In another realm entirely, far removed from the mortal world
Diastasi sat comfortably on a luxurious sofa, reclining with ease. She had returned to the god realm quite some time ago, and now she utilized her formidable and powerful abilities to communicate across vast distances from afar.
She watched intently as Erik brutally ripped Vor apart limb from limb, tearing through his opponent with savage ferocity. She casually ate some popcorn as she observed the violent spectacle unfolding before her.
Suddenly, without warning, someone walked into the room. It was none other than Anazoziz himself. He had come specifically to check if Diastasi was properly doing her work and fulfilling her responsibilities.
He walked over to where she was seated and looked closely at what she was watching on the screen. He frowned deeply, his eyes furrowing with concern and confusion.
"Didn't you say that his berserk skill was completely destroyed?" He asked her with a puzzled tone.
She slowly turned to face him directly.
"Ah, Anazoziz," she said warmly and smiled at his presence.
Turning back to face the screen once more, she smiled knowingly.
"I think you're mistaken about the nature of what you're seeing. The skill was never actually the reason he lost control of himself. It is only a state of being, a condition—it doesn't make you lose control on its own," she explained patiently.
He paused at her words, processing what she had just said, then realization struck him like a bolt of lightning. He knew exactly what this meant. Erik was deeply and fundamentally emotionally unstable.
"The extensive time spent in that realm would have shattered and broken any mortal mind into pieces, but his remained intact, though extremely fragile and vulnerable, because of one singular thing," she said, pausing deliberately and letting the silence stretch out and continue.
She then giggled softly to herself, amused.
"It was that girl—Moon was her name, if I recall correctly. If not for her presence and influence, he might have become a completely irrational beast, driven only by instinct, and we would have to restart the entire plan from the very beginning," she said while casually eating her popcorn.
Anazoziz blinked a few times in surprise, then sat down beside her, wanting to hear more about this fascinating revelation. Diastasi smiled widely, knowing she had captured his full and undivided attention.
"Erik is consistently shown and presented as this strong and seemingly indestructible character, unbreakable in every way, but deep down beneath that facade, he is teetering on the verge of complete collapse. The continuous and relentless mental challenges and trials push him farther and farther down into darkness," she said thoughtfully.
He paused at her words, contemplating their weight. He didn't think the situation would be quite so deep and complex.
"Do you know the real reason why he wants so many children and agrees to marry so many women?" She asked him pointedly.
"Is it not simply to spread his lineage and ensure his legacy?" He asked, since that was what Erik consistently thinks about or talks of openly.
She laughed at the notion.
"Haha, no way, not at all," she said and then her expression turned serious and grave.
"The reason is actually pretty simple when you think about it," she said, turning to face him directly, her eyes gleaming with understanding.
"What is it exactly?" He asked with genuine curiosity.
"He is scared, deeply and profoundly scared," she said plainly.
He raised a brow in surprise and skepticism.
"Scared? Scared of what exactly?" He asked, wanting clarification.
She turned back to face the screen and her eyes softened with sympathy and understanding.
"He is scared of being alone, truly and completely alone. The overwhelming fear of being forgotten by everyone. The fear of having no one who knows him. He desperately wants to be needed, to be wanted, to matter to someone. Deep down beneath all his bravado, he is still that same vulnerable child, but he forces himself into a character and role that doesn't truly suit him at all," she explained with compassion.
He stayed silent for a long moment, taking in her words and their profound implications.
"I see now," he said thoughtfully and deliberately, nodding slowly in complete understanding and comprehension. "Anyone who dares to attempt to take away what he holds dear and loves most will undoubtedly face the full force and fury of his terrible wrath," he added with conviction.
She smiled knowingly at his words.
"You're finally beginning to get it and understand the full picture," she said with satisfaction. "The one singular thing he's tried so desperately hard to obtain and hold onto—would someone not completely and utterly lose their mind and sanity if someone were to take that precious thing away from them?" She asked rhetorically, though she already knew the answer perfectly well.
Erik's POV
Staring down at the lifeless and motionless corpse lying beneath my feet, I remain completely and utterly emotionless, feeling nothing whatsoever. One by one, each of my children teleported directly into the treasury room, appearing before me. I didn't bother to turn around to face them or acknowledge their presence.
"I want every single territory on this entire continent that isn't already allied with us to be under my banner and control by the end of this month," I said with finality, and then slowly, deliberately turned around to face them directly.
"If they try to refuse or resist my demands—kill them all without hesitation or mercy," I said in a cold, emotionless voice that left no room for debate or discussion.
They gulped nervously and audibly at my harsh words and uncompromising tone. It was the very first time any of them had ever witnessed me this angry, this consumed by rage. They looked at each other uncertainly for a brief moment, exchanging worried glances, then nodded their heads in agreement and acceptance.
Even Claude and Rune, who would normally wave me off or question my decisions and orders, said absolutely nothing at all and simply obeyed my commands without protest. They soon disappeared and vanished from sight in the same exact way they had appeared moments before.
I left the treasury behind and headed directly for the bathing room, walking with purpose. I needed to wash and get some things off myself, to cleanse away the blood and filth. Walking through the long halls and corridors, the guards and maids I passed nodded respectfully at me without uttering a single word or making any sound.
Reaching the top floor of the building, I opened the large, heavy doors with both hands and entered the spacious room. Seeing the warm, inviting waters of the bath before me, I stripped down completely, removing all my clothes, and slowly entered the soothing water.
