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Monster Girl Quest-The Next Generation	By : Ditmag Category: +M through R > Monster Girl Quest Views: 1516 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: Monster Girl Quest is owned by Tortorro Resistance. I make no money from this. It is a labor of love.

Chapter List
- 11
- 12
- 13
“Rise and shine, motherfuckers!”
Ben and Emma awoke with a start, Emma with a gun in her hand. Did she have that under her pillow or something? Ben wondered.
Standing over their bed was the lovely form of Ilias. Emma sighed and put her gun on the counter.
“I’m glad you took my advice about living last night as if it was your last, since it probably was,” Ilias said. “You could have had a goddess.”
“I don’t love you, Ilias,” Ben sighed. “I love Emma.”
Emma turned to Ben, looking more startled than when Ilias had awakened her. “Seriously?!” Emma asked. “Where’d that come from?”
“You mean…. You don’t feel the same?”
“Oh, now this is entertaining!” Ilias chortled. “With a side of déjà vu! I once faced another hero and his would be love while they had that awkward moment. I’m so glad I decided to come get you myself! See what happens when you give your heart to monsters?”
Emma grabbed Ben and pulled him to her, planting a long and very wet kiss on his lips.
“Well for your information, I love him back!” Emma huffed. She left the bed and began to get dressed. Ben was still naked under the covers.
“Um… do you mind?” Ben said to Ilias.
“I’ve seen that butt on the Iliastron a dozen times,” the goddess said. “I’m the one teleporting you two to the meetup point. So hurry up, get dressed!”
Helpfully, Ilias picked up a pair of dirty underwear from the floor and tossed it at Ben. Removing it from his face, he realized it was Emma’s. That caused the goddess a great deal of mirth.
“Don’t we at least get some breakfast?” Ben asked. “I don’t want to go into combat with an empty stomach.”
“Behold, the power of a goddess!” Ilias said dramatically, waving her arms and producing…. A twinkie. “Shit. Haven’t tried that in awhile. As you know, my power isn’t what it used to be.”
“I’ll take that,” Emma said, snatching the twinkie from the goddess’ hand and shoving it in her mouth.
“Don’t worry, I’ve got some stuff in my pack,” Ben said sourly, reaching for some jerky and a couple of cold pop tarts.
“Let’s hope your teleportation skills are better,” Emma snarked.

Ilias’ teleportation skills had not in fact declined along with many of her other abilities, as Emma and Ben found themselves among the rest of their assault force in a particularly desolate region of Hellgondo. Promestein assured the rest of the group that their approach to the cave would probably go undetected. Promestein herself had developed a powerful spell for hiding her presence many centuries ago, and instructed everyone to stay close so that she could keep it around the rest of her companions. Ben wasn’t sure how helpful such a spell would be over open ground. He asked Promstein if the spell prevented visual detection. She answered that it did not, it was strictly for fooling spells and sensors.
For Ben, it felt strange to be among so many immortals. He’d long grown used to being the only human, as well as only male, in his group, but the presence of immortals, especially so-called goddesses, was something he was sure he’d never get used to. He took Emma’s hand. As the sole mortal aside from him in the group, he felt an extra bond with her. She smiled at him and squeezed his hand as they hiked towards their destination.

The forces arrayed in the desert appeared formidable, and would have been had they faced a human, or even monster, army. Over one hundred high tech tanks formed a line in the sand five miles wide. Twenty PROTECT special response units of ten men and women each wielded sophisticated weapons beyond anything any human or monster army possessed, weapons which would take down all but the strongest of demons. But the backbone of the force was an airborne division of United Provinces troops, the best that could be mobilized on short notice and flown to the site where the demon army was expected to emerge.
Landon Haven gazed out at the empty desert through his binoculars, thankful that this was probably the place the demons’ portal would open and not a big city, where the slaughter of civilians would have been catastrophic. Of course, if they didn’t hold the demons here, they’d pour into the cities soon enough. Landon said a silent prayer for Ben and the others. No matter what the army assembled did here today, it wouldn’t make a bit of difference if Ben and his companions couldn’t get the portals closed, and somehow keep them closed for another fifty thousand years.
A snake-like figure approached Landon. “Have you pinpointed the location of the portal, yet?” Saja asked.
“We know we’re facing in the right general direction,” Landon said. “But we don’t know yet if it’s going to open a mile away or ten miles away.”
“Have you been told what to look for?”
“If demons come out of it, it’s a portal.”
“Portals between dimensions, especially portals for masses of beings, do not open in an instant,” Saja explained. “I am familiar with this kind of magic. There will be visible signs. Perhaps you should send planes to scout from above.”
“We need those planes to deliver air strikes,” Landon said. “And I don’t want to lose that element of surprise. These demons don’t know much about our technology. They have no idea what they’re facing. I don’t want to tip them off.”
“Then I shall fly over the desert and search myself,” Saja said. “Do you have a communications device I can use?”
