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15.07% Trickster: The Apostle of Loki / Chapter 41: A meeting of Gods

Chapitre 41: A meeting of Gods

"Seems like I'm still not too late to the party? How rude of you to forget to invite me! Hohohoho!"

"What are you doing here..."

Conjuring a chair from nothing, the masked god sat down before explaining himself, "Well, a little bird whispered in my ear that you guys were doing something fun!"

His words made Theia's eyes narrow, with irritation starting to grow inside of her. She truly hated having to deal with Loki, as the rules of the Gods didn't apply to him after he had somehow managed to trick the strands of fate to let him wander as he liked.

However, there was someone else in the room who hated him even more, "You shouldn't be here, you vile beast!"

Jack couldn't bear to see the face of the one he was sure had a part in one of his snowflakes getting stolen. He didn't know how or why, but he was sure that the god in front of him was in some way responsible. The burly, blue god had one day left his castle of ice to meet another neighboring god, making sure to lock his snowflakes in the vault. However, when he came back the next day, one of the three was gone without a trace. In his mind, Loki was the only god that could have pulled that off.

Turning his head to the blue god, everyone in the room could sense that he was currently wearing a very cheeky smile behind his mask, "Oh, you were here as well? I thought you were still out and about, trying to find your precious golden snowflake. How I wonder where it could be?"

*FWOSH!*

A powerful snowy wind started blowing in the room as Jack was unable to control himself, while at the same time standing up to make his way to the demon known as Loki.

"Stop!"

With just a single shout, the winds were quenched and disappeared, and Jack felt an intangible force pushing him back down in his seat. With her forehead creased in annoyance, Theia took control of the situation.

"I do not allow anyone to fight in my domain, you know this Jack. And you, god of mischief.."

Before she could finish her words, Loki put a palm in the air, stopping her, "I would appreciate it if you would be so kind as to use my original title, please."

She couldn't take it anymore, his aloof demeanor was just too much for her right now, as she was already stressed out about the ending of the mortal world and all. "What do you want, Loki? Just tell us and we will see what we can do about it."

"Are we seriously going to listen to him? I know that Jack is quite heated, but I think he is right. That man does not belong here."

Asclepius took his hands out of the pockets of the lab coat he always wore, and spoke words of disagreement to Theia. There was no way they could actually listen to the words of a god who had made their lives hell for thousands of years!

Pinching her nose, Theia explained her reasoning, "Haaa... We all know we can't just kick him out. Now that he has found this place, he will just be coming back anyway. He always finds a way, and you all should be well aware of that."

Once again, her words made sense in the heads of the gods, no one speaking up as they knew it would be untruthful. "Now, I'll ask you one more time, Loki, what do you want?" The casual god just shrugged his shoulders and got on with it, knowing that pissing them off too much would just make his ambitions harder to fulfill.

"I want James Jackson."

The room went silent as they just heard something preposterous. Throughout all of the millennia, Loki had never had an interest in a mortal or, at least, he had never 'wanted' one, meaning he was planning on designating an apostle.

All of them were bewildered, unable to comprehend why he wanted that shy mortal who was just hiding himself all day. Then again, none of them had actually bothered to look at him much, all except for one. "So you know... I figured you would be able to find out..."

Snapping his finger as he stood up, Loki made the chair he was sitting on disappear, "Maybe, maybe not. This isn't something to be discussed in front of other gods anyway. Or maybe it is, maybe I should talk about it right here, right now? I might be dissuaded if you can promise me that you let me have James."

A purple glow began emerging from the black sockets of the mask as Loki got excited, knowing he had already won by putting Theia into an impossible situation. Biting her lip, she truly didn't have a choice, "Fine! But know that I will be keeping an eye on him too! I won't just let you corrupt a human for the sake of entertainment!"

This was her bottom line, at least this way she could interfere if she thought that James was getting too caught up in the nature of the god of mischief. Still, Loki was pleased, happy even, as he knew something about the man she had brought that she did not.

"Alright, it's a deal, I won't corrupt him! Oh, and by the way, there is no way I will appoint him my apostle unless he himself starts walking the same path as me." ('And by my calculations, he is bound to create a situation where he falls in the near future by himself, after all, the threads of fate do not lie...')

"Bye, god of mischief, and please stay out of my sights for at least a millennia this time."

As his figure started to blur, signifying that he was about to exit her domain, he managed to leave some final words, "I don't think that will be so, Theia. After all, we are now watching the same mortal. Also, as I said before, I would really prefer it if you started using my old title again. Ciao!"

The gods were all in minor internal turmoil after what had just happened, with no one understanding why Theia had agreed to his proposal. Nonetheless, she was currently the ruling god as she had the most followers in the mortal realm, meaning they couldn't argue with her decision if she made a promise. A promise from a god was, after all, not like the promise of a mortal. Breaking it would have dire consequences, tearing off a part of her divine soul and destroying it.

****

[James's Pov]

"Fuck!"

