Chapter 504 – All at Once

'For a bit' turned into until Eterna went into labor. Which was just a day. I don't know what she was going through that let her know when she was going into labor, but Yzzorres, of course, had to be a pain about it.

"I need to help Eterna," I say.

"But what about comforting me?" Yzzorres asks.

"I'll still be right here," I say. "Now be quiet and enjoy our companion, or go to your bed, or find another body to pester."

"I can't," Yzzorres says.

"And why is that?" I ask. Of course, why wouldn't Yzzorres start early? Nothing can be easy with this old, lazy dragon.

"I'm going into labor," Yzzorres says. "I just had a contraction."

"Sure, you did," I say.

"I'll get Lady Kelly in here, My Empress," Kou says. "She'll verify while you help guide Lady Eterna."

"That would be wonderful," I say. Kelly is going to hate me for bringing her into this mess. I'll have to be good about putting Yzzorres in her place. "Yzzorres, if you fight us over who is helping you, I'll kick you out, and you can give birth alone."

"It just started," Yzzorres says. "I'll be good."

"You'd better," I say. It's like I'm talking to a kid. Maybe feeling pain for the first time in a while has humbled her a bit. "You're almost ready, Eterna. You only have a few kids." Only a few. I'm a little crazy.

"Good," is all Eterna manages, her contractions telling her the same thing I just said.

Well, all I can do is wait until the true beings are ready to start pushing.

...

"You're doing well, Eterna," I say. It has to be her crazy strength helping her through this. These kids are the biggest I've seen come out of someone. They're humanoid as well, so I'm guessing they will come out looking like a phoenix if she gets pregnant in that form. It could be fun to try that later. "Just a few more pushes, and then one more kid to go."

I have Eterna doing well, though Yzzorres is struggling. Kelly is blaming the size of the eggs, but I think Yzzorres is just too lazy to push.

Alright, I'm still a little annoyed at her.

I think the fact that Yzzorres is struggling is part of what is helping Eterna along. Their rivalry clearly isn't about to end anytime soon, so maybe I can turn that into a way to get them both really pregnant. Like, brood-sized pregnancies? That would be fun, but I would have to plan to not have my main body able to go anywhere for a few months. Maybe I could carry a bunch of kids for my wives at the same time? I could get Yuki and... FERTILITY!

"Perfect," I say. "Another just like that, and you'll have another kid in your arms. Breathe, and push. There she is. Another beautiful little girl."

I am hoping for a boy. Just one. No, at least one. It's probably too much to ask for the change to be immediate, but it would be cool to see it happen so quickly. The problem is that Eterna got pregnant before the change happened. And it's the same with Yzzorres, but maybe they've had time to switch in the eggs for her.

My true being kids will have to get along with their siblings, but there is only so much I can do about that. And if they get a bit of me in them, they'll be fine with it. It's just a bit strange that they'll be growing up together, and then you know... Of course, I did do that with Mommy, but we all hope our kids can be better than their parents.

"Kelly, we can try switching," I say. "Eterna's doing well, so I'll see if I can figure out how to help Yzzorres get through this."

"Yes, dear," Kelly says.

Shuffling around on a bed is a lot easier when you're not pregnant. It's the one thing I'm going to miss the most when I eventually let someone slip that dildo into me. I did promise Yzzorres some kids, so maybe her and Fertility or Space this time. Maybe that'll keep it a bit smaller and add some divinity to me?

"How do you feel?" I ask. I start prodding Yzzorres's belly before dipping between her legs.

"It fucking hurts!" Yzzorres screams. Her belly is massive, each contraction rippling downward, but the eggs just aren't making any progress. It does make me wonder about our anatomy. That is a lot of muscle that I never had before. It feels like I would be shooting kids out like arrows from a bow if I had that much muscle pushing. But that also makes it that much worse that none of her eggs have come out.

"I see," I say. "Those are not the right size." Ok, so it isn't laziness. "I'm just going to give you a little cut. Sorry, this is going to be painful, but the eggs will practically fall out of you if I do this. And I'm not seeing another method that doesn't risk cracking the eggs. We'll have to remember to make sure you only get pregnant in your dragon form if I'm going to bloat you up."

I should give her a cut at the abdomen, but this will work about the same, with how much healing I can do, and it's closer to being natural. Not that Fertility should care about childbirth at all. There should be a different, currently unborn, Goddess looking over childbirth. Maybe the next one I get from Fertility or Space? I'm liking that plan, if the world agrees with me.

The cut is a lot more than just a little, but it opens the path and reveals a large black egg, which is finally making some progress down her birth canal.

"The first one is now on its way," I say. "Sorry, but it should move quickly now, and I'll get you healed right up."

"Fucking bitch!" Yzzorres screams. "It fucking hurts so damn bad."

"I know, I know," I say. "But it'll be over soon. Just focus on pushing with your contractions. I know you have the strength to fight through this, and I'm here to help."

And then a beautiful box of the Goddesses appears. A boy! Eterna actually had a boy! Maybe my son is already affecting the world. Or Fertility is letting me get lucky now. Or was that Luck being nice to me? There are a lot of possibilities.

"Congratulations, Eterna," I say. "It was you, right? Kou, is anyone else giving birth?"

"Not at the moment, My Empress," Kou says. "But there are a number of women who are around their due date. However, your Skills make it hard to judge that completely."

"Thank," comes Eterna's tired voice. "Thank you. Mother is going to be proud. If I ever get around to telling her."

