John rubbed his temples, then sighed. This was an opportunity to gain additional information, if nothing else. ‘Could they have co in while we were still closer to the entrance?’ he complained to the whims of fate. Four hours were quite a lot and none of his parties had moved at a slow pace. By the ti they were back in the entrance area, the Azure Tribe would have scattered out in their own right.
The Gar contemplated his next move. Ultimately, the Azure Tribe did not have to be his enemy in this affair. From the looks of things, it was Liakan, Singed and Karia accompanied by a battalion of stormtroopers (or whatever term the Purest Front preferred for its elite soldiers). Although the aesthetics of such imdiately shouted ‘evil’ at John, it was not necessarily true that the soldiers had done or thought anything that John considered reprehensible.
Considering their guild of origin, it was likely. That they followed the Azure Tribe rather than any of the other people currently vying for the leadership of the Divided Gates diminished the chances sowhat. John was yet to hear anything definitive on where the Azure Tribe ca down in the conflict.
Which was why he did not want to react with imdiate hostility. That they had extinguished his Possessions rather than trying to contact them made a clash likely. There was a chance, however small, that they had done it without knowing it was him. Given Karia was there, it was a bit unlikely. In any case, getting them to talk could yield useful intel.
“So, what’re we doing?” Rave asked.
“Nothing.” The answer caused his first fiancée to raise an eyebrow. “We’ll continue clearing out the ants as we promised to Nahua. Since the other girls can always teleport back to my position if they’re pinned, we might as well stay separated as we are to maximize our chances to run into the Azure Tribe.”
“Can I run off on my own?” Imitating his deeper voice, she answered her own question imdiately, “Jane, are you stupid? We don’t have an instant ntal connection and you can’t teleport back to . You running off is a massive unnecessary risk.”
John gave her the most ironic smirk he was capable of. “Look at that, a woman that can think.”
“Ya did not!” Rave wrapped her arm around his neck and pulled him down. Being secured into an underarm chokehold wasn’t that bad when the side of his head got to squish against the nicely proportioned breasts of his first love under the tight fabric of her bodysuit. His hand landed on her ass. She swatted it away. “Sexist gars don’t get groping privileges.”
“Rebellious won don’t get money privileges,” John retorted.
“Psh, I don’t need your… dangit, I do… I’m not giving first though!”
“Mhm, so I won’t get your body and you won’t get my money? Seems like we both lose… alright, how about I trade you ten minutes of Eliana bullying?”
“Using another woman as a bargaining chip?”
“Eliana isn’t a woman, she’s my personal property.”
“I an… fair point.” Rave released him with a laugh and he straightened up to place a loving kiss on her cheek. She gave him gentle pushback, too soft to be more than her playing coy. Undine silently flowed her way between them, pouting right up until the two of them kissed her cheeks in unison. After that the goth sli showed an appeased smile. “Whaddaya think we should do next, Undine?”
“I believe John’s plan is fundantally correct. We know Karia was no friend of ngele’s. Liakan appeared neutral as well, and Singed you said you liked?”
“I know my fellow fight junkie when I see one. Us empty heads gotta stick together so that the overthinkers don’t turn the entire world into a knot of contradicting keikaku dooris.”
“Woman, stop speaking Chinese Cartoon!”
“Oh Gaia, what is it with ya and whipping out all the old terrible jokes today?” Rave asked.
“Hey, you let kiss you after these kinds of jokes, don’t bla when I take from that that you find them funny.”
“Can ya believe this guy, responding to my feedback?” Rave asked Undine.
“A truly despicable habit,” the sli lady answered.
Their banter entered a short lull afterwards and they directed their eyes down. By now, Nahua’s position was entirely enveloped in the purple fog. Hushing shapes of ants moved within. Their steps echoed wet from the distant floor. Anything that entered the fog left it as part of a spreading, viscous mass of slouching at and liquified carapace. The Empty Rot was absolutely vile.
It also was incredibly clean.
It took about an hour for Nahua to turn all of the ants that were down there into a purple swamp. With all of the serpentine ribs jutting out, John felt like he was looking at one of the less tolerable segnts of a Soulslike. That was for all of five seconds before the entirety of the viscous liquid began to revert in its spread. From a carpet to a rising mound in the fog, then to the condensed shape of a fruit above the outstretched hand of the gluttonous demigoddess.
All of the purple was suddenly gone. Left behind were the bones of the previous Quetzacotls and the sh of wax and silk that the ants used to construct their pathways. ‘I suppose that’s a main difference between the Empty Rot and the Giant’s Puss?’ John analysed. ‘The Giant’s Puss should have gnawed through the bones and constructs as well, as long as they are biological.’
The trio leapt off the overhang and landed by Nahua while she weighed the plague peach in her hand. “Not gonna eat it?” Rave asked.
“I am considering… I shouldn’t empower the vulture too much… How do you say in English? Keep my vices down.” She boredly juggled the peach in one hand. Morbid curiosity made John wonder what would happen if she dropped it. Would it burst into a gushing swamp or just get sowhat deford like a regular fruit? “Then again, Father always said I could eat all I want.”
“Did he now?” John asked.
Nahua rolled her eyes, not honouring his, admittedly, patronizingly pronounced question with a response. Instead, she wolfed down on the peach.
“Ohhhhhhh, yesssshhhhhh,” she slurred, knees buckling under what John could only call a foodgasm. From the fluttering eyelids to trembles that accompanied every bite, she looked like she was at the height of ecstasy. Made John wonder what she would feel like if she ever beca capable of actually feeling sexual pleasure. “So, I know I’m not the smartest,” she peachily chatted afterwards, “but I kinda felt so worry in your mind there for a sec?”
