With King Afridus and his son's dead, I saw Yuki and Arianna protecting the knocked-out nun while Kiyohime did Kiyohime things... As in she was burning this entire city to the fucking ground.
'Why is all my forms of conquest the Spanish kind? Why do I literally feel like just butchering these crazy or monstrous inhabitants is the far better option.' I thought wryly as I finally began cycling through the notifications of the previous quests I had.
The quest for the king was done in the 'Rightful Conquest' so 15 job tokens and now 5 Primordial Words to use in runes and it automatically cycled through my mind with it giving me the words of. 'Fire' 'Water' 'Earth 'Air' 'Ether' The base words of elemental manipulation and could act as the future core of any runes I wanted to make.
And then with another beeping noise the 'Butcher's Bill' quest also showed its completion reminder giving me more job tokens I instantly dumped into my unarmed job to enhance my physical strength and other attributes even further.
While the stronger purified bloodstones I got from there... I was going to throw them into the blood pool to strengthen and refuel it. However, I was curious to see if I could use it as fuel for my Raging Dragon martial art which still needed Dragon's Blood to get anywhere.
'Well... Now I need to figure out what to do with the queen and the daughters for the quest. Unless Kiyohime kills them during her purge.' I thought as I walked over and inspected the still unconscious nun Alicia Clemice and once I got closer Yuki asked quietly. "The king gave you a pretty good fight. Are you alright my love?"
I gave a small smile and said softly. "Yes Yuki, I am fine, I made sure not to get hit by any primordial runes." Then I looked back over to the nun as Arianna said with a wry smile.
"Jake... Really helping a nun in front of me?" She teased slightly as she obviously was a bit iffy with her status as a fallen angel.
Humming I raised an eyebrow, I gave a weak smile as the sounds of the city burning around us rang out alongside the screams of the utterly insane blood-crazed inhabitants of the city as they were burnt alive.
Shaking my head I said wryly "Well, good thing I don't give a damn. She can get over it and I imagine she isn't going to be all over heaven's side when she realizes she is actually a Nephilim."
Arianna had the cutest of expressions as she picked at her ear and said in confusion. "I am sorry? Did you say she is a Fallen Angel?"
I made sure to say it nice and clearly as I repeated myself. "She is a Nephilim... A person born from a pure angel who didn't fall in her conception nor birth."
Arianna gave me a dirty look as she groused. "I know what a fucking Nephilim is... But what the nine hells is a Nephilim doing here? Not locked up in Heaven for being a precious child born of purity or even being part of the church?"
Giving another shrug I said frankly. "All I know is she has a sealed Nephilim bloodline... Well, I am going to the central castle to see if there is any loot. Can you girls carry her and keep yourselves safe or do you want to just sit here and wait for me in this royal box?" I asked as after the fight the girls had moved up into the royal box where the king was previously watching the first fight with the nun.
After a moment Yuki and Arianna shared a look before Yuki said honestly. "Just holding this position would be safer for her, as we don't have any way of truly protecting her beyond our own body while on the move. But while we are here we can just kill anyone that comes in."
I nodded and then leaned in and gave Yuki a quick kiss on the lips and then gave Arianna a tight hug as we hadn't established a true relationship yet. Then I said. "Alright, you girls be safe here for a bit."
Making my way out of the Colosseum I flew up into the air with my eyes widening as I took in the scene of utter destruction as Kiyohime being an old hand at genocide had created a molten moat of lava with her flames around the city to prevent people from escaping and then from there she had begun working in quadrants to precisely burn everything down to the ground with her all but glassing the surface of where she was burning so anyone even hiding in basements or something wouldn't survive.
This realm although having a very difficult weather cycle, did have potential once I put in greenhouses and such that could survive the insane cold, but regardless... I refused to rule over humans or otherwise any race, that literally ate other humans. Such societies needed to be purged in fire to make sure their filth did not contaminate the future society that could be built here.
