Loki POV
Rias: "He's about to die!? How!?"
The roar of Ethan in his new form was filled with a rage that I hadn't experienced in a very long time. I remember the rage vividly—it's what I went through whenever I first acquired my true form—and nearly paid the price of the power with my life.
Unknown to mostly everyone except maybe my wife and children, I was scared shitless because I knew Ethan could die from overexertion in the form.
Heimdall finally sprung up from some fallen trees and slowly began to glow purple, the storm of bifrost around all of us getting worse and worse. A gigantic purple glow arose from his original position and Heimdall in his true apostle form finally made his presence known and hovered in front of my brother, who built up another pillar of pure primordial energy around him.
Heimdall: "Even a son of the ghost of Sparta cannot stop me, so if you wish to end your useless existence, then let's get started!"
Ethan growled before forming a ball of primordial energy in his hands and throwing it towards Heimdall, who formed a shield of bifrost around him. In response, the shield immediately began to crack from the pressure of the ball.
Sirzechs: "Can we do anything now to prevent them both from dying?"
The look that Angrboda and my kids gave him would've killed me instantly. All of my brother's friends also seemed to have come to the same conclusion based off of their expressions as well.
Rias: "Brother, trust me, Heimdall DESERVES death. The justice system that Asgard has will not work."
Sirzechs looked to Thor for support on the matter, and yet, Mjölnir's wielder only nodded in agreement with Rias.
"Besides, there's not a force in this world that would save Heimdall from Ethan's wrath."
Serafall: "Then what can we do to prevent him from destroying everything!?"
I looked over to the battle, and was pleasantly surprised to see that Ethan casually ripped a hole into space that led straight to the dimensional gap.
"Oh boy..."
Akeno: "Lok—Atreus...what can we do?"
I sent a glare to Angrboda before looking towards Ethan's friends.
"I can knock him out...but only you guys can try to get him to snap out of it."
Their expressions then became grim as if they seemed to be recalling something—more than likely recalling when Issei reverted into the juggernaut drive.
Asia: "E-ehm...Mr Loki? Why do we have to snap him out of it...? Shouldn't Leia be enough help for that?"
Leia gave her a deadpan.
Leia: "Bruh."
"It normally would...but this isn't a berserker rage. It's something way worse. He's been directly infused with the life energy of Chaos himself."
Vali: "That meaning...?"
"Everything within him is boosted to a degree that shouldn't be possible by any being...both his strength and emotions are now being expressed in a degree that passes the logic of this world."
Koneko: "Speak coherently for the life of me..."
Fenrir: "Uncle is now probably on par with a dragon god...and because the energy boosts emotions, the souls within the armor probably got stronger in their influence and have probably completely driven him insane—while he's still conscious of the entire thing."
Koneko: "...on second thought..."
Sirzechs: "So what can we do?"
I looked at all the peerage and nodded to myself, remembering the way I snapped out of the rage that was consuming me after Father and Mother were taken from me.
"Someone of equal or superior strength has to weaken him...and then the people he loves have to call out to him."
Bikou: "That sounds super cliche..."
"Well yeah, but more often than not, it's the only healthy way to deal with an excess amount of anger and power...I mean cmon now..."
I motioned over to Issei collapsed on the ground.
"You've dealt with it before haven't you?"
The devils all stayed silent as I grunted to myself and walked away from them.
Serafall: "Why do you say that Ethan's on equal footing with Ophis now?"
"Because..."
I turned to them, suddenly unleashing my own primordial energy and covering myself in an aura. When the aura disappeared, I was now in my primordial form, towering over them all.
"I can stand my own with her...and he is just as, if not, stronger, than I am."
Everyone seemed to be questioning my own existence now judging by the expressions they had mostly being indicative of being sick of new revelations.
Sirzechs: "Loki...what the hell is this?"
"Plot armor in the story of fate."
I could see Angrboda shaking her head while facepalming.
"Now then! I'm going to stop him. Angrboda?"
She nodded and she motioned for everyone to follow her and they began to head off towards the Hyoudou household. Turning towards the hole ripped into the sky, I swung my new blade which widened the hole.
"Alright then Atreus...gotta get serious now..."
With a single kick onto the fake Sleipnir's sides, I sprinted through the air into the hole and found myself in the dimensional gap.
Floating in the air, I quickly turned my head to the noise of a battle and saw Ethan, or Ifrit as he's called by our ancestors, completely going insane in his fight with Heimdall.
The scary thing was—Heimdall was already practically crawling on death's door, and yet my brother was not letting up at all. Even from here I could tell that something was happening to him. His stony exterior was slowly turning into fur, his eyes were beginning to glow a deeper shade of crimson, the fire around his body was becoming a rapid material of darkness made out of negative emotions...and overall...
He was beginning to actually look like the antichrist.
Heimdall: "How...how can one be as twisted as you are!?"
All he got in response was an angry growl before Ethan's eyes suddenly flashed purple for a split second. In an instant, Heimdall's body was suddenly covered in black explosions in an instant.
"So he can realm shift now...fuck."
The explosions were strong enough to knock Heimdall out of his apostle state and he crashed onto a rock that was floating through the gap completely covered in blood.
Heimdall: "W...What the hell are you!?"
Ethan remained eerily silent as he landed right next to Heimdall still laying down on the rock and sent a tendril of primordial energy around his neck.
Ethan?: "I am what you made me into...watchmen..."
Heimdall: "What are you saying...I've never done anything to you!"
Ethan?: "Of course you wouldn't remember us...recounting every public execution you hosted would be impossible."
Heimdall's face suddenly paled in realization of who he was talking to and he quickly stood up to run away...only to get stopped by Ethan stomping on his chest.
Ethan?: "I will not let you hurt anyone in the way you tried to hurt me. EVER. AGAIN."
Heimdall looked horrified as Ethan opened his jaws and completely ripped Heimdall's head off of his shoulders, allowing for his headless corpse to fall on the ground in front of him. Then, in his mindless rage, he roared.
Thinking quickly, I unleashed a magic blast that launched Ethan away from the corpse before rushing in, grabbing Gjallarhorn, and attaching it to my hip. Starting Ragnarök is the last thing that I wanted to happen right now.
Ethan quickly recovered and began to growl as he got up and turned towards me.
"Still out of control are you?"
Without any words, my brother roared before leaping towards me. With a swing of my blade, I parried the motherfucker as he flew by me before taking off into the air and began a roundabout to initiate a charge towards him.
Again, Ethan recovered quickly as he landed on another rock and turned around to look at me. Once I began to charge towards him, he leaped into the air, suddenly forming a gigantic ball of volatile primordial energy in his hands as he got closer to me and hugged it close to his chest as he roared.
Whenever we collided, that ball of energy suddenly collapsed into his chest and unleashed a gigantic explosion that ripped another hole into the sky. The force of the blow forced me out of my large eikonic form into a smaller form and sent me flying through the newly created hole, which, judging by the time of day and temperature, led straight to Midgard.
Gasper POV
A gigantic shockwave from some sort of blast hit us all at the same time.
