The Sword Heart Sect entered a phase of excitement.
It wasn't every day that a new member joined the sect.
"And this is our koi pond."
"Oh, those are beautiful fish."
Tyson was taking on the role of showing Calypso around the Sect in Ocean Song's absence. "And that's the forge. That's where I stay and make stuff. If you want anything made, you can just ask me." He gave a big smile.
"Oh, that's very nice of you!" Calypso was genuine in her words. She wasn't used to people being so…offering? Living alone for so long, the novelty of simply receiving things hasn't worn off.
"And that's Junior Sister Ambriel."
Calypso looked at her, and her instincts told her not to look too deeply. "Why is she covered?"
"Senior Brother says that she is in closed-door cultivation. That she needs to break free from the Heavenly Dao restrictions that bind her." Tyson repeated, memorizing the words from Ocean Song.
"...what does that mean?"
"I don't know, but Senior Brother said it, so it must be important," Tyson explained.
"Ah." She didn't understand, but she just nodded along. She just assumed it was one of those things she missed out on by being confined to her island for so long.
"And that's the Heavenly Food Pavillion." Tyson pointed out on their continued tour. "It's where we eat. Nessie and Senior Sister Mel cook meals every day."
"...Nessie is the large…aquatic creature?"
"Yes!" Tyson nodded happily.
"Oh." Calypso blinked. "I wasn't aware she could cook?"
"Nessie is a good cook. She always serves the best food! Though…we don't know where she gets the ingredients from." Tyson scratched his cheek. "She makes the best duck!"
"I can't wait to try it!" Calypso's eyes brightened.
It wasn't the weirdest thing she's ever heard of.
Tyson took her to the next spot, and they passed by something that made her pause again. "Excuse me, we passed that several times. What is that?" She pointed to the vehicle sitting next to the covered Angel.
"That's the Popemobile. Senior Brother says that it's a sacred relic of our Sect."
"Oh!" Calypso nodded along. She knew it must be very important if they called it a 'sacred relic.'
They continued on as Calypso was happily taking in all the scenery. It was different than anything she had ever seen before. High mountains like this, buildings perched on mountain peaks, clouds flowing between pavilions and pagodas.
To her, it felt like she was back on mount Othrys again, if different in appearance.
"And this is the Spirit Plant field." Tyson introduced. "Oh hey, it's Senior Brother Daedalus and Senior Sister Medusa!"
The two other Sect members were standing in the middle of the field, looking at a massive rock sticking out of the ground.
They both heard him, of course, as they approached.
"Tyson? You showing her around?" Daedalus asked.
"Yes, Senior Brother!" Tyson smiled happily.
Daedalus grunted. "Maybe you can help us, Tyson. We're trying to get this rock out of the way. That three-eyed idiot thought it was a good idea to put a garden on a mountain! What did he think would happen when we dug deep or tried to expand the field!? It's all rock!"
"We can just break it." Medusa hefted up her massive sword. "I'm pretty sure I can break it."
"And break everything beneath it!?" Daedalus exclaimed. "Are you stupid too!?"
"Don't call me stupid!" Medusa threated.
"I'll help, Senior Brother!" Tyson offered as he went over to it, grabbing it as best as he could, and trying to pull it out of the ground. It wouldn't budge an inch even as he put all his strength into it. "Uh, I don't think I can lift it."
"Maybe we can all do it together?" Medusa thought out loud. "It's probably a lot bigger underground."
Daedalus let out a sigh. "It's probably going to pull up a chunk of the field. But it needs to get removed one way or another."
"All together!" Tyson clapped as Daedalus and Medusa both grabbed onto it with him and they all tried to heft it up.
To their exasperation, they still couldn't lift it; they could feel it slightly tremble under their grasp, but it was otherwise unmoving.
"Dammit, looks like we'll have to break it. I just hope this part of the mountain doesn't collapse from the shockwave." Daedalus scowled deeply.
"Excuse me, can I help?" Calypso offered.
