113(2) – Zenyo! (IX)
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PART 3 – Visit!
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Skarla reverted to being Verna, but there was no longer any reason to hide her identity from her friends.
Lina continued teasing Zenyo, but because he had a larger penis than before, some of the teasing had to change focus. But Zenyo didn't care anymore; he was no longer covered by his curse.
He constantly looked at himself in a mirror, admiring his beauty, his muscles, imagining what haircuts he would get.
His cheerfulness irritated Lina; Skarla simply ignored it, but was happy for her friend. Of course, his cheerfulness started to become irritating after a few hours.
"Can you stop?" Skarla growled. "We understand you're happy, but it's getting annoying!"
Zenyo was startled, then smiled and nodded. He stopped for a while, but we know it didn't take long for him to resume his irritating cheerfulness.
…
Days later, problems arose.
They were camping, with less than 12 hours to go before Skarla could reactivate the teleportation and reach the region where the Teleportation Matrix was located, which allows travel between worlds.
Skarla was sitting, tending the campfire and contemplating life.
“You should know that stealth around me is the most useless thing anyone can do,” Skarla said calmly, looking directly at the figure she believed to be hiding.
At her words, an elderly man with a long gray beard and a blue cloak appeared. “I didn’t expect to deceive your senses,” said the old man, slowly approaching and creating a chair to sit in. “I must admit I didn’t expect the Skarla I’d heard about to be someone with such a low profile.”
Skarla laughed. “I came to do a favor for a friend, and I have no reason to destroy this world.”
The old man smiled coldly. “That’s what I want to know, how did you accomplish this feat? World travelers are terrified by your name, gods of all kinds even choose to avoid speaking your name as if it were taboo. So how did a mortal achieve all this?”
“By having power and knowledge that surpasses logic, or the rules imposed by systems, gods, or perhaps the creator of this universe himself.” – Skarla shrugs. – “But I doubt you came to me just to talk.”
“Well, one of the reasons I came to you is precisely to talk. As soon as she said you were here, the news spread to all the Demigods, Gods, and a few Transcendents. Everyone is worried about the infamous Skarla Verona, Destroyer of Worlds!”
“I’ve already achieved what I wanted, so I’m leaving. As long as they don’t cause me trouble, I won’t cause any trouble.” – Skarla said, shrugging.
“But you interfered with several plans.” – The old man smiled slightly. – “Don’t you think you owe me compensation?”
“Compensation?” – Skarla laughs. – “I have no idea who you are, but I think you’re the first person who knows who I am to demand compensation from me. Not even when I destroyed Hell and Heaven did any of your gods dare to demand compensation.”
The old man smiles, but obviously hides his nervousness. – “It’s just that I’m not a coward.”
Skarla laughs again. – “There’s a difference between cowardice and foolishness.”
The two stare at each other, slight smiles, until Skarla’s gaze shifts to the sky and she says. – “If you’re going to attack, you’d better have the confidence to kill me in one blow. Because all I need is a second and this world will be besieged by all the Void Beasts nearby.”
The old man frowned and before he could speak… “Do you think I’m as ignorant or weak as you? I can hear and feel all 64 demigods and the… 7 deities? There’s also a rather curious individual; I sense a certain danger from him, but nothing I can’t handle.”
“Do you think you can defeat us all?” – The old man smiles coldly as several figures appear in the sky, intimidating and divine auras, the air becomes heavier, the ground is crushed by the pressure.
Immense, yet Skarla seems untouched, even unconcerned, as she slowly raises a hand and clenches her fist, where the very air distorts and slight wounds appear in space.
“STOP!” – A roar came from the heavens.
“Do you know what this is?” – Skarla smiles as she waves her hand, the space tearing and desperately closing in. – “It’s me with one hand, tearing through the protection of this world. Do you have the confidence to kill me without me noticing, before I open a gash the size of a city?”
“And know that this is neither Hell nor Paradise. You don't possess hundreds or thousands of Deities who together can temporarily repel the Beasts of the Void and subsequently try their luck at closing the rift. What do you have? Fewer than 20 Gods in this world? How many would stay to try and help? I doubt any would.”
“In the end, only the Demigods would remain, but faced with the Beasts of the Void, there's not much they can do. They would be killed or corrupted, forced to abandon their world. The gods wouldn't even stay; they would run away with their tails between their legs, as the Gods of Light did at the first opportunity. This world would be unprotected in a few days, and its millions of years of history would disappear in the blink of an eye.”
“And all this because you decided to provoke me. So tell me, is the destruction of this world worth it at the cost of my life? I know I will die, but I'll take half of you with me, and I'll leave the other half for the Beasts of the Void to take along with this world.” “So, what’s it going to be?” Skarla asks coldly, staring at what had ordered her to stop.
