chapter 284

Chapter 284:

–Kyoto, Earth DxD–

The earthquakes were growing more intense by the minute. Yasaka could sense the panic spreading throughout the Yokai in her palace as the realization sank in that they were under attack. She had to temporarily seal away those senses, the collective turmoil was overwhelming and she needed to focus on her own thoughts.

“What are you waiting for, Yasaka? Go and get Layla!” Amaterasu demanded, her voice sharp with urgency. “The Behemoth is going to reach the outskirts of Kyoto any moment now!”

“I can’t,” Yasaka replied bitterly, clenching her fists. “The device that lets me travel across the gap needs to recharge. It takes a couple of hours, and we still have at least one more to go before I can head to Earth Marvel and bring Layla back.”

Amaterasu, who had been staring off toward the horizon, waiting for the monster to appear, spun around to face Yasaka in disbelief. “You only have one of these devices!? What if an emergency like this happens?” She made a fair point.

Yasaka bit her lip, glancing away in embarrassment. “We... we didn’t think about that,” she admitted.

Amaterasu threw her hands up in frustration, her kimono almost slipped from her shoulder since she’d left so fast that she hadn't fully fastened it. She scowled as she clutched the fabric and tied her kimono back into place with slightly red cheeks. “Well, isn’t that just great?” she muttered sarcastically. “What are we supposed to do in the meantime? The Behemoth is going to flatten half of Japan before we manage to stop it! Are you seriously telling me that a genius like Azazel didn’t invent some kind of multiversal cellphone? Isn’t there any other way to get Layla’s attention?”

“We could try praying to her,” Alter suggested, her voice steady despite clutching the trembling young Kunou in her arms. The youngest fox girl was terrified, but Alter herself was determined. She had already lost one home, she wouldn’t lose this one too. She had to be strong for her new family. “Layla is a goddess, and I’m her priestess. She’ll hear me across the Gap. I know she will.”

Amaterasu stared at Alter for a moment, then let out an exasperated sigh. “…Fuck it. Better than nothing. Get down on your knees and start praying, fox girl! We’ll handle the Behemoth in the meantime.” She turned back to Yasaka. “We’ve got to lure it away from the city or the casualties will be even worse than they already are. The earthquakes alone have already killed tens of thousands, and that’s not counting what happened to Kuoh Town.”

The weight of the losses pressed heavy on Amaterasu’s heart. She might be a NEET who preferred to stay out locked in her room playing games and watching anime all day, but she was still the head goddess of Japan! The death toll weighed heavily on her as the devastation of her people washed over her senses.

Yasaka didn’t waste any more time. Channeling the full power of the Leylines, she transformed into her true Yokai form as soon as she stepped clear of the palace grounds. A colossal, golden nine-tailed fox—fifty feet tall—manifested above Kyoto. Blue flames of foxfire manifested around her feet, keeping her floating above the city’s rooftops. Amaterasu leaped onto Yasaka’s head as the massive fox dashed toward the source of the chaos, her tails sweeping through the sky like banners of war.

The citizens of Kyoto, mundane and supernatural, trembled beneath them as they charged into battle–the supernatural world had been thoroughly exposed on this day, but Yasaka wasn’t about to let the Behemoth tear her city apart without a fight!

…

–Layla–

"...I'd like to point out that what you're doing should be impossible," Hela remarked, raising an eyebrow in my direction. "Anyone else would have exploded holding two of those things bare-handed."

"I'm just built different." I smirked, making her pout.

In each hand, I held an Infinity Stone. The Mind Stone rested calmly in my left, while the Power Stone pulsed firmly in my right. It used to be that holding the Power Stone alone would nearly break me, even with my gamer abilities. Now, all I felt was a steady, comfortable energy flowing through me, strengthening my already vast reserves. I had reached a point where wielding both stones indefinitely was no longer a struggle.

"What do you plan to do with them?" Hela asked curiously. "Do you feel the urge to suddenly erase half the life in the universe to win the heart of a fair maiden?" She grinned, referencing Thanos and his obsession with Lady Death.

"Nah, I'm good on that front," I replied cheekily. I had already won Lady Death’s heart!

Hela teased me right back. "I think I remember you once saying something about borrowed power being worthless? If you still feel that way, maybe I should take those stones off your hands then." She reached out playfully, her hand hovering near the stones.

