Chapter 81 - Grayfia Lucifuge
As I returned to the castle Fuerig my thought were in mess and I was overwhelmed with anger. Something I didn't felt for a very long time, as I always used Architect to suppress my emotions to not cloud my judgment.
'Bastard... just wait once I am done, I will give you a fate worse than death.'
I thought in my head.
That bastard made me a prime target for assassination from Heaven, Grigori, and other factions just to satisfy his pride and superiority over others. All Original Satans were the same, arrogant beyond even heavens.
Unfortunately for me, right now I was in no position to oppose his decision as he was too strong for me to handle, and If I was correct, he had something that allowed him to control all devils. And I was not talking about power, but rather about some kind of blood magic.
In the end, he was the one who created the devil race with the Book of Lucifer, and I noticed that several pages were missing from the book, as they were torn out. Probably he didn't want anyone to find out about the method of controlling devils through blood.
I read about similar spells, that allowed one to control everyone through blood. Ancient blood magic, that was long forgotten, but still practiced by certain individuals.
In canon due to Lucifer's death, it remained lost, but I wonder If I may able to get my hands on it. If yes, then it would be great insurance for me to control devils, and prevent possible rebellion against my rule.
"You seem to be distracted, Lord Zeoticus."
Said a gentle female voice of Grayfia behind me, to which I stopped my track of thought.
"Call me by my name. We are to be wed one day and you are my part, calling me Lord sounds distant."
I said to her.
"That is not appropriate, My Lord. As your servant, I should follow a protocol of behavior to my best."
She said befitting to her strict expression.
"You are not a servant Grayfia, you are my partner."
I said with a rather complicated face as I didn't know how to deal with her. My relationship with Grayfia was complicated to say at best. In certain sense, she wasn't and was my servant.
A Lucifuge was a partner for Lucifer, a companion, and a friend. I could observe at least that when I noticed her father Gerstahl Lucifuge and Original Lucifer.
As I said that I noticed her surprise seeing this, probably even though she was mentally prepared for her fate, and just accepted her duty, deep down, she was still dissatisfied with all of this, as her entire life was just some kind of scheme for the great cause of all things.
"Then in private, I will call you by name."
Said she, as this was probably the best thing I could get from her right now.
"Right, now there is almost nothing for you to do in the Fuerig, but there is still some work that needs to be done in the Yestera."
I said to her.
"Yestera?"
Asked Grayfia with a confused expression.
"Small world, I have conquered for resources. You will go there, and help General Amyke with guarding our factories there. Lately, sea monsters have been unruly once again, with General Level ones are attacking our positions there, and I need their second Ultimate-Class person."
I explained. I knew that sea monsters would be causing troubles, and now they were even some General Level sea monsters attacking fortified positions and fortresses. Grayfia was Ultimate-Class with very high combat prowess, so she would be a great help there and hopefully, solve the problem as soon as possible.
"Also, as we are to be wed, you need to be aware that I already have a fianceé, Venelana Bael, from the Bael Clan."
I said, just to be sure.
"I am very well aware of that fact."
Said she with dangerous glee in her eyes, but I just ignored that. Probably she viewed Venelana as competition, which was true, but it wasn't my matter to meddle in that. Both of them were pretty strong and prideful, so probably it will be hard for them to accept each other.
Afterward, we have talked a bit, before Grayfia departed for the Yestera Plane and I went to do what I have been doing always, reading magic tomes to perfect my Tier Magic System.
One month later, I was surprised to see that Grayfia already returned from the Yestera, and she also brought a message from General Amyke. It was surprising to see, such a gentle woman on the surface at least, annihilated more than ten General Level sea monsters, that were attacking shores of the Mainland in the Yestera.
Truth be told, I was very satisfied with the results as Grayfia was a great help. If not for her, I would either need to go there personally or send General Zagan who was tasked with the reorganization of the army and implementation of Mechanical Legions into my military structure.
"Splendidly done, Grayfia. Also, have you brought their corpses? My familiar would have great usage for them."
I asked her. Now my Bloody Thorny Flower will soon be finished with devouring all the fertilizer I gave her and would need something on Ultimate-Class to evolve even further to reach a new evolution stage called Devouring Thorny Flower, which was a General Level entity.
"Yes, but only eight of them are in a suitable state according to your instructions."
Said Grayfia as she handed me the interspatial pouch that stored those corpses. Even eight of them is a pretty good result and should be enough, probably.
"Well done. I can also sense that you have grown stronger."
'Architect, scan her.'
[Class: Ultimate
Demonic Energy: 285
Strength: 76
Agility: 80
Vitality: 50]
'Class wise her Demonic Energy Level is higher than mine, but her body is lacking, but still admirable, she must have undergone strict physical training and strengthening. Not something many devils would do.'
I thought in my head.
Chapter 82 - Nine Realms
'Class wise her Demonic Energy Level is higher than mine, but her body is lacking, but still admirable, she must have undergone strict physical training and strengthening. Not something many devils would do.'
I thought in my head.
She was pretty strong among the Ultimate-Class powerhouses.
"I will be departing for the Nine Realms soon enough. In a meantime, when I am gone, look over the Fuerig and borders with a demilitarized zone with Fallen."
I said to her to which Grayfia nodded. With her overseeing Fuerig and my territory I could rest that they were secure.f
Soon I would be departing for the Nine Realms, with my prime target was to reach Hela who was in Helheim.
The only way for me to get into the Nine Realms was to go through the Draconic Deus and find a portal that is connected to the Helheim in the Draconic Deus. If I am lucky, I would be able to find it rather fast.
I studied a bit about the Nine Realms, they were huge interconnected dimensional realms, created from nine realms of Asgard, Vanaheim, Alfheim, Jotunheim, Swartalfheim, Niflheim, Muspelheim, Midgard, and Helheim. There were also some minor realms such as Nidavelir. All of them were connected by Yggdrasil, the world tree that connected them all.
