Chapter 44 - Unsavory People

Trying to use magic to stop my attack, his spells burned away to nothing. Vanishing my place, I reappeared in front of the Tarkata. Survival Instinct drove them to attack me even though they understood they were out of their league. With wave of my arm they were sent flying into the Cruel Sun without a sound.

"Open a portal wizard!!", Baraka shouted, "Why aren't you doing something!! This is a battle, this is a massacre!!"

"I am trying!", Shang Tsung refuted, "My magic isn't working!!"

"Who said you were allowed leave?", I chuckled, "I didn't decide that, interfering with the natural balance of the world is a serious crime. You will pay for your transgressions Shang Tsung!"

"Shinnok open a portal!!", Shang Tsung shouted, "My magic is working!! I know your watching!!"

"Kaijinryu!!", I said as a massive dragon born of Purgatory Flames formed behind me, "Devour them!"

Letting out an ear piercing roar, the remaining Tarkata foot soldiers will to fight broke as the fire reduced everything to nothing. Even the Dungeon itself was being destroyed by the dragon as it flew towards them. Climbing over each other the soldiers pleaded for help as they were devoured by the dragon.

"SHINNOK!!!", Shang Tsung and Baraka howled.

As my attack was upon them, a portal opened which they both jumped into. Realizing they were going to get away I teleported right behind the wizard.

"Burn!", I spat as I grabbed his face.

Howling in pain as I seared face permanently, two pairs of hands grabbed him and pulled him back.

"I will kill you!!", he howled, "I swear your soul will be mine!!"

Before I could respond the portal closed in front of me. With a snap of my fingers, both the Kaijinryu and the Cruel Sun vanished. I was a bit upset that they got away, but I knew where they fled which was fine. The inability of the Elders God to kill this man irritated me, they should have killed him a long time ago instead of cursing him. He was a constant threat to the mortals of their world, but they did nothing to stop him. Letting that go for now, I returned my attention to Ryuu. Removing the cocoon, I caught her as she fell out of it.

"Take it easy, he took several hundred years off your lifespan.", I told her as I held her.

"Thank you...", she said starting to sniffle, "I...I thought...I thought you were going to actually kill me. I thought I was ready, but...I don't want to die!!"

"No one wants to die, it was brave of you to offer that to save your friends.", I praised her as I carried her over to them.

"Hold on...could you be the person the kids called the Dungeon Guardian?", Kaguya inquired as her eyes lit up with excitement, "You...you match the description of what they told everyone!"

"Yes, I saved a lot of kids from a shit ton of asshole Adventurers.", I said with a grin, "You may think I am an ass for killing them, but anyone that uses children as bait deserves to to die."

Instead of berating me, many of the Adventurers came forward to shake my hand. Apparently many in the Slums worshipped me as a Guardian Deity because of what I had done. Many of the Adventurers I killed were responsible for much of their suffering, and saving the children only made me even more of savior in their eyes.

"Does Astraea and the other deities know?", Alice asked.

"Some do, some don't.", I chuckled, "It's not like I wanted to keep it a secret, but it was easier to do my work with an air of secrecy."

"You should have told us!!", Lily and Bella pouted.

"Are you a Spirit?", Ais inquired.

"No, I am a Seraphim.", I told her, "I am a being that exists the Deities all of you know personally. As you probably heard, I am the one in charge of this world as a whole. In essence, all the deities work for me and draw their power from me. That is how I shattered Erebus' Arcanum so easily, I simply cut him off. Anyways lets get everyone top side so you can relieve the worries of the people waiting for you."

Teleporting us back up to the surface, I used Ark to heal the Adventurers. At this point I didn't care if my identity was blown, the need for secrecy had passed so I was fine with people seeing. Not only that, the Adventurers would have told the public anyways. I could have used Mind Wiping Magic, but it would have been hard to explain away to public at large. Getting into Babel as quickly as I could, I knew it wouldn't be long before a crowd gathered as word spread.

---Freya's Room---

"The enemy was from another world!?", Astraea asked as we walked into Freya's Room.

Having offered the use of her room to facilitate talks, several deities had come to listen to the details of my findings. Changing back into my Base Form since it was overwhelming for the deities, I started explaining things.

"Yes, it was a group of breed killing machines called Tarkata. They were led here by a man name Shang Tsung and their general Baraka. I am not 100% sure what they were doing in the Dungeon, but I will look into it further. The biggest issue right now is Ryuu...", I told her as I laid the Elf on the couch, "Shang Tsung was cursed by beings called Elder Gods in his world, he ages incredibly fast so he uses the Life Force of other living people to sustain himself. An Elf like Ryuu...he would see her as a very rich source of life given an Elf's long life spans. He stole nearly seven hundred years from Ryuu in total, I am surprised that she didn't die from shock."

"Is there anything you can do!?", Astraea panicked looking at her child, "Please, I will pay whatever you want."

"I should be able to restore it, that said you should never use words like that.", I said with a smile, "If I was like Zeus or Hermes I might have taken advantage of you. In this situation, you are important people to Bella and Lily so you don't need to worry about it."

"I resent that!", Hermes laughed.