"What was that!?"
Angrboda, who had taken all of us back to Issei's house looked up to the sky and clenched her jaw before turning to all of us.
Angrboda: "Ethan's already lost control of himself if he can unleash an attack that large..."
The all-too familiar sound of the sky getting ripped apart became apparent, and was soon accompanied by an extremely loud roar.
Hel: "Up there!"
Looking in the direction Hel was pointing, we saw a hole in the sky, which was accompanied by two beings falling out of it. One of which was a small glowing blue being being persued by a much larger being who seemed to have glowing red eyes
Fuck that's Ethan about to attack his brother.
They were both falling down and Ethan was rapidly gaining on Loki, eventually getting so close to the point where I could see Ethan reeling his fist back for a punch.
Right before Ethan could finish his attack, Loki formed some sort of blade in his hand before swinging it towards his brother's fist, slicing it off, before teleporting above him. Oddly enough, Ethan just rotated in the air to be facing him in under a second.
Loki: "And..."
He didn't have any time to act though, as Loki quickly lunged downward, plunging the blade right into Ethan's chest and stomped on it to sink it further into his flesh. That was followed by him pulling the blade down through Ethan's torso, carving a glowing blue scar on him before leaping off of the falling behemoth.
Loki: "There we go!"
Ethan at this time, roared in pain and confusion as he continued to plummet towards the earth.
Leia: "Is he about to...?"
Sirzecehs: "Yep he is! Everyone take cover!"
We all immediately braced as it became apparent that Ethan was going to crash in the backyard. Sirzechs was the only one to cast a protective spell over the house. Moments later, Ethan's new body crashed onto the ground, releasing a much smaller explosion that thankfully was blocked by the spell Sirzechs created.
When the smoke cleared, we could see Ethan in the berserker armor, which was now glowing orange, standing up and looking at the ground.
"Is he...?"
Angrboda: "I'll check, you guys stay back."
Vali: "Roger that."
We all stood silent as Angrboda uneasily approached Ethan.
Angrboda: "Ethan...?"
He slowly looked up and released a growl that instantly made one thing clear—this wasn't Ethan at all. That was further proved whenever he threateningly turned towards her.
Angrboda: "H-hang on it's just me!"
He yelled in anger before opening up his palm towards her and firing the cannon in his hands. Right at the last minute though, Loki crashed into his wife, and took the full blast while launching her away from him. A cloud of smoke quickly formed around us and an orange glow erupted within the smog.
Once the smoke cleared, there was a wall of fire surrounding the both of them.
Loki: "You nearly killed my wife dude! What the fuck are you doing!?"
Ethan's voice responded, albeit in a much more low-pitch and echoing tone.
Ethan?: "You're in the way Atreus!"
Suddenly another voice emanated from Ethan, much more deeper and threatening.
ALWAYS IN THE WAY!
Ethan?: "We could have fixed everything!"
Atreus: "Fixed what!?"
Rias: "What's happening to him...?!"
Leia: "The souls....they're corrupting his soul...irreversibly!"
I turned to the elf princess, who was looking horrified at whatever she was seeing.
"So what can we do?"
Hel: "Remember what Mother told us to do!"
Kuroka: "I'M NOT ATTACKING HIM!"
Fenrir: "He's not going to be phased or feel a damn thing! Just do what she told you to do!"
With a lot of hesitation, Rias summoned a power of destruction in her trembling hands, before tightly closing her eyes while looking away and throwing it towards him. Instead of hitting him though...it landed on Ethan rather calmly before forming a string that stretched from the armor to Rias' hand.
It seemed to have an immediate affect as he began to groan in pain and the orange light glowing throughout the armor began to flicker. Upon seeing that it's doing something to him, Kuroka, Koneko, Akeno, and I immediately fired our own attacks towards him, which transformed into their own strings and began to distort the armor even more.
Unfortunately, whatever was controlling him knew what was happening and quickly threw the leviathan axe towards all of us, which was quickly blocked by Thor throwing Mjölnir at the same time, causing the two weapons to clash and unleash a shockwave that threw us all back.
Ethan began to growl again as he turned back to Loki, only to find that he wasn't in the location he was previously. He only realized where he was when a hit from a blade launched him to the other side of the backyard, which was then followed by Loki de-cloaking and becoming visible once again.
Ethan's corruption became even more apparent when he quickly recovered from the blow. Loki quickly sprinted forward to follow up his attack, but some strange jet black material came out of Ethan's hand, stretched forward to grab him, and then yanked Loki towards him so that he could choke slam his older brother onto the ground.
Ethan: "I never was important to anyone in my life...YOU JUST WANT TO TAKE THEM AWAY DON'T YOU!"
Ethan lifted up Loki and slammed him onto the ground again.
Loki: "Please Ethan...remember the family that you have! You need them...and they need you!"
Ethan: "I WAS ABANDONED TWICE! I have no family!"
The feeling of everyone around me suddenly stiffening at the sharp remark released a silence that was deafening to me. Sirzechs, Rias Akeno, Koneko, Sona, and especially Kiba and Loki's children alongside their mother looked like they just had the wind knocked out of them, their eyes widened at the tone Ethan talked.
Loki: "...then I just have to remind you...!"
Right after that, Loki unleashed a blast on the ground, which flung the two of them in the sky before he stabbed Ethan in the shoulder, unleashing another blast that separated the two.
Ethan: "Why are you doing this!? I know you saw this coming. YOU WANTED THIS!"
Loki: "I never was looking forward to this. You have to understand, I COULDN'T STOP THIS! Why are YOU fighting me right now!?"
Ethan: "All I wanted was to be helpful to someone...To EVERYONE. Then I found out that I WAS the reason for all their problems!"
There was a clear tone of heartbreak within the angry voice of Ethan, which fucking destroyed all of us on the inside. I thought he was fine with how things are now, especially with him supposedly being married to most of the girls. I could only guess what they were thinking judging by the frowns and devastated expressions they all had on their faces.
THEY THINK I'M THE PROBLEM...
Again, that voice caused us all to snap our heads upward, where a cloud of darkness began to surround Ethan's body.
Ethan: "But I'm not anymore!"
The cloud suddenly began to change shape until all we could see was a giant black wolf's head with glowing red eyes.
I'M THE SOLUTION!
Loki: "Get...out of my brother!"
Loki sheathed his blade with his hands, and then quickly drew it, releasing hundreds of slices that seemed to cut into space time itself, and dissipating the cloud. They continued their fight with each other, but the damage was done by now. We now fully understood what the hell was going on with Ethan.
Vali, seeming to have been silently watching the whole thing suddenly seemed to come to a realization about the whole thing as he turned to us.
Vali: "I think I know what's going on."
Kiba: "He's possessed? We gathered that dingus!"
Vali huffed.
Vali: "I meant why he began to spasm out whenever you guys attached that weird string to him. You're strengthening his soul...somehow every time you attach a string to him, he begins to fight...whatever that thing is."
"So if we attach enough strings to him..."
Rossweisse: "We can snap him out of this!"
He nodded and gave a small smile to the former valkyrie.
