82 Dragons of Underworld
"What is going on!? The entire place is shutting down!!!" The angels are going crazy. The Heaven system, which is at the core of Heaven, is shutting down.
That means how will heaven operate!? They can't! The flow of souls, heaven itself, and the layers will cease to work! Everything will shut down.
Worst case, the planes and the layers of heaven will collapse!
"I don't know! One moment, it was fine! The next second, it just stopped working! The souls of the dead stopped entering heaven! As if someone is diverting them!" Michael said with a worried look. Cold sweat was rolling down his forehead. He couldn't believe what he was seeing!
"This is bad. If this continues, we will start losing the integrity of heaven itself!"
Heaven's system decides how the layers work and how they are secured.
At this moment, they are like a spaceship that has lost its fuel, and systems are starting to fall apart!
The angels were panicking. They don't have proper guidance regarding this! What should they do!?
"I-I-I have no choice! I will need to contact him!"
Michael swallowed whatever reluctance he had and decided to contact the only person he knows has some sort of understanding about the heaven system.
Marcus Goldman can interact with Sacred Gears and, by this point, has built an enormous techno faction.
On top of it, he is waging war in the Underworld. That is proof enough that he is capable.
However, the leader of Heaven is fearing what the man could ask him.
He witnessed his destructive power; the man is fickle and can easily take offence. If he desires Heaven, how can they resist him?
"Are you sure?" Uriel asked with a frown.
"I have no choice! If heaven falls apart, our faction is finished!" Michael exclaimed with a worried tone. They have two choices: either do nothing and let heaven dissolve or speak with Marcus, who could potentially demand things from them!
"Brother, I am coming with you," Gabriel said seriously.
"...fine."
Seconds later, the pair of Archangels disappeared.
'It appears we were not left unscathed. Fallen, Devils, and now us. The entire Biblical faction barely continues to exist.' Uriel thought to himself as he looked at the grey orb. The light which shone for thousands of years is now gone.
~~~~~~Meanwhile~~~~~~
Ars Almadel Salomonis rotated its barrel and proceeded to shoot cubes into the Underworld via the wormhole.
The cubes were Diamond Core Hearts. They will be land in specific areas designated for the development of the Underworld.
With so much land, his Technocracy is rapidly expanding. First, it was the devil continent, which Marcus dubbed the small continent in the east hemisphere.
Three cubes landed there as they started to open up and revealed Aurora bots, which began to boot up and start working on creating the infrastructure for a town.
Other cubes landed in places like Gusion wilderness, a massive forest where magical beasts are rooming for hundreds of years without anyone interfering.
The rest of them landed in distinctive lands like a desert, icy wasteland, not far from a volcano.
On top of that, Marcus started to impose his will. One of the things he went to see was a pair of Dragon Kings living in his Underworld.
The first one was in Familiar Forest.
As the Confiscator flew over the forest, the ship's sensors noticed that the Evil Gods did not touch these lands.
"Peculiar, don't you think?" Marcus asked his wife-to-be as they were looking over the forest below.
"Familiar Forest is an intricate and well-connected place to the broader world.
Devils make beasts of this forest into their familiars, as did every single mage in the world. Not even Evil Gods know what could happen if they attacked this place."
"Now that is amusing."
"They were not ready to provoke everyone. Or, Angra Mainyu had plans for this place."
"I am more inclined that my 'rival' wanted to do something to this place. Maybe like a garden, you know how humans have a vegetable garden, he would have had this. From what I saw, he could add abilities and powers to himself."
"I suppose you are right. That makes more sense to me." Athena nodded at his theory.
"Regardless, we are here to acquire Tiamat." As Marcus said that, he walked towards the lift, which would take him to the hangar deck.
…
…
…
Gunships carrying Marcus' group landed not far from a cave. It was a large one, and from the source, he knew Tiamat was a giant blue western dragon.
***ROAR***
With a roar, a pair of yellow eyes with slits opened and looked at Marcus, who was leading the group.
"Human, what do you want?"
"I am Marcus Goldman—the successor of Solomon and the ruler of the Underworld and Hell.
"So the war is over. To think that humans would win a war waged by Hell Gods, Fallen and Devils."
