*** Alzi ***

"What's going on?" I ask. "I need to get to Kelly." Everything is a bit blurry. I think there is a group of women in front of me, pointing sticks.

"Just making sure you can complete your talk with our Goddess. I'm sorry for the scare, our Goddess doesn't have great people skills," the Priestess says, the blurry women start shifting to the sides of the room.

"I think the Royal healer would be better," Syro says. "How do you feel?"

"My vision is still blurry, but getting better," I say. "The rest of me feels ok, but I don't trust it."

"No, we shouldn't trust it. I hope you give your Goddess some people skills if you wish for my Mistress to come here again, and something feels that you wish for that to happen dearly. My Mother will be waiting to hear from War," Sarania says. "Do you need help, Syro?"

"I can walk," I say. "My vision has cleared up enough. But, um, why do the priestesses have hearts in their eyes?"

Sarania jumps a bit at my question, her tailing standing straight up. "You can see that?"

"I think so? Well, yes, if they really do have hearts in their eyes."

"Um, well, we didn't want to kill them, so I was trying to get them to fuck each other without Syro raping you as well," Sarania says. "But no need to worry about that now. Let me help. We should move soon. I think their Goddesses are holding them back right now, and their eyes are set on you, my Mistress."

"Would it be a temple visit if I didn't have sex?" I mumble. Sarania gets under my other shoulder, and I limp out into the fresh air. My body tingles a bit as a cool breeze hits my skin. The blur is gone, but everything is shinier than normal.

Sarania and Syro get me packed into the carriage again, and I close my eyes.

...

A loud smack jolts my body, the pain following close behind. The shadows laugh and cheer as my naked body gets abused. A Giantess holds a whip before me, gently shaking it to the side as a wicked smile picks the next target.

Heavy chains tie off into the surrounding darkness, attaching to a cold steel collar around my neck. My hands and feet are bound by rope.

The whip moves through honey on its way to reach me, aiming for the insides of my thighs. The cheers grow as the whip nears. A cool oil pours down my back and wings.

The pain doesn't move in slow motion. No, that reaches me instantly. The whip proves the slow motion to be just a trick. The pain and sound of the strike hit me clearly. A new strike mark rips into my flesh as more cold steel plays around my ass.

"Don't hurt my babies," I plea. "Just not them!"

The cheers turn to laughter as a cold blade forces its way inside.

...

"ALZI!" Syro screams out and echoes through my mind.

My eyes shoot open, and I'm back in the carriage, Sarania's beautiful arms holding me tight.

"I'm sorry," Sarania says. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have let you sleep. I should've known better. Can you stay awake till we get to Osanna?"

"Yes," I manage to say, tears ready to pour out. I now have yet another monster prepared to jump into my dreams.

"I'm sorry, I thought sleep would be good for your body, and I forgot to think about your mind. You can let it out on my shoulder, my Mistress," Sarania says. "I'm sorry for not getting you out of the Goddess's hand. I should've done more."

"I think she'll help," I say. "She better help."

"That's good," Syro says. "She owes you at least that for the pain she put you through. But next time we'll take Victoria or Geta, and nobody will be able to stop us from getting you to safety."

"That would be nice," I say, burying my head in Sarania's shoulder. My tears are flowing despite my desires.

"I've got you, my Mistress. You're safe now."

...

Sarania carries me out of the carriage. She didn't really give me an option, just picked me up when we got to the Castle and carried me out. I'm guessing mana is the reason she can do it. Or some ancient strength thing. But it feels nice to be carried, and I get to hide my despair in her shoulder for a bit longer.

"Hello Princess Alzi," a woman says. "I've heard you got into some trouble with a Goddess. Can I check on you? I know you're strong, but sometimes it helps to have another give it a look. Just to be certain, you do have precious cargo in your womb."

"Kelly can do it," I mumble.

"Alzi, please?" Kelly says. "I'm not as strong as the Royal Healer. She'll be able to check a lot more than I will be able to. Your kids are too important to risk."

"Fine," I say, too tired to argue.

I expect Sarania to lay me down or something, but I just feel a warm hand on my shoulder. It gives me a soft squeeze then lets go.

"Everything seems to be in order. Seven healthy babies. Just a bit of extra mana sitting around inside, but nothing to be afraid of. Try to get some rest, Alzi. I'll have Lensa wait till tomorrow to get pregnant."

