Chapter 24

  All Hell Breaks Loose, Literally

  Side Stories

  The Black Serpents who sold out the world to gain access through a portal back to Earth were not amused at being on another Earth than the one their ancestors came from. In their brief rage, they failed to realize that the Kaiju sized cobra calling itself Set had passed through the portal into the very world they now stood in.

  “This is not what we agreed on!”-Commander

  “It isn't? Let's look over the terms of our contract, Commander. Your people would sacrifice an entire city to power the ritual that allows our troops to invade in exchange for the right to use our portal to leave that doomed world and head to 'Earth.' This is the only 'Earth' that we have access to. We fulfilled our part of the bargain.” Says the snake through telepathy.

  “It would appear that this is not our original homeworld, Set. Perhaps you've complied with the letter of the contract, but this fails to meet the spirit of the contract.”-Westro

  “And what makes you say this isn't the homeworld you were looking for?! It's been centuries since your ancestors were dragged to the world that our people are now invading, so how can you be so sure?!” Set proclaims “And even if it isn't, we have no obligation to go above and beyond to try and satisfy some perceived 'spirit' of a contract, just the magically binding letter.”

  “You! You...!”-Commander

  “Gentlemen. We seem to be overlooking something important.”-Marquess

  “And what's that?!”-Westro

  “Set is right in front of us, not speaking through a portal or magical transmission.”-Marquess

  “Hehehehehahahaha! A bit slow to notice, weren't you? There's also nothing in our contract that forbids us from following you to the new and tasty world you fled to. Thanks for the 'invitation', foolish humans!”Set gloats smugly “COME OUT, MY FOLLOWERS! QUICKLY! BEFORE WHATEVER SYSTEM RULES THIS PLACE SHUTS THE PORTAL!”

  A heavily armed and armored army comes streaming out in massive numbers from the gigantic portal, thirsty for battle and hungry for conquest.

  “Serpent Warriors! ATTACK!! Hit that despicable viper with everything you've got!”-Commander

  “YES!” Shout all the troops in unison, but when they try to activate their magic, skills, and perks, nothing happens.

  “Hehehehehe! HAHAHAHAH! Oh you humans truly are utterly hopeless fools! Did you think The System would protect you in another world not under its jurisdiction? Especially after you betrayed it to bring our troops to the world you loathed?! Here! I'll grant you the honor of dying to me, personally, and have your foolish souls bound to serve me in my home plane of the Abyss for all eternity!”-Set

  A loud humming sound can be heard as Set's back scales begin to glow, starting at the tip of her tail and heading towards her head. When the glow reaches Set's head, she opens her mouth wide and that glow manifests as an energy beam that she's ready to breathe all over the Black Serpents, no way to flee, block, dodge, or hide.

  “Whose bright idea was it to call upon this wretched reptile again?!”-Commander

  “YOURS!!”-Everyone else

  A split second before the blast is fired, a giant metal fist punches Set's mouth closed, causing the attack to backfire, though Set remains completely unfazed.

  “This is Romani Risk! I've arrived at the portal, Command, and this is the largest Kaiju we Yaegers have faced yet!”

  “Who are you to interfere, Metal Worm! They are my prey!”-Set

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  “A talking Kaiju now?! Well, we are the Yaegers, protectors of the planet from Kaiju invaders!”- Romani Risk

  “Oh great! More do-gooders! Well, I was expecting you or someone like you to come along sooner or later anyway. I will be... WHAT?! WHO DARES?!” Set's rant is interrupted mid way. “Well. Seems like I have some pests to exterminate elsewhere. I'll be back, Romani Risk, and my armies will be grinding your precious Yaegers to scrap iron soon enough!”

  Set and her army retreat through the portal, which remains locked open, blocked only by a very transparent energy shield that the mech can't penetrate.

  “A Kaiju retreating of its own volition?! Even if it's not because of us? Man, today's full of all new firsts! And who are these guys?!”-Romani Risk

  “Allow me, Commander” says Marquess “We are a group known as Black Serpent. We've had to 'deal with' that Kaiju you just drove off for a very long time. We had to flee our world when it arrived and now we're stuck here, no idea where we are, what year this is, or anything!”

  “You reading all this, Command?!”-Romani Risk

  “Loud and clear, Romani Risk! AWACs and other Emergency Services are en route. Hold your position until they arrive!”

  “Understood, Romani Risk, over and out!”

  The scene shifts to the Furcadia Royal Capital where Optimal Pride has his hands full trying to deal with the logistical nightmare that is the sudden arrival of over 12 million refugees, with nowhere to shelter them and having to secure food and clothing.

