BXBX NOVEL Chapter 67: Fear
Renia, the Goddess of Chaos.
Ashera, the Goddess of Beasts.
S\'mael, the God of Destruction.
Samu\'el, the twin of S\'mael and the God of Time.
Ana\'el, the Goddess of Love.
And finally completing the seven was the eldest; Adonai, the God of Creation.
[How much more can we tolerate the doings of that abomination as well, he dared lay his hand on divinity, and now he has even forced evolution and set foot in the heavens as a demigod!] Another of the courts addressed the seven, and Dr\'ul sighed again.
[Adonai, the system was created by you, you have the authority to strip him of the systems gifts-]
[I have no such power] Adonai stared down at the god that had spoken to him, raising and lowering his arms. [I am the god of creation, not the god of restriction.]
[I created the system, yes, but I do not own the system, it has long developed its own sentience and become a part of even our existences, the system is a deity all to itself, I have no right to tamper with its free will] he argued.
[Is it even possible to take the system\'s blessing from someone?] Renia asked, and Adonai shook his head.
[That is an inappropriate question]
It was the system that had spoken independently, feeling a need to defend itself from the scrutiny of the gods.
[I exist as the tool of the gods and mortals; to give and to take according to the rules they themselves have created and abided by, however, I have never and will never divide or take away a blessing granted to another living being, be it the intruding demons or the lowly insects that crawl beneath their feet, my omnipresence must be complete otherwise consequences ensue.]
[There you have it, the system itself has objected] Adonai gestured to them again.
[On the matter of Sol Vestic\'s evolution into a demigod; I personally see nothing wrong with it, he earned the right of evolution through his own blood and sweat, and in case you have not realised it, had that boy not swallowed his pride and become a demigod in order to defeat Saat, then Ikaris would have continued her onslaught.] Adonis added, and Dr\'ul nodded quickly.
[He killed Psiko!]
[Psiko challenged him to a fight to the death, the system ensures an isolated and fair fight always, it means Psiko was not strong enough, he was defeated under the terms of the challenge, and devoured as a punishment for failure, there was no foul play, there was no interference, do not mention him in my presence again.] Dr\'ul spoke up.
[And before you even mention that traitorous Diablos just remember, we have long wanted to judge him for trying to usurp the power of the goddess of beasts, his deeds were underhanded and he paid the price for it.]
[Was this all you wanted from us?] Ana\'el asked, staring down at the gods. [When I was summoned I was of the impression that you had a pressing matter, but I feel you have wasted my time today.]
She was the most normal in appearance compared to her siblings, aside from her eyes that were covered by a blindfold and her hair of pure white, she was purely average in appearance, however there was an aura that constantly fluctuated around her, an unknown and unseen power that she had never once used.
[The issue of Ikaris is as pressing as it gets though!] One of the lesser gods raised her voice. [She is a threat to our existence!]
[Yes, she tore an unmendable crack through all reality because she was angry, how much longer will we survive before she loses her mind and attacks us for real!?]
To this the seven had no answer; S\'mael had not been present, but he felt her power, the destruction she had caused was on a level that he was incapable of copying even as the embodiment of destruction itself. If Ikaris truly decided to, with the power she possessed she could end all reality, just as she had said.
[If all the gods combined and attacked her-]
[By the time that fight was over she would have killed 99% of the pantheon, the heavens and Arkadia would be destroyed beyond repair, the cosmos would collapse, the seven pillars of creation would crumble, this entire universe would implode upon itself if we did something so foolish.] Adonis stood and folded all his arms.
[You all fear her, it is understandable, she is a foreign god; one powerful enough to casually speak of the powers of the beginning which none of us have ever beheld, and I suspect she might be a malevolent god under the delusions of benevolence because she has genuinely found something worth being benevolent for.] He put his hand to his chin in thought. [She is scary.]
[I sensed it when she attacked; hatred toward godkind, not to us, but toward all deities on a whole... a hatred so pure and rotten it could easily change her nature if she was overcome with grief or any other powerful emotion.
It is just a guess, I cannot be sure, but there is the possibility that the Ikaris we see is the last of an annihilated pantheon, a sole god that has survived a holy war; a sacred being that has already devoured her kin, if she is not the sole remnant of an ancient pantheon, then she may just truly be malevolent, either way she is not one to be trifled with.] He stopped talking when the hall fell into stiff silence, looking at Dr\'ul especially, who was staring at him in shock.
[We can only wait and see what becomes of our predicament.] Samu\'el clapped his hands. [Time should not be wasted in this manner,speaking never solves anything- I will leave first.] He spoke, and vanished after standing and bowing to his siblings.
[I have an endless stream of beautiful prayers to attend to,] Ana\'el Arose next and left the hall.
[Very well then, you are all dismissed.] Dr\'ul raised her hand, an in an instant everything and everyone before her vanished, leaving only Adonis who stood confused as they appeared in her throne room.
[I was not dismissed?] He asked, turning to Dr\'ul.
[I want to hear your complete opinion on Ikaris, brother.] She responded, and the god of Creation summoned his throne next to hers and took a seat.
[Very well.]
"Ugh, my ear is ringing again, someone must be slandering my good name." Ikaris was riding with Sol on their way to the next waypoint with the army.
"Well, you attacked the pantheon what did you expect?" Sol asked with his hand lazily rested on her leg. "They probably want to get rid of you more than anything after that."
"Let them try." Ikaris\'s mood went dark as she recalled how they had opposed her.
"Don\'t let it weigh on you that much," Sol poked her cheek with a smile. "I\'m sure there will be no retaliation."
"I hope not, I have a limited amount of divine mana I can hold in a physical vessel, I am not like you who has a body capable of handling insurmountable amounts of mana from three different origins!" Ikaris chuckled to herself as she thought about it.
"So, what\'s up with heroing, we\'ve marched for a day without incident, and it doesn\'t seem like the broken barrier ahead will have much action either." Sol looked ahead again while she adjusted in his lap.
"The plan is to progress to other sites now, the Queen ordered the subjugation and sealing units in the army to revisit every single barrier site that surrounds Argom, so until then the advance toward the north by the army has been permanently delayed."
"Ugh, that\'s gonna take months," Sol scowled. "By then that monster might have lost patience and attacked-"
"That is the mission for the army, the heroes and our tutors are going to advance toward the demon god\'s location, as it stands, if we kill her the gates will close and the demonkin will die, I am unsure, but I believe the corrupted creatures will die as well.
"Most of them are walking corpses already..." Sol nodded. "So, you\'re going on an adventure then?"
"Correct!" Ikaris cheerily nodded at him. "The crusade of the heroes of Argom, oh how I wish this could have been the fate of Atla as well, to have many heroes join forces."
"I always wondered why I was the only one..." Sol looked at her shoulders stiffen at the mention.
"You dislike it when I say it." She replied, and Sol\'s eyes narrowed as he remembered the first time she showed this shy and sheepish attitude.
"I see, it\'s one of those things that you had no control over hm?" Sol raised a brow, and she nodded without looking at him.
"A sole hero was always meant to save Atla, it was the will of-"
"The will of whom?"
"...The will of the universe."
"Ugh," Sol rubbed his forehead. "Yeah, forget it, as usual you get cryptic and stop making sense whenever you talk about these things, let\'s just focus on here and now." He pulled her closer to himself and released the reigns of the horse in her grasp as his hands rested on her hips.
"I\'d much rather the present than to return to that darkness."
"Yes master, I too would rather not think about the horrible things that happened there."