Epic of Caterpillar

Smirkes and Gravern were welcomed by the Pantheon of Gods and Kireina into a large hall where all the Gods often came to chat and speak about many things, discussing and chatting were one of the things that brought entertainment to the Gods who had long lives.

After they had noticed that their souls were weakened, the Gods quickly feed them with Kireina's Blood and Flesh, healing their pain and tiredness, and even giving their souls a large boost in their regeneration speed!

However, the two Gods were left in shock and even rather scared!

How was it possible for them to enjoy eating Kireina's flesh and blood like that?

They were truly going insane!

What kind of stupid thing was that?

Really… Smirkes and Gravern were beginning to regret having come here…

However, something within their souls felt as if it was awakening, and they felt a strange closeness with Kireina…

Was this her brainwashing?

But they were never brainwashed by her, she has not done anything, actually.

However, her Enlightenment Skill was incredibly strong, to the point that even Gods who had eaten just her flesh and drank her blood would receive its effects a little bit.

Just by glaring at Kireina's divine beauty, they felt as if countless inspirations began to emerge, alongside the answers to some questions they always had within their long lives as Gods…

Just what was this amazing feeling?

Brainwashing or not, this feeling of enlightenment was way too strong, and it was even helping them!

How could this even be any worse?

As the two Gods slowly began to be encroached by Kireina's mere presence, the Gods finally decided to ask some questions, as they saw that the fire gods had finally healed their wounds and felt revitalized… or so they thought.

"Anyways, now that you two feel better, it would be nice if we could get some introductions," said Agatheina, as the Gods had already introduced themselves beforehand, Gravern and Smirkes were left with the task.

"O-Oh right! Right… My name is Smirkes, the God of Burning Battles! I am an old god, from the times when Genesis was a planet. Although it might be hard to believe I and Gravern are not originally demons, we were once humans," said Smirkes.

"Eh? Humans?! But you look like… Red Oni, like Oga!" said Rimuru.

"Indeed… well, let me introduce myself as well, I am Gravern, the Demigod of Undying Burns! Similar to my Aniki, I am also a former human! I am not originally a demon, you know?" laughed Gravern.

"Both of you… Are you guys siblings?" asked Brontes.

"Siblings? It could be said so, we consider each other as brothers, we had gone through a lot of hardships throughout our lives… Since we're mere and weak mortals," said Smirkes.

"Yeah! Aniki has always looked for my back, and I look for Aniki's back! We are an inseparable duo!" said Gravern.

"Oh really? How come you became like this when you were former humans? Did you got bitten by a Fire Oni or something?" asked Kireina.

"Well… Similar to Agatheina present here, we became of a different race through the Cultivation Techniques of the old Genesis, the old world, when the System was not there for us," said Smirkes.

"Yeah, like Agatheina-sama," said Gravern.

"Oh? Like me? I see. Well, Kireina-sama, you must already remember that I was once a pure human as well, right? I became a Vampire through my unique Cultivation Techniques as I discovered and sued the Blood Attribute to enhance my body… I had reached a form that was able to have amazing regeneration, outstanding senses, and all types of abilities in exchange for the weakness to the sun," said Agatheina, although when she became a Goddess her weakness to natural sunlight disappeared, but not that to Sunlight generated by divine techniques, or fire and light.

"I see, yeah I remember Agatheina-san… So these guys discovered a new technique, or they made it and became like that? Like actual fire demons? Wait… Don't tell me that you guys are the progenitors of some demi-human race of this new world?" asked Kireina.

"Indeed, Kireina-sama is rather sharp… Alongside Agatheina, who is from our times as well. We had heard many things about her, she was the first Blood Path Cultivator after all. She created an entirely new type of fighting using blood and discovering the Blood Attribute," said Gravern.

"And yeah, we became like this through a technique… You see, such technique originally belonged to the ancient races of demi-humans within the old Genesis, those archaic races that don't exist anymore, the Fire Men," said Smirkes.

"Oh yeah, the Fire Men, I do know these races from the information I got after eating the Origin Core Fragment which was not part of the World's Will Clone memories which he destroyed…" said Kireina.

"Though we don't know about them, what are they?" asked Rimuru.

"Ah well, Fire Men and other races such as Wing Men, Water Men, Rock Men, and so on were the races of the ancient Genesis, they were the embodiment of every element made into a race of people… Unlike the varied races of this world, the old genesis was not as varied to the point of ridiculousness like now…" said Agatheina.

"Fire Men looked kind of like us, although less scary and less demonic," said Smirkes.

"They were a prideful tribe that lived all around the world, but at some point we humans began to hunt them down, especially the Fire Attribute Cultivators, who used Fire Men as resources to create new Cultivation Abilities through Ability Scrolls and Artifacts, their flesh, skin, organs, and bones were all useful for a variety of preparations to enhance our bodies and our capabilities when using Fire Attribute…." Said Smirkes.

"Although we didn't hunt them down until pretty late, as we started as very poor and pathetic human kids. We managed, by chance, to steal a special cultivation technique scroll from a tribe which they treasured a lot," said Gravern.

"Oh… and that's how you two…?" asked Nesiphae.

