47

I was awakened by small hands shaking my boney shoulder. Rolling over with faint groans of protest, I opened my eyes. A benefit of being a Monster was that I didn't get gunk in my eyes or mouth breath after waking up.

Looking up, I saw the figure of Komainu standing over my bed with a broad grin on her face. Grabbing my covers, I rolled back over and threw them over my head. My impudence was promptly punished as she jumped on the bed.

Letting out a sharp cough, I lifted the covers and dropped them over her before pulling them down and pushing her flat against the bed. I then rolled out of bed and stood up with a slight smile.

Komainu emerged from the covers, grinning, and we looked at each before laughing. A bit of roughhousing was fun so long as nobody took it too far.

Scratching my sternum, I realized that Alter Self had run out over my sleep. Checking my mental clock, it was around eleven in the morning. I had gotten only a few hours of sleep, but I wasn't tired, presumably due to the effects of being both an undead and a Monster.

"So what do you need, Komainu?" I asked while settling on the bed next to her. Leaning into me, she replied. "I want you to meet my friends today. Miss Ran wants to see you as well."

The name Ran pinged something in my memory. That name sounded familiar but was frustrating out of reach. Shaking my head, I turned back to face Komainu.

"I have a bit of work I need to do today, but I can meet your friends sometime later today. Also, who is Ran, and why does she want to see me?"

In response, Komainu jumped off the bed and spun to face me. "Miss Ran is great! She taught me many things and allowed me to meet my friends." Her voice took on a more sad tone as she continued. "She also works for Scary Lady, but that's ok. I won't hold that against her!" She finished with more of her usual cheer.

Rubbing her head, I smiled indulgently at her cheer as my mind raced. It was frustrating and welcoming not to know everything for once. It was annoying that I didn't know who this 'Scary Lady' or Ran person was, but it was nice that I couldn't overthink in an attempt to manipulate people I had seen from the other end of the screen.

Removing my hand from her head, I shooed her off. "I need to get dressed before heading out. Feel free to laze around here. I'll let you know when I'm ready to head out."

Nodding her head, Komainu darted out of the room and closed the door shut behind her, just a hair too hard, resulting in a loud bang. "Sorry!" She shouted from behind the closed door before I heard the sounds of her feet running off.

Getting dressed was a simple process. I grabbed my dirty clothes from the other day and cast Presdaditation on them to ensure they were clean. I then put them on and summoned my robes and parasol.

I did not need shoes, and I liked the feeling of grass on my feet. Add on the fact that I was incredibly durable to non-sapient effects, and I didn't have to worry about stubbing my toe or scraping my feet.

Striding out of my room, parasol over my shoulder, I headed outside. I could see that the last simulacrum I sent to my original world had returned triumphant and hefting large bags of Dust.

"Hey, Boss! We managed to set up a large Dust farm." The one on the right shouted while retrieving more bags from the Gate of Babylon. In short order, I had five massive bags of Dust, each easily up to my waist and filled with the wondrous nanomachines.

"That's wonderful; I want you to take at least half of it and use it to expand the farm; just be careful. I don't want anybody else trying to get their hands on it." I said while waving my parasol and casting Telekanisis to lift up the bags.

"We set it up in the Atlantic Ocean." Said the other simulacrum as he followed behind me. "It was a pain, but given its location in comparison to any other landmarks, I doubt it will be found."

"Wonderful," I said as I dropped off the bags by the forge and turned around to face them. "Seriously, what you did is great, as our bottleneck for the deal with Patchouli was the Dust supply."

Giving each other a high five, they grabbed two of the bags and dumped them in the Gate before floating off. Turning to the other slacking simulacrum, I sighed as I knew what I now needed to do.

The simulacrum didn't get powers along with me, so every so often, I had to remake them, which was a pain in the ass. It was worth it for the free labor but still irritating.

Clearing my throat, I shouted to ensure my voice was heard by all in my domain. "Simulacrum, come here. I have a job for you all to do!" In short order, I had the other two in front of me.

Giving them an apologetic nod, I pulled apart the mana that made up their form, causing them to vanish. I then spent the time creating two new simulacra, which were promptly named 13.0 and 14.0.

"I need you to refine the containment circles; I'm not getting nearly the amount I could be, and they're inefficient as hell. Use whatever you see fit, even the Lunar devices. I want to ensure nothing can break out while giving me the most mana."

They were off with a nod and a salute, muttering to each other about upgrades and how best to utilize conceptually pure materials. I then realized I would have to improve my ruby if I didn't want to blow up the second I ran power through it.

As I was preparing the forge, I felt the Grimoire grow, and I stopped to see if anything would happen. I was confused when the energy was burnt away, but nothing happened.

