Monarch of Profound Toxin

"We… will… break them!" Eik's ethereal voice rumbled as his impossibly heavy aura coursed through their bodies as if it was warming their souls.

Spaghetti Jones dove out and back in of the inverse ocean of toxin again and again before finally coming to a stop directly behind Eik like a leviathan guardian beast. If not for the fact that the serpent exuded that same aura that felt like a warm, tight hug, people might have run away screaming.

The cheers were deafening. Even more than a hundred meters up in the air where he hung inside the semi-corporeal form of the titanic aura avatar, Eik could barely hear himself think.

Not that there was much going on in his head at the moment. The sight of the crowd below was so overwhelming that it was actually pretty empty in there.

For more than two whole minutes, the applause and the cheering continued as people screamed themselves hoarse. It was no secret that Eik Magnasen was an X-ranker, but just because he could protect them hadn't meant that he would. Plenty of high-rankers were unwilling to step in when it mattered most.

Now that he had made it known that he was not such a high-ranker, the mood was running on a fuel called relief.

When it finally began to die down, he let his voice flow once more. "Friends," he said softly onto the wind. "Family. I will leave my pets here for the time being. They will remain to fight, protect, and rescue if more spawn of the Lord of the Moon should show themselves." And with that, more than a million Living Manifestations descended like a demonic invasion. "They will hide everywhere. Under the benches, on the roofs, in the sewers, and even in the shadow of your window shutters. They will not bother you but will appear the moment any trouble happens."

There were gasps as the army disappeared into the city.

"Is this okay?" Guild Master Ganyak hir Gawak asked slowly, speaking up for the first time in a little bit. "Your summons running around in the city?"

Hearing the legitimate concern, Eik spoke again to the citizens below. "My guys here are smart. They know that you are not enemies and they will never attack you. If you want to, you are welcome to say hi to them whenever you see them. They like to be stroked along their backs, so just think of them as very strong pets," he said, assigning some personality to the Profound Toxic beasts that, perhaps, weren't quite true.

But if it made the people feel safe, then what would the harm be?

Through the Eyes of the Beast Eik saw that many took the opportunity to follow his suggestion and touch the blue creatures.

"High-rank members of my personal group, Eik's Great Group of Guys, or EGG(G) for short, will also be present in and around the city and will be recognizable, so don't hesitate to talk to them, but please also respect that they have a duty to fulfill."

Eik's Great Group of Guys had grown considerably these past few weeks, although Eik himself hadn't been around much to oversee the recruitment process.

Many of the men and women who had accompanied him on the first mission he had been responsible for had jumped at the opportunity to join up—often leaving behind prominent positions in the Nidafjeld Alliance or the larger guilds, such as the Omega guild that had tried to recruit Eik when he was still a fresh Awakened.

To them, he had quickly proven himself to be a trustworthy and sympathetic boss who knew how to treat them well, pay them well, and respect them. He never asked them to do anything he wasn't willing to participate in himself, and that was apparently a shamefully uncommon quality in some of the larger organizations.

He had actually gotten quite a few complaints from various directions about sniping their best members but had been able to more or less shrug them off. It wasn't like he had headhunted anyone, really. He had just thrown out the hooks. It wasn't his fault that his bait was so much more delicious than the competition.

Honestly, it was rather simple. Eik offered great benefits, great pay, and great treatment. Any person with skill or talent and even just a bit of dissatisfaction with their currents situation would naturally seek out his employ. It just made sense.

And thus, despite being not even a year old, Eik's organization Eik's Great Group of Guys rivaled many of the largest forces within the alliance. Including his own personal power, it was a different matter of course, but even his many combat-oriented subordinates were practically entirely A-rankers with a few S-rankers sprinkled in here and there.

And with the addition of the colossus of a money machine called Eik's Excellent Elixir Emporium, they were experiencing unrivaled growth on literally all fronts.

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"Eik Magnasen…" came the subdued whimper from the guild master who still lay prone one the edge of the pillar. "Please stop now. I didn't mean to make you do a show. I regret it sincerely."

Eik chuckled. "Nah, it was actually a good opportunity to try to create a bit of a united front. We want the people to know that we are doing our best for them and we want their support. A bit of visibility in the streets on the daily will be a good reminder of both and hopefully offer some mental relief as well."

And with that, he landed lightly on the pillar again as the Monarch's avatar slowly dissipated into motes of blue that glittered into nothingness on the wind. The continental Apocalypse Canvas and the millions of shards it had produced did the same.

As the elevated platform descended, the guild master finally climbed to his feet, looking a bit more comfortable. "Is that really going to do anything?" he asked.

"Sorry? Is what going to do what?"

"I understand the many summons you're leaving here, but will your living warriors actually be able to do anything against the spawn of the Lord of the Moon if they were to actually attack?"

