I do not own the Ah! Megami sama / Oh! My Goddess series

The green KSR raced down the Nekomi Ridge, trying to catch up with the BMW, but to no avail. Despite the fact that the latter had a sidecar attached, the former was currently carrying two passangers, which made it heavier than normal. Even the driving skills of Megumi Morisato, who had memorized the entire road that hugged the mountainside next to the city, couldn't possibly save them. In fact in the past, she had accidentally challenged a racer that fancied herself as the Queen of the Ridge and ended up earning the title for herself, a fact that didn't particularly pleased her. Due to that incident, her popularity skyrocketed within certain racing circles. Many other motor bike enthusiasts tried to best her, in hopes to get that title, but nobody ever managed to succeed. Yet, she couldn't catch up to this woman that was driving her brother's beloved bike. Whoever that Lind character was, she must have been quite skilled.

'Hold it,' she suddenly thought, as she realized a very important detail. "Kei-chan, when you said that she doesn't have a driver's license, you meant a Japanese one, right?"

"No, I meant exactly what I said, Megumi," said her brother in a very serious voice. "She doesn't have any kind of driver's license that I'm aware of." Keiichi just knew that Lind probably drew information from Yggdrasil in order to use his bike, but his primary concern were the law officers. If they happened to stop her, especially considering that she most likely wasn't wearing a helmet, it would turn into a bad situation.

Megumi on the other hand had gotten even more worried, as she wasn't aware of that last bit of information that her brother kept for himself. As such, she was horrified at the idea that they were struggling to catch up with someone that probably had no idea of what she was doing. In most cases these incidents tended to have a bad ending, especially at the current situation. "Is she going to be fine?"

"No worries, Megumi. She's tough as nails." Although in reality Keiichi doubted that there were nails nearly as hard as that particular Valkyrie.

XXX

Sayoko remained almost silent while she took a few sips from her teacup. Belldandy was really gifted at turning such a deceptively simple beverage into something that was certainly enjoyable. In fact she was certain that the married woman was just as good as some professionals from the various tea houses that she visited occasionally. Yet that didn't explain the complete lack of concern that the others showed at the current situation. Keiichi had just rushed out of the room, chasing after someone that was most likely driving his bike recklessly and despite that, nobody seemed to worry. Especially Belldandy. Did she trust her husband so much that she was certain that he was going to be just fine? Many accidents happened around the cliff sides of Nekomi, as drivers sometimes could make the slightest mistake and find themselves falling right off the road. Sure, he had won several races for the Motor Club in the past, but that didn't mean he was invulnerable.

Speaking of oddities, the other two women that were currently enjoying Belldandy's tea were certainly quite the sight. One was dressed in some ornate, exotic type of dress, while the other was hardly wearing clothes, at least nothing that Sayoko would consider as such. The mysterious leather garments around the brunette seemed to serve no apparent purpose, other than being a fashion statement. That woman troubled her for some reason. In an effort to get back at Belldandy, Sayoko had unsuccessfully tried to tempt Keiichi a few times in the past. While always she thought that she didn't go far enough for the young mechanic to give in, this Peorth lady was solid proof that her own efforts wouldn't have ever worked. If an attractive woman strolled around in such an attire and Keiichi remained loyal, then she never stood a chance in the first place. It would have been easy to just assume that the man really had no guts, something that even his friends even teased him about, yet he managed to marry the most popular girl at NIT.

"So, Belldandy," said Sayoko after a while in an effort to get some extra information, "I heard that your parents were behind your marriage."

"That's correct," said Belldandy. "Once father thought Keiichi worthy, mother gave us a proper blessing to wed."

"But I was under the impression that they had no involvement with the ceremony." Keiichi had told her so.

