A Chronometric Defect

I managed to capture the escaped ship.

I almost wish I hadn't.

First, the captain died shortly before I caught up. There goes a whole lot of great intel, I'm sure.

When I saw who the captain was, though— or what, I suppose? I was a little less upset. Bleh.

In any case, they were trying to stuff me with, to use their term, 'food.' They wanted me to eat those stars. That was the whole point of their operation. I'll admit, I expected some manner of retaliation from the deadly sins or false virtues. Who would expect gluttony to instruct his team to fly over and perform a stellar scale force-feeding? Rokay, I suppose it's not entirely unexpected when I put it that way.

I move the Origin Threads on my arm.

My arm opens up a little. I examine all the sharp blades held within. Indeed, I don't only have Origin Blades on my exterior. They line my innards as well.

I watch the distant sunlight gleam off my crystalline Origin Blades, the light flickering and waving beautifully. I quiver my arm a bit, so the blades within me move around. Light dances among my many blades with a fanciful flair.

It'd be even nicer if it wasn't a freakish part of my freakish body making this beautiful light.

I understand their intentions thanks to the many memories from the still-living crew. It was mostly half-baked information, but the deity officer knew what they were doing. They wanted to make a gluttony god.

Did they succeed? He seemed to think so.

I hold my arm up to the sun, placing it in front of my face. I wave it around so its many weird blades cut the light at different angles. Strange and mysterious patterns crisscross the sea of shards, the light changing colors via the many randomly placed prisms.

Except these spikes aren't randomly placed.

If I change into that weird maw form, these crisscrossing blades turn into nice patterned rows and columns of monstrously huge bladed teeth. As if that's my proper shape. As if I'm a maw pretending to be a dragon.

What's the purpose of such a form? From what I could tell, the followers of gluttony grow many little maws, maybe a big one on their torso. Like the one I previously had on my chest. The point being, to eat plenty of food, I suppose. For what reason? None of them seemed to know.

I have an idea, though. I'll bet their compulsion allows Gluttony to subsume their Will. He can retrieve the Gluttony leech that's overtaken their Will and eat it to get stronger.

I wave my weird arm around again.

...

Dazzling.

...

What about me? What purpose does this serve? I don't have his leech in my Will, so I don't have any compulsion to eat. Even if I do eat, it won't help him. Does creating a 'gluttony god' serve any other purpose?

Then, it hits me: Unlo. Everyone I've attached to my Origin Threads. Am I growing my own leech in their Will without realizing it? Dracosect? No. No!

I'd be so lost if I accidentally hurt him.

"Dracosect, are you guys okay?"

"Yes, my god! We're celebrating our victory! The ships you transferred down are being researched by Aitia and her crew, Temp is talking like a nutcase about how he added a Mana Purification inscription to himself, and I'm throwing boulders into the ocean! Ah, and a few of the dragons said we should play 'dodge the boulder' next, which is great! I'll be able to show off my power whilst providing them with amusement! Where are you, my god? Come join the fun!"

Aitia has a crew already? How fast things change.

Also, 'dodge the boulder?'

...

Rokay? Must be a dragon thing. I'll bet it's a lot of fun once I try it.

I look at the sunlight flitting haplessly amongst the many blades on my arm.

"I don't want to be seen right now. I need to work through this for a bit. When I do show myself, you'll definitely understand why. For the moment I only have a request."

"My. My god, are you okay?"

"I'm a lot stronger, Dracosect. By that measure, I'm great. The problem is what happened when I gained that strength."

"Hraw, my god! You're ashamed of being stronger? This cannot be, you're a dragon!"

"That's the problem, Dracosect. I'm worried I may not be a dragon anymore. My name changed."

His tone of voice suddenly becomes much more serious.

"What did it change to, my god?"

"Chronometric Dragon Voidgod. Whatever THAT's supposed to be; it looks like a freakshow and a half. In some way I still look cool, I suppose, but it's not really about my looks. It's about whether I'm losing my draconic nature."

"My god, your appearance has always deviated from normal dragons, yes? Your leadership and philosophy are what makes you our central pillar. We accept you as a dragon because you gave us many reasons to accept our draconic nature. Myself in particular."

"Thank you, Dracosect. This may come as a surprise, but my latest change deviates significantly from even that. However, I hear you, and thank you for your kind words."

"My god, the request you mentioned earlier. What is it?"

"I, hragh, want to check that I'm not infecting all of your Wills with a Will leech. Like the ones I told you about."

"Of course you may check my Will, my god! Why would you think you would do that anyway?"

"Hraah. Dracosect, these jerks threw numerous stars at our planet. Real, burning stars, like the one in our daytime sky. I had to eat them to avoid the destruction of our entire solar system. Except, when I did, I ate something I perhaps shouldn't have. Right after wondering if it was 'a trap,' no less."

"My god, how could they trap YOU of all dragons?"

"I ate them and read their memories. They were trying to make a new gluttony god. They threw those stars at us with the explicit purpose of forcing me to eat them. One officer believed they succeeded based on my transformation. He was highly-educated on the deadly sins' unique appearances. This could be exceptionally bad."

"Eh, my god. Even if you did become a little strange, I simply don't think you'd do that to us."

"I don't either. But you know what happened between the Emperor and myself. Every dragon does. I don't want to repeat that. Ever."

"My god, look around all you want. You won't find it."

"Hraw, thanks Dracosect."

I rummage around in Dracosect's memories. Not looking at their contents, but looking for traces of contamination.

Anything abnormal.

Unfortunately?

I find it.