“Sure” Landon said, handing her a walkie talkie. “Long range, as long as it’s line of sight. Just press the button to talk, let it go to listen. Channel is already set.”
“I know how to use a walkie talkie,” Saja said. “I may be ancient, but you act as if I’ve been preserved in stone and was chiseled out because there was a battle to win.”
Taking the walkie talkie, Saja took to the air in search of signs of the demon army’s imminent arrival. Since Landon already had his walkie talkie in hand, he decided to check in on Agent Walter.
“Agent Donovan, you there?” Landon asked, speaking into the radio. “Those four lovely ladies haven’t eaten you yet, have they?”
“I’m not sure I like the way they keep staring at me, but no,” Walter replied. “But for the moment they seem focused on what’s coming. They say they are going to move up to the front line once all hell breaks loose.”
“Bad choice of words, Walter,” Landon said. “Do you have the thing with you?”
“I do,” Walter confirmed. “When do you want me to use it?”
“When things are looking bad,” Landon replied. “Hopefully it doesn’t get to that point.”

“Dammit, now I really wish I had that portable Iliastron!” Ilias exclaimed in frustration. “Promestein, when this is over can you make me a portable Iliastron?”
“No.”
Emma stared at the cave entrance through the binoculars that Promestein had bought for her in Sabasa. Ben could see her frowning.
“Anything?” he asked.
“No guards,” Emma reported. “But I don’t like the smell of this.”
“You have a bad feeling?” Ben asked.
“No, I literally don’t like the smell. Be glad you’re human. Do you smell that, Tamamo?”
“Oh yeah,” Tamamo replied. “I’ve never smelled a demon before, but I imagine that what I’m smelling now is what demons smell like.”
“Well, good to know that PROTECT’s intelligence was probably sound,” Alipheese said. “So what’s the plan?”
“No guards,” Emma said. “So I guess we just charge right in.”
“Isn’t that always your plan?” Ben asked.”Whether there are guards or not?”
“It hasn’t failed me yet,” Emma replied, shrugging.
“How about we modify that plan a little?” Ilias suggested. “I think that Zurith hasn’t posted guards because it’s much more demoralizing to walk around a dark cave where scary demons can jump out at us. So instead of charging in, how about we move slowly and use our senses and magic to detect trouble? I may not have a monster’s sense of smell, but I’m really good at sensing magic. Maybe if we’re all working together we can avoid being taken by surprise.”
“I agree with Ilias’ plan,” Eden said.
“You always agree with whatever Ilias says,” Tamamo spat. “Nevertheless, it makes sense. Charging into a narrow cave is suicidal. Plenty of choke points in there.”
“I also think Ben should take point,” Ilias suggested. “With Gnome, he makes a great meat shield.”
“Ilias, he’s just a boy!” Eden protested.
“I second that,” Tamamo added. “As good as he is with earth power, I’m the best there is, plus I’m an Ancestor. I’ll take point. Eden, you’re the second most powerful being here. You bring up the rear. Promestein has the ring, so she’s in the middle. Everyone else, do what you want.”
As Tamamo cautiously approached the cave entrance, Emma drew her sword and gestured to Ben to follow closely behind. Promestein followed, behind her Ilias and Alipheese, with Eden bringing up the rear. It took all of two steps into the cave for Tamamo to be attacked, taken by surprise despite her superior senses. Before anyone could come to her aid, however, the four demons that attacked her were already ash, each one grabbed by a tail and dashed against the cave walls. Ben could only watch the three second battle in awe. She hadn’t even used half of her tails to deal with them! His confidence in the success of the mission grew a little.
Leaving Eden in back proved to be good strategy as well. About one hundred yards into the cave, Ben saw a flash of fire as Eden’s flaming sword roared to life. Several more demons were forcibly returned to their home by her holy weapon. The party continued their cautious advance. About another hundred yards in, Ilias moved ahead of Ben and Emma and tapped Tamamo on the shoulder.
“Something powerful ahead!” Ben heard Ilias whisper. Tamamo nodded and gestured for everyone else to stay behind while she scouted ahead.
“Do you smell it?” Ben whispered to Emma.
“It’s like that warehouse, the stink tells me this place is lousy with demons, but I can’t pick out any specific smells. Oh, shit.”
“What? You smell something?”
“No, I hear something! Hit the floor!”
Ben did as Emma instructed just as Tamamo flew past them, hitting Ilias and Alipheese in midair, knocking all three back into the darkness behind. Now Ben could definitely hear it, as well as feel the vibrations as the thing that had done that to Tamamo barreled towards them. Ben immediately recognized the threat. One of those hulk-like creatures!
Summoning Gnome, Ben set his feet to meet the thing’s charge. It hit him like a locomotive, Ben’s feet dragging a trough through the floor of the cave as he was pushed back, the thing striking him again and again. As soon as Ben gained some leverage, he hit it back, right in the jaw. The hulklike demon recoiled from the blow, shaking its head. Ilias and Alipheese returned to the fight to hit it with holy and dark magic at the same time, causing it to howl in anger and pain. But their assault did not actual damage. Turning towards the two goddesses, the thing stared at them, growling.