  “What was the System thinking?! I know it was a System Reward to someone named 'Alura', but doing this all at once?! TO speak nothing of the 120 some million bodies sent our way! Even a funeral pyre is going to be a real headache to pull off without triggering a bloody wildfire!”-Optimal

  System Message: The beast-kin named Alura played an integral part in repelling an extra-dimensional invasion, at horrific personal risk. She deserves to have her greatest wish of having her people returned granted. This was the only way The System had sufficient Cosmic Energy to grant said wish. We are deeply sympathetic to your plight. Both the refugees and the corpses are shielded behind magical barriers to prevent predation from monsters and wild beasts and are being sustained by The System until such time as friends and family can fully repatriate them.

  “And we are grateful for your efforts, System, but a bit of warning would have been welcome.”- Optimal

  The scene once again shifts, to the Sydonia royal castle

  The king is speaking through a magical device to Deokk's second in command as the army is marching towards the border with Furcadia to try and demand the beast-kin slaves taken from the mine be returned. “To think Duke Deokk would fail to deal with one lowly beast-kin rabbit-eared girl and a newly formed dungeon. Was he always that incompetent? No, I don't care that the Black Serpents were in the area. It shouldn't have mattered! I gave strict orders for him to bring her and that Traveler here, by force if need be, and at all costs! How could he be dead?! No, don't bother to answer that. We'll send a bigger and stronger army to Furcadia to try and wrestle back those beasts the System spirited away, you and your bunch are to return to that border city and grab that bunny-eared beast that thinks it's human and that damned dungeon core Traveler that owns her!”-King Arthorious

  “But sire...”-Knight through the crystal ball

  “NO BUTS! You have your orders! Now go capture them, or die trying! I'll show that smug, hypocrite System who's in charge! And if you fail, and dare to come back, you and your entire unit will be executed for treason!”-King Arthorious

  “Yes, sire!”-Knight.

  The transmission cuts off.

  “It shouldn't be this hard to find someone competent, damn it! I can't keep going around telling the other nations that we're the best, chosen by the god

  Ooh Eeeh, Ooh, Ah, Ah, Wing, Wang, Wala Wala Bing Bang', if everyone keeps screwing up such a simple task so badly!”- Arthorious.

  “I know, dear, but good help is always hard to find when you really need it. Even in our great nation, not everyone's blessed by the gods like us! That's why we have to be strict and firm, like you were now.”-Queen. (Thinking) “Fool. When the System responds to your clear provocations, wiping your decadent, racist regime away, we will come out of the shadows and get our revenge!”

  In the Holy Kingdom, Archbishop Ferdinand responds to reports of Frandoh's death, the disaster at the border city, and the ongoing extra-dimensional invasion.

  “Good riddance to that sanctimonious hypocrite blowhard! I've been wanting him dead for so long, especially when he engineered the fall and disgrace of our country's best paladin and diplomat to Gynosdistaff, just because 1.) she was a woman, and 2.) she was married to another woman, and they had a child on the way! It almost makes up for that huge sinkhole in the middle of my territory caused by the sudden System instigated disappearance of all those beast-kin corpses we were getting from Sydonia, almost.”-Ferdinand

  “Sire. Why did we accept and bury all those beast-kin in a mass grave?” says the acolyte in attendance.

  “Several reasons. 1.) Those heathens in Sydonia were shipping additional ore with the corpses, so our top brass just looked the other way. 2.) The sheer volume of victims Sydonia was shipping over to us for 'disposal' made any course of action aside from immediate burial a logistical nightmare. 3.) Corpses are a known disease vector, so we really had no choice but to throw them into a mass grave and then keep people out. And 4.) since their identities were lost during the enslavement process, there was no way to notify next of kin, if any of them exist at all.

  “Frankly, if it wasn't for a huge, smelly hole in the ground left behind by their sudden removal, I'd be thanking The System for taking them back to their home country and repatriating them.”-Ferdinand.

  “And what was that about the downfall of our best paladin?”-Acolyte

  “Ah. You didn't hear it from me, but, apparently, our dearly departed priest called in a favor from His Holiness, sent Iluna on a critical mission away from her home, and while she was a way, her spouse met a grisly end. She came back home to find that bastard smugly hovering over her wife's corpse, unborn child missing, with a warrant for his arrest in hand, and the site of the crime was covered in ritual markings indicating the unborn child may have been sacrificed to the furies, meaning the poor kid likely grew up to become an erinyes, if she grew up at all. He then set himself as the local arbiter for Iluna's trial, where he ensured a conviction, completely ignoring her counsel, testimony, witnesses, and any exculpatory evidence. Iluna is most likely dead by now.”-Ferdinand

  “That's absolutely horrifying!”-Acolyte.

  “Indeed. If it's true, it would mean our dear, departed priest is not at the bosom of our One True God, but in the deepest parts of the abyss, reserved for the worst of the self-righteous sinners, AND GOOD RIDDANCE!”-Ferdinand.