"The didn't organize it, only gave their permission." It was the truth after all, even if some details were left out. Belldandy never liked how Keiichi went so far in his attempts to hide the fact that she was a goddess, but in this case she decided to stick to the censored version of the events. As a first class goddess she wouldn't say a lie no matter what, but as long as they didn't ask her anything about her divinity directly, she could just avoid the subject. There were many occasions where she tried to tell others the truth, but Keiichi and her sisters had always stopped her.

"I see..." started Sayoko, only to be interrupted by a scream that came from the forest's direction. There was only one person that the voice could have belonged to, and that was her cousin. Did he fall down from a tree or something? She had no desire to let them realize that she brought him along, since he was always too antagonistic with Keiichi. If that happened, she would no longer be welcome to the temple and as strange as it may sound, she didn't want that. Losing to Belldandy was one thing, but becoming a loser like him was not an option.

Pretending that she heard nothing, Sayoko, checked her watch. "Oh goodness, time really flies so fast. I have a very important appointment in an hour, so I must be going. Thank you for the tea, Belldandy."

"The pleasure is mine, Sayoko," the goddess said in a very sincere voice as she offered her guest a bright smile. "Please come by any time you want."

The rich woman really doubted that, but at least it was nice to be welcome. Plus, Belldandy's smile seemed to be contagious, something that probably boosted her popularity. "Thank you, I will," she finally said as she started to walk towards the door.

XXX

Lind was pleased with how fast she had reached her destination. Her ability to fly had proven to be invaluable, despite the fact that she was driving a bike. The road was full of curves and going too fast would normally throw someone off course as the sheer momentum would prevent them from turning. By utilizing the same basic principles of gravity manipulation that goddesses used during flight, she could apply enough force in the opposite direction and keep the BMW on the tarmac while maintaining the bike's top speed. That was simply beyond what any human driver could achieve, no matter how skilled they were.

Finding a spot to park the bike had proven to be a bit difficult, as well as a problem she had never encountered in Asgard. Up there it was much easier to store one's travel medium, if they so wished to use one that is. Over here though it had proven to be anything but trivial, especially considering the extra space needed for the sidecar. A couple of minutes later she decided to park a bit further away from the shopping district, since there were more available spots there. The only downside was that she had to walk for a bit longer, but that wasn't a problem by any means for a goddess, not to mention a Valkyrie.

Now the real difficulty was that the shopping list was meant for Keiichi, who obviously knew where to go in order to buy everything. Lind, on the other hand, didn't have a single a clue as to where to start, but decided to simply observe the other pedestrians that carried shopping bags and head towards the direction they came from. Without any further delay, she started walking while taking a brief look at the list, this was going to take only a few minutes.

XXX

Sayoko was really annoyed. First she had to leave because of that stupid Aoshima and now she had to find him. She just wasted her perfect opportunity to get more secrets from Belldandy and before she accomplished her goal, he had to cause a big commotion. It was a miracle that the others didn't react to the noise or her cover would've been blown. But the worst part was that her cousin wasn't waiting back at the car, so she was forced to go look for him, something that was easier said than done, considering that her shoes weren't meant for trekking in the woods. Thankfully, however, he couldn't have gone too far. Most likely he was hiding right next to the temple's perimeter wall.

Indeed, not a minute later, she found the annoying man lying on the ground with his clothes nearly torn apart and scratches all over his body. Nothing particularly serious, but the sheer number of them only meant that he took quite the beating. "Toshiyuki?! What's going on here?"

"D-demon..." he stammered, as he tried to get up but failed miserably.

"Get a hold of yourself! Take a deep breath and tell me what happened," said Sayoko who was starting to get worried about her own safety as well. By the looks of it, some wild animal must have attacked him, but as far as she was aware of, there were no dangerous wildlife near Nekomi. Quite probably nothing like that at all.

"A-a c-cat..." he tried again, as he finally managed to get into a sitting position.

"A cat?! Are you serious?" asked a surprised Sayoko. 'Just who gets beaten by a cat? Maybe a scratch or two, but this is ridiculous. '

"Yes," managed the man as he fought back a cough. "She ambushed me and did this to me. It was a demon, I tell you. A monster! I haven't seen anything as vicious like that before."