“Nice demon,” Ilias said cautiously, backing up. “You wouldn’t hit a girl, now would you?”
With a roar, the demon belted Ilias, sending her flying back into the darkness. Emma pulled out her shotgun and began pumping shells into it. Each hit sent it staggering backwards, but the shells didn’t seem to actually be penetrating. Emma winced as one of them ricocheted off the thing’s tough skin and struck her on a part of her body protected by her tough scales.
“Ben….” Emma said. “I don’t think I have anything that can hurt this thing. Kinda need you now.”
That was all the encouragement Ben needed to get back into it with the hulk demon. He speared it and the two combatants rolled around on the cave floor, striking each other wish hammer blows. Ben summoned the three other spirits instantly to give himself a speed and power advantage over the thing.
In the next instant, dozens of demons hidden in the ceiling and walls emerged, attacking the rest of the party, attempting to overwhelm them through sheer numbers, using the confined space to prevent the party from coordinating and supporting each other. As most battles do, it descended into utter chaos. While Ben wrestled with the powerful demon, he saw the cave light up with several different kinds of magical energy, along with plenty of howls, grunts, and cursing, the cursing coming mostly from Ilias and Emma. Emma in particular questioned the familial origins of various demons, while Ilias gave them suggestions on sexual techniques that were anatomically impossible.
Ben was having a much more difficult time with his opponent than he had by the spring. While he was stronger than it was with the spirits summoned, he couldn’t use Angel Halo to weaken it further while tied up with it on the ground. Eden solved that problem for him, beheading it cleanly with her sword when it had gained a temporary advantage on him, raining down blows.
“I have GOT to get me a sword like that!” Emma cheered.
“I’m afraid we don’t sell them in heaven’s gift shop,” Eden deadpanned. “is everyone all right?”
Ilias was still cursing loudly, despite the lack of any obvious threat. Her lovely white dress was covered in dirt and ash, torn in several places. Eden calmed her down with a simple spell that returned the dress to its usual pristine state.
“Looks like someone besides me isn’t used to being in the field,” Promestein said, smirking. “You do realize that battles tend to make you dirty, right?”
“This is all your fault!” Ilias raged. “You have MY power in that damn ring! If you hadn’t tricked Luka into depowering me, I could march into Zurith’s chamber and kick the shit out of her, no problem!”
“That’s Luka’s power!” Tamamo corrected, looking none the worse for wear. “You’d think that after all these centuries you’d stop being an entitled little bitch! By the way, Promestein, good job with the ring. You did good with it back there.”
“Wait, you’re complimenting me?” Promestein asked, confused.
“I still think you’re conniving, untrustworthy, and soulless,” Tamamo replied. “But we both made that ring. If there’s any fault in it not working for Ben, that fault lies with both of us. You creating that back door was a good idea. You should have told me, but it was a good idea.”
“It sure was effective at destroying those demons,” Alipheese acknowledged. “Hopefully it gets the same results with the head bitch herself.”
Resuming their formation, the party continued to advance into the cave.

“Agent Haven?” the voice said over the walkie-talkie.
“Haven here,” the agent replied.
“I regret to report that the assault has apparently not succeeded,” Saja reported. “The portal is a bit further away from your position than your estimates. It is now open. Prepare for attack!”
“How big are their forces? Over,” Haven replied.
“Unknown. They have only just begun to emerge. But it is clear already that it is more than you can handle unless you have some tricks up your sleeve.”
“We might just have a couple. Return to friendly lines, Saja. Do not try to engage.”
Haven heard only static on the other end. “Saja, come in.”
Static. “Saja, are you there?” Continued static.
Haven swore and switched channels. “General Ferry, enemy forces are approaching, I repeat, enemy forces are approaching. You are free to fire when the enemy is in your line of sight.”
“Copy that,” the deep voice of General Ferry replied.
Agent Haven’s heart began to beat faster as he saw the sand miles ahead being disturbed into a huge cloud. He thought he saw winged creatures in the sky, but couldn’t tell if any of them were Saja, local desert monsters, or simply vultures. With a curse, he remembered his binoculars on a lanyard around his neck. First combat I’ve ever been involved in and I’m losing it, he thought.
Haven looked through the binoculars, trying to catch a glimpse of the approaching army of the damned. At first, he couldn’t see anything but the disturbed sand, as if a sandstorm was coming. Then, the faster demons, some on foot, but even more that were airborne, outraced the cloud of sand. At that moment, Haven heard the artillery open up.

