856 Gathering Portfolios
Nyar disappeared as quickly as he appeared, leaving an eerie scent. "Who was that?!" Sofia cried.
"The one we have to kill," Cain looked at the girls with a smile, "The abomination after all the abominations. Nyar, the twisted lord."
Ereshkigal walked toward Cain, "You can't fight him now," She grabbed his shoulder, "I know you want to kill him and be done with it, but you would lose a direct confrontation."
Cain looked at her with a smile, "Now that Lucifer and Astaroth are fighting at the front lines, and I have you here we have a chance."
"What do you mean?"
Cain smiled, "The bad souls that should suffer in the hells, I want to give them a second chance,"
"You aren't talking about..." She sighed, holding her head, "I should have expected that,"
"Use as much power as you need from me while your domain is still being built. Send me all the bad souls. I will reincarnate them as devils to fight with Lucifer." He giggled.
"You aren't just going to use them as pawns, right?"
"Of course, I won't," He smiled, "Those who achieve great deeds and die on the battlefield one hundred times are given a chance to enter the heavens."
"Better than getting roasted and eaten alive in the hells for eternity," Ereshkigal sighed, "Fine, I will play along,"
The girls approached them, "Are you sure? That would break the hells,"
"Don't worry," Cain replied, "Not all souls are eligible for the war. The really nasty ones would still be sent to the hells, those would only cause trouble if sent to the war."
"Do you know that doing that would interfere with the other gods' domains?" Ereshkigal looked at him, "I don't want them coming after me for this,"
Cain closed his eyes, "I got approval from them all. Not for free, but it's not a problem."
"You actually traded with them instead of using your rights?"
"Of course," Cain looked at her, "Most of the gods are either my friends or wives."
"Can we win-nya?" Selena approached Cain, "They are strong, aren't they-nya?"
"They are," Cain replied.
"I did feel it-nya," She looked at where Nyar stood, "If I fought him, I would die before I could fight back-nya,"
"Right here, me and Lilia are the only ones who stand a chance," He replied. "It's going to get dangerous and weird so be careful and keep in contact with me,"
Ereshkigal looked at the girls, "Abomination think, fight, and live in a different way to us. This world's logic won't stop them,"
"They won't die when you kill them. They don't fight for hatred or malic, they don't even care about life and death as those aren't concepts for them." Cain looked at the girls, "They live by rules. To defeat a higher abomination you have to learn their rule and beat them in their own games."
Cain waved his hand, sending waves of blue magic across the sky. "Ereshkigal, gather your things, I will come pick you up in an hour or two."
"Wait, where are you going? You know I can't fight." She gasped.
"The girls are staying here, no devil will harm you." ZON!
Cain disappeared and Ereshkigal looked at the girls, "He's busy, isn't he." nOve-Lb-1n
"Are you really my mother?" Alice stared at her, confused.
"I'm," Ereshkigal replied, "Now that I thought about it, your rot magic should've come from me, and holy magic from Lucifer. Albeit such a mix is quite dangerous, so someone else might have interfered to stabilize your soul."
"Someone else?" Alice thought, "That has to be Amaterasu..."
"The dawn and dusk goddess, the bright sun." Ereshkigal sighed, "That proud haughty goddess is the last one I want to be linked to my daughter, but it can't be helped now,"
Sofia, Selena, and Sofia stared at them, "You don't need to worry about her," Sofia said, "From what I heard from Cain, he already tamed that goddess."
Alice nodded, "Yeah, there was a battle of the gods earlier and he beat her. You can say he's putting a leash on her now."
"That's for the best," Ereshkigal, "Even if she's a good goddess, I still don't feel inclined to trust a goddess that swings between divine and demonic curses."
"You and father are the same," Alice stared at her.
"We're fallen angels, not gods." Ereshkigal stared at Alice, "The scale of power is horrifyingly different. Albeit your father should be strong enough to slay most of the current gods."
"For that," Sofia looked around, "Let's get things ready, I'm sure Cain went to bring Jack or something, it won't be long before he returns,"
"You're right," Gracie nodded, "Ereshkigal, where is your stuff?"
Ereshkigal looked around at the rubble. The chains have destroyed everything, "Somewhere around here, they are mostly clothes or magic items,"
Sofia and Selena looked at each other, "So we gather everything-nya?"
"Cain should be able to teleport everything without a problem," Sofia added.
"Not everything," Ereshkigal walked across the house, "Pick anything that has magic, everything else I don't need,"
"Got it," They started helping her.
*****
Thud! Cain landed on the devil's lip, staring around the streets.
The moment the devils saw him, they ran back into their homes. Even though each one of them could terrorize the mortal world, none dared stand in front of the overgod.
"Don't worry," Cain waved his hand, "I'm not a good god. I don't bite."
Through the dead silence of the streets, none replied. Cain sighed, "Well, it's to be expected."
The devils of the ninth layer have already gotten accustomed to immortality through the layer's rules and can't imagine themself dying by normal means.
But the fact he's the over god changes everything. The devil's long long-forgotten fear of death has finally come back. They know they can't win, they know it's useless, they know it's hopeless.
If he was even a normal god, they wouldn't treat him like this. Powerful devils usually boast about their deeds against the gods, and won't fear standing to one for glory. Yet, the over-god was a whole other story. He wasn't something that even they dared to stand against.
"Cain," The bartender walked out of her inn and stared at him, "It's been a while, how are you doing,"
"I came for you," He said with a smile, and she giggled.
"Me? What does the powerful overgod need with me a lowly devil? I don't have enough power to be of any help to you, do I?" She smiled.
"Humble words coming from you. Bacchus," He smiled.
"I'm a mere devil that entices people to drink their lives away, ruining them to the core." She replied, "What do you have for me to do?"
entities he can push into divinity and have them submit to him, the stronger his 15:41
"We already have a lot of drinks in the heavens. Care to join?"
"I heard devils were making their way to your heavens to work," She smiled, "But I'm viler than just a trouble-making little fiend."
"The more power we have, the better," Cain replied. Right now, his power as the overgod scales with the number of gods beneath him and their strength. The more entities he can push into divinity and have them submit to him, the stronger his portfolio as the overgod becomes.
"It's true that drinks are bad," Cain replied with a smile, "Anything that toys with the mind can cause harm. I'm sure you ruined more lives than any other devil had done, but that isn't a necessary evil."
"You aren't making any sense," She replied, "You could force me to serve if you want, why ask me like this?"
"You enticed them to drink, but it was their decision to do it. You gave them a choice, a bad one yet a choice nonetheless." He approached her, "If I have you with me, I can decrease that choice you're giving to people. Or at least make it irrelevant."
Bacchus giggled, "I see what you're going for," She approached him, "If evil has to exist, it's better to be under your control, isn't it?"
"Necessary evil is one that should be controlled by the gods to balance the tides of the world. Letting it go uncontrolled is bad," He replied, "So what do you say? Want to join the new pantheon?"
"How many do you want to add later on?" She asked.
"Almost everything. To increase our chances of winning the war I have to fill all the portfolios. I can't let untapped power sit still," Cain replied.
"Then what after the war? You're going just to kill or abandon us?" She stared at him, "What would happen to a god of murder after all of this is done with?"
"Nothing," Cain replied, "They would retain their divinity until slain by mortal kind." He looked at the sky, "I can see them, countless heroes fighting for the survival of the world and swinging their blades."
"So after the war, there won't be a second divine conflict, only mortals gambling their chances against the gods."
"Of course," Cain smiled, "Any mortal would be able to steal a protfolio if they proved more worth of it than the god."