C62: Haruhime, Ishtar, Cold-blooded Murder

Word count = 2782 on 4/5/2024

Axel and Welf spent the next 3 days straight in the forge. Senji almost broke his way inside to get Welf out for his lessons but upon extending his senses, he realized the same thing that Axel did before they got started.

Welf found his resolve. His spark, his drive.

With no true limit to his future progress, he lets the duo continue their work. Even when there was the weekly magic shopping day, sounds of hammering could be heard as the duo never stopped. News spread that Axel was creating some sort of major magic artifact and wonder arose if this was the start of his legend.

Unfortunately the duo only got halfway through the work before Welf collapsed. He had to be taken away by Mash and Adelaide to be nursed back to health. Axel himself struggled to finish the project himself as it would take another few days and even longer by himself.

As for what they worked on? On the first day they had finally created the unique alloy of Iron, copper, tin, gold and silver. The Tilkal alloy from the elf shades memory. On the second day, they tried to make various magic items and weapons out of it and found that it was not what Axel wanted for his project. So he gave the rest of it to Welf as he found that magic swords lasted twice as long with this metal. Since they both know how to make it now, they could easily create this by themselves.

On the third day, Axel proposed an absurd idea of merging mithril and adamantium together just like they did for the Tilkal alloy. Axel worked on the mithril while Welf did the Adamantium, they then merged them together but only a small chunk of it succeeded in the end when Welf finally collapsed from overwork and starvation.

Axel holds the newly merged plate of magic metal in his hand, a slight sign of fanaticism as Celebrimbor wants to overtake his body to simply swallow the metal for his own usage. Axel eventually stores it away as he too is growing tired and hungry. He could last another day or two but his strength is waning rapidly at this rate. He heads home with Mash's help. Eating lunch for breakfast, he is surprised to find that Haruhime is sitting in their living room.

He eats half his meal before scooting over to the couch opposite of her. She gets up to bow to him since he approached her, "Hello Sir Axel"

"Just Axel is fine. We aren't fully strangers, relax a bit" She nods in understanding and leans back against the sofa.

Axel takes a bit of his meal and once he swallows it down, he asks. "So, what has caused you to come here?"

"She is here for you my darling boy. You might not have heard but your name is spreading around the last few days due to you beating up the Ishtar Familia. Their goddess had filed a report of kidnapping against you for Haruhime as well as crippling their level 5 captain. It's said that they became a proper level 1 again after you summoned a dragon to bite into her. Luckily, Takemikazuchi was faster and had already laid a claim that the Ishtar Familia had participated in the smuggling ring of Orario which is how they got their hands on Haruhime, thus nullifying their claim. The guild had investigated them but had only found little evidence as it had already been a year or two since Haruhime was brought here which means they had the time to cover their tracks."

Raikou explains the situation and once she finishes, cracking is heard from Axel's hands as upon clenching them, he causes them to release a satisfying crack. "What else happened?"

Axel contains himself as he asks, Raikou continues as she sits down and pats Haruhime's head. "The situation ended up forcing Haruhime to personally recount how her escorts were killed by unknown bandits before she was tied up and brought to Orario. As the smuggling could not be accounted for. The guild sought out the mercenary organization that had protected Haruhime in that time. The deaths of those members were found and Haruhime herself was missing at that time. Thus the Ishtar Familia was punished for even having Haruhime in the first place. The guild also cleaned itself up a bit as they found that one male member was charmed by the goddess to help get her adventuring paperwork in. Her only saving grace was Aisha Belka, the third in command of the Familia who had looked over the poor girl and had even originally stalled their plans since Haruhime told me in private how they were planning to sacrifice her. "

Axel relaxes a bit, though his fury ran higher due to mention of a sacrifice, he did notice that the fox girl's mood was a bit low when Raikou mentioned the ambush and retelling the story. It seems to have left quite the impact on her. He awaits for his lovely saintess to finish the story. "As such, Ishtar was forced to free Haruhime before the members of the guild as well as Takemikazuchi. She is now a free girl"

"Congratulations Haruhime. But I am once again confused as to why you are here?"