Asgard was home to the battle race Aesir, which ruled over the entire Nine Realms. Vanaheim was home to the Vanir, species with immense talent in magic and sorcery. Jotunheim, frozen world inhabited by Ice Giants. Muspelheim, vulcanic world of raging flames under the rule of Flame Giant Surtr. Alfheim, home to Light Elves, a special breed of elves with a high affinity to light magic. Niflheim home of endless cold freezing fog. Swartalfheim, currently a dead world, destroyed by an ancient war between King Borr and King of Dark Elves Malekith. And finally a small world of Nidavelir, home to several dwarf tribes.
Some may not distinguish Midgard and Earth, but in reality, they were different places. Midgard was a plane that was eternally in the Viking Age. Almost all Einherjar that started as mortals were selected from Midgard. One could say it was like a factory for soldiers that supplied Asgard with its armies.
I teleported to the Draconic Deus, to Norway. I didn't bother looking around, humans here were still beyond primitive in culture and barely had anything of interest to me.
Immediately I cast the spell to search for spatial disturbances, to search for the tunnel to the Helheim. I was in hurry, as I cannot prolong this matter any longer, due to extremely high tensions in Asgard.
"There."
I muttered as my detection spell finally found something, several miles away from my current location.
I also needed to be cautious due to two people who can easily sense me entering the Helheim. One of them was Odin, as God-King had absolute control over the Nine Realms and could easily detect if someone enters.
The second one, even more, problematic was Heimdall. He was all-seeing God, directly connected to the source of the Nine Realms and his perception was even superior to that of Odin's. To evade his All-Seeing Eyes would be highly problematic, fortunately right now, he should be focusing on Hela and her army, and with a bit of concealment magic, it should be okay.
I went to search for the spatial tunnel leading to the Helheim. Surprisingly, I found it rather fast and it was guarded by several powerful warding spells and even magical formations around the entire area.
The first thing I needed was to break down the magical formation, but that was done rather quickly, as I did it with brute force, as the formation was weak and crudely done. After I was done with it I moved to the warding spells that were blocking the entrance to the cave, where the spatial tunnel was located.
These ones proved to be more problematic. These spells were done properly, by Master in Aesir Magic. To break them down, would require some time, but with help from Architect, I was able to easily locate weak spots in the warding spells and barriers over the entrance to the cave, and break down the barriers and enter the cave just within one hour.
Afterward, I entered the cave and quickly located the portal, which was at the deepest parts of the underground maze.
I entered the portal, and soon enough appeared in the Helheim.
"Damm, this place is even worse than Underworld."
I muttered as I looked around.
The sky was dark black, just like death. The air here stanched with the aroma of rotting flesh and blood. This was really a shithole, a realm of the dead.
I needed to find Hela as soon as possible and strike a deal with her, or whatever as I was aware that my concealment spells cannot last for eternity and sooner or later they would be found out by Odin or Heimdall, and then I would be fucked up.
'Find Hela, get her only my side, and depart for the Underworld with her army as soon as possible. Still, if Odin chooses to banish her and strip her of her godhood, then she will fall back to the Ultimate-Class, as she got her godhood when she reached Ultimate-Class. But, Aesir have innate ability to awaken godhood naturally, I read that Odin did it, but from current Asgardians, almost none have achieved such feat.'
I thought in my head.
Still, I was in hurry, from the latest reports I got, enemies of Asgard, namely Laufey and Surtr started moving their armies against All-Father already. While Malekith was still lurking in the dark, hoping to strike when Odin will be at his weakest.
Truth to be told after I get Hela to join me, I don't really care what will happen to Asgard, though some of their technologies, magic, and treasures are too precious for me to ignore.
Maybe I will steal them admit the chaos.
Chapter 83 - Helheim
If I replicate such things as Bifrost, that would be a great boon. Not even Solar Federation during my age, had such an advanced method of travel, though there were some proposals to use Immaterium for that, that was too dangerous.
Asgard was a very advanced civilization, that has fallen in terms of strength since the ages of God-King Buri who founded Asgard in the Astral Boundary. During the age of God-King Borr, they lost in some conflict in the Astral Boundary and suffered great losses, and were forced to flee.
And truth to be told, Dimensional Gap was just a poor, backward, primitive area even when it was part Astral Boundary and not sealed dimension. Here resources were scarce, energy density was low and magical laws were weak.
I was currently located at the outskirts of the Helheim and was far, far away from the central location, where Hela was with her army and followers.
Here in the outskirts of the Helheim, it was filled with countless undead, that was walking here and there aimlessly. Skeletons, Zombies, Undead Creatures such as dragons, giants, and many others.
The especially entire place was filled with Draugrs. A type of undead that inhabited the entire Helheim. They looked like a weird combination between mummy and zombie with azure glowing eyes.
Most of them were created or birthed from deceased aesir warriors whose corpses were dropped into the Helheim, where they were resurrected by the unique energy of the Helheim.
I walked through the plains of the Helheim, while I was in a constant state of vigilance. While I was at the Ultimate-Class, Helheim was a very dangerous place, even for those far stronger than me. Additionally, what was worrying me, was a question if Odin's army already arrived at the Helheim.
Tensions were high and were highly probable that Odin will send an army to pacify Hela and her army. Soon enough, the entire Helheim would be turned into a battlefield.
Soon enough I sensed a huge horde of Draugrs coming in my direction, from which I sensed one Ultimate-Class Draugr. I was even tempted to kill it, to see their combat prowess how strong they are.
I stood in the direction of the Draugr horde and started casting a [Dimensional Slash] spell. In ten seconds I already completed the spell model and released the spell at them. From distance, I observed how the [Dimensional Slash] tore the fabric of the reality and entire space where they were just disappeared into nothingness.
Soon enough the Helheim just repaired itself just like nothing happened. I also had Architect record this entire fight, for research purposes as it how Laws of the World influenced the strength of spell and energy-based attacks.
"How strong are Magical Laws of Helheim compared to those in the Underworld?"
[Weaker by several-fold. Underworld has a higher level of Magical Laws, which is more suitable for the growth of powerhouses, though Magical Laws here are still stronger compared to the other planes such as Yestera. If Dimensional Slash spell was cast in Yestera, it would take several days for the plane to heal the damage on the fabric of reality, here it was done in minutes.]
