...

Julius paced around, deep in thought. "Apollyon... What truly is your goal? Why are you here? How do you intend to achieve your goals?"

"Have I not answered this before, Julius?" Apollyon said, "I came to stem the flow of chaos, and to exterminate the abominations that crawled into this multiverse through the gaping holes that chaos eroded in various timelines."

"You didn't answer the latter two. What really brought you here, to me? What is your strategy?"

Apollyon sighed. Julius was too smart and stubborn for his own good. "This land is... Not normal. There are a rare few timelines where there is just something... really strange about the geography of the area. Sometimes heaven has fallen to create a continent of snow, sometimes there are entire civilizations and bizarre entities that fall in from other worlds to the timeline they wind up in... This one is one of those examples. There isn't supposed to be a continent of this size in the normal, 'perfect' timeline. Maybe a few islands, but not an outright continent. Alipheese was never meant to come here, nor were her earliest creations meant to mutate into the monsters we see on this land. A group of human colonists arriving here outright puts the nail in this timeline's coffin. There will be chaos infesting this land."

Julius took special note of that. Alipheese. The same bitch that helped sparked off the war between her and Ilias to begin with, the so-called "Dark Goddess" and "Monster Lord." She too, was responsible for these monsters?

Part of him missed the monster-girls from his homeland overseas; they could at least be reasoned with most of the time.

But the majority of him thought that she was better off sticking to these monsters. Much less moral nuance and "But they can think!" arguments for Alipheese's human worshippers to fall back on.

And at the same time, it was bloody, glorious violence and war, not depraved sex and rape.

Granted, rape was a weapon, but still... He felt that it was more honorable to just stab your foe rather than molest them. Wasn't it more effective too?

Who knew... Maybe Alipheese was just more retarded when she ditched this land...

Pushing that thought aside, Julius simply looked at Apollyon, "I understand. You fail to mention what your plan to stop the chaos is though."

"I am still thinking it through," Apollyon said, "But I feel this could be a major victory. A timeline like this... It deviates so far from the 'perfect' timeline that it's almost inevitable that it will be devoured... But if I stop the chaos from destroying this world, then that potentially opens up a wide array of effects to happen in the aftermath... It is my hope that stopping the chaos in this timeline will... do away, with those silly requirements needed for a timeline to exist without fear of chaos."

"Well... What are these so-called requirements?"

"... Well, no harm in telling you. First, Alipheese the First is forced to seal herself by Goddess Ilias threatening to destroy the world, then 500 years pass with Alipheese Fateburn the Eighth, otherwise known as 'Black Alice,' waging a war against humanity only to be defeated by the hero Heinrich Hein. Heinrich then wages a one-man war against Ilias and the Heavens, and is trapped in the Sealed Sinner's Prison. Roughly around this time, Ilias saves Black Alice and pardons Promestein, resulting in the Second Seraph Lucifina rebelling and vanishing from Heaven's affairs.

"About 470 years later, Ilias causes the Slaughter of Remina due to the city's science experiments and them allowing monsters and humans to exist side-by-side... Though this does come with First Seraph Micaela rebelling, leading to her forming Enrika later on as a refuge for monsters and fallen angels on Ilias Continent. Roughly 20 more years pass, and Alipheese the Fifteenth is slain by the heroes Marcellus, Lazarus, Karen, and Merlin, though the former two are crippled by Alipheese the Sixteenth and the latter two are outright killed. This leads to Marcellus and Lazarus forming Ilias Kreuz, a terrorist organization dedicated to killing monsters...

"However, Marcellus falls in love with Lucifina, and the two have a child known as Luka Hein. This causes Marcellus to mellow out, and in time, undermine Ilias Kreuz's operations, leading Lazarus to accidentally kill him. Some time later, and Ilias finds out that Lucifina has sealed herself to become a human, and attempts to convince her to return by inflicting her with a plague... Which led to her death, because Lucifina refused to unseal herself and return.

"About 10 or so years later... And Marcellus' child Luka Hein matures, embarking on his journey for coexistence. Early on, he encounters Alipheese the Sixteenth, though he is not aware of her true identity. After that... Well, long story short, Luka manages to attain the power of the Four Spirits, and slays the Goddess Ilias after exposing her lies to the world, allowing true coexistence to take place. He would soon marry Alipheese the Sixteenth, and they lived happily ever after... The End."

