Ch. 100 – Gaea and planetary control
"Her name is Gaea," Olorun says before the ground starts shaking and rumbling again as the people across Orario start panicking and looking for cover from falling debris from collapsing buildings.
The only building throughout Orario that remains perfectly intact is the Tower of Babel.
Before I forget about them, I open a portal back into the Hunting Grounds and pull out Hercules and Ares as I immediately resurrect them.
Ignoring their pleas for an explanation as to why they're suddenly no longer gods of strength and war, I refocus my attention towards myself as I close my eyes and retract my horns without surrendering my enhanced mental strength by overriding my brain and getting rid of its useless functions, like keeping my organs working, since my immortal body doesn't need to be told how to keep itself alive.
Once I'm done, I open my eyes and focus on the dungeon. I teleport to Ouranos' room in the tower's basement and sit on his throne.
I spread my aura throughout Orario and the entire dungeon beneath it, reaching 1200 kilometers deep, yet counting only 100 floors.
As my aura reaches the lowest floor, I find a giant statue, covered in vegetation, sitting in a meditative position as cracks start appearing across its stone surface, revealing green skin through the cracks.
The statue has one single eye in the middle of its head with water constantly pouring from it.
The statue is enormous, at about 60 kilometers. On top of its head is a forest, containing a dragon nest, where dozens of large, white dragons are nesting.
I teleport in front of the enormous statue and rise to meet its size as I turn into my werewolf form.
Sensing my presence, Gaea's eye opens as the water stops flowing from it.
"So, you're the upstart God who murdered my husband?" Gaea says.
"If you mean Ouranos then yes, I did kill him. But I believe that was self-defense, given the fact he wanted me dead and I simply returned the favor." I answer.
"You have my gratitude child. Both for killing him and for awakening me." Gaea says before standing up. "It is unfortunate that you're a god. You would have made a great Titan. Alas, I despise Gods. You've allowed my beautiful world to be infested by those little, insignificant insects."
"I'd advise you to stop right now. I've killed enough for one day. Don't make me kill you too." I say, genuinely not wanting to kill anymore for today.
"Kill me? Boy, there's a reason Ouranos never killed me. If I die, so does the planet you stand on.
You, however, I can kill with no consequences.
Now, let's see what we're dealing with." Gaea says before focusing on me intently.
After a few seconds she recoils in disgust. "You must be the ugliest creature I've ever seen," Gaea says after looking me up and down.
"And here I was, thinking I was classically handsome," I say, pretending to be hurt by her words.
"I'm not talking about your body, child," Gaea says, cracking open her grey stone shell, revealing her green skin. "I'm talking about your soul. It is a horrible amalgamation of different creatures. Like a chimera, put together by a blind toddler."
"What are you talking about? If there's something wrong with my soul, I think I'd know about it." I say as I strongly believe she's playing some sort of ruse.
"It doesn't matter. I'll kill you and the other gods before I wipe my beautiful world of all sentient life." Gaea says before she lifts her foot and stomps on the ground, causing tremors that are felt throughout the central continent.
The ground around me comes to life as thousands upon thousands of large rock golems arise and start attacking me.
'Really? She's literally throwing rocks at me?'
"Stop, Gaea... I said STOP!" I scream loudly, imbueing my voice with enough power to vibrate the rock golems to pieces. "I just killed dozens of Gods, including the one who once defeated you and has held you prisoner ever since. So what exactly makes you think you can kill me?"
"Because you can't kill me. It's harder to fight someone when they can kill you but you can't kill them." Gaea says confidently.
"You keep saying I can't kill you, but honestly I'm pretty sure I can. And then I'll just have to steal your divinity before any cataclysmic event ensues.
But, hey, you know what? I'm done trying to convince you we shouldn't fight. If you really want to do this, then let's just do this."
"Hah haha, hubris... typical for a God. Bunch of self-important assholes if you ask me, every last one of you."
"See? That right there...? That's something we agree on. Another reason we shouldn't go killing each other and should just sit down, have a cup of tea... talk this out like adults."
"No, this world has been under the control of gods long enough. It's time for it to be restored to its former glory and returned to its rightful owner, me! I refuse to share it with the likes of you. Would a dog willingly invite fleas on its back? No!"
Figuring we're beyond the point of no return, I simply punch her in the face. *Boom!*
Her entire head cracks open, revealing nothing inside. No blood or brains. Her head was entirely made of rock.
Her head immediately starts to reform itself as she assimilates the rocks beneath her into her body.
I punch her again, this time with my fist clad in aura as I send a pulse of it through her body.
I then extend my fingers as I shape my hand like a blade and stab it into her chest and pull out my fist, wrapped around her true body.
She uses a considerable amount of strength to punch my hand as she struggles to try and break free.
"AARGH! Let me go!" Gaea screams as I squeeze my fist around her.
Her eyes suddenly start glowing. "I said let GO!" She yells loudly as spikes of hardened rock rise from all around me and break as they try to puncture my skin.
I press my thumb against her head and push it down, snapping her neck and throw her unconscious body in my mouth as I start chewing while I devour her divine authorities.
As Gaea is now dead, I immediately feel the core of the planet violently lashing out. Its temperature nearly doubles as it shakes, causing earthquakes and its density increases, causing a higher gravitational pull.
Currently the effects are contained as I cover the core with a thick layer of aura while I start adapting to Gaea's divinities.
After a few minutes I close my eyes and connect to the core as my consciousness starts to expand, covering the whole planet. I notice every monster in the dungeon and on the surface, every human, beastman, elf, pallum and all other races. I notice the animals and plants and how they're all connected within their ecosystems.
I settle the core and I lower it's density and ensure that it will continue spinning as it should.
Through my observation, I notice how much this planet relies on the aid and interference of the Gods.
I decide to disconnect the oceans from Poseidon and Njord, allowing the ocean's currents to settle in a natural pattern. I then proceed to do the same with the Gods that manipulate the weather and and all other natural phenomena, meanwhile ensuring the transition is smooth, with as little negative impact as possible.
Using my Divine authority over monsters, I connect to every one of them across the world and command them to stop harming the humanoid races and work together to return to the dungeon as I create four new entrances to the dungeon outside Orario. One in all four directions.
It should take a few weeks for the surface to be free of monsters, so I disconnect myself from the world's core and teleport to the mansion in my Familia compound.
'I really don't like what she said about my soul. I'm going to have to look into that and soon.'