Ep. 57 - Demi Spirit, Guild Again, Denatus

Now then, we had arrived on the 59th floor and it was quite amusing. The majority of the floor was basically dead land, an old battlefield riddled with the particles from the thousands of monsters that died there. I know that there is one thing here that I want to get rid of, so I stopped time again and used my omniscience. I found the shitty Jewel Fetus and examined it. It was some sort of primitive consciousness mixed with a parasite. Heh, the cute little thing tried latching onto me, so I destroyed it. I wouldn't be able to gain any benefit from it, so it didn't matter.

I returned to my place then thought to myself: 'Since the Zeus and Hera Familias already fucked with this floor's ecosystem, I will change it a little.'

I started with eliminating everything, a blank slate. Then I created an 'enchanted forest' that creates a sort of barrier to those who enter and want to exit the floor. Then, I started creating a vast flower bed with all sorts of flowers from the Against the Gods Universe. There were so many, including profound treasure-level ones, that you could spend an eternity cataloguing them. After that, I created a small tower at the center, which would be completely inaccessible to anyone I would not allow. Inside, there will be rooms, baths, and an observation point on the topmost floor. I then created a fake sky and weather system.

Now that I could actually look at the place, it looked really nice. I unfroze time, then heard Loki ask: "Wasn't there supposed to be a jungle on this floor?"

"Oh, surely it is just your imagination. How could a floor just change like that?" I said.

She stared at me, then sighed. Heh, I won. "Let's go, I guess you made that tower to be some kind of safezone?"

"My, you know me so well already! I'm getting emotional." I said, drying a fake tear

"Showoff…" said Amy.

"Shouldn't you be respectful to a God?"

"You told me to be more casual. Plus, it's not my fault MoonRay thinks you are an idiot. A good idiot, but an idiot nonetheless."

Note to self: restore MoonRay to factory settings.

Inside the tower, I was sitting on my armchair with Ais on my lap when Finn came to me.

"Tula, I think that we can end the expedition here. We have already explored 5 unmapped floors and completed the maps for the labyrinth floors. I didn't tell you before because it's not a law, but it's an unwritten agreement that every expedition will explore a maximum of 5 floors to prevent anyone from getting too many advantages…" He said.

I really wanted to tell him that I couldn't care less, but I noticed that the gang is getting quite bored of the routine. And it's the second day. We really can't do something as boring as exploring slowly. It's more exciting to explore as we wish, quickly, efficiently.

"I see. I will inform my group. How about you gather all of the adventurers and smiths on the ground floor in… let's say an hour? Then I can create a portal to the Twilight Mansion without having to march all the way up from here." He nodded and left.

I sent a message through the communicator saying that we will momentarily halt our expedition here and return to the surface.

Exactly an hour later, I opened a portal to the manor. I had decided to go and visit Rose in the guild, so I said "Catch you later!" and disappeared to the Guild.

I appeared right in front of the entrance and made my way towards Rose. There was someone before me so I waited for a bit. A God waiting? Sounds like a good joke, but here I am, acting like a good boi. I swear Loki would burst out laughing if she knew. Anyway, after a few minutes, my turn arrived.

"Hey there Rose! Missed me?"

She looked at me and grabbed my collar. "You fucker! It's been four days! And what do I hear?! That you and your merry band of maniacs were going to lead an expedition! I demand an explanation as your advisor!"

"Ok, chill, leave my collar alone… There, good girl. It's quite easy: we are very strong and reached the 49th floor. Loki obviously heard of this and we were made seconds-in-command for the exploration. We arrived at the 59th floor then returned. Is this explanation enough?"

"Hell no! You guys didn't even have Falna until last week! You won't seriously expect me to believe that you reached Level 4 or 5 in a few days?! And the expedition lasted one day, it's impossible for you to have reached the 59th floor!"

"Well, Loki will announce the result of the expedition soon, so you will know. Actually when will the next Denatus happen, I kinda want to go…"

"We will see when the report will be made public then. The Denatus is next week, actually. Anyway, you're safe, good."

