Chapter 94 — Y4: Comparative
Mmmm… Zzzzzz…
…
… … …
…You know if you want to touch my tits, you’re always free to.
Hehehe, nah, I’ve been awake since you started hovering over me. I always know when somebody’s leering at me~
…No?
Don’t wanna grab a handful?
Well, that’s fine~ We can move on to --
Hehehe, finally starting to snap, huh?
You know what I’m waiting for~
…Huh. I don’t get it. Why are you still saying no?
…Pft!
You really -- haha! Oh, no, no, you’ve misunderstood something.
I adore sex. It’s part of my identity, a core part of who and, in a way, what I am.
But that’s different from being addicted to sex.
Sure, I get horny really easily. My body’s just like that now, naturally. But there’s a pretty easy way for me to deal with that~
It’s called ‘my fingers and tail'.
I’m getting frustrated, sure.
But not nearly as fast as somebody who’s just discovered how fun depravity is.
So still want to try holding out…?
Hehehe, that’s fine~ I can wait as loooong as you want~
Hmmm… let me skip forward here…
Eh? Oh, Argenta and I talked a lot. Most of it is redundant. She basically just wanted to be sure that I was telling her the truth. There were some fun bits, though. LIke… ah, yes, here…
Elizabeth is left hanging.
Literally.
Hanging from an intricate web of silk rope, all tied across her naked body. Her hands tied together and lifted up above her body, while her legs are tied, feet to butt, and left spread wide. The silk is carefully tied over every sensitive part of her body, outlining it in an artistic fashion, shown clearly. As if on display.
The mortal slut is left panting, squirming, trying to get just a touch more friction to rouse her body into that precious state of relief. She is dripping with sweat and wet with arousal, her need enough that the silk is unable to contain it.
Argenta hums to herself as she walks around her, looking her body up and down. Occasionally poking, pinching, or prodding parts that interest her. At one point, she even pushes her to start swinging.
“...Hm. You’re right,” The goddess says with a self-satisfied nod. “This is some excellent stress relief. I wonder how long until your whimpering and begging gets boring…”
Oh, no, nothing of import happened then.
That was just hot and I wanted to show you~
…Eheh… that’s -- well, okay, so, yes, but --
Okay. Yes. You’re right. But it was hot!
…Okay, um… how about… it was really hot?
…No?
…Hah. Okay, fine.
I’m stalling. Sorry. It’s just -- it’s --
Haaa. Okay. Moving forward.
I have -- complicated feelings about Argenta, and I’m honestly not sure how I feel about her.
On the one hand, from what she said, she has a good point. She’s left with few to no options, forced to become increasingly extreme in order to have her voice heard. The other goddesses don’t listen to her and she’s exceedingly frustrated by their lack of skill and thought -- skill and thought that she has in abundance.
On the other hand, she’s -- well.
She has a good point, if you take everything she says as fact.
And she truly believes that she has a right to rule MISSY.
Not just that she’s the best one for the job. That might or might not be true, but it’s not what I’m talking about. She truly and deeply believes that it is her right to have the chief god's job. That she has earned it, that it should be hers, and that nobody else should or even can do it.
Which is…
… … …
…Believing you have the right to something is, I’ve often found, rather dangerous. Nobody has the right to -- anything, really. Life is defined by random chance, in a very real way.
That said, we all say we have the right to some things.
‘I have the right to live freely.’
‘I have the right to be safe.’
‘I have the right to be loved.’
People -- myself included -- get deeply, deeply offended when our ‘rights’ are denied to us. We get offended on a moral level. We feel like the world itself is wrong, and it needs to be fixed.
Myself included.
What?
I feel strongly about my right to have lots of great sex!
My offense when it’s denied to me is strong and deep!
You laugh, but I’m only mostly joking.
If somebody seriously tried to turn me into a chaste nun, told me that all sexuality was bad on an innate level, and forbade anything even related to it?
I would want to burn something down.
That’s what Argenta was feeling.
About the entire world.
Because she wasn’t in charge, it was wrong.
Because she wasn’t in charge, something should burn.
Because she wasn’t in charge, she was morally offended.
…It’s infuriating. The principles she talks about, the complaints she makes, I tend to agree with her… until she starts talking like she’s the arbiter of ‘what is right and good’.
I can even accept some of her more extreme actions! Kidnapping me -- okay, uh, I can probably accept that because I’m really messed up, but I can accept that.
…You know. In abstract. When I’m not directly confronted with it. …And because I get off on being kidnapped and raped, that's probably part of it too…
But there are other things she did that are just -- and some of the things she says are just –
Actually -- here. I'll show you how it ended.
Elizabeth blinks a few times, clearly startled by the situation she’s in. Her eyes are rapidly darting back and forth, quickly trying to figure out where she is and what’s going on.
