Omen – Chapter 168: Sides of a Coin

Caethya followed her love's lead and took a slightly wider stance, one that would allow her to react a little more easily. She doubted that any of the bandits in front of her would be able to even notice how the mana within her body shifted imperceptibly in preparation for the coming fight. Luckily, the bandits did not have to notice.

"What happens if we don't leave?" the man with the dented armour and broken arm asked. "You do not have any authority in this city."

Aperio tilted her head in reply and took a step towards the man who had spoken. "I am quite sure I have enough authority to tell you to leave." The All-Mother took another step towards the group, a wave of her hand sending the mortal that had tried to nock an arrow flying into the house behind him, causing a sickening crunch to echo through the streets. "And you are part of the problem I have come here to solve."

Caethya let some of her own magic seep into the ground below the armoured mortals in front of her. While her usual way of fighting might no longer be needed, she still felt most comfortable establishing a grip over her surroundings first, and with her Class this progress happened faster than ever. She could also feel the mana in the ground react to her presence, latching onto her own and following her will.

A thought and a turn of her hand caused the ground beneath the man in the dented armour to rush upwards, encasing him in rock. "You do not wish to fight us," she said, offering him a smile. "Trust me."

The prior members of the [Ancestral Guard] she had spoken to were surprisingly absent, almost as if they had seen this altercation coming and did not want to be involved. Probably knew that I am stronger than they are.

After they had failed to use [Identify] on her, it had been pretty obvious that she either had someone looking over her who had given her something that blocked it, or that she was strong enough to do so herself. Both options would lead anyone with half a brain and a sense of self preservation to leave. And both assumptions would be correct.

The All-Mother might not appear to be doing much, but Caethya knew that her love would not let anything happen to her. Even if she doesn't really need to. She had been plenty strong before, and her ascension to a Demigoddess, coupled with the acquisition of her Class, had only furthered that.

A surge of mana coming from most of the people before her caused Caethya to let out a sigh. The All-Mother did not move, simply shifting slightly and tightening her grip on her swordstaff. Caethya could feel the annoyance of her love, the anger at the fact that the mortals in front of her threw their lives away for some scheme that would never work.

"Why can they never listen?" Aperio mumbled to herself as a bit of her magic brushed past Caethya.

The Demigoddess stepped past her love, pushing against the arm that held her weapon. It did not move, of course, but Aperio still relaxed ever-so-slightly. "Greed drives many," she said as she brushed her hand over Aperio's arm. "These people are no different."

"I know," the All-Mother replied as the arrow that had been meant to hit her simply turned around and pierced through the eye of the woman who had shot it. She let out a sigh before raising her voice, speaking words that resonated with with Caethya's very Soul. "Leave, or perish."

The usual warmth and comfort Caethya felt in Aperio's aura had all but vanished, replaced by annoyance and anger that was directed mostly inwards. Why her love was angry at herself was not something she knew, but she did not like it one bit. Luckily, it seemed that the bandits had gotten the hint as many of them had begun to slowly back away.

Caethya let go of her magic, the stone that had encased one of the bandits returning to the floor as if nothing had happened.

"At least they did not freeze," Aperio said as her skin, which had just begun to glow as she had amassed her strength for battle, slowly faded to its normal state. The… pressure, for a lack of a better term, that Caethya had felt on her Soul also vanished; replaced by the usual warmth and comfort her love brought.

Aperio nudged the last of the mortals along with a slight wave of her hand, sending her flying into the departing group. Annoying…

There was one upside to this whole ordeal. It at least proved that mortals did not just simply know that she was the All-Mother. Otherwise, they would have heeded her the first time and left. Now, a few of their comrades had died by her hand and they seemingly had no desire to take their corpses with them.

The All-Mother simply placed them in her Void, next to the other corpses that had been in there since her earlier days on Verenier. I really should remove them at some point.

While nothing had happened to them and her Void was seemingly infinite in size, Aperio was not overly fond of the idea of having corpses in it the entire time. Just have to not forget about them. For someone that could recall any event in immaculate detail, she tended to not remember to do small things if she did not really focus on them.

"How much more do I have to do before I can finally take a break?" Aperio asked as she turned to look at Caethya, her weapon vanishing from her hand. "Do I have to remove every single mortal from this place after all?"

"No," Caethya replied. "Well, probably not. But you'll have to get used to us mortals being short-sighted from your perspective. Most only have so much time, and will do what is perceived to bring the biggest profit."

"You are not a mortal anymore," Aperio said with a quirked brow. "And even when you were, you did not behave like these ones. At least not as far as I know."

Her love gave a defeated smile at the words. "I was also never really bound by age like most. Being an Elf already gave me more than enough time, and your blessing pretty much guaranteed that I could gain enough levels to walk this world for as long as I wished."

"Ah… right." Her mistake was showing itself yet again.

"I will accept no apology or sulking," Caethya said before Aperio could speak again. She stepped closer, taking the All-Mother's hand into her own. "Your blessing is not the curse you still seem to think it is."

