Azathoth condones others' misunderstanding of the relationship between him and his followers.
People tend to see his occasional kindness and understanding as a form of condescending charity. They imagine Azathoth to be too cold, or perhaps the kind of indifference most easily understood by humans. Like someone in high position, accustomed to life and death, accustomed to manipulating the fate of others, and delighting in controlling everything around them, this certainly doesn't align with some of Azathoth's displayed personality. However, rather than believing that he views everything in the universe as less than dust, and that even charity is absent-minded and dispensable, it's better to simply view his occasional indifference as coldness.
It is like a person who has never studied and cannot understand quantum mechanics. When he first encounters new knowledge, he will mechanically apply old concepts to it.
Yet Igor was far calmer than Azathoth had expected. Humans mostly dressed neatly in suits and ties, and while he might have looked more stylish in his military uniform, anyone who saw Igor at first glance would have identified him as a successful individual: someone with strong self-control, clear goals, a refusal to rely on others for personal gain, and the ability to maintain a semblance of composure and composure even when faced with adversity.
Such people usually appear a little serious, which makes others afraid to even make jokes in front of them.
But Igor in the eyes of Azathoth is completely different from Igor in the eyes of others.
He had seen the other person at his most miserable state, so his first impression of him... couldn't be said to be bad, but it was definitely not tough.
Moreover, Igor never showed his strong side in front of Azathoth. It was as if he was controlled, guided, and protected. These feelings, which ordinary people resisted or yearned for, had no effect on him - that was of course impossible.
Because Azathoth knew clearly that even if he had no intention of breaking the bird's wings and trapping it in a cage to watch it every day, when he forcibly exposed the wound hidden under the bird's wings in the blizzard and treated it, some inevitable changes had already occurred.
Igor had to get used to it, he couldn't help but get used to it.
During the intimate interactions that took place after nightfall, the human was quite open. He was a Beta, born in the chaotic borderlands. Although he grew up in the capital, he had spent most of his first twenty years in the army. Sex wasn't a necessity for Igor, but he was no stranger to it.
"I know what you're worried about." Sometimes Azathoth was overly cautious, as if holding a crystal-clear glass object, which humans would approach proactively. "You don't have to restrain yourself. I'm not that fragile."
Azathoth disagreed.
It is standard practice to handle with care, and it is never a bad thing to be cautious.
The gray-haired young man frowned, a troubled expression on his face. "I believe you." He knelt on one knee, lowering his head to hold Azathoth's cold fingertips, appearing very docile, yet with a hint of amusement. "You've also read Hugo's novel, right?"
His voice was a little deep because of the intimate gesture, and he spoke slowly, "It's very imaginative."
Azathoth had never thought that he would mention that bloody novel at this time, and couldn't help but raise an eyebrow: "Why?"
The fingers of God gradually took on the warmth of humanity.
"If you really do that, there's nothing I can do." As Igor said this, an ambiguous emotion flashed across his red eyes. Then he smiled. "Although that might achieve your goal, it might add a lot of twists and turns in the process."
Naturally, if Azathoth hadn't behaved so... so unlike an evil god, humans' thoughts would probably be much simpler, nothing more than fear and exploitation.
The god leaned down in front of him and rubbed his throat with his palm. There was no light in his dark eyes, but his expression was quite gentle, even gentle: "Then will you refuse?"
"...I won't." The young man allowed him to move, exposing his vitals to Azathoth's grasp, like a self-sacrificing lamb. Although his expression remained calm, completely unlike that of a herbivore, his body trembled constantly due to the instinct of self-preservation. "Refusing you is too difficult for me."
He was responded with a kiss that seemed to smell like the sea.
**
"I won't tell anyone." Dagger cautiously carved the words into the wood, the words still flowing and elegant, though the last line was shaky. "Please forgive me... I definitely didn't mean to stay in your room at that time."
Azathoth: “…”
He hadn't given it the finger bone he'd extracted from Igor's mechanical leg until the very end that day. Garcia was right, the dagger had a suspicious aura to it, and judging by the fact that it could easily sever Hugo's thumb despite being 'out of power', it was more powerful than it appeared.
So Azathoth rejected the dagger's proposal and kept the finger bones properly without deciding what to do with them, while the dagger was put aside for play.
It looked like it had been starving for a while.
"what you up to?"
Dagger: "I just want to take a little bit of blood."
It dragged out the adjective in the middle for a long time, hoping that this would alleviate Azathoth's anger.
