Chapter 496 – Transforming

"You're lucky I'm nice," I say. "Dragon would've just killed you. I kind of wanted to try, just to see what happens. It couldn't be worse than what I've already been through."

"There's a reason I was ever willing to bring you up," the world says. "Thank you for not backing down with your words. I don't think things will go well if I die. Poison really just wouldn't stop hurting me. It's just hard to watch your daughter die. She was causing so many problems for everyone. I'm sorry for the excuses, but war hurts me. And then I found more of my children dead, and now your surprise. I hope I can have your forgiveness. I hope I can finally flush out this poison, and then I'll be less chaotic. I promise. I was calmer back then."

"I would think about it, but I won't remember you," I say.

"Think about it when you ascend," the world says. "Go spend time figuring out your new body and be with your beautiful kids. And protect your son. He won't have many friends in the divine realm, so he'll need help and protection. I'm also going to help attach Isda to you. I owe you that. Goodbye, and thank you for spending time with me."

"Goodbye," I say. "If our next meeting is better, I'll think about letting you blame this one on the pregnancy and poison."

"It will," the world says. "I'll be begging for your help during the labor. I've never had help before."

"Are you ok?" Nanoka asks. "You looked lost for a bit."

"I think I know how to transform now," I say. The itching feeling is gone, and now I just have the itch to see what I look like as a dragon. I hope I'm not the size of a mountain, like Yzzorres. That would be a problem.

Oh, I can fly with my kids now! I'll need to see if my other bodies can change as well. I can have a full group of just me flying around! Eterna can join when she gives birth, and if Yzzorres fixes her attitude, maybe she can join, too. But she would have to actually wake up and not be a bitch. Either of those happening isn't likely, let alone both at the same time.

"ALZI!" Isda screams, the little angel running out to me as fast as she can with her growing pregnancy. "I can feel you! That is weird. Sorry. I just have a connection that feels the same as the one I used to have with Sex. I didn't realize it until she was gone, but now... Now I have it back, and it's a little tingle that feels like you."

"That's good to hear," I say. "I'm glad Fertility's plan worked out. It's good to have you helping me fully. Sorry, but it seems I've spent all day in labor, and I want to test something before Kou comes out here and shuffles me off to bed again."

"You really have been," Isda says. "I'll hold her off for a bit. I didn't mean to stop you."

"No, it's good to hear that it worked," I say. "I have my own angel now. Soon, I won't have to borrow a Valkyrie from Death."

"Yes, My Goddess," Isda says, replacing Nanoka in hugging me. "What are you testing?"

"My dragon form," I say. "I think I'm a true dragon now."

"Then let me back up," Isda says. "You're going to be quite large, I'm sure. I can't wait to see what you look like. You're going to be so pretty, I just know it. We'll have to figure out a way to have Irlo ride you soon. You know she's going to be asking about that the second she sees you."

"I'm already working on it," I say.

Nanoka teleports me a bit farther from the manor and then stands next to Isda. I'm already naked, so I don't have to worry about destroying one of Shyla's beautiful dresses. Maybe I should visit Yzzorres and figure out if I'll destroy clothing when I switch forms or not. No, I can just pull them into my storage tattoos. There's no need to see Grumpy about that.

And now, enough stalling. I just have to hope that this is easy to do. I could have Eterna help me with it, and she can answer the clothing question as well.

...

I don't know how to switch. Standing around doing nothing obviously didn't do anything. Thinking really hard about changing didn't do anything. Moving my mana around randomly didn't work. I'm sure it has something to do with my mana, but I don't have any direct feeling about what I need to do with it to change.

"Let me go get Eterna!" Nanoka shouts. "I should've brought her out here to begin with."

"Thanks," I say. Not that she stuck around to hear it. I feel my body wants to change somehow, so why won't you just do it?! Could it be that it would change all my bodies and it's protecting my kids? But they don't have the same tingle as this one does. Hey, magma mana, got any ideas, or do you just want me to put more kids in my angel?

Too bad it can't talk, just bubbling around. It probably only cares about pinning my cute little angel down and having some fun.

Maybe after this. She is cute. Mana! Shutup. I'm not getting Isda even more pregnant.

"Hi! Sorry, I fell asleep when everything started going down, and you know how I get," Eterna says. Nanoka just drops her right by my side before running back to Isda. "So. What you need to do is put your mana in your wings and tail."

"Of course it's both of them together," I sigh. I only put mana in one at a time. I really should've thought of that.