Aperio remained quiet, simply following her love's lead as she began to walk. Words and feelings were failing her, almost like her mind could not quite translate what she should feel to an actual physical sensation. Perhaps it was her nature as the All-Mother that caused this issue or — the more likely explanation — some things could just not be truly realised by something as limited as a body.

She had listened to the frightened beats of their hearts as they stood against her; had heard the quiet whispers and prayers as they prepared to die by her hand. All for some stupid coins… Sure, the octagonal pieces of gold would enable them to buy what they needed, but what was the point of having them if you died before you could use them?

Aperio looked at her empty hand, a small flex of her mental muscles causing reality to bend and twist. A moment later, a coin with a blue central gem lay in her palm, each of its eight sections glinting in the light of the two moons.

"Why did they make them so complicated?" Aperio asked herself as she held the coin closer to her eyes. It was a mostly useless motion, of course, but it still felt like the right thing to do. "Why would you need to be able to split your money apart?"

"To have a larger variety of prices," Caethya replied with a small smile. "And to make them harder to fake."

"Is that what the runes are for?" she asked, quite happy that her love was willing to entertain the distraction. "They aren't powered, so they shouldn't do much."

In response, her companion produced a few coins of her own, a neat stack floating in front of her. "The Adventurer's Guild uses a tool that can read the runes in a way to make sure a coin is genuine. Each piece of a coin is unique, so every full Rikal you create will be as well."

"Rikal? A funny name for a currency."

"Named after their creator," the Demigoddess replied with a small shrug as the stack of coins disappeared again. "It stuck."

The coin in her hand disappeared as well, the world taking back what it had made on Aperio's behest. As nice as it was to distract herself from the stupidity the mortals seemed to love, she had still come here to rid the world of said stupidity.

While she would still wait for Moria and Neria, there was no reason to refrain from separating some potentially good members of the guard from the bulk of the nitwits. One thing was certain, however; if Chellien was still alive, he would have hated what was going on. He had quite literally sacrificed himself so that the [Ancestral Guard] might have the power to protect the people in his place. A wish her old self had granted, despite the fact that it had hurt.

Feeling the pain of her old self was a peculiar thing. Most everything she knew about herself pointed to her past incarnation being cold and uncaring, but a few people that wandered her creation had somehow managed to get close to her. Chellien was one of them; was the one that introduced Moria to her.

Aperio blinked at the memory, not quite sure where it had come from. Again? she wondered as she tilted her head and tried to figure out why this was happening now.

"Something wrong?" Caethya asked, the concern audible in her voice.

"I just remembered something," she replied. "A bit of my old life that just… appeared in my mind." Aperio paused for a moment, considering her next words. "It happened before — recently too — but I had hoped that it was a one-off thing. Apparently that is not the case."

The Demigoddess remained quiet for a moment, the slightly faster beat of her heart only noticed by Aperio. "Perhaps those are memories from the crystals that took time to integrate? After you took all the ones Fel'Erreyth had, you did not really seem to remember as much as you should have."

"Perhaps," Aperio agreed, having come to much the same conclusion herself, and wrapped a wing around her love. "It is not a bad thing, at least I hope so, but it does feel a little… odd." The All-Mother remained quiet for a moment before tilting her head slightly. "Where, exactly, are we going?"

"Nowhere in particular," Caethya replied. "I just felt like walking. It's not like it would take us any longer to get where you want to go after this."

"At the moment, we don't have to go anywhere. Moria asked me to wait for her and I intend to honour that request. Though, I might present the members of the [Ancestral Guard] with a small prompt, giving them the choice of leaving or facing judgement like the rest."

"Probably a good idea, even if you like to fight."

"I enjoy fighting, not killing," Aperio corrected. "But some of these mortals deserve nothing but death." She sighed. "I will need to visit Adam or Kiro one of these days… I need to know if their world is also like this."

Caethya looked up at Aperio, a small smile spreading across her face. "Do you want to pay that world a visit? Go on a vacation?"

"In a way," Aperio replied, offering a slight shrug that still moved her wings. "I mainly wish to see how a world untouched by the divine and the System fared. It would tell me if mortals naturally tend towards stupidity or if it is inspired by the ones I put in power."

"I guess Verenier isn't a good example for that, as everyone knew the Gods were real even while you were gone." Caethya moved herself a little closer to Aperio, letting go of her hand and instead wrapping her arm around her waist. "I think a vacation is a good idea. From what Adam told me, Earth seems like a fun place to be. We would stand out a lot, though."

"I figured," Aperio replied as she wrapped her wing a little tighter around her love. "I still wish to see."

A thought informed Moria of her plan, the Beastkin only taking a moment to agree to it. Then, the waiting continued, and Aperio felt herself growing impatient. Not with Moria, but with the mortals that sullied her home. She would not begin the true teardown of the [Ancestral Guard] without the one she thought of as her mother, but she would certainly begin separating the wheat from the chaff. Those who followed Chellien to uphold his last wish would be welcome in whatever took the guard's place, and those who had fallen to greed like so many mortals — and even the divine — would meet their hand by her hand. I guess I am a Goddess of Death…

GamingWolf

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