(Help wanted: as you see english is not my native language, I need a beta reader!)
» The order of the mortal knights
By Javier Delgado R.
Fan fiction, inspired by "Oh my goddess" by Kōsuke Fujishima.
Conspirators
CHAPTER XLV
In the great throne room of Hell there was a great activity. While the worst of the disasters caused by "the madness" had been resolved, much work remains to be done. Many demons had to be sealed and the use of magic was limited to the energy offered by the moon bracelets, so resources were limited. Even in the same palace there were still scars from Hild's private guards revolt.
That is why interrupting activities to be summoned before Hild created many expectations. Although she was still fearsome, the efficient way she and Marler had acted had changed how they were perceived by her people. A respectful whisper was heard in the great hall.
Suddenly everything fell silent, no announcement was necessary, Hild's powerful aura was felt and announced the arrival of the powerful ruler of Hell.
The doors opened and Hild entered along with Marler. But for some strange reason her face denoted nervousness, of course, none of the demons would dare to even comment.
At that moment Marler whispered to the ruler of Hell:
- "That is not the expression that corresponds to the Valkyrie whose name still causes terror in Hell ..."
Hild ... or to be more exact, Lind with the appearance of Hild ... stopped dead. She opened her mouth to protest but then looked at the demons around her, eyeing her expectantly... Marler added:
- "You just have to pretend that you know everything, I will give the appropriate orders. This will save time until Hild returns.
Lind looked at the group of powerful high-ranking demons... and they cowered in fear ... The former Valkyrie could not help smiling satisfied. The blood of the strictest and most powerful of the Valkyries began to warm up again. Lind looked around and she was redmined of the healthy fear with which young recruits should look at her. Her eyes lit up, and with a smile that inspired fear among the demons, she thought she could learn to enjoy it.
In the large computer center there was an organized chaos, all the staff went to their designated places in case of fire, in a disciplined way as they had practiced in the boring drills, true that they knew that this was not the cause of the alarm, but they had to be prepared.
Almost simultaneously Kawazu and Shugahara arrived at the conference room, both stopped in surprise.
One of the thick concrete walls of the enclosure was crossed by a large floor-to-ceiling gap, it was a clean cut, as if a punch had cut a piece of cardboard. The spray of the fire sprinklers did not allow to see clearly the interior, they heard sobs and and found Ghadril silhouette, in her hands they saw something that looked like a mass of incandescent metal. Water was instantly vaporized at the contact with that substance creating a mist that began to cover the scene. They saw as the Valkyrie shuddered and screamed as if trying to get rid of something... Behind her was Takashi, holding her with all his might, despite the fact that it was impossible for the young mortal to have the strength to stop a Valkyrie, yet it seemed as if his contact prevented her from moving. The goddess groaned:
-"Takashi, please, run away. I can't hold back much time. There is a force that controls me, please!".
-"Ghadril, try to fight, help is coming. We will see how to control it…" - at the sight of the men arriving he shouted at them - "please help her, I don't know what else to do, we have to stop her".
Shugahara gestured to Kawazu to stay outside, and slowly entered the shattered room. He clenched his fists and straightened up, then looked at the goddess trying to appear calm and spoke firmly:
- "I am Shugahara, judge of the order of the mortal knights. In the name of the great alliance of mortals and gods, I order you to stop. "
Ghadril saw him and tried to answer, but at that moment something seemed to take possession of the young goddess, her face became expressionless and with a mechanical voice answered:
- "Order rejected, insufficient authorization level. A security protocol violation has been detected. Level 6 alert activated. Action required: immediate execution of the offender".
In spite of everything, the young goddess didn't seem to have the strength to break Takashi's hug. Shugahara was stunned. He recalled that Urd had commented that when he tried to use Neighood to break Kamisama's code, a level 6 alert had also been activated, and Hild had informed him that once initiated, not even she had the authority to stop it. He had to look for another alternative. Now he would have to treat Ghadril as if she were hostile! Then he remembered the battle of the Tarikihongan temple so he looked into his pocket and with a sigh of relief, found a disc. With trembling hands he ordered.
-"Dr Kawazu, get away from here and seek protection. Takashi, as soon as I told you, release Ghadril and go with Kawazu. You could get hurt if you don't "- The young scientist tried to protest and just gave a stronger embrace to the Valkyrie. Kenji added - "Don't worry, I won't hurt her, please trust me."
The incandescent mass in the goddess's hands kept growing. Summoning an ancient song, Dr. Sugahara touched his Urd medallion and thus formed a protective field. Holding the sealing disc hidden in one hand he spoke with authority.
- "Ghadril, Dr Takashi is acting on my orders. I am the offender "-
Gahdril froze for a moment, then fixed his gaze on Shugahara.
