Beyond SSS-Rank After Getting The God System-Chapter 238 - 237: The Battle For Humanity Part 1
Carl managed to finish all the prepwork he had been determined to get done and quickly tried to bail with his family before anything else was asked of him, but as soon as he raised a hand to wave he was interrupted.
’Creator, I think you, the ladies and Alysse should come immediately.’ The voice was unmistakable and they headed over to Majesty’s nest, asking what she wanted them to see before they’d even fully emerged from the portal.
She explained that she had successfully birthed each of the new units, which they agreed was news worthy in itself being how it had only been a few hours. Majesty wasn’t concerned about that though, it was the units themselves that brought her concern.
Carl wasn’t particularly happy, the complex she had developed regarding the risk she posed to others was painful to think about, especially when it was the result of everyone’s own paranoia and not any action she had taken. He walked over and took one of her hands in his before speaking.
"Majesty, you are one of my most trusted, stop panicking over how powerful you are, I trust you to use that power responsibly." His words were appreciated, but Majesty made it clear this was an actual concern, not just an abundance of caution.
The tunnel chamber they found themselves in was filled with the royal guard, who Majesty suddenly ordered away to their usual duties, making them disperse immediately.
As they cleared out, it became obvious they were being used to contain the new units and Carl and the others walked over to inspect them, though it was clear that unlike the others these ones had the ability to fear for their lives.
There were seven of them in total, all completely identical to how Majesty had been before her current evolution, it was clear that it meant these were Queen-Class Carrion-Hunters and Majesty’s concern might not be overzealousness.
"You’re sentient, aren’t you?" They all nodded and Carl approached and placed a hand on each of their heads in turn as Majesty looked on nervously, more than a bit self-deprecating over the fact she had brought things so dangerous into the world and needing Kyubi and Klaire to comfort her.
When he removed his hand from the last one’s head, he turned and gave a thumbs up as he confirmed that they were in fact all born bonded to him, bringing an immense relief to Majesty who was too aware of her own abilities to trust them.
Carl done a quick bit of mental math then turned back to Alysse to confirm his working and the fact they could spawn another two groups worth over the course of the next day.
Alysse shook her head and informed him that the birth rate was actually far greater than Majesty ever utilised due to the fact she didn’t want to ravage the world, then opened a portal for each of the new queens.
"Huh, guess you’re an Empress now Majesty, congratulations. I have sent them each to a new world, Carl will go to each quick and make them lush and green, you tell them to decimate it and create an army each."
The way Majesty was aware of Alysse’s quirkiness enough for her head to suddenly pivot towards Carl, Klaire and Kyubi for confirmation on that order spoke volumes, but the way she didn’t do anything until all three of them confirmed made them wonder if she wasn’t the most level-headed of all of them.
Even when she gave the order she put an intense level of psychic force behind it to make sure they knew she would tolerate no breach of trust or mistake.
Carl then got back to work, filling the worlds those new queens now inhabited with incredibly dense, planet-wide rainforests that grew into the sky and offered more bio-matter than any populated world ever would.
When he was done Alysse said she would handle everything from there and told them to go enjoy family time, which was clearly her way of saying "Omy and the others really missed you, so go spend time with them."
With that, they returned to their home on Haven. Taking a moment to look out across the water, which felt like forever since they had done last and would be a long time until they could do again, if they wanted to be done by the new year.
The most disappointing thing though, was that Kitsunoko wasn’t with them to enjoy it. Their daughter had always been a bit of an enigma, she was constantly pulling pranks that got her in trouble, but despite that she was utterly dependable and always managed to do anything she put her mind to.
Aside from that, she wasn’t as convincing an actor as she pretended. Her physical strength was immense, her abilities were insane, but she still believed she had everyone fooled and thinking she was unable to do anything but comical ineffectual punches that added a comedy value to every battle she played a part in.
They asked Tiamutael if he could shed light on what she was up to, but all he said was. "Nope. I’m not stupid enough to make my big sister mad."
Despite his reluctance to tell, his pale complexion made it obvious that whatever was happening, she had completely discarded the facade of inability. Tiamutael was definitely the strongest of them in terms of raw stats and everyone knew as much, but the fact everyone overlooked Kitsunoko in comparison to the others was exactly what betrayed her.
It was common knowledge to them that Squidge was the only one with no special tricks up his sleeve, so why was it that he worked tirelessly to keep up, whilst she played games and ate cookies but kept up effortlessly to the point she could face Lilim’s daughters fearlessly?