"No!!! My precious!" I pulled both hands back to hide the stones, ignoring the smirk spreading across her face. "I admit…" I said, slipping the stones back into my inventory. I considered finding someone like Azazel or an Asgardian jeweler to create a necklace or bracelet to hold the stones. "...my opinions have changed a bit. I just didn’t want to become too reliant on power that isn’t permanently my own." If the jewelry didn’t work out, then I needed a method to make it so that the stones couldnt be taken from me since I definitely wanted to utilize them.

I would have liked to try fusing the stones to myself, but I was afraid my Orb of Infinity would try eating them first. I can’t trust the damn thing around anything small and shiny!

“Hungry…”

‘No! You eat enough good stuff as it is!’ I scolded my Sacred Gear in my head. Could it actually understand me? No idea…

“Sadness…”

Hela nodded at me in agreement. Lately, a surge of Norse worshippers had sprung up across Earth in the Marvel Universe. "I understand where you’re coming from. I’ve been receiving more Faith Energy every single day now than I had in the last thousand years. But I haven't been using it the same as most other Gods or Goddesses. I’ve slowly been converting it into my own permanent power. The ritual to do so isn’t fast, or very efficient, but it works well enough."

All of my lovers had gotten more powerful in my absence, but Hela had reached a new milestone herself. Her level was once again higher than my own. That didn’t mean she was more powerful than I was–my stats and titles were all broken at this point, but she was still incredibly powerful.

{The Asgardian Queen - Hela: Level 120}

I asked her if she was as strong as she was in her prime, and she told me that she was actually pretty close. I didn’t know there even was a ritual to convert Faith Energy into permanent power for other beings besides Gamers like myself.

“Now then, enough about all that! We’re here to take care of some unfinished business.” Hela grasped my hand and smiled with a dangerous cheerfulness. "Let us go and get some good old fashioned revenge!"

I sighed, focusing on my Orb of Infinity to open a portal right in front of us. The swirling vortex appeared, but I didn't step through. Instead, I found myself hesitating slightly–more than slightly. My feet didn't budge. I didn’t want to go back there...

Hela frowned, concern flashing in her eyes as she gently tugged at my arm, urging me forward towards the portal. “Come on, love. It’s not a big deal, it is not as if you have PTSD…” Her words trailed off, and I was momentarily surprised that she even knew what PTSD was. Then again, maybe I shouldn't have been—she'd lived with it for months after escaping her prison.

“You don’t know that…” I muttered, my voice coming out in a whine. Had I actually died in that black hole, that might’ve been the end for me. Lady Death herself had said she couldn't see me once I was kicked inside. I’d never been afraid of death—until a week ago. I’d almost been taken out by my own arrogance, by underestimating a teenager I hadn’t even considered a threat. And yet, that kid nearly gave me a Game Over, almost taking me away from my family forever!

Hela clicked her tongue in mild exasperation. “Alright, fine. Maybe you have it a little bit. But that’s exactly why we’re doing this now. We’ll confront the trauma head-on, slay the foolish boy who tried to kill you, and then we’ll come home and have some ice cream with our daughters to celebrate!” she listed off while tugging me closer to the portal.

[I can't believe she just combined murder and ice cream like that in the same sentence…]

I could. That was definitely a Hela thing to do…

With a sigh, I relented and let her drag me through the portal. We passed through without any issues, landing in yet another version of New York. Once again, I found myself in... I wasn’t exactly sure what to call this Universe.

Earth-Spider? Earth-Spiderverse? Spiderverse Prime?

Meh, I'd come up with something later. For now, we had some unfinished business to attend to.

[Are you really going to kill a kid who's only… however old Miles is?]

‘I think he was around thirteen or fourteen the last time I saw him. At most, he’s what—sixteen now?’

[Wow! Only 13 years old and already pulling off double homicide attempts.]

‘It might not have been just an attempt when it came to Shathra,’ I muttered internally. ‘She was completely drained of magical and divine energy when she was tossed into the black hole.’ It’s anyone’s guess what happened to her.

[Does that make Miles a Campione then?]

"It better fucking not…" I grumbled to myself, too quietly for Hela to overhear.

[I was just kidding!]