As the dragon said that, with a burst of blue glow, the dragon transformed into a blue-haired female with a heroic aura. She walked over to them.
"What does the 'Overlord' want from me?" She asked him while crossing her arms under considerable burst.
"Establish communications, Tiamat."
"Oh?"
"From the aura, I sense from you. Your type doesn't care about pre-established rules." As she said that, her eyes went to a pair of gods following him. One of them even had a maid uniform.
That tells Tiamat enough that this human is dangerous if he has Gods in that kind of get-up.
"Correct. I don't know who placed you as a guard of this place, but I am putting a garrison here. Familiars will be counted and organised. Of course, I will uphold the sanctity of familiar contracts." Marcus said with a serious tone. He won't be stripping contracts already established. As a gamer at heart, Pokemon collections are a sacred thing.
"I see. How about this, then, we fight. You win. I am your familiar, and if I win, you leave." She said with a challenging tone.
"Tiamat, are you sure?" Athena got her attention.
"Goddess Athena, I am sure. I am a Dragon King; if I go out, I will go out with a bang." As she said that, her form once again shifted, and she became a large blue western dragon.
"You are one wild woman.— I don't like that." Marcus replied with an annoyed tone. This dragon didn't wait for an answer.
"And I don't care!"
As she said that, her mouth opened, and Tiamat released a torrent of flames.
Marcus simply raised his hand, and the flames stopped mid flight.
"Let me teach you about 'care'." He softly told her.
The soft tone of his voice made her feel a certain dread, which is why she tried to slice him with her front limbs.
But once again, an invisible force stopped the attack midway.
"You still need much to learn. A pebble can't move a mountain."
With a flick of his finger, he sent her flying, the flames midday ceased to exist, and the dragon rolled out from the vicinity.
"My Master, I thank you for dulling my dragon pride." Gu Yuena decided to thank her creator for 'fixing' her pride because she CAN sense the familiarity and sympathise with Tiamat. But unlike Tiamat, she knows when to pull out.
"Don't mention that. Now, if you excuse me, I need to 'break in' my familiar. It appears she doesn't have a shred of decency."
With that said, he disappeared, and a second later, a loud slap spread through the area.
"Did he just slap a dragon?" Sirin commented when she heard that.
"...I guess he did."
"..."
'I should start a blog or something about the strangeness of my life.' The Herrscher recalled the video website in her previous world. She wonders if this place has something similar.
~~~
Marcus looked at the blue dragon, slowly standing up. The beast had a red cheek. The cheek was slightly inflated.
"That was just the beginning. I hope your scales are durable." The inventor slowly walked over to her side as one of his hands was in his pocket, and the other one was smoking as it was the one he used to slap.
Instead of replying to the dragon, she tried to swing at him with sharp claws.
But he just caught the claws with two fingers.
"Not bad; your claws are as sharp as your temper. But this is not enough." He squeezed the claw before using it to pick the whole dragon up into the air.
Tiamat's eyes widened as she realised this guy was on a completely different plane of existence!
Before she can struggle, he starts to slam her into the ground, then picks it up and slams into the other side. Rinse and repeat.
*SLAM**SLAM**SLAM*
After throwing her around, he released the claw and looked at his handiwork.
The Dragoness was twitching on the ground. As Marcus looked around, he saw that he created a dust cloud. To fix this, he just snapped his finger, and all of the dust was gone.
To confirm her situation, he walked over to her head and looked at her.
"Do you want to continue? I haven't tested out what maximum velocity a Dragon King can take."
To his comment, the dragoness slowly lifted her head and looked at him.
"If you think that—"
Before she can finish, he delivers a powerful punch which sends her flying right into mountains in the distance.
One second, she was here. The next second, a massive mountain in the distance exploded into bits and pieces.
"So it's around 20000 to 30000 thousand kilometres per second roughly." The inventor commented with a thoughtful voice as he gazed at the mountain
"Doing this without AI assistance is always so taxing. Thankfully, I don't have a concept of tiredness anymore." As he commented on that, he appeared next second, where Tiamat had landed.
With a hand motion, his purple aura surged as the stone blocks were sent flying away, revealing a bloody form of Tiamat.
"Do you want to continue?"