- "Protocol alert 6 in progress. Modified execution priority. Exterminate subject Kenji Shugahara first."
The Valkyrie fought and broke free of Takashi, then pointed the incandescent mass toward Shugahara.
- "… Takashi, get out of here and protect yourself. "
Takashi looked stunned at Ghadril and ran out of the room, as the Valkyrie began to move like an automaton , sudenly she threw the incandescent mass toward Shugahara.
The incandescent mass struck against the shield generated by the medallion, at contact the barrier exploded burning everything around it, the water from the fire sprinklers instantly became steam that spread throughout the room and in a few moments it condensed in a dense white mist... the shield began to fade, but had resisted the impact.
The Valkyrie began to form another mass, suddenly, hidden among the steam of the water Shugahara appeared behind her with the sealing disc in hand. Without having time to react the Valkyrie disappeared absorbed by the seal.
At that moment Dr. Takashi entered shouting:
- "Ghadril... are you alright?..."
The man was terrified when he realized the goddess was not visible. Then he entered the fog shouting the goddess's name, Shugahara went to meet him and took him by the shoulders, forcing him to see in the eyes.
- "Don't worry, she's unharmed. I have sealed her on this disc. Here she will be safe until we can find out what happened."
Shugahara handed the magic disk to the astonished young man, he took it with trembling hands. Seen his fear Shugahara looked him in the eyes and said:
- "Keep the seal. Take care of it. I promise we will find a way to bring Ghadril back. "
At that moment Dr Kawazu peeked shyly into the room, looking all around said:
- "Could someone tell me what's going on?"
Somewhere in Europe, in the building where once Shugahara and Gyrid had been taken prisoners a few years ago, there was a secret meeting in progress. But this time the members were the true members of the sisterhood of Urd. Thanks to a combination of science and magic, the physical and psychological scars of the torture to which they had been subjected had almost disappeared. But at this moment concern was seen in the faces of the women. Some were elderly, others much younger and now there were even some recent recruits. All were committed to an ancient promise to help humanity and apparently the dangers of the future could be very great.
Gyrid was sitting at the head of the table where once the world's hidden leaders had been manipulating humanity. Despite her youth, the intensity of her eyes showed great determination as she was the virtual leader of the planet. She pointed to one of the oldest woman to ask her to speak, the matriarch spoke in a solemn voice:
- "I understand there is danger, but do we have the capacity to influence a conflict between gods and demons? Isn't that beyond the vows we made with the goddess Urd? Gods and demons have been in conflict for longer than we can conceive. "
Gyryd nodded and said.
- "Urd ordered me to fully trust the Mortal Knights. Keiichi has requested our help and I believe in him. I understand your concern, so I want to review the facts we know. We know the existence of our universe depends on gods and demons. The scientists have explained to us that our universe is inherently unstable and without the constant fine tuning of the large computers that they have it will eventually collapse... it could take a long time, but it would be inevitable. That is why this conflict is our concern. It is reaching a dangerous point and we can suspect it's caused by an external agent. "
No one said anything. Everyone knew the facts, still it was difficult to face them. Gyryd let her words sink and continued:
- "There is a force that is slowly attacking and weakening the universes of both gods and demons. Possibly the same beings that attacked the goddess Giorel. According to the memories that Somasindhu allowed us to extract from his mind, this is one of these beings "- In the air appeared the projection of a monstrous figure- "He called them Rakshasas, but Professor Shugahara has another name that he thinks is more appropriate to name them: Jötnar. "
A collective exclamation was heard. Jötnar, the mythical inhabitants of Jötunheimr, beings that threatened both gods and humans in Norse mythology, some were described as beautiful, but others as monstrous.
One of the youngest girls raised her hand to request being heard. Gyrid nodded.
- "I thought that our mythology had been created by Urd only as a way of teaching us. How can these beings be the same as mythology? "
- "Urd created those stories using old stories from heaven and embellished them a bit. Professor Shugahara has found very similar stories in Hell. It is true that most of the gods and demons also consider them myths, but for some reason none of them have knowledge of the real history of their universes as if it had been erased and therefore only those myths remained. Shugahara believes that some of these legends have a real basis. Recently the deep space mission detected the existence of other universes and its distribution has a strange resemblance to the myth of the Yggdrasil tree. If this is correct, it is possible that one of the universes detected is the mythical Jötunheimr. "
- "Jötunheimr, Enemies of gods and men according to legend" - interrupted another young woman - "What can mortals do against those powers that rival the gods?