Her gaze soon falls on another person. “You know, I could even ignore the fact that you said I’m here. I understand the importance of the information and your hatred for me. But attending this little show wasn’t smart. Treat the fact that I’m sparing you now as payment of my debt to you.”
Skarla slowly nods. “I think that was the biggest waste of a favor I ever did. Look, you could even ask me to destroy a world and I would do it without hesitation.”
Many eyes fell on the figure targeted by the gaze, Ariel Horça. “Good luck finding someone more capable and trustworthy to heal your beloved.”
Silence lingers for a long time, until a figure emerges from the shadows, shrouded in darkness, and asks in a deep voice, “What guarantee do we have that you won’t destroy this world?”
Skarla observes him, knowing he is a Transcendent, the first she has ever faced, and indeed, his presence and power are overwhelming. But she circulates her power to maintain her composure and combat the combined pressure of so many individuals.
“There is no guarantee. I'm just leaving; my friend's curse has been cured, and that's the only reason I came to this world. If they see me as a monster or something like that, I don't care, especially since I wouldn't cause all that chaos in Hell or Heaven if I cared about other people's opinions.”
“Just understand that I have no reason to destroy this world, so don't give me any reason.” – Skarla says coldly.
“I remember you saying you only did things for reasons. What reason would that be that would make you destroy an entire world? Take trillions of innocent lives?” – Ariel asked coldly.
Skarla looked at her, smiled, and said. – “I value my life very much. I want to see all my children grow up, become a grandmother, great-grandmother, and so on. I have many selfish desires that keep me attached to this life. So if you're going to take it from me, at least let me die taking you with me. As for collateral damage… I wouldn't have attacked Paradise if I cared about what would come after.”
Skarla then withdrew her hand and sat down, relaxing. – “But you know something you should ask yourselves?”
Skarla's smile widened. – “Why am I causing all this chaos, wielding illogical power? Why do I have all this and no administrator has interfered? What is it about me that they fear so much that they ignore my actions and the imbalance I bring to the system as a whole?”
Gods trembled at these words; most demigods seemed confused.
The Transcendent One stared at Skarla and, after nodding slightly, withdrew, his presence disappearing. As he left, others followed suit, then the Demigods.
Ariel remained in the sky, staring at Skarla, and the regret was obvious in her eyes. She could have stayed quietly at home, having a better chance of recovering her beloved, but she chose to attend. Ariel showed Skarla how reckless she is.
An Archmage Demigoddess who acts before thinking.
With everyone leaving, Skarla sat back down, and from the tents, two sweat-covered figures slowly emerged.
Lina licked her lips, which seemed dry. She looked at the sky; even now, there were still traces of the presence of these beings of immense power.
She looked at Zenyo sitting beside the campfire, calming his trembling limbs. – “Thank you.” – She said, and Zenyo stared at her, confused. – “For what?”
“For almost killing us!” – Lina growled, an overwhelming urge to punch him surging before her. – “Seriously, I thought what you told me was just a story, just an exaggeration, but you literally screwed up Heaven and Hell?!”
Skarla laughs lightly. – “Because of that, more than 100 worlds request my protection, even though I'm a mortal, and I receive tributes from more than 100 worlds annually.”
Lina swallows, wondering how rich Skarla really is.
“I’m sorry…” Zenyo said, lowering his head.
Skarla looked at him, sighed, and said, “Zenyo, normally I wouldn’t tell you these things, but you need to listen carefully to what I’m about to say.” Her tone became stern.
“You are one of the most intelligent people I have ever met, and we know that attributes, while important, aren’t the only thing. You are one of the most brilliant and capable minds I have ever worked with; your potential is immense, and I recognize you as a friend and an equal, not in power, but in potential.” Skarla said slowly, and Zenyo was surprised, his heart filling with pride.
“But since we arrived in this world, you haven’t stopped disappointing me, making several questionable choices and reacting strangely. I understand your excitement, finally getting rid of something that has tormented you for over 150 years. But this situation simply seems to have shut down your brain.”
Skarla nodded. – “Now your carelessness almost cost us our lives. But don’t think it was just almost… you caused the extermination of the Thorn Family.”
“What?!” – Zenyo, suddenly embarrassed, is shocked. – “What does the Thorn Family have to do with us?”
Lina spoke up. – “I may not be very bright, but you’re being ignorant here. The Thorn Family has hosted us for a long time; we acted in their best interest. You could say that we and the Thorn Family have a great relationship. And now they know that Verna is Skarla, someone even gods fear…”
“Do you think that with how paranoid these people are, they’ll simply ignore the potential danger that the Thorn Family might pose? Of course not. They’ll exterminate them to avoid any complications.”
