Bab 71: Three Down...
A.N. I've begun a new story. It's a mostly JJK x Danmachi themed story with elements of another anime thrown in. Try it out!
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The earth trembled beneath the thundering footsteps of the great titan as it lumbered across the beach, its eyes set on the seafort as the adventurers within could only grip their weapons in anticipation. Grasping the chains and keeping Godzilla's head locked in place so he ran to the target, Steve smiled a big toothy grin as his friends behind him held on onto the back of the monster as best as they could.
Daphne and Cassandra gripped the ridges of Godzilla's scales, white in the face as they held on so they could not be blown off, while Kai held onto the hair of a still very paralysed Aisha and Alex held the still unconscious Haruhime in a one-armed embrace to keep the little Renard safe while she herself was crouched down and holding down on a scale with her other arm.
Ari who was sitting next to the standing Steve as he bridled Godzilla looked up at him incredulously as she saw the fixated look in his eyes. There was an expression of excitement on him that she'd never seen before on her captain's face in all the time she had seen him.
"You alright boss?" She asked him over the booms of Godzilla's footsteps.
"I'm ecstatic!" Steve shouted as the absurdity of it all sank in. "I'm just enjoying my place here, at the top of the ladder of power with this powerful beast at my beck and call, bringing an oncoming desolation to a pack of stuck up blockheads who walk around with pride and arrogance. Today, I shall make them all submit!"
"And to think we're still in the opening act." Zuri muttered.
The plan had been as follows. Take out the bases of the weaker two Familia and secure the targets that Steve had laid out. Once Aisha, Daphne and most importantly Cassandra and Haruhime had been obtained and were within their custody, they would charge the sea fort and wipe it off the map as well.
Ideally Steve would have only taken the Renard and the oracle. But considering both characters were extremely timid and would not have fared well amongst strange company, he thought it necessary to bring along their best friends. And it wasn't like the Amazon or the sharp tongued girl were not good additions either. Daphne had experience in commanding groups of adventurers and perhaps would serve well if the Ptah Familia decided to form a second string group like the Loki Familia.
And Aisha was a powerful Amazon who was also capable of concurrent chanting and who had been in the mix of Ishtar's plans. When Steve had mentioned the Killing-Stone to Zuri, the scholar had suddenly gained a rather vested interest in it and had said something about there being great potential for such an artifact, even if it required the soul of a Renard. After making sure to threaten Zuri that he'd cave his skull in and make sure he couldn't respawn again if he used Haruhime for experiments, he promised to keep track of Ishtar's movements because he doubted that Ishtar would give up on her plan even if she lost Haruhime. Whether or not the stone was with the goddess now, it was bound to be with her at some point. And once he'd confirmed its location, they'd steal it. And the best person who would know of its movements would be Aisha.
But coming back to the plan, once all bases were completely destroyed, they would herd all three Familia into one place and then take Godzilla out of the picture. Once the titan was safe from the Ptah Familia, then they would all release their true powers in one swoop in a final act. The take down of the sea fort was the prelude to that ending.
...
The sun shone behind the monster and made his shadow loom over the fort as the adventurers within began jumping over the edge of the walls just to get away from the beast. Noor gripped Steve's arm as he urged the titan forwards.
"Wouldn't it be better just to melt the place down?" She asked.
"No." Steve said. "He is this big for a reason...let's put it to good use. By barrelling straight through that little sandcastle!"
Orario felt their hearts jump to their mouths as Godzilla reached the outer wall of the fort. His feet easily smashed through as if it was just made of air and his frame stood taller than even the tallest tower when it was still there. The executives of the Freya Familia held their ground until the last, when they knew they were being confronted by an unstoppable force. They leapt off the walls and into the courtyard just as the titans massive body smashed through the entire castle, collapsing an entire side of the structure completely as towers fell in.
A grey dust cloud was kicked up in the courtyard so thick that it was like fog, produced by the crumbling fortress as it smothered the Freya Familia and turned their surroundings dark, blocking out the sunlight and almost turning everything into night for them. The sound of the collapsing castle rang in their ears as a ringing bounced about the inside of their craniums and they blocked their eyes to prevent the fine grain dust from blinding them. Some unfortunate and rather unintelligent individuals decided to take a breath just as that happened and they immediately found themselves beginning to choke and retch as their airways filled with the smell of earth and rock as powder clogged their respiratory passages.