Sayoko had had it. "I just started to get Belldandy in a corner and you managed to get beaten by a cat, of all things?! Do you even call yourself a man, Toshiyuki? I mean you always are trying to get Belldandy for yourself, but what do you think she would say if she saw this?"

As much as Aoshima wanted to say something back at his cousin, he realized that it would be pointless. The sad reality was that he had experienced something that most others wouldn't easily believe. Insisting any further would only work against him, by making him look like a loser. Well, more than he currently did anyway. Trying to avoid any more ridicule, he started limping towards the car, while his cousin followed behind him.

Hidden in the bushes, Welsper could hardly contain his laughter. That mortal's misery had finally offered him the break he needed. Of course, it was by no means enough to completely negate all the misfortune he had gone through, but it was a step in the right direction. Perhaps, after all that full course of misery, he could get some dessert as well. The neighbor's mackerel was always very tasty, so stealing some would get him not only a morale boost, but a free meal as well. With that in mind, the cat headed for the houses in the distance.

XXX

Finding his BMW was proving to be more difficult than what Keiichi had expected. As the Queen of the Ridge, Megumi knew a lot of other bikers and hoped that one of them might have noticed it. A sidecar was a rare thing to have these days, so he had hoped that it was going to easy to stand out. At least they tried. In retrospect, maybe he should have asked the other goddesses for help, as they could have located Lind in seconds. But instead, he just had to panic and rush into things. Even worse, his sister was with him, making it difficult to change plans now. It wasn't going to be easy to simply tell Megumi to go home and forget about it, in order to call a goddess to take her place in the search. To further complicate matters, he had no idea how far his parents were from Nekomi, as his father-in-law didn't provide that crucial bit of information. There was a huge difference between several hours and several minutes. In the first case there was no issue, as Belldandy could certainly manage to prepare a feast in that amount of time, but if it was a matter of minutes, then his only chance to properly welcome them was already gone.

Realizing that delaying the inevitable was pointless, he just decided to ask for help. "Hey, Megumi, can you stop by that phone booth? I need to make a call."

"What for, Kei-chan?" asked his sister. She had already exhausted her list of useful contacts, so calling for more help was unlikely to bring any better results.

"Just trust me on this one," Keiichi said. Getting a nod as an answer, Megumi did as she was told, hoping that her brother has come up with some useful idea, as they were currently just wasting time without any results.

Getting into the phone booth, he reached for a coin as he dialed the temple's number.

"Hello, Morisato residence," said the cheerful voice of his wife.

"Belldandy, it's me. Look, I wondered..." Keiichi started to say, before he paused for a second. "Is Sayoko still there?"

"Actually, she left some time ago. Did you want her, Keiichi?" asked Belldandy, trying to figure out why her husband asked that. 'Perhaps he forgot to ask her something?'

"No," said Keiichi, while looking cautiously over his shoulder to make sure that his sister was still on her bike and not close enough to hear him. "Can you find Lind? What I mean is, to locate her with your powers. We didn't have any luck so far, and I'm worried that we may be wasting our time."

"Sadly I cannot, Keiichi," said Belldandy as she tried to explain the situation. "I need to make a proper search mandala in order to find her, or to be more precise the bike itself. Asking Yggdrasil directly will yeld nothing as much information about those in the Fighting Wings is restricted from the rest of us. I'll ask Urd to give a hand in order to speed things up, so don't worry."

"I see..." was the only thing he could come up with. This wasn't what he wanted to hear, but at this moment, there was no other option really. "In that case please hurry, Belldandy. I can't wait in a payphone, so when you find her, can you contact me in any other way? Or alternatively, contact her instead?"

"That's not a problem, Keiichi. I'll go get Urd, so see you later!" And with that he turned back and headed to his sister who was still waiting for him on her KSR.

