The Next Guest Ch. 14

Ephus - Demi-god

Quinn Markov - human wife of Ephus, blessed by multiple gods

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Egyptian Dieties

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Bast - Goddess of cats, protection, joy, dance, music, family, and love

Serket - Goddess of scorpions, medicine, magic, and healing venomous stings and bites

Anhur - God of war and the sky bearer - Full brother of Bast and Sekhmet

Thoth - God of knowledge

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Greek deity

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Enyo - goddess of war and destruction

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Japanese Dietes

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Amaterasu - Japanese Goddess of the sun (head goddess)

Wakahiru-me - younger sister of Amaterasu, goddess of the rising sun

Benten - Japanese Goddess of love

Hachiman - Japanese God of war

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Shuten-dōji - King of Japanese Demons

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Ibaraki-dōji - subordinate and Lieutenant of Shuten-dōji

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"So," the demon king growled. "You've been lying around instead of healing. I should destroy you here and now."

Ibaraki-dōji nodded as the minor demons released him as he staggered, falling to his knees. "I am unworthy of serving you sire," Ibaraki-dōji said as he sunk to the floor.

Shuten-dōji could see that his Lieutenant was injured more than he had thought. His anger started to grow to higher heights as he thought of the greater demon.

That's when his lieutenant fell to the floor unconscious, making the demon king angrier. That goody-goody Demi had to die before anything else happened, this was increasing his anger even higher. He also didn't notice that he was suddenly healed completely.

Yes, the Demi had to die first before anything else!

The few lesser demons that were there picked Ibaraki-dōji and threw him onto a slab of rock. For the moment, neither the demon king nor his injured Lieutenant could heal that much.

Looking at his right-hand demon, there had to be a reason that his first, had left, then returned. He was sure that he was about to speak of it when he lost consciousness.

Yes, unlike ever before, the demon king was almost at a total loss as to why he was losing. He had to get the rest of him resurrected before he could make a move.

That unfortunately meant that there wasn't much they could do right now. Though they would, that was for sure, especially with the most recent escape route he had.

Hen hadn't survived as long as he had to be defeated by a piss-pant demi-god. No, he would survive no matter what, but the demi had to die.

He'd heard the tales of what he had done to Ares. There was the other whose name he couldn't recall, though it really wasn't important.

He would just have to take a little longer to gather a plan for total victory. He looked at his first again, seeing that it had truly been through a hell of a battle.

Hmmm he thought, it almost looked as if he'd been caught in the blast that had almost decimated him. Perhaps he had gotten word and was trying to save him.

A wicked smile came to the lips of the demon king. He would have to decide what rewarding torture to hand out to his first, he was sure his first would enjoy it.

Now, he had to finish with the healing that he was going through. His lesser demons had been pitiful healing him, it took two hundred to do in a day what his first did in two hours.

Looking down, he saw that he still had no damn legs, but he would. For now, he'd sit and plan as he had been doing, he had a few good ideas but they fell apart too easily.

Ephus had to rest a lot more than he thought he would. Obviously, he'd gotten far angrier than he thought he had, plus, as Bast and Serket had said, he'd used life energy also.

Ephus shook his head, Guess you learn something new almost every day. Now, as she had said, Bast and Serket were keeping a very severe eye on him.

Shit! That was going to make going to other realms, a virtual bitch as things were. They knew that he couldn't resist helping the other realms as he had the three he had so far.

He was afraid that with the fourth realm asking not long after the third. They were starting to find themselves in true dire straits.

He was afraid that he wasn't going to get to rest much if things kept on like they were. He knew that he could handle with his power increasing, but he still had his mortal way of thinking.

A sigh escaped his lips as he saw that Bast and Serket were immediately drawn to him. He could see that they were trying to figure out exactly what he was thinking.

He was about to say something to Thoth and Anhur when Hachiman walked in from Amaterasu's room. He knew that pregnant Wakahiru-me and Berten, were being watched by her.

He had also seen that Amaterasu had been watching him. It was just like all his pregnant and recently birthed mother goddesses had been.

