[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Disclaimer: Same as in previous...

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{Part IV}

"Long ago," Balinese began as he folded his legs under him to sit down on the rock. "I was as you are now… mortal." He waved his hand out across the pool, bringing up an image of how he had looked in that time. The blond God frowned at the memories. "I was an assassin… few knew the way of the hidden blade as I did."

He looked at Ran, his emerald eyes glittering. "Back then… I was known by the name of Yohji."

The mercenary rolled the name around, his voice low as he repeated it. "… Yohji." Ran didn't catch the way the deity's head turned at the how his mortal name had been spoken. Nor did he see the small smile cross the beautiful lips.

"Yes. My immortal name came from my murderous occupation. I was silent, merciless, and twice as deadly." Balinese turned back to the pool and let his fingers stir the water absently. "I didn't realize it, but I had been noticed back then by two of the Gods. One being Asuka - the Goddess of Love, Beauty, and Pleasure - and the other being Schuldig. They fought for the right to determine the fate of my soul."

Balinese looked down into the water as he continued with his story. "I was finishing a contract one night, during the time when this fight was happening, and I came across a beautiful woman. She was, I later learned, a priestess of Asuka. Her name was Maki and she was being held prisoner by my target. In killing her captor, I set her free." He frowned again, retaining his beauty even while doing so. "My contract was to eliminate a certain man who served Schuldig. I performed my job to admirable expectations."

His eyes flashed and his gaze went back to Ran. "The God of Lies himself came, capturing me, and willed me away to his realm. He took the wires I used to kill and entangled me within them, saying that it was a fitting punishment and cage. Forever would I be bound by the golden mesh that encased my arms and legs, never to again return to the mortal world."

Ran gasped in shock and ran one finger over the lines that crossed over the back of Balinese's left hand. "They're… they're shackles…"

"Yes. Because it was divine power that changed them, they could only be altered by divine power." Balinese growled in the back of his throat. "Centuries passed while he held me prisoner, tortured me, did things to me that no mortal should ever know. During that time, Maki became a demi-goddess in the service of Asuka. It was she who braved the possibility of Schuldig's wrath to free me."

Balinese closed his eyes. "Maki was discovered. Fortunately, Schuldig was still a minor God back then… Asuka herself came to our rescue. However," the deity said, holding up one finger, "she committed a crime herself in coming for us. She invaded another God's realm without being invited first. Schuldig demanded retribution. He demanded that she turn both of us over to him."

The redhead said nothing, only nodded at the words. After the pause took too long in his eyes, he finally spoke up. "What happened then," Ran prompted.

"Asuka refused. He demanded that she give up her position as Goddess then… wanting the increased influence for himself." Balinese bowed his head. "She agreed to give up her immortality… but he didn't get her position. She passed them to us. Maki became the Goddess of Love while I became the God of Beauty and Pleasure."

Ran stared at the deity, his eyes wide in shock. "She gave her godhood up for you?" How did a mortal who was an assassin rate so high in her eyes that she gave her life for him?

"Yes," Balinese hissed. He could tell what his supplicant was thinking and the thoughts stung him to the core. They were thoughts that he'd lived with since the time it happened. "She told me later that I was spared and given protection against him because she knew me… She knew the man I was once, in a different time… in another life." He sighed in sorrow.

"Asuka died as a mortal… in the company of mortals… and only Maki and I knew of her passing."

A hand reached out, brushing locks of flaxen hair away from the deity's face, coaxing him to gaze at the redhead. Ran's face was soft, as was his voice, when he spoke. "I hope you never have to rescue me like that." He looked down at his hands.

"If you do as I command, you'll never have to endure his form of mercy."

The mercenary nodded his understanding. "I'll make sure of it." Ran was surprised when the deity reached out and pulled him across his lap. "Balinese?"

Looking down at the vulnerable way the mortal was sprawled over his legs, the God smiled. "I think, when I take you, I want to hear you call me by my mortal name… Call me Yohji." Balinese moved them out to the lush carpet of grass and began tugging at the mortal's clothes. His hands removed each garment slowly, methodically, revealing the mortal flesh to his hungry gaze.

Ran blushed profusely as his body was slowly unveiled to the God's eyes. "Y-Yohji?" He moaned as fingers trailed over his skin and lips danced around the slim graceful line of his neck. Instantly, the mercenary's arms wound around the back of the deity, pulled the lean body down on his, so that there was less space between them.

"No more words," Balinese whispered against his flesh, inciting little tremors in the pit of the swordsman's stomach. His hands were everywhere, bringing up little passionate fires, making the redhead writhe in sweet torment. Long fingers teased at strawberry nipples, making them harden to small pebble-like nubs, making them ache for more attention. The deity gave it to them, sliding down his supplicant's body so that he could lick and suckle them, working them until Ran was crying out and begging for so much more.

He tried to touch back, he really did, but he was overwhelmed by the haze of pure passion that Balinese wove around him. Ran let his fingers trail down the God's spine, digging into his back when something felt too good to be believed. Finally, his head came up, his lips meeting Balinese's, and he tried his own attempt at kissing back.

The God moaned and answered the kiss fervently. He made no action to stop the mortal when Ran's hands pulled at his scant coverings, trying to free the deity from them. Balinese let his body be unclothed, reveling in the fact that he could bring such passion from the young man beneath him. No mortal had ever been so susceptible to his power before.

He rose to his knees, pulling Ran up with him, positioning him so that his chest was against the mercenary's back. Balinese's hands continued to stroke the most sensitive areas, continued to stoke the fires within the swordsman, held him at that critical point to where he would be willing to do nearly anything for release.

