The World's most Overpowered Side-Character

"Guah!!"

In the farther reaches of the unknown, much closer to Sol and the others than to the Nexus a man pale in complexion with serrated teeth, gills across his neck and seven thick tentacles of pulsating flesh with bulbous tips hanging wavily from the back of his head yelped, springing to his feet and grabbing his arm.

His black eyes rapidly scanned the room he was in, locking on to the seven women of different species inside of the large cold pool with him before he took a breath. "What in the emperor just happened, was he serious?" He asked, raising his crooked noseless face and humming as his gills flapped inhaling sharply while his lips peeled back.

"Sol Vestic, was he bluffing, did he truly...?" He asked himself quietly as he began to slowly pace around the edge of the pool forcing the women to go to the middle.

"Master?"

"Impossible," He paced back and forth, biting his fingernails and sweating profusely turning his back to them and walking to the edge revealing wart-like fissures and large moles all across his back and lower abdomen. "He must have been lying-"

"Master, come back~!" One of the women, a bald blue fleshling with an armoured torso like that of an insect and a soft thick tail swaying behind her took hold of his arm after he got one leg out of the water. "Please me more, master, I am insatiable for your lust-"

"Go back to my quarters and leave me here." He dragged his hand away from her with a grunt, equal parts annoyed as he was unaroused considering his current predicament.

"As you wish, Master Buche." The woman turned to the other women, gesturing that they hurry away to avoid getting on his bad side.

"Was he being truthful?" Buche asked, standing before a mirror while a shackled maiden wiped the water from his skin. "What kind of intelligent being did he refer to? I have determined myself smarter than him or any of his wives, I have always been able to observe them other than when they enter that strange space they call the Grey and the strange dimension where his Collective lies, so..."

"But we have never discovered the entity he calls Alpha, you have speculated for years, but even when he openly speaks to it, you are unable to see it, that may be the only variable."

Breaking into a second consciousness, the General began speaking to himself causing the woman dressing him to tremble in fear when his tentacles began probing her body, leaving her a mess of pants, groans and lubricant liquids within a matter of minutes, unable to lift a finger let alone carry out the order of dressing him.

"We may need to report this to the Emperor-"

"He has been seeking any reason to kill me, I am not sure of Sol Vestic, but I know that the Emperor will end me within a matter of seconds!" Buche snapped at himself.

"That is why I have never presented myself before him, he tollerates me and gives me a high seat only because he would rather not seek me out himself and the other three are too busy, I am in a position of tollerance, nothing more."

"True, our only use to that man is to gather effective data of the surrounding sectors, but surely as the central intelligence-"

"There have been others by the name Buche in the past, remember, my homeworld is no more than rubble because of him," He continued speaking to himself while more shackled maidens retreived the body of the first woman after she had passed away and another approached him ready to finish what the other couldn't only to be immediately attacked by his tentacles, raised off the ground and mercilessly violated while he walked shirtless down the hallways.

"I must find a way to resolve this without the other three or that man's help, because I would have to expose myself to ask for Aide."

"Think logically, if we do not expose ourselves further, that madman will find us-"

"But it takes weeks to get here from the Nexus, he is days away, even if we ask for help..." Buche paused, looking behind himself at the woman being laid to the ground by his tentacles and several more walking in-line with shirts, ready to try and dress him, or face his lust and perish in a round of pleasure.

"Even if I ask for help, none will cme-"

"Teleporters."

"They are meant only for emergencies."

"Our life counts as one, if we tell the Emperor that we are to be attacked by Sol Vestic, the very man who has threatened his life, then do you not think he will act?"

"A fair assessment."

"You," Buche turned to one of the shackled maidens following while staring at the woman suspended by tentacles next to him. "Forget the shirt and seek my wives, unless you would see your entire sisterhood be mauled by pleasure too great for your feeble minds."

"Yes, My Lord!"

"In the meantime," He closed his eyes, I should try re-establishing a link with Jun, if I can see her I will see them and know their... what?!" He snapped, surely, he could still see Jun, but only her, she was surrounded by nothing but darkness without sound. "He could not interact, nor could he eavesdrop.

***

"An isolated distress signal was sent to the Nexus, Master, Buche is seeking help."

"Should we hurry?" Jun asked, standing with her arms folded at the dashboard, trying her hardest to not look to the side where Sol was seated with Ikaris comfortably rested between his legs staring into the void as well, while Dina was floating behind them locked in meditation.

"There is no rush, I have already informed Xie of his mission, once he has set his eyes on a target, nothing will stop him."

"Xie?"

"He is the strongest individual within my collective, an ancient warrior superceding the Grand Collective itself."

"What you just said makes no sense, nothing existed before the grand-"

"Source did, it is a realm far superior to our own, and in that realm, Xie was feared above all else; known as the Mad Raven for leaving nothing but galaxies full of enemy corpses after every battle."

"Why would you employ the aid of someone who is clearly evil?"

"He is justified." Sol shot back. "And he is loyal to my cause."

"Master, I've finally found an image of Zan'el!" Alpha chirped, leaping from her seat and waving her hand excitedly, causing the projection to appear right in front of Ikaris. Her reaction was utter stillness.

"Ugh," Dina opened her eyes and stood, resting her hand obver her heart with a pained expression while Sol grabbed Ikaris's shoulder when her mana began tearing her clothes. "What;s going on?"

"Ikaris...?" Sol asked, shaking her when she didn't respond to his light distraction.

"Master," Ikaris slowly turned her eyes to her husband, I do not know why, but seeing that man's face has left me in a state of severe unease and a longing for violence, we should kill him immediately."

"She called him master..."

"What's wrong, do you recognise him?"

"I do not know him, or at the least I do not recognise him, however my hate recognises him." Ikaris answered sharply while the black in her hair thinned to white, and her eyes started shining a horrible crimson.

"He... is someone related to my past, I can feel it, a face I have never seen before, yet I have a greater hate for him than I ever did for any Demon!"

"That makes perfect sense, if you are the same Ikaris of Old that was known across the Grand Collective and feared by the Emporium, although many powerful figures have since surpassed your strength you would remember that man in any lifetime, what he did to you..." Jun raised her brow knowingly, showing no fear when Ikaris's eyes locked onto hers.

"Speak what you know, Jun."

That fear she thought was absent flooded her systems and Jun in response rubbed her forearm nervously. "Since my resurrection nine years ago, I have been working under the employ of Buche as a spy to gather delicate information across several sectors of the Nexus, during that time I infiltrated many inner circles and discovered a lot of valuable-"

"Out with it!" Ikaris snapped, enraged enough that she bit her own lip in an attempt to keep her rage subdued, but all it did was make her even more upset resulting in Sol grabbing her when she tried lungin out if his lap at the woman. "Who is Emperor Zan'el?!"

"Just answer the question, you can elaborate afterwards," Sol gestured to her. "The fact that Alpha was not privy of this information means that it is held in tight secrecy and only verbally passed."

"Of course," Jun nodded, looking at Ikaris again. "King Javan of the House of Ikaris was killed by Zan'el, stabbed in the back after years of working by his side as a trusted advisor."

"After his ascention to Emperor, it was revealed to a small few that not only was he the one who Killed the Royal household nigh singlehandedly, but he was also the true instigator of the Great War that ravaged the Grand Collective for thousands of years..." She paused.

"He admitted to killing the Queen, your mother as well."

"Zan'el is the sole force of destruction that swept through and brought ruin to the House of Ikaris from the inside, his name may be different, but he is the same person."

"Before he was consumed with ambition and greed, he was your closest friend."