“...Ah.” She blinks, twice, refocusing on Argenta who sat across from her. “You let me keep some of my memories… any reason why?”
Argenta seems rather satisfied, in a manner not unlike a cat. A kind of self-satisfied smugness about her station and progress. “Because we’re done. With the essential bits, at least. I’m well aware you haven’t told me everything yet, but that’s fine.” She grins wider. “You’ve told me enough. And you’ve actually been reasonable, so I see no need to force everything out of you.”
Elizabeth was both confused and wary, given how she leans back in her chair. “...I… see…?”
An amused snort was her response. “...Sure you do. Well, it’s no matter.” She stretches in her seat. “Good thing, too. I’m not sure when we’ll be found. Now we can focus on less important issues.”
And now, it’s less ‘confused’ and more ‘wary’ that is expressed on Elizabeth’s face. “...Ah.”
“Don’t worry~” Argenta says with an -- almost playful smirk. “Let’s start with some of my more specific questions. Tell me about that woman that came out of the Hall of Mirrors. I'm curious about the magic she has. I want to know how she can -" ”
Before she can finish her sentence, the room is destroyed. The six walls are blasted out, the chairs removed as well, and Elizabeth is left screaming…
…as she hovers in the air.
She is left hovering above the ocean, no land in sight, off to the side of a divine confrontation. On one side was Argenta, goddess of alchemy, her face disdainful and almost cocky as looks on, clearly irritated at the interruption.
On the other, Modesty, goddess of rape, and Raleine, goddess of monsters.
Modesty looks furious, but Raleine has a more -- dead, expression on your face. “...You were right,” Modesty says, not taking her eyes off of Argenta for a moment. “Floating above the ocean somewhere out of sight.”
“Hello,” Argenta says with a dry tone. “That’s how conversations usually start, isn’t it? But you've always stopped pretending when you think it doesn't matter.”
“...You’re lucky we managed to hold back Roberta, Argenta,” Modesty says, ignoring her words, her entire body tense. “If you think her stalking is bad now, her reaction to this would give you hell.” The scoff she gets as a response only makes her body tense further. “Is this some kind of a joke to you?! You kidnapped a mortal!”
At that, Argenta outright laughs. “You really think I’m that stupid?” She gestures to Elizabeth, almost carelessly, as she floats nearby. “Only a moron wouldn’t realize your interest in her. You and your little… alliance.” She eyes Modesty. “I’m surprised it’s just the two of you. One would think you’d want to have all of your little lap dogs, yapping by your side.”
Modesty visibly forces herself to calm down. “...Raleine, I can't talk to her. She’s just --” She cuts herself off. “You try.”
Raleine sets her jaw. Argenta's expression turns ugly. Modesty, with a wary eye on Argenta, floats backwards to give them both space.
Argenta glances between the two of them and sneers. “I see you’re going for the emotional angle. Let me guess, given what you probably know and think of me by now -- sixty seven percent chance of getting a positive response?”
Both Raleine and Modesty pause. “...Argenta -” Raleine begins -- before she stops herself.
She slumps, and then looks at her with a much more -- dead look in her eyes. That kind of perennial exhaustion one would expect on a single parent of ten, or a surgeon that never gets a break.
“...Fine. No simulations. Now what is this about, Argenta? Really?” Raleine asks, shaking her head. “You know that nobody will let you move an inch without it being examined now. Every action you take will be scrutinized. Even if Modesty speaks up for you, your privacy is basically gone, now.”
“Like she would do something for me,” Argenta scoffs in return. “And of all people -- don’t you ask me why I did this. You should know. I was forced to do this, and you were Modesty’s guard dog against all other actions.”
“I don’t --”
“I have no options!” Argenta shouts it out, overriding Raleine’s words. “I’ve done more than anybody to deal with our lord god! More than any five others combined! And you and yours have refused to tell me anything!”
Raleine’s eyes widen, a bit of life sparking into her eyes as she tries to grasp onto the conversation. Mentally floundering she tries to get a word in while Argenta pauses, working her anger and thoughts back up. “Argenta, I never intended to -- block you off like that. I just needed you to -- Modesty needed you to -- we weren’t sure --”
“Yeah. You weren’t sure. You’ve never been sure,” Argenta says with a scathing tone.
…Raleine flinches at that, but Argenta isn’t done.
“You wanted me to, what? Profess my loyalty to Modesty? Confess my admiration for her?” She scoffs, fists trembling by her side in anger. “If there’s one person you can trust to go against our ‘lord god’ it is me. Modesty ignored my warnings, ignored our warnings --”
“-- that was millenia ago --”
“-- and when she does bother to ask for my advice, she ignores my every suggestion!”