Sebastian had managed to squeeze yet another win without using any Skills, making my already present frustration grow even more. At first, it looked like Adriana and Sebastian were pretty even in terms of combat power.

Adriana had made good use of her [Ice Lance] in order to get close to Sebastian, as she had the upper hand in ultra-short range against a spear. He, however, had in turn answered by using the spear more like a bō-staff, defending expertly by utilizing every part of his weapon, not just the sharp tip.

In the end, the elven princess had come out on the losing side, making her use [Armor of Ice] in order to gain some minor offensive power but a lot of defenses. This made her able to forcefully keep exchanging hits with the purple-haired man for a long time, but in the end, Sebastian managed to gain some distance when Adriana's stamina began to run out.

It was chilling to see just how coolly the spearman had acted, his body bloody and dirtied by the attacks from the rapier, but he still didn't use any Skills. In the end, he won the match as Adriana admitted her defeat when she ran out of mana and energy, knowing that even though she hadn't suffered a lot of injuries, she was unable to continue fighting.

So, I was angry. What kind of person would willingly suffer all that pain just to keep his secrets? If his secrets were that important, why not just run away as I did?

He was another person I couldn't fully understand, just like Arthur. No, he was someone I understood a lot less than Arthur, I truthfully didn't understand him at all, except that he was most likely a very prideful person.

Having searched for him on the internet, I had come across the Crawb family, a house of nobles that was almost at the end of their line, most likely about to fall to become commoners. In their prime, they were famous for their spearmanship and their proficiency in war. A talent that was no longer needed as Mensch was now united and they had allied with Aldon.

This would point to the fact that he should be feeling pressured to show off everything he could do, gaining as much attention as possible to find his place in a prestigious guild, but no. He chose not to do that. He chose to just barely win against Adriana in a very close manner instead of using everything he had.

Even Arthur had chosen to reveal his [Sword of Light] Manual, meaning he was now probably a target that the demons sought to obliterate. If even someone in that situation made the choice to fight with all he had, why wouldn't Sebastian?

"Sub-me, come out! I need to talk to myself!"

From my body, sub-me emerged, just as angry as we both were. "What was I saying?"

"You know what I was saying! Argh! Even though I am the best company I have, I can't help but get irritated at myself sometimes!"


L’AVIS DES CRÉATEURS
Antenz Antenz

Now, I know that the little comedy skits might be getting a bit old, but bear with it. They do carry meaning!

As always, thank you for reading my little story.

Cheerios!

Chapitre 42: Finals [1]

[3rd Person Pov]

Everyone's eyes were now glued to the arena, either in front of them or on the TVs, as the finals were about to begin. All the elimination matches had been concluded, with Adriana managing to claim 3rd place in the tournament.

Now, there was only one duel left, a duel where both of the combatants had shown immense prowess relative to their young ages.

A lot of guild executives were already planning on approaching both of them, trying to recruit them as soon as possible. It was against the law to recruit a student, but there were a lot of ways to communicate with them in very unnoticeable manners.

Even the gods in Theia's divine domain had stopped talking, just to see if the two individuals could potentially be worthy of becoming their apostle.

Though there was a ranking event for every year at Ainu, the freshmen tournament was by far the most interesting, as it often showed off raw, uncultivated talent. It was also the only one shown to the world, as the academy was insistent on keeping the older students' more developed power under wraps.

They could have done the same decision for the freshmen' tournament, but because of the pressure coming from the government, with the king of old being the main culprit, they had no choice but to make it public.

After a few hundred years, it had simply become tradition, as well as a good source of extra income which the academy could use to further improve its facilities.

However, there was one person, if he could be called such, who didn't watch it. Instead, the being was keeping his focus on another mortal, a mortal who was currently lying in his bed, watching the match on his computer.

****

[Sophie's Pov]

This was the first time during the entirety of the tournament that I felt nervous. Standing in the middle of the same arena, just like the three times before, this was the first time that I realized how far I had made it. With that realization came a sense of pressure, pressure to reach all the way and claim 1st place in the tournament, only getting further augmented by that weird sense of pride that had emerged several times today.

It was scary, feeling like I had another being inside of me that, to some extent, affect my reasoning and my actions. It wasn't too farfetched to imagine that as I had chosen the [Dragoon] Manual, there was some sort of artificial consciousness of a dragon implanted in me, but it made me feel a bit disgusted.

I didn't come to this world just to be controlled by others. I had already lived a life where my life was in the hands of others for a quarter of my years on Earth, and that was more than enough. In this world, I wanted to create my own destiny, and pave my own path! Winning this last duel was a part of that as well, even if it meant I had to endure that sense of pride surging through me again.

The decision to fight as a symbol of controlling my own future while knowing there was a large risk I would get affected by the inner being was foolish, the very definition of being a hypocrite. However, as I was now aware of this being the case, I justified my reasoning with the fact that I chose to take that risk. That was my choice, and it was my choice alone.