The answer was obvious, she may not be the most physically powerful, but her other abilities were so great she was able to keep them hidden from anyone trying to pry.
"Come on, let’s go watch a movie and have some dinner." Carl scooped up Tiamutael from the pale ball he had transformed into upon being asked to divulge his sister’s secrets, then led the way inside.
As he started cooking dinner, all other than Tiamutael, played games and made a choice over what movie they would watch. Their little dragon however, had more important things on his mind and asked if Carl would be joining them on their flights now that he had wings of his own.
Carl laughed and flicked him on the head, then told him that they would have joined them anytime they wanted if he’d just asked. "I can’t ask though, you always have things you need to do..."
The words stabbed them all in the heart and twisted. They couldn’t deny it either, they were exceptionally busy and rarely had free time, even their trip needed an element of work to be justified.
So the three parents took the opportunity to explain the concept of acceptable selfishness. It was something that was vital to every relationship and self-care, as commendable as it was to put others first, they didn’t want their children becoming martyrs who lived miserable unfulfilling lives.
It was a moment that led to the longest moment of contemplation the children had ever engaged in, they sat silently making a mental list of everything they wanted to do but hadn’t asked because they didn’t want to be a bother.
It was nice to see how happy it made them, but at the same time, it was obvious they weren’t getting much peace and quiet for a rather large portion of their lives and that was when they had a rather unexpected guest.
"I’ve been waiting for this moment for quite a while Dad, I want you to fight me all out." The voice was none other than Tiamutael’s future self and Carl looked at him with a sense of bewildered acceptance.
"I have no idea what this is about, I’m sure you know you can beat me as I am with no effort whats so ever, but sure." As Carl washed his hands and gave up the duty of cooking, he gestured for Tiamutael to lead the way and soon found himself in the in-between space that was his son’s private playground.
He wasted no time telling Carl to start, who immediately took on the Horobi-star form which was his only hope of even vaguely standing up to his son.
Even in that form however, Tiamutael remained completely unphased and Carl took a page out of the book of his mother and aunts, deciding the only way to figure out what was going on his son’s heart was to fight him with all he had.
Tiamutael didn’t even bother to put up a barrier as his father’s apocalyptic form punched him in the face, he just stood there and tanked the end of all things like it was a baby’s flailing limbs.
It became suddenly obvious what was going on in his head and Carl changed back and flicked him on the head, which comically achieved a greater reaction. Carl chuckled for a second before giving him a sorrowful look and telling him that he didn’t need a fight, he needed a heart to heart.
"...Come on, talk to me, I get the feeling you’ve forgotten how to."
"How did you do it Dad? You always made everything look easy, something needed doing, so you had no choice but to do it and that was all there was too it."
"Do you even hear yourself right now? The fact you’re asking that proves I made mistakes. No one’s perfect, especially not me. I’m flattered by how much faith you have in me, but I didn’t do anything alone and still made tonnes of mistakes along the way..."
Carl thought about the situation, then grinned and sat down, asking him whether he was getting married or having a baby.
When the colour drained from his face, he sat down and answered. "I can’t say too much, but both. I came because I needed to, but I also wanted to watch you and see how you did it."
Carl chuckled even more. "Yeah, you definitely set life to hard-mode with that one. Now stop being an idiot and ask for help when you get back, you have to figure some stuff out yourself, but I can think of several people that want to be involved.
Two choices Buddy, do what you need to do then ask for help with those things, or I tell your sister you told us what she was doing on Earth."
"Same old Dad, no matter what era. Nuclear option or no option. You spent too much time around Alysse."
"Damn straight, why drag something out when you can deal with it?"
Tiamutael stood, visibly disappointed and it was understandable. He came to Carl to figure out how to do everything himself, but was completely blind to the fact he was asking someone who had never done anything alone.
Before his son sent him back, Carl told him that he wouldn’t forget this either, before explaining that he had essentially overlooked his mothers’ contributions.
After that bizarre father-son talk, Carl returned alone and took back his cooking duty. The others thought it best not to ask, since despite the carefree approach their children took to it, time-travel remained a dangerous thing to take lightly.
The need for a lecture on it wasn’t lost on them, but as if by fate, the kids were rarely in the same place and all awake long enough to broach the subject.
In the end, they all ended up asleep on the couch in the usual formation and that was where they remained until morning. The large display slate on the wall showing the time made them realise that Kitsunoko had already been gone around sixteen hours and wonder what she was up to.
As naturally concerned as they were, they still had things to keep them busy and their minds occupied. Carl started his day by making breakfast for everyone, then started his rounds, going to everyone taking part in the operation so he could burn their systems away.