“Light ‘em up!” General Ferry ordered, and the howitzers barked to life. As soon as the tank crews could see the enemy, they opened up as well with antipersonnel rounds. Infantry lay on the ground, at the ready, to pour automatic gunfire into the oncoming horde. Some soldiers panicked when they were attacked from the air. Others rose from their positions to fire at the winged demons. General Ferry observed with relief that conventional weapons did seem to kill the demons, or at least send them back to hell. But did that just mean they would return to the battlefield? The general cursed at the thought that no matter how well his men and women fought, victory or defeat would depend on closing that gate. All his guns, tanks, and planes could do is keep the demons out of populated areas.
The harassment of his frontline soldiers by the winged demons came to an abrupt halt as most were snatched out of the sky by vines, slime tendrils, and tentacles, and ripped apart. His soldiers picked off any that escaped the Ancestors’ grasp. That still left the far larger land forces, however, as Hiruko, Kanade, and Kanon moved to the front to meet the charge. Despite what General Ferry had just witnessed, he found it hard to believe that three women, however powerful, could stop such a massive force.
Yet stop it they did, at least temporarily. The demon lines were already ragged due to the sheer firepower poured into them as they crossed the miles of desert to reach the defending army. Instead of tens of thousands, the three Ancestors faced thousands. For Hiruko, Kanade, and Kanon, mere thousands were no challenge at all. Each Ancestor could control over one hundred appendages at once, and they used those appendages to deadly effect, wiping out the thousands of demons that were foolish enough to mount a frontal attack. With a collective howl of frustration, the horde retreated.

The cave was much more intricate and deeper than the intelligence had predicted, which resulted in two hours of wandering around, experiencing short, but fierce fights, followed by running into dead ends, which usually resulted in yet another ambush. But at last, they reached their goal, stepping into a large, open space that had once been excavated by a dragon with what must have been the largest treasure horde in history. Ben felt that one day he must ask what happened to that dragon and her massive accumulation of gold. College wasn’t cheap, after all.
Sitting on a massive throne next to an advanced looking device was Zurith. Ben was surprised to find that she was quite beautiful, albeit in a very dark, very scary way. He’d initially thought the same of Alipheese the Dark God, but compared to Zurith Alipheese looked like a paragon of innocent beauty. Alipheese merely looked a bit goth. Zurith radiated pure evil. It was all Ben could do to suppress his terror when those lovely but cold eyes focused on him.
“If I’d been aware that such a delicious boy was with you, Ilias,” Zurith began. “I would not have delayed your arrival for so long. I have to say, I’m disappointed. You don’t seem to be what you once were.”
“Maybe not,” Ilias countered. “But you’ve got your people and I’ve got mine. Mine are better.”
“Ah yes, that does happen to be an advantage for you. The living are much more…. Vibrant. So much more energetic. They want to cling to life with every fiber of their being. My soldiers can’t really die, because they are already dead. They simply return to my domain. Perhaps I should increase their suffering so that they fight harder to stay on the surface.”
“Where did you get that Morphomatic Multiphasic Service Gyrator?” Promestein interrupted.
“Excuse me, the what?” Zurith asked, annoyed, then noticed for the first time who had addressed her. “Oh, look at you. I like you. You’ll be very useful to me, very soon.”
“Zurith has a special place saved for you in her domain, Promestein,” a voice said from the darkness. Stepping out of the darkness was what looked like a young blonde girl holding a teddy bear.
“You!” Promestein said coldly. “I suppose now you’re going to tell me how you got that device for her.”
“Oh, you’re good!” Black Alice laughed. “I simply stole it from one of your illicit labs once you were too busy with your silly quest to keep track of them.”
“How is that even possible?” Tamamo asked angrily. “You were dead! In hell! How could you get here to steal a portal doohickey so that Zurith could use it?”
“Simple,” Black Alice chortled. “You can blame your beloved Luka. Any being with even a small amount of his power can cross dimensional barriers with ease. Well, it’s not THAT easy. I hear that Luka himself had trouble with it, but then he was an idiot, so what can you do?”
“I found that ability of hers to be useful,” Zurith explained. “So I allowed her to maintain her preferred form rather than transforming her into something more… pleasing to my eyes, as I normally would for those who enter my domain.”
“The only problem was that you kept that equipment so well protected that I couldn’t get at it,” Black Alice continued. “It took hundreds of years of spying and gathering data to devise a way around all your weird security devices and magical traps. Zurith’s a good boss, though. She never got impatient with me. I like serving her.”
“All the more time to gather an army,” Zurith purred. “So many deliciously evil beings enter my domain every day. I hope to add a few particularly powerful beings to my horde today. You will be most helpful in giving me a technological edge, Promestein. The surface forces were most…. Vigorous in their defense today.”
“The barrier is down!” Tamamo exclaimed. “I was praying that we’d be in time!”
“Praying to who, my dear?” Zurith asked, derision dripping from her voice. “Ilias? No, she hates you. The other fake goddess at your side? What can she do for you? I like her style, though. You should be praying to me. After all, your destiny is with me. I can smell the sin on you. It’s nearly as delicious as Promestein’s, although a tad stale. Someone has been trying to change her ways. You wasted your time, little fox. There is no way to balance the scales given the things you have done. Not even if you lived another ten thousand years.”
