Chapter 10

Loki stood in the mist of the charred and smoldering remains of the house, the blacken frame was like a skeleton of a destroyed life. His demeanor was still that of hatred and anger that flowed from his clinched fist and fiery eyes. The focus of his anger had shifted from Belldandy to Njord and Loki made sure to make Njord know about his anger towards him. Loki stared directly Njord's eyes with cruelty and hatred in an attempt to get him to back down with simple intimidation, but Njord would not back down.

Njord's demeanor was opposite than that of Loki, Njord was angry but he was more controlling of that anger than Loki. He was calm and assertive as he stared back into Loki hate-filled eyes and he was unaffected at the sight of the open flames that danced on his hands. Njord stared defiantly at Loki as his fallen hands rose again and Njord folded them again across his chest. Njord's sense of alertness was high as he watched Loki take a few steps past a few charred support beams. The silence lasted a few minutes as these two elements only stared and watched each others movements.

"Congratulations Loki!" Njord said; sounding amused in his serious tone. "In a matter of two months you've gone from committing pranks, to thievery, a count of murder and three attempted, and the most recent: treason!"

"Do not equate yourself with me Njord! That hot bag of air in your head you call your intelligence is not equal to mine so do not assume that you understand my reasoning!" Loki hissed back at Njord.

"Whether my intelligence is equal to yours is not the issue here Loki! The single issue here is who gave you authority to pass judgment on those who stand behind me!" Njord retorted back, his calm tone unaffected.

"My authority is the same as yours Njord; but since you seem to have forgotten the laws that we-" Loki started to express, but Njord cut him off.

"If you think I have forgotten the laws you speak of then I would say my intelligence is more than equal to yours. If anyone has forgotten the laws you speak of it is you, for you seem to forget in the beginning we were the authors of those laws." Njord said sounding very stern as his patience was beginning to thin.

"Writing them is one thing, enforcing them is another! So I suggest that if you want to brand someone with a charge of treason, brand it on someone who deserves it, and the only person who does deserve it is STANDING BEHIND YOU!" Loki screamed at Njord looking at Belldandy.

Belldandy looked at Loki's fiery eyes that only a few minutes ago tried to end her life. Belldandy stood looking this time with no fear as she started into his eyes; she looked and noticed that Skuld and Megumi looked at Loki with the same defiance that Belldandy had.

"You say she has committed treason for breaking the Law of Segregation but why should she accept your punishment so you can escape the judgment?" Njord asked looking at Loki.

"Why would I try to escape the judgment when I have done nothing wrong?" Loki said trying to sound innocent.

"You organized the break in on the Hermods Program, you ordered your daughter Hel to kill the human, and you have tried to kill Belldandy, Urd and Peorth! You took the judgment into your hands and attempted to carry out the punishment-sounds like treasons to me!" Njord said very fast and very serious.

"Njord if you knew why I was truly here you would not hinder me but since your understanding is limited as the humans I will only tell you this once; stand aside and let justice prevail!" Loki yelled and in then blinked as a fireball escaped from his fist and flew over Njord and headed for Belldandy.

Njord's eyes didn't even have to blink as he responded to Loki's stubbornness as the fireball sailed through the air. A column of water rose out of the pond like a snake and dove in front of Belldandy and the others. The column swept in front of Belldandy's stretched hands; and the front part opened like a mouth and consumed the fireball. When it swallowed the fireball the column of water exploded and water fell all around Belldandy and the others, but not one drop landed on anybody as the last of the column retreated back to the pond.

"I AM NOT A SIMPLETION LOKI!" Njord shouted at Loki, "I am equal to you in every aspect so do not set yourself on higher authority than me or the rest of us! I know fully well why you are here and so does he!" Njord announced; the last of his words echoed through out the grounds; as they did Loki felt a twinge of fear in his heart. "He knows what you have done Loki and he has sent me to you with a message, 'Deliver the soul of the human to Njord and return to heaven at once!' So now you have a choice, we can do this his way or your way, but if you want to do this your way-you-will-get-burned!"