- "Keiichi has been working on that. There are ways to neutralize the magic of gods and demons, the "first born" created ways to control the power of the first gods, and it seems possible to use that technology, we could create a special army with those capabilities. But not against gods and demons, but against that unknown enemy. There are still many unknowns but we have to start acting and think about the possibilities. The events in heaven and Hell, the prophetic visions of Goddess Belldandy, the old legends. Everything seems to converge. We may think that our efforts are useless and simply wait for the end of times, or we can prepare for the inconceivable with all the knowledge and might of humanity. "
The matriarch whispered something then looked around with imposing calm, after waiting for silence, with an energy that did not match her appearance, she said:
- "The Ragnarøkkr..." - She slowly got up from her seat, looked at all the women - "If the Ragnarøkk really is approaching, we don't know if humanity is capable of doing something against it, but we will not disappear without fighting."
Meanwhile, in a boardroom, scientists and technicians were discussing recent events. Sugahara was saying:
- "... Something similar had already happened. When Galileo became transferred to this center and evolved, Gahdril also acted as if there were a directive planted on her, in that case she reacted to the emergence of an artificial intelligence with conscience. On that occasion we were able to cancel the directive declaring Galileo as living being from the mortal world, but now something else triggered an alert of a higher level. It has to be something to do with Dr Takashi's work. "
Takashi tried to answer, but he was still very unsettled, he was clinging to the disc containing the goddess. Kawazu intervened.
- "I have read Takashi's report and I think I understand its implications. It seems Gods and demons are not completely autonomous consciences. Normally they constantly exchange information with the computers that manage their worlds. They do it while receiving energy. Now that they are receiving energy from the bracelets they are receiving less feedback, I suspect that their thoughts and actions are becoming more and more independent. Possibly they are subject to a control whose existence is unknown to them and there must be directives to prevent them from knowing. Assuming that it is true, any attempt to make that information known will trigger a directive that overcomes their conscious thinking and orders them to suppress the evidence. If that is so, the existence of an artificial intelligence, would be a level 5 alert. "
Shugahara intervened:
- "In heaven and Hell there is a widespread fear of artificial intelligences, for some reason it seems that the 3 goddesses with us, the Norns as they are named in mythology, are not subject to that restriction. I've been looking in their old stories. Something happened in ancient times that gods and demons cannot or do not want to remember. What happened shows us that they have very strong mechanisms to hide the past and they are beyond their control. I thought that the fears in heaven and hell were due exclusively due madness, but maybe it's also the control of the system that is weakening. Gods and demons are becoming more independent… yet their controls are not completely broken. Urd activated a level 6 alert without affecting her, but we don't know if Belldandy and Skuld are also immune. We have to take care about the information that comes out of here so not to generate another incident, at least until we can better understand what is happening. "
Professor Takashi spoke in a trembling voice:
- "How can we free Ghadril? She tried to fight back, but couldn't not overcame that power. "
Kawazu advanced and put his hand on Takashi's shoulder
- "Right now we still have an emergency on my hands, but I can imagine a solution. Maybe we can find the control commands and cancel the alert 6. But it will take time. At least we know that this communication channel exists. You must help us to enter into it and interfere. We depend on you."
The young scientist held firm the magic disk and said with resolution:
-" I will do so"
At that moment a young man came running. His face was overcome with fear ...
- "Professor Kawazu ... A portal opened in the room where Lind departed and the ruler of Hell appeared, please come, she threatened to destroy everything if we do not ... "
He could not finish his sentence, Kawazu and Shugahara had already run to meet Hild. The young man collapsed on the floor in fear.
In the other room Hild looked at the mortals who had come running. She smiled with satisfaction at the fear she inspired, then looked at one of them and said.
- "Doctor Shugahara. We meet again. My contract with you is not yet resolved, still I hope you don't abuse my patience. I demand you explain to me what is happening. I expected to meet Urd, only her should wear those earrings I have to her. "
Shugahara swallowed, then replied.
- "Urd is on her way along with her sisters. As surely Lind informed you, Keiichi san was heavily wounded and they had to stabilize him. The situation is critical, I offer you to take my memories so you can understand it better, we have nothing to hide. "
Hild smiled.
- "I still don't know if you're brave or stupid, but my daughter appreciates you. I accept your offer ... in consideration to her I promise you will suffer only a little. "
Hild touched the professor's forehead, he could not help but groan feeling his mind invaded, the sensation was similar to the first time he had been under the influence of one of Hild's tears, but at that time it had only been a fragment of the power that now invaded him. Fortunately now he knew what it was. Instead of fighting he tried to guide his mind about all the events that had happened... The arrival of Odin, his change of attitude, the explosion, the attempts to keep the demon alive... he didn't even try to hide from Hild what happened with Gabriel. Suddenly he was thrown violently against the wall ... with pain from the impact he looked at Hild.
The lady Hell was pale... and murmured.