"Y-Yohji…" The deity's mortal name was much easier to get out, not nearly as taxing to his fevered state as the formal name. Ran didn't know exactly what he wanted at this stage, but he knew that there was so much more to what was being done to him. He could tell that there was some part of him that needed to be assuaged and given surcease from the aching torment that boiled within him.

Balinese let his lips whisper at the back of the mortal's neck. "I'm here, Ran… Tell me what you desire of me and it shall be yours."

Crimson stained the pale face and the redhead tilted his head towards the deity. "I… I need… all of it… Yohji."

The way his mortal name was moaned out nearly caused the God to ravish him then and there. Balinese took a deep breath, regaining some control, and reached low to guide himself towards the opening that promised pleasure to both of them. "There will be no pain for you, Ran," he breathlessly assured moments before the tip of his cock pushed inside of the redhead.

Ran arched, his body tense as a longbow ready to fire, as more and more of the deity's length filled him. There was a little discomfort, but no pain as he'd heard there was. Somewhere, in the back of his fogged mind, he made the connection that with the God of Pleasure, there would be nothing to inhibit enjoyment of the act. His opening stretched around the girth of the hard flesh that slid into him, invaded him, united their bodies as one being.

A single long moan sounded out in the garden as Balinese finally found himself fully sheathed inside of the mercenary. It was so hot, tight, and utterly perfect… He wondered, for a brief second, if this mortal were made for him. No conquest had ever felt so good. The deity's strong hands folded over Ran's hips, holding him steady as he pulled back and then rocked forward.

Like lightning, pleasure skittered up and down the redhead's spine. He cried out, his voice hoarse and impatient, his hands getting a grip on Balinese's thighs. "Ah… ah… Yo-YOHJI!" Each thrust filled Ran, made him more alive than the one before, brought him closer to the brink of mind-numbing oblivion.

For his own part, it was difficult for Balinese to remember anything. He was losing himself in the pleasure he'd begun, in the passion that had been hidden inside of the mortal. Faster and faster his lower body moved, driving his cock in and out of the young man. Higher and higher the intensity built, until even the God was amazed at how powerful it became. The swordsman seemed to be feeding the pleasure back to the deity… creating a loop that only rebounded everything back to Balinese, who then gave it back to Ran. He reached around the young man, his hand finding the neglected column of his cock, and began to stroke it in time with the frenzied thrusts.

Falling forward, onto his hands, the redhead was gasping and sobbing out at the way all of it washed through him. He could barely breath - his sight had fled with his reason long ago - and he was only begging for more. Ran found himself pushing back to meet each thrust, trying to fulfill the aching void that Balinese had found within him. "… Yoh-ji…"

The use of his mortal name, and the way the swordsman said it, was what finally finished the deity. Balinese drove into his supplicant one final time, releasing all of that built up need into Ran, tears in his eyes as the climax robbed him of everything except the moment.

A scream ripped through the garden as Ran's body reacted to the warmth that erupted within him. He went rigid as wave upon searing, detonating wave of pure, unequaled pleasure swept through him. Streaks trailed his cheeks as it finally dulled down, leaving his body numb and trembling, stealing away the strength it took to hold himself on his hands and knees.

Both of them collapsed into a boneless heap on the soft grass. Balinese wound his arms around the beautiful mortal and buried his face into the small area between neck and shoulder, coming down from that unbelievable high. Closing his eyes, the deity could actually feel an increase in his power reserves. No mortal had ever been capable of accomplishing that kind of feat.

Breathing heavily, Ran lay in the embrace, his body fighting off exhaustion. His near violet eyes felt heavy and threatened to close in the aftermath. There was nothing he could do… he tried blinking repeatedly to keep them open and found that they wouldn't cooperate.

At last, they slid shut and he lost himself in dreamscapes.

Balinese lifted his head, noting the regular and deep breathing. The mortal was breathtakingly beautiful now. Something about the power that had infused into him had changed him. It took only a moment for the deity to realize what had changed about this entire situation.

The young mortal was a conduit.

Of course, he'd heard of such creatures. They were born as any other mortal, but hardships in their short lives tempered them… made them perfect. Such mortals, once they found tempering, were living vessels for divine power. Only a perfect human mortal could build on a God's focus, rebound it back, and then do the same thing over and over until it achieved levels that were unheard of.

But then, a conduit was only suited for one type of deity. They were so rare; it could take thousands upon thousands of years for one to be born. Such a time was not celebrated; a God could continue on without ever knowing that his or her conduit existed. To actually find them was a rarity itself. Such a creature could rebuild a God's glory in less than a human year if treated right.

Balinese tightened his embrace on Ran, his eyes hardening. If Schuldig knew that he'd found his conduit, he'd have him slain immediately. No… there had to be a way to save the mortal. There *had* to be a way to keep the young man from harm. He wracked his brain, trying to come up with an acceptable solution.

Finally, his lips pressed to the redhead's temple and he held them there for several heartbeats. "I'm sorry, Ran… my beautiful Ran… but you must forget me. When you awake, in your own bed, you will not remember anything about me… and neither will your sister. That night you nearly died, a young man found you. He tended to your wounds and let you go. You never encountered those soldiers again and you never sought out my temple near your home."

He waved his hand, sending the youth to his own room and bed. "All you will remember of that night was that the man who mended your wounds was named… Yohji…"

That done, Balinese rolled onto his back and looked at nothing in particular. His eyes closed for a few moments before he lifted one arm to gaze at the wires that were a part of his divine flesh. The memories of how he'd gotten them were a bitter stain on his soul, but he could never change what had occurred back then.

"Schuldig… You'd better keep your distance from him… My fury will not be bound if he ends up like the rest of my followers."

{End Part IV}

{End Act I}

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Mish: This story arc will continue in "Absolute Power and Corruption Incarnate". Coming soon!