"Yes, I can't wait until we can fly together," Eterna says.

"You can fly right now, and I can, too," I say.

"I don't know what you mean," Eterna huffs. "Now, go transform. I want to see if you turn into a massive glowing rainbow, and don't transform in clothing you like. It won't make it."

"That's good to know," I say. I push my mana out and feel a quick pop.

I am now a giant glowing rainbow, maybe a quarter the size of Yzzorres. Probably even less.

I try to say something, but instead, I just let out a massive roar that shakes the trees.

"Oh, yeah, I forgot about that!" Eterna shouts. "You have to use mana to talk, but I would not recommend it for a while. We can practice that later. It's really annoying, the only bad thing about the form. You'll get used to it, but until then, try not to say anything. You'll wake up the babies."

I know that now. And controlling all my bodies is a lot harder when one of them is a massive dragon staring at them all through different windows. That part is kind of funny. My eyes are seeing into all the nurseries we have setup at the same time.

I don't know how to change back.

It has to be the same thing, right? No, because I can already feel mana in my wings and tail. Maybe I have to retract the mana? With how much light I put off, I could fly around even when it's the middle of the night. No, I should eat first. Don't give Kou a reason to yell at me. I did just give birth to a Goddess and a bunch of dragons.

Could some of them be true dragons? That would explain some of the extra difficulty, maybe. I beat Yzzorres in giving birth to true dragons. I'm sure she doesn't care, but it would still be funny. I also have to remember that she gets to add some kids to my next pregnancy. I'll have to keep it small so I can play with my kids with all of my bodies. Maybe I could try a pregnancy in this form? No, I won't do that for my next one, since I don't see how I could play with my kids this way, other than just flying them around.

I give the mana retraction idea a shot and find myself back in my normal body. The only problem is that I have that itch to transform again.

"I see why you don't like being in this form," I say. "Do you have the itch while you're pregnant?"

"Luckily, no," Eterna says. "But otherwise, it sticks around. You get used to it, but I still don't like it."

"I don't blame you for that," I say. "If I weren't so used to being like this, and I was able to talk in my other form, I would switch back. Something to worry about later. I'm hungry and tired."

"That's good to hear, My Empress," Kou says. "Come on. We can get all your bodies together so that you can eat with your newborns."

"That sounds good," I say. An entire day spent giving birth. I couldn't even do much with my other bodies with how much focus it takes to give birth. But now I have new kids to shower in love, and a new trick to entertain the kids I already have. Irlo is going to be asking to fly all the time, I'm sure.

*** Fertility ***

She just keeps messing with us. Over and over again.

"Are they all still yelling?" I ask.

"Oh, who cares?" Sea says. "I have a wonderful beach that would take us away from all this noise. If you ever want to. Death has gotten them to quiet down. I think she's really looking for more Goddesses to collect for her little farm."

"I guess I had this all coming," I say. "I haven't done much to help the world."

"Oh, come on," Sea says. "We all know how much Justice messed with the world. But you didn't do much in the world. Sure, the few things you did have created an interesting world, but they aren't the reason why things are bad. The mortals will do that whether you show up to their prayers or not. Things are just going to get more complex, and different people are going to have a voice in the world. Come over here. Do you know how strange it is to see all these women get pregnant after me and then give birth before me? It is the funniest thing, so don't speed it up, but come over here and feel our daughter. She is so active right now. I think she likes that there is going to be a male in the divine realm."

"Fine," I say. Sea really has just moved in. Should we just start saying that we're married now? It would piss off Love and might distract everyone from the constant problems my Champion is causing for us. Of course, I can feel her becoming divine. Sea must have felt that in me all those years ago. She wanted me to become a Goddess. I just wonder why she would do that. She had to know I would be broken.

"There you go. Isn't she so active? And don't worry, I cheated and already checked to see if I'm having a girl," Sea says. "I kind of wished it would be a boy so that I could cause all the chaos, but Alzi gets to have that all to herself for a bit longer. Ouch! There's no need to hurt Mommy just to say hello to your father. Fertility isn't going anywhere. In fact, Fertility, I love you. I thought you were pretty when I took you away from Nature. I didn't know what you would become, but I wanted to give you a chance, and I'm finding that I still like you. You're pretty, of course, but there's something about you. When I'm near you, I'm happy. I know it's rude that I've just moved in, but I'm tired of watching you from a distance. Tell me, honestly, do you like me?"

"I guess," I say. "You can stick around if you want."

"Happily," Sea says.