"Oh, so you were worried about me? Or… could it be Sun? I saw how you looked at him… It was something more than normal interest…" I said, teasing her a little. After becoming a God, I realized more things, so I noticed this little detail.

"Hell no. Who would ever be worried about you two." She said, but her cheeks were a little red.

"Oh, Rose… You will have a tough time cracking Blake, but if you get to the point where she considers you a friend, Sun will be close at hand. I'll cheer you on! Oh, could you convert some magic stones?" I said, plopping on her desk yet another monumental bag of drops.

I returned to the Twilight Mansion after a stroll on the streets. I casually came across that church/orphanage where Syr/Freya sometimes tests her food. On a whim, I went inside, met with Maria, the nun, and left the Valis I just got from the Guild. I also fixed the building and set a simple ward against those with ill-intentions towards the inhabitants of the orphanage. It took me, maybe, 5 minutes? Mainly spent waiting for Maria. Why is a God waiting so much?

Coming out from the orphanage, I came across Syr/Freya, who was casually going there for her taste tests. I decided to mess with her a little.

"Hello there, beautiful Freya! How are you doing today?"

"Hell-" She started saying, then realized her blunder.

"Oh, don't worry. I've known since we visited the Hostess of Fertility. I haven't snitched on you yet, so I won't now. You should work on your acting, dear, little Freya… So, you were saying?" I said.

"Uhm… Hello to you. I am fine today, thank you." she said, with a little bow. Still in Syr-mode, I see.

"Good, that makes me happy. If you are going to the orphanage… Be sure that you have no malicious intentions. Wouldn't want to have to bring you back from Heaven after all. See you at the Hostess of Fertility. I will drop by the Denatus, so we will see each other there, for sure." I said and waved, then disappeared, leaving a confused Freya.

I dropped by Loki's office before returning to the ship.

"Loki, working hard?"

"You can bet on it. I need to find a decent way to report our expedition. I can't exactly write: 'A group of monsters in human skin carried the entire Familia and we reached the 50th floor in one day, then explored until the 59th floor and were about to go even further...'"

"I see. If it's only that…" I snapped my fingers and the report was complete, along with detailed maps of each floor and photographs. "There you go. Now you can relax with us. Oh, by the way, I'm coming to the Denatus with you next week. If you want to still travel with us, we should also find Ereshkigal and talk to her about the stand-in affair."

"You deserve a reward. These things always take days to complete. It's fine if you want to come with me. And… Of course I want to travel with you guys! The last two days have been the most curious and fun I've had in… Forever! Plus, you slept with me, you have to take responsibility for your actions."

"The keyword is 'slept'. But… Sure, I'll take responsibility for you. I will probably have to take Hephaestus and Hecate as well since I kinda brainwashed them."

"Tell me more. Now." she said, with a smirk on her face. She was obviously enjoying the news.

"Well, I have a 'skill' called 'Devil's Whisper' and I couldn't control it before yesterday. It has a subtle brainwashing effect so I might have unconsciously used it on the two poor girls. But, I am a gentleman, so I will stand by my words and bring them with us. Well, I am going. You can use the bracelet to reach us. See you later, my dear little Loki."

So, let me skip the boring parts and go onto the things I found fun or important.

First: Loki joined us on the ship. She was so curious about everything I seriously thought that she was the Goddess of Curiosity. When I actually make her a Goddess by cultivation standards, her dominant law might actually be that. She was stunned by the sheer amount of stuff we collected. Well, we did loot basically everything in the Potterverse and I looted an entire half of the AtG universe, so we do have a lot of stuff. Oh, she found that good old sword I threw in a corner, so I gave it a decent place in the armory.

Don't get me started on the actual treasury and the library. That was entertaining. She was basically zipping from one place to another looking at everything. Her face was adorable.

Second: I met with Ereshkigal. Let me tell you what happened.

So, I went to the Guild and asked my favorite advisor Rose to organize a meeting with Ereshkigal. The girl basically ran until here. Apparently she was staying with her sister Ishtar, but the Pleasure Quarter isn't exactly the best place for the Goddess of the Underworld, is it?

