Chapter 2222: Return to Nothing
At the same time, the barbarians watched the censored fight; everyone inside Arad’s private quarters watched the full thing. It was the same thing whenever Arad or his wives fought amongst each other.
Usually, the maids spend their entire time either helping their respective queens, cleaning, or cooking for everyone. It was quite funny when they learned that the bulk of their work was looking after themselves, as there were over 300 maids and servants living in the Private Quarter.
All of the maids and servants were granted a spell that allowed them to watch the fights on their own screens or go to the massive living room to watch them together. They were even given the right to skip their unnecessary duties when either Arad or their queen is fighting. So, for example, Eris’s maids can stop working to watch when either Eris or Arad is fighting.
But today, all of the maids and servants sat to watch alongside the wives. They had their tea, biscuits, and a bunch of sweets. And to them, this was as fun as watching death fights in the arenas. Even Arad’s wives usually forget that their maids and servants are daughters of nobles, the finest of the finest rich ladies of the entire empire, and it was a common entertainment among the nobles to watch fights, either in tournaments or underground fighting arenas.
Both the maids and servants loved their fancy clothes and their jewels, and they still had their haughty tendencies leak out when not on the job. Right now, Arad’s wives could really notice. The maids separated themselves by noble rank, where they sat, who sat on the couch, who got the chairs, and who sat on the ground.
When one of the maids ran out of tea, the maids coming from lower-ranked families were the ones to stand and fill their cups. But there was another form of ranking among them. The maids who got to sleep with Arad seemed to be standing at the top regardless of the nobility of their families.
Even the dragon maids had their own ranking, as the stronger ones stood above the weaker ones. It was quite strange, especially for the ones of Arad’s wives who weren’t as powerful.
But then, as they watched, Eris felt something was off for a second, and then got a call from Amaterasu. [Hey! How are you doing?]
Eris frowned. [I’m busy watching something important. What is it?] She stood and moved to the corner of the room so she could talk in peace.
[I couldn’t contact any of my followers in the Star Church inside the Quarter, and I even sent a nun to the Quarter’s door, but the vampire guards aren’t there. I got worried a bit that something must’ve happened.]
Hearing that, Eris sighed. [Everyone is busy watching Arad fighting Nina. Is what you needed important?]
[Of course, I discovered a way to stimulate your growth, and it’ll also help me. Say, want to join the war? You can use your powers as much as you like outside the universe, and I’ll even be supplying you directly with as much divine power as you want.]
Eris could already smell the trouble. [What is the catch? What are you after? Don’t say it is just so I can make a Gravastar.]
Amaterasu giggled. [You got me. I want to see if your murder portfolio can empower the tropes to murder the abominations faster. If that can work, it’ll make our work here much easier.]
[I’ll have to consult with Arad beforehand. But I’m interested. Last time, Merlin almost tanned my hide for creating a massive star inside Arad’s stomach.] She scratched the back of her head, but then heard Amaterasu clear her throat.
[What? Did you need something else?]
[The nun I sent. Can you let her inside? She has been nagging me about seeing Arad for ages, and I’m tired of hearing her voice. I tried referring those prayers to my archons, but since her father is so massive, they always kept coming to me directly.]
Eris sighed and sent two of her vampires to bring the nun, and so they did in a few seconds. She gave the nun, who prostrated herself on the ground, a quick look, and then sighed again. [Say, who is this monster?]
Eris could tell. This nun, even though she looked human, was in fact an abomination. [She lived in one of the abomination colonies that Arad blew up when chasing Vorvadoss in the past. When I met her on the war, she begged me for one thing.]
Eris could hear the trouble before Amaterasu could even explain. This nun was as strong as Isdis is now, and if she wasn’t hiding her aura well and coating it with Amaterasu’s divine power, everyone in the private quarter would already be in panic mode.
[She wants Arad to kill and consume her. Ever since she saw him for the first time, that was the only thing she lived for. She is Volar, the abomination of blind fanaticism. I was about to kill her, but Yog suggested that it could be fine to let Arad absorb and turn her into one of his spawns like Damnation.]
After a few seconds of thinking, Eris just agreed. Kali was in the room, so everything should be fine. She cut the call with Amaterasu, and approached the nun.
"What’s your name?" She asked, and Volar looked at her with an excited smile. "Volar! My lady. I can see the Lord’s majestic self fighting isn’t he beautiful?"
Eris frowned upon hearing her voice. "What are you here for?"
"To deliver Amaterasu’s message, and have The Lord kill and devour me." She shivered. "Ah! I cannot wait to be one with him."
Eris looked at the nun for a few seconds. Something was off, something that even Amaterasu missed. This woman’s death wish. The murderous intent toward herself was intense, but fake.
After thinking about it, she teleported with the maid into a sealed room where no one could hear them, not even Merlin. "Well, now I’ll have you talk. Even if you kill me here, my true body is safe outside." Eris smiled as she summoned a chair of plasma and sat on it.
Volar blinked several times. "My lady, I could never dream of harming you. In fact, it would please me more if you were to torture me, with those hands that the Lord loves."
Eris sighed, "Listen, you managed to slip past Amaterasu and even Yog somehow. But you won’t trick me. You either talk now, or you’ll never see Arad." She stood, grabbed Volar by the hair, pulled her down, and kicked her in the face. "I’m not joking, so get talking."
Volar coughed blood, looked at Eris with a bloodied smile, and then giggled. "Well, color me surprised. You know..." She sat up. "The Lord, Arad Orion. He is the creator. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw him first."
Eris immediately pulled all of her power out and was ready to erase this monster at any moment. "Keep talking."
"We, the abominations, alongside our father, had worshiped him before time. But to our father Nyar, it was only a means to an end, like fattening a turkey. To me, though, some of us really believed in him." She looked a bit sad. "While under our father’s control, our own will and desires get diluted over the eons. My only way to reach the Lord was to beg Amaterasu to spare my life, to devote myself to her and suck on her toes until she allowed me to come here. I know that father would eventually claim my soul, so my only solace and salvation is to have the Lord consume me."
"Can you... let me die clean for once and return to nothing?"