Vali: "At least you guys are open to hearing me out."
We all gave him a small glare, but shrugged it off and looked back towards Ethan and Loki.
Vali: "I'll get my group to look for an opening to help out Loki—you need to find an opportunity to attach as much strings to him as possible."
Rias: "You don't need to tell me twice..."
Sirzechs: "Did I miss something that happened between your groups or...?"
"Yup, a good amount of things has changed, now cmon! We gotta save Ethan!"
Sirzechs chuckled to himself.
Sirzechs: "Right you are Gasper—it might take a while for me to control my power enough to not completely destroy this backyard, so you go ahead without me!"
We all quickly spread out to try and aid Loki in any way we could, but he seemed to be doing just fine, as he once again launched Ethan across the background. Again, Ethan fired a tendril made of the jet black substance towards Loki, yet this time he seemed ready for it, because he sliced it off before it could reach him and then landed on top of it right before plunging his blade right into Ethan's chest, slamming his younger brother onto the ground.
Ethan: "You don't understand Atreus! I'm finally the one being that can help solve everything I've caused!"
Loki: "You didn't cause anything Ethan! The armor is messing with you!"
Ethan tried to fire his cannon towards his brother, but he dodged it and held down Ethan's hand with his foot.
Loki: "I know this isn't you Ethan! Now snap the hell out of this before you actually push Rias and the others away! You're better than this!"
A certain amount of silence passed before the armor began to flicker.
Ethan: "I know!...I knOW!...I'm...trYING!"
His voice finally to become his normal voice, but was quickly reverted back into his rage by a violent twitch, an explosion of orange around the armor, and a yell of pain. A bunch of tendrils shot out of cape of the armor and shot Loki away from him.
Loki: "Our father lost himself to his negative emotions. Same as you! He saw that he lost his family and..."
The armor flickered again and Ethan groaned in pain.
Loki: "He blamed himself for everything that happened in his life. But THIS type of thinking is the reason he lost so much. Unlike him, it is not too late for you to stop!"
Ethan: "SHUT UP!"
We both began to float above the flames that separated the spartan brothers from us.
Rias: "Let us get into position to hit him from all angles!"
"Copy that!"
Loki POV
Ethan was now constantly groaning in pain as we continued fighting and was now constantly beginning to utilize more primordial energy as time passed.
Those tendrils he was unleashing was essentially the essence of the first being in Greek Mythology, Chaos, being unleashed from Ethan's body. That wasn't the problem.
The problem is the countless psychopathic souls from the berserker armor now bringing out his hidden negative thoughts for everyone to see.
That was showcased whenever Ethan yelled in anger while leaping to me, spinning the blades of chaos around him. However, with a single second swing of my blade, I parried the attack, before sheathing the sword and initiating a realm shift, allowing me to unleash a series of slashes and sending him careening onto the floor.
He quickly got up and was going to jump towards me again, but then 8 strings attached themselves onto Ethan all at once, causing him to fall on the ground and begin growling and yelling in pain as if he was receiving an exorcism, while Chaos' essence, flickered on the armor while also squirming around him as if it was in pain.
Just a couple seconds later, 8 more strings attached themselves onto him, causing him to scream in pain and to begin to convulse on the ground erratically. Looking around, the strings were all coming from the members of the Gremory peerage, Leia, Sona, Vali's group, and my own family.
"Ethan...come on now...just.. focus on them..."
Finally, Sirzechs unleashed an attack of his own, astronomically stronger than everyone else combined, which then turned into a gigantic spear piercing his chest rather than a single string. That caused Ethan to arch his back and scream even louder than he was before—now fully sounding feral in the animalistic growls and grunts he was releasing.
"There's people here for you Ethan...you're stronger than the instincts and emotions within you!"
All of a sudden, the strings and spear suddenly detached themselves, the armor stopped glowing orange, and the essence around Ethan suddenly retracted back into the armor. Ethan suddenly stopped screaming and gasped as the armor's eyes began to flicker between white and orange.
He began to sit up and got onto his knees, and if there was any doubt if the armor was in control anymore, his voice stopped echoing. His entire body suddenly began to shudder as the sounds of the armor releasing its spikes into him became apparent to all of us. Even worse, judging by the gasps, shuddered breaths and sniffles coming from Ethan, he could feel EVERY. SINGLE. ONE.
That didn't stop him though, as he shakily raised his bloodstained hands and began to pry the helmet off of him. The sound of a distorted wolf's other-worldly shriek began to ring out and Ethan's eyes finally became clear to all of us as a bright blue light began to emanate from his eyes, now unobscured by the helmet.
That did nothing to prepare us for hearing Ethan release the most pain-filled blood-curdling scream of pain I've heard from anyone I've ever known in my life as he pried the accursed piece of armor off of his head. Once it was gone, it revealed that his head was covered in nothing but blood with an amount of puncture wounds in his head that even horrified me.
Amazingly, he didn't stop as he now dug his hands into the chest piece of the armor and began to pull it off of him...his chest now pulsing with a bright blue light. With one more pain-filled scream, Ethan's bloodied and wound-filled chest was revealed and the armor morphed into the wolf creature that resided within the armor on his back.
With a groan of pain, he quickly reached onto his back and threw the creature across the yard before collapsing onto his hands while breathing extremely hard and coughing up blood.
The wolf stood up and growled before getting into a stalking position and began to creep up on Ethan before suddenly pouncing. I could not let that little shit get close to him after seeing what it did to him, so I quickly lunged forward and stabbed it between its shoulders and through its chest before kicking further away from him.
Everyone else immediately landed beside me and we all glared at the creature, who quickly recovered and was going to probably rush back to Ethan if it weren't for all of us entering our angry mode and slowly approaching it.
It perked up as the sound of the axe getting recalled was heard and we turned around...
(Berserker armor is off of him lol, this panel is awesome as fuck though)
...to see Ethan somehow standing while carrying the axe despite every single wound he received. He was shuddering immensely from the strain, blood was dripping from practically every single location on his body, and yet he remained firm in his glare towards the creature.
Now that our focus was actually on him, I could see that he was capable of fully controlling his own eikon judging by the pulsing blue that was present in his eyes and the glowing orange color and spikes his arms and legs now supported.
The creature snarled before it turned and ran away from the household. And judging by their body language, all of Ethan's friends were going to chase that thing down if it weren't for his limit break fading away and subsequent collapse onto the ground a second later. Seeing his condition, I finally shut off my own limit breaker before rushing over to check on his health.
It was then I saw just how thorough the damage the berserker armor wrought on his body was. There was almost no skin on the majority of his body, giving me the grisly sight of multiple exposed muscles, leaking blood, and broken bones.
I heard no reaction from his friends—which surprised me—until I looked towards them and saw that they were rendered speechless—and horrified judging by their pale faces and wide eyes.
"Told you...we had to move quickly or he would be dead."
Rias: "I-is....?"
The heiress looked like her world shattered in front of her, but a close look at him revealed a small orange glow emerging on the edges of his wounds, he was healing...but it would be slow.
"No...I think we were just in time."