The Freya Familia chose not to move from that place as their surroundings were completely blocked and they couldn't tell which direction to go...they didn't believe they could go anywhere anyway. They knew that they were already surrounded.
The smoke screen was thick in their vision. Almost black near the bottom with darkness, a deep grey at middle height and only slightly white up above as some small measure of daylight began to seep through. But they could not see past a few feet in front of them, even with their enhanced visions. Ottar gripped his normal twin swords. His greater weapons had taken the place of his usual weapons on his back, and he wielded his normal ones warily as his eyes flicked from side to side, while his ears moved about atop his head, straining to hear even the slightest sound besides what came from his Familia. About a hundred and twenty of them all swamped together in that area with no visible way of escape.
...
Allen's head whipped around as his senses picked up on something extremely fast rush by them in the smoke. The adventurers heard the footsteps and the rush of air a moment later as the thing passed them. The adventurers tensed as they readied their weapons for any surprise attacks. Axes were raised above shoulder level, swords were raised for the blades to be aligned with the eyes and bowstrings were drawn taut as they waited for a signal, any signal of any sort.
Hogni, the Dark Elf, suddenly felt a presence in front of him. He was on the edge of the gathering and right in front of the smoke screen. He could not hear nor see what was happening but his instinct told him there was something in front of him beyond the veil. He brandished his sword ready to pierce the smoke screen and catch whatever it was before he heard some sort of clicking noise and pain filled the left side of his head as his ear felt like it had caught on fire.
He stumbled back in shock and confusion at where this pain had come from and his fellows looked at him in alarm as his hand scrabbled at that area. Blood stained his hair and his scarf as it began to run down his neck, and his fingers pulled something out of his left ear. It had hit the base of his left ear at an angle so that it didn't enter the ear canal but embedded itself in the wall on the outside. He held it up in anger and pain as Hedin looked at it confusedly.
"A...metal pellet?" The Light Elf cocked his head in confusion as he looked at the bullet.
The presence Hogni had felt in the veil in front of him instantly disappeared and the Freya Familia were once again left in wondering and in agitation as they waited for something to come out. As Hogni turned his head, people around him began to grimace with distaste. He could not see it but his left ear was completely mangled, just hanging on barely.
...
Meanwhile, people in Orario began to grow impatient at the suspense. They'd watched as Godzilla ploughed through the fortress as if it were a sand castle. The thing was barely reaching his thighs anyway. But the dust cloud he'd thrown up covered the entire area and shielded even him from view of the observant civilians.
Bell watched this in abstract awe and a mixture of fear as well as he and his new goddess observed this. It was like he was living in a fantasy. Nothing he'd ever read in the legends surrounding Orario compared to what he was seeing here. The only thing that could probably come close to it was the tale of the Dragon, but he was not sure that even that cursed and hated creature could easily contend with this other reptilian king out there by Lolog Lake.
More than that was Stephen Hewer. It made the albino's head spin, the fact that he'd been so casual and had made acquaintance with the most powerful adventurer in the city, perhaps the most powerful person in the world, who probably controlled the most powerful monster the world had ever seen...and Bell had had no idea at all! He'd sat opposite a person capable of this much casual destruction and a holder of such formidable power that even the earth shook under his spells and storms responded to him at will, and he didn't even have a clue. And from what Hestia had told him so far, neither did the city for the most part as this was apparently the first time Steve was actually being properly introduced to the world.
"Goddess." Bell asked tentatively. "Did you know he could do these things?"
"I...I didn't now he could do these things specifically." Hestia said. "I knew he was supposed to be some absurd monster in terms of adventurer power...and I knew he was able to create crazy weapons...but I had no idea he or his Familia could cast spells like that or even control beasts like that. It's madness!"
"Where did it come from Goddess?" He asked.
"I have no idea." Hestia said before she re-thought that statement. "At least, I think I don't. I could guess...but it's definitely not walked this earth before now, that I can assure you. If such a creature roamed the mortal world, we would have definitely come down much earlier."
"I just don't believe it." Bell said as he looked at the screen. "He's just so...strong. He and his friends seem like they could do anything, destroy any army or monster...it's like the power of the old heroes!"
To his surprise, Hestia scoffed as she lifted her cup to her lips and took a long drink.
"Heroes?" She asked in mock-incredulity. "Believe me Bell, think whatever you want about people. But that lot? Never think of them as heroes."
"Why?" Bell asked. "Are they not good people?"