Julius stood there, blinking in confusion. "That... Is a lot to take in at once, and sounds like you left out a lot of history and important details."

"I did, as I don't feel like reciting events that took place during the course of a thousand years. What matters is that what I just summarized is what the 'perfect' timeline is... And nothing else can happen. Ilias cannot ever be slain by Heinrich. Alipheese the First cannot win the Great Monster Wars. Luka cannot be allowed to die. Which, as you might imagine..."

"Causes a lot of timelines to be automatically null and become infested with Chaos," Julius guessed.

"Precisely. If I could just break that mold, if there could just be an event to eradicate chaos until it was nothing more than a close equivalent to natural entropy... Then this 'perfect' timeline concept would no longer cause this to happen."

"... What if there is something controlling the Chaos, and it just so happens to not target that timeline out of fear for killing itself? Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, Light, and Darkness all have a 'Goddess' of sorts... why not Chaos?..." Julius muttered.

"There might be, but I do not recall much about it. I cannot even tell if there is a Goddess, a Spirit, or maybe even both of those roaming about... All I know is that a malevolent one does exist, but she is fated to be dealt with by another group, another world. For now, all I can tell is that the chaos is directed towards anything that deviates from this 'perfect' timeline concept... And if there is no 'perfect' timeline? Then hopefully there won't be anymore serious chaos infections anymore..."

Julius simply narrowed his eyes. It sounded extremely contrived. Was it one or two Chaos Gods? Was it a spirit like Salamander and Sylph, or a Goddess like Alipheese and Ilias? And more importantly... What really was her plan? It sounded like blind stupidity to hope something would work when there was clearly something with influence over the chaos somewhere behind the scenes, and he knew that Apollyon wasn't that dumb...

Or maybe she was, he didn't know. She thought putting him in a borderline iron coffin was a good idea after all...

Whatever your plan might be, I have a better one... Deal with the source myself instead of hoping for destiny and coincidence to take place. I will take control of the life I'm given and surpass all others... I won't just roll over like most and blindly pray in hopes of "salvation." Ones like even you, it seems... Julius thought, still conflicted on what to make of Apollyon's true intentions and indeed, her intelligence, as he and the apoptosis moved on...

...

In more modern times, Lord Zenith and the Spider Princess simply sat a table, eating dinner while planning their next target.

"I believe that we should leave Grangold behind for a later date," Zenith mused, "Marching through the Noah Region will presumably provide more resources and supplies to sustain my centuries as we go from place to place."

"It is the logical course of action, and they expect it. They will be fortifying their cities and outposts. Going back to raid Goddard may be a wiser choice if it is supplies that you want," Charlotte answered, pointing out the location wasn't too far from the original border-fortress that the Arachne Clan and Legion initially fought at.

"That is true... But then there is Esta not too far away... And of course, the city of Grand Noah itself..."

"The capital will be the most difficult out of all the nations to take if they decide to barricade and fortify themselves in, excepting Hellgondo and the Monster Lord's Castle of course. There will be powerful monsters and disciplined guards working there, unlike Grangold and their reliance on the Ant Girls and Golems..."

"To be fair," Zenith said, "A golem can be a very tough fight... If made right. Lazy fools they are though, the golems are likely suitable only to swat aside the occasional wild monster."

Charlotte giggled, "And against my spiders, they're nothing if not fragile. They don't have much intelligence, so it's really easy to get them caught up in our webs..."

"Really now... Have you ever raided Grangold itself then? It seems like the only place that we would find a concentration of these golems at."

"From time to time," Charlotte admitted, "But never a full-on war. There would be too much risk to my forces to have a practical victory. I prefer a more... agile approach. A hit-and-run tactic. Take what we want from the outer areas of the city, and then bolt off before they can muster their forces... Now, I know that you're so, so big on the whole 'honor' and 'valor' thing, but I prefer to stay alive to fight another day rather than get squashed under twenty oversized stone fucktoys the people of Grangold made."