I looked up at my brother's friends, but they didn't seem convinced—in fact all of them were beginning to cry a little.
Another immensely powerful being entered the area, and I didn't need to look up to know that the only other super devil in the world other than Sirzechs was here—Ajuka Beelzebub.
Serafall: "He's over here! Quick!"
Looking up, Serafall and Ajuka finally made it into the backyard. Once Ajuka's eyes locked onto me, he seemed to stiffen for a moment before Sirzechs nodded to reassure him.
Ajuka: "What's going on here...?"
Sirzechs: "Ajuka! Please try to restore Ethan's health as much as possible!"
He pointed to Ethan's unconscious body on the ground. The best friend of Lucifer just looked over to his body and his eyes widened at the sight of my brother.
Ajuka: "I guess so...I can't guarantee anything good though. I'll need an explanation for...all of this later."
With a flick of his wrist, he teleported Ethan's body away, presumably to the underworld, before then teleporting away himself—sighing in the process.
Sirzechs: "Come on everyone...quickly."
He motioned for everyone to gather around him to stand around him, and everyone but me, my wife, and my children all joined him. Upon seeing our lack of movement he lifted an eyebrow towards all of us before he transported them all presumably to the same location that Ajuka was.
I then stood up and turned to Angrboda, who rushed up to be and embraced me.
Angrboda: "Are you alright...?"
I silently nodded and tightened the hug.
"Are you...? He almost killed you..."
My wife nodded before she tried to separate, but was pulled back into my embrace.
Angrboda: "I'm fine...I'm more worried about him..."
I nodded.
Angrboda: "I know you've seen him collapsed on the ground in that state in visions...are you glad he's alive?"
I finally let go of her and looked at the complete chaos the backyard now was after our battle.
"Yes...but now I'm worried for how the world will see him. The fact is..."
I pulled Gjallarhorn off of my hip.
"Heimdall is dead...and the world will compare him to our father...that's what I'm scared of."
Hel: "Well...at least we can tell his friends and adoptive family who he really is..."
Jörmungandr: "Maybe...even then...Odin will not be happy with this...being close to Sirzechs will only protect him for so long."
Thor: "Perhaps I can help with that."
We all turned to see Ethan's self-proclaimed rival looking at all of us. We all subconsciously got ready in case he had any murder ideas.
"I'm...sorry to be able to say this without remorse, but I'm glad that he's dead."
I tossed Gjallarhorn over to him. Thor just huffed to himself quietly before storing the horn on his waist.
Thor: "Will Eíthürr be ok?"
I nodded.
"He will...I doubt your father would like being in his presence though."
Thor chuckled.
Thor: "He won't until you showcase what these apostles truly are...even then I'm worried for him."
I nodded to him.
"So am I..."
We stood still in silence before Thor sighed and took off towards the sky to Asgard.
Fenrir: "Father?"
"Yes Fen?"
Fenrir: "What exactly...was all of that? When did you and Eíthürr have the ability to transform into world ending beasts that can supposedly stand up to the Ouroboros?"
I sighed.
"I'll explain it to you alongside your uncle's adoptive family."
The sound of footsteps became obvious and we saw Asia standing out the door looking terrified, bless the girl.
Asia: "E-ehm...Issei, Irina, and Xenovia h-have been healed...where's the president?"
I shook off my gloomy expression and gave a fake smile.
"They're going to check on Ethan's condition. We're about to head down there with them. Do you want to come?"
She all silently nodded before walking up to us. We then transported ourselves into the underworld where everyone else was. That was in front of a hospital room in Ajuka's own personal headquarters.
Our eyes immediately locked onto Ethan now being put into some sort of tube to help him re-stabilize. Ajuka closed the tube before turning back to all of us.
Ajuka: "Judging by the power fluctuations I was sensing while carrying him...he should be fine...somehow..."
Rias: "Somehow?"
Ajuka looked at her and just blinked while slowly shaking his head.
Ajuka: "In all of my years of existence...I have never seen a being in a more dire condition...and that's saying something."
Sirzechs: "So what's wrong with him right now?"
Ajuka: "First of all, his entire body is completely spent. Almost all of his skin is torn off. Somehow...it appears his muscles were literally beginning to burn judging by the blackness and heat on some of them. Not only that, his bones are much more fragile than normal, and his blood is so contaminated with poison, that if anyone else other than me put their hand on him, they would've already been completely melted by it."
A silence ensued over my brother's friends.
Kiba: "Holy shit..."
Everyone, flinched in pain at the swear. Rias quickly glared at her knight to warn him not to say that again.
Ajuka: "By all means, he should not be alive right now...I mean, just look at him."
It was true that it was hard for me to even look at him, but the peerage seemed to have even more trouble looking at his damaged husk of a body just floating in the tube.
Rias: "Is there anything that can be done now?"
Ajuka shrugged.
Ajuka: "To my knowledge right now, no. I'm familiar with devil biology....not...him."
Everyone looked to me and I nodded.
"He'll be alright...thanks to that power he just gained."
Sona, Leia, Koneko, Rias, Akeno, Kiba, and Gasper all began to glare at me. Rias' eyes began glowing red, Akeno's body was crackling with electricity, and Koneko was practically about to burst with her own senjutsu gathering around her.
Koneko: "The power that nearly killed him?"
I sighed.
"It's complicated..."
Sirzechs: "Complicated enough to cause your brother to die if you messed up any part of what happened in the backyard huh?"
"Look, just give me an opportunity to explain some things before you guys get on with attempting to murder me...again."
Ajuka raised his hand and immediately glared at Sirzechs and Rias, who immediately backed down.
Ajuka: "I understand tensions are high, but we need to know what exactly caused this so that we can know what he's dealing with."
Sona sighed.
Sona: "Very well...explain it all to us then."
I cast an illusionary spell which caused all of us to be surrounded by pitch black, before the surroundings suddenly changed to the final battle of Olympus between the titans led by my father and the Olympians led by my grandfather.
"As you all know. Me and Ethan are the direct sons of the Ghost of Sparta, more than likely the strongest being in the Greek pantheon. That isn't the only thing special about our father's heritage however."
The surroundings changed to show a family tree of the Greek pantheon.
"Our bloodline is connected to perhaps the oldest being to have ever existed, Chaos."
The top of the tree suddenly erupted, and a void-like substance suddenly overtook our surroundings.
"As you know, Chaos doesn't have a physical form, it just exists in this world, staying in the background of our normal lives. In fact, it purposefully chose not to infuse its offspring with its own power in order for the world to be birthed...at least the world that Olympus resided over."
The surroundings suddenly changed to display me and Ethan standing side by side.
"But that does not mean that it's impossible to be infused with his own power."
One half of the surroundings changed to me staying dormant while inside the Yggdrasil until a small blue stone absorbed itself into my chest and transformed me into Odin. The other half showed Angrboda pushing a small orange stone into Ethan's chest.
"Whenever a descendent gets infused with that power, they unlock their true form, or eikon. That is the form you witnessed both of us entering right before this. The eikons known as Odin and Ifrit, are in actuality, me and my brother's true primordial forms."