Loki looked at Njord for a moment, trying to read his expression as if trying to see if Njord was bluffing. Njord's expression would not yield any sign nor tell him if he was bluffing or not, but Loki just stood there. Loki's fear was absorbed with anger and hate as he looked at Njord again; he knew that Njord would not let him past. With out even blinking this time he gave his answer, he spit out fireball at Njord so fast that Njord and the others could not respond in time.

The fireball consumed Njord as the sound of the fire was equal to that of the roar of jet engine. The heat was so intense that Megumi felt like her clothes had caught on fire and it felt like her skin was on fire as well. The fire ball swirled around Njord for about few seconds and then the flames died and Njord reappeared unscathed. His clothes did not smell like smoke, neither did any hair on his head look singed, but his arms glowed blue again.

"As always Loki you gotta do things the hard way!" Njord said as dark storm clouds rolled out like scrolls through the afternoon sky. The clouds obscured the sun and soon the day had turned to night, the street lamps worked but then they flickered at the wind began to whistle and lowly howl through the trees. Soon all the light went out and the only one remaining was the light form a symbol that illuminated underneath Njord. Njord crossed his arms and then he rose and hovered a few feet off the ground he extended his arms outward as his voice echoed through the grounds.

Winds from the East! Winds from the West! Hearken to your master's call!

Unto me I command thee to dance and to spin to unleash your deadly winds,

Unleash the winds that howl, the howl that's steals away men's courage,

Unleash the roar of the monster, the roar that causes men to flee in bands.

Unto your master an enemy has been made, and make him your enemy,

Unleash your monster and with your howl drive him away and his band.

Come forth monster of the wind, let all who bear witness bear it in fear,

Winds arise and upon this lust Eden, reduce it to an utter wasteland!

With that said, Njord reached his hands in separate directions, his left hand moved towards the ground and the right reached towards the sky. A large column of dust and dirt rose from the ground and shrouded Njord and rose into the heavens. Megumi and Skuld looked up into the sky as Belldandy raised her blue shield over them and was shocked at what she saw. The sky above her spun in front of her eyes and they spun like fingers dancing above her and then all the fingers combined and attached to the column of dirt and dust that rose around Njord, forming a tornado.

The tornado was small at first as it twisted in the grounds around Njord, but as it grew in size it began to shows it true power. The ornaments in the temple began to rise into the air, as the trees began to sway more and more violently. The tornado also consumed the remains of the house and the charred forest that was behind Loki. As the tornado continued to grow bigger, out of the funnel emerged Njord's arm that glowed blue and it extended towards the temple.

The temple had done very well it had withstood the fireball from Loki, and even with the tornado Njord had formed only lost a few loose tiles form the roof. As Njord extended his open hand towards the temple; the whole temple suddenly shuttered and remained still. Njord hand held open for a second and then it clasped shut, and in a deafening pop; the temple exploded and rose into the air towards the funnel. The pile of rubble rose in air and began to circle around the funnel like a swarm of angry bees.

The tornado continued to grow as more and more rubble continued to be feed into the monster that Njord had created. Megumi heard another deafening crack behind her and turned around it time to see the wooden entrance on the wall rip off and sail into the tornado. More and more debris continued to sail through the air; telephone and power lines with wires still attached to them flung like whips. Guard rails and other road signs sailed through like paper caught in a summer breeze and rose up in the air like balloons. More crunching noise arrived with debris not able to clear over the wall, many hitting so hard that cracks started to form. Even cars and other motorized vehicles sailed through the air and were feed into the fury of the tornado.

Megumi watched in amazed horror from the shelter of the shield that Belldandy had formed around Skuld, Megumi and the others. The debris flowed around the tornado with such precision and balance it only made Megumi more and more amazed. A few times would some of the debris hit the shield itself, and ripples were seen to flow through the shield, but it still held. Megumi also observed a strange orange glow that had formed on the opposite side of the tornado and Megumi also observed that some things disappeared from the tornado. Megumi watched as an SUV was hurled around the tornado about three times and then was dropped near ground level. The SUV went around one more time and then was thrown at the orange glow and with a horrible scrapping sound the SUV never returned to the sky.