“We got another player on the scene,” the Gar revealed. “The Azure Tribe. I’ll give you the rundown.”
He started to connect to her mind, only to be firmly rebuked. “Please do it verbally, my poor bimbo brain can’t keep up with your big, strong brainiac brain.”
Rave gave John’s sleeve a tug. Big eyes were directed up at her spouse, spelling out the words, ‘I think I want to keep her.’
‘We’re dealing with this first,’ John answered by raising a singular eyebrow. Undine sighed. Rave pouted. Momo poked John’s mind to let him know she was watching. He returned to verbal conversation. “The summary is that they were a faction under the person from whom we got the intel on Aztec temples still standing,” John answered. “We don’t know their new affiliation, but it is reasonable to assu that they are not aligned with us.”
“Our response?”
“Nothing, we don’t know where in the tunnels they are and I don’t want to take unnecessarily hostile action until I know their goals. We will continue to exterminate the ants.” John gestured for Nahua to lead the way. The four of them advanced towards a broad tunnel that laid at one end of the oval chamber.
“As we should,” Nahua growled as they passed through the forest of chipped ribs.
The true extent of the damage was still difficult to gauge. For one, John could only imagine what it had looked like before and the remaining ant-structures still covered a lot of it all. Certain was only that damage had been done. “Provided we kill the queen, would that exterminate the species?” the Gar asked.
A malevolent smile stretched on the short woman’s face. “I hope.”
“Your hope was not the question,” Undine weighed in.
“Would it be bad if these creatures were exterminated fully?”
“Yes, no, maybe,” John gave a non-committal answer. “I find their ability to raise such powerful young in such numbers fascinating. If they could be won as an ally, that would be worthwhile.”
Nahua’s gills stood on edge as she turned around. John blocked the swipe of her mucus-covered arm with Purgatory. Particle Skin continuously flashed silver around the area where their limbs t. “ or the ants, invader. Choose now.”
Pushing her arm aside, the Gar grabbed her just below the shoulder and yanked her towards him. Bowed over the notably smaller woman, he let the sharp dragon claws sink through the fabric of her tunic and into the flesh underneath. At first the tal at felt just like all high level Abyssals felt: like normal flesh with a supernatural resistance to being damaged. Purgatory cut through that, causing her plagued regeneration to kick in. Purple mucus bubbled out of the cuts, hissing as the heat of the black gauntlet turned it into vapour.
“Or what?” he asked plainly. To that, Nahua was simply stunned. John released her and shoved her back. Standing tall and proud, he stared at her. “I will not be committed to the genocide of a species I know nothing about besides that they do not like you. I will gladly stamp out this pocket because they spread a disease whose potential damage I can only imagine. That is why I am here.”
Nahua beheld him with that sa mixture of annoyance and respect that he observed frequently during their interactions. She doubtlessly found his leadership qualities admirable, or at least treated his power with baseline respect. Still, she was not used to being talked back to and definitely not by an outsider.
The staring match broke when she moved to inspect the cuts in the fabric of her cape. Singe marks around the edges made the damage even more apparent, standing out black on the beige fabric. “We have killed queens before,” she answered. “I don’t know how many they have or if their hive is always in agreent. Is that good enough for you?”
“Yes,” John said.
“Great!” Nahua exclaid a little too happily to hide the annoyance underneath. She turned around and went back to leading them further.
‘I can sense you two,’ John comnted, amusedly, on the duo of consciousness hanging about at the edge of his own. ‘Anything you want to say.’
‘Just watching,’ Momo said.
‘I think you should be gentler with her,’ Stirwin advised. ‘If you are correct about the corruption of her ho, and I believe you will be proven correct, then she will find her world shattered the sa way Ehtra did.’
‘Do you advise to lie?’ John asked sincerely.
‘I advise you to show more temperance. She knows you are dangerous, now commit to the virtue of control. Stop swinging the big stick and keep speaking softly.’
John could only agree with that wisdom. Once they had left the enormous graveyard and stepped into the tunnel, he reckoned that the mood had cald down enough to return to conversation. “Do you mind if I ask how a god warrior is made?” The question was inspired by a large painting on the wall. It showed five n enter a big temple of so kind, and one feathered serpent leaving. The diamond-eyed, black face of Huitzilopochtli hovered about it all.
“Blood is spilled for the god of sacrifice during the Flower Wars,” Nahua answered. “The warriors distinguishing themselves during that ti cleanse themselves of the worldly by fully indulging in the material for one year. They are given everything, won, luxuries, food, all that they desire, and at the end of that year, they give it all up and wander up the Glory Road. That act of sacrificing excess at the height of luxury empowers Huitzilopochtli. One among the god warriors is filled with the aspect of loyalty or cunning. The rest perish in the attempt.”
“Aren’t there three regular god warriors?” Rave asked. “Serpent, panther guy and flayer man?”
“Xipe-Totec is the only god warrior who has never been replaced,” John reminded. “Still, what aspect does he embody?”
“When I asked Father before, he said ‘the necessary cruelty’.”
“I am uncertain if skinning people is necessary…” John began, then forced himself to continue in a gentler tone, “…but as a statesman myself, I do acknowledge that there is a threat of punishnt that must exist.”
“At least you know so reason,” Nahua humd.
“Another question I wanted to bring up,” the Gar said. “The Azure Tribe entered where we entered – does that an they also went through the sa cave?”
“Potentially, although there is more than one way into this domain and they all lead to the sa gate. However… if they ca through another path, then that would an they know how to open it.”
A suggestion that had interesting implications.
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