"Go on, show him" Raikou encourages Haruhime as she blushes heavily before turning around and undressing a bit to reveal her back. Axel can clearly see the Trifecta falna upon her. He recognizes Raikou's but the other two he doesnt. Axel is still surprised overall and asks.

"So who is the main 'god' of your new familia Haruhime? And why did you not join the Takemikazuchi familia? We could still have adventures together if you wanted to."

"She is a member of our familia. She is my daughter now." Raikou states as she cuddles against the fox which sends her blushing again due to Raikou's pair of Cough. Cough.

Axel now has a bewildered expression as Raikou had not accepted anyone else into their familia, even when hundreds of Orario citizens begged to join their familia she had denied them to monopolize Axel for herself. This is the reason for his shock but once he calms down, he believes he might have an idea of why this might be the case but until it's confirmed it would just be a theory of his.

Haruhime soon passes out from overstimulation and Raikou giggles as she takes Haruhime to her own room. She then comes back to sit next to Axel.

"Has there been any other news?" Raikou pauses in her attempt to hug Axel as well, she puffs up her cheeks in a pout before mumbling about how the Ishtar Familia has been rapidly losing ground to Paradiso and the other love goddess of the Red light district. It had supposedly started upon hearing that the captain of that annoying goddesses familia was defeated but customers pretty much stopped visiting their establishments except for those devout fans.

Ishtar lost a lot of ground but they never retaliated for some reason. Axel tells Raikou that he plans to snoop around a bit in their leftover territory to find out what they are up to. Raikou warns, "You better not be sleeping around or bringing back any other woman this time around" Axel salutes and then changes his clothing to be less conspicuous.

Spending a small bit of time to get to the red light district, he finds that there are amazonian guards protecting the entrance. He could think of a few reasons why this might be the case. One is that they may try to delay any official guild members from any investigation. Two is that they are trying to solicit customers early but it's the middle of the day when they are much less active so that is unlikely. The last case is that they are on the lookout for either him, Haruhime or any other threat to relay to their members.

Believing the third situation to be the case, he sneaks around, using his 'parasytic' flexibility to get through gaps and avoid surveillance as he spots tens of other members on the lookout. He spends quite a bit of time getting around all of them and finally gets to the Ishtar home, Belit Babili (Name meaning = Godly Brothel of the Mistress).

He continues sneaking around until he might find the goddess or her office room. It takes a few minutes since they also have plenty of wandering guards around the building. Axel soon finds the goddess herself. She seems to be talking to the third strongest member of the familia. He slinks over near the window, putting his ear against the door to listen in. luckily it seems they have just met.

"Are you sure it's positive?"

"For the last time, Yes. I've done the ritualistic test at least 3 times so far because no one believed me. Must I do another before you as well, my goddess" The Executive responds with a note of annoyance and sarcasm.

"You will know more for certain when I take a regular test in a week or so."

"And you're sure it's his?" Ishtar attempts to confirm, annoyance and stress in her own voice.

"If anyone else can fuck me as hard as Axel Gram then id be uncertain. Ugh '' The Executive lets out a latent groan as they hold their stomach.

"Why did you bring this matter up yourself to me? Why did I hear this from the others who were with you that night?"

"The matters of me having a baby are on me and not you"

Clinging and crashing sounds are heard as if something was wrong. Axel cuts open a small slit to see inside to find that the goddess Ishtar has thrown her glass onto the floor along with knocked over her own chair to approach the executive and grab her face.

"Must I remind you what happened the last time you went against me" Aisha Belka, the commander of the Berbera force under Ishtar, shakes at the threat. Axel feels he has heard and seen enough. He oozes his way inside through the crack he made. Standing just behind the vice-captain of the Ishtar Familia as he is unaware of Axel due to making no sound.

He expands his flesh to stretch until he can cover up the arms, legs and head of the 2nd in command. Once he is adequately flabby. He simultaneously grabs his legs to lift him up, his arms so he doesnt do any rash movement and his whole head to nullify any sounds before rapidly snapping his neck. The multiple layers of skin and fat allowed this to happen as well as the ceramic coating since Ceramic is a very good insulator of sound.