Knowing she was the one most likely to be awake, he started with Alysse. Luckily, he didn’t need to force Alysse to go through with it, so he could take his time and make it a less painful process.
Unknown to him however, her nanites were analysing the process from start to finish and by the time he was done, she had already manufactured and programmed a replacement. A development that left Carl in utter amazement when she revealed it as casually as she had any of her other creations.
"...Well what did you expect? We don’t have Sis to gradually deactivate our systems so our minds can adjust, if you burnt them away we wouldn’t be able to function as well, I had no choice."
Carl felt a little stupid he had overlooked that fact, without Alysse’s foresight he would have crippled his people before the most dangerous operation they had undertaken since they were normal kids recklessly travelling to unknown worlds.
Still, Carl couldn’t get over the fact that an eighteen year old girl had just successfully done what Margo and Ishtar spent centuries trying to achieve and with no complications to speak of.
With that, they teamed up and performed the system removal and reupload together and it was a rather large task they had to complete.
In the end it took several hours to finish and as they did, everyone who they hadn’t removed the system from started to systematically get an error message that sent the entire faction into a frenzied state.
Carl immediately convened with Lydia and removed her’s as well, since she hadn’t received the error message yet. They then tagged along whilst with her as she performed an examination on someone who had been effected.
Physically, they seemed fine, but they all suffered from a tinge of nausea, as though a grotesque monster of some kind was reaching into their very being.
Carl used his abilities to peak at the patient’s system so that he could see and experience it for himself.
[ SYSTEM ERROR: ADMINISTRATOR PRIVILEGES IN EFFECT]
[ SYSTEM DEACTIVATED FOR MAINTENANCE]
[ PLEASE WAIT...]
"Oh crap, I think Margo noticed that something was messing with the system. We’ll have to leave it be for now and not do anyone else, I’m not stupid enough to think I’m ready for that fight."
Everyone agreed that it was the best option, but since it had just been taken down so he could put it through a maintenance cycle, they didn’t think see any reason to believe he knew what had happened.
Suddenly a portal opened and Klaire came through with Tiamutael. "New problem! Alysse pull up the time for me!"
Alysse did as she was asked and projected a screen that displayed the current time, except it wasn’t counting up, but down. Carl looked incredibly confused at first, but then crouched down and asked Tiamutael what was going on, since he wouldn’t have come if he didn’t need to and would have blinked in if he was okay.
"It’s Ki-ko, I can’t see them anymore, or hear what’s going on. It’s like they aren’t anywhere right now..." The little dragon started crying, but Carl placed a hand on his head.
"You’re a good brother, but don’t worry. I’m pretty sure this is her doing, she’s pulling her greatest prank yet, otherwise we would be going back in time as well." Tiamutael didn’t really understand, but was comforted by the assessment regardless.
Carl continued to pat his head and told him to just be glad that for once she had left them out of it so only she would get in trouble. At that moment however, a guest even more unexpected than his future son showed up.
It was the aspect he had met on SATS, the embodiment of space, who was greeting him with an uncertain expression.
He explained that whatever was happening wasn’t touching anything but the laws themselves, twisting them around and actually dictating to them how they should be acting. It was clear that he originally thought it might have been Carl, but when he found Carl looking just as clueless, he decided to report the situation instead.
Space laughed as Carl suggested that it might be a Kitsune child he had made a few months prior, but as the clock travelled back a full two weeks, it suddenly ticked forward again and a massive presence suddenly exploded throughout the universe from the direction of Earth.
It was undoubtedly the laws, scrambling to follow the orders of a presence none but her family would recognise.
"That kid is so grounded."
Back on Earth, the situation was just frenzied.
Nergal and Gaia couldn’t believe their eyes or ears as they were suddenly surrounded by the plain to see immortals who once resided in the realm of paradoxical death and heard the unmistakable voice of Ishtar.
"Thank you little judge, but more importantly, I would give anything to capture that stupid look on your face little brother-" It was clear she had more to say, but before she could, a small fox-childs fist connected with her head with enough force to make it crack of the ground.
At the same time, another small fox’s fist smashed into the head of a male immortal in the surrounding crowd with no regard or concern for collateral damage.
Nergal patted Gaia’s shoulder to get her attention. "Gaia, did that little fox just do what I think she did."
"If you think she just proved she had been taking us all for fools and laid out both Ishtar and Tsukuyomi in an instant, then yes. Sis, we’ll leave disciplining her to you."
"No, I think I’ll leave that to my brother and sisters-in-law."
