Forget What You See After Today
"From now on, forget everything you see after today."
I gave them that warning in advance, since it might be a bit shocking for the three of them.
Howard suddenly started stripping off his clothes. The three watched in stunned silence as he went stark naked in an instant, shooting me looks that said, Is this what you meant? I ignored them.
"Well, time for a good stretch," Howard said.
No sooner had the words left his mouth than his body began to change. Crack! Crunch! Bones twisted, skin warped. It was similar to polymorph magic, but different—more like pure physical transformation. It had to be the beast's innate ability, so it couldn't be exactly like magic.
Howard's body swelled larger and larger, gradually revealing his true form. He towered over ten meters tall. He'd been just over two meters last time I'd seen it, so this was a massive growth. Many parts had changed besides the size, but the overall impression was undeniable: every inch of him had evolved for killing. He was a monster made for slaughter, pure and simple.
Grrrrr... Howard—no, the Beast King, emerging after so long—let out a low growl.
The Beast King didn't do anything special, but it naturally emanated something like bloodlust. His skin prickled with the raw intent to kill, radiating fiercely. It was the unfiltered terror prey feels upon encountering a predator.
The three Masters stood frozen, staring at the Beast King in awe. Jayke clenched his fists until blood trickled from his palms; Argin's teeth chattered; Joseph trembled uncontrollably at the knees.
Then, the Beast King's massive bulk seemed to melt into the ground and vanish.
"W-what was that?" Argin stammered the moment it disappeared.
"Howard's ability. And as I said earlier, forget what you saw today."
The Beast King reappeared directly in front of the deep-sea beast, which had been moving slowly until then. It halted, then took a single step back.
KYAAAHHH! The Beast King threw its head back and roared.
For a moment, the world seemed to stop. Everything around us was swallowed by that roar. Even from this distance, goosebumps erupted all over my body. The three had collapsed to their knees in terror without realizing it.
The colossal deep-sea beast buckled, its rear legs giving out as if drained of strength.
He was truly a king now. The king of beasts. No matter how mighty a deep-sea monster, it had no choice but to kneel before him.
BOOM! The sound and shockwave of the beast crashing down felt like an earthquake.
"My friend's one hell of a monster," I chuckled.
How lucky was I to have a beast like that as a friend? Could the entire continent's humans take it down if they all charged? Not a chance.
The Beast King leaped from its spot, bounding two or three times across the deep-sea beast's body until it perched atop its head. From there, it was pure, one-sided brutality.
Its long arms, shaped like swords, extended dozens of meters of aura. They hammered the deep-sea beast's head relentlessly. No technique, no finesse—just raw power.
So what if the beast regenerated fast? Just smash it faster, right?
The deep-sea beast shook its head as it belatedly struggled to rise, but that did nothing to dislodge the Beast King.
"Impossible..." Argin muttered, still slumped on the ground, watching it all.
GROOAAARRR! As the Beast King's blows tore flesh and shattered skull, the deep-sea beast let out an agonized wail.
Shards of broken bone flew everywhere. When the skull finally failed at its job, the Beast King plunged its body into the massive hole it had carved.
That was it. The deep-sea beast convulsed violently for a moment before sprawling lifeless on the ground. Another massive tremor shook the earth.
Before it fully collapsed, the Beast King leaped out, reverting to Howard's form and landing before us.
"Ah, feels good to loosen up after so long."
Howard joked around, but the three now looked at him differently. After witnessing that, it was only natural. Still, I had no desire to keep watching a middle-aged man, drenched in monster blood, stand there naked and cracking wise.
"Put some clothes on." I summoned a water spirit to rinse him off and handed over the spare clothes I'd packed.
I could've taken down the deep-sea beast myself if I'd stepped in. Plenty of ways to do it, but probably not as quickly as the Beast King.
"So, heading back now?" Howard asked.
I shook my head and pointed at the fallen beast. "We gotta clean that up first. What do you think happens if we leave something the size of a city to rot right there?"
If a beast that huge decayed unchecked, the area would be uninhabitable for humans for ages.
"How the hell do we even move that?" Even Howard looked daunted. Even the mighty Beast King found it tricky, apparently.
"I'll handle it." I moved to the corpse, placed a hand on it, and commanded, "Rise."
It was a fragment of power embedded in the soul of that old necromancer, Gymnas Kragel. At my order, the dead deep-sea beast began to stir.
"Return to where you came from."
The beast slowly turned and lumbered off. It would head back to its home in the deep sea and fade away there.
"The more I see, the more amazing tricks you got," Howard snickered as I rejoined the group.
The three who'd just seen me manipulate a corpse for the first time gave me meaningful looks.