- "Wotan survived the self-destruct spell... ! - She looked at the man who was trying to stand up and said - "I am once again in debt to you, mortals, Shugahara Can. You have saved the life of someone very dear to me. However this is also your fault. You mortals are digging into secrets that should not be revealed. Somehow you have activated a level 6 alert twice... and are still alive." - Hild shuddered - "Not even I have the power to stop an alert of that level. But I warn you, don't mention those secrets again before any inhabitant of Heaven or Hell or next time you might be less lucky. "
Shugahara was still somewhat still sore, but managed to ask.
- "Will you prevent us from continuing to investigate?"
Hild looked at him with contempt, but then softened her gaze, she looked at her arm, there were several moon bracelets on it, then looked at the mortals that surrounded her, and with a haughty gesture she said:
- "Mortal, you're really annoying, but you have helped us and I accept that. I hate knowing that there is a power greater than mine. If you help me to break it away from it, you will be greatly rewarded, but I have to warn you about the consequences. Now take me with Odin. "
Shugahara tried to bow respectfully, but his body was still sore ... He looked in his bag for his metal case where he got a healing dermal patch. He placed it on his arm and quickly the magic of the potion began to heal him. He looked sideways at Hild. At the sight of the working potion Hild had revealed for a brief moment the same expression of a mother proud at the achievement of her daughter ... Shugahara quickly looked away trying to pretend he had seen nothing and led the Lady of Hell to the main chamber.
Upon entering the chamber Hild could not hide a pain expression at the sight of the mutilated body of the once powerful demon. Shugahara's memories had shown her everything, but now she was facing reality. She shuddered and for the first time abandoned her well-cared role as the great ruler of Hell, to become only a woman before the dying body of someone she had loved.
She tried to fight with her emotions... but she shuddered when suddenly some comforting arms embraced her from behind. It was Urd, who for the first time in her life, had hugged her mother.
- "Mother, we will save him. These mortal men have risked their lives to stay here. I'm sure we can do it. "
Before Hild could answer other arms surrounded her ... They were Belldandy and Skuld ... Hild felt something as if something inside her melt. The warmth of the embrace of the nornas, who represented their hated enemies, sank into her and feelings that had remained long imprisoned began to emerge. She sighed deeply and extended her arms to correspond to her daughter, then spoke in a trembling voice.
- "Dr Kawazu, Shugahara´s memories tells me that you are in charge. Tell me what should I do. "
Meanwhile in heaven a curious scene was taking place, in the rooms of God Chancellor Myr . There, Chancellor Myr and the beautiful goddess Peorth had before them a young god prostrated on the floor in a humble attitude who was pleading for forgiveness.
-" ...I was the one who betrayed goddess Belldandy. She came to me for help, and instead of listening to her, I betrayed her. I could not stop thinking about that. Because of me, the goddess ended up being stripped of her powers and exiled to the mortal world. Now we have a usurper in her place ... "
Myr could feel the deep pain of the young god, who moaned and cried, hitting the floor with his fists, full of rage. After a few moments the chancellor leaned to the young man and touched him. He didn't quite understand what was happening, so he entered into the young god's mind and without him offering any resistance he could see everything that had happened. He saw how the god had rejected Belldandy's request to cooperate with the demons and thinking that it was his duty he had denounced her to his superiors.
Abruptly, he interrupted the contact. The chancellor was stunned. The idea of cooperating with demons was too much even for him… however he understood what Belldandy was looking for. With the understanding came a new determination, without thinking about it, he embraced the young god and after a few moments he stood up and told him.
- "I've seen your thoughts and you only have one way to redeem yourself before Belldandy. You must fulfill what Belldandy asked you to do... We need to have the cure against the madness and know everything possible about it. "
The god looked at him in disbelief.
- "But the madness is already cured, Belldandy cured everyone … !"
The chancellor looked him in the eyes, then slowly shook his head and said solemnly:
- "The reason behind the madness has not yet been eliminated. It could infect us again. Demons and mortals have developed a cure, which we don't have and I don't think that the current Kamisama is willing to sacrifice himself as Belldandy did to heal us again. "
The young man looked at him terrified ..
- "Can the madness still return? How is that possible?
Myr looked at the beautiful goddess who accompanied him, he looked into her eyes in a silent question. The goddess simply nodded. Myr closed his eyes and sighed with sadness, then opened his eyes with a glow that showed he was ready to take action. Then he extended a hand to god to get up and whispered in his ear.
- "Our world is in danger, but it seems that nobody wants to accept it. The danger goes beyond the madness and Belldandy knew it. I never thought I would have to say this, but to save ourselves we will have to become traitors. I need you to help me to get in touch with Hell. "
XXX
End of chapter XLV