He sighed as he knew that sooner or later she would also want a child from him. It was bad enough that just one time with her sister, Wakahiru-me and Benten had taken.

Damn, he thought that was four realms that now had or would have children of his. From what he'd heard, it was the first time in over six thousand years since there had been any.

At this rate he was going to have children in all the realms, of shit! He forgot about the three minor goddesses that were with child also, shit that was five here.

He shook his head as Hachiman walked to him and whispered to him. A grimace came to his face as he and Hachiman vanished and appeared near the tail end of a mountain range.

Hachiman pointed to a mountain as Ephus nodded and started to lay waste with energy blasts. Not immediately, but a few minutes later, at least a hundred lesser demons appeared, actually knocking Hachiman down.

Ephus tried and kept his anger under control 'til Bast, Serket and Enyo appeared, and were forced from the sky. Ephus saw this and completely lost his temper, he destroyed all those demons within a few thousand feet of him.

Then his power started to grow, as did the glow of his skin, he pointed at the three females and they vanished. He looked at Hachiman as his eyes were now glowing brighter.

Between clenched teeth, Ephus almost whispered to Hachiman. "Leave now, when you feel it dissipate come back. Not even you can survive this."

Hachiman started to say something, then was blown back from Ephus. "I'll gather the village near here," Hachiman started, but Ephus shook his head as he pointed.

"They are gone the entire village, go I am losing control," Ephus said and pointed at Hachiman as, with a surprised look, he vanished also.

Within the cave that Shuten-dōji was hiding, he felt the impossible power growing. He then looked at his first with a snarl as he pointed at his first then put up a shield.

I sent all of the lesser demons to deal with all of," Ibaraki-dōji started, then was interrupted.

"This demi has more power than you realize. Had you been here and not hiding, you would have known," Shuten-dōji snarled as he pointed at his first then put up a shield.

Ephus was panting as his power continued to grow. "I told you, Shuten-dōji, if you went after my family that I wouldn't be held responsible!"

Shuten-dōji grimaced as he felt the power grow beyond what it had the last time. He was using every scrap of power he had to shield himself.

No matter how hard he tried, Ephus couldn't seem to pull the power back. He felt it reach out, seeking, searching, finally finding Shuten-dōji.

With an almost living fury, his power released heading for the mountain. Shuten-dōji started to pour more power into a shield as the power almost brushed it away as if it wasn't there.

The mountain and everything around him seemed to dissolve into nothing as Shuten-dōji was buffeted. He tried to ride the energy away from where he was, but the power was rapidly eating through the shield.

He tried to scream as again, it got through, and his body was destroyed. Even with all the pain, a very small section was blasted away from the rest.

Shuten-dōji would have laughed if he had any cognizant thoughts. Many miles away, his first felt the total destruction of the hideaway.

Ibaraki-dōji appeared a few moments later feeling hardly anything of the demon king. He found the small one inch of the demon king that was left, he left with it as fast as possible.

Ephus had felt the demon king fade almost completely, then felt the demon's first appear. Pissed, Ephus sent out what little energy he'd left, hitting the first, taking both legs as he was fading.

Hachiman and three of his wives appeared a moment later as the destructive energy weakened. All three of them yelled as Ephus fell rapidly from the sky.

Hachiman caught him just before he hit the ground though he took the war god down with him. "Damnit, he's still alive," Ephus was whispering as he passed out.

Hachiman managed to get Ephus up in his arms as all four of them vanished. A few minutes later, they all arrived in the main room of Takamagahara.

Amaterasu, her sister and Benten could only stare as Hachiman laid Ephus on a sleeping pallet. Serket went to work immediately scanning Ephus as she suddenly smiled.

"Husband will live though, he has exhausted almost all of his power and life energy." Serket shook her head, "how husband survived this not once but twice, it shows how strong he is."

She then started to infuse Ephus with energy, all there, seeing his color rapidly improve. The problem was that, Serket stopped a few moments later as she was afraid she'd hurt the baby.

