The Next Guest
Copyright© 2025 by Pars001
Chapter 6
Ephus - Demi-god
Egyptian Deities
Bast - Goddess of cats, protection, joy, dance, music, family, and love
Serket - Goddess of scorpions, medicine, magic, and healing venomous stings and bites
Japanese Dietes
Amaterasu - Japanese Goddess of the sun (head goddess)
Wakahiru-me - younger sister of Amaterasu, goddess of the rising sun
Benten - Japanese Goddess of love
Hachiman - Japanese God of war
Shuten-dōji - King of Japanese Demons
Ibaraki-dōji - subordinate and Lieutenant of Shuten-dōji
Oiwa - disfigured and vengeful female spirit
Jorōgumo - spider that can shape shift into a woman
Gashadokuro - a female spirit that takes the form of a giant skeleton
The girl that called herself Mitsu grew to mammoth proportions. She swung a huge sword at Ephus with a sneer and a glare.
“You should have fallen under the glamour far faster than your good friend. I am the most beguiling demon there is,” she hissed.
Ephus chuckled a bit, “I’m sorry, for one as ugly as you are, you are nothing compared to my wives. Next to them? You are second rate as a female.”
Mitsu started to scream as she started to swing almost uncontrollably. Ephus found her moves more than easy to avoid or to block.
Half an hour later, she was actually starting to get better. She was actually starting to edge closer and closer, making Ephus start to grimace.
Finally, tired of her advancing, plus she was getting far more angry than she was, Ephus stopped blocking. Actually attacking, he was surprised she lasted as long as she did.
Finally, he caught her opening and cut her in two. She gasped and fell, staring at Ephus, then expired. Turning, he helped Hachiman finish in moments.
He nodded to Hachiman, then they both vanished.
Back in the mountain that Shuten-dōji was taking refuge in, he was raging. “He is just a demi-god, how can that puke of a do-gooder be so strong?”
His first Lieutenant, Ibaraki-dōji was back a ways, he knew that his lord would destroy any near him. He’d thought that his demon lord’s plan had been brilliant, how had it failed?
Then there was the point that the demi-god wasn’t even that powerful. No, there was something going on if a full-powered demon couldn’t defeat him.
Ibaraki-dōji decided right then that he would find out as soon as possible. The thing is, he’d have to change his energy and hide amongst the gods.
Damn it, he thought, this was going to make him sick with all their positive energy. His demon lord was the only one that he’d ever withstand this for.
He knew that him disappearing would upset Shuten-dōji for a bit, though he’d think that he was on a mission. At least Ibaraki-dōji hoped that he thought that.
He remembered the last time he’d had to come back after being destroyed. Damn it, it took so long to rematerialize back into the mortal world.
Ibaraki-dōji slowly inched out of the room then vanished a moment later.
Ephus and Hachiman appeared back in the main room of Takamagahara. Almost immediately, three pairs of female goddess eyes were upon him.
He also noticed that they all had a look of lust on their faces. “Ephus!” Amaterasu shouted in glee as soon as she saw him. “We were just talking about you.”
Ephus shook his head as the lustful looks grew even bolder. This was going to be something like before he thought, as all three of the females advanced on him.
“Ladies,” Ephus said as all three of them grabbed him.
All three of the goddesses smiled at him as their hungry eyes stared at him. “It has been a very long time since we,” here Amaterasu indicated her and her sister. “Since we have found a male that was even near worthy, In you, we have found far more than that.”
Ephus’s eyes went slightly wide at that. Here he thought that he had more control and was past that. Apparently he was wrong.
Several hours later, the four of them were in a wide bed with satisfied looks on their faces. Ephus could only shake his head as the goddesses were more than enthusiastic.
For a moment he thought about all of his wife’s worry etched on his face. What if, then he remembered that they wished him to spread his seed.
He slowly rose from the bed, looking at the looks on all the goddesses’ faces. He still had to wonder if it was his power or himself.
He walked to the nearest window, looking out at the area around the building. The addition of all the other gods and goddesses made the place far better.