Zenith chuckled, "You've learned about me and my people's core values well. I can't say I am angered... We have different cultures, from different continents, and so it is natural that we might have a few different outlooks on life and war."

She seemed a bit surprised, "I didn't expect you to respond like a civilized, rational person. I expected you to act like an angry, blind barbarian."

"I would like to consider myself a semi-learned and wise man among my people. Sometimes I like to think it is good to not try and stab or bludgeon someone to death, especially if they are your ally or friend..."

"(Or Mistress...)" Charlotte muttered under her breath.

"... And along with that, I would suppose it is smart to let people maintain their religion and ways of life... Even if the Legion's Code and Gods are objectively and morally better. I personally cannot stand slavery however..."

Charlotte sweated slightly, "Sl-slavery now? Why is that?..." she asked.

"It's a sign of laziness. Why should a man trust another to make his food, to grow his crops, when he could do it himself? To have that pride and joy of making his own living, his own work, instead of letting another do it for him? Why should I feed and house someone so inferior as to be less than human, someone who is considered not even a creature or animal, but mere property? I would trust a brainless monster to clean the halls of Avalon before I let someone that is but mere property do it for me. For Farmers will make their crops and food, blacksmiths shall make their armor and weapons, and so on, for they enjoy their work, and relish in it, but there is no room for a good-for-nothing, less-than-human slave in the Legion. I would sooner feed them to the monsters rather than bother 'owning' or even just killing one of them..."

Charlotte sighed in relief. "I see... I suppose that makes sense. You don't like them because they don't live up to your standard of 'being human?'"

Octavius nodded vigorously, "Yes. I completely detest them because of that. They are worthless if they do not attempt to show defiance or fight back against someone who would take their humanity away from them! It utterly goes against both the ideas of willpower and earning your own share in life that we in the Legion treasure..."

The Spider Princess hummed, before simply saying, "Personally I allow it because they are worthless. If they don't have the power or the intellect to be useful, then why should we bother treating them like equals? They are better as cattle and meals to breed and prey on..."

"... Cattle?" the Legion Lord said, "... That's... By Julius, the people of this land are more pathetic than I thought if you can so easily term them as such... Do they not have basic pride!?"

"Some do. Most don't, and simply pray to their Goddess for hope and salvation."

"About the only 'salvation' I'd give them is to tell them to work and rebel until they were free either in the fields or in death..." Zenith remarked. "I must ask though... Who are the Gods of this land?"

"Humanity mostly prays to Goddess Ilias, their creator. I and many other monsters however, pray to Alipheese the First, the Dark Goddess. Ilias is a Goddess of Light, and ruler of the Angels and Heaven. She also happens to utterly despise us monsters and maintains a strong chokehold on humanity to try and keep them away from us. Alipheese the First on the other hand... While it is true her bloodline has diluted until her current descendent and the incumbent Monster Lord is little more than a human-hugging moron, she mostly had ideals of absolute freedom; she didn't care what her worshippers did, so as long as they remembered and worshipped her for who she really was."

Nothing like a title calling you the "Dark Goddess" to reel in those monsters... I wonder how Ymir and his brothers would have reacted to this Dark Goddess, or any of the monsters back at home really... Hell, I wonder how they would've reacted to these monsters? Zenith thought, before saying, "My people prefer to work off a merit-based system, and our religion reflects this. I became the undisputed God of my people because of my might and valor on the battlefield, but there are lesser 'deities' who have smaller churches and sects, but are still venerated nonetheless. If you are wondering, yes, that means I am still human. I just happen to be better at being human than my fellow legionnaires. I cannot make these thunderstorms inexplicably happen, nor can I say someone goes to Heaven or Hell. Those roles go to our more mysterious and supernatural forefathers in the afterlife."

"So if I poke you right now, you can't electrocute me without using a spell unlike say... Ilias?" Charlotte asked, smugly smirking.

"I hate using magic at all, but yes."

Charlotte then poked Zenith, and yelped when she felt a small jolt of static electricity.

A small silence passed, before the two began to chuckle and giggle... Before they erupted into full-blown laughter, rolling around by how ironic that coincidence was.

In time, the two eventually sat up again, still amused and smiling.