Bast, Enyo and Markov helped Serket to also lay down as she nearly fell. "I am afraid that husband will be cross with me," Serket said.

"No, our husband will not, as I am cross with him right now. I understand why he did what he did, but I do not agree with it," Bast said with a small smirk.

Quinn sighed as she nodded, "I know just how stubborn he can be. I am afraid that no matter what we do to try and help or protect him, he won't like it." Serket, Bast and Enyo suddenly wrapped their arms around Quinn as her power became visible.

Quinn sighed as she nodded, and the surrounding glow started to wane. "You appear to have better control than our husband," Bast said with a wide smile.

Quinn nodded slightly as she bent low and touched Ephus as his body slightly convulsed, then settled. She only held it a few moments, then she let go, stumbling a bit away.

Serket scanned Ephus and nodded, "husband's life energy is almost at full. Please sister wife, don't do that again 'til you have better control."

Quinn looked at Serket and readily agreed as she sat. "Yes," Quinn said with a slight flinch, "I will remember that most definitely."

Serket and Bast smiled as they looked between Quinn then Ephus. "Is this the first time you have tried to heal husband?" Serket asked, a look of astonishment on her face.

Quinn thought about it for a moment, then nodded. "As far as I know, this is the first time I have ever had enough control, though I've never had this much."

Serket looked at Bast, then Enyo, "Have any of you ever seen her do this?" Both of his other goddess wives thought, then shook their heads. Serket looked at Quinn, "You seem to have the same godly power that husband does. From what I can feel, husband is far more healed than usual," here, Serket smiled. "This I feel is a VERY good thing."

All four of the females thought a moment then smiled as Bast held up a hand. "I think that we should not tell our husband, it might make him less cautious."

The rest of his wives nodded their agreement. "I do believe that, that would be a most agreeable situation," Quinn said.

"Yes, husband can cause a lot of worry, a great amount of time. The only problem is that husband can hear our thoughts at times," a worried Serket said.

"I think that I might have a solution for that," Bast said. She looked at the other three, seeing an unhappy look on Enyo's face.

Enyo shook her head as she stared at the others, "I do not like lying to husband. I promised that when I was joined to him, that I would not."

Bast smiled as she looked at them, then launched into her plan. Enyo still wasn't happy and asked a lot of questions but finally consented.

It was actually only a few hours later that Ephus clawed his way to the surface. His eyes opened, he saw the four faces of his wives, the three Japanese goddesses, plus Hachiman, Anhur and Thoth.

He started to sit up and was stopped by Anhur and Hachiman, when he still tried, Thoth joined in. "Brother," all three of the males started. "You need rest," all three said.

Ephus looked at all three and felt the almost absolute weakness and nodded. "It appears that I used far more of my power like I did before." He sighed as he looked at the three males. "I do believe that I need to gain more control before I kill myself."

Thoth smiled a moment and shook his head as he said, "I don't think you'd kill yourself, but you might drain all. If that happens, your body could take a lot of years to recharge. You were lucky, sister could help you."

They all looked at Serket, who slightly blushed and nodded. "I could not do that much as I was afraid I might hurt the baby. I am happy that this I did not do."

A wide smile came over Ephus's features as he tried to hug Serket. "I am happy as well that nothing happened to either of you."

Behind them, Bast was smiling as she saw that her plan was working. She also had to keep her mind as deeply hidden as she could; Ephus was one sneaky demi-god.

A very great distance away, Ibaraki-dōji had managed to get Shuten-dōji's piece of brain to grow. It was slow, as his power wasn't but almost half the demon king's.

He could feel that the demon king was able to think better but not great yet. He was ignoring the fact that he was in a lot of pain from his missing legs.

It took all that he had to even get this much regenerated. He had been ignoring the pain as he poured what little power he had into the demon king.

He had most of the brain back after a few hours, but that was all. He needed the skull and skin for it activate the demon king's self-healing.

It was there4 very, very slow that was why he had managed to get what he had. After several hours, he sighed as the skull started to grow extremely slow.

