Absolute Depravity: Reincarnated with a lustful System-Chapter 302 - Returning With The Spoils
"A-are we done?" Covered in the guts of zealous Valkyries, Michael turned to Helga sitting in a special section of the Valkyrian colosseum.
Having witnessed a whole day of continuous battles, an ecstatic smile rested on her lips. Rising from her seat, she walked up to the viewing balcony's railings. There, glancing between the two warriors, she dramatically applauded their display of strength.
"Remarkable!" She praised, despite the pile of Valkyrian bodies lying around the two.
Gripping the top of the railing, Helga jumped over it and dropped to the ground. Blowing up dust as she landed, she raised her sight from the dirt and looked in the direction of the generals. Eager to try her own arms against them, she held her hand stretched to the side and conjured a simple iron blade.
"But before I let you go," standing up straight, Helga spanned her arms wide. "I have to try my own iron against you two, don't I?"
Hearing their queen's words, the remaining Valkyries roared into cheers. So far they'd only seen their own kind being butchered by Michael and Razor, thus their urge to watch them crumble under their queen's strength was soaring through the roofs.
'Dammit, I knew this couldn't be so easy.' Tightening his grip on his lance, Michael held it in Helga's direction.
"Don't bullshit me!" Razor growled, not as inclined to continue with the fight as Michael.
"Hmm? What happened, scared of a fair lady?" Helga teased, lazily flailing the sword towards Razor.
Clenching his teeth, Razor wheezed through them trying to catch his breath after the waves of constant battle. Realizing that he had no choice but to keep on going, he gripped his fencer firm and brought it to the front.
"Fuck me, always surrounded by crazy bitches," the moment those words left his mouth, the Valkyrian audience gasped upon hearing the curse words. Helga, however, simply continued to smile.
"Come on then, let me teach some manners to you children," her emerald eye glowing through the gaps in her iron visor was enough for the men to know that they were facing a true monster.
Their fears came true too quickly as she disappeared out of their sight, and the only thing they felt as proof of her presence was the sharp gust of winds shredding their already shambled clothes in places.
"Where did she-"
Before Michael could finish his sentence, the two men had their faces pressed against the ground with a stabbing headache coursing through their skulls. The impact from being forced against the dirt at a speed they couldn't possibly match up to, both Michael and Razor were severely disoriented.
"Just like I thought, you're good for mortals, but nothing compared to heavenly bodies," letting go of their heads, Helga pulled herself away and stood before the two. "Still, this battle's not over…"
Giving them another chance, she motioned them to get up. A bit dazzled yet angry at her, both generals rose to their feet and gave her exactly what she wanted. The battle once again didn't last long as the queen of Valkyries wasn't known to be a god-killer for no reason. When it was all said and done, Helga helped the two back on their feet before presenting them with an abrupt proposition.
"Since I can't meddle with the working of your world directly, I'd like you two to be my apostles, and keep the new growing god in check," having little to no clue what she was talking about, it took the men a while before figuring out what was happening.
By the time the explanations were done, the generals were comfortably sitting in the queen's tent with her sitting across the two. She'd told them everything that's happened from her encounter with Atlas, and how Haruki was the only one with some grasp on the world at the moment.
"You want us to stop him from what exactly?" Despite the long monologue, Michael still wasn't sure where they came into the picture to deal with Haruki's army as well as him.
"Well…" Looking at the Valkyrie standing over their shoulders, Helga gestured something to her and she quickly rested two luminous green vials of potions on the table. "While I do not care for your world's destruction, not giving it a fair chance when it has such great potential would certainly be a shame."
Glaring at the vials, the men knew what kind of offer she was making. Having already received the body, they weren't going to get much of anything else, while in return they had to do whatever she had planned in her mind.
"And how do we do that exactly?" Razor asked, crossing his arms as if to protest against picking up the vials.
"He's not ready to rule as a god, and I want you to make sure he gets that opportunity while you two are still down on Atlarian soil," Helga gave the final explanation and that was all she had to say.
"And what's in these vials," Michael asked, but this time it was guardian Valkyrie who replied.