Aisha who was forced to kneel before Ishtar witnesses the scene of fleshy peach tentacles transforming into a person who then expanded again before killing a person. This was all soundless so the goddess who doesnt dein to turn around stays unaware of the threat before them. To hide her own surprise and fear, Aisha puts her head down which the goddess believes is a sign of submission.

SLAP.

Ishtar slaps Aisha across her face to reaffirm this submission, when she gets no response she speaks "Good, now tell me what you will do once the baby is born?"

"We will lovingly raise the child to be the best at what they want to be" The sudden response of an unknown voice causes Ishtar to jump a bit before she turns around in horror at the intruder as well as the dead body of her own aid and second in command lying on the floor. She shakes as she clearly takes in the features of the Titan.

"A-Axel G…Gram" She stutters and backs away but Axel is much faster and soon enough grabs her by the throat, lifting her up off the ground.

"On one hand, I'm thankful for telling me that I have another child on the way. On the other hand, what would you have planned for that child if I never found out?"

Aisha has a shamed expression on her face as she reveals the details, "The child would likely be raised in this familia, grown with all the resources we could give until the Freya familia was surpassed and destroyed by the child. Likely the other forces in the red light district would have been taken down as well or at least kicked out."

"S…hut…..up" Ishtar tries to say but she can only weeze it out as Axel's grip tightens around her throat.

"I see, you know, there is a popular saying about how not to judge a book by its cover but 'Goddess' Ishtar, I find you ugly on both the inside and outside. Even if such a thing came to pass, I would step in regardless to ensure both my children do not fight to the death because of you."

His words confirm to Ishtar that he already gave a baby to Freya and that they would have likely fought if Axel had not interfered now or later. She pales even further knowing that her dream of surpassing Freya as the most beautiful would not come to fruition. Though she retains hope in charming Axel herself to be released and spared.

The charm aura is put into effect onto Axel, Aisha who recognizes the power that haunted her is about to speak up but remembers that Ishtar told her to shut up so she cant talk for some time or is given permission. As such she rushes forward to pull Axel away but finds him standing still, his face passive with a hint of annoyance.

Axel slams the goddess into the bookshelf behind her which stuns her and cancels the charm. "Weak, disgusting. Useless goddess." His words are like cannon shells tearing through her body as she squirms to get out of his hold but he remains steadfast.

In fact her efforts are futile as he has been channeling Gluttony since he grabbed her. It had been a minor dose but with her current struggle, he has massively increased it. Her cheeks sink in, muscles thin out, caramel skin turns old and a bit ashy. Her appearance turns into nothing more than an old hag from a bog.

A strange energy flows into Axel from Ishtar, different from the charm energy she had just attempted to shove into him. This is more akin to divine energy as his stats are rapidly elevated and his soul quenched and filled by the energy.

A desire for more of this energy arises and Axel overly shoves his gluttony aura into her body, her mouth, pores. Every hole was a goal due to this desire. Ishtar herself is groaning in pain as she can feel the energy seep into her body, destroying it bit by bit but it doesnt stop there. Afterall, Gluttony has been provided the knowledge of soul restraining which it had been using this entire time to suppress Axel's own soul.

It thus makes it no difference as the gluttonous energy hovers around Ishtar's own divine essence and soul. Black chains are created that wrap around this essence and begin to drain it. Axel himself is covered in a strange voluminous bubble that orbits around him. Small tidbits flowing out of him and into the surroundings.

"N..ooooo. Speh.are….me"(Spare me), Ishtar groans as she falls on her knees, her body turning to dust as a golden circle appears around her which would typically bring her divine soul back to heaven but the black aura which had already restrained it instead seeps into the aura. Absorbing the ambient divine energy in the light.

Everyone in the city can witness the divine golden light rapidly turn black and dissipate. Many gods and saints are aware of what it means for a god to die but the black change is a surprise to all as they can only theorize that someone happened to the god that caused it to fail, which means a permanent death. Many mortals witnessed this in wonder and terror since they had seen how the god Apollo ascended and how 'different' it was.

Axel himself is shaking a bit as his body deals with the rebellious energy inside him.

"Grrr. hcech" Axel groans a bit in pain before stomping it down, he turns to the pale Aisha.

"Let's go, you need a new familia now right?"

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