<Nocturnal Harmonia>

"ASMR, huh... Sure. That tracks," Yugi said simply, even in response to that ending flirty tone that did leave his erection twitching. He seemed far more absent than normal, as though his mind were elsewhere. That wasn't an oddity exclusive to Yugi however, as Miko was also somewhat strange in the moment. No matter. Whether good or bad, traumatic moments had certain effects on mentality. They'd just been rewritten on a spiritual level; both could surely feel it, and both would surely be affected for the moment. On the other hand, one thing couldn't be changed...

The System was right. Both Players sought power, sought greatness by their own merit. Perhaps that likeness was the reason they could resonate so well when determining a command phrase? No, maybe it was something else... but it didn't matter. The term Arise was spoken in unison and accepted by the System. The single use of that command filled their available extraction list with 90 Shadow Soldiers ─ a mix of knights, mages and assassins. Notably, what had once been Hollow Knights were now Shadow Infantry, Normal Grade, and Level 1. Yugi was looking over them while something odd was happening in the background. "Shadows have levels too. Well, we don't need this many foot soldiers. Release," he said to banish a small number of Infantry soldiers, looking over the remaining Hollow Magicians and Assassins. "Arise," he said to bring their numbers in order.

At the same time, something familiar was encroaching upon them. The very same woman Yugi saw during that near-death experience several hours ago was sauntering through the Players' new army. She was more clearly visible now, even her clothing being discernable to Yugi. Well, he also wasn't walking around in limbo this time. Perhaps that had something to do with it? No matter. Before she reached the throne, Yugi was watching that pink trail of hair flow gracefully through the Shadows, ready to comment. "I am so far from dead this time. Is this the other reward for exceeding the cap? Army of the dead, lady of death, one big package?"

The thought of that sensory overload being like ASMR seemed to be a comparison Yugi could go with and as such Miko felt good about her comparison. She realized that both of them were less... their chipper young selves, but they'd also been having quite the day. She wouldn't be the one to force nor point out how any one else dealt with their trauma. She could also have faith that they'd get through it like everything else, considering at the very least his dick still responded to her voice.

Moving on from that point, their minds were enough in the same place for them to come up with the same general method of calling upon their army. "We definitely don't need that many foot soldiers we have to leave room for specialists..." Miko said her eyes gently drifting towards where the Blood-Red Commander Igris had fallen. Her brain already leaning in the direction of raising him the absolute unit that he was. "Hm, if they have levels its just an excuse for them to be less powerful than they were when they were kicking us around," Miko uttered seemingly unamused by that possibility but there were more pressing things happening as the numbers were whittled down to something more reasonable. A pink haired woman in a wedding dress was moving around with the shadows.

Yugi noted her and had something to say and now Miko was looking at her too... "Oh? Is that her, the Death Lady? You weren't kidding, definitely hot... I think everyone's been worshiping the wrong gods. Not me, cause I only worship Abe no Seimei, but everyone else," Miko said with no extra energy but an interesting understanding. "Reward for what? Yeah, you're not dying this time but... There was a hole in Limbo... I walked through. I didn't know other entities could be so close to death. Truly it's praise worthy how you raised this group," the pink haired woman said. "Oh and you're a pair, that's so sweet!~" she claimed. "That voice is sweet," Miko stated earnestly. If this was on Yugi's list, she'd support him fully.

After gaining the ability to summon Shadow Soldiers, Yugi very quickly reached a decision to balance their forces. There was no point in having so many soldiers, so he ensured every one of the mages, archers and assassins were added to the collection. The Shadows having levels was initially an annoyance, as Miko's words were seemingly true. However, Yugi had cause for hope in this case. "It's always like that... except that one time I remember in a stupid fighting game. These Normal Grade Shadows feel like C-ranks at best, but I'm guessing they can eventually be made even stronger than we are now. Probably," he chattered. Yugi also had a glance in the Blood-Red Commander's direction. Igris had the same aura of darkness around his corpse that the others had. He, too, could be risen... but Yugi's priorities were shifted by a surprise guest.

As Miko observed, the pink-haired woman was the very same death goddess Yugi met previously. Her assertion about people worshiping the wrong gods was one he'd agree with, but there was one added note he had to question. "Not us. I only worship Ashikaga Himeko. And I'm not sure you can say you only worship Abe no Seimei. I could write half of your kink list from experience by now. Maybe a quarter," he babbled. Moving on, Death herself was upon them and questioning the reward Yugi spoke of. There was a gap between limbo and the surface world, according to her. One didn't have to wonder why in this case. "That gap is probably from us ripping ninety souls right out of their corpses at once. Anyway... reward for clearing this damn quest, and apparently becoming the Monarchs of Shadows. Since we're now able to overwrite death, I figured it would be reasonable if I could also fuck death." As he spoke those final words, Yugi was ever so casually walking his nude form in the goddess's direction. He was looking her up and down as if she were a thing to study ─ a thing to be entranced by. In truth, she was precisely that. "Speaking of a pair... I couldn't see the good stuff before."