Hela snapped me out of my thoughts with her question. "Where does Miles Morales live? I would like our vengeance to be carried out swiftly. Something about this world feels strange…I do not like it," she said while staring up into the blue skies. “It feels…empty?” she said, looking confused.

I shrugged at her. "You might be feeling the lack of any other Gods or supernatural beings of any kind.” I explained to her. That had thrown me for a loop the last time I was in this Universe as well. As for where he lives, I have no idea.” I said. That would have been kind of weird if I did. “I only know where he went to school two years ago. It was some weird preppy boarding school for elite kids whose parents want them to succeed in life but don’t love them enough to raise their own kids themselves. Or at least that’s the vibe I got from the place…" I finished with a second shrug.

Hela stared at me blankly before massaging her own forehead. "Midgardians are so very strange sometimes," she remarked and then let me lead the way.

I flew on my wings while Hela conjured a flying sword beneath her, gliding beside me. At my request, she cast some illusion magic to keep us hidden from prying eyes as we soared over the city. After all, we weren’t exactly back here with good intentions.

[So, are you really going to do it? Do you even have it in you to kill a kid? Because Hela’s pretty gung-ho about it.]

‘I don’t know…’ I admitted to myself. This whole thing had been Hela’s idea, not mine. She was fueled by vengeance after losing me for two years, and from her perspective, her anger was justified. In fact, if given the chance, she'd probably wipe out Miles’s entire family without a second thought.

But me? I was conflicted. I wouldn’t know what I’d do until I saw the kid. Until I look him in the eyes and figure out why he tried to kill me.

[Because you didn’t revive his villain uncle, duh. Seems obvious.]

‘Well yes, but… Shut up, System…’

We could have crossed the city in a matter of seconds, but I flew more casually, talking in the sights now that I was back here. It looked like “Team Spider” managed to put a stop to the Super Collider before it went out of control and wiped out this Universe, that was good. I never did end up getting a quest complete message from the System though. Whatever was causing Spider-Universes to disappear, it apparently wasn’t the Collider. Or not completely at least…

CRASH!

We were close to the school when I heard a loud bang underneath us on the streets. Hela and I took in a weird sight below. A black and red Spiderman was battling against a completely white man covered in what looked to be black holes...

Hela reached out and comfortingly grasped my hand again. I shook my head and took a breath. I was a High Goddess now, far more powerful than I had been before. I needed to get over this hesitation. I doubted a black hole would even be able to harm me anymore after I had evolved to 16 wings—something that had never even been achieved by my own father.

“There’s our target!” Hela said in delight. Her eyes were brimming with promises of pain she was about to inflict on the unsuspecting “hero” fighting below us.

Before she could pull out any more swords and start stabbing, I let go of her hand and spoke up. “Let me handle this myself, Hela.” I told her. I hated the disappointed look she gave me but I needed to do this myself, no matter what.

“...You are not going to kill him?” she asked me in near disbelief. “After what he did to our family!?”

“I don’t know...” I admitted. The conflict was growing even more inside me, my emotions were at war with each other.

Hela stared at me for a few seconds in silence. She bit her lip before turning her head and letting out a sigh. “…Fine,” Hela said. “Why did I ever fall for such a kind-hearted woman? Go ahead and handle him, my love, but don’t give him a light punishment after what he did! If you do, then I will handle things my way.” Hela said. She volunteered to keep watch from the sky as I floated down towards the two super-powered beings fighting in the streets.

They were causing massive amounts of property damage as Miles kept trying to hit the man, who was able to comically keep evading every attempt. At one point, Miles picked up an entire car in frustration and simply chucked it at the villain, hoping that would put him down.

It did not.

The villain opened up a large black portal in front of himself that swallowed the entire car. A second later, the car appeared from another portal over 20 meters above the crowded streets.

You could always count on stupid people to stand around and gawk when dangerous super-powered beings were throwing down with each other. I flapped my wings and instantly appeared directly underneath the car. I caught it before it could pancake a pair of dumb teenagers who were too busy filming the fight with their cell phones to watch their surroundings.

“Whoa! That was wicked, lady! Who are you supposed to be?” one of the teens asked, pointing his phone camera at me.

“Those wings look really cool. Are they natural or are they grafted onto you like Doc Oc and her weird robot tentacles?” another teen asked bluntly.

