I Awakened My Game System! Now Three Great Houses Want Me Dead!-Chapter 100 - 2

Woooooof!

The dog howled out loud and proud, announcing its new name to the entire world.

"Aspro!"

Xenos held it up even higher.

"Good enthusiasm."

And then they just... stayed like that.

One man and one Goddess-hearing-mutt standing before a war of chaos.

Because indeed, it’d become a field of torn bodies, black ichor, and twitching limbs.

Vrykolakases were everywhere, most terminated, but some still managed to move.

Atys was somewhere in the middle of it all, covered in their dark blood, still killing them.

The Daemon, only a few Vrykolakases away from the death machine, kept summoning more while it held its head on its neck, trying to put it back, bone and sinew reaching out.

It looked miserable, but it didn’t stop.

Neither did Atys, who, for some reason, didn’t just end the Daemon directly.

Perhaps somewhere deep, a few rules remained untwisted, domineering over his enraged mind, keeping him from overstepping. And one of those rules was likely not to kill this thing.

He really wouldn’t want to; after all, it was one of his tools.

"Hm..."

Xenos lowered Aspro onto the ground.

"We’re a bit out of place, aren’t we?"

The dog nodded, its fur bristling from all the noise, while Eris giggled softly in his head.

’Pretty much.’

For him, this was normal.

Most of their shenanigans were just as insane. Facing certain death and then relaxing right after was a tradition at this point.

Rather, it fit right into what he usually did.

And this moment, in the middle of carnage, just made sense for him.

"Alright, so what—"

But he wasn’t alone in that.

Before he could finish, Atys arrived.

The hulking man stood right in front of him.

They locked eyes, staring at each other even as the ground shook, the next wave of Vrykolakases lunging towards them.

"Xenos... you’ve succeeded today."

Atys didn’t bother to look at the incoming monsters; instead, he lazily waved one hand behind him, and boom, the air pressure alone vaporized them.

"I was sure I’d have you killed here..."

He went on, blood dripping from his chin.

"But perhaps I underestimated you. I won’t ask how you know so much about me—perhaps Goddess Eris informed you of us four, building you up to kill us—but no matter."

Xenos said nothing, keeping his sword ready while Aspro growled beside him, crouched low, prepared to join in if need be.

"You and your irregularity, in whatever form it may be, threaten the balance. You are an existence that could break the realm as we know it. And I—"

His eyes glowed a brighter red.

"—can’t allow that."

Xenos tilted his head.

"Because you’re Hades’s dog now? What? Do you like the benefits? I’d have stayed their dog too, but unfortunately—"

He mimicked a collar around his neck.

"I like freedom."

Atys’s expression darkened.

"No, Xenos. You prefer chaos. Only someone who craves chaos would willingly kneel to Calamity."

"Oh? So you didn’t kneel to Her willingly?"

Atys turned around and punched out once more.

Everything that was once behind him turned into mush.

He stood there for a few moments, looking up.

"If you survive this..."

His knees bent, and the ground beneath him cracked.

"Our next clash will be your end."

And then, just like that, he was gone.

That left only Xenos, Aspro, the Daemon, its many Vrykolakases, and a few hundred twitching corpses.

The battlefield finally quieted... for about three seconds.

"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Aspro whimpered, its whole body trembling.

"Hm."

Xenos glanced down.

"You’re struggling to keep its attention away from us, huh?"

The dog nodded, its fur standing on end.

"Wait..."

He blinked.

"Since you can control it, you’re a Mind Element, aren’t you?"

Another nod, though an angry one, as even though Xenos clearly could see it struggling, he acted as if nothing was happening.

"So you’re the one influencing it. Hah."

He looked directly at Aspro’s cute, now strained face.

"Does that mean you used your powers on me back then? To make me free you?"

Aspro barked, very much offended, while Eris laughed in his mind.

’It doesn’t matter if it tried or not; it couldn’t. You have me, remember?"’

Xenos laughed alongside Her.

"Right, right. So I really did save you just because you’re soft and pettable."

Humans really did have a problem with fluffy things.

They’d pet the sun itself if it were fluffy.

...was that what Icarus was trying to do?

"Oh, by the way..."

He squinted at Aspro.

"Are you actually male or female?"

It barked louder, its tail whipping in irritation.

"Hm? What? Not the right time for that?"

Another bark.

"No, it’s exactly the time. I can’t always call you ’it,’ can I?"

Groaning from both him and the pain, the dog pointed its tail at him, like an angry arrow.

"Ah. Male, huh? Nice."

Xenos nodded seriously.

"I guess I’ve just got a natural charm for dogs."

Aspro barked even louder, and Eris sighed.

’Don’t torture the poor boy so much.’

Xenos laughed, waving it off.

"Alright, alright."

He straightened up, his eyes shifting to the battlefield again.

The Daemon was twitching, its head now fully reattached, while screeching Vrykolakases circled around it.

"Aspro!"

Xenos shouted.

"Keep them off me while I kill that thing!"

The dog let out a confirming bark as Xenos crouched low and launched himself straight at the Daemon, seeing it up close in its entirety for the first time.

Its figure was that of a normal human, only dead, barely skinned, dark, with rotting muscles, and bones that stuck out... simply put, it was disgusting.

’Gross.’

Indeed, as Eris commented, it was gross.

Yet this ’gross’ thing was strong.

Its eyes flicked toward him.

"HEEEE—"

It reached out, arms long enough to wrap around him twice.

He dodged both hands by sliding under, only to then cut upward.

His [Wise Fool] kicked in, the blade slicing clean through its torso.

A critical hit triggered, yet it was far from terminated.

The top half fell, dragging itself toward him with clawed fingers.

The bottom half stood upright like it hadn’t noticed it was dead yet.

"Persistent, aren’t you?"

He kicked the lower half away, then flicked the upper part up with his sword and slashed at it again and again while it was in midair, juggling it almost, making its chunks fly and its black liquid spray everywhere.

Just then, the legs rushed at him and jumped.

"Really?!"

He sidestepped, stabbed through one leg, swung the body like some disgusting flail, and hurled it back at the upper half, sending both tumbling off together.

"Did you think I was waiting for no reason?"

Calling away his sword, Xenos raised both hands and activated [Fortune’s Wheel] once more.

Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick—

DING!

—

{Acid!}

—

"Perfect."

A glob of glowing green liquid materialized above his palms.

"GRAAAARRRAAAH!"

The Daemon screamed as its part began to reattach.

Something that Xenos wasn’t about to allow.

After pumping the poisonous glob full of Divinity... 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Whoosh!

Xenos threw it.

The acid hit dead center, melting its flesh and bone until the Daemon’s entire body collapsed into a puddle of black slush.

Sighing, he looked around as his sword returned to his hand while he waited for the Vrykolakases to drop alongside their master.

...They didn’t.

"Huh."

Woof!

He turned to Aspro, and the dog barked again.

"You lost control of them, didn’t you?"

Aspro nodded once.

"Right, right. Their master’s gone, so they’re leaderless..."

He looked around the field of snarling, twitching creatures.

"...but they’re somehow still alive. Great."

’Xenos. Focus.’

Sighing a second time, he took a stance.

"I know."

His eyes narrowed as the first wave screeched his way.

"I guess round two starts now."

This was going to be a bit rough.