Stated Architect his analysis.
"Why are Magical Laws stronger in Underworld compared to those here?"
I ask.
[Probably due to the nature of the Nine Realms itself. They are getting weaker due to not being properly assimilated with the Magical Laws of the Dimensional Gap, probably the reason is they didn't have any Being of Law when they transported the entire Yggdrasil to the Draconic Deus and when the Dimensional Gap was created. From my analysis, if Nine Realms were in the Astral Boundary your spell wouldn't be even able to tear the space there, as Magical Laws in Astral Boundary should be even a hundred times stronger than here.]
Answered Architect.
"That is understandable. Draconic Deus is much weaker than the Astral Boundary. While the creation of Dimensional Gap saved a few, it doomed rest to be on the bottom of the food chain."
I said.
Primordial Gods who were Being of Laws created Dimensional Gap to protect their civilization from the strife in the Astral Boundary, where civilizations, factions perished each day. And another result of this action was that the entire Dimensional Gap was getting weaker and weaker with each passing millennium.
As it was completely severed from the Astral Boundary, its Magical Laws were being developed in different ways, or rather say they degraded, energy density lessened and it was harder for powerhouses to emerge.
Even now Dimensional Gap had maybe fifteen Apocalypse-Class entities at best and zero powerhouses above the Apocalypse-Class.
"Hmm..."
I muttered some incomprehensible sounds before I started moving once again, going deeper to the Helheim.
After several hours and skirmishes with a few monsters and undead, I finally arrived at the deeper parts of the Helheim.
I recognized from the simple fact, as I saw outposts and sentries of the Hela's army that was patrolling area.
Chapter 84 - Hela (1)
I sneaked around beyond their fortified lines, in my search for Hela's main camp. I easily caught her signature, as she was a person with the strongest Divinity in this entire region, so she was rather easy to locate.
With my concealment spells, it was easy to arrive unnoticed at my location, where I finally found Hela, in a remote place as she was training with her Necroswords. Those swords were pretty interesting from what I could tell.
A mixture of various metals, but at the same time, they seemed to be alive.
'Maybe it is some kind of Soul Weapons like Sacred Gears or something similar.'
I thought in my head.
In truth, Hela was as beautiful as she was deadly. She was around 200cm high, higher than me by five or six centimeters. She had shoulder-length pitch-black hair as darkness night and emerald green eyes.
She wore an armor-like bodysuit of green and black colors that were combined.
"Come out devil, while your stealth spells are flawless, I still control part of the Helheim's World's Will Source."
Said she with a cold voice, as I undid the stealth spells and revealed myself, to which she redied her Necroswords and aimed them at my neck.
"Easy, easy there, my Lady. I come in peace."
I said quickly before she decided to kill me. I was very well aware that she wasn't the most reasonable one.
"Make one wrong move and your head will leave your shoulders."
She said coldly.
"So what do you want devil? I haven't dealt with your kind for decades."
Said she.
"Of course, my Lady. My name Zeoticus Gremory von Lucifer, and I have come here to negotiate with you."
I said, and I felt that her Necroswords disappeared when I introduced myself.
"Lucifer... Gremory... you are descendant of two madmen that even outshined even my family."
She said, to which I nodded in agreement. Original Lucifer was nuts and my paternal grandfather Zeldris Gremory was a battle maniac and a power-hungry madman who died due to lust for power.
"I admit that my genealogy is far from best."
I said in a low voice.
"Do you know how Asgard became pathetic as it is now?"
Asked Hela with some melancholy in her voice.
"Tens of thousands of years ago, a long, long ago before I was even born, in vast Astral Boundary, there was a man of rather average species similar to humans. He was called Buri, the first God-King of Asgard Pantheon. He rose from nothing in the Astral Boundary to heights that once cannot even imagine. While Asgard wasn't among the strongest factions in the Astral Boundary, it was still considered a rather strong faction, with many Primordial Gods and even Supreme Gods."
She stopped for a while. Supreme God must be a stage above Primordial God in the Divine Path.
"But then, one day an Asgardian Military discovered an unprotected Grade 3 Plane that was on verge of becoming Grade 2 due to some occurrence. There were only a few tens of millions of humans and beastmen living there, but they were surprisingly weak, as they had only several Apocalypse-Class experts and a few Primordial Gods in their native Pantheons, even for Grade 4 Plane it would be considered weak. Nothing that could stop the glory of the Asgardian war machine. We invaded the world, and soon enough pushed natives to the brink of extinction, but then it happened."
For now, it sounded too good to be true.
"A truly powerful factions of the Astral Boundary noticed newly evolving Grade 3 Plane. You need to know that Grade 2 planes are very rare and could bore peerless experts and mighty powerhouses that could destroy entire Draconic Deus with even the simplest spell. As we were fighting there under the leadership of King Buri, another competitor appeared. It was one of the human empires, the Arcane Empire that occupied Grade 1 Plane by itself. They arrived with hundreds of Apocalypse-Class warriors and mages, tens of Dimensional-Class powerhouses under the leadership of their Emperor who was Lord-Class entity."
I just stood there and absorbed a new knowledge. Now I had answers to what stood above Apocalypse-Class, namely Dimensional-Class, and above it was Lord-Class, but I was aware that there existed ranks above. Just from mentioning Emperor was Lord-Class, meaning true powerhouses would not spend time running nation, they would rather seclude themselves to train and research.
"Great-Grandfather Buri refused to retread, who knows why... maybe due to confidence, maybe due to arrogance, maybe due to foolishness. In the end, it didn't matter, as he was killed by Emperor of the Arcane Empire in split seconds before God-King could even summon the might of Pantheon. Other Primordial Gods and Supreme Gods were butchered, caught and their Divine Sparks were extracted by human magicians and arcanists. Main Asgardian army was completely annihilated to the last man, the only person who survived was his son Borr, who was sent to Asgard moment God-King Buri sensed the strength of humans, as his son was just early Primordial God. After he returned to Asgard, he realized that the entire strength of Asgardian civilization was gone, just a few Primordial Gods remaining, but that was all. They have lost their strongest gods, with their godhoods were taken. Their own Apocalypse-Class and Dimensional-Class magicians were killed. Most advanced magical technology devices and weaponry were lost during the war. Nothing remained. So, he resulted in the last option. He used Yggdrasil to move the entire Nine Realms plane to the outskirts of the Astral Boundary, where he joined local gods in creating a Dimensional Gap, dying in the process, due to internal injuries suffered from previous battles. From then on, Asgard was and is getting weaker with each passing century, we are nothing more than just former glory. Living on the lost wonders and golden glitters."