"They're natural..." I said, calmly setting the car down on the street. I was sure the owner—and their insurance—would thank me for that. The two teens, wide-eyed, looked like they were about to barrage me with more questions, but a noise interrupted all of our thoughts.

“WAH!” A baby cried out... from inside the car.

I glanced through the window into the backseat. There, strapped into a booster seat, was a baby wailing, blood trickling from a small cut on her forehead. She must have hit her head during the violent toss. It was a miracle she wasn’t more seriously hurt, especially given how roughly the car had been thrown before I caught it.

“Holy shit! There’s a kid in there!” one of the teens exclaimed, disbelief clear in his voice. I could relate.

"Wasn't that the car the new Spiderman picked up and threw!? Did he know there was a baby inside?" the other added incredulously.

My anger surged. First off, fuck the parents for leaving their baby alone in a car! Second, fuck Miles even more! What was he thinking, using someone else’s car as a weapon without even checking if it was empty? The teens had called him the "new Spiderman." Did that mean this universe's Peter Parker had retired or something in the past two years?

I broke the glass and unlocked the car door from the inside. I pulled the baby out and quickly healed her injuries. I then handed her to the two dumbfounded teenagers. Get out of here and take her to the nearest police station.” I ordered the two of them, leaving no room for argument. They immediately did as I asked and skedaddled.

“Hahaha! You’ll have to try harder than that, my rival! You won’t be able to beat me if you’re too busy hitting yourself,” the villain cackled as Miles’s fist passed through one of the black spots on his body and came out another, landing squarely on his own face. Miles’s head snapped backward violently from the force of the punch. The villain's power was strange, but I didn’t think he had super strength or durability. That punch could have easily killed a non-enhanced person. Miles either wasn’t playing around anymore, or he was too pissed off to care.

“Stop making me look bad and just go down already! I have important shit to do today, you second-rate nobody!” Miles stumbled but quickly recovered, charging at the villain again.

“That’s cold, man. I thought we had something special?” the villain replied. The weird thing was he genuinely sounded upset with Miles’s comment.

Before their fight continued, I made my presence known by flying down and landing directly between them. They were both so engrossed in their battle that neither of them noticed me earlier when I caught the car.

“Hello, Miles. It’s been a while,” I said more calmly than I actually felt.

The eyes on his mask widened, though I still didn’t understand how that was possible. “Oh, fuck!” he exclaimed, quickly jumping back a few meters to put some distance between us. “L-Layla? What are you doing back here?” he asked nervously.

“You weren’t expecting to see me again after you tried to murder me and Shathra, were you?” I asked, my voice now dripping with coldness.

“What? He tried to murder you, Lady? I didn’t hear about that! I thought this kid was supposed to be a hero? That doesn't sound very heroic. Also, it's nice to meet you. You can call me… The Spot!” The villain behind me introduced himself dramatically.

“...Nice to meet you as well?” He was very polite for a villain, if nothing else. I spared him a quick glance before focusing my attention back on my query. “How have you been, Miles? Has Peter been training you to properly use your powers?”

This time, his mask’s eyes narrowed at me. I’d clearly hit upon a touchy subject. “He refused to train me after he saw what I did to you and that other scary wasp lady! Whatever…it's not my fault he was too dumb to realize I was saving the world by getting rid of its two biggest threats. Everything worked out. And I realized that I didn't need Peter’s help anyway, i've been doing fine as a hero on my own!” Miles declared.

“...That’s debatable,” I said blandly. I glanced around our surroundings. At least two city blocks had been wrecked, totalling millions of dollars in damages. A couple people also looked like they got caught in the crossfire and were sporting injuries. Some of them were actually glaring at Miles specifically, meaning he had probably caused those injuries.

The Spot took a couple of steps toward me and cut in. “Sorry to butt in, lady, especially since it sounds like you have a justifiable vendetta against my rival, but he is MY rival. Not yours. You’ve said your piece, so could you let us get back to our epic fight now?” he asked me.

“It wasn’t an epic fight. I was just messing around,” Miles retorted indignantly. “Now, I’m about to show you what the real Spider-Man can really do!” he yelled at The Spot, already forgetting about my presence.