The main castle itself was a large keep that was of thick stone construction... And although from my Observe I learned that the castle itself was highly magically resistant to the point that Kiyohime's flames washed over it without harm. But it was in the end still a medieval castle with windows and balconies in which I climbed into one with a veil washing over me with a ping going off.
[King's Writ of Valor] [No one within the grounds of the castle may use magic without being able to overpower the wards which draw power from the stores of power the goddess Skadi has connected to these wards back in her own palace.]
These wards reminded me of something and I briefly mentally scanned the king's greataxe as I remembered it being a key of something to do with Skadi. [Key of the Ice Palace] [The blades of the great axe carrying the runes of F̸̡̢̦͎̹̭͔̗̮͎͛͛̓͛̿ǫ̴͉̦̭͇̮̝̎̇́ͅŕ̵̪̗̹̗̹̋̿̌̈́c̷̞̦̙̠̈͊̉̌̈́̆̀̔̒̆͌͠ẹ̸̢̡̛̟͍͜ and Į̷̛̩̪̲̝̹̃́͝͠͠m̸̫̠̓̑͜p̴̤̟̳̮̗̮̍̎͑̀a̷͍̣̟̽̃̂͝c̷̢͙̼̮̑̐͘t̸̻͓͈̬̊̌ by replacing the whalebone shaft with another component will form the proper key to the palace of Skadi which will open her doors and grant you an audience with the goddess.]
I put aside the thoughts as I left the bedroom I entered as the sounds of running hit my ears and as I came out into the hallway I saw a couple of women dressed up in barely covering outfits. 'Oh maybe I can ask them directions?' I thought but without a word the two women jumped at me and I blinked and backstepped quickly with them falling down from where they had attempted to spear me with their bodies.
"You! Just die! Filthy commoner rat, just die, just die!" One of them screamed madly and I put away my emotions as I pulled out a bow and with two swift noises of displaced air, ice arrows were shot into their heads knocking their heads back into the ground as I was well fucking aware that they were utterly insane and mentally broken after being exposed to bloodstones for however long.
'Now where be the queen and her daughters... Hell I hope that wasn't them as well, but I am hoping my system isn't expecting me to take the queen in, if she also fuck nuts insane?' I thought as I made my way through the large keep and unfortunately, it seemed that King Alfridus had a bit of a fetish for women/maids that would leap to violence the moment they saw someone.
But finally, when I found a guard who had a bit of sanity I dodged his admittedly decently skilled use of his axe before I broke his arm and said. "Where is the queen and the princesses?" I asked plainly as the guard held his broken arm before grinning and saying cruelly with the typical bloodlust-induced insanity due to overusing the Bloodstones.
"You are with that crazy bitch burning the city? You don't dress like our people that is... Hahaha, go ahead and kill the queen then, she is either going to be in the throne room or down in the treasury as she baths in the blood pools."
And then without even letting me fucking ask about the princesses he punched himself in the jaw and a splatter of blood shot out with a limp piece of pink flesh falling out of his mouth as he fell unconscious from biting his own tongue off...
'Just another sign this place is fucking nuts... I should have gone to the Water Realm honestly. Easy to claim, and probably only needed to kill a couple of water kaijus to establish my damned claim. Hell, it would have strengthened my water familiar a good bit as well.' I thought with annoyance as I made my way through the castle to the throne room and low and behold I found part of what I was looking for.
Sitting just behind the front thrones where the king and his two sons would have sat, was a smaller set of thrones that were also surprisingly well decorated for how savage this place was. Sitting within the three thrones was three women. Or one woman and two ladies as I could tell the princesses were but only a couple decades old while the woman was clearly a bit older maybe early to mid-thirties with how she held herself.
"Well well, the conquering hero has arrived." The queen spoke coldly and I looked away from the princesses who refused to meet my gaze as I looked upon the queen.
She had a bountiful and full figure that she wore proudly in a tight dress that accented her figure. Her eyes were a gleaming ruby red, that matched the long luscious crimson hair that fell down to her waist.