Even on the more minor powers, I felt some tingle or sign that the energy was expended. Stepping back from the forge, I looked around to see if it was a new location in my home but spotted nothing.

When I turned back to my forge, I saw a tall bearded redhead running a hand over the tools at my forge. He was dressed in threadbare pants and a red shirt with white sleeves. Over his shoulder, he had a guitar.

Raising my parasol, I pointed it at him. "Who are you, and why are you here?" I said in a firm voice, ready to open fire if need be. His back facing me, he waved his arm in a dismissive motion while speaking. "You know who I am."

My parasol wavered slightly in confusion as I replied. "I have no clue-" I was cut off as the man turned around and peered into my eyes with his burning blue ones. People say that eyes are the window to the soul, and at that moment, I understood and saw.

A meteor slamming into a young Earth, blanketing the planet in a cloud of ash. A flood sweeping across the planet with only a single boat above it all. A volcano exploding and covering a city in magma and ash. Cannon fire bringing down castle walls. A second sun blossoming in a city. The world bathed in nuclear fire. A star exploding and obliterating everything around it for light-years.

Stumbling back, my throat closed as I realized what stood before me. It was none other than Destruction of the Endless, the prodigal brother who fled from his duties during the rise of reason.

Meeting his gaze again, I realized his eyes weren't simply blue. They were the blue of a burning star that melted everything around it. His shoulders slumped as he took in my reaction before shaking that aside and attempting to smile at me.

"Hello, as you already know, I'm Destruction, here to give you power. That can wait a bit as I have some time if you want to take a breath." He gestured to the small stool I had set up to sit upon if I wanted to take a break while forging.

Sitting down, I placed my head in my hands and rubbed my head before looking back up at Destruction. "I know your here for the powers, but how and why?" I asked. He leaned up against the forge before speaking.

"The why is very simple. Around the seventeenth century, when I left, I met an old vampire. He had a head full of white hair and eyes of red. I never got his name, but he asked for my help, saying that he and others were working to fight against our greatest enemy."

The description didn't remind me of anything, and while I wanted to ask more questions, I kept my mouth shut and allowed him to continue without any interruptions.

"He said that he was asking me first as what they wanted to do embodied me the greatest, and if I was willing to help, my siblings would be more willing to assist. I agreed for a chance to ruin perhaps the greatest act of destruction that might happen."

"In addition, I have only granted my aid a few dozen times to wielders of that grimoire, and I like to at least meet them before I offer the power. At the end of the day, that is why I am meeting you, to offer you a chance to back out from this power."

Looking at him, I was stunned. This was the first time I had an offer to not accept the powers I was being given. The Grimoire had shoved so many strange and abnormal changes down my throat that it had never crossed my mind that I might someday be able to say no.

Frowning, I gave him my response. "I'm afraid I can't say no. I might need what your offering." Sighing, he stood back up like he expected that. Destruction then reached out his hand to give me a shake.

As our hands shook, he apologized. "My apologies, but this will feel a bit strange." I then felt a strange pulse in my chest before I collapsed backward on the ground, twitching as that pulse radiated out and sent energy shuddering through my body before bouncing around my eyesockets and focusing there.

As I opened my eyes, I slammed them shut again. I could see patterns in the air swirling around me. Even closing my eyes didn't work, as that was me turning off my sight; I could still sense around me.

Slowing opening my eyes, I could almost see strange points and lines in the air. Turning my head to my house, I saw a point in the bottom right and knew instinctively that if I were to hit that location, it would send the entire house crashing down. These points extended to the Lunar devices and the treeline that showed the end of my home.

Summoning the Grimoire to my side, I froze as I looked at it. In the few minutes I had this power, I had seen that everything from perfect Lunar machines to entire pocket dimensions had a weak point where a good few hits could cause it to break apart.

The Grimoire had a point, but it was flitting around inside the book so fast that only my servant-level Clayrvoince allowed me to keep track of it.

As the Grimoire expanded, I saw the energy flowing through that weak point. I could now see how the energy coiled around inside the Grimoire by following its weak point. Setting aside the Grimoire, I shook my hands and returned to the forge. I had items to forge.

Powers Gained

Blessing Without End

Blessing of Destruction: Destruction is a strange being. Having long since grown tired of his duty as the embodiment of destruction and abandoned it to instead pursue (very flawed, due to his nature as the opposite) attempts at creation instead. With his favor, you gain insight into the structure of all things, and more to the point, the weakest points in the structures. Whenever you wish to destroy something, be it a simple physical object, a vast conspiracy, or something more abstract, you will always know where it is most vulnerable.