"Indeed. The amazing technique helped us finally cultivate through the Fire Path, while even giving us some bonus techniques and strengthening our bodies… But the bad part was that the technique was not meant to be used by non-Fire Men… So a curse was bestowed into our bodies and we slowly began to change, our appearances turned like those of Fire Men, and we were not able to enter Human societies as easy as before…" said Smirkes.

"It was a big price we had to pay, but the power we got from it was amazing and outstanding, something we could have only dreamed of having before… Even though it was hard, we managed to pull through many challenges, and ultimately became Gods… Or as we called them back then, Immortals," said Gravern.

"I guess that's how you got like that… it was all just a curse! Well, that was quite anticlimactic…" said Nesiphae.

"I-Indeed, it isn't much of a fun story, but it was our own lives, and we believe we pulled through quite fine…" sighed Gravern.

"Interesting… I guess every God that is not so young always has interesting backstories to hear and converse about. I am never short in hears to listen to my allies, so feel to talk as much as you want about such things, it is always fun to hear such stories of ancient times, and places that I may never visit," said Kireina rather gently, winning the heart of the two old Gods almost immediately.

"T-Thanks, Kireina-sama…" said Gravern while blushing a bit.

"We appreciate your interest and companionship, Kireina-sama. It is quite rare to see this amongst Gods in these rough times and era," said Smirkes.

"Indeed, appreciating, and treasuring bonds with friends and family is important. What is the point of having a subordinate you want their loyalty of if you do not develop a relationship and bond with them? It is better to win people's hearts by being thoughtful and considerate than by using force… Even if you are somewhat enslaved to me, I do not want to make you suffer by being at my side," said Kireina.

The two twin Gods finally lose it with Kireina dropped such insightful words, feeling enlightened by every word she said, the two began to cry.

"UUUOOOH! Kireina-sama! We misunderstood you, you are indeed such a good woman!" said Smirkes.

"INDEED! We shall make sure to serve you well!" said Gravern.

"Eh? Good woman? Well, whatever you want to think is up to you, but I don't consider myself a good person…" sighed Kireina.

"I am glad that they understand your greatness though, Kireina-sama!" said Agatheina.

"Indeed, you are a good and benevolent master, so it's good that they understand that well and work extra hard to make you happy!" said Nanako while crossing her arms and nodding in affirmation.

"Haha… Okay, okay, let's relax. Anyways, you guys said something about having created a race? Or I think someone asked it…" said Kireina.

Gravern and Smirkes quickly cleansed their tears as they nodded.

"That's right! We are the Progenitors of the Blazing Ashura and Red Oni! Well, I am only of the Blazing Ashura," said Smirkes.

"And I am the progenitor of the Fire Oni," said Gravern.

"Oh? We got quite the celebrities here then… I bet Oga and her tribe might be happy to meet you," said Brontes.

"Wait, how come you just generated those races?" asked Kireina.

"Well, when mating occurs between Gods, usually, if we have enough demi-human or monster traits, new races are often born between our offspring, hybrids of both of our bloodlines, which are qualified as new races. This didn't happen before in the old Genesis because having offspring was very hard and hybrids usually never came to be, often even being born sterile," said Gravern.

"But thanks to the System, such problems disappeared, and we were encouraged to create new races to worship us as their progenitor gods…!" said Gravern.

"My wife is an Origin Ashura Living Deity, she is the daughter of the actual father of the Ashura, by having children with me, the Blazing Ashura, a variant of the Ashura, was born," said Smirkes.

"Same for me, my wifey is a Thunder Oni Living Deity, the granddaughter of the actual father of Oni. Our offspring were the Fire Oni!" said Gravern.

"So that's how it goes…" said Kireina.

"I mean, we are pretty good at creating new races," laughed Nesiphae.

"Oh yeah, all my children are technically new races," said Kireina.

"R-Really?" asked Gravern.

"Indeed…" said Kireina, as she began to talk about the enormous quantity of children she had… although it still paled in comparison to the quantity of offspring and grandchildren these Gods had, they were still surprised she managed to do this in less than a year.

"Amazing, to be expected of Kireina-sama…" said Smirkes.

"Her libido must be strong…." Said Gravern.

"W-Wait, Kireina-sama, are you a man then? How can you make your wives bear your children?" asked Smirkes rather directly.

"A man with the appearance of a woman?" wondered Gravern.

"You could consider me like that or something else, I don't mind. But I am a shapeshifter, my body can become whatever I desire, so I can have both genders, only one, or none," said Kireina, changing her appearance as she became a man, a woman, and then something in between that had no feminine nor masculine features… spooking the Gods a bit…

She was true quite the monster no matter how much they admired her now.

"I-I see…" said Gravern.

"Anyways, now that we had introduced ourselves a bit more, it could be nice if you could listen to us about the news we have around the Lower Realm… alongside another few things we know that I am sure should be of interest to Kireina-sama…" said Smirkes.

"News? Speak, I am interested now…" said Kireina.

"Well, first of all, it seems that the Gods of the Lower Realm-"

"Wait for a second, you two… now I finally remember! You are the Gods that blessed Ymir, right?" asked Kireina.

"S-So she remembered…" said Gravern.

"P-Please spare our lives!" said Smirkes.