"No, I'll fuck her tonight. Just warn her I'm going to use her as I wish on the route to giving her fifteen kids."

"Nothing too far. You can't cause her undo pain."

"Just some hair holding."

"Then I'll pass the word along. She won't be happy, but she'll live. Take it easy tonight, Princess Alzi. You're under a lot of stress, and that can hurt the babies. Don't count on your life mana to fix all your health issues. They only get you so far."

"I know."

*** Space ***

I wish I could do something about that idiot. I don't understand how she can think up the most complex strategies for war, and just fail to think about the consequences of her actions against just a single personwomen. Some Goddesses that aren't stupid around her would do wonders. But even this was... No, I should've known that she would do something like this. She almost killed the entire population just for fun. I should've known she would pick a fight with Alzi.

I'll have to get help from Fertility and Sea to get Alzi some real justice against her. What would that even look like? I don't think War would go against it, I just don't know what to do.

Now I just need to figure out why they haven't shown up! How is Fertility too busy to not know what is going on with her champion? Sea would be keeping close tabs on Fertility and would come running to help.

But they still haven't shown up!

"Fine," I mutter, teleporting to Fertility's home. These two better have a good reason for not helping me against War.

"Hey! Assholes, why didn't you answer Alzi?" I shout out to a small, humble home. Small compared to the other Goddesses' living spaces. It is fit for a Queen of the lower realms.

"Who do you think you are talking to!?" Fertility shouts back.

"The useless Goddesses and her lover, of course! War was beating Alzi up, and neither of you showed up or tried to show Alzi some support! You want to act like you care about her, yet you don't even show up when she's getting hurt in the divine realm. So, what are you assholes doing?" I ask.

Sea is the first to walk out of the house, looking a bit pudgier in the belly than normal. Fertility next in a dress that is clearly made to prove she's pregnant again.

"Three pregnant women versus War in a fight?" Fertility says. "There isn't much we could've done, but we didn't know it was happening. So we couldn't do anything."

"What has you so distracted that you couldn't notice your Champion getting hurt?"

"I didn't feel her come up or..."

"We were planning the ritual for dealing with our enemies," Sea says. "As you know, those take some time to build, and we only have one chance to use them. We have to make sure it is correct, or Alzi will likely die. I believe that is a good reason not to feel a woman come up in the nontraditional way and then have a Goddess fake hurt her."

"The ritual? You got sidetracked by the ritual? Fertility, how could you not have an Angel assigned to just watch over Alzi? This is a basic thing to do. Sea, have you not helped her with any of this? What even has you two so engrossed in this ritual? Get a bunch of women who raped Alzi or something and toss them into a fire and kill the rule-breaking creatures from Nature."

"No," Fertility says. "Nature has too many for something that simple. I need more, and for that, I need your help, and we need to get the details down. We didn't feel my Champion come up here, and I do have an angel watching over her. I would've come if she told me Alzi was up here for an extended period."

"Yes," an Angel says. "Alzi never fully came up here. It shouldn't be possible for her to be hurt. War brought up less of her so that she could have a longer discussion."

"Was Alzi hurt?" Fertility asks.

"Not physically," I say. "But her brain is kept together by mana and some string right now. We can't risk her getting stressed out. Think she's going to last a Goddess punching her around? This type of thing can't happen again, or she's going to break, and the world will be destroyed."

"Yes, that is worrisome," Fertility says. "If it all ends, it all ends. I'll help her end it even. But yes, Angel, tell me if she is ever back up here again. I'll be on the edge of their territory, ready to help. I'm sorry, Space. But you could've pulled me over or something."

"I thought you would come running," I say. "Seems you have some work to do still with your angels."

"Yes," Fertility says.

Fertility walks back into her house with Sea. Forcing me to risk her stupid territory. Sea is fine and I can always rat Fertility out to Alzi. See if Fertility really is fine with the world ending.

"This better be an actual problem," I yell, crossing the boundary. Fertility doesn't freeze me, so I walk into the house, and a pregnant dryad shows me to a study with Sea and Fertility. A paper with four circles is on the desk.

"Now, this is what we want to do. We're hoping you can let us have some wiggle room on the shapes of the outer circles," Fertility says.

"Maybe."