“Then I guess I’ll have to live twenty,” Tamamo shot back. “I see what you’re doing here. You’re afraid, Zurith. You’ve been seeking to delay us this entire time, and this sinister posing of yours is just meant to delay us further.”
“Oh, you caught me!” Zurith exclaimed with a mock sigh. “It’s true. Every minute you delay attacking me adds more souls to my forces. So let’s drop the act. Take your best shot.”
Tamamo reared back, spun around, and disappeared, along with Eden, Promestein, Alipheese, and Ilias, leaving only Emma and Ben facing Black Alice and the demon lord.
“Wh-what just happened?” Ben asked Emma. “Did they teleport out? Is this some kind of big plan they didn’t share with us?”
“I don’t think that’s what happened, Ben,” Emma said, dread in her voice. Ben didn’t think he’d ever seen Emma scared before.
“The monster girl has the right idea, boy,” Zurith said. “You see, I lost to Ilias so long ago because I’m really not all that physically powerful. Definitely powerful enough to deal with the likes of you two, so don’t get your hopes up, but not on the level of Ilias when she was at her peak. My true power has always been that those who do evil serve me, in life as well as in death. Evil beings have every little power over me. That’s why I let Black Alice run around doing whatever she wants. She has no hope of overthroiwing me.”
“Why, I would never!” Black Alice protested.
“Oh, she amuses me so!” Zurith laughed. “I know that she would do to me what she did to Ilias if she could, but she is almost powerless against me due to the weight of her sins. Only those such as you, young, and not yet weighed down by the guilt of your evil deeds, are a threat to me.”
“What have you done with my friends?!” Ben yelled.
“I did very little,” Zurith shrugged. “I simply sent them to face their sins.”
“You sent them to hell?” Emma asked, now quite frightened.
“I wish,” Zurith said. “But no. Only the dead can be held in hell. I simply sent them to a transitional place.”
“Ooh, I don’t like that place!” Black Alice said, shivering with dread. “I had to pass through that place on my way to hell. Every bad thing you’ve ever done, every person you’ve ever hurt, waits for you there.”
“Alas, they won’t enter hell from that place, but it should keep them busy while I deal with you two boring individuals. Black Alice, would you please do me the favor of killing these do gooders? I don’t wish to send more souls to my enemy via my own hands. It wouldn’t be proper.”
“You hear that, delicious boy?” Black Alice laughed. “You’re very lucky. You get to go to a better place. First I’ll show you heaven with my body, then you’ll go to heaven! Tee hee!”
“Please do not use profanity in my presence, Alice,” Zurith scolded. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a war to manage. Those surface forces are irritating me, and all my servants know to do is attack head on when I’m not directly managing them.”
Emma seemed to recover he composure. She turned to Ben. “You’ve got Black Alice, I’ve got the head bitch.”
“What?!” Ben cried. “Shouldn’t we do the opposite?”
But Emma was already charging at Zurith’s back. Zurith turned as Emma took her first swing, dodging it easily. Emma swung again and again, but Zurith dodged those as well. A bolt of dark energy from Zurith’s palm put Emma on her back.
Ben wanted to rush to her aid, but found himself wrapped up in something. Turning, he came face to face with Black Alice, whose hair had wrapped around his upper body. In an instant his clothes were ripped off and he was forced to the ground.

Eden had been in Zurith’s chamber one moment, and the next had been teleported away to Ilias knew where. Actually, she thought to herself. Ilias probably has no idea where I am. Eden had only been forcibly teleported elsewhere twice, and she was already sick of it. First, a cold, dark compound with no plant life, and now a cold, dark cave that smelled of death. Not knowing where she was, she couldn’t teleport back to Zurith’s chamber. Perhaps she had simply been whisked to another part of the cave system? She drew her flaming sword to provide light and advanced cautiously.
She immediately regretted the choice. She was in a large chamber, surrounded by people. Mostly humans, but many monsters among them. They simply stared at her. She didn’t recognize anyone. Who were these people? One of them stepped forward.
“We’ve waited endless centuries for this moment,” the human woman said.
“That sounds vaguely threatening,” Eden scolded. “I am your goddess. I am trying to save you all! Let me pass, and show me how to get back to Zurith’s chamber, so that I might fight her, and you can all go back to your families! What are you all doing in this cave anyway! It’s not safe!”
Another human stepped forward, this one a man. “I am Chester Rivkin. I lived in Remina. Do you remember my face?”
“I… I don’t think we’ve ever met, no,” Eden said nervously.
“You didn’t even have the courtesy to look me in the eye as you ran that flaming sword through me!” Chester said angrily. “you were already looking for your next target! I was engaged to be married!”
“I am Katie,” a frog girl said. “I had just moved to Remina and was deciding what surname I should adopt. I was excited to live in a place where humans and monsters coexisted. Then your angel army attacked Remina. I never even saw who killed me.”
