Chương 31: Denatus
Sorry I've been away. I've been very ill and have had hundreds of college assignments on top.
Again, sorry for the wait and enjoy!
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(Babel Tower, Denatus)
Most mortals would believe that the Denatus was something holy and important given that the gods would periodically go up there to make decisions on how they would proceed with their plans down in the lower realm.
And the fact that a single Denatus would take several days sometimes would give the people the impression that momentous, possibly lifechanging decisions were made in those halls.
If only that were the case.
The Denatus really just served as an excuse for the gods to shirk their Familial duties for a while as they partied and had get togethers while only making the important decisions on perhaps the last day.
Among the many activities they engaged while seated at a Denatus was the naming of adventurers that may had have a rise in popularity lately. Second names, titles or nicknames if you would call it, a second alias assigned to the adventurer.
Those gods that wanted to toss in their suggestions would raise their hands and Ganesha would take their name. Then a vote would be taken and the nickname that had the most votes backing it would be the one assigned to the adventurer.
And more often than not, Freya would hear some of the ridiculous suggestions for the poor souls.
"CREAM CHEESE!"
Like that. She shuddered to think any sort of ridiculous name such as that would be chosen for for her Odr. Not that she'd had much idea on what name was fitting for him.
Gods didn't really have much of a chance to name their own children as that made the game boring. They did after all descend solely for entertainment and just picking a name then and there robbed the other gods of the chance to have some fun.
Luckily she held much sway in this room. Simply her beauty and her voice alone was enough to sway the hot-blooded males in the room. At one point she herself took notice of some of them but now she barely even registered they were there.
In looks alone, Garth outshone them all and he also had more balls than they did as he was courageous enough to stand up to her. That challenging and competitive and streak in him got her heart pumping at speeds unimaginable. Because it showed that he wasn't someone guided by desire but by his reasoning.
So if any of these gods did think they could compare after this meeting was over, then they had another thing coming.
There was one problem though. Well not so much of a problem but rather an unusual turn of events that didn't happen so often.
Ouranos was here, not physically but a magical avatar of him was seated in a seat that was a little elevated above the others. As the governor of Orario and a Primordial, she supposed it was befitting of him to sit on a higher seat.
But his presence here did not make her comfortable, especially with exactly who was going to be discussed here today. If she knew anything about the old man, it was that he was always scheming, not necessarily for evil but for the good of Orario.
He saw the adventurers of Orario as nothing more than chess pieces and pawns to move around in the best way possible to maximise the defence and military power of the Dungeon city. And Garth would certainly be the most powerful piece yet.
Her point was that his presence, could not at all mean something totally good.
"And last, but certainly not least, we must come up with a name for the most powerful child in the Freya Familia, and the strongest adventurer in all of Orario, Garth Ragnar!" Ganesha exclaimed.
A heavy silence fell over the room as suddenly no god wanted to throw in a name. The mention of this absurdly strong adventurer had shut everyone up, and Freya could see the colours in all of their souls shifting to trepidation, curiosity and fear.
But to her absolute shock, the one who showed the most amount of fear was Ouranos. His soul was quivering in terror...although it didn't seem to be directed at her Odr. Call it a gut feeling but for some reason she felt that this terror she could see in him was not because of Garth.
"I think we should forget about the name for now." Loki said as she put her feet up. "Instead we should talk about how he got so powerful so quickly at such a young age."
"And why he joined the Freya Familia specifically in the first place." said another goddess.
Freya smiled and placed her hands on the table in front of her.
"He simply chose my Familia because it was the best there was out there. Logic would assume that he would join us as a powerhouse such as himself."
"And I would suppose you didn't just charm him into your hands like all your other toys." Dionysus said, as he smiled down at her mockingly. Freya returned the smile.
"I don't know what you mean Dionysus."
"I believe you know exactly what we mean. It's no secret that you shamelessly use your charms on whomever you set your eyes upon. And then once these young men are filled with lust you lure them into your trap with sweet words and empty promises."
"Perhaps you are right." Freya said. "I've made no effort to conceal my collector's habit for talent and potential. But on this particular mortal, my charms were rendered null. He's simply too powerful for even divine power to work on him."
"Is that so?"
"Indeed. That's just how strong he is. And besides, he sought me out himself before he'd even met me. If I remember correctly, he'd already turned down an entry into another powerful Familia on his first day in this city. Isn't that right Loki?"
Everyone turned to the trickster goddess, who just held up her hands and shrugged.
"A damn shame as well. It took me completely by surprise." Loki said. "And now there is no hope of me ever catching up to you Freya, not with a special specimen like that."
There were murmurs of agreement rumbling throughout the room as Ouranos narrowed his eyes.
"You seem to be distracted by something." he said, and everyone stopped talking to listen to him. "Mind telling us what's on your mind, Hephaestus?"