The dragon trembled; her mouth slowly opened as she showed her teeth. There was a defiant look.
"I see. So you think that overwhelming power means nothing to you. That is fine. Believe me. Raw strength is my weakest trait. I am considered weak when it comes to that.
My other abilities are far, far more substantial, for example—" With hand motion, he forcefully made her change her back into human form.
"...Y-You—" Tiamat was struggling to understand what was happening!
Before she can complain some more, she is chained up and brought over in front of him.
"I am going to spank that disobedience out of you." As he said that, there was a sadistic smile on his lip. A leather belt appeared in his hands.
"W-What are you t-talking about!?" Tiamat struggled, but her body didn't move; her mana didn't respond.
"Don't pretend to be naive, Tiamat, since you behave like a disobedient girl. It's up to me, your Master, to fix that." as he said that, she ended up being brought down and placed next to him, ready for spanking.
"-Y-You are not my M-Mast—*Oww!!!*" The blue-haired beauty couldn't contain her voice from that pain. Whatever that belt was, it was more than just a simple leather belt.
Not even previous injuries matter by this point!
"I didn't ask what you think." He once again smacked her rear with the belt.
"S-Stop! B-Be serious!!!"
*Smack*
"...S-Stop embarrassing me!"
*Smack*
"S-Stop! Damn it!"
*Smack*
"I-I am a Dragon King!!"
*Smack*
The more Tiamat tried to show a taught front, the more she received psionic-imbued belt smacks.
Those smacks were not just imbued to deal pain to the butt but attacked nerve receptors too. So, she is receiving pain directly to her brain.
Otherwise, a Dragon King like her would barely feel any sort of pain.
As Marcus was 'training' a dragon, the rest of the girls finally caught up to him. What they saw briefly confused them before they understood what he was doing.
The moment they understood the moment they started to blush from embarrassment.
"...W-What!?" Sirin's brain tried to process what she saw!
"...Figures." Artemis sighed as she massaged her forehead. Only Marcus can turn an over-the-top situation into a joke.
"...Yeah. I guess I should have seen this one coming." Athena pushed her glasses up as she was trying to think how it had come to this.
"I suppose he is used to me so much that he forgot that dragons are very proud." Gu Yuena said with crossed arms.
"Are you saying you are not proud?" Atalanta casually commented.
"...Your 'pokes' won't make me annoyed. You know well enough how I was designed." The Dragoness brushed her fingers through her long hair.
"I guess I do." The maid quickly dropped the idea of riling her up.
While the only one who looked highly interested was Nyx, the black-haired Primordial was itching to assist in delivering that punishment.
"...I wonder if I can assist him." The Primordial of Night commented with an excited tone.
"Maybe. You should ask him."
~~~
"I-I give! I Give! Please stop!" Tiamat couldn't take this. After several hours of pure torture, she felt her brain was getting numb from pain!
"Oh?"
Marcus stopped with smacks and released the hold.
The moment he did that, the Dragoness' legs gave in, and she collapsed to the ground.
"Are you saying that you were wrong and that you were begging for forgiveness?"
To his question, her lips trembled as she slowly nodded.
"I need to hear that verbal answer, or should I return to train my pet dragon?"
Her eyes widened in horror, and she swiftly got herself together.
"Y-Yes! I was wrong! I shouldn't have challenged you!"
"That much was obvious, but what else did you do that I need to punish you?" To his question, she looked confused and tried to think, but her brain was sluggish from all those smacks!
"...Ummm…"
"...Ummm…"
"Well?"
"..."
"..."
"..."
"I don't know?" She finally replied to his question, and her voice had some fear barely hidden.
"I see. I was far too efficient."
He walked over, crouched down and grabbed her chin, making her look at him. Her blue eyes tried to look away from his heated gaze.
"There is something called 'etiquette'. As my dragon pet, you will remember this next time, yes? Or should I treat you like a small child who needs 'training'?" His soft and nice tone only increased the horror factor for Tiamat, who started to pale.
She recalled that she tried to burn his entire group. It only made that horror magnify tenfold.
"I-I-I promise, I won't do this ever again!"
