Chapter 336 – Clean Up

*** Alzi ***

"What's going on?" I ask. "I need to get to Kelly." Everything is a bit blurry. I think there is a group of women in front of me, pointing sticks at us.

"Just making sure you can complete your talk with our Goddess. I'm sorry for the scare; our Goddess doesn't have great people skills," the Priestess says, and the blurry women start shifting to the sides of the room.

"I think the Royal Healer would be better," Syro says. "How do you feel?"

"My vision is still blurry, but getting better," I say. "The rest of me feels ok, but I don't trust it."

"No, we shouldn't trust it. I hope you'll give your Goddess some people skills if you ever wish for my Mistress to come back here again, and it feels like you dearly wish for that to happen. My Mother will be waiting to hear from War," Sarania says. "Do you need help, Syro?"

"I can walk," I say. "My vision has cleared up enough. But, um, why do the Priestesses have hearts in their eyes?"

Sarania jumps a bit at my question, her tail standing straight up. "You can see that?"

"I think so? Well, yes, if they really do have hearts in their eyes."

"Um, well, we didn't want to kill them, so I was trying to get them to fuck each other without Syro raping you as well," Sarania says. "But there's no need to worry about that now. Let me help. We should leave soon. I think their Goddesses are holding them back right now, and their eyes are set on you, my Mistress."

"Would it be a temple visit if I didn't end up having sex?" I mumble. Sarania helps support my other shoulder, and I limp out into the fresh air. My body tingles a bit as a cool breeze hits my skin. The blurring is gone, but everything is shinier than normal.

Sarania and Syro get me packed into the carriage again, and I close my eyes.

...

A loud smack jolts my body, the pain following close behind. The shadows laugh and cheer as my naked body gets abused. A Giantess holds a whip before me, gently flicking it to the side as, with a wicked smile, she picks her next target.

Heavy chains are tied off into the surrounding darkness, attaching to a cold steel collar around my neck. My hands and feet are bound by rope.

The whip moves like it's going through honey on its way to reach me, aiming for the insides of my thighs. The cheers rise as the whip nears while a cool oil pours down my back and wings.

The pain doesn't move in slow motion. No, that reaches me instantly. The whip proves the slow movement to be just a trick. The pain and sound of the strike hit me clearly. A new strike mark rips into my flesh as more cold steel plays around with my ass.

"Don't hurt my babies," I beg. "Just not them!"

The cheers turn to laughter as a cold blade forces its way inside.

...

"ALZI!" Syro screams out, echoing through my mind.

My eyes shoot open, and I'm back in the carriage, Sarania's beautiful arms holding me tight.

"I'm sorry," Sarania says. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have let you sleep. I should've known better. Can you stay awake until we get back to Osanna?"

"Yes," I manage to say, tears ready to pour out. I now have yet another monster prepared to invade my dreams.

"I'm sorry. I thought sleep would be good for your body, and I forgot to think about your mind. You can let it out on my shoulder, my Mistress," Sarania says. "I'm sorry for not getting you out of the Goddess's hands. I should've done more."

"I think she'll help," I say. "She'd better help."

"That's good," Syro says. "She owes you at least that for the pain she put you through. But next time, we'll take Victoria or Geta, and nobody will be able to stop us from getting you away to safety."

"That would be nice," I say, burying my head in Sarania's shoulder. My tears are already flowing, against my will.

"I've got you, my Mistress. You're safe now."

...

Sarania carries me out of the carriage. She didn't really give me an option; she just picked me up when we got to the Castle and carried me out. I'm guessing mana is the reason she can do it. Or some ancient strength thing. But it feels nice to be carried, and I get to hide my despair in her shoulder for a bit longer.

"Hello, Princess Alzi," a woman says. "I heard you got into some trouble with a Goddess. Can I check on you? I know you're strong, but sometimes, it helps to have another healer take a look. Just to be certain, since you do have precious cargo in your womb."

"Kelly can do it," I mumble.

"Alzi, please?" Kelly says. "I'm not as strong as the Royal Healer. She'll be able to check a lot more than I can. Your kids are too important to risk."

"Fine," I say, too tired to argue.

I expected Sarania to lay me down or something, but I just feel a warm hand on my shoulder. It gives me a soft squeeze, then lets go.

"Everything seems to be in order. Seven healthy babies. Just a bit of extra mana sitting around inside, but nothing to be worried about. Try to get some rest, Alzi. I'll have Lensa wait until tomorrow to get pregnant."