"She'll have to find out eventually," I say. "Try to get some rest. We can get Yuki in here if you need some quiet time. Kelly, just help her finish, and then help me with Yzzorres. This is taking a lot out of her with the cut."

"Yes, dear," Kelly says with a small smile. "You've filled in the role of head healer well. But turn around. An egg is coming. You'll see your son soon."

Shit! "Sorry," I say. "But good job. I'll pull this one out. I can see the next one already starting to push its way out."

Ok, true dragons are really not supposed to have broods in their human form. This egg is twice the size of the ones Zarzi had! Kou takes it from my hands and moves it over to Yzzorres's cave somewhere. I have to focus on helping the next egg come out, so I'm not sure if Yzzorres has a trench already prepared for the eggs or if true dragon eggs don't need magma to finish growing.

"Just thirty-two more to go," I say.

"Fuck you!" Yzzorres yells out with her next contraction.

"Fair enough," I whisper. It's a good thing that I get to pick the number of kids I get pregnant with. Otherwise, I could never trust Yzzorres to be inside me after this.

...

"My Empress, Elo..." Kou starts.

"I know," I say. "Kelly?"

"I'll keep Elo alive, but I can't do much more than that," Kelly says. "I don't think I'm made to help deliver broods."

"I just hope Elyne makes it another day," I say. "Thank you, Kelly."

"I'm doing what I love with the women I love. You need to get the next batches started soon," Kelly says, giving me a quick kiss. "See you soon."

"Not you too," I groan.

"I'm here to help," Nanoka says, wrapping Kelly up in her arms. "See you soon."

Kelly shouldn't be running around so much so soon after giving birth. And she even volunteered to be part of the next batch like that. She had to have heard the discussion.

But Yzzorress first. I keep getting distracted. "More pushing and controlled breathing," I say. "We're almost done."

...

Yzzorress's eggs are coming out quickly now. Just a few more minutes, and she'll have pushed them all out.

"Elyne, My..."

"Of course," I say. "Can she make it to Elo? I should've moved everyone to Elo for this, so we'd have the two trickiest ones together. Of course, I'm also going to have a discussion with Luck after this. She could cheat a bit for her Mother." Elo is finding some success with pushing out her eggs, but Kelly is struggling to keep her alive and do anything else for her. My body with them just isn't able to do much beyond being a normal midwife to a woman who is not having a normal labor.

"I can do that," Nanoka says. "But make it quick. Elo is not as favored as Zarzi was."

Who could've guessed? "Last one," I say. "Just one more push, and then you can sleep, surrounded by your eggs."

"FUCK!" Yzzorres lets out. I don't know how she still has her voice. Every push has had her screaming like she's borrowed Victoria's tongue. But the final egg lands in my hands and is passed off to Kou.

Before I can even start healing Yzzorres, she's fallen back to sleep. If she doesn't turn into the Goddess of Sleep or Sloth, I'm going to have some serious doubts about how Goddesses get their Affinity.

I give Yzzorres a soft kiss after healing the cut and see that she's fine, just tired. Then Nanoka comes around to pick me up, and we head right through Space's temples and find ourselves in the dragon's throne room.

A few eggs are already in a pit. And thankfully, someone brought in a bed for Elyne. However, Kelly is completely focused on Elo, so I may need to get Rosemary to help us again.

I let out an aura of healing mana and move over to Elyne. "Do you want to change positions?" I ask. She's lying on her side right now, but it would probably be better for her to be standing up.

"It. Hurts. Too. Much." Elyne spits out.

"Ok," I say. "Nanoka, can you bring Sarania over? I want to try to take some of Elyne's pain away. Elyne got herself like this for me, so I can give back a bit."

"Yes, dear," Nanoka says.

"Ok, try to relax. I'm going to check your wombs to see if one is closer to being ready," I say. "And then we'll focus on one womb at a time. Can you do that for me?"

"Yes," Elyne says.

"I'm here, Mistress," Sarania says.

"I want to take some of Elyne's pain away," I say.

"That sounds like a good idea, my Mistress," Sarania says. "I'll do it. You need to be able to focus on helping her and not the phantom pains of her childbirth."

"Thank you," I say. "Well, it looks like the human womb is first."

Sarania slips a ring onto Elyne's finger and then immediately collapses, but Elyne is looking a lot calmer now, with some focus coming back to her eyes.

I'm going to have a lot of pampering to do tomorrow.

"Can you push for me?" I ask.

"Yes. Thank you, Sarania," Elyne says. "Just direct me through this, Alzi."

"Of course."

...

The last two kids come out together. Kou catches the human, while I catch the centaur. Another maid comes to take the kid from my arms as I shuffle over to join Kelly and my third body with Elo.

There's no time to relax, but Sarania is getting up again, so that's a relief.

Elyne didn't have any boys, so Man must not have had a chance to really affect the world yet.

"I'm here," I say. "It's time to truly help you. Sorry for the delay."

Elo doesn't give me much of a response, just a small flash in her eyes to convey that she heard me.

About a third of the eggs are out, so things are looking promising for Elo to live through this ordeal, but we have plenty of work left to do. Kelly isn't going to be able to stay awake until the end of this. "Kelly, I've got this," I say. "Go get some sleep. You've done enough."

"Ok," Kelly says, passing out on the spot.

"Fair enough," I say.

...

"One hundred," I say. "Done. We've gotten through the difficult pregnancies."

"The magma," Kou just has to say.

"Fine," I say. "Magma, and then we need to collect everyone and toss them all into bed."

"I'll handle tossing them into bed," Nanoka says.

"Good," I say. "I guess I'll have to be the magma person."