บท 69: Food over Fights

I looked over at the thoroughly dismembered Suzaku with confusion on my face. I killed him, the bleeding corpse in front of me could attest to that yet the mission was still on going. I expected the notification to pop up saying we completed the mission by this point but it did not show up.

I kicked his torso while I thought this over. All of the Saint Beasts were dead so there should be no way for their plans to continue. I thought over what may be happening before a light bulb went off for me. I did not in fact kill all of the Suzakus, I came pretty close but I did not finish the job. I attacked and messed with them in a variety of ways but I allowed one of them to live. The fucking chicken, I turned one of the Suzakus into a bright yellow chick and just left it up there.

So I did not completely finish off my opponent. I let out a sigh of relief as taking care of that thing should be fairly easy.

"Laaaaaaaame!" Ashley shouted out from across the rooftop, the voice startling me as I was about to teleport back up to the room to take care of the last Suzaku. I looked back at her with a sheepish look on my face.

Ashley was walking towards me with a glare on her face, she was clearly more cross with me than I expected. Rias was also glaring at me with a pout on her face. Pyrrha was behind them giving me a look that said I deserved the judgment I was about to face.

"I was looking forward to the last fight, I wanted to see you stepping up but you left me behind with Magic Tits and goodey two shoes." Ashley spoke out in a whining tone once she got close enough to me. She then took a good look at the corpse at my feet and threw me a pout at the sight.

"Not cool, I did not even get to hear the last guy explain his grand plan in a smug fashion." Rias muttered out as she also looked over at the corpse at my feet in a disappointed fashion.

"Sorry, you guys looked invested in your conversation." I let out sheepishly, that particular excuse did not seem to work. Ashley and Rias were clearly not buying it even if it was the truth of the matter. Pyrrha remained silent for the most part but she seemed to agree with them. If only on the point of not going off by myself.

"Well, you did not totally miss it this guy could clone himself and there is one last version of him up at the top of the tower." I let out as I avoided the looks Ashley and Rias were sending me.

"It's not the same Prince-san, we did not get to hear the pre fight banter." Rias shot out with a pout on her face. Although she did seem interested in seeing the last Suzaku.

"Magic Tits is right, look I missed out on whatever you did to this one. You owe me one Prince." Ashley spoke out with her own pout but it looked like she was willing to forgive me eventually.

"I think their priorities are a little messed up, but you should not have left like you did Prince." Pyrrha reprimanded me with a serious look on her face.

I avoided looking at the three of them as they had points that were completely reasonable. I just really wanted Ashley and Rias to get along but enforcing that in my own dumb way was probably not a good idea.

"Alright I get it, I promise I won't do something like this again." I let out with a wince on my face. I should be more up front on things like this in the future. If only to avoid a conversation like this. The three of them did not look convinced about my vow but they let it go for the most part.

"So what was his gig? The rock dude had rocks, Kitty Cat had his furry powers and the coward threw ice around. So what was the last guy's gimmick?" Ashley asked as she looked over at the corpse trying to see if she could figure out anything from the dead body.

"Oh, it had to be fire right? Genbu controlled earth, Byakko had that weird voice thing so he should be wind, The dragon had ice which is basically water so the last guy should have fire right?" Rias spoke out her own theory with a glint of interest in her eyes. Pyrrha was taking in her words with a look of disbelief on her face. Not because what Rias was saying was ridiculous but because her words carried a certain amount of sense to them. So Pyrrha doubted the world around her for a moment.

"Nah, Suzaku over here had lightning powers," I spoke out lightly as I recalled everything he did. I got another reason to be mad at him for not sticking to his theme, it never occurred to me that he was also breaking the four element cycle.

"Awww, I thought I had it figured out. I guess that last boss would have something cool like lightning powers but fire would have worked just as well." Rias whined out, Pyrrha let out a relieved sigh as her world view remained unbroken.

"At least you were close Magic Tits," Ashley spoke out with a shrug on her shoulders.

"Closer than you think as well. The saint beasts are clearly designed on the four sacred beasts." I spoke out slowly using a term more familiar to Rias. Her world also had the four beasts as well, and she had a more intimate connection to them. Her queen had a direct connection with the clan that hosted the Vermillion Bird after all.