An image of both Odin and Ifrit flashed.
"The presence of Chaos causes everything within us to amplify and become astronomically stronger. Not just physically, but also emotionally. The presence of Chaos not only amplified Ethan's own negative emotions and fears about his life, but also amplified the strength of the souls in the berserker armor...causing them to take control of him even when he thought he was in control. In fact...he probably thought the souls were fixing all of his problems in that moment."
Rossweisse: "Then...what were the problems he was facing?"
Fenrir: "I feel like you would be the best candidate on that matter considering you had a talk with him about it."
Rossweisse: "Yeah...but he kept his mouth shut on whatever was bothering him when I confronted him..."
She sounded frustrated at that.
"Hm...I can tell you...but the question is...would you ever want to know if you experienced the consequences?"
Rossweisse: "If it fixes whatever he's feeling, then we need to!"
I looked at my family, who slowly shook their heads.
Angrboda: "Yeah...it probably won't help...and odds are, it'll bring more trouble for him."
Rias: "Then what is it?! What is so forbidden from mentioning that it's always going to negatively impact his life whether we know or not!?"
Our surroundings suddenly faded back to the original room we were all in.
Loki: "How about we go into his head and find out?"
I waved my hand and summoned a ring that surrounded my brother's head. Everyone immediately thought I was attacking him and tensed up before once again, our surroundings faded to black.
I took a deep breath before continuing to move through his head. Odds are, even if he went through it as a kid, the deaths of Mother and Father would 100% be completely renewed in his mind because of the Allfucker.
The first memory he had was, shockingly, when he was just a baby in Venelana's arms. Somehow, they decided to take them in...probably because it was the Gremory household which was known for being relatively empathetic compared to other Devil households.
Whatever the cause, Venelana trusted the little baby to be around her daughter, as it was revealed that she was taking him to the living room, where a very young Rias was seen playing on the carpet.
Venelana: "Rias~ I brought someone over for you to play with!"
Rias made a small gasp before rushing over and locking her eyes onto him. Ethan opened his eyes and began to cry once he saw Venelana hovering above him.
Venelana: "Hey hey...it's alright...everything is ok little Ethan..."
He did not stop crying though, and Venelana sat down on a recliner. Rias, still being a young girl at this point, climbed onto the recliner and looked curiously at my baby brother.
Almost instantly, Ethan stopped crying and began to stare at her in awe and even reached his hands out to touch her while laughing.
Rias only held her hand out to him, and he touched her pinkie in return, his hand only being half the size of her hand, and began to laugh.
"So this is his first memory..."
I discreetly looked down to Rias now, who was now looking at the hand that Ethan touched when she was a child before bringing it to her mouth and closing her eyes.
I showed a small smile to her before waving my hand once again..
"Things probably won't be so happy as we get to now though..."
Everyone in the peerage tensed up as another memory began to show.
A significant amount of time had passed, and now, Ethan, who was a good amount scrawnier than he now was, rushing around the Hyoudou household.
It was then he entered the living room, where all of the current peerage members.
Ethan: "Alright! I'm ready to go!"
Upon hearing his voice everyone flinched and they slowly turned around to face him
Rias: "Ehm...Ethan..."
Ethan suddenly dulled at the tone of Rias' voice and he tilted his head in confusion.
Ethan: "What? Why do you sound so upset..."
Rias: "Look...we're all heading to Asgard and..."
Ethan: "You're making it sound like I'm not coming! Cmon Rias just let me try to help out everyone!"
Rias sighed and only shook her head.
Rias: "You'll be staying and serving Sona and her peerage while we're away...alright?"
The heartbreak on Ethan's face was obvious. The memory only played out while everyone in the peerage directly saw how they were interacting with him with a new pair of eyes.
In the end, they all left him behind, in a gigantic portal in the house alone. Ethan only looked down and sighed.
Ethan: "Do they really need me in this peerage...am I someone who exists to them...?"
Everyone began to stiffen as the full weight of Ethan's inner thoughts and feelings began to pound onto all of them.
The sad thing was, we were in that mind-space for an hour, and for 40 minutes of that time, there was not a single positive thought about himself. Even Vali's group was distraught at how low he was before he was kidnapped by them. The only positive thought that recently emerged was when Ethan finally revealed how he was feeling to Gasper, and even then it was very much fleeting in the amount of positivity.
It was quite safe to say, the peerage was taken off guard by everything. And why wouldn't they? It's a lack of communication that caused this burst of negative emotion. They thought they were doing what's best for him without getting his side of the story. They knew they hurt him, but now they're realizing how much damage they actually did to him.
I realize this was a huge breach of privacy when it comes to literally just reading Ethan's thoughts and feelings out to everyone, but it's necessary for the girls to realize why Ethan acts this way around them, and for us to realize why the primordial burst of energy caused him to speak the way he did just now.
Angrboda now stood in front of the peerage to prevent my children and Vali's group from ripping them all apart. I already foresaw all of this, and while I was upset at the peerage for treating him like absolute trash, the fact that he chose to still remain around them shows that there's something of value that he sees in them that I don't—other than supposedly being attractive to him.
Sirzechs seemed to quietly piece everything together as he then pulled out his phone and realized the potential meaning of the text my brother must've sent him a while ago.
Sighing, I finally finished the memory stream, shrouding us again into pitch black.
Looking at the peerage, their expressions were all different. A good amount of them were now sobbing, and others were simply letting loose some tears while trying to keep it together. In fact, I don't think there was a dry eye among all of us.
We all sat there in silence for about 10 minutes before Sirzechs collected himself.
Sirzechs: "Well...that was....a lot."
Ajuka: "No....kidding..."
Without making a sound, everyone in Vali's group, alongside my children and Leia slowly turned their tear-stained gaze to the peerage and immediately began to charge up their power. With a single magic pulse from me though, everyone immediately shut down and looked up to me.
"Despite how everyone is feeling...we're not attacking anyone. Must I show everyone how you gave the blades to Ethan, Vali?"
He blinked a tear away before shaking his head.
Leia: "How...are you not feeling a thing...!? That's your brother!"
"I already did feel everything...I saw this well over 10 years ago...doesn't make it any easier to watch."
The magical surroundings of us all faded and we found ourselves in the hospital room once again.
"So...that...is the answer to your question Rossweisse...when you have a being of such a low self-esteem like my brother...and then combine it with the berserker armor, which relies on negative emotions to thrive, and then BOOST it with Chaos itself...it's what leads to ultimately, a snap, a catastrophic one at that considering the Watchman of the Aesir is no more."
There was no solid response from her, she only looked down to the floor in shame.
"Besides...he knows things that you guys don't even know yet...and hasn't shared them with you for good reason."
I gave a brief side glance over to Gasper and Kiba, and the subtle change in their body language was all I needed to know that they also knew both of the big things I witnessed Ethan realize. Both the future engagement prophecy and the one involving Heimdall and the two church warriors.
"An example would be what just happened. Believe it or not, he knew that Heimdall was coming and what he was going to do..."
