Epic of Caterpillar

As Kireina slept, her dreams were interrupted by the familiar presence of a certain demi-god…

"Kireina, it is me, Morpheus. I thank you wholeheartedly for finding my lost children"

"Morpheus? It's fine… You didn't have to thank me in person… doesn't it cost Divine Energy that you lack?"

"Indeed, it cost. But it does not matter, I had to thank you for what you've done… I've seen it through my children Sofelaia and Sofarpia, who you rescued my lost child, the Kelpie"

"I didn't rescue them exactly; they were just living in here"

"No, no… You see… I've been looking over them for centuries, but their population has been diminished largely through the years, if you had completely ignored this place, they would have kept living in isolation, slowly decreasing in population until they had all gone extinct. I'm grateful for what you've done, even if it was an accident. Please, take good care of them, Kireina"

"Well, alright... I'm glad, I guess… Let me ask you something, where is Arielle now?"

Morpheus's voice suddenly became lower, and he sounded to have become nostalgic, recalling the past.

"Arielle… She was one of my wives… Her crimson hair was always shining brightly, and her blue eyes were enchanting… I do remember her very well. And where is she now? I do not know… She never managed to ascend into godhood alongside me, so she died at the old age of three hundred years, she had a fulfilling life and her lost certainly made me saddened… her soul had probably been reincarnated in another merfolk most probably… I respected her decision of wanting to die as a mortal, and she still lives inside my heart and in our children"

"So she never became a god?"

"Indeed… such cases are common within our partners, as we had several lovers to spread our races widely, the more subspecies there was, the higher chances they had to survive and diversify, most of my sibling's partners and lovers had perished as well… we are gods and we live eternally, so we had grown to accept such things when we fall in love with mortals, several of my other beloved wives had died as well, but they always remain within my heart…"

Morpheus sentimental words certainly hit Kireina's heart… as she was a mortal as well and probably would ascend to godhood… but what would happen with her wives?

What if they don't want to become gods?

Should she forcefully make them do so?

Or should she respect their decision… and one day see them die?

"I see…"

"Kireina, I sense that you have some empathy with my words… your lovers, you have many, just as I used to do as well… take care of them, and make each day a precious day for them, make each day and night memorable as well"

"I understand that you're trying to cheer me up, but there is no need, Morpheus"

"Haha, such a strong-willed person… I wish I had half of such will… Anyways, Kireina, please, I beg of you, if you ever find my other lost children, guide them to the surface, to your wonderful Empire…"

"There are more?"

"Indeed, in the next twenty floors, there are my Dragon Centaur Children and my Desert Cat Children, the Sphinx. I do not know their exact whereabouts… but with the special skills that you possess, you may be able to find them quite easily… if they dare to attack you, please, spare them. I promise you that I will assist however I can in the future if you fulfill this one last task of me, I'm rather embarrassed by being such a selfish god, asking a mortal to do one task after another… but please"

Kireina released an honest chuckle.

"You sound desperate, demi-god Morpheus. Don't worry about that, with the twins being my wives now, they would never let me lay a hand in them anyways, and it is not within my intention to make them suffer or saddened, that's is all"

"Thanks, Kireina, thanks to you very much… Now, I shall le-"

"Wait, I got some info for you and your siblings"

"Huh? What is it?"

"Agatheina and Levana had betrayed the Demon Gods of Thanatos, and after a series of incidents, they are my allies… and yours as well, tell that to all of your siblings so they don't try anything funny. Also, try to speak with Levana, she is a shy girl, but she is honestly a good person"

"W-WHAT?!"

Certainly, Morpheus and none of the other Beastmen Demi-Gods knew about such information, neither that their lost sister, Levana, was even alive.

"T-This! I can't believe this… But if you say so, Kireina… it's true! Agatheina, that lecherous woman had joined hands with you and even had submitted to you? T-This is… and Levana! Our lost sister, she is alive?! Why hasn't she contacted us for so long?! We had been always worried about her!"

"So that's how it is… She said that you guys were assholes, but I guess that she has some responsibility on it as well, how could you guys even talk to her if she suddenly stopped even contacting you all? Such a shy girl"

"As she said such things?! Agh, this really fills my heart with both joy and depression… such strange emotions. A-Anyways, I will go and tell my siblings, thanks a lot, Kireina"

"Yeah, yeah, take care"

Kireina who had already been completely accustomed to being contacted by gods in her slept casually said her goodbyes to Morpheus… However, at the moment she was about to go back to her sleep, she sensed a strange presence… and it wasn't that of a god.