"A dead god's purified blood, it will help you neutralize any poison that you might encounter," as she finished talking, the guard pushed the vials closer to the two.
Left with no choice and given that neither of them could feel anything malicious from the potion, Michael and Razor gave in to the queen's demand. The moment they downed the vials, they'd agreed to be the final hurdles to Haruki's conquest, but even they knew at this point as things stood, they had no way of winning against him.
'If Dominion has lost against him and that too as miserably as this Valkyrie claims, then it's best not to approach Haruki without a plan.' Michael thought while every cell in his body was rejuvenated with lies from the potion.
'Asmodia is alive again then? Tsk, first the emperor died and now our biggest hurdle is alive again!' Although the potion was helping with his injuries, Razor's temper remained unchanging.
"Now to send you off, brave warriors!" Helga declared, getting off of her seat.
***
After Klian's return over the Larian castle, Haruki had ordered him to let the blizzard pass. Despite his initial reluctance, the insistence of Rose finally made him thaw the whole place and return spring to the lush land.
'They still haven't told me where they were without telling any of us…' A bit concerned about the secretive action from the dragonkins, Haruki wasn't too sure about whether to trust them again just yet or not. 'At least they are listening to what I tell them, and our promise of security in return for their help still stands.'
Lost in through after lodging into a carriage, Haruki hadn't spoken a word in a long time. Even as the horses took them through a budding field of flowers, he refused to let himself be distracted from his thoughts.
"Master?" Placing her hand on his shoulder, Asuka finally pulled Haruki back to the real world. It wasn't too hard to realize that he was perturbed by something, and his strange attire of the cloak only made things weirder. "What's going on?"
Her sudden question surprised him as he had no clue exactly what she was talking about. However, the moment she reached for his darkened lips, Haruki knew his secret wasn't as much of a secret as he'd thought.
"I-"
"He traded his body for power by drinking a dead god's blood," before he could say anything, Asmodia, sitting on the opposite side as him, revealed the secret without a second thought. "He doesn't want to tell you how much it has affected him and his body, and that's also why he's wearing that weird cloak to cover up the scars."
Glaring at Asmodia, Haruki wasn't shy in relaying his disdain for her. However, with everyone else left in shock from the news, he had far more important things to untangle than to deal with her.
"Is that true, Haruki?" Asked Athena, staring at Haruki in utter shock.
"So that's why you were hiding your skin all this time?!" Alice yelped, finally putting things together.
Even Riley who was at the head of the carriage as the coachwoman stopped the carriage altogether and peered in through the window in shock. Thankfully, none of his other companions were on the same carriage as him, and some of them like Margarette and the queens were left behind in the dungeon or at the elven village along with Serena and her followers.
"Fine, I did poison this vessel, but that barely matters, I can always create a new body," Haruki tried to reason, but Asmodia had something to say yet again. 𝘣𝘦𝑑𝑛𝘰𝑣𝘦𝘭.𝘰𝘳𝑔
"I wouldn't be so sure, isn't that why you left Fay back in the laboratory where Stella was created? You want her to find a way to create new vessels even though she has failed time and time again. I'm afraid to say, but it was probably a fluke that Stella was born and you can't replicate what happened again," being attached to him through their souls, Asmodia knew a lot more about Haruki than he ever knew. "Also if you could create a vessel as you claim you can, then why wouldn't you give me a new body? Since you hate sharing a body with me after all?"
Digging deeper into his skin, the mistress was pushing her luck to the limits. Being on a journey to the demi-human tribes, however, Haruki couldn't afford to lose his temper just yet.
"Not another word," he muttered before shutting his lips for good.
No matter how much the others poked him for answers, Haruki didn't utter a word, and even decided to go to sleep. His pursuit of strength was more important than the doubts from his companions, especially when everything seemed to work just fine after he'd embraced the absoluteness of individual strength.
'I don't want any of you to die, and if I can secure your lives by sacrificing a few of my years, then I'll happily do it again and again.' Being a demon he had the scope for eternal life so long as he wasn't killed, and if things continue as they were, the poison would be what gets him.
"Riley, the tribes, we need to get there," ordering Riley to move once again, Haruki let go of all restraints and slipped right into sleep.