Miko would be finding out from Yugi that the power and level of the Shadows was apparently normal. Aside from a singular case which sounded like it had some attached trauma, the growth standard was established. "Sou ka, so they are C-ranks who will be able to push forward, and you played a game where the standard nerf didn't exist," Miko summarized. If they could get stronger though she could easily see the goodness of keeping a few of the lower level ones to grow into something.

Beyond that point there was the worship issue. Here in the moment, Yugi claimed that he only worshiped Ashikaga Himeko and that Miko's worship of Abe no Seimei could be counted not an only given her sexual activities of the last two days or so. "That is different, Seimei-sama isn't the kind of person I've been allowed to meet in this life. An unknown unknown. Wholly different... but Ashikaga Himeko is a great choice. Definitely makes my top five," Miko said with a curt nod. Ah but they weren't alone, there was now a very hot death goddess walking around with them. "You pulled 90 souls out of Limbo whole... that's actually impressive, especially with them keeping their shape in the overworld," the pink haired woman pointed out. "This sort of thing took me ages to figure out, and I had to just build a world where they could coalesce and it took about 1000 years. By my approximation were human teenagers. This is really impressive, I have to remember to tell Mom," the woman said. Such a thing was ridiculous. Ah but so were the words coming out of the lad's mouth as he approached directly. "Oh? That's a dangerous sentence, you'll die attempting something like that..." the woman said. "How dead though, because if I'm being honest it's worth the risk," Miko asserted always in her place as a proper wingman.

"Seems so, and... yeah. I'll just say there's a reason the boss you unlock isn't normally the same as the boss you had to fight. Balance is a bitch," he complained. Upon moving on to the matter of Abe no Seimei and Miko's 'worship' habits, she completely disregarded Yugi's claim. That was a different matter entirely, or so she said. "Worship is worship, and a tree that falls in the forest doesn't make a sound if no one is around to hear it," was his only reply with no further details given.

Apparently, it was a big deal to the death goddess that they were able to raise 90 souls and have their forms retained... in the overworld, specifically. The goddess herself had taken about a millennium to manage something similar, even constructing the underworld to make it work. Alas, Yugi couldn't let her go on giving them credit for too long. "I'm all for the metaphorical jerk-off and all, but we didn't exactly figure out how to do this. It's part of being the Monarch of Shadows. We got the identity, we got the power," he explained briefly during an approach the goddess tried to dissuade him from. He'd die from approaching her, or perhaps from seeing what lay beneath that wedding dress? No, he didn't think so. Even if that were the case, Miko was right. "Absolutely worth the risk. Besides, I don't think that will happen. The way this power works, and the way you're drawing comparisons... I'd say Monarch of Shadows makes me more like the King of Souls. That should have a special interaction with a concept of death, in theory. Besides... you're already a goddess; is it even acceptable for you to be even more the odd person out? Everyone else is naked, and you're in a wedding dress."

Game balancing. That was something that kept coming up moment by moment. Miko could see how getting the boss at full power might be a bit problematic, especially in a fighting game. "Fighting games are always so weird for that sort of thing," Miko asserted. Still there was something crazy going on, as the goddess of death was inspecting their most recent activities. According to Yugi he didn't want too much metaphorical jerking off, they'd inherited this ability by attaining the title the Monarch of Shadows. "Wait, Monarch of Shadows... I didn't think Monarchs still existed," the pink haired woman said her brows furrowing at the thought. "I also thought that was the sort of title for a single individual," she said her head tilting to the side in sheer curiosity. Well, Monarch was a gender neutral term, technically she thought it could be shared by a pair. She would have expected twins but a couple was also reasonable under the right circumstances.

Beyond this point and to what seemed to be more important to the teens were some sexual endeavors they were trying. "Worth the risk, I don't think I've heard that one before..." the woman said. It would seem that Yugi was apt to talk himself into what was beneath this goddess's dress. "Wedding dress? Is that what people are calling these now?" she thought musing, Her outfit was one her mother quite liked once seen on a specific person. It would seem that this woman was overdressed, "I mean... I could take off my clothes but you are still kind of human in there... it might not go the way you think," the woman she said she pulled down on that dress as if she fully intended to peel herself out of the clothes. An interesting glow seemed to be appearing in the moment. "Still willing to take the risk. I've sprung leaks for almost no reason at this point," Miko claimed with her eyes glued to the other woman. "Depending on how this goes I might even tell you who I am..." the pink haired girl mentioned.