"What the fuck are the Sacred Beasts?" Ashley questioned with a confused look on her face. Pyrrha was mimicking Ashley's confused look and her interest in this field was clear to see.

"Wait, really?" Rias asked with disbelief on her face. She then took in the characters of the Saint Beasts we have faced so far and then a look of realization flashed across her face.

"Genbu was the Black Turtle, Byakko was the White Tiger, and the dragon guy has to be the Azure Dragon…Wait that means this guy was the Vermillion Bird!? His name is even Suzaku! Of course, he is the Vermillion Bird!" Rias shouted out in a fervor as she reached a conclusion that was obvious to her in retrospect. Ashley and Pyrrha did not seem to be following anything going on but they did not have the knowledge base to act here.

"Why was he using lightning then? He should have absolutely used fire!" Rias shouted out with confusion dyeing her tone. I got it as Suzaku really did not fit the theming going around.

"That's what I said," I spoke out softly while nodding to her statement. Ashley looked like she was getting fed up with not understanding what was going on. Pyrrha was patient but she was clearly not fine with being left out either. Before Rias could continue this subject Ashley decided to pipe in.

"What the fuck are you guys talking about, is this another thing from anime!?" Ashley shouted out with a pout clear on her face. Rias froze for a second and a sheepish look grew on her face.

"It's not from an anime but from mythology, Chinese or Japanese in this case," I explained calmly Rias nodding along. Ashley still had a pout on her face but there was a hint of understanding in her eyes. Pyrrha was even more confused with that explanation and she was mouthing the words Chinese and Japanese. Sometimes I forgot that Pyrrha came from a world so far removed from earth that certain concepts became utterly foreign to her.

"Look, I'll explain the story while we walk up the stairs. There is still one last version of Suzaku that we have to take care of." I spoke out as Pyrrha clearly wanted to know more but did not know how to go about asking. Ashley also wanted to know more as she did not want to remain ignorant on the subject now that it was brought up.

So our group started walking up the stairs to confront the last clone. I spent the time explaining the four auspicious beasts to Ashley and Pyrrha. Rias piped in from time to time to add something that I missed or to explain what the beasts meant in her world.

Pyrrha asked questions about the beasts and how they connected to other parts of mythology which led to more explanations. Ashley was fine with just listening idly, she did not have too much interest in this subject even if she was a Demi-God. She should try to take a more active role in researching mythology considering the origin of her powers.

We soon reached the top of the watch tower again. The room looked the same as it was before but its current contents were rather shocking to look at. An Ironmaiden that had blood pooling at its feet. Two corpses with giant holes in them and one corpse floating in the air as water surrounded its head. The floating corpse swaying in the air with a bloated stomach was probably the worst sight here.

I winced as I did not expect to be showing off my handiwork right now. Rias gave me a bland look at the damage that I inflicted in this room and Pyrrha gave me a disapproving look at the scene. Ashley on the other hand had stars in her eyes at the sight of various deaths before her. She then threw me another pout as I did not allow her to see the process behind the carnage.

In the center of the room was a small chick that was chirping desperately to another bird. The green bird was looking around at the carnage around it with a disbelieving look on its face. It was not even paying attention to the last Suzaku that was desperately trying to get its attention.

"So where is the last clone Prince-san?" Rias gave up on giving me a flat look and decided to ask the important question. Pyrrha on the other hand did not look like she was going to give up on her disapproving look for a long time.

Rias' voice startled the green bird in the center of the room as it let out a rather human like shriek of panic. The scream drew everyone's attention onto the bird instead of back onto me.

"You did this?" The bird questioned in a panic a stutter interrupting her as she was clearly scared. The bird was backing up slowly from us on its talons not even daring to fly with us near it. The chicken on the floor started to chirp incessantly and ran away from us shaking the entire time as it caught sight of me.

With a snap I summoned the chick to my hands. The chicken version of Suzaku flew to my hands at break neck speeds. The sudden summoning of the chicken caused the other bird to stop moving as if afraid I would summon it next. I held the last Suzaku in my hands and gave it a small grin as it struggled to get out of my hands nipping at my hands ineffectively in a desperate struggle to live.