"The world isn't black and white Bell. Just because they do good things, it doesn't mean they're angels or heroes." Hestia said as she ran a finger around the rim. "Besides, they don't fit your definition of heroes. Don't do it Bell...or they'll break your heart." Hestia then put that finger to her lips and smiled slyly. "Of course, if your heart does get broken, I will make sure to fix it back together. You can count on that Bell!"
Bell just stared at her, the area above his nose flushing a little as he couldn't tell in what manner she was saying that. Whispers began to break out in the room they were in, indicating that something was happening on the screen. And by the gods it was, for even though the beast could not be seen, his dorsal plates could be seen sticking out of the cloud and it was moving around the castle into the courtyard. It seemed as if it had run right through the castle and was now coming around to stick its head in the courtyard.
...
The Freya Familia were broken out of their stupor as a giant footsteps rocked the ground they were standing upon. Then in the veil of dust, there appeared nine figures in glowing purple armour all at different points surrounding the Freya Familia as they gave off extreme hostility and the pressure of their battle intent suffocated them. The figures stepped out of the cloud, revealing themselves as the Ptah Familia with different expressions adorning their faces, though they all wore a smile.
"Hello...ladies."
Ottar heard the voice and quickly turned in front of him to see Steve standing there, tall and solid in his Netherite armour as his cloak flapped in the wind. The only thing that stopped the Freya Familia from attacking then and there was when a huge shadow appeared from inside the veil behind Steve and a snout blowing out steam poked itself out of the smokescreen. Godzilla shoved his head through and looked down on them with his red eyes as his gaze made some of their blood run cold. Ottar could feel the rumblings in its throat vibrate the very air they breathed and the breath coming from its nostrils blew away the dust cloud further from them.
Godzilla seemed to grit his teeth before he let out his famous roar, his large mouth opening wide as he revealed the abyss that was his gullet and even his pink maw was terrifying. Drool dispersed into droplets of saliva that rained down upon the adventurers as Godzilla deliberately extended his roar, shaking their brains inside their heads as his roar blasted away the dust cloud almost completely and allowed a bit more sunlight into their lives. The titan ended with his signature after-rumble before snapping his jaw shut as he lowered his head enough so that Steve could rub a hand on the side of his jaw.
"Beautiful fellow isn't he?" Steve asked as he took his eyes off them and made sure to properly pet the kaiju titan. "I had half a mind not to bring him you know. Thought it would be excess and vain...but then I had a thought. If I am going to overthrow the King of adventurers and take his place, then perhaps I should mount a king amongst monsters as a demonstration of my superiority over you...as well as his but you get the gist." Steve then looked at them challengingly. "This can all be over quickly. What I have planned ahead for you is going to be painful, and humiliating. I will put fear in your hearts and my face will appear in your nightmares as I make sure to hammer it into you. That however can all be avoided if you do one thing." Steve pointed to the ground. "Kneel to me and yield, and this War Game shall be over. We can all go home early, and I won't have to break your minds. Pretty simple right?"
...
Ottar lowered his swords and narrowed his eyes.
"I expected better." The Boaz said.
"Pardon?" Steve raised a brow.
"My Lady does not doubt you are a level 9, and therefore I am compelled to believe it too. But I'd thought I'd find maturity in you, despite you being so young." Ottar said before looking up warily at Godzilla. "I commend you for being able to tame that creature, mighty and majestic as it is. But you have been camping on his head for the whole duration of this War Game and you have been depending upon him to attack us. From afar you have been firing streams of blue flames and you have destroyed much of our fort. That does not seem like someone who fights his own battles."
"Why do I have to play by your rules?" Steve asked rhetorically. "You know how I got this strong? By sticking to my own rules and playing the game on my terms. I brought this magnificent beast along because the pact was that we would all bring our best to the forefront. You brought your best weapons and I brought my best monster. I'm not so sure what there is to be confused about here."
"But you haven't followed those rules." Ottar said. "All three of your opposition put up their flag and while I would assume you've captured the other two, we have not seen you raise yours at all."
"There was nothing about the rules that said we had to raise it." Steve said. "We were all at liberties to do what we wished with our flags. But if you insist..." Steve snapped his finger at Efe, who tossed him the flag pole. He stuck it in the ground and pulled on the bit of rope at the back to spread it out. "...you're welcome to take it from me, here and now."
