Chương 572: Goddess of the Hearth

What was 'Home'?

To many, Home was merely where they lived, slept, or ate.

If one asked a certain maiden though, she would say that Home was where one felt the most comfortable, safe, and content. Home was where one was always welcome, a place for family, warm food, and a gentle hearth.

And if one were to ask this same maiden where HER Home was, she would simply reply that every Home was her Home. Any place with a hearth invoked her presence, and was offered her protection.

And while she could not be in every single Home, or at every single hearth at once, gods help those who dared to threaten 'her' Home if she happened to be present.

"Who dares to attack my Home?" Hestia asked as she turned to face the assaulting gods and goddesses for the first time, nearly all of which were still recoiling from her repelling their attacks.

As she looked them over, the pressure coming off of the diminutive goddess multiplied to the point that nearly every single one of the attacking gods and goddesses flinched, with even Ra's eye twitching just ever so slightly.

"You would dare bare your fangs against US Hestia?!" Ra demanded irritably.

"I bare my fangs on whoever is foolish enough to attack my Home while I am present." Hestia replied calmly, though everyone knew she was anything but right now.

"Well then, perhaps you should reevaluate who is or isn't a threat to your 'Home' Hestia. If you wish to protect what is yours so vehemently, then why is THAT there?" Ra spat venomously while pointing directly at Alex, the one with the highest level of power that he could sense.

"'That', is my husband. And ergo, he is a part of my family Ra." Hestia replied with just as much venom when the Great God referred to Alex as 'that'.

"That THING is an outsider! They cannot be allowed to live within the realm of our influence!" Ra declared passionately as the gods gathered around him after recovering from their earlier attack.

Hestia narrowed her eyes at the gathering of gods and goddesses, flashing through fire as she suddenly appeared on the top of the wall closest to them.

"If all you wanted was to fight my hubby, then there would be no issue whatsoever. He would be more than happy to entertain your idiocy Ra. However, those attacks just now would have completely destroyed Orario, which is Home to more people than any other city in this mortal world. I will never allow that to happen."

Though she wasn't shouting every single word Hestia said reached the gods and goddesses, and they could all feel the seriousness in which she took her job. She may not interfere when threats from the mortal plane attacked one another, like the forces of Rakia or monster hordes, however Hestia would never roll over when the threat was other gods.

"I see... You've opened my eyes, Hestia." Ra said slowly as he digested everything she had told them, before raising his hand and summoning a miniature sun itself.

Vegetation in every direction was suddenly set alight, and even stone itself began to melt from the heat radiating from it. Aside from that, the miniature sun possessed such an intense gravitational pull that everything around it aside from the gods and goddesses with Ra began to be pulled into it. Burning trees were uprooted, rocks were pulled out of the ground even as they were melting, and even the monsters and animals living in the surrounding forest were pulled into the sun. The only thing unaffected was Orario itself, as not even the wall began to melt or shift under Hestia's protection.

"All of Orario, mortal and divine, has already been corrupted by the invader. As such, this scourge shall be wiped off the face of the earth along with all that it has infected!" Ra declared with finality, before sending the sun right at Hestia.

Any other god or goddess in Hestia's place would, rightfully, be panicking if they were on the receiving end of an attack from Ra himself. But, despite merely being a goddess of the Hearth against the original god of the Sun, Hestia never faltered as she stuck her hand out towards the incoming sun.

It was only when the sun was mere feet away from the wall that it finally began to overwhelm her defenses as the wall began to glow red, yet it hadn't started melting or getting pulled into its gravitational pull yet. Beads of sweat appeared on Hestia's fair skin as she felt the heat of the sun, which far surpassed that of even the hottest hearths.

The skin on her hand quickly began to blister even before the sun touched her skin, yet Hestia remained steadfast in the face of the intense attack where even other gods would have fled. Before the flames of the sun could touch her skin though...

"Let me help you with that." A new voice came as a thick arm wrapped itself around her waist, holding Hestia close so she could allow the tension in her body to dissipate.

A larger and rougher hand than her own snaked down her outstretched arm before gripping her scorched palm, healing the injuries instantly while also protecting her from the heat of the sun. The other hand on her waist then went up to cup her chin, directing her head upwards where she saw Alex's face above her own.