I raised an eyebrow as I looked at her and noticed that she matched one of the princesses but the other one had ocean-blue eyes and matching blue hair? Different mother perhaps?
But regardless of their features it was time to lay down the law... Or decide that as an Emperor if I needed to just cut off their heads and be done with it. "Ladies, I have but a simple question. Will you obey?" I asked simply and then shook my head as I continued.
"I am now the king of the Western Kingdom of the realm of Nifldum, I am purging this city filled with degeneracy and madness with flames that will not leave a single survivor within the city's walls to deal with the source of the bloodstone insanity."
I flared out my touki in a burning white and red aura of power as I finished firmly. "I already killed Alfridus and the princes along with the champions of the collusieums, there is none who can challenge me and I will be a fair ruler once the insanity of the bloodstones are destroyed. Think carefully before you three answer."
I looked away from the queen and took in the rest of the throne room before raising an eyebrow as I noticed that there weren't any guards or warriors hiding in the shadows of the throne room.
There somehow knew I was coming and had seemingly accepted their fate... Or maybe not, I thought as I scanned the queen and I refocused on her with some caution. [Gunhild, Legacy of Göndul- Lvl 82] The queen was technically more powerful then the king or at least more dangerous according to my system and that name...
Then it hit me, Gondul was a prominent Valkyrie and the grandmother of Rossweisse in DXD, so she was obviously related to her though the degree of relation needed to be considered... And now I was honestly scared of just killing her without enough cause as the Norse and Celts were famous for their bloodline curses that could do all kinds of things.
But I gave the three time to decide for themselves whether they would capitulate or not with Queen Gunhild looking to her daughters and then back to me and saying. "And what would you have of us? We are untainted by the bloodstones due to not needing it for our lifespan due to my Valkyrie bloodline, so where does this leave the three of us?"
Shifting slightly I looked her straight in the eye as I said. "You will rule in my stead as I conquer the rest of this realm, the villages and towns outside the capital will send their untainted warriors, and men and women to fill refuel this capital with reasonable people to rebuild after the fires go out."
At my words, she closed her eyes and then opened them saying. "You wish to take over the magic kingdom to the east as well I see."
To which I simply nodded and she gave a slight hum before she spoke. "Besides the bloodstones, do you know why this kingdom participated in mass sacrifice and murder?"
She didn't bother letting me think it out as she explained plainly. "The reason the capital was so lively was the blood rivers leading to this very castle which would project vitality into the air making people grow quicker and become stronger. Not to mention the blood rivers would boil during the weeks of eternal darkness in the deathly winter which would keep the city warm."
I literally deadpanned as I looked at the queen and said flatly. "The winter is harsh I fully admit... But thick walls and a roaring fire can more than keep you warm, one shoudn't rest within light blankets warmed by the blood of a dozen slit throats."
The blue-haired princess winced at my words and as I looked at the more gentle-looking of the three ladies, the queen spoke up again with little emotion in her voice. "Be that as it may... How you rule will be your decision including the lifestyle of your people. But the last question is how you will ensure our loyalty to yourself as your vassals correct?"
I took a breath and said frankly. "You seem to already have an idea, Queen Gunhild."
At me calling her by her name, I saw a crack in the queen's face but she quickly rallied and said plainly. "Bond us through blood. I will serve you loyally as a reagent for this kingdom, and I will bear you a son that will be heir to this kingdom. In return, you will sign a Geass not to kill or abuse my daughters."
The way she said that so bluntly with no signs of her... Avoiding the nitty gritty as it were with the offer was plain as she stared me in straight in the eye so I looked at her daughters with a raised eyebrow and saw that although they were still legacies of Göndul, with a talent for runes and Nordic magic. They weren't a threat to me as they weren't even level thirty.
After a moment of thought I relaxed and said. "The bonding of blood isn't needed. Any child of mine will be raised with love, not merely a political tool, I will still sign a Geass with those vows though about your daughters if you are so worried about their status in front of me in return for the same oath of loyalty so long as your daughters aren't attacking me."