Kireina consciousness glanced at the nothingness of her dreamscape, and saw two… four… no, six eyes, red shot eyes, glancing at her.

"Who are you?" she asked, bravely.

The presence only glanced at her and did not say anything… only growling.

"Grooowl…"

"Hm?"

The growls felt alien to Kireina, but at the same time, familiar.

"Groowl…"

"W-What is this?���

"Groooowl…"

As the presence kept growling, large black scaled hands appeared, with giant charcoal black claws and countless eyes and mouths.

"Groowl…"

Aside from the arms, there was a large demonic head, with giant horns, six red eyes, and countless other features, scales, spikes, flesh, armor, blood vessels…

"Groowl…"

And then a large tail, with the tip of the head of a dark dragon, resembling Athos, appeared, expanding its body into countless tails of all shapes and sizes.

"Groowl…"

Then, Kireina realized what was this ominous yet familiar and seemingly inoffensive presence.

"You are… those Abyss Demon Skills?"

"Groowl… Groowl?"

Since Kireina had fused hundreds of skills, certain skills had suddenly gained consciousness of their own, first were her armors, who she suppressed with her Aura, and now, these 'parts' of the Abyss Demon, the Head, the Arms, and the Tail.

Then, as Kireina finally understood who they were, they became happy, very happy.

"Groowl!"

"Graaw!"

"Screech!"

Like countless growls, screeches, and other ominous sounds resonated within Kireina's dreamscape, the Abyss Demon parts began to speak.

"Master…"

"Our Master…"

"Please… find the rest…"

"The rest?" asked Kireina.

"Create them…"

"The rest…"

"The others… our siblings… the others… legs"

"Legs?" asked Kireina, once again.

"Torso"

"Legs…"

"Wings!"

"You want more of you?"

"A heart…"

"No, there is a heart"

"Soul…"

"I am your soul, idiots"

"Soul… You?"

"Yes, I feel like I'm talking to a toddler"

"Toddler… this?"

Then, the large arms, head, and tails made a certain presence appear.

Unlike them, this presence was pure and exuded an amazing vitality…

"Toddler"

"This… is my child?"

"Child, yours," said the Abyss Demon head, as the Arms carefully caressed Kireina's baby.

"Precious," said the Tail.

It seems that the Abyss Demon, aside from its constant hunger for souls, shared Kireina's emotions, seeing the children as something precious and very important.

"Yes, it is my precious child… Protect him"

"Protect…"

"We will…"

"Precious, we will protect…"

Kireina's consciousness approached her children, as she saw on it a large lump of flesh, filled with scorpion legs and stinger, snake eyes and tails, mouths, fangs, claws, wings, tails, arms, muscles, claws, lungs, hearts, and other fleshy parts all mixed into a baby-shaped form, a hideous and terrifying fetus of a being that shouldn't be born.

However, on this hideous being, Kireina saw the most precious and beautiful of things… her own children, she would never see such a thing as hideous, but something beautiful and immensely precious to all existence.

"My beautiful child…"

Kireina caressed her child, as she realized that she had a physical body, and decided to feed it. She opened her arms and feed it her blood, while she commanded the demon head, arms, and tails to feed it their flesh. They happily obeyed.

The children devoured everything with an immense appetite and grew stronger and stronger. Its countless hearts began to beat rhythmically.

"Precious, happy"

"Happy…"

"Very hungry"

The three Abyss Demon parts had reduced their size tremendously, and Kireina had to feed her child most of her body, only remaining a piece of her head, where an eye was still floating to glance at her baby.

"My baby… grow strong… devour me," she said, as she let her children eat the last part of her head and her eye… then her consciousness blackened.

[Devour] had successfully eaten [Kireina]'s Rank 5 Soul!]

[Devour] has Awakened into the Superior Unique Skill [Uroboros]!]

[Kireina]'s Soul has been Regenerated by the [Uroboros] Skill Effect!]

[Soul Rank had increased to Rank 6!]

[Rank 6 Soul had successfully mutated to [Endless Self-Devouring Chaotic Chimera Soul; Uroboros]!]

[Day 209]

Ugh…

When I woke up, my head felt all dizzy, but it quickly recovered.

