Master of Myths

The journey back home was a silent one, with YuJu in a pondering mood and Zero not daring to disturb him after what happened

Their ride was the quietest of the three though, it's nerves tout to an extreme level

"Abaddon"

"Yes Master!"

Readily responding in an instant the parasite felt all the muscles in its body shrink in fear with only its name being called

"Tell me when did gluttony take residence in you"

"I am regretful to inform Master that I've no clue, perhaps it was a long time ago or maybe when I was in the desert, since I had always contained an ever growing and large appetite the sin's effect was not apparent, it wasn't until I couldn't stop from trying to eat the scary Gardelos that I noticed something was off, but by then....."

It was too late, only it didn't elaborate further in case the memory of both of them sling control might anger him

"You're no longer allowed to step out of our territory and go on feasts, from now on stay in the house, naturally I will take you out to eat under my supervision"

"Yes Master, apologies for all the trouble"

"It's not something you can help"

Indeed it was not, the sins could inhibit any body they wanted, that creature's resistance would be deemed near null with the only difference it makes is how long they would take to get swallowed by the sin

'Unless I can transfer it to someone else, by then it would need another thousand years to wake up agan'

A thousand years, enough for countless civilizations to fall and rise, especially in the vast expanding Infidome

'I know someone who might be able to house my sin for me but gluttony…'

He knew who was the vessel of gluttony, but that man couldn't behind to compare to Abaddon, this creature had been deemed a natural disaster, not to mention its skill, Unbridled Blood, advanced a minor rank up

'If the flesh golem, a calamity almost wiping out humankind, only contributed a minor rank to one of its skill after it was consumed then I must have underestimated the natural disaster threat level of Abaddon'

Now that he thought about it, wasn't it the entire Infidome that recognized its powers to be a threat? This was no longer something at the size of a civilization, this was a real walking disaster

'I better find a way to contain the sin, I don't believe I can have it willingly leave Abaddon's body'

Perhaps there was a method, he just never heard about sins too much, the annoying things popped up to mess the world every few millennials so it wasn't easy to track their behaviours across different wiped out races, a thousand years was enough for most creatures to die out and be replaced by new ones

'Perhaps Verbrand might know….No, I'd rather not anger him with the memory'

The current him, no, even the past him was never a match for the monstrously strong Elder Root, if he really got on his bad side he might just go up in flames

'Haah, such a headache'

Not knowing what to do YuJu spent the rest of the journey contemplating his choices, very few as they may be, in the end deciding that he must detain Abaddon for the time being and investigate further on the sins

"Stay here and don't eat the plants, they are all one of your kin"

"Yes Master"

Abaddon looked guilty as he apologized, indeed the thought of eating these lovely blood filled plants flashed through his thoughts the second they saw the garden

"Should I prepare a bath for Master?"

"No need Subrina, I need you to get back on your project, report to me when you make a major breakthrough"

"I will"

"But don't push yourself"

"Many thanks for Master's concern"

Bowing she left to work, YuJu turned to Zero with his new task ready

"My Lord"

But before he opened his mouth Ika appeared next to him

"Anything the matter?"

"We have found that trader who is accompanied by a clown, we tried tailing him but he seems to have a knack for disappearing"

"So you failed to know his location"

"No, I left a very faint curse on him, I should be able to track him down before he notes the strange energy"

That was great news, finally he got a lead to the comical duo who he took interest in during the early days of the wraith raid

"Hmm, change of plans, Zero will accompany us to meet that woman"

"?"

Ika did not understand what he meant, were they not tailing a man?

Still she did not ask, already used to keeping these types of questions to herself and following commands

"Let's make haste"

ANd haste was made, no more than three hours later the group located the trader underground and sneaked inside after YuJu dismantled or marked any trap or alarm trigger on the way, finally chancing upon a small underground room decorated with various mechanical pars of the human body, some strapped onto dolls and clowns and some affixed with great craftsmanship into very human like dolls, if they were not bare for them to see the iron casting of the middle body then they might believe them to be human altogether

"Going again darling?"

"I can't bear to leave you dear but I must, else how could we make love tonight"

"So nuaghty~ All this hard work to get under the sheets, really a nuaghty boy"

One such dol was sitting in the lap of the man, teasing him as she fed him small pieces of meat, slice by slice with those metal fingers

"I'll be quick about it, I promise"

"Oh I hope you're not talking about tonight, that would be a horrible thing to do"

Giving an alluring look along the joke she almost made the man stay here, alas he knew nothing could go down with only the doll, if he wanted to spend real time with his lover then he had to get her in perfect shape first

"Bye bye~"

"See you soon"

The man stepped out the underground room, one foot at a time until his presence finally disappeared from the underground area altogether

"Haah, talking to him all day is driving me nuts"

An old voice spoke, not originating from the now limp doll but within a sectioned off corner of the room, hidden behind curtains which slowly opened as the spark made their appearance

"Love love love, all he talks about is that sweet damned love, then makes love at night, only thinks with his nethers that man"

Grumbled the old lady, leaning on her crotch as she made way to the table where a few scattered parts were laying around for her to piece together

"But you need him to live, what other choice do you have"

Her fiddling hands stopped as the sudden voice spoke, trembling slightly before threads of energy connected her to various dolls, through which she gained a vision of the room

"?"

The wrinkled face showed confusion, there was no one in the room?

"If you're looking for me I am under you"

Responding to the voice she quickly gleaned down, but there was nothing there, only a shadow…

"!"

Her eyes dilated in realization, accompanying them was the soft chuckle of the man as his shadow arose from the ground, covered by thick mysterious smoke, gradually dissipating to reveal the young white haired man wearing a smirk on that haughty face

"Who are you"

"That depends"

"?"

"Who will you be to me"

"...Just a stranger"

"Then you would have to hand your life over"

On cue all the dolls in the room moved to attack

"Na ah"

He merely shook his finger in disapproval, forcing all the puppets to fall down like their strings were cut, which was exactly what happened

"Energy thread control won't work on me, these things are my forte"

"What do you want"

Rather than beating around the bush after figuring her situation out she went straight ahead to the point

"I thought you liked playing mental games"

"I'm old and don't have much time to live, cut me some slack and get on with it boy"

Impatient was her temperament as she tapped the table next to her with a fearless gaze

"Oh, but weren't you young and lively not long ago?"

His words instantly froze her, thoughts quickly running through her head on how he knew and how much he learned before arriving at one question, no, it could be said she went beach to her first question

"What exactly…do you want"

"Simple, I want an exchange, your aid in roping that trader and-"

"Impossible! You think I would give the love of my life away?!"

"...I'm not asking you to harm him, I merely want his help"

"And why should we help you?"

Even though she was grumbling about the man moments ago the old woman cunningly switched to coupling them together already after realizing this person's objective

'If he wanted to harm me he would have done so already, if he wants my help then I can take advantage and demand compensation'

Was her line of thought

"Well, you both want a longer leather life for you no? Well that's not possible with only prolonging the lifetime of the soul, what you must combine it with is obviously"

His mouth ripped a smile, clearly showing those daring fangs that only one race she knew of had

"Rich and powerful blood"

On cue Zero and Ika appeared side by side, each exuding powerful energy way beyond anything she'd ever felt

'What are these two monsters? Even those damned lizards weren't as scary….wait, they have fangs too? Are they perhaps all…'

"Yes indeed, we are vampires, the real ones I might add"