"Please...you know it's true.", Ishtar snickered.

"She's not wrong.", Freya giggled.

"Never thought I would see the day the two of you would agree on something.", Zeus sighed.

Taking eight souls out from the Tarkata I killed, I carefully siphoned off the life energy within them and redirected it into Ryuu. Writhing around in pain as the years returned to her, she dug her nails into the sofa as she started to cry. The pain was intense as her soul was unstable due to having so much life drained away not that long ago.

"Almost done.", I told her.

Once I was finished, she started sweating heavily as her breathing started to level off and her skin color started to return to normal. Thanking me, she tried to sit up but I forced her to stay down. I may have restored her life span, but the damage to her was still there. Her soul would be unstable for a few days as it balanced itself out so she needed to rest for now.

"So we need to be careful then.", Freya said offering me some tea, "What can you tell us about this Shang Tsung?"

"He's technically a subordinate of a God named Shao Kahn. He isn't the sort of man any deity of this world wants to encounter, he is a bloodthirsty conqueror that has no problem kill anyone...whether that is a man, woman, or child.", I stated, "He oversees a place called Outworld in his universe, and has led armies to conqueror other worlds within his universe."

"So then...he could be planin to take ours too.", Loki said.

"Yes, and he would kill every single deity in his way. As a God he could get to you in Heaven, and-", I started to say.

"Let's not think about that...", Loki pleaded with a pale look.

"Can we negotiate with him?", Ishtar questioned.

"His version is complete and unconditional surrender, if you surrender to him...you all would be used as breeding stock to increase the power of his army.", I told her.

Telling them that we could try to negotiate with the Elder Gods themselves, I said that would only go so far. The Elder Gods would only help so much, and even they would demand payment of some kind. In all likelihood I would need to step in directly to handle this, but that gave me an idea.

'Killing him would mean Sindel would be single, I could get behind having a MILF like that in my harem. That personality would mesh well with Irene, and...hehe she'd be a fiery lover.', I thought, 'I can already see having the two of them in my arms at night. That does it, he's going to be a dead motherfucker!'

"Can you arrange the meeting?", Ishtar asked.

"Yes, a word of warning though...send two representatives with me and let me do the talking. The Elder Gods aren't as whimsical as you are, they will kill or curse you if you upset them.", I advised.

"Well you'd be there to protect us, right?", Freya laughed.

"Yeah, you wouldn't let my beauty be turned to dust right?", Loki said as she hugged me from behind.

"How adorable, I think you meant to do something like this.", Ishtar said enveloping part of my arm between her breasts, "Your arms are too big for this work...I doubt even Hestia or Demeter could do it either..."

"You wanna go!?", Loki huffed.

Telling them to stop it, I said what mattered more was who they were attached too...not how big they were. A woman could have a large rack and still be a bitch, and I didn't want anything to do with a bitch. Strong, proud women were my preferred type, I liked them because they were the type you could get raunchy with without them clamming up.

"Hehe, so I must be a-", Loki started to say.

"A one.", Freya and Ishtar laughed.

"Fuck you!", Loki spat.

Chuckling at that, I told them to have a meeting with the Deities in the city to see who they would send with me. I would ensure their safety, but to give us the best chance they needed to let me do the talking. Agreeing to that, they set about making that happen while I took the Astraea Familia back to Stardust Garden.

---That Evening---

Meeting Ishtar for dinner at her residence, oddly enough she had none of her guards around. Having two glasses and a bottle of wine on ice, she seemed to be setting the mood for tonight. Taking a seat, she gave me a smile as she poured me a glass. Confirming the glass and wine weren't drugged, I offered a toast and took a sip.

"I hope you like it, it's from the Amazon Nation.", she said with a pleasant smile.

"It's very good.", I replied, "How did the meeting go?"

"Apollo and Zeus will go, it was decided by vote they were the most disposable.", she laughed.

"I can see that, but I was hoping to have at least one Goddess go.", I chuckled.

"I am sure you did, it's going to be rough with those two.", she admitted setting her glass down, "How about I cheer you up? I am the Goddess of Beauty after all, I can make sure you are rewarded properly."

"As I said before, I don't share my women with anyone.", I told her, "If you are serious, I want you to swear to it. You should also know, I fully plan to take Freya and Aqua as well. Call me greedy if you want, but I know what I want."

Thinking it over for a moment, she came to a resolution. As much as she hated most other Goddesses, this wasn't something she would walk away from. An adventure filled life with Mael was worth becoming part of a harem, especially if she could travel to other worlds like Freya and Loki had talked about.

"Very well, I swear on my soul to be your partner only. I ask that I maintain my authority in my Familia though.", she said firmly.

"This empire you built is yours, I don't want it. You built this with a lot of effort, I am not the type of guy that's going to relegate you to a housewife. Keep doing what you want, I just want your faithfulness and loyalty.", I assured her.

Getting up, she walked over to me and took my hand. I hadn't intended to lose my virginity tonight, but I was okay with this. I had purposefully left her out of the dates I took Loki and Freya on because I knew it would increase the chances of her accepting being part of a harem. Now that she was willing to compromise, I was more than happy to enjoy this.