"Wonderful. It's so nice that we have an understanding. If you do a great job, I might tell you who is currently Ddraig's host." Marcus casually mentioned a tiny detail about Ddraig—the dragon that took a treasure from her and never returned.
Her eyes widened as she lost her haggard look and swiftly recovered. Standing up on her feet, Marcus followed. He was impressed by the durability of a dragon.
"Y-You know the current host of Ddraig!?"
"Of course. I even tinkered with the Sacred Gear."
His reply made her lips tremble. She was about to shake him, but her hands didn't move. It was awkward not being able to be overbearing.
"If you behave, my faction will provide you with as many treasures as you want."
"Fine. It's not that I have a choice."
"You had. But then you decided to discard it. It's not my fault you decided to fight."
For a second, she pouted at him. She tried to remark, but no words left her mouth. At the very last second, she controlled herself.
Phantom images of that belt made her control herself.
"I apologise."
"Good start. We might make a good maid out of you yet."
"!!!"
"M-M-Maid!?"
~~~~~~Later~~~~~~
After acquiring Tiamat, it was much easier with the other Dragon King. Tannin is much tamer.
"I wasn't expecting you to come to see me this quickly. I can guess that the war is over."
A purple dragon landed in front of Marcus. It was standing on its hind legs. The form of this dragon reminded the inventor of Dragonoids, instead of regular dragons, which are on four limbs or serpentine.
"You were expecting me?"
"Of course. I was following everyone's magical signatures the moment I sensed yours. I knew it was over for the other party." The Dragon King explained to Marcus.
"Any idea why Angra Mainyu didn't come here?"
"I can only guess. From what I recall, that creature had peculiar tastes. Maybe a collector or gardener? Keeping certain things as pets or harvest."
As the dragon said that, he looked at Marcus.
"That leaves me to ask you. What do you require, now that devils no longer rule this land? What do you need so that my kin could live here?"
"Cooperation. I am a collector and gardener, as you said." He motioned at his Silver-Haired dragoness, who came with him. She was interested in dragons around here.
"I have created her, as well as collected dragons like Albion, Ddraig, Tiamat, Fafnir, Vritra, Grendel, Apophis, Azi Dahaka, Ladon and Niðhöggr."
The purple dragon's eyes widened for a second. That was quite a collection!
"However, you can serve a far greater purpose. Your dragon preserve is far more valuable. I would want to invest in it."
"Invest? Like capital?"
"In simple terms, yes," Marcus said with a small smile; he snapped his fingers, and his knights brough over a table and a couple of chairs.
When the knights placed the chairs, he sat down and motioned for the dragon to do the same.
"I know well enough you have a human form. You kings are a step above the mundane dragons."
With a slightly confused frown, the Dragon King did just that. A purple glow surrounded him, and he turned into a middle-aged man with purple eyes and hair.
Once Tannin sat in his chair, the maids walked over, placed cups and prepared some tea.
The Dragon only now noticed that one of the maids is a literal Goddess. For a second, his heart skipped a beat from disbelief. A cold chill washed him. He looked at this human in front of him with a different kind of light.
"As you might have noticed, there are not many devils and fallen left in this world. I will be bringing some of them back, but the majority are dead.
So, as a big fan of dragonkin, I plan to expand your lands. Introduce more biomes." After saying that, Marcus took a sip of tea as he allowed the Dragon King to process what he just said.
What he said sounded good and nice, but there is a catch.
"But?"
"But, there will be observation posts. I am the leader of a Technocracy. A faction focused on development, research, and improvements.
I require basic statistics, nothing more, nothing less. We will improve dragon fruits, which your species requires.
Making it less taxing for growth."
"...Basic statistics, what does that entail?"
"Scanning of energy readings, documenting how fast dragons grow, and how their natures and types develop. Nothing intrusive. You can say we will be your hospital.
In future, I am planning to give your kin an entire planet."
The last words made Tannin nearly choke on his tea!
"...E-Entire planet!?"
"Yes. That is the end goal. We will watch how Technocracy clicks with your dragons. My goal is Dragon Knights." As he said that, he pulled out a tablet and showed him his early designs.
It was an armoured human riding an armoured dragon, and the other picture was a human with dragon armour similar to balance breakers.
"It will be another military branch in my Grand Army." After saying that, he placed the tablet aside.