As I began to wash myself carefully, scrubbing away the remnants of battle, I suddenly froze completely and stopped all movement upon seeing my own reflection staring back at me in the water's surface. The image was strikingly and disturbingly similar to that particular moment in that cursed realm, bringing back unwanted memories.
I reached up and caressed my face gently with my hand as I stared intently and deeply at my reflection in the water. How dare these foolish people try to take away what I've worked my entire life for, what I've sacrificed everything to build and protect. My aura began to fluctuate wildly and uncontrollably around me, responding to my turbulent emotions.
I've been far too lax and lenient recently with my enemies and those who would oppose me. I'll have to make a very public and brutal example of someone soon to remind everyone of the consequences. The door to the bathing room then suddenly opened with a creak as my wives entered the room together. Te Fiti was also there among them, her presence notable. All of their faces held deep worry and concern for me, their expressions filled with care.
"Are you okay? Are you alright?" They asked me with genuine concern and care in their voices.
"I'm fine, don't worry about me," I said as calmly and evenly as I could manage, trying to reassure them.
They carefully entered the warm water together and all hugged me at once, surrounding me completely with their presence. As I felt their chests and bodies wrapped around me tightly, pressing against me from all sides, I froze in place, overwhelmed by the sensation and comfort.
Maybe I'll make that brutal and violent example another time, I thought to myself. Perhaps this can wait just a little while longer.
Moon's POV
We all stood together in a room, gathering after the intense events that had just transpired. We had just been given direct orders to bring the entire continent under Novus's banner and control within the span of a single month—a daunting and ambitious task by any measure.
Igneel turned to me with an expectant expression on his face, clearly wanting and seeking answers about what had just occurred. I gulped nervously and looked around at the others gathered in the room, their faces filled with concern and confusion.
"You probably want to know and understand what happened back there, don't you?" she said carefully, choosing her words with deliberate caution.
They all nodded their heads in unison and waited patiently for my answer, their eyes fixed intently on me.
"I don't know exactly how to fully explain it in a way that makes complete sense, but in a simpler and more straightforward way, I'll say that he is fundamentally and deeply mentally unstable," she said with a heavy tone.
"Mentally unstable? What do you mean by that exactly?" they asked with confused and worried expressions on their faces.
I nodded my head slowly in confirmation.
"His mind is weak and fragile, though not in the conventional terms that he would break and shatter at the slightest challenge or obstacle that comes his way. But rather, it's the undeniable fact that he would completely and utterly lose his mind and all sense of reason if someone ever dares to attempt to hurt us or put us in danger," I explained carefully and thoroughly.
"But those daggers that the quadruplets held in their hands wouldn't even be nearly enough to scratch or pierce through their skins—they're far too strong and durable for that," Igneel said, attempting to make logical sense of the situation.
"That's not the point of it at all, and it's not what matters here," I said firmly, shaking my head. "A very long time ago, many years in the past, I met him for the first time,"
"You met him? You actually encountered father before?" Rune asked with surprise and curiosity evident in his voice.
I nodded my head in affirmation.
"I wasn't always his daughter from the very beginning—that came later," I said and turned to face them directly, my face and expression getting serious and grave as the memories came flooding back.
"I was once trapped and living in a secret realm, isolated from the outside world. This particular realm worked and operated very differently from the normal world. One single year outside in the regular world was equivalent to one thousand years inside that realm—time moved at a drastically different pace," I said, pausing deliberately to let the weight and significance of those words fully set in and be understood.
"Father somehow managed to enter the realm completely by accident, through no intention of his own. That was when and where we met for the very first time in our lives. But once inside, he was trapped and couldn't escape. For over a hundred long and lonely years, he remained completely alone in that realm, with no one else around him for company or comfort. That isolation continued until we met again after I had changed and transformed into a human form. At that time, I had become significantly weak and vulnerable, having lost all of my power and abilities. Father took it upon himself without hesitation to take care of me and protect me. I could sense and feel his emotions clearly, and I knew deep down that he depended on me heavily for his mental health and emotional stability. Without me by his side, or when I was in danger and threatened, he would occasionally and unpredictably lose his mind completely and start killing beasts around him irrationally and without any thought or reason," I explained in great detail, wanting them to understand the full picture.
They gulped nervously and audibly, now knowing significantly more about father and his past than they had before.
"But there was always one particular thing that he did consistently when I was in danger that made me truly scared and frightened deep down," I said, feeling a chill running down my spine at the disturbing memory.
"When a beast tried to hurt me or attack me with intent to harm, he would not simply kill the beast immediately and be done with it. Instead, he would deliberately torture it, slowly dismember it piece by piece, and on multiple occasions that I witnessed, he would brutally split the beasts completely in half," I said, my voice trembling slightly at the recollection.
"Then is he better now? Has he recovered? Is what we just witnessed a relapse into his old behavior?" Igneel asked with genuine concern and worry.
I shook my head slowly and sadly from side to side.
"He was never truly healed or fixed in the first place—the problem was never actually addressed or resolved. He was just hiding it away, concealing it beneath the surface and pretending everything was fine," I said with a heavy heart.
They gulped nervously, the reality of the situation sinking in.
"He holds us deep and securely in his heart, treasuring us above all else. He wouldn't want us to truly get hurt or come to any harm whatsoever, and if someone actually tried to harm us or succeeded in doing so, he wouldn't be forgiving or merciful in any way, shape, or form," I explained with complete certainty and conviction.
They nodded their heads in understanding and complete comprehension of the situation.
Note: working 10 hours 6 days a week maybe even seven days so don't have much time. I'm literally at work right now. Might upload again today when I'm off. Stay tuned and enjoy.