SSV 4 Chapter 4 (Patreon)

I arrived back at Daeva’s place with Daeva, Stella, and Melody. Daeva led us through to a back room, where a table was laid out with food.

“Oh. You have dinner prepared for you for every meal?” Stella drooled over a greasy looking hunk of meat. She picked it up, putting it at what was about to be her spot.

“Not always. But often. The temple maidens that help me tend to my place treat me well.” Daeva picked her own spot around the table and started to pick from the food as well.

“You have temple maidens?” I asked with a frown.

“I am a goddess.” Daeva replied as if it was obvious. “They keep my temple, and in return they get the use of my shelter. It isn’t a bad job at all.”

Melody was far more skeptical than Stella as she sat down on my left. I’d positioned Stella at my right.

“So, they live here. What else? Do you feed them?” Melody asked.

“They take small offerings on my behalf. Some of the larger offerings they might call for me to attend personally.” Daeva started to pick at her food. “They eat well.”

“Is it always this good?” Stella mumbled around a piece of meat that was far too large for her.

“Yes. They are wonderful cooks.” Daeva gave the three of us a beautiful smile.

I leaned back and studied her, trying to understand her better. She had certainly had a veneer of crazy when we fought above Point City, and called herself a goddess, but she had noble and oddly sensible goals. “I thought you said that you get paid for the kills. Why the offerings?”

Daeva waved away my question with a hand. “I don’t often take payment for my kills anymore. Or if I do, it is little. I protect the city, solve internal strifes, and the people appreciate me for it. They give offerings in return.”

“Strifes?” Melody pushed.

“Murder or large property destruction. One of the parties normally comes with an offering, and I’m brought to deal with it.” Daeva shrugged off the fact that she was judge and jury.

I could feel Melody tense next to me. “How do you ‘solve it’.”

Daeva raised an eyebrow at Melody’s tone. “By fixing the property, or killing the murderer. I have zero tolerance. But luckily, murder is pretty rare here, despite that a large part of our population are former criminals. Really most of them go away for theft than murder.”

Melody was rubbing at her face, and I had no doubt that if another case came in while we were in the city, she would find a way to involve herself.

Melody had a deep sense of rightness, but it was part of her charm. She’d loosened up in her play with villainy, but she and Angelina made up most of the moral compass in our harem.

“You should take Melody on your next one. Honestly, she could handle it for you after a while.” I tried to get ahead of the likely conflict.

Daeva frowned. “Is she strong enough to demand the respect that this requires?” She put down her fork and steepled her fingers. “I know both of these women have come with you, but truly, I don’t know if either. Are they strong enough to take on the mantle of being a god here?”

“We are both S grade supers.” Melody argued, but Stella just kept stuffing her face like she’d never seen food before.

If she was bothered at all by being thrown from godhood, she didn’t show it.

“S grades are powerful, yes. But Miles and I could flatten any S grade super.” Daeva leaned back and grabbed her glass of wine. “I tolerate you because my new god of fertility needs to be satisfied. But, I don’t know if you deserve to be more than just his harem while you are here.”

I cringed. Shit was about to hit the fan.

Sure enough, Melody’s hands pressed firmly on the table as she increased gravity manyfold on Daeva.

Daeva’s eyes locked with Melody’s as she reinforced herself and the chair with her telekinetic power.

Ignoring the gravity, Daeva got up and walked around the room.

She had Fortress’ power grafted onto her, a telekinetic power that stepped up to Fortress’ power level with the grafting, and some sort of power that revived her even after I’d killed her.

While she was flexing her powers, I used my ability to take a closer look, trying to understand her powers more.

Two were very clearly active, but it was hard to pick out the third with how bright the other two were. Despite being hard to see though, I could tell that the third power was there.

I reached for a piece of stone further away and tried to mold it into the same shape as the third power while she was distracted.

If I really was able to create powers with monster fruit, I wanted to save this one for later.

“Like I said, weak.” Daeva continued to sip her wine, ignoring the gravity that would collapse buildings and crush many heroes.

Knowing Melody sometimes struggled with insecurity, I reached out and boosted her power. With the tripled strength, Daeva’s chair cracked, but she held it together with her telekinesis as the two women glared at each other.

Melody lifted her hand, and I knew we’d reached a tipping point. There was no need to destroy Daeva’s home in a power struggle.

“Cut it out.” I let my power wrap over both of them and smashed both Daeva and Melody’s chairs. “Melody can summon black holes, I am confident she can handle herself in your city.” I told Daeva.

“Is that so?” Daeva just lifted herself back up, sitting on a chair of telekinetic power, while Melody reduced her gravity, floating in a sitting position as they glared at each other.

I sighed. It appeared the battle of wills and power was not going to end any time soon.

“Goddess.” One of the temple maidens took one step into the room, crumpling down as she laid pressed against the ground. “Uh, we have an offering that might interest you.” She mumbled from her position, cheek pressed against the floor.