"Well, no, I very much doubt they would be able to kill the spawn, if that's what you mean. And they're not meant to try. The Profound Toxic beasts will be the main fighting force. My guys' primary role is coordination, stall tactics, and evacuation. To essentially minimize loss of life until Chop or I get there."

"That's actually a very good idea. Public trust and support are instrumental to the success of such a wide-ranging effort."

"Yes, indeed, and since I… Hold up, wait a minute, I just got an idea."

"What?"

"Okay, so you know how I've been in a dispute with those fuckers from Gohkamoria, right?"

"Who doesn't? How's that case going, by the way? Did they drop the mass murder accusations against you after you hit X-rank?"

"That's the freakin' thing, dude," Eik said, still incredulous. "They just won't let it go! It doesn't make any sense! Like, I could literally go to Gohkamoria right this moment and obliterate them in their entirety, and you know what would happen to me if I did?"

"Well, you're immensely important to the Alliance—especially now that you're spearheading an effort that will save the Unified Mass, so my guess would be… nothing, in the end."

"Exactly! And surely even those thick-skulled morons would be able to realize that. So what the hell are they doing?"

The guild master shrugged but made a guess nonetheless. "They've already inflicted irreversible and unforgivable harm upon your planet and I think they probably realize that they're not winning the fight on that one. Now you've simply grown so powerful, as you yourself mentioned, that you can't be scared into submission."

"So?"

"So they're hoping to win this with a method that doesn't suit their nature—the law. If they somehow can discredit you through this case of mass murder, then maybe, just maybe, they can muddle this entire thing enough to have a leg to stand on."

Eik frowned. "Do they actually think that will work? I've practically won that case already."

"I don't know what to tell you," the guild master admitted. "I don't know. I won't claim to have ever been able to understand their way of thinking. But that's the best way I see for them, and that's probably what they see too. If they lose this, you basically have the freedom to do anything to them you want."

"But they don't even know what I would do in a situation like that," he argued.

"Do you not remember who you're talking about? They're afraid that you're going to do to them exactly what they have done to you. They would do it, so they probably can't even imagine that you wouldn't."

"Whatever the outcome of this little murder case, I could still do whatever I wanted. I'm stronger than the Alliance, especially with Chop at my side."

A slight look of concern came over Ganyak hir Gawak's face. "But you wouldn't, would you? Make an enemy of the Nidafjeld Alliance, I mean."

Eik grinned. "No, you can breathe easy on that one. But as I said before, I just got an idea."

The guild master raised his eyebrows in question. "Go on."

"I have the power and the public sentiment in this. I've been enjoying the fact that the whole thing has been on pause for a while. But I am going to go and make sure I get exactly what I want, and I'm going to make use of the fact that I am the man facing the Lord of the Moon to make sure of it."

"Wait, so what are you—"

"I have to go before they close up for the day, don't I?"

"Go where?"

"Court," Eik said and stuck his head out over the edge of the platform which were only about thirty meters from the ground at present. "Babe?"

"What?" Ihasu called back up.

"I'm just gonna go for a little bit. I'll be back in, like, forty minutes—an hour tops!"

"You're kidding," she shouted as the top of the pillar approached. Her tone told him exactly what she thought of the idea.

"I'll teach you a trick, old timer," Eik said as he backed away from the edge. "If you know you're going to be in trouble, it's best to just run away. Quickly." The Eik-sized canon appeared in an instant.

"Do you know how long I've been married? I invented your damned tricks, boy," the guild master spat with uncharacteristic fervor. "And why not just go tomorrow?"

Eik pursed his lips. "Now that I have the idea in my head I can't stop thinking about it before I go. I'll be back, I swear."

And with that, he jumped into the mouth of the canon, took aim, and shot himself into the distance with an echoing explosion.

***

"M-Mr. Magnasen?" the clerk asked as Eik pushed his way through the front door of the court building. He hadn't even introduced himself yet, so it would seem that this young man was someone who already knew of him. "What brings you h-here?"

The reception was sparsely decorated with entirely bare walls and nothing but a row of chairs along the wall to the side

"Have we met?" Eik asked.

"Oh, uuh, n-no, we… haven't but…" the clerk stammered and trailed off for a moment. "M-may I ask what you have… have come here for?"

Eik slapped his hand down on the reception desk and looked the young man in the eyes. "Gohkamoria has committed mass genocide on my world, Earth over more than ten years since we first drifted into the Unified Mass. It's time for them to pay," he hissed.

The clerk could barely keep his teeth from clattering despite Eik restraining his aura completely. "Wh-Wh-Wh…"

Eik's eyes crackled with cerulean as he spoke. "I want the responsible persons. Be it politicians, generals, businessmen—anyone who made this happen. And I want them all."