"Guilty as charged." I let out with a sharp smile as I looked over at the bird that Suzaku hung out with. Pyrrha stopped giving me a disapproving look as the bird in front of us was not as harmless as it looked at first. It was clearly intelligent and she was not going to take a risk by underestimating it so she had her rifle out. However, when she saw how panicked it was she started to lower her rifle slightly as the bird was clearly not as dangerous as she thought it was.

Ashley was not even concerned about safety as she walked towards the new bird with a calm stride. She arrived next to the fancy bird with a grin on her face, the bird did not even try to back off too scared to do anything but cower. Ashley reached out and grabbed the bird who let out a squawk but remained docile in Ashley's hands.

"Dibs," Ashley announced as she proudly displayed the panic stricken bird in her hands. Rias threw a pout her way as she did not think about claiming the bird herself. Pyrrha lowered her rifle and gave the two girls exasperated looks.

I rolled my eyes at the display but held my tongue. That bird was just a bird that could talk from what I could remember so if Ashley wanted it I did not really have a problem. I would say she wanted it as a pet to brag about having a talking bird but she might want to eat the thing. I was not going to point that out as it would lead to Rias trying to get the bird from Ashley.

"Right, so when I was fighting Suzaku I turned him into a chick. Anyone want the honor of finishing him off?" I questioned as I held up the small chick that was now trying to gnaw off its own wing to get away from me.

"You can turn people into birds!?" Pyrrha shouted out with a slight shake on her. She took a small step away from me and refused to look at me. She seemed to mutter something about ducks under her breath but I could not really catch all of it.

Ashley just started laughing at Pyrrha but did not say anything to rock that particular boat. Rias was looking at Suzaku with pity but was not doing anything else.

Seeing that no one wanted the honor I decided to be quick about it and burned the chick to ashes in a second. Maybe in your next life Suzaku you will actually be a Vermillon bird. The bird in Ashley's hands let out a mournful cry at Suzaku being burned but remained in her hands.

As soon as the ashes fell from my hand the display that I was waiting for popped in front of me.

[Congradulations on stopping the sinister Saint Beasts from enacting their dastardly plans! The human world and spirit world will forever be in your debt for such an act even if they never will know the danger they were in!]

[Reward Issued: Five thousand points, Multiversal Gacha Ticket.]

[Your mission is complete you can go back to your own world or explore this world for a day before being sent back.]

[You may invite one person from this world to join the Chat Group if you wish.]

The rewards were not as generous as the rewards we got from the Sword Arts Online mission but this mission was easier. It was also not that big of a difference as we still got a Multiversal Gacha Ticket. The loss in points was not even worth mentioning in comparison to that.

"Yessssssssssss! I can finally get rid of that stupid name!" Rias shouted out with joy clear on her face. Ashley rolled her eyes at Rias but decided to let Rias have this for now. I gave Rias a flat look of my own as there was really no point in changing her Username but if she wanted to spend so many points on something like that then she could.

Rias seemed to realize that she was being rather spazzy as she blushed and had an embarrassed look on her face.

"You're still going to be Magic Tits, there is no changing that," Ashley spoke out with a mocking smile on her face. I thought she was going to let Rias have this but I guess her embarrassed look was too much for Ashley.

"La la la not listening," Rias spoke out in a childish manner but she was still twitching from being called Magic Tits. Ashley started laughing seeing that Rias was still affected by the taunt.

"Ignoring that, we have something to discuss while we still have time," I spoke out gathering attention. Seeing their attention I decided to continue.

"We have a day to use here if we want to and we can take that time to invite someone to the Chat Group if we want to," I spoke out calmly bringing that topic to the surface. I did not particularly want to explore this world as I had no idea how to get to the human world from here but maybe the others wanted to explore. Whatever the case we needed to decide what was going to happen next.

"I'm against more members there are already too many people in it for my tastes." Ashley let out as she petted the shaking bird in her hands.

"From what I have seen from this world there is not anyone that I would be willing to invite. The forces here have been nothing but hostile and they clearly hate humans." Pyrrha gave her own opinion as she put away her weapon. She was feeling more secure now that the mission was over and we had taken care of all the foes we needed to take care of.

"But this is a whole new world. There has to be someone out there that would make a good partner." Rias spoke out trying to sway our opinions to her side. She was right as there were good people here but trying to find them would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack. This was the spirit world after all, the people that I was interested in resided in the human world and I had no idea how to get there.