It was clear that Miles took a lot of pride in being the new Spider-Man. It seemed to be the most important thing in his life. Miles and The Spot started arguing again, and I could tell they were about to go right back to fighting, regardless of the fact that I was still right between them, and growing more annoyed by the second.

“...I want to try something,” I mumbled to myself. A new possibility formed in my mind. The System, reading my thoughts, immediately picked up on my idea.

[That’s an Interesting idea. It could work. Especially given your absurd Luck Stat now. It's worth a try at the very least…]

“...Alright then, you freak. Let’s finish this!” Miles declared and charged forwards again—at least he attempted to. He collapsed to the ground with a broken leg, courtesy of the swift kick I’d given him. Faster than his enhanced eyes could see. Just because I was planning on not killing the foolish kid did not mean I wasn't going to rough him up a bit. “Ah! My leg! What the hell did you do to me! I can see the bone!” he cried out in panic.

“Eww, that looks painful,” The Spot commented…humorously.

[No. Stop it!]

Miles flinched when I reached my right hand toward him. A small purple portal manifested directly above his heart, and I plunged my hand inside. This was the same technique I used when removing Evil Pieces from reincarnated Devils. If it could strip away that power, who was to say it couldn’t affect others. That was my thought at least.

I wasn’t exactly sure what I was grasping for, so I reached my hand out for the most powerful thing I could sense. I knew I’d found it when it tried to scurry away from my grasp. But it couldn’t escape. Miles’s soul wasn’t very big—there was nowhere for it to hide.

As I pulled my hand out of the portal over his heart, Miles gasped in shock at what I had done to him. His physical features immediately began to change. His Spider-Man costume sagged as his muscles visibly shrank. “What the fuck did you just do to me!?” he demanded.

I opened my hand and showed him. Sitting on my palm was a tiny blue and red spider—the source of his Spider-Man powers! It tried to crawl away, but I closed my hand around it and didn’t let it escape. I noticed how it strangely didn’t try to bite me either…

“You’re no longer Spider-Man, Miles. In fact, you’re no one special at all. Just an ordinary, powerless kid again,” I said, tucking the spider into my inventory. Maybe I’d keep it as part of my strange collection, or maybe I’d gift the spider powers to someone else in the future. I hadn’t decided yet. All that mattered was that I’d gotten my revenge. I pulled the mask off his face. His expression was one of pure devastation.

I know as a “good person,” I shouldn’t have reveled in that expression of despair…but I did. There was nothing worse for a super powered being than losing their powers and becoming mundane again. Most of them would rather choose death than revert back to mediocrity.

[That’s hardcore.]

“Holy shit! The scary winged lady can strip people of their powers? I need to get the fuck out of here!” The Spot declared. I didn’t particularly feel like stopping him as he hopped into one of his holes and disappeared.

Hela landed beside me and spared Miles a glance. He was clutching his broken leg, sobbing uncontrollably, mourning his lost powers. Hela smirked at him before turning back to me. “That is a passable punishment, I suppose. Are you ready to go home?” she asked.

“Yep, I’m done here. Fuck the Spiderverse!” I declared and created a portal back to my penthouse tower. Hela and I stepped through, returning home. “Now then, how about we grab the girls and take them out for some ice cream like you promised—”

Suddenly, I was cut off by a voice crying out in my mind!

“Goddess Layla, please help us! Kyoto is under attack by the Devils! My mother, Yasaka, and Lady Amaterasu are currently fighting the Behemoth. Hundreds of thousands of people have already died! Please hurry!”

I recognized the voice—it was Kunou Alter, Yasaka’s adopted daughter!

“What’s wrong, Layla?” Hela asked, concerned. “You just stopped talking, and now you look panicked!”

“The Devils are attacking Yasaka in Earth DxD!” I warned her. “I have to go on ahead! Gather everyone and follow me as soon as you can.” Without hesitation, I created another portal, this one leading directly to Yasaka’s palace.

Hela nodded seriously before I stepped through. “Be swift, my love. Know that the armies of Asgard will be right behind you! We might have just finished one war, but we are never afraid to start another!”

XXX

A/N: Vengeance, soon to be followed by violence! Everyone’s two favorite V-words!

Miles: “I used to be a Spider-Man like you, but then I took an arrow to the–Er–I mean I pissed on a Goddess broke my leg and then she ripped my powers away from me.”