The look in his eyes was that of utmost pride and adoration for her, even before he brought her face down to her own for a kiss on her lips. Hestia immediately opened her mouth to allow his tongue passage inside while taking a deep breath through her nose to inhale Alex's scent, while Alex's own nostrils were filled with the fragrance of woodsmoke.

For a moment it was only them in the whole world. There wasn't a literal sun bearing down on them, held in check only by Alex's own powers. There wasn't a city behind them on the verge of being wiped off the map. And there definitely wasn't a collection of gods and goddesses that intended to completely destroy them along with said city.

There was only Alex, and Hestia.

Soon their kiss evolved as Hestia turned to face Alex directly, standing on her tiptoes as she did so for more height and wrapping her arms around his neck. Alex meanwhile, though keeping one hand up to keep the sun at bay, used his other to cup her ass beneath her dress, both pulling her closer and lifting her up slightly.

And to both of them the kiss had turned from a simple sign of complete affection between lovers, to one of passion and desire. Each one conveyed to the other through the kiss how, if they weren't literally in the middle of a battlefield, they would have proceeded to rip the other's clothes off to take them then and there. Alex was still tempted to do just that despite the gallery.

When their lips finally separated, Alex looked into Hestia's eyes and declared,

"When we're done here, I'm going to fuck you stupid."

Though far from a compliment, Hestia beamed at Alex before turning her attention back to the gods and goddesses that they were supposed to be fighting against.

"Then I guess I need to finish things up here!" She declared, now completely ready to take on even each and every one of the great gods if necessary.

"Don't bother dirtying your hands Hestia." Alex told her, releasing his grip on her butt to hold her tiny hand in his own. "You are the goddess of Home, not war. You protect your Home, and I'LL take out the trash."

Alex punctuated his statement with another kiss, a quick peck on her lips this time, before finally turning towards the attacking gods.

Using Energy Absorption on the miniature sun, Alex quickly drained every single drop of energy it possessed while adding it to his reserves. Considering it was an attack from one of the great gods, it was admittedly a pitifully small amount of energy.

He then said as they all gathered before him, "so you're the Ra of this world?"

*Dum dum.*

"You admit to being from 'outside' then?" Ra asked, ignoring Alex's question.

*Dum dum!*

"Shishishishi! You answer a question with another question, that's not very friendly of you." Alex commented with a chuckle.

*DUM DUM!*

"It matters not, outsider. As the original sun god, all that exists under the sun's warmth falls under my jurisdiction. YOU however, do not." Ra sneered in contempt, his divine power spiking as he prepared to deal with the alien being before him, while the other gods around him did the same.

*DUM DA DUM!*

"I see! Then it should only be right if I returned the favor, right? From one sun god, to another? BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

*DUM DUT DA DA🎶🎶!*

It was only then that the gods and goddesses registered the increasing pounding they could hear coming from Alex's direction, similar to the beat of some drums. And as the drums began to beat even louder, his expression morphed to a maniac smile.

...

"Uh oh..." Shizuku uttered when she heard what Alex said, along with increasingly loud drum beats.

She wasn't the only one, as each of Alex's wives paled for the same reason she was.

"What? What's wrong?" Loki demanded as she and the rest of the gods and goddesses watched on curiously.

"Alex is about to go full Nika..." Mirajane said with worry in her voice.

"Wahhh! We have to get out of here!" Lucy cried out in despair.

"I don't get it? What are you talking about, 'full Nika.'?" Tiona asked in confusion.

"Nika is the name of a sun god from another world, who is also known as the warrior of liberation that is revered by slaves and those who are oppressed. As part of his abilities, he can influence the world and those around him in nearly any way he desires. You all experienced this earlier yourselves, from how Alex made it so that our bodies can stretch further than natural." Kurumu explained to them, making the girls blush as they recalled the sensation of their bodies being 'stretched out'.

"Ehem..." Riveria coughed lightly to get them back on track, and NOT on the subject of being stretched out.

"So, why would Alex going 'full Nika' be a bad thing?" She asked the girls.

"..."

"It's not necessarily a bad thing..." Erza said after a moment's thought.