Now hearing this story from Hela, it would be an understatement to say I was shocked.
Chapter 85 - Hela (2)
"And now, my father has decided to abandon the ambition of returning to the Astral Boundary. In past years, he has decided to just meddle with natives and become Pantheon to the Draconic Deus, forever being trapped in the Dimensional Gap. When I was little, I have always heard stories about the vast Astral Boundary and wished to lead conquest there... not to be confined in this prison."
She said with mild anger visible in her voice.
In a certain sense, the entire Dimensional Gap was a prison, as nothing could go in and out. Resources were finite here, and planes were also finite. While here there may appear a new one, it was an extremely rare occurance, not comparable to the vaster world, where it is common.
Leaving the Dimensional Gap, was something I have wished to achieve when I learned about the grand world beyond. And now it even seemed possible, to leave it with an entire plane on your back. If Asgard did it, I will too...
"I have a proposal for you. Leaven Asgard to join Underworld, and I promise you, that you can lead armies to conquer, kill and slaughter as you wish. In the future, even in the Astral Boundary, as Dimensional Gap is too small for my ambition."
I said with a small smile.
Hela looked at me surprised, perhaps she was considering the option.
"And how do you plan to evacuate approximately 160 million people from here?"
She asked me to my shock. I didn't wait that about 160 million Asgardians followed Hela, this was good. She had a critical resource that I lacked... a combat-ready population.
"I can easily open large-scale portals with a bit of Arcanotech and your control over Helheim, that would allow transporting even such a large population. My lands are able to accommodate a such number of people."
I answered swiftly. I had already such an Arcanotech device prepared at my territory, the only thing that awaited was Hela's help.
"Hmm... then swear Lifeblood Geass and I will agree. Sooner or later Odin will strike, and as hypocritical that bastard is, he will strike hard to annihilate my followers and seal me in some god-dammed pocket dimension never seeing light. Then he will fabricate some lies about how nothing happened and how I never existed."
She said with a sarcastic laugh, and I nodded in agreement.
We swore Lifeblood Geass to don't betray each other and fulfill some things, nothing serious. At least I have gained a little bit of her trust.
"How many soldiers do you have from your total population?"
I asked one of the things that interested me most.
"30 million Bersekers and 10 million Einherjar. Around 5 million magicians. Rest are civilians, mainly families of soldiers, craftsmen, artisans, and similar. Also, I have around 20 Ultimate-Class followers."
Damm... these numbers were overwhelming, if I could have her follow my lead, then I would probably have the same military strength as Archduke Agares, only a bit below Great King Zekram Bael.
"I have a question. Why did you accept?"
Something that bugged me. She was far stronger than me, had far higher military strength than me, so why willingly follow.
"While it may seem I have something, in reality, I am lacking means to leave Helheim with my army and civilians. I could leave with my strongest ones, but for what end? I will lose everything, and all of these men and women that followed me here were personally trained and cultivated by myself from the moment they joined the military and are loyal. They chose me over their King, something I cannot betray. If I leave, Odin will kill them to silence them and bury the truth, as always he did. So what should I do? Go to other Pantheons? Not an option, as I have harmed them too much and bad blood is among us. So the Underworld is the only opinion. Additionally, soon Odin will banish me and strip me of my Divinity leaving me at the pinnacle of the Ultimate-Class."
She said.
They were valid arguments. I came in most dire time with a solution to her problem.
"He will probably sense that someone from outside entered Helheim and send Royal Guard and some Gods to capture me and annihilate my followers. So, I don't have much time for making decisions. When can you open portal to the Underworld?"
She asked me, to which I threw her small ball-shaped device with a runic inscription.
"Active it, and use Helheim's source. This thing will subsequently open several portals around locations you wish."
I said, and Hela immediately did what I have said and activated the device.
In a split of a second enormous space-rifts appeared around the entire Helheim.
"How long will the evacuation last?"
I asked.
"Two to three days. What about when Odin notices this and tries forcibly to cancel those portals? What then?"
She asked rather nervously.
"Not possible, as now, they have already obtained Source Code of the World's Will and are able to bypass all magical restrictions. Additionally, energy is fueled by the Underworld itself and Dimensional Gap. Unless Odin uses the strength of all Nine Realms and Yggdrasil to disrupt it for a chance to shut them down, portals will remain open."
I answered. I made many countermeasures to the situation if Odin attempts to destroy portals.
"He won't. The strength of Nine Realms is not great as it was, and Yggdrasil is sleeping. If he used it, he will risk the destruction of Asgard itself, as he won't have an advantage in the fight against Malekith, Laufey, and Surtr. Maybe even other Pantheons will attack Asgard. Divine Power reserves of Pantheon are small."
Said Hela and now I was sure the evacuation plan was secured at least for some parts.
"And what if he sends in a larger army than just Royal Guards and some Gods?"
"Not possible. When I left, I took around a third of the elite soldiers of our military. Asgard's army is around 150 million large, due to constant de-militarization and most of its strength comes from Bersekrs, which all to the last one followed me."
Said Hela with a victory grin.
Chapter 86 - Hela (3)
"Then good for us."
I said.
After two days, the evacuation process was going very well, and practically all civilians were being already in the Underworld right now, accommodated in my territory, where they have started building their own city called Inselheim.
Meanwhile at the Asgard things were beginning to move.
In the Royal Palace of Valasjafl, an old man in golden battle armor was sitting on the throne in the Throne Room.
He had white hair and a white beard, missing his right eye, that was covered by a gold eyepatch. He was gripping a huge spear.
