"you know this isn't what I had in mind when you said you wanted to go fishing with me!" Natale panted face down on the boat he and his son rented. "but will be damned if I say I'm not having fun!" Sam laughed, trying to dislodge a piranha from his legs. he gave it a taste of his bloodlust and its leg, allowing him to throw it back into the ocean. The wounds healed quickly, and he wiped the blood. "so what's next?"
"Well," Sam paused to think, " we caught a lot of non-intelligent fish, but not the main prize we came here for." Wringing some water out of his shirt, he moved up to the helm, his father right behind him. "I didn't think it would be that hard to find a giant fish; I guess it learned to avoid me." they wouldn't be the first creature to do so.
"do you think it is possible it passed away?" Natale asked, blowdrying his air. Sam shook his head before explaining this creature was a myth born, "yeah, I don't think that's a term other people use." Sam had seen things many things, things other humans and animals hadn't seen, so he made his own terms for them.
Myth born was one of these terms; it was how he referred to creatures born from myth stories. Collective mental power mixed with mana allows this kind of beings to form, such as the tiktik or the griffin. Both creatures didn't exist outside of stories before mana flooded the world; they were born from stories and would continue to be unless their stories were erased. Which wasn't gonna happen; humans kept their stories.
Christians tried to cover up, erase, or steal stories from all kinds of cultures, but they failed. These stories still exist. In one form or another, it helped that the internet was such a vast and weird place. If you looked in the right place, you could find people who would fuck a rose plants monster. According to the summon count, it was pretty popular, or a few people really liked what that plant was doing to them. Sam was unconcerned. He made it clear what lines the plants couldn't cross and got a lot of lust energy.
'what should I use all this energy for?' he wonders, steering the boat into the dock. He helped his father unload the catch before dismissing the boat back to hell; part of the haul was gonna be sent home while the rest they were gonna sell for unneeded money. which might become part of Sam's college fun or go to charity, he was gonna flip a coin on it.
"I think it's kind of amazing that people will buy live animals in this day and age."
"Well, these animals won't talk; that's the biggest reason people eat fake meat or go vegan. Because even for me, it is a little weird to eat something that talks."
"A little weird?" Natale murmured to himself before shaking himself. Who knew what Sam's weirdness tolerance was like? It took them maybe twenty minutes before they sold everything and thirty minutes more before they sent their package off. Then they returned to the hotel that Sam's apparently partly owned, like theoretically he knew Sam owned property around the world and received an income from them but a whole ass five-star hotel!
Sam ignored the disbelieving stars he got from the staff as they walked into the elevator that led up to his suit. They had been looking at him that way since he came to claim the room, like they couldn't believe it belonged to him. "I still can't believe Sophie retired so soon," that girl had such passion and fire when she was building this place he couldn't resist giving her the money nectary. Imagine his surprise when he got mail, which found him somehow, a few weeks ago? Later, he said that he was a partial owner of the then-small inn.
Thanks to her own business skills, a large amount of money, and random things Sam sent her way, Sophie turned it from an inn to a five-star hotel. Sam was happy for her, 'she must be so proud of her work.'
The penthouse that belonged to Sam was kind of cluttered, partly because he used it as a staging place. There was nothing to import, just trophies from fights and people he beat up; he and Natale had been going through it. Sam found himself reminiscing about the fights, 'ah so many bounty hunters foolish and greedy.' how young he was during those times led to him being underestimated. That never lasted long when they made contact with him.
Since he wasn't overly attached to anything he's found so far, he was planning on getting rid of it, selling and then sending the money off. 'he should be starting school about now, right?' he didn't know the education laws in that part of the world. But he was still gonna send him most of the money he made and put the rest in savings or charity.
"Why did you keep this!" Natale exclaimed, holding the bone chakram he almost tripped on. The other one was here somewhere.
"It was an interesting weapon, even if I have no interest in using it." It's like how some children kept interesting rocks. Natale sighed before putting it off to the side and moving to the ebony silk couch. Sam laughed a bit as he moved to the kitchen. Thanks to those bitty fish, he lost a bit of store health, so he was gonna get some back.
They had stocked up the fridge during their first few days here after organizing the place enough that Natale could walk around for the most part. As he downed an entire watermelon variant, Natale recovered from their day at sea.
"What are your plans for the school year," Sam paused at the questions before looking at his dad. "I don't know the course my life is taking. I'm not sure what course the school could teach me anything of interest or need." Natale hummed in response; he couldn't really say anything. It looked like Sam was going to return to his life of travel and combat, "well, you should at least take a look, if nothing else."
After regaining the energy necessary, they did a bit more cleaning, finding more interesting and disturbing things. Natale gagged, finding a jar of preserved eyes, "So that's where my spare went!" Sam was very happy to have that back. "mere than once, my eyes have been too damaged for continued use, so I started .... getting spares." Natale didn't want to know more.
"Can't you regenerate?!"
"yes, but it can take months for an eye to regenerate properly." this was some time back when he was maybe 11. he wasn't sure, but his healing was shit back then. He set the jar down," I'll dispose of that later." those eyes were no longer the right size for him anyway.
'my lord, it's time.'
"Oh, the meeting is starting! What channel?' he already moved over to the TV, switching it on. When he learned the channel, he turned it right away. It looked like a normal assembly of Earth nations; now never watched his kind of thing. He didn't care about nations. For the most part, the earth was the earth to him, was one whole with no part. Traveling showed him that, no matter what people called them or where they lived, people shared some incredible similarities, like being very greedy and horny. Kind and carrying!