"It's more like this, turning into Nika removes any of Alex's inhibitions, making him more free spirited and unrestrained. That's partly why he only accesses a bit of Nika's power at a time, instead of making the full transformation." Shizuku explained.

"I still don't see the problem?" Ais asked Sheila tilting her head in confusion cutely.

"Because, regardless of how he usually acts, Alex DOES hold himself back. If he doesn't, then situations like in the locker room would have turned into an orgy before any of those girls knew what was going on!" Lucy declared.

It was only at this point that the rest of the women and goddesses realized what they were getting at, and paled at the thought of a completely unrestrained Alex running amok. Well, all of them except Ais, who still didn't get what the problem was.

And no sooner did they realize what was going on did two things happen at once.

*CRACKLE!*

*CRASH!*

*DUM DUT DA DA🎶🎶!*

Black lightning shot out of Alex's body as his Haki soared, accompanying the rising volume of the drums as his figure began to change. Alex's hair, fur and clothes all began to change into a vibrant white that was almost too bright to look at, making the night even brighter despite Ra already making it feel as if it were the middle of the day.

The second thing they noticed, which Lucy picked up on first as her Archive activated, was the large number of people rapidly approaching Orario from the other direction, a few of which were far too powerful to be mortals.

"Haaa... Guess we have to call Sairaorg..." Lucy commented as she directly called the man in question.

...

*DUM DUT DA DA🎶🎶!*

"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Alex was laughing hysterically as he underwent his transformation, even as numerous gods and goddesses tried repeatedly to kill him. They never got close though, as Alex said he'd leave defense to Hestia, and so she would NOT let him down.

Whether it was Hachiman's arrows, Forseti's axe, venom from Quetzalcoatl's dragon, or even Sköll as she tried to devour Alex due to him being a sun god, Hestia deflected them all.

Even Hathor and Sekhmet had joined the fray, with the former firing blasts of concentrated sunlight from the space between her horns, and the latter attacking directly with sunfire coating her arms and legs, similarly to Slayer type magic.

However, not even they, who harnessed the power of Ra's sun compared to Hestia's Hearth, were able to pierce through her defenses. They would have needed the power of one of the Great Gods to do so.

As for Ra himself, he was simply standing by on his ship and watching the battle for the time being.

Though he had ordered the other gods to attack, he himself was waiting to move until he had seen Alex's full level of strength. Then, he would crush this invader.

*DUM DUT DA DA🎶🎶!*

The reason for this was, as per Alex's words, they were both sun gods. As the original sun god of this world, existing even before Apollo and Amaterasu, he refused for the idea to be cultivated that another was more powerful than him. If he personally attacked, and destroyed, Alex before he finished whatever it was he was doing, then it may lead to the mistaken idea that he was intimidated by the outsider.

So, even as the other gods were toyed with by Hestia, even when the black lightning began to explode outwards from Alex's body, carving out the land around them and dealing serious damage to the gods, and even when Alex's power continued to soar higher than it already was, Ra did not move.

*DUM DUT DA DA🎶🎶!*

"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA-!"

He did however start to grow annoyed with the incessant laughter and drumming that was coming from Alex. Just what the hell was so funny?

Alex on the other hand literally could NOT stop laughing as he made the transition into Nika. He couldn't help it, after all, it was hilarious how seriously these gods and goddesses were taking themselves.

Here they were, believing they were on some great and noble quest to save their world, while for Alex it was just another Tuesday.

However, Alex had been interested in testing the power of Nika against another sun god. So, when the transformation finally finished, Alex directed his full attention to Ra.

The great god tensed his body in preparation for whatever attack Alex would throw at him, only he never could have anticipated what would happen next.

*DUM DUT-!"

"!!!"

Moving faster than the speed of light, Alex appeared in front of Ra suddenly with no warning or indication of what he was about to do. And Ra barely registered that Alex was right in front of him before he was suddenly hit with the force of a thousand suns.

None of the other gods or goddesses knew what had happened, even Hathor and Sekhmet as Ra suddenly disappeared, and Alex was floating there in his place.

"Well that was fun! Who's next?" Alex asked jovially as he then began to bounce atop the ship that Ra had been riding.

"Is this really the sun god of the outside?" Quetzalcoatl asked incredulously as they watched Alex's flippant attitude.