"No, I'll fuck her tonight. Just warn her that I'm going to use her as I wish on the way to giving her fifteen kids."

"Nothing too far. You can't cause her undue pain."

"Just some hair pulling."

"Then I'll pass the word along. She won't be happy about it, but she'll live. Take it easy tonight, Princess Alzi. You're under a lot of stress, and that can hurt the babies. Don't just count on your life mana to fix all your health issues. That can only get you so far."

"I know."

*** Space ***

I wish I could do something about that idiot. I don't understand how she can think up the most complex strategies for war, but completely fail to even think about the consequences of her actions against just a single woman. Some Goddesses that aren't stupid around her would do wonders. But even this much was... No, I should've known that she would do something like this. She almost killed the entire population just for fun. I should've known she would pick a fight with Alzi.

I'll have to get help from Fertility and Sea to get Alzi some real justice against her. What would that even look like, though? I don't think War would go against it; I just don't know what to do.

Now I just need to figure out why they haven't shown up! How is Fertility too busy to not know what is going on with her Champion? Sea should be keeping close tabs on Fertility and would come running to help.

But they still haven't shown up!

"Fine," I mutter, teleporting to Fertility's home. Those two had better have a good reason for not helping me against War.

"Hey! Assholes, why didn't you answer Alzi?" I shout out at a small, humble home. Small when compared to the other Goddesses' living spaces. It's still fit for a Queen of the lower realms.

"Who do you think you're talking to!?" Fertility shouts back.

"The useless Goddesses and her lover, of course! War was beating up Alzi, and neither of you showed up or tried to show Alzi some support! You claim to want to act like you care about her, yet you don't even show up when she's getting hurt in the divine realm. So, what are you assholes doing?" I ask.

Sea is the first to walk out of the house, looking a bit pudgier in the belly than normal. Fertility comes out next in a dress that is clearly designed to show off that she's pregnant again.

"Three pregnant women versus War, in a fight?" Fertility says. "There isn't much we could've done, but we didn't know it was happening, so we couldn't do anything."

"What has you so distracted that you didn't notice your Champion getting hurt?"

"I didn't feel her come up or..."

"We were planning the ritual for dealing with our enemies," Sea says. "As you know, that takes some time to work out, and we only have one chance to use it. We have to make sure it is correct, or Alzi will likely die. I believe that is a good reason not to feel a woman coming up in the nontraditional way and then a Goddess fake hurting her."

"The ritual? You got sidetracked by the ritual? Fertility, how could you not have an Angel assigned to just be watching over Alzi? This is a basic thing to do. Sea, have you not helped her with any of this? What even has you two so engrossed in this ritual? Get a bunch of women who raped Alzi or something, toss them into a fire, and kill the rule-breaking creatures from Nature."

"No," Fertility says. "Nature has too many for something that simple. I need it to do more, and for that, I need your help, and we need to get the details exactly right. We didn't feel my Champion come up here, and I do have an angel watching over her. I would've come if she told me Alzi was up here for an extended period."

"Yes," an Angel says. "Alzi never fully came up here, so it shouldn't have been possible for her to be hurt. War brought up less of her so that she could have a longer discussion."

"Was Alzi hurt?" Fertility asks.

"Not physically," I say. "But her brain is being kept together by just mana and some string right now. We can't risk her getting stressed out again. Do you think she's going to last if a Goddess starts punching her around? This kind of thing can't happen again, or she's going to break, and the world will be destroyed."

"Yes, that is worrisome," Fertility says. "If it all ends, it all ends. I'll help her end it, even. But yes, Angel, tell me if she is ever back up here again. I'll be at the edge of their territory, ready to help. I'm sorry, Space. But you could've pulled me over or something."

"I thought you would come running," I say. "It seems you still have some work to do with your angels."

"Yes," Fertility says.

Fertility walks back into her house with Sea, forcing me to risk entering her stupid territory. Sea is fine, and I can always rat out Fertility to Alzi. I can see if Fertility really is fine with the world ending.

"It better be an actual problem," I yell, crossing the boundary. Fertility doesn't freeze me, so I walk into the house, and a pregnant dryad shows me to a study, where I find Sea and Fertility. A paper with four circles is on the desk.

"Now, this is what we want to do. We're hoping you can let us have some wiggle room on the shapes of the outer circles," Fertility says.

"Maybe."