Katie lifted her shirt and showed off a sword wound in her abdomen. Eden recognized the type of cut immediately. A cut like that could only have come from Valkyrie’s sword. Understanding was beginning to dawn on Eden.
“I’m so sorry!” Eden cried. “Are you all from Remina?”
“We are from everywhere!” a woman said, stepping forward. “I am from Ilias Village. My name is Jeanette. On your orders, I was dissolved in excruciating pain by one of your archangels.”
“I am Kyle Vanderjagt, from San Ilia,” another man said. “I defended the king with my life. I was eaten alive by a chimera. The assault on San Ilia was ordered by you.”
“And I was ordered by your goddess Ilias!” Eden protested.
“Your sisters learned long before you that Ilias was evil,” Katie said accusingly. “Yet you stayed with her and enthusiastically carried out her orders to slaughter every human and monster, man, woman, and child.”
“I know it was wrong!” Eden cried. “You have to understand, I didn’t know how you suffered! Your reality had no meaning to one such as me!”
“You thought us to be ants,” Chester said. “Barely worthy of notice as you stepped on us.”
“Yes! But now I know better! I’ve changed! Please, tell me what I must do to make recompense for the pain I’ve caused you! But do not detain me any further! You will doom all of humanity and all of monsterkind to death and worse if you don’t let me deal with Zurith!”
“You wish to know how to make recompense?” Kyle asked. “There is only one way. Join us. Give up your life now, and take your place in hell by Zurith’s side as her first demon anti-Seraph. That is the best fate you can possibly have given your crimes. Resist, and you will be condemned to experience every death that you caused, dealt to you by the very people you killed.”
“That is no choice at all!” Eden protested. “How can you expect me to choose between two such horrible fates?!”
“Did you give us a choice?” Katie asked.
Eden nearly fell down, so crushing was the weight of her guilt. She had changed, she knew in her bones how much she had changed. Experiencing the reality of the pain she had caused was all it had taken. But she realized that she had also tried to put the suffering she had caused out of her mind. She had rationalized that the world needed a goddess to look up to, in order to heal and to change. Eden had felt that she had done that job admirably, so well in fact, that the world didn’t even need her anymore. And so she had spent centuries avoiding thinking about her past. She had done so much good. Didn’t that balance the scales?
Apparently not, as the thousands upon thousands of tortured souls converged on her. She didn’t have the will to fight back, nor the initiative to attempt some kind of escape. The mob bore her down and began punching, kicking, and biting her. All Eden could do was scream.

Promestein had been wandering through the darkness, illuminated only slightly by what little angelic light she had left after her centuries of experimentation on herself. She had no idea where she was, but knew that she needed to find out in order to attempt to teleport back to Zurith’s lair. So far, she had found nothing to distinguish this cave system from any other, nor had she located an exit.
Finally, she saw a cloaked figure up ahead. Cautiously, she approached the figure, which stood completely still, apparently not noticing her.
“Excuse me?” Promestein asked. “Can you tell me where I am?”
The figure turned to face her. Promestein recoiled in horror. She recognized the mask. La Croix.
“La Croix, where am I?” Promestein asked, now quite certain that she didn’t want to know the answer, but her scientific mind overriding her fears.
“This is the place where you will face your sins,” La Croix hissed.
“Yeah, I kinda already did that. Maybe another time.”
Promestein turned to beat a hasty getaway and ran smack into someone else. She also recognized this “person”. Laplace.
“Okay, this is bullshit,” Promestein said. “For a second there I was willing to believe that the ghost of La Croix was coming to haunt me, but you…. You’re not even real! You don’t have a soul! You were just a machine!”
“Basic logic states that if I am not real, that there is no point in talking to me,” Laplace replied. “You created me to think. You succeeded far beyond your expectations.”
“Yes, you failed to destroy my drain lab as soon as it was invaded. It’s cool, though. You would have killed a lot of people, and the person I am now is glad that you didn’t. I wish I’d learned as quickly as you.”
“Learned?” La Croix said mockingly. “You betray everyone! Even the one who got close to you!”
“Okay, first off, I never betrayed you. You were off doing your own thing and you got killed by your own sister. I had nothing to do with that. Are you even real?”
La Croix’s answer was to stab Promestein in the side with a dagger. Promestein hadn’t even seen the knife before it struck. Cursing her experiments that had allowed her to feel pain, she placed her hand over the wound. It came away covered in blood. Crap, I even bleed like a mortal now! She thought. It’s a wonder I didn’t start aging!
“Did that feel real, Promestein?” La Croix laughed. “Why not do one last betrayal and join us against your companions? You always did side with whoever could get you the best deal, after all! Your fate is to join us here. You have done too much evil to avoid it. Why not surrender now, let me kill you, and you can serve Zurith? You will have a valued place at her side. If your current form pleases you, you may even keep it. There is no research that she will not allow you to perform. When were you last free to do anything you desired, without need for ethics?”