Suddenly, my thoughts were interrupted by the loud voice of the host of the show, talking energetically as she presented me and Sebastian to the crowd. "Make some noise for Sophie Red! She is the woman who has crushed her opposition with power and only pure power, not hesitating to commit even the harshest of atrocities to win! Making use of her strange skills, she seems to take the form of a dragon, which is very much representative of her domineering aura and strong will!"

*WOOO!*

The audience went wild as she concluded her presentation of me, but it didn't take long for her to continue on with the next presentation that had to be made, "Next we have Sebastian Crawl! The man who skillfully used his dependable spear to render his opponents unable to fight back! Sebastian is also a person with an impossibly strong will! Even as his body was ripped and torn when fighting against her Highness Adriana, he remained standing, knowing his persistence would in time lead him to victory! Now it's time to see if his unwavering resolve can continue to last in front of a dragon!"

*WOOO!*

The cheers erupted with the same intensity as when she had presented me, showing that there was no underdog in this fight, no matter how much Ms. Rose tried to paint Sebastian as one. "Also, before we begin, let's welcome back Tom Stone who just returned from the urgent matters he had! How great is it to at least have the finals get commentated by a [A]-rank hunter?!"

Knowing that she was now just babbling on to create more excitement, I raised my level of focus, ignoring the upcoming applause and jubilations coming from the people around us. Now, there was only one person in my mind. The purple-haired man who would soon become my enemy, an entity I had to defeat in order to satisfy this inner desire of mine.

"Now, shake hands!"

We took a step forward and took each other's hands. Surprisingly, Sebastian was the one to open his mouth first, "Good luck." Then he just turned and started to walk to his starting position.

What was surprising about this was that he had supposedly not said another word to anyone so far during the tournament, so him suddenly talking could only mean one thing, something that instantly triggered the inner pride I was trying to keep in check.

'That bastard... He has been thinking he was above everyone all this time...!'

If I had been in a more normal state of mind, I might not have made this conclusion. However, right now that was the only thing that made sense in my mind, and although he had at least paid me the minimum amount of respect, a very weird thought surfaced in my mind.

'A lowly human thinks he is above others...'

Consciously, I could recognize that my way of thinking was incredibly bizarre, but somehow, it still felt so very natural. More importantly, this wasn't the time for soul searching anyway. This was the time to fight, no, it was the time to dominate!

Just as I was thinking this, the countdown started, feeling faster than ever, "5,4,3,2,1, Fight!"

'[Dragonize], [Wings], [Draconic Strength]!'

Instantly activating every Skill I had, there was no doubt in my mind that I wanted nothing more than to show that man his place. Filling the muscles of my legs with power, making the veins of my calves present themselves to the world, I rushed forward.

After having leaped almost half of the way to the already prepared Sebastian, with his spear pointing towards my head, I let my wings make one powerful swing, letting me fly all the way to him.

Not ready for my sudden acceleration, as he assumed that my leap wouldn't reach him, he tried his best to change the position of his spear. Alas, it was too late. My body was already too close to him, having dived in while avoiding the sharp weapon.

*Bam!*

"Ku!", A huge punch landed in his chest, blowing him away, making him roll on the ground as he dropped his spear. I should have followed to finish him off, a course of action that should have been natural for a fighter. Yet, I didn't.

Instead, I chose to stand still, waiting for him to recover. Noticing what I was doing, he glared at me while his hands were still firmly planted on the ground. When he saw my expression, his hands clenched into first, collecting the dirt lying on the ground.

"You...!"

"Stop talking. Get your spear. We aren't done here."

My haughty thoughts had started to penetrate through my body, now appearing as words that I felt were my genuine feelings. Right at this moment, I was no longer the Sophie Red from Earth. I was now the Dragoon who wanted to show an insect his place.

*Spit!*

Emptying his mouth from the blood that had been collected, his face was now finally showing a real expression. An expression of anger and frustration as he knew that I could very well have ended the match right there and then. Slowly, he made it back to his feet, walking a few steps forward to take up his spear.

Then he opened his mouth again, as his expression changed back into one of neutrality, of aloofness, "Fine. Here I come." Suddenly, a dim glow emerged on his spear, imitating the color of the gray steel where it had its origin.

Putting up my hands, I made myself ready to face Sebastian who had finally decided to show what he was capable of. He dove right into the range that I thought he disliked the most, a range where he couldn't use the ranged advantage of his spear.

However, knowing that I wouldn't have time to think about his actions, I quickly sent my right knee upwards, wanting to strike him in his gut as he approached. However... *Splurt!* "Aah!"

A sharp pain went through my thigh and, before I could see what happened, my eyes focused on the man swinging some sort of dagger like it was a baseball bat.

Unable to put my hands up in time, as I realized what was happening, his spear grew longer, hitting me on the side of my head, and sending me to the ground. *Thud!* "Gah!"

As I instinctually made myself ready for the upcoming assault, I heard a voice that made my already rosy vision even redder, "Get up. We aren't done yet."


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