"A thousand years of isolation I am truly sorry for, please allow me to explain everything you missed..."

Kyubi started with the meeting which Lillim had shown them, then gave the bullet points of what's been happening, giving Bakunawa time to react and regain his composure as necessary.

"For what it's worth, hearing how all this has happened saddens me. I may have been your lord's rival, but I held no animosity for your kin and to think his sweet sister was so horribly defiled..." He stopped and turned to Carl and the others, then sighed. "...It seems the time has come for me to die."

Carl was completely offended. "Hey! We didn't come here to kill you! Just because everyone else in existence seems to be intent on making life as miserable as possible for themselves and everyone else, don't lump us in with them!"

"Be at peace young creator. I simply meant my title and purpose have both been usurped. I have nothing left in this world, nothing but you..."

Carl froze and the others all made ready in case he meant as an opponent.

"...I want you to harvest me in my entirety, use my parts and add your own, help me be reborn into the world as one with the power to reclaim what has been stolen. I am Bakunawa, The Moon-Eater and there is a vile, warped reflection of a moon to be devoured. I insist I am given the opportunity."

Carl turned to Kyubi, who simply shrugged.

"Fine. I'll give you a new lease on life, but I'm going to apologise in advance, you'll have to wait in my bank for a while whilst I stockpile divinity."

"Carl, Dude, you have a million units these days. What the hell do you have planned?"

"Sol-Devourer. You will be the ultimate agent of the committee's destruction. I'm soft, I know as much as I hate them, I'd probably lose the will to fight if they begged for their lives. I can't do that this time, it would be a betrayal, I'm going to fashion Bakunawa into something that won't be able to resist devouring anyone sat at that table who hasn't signed a contract of absolute surrender."

"Sol-Devourer? I like it..." Bakunawa roared with laughter. "...I never dreamed death would prove a promotion. Now end my pitiful existence and carry me until you have all you need to see them devoured."

"Sorry, I can't do it like that, I'm glad you were prepared to die. I take no pleasure in it, but I can only store dead matter and I do that by synthesising it with air."

"Well then, I can't allow myself to simply die like a butchered animal, a contest then..." As Bakunawa spoke, his body surfaced. If you can traverse the entirety of my body without rest, you and your companions will have one open attack on me."

"What!?..." Klaire looked over the balcony and at the thousands of miles of scaly serpent. "...It would take a thousand years for him to do that!"

"Don't be so naive girl, from what Kyubi said, he is Ishtar's heir..."

"...So I should be able to assume full control of the realm, fine, let's see what the deadbeat could do then..." As Carl said it, he already knew he was going to be outshone, she had created Tiamat and Bahamut afterall.

[ CARL HAS CLAIMED THE MOON-EATER'S DUNGEON ]

"...What the hell does half of this stuff even mean!?" As Carl assumed control of the realm, Ishtar's realm interface appeared before him, though his brain could hardly comprehend what he was looking at.

"She was the greatest of creators Carl." Kyubi explained.

"Then where did she go wrong with him? Panic at the eleventh hour and crack-out a rush job?" Gillian laughed.

"Shut up!..." Carl shouted at him, trying to focus.

"Trust your instincts Carl, you may not understand her interface, but I'm sure your body and subconscious do. Why not let them guide you when your mind is overwhelmed?"

"...Fine..." Carl took a deep breath and just truly thought about what he needed to do. "...Come on, just make it so I can do this without going home fully grown and without the kids having abandonment issues."

When he finished speaking a started sliding dials and optimising the environment to complete the challenge.

Surprisingly the only interruption came from Blanc, who burst into laughter, followed quickly by Sophie. "Err, sorry Carl, Alysse made us laugh with something that Link reported back. You carry on, we'll go and get out of the way."

Before long, Carl had finished, or at least thought he had, but didn't really have any way to tell.

"Splendid, now start at my tail, we will be waiting for success or surrender."

Carl looked at the finned tail, which looked a little like a wet leaf, that was draping over the balcony and kissed Klaire and Kyubi goodbye.