There were some demons that had a code of conduct that was respectable like that mohawk guy or that Irish dude but I was not too interested in them. With my luck it was certainly possible to find them in the spirit world but again I was not interested in them.

"Rias is right there might be someone out there that would make a good fit but Pyrrha makes a good point as well. We are trapped in this Spirit world and considering how almost all of these monsters have been acting I don't think this world is particularly welcoming to humans." I calmly pointed out my own two cents. I was against getting a new member as well but I was not that adamant about this. I was willing to follow their lead if they decided exploring was the better option.

"I refuse to believe that everyone here is evil," Rias spoke out with a pout on her face. Pyrrha gave her a flat look at her actions.

"Meh, you're probably right but it's not worth the effort trying to find that gem. I have better things to do than search for a decent person in a world of hostile faces." Ashley spoke out her opinion in a disinterested manner. Rias threw her a pout but that did not affect Ashley in the slightest.

"There is also the danger involved here, these Saint Beasts may not have been that powerful but there is no telling what we may encounter if we explore this world. It is for the best if we simply head back now." Pyrrha explained while shooting Rias an apologetic look. Rias took in her words and looked sullen as she got Pyrrha's point and probably even agreed with it. She was just upset that there was another reason for not exploring a brand new world.

"Are you saying there might be a better fight here?" Ashley questioned with a tooth filled smile. Pyrrha let out a sigh seeing that as she could recognize she might have taken a wrong step and gotten Ashley interested.

"We are not sticking around so you can satisfy your blood lust Ashley," I spoke out lightly while giving her a look and she shot me a pout for it. Pyrrha nodded along with my words clearly agreeing with my words.

"Awwww, come on it'll be fun. We could meet that mythical good person Rias." Ashley tried to switch tactics and get Rias on her side but Rias just looked away while biting her lip. She clearly still wanted to explore this world but her good sense was telling her not to.

"Did you forget that you are going to have a Ragout Rabit waiting for you at home Ashley?" I questioned with a grin on my face. There was no point in trying to hold her back on safety issues, it was easier to convince Ashley of something when you played into her desires.

"Opinion rescinded I vote we get the fuck out of here right now!" Ashley shouted out with a small amount of drool coming out of her mouth. Pyrrha had a relieved look on her face and Rias was shaking her head but remained quiet anyway.

Seeing the silence I decided to call it quits for now.

"Looks like everyone is in agreement on leaving so let's head out," I spoke out trying to drive this conversation forward. Before I even finished talking Ashley disappeared in a flash of light. I guess she was raring to go back this very instant.

I looked over at the other two who seemed stunned at Ashley's quick escape.

"Ashley really really wants to eat that rabbit." I let out lightly explaining what just happened even if what happened was fairly obvious. The two of them gave me blank looks but recovered quickly.

"It's been great meeting you Pyrrha, I hope that we can become good friends," I spoke out lightly to Pyrrha who just recovered. She took in my words and gave me a small genuine smile which did wonders for my mood.

"We may not have gotten off to the best start but you are an okay person Prince," Pyrrha spoke out with that small smile flashing across her face. She then flashed away as well leaving Rias and Me.

The two of us stared at each other for a short moment. I was waiting for her to leave as I did not want her to do something stupid by herself. She wanted to explore this world but she did not want to put us in danger. So in her mind, the solution to that would be to explore by herself. That was not something I wanted to see so I was going to wait for her to leave first.

An awkward silence built up as both of us were waiting for the other to do something. Rias was fidgeting but she remained silent so I decided to force the issue a bit.

"There are plenty of worlds to explore later Rias, you don't need to do anything dumb here. If you really want to explore a world you are more than welcome to come to my world. I am sure Ashley would love to have you, you are growing on her pretty fast after all." I spoke out while looking at her dead in the eyes. Seeing my look she looked away and muttered something under her breath.

"If my world is too mundane for you I'm sure you could convince Pyrrha to allow you to visit as well. It sounds like her world could use all the help it could get." I gave her another out as she looked like she was petering on the edge. She blushed and without even looking at me she disappeared in a flash of light as well.

Good, now I did not have to worry about anyone else. It was time to go back and eat some fucking Ragout Rabbit. Ashley was not the only one looking forward to that.

--------

I made a commission tier on Patreon. If you want me to write something