"Say... Charlotte, you claimed to raid human settlements, right? Is that outlawed by your Leg-... Er, Monster Lord?" Zenith said, reflecting on how similar Legion Lord and Monster Lord sounded.

"Yes, but I don't care," Charlotte said, a look of contempt on her face when Alipheese XVI was brought up. "She's a fool with no backbone or experience in ruling. She could never hope to wisely rule over all of the monster tribes, clans, and kingdoms without using brute force. Besides... I kept up my way of life until now, and I won't be stopping anytime soon."

Zenith nodded, humming thoughtfully before asking: "Are there other queens like you?"

"Monster Queens like me..." Charlotte tapped her fingers. "I suppose the Vampire and Mermaid Queens are like me. They don't particularly think too highly of humans, though the Vampire Queen would treat her humans like second-class citizens while the Mermaid Queen would ignore or drown any humans she came across... I guess the Heavenly Knight Erubetie is also like me to some extent, but she's loyal to Alipheese XVI and does not go out of her way to attack humanity... I think she's usually off sulking in some hidden paradise for slimes..."

"I see... Intriguing. I will have to keep this in mind," Zenith said, making sure to remember it for potential encounters he could have with them, "Now then... Where to go, where to go..."

"I still think we should backtrack to Goddard..." Charlotte reminded him, sighing as he kept weighing his options.

...

Ran sighed, relaxing as she used her tentacles to hold multiple watering cans to tend to the garden. It had become really easy lately ever since Cassandra and Emily left, almost as if like there wasn't a constant mess to clean up...

Especially in Cassandra's room, good god. There was always some leftover flesh or slime that needed to be cleaned up and disposed of when Cassandra left her room, otherwise mold would set in, it would begin to have an odor, and so on!

And Emily too... While Cassandra couldn't help her situation, Emily was worse, always leaving behind a mess in her room, usually of papers that had various songs and writings she had...

But now? Well, nothing to worry about! After all, this may have been a village of maneating, horrifying, depraved mamono, but this was a civilized village of maneating, horrifying, depraved mamono!

I should probably go and fetch groceries now... I'm sure Lady Cassandra won't mind me restocking the house using her funds every now and again, as per the usual, Ran thought, soon finishing up her gardening and putting the tools back in the shed.

Eventually, she walked down to town, crossing paths with two women; one dressed in a black and red dress with blonde hair, and the other with a frilly white dress with black hair. Madame Umbrella and Madame Insect, as the two were known in the village, and for good reason: they were particularly strong and refined even when compared to other monsters of the village.

"Good day to you, Miss Ran. Might I inquire as to why Lady Cassandra and Lady Emily have been absent from the village as of late?" Madame Insect questioned.

Ran thought it prudent to not give away her mistress' true intentions, and simply said "Lady Cassandra has taken her daughter out for training and to observe the knights' march. She has grown curious of them and thought it wise to follow them for a time, perhaps eating some of their men or victims in the process. How long that time is, I do not know."

Technically not a lie. But not the full truth either.

"Really now?" Madame Umbrella wondered out loud, "It must be a rather barbaric, if fascinating experience. I suppose even Lady Cassandra herself has had a time out in the wilderness back when her mother was the village chief... Perhaps it will prove to a good and educational experience for Lady Emily too."

"Indeed, I do hope this experience is useful to them, though I can only hope they do not get themselves into too much trouble..." Ran said.

"You fear too much, there is almost nothing on this world that can face off against Lady Cassandra herself, and Lady Emily is almost at the level of a monster noble as well, so she too cannot be felled as easily as most would assume a child to be. I have faith that they will be just fine on their adventures," Madame Insect said, though her face soon turned grim. "I do not have faith that our food supplies will last however... Not when Candy is out and about again, being a troublesome nuisance as always."

An audible sigh came from Ran. Candy was known to be a relatively strong and adept witch living in the village who, true to her name, loved candy and other various sweets, and had a seemingly endless appetite. She used to stay under control when Lady Cassandra was around to scare her into not greedily eating up all the food, but it seemed to no longer be the case now...

"I shall take care of it," Ran promised, "I was to going get groceries after all."

"Then best of luck to you, Miss Ran!" Madame Insect said, waving her farewell along with Madame Umbrella as the two walked off.