"Well, played my daughter, well played."
Muttered the old man with a cold voice.
He was Odin, The Allfather, current God-King of Asgard Pantheon, and ruler of the Asgard.
"Vidar, Göndul."
Said Odin in a neutral voice, as two figures stepped forward and knelt before the throne of Asgard, the Hlidskjalf Throne.
One of them was an elderly woman who wears a deep blue colored robe. She has a fearless look over her face as she looked at the God-King. She was Göndul, current Commander of the Valkyries.
Another one was a huge man, over two and a half meters tall, clad in black metal armor with animalistic features. He was Vidar, a pinnacle Intermediate Divinity Stage God who acted as the Commander of the Royal Guards.
"Your Majesty."
Both of them said.
"Take a Division of Royal Guards and Valkyries and depart to the Helheim immediately, and catch Hela. She and her rebels are leaving Helheim."
Said Odin solemnly to both of them widened their eyes in shock.
"How is that possible, My King?"
Asked Göndul as she was well proficient in the many magic systems across the Draconic Deus and even a few from the Astral Boundary.
"She found a helper who allowed her to open transdimensional space-rifts to the Underworld, that cannot be closed. Apparently, some devil with high knowledge of magic is helping her to escape, not only that, but they also have some magical technology, that is rivaling ours own to stabilize and protect the portals as I cannot close them. I even stripped Hela of her control over Helheim, but it appears those portals are fueled directly from the Underworld's World's Will and Dimensional Gap."
Explained Odin which left Göndul and Vidal deeply surprised.
"This is an unexpected development, they have even managed to conceal this matter for two whole days before I found it. Most of them should already be gone, but Hela would be leaving as last, she is probably waiting for you, be prepared."
Said Odin, as both Vidal and Göndul bowed and left the throne room to mobilize their troops and depart for Helheim.
Each Royal Guard was a Pinnacle High-Class warrior while many of them were even at High-Class in terms of energy reserves. Same could be said about Valkyries. Additionally, with their formation and tactics, they are able to match even Intermediate Gods, not talking now, when they had the support of Vidal a peak Intermediate God, and Göndul who was the same as Satan-Class in terms of magical power.
Helheim
"Lucifer, Odin has severed my connection to Helheim, now we have two to three hours before his attack dogs will arrive. Fortunately, evacuation is already complete, and now only several of my most loyal and strongest subordinates remain here."
Said Hela to me, as I was meditating and preparing for hearing something similar to this.
"He still hasn't banished you?"
I asked while I looked at her.
"No, he probably fears if he did that, and I lost my divinity, then as Ultimate-Class I would flee and he would gain nothing. He is too arrogant for that, he needs to achieve at least partial victory now when a third of deserted army is in Underworld."
She said.
"Who will come? And how many?"
This was a pretty important question.
"With current situation? I think he will send probably one or two Divisions of Royal Guards that should be 2,000 pinnacle dual High-Class warriors and battlemages. Additionally with Valkyries, maybe altogether maximally 3,000 people. Also, he will send Vidal the Commander of Royal Guards. He is pinnacle Intermediate Divinity Stage God who is a fearsome warrior."
Said Hela with a grim voice.
"Here take this."
Said she as she threw me something.
I was surprised to see what it was.
It was the Golden Apple of Idun.
"It should push your physique to Ultimate-Class. It will give us better chances to bring some of them down. Among one Division of Royal Guards, there should be minimally ten Ultimate-Class warriors or Lesser Gods."
Really, the strength of Asgard was high, even after their sharp decline.
I immediately ate the Golden Apple of Idun, as I felt huge energy enter my body, as It was absorbed and refined by Devour and I felt as each cell of my body was being strengthened to a new level. Be it my flesh, bones, or organs, everything was being pushed to a new level of existence.
Even my energy reserves expanded by a significant amount.
Golden Apples of Idun, were one of the priceless treasures of Asgard. Just one could turn an ordinary mortal human into Aesir and even directly push him to the Middle-Class of physique and energy reserves.
Additionally, it was used by people to break shackles of their bodies to reach a higher level of power.
'Architect, scan.'
[Class: Ultimate
Demonic Energy: 254
Strength: 118
Agility: 106
Vitality: 124]
I was surprised seeing this, my strength was now many times higher than before. With a stronger body, I could accommodate my already high energy much easier, and handling it became easier. I would also suffer less backslash if I overuse my magic.
Most magicians have paper-like bodies and due to that, if they overuse their magic, they would often suffer terrible internal injuries, as their body could not handle such power.
It was an unwritten rule, for magicians to have a one class lesser physique than your energy reserves to be okay, but now many cared for that.
Still, even if you don't suffer some terrible backslash, you will slowly accommodate many hidden injuries that will make your progress much slower or even outright impossible.
Chapter 87 - Hela (4)
Golden Apples of Idun were peerless treasures of Asgard, and I was pretty happy that I got my hands on one of those.
"Thank you very much. Perhaps do you have saplings or trees that could be planted in the Underworld?"
I asked with hope.
If she had tree saplings or even an entire tree that could be planted, that would be like heaven-sent. I could grow these apples, and use them to strengthen my subordinates.
"I managed to get only some saplings that could be planted. Fortunately, I also took the growing method for them. While I could probably not raise them as effectively as Idun, as she is an expert in that, I could yield some results."
Said Hela to my surprise. This was better than I have expected.
"So what is our plan for combat?"
Asked me Hela. While she was aware that she was Intermediate Divinity Stage God, she was aware the moment Odin banishes her, she would drop to the pinnacle of the Ultimate-Class. She was probably also testing me in a certain way.
"While I am tempted to fight them to death and send some gift to Odin, that is not possible right now for me, but not for you. I will lay several magic formations around here, and you will act as bait for Vidal and Royal Guard and lure them to the formation. I will tie the activation moment for the moment when Odin banishes you. When he banishes you, you will be teleported out and the entire space will explode taking as many of them as possible. If they are severely injured afterward, we could try to kill Vidal and slaughter Royal Guards."
I explained to Hela.
I wanted to kill them for a simple reason. Their Divine Sparks were priceless and I could use that Divine Power to strengthen my body with special magic spells.