“Oh!” Melody released the gravity pressure, giving the woman an apologetic smile.

Daeva rose from her not-seat and lifted her chin. “Let me show you all how it is done in my city.”

Knowing dinner was done, I grabbed a big hunk of meat and moved to follow Daeva.

Melody and Stella joined my side, and I wrapped light around us, making us invisible so we could observe.

“So who won?” Stella chewed on a drumstick of her own.

“Neither of them.” I rolled my eyes not wanting her to start something anew and kept our voices from interfering with Daeva's offering here.

Daeva strode out from the back, lifting herself up and floated around the statue of herself. There was a woman kneeling in front of it. “You have asked, and I have come.” Daeva’s voice was imperious as she floated over the woman.

“Goddess, I come for justice. My lover was killed today while out hunting.” The woman pressed her forehead to the ground.

“Who killed her?” Daeva floated above her like a guillotine about to fall.

Melody shot up into the air across from her. “You cannot just go kill them.” She said as she became visible.

I sighed and floated up by my statue that was almost finished. “Melody, this is her business.”

But my lover wouldn’t be deterred. “If you want us in this city, I will be the goddess of justice.”

“Who said you are joining?” Daeva snorted.

“She is if I am.” I replied. That much was clear. If Daeva couldn’t get along with my harem, then our trip would end up shorter than planned.

Daeva floated, frowning at me while her blonde hair danced behind her. I got the feeling she was making it flutter using her power.

After studying me for a moment and seeming to decide I was serious, she muttered, “Fine.”

Satisfied, we all turned back to the woman who was looking at us with wonder.

“Hi! I’m the goddess of lust.” Stella waved from my side, swaying her hips a little. “My job is to keep the new god of fertility satisfied so he doesn’t impregnate the entire city.”

Melody laughed for a moment before pulling it together.

“Might I suggest that you two go deal with this problem?” I looked at Daeva and Melody.   “Then when you are done, we can come back and discuss our role more formally.

Daeva was grinning from ear to ear. “Your role? That means you will join my pantheon?”

“For now. Your city is interesting, and there’s more I want to learn here.” I stated firmly. I’d go back to my women in Point City, but for the moment, they were safe and I was learning quite a bit in Daeva’s city. And if I was honest with myself, the fact that I could be open about my powers was freeing in a way I hadn’t expected.

Even when I was a villain, I had to stay hidden. It was nice to step out as myself and claim the authority my power gave me.

“Fine then. Come with me, oh Goddess of Justice.” Daeva lifted the kneeling woman into the air, “Show us what you know.”

Melody wasn’t to be left behind, shooting after Daeva.

That left me alone with Stella. “Having fun?” I asked her.

“Yep!” She nodded excitedly sucking the last off the meat off her drumstick. “You seem a little more alive, Master. I think this is a wonderful vacation.” She tugged at my arm, and with several flaps of her wings landed at the bottom of my statue. I tried to look up its toga casually, but Stella was staring right on up. “Hmm. They got bits of you right, but not all.”

I wasn’t sure how I felt about her knowing my anatomy so intently.

“I’ll talk to Daeva and help her fix it.” Stella nodded to herself.

“It’s fine.” I groaned, just picturing the conversation where Stella and Daeva sat under the toga of my statue, discussing every mistake.

“It’s no problem!” Stella smiled, grabbing my arm and pulling me along.

I didn’t fight her on it. Another topic was swirling in my head, and I’d been struggling to figure it out. I wasn’t sure what Stella wanted in her future, but I did know how to find out easily. “Stella, what do you want long term?”

“Hmm?” She turned to me with a flat smile and blinking eyes. “What do you mean?”

“What do you see as our future? I find myself unsure of what I want.” I clarified.

Stella just blinked at me several times. “I was going to throw my life away, but you came into that bathroom and put me back together like a broken humpty dumpty. And, Agnelina says I put myself together around you.”

I waited for more, raising an eyebrow and making my way back to the dinner table. “That doesn’t answer the question.”

“You were hiding your power, living alone, without a single friend that you could call on when you were down or to come celebrate with you.” She skipped along, holding my arm. “So, since you saved me. I’ll save you! And make you happy.”

Stella grabbed my face before I got to the chair and forced me to look at her. “You saved me, and now you are going to marry me. I’m the happiest girl in the world, and I just want to make you happy too, Master. I’m a good little succubus.” Her tail swished behind her.

She planted her butt in my lap and wiggled it.

“I am happy.” I told her.

She rolled her eyes. “Yes, nothing says happiness like ‘I don’t know what to do with myself’.”

She had a point. “Well, apparently we are going to play god and goddess.” I offered.

She grinned. “I know! It’s going to be so much fun. We’ll have to make sure the ladies know the best offering they can give is a quality blow job. You said you can feel it when you use your power. I hoped the statue had a dick so they could give it a nice blow, and you could wrap your power around it to feel it. Wouldn’t that be great?”