Luck... Yes, I only have to deal with a greedy, childish monster with a penchant for turning monsters and people into sweets... Ran thought with dread, heading towards the stores...

...

King Grangold soon walked in, noticing the Queen Ant still in her seal, as expected.

"... What do you want?" Antine-Ann asked, a dull and annoyed look in her eyes.

"It's been several days since the Spider Princess went to Gold Fort. I have reason to suspect she has either died by this point or betrayed me, for why wouldn't she come to collect the debt I would supposedly owe her?"

"And I care... why?"

The King raised his hand defensively, "Now, now, let me make my point! I... Understand, that we... Have abused your daughters and people."

"I think that is a severe understatement."

"I... I know it is... And, only now do I understand what it feels like to begin losing everything, to watch things... fall apart."

The Queen Ant simply looked at him quizzically, wondering where he was trying to go with this.

"I want... I would like, to try and extend an olive branch of sorts..." the King said, semi-fumbling his words, "And I would prefer it if we could try to forget the past and... reconcile, to focus on our greater enemy."

"... Don't you already have authority over all that I used to rule? Why would you need my assistance?"

"Mhhmph..." the King looked to be quite interested in his shoes for a while, before gulping and bluntly saying: "I'm sorry for what we did... I am willing to set you free and allow you to restore your daughters back to normal. Even if we all die, they should at least get to die as who they are."

Antine-Ann looked shocked for a bit, blinking and just staring blankly at him, before she began to giggle.

"Ha... You're joking, right? Why do you care if my daughters die as 'who they are?' What would someone like you, someone who enslaved some of them their whole lives and kept as brainless drones, know about that!?"

The King had a dour look on his face, before sighing. "Then... think about it tactically. It would be more prudent for us to have your military advice and active help on the battlefield against the invaders."

"And why shouldn't I just join them? They sound more appealing than you would ever be," she huffed.

"Because the Spider Princess likely joined them. Think about that. She could have joined them. If that happened, then just what kind of people are they to be happy to take her in, assuming they didn't just butcher her like the murderers they are?... You think they would treat you any differently? And if the Spider Princess is alive, then what makes you think she'd want you there?"

The Ant Queen paused, gritting her teeth. "I see."

"... If it is of any worth or value, I am willing to give a good part of the Gold territory to you. I am willing to make treaties and negotiations. Surely we can come to a compromise and compensate you, right?..."

"I don't see what you have that I can't possibly take on my own with or without my daughters, but I will consider the thought."

"Then... Let us at least agree to a ceasefire then. A pact of neutrality and mutual benefit in the face of this threat," King Grangold said, moving towards where the control consoles were, tapping and messing with the devices until his finger was on a single switch. "I can set you and your people free right now. We just need to be able to overcome and learn from the past... and survive the threat facing the both of us."

Antine-Ann thought off... "Are you... Are you serious?"

"Yes. I only await for your answer."

The Ant Queen hissed, not wanting to let go of the decades of suffering she went through at the nation's hands, and yet... Well, she supposed her children and colony's future came before avenging the past.

"... I agree. I promise on my honor as a Monster Queen serving underneath the Monster Lord herself to maintain a neutrality pact and help you against this threat facing both my children and your nation."

A small smile came across King Grangold's face. "I see then. Very well, if that is what you say, Ant Queen Antine-Ann..."

He hit the switch, and the seal was broken.

Author's Notes:

Well... This is uh... A bit late. Yeah. Been a bit busy, to say the least.

So, yeah... Review/PM-Answering Time.

Runningstar bloodrage: One... two... three... Four!

Fun and joy: I would say the Legion functions off a moral that is entirely different from conventional morals. It's like comparing Hammurabi's Code to modern laws, or comparing the Greeks' culture (Excepting the Spartans, obviously) to a Viking's, the Spanish's to the Aztecs', or even comparing some nations like America to their earlier phases, such as Pre-Civil War America, or Russia to the Soviet Union. They are fundamentally and usually morally different in what is "right" and what is "wrong."

(Other PMs, I have already answered some time ago.)

So, uh... Yeah. Make sure to follow and review if you liked this, I really do appreciate the input and opinions.

And, without further ado, I will see you all later!