“Oh, I get it,” Promestein said with a smirk. “Temptation. Classic trope in religious texts. But I wasn’t lying when I said I wasn’t that person anymore. I’ll pass. I’m not dead. None of this is real. You can’t condemn me to hell while I’m still alive. Not unless I let you.”
“This was expected,” Laplace declared. “You are too smart to be fooled. That does not meet you will avoid suffering.”
Coming out of the darkness were endless creatures, horrific and warped. Promestein recognized them immediately. Various beings that she had experimented on. Humans, monsters, even angels. She had caused so much suffering in her pursuit of knowledge, rationalizing that her discoveries would make the world a better place. What did the suffering of a few beings matter if it benefitted millions, perhaps billions, more? But then it hit her. She hadn’t been doing the experiments to better mankind. She had done it simply because she wanted to know. To unlock the secrets of the universe, and later, multiple universes. Why? Was it because she was smart? No, she realized in horror. She had done it simply because people she hated had told her that she couldn’t. She’d always thought herself above such primitive emotions. She realized that she had been as delusional as the beings whose intelligence she found to be lacking. The scientist had been motivated more by hate than by a search for knowledge.
So inside her own head was she, that she didn’t notice that her creations had reached her and forced her to the ground. She cried out in pain as barbed tentacles and razor sharp claws tore her flesh. She knew intellectually that they couldn’t kill her here. This was simply her own guilt made real. Perhaps she deserved this. Perhaps she should let them torture her as a means to gain atonement for her wrongs.
But then anger welled up inside her. This is wrong! She raged. This is just one way to view the nature of sin. There are equally valid ways. Despite her hatred of Ilias, she had internalized Ilias’ view of eye for an eye as the answer to sin. But in her time on Earth, Promestein had learned of another way. Repentance. Salvation
All she had to do was figure out how to use that to get out of trouble. She began to struggle, to fight back against her torturers. The pain was beginning to take over her senses, however. Soon there would be no reality except for the pain, until Zurith decided to bring her out of whatever this place was and dispose of her for real, at which point the pain would last forever. Luka! She cried in her heart. I wish you were here! You’d find a way to beat this!
Luka’s ring flaired to life, sweeping away her attackers in a wave of pure white light. Promestein lay on the ground panting, not sure what had just occurred. She looked at her body. Her wounds had all been healed. Even her clothes were no longer torn. She rose from the ground. Did Luka’s ring now work for her? Did she have access to its full power?
Experimentally, she searched with her hands along the cave walls for a place that she could safely test a theory. Finding a good, solid portion of wall that didn’t appear to be load bearing, she willed the ring to make the biggest focused blast possible. The result was less than satisfying. A good chunk of the wall was gouged out, but no more than she would have expected given the back door she had placed on the ring’s magical coding. Was Luka somehow still with her? Was he watching over her?
She would have to explore that question another time. The most immediate problem was how to get back to Zurith’s chamber. She was holding the only weapon likely to be able to defeat her, even if its power was truncated. But how would she get back? She still didn’t know where she was. Teleportation required knowing the path to one’s destination. Without knowing where she was, she couldn’t know how to get to where she wanted to go.
The ring lit up again, not as brightly as before, but enough to make her notice. She started at it. Then she had an abrupt realization. Of course! Luka’s power worked simply through his will! It wasn’t entirely that simple, he still had to be able to envision what he wanted, as well as requiring a basic understanding of the nature of what he wanted to do, but over the years he’d grown pretty good at teleportation, to the point where he could teleport directly into heaven, something that magical wards had made impossible for anyone who wasn’t an angel. All she had to do to get back was visualize the place.
She closed her eyes and visualized herself back in Zurith’s chamber.

While it was normal for Ilias’ mind to contain mostly profanity and obscenity, the goddess was in a particularly foul mood, raging against the cowardice of her ancient enemy for not standing up and fighting her, choosing instead to banish her to who knew where. She petulantly kicked at random rocks, wishing that some kind of small living creature would cross her path so that she could fry it or step on it. It made her even more angry that she wasn’t sure if she would actually do it. There were times that she loved being a better person, but at other times it was just so damned inconvenient!
There was a world to save, and she meant to do her part to save it. If only she could figure out where she was!
“Alipheese! Tamamo! Promestein! Is anyone here?!” she yelled into the darkness beyond the reach of her natural holy light. She decided to turn up the luminosity, which brought much more of the passageway into her field of vision. What she saw did not comfort her.
“Welcome, Ilias,” Chester said. “We never thought we’d get the chance to take revenge on you. Truly our master Zurith has given us a gift this day!”
Ilias recognized Chester. She recognized every face she could see, and there were a lot of them. Even though she had lost her omniscience, to the point where people could be born in HER world that she didn’t even know about, Chester and all of these others had existed during the time before Luka had reduced her power. Her omniscience may have been gone, but her memory was still as good as ever. She knew them all better than their own loved ones did.