XXX

Meanwhile, in a different realm, a search of a very different nature was about to start.

Right outside Niflheim's throne room, a portal began to materialize, bathing the hall room in a wicked red light. Its single passenger rose out of the center of it, inspecting his surroundings for anything that could be considered a threat, before he emerged completely. The imposing bronze skinned figure in the black combat uniform, opened the message he had received no too long ago, giving it a second look. He was indeed in the right place, but aside from him, there seemed to be nobody here. Not even the demoness that summoned him.

'Great,' he thought as he rolled his amber eyes, 'just what I needed. First a pointless rebellion and now they drag me all the way from Muspelheim to play some game of hide and seek... Ugh, I don't have time for this nonsense.'

Indeed, Surt, commander of Muspelheim's guard was very busy during the coup, as protocol demanded that under any such event, the first priority was to ensure the safety of the realm. As such, the entire Fire Division of the Demonic Combat Sector had its whole personnel at a state of high alert. Those warriors, that were also known as the Eldjotnar, were considered to be among the best, considering all the dangers they had to go through on a daily basis.

Muspelheim was an unforgiving place where the weak had no hope to survive. It was geologically very active, as numerous volcanoes were constantly reshaping the landscape and also extremely arid, with vast deserts covering most of its surface. Ironically, the only thing that prevented it from becoming a searing inferno were the frequent volcanic eruptions that blocked some of the light it received from its binary suns, even if that meant a very volatile and constantly changing climate.

Still, the worst part was the creatures inhabiting the realm. While far less numerous compared to the other realms, the indigenous species of Muspelheim had evolved over the millennia into natural killers. Territorial, aggressive and ruthless, they were considered amongst the most dangerous one could encounter. Due to all that, very few were willing to go into that place and even fewer dared to call it home. Only a small number of demons were living there on a constant basis and most of them were in the Fire Division as Eldjotnar, with the remaining few others in supportive roles. Unlike their counterparts, the gods were their last concern, since they rarely bothered them. It was the natural dangers that kept them busy, and as such, most of the demons living there tended to be accustomed to a harsh, unforgiving life. However, as a result of all that, they tended to become very powerful themselves, with the best known example being the Daimakaicho herself, Hild.

Due to all that, the highest ranking Eldjotunn was also considered to be the leader of the realm, since there were too few civilian demons to justify another chain of command for them. Because of that, Surt was a very busy demon and the recent events just made his schedule far worse that normal. And now, on top of that, Hagall was nowhere to be seen. He had to create a direct access point to Niflheim in order to arrive as soon as possible, and from a different realm nonetheless. Did blondie lose herself in one of the malls the had here, or what? How long does it take to go from her office or wherever she was to the throne room? Those demons in the capital must have really comfortable lives. It's no wonder that Hild never visits them anymore. 'She must be spending her time stuffing herself with snacks while watching the mortal's lives. Pfft, reality TV.'

Still, he had no desire to appear in front of the Daimakaicho while looking like a sand rat. A quick self inspection was mandatory. The standard issue combat uniform he was wearing was exactly the same regardless of which unit he belonged to and consisted of the basic battle fatigues, a utility belt, reinforced gloves and finally a two piece cape. Only the color scheme was different, depending on the realm. While black was a popular color for demons, it was also a natural choice for anyone stationed on Muspelheim, since it was resembled basalt, a mineral that seemed to cover most of the mountainous regions of the realm. As such, the majority of the uniform sported that color, with the exception of the top part of the fatigues that were grey, in order to match the volcanic ashes. Unfortunately, some of that ash was currently covering his normally black boots. Since he apparently had time to spare, he did the obvious thing that every warrior in his place would. He summoned a brush, some shoe shine and got himself busy. Sometimes the old fashioned approach was better than some quick fix spells.

