13 Fade, of the... pfft... Eighteen Gods

"I thought gods were supposed to be almighty and powerful. This Fade guy is just a chump. What gives?" I put Sacchan back into my sling, disappointed that the god in front of me fell unconscious before I could hit him.

We had dragged Fade into one of the Everlasting Forge's private chambers in the Don-Skirt wing quarters, courtesy of Slayn. It wasn't another forge or bedroom, but a workshop to work on finer details that required tools like chisels and magnifying glasses. Trinkets and armor, even unwieldy shield plates, sat unfinished on worktables waiting to have symbols and engravings etched into them.

"You think as a god he had a hand in transporting us to this world?" Anya asked

"Think so? But he can't even defend himself," Yui remarked.

Fade came to consciousness with a start after Yui splashed him with a bucket of cold water. He groaned in terror when he saw us, realizing he was tied to a chair and his torture had just begun.

That fear was quickly replaced with a brave mask. "Foul evildoers! What's next? Do you plan on draining my power for your perverse plans of world domination? Do your worst! I shall never yield—"

I smacked him across the face, but his head went limp.

"Ah, shit. I didn't mean to him that hard. Just wanted him to pipe down from all the screaming." I put a hand to my head, and the other two shrugged in response.

"It's starting to feel like we're waterboarding him," Yui said, splashing another bucket of water on him.

"You monsters are worse than demons!" Fade reawakened, gasping for air.

I yanked him by a handful of his beard and snarled. "Bet you eighteen gods had something to do with us coming to this world. Hahh? Spill the fucking beans, ya old fart!"

"We didn't have anything to do with it, I swear! If anything, our power had significantly diminished some time after the first of your kind arrived here," he explained, cowering like a cornered animal.

Anya threw me a knowing look. We knew it had to be Chika. How she came to this world, or knew how to come here for that matter, was still a mystery. For gods to not even be sure what the hell happened in their own world, must meant they were useless or just plain stupid.

Maybe I could squeeze a little more out of Fade.

"I thought it was weird you only appeared when we were about to use the Celestial Bell. If the other seventeen cared so much about being feared and revered, they would've come with ya to confront us. You gods are connected to your relics, aren't ya?" I asked.

Fade gulped hard. I was onto something he didn't want to confirm.

"Whatcha getting at, Anego?" my childhood friend asked.

I laid the Celestial Bell on the floor, gripped Sacchan with both hands, and took a smashing stance. "What I'm trying to say is, the reason he's so antsy about us taking the bell away from those monks—"

"NO! DON'T!" Fade screamed just as I was about to hit the bell with Sacchan.

"Bingo. I break this, you go poof. Then the eighteen gods become the seventeen gods. Ain't that right?" I smirked.

Like a kid whose favorite toy was about to be smashed in front of his face, Fade let out a quivering breath and nodded.

Anya threw a thick arm around my shoulders and gave me a noogie. "Micchi, you brutal bitch! That's some strong-armed detective work you got there."

"Heh. Chika used to do it all the time with people who were tough nuts to crack. I'm just glad I got to learn a thing or two," I said, scratching my cheek.

The irony was if Fade just kept his mouth shut and didn't show himself, we would have just returned him to the monks afterwards. This idiot gave me a reason to keep using him.

"You learned a secret about the eighteen. So what? Don't think the others will bow to you, fiend!" Fade said defiantly.

All three of us glared and shut him right up.

"You ain't understanding your situation right. As our hostage, we can do whatever we want and you have to listen. I happen to have a little problem with my body. If you're such an all-powerful god as you claim to be, it should be a piece of cake for you to fix. Whaddya say?" Sacchan ignited in my grasp, and Fade was powerless to refuse.

Removing poison from my body was nothing to a god. I could breathe again. I didn't need Anya's enhancements to keep from keeling over just walking. In return, we let Fade return to the Celestial Bell but wasn't done with him yet. I might have promised to give the monks back the bell, but what's one little lie to someone like me? Besides, Fade made for a great asset. Couldn't wait to see what more we could squeeze out of a god.

Bogart was waiting in the hall just outside the room. She had the dryad girl by her side who looked happy to see us again.

"Heard him screaming while I was in the antechamber. I'm beginning to wonder if we're the bad guys here," Bogart said.

"Never said we were the good guys either," I replied with a grin.

All four of us went out to eat. This empire was the closest thing to Japan I got, and the others agreed. The restaurant we came to was by Slayn's recommendation. We're seated on the wooden floor of the establishment, around a table-sized hole in the ground. Cooks prepared food with magic in the basement below, allowing the scent to waft up. When the food was done cooking, they were lifted on a plank by a pulley until it was leveled to the floor and perfectly filled the hole.

Pretty neat if you asked me.

The ribs slipped off the bones and melted in my mouth. Yui engorged herself in a large bowl of gooey cheese. Anya didn't care for the food, and went for the alcohol and snacked on salted peanuts instead.

"Say, aahhh!" Yui scooped a handful of cheese and dribbled it into the dryad's mouth, who's eyes sparkled as she tasted it and begged for more.

We were going to have to do something about the dryad. She didn't talk but did seem to understand us. Maybe I could bring it back to the guild and see if Frey had any ideas.

"Your appetites' are something to behold," Bogart ironically said, while holding a comically large drumstick that could have been from a dragon's leg.

Our peaceful dining didn't last long. The restaurant patrons gasped and stood up as the door swung open behind me. Anya and Yui were the first ones to see, and they stood up like boxers ready to throw down.

I nearly choked on my food when I turned around and saw who it was— Bishamonten. Her eyes were red, fists clenched and trembling.

"Is that how it is, huh? You came to finish the job?" I asked.

Kaoru Makinohara dropped to her knees and prostrated, surprising us all.

"I need your help," she said.