Now that the entire brain was back, he could feel the absolute rage that the demon king was feeling. He was glad that he couldn't hear that many thoughts of the demon king.

He was sure that Shuten-dōji was going to punish him as he had caused a great deal of this present situation. He lived to serve the demon king and to be destroyed at his hand was an honor.

For now, he had to concentrate on the healing, the sooner he finished, the sooner he could be punished. He shrugged as he started again on the skull as it slowly started to wrap around the brain.

He was hoping that a few of the lesser demons would show up soon, as he could use the influx of more power. True, there wouldn't be much but more would speed things up.

An hour later, two lesser demons appeared and immediately started to help heal. Two hours later, there were twenty, barely a trickle, but it was a little faster.

Three hours later, there were forty and the skull was almost half formed. As they worked, he felt the rage of the demon king start to grow even higher as it seemed his mind was better.

At ten hours, the skull was complete with a glow that was slowly starting to appear in the skull. It was then that Ibaraki-dōji felt the fury that the demon king was feeling, lash out at him.

Ibaraki-dōji fell to his knees as the lesser demons continued to work on the demon king. The first clear thought hit Ibaraki-dōji. I am more than disappointed in you. You should have done far more to defy that bastard Demi. For now, continue to heal me with what we have.

It will be, as you order lord. I am using all the lesser that we have to repair you. We will start on your body soon, so your power will grow.

Ibaraki-dōji felt the growl and hostility as Shuten-dōji went quiet and a shield went up around them. It wasn't that strong, but it was stronger than anything that he or the lessers could do.

Now that he could think again, Shuten-dōji started to plan. The Demi was obviously far more powerful than he had first felt, this was going to take a master plan.

He could feel that his head's skin was almost back, along with his eyes. He looked out at the paltry lesser demons that were working on him.

He felt his first as he was putting all that he could into the healing. He had forgone healing himself, that's why he was so weak.

Hmmm, the demon king thought, he might have to keep the stupid ass around after all. Then again, he wasn't the sharpest that he had, but he was nothing if not loyal.

With that, he shut down to rest what little energy he had for now. Revenge was coming to the Demi, and he was damn sure going to take his power.

Ephus wasn't allowed to get off the pallet for almost two more days. It had slightly angered him, but he was kept there by three strong gods.

When they finally let him up after Serket said they could, he found out why she had wanted him to wait. His legs were like rubber as they wobbled as he tried to get up fast.

He shook his head as he knew he had screwed up again, losing his temper as he had. He'd talked to Thoth about it the god revealing several books and disciplines to help control the extreme anger.

At first, he was surprised, then realized that Thoth would know. He then spent those two days that he lay there, to learn and read.

Many of the things he learned he wanted to try then, but Serket kept him abed. After he wanted to go at it as hard as he could not, a good idea.

It took another three days for him to move normally. He was glad that he felt far more normal than he had the last time.

This got him to thinking, but nothing he got from his wives revealed nothing at all. He knew Serket was strong, but he didn't think she was that strong, something was up.

The fact that he was getting nothing from any of his wives was suspicious to him the most. He usually got something from them, but this time? Not a thing and it was odd.

He was barely back to his self almost a week later when he was asked into Amaterasu's chambers. Ephus was startled when she at first seemed to be tongue-tied.

"Is there a problem with anything?" Ephus asked, worried at the look on her face. "I will do all that I can to solve it."

Amaterasu nodded as she turned toward Ephus. "I have tried to put this off as long as I could, especially with you injuring yourself again."

"As I said, I will do all I can to help. Just let me know what I can do to aid you," Ephus said with concern in his voice.

Amaterasu sighed as she blushed slightly, then turned to look at Ephus. "It has been a very long time, even for a goddess. All my sons are grown now, I," here she stopped, a look of sadness on her face.

Ephus had seen this look before, so he spoke gently. "You want another child. You want it with me, as Benten and your sister did."

When Amaterasu nodded, Ephus kissed her then slowly undressed her, then himself. For the next few hours, the others heard the sounds of Amaterasu in bliss.