"He kinda reminds me of a certain someone." Xerxes said with a smirk as she glanced between Alex and Sun Wukong.

"..."

Though usually he would have some kind of retort to such comments, Wukong had nothing this time since there were too many striking similarities between himself and Alex to deny. He didn't like it.

"Let's just take care of this as soon as possible, especially if he's powerful enough to send a great god flying!" Wukong declared, martialing the rest of the gods as they all hurried to attack Alex.

Of course the one at their head was Wukong himself, who brandished his golden staff threateningly while willing it to extend. Only for it to fall limp in his hands.

"Huh?" Wukong uttered in disbelief, before the same thing happened to Hachiman's bow/arrows, Forseti's axe, Yama's mace, and Hades' bident.

The gods all looked at their now limp and floppy weapons, which did not resemble the fearsome and renowned divine tools of destruction and retribution they were known for.

*DUM DUT DA DA🎶🎶!*

"BWAHAHAHAHA! Having some performance issues?" Alex asked through his hysterical laughter.

"Maybe if you rub them out a bit, they'll get nice and hard for you again?" He suggested while making an obscene hand gesture.

*CRACK!*

The next thing he knew though, Alex's nose had literally been seperated from his face as it was sent flying from a divinely powered whip.

"Hey! Dats not nice!" Alex said nasally while looking at the culprit, Xerxes.

"On the other hand..." He muttered while looking her up and down as his nose automatically returned to his face and reattacjed itself, examining her exposed body in all it's glory.

"Oh? Like what you see, outside?" Xerxes asked with a playful smirk, though one would notice a sadistic gleam in her eyes as she too analyzed Alex.

"Oh yeah! It looks very nice!" Alex declared without any shame, right as Sköll appeared behind him and opened her mouth wide.

*CHOMP!*

*GULP!*

"""!!!"""

Incredulous looks focused on Sköll as she simply ate Alex and swallowed him whole.

"I am the sun eater." She said in a small pout to all the looks she was receiving, which none of them thought things would have been handled so easily.

"I guess...that's that?" Quetzalcoatl asked while looking at the others curiously, seeing a variety of reactions from how things concluded.

Most of the gods, like Yama, Hachiman, Forseti, Anubis, Wukong, Hathor and Sekhmet all appeared agitated with how the battle ended, the latter two especially due to the insult the invader had deal to Ra's pride and reputation. Xerxes just seemed disappointed that she came all this way for it to end so suddenly, while Quetzalcoatl appeared relieved once it sank in that Alex was dealt with. Sköll and Hati however appeared proud, the former for being the one to defeat the invader that humiliated Ra himself, and the latter due to the fact that Sköll was her twin sister.

The only one present that appeared to still be vigilant, was Hades, as they continued staring at Sköll expectantly.

Sure enough...

"!!!"

"Hey! Let me out!"

Everyone looked at Sköll in alarm as her stomach bulged suddenly in the shape of a human fist, before it was a foot, and then another fist.

The she-wolf had to cover her mouth to prevent herself from vomiting as Alex seemingly fought back from inside her body, before her eyes widened in alarm as Alex seemingly fell still. Suddenly Sköll's body jerked to the side randomly in a way that seemed almost unnatural, before doing so again in the opposite direction, and then again.

They all watched as Sköll was forced to undergo what seemed like a strange dance as her body jerked and moved, with her crying out weirdly through her fingers each time. And then, she lurched forward so that she was on all fours, her ass in the air, right as something large shot out of her backside.

"MAN! AM I GLAD I CLEANED THAT ROUTE BEFORE TAKING IT!"

Every single god and goddess was speechless as they beheld Alex, whole and hearty after having apparently taking the phrase 'blow it out your ass' literally.

"And you!" Alex declared, pointing at Sköll in an accusatory manner. "I'm not into vore or scat fetishes!"

"""..."""

Again, no one quite knew what to say to his actions or words, and amongst them Sköll was genuinely mortified at what had just happened.

"You...." Hati snarled angrily as she directed a fierce glare in Alex's direction.

"Hm?"

"How dare you do that to my sister!"

With a roar, Hait shot at Alex with her claws out in order to literally rip him to shreds.