Fun fact since developing his lust energy core, Sam has been able to few how horny a person is; he's forceful and ignores the feeling that he's gotten from his friend and family. He didn't need to know that at all.
It wasn't long before something disrupted the talks, the roof blowing up as the mimic slimes dropped into the room. Their current forms were Indonesian twins half dressed, "nobody moves!" they spoke as one. He noticed the distortion in the screen, which meant high levels of energy gathered, probably enough energy to blow something big up.
A third figure descended from the ceiling. This one was a gender-neutral eldritch beauty. 'So that is the form you choose to take?'
'Of course, my lord!' they replied as their feet softly touched the ground. On-screen, they spoke out loud, "You wish to know who I am? I can tell, but I will only tell you this: I am but an assistant to my master, a cosmic lord. who holds back the cosmic beast of lust and currently lives on this planet!" at that moment someone took a shot with a mana boosted assault riffle.
The shell didn't travel more than a few inches before one of the slimes twitched their finger, a small burst of dense energy deflected the bullet back into the shooter's shoulder. Sam smiled, seeing they listened to him about the mercy thing; people who showed mercy despite their immense power earned a better reputation.
"My lord's presence in your world can't be hidden for much longer. He expects news about him to start appearing soon; when it doesn't, you'll learn of his power. Don't think of attacking him because I assure you he will retaliate. But leave him be, and he will do the same!" that being all they had to say, the helper and slimes left the same way they entered.
"Okay, what the fuck!" one shouted before the feed was cut.
'yeah, that definitely made an impression,' Sam laughed to himself. He could wait for the rumor about him to start up. People always came up with the most interesting ideas. People would probably be talking about him for the next week, and that thought had Sam blanching. At least they don't know what he looks like so that attention isn't directly pointed at him.
"Okay, what was that about?" it was at that moment that Sam remembered his father was in the room and knew about the cosmic lord thing.
"my making the world know, something I going to do is going to change the world, and people tend to like a bit of warning."
"It's nice you are thinking of others," cause what else could he say? "But was all that necessary?"
"Not likely, but they definitely will take it up seriously and remember," Natale sighed before going back to organizing the mess; Sam skipped behind him.
"oh gods, it moved!" Sam laughed as he heard his dad's cry. It probably wasn't something to be too concerned about, "what with all these teeth!" Sam wasn't worried until he heard the screech, a mildly familiar screech.
'oh, that's where it moved to,' he went to help his dad. As his arm filled with demonic energy, the screeching quickly died out. A bit more cleaning was done before they headed out for dinner. There was food in the fridge, but it would be a crime to come here and not sample the local cuisine.
"This is good," but Sam still couldn't figure out what happened to some of the hole-in-wall places he'd been before. One place turned into a sex bar, which he probably should come back to later at some point. The lust in the air is so dense a normal person might choke.
The next thing, as Sam predicted, everyone was talking about the lord of lust. Some of the speculations that people were having were hilarious. Natale didn't seem to agree to know that, on a certain level, some of the things people said weren't far-reaching for his son. they went back out to sea and continued to look for their prey, "how hard can it be just for a giant fish?" Sam said as he turned the boat around a coral reef.
"Where are you, Hafgufa," this Icelandic creature was the size of an island. How could they not find it after four days of searching, "could someone have already killed them." it would be a pain to wait before the next ones are born." in its myth, the Hafgufa are believed to be infertile, which is why there are only two to be seen at a time.
But Sam found that was incorrect; the Hafgufa are young for their kind. They rise to the surface to feed and grow, and then when they are larger, they dive back into the deep where no completely sane human dares travel. Sam didn't count him in that category." Those creatures were so big they could have swallowed the Hawaiian islands at their original size. He can honestly say it's one of the few times he has been sacred for his life, but also, honestly, it was more disgusting that he spent so long inside it before he found his way out through the nose.
It wasn't until midday that Sam got an idea on how to make sure" there should be enough cloud cover," ghost energy infused his ears, and he listened to the dead of the area. Most of it was fish, a few old sailors' souls. He helped a few as they told him about the last Hafgufa they'd seen. It was hard because after existing for a certain amount of time, it became hard for them to keep track of time.
"Man, I can't spend too long doing this. I have a shift tonight," he sighed, and he continued steering the ship in the direction the souls gave him. slowly above the horizon, an island appeared, "planning to stop for lunch. "no, we found our prey!" Sam could sense all the lives coming to an end.
Natale looked closer at the island and noticed that it was bobbing in the water, not to mention that smell. A horrible smell. It was like vomit and rot, overwhelming the smell of fresh ocean air. "okay then," he moved to the back where their weapons were stored. He grabbed the sword and giant brush.
"what's the plan?" he asked as his hand shard of night over.
"The Hafgufa's biggest advantage is that size matches its life force. Even if we cut out its heart, it won't go down easy, but they are weak mentally, being so young and so unchallenged." they had weak minds and no fighting skills; this upcoming fight didn't really wet his battle lust.
When they reached several hundred yards, Sam killed the engine. The boat had supernatural durability and a few tricks, but it wasn't built for battle. His hell car, on the other hand, did. But it would get swallowed like nothing, which would be annoying to retrieve, so he would keep that back. The best way to kill something this large was to go for its vital organs; no matter what size it was, they were very important.
"Should I use my ability or not?" It might make this an actual challenge. But he wasn't here for a challenge. He was here to get a gift for the lord of gluttony, "I've got to get home and consider if I wish to continue going to school." his demon core was pushed forward.