Chapter 314 - Mars

"Party..?"

Mercury didn't believe what he was seeing, the mighty party, although encased in an avatar was kneeling down on the floor in front of this man, the man glanced at Mercury, and for only a moment he felt like he had been dropped at the bottom of the ocean, cold pressure all around him and in front of him, an ancient primordial beast stared at him, thinking about whether it should eat him or just leave him to suffocate and be crushed at the bottom of an abyss, this only lasted for a moment before the man scoffed and looked back at Party and spoke

"I did tell you didn't I?"

[I-I-I didn't---]

"But I told you, right?"

[Yes… Yes you did…]

The man disappeared from view suddenly, Mercury heard a loud bang and looked over, the man had slammed Party into the wall of the prayer room and was grasping the neck of the avatar, Mercury felt his head go blank, then a single word appeared in his head, he muttered

"...Immortal"

The man looked back briefly at Mercury before he looked back at Party and was about to say something when the floodgates suddenly opened and Mercury began chanting

"Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal---"

The man looked at Mercury for a moment before he asked Party

"What's up with this guy?"

[Mercury! Don't!]

Mercury however didn't hear Party as he continued chanting and then… He drew his adamantine sword

"Hoo~"

The man let go of Party before he seemingly praised Mercury

"You got guts kid… That or you simply don't know who I am?"

"---Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal---"

"Well whatever, I'll play with you for a bit"

The man opened his hand as if clutching a sword and then a sword made of pure energy appeared, the sword seemed to be identical in length and whit to Merucy's sword, he took a casual stance

"---Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal---"

Mercury dropped his cane before he kicked off the ground and slashed out at the man that easily parried his blow and disappeared from view, when he reappeared he had left a shallow cut on Mercury's neck

"Naive!"

Then he disappeared and reappeared again

"Soft!"

And again

"Weak!"

And again

"Stupid!"

And again, Mercury's body was soon covered with cuts as he attempted to slash out at Mars that simply played around with him until Mercury tapped his foot against the floor and sent a rock shard up from the floor which Mars easily dodged

"Without spirit!"

Mars disappeared again and when he reappeared Mercury's right arm, still clutching the adamantite blade, dropped the floor… Mercury didn't really seem to care however as he continued chanting

"---Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal, Immortal---"

"Yeah, yeah… I know, what else do you got?"

Mercury raised his remaining left hand but just as he was about to use a skill Party dash in front of him and spread her arms wide protecting him from Mars as she yelled

[Do as you will with me, but don't touch my child!]

Mars nodded before he spoke coldly

"Sure~"

Then he disappeared from view again, then an instant later the head of the avatar went flying, Mercury's eyes went wide and his chanting stopped, then a moment later Mars appeared in front of him and knocked him out…

Mercury awoke with a groan, he found himself covered in bandages, after the initial feeling of pain he noticed something odd, he could still feel his right arm, so he raised it up and saw it

"What the fuck..?"

Oddly enough it was the only part of his body not covered by bandages, he sat himself up and looked around, he was inside a room and he wasn't alone

"Hey there"

An  elf sat on a chair, she had short blonde hair and deep green eyes, for a moment Mercury felt a deep chill looking at those eyes, so he did the sensible thing, he rolled out of bed and began crawling before he stumbled to his feet and ran out of the room, the elf sighed before she disappeared from the chair she was sitting in, Mercury ran through the long hallways, past confused servants before he reached a courtyard where a woman that had a long scaly tail, horns and crimson eyes were training with a viper spear, she stopped what she was doing and looked over at Mercury before she tilted her head to the side, Mercury mimicked her and tilted his head to the side, he didn't know why but he felt a sense of intimacy with this woman but before he could figure out what it was he heard a cold voice from behind

"Hey"

Mercury turned around and saw the elf from before had soundlessly appeared behind him

"Are you done running?"

Mercury suddenly felt an immense pressure on him from those emerald green eyes and could only agree with a nod, the elf showed a smile

"Good… Now, what's your name?"

"...Mercury"

"I see, I am Chloe, this is Varvei"

Mercury nodded to Chloe before he turned to Varvei and showed a smile to her, then he turned back to Chloe and asked

"Where is this?"

"The city-state of Ular on the continent of Salen, you are in the palace"

"I see…"

Mercury didn't recognize any of those names and sat down on the floor before he asked

"Do any of you know a man named Mars?"

Chloe nodded, so did Varvei before they both spoke with enchanting smiles on their faces

""He's my husband~""

Mercury felt a chill before he silently stood up and walked away from Chloe and Varvei, the walk soon turned into a full-on sprint, Varvei showed a smile as she looked at his retreating figure before she asked Chloe

"Didn't Mars tell you to look after him?"

"He hasn't escaped my detection radius yet besides he can't run away from me in that state"

"I see… He's a new living god right?"

"Yeah"

"...He reminds me a bit of Mars"

"Yeah a bit, though Mars is way more dreamy"

"Agreed"

Mercury ran through the hallways for a long time before he lost focus and stumbled and fell face-first onto the floor and slit a few meters before he came to a halt, he sighed before he sat himself up and leaned his back against the wall and began to massage his right leg, after a bit the aching lessened, he was about to stand up again when a maid approached him

"Umm… Are you perhaps Mercury?"

Mercury looked up and saw a lesser beastwoman dressed in a maid uniform, she had brown dog-like ears and brown eyes, Mercury nodded, then the face of the beastwoman lit up before as she spoke

"You haven't had anything to eat yet right?"

Mercury did indeed feel a little hungry and shook his head, then the beastwoman made a few gestures and another maid walked over with a tray with food on it

"Please have some to eat"

"...Okay"

Mercury stood up and took a sandwich and began eating it, after he was done eating he asked the beastwoman

"What's your name?"

"Oh my, how rude of me, I am the head maid, my name is Elsa"

"Then you know the man named Mars right?"

Elsa tilted her head

"Yes? He's the lord of the city after all"

Mercury sighed before he spoke

"Good… I was afraid you were going to say that he was your husband…"

"How did you know?"

"Eh..?"

"Eh?"

The air froze, then suddenly Chloe appeared out of nowhere

"Hey Elsa"

Elsa showed a smile

"Hello Chloe"

Then she turned back to Mercury and was a little surprised to find that he was logn gone and puffed her cheeks

"Well, that's rude…"

"Yeah he's a little confused, I suppose he thinks Mars is going to kill him..."

"Why is that..?"

"He appeared along with Party"

The smiling Elsa suddenly let out a dreadful amount of killing intent for a moment before she showed her usual smile, Chloe sighed before she muttered

"You really are scary Elsa…"

"I don't want to hear that from you Chloe"

Mercury continued running through the palace before he decided to hide in a room, he looked to both sides before he opened the door and froze as he saw the person he was running from, Mars, Mars was sitting on a couch with a blonde elf on his right that was feeding him grapes while another woman who had horns, pointed ears and beat-like ears on her head sat on his other side, Mars paused and looked at Mercury before he showed a smile

"Hey you're finally awake, you were trying to cross the border right?"

"....What?"