"Don't tell me you want to eat me too!?!" Alex exclaimed with mock panic.

"GRAAAAAAAAA!"

Hati roared in response to Alex's jest as her anger rose, opening her mouth really wide as she did so.

"If you want to eat something, then feel free to eat this!" Alex declared, lowering his wasitband as he said that to reveal what could only be considered a godly cock.

No.

It put even the cocks of the gods to shame, as Xerxes could very well attest.

Before Hati had time to realize what was about to happen, Alex stretched his arms out at her and seized her head. The next thing she knew, Hati's mouth was full of Alex's cock as he thrusted the entire length into it at once.

In fact, Alex had used such force that his cock didn't even go down her throat at first, but instead stretched the back of her head out for the full length after he hit the back of her throat.

"Ohhhh~! Women with consumption based divinities are something else~!" Alex practically purred as he vigorously moved her head back and forth to face-fuck the poor goddess.

"Fucker!" Sköll snarled as she shot forward to try and help her sister, only for Alex to slam his palm against her stomach to stretch it like he had the back of Hati's head a moment before. But as he did so, the scrap of cloth covering her and Hati's chests, butts and privates shredded, leaving them both naked in the middle of the battlefield.

This was no big deal for the wolf goddesses though, as they only really wore the cloths for a sense of propriety. What WAS a big deal was that Alex's hand split at the elbow after the attack, one reaching down to cup Sköll's crotch, while the other stretched down to Hati's.

In less than a second both she-wolves were gushing as their bodies entered a heated state, and Alex hadn't even used his Debauchery divinity. Even worse, the two goddesses went from hating Alex to desiring to mate with him as soon as possible.

"NOW! WHILE HE'S DISTRACTED!" Forseti shouted as he charged Alex with his axe raised high.

Even as it remained floppy, Forseti still swung it around while channeling his divine power, cracking space itself in a line directly at Alex.

"Yawn..." Alex however sent a yawn at Forseti, as if he were bored. He then released Hati's head, who continued moving of her own accord now, and lazily flicked his finger in the direction of Forseti's attack.

*SHATTER!*

Space itself shattered between Alex and Forseti, taking the god of Justice and Reconciliation by surprise before the attack hit him. The god's battered and broken body was sent crashing to the ground at the foot of the city wall, right under where Hestia was still standing as she waited for Alex to finish fighting. As promised, she would not participate unless it was to defend the city.

"As you can see, this outsider is too dangerous to allow to live!"

Ra, who was just now rejoining the battle, declared as light flashed across the sky.

His announcment triggered an all out attack from each of the remaining gods, as they each decided it was time to eliminate Alex once and for all.

This prompted him to return his other arm to normal while releasing the crotches of both Hati and Sköll, making them both whimper in need while looking up at him with pitiful puppy-dog eyes.

"Don't worry my cute little pups! I just need to deal with them and then we can all have fun together!" Alex declared with his maniac Nika smile, before teleporting the wolf goddesses to the Myriad Realms of Revelry. Of course he slowed the passage of time within the realm in question, so that they need not suffer for long before he could rejoin them.

"Where did you send them you fiend!?" Anubis snarled as he charged at Alex alongside his army of darkness.

"Kiss my ass!" Alex responded while smacking his own ass provocatively.

"Then the darkness shall snuff out that little light you call a sun!" Abubis declared, appearing before Alex at an inhuman speed with his flail already in mid-swing.

The lord of the Dead swung his flail with enough force to turn mountains into dust as he aimed directly for Alex's head, only for it to pass through as if he wasn't there.

"Nah nah nah nah nah!" Alex taunted him when numerous illusionary copies of his head appeared around Anubis.

"Grrrrr!" The jackal-headed god literally growled at the taunt, preparing to destroy each and every one in a single strike.

"GAK-!"

Alex suddenly choked as something pinned him to the ground by his neck. Hades' bident.

"Now, tear him apart." Hades declared, commanding the undead army of heroes, adventurers and monsters to attack Alex while he was pinned.

"Wait!"

"No!"

"Please!"

Alex's pleas went unheard though as the monsters swarmed him, and proceeded to tear into his flesh without pause or mercy.