More than a few ideas were flowing through his head. It appeared that every time he went where the demons were, they were ready for him. Was it possible that they had a spy or a traitor?
Epus shook his head, this was an accusation that he’d have to have proof of. Even as well liked as he was, this might anger all the goddesses.
Unlike all the times before, he really didn’t have as much back-up as he did before. He went through as many ideas rapidly rejecting most of them.
The goddesses seemed to be satisfied for the moment though they might want him again soon. He was glad that the first three sets of deities had made him as tough as he was.
A moment later, Ephus vanished as he finally might have a start of what to do. He just hoped that his luck to date held out.
A far distance from Takamagahara, Shuten-dōji was noticing that many of the demons that served him personally were gone. He’d just lost his temper driving a demon through the wall.
A moment later, he reached out trying to find his Lieutenant, then a twist of rage appeared on his face. There was no sign of him! Shuten couldn’t feel that the demon was destroyed, which could only mean one thing; he’d turned!
Shuten’s anger started to rise ‘til he remembered that his demons were still resurrecting. He needed a few more hours before he got half of them back.
He sat on the throne-like chair that he’d made for himself with a grunt. This was really starting to piss him off.
He sat there the whole time awaiting the return of his demons. He went through as many plans as he could, keeping his anger in check.
Finally, a few hours later, his demon army started to pop back into existence. With mostly half of his army back, he started to seriously plan.
As if on cue, the first of his demon Generals appeared. A truly evil smile came to Shuten’s face as the first real plan he had ran through his mind.
Now Shuten thought he just had to fool that goody-two shoes. There were more than a few female demons that he could call up.
Yes, he thought, many had never failed him, and he didn’t expect them to now. After all, Shuten thought with a smile, the demi-god used to be a human. Therefore, he still was basically a human.
“We are here to plan, as the great plan is still in operation. The leaders have only now, adjusted everything. Remember that all that they have set forth is for the glory of chaos,” Shuten said, an evil smile crossing his lips.
As soon as they destroyed the demi-god, they should be unstoppable. At least that’s what the leaders said, though he had guarantees in place just in case, as he always did.
Outside of where the first confrontation had happened, Ephus appeared. He started to look around, paying attention to everything. As he suspected, there were a great many signs of higher demons.
So he thought, the demon king had disguised his higher troops as nothing but foot soldiers. He nodded as he thought of the battles that they had, had.
Ephus then vanished from sight, not noticing several pairs of eyes that were watching him. The eyes vanished almost as fast, though with more urgency.
With that, Ephus started appearing at all the sites of the battles he’d been in there. After investigating each, he was seeing a pattern, a pattern that was confirming his suspicions.
At the end of all his probings he was coming to a thought. The demon king wasn’t as powerful as everyone thought, he used a great amount of subterfuge and deceit.
It truly appeared that the demon king wasn’t as powerful but had a far more crafty mind. That might explain why he seemed to be a step or more ahead of all of them.
Ephus sat to think about it for a while longer. He the3n shook his head, the demon might be smart and crafty, but no one was that good that they could predict all his uncertain moves.
There had to be someone or perhaps something that was trailing and watching him. A smirk came to his lips as he reached out feeling several watchers.
A knowing smile then crossed Ephus’ lips as he sent several bolts out. Three screams confirmed that he’d destroyed three of the watchers.
Several magical flashes appeared around him as more watchers vanished. Ephus appeared next to the remains of the closest watcher, shaking his head, Ephus stared.
So, it appeared that the demon king didn’t really trust any. All these seemed to be empty clones of himself, very empty clones.
Talk about being paranoid, the demon king personified it! Now Ephus thought he had to take care of the rest of the spies. First, though, he was going to have to find the spy within Takamagahara.
That had to take precedence of everything else, especially all the sex that he knew that the goddesses wanted. A deep sigh came from him as he had one thing to look into, before he started to search those in Takamagahara.
Deep within Shuten’s new lair, the last three female demons were healing. Well, they were trying to heal as the sword strikes Ephus had hit them with were slow to heal.
Gashadokuro’s hip was still partly severed. It seemed that no small amount of healing magic was working and her own was nearly useless.