The sheer scale of the task before him was daunting, but no worse than it had been when he had the director of SATS threatening him with expulsion for not levelling up, or the eight years that followed, or finding out he was supposed to beat Margo.

It was a strange sense of mixed defeat and victory, he had been stripped of his defiance and achieved a sense of contentment, as he had accepted the difficulty of the path ahead and that he had no control.

"Right, you guys hang tight, if I did my job properly I won't be gone long." Carl sighed, knowing that it didn't particularly make him feel better since the challenge itself was more a matter of mental fortitude than anything.

The moment he hopped onto the tail and started sliding down the surprisingly smooth surface, Kyubi and Klaire found out exactly why Blanc was laughing.

[ GROUP MESSAGE SENT FROM ALYSSE : HEY GUYS, SORRY FOR BOTHERING YOU WITH THIS, I REALLY WISH THAT I COULD DO IT FACE TO FACE, BUT I COULDN'T WAIT AND I HAVE BEEN RACKING MY BRAIN AND WHATEVER. DO YOU GUYS MIND IF I MAKE DINNER FOR OMY AND THE KIDS? MAINLY OMY, I WANT TO BAG THAT, BUT KI-KO DEMANDED I PROVE I CAN TAKE CARE OF HER. ]

The moment the message popped up in front of them they nearly dropped, something Bakunawa picked up on and couldn't help but be curious.

"Is there an issue Kyubi and Klaire? Do you worry about him?" The thick, deep, gurgly voice resonated all around them.

"No, well yes, but not with something like this...." Kyubi looked at Klaire as though seeking confirmation. "...One of our friends wants to date our daughter?"

What should have been a statement, emerged as a question, utter disbelief leaving them questioning everything.

"What!? Who asked which one?" Gillian shouted, skidding over as Blanc and Sophie reappeared.

"Alysse asking for Omedra!..." Blanc called over, taking attention away long enough for Kyubi and Klaire to process. "...Link clued me in, I'm just glad she heard since the telepathy was pretty awkward."

"I mean, what's the problem? Omedra's a big girl, surely she can make her own mind up." Scylla shrugged, realising she was missing something as the mums glared at her.

"She's not even two months old technically speaking, Carl can grant nature dependant memory and let them retain the memory of their material creatures, but she's still a baby with things like this." Klaire explained as she hugged her knees.

"Two months!" Scylla and Grenda shouted, likely a little louder than intended.

"Damn, this is so weird, I've been jealous of an infant's figure since the day I met her..." Scylla said as she bit her nail.

"Tell me about it, Alysse's isn't bad for a wrench monkey either, with her being a gnome and all..." Grenda looked to the future. "...Do you mind if I try dating one of your grandkids?"

"Keep speaking bloodsucker and we'll give Bakunawa a last meal..." Klaire grumbled as she had an existential crisis. "...Kyubi, we can't leave her waiting long, can you take us to a realm so we can think and reply quicker?"

"You're just gonna leave!?" Gillian called after them as they were already on the way out.

"Family emergency, the children come first!"

"Take care of the dad, he's an idiot when he's left unattended."

As they disappeared, Gillian, Scylla, Blanc, Sophie and Grenda looked at Bakunawa, who stared back at them as he awaited Carl's unavoidable success.

"Can I ask you something while we wait?" Gillian said as he sat down on the floor in front of the ancient force of nature.

"Firs, Kyubi said you wish to be the chief diplomat of your faction. Is that true?" Bakunawa asked casually.

"Sure do, I would rather just talk things out, learnt that lesson the hard way." Gillian laughed.

"How so?"

"Well, actually it was Carl. We had plenty of spats when we were children, practically hated each other, if we had never hashed things out then I'd have never made such a good mate."

"Why was it you hated each other?"

"Lots of reasons that boil down to one, in the end it was ignorance, saying anything else would just be an excuse." Gillian explained.

"When you spoke, were you not afraid of looking weak?"

"Weak!? Ha! Carl was the weakest guy around and managed to surpass pretty much everyone. Weakness is great, strength makes you complacent, but weakness is what motivates you to grow stronger!"

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