'I didn't think Monarchs still existed,' said the death goddess. Yugi stopped in his tracks, head tilting and brow rising. The scoff which passed his lips after a moment of silence was perhaps the quickest, dirtiest-sounding one of the past 48 hours. It was a moment in which everything... everything would be halted while Yugi's brain went to work. "Of course. It's fucking ancient-but-also-futuristic alien reincarnation shit! Nobody's fucking creative anymore. This is dumb!" he griped before anything else. "Let me guess. Whatever a Monarch is, it's old, obviously. Something strong enough that even a new-age one can override a goddess's authority with just a word, so... primordial, minimum. Goddess doesn't know how the title works, older than planet, older than gods... cosmic entity bigger than planet level. Yeah. Yeah, we had that tutorial dungeon, more likely another planet now. I'm thinking... some war. If the underworld was created by the death goddess, and that took a thousand years... death couldn't have existed. Mortality wasn't a thing? No, it was probably just different. People died, but their souls couldn't collect. So, what ─ spirits just dissipated and joined the Lifestream? Did you take that same concept to create Styx, Sanza, or whatever the hell you've got down there? Anyway... war."

Yugi paused just briefly, if only because the goddess warned against the removal of her clothes. She believed things wouldn't go as he thought, and tugged the top of her dress. The sight of her cleavage shifting was enough to give Yugi a very familiar sensation. Oh, he knew exactly what was coming... but he was still busy rambling for the moment. "A war older than gods. Something so big, it is to gods what gods are to us ─ just something the species has believed in for generations, but has no real proof of existence? Nobody could've won a war like that, or its effects would probably be a lot clearer. Or maybe I'm being dumb, and Monarchs are just anti-gods? Did the apparently singular Shadow Monarch of a previous generation work essentially as the pre-hot-goddess death guy? No... No, that's just dumb," he carried on. Eventually, Yugi caught himself. The rambling wasn't anywhere near its natural end, but he stopped himself for reasons that would always change his focus ─ the perverted sort. "Anyway... I know exactly how this is going to go. You take your clothes off, I absolutely explode all over you ─ already feel it coming by the way... and you will be so surprised that a mere 'human' can even make contact with you, you'll start giving some legitimate thought to the idea of letting me fuck you all across limbo until the overworld and underworld bleed into each other and we have to fix it. Twice. Also a deepthroat of absolute adoration for how big-brained I was to prophesize the whole thing!"

A simple phrase started a rant the likes of which, this pink haired goddess had only gotten a few times from her mother or sister. So much did the lad have to say... there were elves less eloquent. And on and on he went, piecing together histories based on personal theory and observation. The goddess of wisdom would love this lad, of this the pink haired goddess was certain. And she wasn't the only one, while the lad went through his pontifications, it was noted that his other half was... completely zoned in. Her pupils dilated her heartbeat steady even the movement of the mana within her body seemed to be thumping and pulsing with the increases and decreases of the tone in his voice. There was quite a bit to be sorted through but he even seemed to understand the intricacies of death. Well, that meant that someone was doing their job properly, the known world was always supposed to understand death.

For her part in this, she'd let him get through his entire rambling speech before she interjected. It would seem that he even had an idea of what would happen when her clothes were removed. "Oh? You really are brilliant, Metis would love you. And I haven't heard that much thinking from a non-elf since Metis or Mom..." she said thoughtfully. "No matter... I can share that information with you there aren't rules against it. But it's mostly hearsay, I'm younger than this planet even so I only have stories myself," she explained thoughtfully. "Mostly your theories are correct, a war did happen and the last stand was at a world previously called Terra. But... in order to defeat a great enemy and preserve as many lives as possible sacrifices had to be made. Many Monarchs died before that stand and the ones who didn't gave most of themselves to protecting this world through indirect means. The Great Spirits of this world went to rest, the last true Creators and Destroyers did what was necessary to cap this worlds powers and... everything else kind of spiraled from there. This world, the one you're from is the one that was made without magic we call it Gaia. The one that mirrors it, is Alaya and magic proliferates, to an extent. The world has rules and such, and most people rotate on the reincarnation cycle. It took me a while to figure it out... I was made to make the concept of 'Death' work here... as a part of a greater plan for the restoration of the world, but that might have been abandoned by now... too many variables. And gods aren't faultless," she gave that information without much care as well. And still Miko remained completely tuned in.

At the end, the woman kept pulling down on that dress of hers. If the lad knew what would happen as a result she would see what he had to offer. Humans forgot how to do that sort of thing... they forgot about death rights and care, so... this would be interesting. She'd pull down on that dress until her upper body was completely exposed, her body shimmering beneath as if in invitation her mana calling out in need of giving. "Also humans think of that backwards. To make an offering to a goddess is one of the highest honors a human could be granted. To give your essence to someone else isn't to be considered a favor for you... especially considering the risks in certain cases, this one for instance," the young woman managed. Whatever happened would determine her interest past the initial curiosity of someone who gained powers over the concept of death without her being the one to give them.

