CHAPTER 190: CHAPTER 189: AWAY FROM HOME PART 8

"Carl! Carl!..." The white gave way to the world Carl knew. "...He’s coming round, he must have pushed himself too far. It’s a lot of material, maybe he overloaded his brain?"

"Ishtar..." The world fell out of Carl’s mouth practically in slow-motion. "...Ishtar left a message." Carl shook of the fogginess and stood, ignoring Klaire and Kyubi as they told him to take it slowly.

"What was the message?" Kyubi asked, seeing how clearly Carl wanted to talk about it, she thought it best to just give him an opening.

"Hypocrisy mostly, telling me not to kill in anger..." Carl looked around at the bloodstains. "...Not entirely sure I want to listen, how could they do this, every fox killed just because they loved the wrong moon."

Despite how it sounded, it wasn’t a question, they did it because they didn’t care.

Carl knew it.

Klaire knew it.

Kyubi knew it.

"I’ll let Amaterasu have Luna like you want, but I’m killing Terra. I’m Killing them all. Every single one of those sick fucks that make me feel ashamed to be human. Until they’re dead, we can’t even begin to atone.

I heard Jupiterran and Marsian tried to kill Terra and Luna themselves, but were stopped by Sol on Gilgamesh’s orders.

I won’t hold them responsible, but Terra is dead, Sol is dead, Gilgamesh is dead.

I’m not going to make it dramatic, I’m just going to end it, no chance to run and no chance to use some underhanded tri-"

"Carl, stop it please..." Kyubi fell into him. "...If that’s what you want, that’s what we’ll do, but you need to think about this Carl. If you do that, it will be saying you’re more angry about this than Dracula hurting your Mum and you know that’s not the case.

How much negativity did you absorb from their remains? We foxes hold grudges, when we hate, we do so with every cell in our bodies and you just absorbed a lot of it.

Come on, let’s go back, I’ve said all I had to say to them."

With that, she and Klaire led him back, but they didn’t get far before they realised there was something different.

"Carl, did you get bigger? Your muscles seem bulkier too..." Klaire suddenly twigged and stepped in front of them and forced them to stop. "...Say "ahhhh", come on, do it."

Carl did as told and his teeth had partially grown and become slightly misshapen.

"You’re wolfing out dummy. That’s what you get for copying curses, starting tomorrow Gillian and Scylla will be training you to control yourself. No more curse copying."

When it was pointed out, Carl was able to cancel it, but it was still unsettling that those forms could influence him whether active or not. "Sorry you two, I didn’t even realise."

"Well, that settles it, no fox form for you. No matter how much fun we could have, you don’t need that awful nature."

"Fun?..." Klaire thought about it for a second. "...Wait, you don’t mean?"

"That I kind of wanted Carl to nibble my ears in my true form? absolutely."

"Well, probably for the best, my soul-form would get jealous and that would be impossible to fix." The girls laughed as Carl got flustered and walked ahead, but as he did Klaire caught a glimpse of Kyubi’s sadness in that moment and kissed her on the cheek. "I love you Kyubi, thank you for helping me pull him out of that, but we want to be there for you too."

"Thanks Klaire, I love you too, but honestly I’m fine. The last time he said "I think I might", he done it in no time at all, so knowing they’ll be reborn is more than I could have hoped."

When they eventually got back to the settlement, Carl all but collapsed as they got back.

"Looks like things got pretty heavy, you alright?" Blanc asked, enough like Gillian to make Carl open an eye and check in case his ears were wrecked as well.

"They were, yeah, but I’d feel better if you could write a program that solved or our issues."

"Cool, no pressure, what are we doing about the orphanages by the way? Don’t tell me you forgot Gaia went on the warpath."

"Not now Blanc, we just found out he got wolf temper when he copied Lycaon’s curse."

"Ah, so like divinity indigestion?"

"No, that would be consuming the hate of however many dead fox-spirits he registered for later..." Klaire thought about her wording for a second. "...I guess you could say reincarnated."

"Right, stuff a lowly mortal won’t understand. Carl, when you’re done dying, we should get moving."