“Your suggestions are psychotic!” Raleine finally snaps back, forcing Argenta to pause in her tirade. “Don’t even try to go there! You never used to be like this! And now your ideas are things like -- your fucking cults, we know about your cults. Roberta found them while we were looking for you. Cult of the twenty-eighth goddess -- you empowered sociopaths to brainwash whoever they wanted for pleasure and power, in exchange for, for -- for what?!"
Argenta’s face becomes an ugly rictus of rage. She almost chokes on her words, unable to get them out, before she forces them out. “You want to talk about costs, Raleine?” she asks with a hiss. “I would have thought that you would know me better than that, but I guess you never really knew me. Well.” She gets an ugly grin on her face. “Let me educate you.”
“You can’t justify everything with your insane logic -”
“How many do you think died in Modesty’s crusade? And how many died due to my cults?.”
…Raleine’s mouth snaps shut, but Argenta isn’t done.
“How many children were left hungry? Of those, how many died because of it? How much value and art was destroyed? How many books were burned in religious fervor? How many individuals have been traumatized for life?” Argenta’s grin only widens. “I assure you, the comparison is enlightening.. Would you like to know the number of orphans? I can give you that, too. And more. Before you blame me for my ‘psychotic suggestions’, look at the actual damage that she caused, first.” She points at Modesty, almost cackling. "Just look, and you'll see how I'm better!"
Raleine stares at her. "...You're enjoying this." She says, eyes widening. "...This is about being the leader, isn't it? That you aren't our ringleader anymore."
Argenta stops. The confrontation goes silent. It’s like everybody needs a moment to process what was just said.
Argenta’s expression distorts into a series of complicated expressions, eventually ending on a kind of -- cold firmness.
“...So what if it is?” She asks. Slowly. …She repeats herself, louder, more firmly. “...So what if it is?! So what if I’m enjoying her failures! So what if I’m laughing at your self-righteous, hypocritical accusations! So what?! I try to minimize damage! I can do more than any other goddess in this reality! I have been spending eternity keeping things stable! And you dare judge me?!”
Her face gets, somehow, even colder. “You all treat me like I’m untrustworthy. Like a feral animal, about to snap at the hand that will feed it. Ignoring every thought and warning I have. One of these days, you’ll realize that I’m not that bad.”
Argenta gets a cold grin on her face. “But by then, it’ll be too late.”
She vanishes, Raleine about to call out for her -- before she sighs.
“...She always needs the last word." Raleine says, voice soft and defeated. "…Sorry, Modesty.”
Modesty shakes her head, a soft look on her face. “...It’s fine. You tried your best. If not even you can talk sense into her…” She runs a hand through her hair, clearly thinking things over. “...Would you please tell the others the situation is resolved, for now? Let them know what happened.”
Raleine just gives a quiet nod, before vanishing -- leaving only Modesty and Elizabeth.
…Elizabeth gives a slow, awkward, stuttering wave.
Modesty lets loose a small snort of amusement. “...Well. That was a mess.” She takes a deep breath, fortifying herself. “...We should talk.”
She wanted to know what I had told Argenta, if anything -- but she clearly didn’t expect me to remember. …I’m honestly still feeling guilty about… well, not telling her right then and there.
That cybernetic memory of mine was one of the only things I had that gave me an advantage over the gods. It had just proven its use with Argenta, and I didn’t want to even say what it could do, not outside of the protection that Atlantian Alloy provides.
So I just told her that I didn’t know.
She was so certain that was the case before she even asked that she didn’t think twice about it.
I knew that I had key information that she would need to know. Argenta didn't have any reason to lie when she thought I wouldn't remember anything, and was emotionally venting besides, so she was pretty clearly telling the truth when she said she wasn't the traitor among the first five goddesses. I just -- didn’t want to give up my biggest secret from the gods.
…I did end up telling her, though. Later. After I got over myself. It was still -- later than it should have been, but I did.
Modesty was -- upset, when I revealed that Argenta wasn’t the traitor of the first five goddesses. I learned after the fact that Raleine didn’t take it any better.
Argenta being the traitor was the 'easy' explanation for why she was acting like this, that she'd just always been like this. But to find out Argenta had been the friend Raleine had first known and trusted, and changed to become who she is now, was…
…Yeah.
At the time, though, we ended up talking a bit longer. About Argenta, about how Modesty would ensure that this couldn’t happen again, about how every move that Argenta makes from now on would be carefully observed by multiple goddesses… she wouldn't be able to make another room of Atlantean Alloy again, not without somebody knowing about it.
They'd trace back all of her actions from the past year, using the world shard's records, and examine every location they could get a record of for anything she left behind.
By the time the fourth year was over, they found two similar Atlantean Alloy rooms, both prepared shortly before Argenta kidnapped me, and both were destroyed before they could be used for anything else.
It was… well.
It was a thing.
That’s about all I’ve got, really.
Things were heating up, the clock was ticking, and reality itself was on a timer.