In a circle above the gods watched with intense gazes and weapons at the ready since, based off of everything that had happened so far, this too would not affect their opponent in the slightest.

"Thats right, get im!"

"..."

Tear im apart!"

"..."

"Let him have it!"

"..."

"I wanna see him BLEED!"

"..."

"!!!"

The gods and goddesses turned towards the speaker irritably to tell them off for taking this lightly, only to see Alex himself there beside them.

"What?" He asked curiously.

"Get him." Ra growled.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Alex cried out in mock fear as the gods attacked him yet again, none of them caring about things like decorum or propriety any longer. They just needed to deal with him.

The hard part was that, the longer they fought, the more their numbers fell.

Just like Hati and Sköll before her, Quetzalcoatl quickly fell for Alex's sexual prowess the second he got his hands on her. It also helped that she was a dragon goddess, and Alex was in fact the Dragon Emperor.

By the time she joined Hati and Sköll, Quetzalcoatl's mating instincts were in full swing despite not being able to produce offspring as a goddess.

Then was Xerxes, the goddess of Indulgence, Authority, Might and Wealth.

If she were being honest, The goddess found everything Alex was doing to them incredibly hot. If it weren't for the fact that he was their enemy, and an outsider at that, she would have invited him to join her harem.

Unfortunately for her, Alex, and by extension Nika, bowed to no one.

Almost immediately after catching whiff of her arousal, Alex seized Xerxes by her hips, and impaled both of her holes on his cock before proceeding to use her as a flesh sleeve. And all of that while he was still fighting the rest of the gods.

Never before in her existance had Xerxes been so disregarded, so debased and so utterly turned on.

The goddess lost track of how many times she came as Alex used her, before he too finally came as both her holes were filled with copius amounts of burning hot seed. Then the next thing she knew, Xerxes and her entire entourage were transported to the same place as Hati, Sköll, and Quetzalcoatl.

Now the only ones left to face Alex were Hades, Yama, Hachiman, Wukong, Anubis, Hathor, Sekhmet and Ra. And they were NOT doing well.

By this point the various gods were all battered and bruised, their weapons missing, and their armor tattered from the beatings they had taken. Alex meanwhile was still perfectly fine, even after all the time he had spent as Nika.

And he even still had the shit-eating grin the entire time.

"Will anything phase this guy?!" Wukong exclaimed as thousands of his clones were systematically destroyed. Even worse for him, the comment Xerxes made earlier continued to bug him the longer they fought Alex.

"Something wrong there, Monkey King copycat?" Alex asked him tauntingly while juggling Yama, Hachiman and Anubis after molding them into balls.

"I ain't no copycat!" Wukong snarled angrily.

"Really? You could have fooled me. HAHA!" Alex laughed as he proceeded to bounce two of the three gods around at high speed like they were pinballs, and spin the third on his finger.

"Such foolishness." Hades rasped irritably, even as they summoned a colossal wave of ice composed of the frozen souls of the dead.

The wave of ice washed over Alex without pause, freezing anything and everything in it's path. Even the air itself was not spared the freezing cold of underworld, as crystals of frozen oxygen twinkled wherever one would look.

"Crude, but effective." Ra commented dryly, never having liked the cold himself.

"S-s-s-s-s-s-so COLD! Just like your heart!" Alex exclaimed while shivering, otherwise completely unaffected by the attack. He then kicked the remaining ball that he had, which was Yama incidently, right at Hades.

"!!!"

*CRASH!*

Hades was sent flying back from the force of the hit, skipping along the ground before coming to a stop at the foot of the city wall while still staying on their feet. But when the dust around them began to clear, Alex's eyes literally bugged out of his head.

"WHAT IS THAT!?!"

He wasn't the only one stunned though, as every single other god and goddess paused whatever they were doing to stare at Hades in disbelief, including even Hestia from atop the wall. The reason? Because half of the chestplate covering their body had been shattered by Alex's attack.

And under it, they could all see a single deathly-pale breast, tipped in a blood-red nipple.

"I SEE A TITTY!" Alex declared comically while activating dress-break, shredding the rest of the armor from Hades' body. And standing in their place, was a completely naked woman.

(A.N. sorry about the delay. I was really busy all last week, and I've been sick for the last half week after that.)