Rossweisse seemed to realize exactly what I was talking about and looked like she was taken aback. Leia, Kuroka, and Vali awkwardly gave everyone else side glances.
Vali: "Then...why didn't he disclose it with you guys?"
Everyone turned to Rias and her peerage who all tensed up.
Fenrir: "He did. With everyone in the ORC...except them."
Fenrir pointed over to the peerage, or more particularly, the girls. The look they all adopted became even more hurt.
Rias: "What...?"
Rias looked over to her knight and bishop. However, instead of being upset, she seemed to be even more crestfallen somehow.
Gasper: "He didn't want you to worry about anything happening to any of you in the future...so he said nothing."
Akeno: "Why...?"
"The best way to prevent someone from feeling concern or worry about anything, especially a future event, is to not let them become aware of what's going to happen in the first place."
Everyone fell silent.
Bikou: "Pretty messed up way of thinking..."
Ajuka: "And yet, the best solution to the situation considering the state of his psyche. I would assume a big reason for his behavior is a fear of causing you more problems and danger than you would need to deal with normally."
I silently agreed with him.
"Only question is...what to do with him now?"
Everyone looked at me suspiciously.
"Oh cmon now. I'm his brother, I'm not going to kill him."
Everyone continued to stare at me and I just deadpanned.
"So...what are we doing?"
Sirzechs raised his hand.
Sirzechs: "Let's...wait a bit before coming to a conclusion...odds are we'll need a bit of time to process everything happening with your brother."
I silently nodded as he turned to his little sister and her peerage.
Sirzechs: "Cmon...looking at him in that tube won't make him heal any quicker."
He gently held Rias' shoulder and looked at her with an expression that seemed to be a mix of anger, sadness, worry, and fear. Rias, in response to the touch only further broke down into tears before embracing him in a hug, which he slowly, but eventually returned.
The next thing you know, a portal was formed and Sirzechs, alongside the Gremory peerage was gone.
Ajuka: "So then...what have I missed with you guys?"
The super devil turned to Vali's group, who at this point, had just collected themselves. They didn't seem to really have an idea for what to say, so I spoke up.
"They have become close friends with him. In fact, they're the reason he became a god in the first place. So much so to the point where I feel they might fit quite well in Kuoh Academy."
Vali's group looked at me shocked while Ajuka looked at me with a raised eyebrow.
Ajuka: "And why should I, alongside my friend and his little sister's peerage, trust you?"
Hel: "Father is many things...and despite his reputation, a liar isn't one of them—at least a good one."
I looked at her with an incredulous look, to which my little girl just winked while averting her eyes to her mother. Fainting a gasp in horror, the sound of Angrboda giggling began to lift the heavy weight the room's atmosphere had.
"If you don't trust them, then go off of Ethan being willing to trust them."
Ajuka looked to Vali, Kuroka, Bikou, and the Pendragon siblings, all of them having hopeful looks in their eyes.
Ajuka: "I'm more concerned for the health of the peerage if they're allowed to be redeemed. Ethan specifically doesn't want to cause any more problems for them...so why should we give the two heavenly dragons a chance to regularly see each other...alongside some other personal problems."
Ajuka pointed to Kuroka, who saddened at the implication.
Ajuka: "Besides, whether Ethan has befriended them or not, they're criminals. The justice system still needs to run its course before a chance of redemption even comes around."
Everyone looked down, and all hopes of a peaceful resolution seemed to be over.
Ajuka: "But...if you of all beings somehow end up being called trustworthy by the peerage...then maybe I can give you guys some leeway."
Vali: "How so?"
Ajuka: "Letting you get out of here without getting sent to a deeper circle of hell."
Bikou: "That's not much..."
Ajuka: "I can't do much at all after what Vali did at the peace meeting...pretty much the entirety of the factions despise your group...even after your assistance with handling Loki...supposedly."
They stood silent for a bit before nodding. Then an idea came to me.
"If you want to live closer to him...I have an idea..."
Arthur: "And what might that be Loki?"
I looked to Angrboda.
Angrboda: "No. No. No... NO... NO... NO... NONONO!"
"Cmon now, I'm sure Brok and Sindri would like some extra company there."
Angrboda: "I DO NOT need Bikou in the same space as Brok!"
"Please...?"
I transformed into a puppy and whined. She only glared at me in response.
Angrboda: "We've talked about this before...you're not allowed to do that."
I gave her the best puppy eyes I could muster and she continued to glare at me.
Angrboda: "Loki..."
A couple more seconds passed.
Angrboda: "Ok fine dammit fine!"
I transformed back into my normal form.
"Thank you love~"
Angrboda sighed.
Angrboda: "I hate you."
"Maybe."
I shrugged and turned to Vali's group.
"Shall we get going then?"
Arthur: "You're not serious are you?"
"Why wouldn't I be?"
The group looked at each other and shrugged.
Vali: "Would we be able to move any of our belongings to the place that you're bringing us?"
I tilted my head at him and rolled my eyes before nodding.
"Of course. It would be a bit of a dick move if I just teleported you guys there and then just said 'alrighty then terrorists, go get your stuff now!'"
Vali huffed at me in an uncomfortable manner before crossing his arms.
"Now go off to wherever you guys make house, I'll come by to pick you up in a little bit."
They looked confused as they looked between themselves, me, and Ajuka. Eventually, Fenrir just rolled his eyes as he joined them, his sister following him closely.
Hel: "Alright then buddies, chop chop, let's get out of here."
They just looked even more confused as Hel created a portal and took them out of here.
Ajuka: "You have a knack for making things weird..."
I shrugged.
"What can I say? It's what I'm the god of. Besides, I know the condition my brother was in before all of this—and everything that just occurred now will weigh heavily on them. The sooner they leave the area he's in after being exposed to the reality they put him in, the less damage is done to their psyches."
Ajuka: "Again...not really the best way to help them out."
"And yet the only way with the reputation I have...they'll need to come to peace with what they did to him and realize that there's something of value within them all for him to want to stay around now."
Ajuka: "That isn't easy for anyone, especially a group of teenagers."
Angrboda came up to my side.
Angrboda: "He never said it was. Atreus here had to do so when he was only 11...took him about a year to accept it all."
A bad memory of my first spartan rage flashed in my mind, and I shook my head to dispel the thought.
"Besides...my brother has just unleashed something completely foreign to him into the world. He needs to come to peace with what that power needs, and accept what it actually means to be a deity."
Ajuka smiled at me, finally seeming to know the entire reason for my actions.
Ajuka: "It seems you know more than you let off Loki."
Angrboda: "That's my husband for you. How else would he be so adept at tricking the Allfather and messing around with everyone in Asgard?"
Ajuka nodded before looking back at Ethan floating unconscious within the tube.
Ajuka: "Perhaps you can educate me on what's going on with Ethan's new body later on...with the consent of both of you of course."
I nodded.
"I suppose we could...truth be told I don't fully understand these 'eikons' either."
Ajuka sighed.
Ajuka: "Of course you don't..."