The blacksmith Goddess was staring out the pillars with her hand on her palm. The eye patch was not worn up so tight as it usually was. It hung a little looser but that was a small detail that everybody quickly passed over.
"Huh?...OH...no, I was just thinking about s-something, that's all. Yeah, that's it." She stammered out.
"Well then, Hephaestus. Mind sharing your thoughts on him." Takemikazuchi asked.
"On who?"
"Have you really been distracted that much? Garth Ragnar of course."
"Oh? Him. Well...I don't really know." She said as she wrung her fingers slightly. A faint blush appeared on her face as she shuffled her feet and placed on over the other.
Freya's eyes narrowed at this awkward behaviour.
'Odr. What did you do?' She thought dangerously.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Goibniu asked confusedly. "You've met the kid yourself haven't you? I recently heard that you managed to get your hands on precious amounts of space metal from him, and that the two of you discussed a contract over it."
"Don't be sour that I got to it before you did. You know his policy is first come first serve." Hephaestus asked.
"I'm not sour. I got all I really wanted and discovered that it was just pure clumps of iron. Damn good quality iron but iron regardless. My point is that you've actually had face-to-face, being the only other god other than Freya to do so as far as I know. So what's your appraisal of him."
Everyone waited for her to reply. She thought carefully about what she would say. Never could she say anything bad about the man who'd removed her curse not two days ago. And even though she felt a little conscious now, and a bit naked without her eye patch, she would in no way slander him to lessen competition.
It had become a little hot for wherever she went recently as well. And her heart would just suddenly beat faster now and again, so she also had these weird issues to deal with as well without having a headache put on her because of an odd choice of words.
"If you want my honest opinion, he appears to be a very calm individual. A slightly shrewd businessman, but well meaning and generous. And he also seems to do good things for people. And while he does sometimes do so in trade for another favour, he spares no effort to go through with his word."
"Don't lie. You tried to get from him the secret of how he came across his items didn't you?" Loki grinned.
"What are you talking about Loki?" Demeter asked, who was seated above and behind Loki. Loki turned around to address her.
"A few days ago, my Aisy poo came home with a special grade wind magic sword. It trumps almost anything that the Hephaestus Familia has brought forth, and he just gave it away as repayment for breaking my Ais's sword."
"Winning a lady's heart by giving her a treasure. Sounds like you have a womanizer on your hands." Miach said quietly.
"That reminds me Miach, where have you been recently? I know you're usually holed up in your grotty little shop but you've been especially absent these past few days. Mind explaining that?" Dian Cecht asked the blue haired man.
"Nothing worth of note. Just trying to develop new potions. That is all." Miach replied quietly. He was not one to really hold grudges but he also knew very well that Dian Cecht's establishment as a powerful healing Familia had a great impact on his small business.
While Miach did what he did out of passion for his craft, he still needed money and customers to take care of his Familia. It was just his bad luck that he was paired against to great a competition.
"Really?" The other god raised his eye sceptically.
"We are getting off topic!" Apollo smashed his fist down on the table, drawing the eyes of everyone in the room to him. He pointed a finger straight at Freya. "You need to explain how that mortal, that mere mortal is able to channel OUR power! Why the hell is he able to do that!"
Hermes chose this moment to pop into the conversation like the weasel he was.
"Yes, Freya. I asked you the same thing the other day and you claimed you had no idea why. Are you sure that still stands to be the case?" he asked while giving her a sneaky look.
"Like I told you before, I don't now how he is able to do that. It came as much of a surprise to me as it did to all of us."
"Then it is unacceptable!" spluttered Apollo. "You should have taken responsibility and exterminated that thing the moment you discovered he could do that!"
Freya narrowed her eyes dangerously, and the room suddenly felt a cold chill rush down their backs.
"I would watch how I referred to him if I were you Apollo."
"Is that a threat?" sneered the man. "Don't act high and mighty here Freya. You might have the most powerful Familia in the world, but you are housing a blasphemous piece of creation, A danger to the natural order itself. As his patron, it should have been your responsibility to remove it!"
To Freya's slight dismay, it appeared that most of the room agreed with Apollo. She would have likely done the same if she were on that side, but it did nothing to ease the worry in her heart she had for her Odr.
"I think it's pretty obvious why she's so reluctant to do so." Said Ishtar out loud as she blew out a puff of smoke.
"Do please enlighten us then, Ishtar." Freya said, all too aware of the vendetta the other goddess of beauty had against her. Ishtar leaned forwards in her seat and smiled at her in an infuriatingly smug way.
"I think you took a greater liking to your new boy toy than the others. So much so that you decided to give him extra powers yourself. Face it Freya, like Apollo said. Something like that could not possibly just happen to exist as it goes against the natural order. So someone must have helped it along. You know what I think?"