The Freya Familia looked at the flag. It was white in colour and the centremost image was that of Ptah's Sceptre with a pick-axe and a sword crossed over each other atop the shaft of the Sceptre. Circling that image was what looked like a long serpent that had wound itself in a perfect circle and was swallowing its own tail. But its back was adorned with the same dorsal plates Godzilla had, clearly being some symbolic depiction of him. This embroidery was done in gold and there was much to be read from this visage, a testament to the foremost talents of the Ptah Familia.
The Sceptre for Authority and Magic, the pickaxe for Labour and Artisanship, the sword for Power and Conflict and the symbolic precision and efficiency that the Ptah Familia put in both, and Godzilla's image as a symbol of their dominion over the world of monsters alongside mortals, essentially saying that their tamer talents were also unsurpassed. The gold touch was meant to be a claim of them being the very best at these four concepts, one the Freya Familia caught all too well.
They took heed of Steve's attempt to goad them into approaching him by touching the flag.
"You think of us so lowly that we would fall for such a devious and obvious trick?" Allen grunted.
"That must mean you have something to fear of us." Steve countered. "Which is a surprise. I heard that Freya's children are so loyal to her that they would even greet death with a smile of pride on their faces to defend their Lady's honour. Perhaps I underestimated you and that loyalty of yours. For here I am, a man who intends on having her and her Familia bend to the whims of mine and you don't even have the courage to try and take his flag."
The Freya Familia bristled at his accusation. The one thing they would never be questioned on was their loyalty to Freya. But again, they could feel how Steve was prodding them, just daring them to move.
"For goodness sake!" Alex huffed as the cornered adventurers looked at her. "Do you not have one expendable fool amongst you. Are you not even going to take a chance? You could win this War Game just by taking our flag and none of you even has the strength to try it?"
"How could you expect any of that from them?" Steve said as he looked pointedly at the executives. "Some here don't really come from brave blood. A pauper who was found half dead in the streets, two worthless kings who were willing to see their nations destroyed just to find a way out of their responsibilities, four slaves who killed their master because they simped for a woman they just met. And then there is the one..." Steve looked pointedly at Allen. "...one who is such a useless, thumb-sucking, kiss-ass pissant who abandoned his own little sister just so that he could have the affections of a heartless woman who would risk him at the drop of a hat the moment she found somebody more interesting than he is!"
...
And that was the straw that broke the camel's back. Of course, Steve's words were laced with the powers of his skills to intentionally provoke the executives into doing something but the cat beast-man upon hearing his Lady once again being insulted and for having a very sore spot suddenly pricked....well Allen had his heckles raised and his spear up as he rushed Steve at blinding speeds. He crossed the short distance between them and aimed the tip of his spear right at Steve's eyes, intending to skewer his brain. Steve did not seem to have qualms about killing as he'd been doing plenty of it in this War Game, so why shouldn't he be subject to the same medicine? Steve understood the logic.
What he couldn't understand why Allen had decided to take such a simplistic plan of attack. Even if the cat was moving in slow motion for him despite Allen moving at his top speed, Steve could not help but question Allen's sudden break of character. Was Anya really that sore of a subject?
Steve leaned his head out of the way at the last millisecond as the Spear went past him and he lifted a hand to Allen's chest. He flicked the beast man right in the middle of his chest plate and time returned to normal again as Allen's chestplate just shattered into pieces and he had a crater in his sternum. Allen's eyes rolled back and his body went surfing through the dirt as he slammed into some of his own Familia members and made them fall over like bowling pins. His head came to rest with a painful thump at the base of a large piece of a tower that gained cracks all over it.
The Freya Familia hadn't even been able to figure out what had happened. All they saw was Allen jumping for Steve's demise and it was as if Steve stayed completely still, not doing anything as Allen hit something invisible and was sent flying back again. But they knew the Minecrafter had done something because of the crater in Allen's chest and the bits of his high grade chestplate which had exploded outwards everywhere like shrapnel.
Even Ottar had not seen Steve do anything and that was enough for the Boaz to finally tense for battle. But Steve had different plans as he picked up the flag and clicked his fingers. Godzilla's jaw fell open as a blue glow started to burn from within his throat and the titan's eyes filled with that glow too,
"There we have it, a declaration of war." Steve gestured to Allen before smirking. "And besides, even if you had surrendered and bent the knee, I'd still have done this. But don't worry...our game is still not over."
Godzilla fired and all the Freya Familia knew was searing hot pain for only the briefest of seconds as their visions were filled with blue fire.
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