"As I said earlier, forget everything you saw today."
A saint controlling corpses? If word got out, it'd be a headache.
For now, the deep-sea beast incident was over. But that didn't mean things ended here.
If sea beasts climbing onto land were just this one, no problem. But if it kept happening? Humanity's survival would be at stake. I couldn't run around blocking every beast myself. I was nearing omniscience, but not omnipotence.
I'd already dispatched several clones to the ocean depths. Something was there. That's why a deep-sea beast that had never caused trouble before charged onto land.
I saw it as akin to a mass breakout from the Great Forest or Dragon Mountains.
"Is it over now?"
For the moment, yes. I could investigate from afar. Sticking around here wouldn't accomplish much more.
"For now."
I led the group back to Akasha Territory. We'd only been gone half a day, but a guest had arrived in the meantime.
"Long time no see."
Waiting in my office, the man who greeted us warmly and pulled me into a hug was Angeur, the church's other saint.
"What brings you here so suddenly, brother?" We'd agreed to use brotherly terms with Angeur long ago.
Angeur put off answering my question and greeted the others first. "More importantly, Sir Joseph, it's been ages. Sir Jayke too. And you over there—Argin, right? Something like that."
"Yes, Saint."
"And this gentleman's new to me?"
"Howard Callista."
"I see. Nice to meet you, Mr. Howard. Saint Angeur Aseth."
"Pleasure."
I'm not very saintly myself, but Angeur was just as unorthodox. His friendliness was top-tier, though. In moments, his natural charm had everyone warming to him. He winked at me, signaling.
"Looks like Brother Angeur has something to tell me."
The others, including Howard, excused themselves. Angeur's expression turned serious.
"I got a divine oracle. You must've too, right?"
No, I hadn't.
"No, I didn't get one. What's it say?"
"A calamity comes from the west."
Sending an oracle only to Angeur? That's cold.
"I handled that already."
"What?"
"A massive sea beast landed on the western coast, nearly wiping it out. Couldn't be helped, but I just took care of the beast on the way back."
I figured Angeur would be a bit thrown off, but he wasn't.
"Not that one—another calamity."
So the cause of the beasts coming ashore was the real calamity?
"What is it?"
"A massive landmass rises, plunging the world into chaos."
That sounded right, though I couldn't confirm without seeing the deep sea myself.
"Hm, isn't that something we can't do much about anyway?"
If a huge continent really emerged, what could humans even do?
"True, but I figured with your power, brother, maybe you could pull something off. That's why I came."
Angeur's innocent smile made me want to smack him.
"Even I don't have the power to stop something like that."
"Really?"
"Yes."
Did he think I was on Juno's level? Don't send oracles like that—handle it yourself, Juno. And why only to Angeur when I'm a saint too?
Now that I thought about it, "trusting me" sounded like a lie. Fitting for the god of lies and love.
"But why the chaos? New land should be good, right?"
I sighed. This brother was too naive sometimes. Even his brain felt that way.
On a macro scale, new territory would benefit humanity. But would it only bring good?
"People will fight over it and get hurt—a lot."
Hurt? More like die.
"Oh, I see."
Angeur's face darkened. But was a new landmass really rising? I focused on my clones in the deep sea. Still unclear.
"Lots of folks are already suffering on the coasts. The church stepping in now would be appreciated."
"Of course that's a must. But I was hoping we could minimize the damage from what's coming."
"Won't time sort it out, like always?"
Whether personal matters or historic events, time resolves most things. Even if a new island or continent rose, in a century it'd stabilize with owners and people living there.
"Probably. Still, fewer injuries would be nice."
Saintly thinking. Unlike a fake like me.
"There might be a way."
Angeur leaned in eagerly, but I didn't elaborate. Not something for his ears.
Angeur stayed the night and left the next day. Unlike me, lounging in the territory for years, he was swamped as a busy saint.
Then an unexpected guest decided to stick around.
"Not leaving?"
"This place is nicer. Mind if I crash here a bit?"
Howard was staying in the territory. No idea what he was thinking, but I'd let him go if he wanted to leave, and having him around was no loss, so I didn't mind.
That said, Howard insisted on earning his keep by training Argin. Argin was thrilled.
Howard's lessons were brutally practical. Argin, forced to take Grand Master-level hits full-body, ended up visiting me often—sometimes with limbs severed or guts spilling. It was calibrated to just short of fatal.
Yet Argin had no complaints. After the last incident, he'd steeled his resolve and was training harder. With Howard's guidance, he'd grow even faster.
Howard dropped by often, demanding Drakan's brew. We drank together, but I was starting to feel the liquor shortage—right as anomalies began in the western sea.