XXX

Analyzing the angel egg was proving to be a bigger challenge than the eldest of the Norns had originally anticipated. Whatever her mother did to that poor thing, it was nearly impossible to detect. At least as far as traces of demonic energies were concerned. There were signs of tampering, but for the most part, they seemed to be limiters. However, like in many other cases, appearances could be deceiving, so a lot more research was necessary. Unfortunately, though, she was beginning to run into problems, since she lacked both the equipment and even the first class license that was necessary for casting more intrusive scans. The first could be arranged, but the latter was going to be an issue, given the fact that she turned down the first class license she had been offered. That left her with few options since Lind lacked the experience and asking Belldandy was probably a bad idea. Her sister was a bit too caring at times and she worried that she may sympathize with the modified angel egg like she did with Blue Lance in the past. That time she refused to let go of the purified familiar, even though it was only going to turn back into an egg instead of dying. Despite her good intentions, she realized that she couldn't control it, causing a serious problem. In this case the situation was even worse. If the egg was deemed dangerous, the best option was to simply put it out of its misery, as detestable as it may sound, since sooner or later somebody may happen to use it.

Her troubled thoughts were interrupted when someone knocked on her door. "Neesan, can I come in?"

"Give me a second to switch into something more suitable, Belldandy," lied Urd as she tried to buy some time in order to hide the egg, as well as all her instruments she used for running the tests.

"Did I pick a bad moment?" asked the goddess of the present, who was reluctant to get into too much detail, fearing that it may turn into an embarrassing topic.

"No," said Urd as she finally opened the door, letting her sister in. "I was just trying on some new lingerie for you."

"Eh?!" That was indeed the type of embarrassing topic that Belldandy was afraid of. Love lessons by her elder sister.

"Don't give me that, Belldandy! As a married woman, you know very well what I'm taking about so off with the innocent look." Smiling suggestively she leaned closer, until her face was right in front of her sister's. "S-e-x-y underwear." As Belldandy's face started to turn red, the mini Urds had already completed the task of hiding the last remaining bits of the equipment that their main body was using previously. Even more importantly, with the successful distraction, they had also relocated the egg from its temporary hiding place to a much more secure one. Although it was merely a lie, Urd briefly toyed with the idea of checking a few things she had in mind in hopes to help her sister for real this time. Who knows, despite her reluctance, Belldandy may even end up using her advice in the end.

"I-I actually wanted your help for something, Urd," said Belldandy in an effort to change the topic. "We need to find Lind."

'There she goes... trying to avoid the subject, as usual. Oh well, let's not push her too hard this time,' thought Urd as she decided to give her sister a break. "So what's that about Lind? I thought she was with you."

Taking a short breath, Belldandy gave her sister the brief version of what happened while she had been busy in her room. "And that's why I need your help. Two goddesses can certainly do this search much easier."

"You know, there's an even faster method. Skuld had a detection device that she used to find Keiichi, when he temporarily hosted Blue Lance," said Urd as she remembered the incident. "Let's go and ask her."

Offering a nod, Belldandy, followed her sister to Skuld's room.

XXX

When Hagall arrived at the throne room's entrance she was rather surprised to see a figure waiting for her. She was really expecting to be the first one to arrive, but this demon had apparently been here for several minutes, given the fact he was currently polishing his shoes as he sat on the floor. Walking right in front of him, she simply stood there expecting that like most others, he was going to snap into attention, as soon as he saw her. Instead he didn't seem to react much to her at all, keeping himself busy with his current task as if there was nothing wrong at all. Several awkward seconds passed, before Niflheim's number two decided that a more direct approach was necessary.

"Commander Surt, I assume." The demoness' tone was as intimidating as she could manage and similar to the one she had used during the time she was the Daimakaicho.

Looking up, he finally paid attention to the demoness. "That would be me." Getting up, he dismissed the cleaning supplies and straightened himself. "Demon first class unlimited, Surt, commander of the Eldjotnar, at your service."