Medusa and Daedalus looked at her before Daedalus shook his head. "It's alright, we'll just –"
The ground trembled, like the start of an earthquake, because Calypso was already grasping the large rock. Despite her dainty appearance, her finger drilled into the stone like it was made of dirt, latching onto it without letting go.
With a tug, the ground trembled again, and they saw it slowly rising from the dirt.
Daedalus noticed something wrong, however, as did Medusa. Medusa, being closer to Tyson, grabbed him and pulled him away as Calypso yanked the rock free from the ground.
Daedalus and Medusa stared up dumbfounded as the sun had been blotted out. Over her head, Calypso was holding up a massive rock that was like a small mountain peek as the ground behind her started to cave in from the missing mass.
"What do you want me to do with this?" Calypso asked.
Daedalus and Medusa were too stunned to say anything, so Tyson told her instead. "Throw it off the mountain!"
"Okay!"
"Wait, no –" Daedalus snapped back, but he didn't say it in time before she quite literally just threw it backwards.
They watched the miniature mountain peak go sailing through the air, thrown much further than any of them had expected.
It bounced off another mountain, an empty one, thankfully, and rolled down, causing the surroundings to tremble and cause a real earthquake this time.
The entire sect shook violently from the aftershocks.
Calypso just stood there looking happy that she could help.
The resulting tremors caused the remainder of the spirit plant field to collapse, with sinkholes forming all over it and falling into itself.
"My fields!" Daedalus let out a cry.
"....woops." Calypso looked bashful.
However, Medusa, despite the ridiculousness of what she just saw, realized that she would fit in here rather well.
After all, the Sect was full of powerful idiots.
[Line Break]
Ocean Song sat opposite of Momiji, a very irritated Oni.
"Dammit, where was my Sake!" She was pulling opened all her draws, trying to find it.
"Senior, would you like to use my gourd?" He offered it up.
Her eyes brightened as she snatched it from his hand. "Okay, maybe you're not so bad after all." She took a drink, and paused. "Okay, what the hell is in this thing? I taste…5, 7, 10 or more different liquors."
"I have poured everything I have into it! Like raising a Gu, they will mix together, and bring about the best effects!" Ocean Song proudly declared.
The Oni opened her mouth, she wanted to correct him. There were a lot of things wrong with what he just said. An astoundingly amount of wrong assumptions there. But she wisely just decided not to say anything.
It wasn't that bad, so she would just happily drink it.
It was at least palatable.
"What…exactly are you doing here again?" She finally asked him.
"This one has come to learn under the tutelage of my many Senior Sisters!" Ocean Song cheerfully explained.
"What, you want to learn how to shake your hips at people?" She rolled her eyes.
"Yes." He nodded, making her spit out a mouthful of wine. "This one has a woman in his heart, and I wish to earn her affection. Thus, I must master such arts well." As a proper Jade Beauty, he must learn to be seductive.
"I am not drunk enough to handle this right now." She was feeling weirdly sober, like more sober than she had been in years. "Alright, so you have a girl you want to win over. That's….significantly more mundane than I had expected."
"Also, I wish to form an alliance of mutual assistance in case my Sect is attacked by evil forces." He added.
Momiji let out a long sigh. "Why does it feel like I'm talking to those stuffy idiots from back home? I really am not drunk enough for this."
"But also, I want to learn how to seduce better. I think this is more important." He finished. "The Dao of the Jade Beauty is a deep and unfathomable one, so I require a teacher."
Momiji blinked and wondered if she were actually drunk. Because she did recognize the words he said, it's just said in this context had her head spinning. "Where are you from again?"
"I was born on an island."
"And your dad…?"
"Poseidon."
"Greek?"
"Yes."
"....and your mom?"
"A Nymph. She died. I went on a journey to find her, but she was killed over in the Old World. I got revenge, or I tried to. But my kill was stolen by an Angel, therefore I ascended to Heaven to lodge a complaint. As an apology, they gave me a pope hat." He then put the pope hat on his head.
The Oni was raising the gourd to her mouth to drink but froze as she processed what he just said, then just stared at the Pope hat on his head.