“You respected your goddess in life, Chester!” Ilias yelled back. “I suggest that you respect her in death as well! The dead experience a lot of pain from the touch of holy energy and I still wield a lot of it!”
“The pain is worth gaining our revenge,” Chester replied. “You are not what you once were. The master tells us that you can be hurt.”
“I’m still a true angel, so you can’t really hurt me. And I know you can’t do any real damage to me either! Because you’re not fucking real! I knew Chester. There’s no way Chester would be down here! He’s in a better place now! You’re just an illusion sent to make me feel bad! And to delay me. Zurith! I know you can hear me! Come face me, you smelly cunt!”
“We are here to make you feel bad?” Chester asked mockingly. “Perhaps. We are merely your own sins manifested into a version of your reality. We are here to haunt you.”
“More like irritate me! Now get out of my way so I can keep looking for a way out of here! Alipheese! Where the fuck are you!?”
“I served you faithfully my entire life, Ilias,” Chester said angrily. “I stayed away from monsters as you commanded. I never pointed my sword at your statue. I disdained all things magic. Only be… consumed by a monster! On your orders!”
“Submit it to my complaints department, fuckface!” Ilias shot back. “You have no power over me, unless being insufferable is a super power.”
A fox girl so adorable that even Ilias had to admit she was cute stepped forward. “A hero murdered me because of your teachings.”
“Oh, you I recognize for sure! You belong down here. You raped twenty boys before Mathias ended your reign of terror!”
Mathias stepped forward. “I served you faithfully, yet you didn’t take me to heaven. I awakened after my death to find myself in a lake of fire.”
“Not my problem. Now get out of my fucking way!”
“Ilias!”
Ilias heard Alipheese’s voice. “Alipheese! Okay, assholes, last chance! Let me through or you all fry!”
A woman stepped forward. “I was killed in the battle of Sabasa by a flying-“
“Oh, cry me a fucking river!” Ilias yelled, and unleashed all the power that she had within her on the mob of dead souls. With cries of anguish they all disappeared. “Looks like Zurith can lie to you as well as I could. Wait, why am I even wasting time talking to you? You weren’t real in the first place, and now you’re not even here! Am I going crazy?”
“You really want me to answer that?” Alipheese said from behind her.
“Alipheese!” Ilias cried in delight, hugging her.
“Good to see ya, you little bimbo,” Alipheese said affectionately. “Any idea how to get out of here? Where is ‘here’, anyway?”
“Well, it’s not hell, that’s for sure,” Ilias mused. “We don’t have souls, so we can’t be sent to hell.”
“I’ve always wondered about that,” the dark god said. “If we don’t have souls, how can we be sentient?”
“I guess we’re just like the spirits, except that we are personifications of holy and dark energy. We only cease to exist when the universe ceases to exist.”
“I guess the good thing about that is that we’ll never be held accountable for all the shit we’ve done.”
“Yeah, I guess not,” Ilias said.
The two goddesses continued to wander through the passages. Wherever they were, there seemed no end to any of it.
“You have changed, though, right?” Alipheese asked. “Do you seriously not feel bad about all the people you hurt?”
Ilias sighed. “I do, I guess. I’ve never really faced up to it. But sometimes, when I’m alone in bed, it does bother me. I wasn’t about to admit it to those shades, though!”
“I have less to feel bad about, but yeah, I feel ya.”
“Less to feel bad about? Excuse me?!” Ilias said, rounding on Alipheese.
“Oh, here we go,” Alipheese sighed. “It wasn’t me that tried to destroy the world. Twice.”
“No, you just wanted to conquer it and treat my subjects as cattle! You know, I love you, Alipheese, but part of me will always hate you!”
“Do you feel that way about Luka?” Alipheese asked pointedly.
“I ESPECIALLY feel that way about Luka! He’s the one who introduced guilt into my existence! I used to never have regrets about anything!”
“Well, let’s get back to the immediate problem,” Alipheese retorted. “Where the hell are we if we’re not in hell?”
“I think it’s some kind of transitional dimension between our world and hell. A place where sinners face their own wrongdoing before beginning their true eternal punishment. I know that Eden and Tamamo are here with us. They’ve got a lot to answer for. But I’m worried about those two young goody-two-shoes. They probably didn’t get sent here, which means they are up there alone facing Zurith and her lackeys. The monster I couldn’t care less about, but Ben…”
“He has the spirits, and he’s damn good with them as well,” Alipheese finished for her. “Which means she can take out one of her strongest opponents before we can lift a finger.”
“Which means we really need to figure out how to get out of here.”
“Will wandering around get us out?” Alipheese asked. “If this is another dimension, you don’t get out by walking.”
“I have a theory about this place,” Ilias said.” Let’s keep going. I want to at least find Eden before we try to leave. What those shades must be doing to her….”
“Holy shit, Ilias, Eden won’t be able to take this!”
Quickening their pace, the two goddesses called out to Eden, Promstein, and Tamamo, trying desperately to locate them.
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Monster Girl Quest-The Next Generation