"What?"
She pointed a long finger nail straight at Freya's face. "I think you broke the contract, and used your divine powers to spoil him, like the little brat he appears to be. You gave him your Arcanum as a boost to his Falna. That's what happened."
A small series of gasps echoed throughout the room.
"That is a serious accusation to be made against me, Ishtar. I hope you would have thought it through before just spitting it out against me like you just did."
Ishtar flipped her hair and snorted.
"Doesn't really need much explaining or thinking. Only a god could have given that mortal what he possesses. And the only one that would have done that is you."
"If I remember correctly..." Ouranos said again. "Did that boy not take down Vanargand before he even joined Freya's Familia?"
The room suddenly perked up as they realized this. Ishtar didn't seem to want to let up though. Nor did Apollo.
"Don't tell me you're siding with her on this Ouranos." growled Apollo.
"Yes. You wouldn't happen to be partaking in her games would you? We all know how much you like to lurk behind the scenes and pull strings from there." Ishtar asked. But the narrowing of Ouranos's eyes told her she'd gone too far.
"I would advise that you be careful in how you address me Ishtar. Do not forget the sway that 'I' hold in this assembly."
Ishtar backed off.
"First of all, I AM GANESHA!" The gods couldn't even be bothered to roll their eyes at this point. "And second, I find myself tied. It is impossible to break subdue any level five as a newbie. It would mean that he would have had to accumulate power and strength under another god before he even came to this city. You wouldn't happen to know which one would you, Freya?"
"She wouldn't know." Loki said. "The kid said he'd never been in any Familia before hers. And I can attest to the truth of that because I sensed no lie anywhere in his speech. So he never was a part of any Familia. Right Freya?" Loki looked to the addressed goddess.
But Freya's attention was taken by something else. Ouranos was staring straight at her, keeping dead eye contact with her. As Loki finished talking, he cocked his head in a questioning way.
'He knows. Of course he somehow knows.' Freya thought to herself. But she also saw how much the fear just suddenly seemed to grow in Ouranos's soul down underneath Babel as this topic came up. Knowing then and there, she couldn't keep this under wraps she decided to come out with it.
"It is true that he was never a part of a Familia before he came here." She said. Everyone waited as they sensed the pause. "But he was involved with a god before he came to Orario."
Everyone leaned forward in expectation as they had their sights set on a new target no to blame all this on.
"Well then. That would be the god that broke the rules now wouldn't it?" Apollo said.
"And the one we'll have to expel." Ishtar muttered angrily, disappointed at losing the easiest chance yet to take her rival down. There was no lie in Freya's words.
"Well, come on then Freya. Don't just leave us in the dark like that. What's his name?" Hermes said excitedly. As a the Messenger, he was bound to know exactly which god it would be having been outside of Orario countless times in the past.
Freya took a deep breath as she steadied herself to say the name out loud.
"His name is Nekros."
Once again Ouranos sensed that ripple of power in the name, but this time it smashed into his divinity even harder than it did before, and brought with it a terribly ominous sense of foreboding.
The other gods looked at each other confusedly, none of them having ever herd that name before. Neither in heaven nor in the lower realms had they ever heard such a name.
"Nekros? Nekros?" Apollo chuckled. "What sort of ridiculous name is that? Seriously Freya, that is the best you could come up with? Whose name would that ever be."
Before she could retort, another voice seemed to echo throughout their gatherings.
"That would be mine actually."
Everybody jumped slightly at the sound of the voice coming at them from all directions. Then their attention was drawn to the large, shadowed doorway as rhythmic heavy footfalls sounded from it.
Closer and closer they approached, until in the shadows they could make a figure coming closer towards them until they finally stepped through the doorway and into the light.
It revealed an extremely handsome young man, one who could not seem to be more than eighteen years in appearance. His looks far outclassed Garth's by an infinite margin in Freya's eyes. Other goddess's were half tempted to throw themselves at him and swoon but they all held back for the same reason she did.
He carried a dangerous presence with him...one they recognized. And some were literally, and pardon the language...
'ahem'
...SHITTING themselves at the power he wielded. They recognition of Authority so much more powerful than theirs combined, they could not even breathe. He gave them a brilliant smile, as suddenly heaven, the planet, the galaxy, hell the entire universe itself suddenly clenched its buttcheeks in anxiety of this man's presence.
The mortals were spared by him but every deity from the here to the furthest ends of this reality sensed his presence and even the most dangerous, most evil ones stuck their heads back in their holes, quivering in terror at the arrival of this individual.
Every single person in that gathering felt their Arcanum retreat out of their bodies and stuff itself in the furthest reaches of Heaven, desperate to get away as far as it could from this man.
Nekros looked around at the gathering of gods and greeted them sweetly.
"Hello mongrels."
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