She waved a hand in front of her own face to see if she was hallucinating things. And even a pinch of her arm told her that she was indeed awake.
"Right." She instead rubbed her temples. "I have a feeling I'm going to get a headache very soon. You know what..." She got up from her seat and put a hand on Ocean Song's shoulder. "I'm not dealing with this today." She grabbed him and threw him out the window.
Ocean Song didn't resist as broken glass bounced off him and he went skidding across the car wash.
The girls were already there, half working, half puttering around.
"Greetings, Senior Sisters! I have been accepted by Senior!" He said excitedly. "I have come to learn from you all. Please teach me well."
"Kyah~ He's so cute; come give big sister a hug!" The closest nymph grabbed him, pushing his face into her chest.
"You're going to choke him with those big things."
"Huehue~"
"Stop playing around!" Chloris, the manager, started barking as she grabbed the nymph trying to suffocate Ocean Song and all but threw her at the nearest car. "If you're going to use those fat tits, put them against some glass!"
"Hag."
"I heard that"! Chloris fumed.
"I hope you did!"
The manager ignored her. "Alright, you." She poked Ocean Song. "What exactly do you want? Are you here to work?"
"This one wants to learn how to properly seduce someone. This lowly Cyclops has a woman he likes and wants to win her heart!" He spoke sincerely.
It was as if every Nymph head in the vicinity snapped at him.
Even the aggressive and stoic manager couldn't resist. She had a strange smile on her face after putting a hand on his shoulder. "You came to the right place."
[Line Break]
"Puff your chest up!" Chloris shouted. "Back straighter; don't forget to push out your money maker!"
"What's my money maker?'
"Your dick."
"Yes, Senior!"
"Are we sticking with a speedo, or should we get him in proper clothes?" One of the Dryads asked. "I think either could work."
"There isn't much a speedo can't accomplish."
"But is it too much? What if she's the classy kind of gal?"
Chloris clapped her hands. "You dropped your smile, get it back! Show those pearly whites, stare deeply! You want her attention! And Nysa, finish up those finger nails quickly! He needs a proper manicure!"
"Should we give him a haircut?"
Chloris bit her lips. "I kind of like the hair as it is. It gives a wild feeling, but still refined."
"And it gives something to pull."
"That too."
The girls were all cooperating the moment they heard that he said he was trying to win a girl's affection.
He had more or less already been adopted by all of them at this point.
"What does she like?"
"I'm not sure." Ocean Song revealed. "She likes to practice magic. She likes to read. She likes learning new things."
"Oh, an academic." Chloris nodded. "Hmm, bright and sunny or dark and quiet?"
"Dark and quiet." He answered.
"Older or younger?"
"Older."
"You heard him girls, goth mommy!" Chloris clapped her hands. "We're changing it up. Drop that smile, big boy. You need to match her energy! That means, less sunny and approachable, and more quiet and presentable."
"What's her name anyway?"
"Hecate." He answered without hesitation.
"Hah, just like…" She paused, and all the girls froze in their tracks. Partly because of who he just named and partly because there was now a woman standing behind him, wearing black, swirling with mists, and radiating divinity.
And just like that, all the nymphs screamed and ran away.
Ocean Song quickly turned to see her, but before he could speak, the Goddess of Magic grabbed his cheeks. "Don't speak any of your nonsense. I'm going to say some things; you're only going to respond, okay?"
He nodded.
"I like you. For some reason I cannot fathom. So, here's what's going to happen: you're going to be loyal to me, and you're not going to pursue any other women. And in return, I will be loyal as well." She leaned in. "That means you are mine. If you agree, nod your head."
Ocean Song nodded.
"Good." She released his mouth. "Come here." She didn't wait for him before leaning in and giving him a kiss. "If you cheat on me or break my trust, I will rip your balls off." Just like that, she disappeared.
Ocean Song fell to the ground in confusion as he processed what just happened.
"Senior Sisters, it worked!"
Truly, their Dao of the Jade Beauty is unmatched.
[Line Break]
A/N
Hecate finally decided to act on her own feelings.
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