Actually, Azathoth had nothing to be angry about. The dagger's sudden resurrection was beyond his expectations. Regardless of whether Azathoth minded being watched, everything was over by then, and the dagger had no eyes. The evil god pondered for a moment, and instead of immediately tossing the dagger into the trash, he said, "I remember Bishop Gilbert said you had the emblem of a god engraved on you. Let me see."
Dagger shivered like a little girl about to undress in front of strangers.
“…”
Azathoth showed a cold expression that suited his status.
The dagger suddenly jumped up and wrote crisply: "I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I only have the most basic writing skills now and can't get rid of the scabbard on my body. Can you help me take it off?"
Azathoth: "Didn't you lose the energy to write last time?"
Dagger said pitifully: "It can be restored slowly, but it will be faster if there is blood."
It had probably intended to cut off Hugo's finger and drink a swig, but it never expected that what came out was not blood but protective oil. If the android were here, he would definitely say mockingly, "You didn't expect that? We're not human."
Perhaps Azathoth had been lost in thought for too long and hadn't replied. The dagger waited a moment, then, without giving up, wrote, "Respected God, I can trade the Vatican's intelligence for your help. I'm just a humble, harmless dagger. Please show me some mercy."
Azathoth didn't believe a word of it.
He immediately picked up the dagger and ripped it from its sheath. If he hadn't held the blade firmly at that moment, the sharp side would have stabbed his wrist. This seemed to be the dagger's instinct—it was created to warn, alert, and defend the enemy. Azathoth was undoubtedly classified as an enemy.
So does the Holy See know that you are so shameless as to betray your old customers?
Azathoth muttered inwardly, ignoring the dagger's instinctive struggle, and carefully examined the patterns engraved on it.
Then he concluded: totally unrecognizable.
He was no good at this kind of analysis, but he was good at it: "What happens if I grind off the tread?"
Dagger's struggles suddenly intensified.
Azathoth remained unmoved, his hand holding it as steady as a rock.
After a while, light red blood, as if diluted, suddenly flowed out from between the lines on the dagger and dripped onto the floor along the blade.
Azathoth was stunned for a moment. Could he be crying out of fear?
The dagger didn't seem to want to waste this life essence either. It tried very hard to restrain itself. The evidence was the reddish liquid that would flow continuously, then gradually stop, only to quickly start leaking out again like a faucet that wouldn't be turned off tightly. It was like a child who couldn't stop hiccuping after being scared to tears by a great demon. The scene was so strange that Azathoth thought for a moment and decided that mopping the floor would be more troublesome, so he put the dagger back into its sheath.
dagger:"……"
It lay there motionless, but at least the blood stopped flowing out.
Azathoth put it away and walked out of the room.
Hugo seemed to have been waiting for him to come out. As soon as Azathoth stepped into the living room, the android said, "Erica said that the Vatican invited her to attend the ceremony of the Queen's birthday celebration as a friend of Agnes Joyce, also known as Little Saint Anne."
Without waiting for a response, Azathoth continued, "Also, Erica's guardian, Ford Hill, said he felt like he was being investigated and monitored again recently, but the situation wasn't serious. He was vaguely asking if it had anything to do with you."
"Wait, I'm not done yet. There's one more thing," Hugo rambled on. "Did you know that video I filmed of you earlier has been all over the Starnet? Even though the Federation has deleted a lot of it, there are always countermeasures... Anyway, a lot of people seem to believe you're a walking god on this planet based on just one video, and they're planning to go to that volcano to worship you. I even saw someone organizing a proper offline gathering, probably a pagan exchange meeting that's strictly prohibited by federal law. I guess the Vatican now thinks you did it on purpose."
Speaking of this, Hugo also felt it was quite strange: "How on earth do they see the essence through the phenomenon?"
Azathoth gave it a pair of dead fish eyes in response.
"Tsk." The android smacked his lips. "Is that all you care about, Igor? Even though these people might give you more?"
Do we have to inspect them one by one? Imagining that scene, Azathoth was filled with resistance. It wasn't a question of whether it was troublesome or not, it was that he simply didn't want to.
"Erica said it was inspiration or intuition," Hugo returned to the original topic, thoughtfully. "These people can establish a one-sided connection with you based on a short video, such as dreams, hallucinations, hearing non-existent auditory hallucinations, unprecedented changes in a certain part of the body, etc.... The federal government and the church may think this is a provocation from heresy, but you certainly don't care, right?"
Azathoth was concerned about something: "Why was Erica invited to the ceremony?"
No way, no one realized that she was a serious and genuine pagan?
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