"Killing Vidal? You sure are ambitious."
Chuckled Hela slightly.
"His body and Divine Spark are priceless treasures. Among Royal Guards, there should be additional Lesser Gods, so their Divine Sparks are there too for me to take. With some time I could use them to increase my strength, and you too."
For my plan to become reality, I needed Hela to work for me.
"And how do you expect your magic formation to kill Pinnacle Intermediate God? His physique is terrifying, to wound him you lack firepower. Additionally, how will you deal with his soul escaping?"
She asked me.
Gods were really problematic beings.
Divine Path was one of the oldest ones and strongest ones at the entire Astral Boundary in the long-forgotten ages until new paths like that of Warlock and Arcane emerged among humans, and then various races imitated it to create their own power systems.
Gods fundamentally could be divided into two basic categories. One was created by Innate Gods. They didn't need faith to ascend godhood and could do it naturally, mainly due to their racial pre-dispositions for such a thing.
The second was created Faith Gods. They created all Gods of Divine Path, as Innate Gods were incredibly rare across the Astral Boundary. To ascend as a God you need worshippers to supply you with faith.
Faith Gods were especially problematic to deal with. Even if you kill them, destroy their physical body they could reform given enough time if they had enough worshippers. You could make it harder by the destruction of their Divine Spark, as that would basically destroy their godhood. If that happened, God would need minimally a hundred thousand years to recuperate, if he had several million worshippers at least.
While Innate Gods, didn't have such miraculous ability, they on the other hand weren't so dependant on the Faith Power from their worshippers. Faith was like a two-handed weapon. On the one side, it could quickly raise the power of God, on the other, you are closely tied to your worshippers.
If for example, someone slaughtered all worshippers of Lesser God, then such god would suffer terrible backslash and injuries. And fall into the Demigod stage, which was something between High-Class and Ultimate-Class in terms of Devil Power ranking.
"Simple, you will power up those magic formations with your full power. I have some Divine Crystals, so you can charge it with power equivalent to the three Pinnacle Intermediate Gods. Then you just need to attack Vidal and Royal Guards to enter formation, and I will do the rest. Afterward, you are teleported, I and your subordinates will take care of rest. In regards to Vidal's soul, after his Divine Spark is taken and used in ritual by me, the only option for him to revive would be to use an enormous amount of materials and Faith Power to construct a new Divine Spark, and only then his body. That alone would take tens of thousands of years, as resources in Dimensional Gap are scarce."
I explained my plan.
So essential Asgard would be losing one Pinnacle Intermediate God for good.
Dimensional Gap is a poor place. In the Astral Boundary, even ordinary Lesser God or Moonlight Warlock would be far richer than Greater God here.
"Hmm... that could work, but I want half of those Divine Sparks. When Odin banishes me and I lose my Divinity, I want to become Innate God."
Said Hela with a confident voice.
Aesir and Vanir had the ability to become Innate Gods, but due to lack of resources, nobody chose that path, as even in the Astral Boundary it would take an enormous amount of precious resources to achieve.
"No problem. Just try to play along and play for time."
I said to her.
If I obtain those resources, I could quickly raise the strength of my physique to the later stages of the Ultimate-Class, which would in turn tremendously increase my combat prowess. While I am not a close-ranged fighter, I will utilize every advantage I have.
And having a strong physical body was one of them. When you have a strong physical body, it will also affect the speed of healing, and even regeneration of energy reserves.
Chapter 88 - Confrontation in Helheim
As I was instructing Hela on how to make a proper magical trap. While Hela was skilled in magic, I could proudly say, that In terms of magical knowledge I was far above her, not mentioning having superior advantages such as Architect A.I. MTC.
It only took one hour for the magical formation to complete, as Hela used all of my Divine Crystals in the creation, as I also helped her, by adjusting the formation and spells.
I was lucky to get some Divine Crystals I bought from some auction in Hindu. In Hindu Pantheon was often brutal competition, and Divine Crystals were precious for gods, some god was selling them for an enormous amount of war resources, which I supplied in the end.
Divine Crystals were practically an enormous amount of crystalized Divine Power.
"Now the trap is complete, and just bait. Our guests should arrive soon enough."
I said as Hela grimaced, clearly not happy for being used as bait, but alas, there was nothing else to undergo this quest.
I then cast several concealment spells and disappeared, as I waited for the show to start.
And so It happened, one hour later.
Clouds darkened and Bifrost opened, and a line of pure light shot from the sky to the ground as countless people came out of the light. All of them were clad in golden Asgardian armor powered by runic inscriptions and armed with swords and spears crafted from the most advanced Asgardian magical technology.
Soon enough towering figure of Vidal emerged from the portal of light, followed by hundreds of Valkyries as they flew on their pegasi high in the sky.
"So Odin has decided to send his loyal hound to end me?"
Asked Hela Vidal with mockery in her voice, as she was aware of his short-tempered personality.
"Traitor, you and all your brethren."
Shouted Vidal in anger as he was called a dog.
"Traitor? Maybe in certain sense, yes. To Odin, but not to our Asgardian Ancestors. Maybe you and the Gods of Asgard Dimensional Gap are heaven-sent, but to me, it is nothing more than prison for our disgraced nation, where we will ultimately perish. Asgard belongs to the Astral Boundary and not here, and If that hypocritical old man refuses to admit that, then I will achieve what he thought to be impossible."
Said Hela in anger as I watched everything from shadows.
"It is not your right to question King's choices. Peace is here, not your endless bloodshed and wars that will doom us. We have been here for thousands of years, living in peace, without fear of being attacked and enslaved, destroyed by Fiends of Abyss, Warlock Dynasties, Arcane Empires, other Pantheons, or other factions."
Said Vidal with a serious voice.
"And for what? For that, we are getting weaker and weaker with every generation? That we don't have any Mighty Divinity Stage Gods? For that, we are even not getting stronger but weaker instead? Peace is never a solution, it is the only path to destruction, as once someone appears and destroys us, and we won't be even able to think due to the peace."
