I will not lose myself. I will not lose myself. I will not lose myself. I will not lose myself. I will not lose myself. I will not lose myself. Myself. Myself. Myself. Myself. Myself. Myself. Myself. Myself. Myself. Myself. MYSELF.

“Get lost!”

Finally, after who knows how long, I couldn’t hear them anymore.

around me were the ripped of arms, somehow bleeding the black sludge I called blood.

As for me, even if the wounds were closed, I lost quite a lot of body weight and my fur, turning me into nothing more than a black-skinned skeleton with the head of a deer’s skull.

“Heh. Heh. Heh. Eat ….Eat that.”

“…No.”

Slowly, the ripped of arms crawled to the same place, forming a blob of black goo.

Soon the blob took on a shape close to the humanoid.

It was tall, taller than me, with arms easily reaching the ground.

On its similar black skin, tortured faces appeared and sink back into its being, the only constant one being the one on its head.

Its facial features reminded me of someone, but I couldn’t put my finger on why. Its eyes were glowing red and there were no teeth in its mouth, just a gaping hole.

“We eat you!”

The monster bounced at me, but by rolling away, I evaded its deadly grip.

“ You are a part of me! Just keep silent and return where you came from!”

‘We won’t! You are dangerous! We will not tolerate this any longer!”

Somehow, its arms grew, grabbing my head and shoulders before throwing me into a row of trees.

“You are a danger! Even when you attained the powers of a god! You had an army of nightmares! Yet, you fell!”

As I tried to get up, the monster appeared before me and grabbed my throat, lifting it over its head.

“You were a GOD! Now, look at you! Weak! Broken! Unable to control us, the collection of memories of the beings it killed! You are nothing! Nothing!”

The being slammed me to the ground, lifted me up then slammed me back down, repeatedly.

“You don’t even know your name! You are nothing! NOTHING!”

As it hit me, I was slowly losing my consciousness, drifting into darkness.

“…Fuck…off.”

With my remaining strength, I put it into the arm of the monster, before kicking it aside.

Slowly I stood up, looked at the being, which was holding his wound.

“Nothing? I am nothing? Who are you telling me that?”

I spit the remaining goo from my mouth.

“You are just a bundle of memories given flesh. If I am nothing, what are you? You are nothing but a shadow under my feet. A parasite I kept alive because it was useful!”

The monster roared in anger, but it did nothing to me.

“Telekinesis: Squash!”

Using my abundant mana, I made the monster kneel, by putting the pressure of around five tanks over its shoulder.

“You won’t…kill us. We…part of… you.”

Slowly the monster stood up, still under the pressure.

“You are right. You are part of me. But not the dominant part.”

Without fear, I walked before it, looking into its eyes.

“You said I didn’t even know my name. Allow me to contradict that statement. I am The Dealmaker. I am the Antlered King! I am the god of mither fucking madness. MY NAME IS MELINO AND I AM GOING TO MAKE SURE TO BASH IT INTO YOUR SKULL!”

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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]

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