"Metis?" Yugi questioned when that name was mentioned. "So... Greek pantheon, pre-Olympus? But you're not Hades," he observed, recalling the list of deities this woman claimed she wasn't one of. "Is it Erebos? Nyx?" he wondered. This woman's identity was a thing of minor confusion for the lad, but she did have much to say about his hypotheses. Beyond gods, there was mention of Great Spirits, Creators and Destroyers as separate entities... and the Monarchs. Something was strange about the Monarchs sacrificing themselves for the good of the world, but he didn't have enough information. Still... his decision would remain the same after hearing all of that. "That... sounds fucking dumb. How much information are you missing exactly? Because you just listed a bunch of people, claiming none of them were the bad guys, all the big dudes sacrificed themselves, the world ended and had to be remade in two halves... but that doesn't sound like what happens when the good guys win the fight. Right back to my theory about this whole situation being prep work for an ancient war fated to come back. Your generation and the ones before probably sucked," he rambled.

That aside, Yugi's focus was clear. He even activated Sharingan once more to observe the disrobing goddess with everything he had. When her dress lowered, Yugi felt the extreme reaction in his own loins. Breasts, nipples, even simply the skin itself gave true meaning to the term 'divine' as he saw it. She'd said gods weren't faultless... but that couldn't have been commentary on her physical attributes. "Uh-huh. Not seeing anything that should be called a fault," he asserted. Yugi quickly found himself having to grab his own cock by the base, giving it the firmest of squeezes to cut ejaculation short. It was quite the difficult undertaking, as every fiber of his being wanted to let loose in a mighty burst already. No... he couldn't let that happen from just a pair of tits, no matter how immaculate. He had to see the rest, even at the cost of struggling... and apparently failing. Indeed, the tightest grip Yugi could manage wasn't enough ─ not fully. There was still a squirt, a now-pressurized pint of mana fated to land on the goddess's exposed bosom. That may not have been Yugi's plan, but... as he'd managed to avoid spending the whole load, he couldn't really complain either. "Shit! At least give me a second to be hype about that whole offering thing. Fuck it. I've got ten liters of 'offering' for you if I can make it to seeing everything else."

Apparently the name Metis rang some bell inside of this lad's head. That was an interesting thing to note, to one like this pink haired woman. There was a certain oddity to his questions there after. She gave consideration to his words before answering. "Metis is the name she chose, not the one she was given at birth. Some things happened... I am not sure how much of that has passed on to this generation of beings," she explained. "She did like the Greeks though..." the pink haired woman confirmed. "Irkalla is my name, I suppose there is no reason you can't know it, as you seem to be slipping into the realm of my authority," she said not upset just interested. More so even than such a thing as that was the outright rejection of the information as given. It wasn't even the first time she'd heard such a thing, only the first time from someone else. "Hahahahaha~ That's exactly what Metis said. She said there was a missing faction... I said it was probably one of those things lost to time... I agree though it'd definitely not everything but even we can't know everything... even when some of us know a lot. According to my big brother most of us don't really live up to the previous generation, humans degraded by way more though..." she said rather pointedly.

From all of this conversation, Miko gathered that gods weren't infallible, and they weren't all powerful either. It would seem that there was quite the mix of pantheons and lore happening but that was also fine. Miko thought those things had to be mixed to start with because there was too much overlap. As for Yugi's statement about not seeing faults, Irkalla just laughed. "Of course there aren't physical faults... my mother made me perfect!~" she said as if it was the highest compliment to give. Still she watched as the lad tried to resist the desire to give and seemed partially capable but also partially incapable. A more sizable amount than she would have expected from anyone starting out as human splashed her exposed chest and she took pause from disrobing to run her fingers through it and have a fair sample. So casually did she play with spunk between her fingers before placing those same fingers in her mouth. "HOT!" that was all Miko said in a singular moment of lucidity. "Oh? How interesting, mortal beings usually don't have this much potency nor mana awake enough to have such a strong flavor. Give the rest, I'll make something nice for you," Something odd would happen as that mana was so casually absorbed into her skin and she got a full feel for what was provided. A System notification would apppear for Yugi.

[ANOMALOUS MANA TRANSFER DETECTED]

Yugi’s essence has made direct physical contact with Irkalla, Goddess of Death.

[BOND ROUTE UNLOCKED: DEATH’S DESIRE]

A new connection has been forged.

Current Intimacy: 20%

Note:
Irkalla has shown immediate interest.
She appears both surprised and intrigued that a mortal was not only able to touch her, but that he now carries dominion over death — her own authority.

System Message:
The boundary between life and death has been breached in an unexpected manner.
A rare and potent connection has formed.

[ACCEPT] / [DECLINE]