Chapter 611: The Emperor Rides For War
There was the expected silence. Laz knew that if what he was saying was true, then the implications of that were enormous. He also wasn’t sure if the girls would believe him as he didn’t know if it was actually true... but it seemed highly logical considering the information he had.
The goddesses were silent for a while as they weighed Laz’s words, realizing that it made much more sense than it should have. Even fi they didn’t want to believe it, there was far too much proof saying otherwise.
There was still the slim chance that the half brothers and sisters were dying to an unknown mission... but after all this time for the mission to have been kept such a secret seemed almost impossible. After a while, they could only sigh in defeat, knowing that the answer wouldn’t come this easily.
"We should head back now," Aphrodite finally said, waving her hand so that all of them disappeared.
Within moments, they were back in Aphrodite’s chambers, the darkness of the night on full display.
Artemis, her mind still going in circles, waved goodbye and left, opening the door and walking past the guards who had been waiting all this time with baited breath, only to see the goddess leave without giving them so much as a glance, but more surprisingly, not wearing the same clothes she had gone in with.
Such an event made their mind soar.
"Escort this prisoner back to the slave cages and let the head know I may have need of him again soon," Aphrodite ordered the startled men as Laz immerged from inside, quiet and subdued with thoughts elsewhere.
More than once on the journey back, the guard captain wanted to question Laz, to beat him up and force everything about what just happened from his mouth, even if that meant trouble down the line. But something about Laz’s demeanor caused him to stop.
"Yeah. There was nothing going on. If I had just been able to bang two goddesses, I wouldn’t be able to stop smiling, even on my way to the executioner’s axe. Whatever happened seemed to have left this young man shocked and startled. Perhaps I should be a bit nicer too him considering what he probably just went through? He thought, but then got mad at thinking that Laz might have been able to see the goddesses naked and wanted to beat him again.
As Laz re-entered the cell, he quietly walked over to where his cot was and sat down, not even bothering to think how he had been on both a silk bed and a straw filled one in the same day. It was only after Jacob had come over to check on him that he snapped out of it.
"So what happened to you? Seems like whatever it was has left you in a pondering mood? You should get out there and work your body if you need to get some stuff out of you. They be saying the Emperor’s in a bad mood and when that happens, well... they usually arrange death games. So whatever it is, best to leave it alone and focus boyo...." Jacob kindly advised.
Laz looked up at the slightly greying man and nodded his head, thinking he had a point. Dwelling on things wouldn’t help but getting out some energy would. Despite having chased Artemis for many hours in Aphrodite’s small realm, he didn’t really feel tired and there was still some time before dinner was served.
Laz stood out in the training field, sword in hand as he drew up a mental image, the large dragon shadow that had chased him in here. While it seemed foolish, Laz needed to know if there was a way to fight that beast as it was the first fight he had ever lost without question. He stood there for a long time, picturing the beast in his head.
The dragon was massive with a body as big as a three story building and a mouth that could chew up a full size pickup. It’s claws were huge as well with sharp, man sized talons ready to rend a person in two. Seeing it in this context was like a freeze frame where he could identify it’s body and shape to see what could be done.
"The simple fact is there is very little I could do unless i could get under it. The head and neck at almost as flexible as a snakes, but there are bones in it which would stop of from doing anything but turning. It could look behind itself, but it would be hard pressed to look under itself with how low the body sits. So the only chance I would have is if I could get in close and somehow avoid the claws and the body itself from crushing me," Laz said as he stood there, pondering.
Unknown to him, Aphrodite and Artemis were up in a spectators box, looking down on him. They had come here to talk when they noticed Laz come out to the middle of the arena and stand there.
"So he finally doesn’t have a choice, huh?"
"He just received word back today. Mother has been injured on the frontlines while the defense up north had mostly collapsed. As for the creature responsible, minus showing up long enough to fight mother, it mostly stays hidden," Artemis explained.
"So if we wished to do anything, now would be the time?" Aphrodite asked, her eyes shinning.
"Even with both of us together and perhaps mother’s help once she recovers, we can’t beat him. We would need a lot more help to do such a thing," Artemis commented.
"Do you think... we could convince more of our sisters?"
"You’re not serious..."
"Why not?"
"Would they... even want to go through with this? I mean... how many of them have ever even touched a man, much less... well.... you know? Why can’t we... I don’t know... milk him and send them the product, telling them what it does, not what it is?" Artemis suggested.
"Because once it leaves his body, it rapidly decays. And what’s more, had you gotten it directly and not just drank it... it would have been far move effective. With less side effects..." Aphrodite commented, glancing down at Artemis’s rear end, knowing the pain she had been going through since they got back not too long ago.
Artemis shuddered, thinking back to the last few hours. While having the vitality in her body allowed her to grow immensely, she still hadn’t reached the same level as Aphrodite did after breaking out of her shell, just in terms of physical growth. While Laz’s seed wouldn’t do much to her mental state, the effects on the body were enormous. As for when they got back, she ended up having to hurry to expel the wastes that remained as it ravaged her stomach, finding out the hard way that it couldn’t stay in there for long and wait for digestion. If anything, the natural way was much better since it allowed the body time to absorb it straight from the source.
"In the end, once we share what we’ve found with them, it will be their choice, assuming they even believe us. We just have to be careful since it would be very easy for any of them to betray us. We need to be cautious as to who we reveal this secret to," Artemis said after collecting herself.
"What is he doing exactly?" Aphrodite asked, knowing her sister knew much more about fighting than she did.
"He’s building up a mental image to fight. It’s like... fighting with a shadow as opposed to a real person. While actual training is better in most instances, trying to figure out how to beat an opponent is never a wasted effort, especially because you can’t always expect your opponent to give you time to analyze them like he’s doing now," Artemis explained.
"So what is he fighting? It looks like he’s just standing there, shirtless and sweaty?"
"I don’t know... Let’s see," Artemis said, before focusing her eyes and mind on Laz’s body. With her newly developed godhood, she could see things much clearer than ever before, even from this distance.
She spent a bit of time observing his muscle movement, the twitches in his arms and legs, the direction of his gaze and the slight movements in his neck, all things that indicated action without action.
Finally, after looking at him for a while, she was getting a blurry picture in her head, some sort of massive beast with a long neck, huge reach including it’s tail and the ability to fly.
After saying all of her findings to her sister, she pondered over what type of monster could cause him such distress.
"Doesn’t that sound kind of like that massive black dragon that mother fought up in the North?" Aphrodite asked.
Artemis was stunned and turned to look at her sister with shock.
"Yes... it does.... but how? How can he know of the beast? Weren’t they suppressing all rumors of it to the city? And even more so since he’s in the combatants block all day?
"I understand. However... if what’s being said is true... then they both showed up around the same time, didn’t they?" Aphrodite asked, trying to sort her own thoughts.
Artemis didn’t respond, instead turning her gaze to the young man who seemed to be fighting a dragon.