"What you see is the end game here. Once your species recovers and has good enough numbers, of course, I will only take the ones who want to fight and bond with a human rider."
"Hmm…"
The Dragon King leaned into his chair and pondered.
"This is a good bargain. Fine, I have nothing to lose."
"Good." He snapped his fingers, and Atalanta walked over.
"Send a word; the observatories can be launched and the land allocated."
"Understood." She pulled out her tablet and pressed a few times on it.
Second later, a loud whistling sound followed as something like meteorites started to descend around the area.
There were at least five visible ones.
"...You work fast." Tannin realised that Marcus was ready for this.
"I have infrastructure prepared beforehand. If you ever wish to speak with me, Tannin, you can always contact me via the observatories.
Oh, and here, take this." The inventor handed over a piece of glass of some sort.
"This is?"
"A contract. You can see what we will do as observers. You can see the route of development." Marcus explained to him.
"I see." The moment he took a text appeared on the glass. The Dragon King started to read through the text.
After reading all of this, Tannin realised this was what the human had said to him. They will be a hospital to them.
"...But why?"
"I want to see if another Dragon Emperor can be produced, like how a large population of humans will eventually produce a genius."
"So that it could be added to your collection?"
"Of course. Once my observatory reads your energy signature, you will be part of it."
*Snort*
"You don't mince words, do you?" Tannin snorted at what he heard.
"I don't. I don't need to."
"Very well. It will happen as you say. I am amused that you decided to play this game."
"Game? Do you mean me coming to speak with you directly?"
"Indeed. I can see that you have beaten up Tiamat." Tannin motioned with his chin at Tiamat, who was dressed as a maid and standing in the line with other maids.
Tiamat didn't say anything, even when Tannin singled her out.
"She challenged my rule. I guess having a Primordial as a pet is not enough."
Marcus commented. His comment finally broke Tiamat's silence.
"I didn't know about that! Okay!? Lady Nyx wasn't emitting anything at that time!"
"Tehehe, I knew something fun would happen, so I didn't release my power~" Nyx, who was standing in the line, giggled. She remembered what Marcus did to the Dragoness.
"...You…" Tiamat's eyebrows twitched.
"What? Not my fault you challenged one of the strongest existence in our world." Nyx laughed while saying that.
"Ugh…"
As the Primordial was messing with Tiamat, who is another Dragon King, Marcus looked back at Tannin.
"I see. I wasn't expecting to see Lady Nyx, Goddess Athena and Goddess Artemis."
"Don't mind us, King Tannin. We are just followers of Marcus." Athena motioned for him to forget about them.
"...Right." With a slightly sweaty forehead, Tannin looked at Marcus, who was leisurely drinking his tea.
"As you can see, I am here because I am interested in Dragons. With my technomancy, I could have millions of dragons by this point. But I am going by nature to understand how dragons develop naturally.
You can say–they are windows to ancient beings like dinosaurs." Marcus spoke with some excitement here. There was a slight grin on his lips.
Tannin slowly nodded. So, it was his preference. Well, it's good for dragons.
After finishing his tea, the inventor stood up, and the dragon king followed after him.
"Well. It is good to meet the only Dragon King who cares for his race." Marcus offered his hand for a handshake.
Tannin followed his lead and took the hand for a handshake.
"This deal will help my kin to recover and prosper, so I have to thank you."
"Don't mention it. This arrangement is nothing more than part of my hobby."
"Hahaha, from what I understood, everything you do is part of your hobby."
Marcus, for a second, was reminded that this dragon is old and has experienced a lot to see through his character so quickly.
"You are quick to grasp."
"When you live long enough, you pick up a few things. Especially around old devils." Tannin said that with a knowing look.
"Oh, right. You were once the Queen of Mephistopheles. One of the first reincarnated devils, if my information is right."
"Indeed. So, I learned quickly to read between the lines."
"Is he still alive? I do know that there are a bunch of devils in the Human world, and many have tried to return to the Underworld. But the barrier Tartarus made is still in place. Honestly, it's one of the best gifts those primordials left." Marcus mentioned one of the best creations done by a Primordial. It's quite a nice piece of ritual he has seen for a while.