Shouted Hela on him, like Vidal, Valkyries, and Royal Guards were approaching Hela and encircling her so she cannot escape.
"Warmonger as you can never understand that peace is possible."
Said voice belonging to an old woman in magical robes as she said from Vidal's back.
"Göndul, he sent here too?"
Asked Hela surprised.
Göndul was one of her teachers when she was little, but she was too loyal to Odin to think otherwise about his orders.
"Göndul is right Hela, surrender to the judgment of Allfather for betraying Asgard and allaying with devils."
Said Vidal with a rather commanding voice with stoic expression as he looked at Hela. While she watched around and lured more and more Royal Guards and Valkyries to the magical formation. Vidal was already only several steps away from her, while Göndul was more cautious and wasn't even thinking about approaching her position.
'Maybe that is for best.'
Thought Hela, as she didn't really want Göndul to die here.
"Hmm... do you know what Vidal? Go fuck yourself."
Cursed him Hela, to provoke him, and it paid off.
"Capture her! Immediately!"
Screamed Vidal in absolute anger as she went for Hela, and hundreds upon hundreds of Royal Guards and Valkyries rushed at her position.
She could only hear a faint voice in her ears.
'I Odin Borson, son of Bor, grandson of Buri, King of Asgard and God-King of Asgard Pantheon I hereby banish Hela Odinsdottir from the Asgard and Asgard Pantheon forever till the end of ages!'
It was Odin's voice as he was banishing her, and she felt her Divine Power being stripped from her, as his strength greatly decreased, and fell to the pinnacle of Ultimate-Class.
At the same time, countless magical runes, spells, and formations appeared around the place, where Hela was standing.
"Vidal retreat! It is a trap!"
Shouted Göndul at Vidal, Royal Guards, and Valkyries, but it was too late.
Suddenly Hela was enveloped by light and disappeared from the place, and at the same time, everything went blank, as everything exploded and destruction embraced everything in diameter of several kilometers.
Göndul and several Valkyries by her side, managed to teleport away as Heimdall activated Bifrost to save at least those who could be saved.
'Damm that was one of hell explosion, I wonder how many survived it.'
I thought as I observed it from a safe distance with Hela's Generals, who were all Ultimate-Class warriors.
There were even several Lesser Gods among those who came for Hela with Vidal, as he wasn't the only god present.
'Now, we will go and kill everything that managed to survive before Odin comes here personally or sends reinforcements.'
"General Ragnar, shall we go?"
I asked bearded Asgardian in black armor, as he held an enormous two-handed hammer in his hands.
"Of course lad, we will spill some blood."
Said General Ragnar with a bloodthirsty grin.
Chapter 89 - Godslayer
After the dust settled, I together with ten of Hela's generals arrived at the scene of the explosion. The entire field was filled with corpsed, blood, and body parts, and the stench of blood was heavily present in the air.
"Kill everything that moves, I and Ragnar are going to finish Vidal."
I said to them, as I was something like an unofficial leader.
As I went with Ragnar to the center of the explosion, we have killed a few surviving Royal Guards and Valkyries that were barely alive, as they were rolling on the ground, bleeding and slowly dying due to their injuries.
"Ohh? Lesser God of Weak Rank."
I muttered as I looked at the golden-clad man who was still alive, but unconscious. Lesser Divinity Stage was divided into two sub-stages. Feeble Rank and Weak Rank.
Take out my Scythe Rosenkreutz, with one slash, I severed head of the unconscious god, and cast spell, as I tore out his Divine Spark out his body. His soul attempted to escape but alas, as he was weaker than me, I caught his soul and destroyed it with a special spell.
Ragnar was doing the same thing as me, though more brutally, as he was crushing skulls of warriors that survived my trap with his enormous Warhammer.
After half an hour, I have gathered around 12 Divine Sparks, all of them were of Lesser Gods of Weak Ranks, which was pretty good loot. As Lesser Gods were essentially same stage as me, I was able to kill them permanently, by crushing their souls.
Of course, I couldn't do that with Intermediate Gods, that thing was impossible.
As we were killing all survivors, mostly those strongest ones, as the rest of the Generals were focusing on finishing off ordinary members of the Royal Guards and Valkyries, I finally found Vidal.
He truly lived to his fame as Pinnacle Intermediate Divinity Stage God. While he was severely wounded, he was still able to stand on his two legs and even fight, as he charged at me and Ragnar, the moment he saw us slaughtering unconscious Royal Guards and Valkyries.
'His physical strength is surely terrifying. I could see as he is visibly healing.'
I thought in my head, as I spread my wings and flew away from enraged Vidal, as Ragnar took him head-on. With few spells to strengthen Vidal's defenses and strength, he was able to hold off raging Vidal.
As I created distance between us, I started casting countless Tactical-Class spells as I started showering Vidal with spells, causing him additional injuries. But alas that was still not enough, as to really kill Vidal would take more, so I decided to go all out and use my strongest attack.
Strategic-Tier Spell, Dimensional Slash.
I started creating a spell matrix in my head, and soon after it was completed I released it at the Vidal. As Vidal was engaged in a fight with Ragnar, he didn't have enough time to complete as it severed his left hand.
Vidal screamed in anger, as he was subsequently hit by a two-handed hammer by Ragnar, and enveloped by Chains of Dark Light, as I barraged him with a bombardment of the Dark Light Spears and several more destructive spells.
Injuries on the Vidal's body were worsening with every spell that hit his body, and I could see with my bare eyes that his energy was slowly diminishing.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, several pitch-black swords appeared and pierced through Vidal's legs, causing him to fall on the ground, as Ragnar took his chance to use all of his power and crushed Vidal's right hand into a bloody mess of disordered flesh with his war hammer.
Apparently, Hela was hiding in the dark and waiting for her time to strike, like a ruthless predator she was.
While at the same time, I coated my scythe with the power of Dark Light and Devour at the same time and suck it directly at Vidal's heart, piercing his heart, causing him to shout from pain, as his heart was being destroyed.
I stretched my right hand, and pierced it through the wound on the heart, and brutally tore out his Divine Spark, as Vidal lifelessly fell onto the ground.