Just what was that strange dream? I remember talking to Morpheus… but afterward, things turned to a very strange course of events… Did I just make my child eat my entire Soul? That's…

However, when I checked my soul, it was right there, but it was even stronger and seemed to even have physical properties.

When I opened the System menu, I was showered with System notifications.

Ding!

[Kireina] gained +500 Soul Stats!]

[Kireina] gained +100 HP and MP, +50 Strength and Magic, +40 Defense, Resistance and Speed, +150 Charisma and Blood Strength, and +20 Luck!]

"Well, thanks for the stats…"

[The Levels of the [Demon Overlord of Lust Awakened Phantasmagoric Ethereal Existence; World-Defying Aura Domain Creation, Materialization, Manipulation and Assimilation; Level 3], [Inner Realm; Soul World; Level 4], [Lust's Womb; Level 2], and [Void Phantom Essence Empress Psyche; Level 3] Skills have increased by two!]

Even some Skills leveled up?!

I also had another Skill… Uroboros… is it? Where is it?

As much as I glanced at my status, I couldn't find any Uroboros… and if I remember correctly, it was born after [Devour] awakened. But Devour is part of my System Master Blessing, which means that it's a hidden skill that awakened.

So, the conditions were to let my child eat me?

Wait, but that wouldn't count as eating myself? Right? Unless my child count as me because it's inside of my body? Ah, this is confusing.

It seems that my child also has [Devour] or well, [Uroboros] now.

Perhaps this is why its always so hungry.

I also made it eat my Skills, specifically those annoying guys, the Abyss Demon body parts. It seemed that they had very primitive minds and shared most of my emotions and thoughts as well.

Perhaps I should try to speak more with the minds inside of my Armors?

I wonder if they have something to say about the Abyss Demon body parts. Perhaps a hidden rivalry?

As I woke up I found Vudia and Ailine sleeping over me as always, alongside Aarae and Gaby sleeping at each side… Aarae seemed to be sleeping peacefully, he had a lot of fun yesterday, it seems that he had found a lover.

Although I won't let that Kelpie touch my precious child until he is a grown adult!

Aarae's mind was more or equally mature as Ryo, Amiphossia, or Valentia, so he had begun to feel such feelings, and it was natural that one day he would be drawn towards someone he would love.

As I caressed my children's heads to slowly wake them up, Aarae released a low moan.

"Ervin-san…!"

Huh? Is he dreaming about the Kelpie? How romantic…

"P-Please, don't be so rough…!"

W-Wait a second…

"Uwaah!"

"A-Aarae, my child, time to wake up!"

Aarae opened his aquamarine eyes as he glanced at me with a sleepy face, his face was blushed, and his breathing was rather high.

"M-Mom…? Ah, I was having a vivid dream, s-sorry"

"Aarae, not until you're a grown adult!"

"Huh…? W-What do you mean…?" asked Aarae, he didn't get what I meant, but one day he will…

"Ah! I promised Ervin-san to have breakfast with him… He will introduce me to his siblings!" said Aarae, hurriedly moving from the bed, which was inside a portable house I carried in my Item Box, he rushed to the bath to clean himself and then wear a simple hoodie with a small skirt to cover his hips…

The skirts were natural on most merfolk, even males, as they didn't possess legs to wear pants or shorts, so it wasn't weird in that sense, but it seems that these clothes were one of the things that made Ervin think that Aarae was just a short-haired girl. The skirt having a very feminine style, resembling schoolgirls skirts didn't help either.

I don't think that Aarae is willingly accepting girl clothes, he seems oblivious regarding clothes, although when I ask him to wear some dresses that I make, he denies my offer… But perhaps to impress Ervin… he will wear them?!

"Wait, Aarae, my precious boy… that young stud Ervin, I'm sure that he would love it if you were to wear these beautiful dresses that your mother had sewed for you long ago…" I said, as I opened my Item Box, revealing a set of beautiful dresses, some of the simple designs and others more elaborate, like those of royal ladies.

"R-Really? B-But… perhaps another day…" he said, without denying my offer right away…!

"Well, I will have them saved for you~ Have a good breakfast with your boyfriend's family, behave well, okay?"

"E-Ervin is not my boyfriend…!" he said, with his cute and girlish face completely blushed, he left the house.

"Love comes in various ways… some that you never expect, my precious child"

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