Deadmeat Saga

Intermission – The Overarching Antagonist of the World

In her dreams, Qold found herself in a mystical meadow by a purple and star-filled ocean, reflecting the purple star-filled sky. Bees and butterflies flew, pollinating the enchanting flowers covering this glade.

Qold was confused for a moment before understanding what was happening, turning around to find a human-shaped fog woman sitting by a tea table. It was her second time seeing this scene.

"Mistress Xenova." Qold bowed to the woman, showing deep respect.

"Hahaha! There is no need for such formalities, dear. You are not my servant- yet. Sit." Xenova let out a bell-like laugh, gesturing to the opposite seat. However, she also subtly displayed her authority, giving an order instead of a request.

Xenova was an ancient demon lord, and demons viewed power as authority. Qold, as a mere succubus, felt great coercion on her to obey the demon lord, a racial talent that higher demons have over lesser demons, just like how a Goblin Lord could command the respect of regular goblins. That was the massive chasm between her and Xenova. No, perhaps Xenova held even more power than that.

Luckily, the power of her familiar contract and her status as an Envoy resisted this coercion. However, Qold was not foolish enough to resist the demon lord over such an insignificant order, so she sat as ordered.

"Good. I see you finally said goodbye to your virginity and even became a full-fledged succubus! Congratulations! I must say, I am impressed, both at your ability to seduce that male and his potency. I honestly expected it to take another few weeks." Xenova said with some surprise.

"Yes. My new master doted on me these few days to help me." Qold smiled, expressing her appreciation and satisfaction.

"And I am sure you enjoyed every part of it. Tell me, how good was a male of that caliber? One that even a Greater Succubus would think is a worthy master?" Xenova calmly asked.

"It was wonderful. I never thought I could experience such pleasure. The taste was marvelous, and the stamina almost endless. I felt full after only two shots but forced myself to absorb ten more." Qold honestly replied.

"Hmhmhm~. Yes, I can tell. You are also faintly evolving your bloodline to that of a High Succubus. I told you that you are a lucky bitch." Xenova said with an amused tone before narrowing her eyes. "And tell me, are you now under the influence of that unknown god? Are you still sane? Or rather, are you still you?"

"I have indeed received the blessing, but I am still myself. I am just more loyal to my new master." Qold replied, not daring to lie.

If she lied, Xenova would see through it one way or another. Xenova could read her mind like a book if she wanted to. She was, after all, a potent mind sorceress.

"As expected. I also bet there are some emergency measures in place, such as a death trigger if someone tried to tamper with your control and prevent you from betraying your new master." Xenova thoughtfully nodded.

Qold remained silent, listening.

"I will be frank, deary. I can faintly sense the power within you, and that is because of my connection with you through our previous dealings. It is a highly corrupt power that even makes me shudder, and I dare not touch or tamper with it. It has thoroughly corrupted you, and I am unsure if even the gods can reverse it. In other words, you are his property now, and you are thoroughly damned." Xenova's voice turned apathetic.

Qold became tense as she locked eyes with Xenova's cold eyes.

After a long pause, Xenova burst into wild laughter, "Hahahaha! Look at you, silly girl. Do you think I give a damn? How is this any different from becoming the soul slave of a more powerful demon? It is just eternal servitude! Every other demon is like that to one force or another, and many of them are treated worse than mortal slaves!"

Qold visibly relaxed. For a moment, she thought Xenova would deal a heavy hand on herself. "So you came to confirm about the control over me?"

"Partially. But I also want to give you your master some valuable information." Xenova said.

"Why not contact my master directly?" Qold inquired.

"I got blocked." Xenova helplessly shrugged. " Whatever power he has perceived me as harmful and blocked me. But I can understand that since invading one's dreams is intrusive, some methods can manipulate, curse, and even kill. That is why I contacted you, his familiar and demonic connection."

"Okay, what would you like me to convey, mistress Xenova?" Qold asked.

"The human temples have made their move and used their taboo weapon, Otherwolder Summoning. I can feel the trembling of the universal fabrics." Xenova turned serious, solemn in her tone.

"Otherworlder? What is that?" Qold got taken aback.

"Yes, Otherworlders, creatures from other universes. Due to the differences in universal laws, energies local to this universe are non-existent in their world and vice versa. When they arrive here, they become empty vessels, suitable to receive divine gifts from the gods, giving them rule-bending abilities and extreme talent. But sometimes, this summoning mutates or fails, baptizing the summoned with outer-dimensional powers or even attracting outer powers - godlike entities. A thousand years ago, the demi-humans foolishly tried tampering with the spell to summon a member of their race instead of a human, resulting in the summoning of a 100-floor calamity-class dungeon, the Great Labyrinth of Terror, which required the sacrifice of four SSS-rank adventurers to destroy. With the current low level of your world, it took over a century to recover from the damage." Xenova explained.

"If they are so dangerous, why summon them? Rather, can they even be controlled?" Qold inquired.

"Otherworlders are too powerful to control like regular slaves and can be very vengeful. As for why someone would summon them? As weapons of mass destruction against powerful enemies. In this case, it is the sworn enemy of all intelligent life, the overarching antagonist of your world, the echoes of a dead outer god I don't know the name of." Xenova.

"What? Dead outer god?" Qold blinked her eyes in incomprehension.

"Well, I say dead... But it can revive. So it isn't completely dead, more like in a coma? It is an ancient being summoned by a much more ancient civilization, the ones who created your goblin race, the Ancient Goblins, and mutually died along with them. However, that is an ancient lore that only the most veteran demon lords know. I am only 50,000 years old, so I don't know the details." Xenova said with a pondering look. "Anyways, the echoes of that god tend to possess intelligent creatures, making them crazed fanatics hell-bent on reviving their dead master. Although I don't know the details, for those cautious higher-ups of the temples to summon otherworlders means the situation is dire."

"Then what do you want us to do?" Qold curiously asked.

"First, of course, it is to stop the echoes. I only have three worlds under my domain. Losing this world would be a painful blow to my resource collection. And second, I want you to subdue those otherworlders. The last thing I want is for those crazy maniacs to shit on my backyard again!" At the end of her words, Xenova had an unhinged look in her fog-like eyes, recalling a horrible experience.

"Er... Mistress-"

"They cause needless revolutions, massive losses in lives, unnecessary wars, damage to the ecosystem, and fracking up the careful balance of this world as if it was all some game, inducing hundreds of years of income losses! If that isn't enough, they even start going to other realms and attacking us innocent demon lords as if to fight some boss in a game! There was even a group of them that rampaged around my turf, killing thousands of my poor and sexy subordinates and my favorite boy toy! They even ruined my favorite dress! ARGH! I am SO MAD!" Xenova shook and yelled, and even the dream space became unstable.

"Mistress..." Qold anxiously looked at her surroundings.

"Ah... My bad." Xenova calmed down, and the space stabilized. "Anyways, I have a personal grudge with them, so I want your master to subdue them with whatever means. Brainwash, kill, rape, Seal, or whatever other method is up to you. Just don't let them come to my territory again, EVER. In exchange, I will tell you where they and the echoes are if I find them through my intelligence network. Deal?" 

Qold contemplated for a moment before nodding. "Okay, I will tell my master."

"Good. We will keep in touch. Bye!" Xenova smiled and waved her hand.

Qold found that the scene changed, and soon, she woke up.

She looked down and saw her master was still in her bosom, soundly asleep, so she gave up on telling him the news. Instead, she hugged him tightly, smiling, and continued sleeping.