We were brought to one of the meeting rooms. When we were both seated, I brought out some refreshments for the cute blonde Goddess. I really don't understand why she couldn't find a single Adventurer that would follow her. Eh, not a problem anymore.

"Well, let's start with some introductions, shall we. I am Tula, a child of the Loki Familia." She looked a little down and scared. Why would a child of a powerful Familia ever call her here?

��Don't worry. To put it simply, Loki is offering you a job, Ereshkigal. You see, we want to go on a little trip and I don't know how long it will last. Might be days, might be years. Now, a Goddess can't exactly leave for that much time, otherwise the Familia will collapse. We want you to act as a manager of the Loki Familia.

If it is alright with you, we could even make the Ereshkigal Familia a partner of the Loki Familia. Our promising new Adventurers and Level 2's and some Level 3's would become members of your Familia. When they reach Level 4, they will be transferred to the Loki Familia for expeditions and such."

She had her jaw hung wide open, so I pushed it lightly back up. She just stared at me for a while, so I enjoyed some coffee, to which I added some liquor I got from the AtG universe. Adds a little kick to it.

After maybe 20 minutes, Ereshkigal started talking again.

"W-wait a moment! You mean I will be the manager of the Loki Familia? And I will also get Adventurers?!���

"Yes. Basically, you will be training. You are a young Goddess compared to Loki, so you will learn how to guide a big Familia with our executives' help. We will also leave you with some grimoires on management to help you. And, yes, you will get adventurers. Now, as I said, you will be in charge of the Level 1's, 2's, and some 3's. The Ereshkigal Familia will become very famous very fast due to this.

Many will come to join. I will give you a little orb that will check whether the Adventurer has malicious intentions and is worth being recruited. This is to help you, though you can choose to not use it and go by instinct."

"I ac- Wait, who are you to propose this deal?"

"Oh, I am the Origin God of Primordial Knowledge, among other things. Also, Loki is... probably going to be my wife. Pleasure to meet you, little girl." Oops, my tongue slipped.

She overheated then started apologizing. My title is very intimidating, exactly how I want it.

"I'm sorry! Please don't kill me!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! How did you even come to that conclusion?! I became a God like, three days ago? So chill and just accept the deal. You can even move into the Twilight Manor today. I will help you move if you prefer."

At any rate, Ereshkigal accepted and became curious about the fact I 'became' a God. In this universe, people can't become Gods. Those are either born or created in ages long past.

Moving out of the pleasure quarter was an adventure in itself. Those thirsty bitches of the Ishtar Familia all wanted a piece of me! I got tired of it and made everyone in the Pleasure Quarter homosexual. That caused a problem to Ereshkigal, but that's not my problem. It was more adoration than sexual assault, so it's fine. I might have also made Ishtar think she was supposed to be a relief station for Xenos, though I will never admit that. Just thought it would be fun: every single prostitute in Orario became homosexual, while Ishtar pleasures monsters, that looks like the beginning of a funny joke!

Well, Ereshkigal didn't look too amused about her sister's condition, so I annulled my little orders. What a shame. Now I feel the urge to gain more knowledge on God-monster copulation. I will resist it, for now. Anyway, Ereshkigal, who I started calling Eri since her name is so fucking long, brought me to her assigned room and I simply stored everything inside. Since I was here in the Ishtar Familia's HQ, I created a clone and had it go through their treasury. They didn't have anything particularly interesting, so I left it alone. Though I took everything in their library. I found several versions of this world's Kama Sutra. That will be handy, thank you.

And so, I secured a manager for the Familia and made a lonely Goddess happier. Seems like a good thing.

Third: I went to the Hostess of Fertility with the gang, Loki, and Ereshkigal.

The report on the expedition had already been made public, so we got the honor seats. Heh, it was nice for our ego's. There was one drunk idiot that tried flirting with Eri, though I cursed him to act like a dog for three days so that didn't last long. Can nobody in this world recognize Gods? Was he just that drunk?

