Ch.23

I waved a hand and made the gold and pearls disappear before telling Giles I'd dump it wherever he requires for the books I require. They were dumbfounded and Anya was so excited she said they wanted it all. I shrugged and Giles said he'd make sure everything's fairly priced and paid for. Anya said screw that before asking if he was crazy.

I got in his car and ignored the ex demon while I waited. We went to his shop where I looked over his entire magical collection, using the time stone's powers to read through it all in minutes by their perspective. Both light and dark magics, everything had been gone through by me including the private section. When I finished, Anya asked if I was going to buy anything or just browse.

I shook my head. "I already read through everything here including the books on demons and other useless tidbits."

I turned to Giles and asked how much gold and pearls he wanted now that I was done learning their magics they had here. He told me ten bars of gold and a bag of pearls. Anya complained but he said it was a fair price for buying it all, let alone just reading it and leaving them to resell the books to other customers. I set the bars and the bag of pearls down, suggesting he get a dolly or an antigravity lift for the gold if he was going to move it around because from what I remember most normal humans were rather weak physically.

He just had me set the in the safe before taking the bag of pearls. He asked if I'd like to order more extensive books and Anya said he meant expensive. I set another bag of pearls down and told him to order as many as he can find so long as it's not repeated drivel. I told him I didn't care if I had to spend all the gold and jewels I had because I could just empty a diamond mine or something and get more.

Tara asked if I used magic like this often before and I shook my head. "No, only after earth terraformed other planets and spread out to prevent overpopulating any single world did I make the spells to pull the resources out of the planet carefully. We had to clean up the trash and pollution left behind so earth could recover and the resources made decent trading goods for the Nova empire we allied with."

I shrugged. "Most of Asgard's palace and halls were made of gold. While shiny and fancy, it was a bit tacky for my taste. Still, it showed Asgard's wealth and power so when I rebuilt the world I made them of gold as well. You've no idea how many dead planets full of resources there are amongst the stars. This is a drop in the ocean the size of a galaxy compared to what I did to planets that couldn't support life."

Giles had plenty of recommendations for magical tomes but it would take time to sell gold and pearls for cash to buy more. I had about twenty million tons of gold on hand and even more worth in pearls and random sea treasures so it would take time to sell it all off. At about one point two billion in gold, that wasn't even close to how much I had in gem quality pearls. None of it mattered to me beyond it's worth to get the knowledge I required.

I spent the entire summer at the Summer's residence because I didn't care about getting my own place and Buffy insisted it was probably best I not be alone. Tara tried to help, comforting Buffy, Dawn and I because she could see our pain in our aura. Well, the true reason was because she was a pure soul and just that kind, she just happened to be able to see auras as well.

I drank too much, barely slept and spent my time hating my existence which in turn attracted the slayer apparently. I'd been infusing whiskey with magic when she ended up asking if I'd like to blow off some steam. I told her I'd kill her in a single punch and she said that wasn't the way she was talking about. A full day later I dressed and went back to making whiskey.

Slayer stamina was real and it basically amounted to super soldier physique which took time to wear down. So I'd put her through the ringer and she hadn't judged when I closed my eyes and imagined my lovers and wife. She watched me work as I capped the whiskey and sealed it in my ring, bottle after bottle until she asked about my lovers and wife, specifically how it came to be that I'd had as harem of sorts.

I stopped for a time, told her of the time I spent alone before I met Sif and the Asgardians while leading the Ten Rings. I went into detail about the Ten Rings, telling her their purpose, function and single minded goals. Then I told her of training Sif, Thor and the warriors three. I told her of my time on Asgard and how duty to our people and worlds kept us apart.

I told her about meeting Carol, having a fling that lasted on her terms and returned later. I told her of the years of solitude, watching those I taught, protected and fought beside fall in love, marry and live their happiness in between the wars for our survival. I shrugged and told her how I saved Natasha, her sister and the others just like I saved many others from similar fates.

I told her how Yun-Zi told them of mh sacrifice and loneliness because she pitied me or simply wanted my story told. I shrugged indifferently and told her how years later when they came to me together, I didn't say no, but I warned them it changed nothing because I put my duty above everything. I grunted and put the last of the bottles away. "In the end I got three lovers I didn't deserve because none of them wanted to see the others sad and they didn't want to leave me alone any longer. Years later Wanda actually said she feared for the world if I went mad from loneliness so they were three willing virgin sacrifices to an ancient sex demon."

Buffy snorted lightly and sipped her cocktail I whipped up. I sat on her back porch and she asked about the others. I shrugged. "Jean was more of a necessity."

I explained how that turned out and of the Phoenix burning away the protections which ended with kids, then of Daisy and how I trained her to control her powers so she didn't destroy the earth. I told her how I killed racists I feared would start a movement against Metahumans and Inhumans because they were different. Then I told her of my mutilations when they tried to kill me until I simply walked away in secret which ended up getting jumped by Daisy because apparently getting burned alive and shot for a cause was sexy.

Buffy rolled her eyes saying she doubted that was it. I shrugged and told her how Asgard fell and half the reality was wiped of all life and I'd went savage for five years because my kids were dead and Carol was strong enough to knock my ass out to keep me from destroying myself. She heard about the deaths of the murderers and rapists I hunted down and slaughtered with Clint until time travel fixed that.

I told her about the blip and the war with Thanos for the second time that resulted in me mastering the infinity stones. I told her how Asgard ended up on earth for a time and I became it's king with Sif as my queen and my son Kratos as the crowned prince. I shrugged. "So I became a king with a queen and a group of stubborn women that refused to leave me be."

I clenched my fists and sighed. "Even Carol came back when she was feeling amorous because she was immortal like me nearly. Centuries later my lovers and most of my children died and nine hundred years after that Sif died because she wouldn't stay with me and she'd grown old beyond measure for her people. My remaining children had lives and felt their own pain because I'd doomed them with my curse. They'd watched their children grow old and die with few remaining by then."

I waved a hand. "The rest is history as you know."

She remained quiet and asked if I regretted them coming into my life and I growled low before sighing. "Some days, maybe. Things were clearer back before them. I had a mission, a goal and a purpose I put before everything. Protect humanity at all costs. But then I remember the good times. Their smiles, laughter and humor or the way they teased me into trying new things. The first time I flew with Jessica. Seeing my children walk, holding them as they said dada and being there as they married. Holding Natasha as our first grandchild was born."

I shook my head. "No, when the memories return as the rage leaves for a time, I don't hold regrets, just pain and a longing to join them in whatever afterlife there is that they ran off to."