"Knowing him, he won't die that easily."
"Good. Regardless, if you need anything or have suggestions, visit one of the observations. Those outposts can alter and become invisible if need be. As I have written in the contract, this project can be adjusted when needed."
"My thanks."
~~~~~~Meanwhile on Earth~~~~~~
The Fallen angels are exploring the new place they will be staying. It was a floor apartment building. It was a refurbished soviet style apartment block.
It is made from concrete blocks. By this point, the only way people can recognise is how square-ish it was, nothing else. The insides range from single-room to three-room flats.
"Well, we have more space than I originally thought," Azazel commented as he saw the newest market available tech in the building.
"Honestly, I expected a more difficult challenge," Penemue said with a slight smirk as she looked around.
"Don't be fooled, Pene." Azazel swiftly made her smile disappear.
"We are set to lose."
"...Huh? Why did you say that?" She asked with surprise.
"For one, he set this up that one of his girlfriend's positions is threatened. That blonde girl is Latia Astaroth. She was not the head of the Astaroth clan before. It was Deodora Astaroth in the early hours of the war.
He mysteriously disappeared. The Hell forces were nowhere near that place.
The only thing reported was men in shining armour raiding Astaroth Castle.
Reports of guns which use the Power of Destruction, does that sound familiar to you?" Azazel asked with a strained smile.
"...Are you saying she killed her cousin?" Shemhazai, who was listening, looked surprised for a second.
"I don't know. But the only reason we are here is because Marcus Goldman decided to humour us. The blonde was looking annoyed. We have unlimited resources and a wide variety of which we could develop.
There are no set boundaries. We could make electronic weapons if we wanted—or biological weapons.
Nothing is specified for us; Marcus Goldman, from what I have seen so far, develops things according to his whims. Nothing is decided without his set parameters."
"...then you are saying that Latia Astaroth killed her cousin with his permission!?"
"I am confident he knows. However, I am not 100% certain. He is a control freak, and what we have here is opposite to a control freak."
"...You are right…" Shemhazai said with wide eyes he finally understood the angle.
"Then…"
"We have to surprise him and that cautious devil. It's the only hope we have. Otherwise, we will be caged like the devil race." Azazel concluded.
~~~
"Oh my. They have already seen through the Master's move." Jeanne said with a surprised tone as she was listening in.
The fallen might use magic to hide their voices. But this was the heart of their territory. Bubbles of magic are something the AI can see through.
"It appears so. Azazel was always the smartest of their race." Grayfia said with a frown. She stood next to Jeanne as they watched the building from a distance.
"So what next?"
"Aurora already notified Master that Azazel has seen through this. It was one of the challenges set by him. He knew that Azazel could potentially ask this.
Out of all the supernatural, our Master met only Azazel, who saw through the layers." The silver-haired head maid said with a frown.
"Odin was similar, but he reads the whole picture; only a fellow researcher sees through the technology and the potential."
"...You think he predicted Project Eden?" Jeanne asked with a surprised look.
"...even if he did, what of it? The Hell forces crushed whatever chance they could have to oppose." Grayfia said with a scoff.
Jeanne slowly nodded. Project Eden is the next step. It was akin to something from a sci-fi movie like Independence Day or War of Worlds.
Marcus' goal is space. But for that he needs to move from the house. When you move to another home, you always clean the old one.
That is what Project Eden is. They will clean the house on a planetary scale!
Earth will be restored to its pristine state. It will become the promised Eden. By the project standards, only 1% of Earth can be used.
That 1% will be outposts and observatories. The rest—well…
The maids know the project. Le Fay was the first one to notice this project. It's genocide.
However, with Athena in the picture, they could ask for alternatives, like a planetary ring.
That would be a challenge, something Marcus would love to build. The issue is that it would be a massive hassle to move billions of people.
"...and mundane forces. Do you think they can oppose us now? Even if all pantheons join. It would be only a matter of time before we would be victorious." The Headmaid said with a slightly proud tone. She was feeling her Lucifuge blood gushing with excitement to be the maid of someone who would dominate the whole planet in the upcoming years!
"...True…"
After seeing Ars Almadel Salomonis in action, there is very little anyone could do to stop that thing.
~~~
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