Oh, on a side note, Syr had to 'take time off work' for the Denatus.

Fourth: Denatus!

A week has passed since we came back from our two-day expedition and it is time for the meeting of Gods and Goddesses. I kinda want to go there and flex a little on these pitiful beings that consider themselves Gods.

I already informed the gang, so they were doing their own stuff. Weiss asked for a recording of their faces when I flex on them.

Me and Loki headed to Babel and used the elevators until the Denatus. It was basically a Greek temple-looking area which was actually in a pocket dimension, a little piece of Heaven on Earth. I saw some Gods and Goddesses already there. I saw Hephaestus, Hecate, and Freya. They swarmed to me after I entered the Denatus. What can I say, I am a natural chick-magnet.

"What are you doing here?" asked Hephaestus

"Why shouldn't I?"

"Only Gods are allowed in here." said Hecate

"Then I am in the right place." I said, taking out Arhtur's throne from the Potterverse and modifying it on the fly.

Now, it is basically a flying, teleporting, indestructible, aura-enhancing, cool-as-fuck fortress in the shape of a throne. "There doesn't seem to be anyone stronger than me here, so I am wondering why you all would be allowed inside."

"What do you mean?" asked Freya.

"Oh, little Freya, didn't see you back there. Or maybe I did? I mean that you all are simply too weak to be considered real Gods. Can you create planets and stars as you wish?" I asked. They shook their heads in response. I created a small planet in my hand. "A real God can. My assistant/maid is about as 'Godly' as you."

Then, the rest of the Gods arrived. I was on my floating throne reading a book and their minds to get some juicy knowledge.

When everybody arrived, excluding Ouranos of course, there was that one fucker Apollo that licked his lips looking at me. I erased him from existence. No, he's creepy. I don't care about your preferences, just… Just don't even fantasize about me. This seemed to make everyone actually take me seriously.

"Who are you, why isn't Apollo returning to Heaven?!" asked some unknown minor God.

"Oh, you finally ask the question! I've been waiting for all you pathetic beings, not including Loki, to gather and actually wonder who the poor floating fucker was. Anyway, I am Tula, Origin God of Primordial Knowledge. As for Apollo, I erased him from existence, he won't return, ever again. I came here today mostly because I wanted to examine how some lower life-forms that consider themselves Gods worked.

Until now, I have not been impressed. Not a hint of organization or respect for one another by actually being punctual, poor assessing capabilities, you all have so little knowledge in your pathetic minds that I actually feel sad for the law you represent. Hecate, Hephaestus, and Loki pass, they are OK. You guys? Not. Impressive.

Anyway, get on with your little meeting, I will observe from here." I finished, setting my throne just beside Loki's place. I then switched up the seats so that Hephaestus, Hecate, and even Freya would be next to us.

Most of the other Gods and Goddesses were scared shitless since they suck at being Gods and are in front of someone who can kill them without even moving. There were some, like Demeter that were calm since they take their jobs seriously and don't cause too many accidents.

What even was my reason for coming here? Knowledge. I wanted to know how it works and copy these insects' knowledge, so that I could operate the laws related to their Divinity even better.

"Actually, you know what? Wait a moment." I summoned Ouranos here and copied his knowledge. He actually knew how to seal Divinity, so he knew how it works, which means I can copy it. When I was done, I sent him back. "From now on, if any one of you acts out of line, I will not wipe you from existence but take your Divinity, permanently. You will be turned into pitiful humans. Now, go ahead."

I actually started examining the knowledge on Divinity a little bit more carefully. Basically, it is a degraded version of laws. I, of course, can make it better. My Divinity will be a massive core formed by the laws, which will help in using them even easier than right now. Cool, I am now a God even according to the DanMachi universe.

I returned to focusing on the meeting. There were a few Gods complaining about humans, a couple that were drinking and eating as if this wasn't their business, a few that were actually taking this seriously and talked about important topics, like the security of Orario, mutant monsters appearing, and criminals.

Then, came the time for the Alias giving.