"Why so soon?" Klaire grumbled, knowing it would mean changing back, but making Blanc sigh.

His finger rose to the moon. "Wondering why he’s wolfing out? Did you forget the massive ball of wolf steroids in the sky?"

"Actually yeah, kinda did." Klaire said as she started looking around for Gillian and Scylla, mostly to make sure they weren’t causing trouble."

"They’re fine, they aren’t noobs like this guy, they got drunk and passed out."

The girls sighed and left to get Scylla changed, apologise for making them go through the process of getting the ladies dressed for such a short visit and the drunken antics that the wolves likely got up to.

It was a quick affair, luckily Kyubi was able to cure their intoxication and from there it wasn’t long before they were ready to leave.

The most impressive thing, was that Gillian was able to do his job whilst getting drunk enough to pass out and the elder was impressed that they explained why they were drinking and apologised in advance.

"Before you go, can I ask one last thing, Lady Kyubi?" The elder asked as the portal opened.

"Of course, what is it?"

"What is it you intend to do with these lands?"

Kyubi looked at Carl and Klaire, then back to the elder. "I know they will say it is unnecessary, but I will be giving all I have to Carl as my dowry. That is why I didn’t seed control of everything from the start."

"Wow, so glad you seduced me too or that might have stung." Klaire chuckled.

"Seduced you? Pretty sure she seduced me and you just drooled over her at first."

"Carl, this is girl talk, you don’t get it."

Carl looked at Gillian and Blanc, who simply shrugged and shook their heads. "Fine, well, I guess that means it will be yours when we’re done. I intend to return the Earth to how it was before incursion day.

Anyway, sorry to cut this short but we need to get moving, the moon is making it difficult for me to focus."

Carl bowed and then waved before heading through the portal.

When he stepped through, he found himself somewhere he didn’t recognise.

The world was vast, but they were standing in the only building on the only land in sight.

All around them, an ocean spread as far as their eyes could see and from it a dragon-like creature rose. It was enormous and seemed to be stirring the ocean into a frenzy.

"Oh dear, it seems he isn’t happy." Kyubi mumbled when she stepped through.

"He who? What the hell is that thing?" Carl responded.

"Bakunawa, The Moon-Eater, Ishtar created this realm for it after Tsukuyomi grew tired of the constant challenges. I had thought of asking him to reclaim the title, but I don’t want to underestimate the moon I detest..."

As she spoke, Kyubi walked over to a staircase and began ascending, drawing everyone’s eyes skyward.

The building was colossal, a sky-scraper in the most literal sense.

"...Come on, if we dally, our children will be far different by the time we return."

It was clear she wasn’t looking forward to it anymore than they were, but they pried their eyes away from the sight of the serpent’s wrathful undulations and began the ascent.

It felt like hours passed as they sprinted up the tens of thousands of steps, but when Kyubi reached the top she walked over to a massive pyre and lit it, then over to a lever on the wall and pulled it.

"Kyubi, what are you doing exactly?" Klaire asked as she approached the balcony again.

"Come back..." As she replied, a set of glass lenses descended and seemed to lock onto the floor before beginning to rotate. "...This place is the summoning spire, any who wished to see him were welcome, but this was a prison and he is a most unruly prisoner."

As the intense fire began to burn even brighter, the giant glass lenses focused the light they created into a ray that pierced through the sky in each cardinal direction, which let them see that Bakunawa was a creature that even world-encompassing would do little to describe.

The moment the light pierced the sky however the sea settled, then burst forth in countless fountains as the creature shifted its body to answer the summons then, as they watched the fountains settle a monstrous head with teeth that reminded them of Lillim’s and two large milky white orbs emerged from the water.

It was proceeded by the mesmerising glow of a large lure which grew from its head and tried to compel them to jump over the edge.

"Who comes!?" The voice was booming, thunder to accompany the swelling water.

"It is I, Kyubi, last of the celestial foxes. I apologise for the delay, I have failed in my duties."

"Last?...." The voice trailed off until it could speak at eye-level. "...How is it Tsukuyomi’s favourites have been reduced to their last? This has been a long thousand years of isolation indeed."