"WHAT IS HE DOING?" Megumi yelled to Skuld, but her yell sounded like a faint whisper compared to the roaring sound of the tornado. Skuld just shrugged her shoulders and then tapped Belldandy on the shoulder and asked the same question to her.

"I THINK HE IS TRYING TO DRAIN LORD LOKI OF HIS POWERS!" Belldandy yelled back, her voice was clear as if she had been talking in her normal volume. She could not answer any more questions because more and more debris began to hit the shield and more ripples were forming. Belldandy would raise her hands and the shield would simply be fixed and strengthen enough to withstand more blows.

After a few more minutes of the debris flying around, Megumi suddenly noticed the orange glow disappear and then a ripple was seen inside the funnel and rose up through it. Before she could report this to Belldandy; Belldandy suddenly collapsed and would not get back up; Skuld was frantic and desperately trying to wake her up. Skuld and Megumi both looked at the unconscious Belldandy trying to wake her up, when a loud noise caused them both to duck. When they got up the noise from the tornado was louder and the feeling of wind drew their attention to the shield. When they looked at it, their hearts turned cold; a hole had been formed in the shield and it was growing!

Megumi and Skuld continued to remain as low as they could and Megumi tried over and over in vain trying to wake Belldandy up. Skuld looked at Megumi's attempts and pulled her away and yelled at her, "She used up too much of her power!"

"What do we do now?" Megumi screamed back, both of them had to yell in each others ear to even communicate, but it still sounded like a faint whisper. Before Skuld could response her eyes grew wider and she grabbed Megumi and threw her down on the ground and covered her as another loud crack was heard. Megumi turned to watch a refrigerator hit the shield, further gapping the hole and then float right back into the air.

"SKULD!" a voice yelled from above, it was Njord and his voice echoed clean and clear over the tornado's roar. "YOU MUST REBUILD THE SHIELD, CALL FORTH YOUR ANGEL!"

Skuld did as she was instructed, she hunched down and then clasping her hands together she called forth Noble Scarlet. Skuld and Noble Scarlet both stretched forth their hands and began trying to fix the hole in the shield. At first they made significant progress repair some of the shield, but as more and more debris hit the shield it destroyed the fixed portion and they had to start all over again. This cycle would repeat over the next ten seconds, the hole was not getting fixed; at one point a car hitting the shield almost completely destroyed it.

"SKULD!" Njord called down again and then said, "YOU MUST HURRY!"

"I'M TRYING!" Skuld cried back up, her voice still a whisper.

"YOU'VE GOT TO TRY HARDER!" Njord screamed back down, "HURRY!"

Megumi looked up and saw why he was saying she needed to hurry with the rebuild, both Megumi and Skuld; along with Noble Scarlet looked up. Past the tornado and into the dark swirling storm clouds a bright light was beginning to pierce through. The light looked as bright as the sun as it grew brighter and brighter, and the storm clouds began to move aside. Skuld and Noble Scarlet went straight back to work and were able to rebuild the shield much faster than before, but it still was not finished.

Suddenly as the shield was about halfway fixed; the light busted through the lowest clouds. The light soaked the grounds and turned everything from dark into light that was just as blinding as the darkness had done. Everything around Megumi, including the tornado began to fade out from Megumi's sight as the light grew brighter and brighter. The last thing Megumi saw before the light had blinded her was Skuld and Noble Scarlet with their hands stretched forth trying to fix the shield.

"SKUL-L-D-D-D!!" was the last thing Megumi heard before the ground was lowered from under her feet and she was thrown into the air. Suddenly something unseen hit Megumi while she as in the air and turned her world topsy-turvy as she felt herself flip in the air and then in one breathe all the air was sucked out of her lungs. The last thing Megumi felt was her landing on the hard rocky ground and hitting her head on something hard and she remember no more.

Disclaimer: All original characters of 'Oh! My Goddess' belong to Mr. Kosuke Fujishima and are under copyright of Dark Horse Comics. Njord and Loki and other characters as related are of my own invention and not associated with Oh! My Goddess.

This chapter I wish to dedicate to-you the reader. You took the time out of your busy schedule to read my story and for that you have my heartfelt thanks. So this chapter I dedicate to you.