Zenyo shuddered.
“All because you couldn’t keep your mouth shut.” – Lina nods.
Zenyo panicked and looked at Skarla. – “We can’t do anything?!”
“No. Just pray.” – Skarla says. – “If we interfere, they’ll think we actually have a connection to the Thorn Family and they’ll actually exterminate them. If we ignore them, maybe they’ll have mercy, which I find hard to believe. A scenario where the Thorn Family isn’t exterminated… I can’t see it.”
Zenyo fell to his knees with a pitiful expression.
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PART 4 – We're not going to have that!
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The walk to the Teleportation Matrix went smoothly.
Zenyo broke down along the way, realizing what a simple slip of the tongue had caused. The news of the Thorn Family massacre arrived through the purchase of information.
And that made him hate himself. The face he looked at in the mirror, once always with admiration, now with an understanding of the truth. How pathetic he had been these past months, how reckless he had been, only thinking of himself and his curse.
He hadn't noticed what Skarla was sacrificing by coming with him to this world. He could have sent other demigods, but he decided to come personally because of a promise.
Zenyo knows Skarla's position very well, and yet he acted as he did.
This showed Skarla how spoiled Zenyo was. How leaving his comfort zone, but giving him hope of completing his long-held goal, transformed him.
And this shows that his curse demanded more than he imagined.
It almost cost Skarla her life, who could be portrayed as her best friend. It almost killed Lina, whom they met on this journey, and finally… annihilated an entire family, simply because they had a prolonged interaction with them.
And all because he spoke a taboo name… Skarla.
…
Arriving at the Teleportation Matrix, Skarla activated it and, knowing it wouldn't be worth it, triggered a self-destruct protocol. Slowly, she activated the matrix and they entered.
Their bodies moved and with a bang, they vanished. Figures appeared around the Teleportation Matrix, but in the next instant, they saw it compressed into a sphere, followed by a small explosion.
This frustrated several of the individuals, but after a few hours, they simply left.
……
In Murim.
Lina observes from the top of a mountain from where they came, the fabulous city in the distance, the magical density in the air.
Zenyo thanked Skarla again for all the help, apologized for the trouble, and left.
Skarla didn't say anything; she was truly disappointed in her friend.
She then touched Lina's shoulder and said, "How about getting a house, citizenship, and some guides?"
Lina's eyes shone with anticipation.
===== [Author] =====
Sorry, but I implied that in this chapter, Skarla and Zenyo would have sex. But that wasn't the case. I did plan it, but as I finished writing the previous chapter, which was supposed to conclude this arc, I extended it to this chapter.
Honestly, I planned for Part 3 to be about sex, but I reread it about 5 times before realizing it makes no sense to have it.
I know it's something many people want. Zenyo is an interesting character, and after acquiring his newest image, many certainly want to see him get fucked by Skarla's giant cock.
Honestly, I wanted that too. But I respect my protagonist too much to simply ignore the logic of her actions. After Zenyo makes so many mistakes and causes so many problems with his reckless actions, there's no way she could have the desire to fuck him.
Zenyo, with his actions, destroyed the biggest chance I gave him. Sure, I wrote it, but understand that a large part of the actions and decisions taken by my characters are measured according to the results of the Dices.
Zenyo seemed like an idiot in this arc. It's his arc, but his presence was practically minimal. A supporting character where he should have shone, but Lina shone brighter than him. I admit that in part this is my fault, but in other parts it's the result of probabilities.
He only had a gigantic sequence of bad luck, and moments when he was supposed to shine, he simply faded or the lightbulb burned out.
And well, with all this and much more. I analyzed this chapter and the previous one a lot. The moment Zenyo called Skarla by name, the chances of them having a sex scene became 0 or close to it.
The only possibility would be if Ariel Horça hadn't contacted him, but… she told him and even came in person, the result of a "Critical Failure". And with that, the chances of Zenyo and Skarla becoming friends with benefits were destroyed.
Zenyo is a good character, but for some reason the Dices hate him. He's like Anna Zlad, but at least in the second chance I gave him, she was much luckier, and we haven't even started her redemption arc yet.
Again, my apologies to those who expected to see Zenyo scream shrilly and become Skarla's cocksleeve, but I have too much respect for this character I've been developing for so many years.
I couldn't just throw that scene in after all this development and sequence of disastrous events.
As for the chances of Zenyo getting a third chance? Honestly, I don't plan on giving him another chance. Yes, he will develop more in the future, but for now his chance is lost.