I could see that his soul was too strong for me to destroy, and it was sucked up back to Asgard. Apparently, Odin has used a bit of his power, to save his favorite servant. It was clear that he has lost this time, as Hela could leave, Royal Guards Division and Valkyrie Battalion were slaughtered, together with twelve Lesser Gods of Weak Rank and even Vidal was basically killed, only his divine soul remaining.
He would either could choose to reincarnate as mortal and start anew or spent countless millennia to recuperate.
"We won!"
I screamed as blood dropped from my mouth in happiness.
"Fuck you are right batling! We won! To hell!"
Laughed Ragnar in delight.
I achieved something not heard of for the last thousand years in Draconic Deus. As an Ultimate-Class, I killed pinnacle Intermediate God with millennia of combat experiences.
I stored corpses of all Gods and Divine Spark as I would have use for them.
Most priceless thing from god is his Divine Spark. The second one was of course body itself, as it was a peerless treasure, often used to make medicines or various things raging from magic materials to weapons.
Chapter 90 - Shock, Rage, Joy
"We need to leave, fast. Hela come."
I said after taking everything of some value. Now was the best and probably the final time to get out of here, as I feared soon either reinforcements came, in much more soldiers and experts from the Asgard's side or maybe possible even Odin himself will come, that would be catastrophic.
"Comming."
Answered female voice in the shadows, as Hela appeared out of nowhere, and went to me.
I then teleported us all to the nearest space-time rift leading to the Underworld and disappeared from the Helheim.
From the distance, high in the sky I could see pitch-black ravens circling as they were flying there happily.
'Hugin and Mirim... so he was watching the whole time.'
I muttered as I stepped into the space rift after everyone went ahead of me. After I stepped through, every space rift, across the Helheim that was leading to the Underworld, suddenly collapsed at the same time.
Meanwhile at the Asgard's Royal Throne Room
"My King, the mission was an utter failure. We fell into the trap and only I and several Valkyries survived, everyone else was killed."
Said Göndul, as she bowed to her king.
"How?"
Asked Odin, feeling as he aged by an entire decade just within one second.
"Hela had a helper. Zeoticus Gremory von Lucifer, helped her to construct some fearsome magical trap formation that was apparently tied to Hela's banishment as an activation moment. In an instant when she was banished, she was teleported out, and spell array exploded, killing almost all Royal Guards and Valkyries in an instant and severely injuring rest. I managed to save myself and several Valkyries as we were far behind them, when I noticed it was trapped it was late, as Hela tricked Vidalinot attacking her from close range."
Explained Göndul, as two black ravens flew into the room, as they circled around the throne, until they landed on Odin's shoulders, and started screeching.
"My King, what happened to Vidal and other Lesser Gods?"
Asked Göndul, as she disappeared from Helheim moment she noticed something was amiss.
"All Lesser Gods are dead. Vidal is essential to, only his Divine Soul survived but his divinity is lost. either he will reincarnate as mortal Aesir or spent millennia recuperating. That Lucifer descendant was really throughout and went how to properly deal with Gods and how to permanently shut them down. Probably the only reason why Vidal's soul survived, with his strength he couldn't destroy the soul of Pinnacle Intermediate God with Pantheon mark."
Explained Odin, while Göndul was deeply shocked.
Now the strength of Asgard decreased even further. Loss of 12 Lesser Gods Weak Ranks, was bad, even if they were low ranking gods, but they were all Royal Guards and experienced warriors. And the loss of Vidal was fucked up absolutely, as he had high chanced to become Greater God within the next two centuries.
"Mobilize all armies, now Royal Guards and Valkyries are severely weakened, there are high chances that Malekith, Surtr, or Laufey will strike."
Ordered Odin in anger.
Somewhere in the Jotunheim, world of eternal ice
"Oh? Odin lost so many and even Vidal was essentially killed?"
Asked a deep voice.
"Immediately order mobilization and start offensive at Asgard."
Said the voice after a short time.
At the same time in the world of Muspelheim
"Send out the legions. Kill every Asgardian you find."
Said voice belonging to the huge shadow figure of flames
Somewhere in the Swartalfheim
"My King word of Asgard's loss is spreading. Laufey and Surtr are already sending armies to clean of their world of Asgard's outposts and soon would attack their holdings in other worlds. What shall we do?"
Asked an armored man, as he looked at the throne, where a shadowy figure was sitting.
"Send in assassins and kill important generals in the army and Royal Mages. Try to assassinate as many important figures in the kingdom as possible, cause as much chaos as possible. Harass their fortresses, destroy their supply lines, kill their leaders, cripple their infrastructure."
Ordered figure on the throne as its eyes shined red.
At the same time, Underworld, Gremory Territory
Now entire Gremory Territory was more lively compared to before. My population increased by approximately 160 million, and I just gained more than 40 million soldiers.
This was a great boon for me, hopefully, that Hela would be as cooperative as she said she would be. I was aware that she had a few screws loose in her head but so what... nobody was perfect. As long as she would kill my enemies everything was okay.
Now the next thing on my to-do list was to go to Takagahamara and talk with Shinto Pantheon about the plans. Hopefully, it will go better, compared to this. The situation in Shinto Pantheon was peaceful as rather entire faction was ruled by iron hand by Amaterasu, who was the pinnacle Greater God.
"I have promised Vena to take her on a date to Agreas... I will go before taking a trip to Takagahamara."
I muttered.
Venelana would be happy that I remembered my promise, as I was really too busy with many things. Hopefully, after the war, I would have some peace and time to relax, but now I must strive to increase my power to the maximum possible, for a better future.
"You have returned, Zeoticus."
Said voice belonging to the Grayfia who was managing Fuerig in my absence. Due to her status as my fianceé and personally chosen by Lucifer, she had high authority and nobody dared to question her. And even if they did, she was pretty strong so she could easily beat anybody under Satan-Class.
"Indeed, please take over overseeing accommodation of Aesir and Vanir that fled from Asgard. Coordinate with Hela in that regard. She should be somewhere there or here. How were you holding on managing the territory in my absence?"
I asked.