Jörmungandr slithered up to the tube and stared at Ethan floating within before seemingly sensing something
Jörmungandr: "Well then...we should probably get a move on...I'm going to head out and check on an old friend."
I nodded as he slithered out of the room.
"I suppose now is the time we should be excusing ourselves as well."
Ajuka nodded as I created another portal before vanishing away from the underworld and taking all of us to a gateway to Sindri's house.
"Alright then, Hel, Fen. Keep an eye on the peerage for us ok?"
Hel sighed, but did nod. Fen just snorted.
Hel: "I'll try,..but I have a bad feeling they're not going to take what they just saw really well."
Fenrir: "Eíthürr needs to recover quickly...because I can't see them being happy until they realize he actually forgives them..."
"And yet, after he recovers, I have a good amount of things to explain to him...that cannot be done with him around them."
Hel: "So then what do we do?"
I shrugged.
"I'll think of something."
Fenrir: "You better."
Hel rubbed her brother's ears before she motioned him to head back to Kuoh, now looking pretty shaken by the events that just transpired. Angrboda walked up to me and held my hand as we both looked at them walking away.
Angrboda: "So then...we take in Vali's group...and then what?"
I exhaled.
"I take a fucking nap."
Angrboda: "Well then...at least we have that in common when it comes to what we want to do now."
I wrapped my arm around her before opening up the gateway and stepping through. This day was hell...and yet I feel everything will somehow get worse...ugh.
Harmonia POV
How the hell can life get any worse than this...? Something must have happened, because Bahamut and Leviathan have become a lot more powerful in terms of impacting our instincts. That has resulted in both me and Ingvild receiving pounding headaches and a much more keen awareness of these other 'eikons' spread throughout the world.
Right now, I was laying down in a cave I made into a makeshift home around Olympus trying to fall asleep. Of course, my beauty sleep had to be interrupted by a gigantic roar originating from the mountain.
"Ugh...now...!? Seriously!?"
I got up, and quickly went out the cave to see Ingvild staring up at Olympus...which now had a blue light suddenly flaring up from within the mountain.
"What's going on Ingvild?"
Ingvild: "Something's happened to Eíthürr...because the blade seems to have awakened."
Any tiredness within me left me in an instant at the mention of the blade.
"Are you fucking kidding?!"
Ingvild: "Nope."
"Out of everything that could've re-awakened...why does it have to be the thing I hate the most in this world?"
My friend only shrugged as she summoned her devil wings and began to fly into the interior of Olympus. I begrudgingly activated my semi-prime, summoning a pair of dragon wings on my back, and began to follow her into the carcass of my homeland.
As I looked around, everything around me began to feel unnatural in a way I couldn't quite describe. Flying through the remains of once giant structures that were the pinnacle of my family's history, and yet was torn down due to the ignorance and lack of empathy the gods gave to one of their own.
A building feeling of discomfort began to become apparent in my mind as we went further and further into the mountain. Eventuallly, all of our surroundings became pitch black, and the only way we could even find our bearings was the glowing blue light that the blade was now emanating.
Ingvild: "Have you ever been down here before?"
"Can't say I have...I only observed this chasm before...Olympus itself offers everything I need to survive so..."
Ingvild: "Hm...well...I don't think we're in the realm of Olympus now..."
The sound of something whirring in front of us became louder. And from I could see from the light of the blade...it seemed to be some kind of...void?
Ingvild: "No turning back now..."
I nodded before a large amount of primordial energy surrounded me as I primed into my true form: Bahamut. Almost immediately, Ingvild semi-primed before hopping onto my back.
Ingvild: "Alright then...let's go."
I growled in acknowledgment before be both flew into the void. To be frank, I had never been in a stranger environment in my life. There was literally almost nothing around us—just darkness. There was no texture, no sound...just...nothing.
"So where are we now?"
Ingvild: "We are in the presence of Chaos's essence. The void before creation...at least that's what I recognize."
"And how would you know that?"
Ingvild: "Remember, I've been around the essence of Chaos, alongside the presence of Ymir and God himself. I can recognize this emptiness anywhere."
I grunted, remembering the completely insane story she told me that was somehow her origin.
"Is it usually...this empty?"
Ingvild: "Normally, no, his power would be getting fired or flashing all around this void...it seems his power has been found and split by the dominants."
"That meaning?"
Ingvild: "Beings like us are the only remnants of power he has now in this world."
I flew through the emptiness of the void. Every moment in this place becoming more and more unbearable for me by the moment.
"Are you sure we're going to be ok here?!"
Ingvild: "By all accounts, we should be...the blade should be in here somewhere..,"
I growled in exasperation and rolled my eyes before beginning to scan the void around us... nothing but black black, and more black.
Well, it should've...because then a blue glow became apparent in the void. Without any words said, I flew closer to the light before I could finally see the source clearly.
It took everything I had in me to not completely blow the weapon to smithereens. And yet, I didn't, a growl still finding its way leaving my maw.
Ingvild: "Allow me..."
Ingvild reached over and grabbed the blade in her hands.
Ingvild: "Ok then...stabby time~"
"I SWEAR TO..."
Ingvild: "Calm down...I wouldn't do that knowing your background."
I groaned before shrugging off the possibility.
"Anyway, why is that thing here? Shouldn't it have been destroyed alongside Olympus?"
Leviathan: "Should have...but it didn't...curious."
The sound of a tremendously loud growl began to shake the area we were in.
Leviathan: "Oh boy...someone doesn't want us being here."
The growl became louder as the void around us literally began to crack apart. Me and Ingvild got into our battle positions as she prepared a Tidal Wave, while I prepared a Megaflare. The next thing you know, a gigantic red claw lashed out from the crack, seized the two of us with frightening speed and precision, and then dragged us with it through the crack before throwing us.
Whenever me and Ingvild. got our bearings together, we found ourselves floating in the dimensional gap.
"Ingvild...are you alright!?"
Ingvild: "Yup...just splendid..."
She sounded sarcastic so I turned to her, but she only shrugged as her glance turned to our surroundings. Whatever this place was, it was empty, but much less empty than Chaos' void...the amount of energy here was completely off the rails—although this energy was far different from Chaos's own.
"Ingvild...where are we?"
Ingvild: "If I'm to guess...we're probably in the dimensional gap. The empty area of time and space that separates the realms of each mythology from each other. It's sort of like a metaphysical wall between everyone. It'ss undetectable by mortals though, so they often go through this place without even realizing it."
"How is that possible?"
The dominant of Leviathan shrugged.
Ingvild: "If I were to guess...it would probably be the god who lives in this domain."
Before I could ask who she was referring to, a gigantic shadow suddenly came from the middle of nowhere and completely enveloped the two of us. When we both looked up...
It was the strongest being to ever exist in the world. Great Red himself.
I always knew that he was the strongest being to exist...but the power I was encountering fucking dwarfed anything I sensed from any other worldwide power—even the blade of Olympus looked like nothing but a bug(nigh—a microscopic creature) compared to him...AND THAT THING KILLED GAIA, KRONOS, AND ZEUS HIMSELF.