I paused, not touching the food. “What the absolute fuck?” I had no idea where she even came up with something like that.

Stella shrugged. “Sex is good for the brain. Angelina told me that it releases feel good thingies and makes people happier, and I see it. When you get more sex, get more girls, you get happier.” She dug back into the food without a care in the world.

“So, you want to add to my harem because you think it makes me happy?” I was trying to wrap my head around Stella’s logic.

She bobbed her head. “Don’t lie. That first time you took Obsidian, you were glowing for like two days. Sex after that is still great, but its the first time that really gives you that glow, so when we get back we’ll bend Beatrix and Kim over a bed too. But we don’t have to wait for that. There’s plenty of women here. I’ve seen a few I think could do the trick! Oh, also, what’s the prognosis on Daeva? I mean she’s hot and a little crazy, but you two fought and she did kind of messed things up. But not really for us. I mean, all the shit she started hit the military and the city, but it did keep us busy. We don’t really like the military and the city anymore do we? So She’s kind of on our side.” Stella cut off for a moment in her rambling and frowned at the food. “Do you think they have maple syrup here? Damn shame if they don’t have pancakes.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. She was treating mass crime as the same level or even lower level of concern to her availability of pancakes for breakfast.

But she wasn’t wrong about a lot of it.

“I think BSH gave me some purpose.” I replied.

Stella nodded. “Yeah, it was a good way to find you some good harem members and let you secretly use your power all those times. Every time something fell a little slower or some kid didn’t get crushed when they should have, I knew it was you exercising your power. You like it.”

I thought about what she’d said, realizing she was right. “I did enjoy it.”

“Yep! And you’ll enjoy using your power here too. Let’s spend at least two weeks here. You can use your power to help some people, and finally be appreciated for all of your power! I have been tempted to take some of the little girls you save and tell them it was you, just so they can come up and be like…”

She leaned against me, clinging to my shirt and staring up at me as she batted her eyelashes. “Mr Hero, thank you for saving me. You are the most amazing man ever.”

“Stop that.” I shooed her off me.

But Stella just giggled. “Oh, I wouldn’t pick the ones that would become too attached, but a few kids doing that? It might just melt you into a gooey puddle that I could take home and cuddle for the rest of the day.” Stella squeed happily at the idea.

I shook my head.

Stella was goofy, but she was also sweet.

“Maybe I’ll have to find a way to turn myself into a cuddly puddle for you just because I want to make you happy too.” I pulled her close and kissed the top of her head.

She giggled as I did it. “You already make me far too happy. But, I’ll take it if you are offering.”

Letting her go, I went back to some of her earlier words. The problems that Daeva caused had hurt Point City’s military and made the government seem weak, but given what I’d seen now, I realized that the prisoners may truly be better off.

Somebody had been killed, but she was taking justice. And overall, everybody seemed happy and safe.

In fact, they were far happier than Point City, where people trudged to work, went home exhausted and then drank away their night only to be back in the office the next morning.

“Okay, we’ll stay here for a few weeks. I need to see their Monster Fruit operation anyway, and I need to see this titan stuff. That will take a little time.” I promised Stella.

“Great!” She grinned up at me. “What’s my harem quota? Oh! Do we go for a super strong lady or do we find someone just too beautiful?”

“Stella thats—“

“Right. You’re right. You can give them monster fruit for power, so we just need one that’s exotic and pretty and then we can — bam— give them a big power. Yes, yes that’ll work nicely.” She nodded to herself, and I could tell she was quickly moving past where I’d have any say.

“Stella.” I tried to get her to stop as one of the temple maidens walked in and started listening.

“Do you like a fish girl or would you like something less exotic? Maybe some fun hair color?”

“Stella.” I groaned.

“Yeah, you are right, you like mutas, but we’ll find one that’s super pretty! So pretty you’ll just enjoy her a lot and be really happy. And every time I get you all hot we can pull her in with us to play. But maybe not too strange. You didn’t like that one bug girl I tried to pull in. She had weird eyes and didn’t really have hands. She cut hair really well though.”

“Stella.” I looked at the temple maid, who had stopped moving, standing nearby in absolute shock.

Stella looked over at the woman, a small frown forming on her brow. “You want to take her to bed? I mean, she’s pretty, but kind of plain for what you normally go for.”

I slapped my hand on my face. “That wasn’t what I was trying to say.”

“Oh. Right. You’re right. Your Goddess of Lust needs temple maidens. Hey, you, come here. I need to know about the girls here. Our God of Fertility needs some women to sow the fields with!”

I gave up.

Stella would try and grow my harem and if I was honest, it didn’t bother me as much as it once did. I loved her, and so far our family had only become better. Stella could be a lot, but somehow she seemed to have good intuition for what I needed.