It is not an exaggeration to say that I have never been more gobsmacked in my life. The sheer pressure emanating off of him meant just looking at him was a struggle, as a single glance of him was enough to cause me to snarl in immense pain and begin to loose stability of Bahamut's body.
It eventually became so much of a pain that I was forced to reverse the priming of Bahamut and was only able to maintain a semi-prime. Ingvild didn't seem to be fairing much better despite being protected by my body. Nonetheless, we were able to stand up and at least look at him. Another wave of power washed over us and my mind basically exploded with the amount of pain my head was now receiving, causing me to kneel on the ground.
Great Red: "The magical conduit of Ultima...and the raging blood of Ultima."
The Dragon god looked town to see the Blade of Olympus.
Great Red: "The key to restoration of the Arisen..."
I grew confused at his words. Ultima? Who or what the fuck is that supposed to mean?
It seemed he read my thoughts because he released another wave of power that completely rearranged the matter around us.
The outline of 9 beings formed around us. Two of which...were Bahamut and Leviathan.
Great Red: "Ultima...a being snapped out of its prime. It was put down long ago, and now its soul now resides in 9 beings that represent fragments of its original power. The power over the elements of this world he created, the bright sorcery he shared with the world and the dark enchantment that he maintained within himself, and of course...his bare vessel of a body."
"The eikons...are only a part of a more powerful being?"
Ingvild: "How...does he know?"
"Know what?"
Ingvild stayed silent for a moment.
Ingvild: "Later."
I wanted to question her but Great Red began to growl.
Great Red: "Find the vessel...protect him. Only when he is completed will the world find itself safe."
Ingvild: "The world will be purged of Trihexa...I don't think we'll need this vessel. We already have the youngest son of the ghost of Sparta. He can fulfill the role of guardian."
The dragon god shook his head.
Great Red: "Not from Trihexa..."
Ingvild: "Then who!?"
Our surroundings suddenly shifted again. Now we were hovering above the earth. And above us was a black hole. Out of the black hole, red lightning began to strike down, and the silhouette of a gigantic, lanky dragon was in the hole staring at out of us.
It roared in anger before our surroundings transformed back into the cave we called home near Olympus.
Great Red: "Ultima must be revived...lest the world fall within the stream of causality and the wave of aboulia undo everything this world has."
I shook my head as the powerful presence seemingly left my mind. Ingvild now had a face of confusion on her face.
"So do you mind telling me what the FUCK was that Ms. I-befriended-Chaos-Ymir-and GOD?"
Ingvild, for the first time since I've met her, was completely dumbstruck.
Ingvild: "I...don't know. Vessel...where have I heard vessel from?"
"So you DO have an idea is what I'm hearing?"
She remained silent as she sat down on her makeshift bed pondering. I began to think as well.
"Well...if Bahamut and Leviathan are part of this...Ultima...could that mean that...Ultima IS Chaos?"
A look of realization dawned on the half-devil.
Ingvild: "Chaos...did say his power was much greater than the other two..."
Ingvild stood up almost immediately.
Ingvild: "I know where we can find the vessel."
"What? Why would that be of any benefit to us now? You were just questioning what the hell this vessel is. And besides, didn't that Skeleton Knight tell us to stay here?"
Ingvild stood up.
Ingvild: "Because I think the vessel is the eikon of my future lover."
I looked at her concerned.
"Even still, we're meeting him in Alfheim with everything else right?"
Ingvild nodded.
Ingvild: "Chaos did have a physical body...I never noticed it seemed similar to Leviathan and Bahamut."
"Still...what makes you so confidant that Eíthürr is the dominant of his body?"
Ingvild: "If you looked at it, it would look almost exactly like a stereotypical devil. Devilish horns, flames coming out of its horns, muzzle that looks like a hound ready to rip into anything. What better dominant than a god who has been raised as a devil?"
"So...are you saying that you want to follow him?"
Ingvild: "I'm seriously considering it now...neither of the dragon gods should even know or care about any of this...especially Great Red."
I looked down to the blade of Olympus in her hand.
"So then...what's our move?"
???: "Not your move...HIS."
The blade immediately launched itself into the ground and immediately melted into the ground. The ground began to glow blue as a massive pulse hit the two of us. Once the wave hit, a wall of drowsiness hit me as I collapsed onto the ground, with everything suddenly going dark.
???: "The bait is set...now for Ifrit to hunt."
The sound of screaming was something he rejoiced to hear. The sounds of such foolish notions needed to be put out by those who saw the truth. Beings like him.
It was far beforehand that he first encountered the foe he came to persue. A child of royalty who deviated from everything the call of fate suggested for him. Despite being in royalty, its power was crushed by its sibling. A most fitting end for such a failure of a monarch, he thought.
The monarch was cunning, however, seemingly escaping into another reality. It's form changed from encounter after encounter. The sibling even remarked that it seemed to bend reality when it was around.
None more had been stained by his trickery than him. He hated it. Every single night, the cursed individual's presence became more and more apparent. He thought it would be extinguished by the mortals daring to call themselves offspring of its treacherous soul. The notion of man challenging the rightful rulers of reality, calling themselves Gods! Blasphemy he thinks! At least the two younger males were taught their lesson in his attack well over a millennia ago.
He had been roaming, absent of any challenge until he arrived here. Suddenly, a royal bodyguard was here, and something that seemed to house the same power of the monarch who sent him on this hunt to retrieve this fugitive. A promising premise for one as battle hungry as he was.
His thoughts were ended by the screech of the being he came here to find.
The heat of the hope it gave off disgusted him. But his honorary method of dealing with problems was long gone.
With one leap, he crashed into the Phoenix and knocked it onto the ground before mounting it. With a slam of his forelegs, the flames began to absorb themselves into his body.
The Phoenix shrieked out in pain as it tried to claw him, and yet he was dead set on his target.
Eventually, the flame of hope finally was smothered for good. A growl of satisfaction left his mouth as he looked at the bloodied female human now collapsed on the ground.
A group of humans, more than likely her family quickly gathered around her and quickly grew angry at his presence. He only huffed at their pathetic attempts of a threat as his wings suddenly began to glow orange and the wings used for hope finally became something he wished to turn them into. Flames of incineration and destruction.
The ice around him became to steam as he prepared to release a shockwaves around himself...before he cast judgement on the monument that marked the so-called status these beings had in this world.
After the Escaton was unleashed, he looked at the beings slowly walking away from his wrath. And for a moment he thought of incinerating these beings for their treachery when something entered his attention.
It was a pulse from the very individual he was sent here to hunt. It was present before...after all it's what caused that strange female in the realm of ice and this young female to become pitiful offshoots of its power.
Now though...it was unavoidable. Perhaps, he thought, the offshoots of it were influencing his mind to head to the source of the pulse.
Regardless, he figured that the main source could finally be executed. And thus, he spread his wings and took off into the lavender sky of the realm. With each beat, calamity and ruin were unleashed upon the land under him.
Maybe with this...the hunt that has spanned through countless eternities, can finally begin to be terminated.
Maybe...the hunt for Ultima will finally end.