Despite the seemingly polite tone, the demoness wasn't entirely sure about the commander's sincerity. Unlike others that were much more talented at the art of deception, this one really lacked the skills to totally sound as if he meant what he said. Well, she picked him based on his fighting skills, so his mannerisms could be ignored for now. "As you may already know, Hild-sama had requested for our assistance. While the nature of the problem is not currently known, I suppose we'll figure that out once we get in the throne room. Follow me, commander."

Surt simply did as he was being told, despite the fact that he rolled his eyes as soon as the blonde turned her back at him. What had their illustrious leader done this time? Hild may have been really competent but at the same time found herself in all types of silly predicaments. One would think that given her age, she would've finally grown up. Instead, Hild, was still the same troublemaker she used to be during her early life in Muspelheim.

As the double doors to the throne room slowly opened, they revealed a sight of complete and utter chaos, though not of the type that would be associated with an emergency. Board games of all types, bags of various snacks, several cups of tea, were still all over the room or rather the path that lead to the throne itself, since the rest was just a vast chasm. Given the fact that there was a pair of futons lying in the middle of all this mess, it looked like the party lasted all night.

"Did she have a god in here? The whole room reeks like... them." Indeed, Surt had no desire to be friends with any of the celestials. Little bunch of hypocrites, all of them. It was a shame that Hild thought otherwise. After the first time she fell for their lies, she should have learned her lesson, but then again there were two futons instead of one and that by itself meant a lot.

"Actually, a goddess named Ansuz," replied Hagall, a bit annoyed that this demon was prying into their Daimakaicho's private life. "They were still playing those games when I left yesterday."

'Ansuz... Isn't she? Oh great... The ex and the missus in the same room. What could possibly go wrong?' Pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance, he tried a spell to locate them, and by the looks of it, they were all the way at the bottom of the Pit. "They're down there. Are you certain that they were just playing games? I don't see why something like that would require them to go in Niflheim's most dangerous area."

"I have asked Hild-sama, but she insisted that the goddess wasn't giving her trouble." Looking at the seemingly bottomless abyss below them, Hagall decided that there was only one way they would find out for certain. "Let's go down there to see what's the matter."

"Fine. Let's get this over with."

XXX

"Does this look right, Skuld-sama?"

Turning to her side, the young goddess stared at the roughly spherical item that Sigel was holding in her hands. "That's about right. Since you got the hang of it, you can help Noble Scarlet over there and assemble the next batch of Neo Skuld Bombs. In the meanwhile, I need to finish this one."

Trying to see what her mistress was referring to, the gynoid noticed that the bomb in question was tiny. "Skuld-sama, I mean no disrespect, but why is that small one so important? We're already making a lot of larger bombs."

"He he, that's no ordinary bomb! It's an anti-proton bomb," said Skuld with a lot of pride for one of her most devastating weapons in her arsenal. "This tiny puppy can blow up this entire planet, so don't look down on it."

Most people would be running at this point, not that it would make that much of a big difference given the firepower of the anti-proton bomb. Sigel on the other hand was excited. "How cool, Skuld-sama! Can I help you with that one too?"

Before the little goddess had the chance to reply, the voice of her beloved sister came from outside the room. "Skuld, are you busy?"

"Oneesama!" squealed the young goddess, throwing the door wide open. She must have finally remembered about her and maybe made her that ice cake in return for her help during the ceremony. Her hopes were proven false as she noticed that Belldandy wasn't carrying anything and even worse Urd was with her as well. "Um... what's going on?"

"Hey squirt, do you still have that contraption of yours that you used when we were searching for Keiichi?" asked the eldest of the Norns.

"It's a detector, not a contraption. Besides why do you even want it?" asked Skuld whose mood had already taken a nosedive.

It was Belldandy's time to step in and avoid any arguments. "Please, Skuld. We need to find Lind."

As weird as the request may have sounded to the goddess of the future, she wasn't one to say no to her beloved big sister. "Okay, I'll get it up and running in no time."

Indeed, in just a few seconds there seemed to be a dot on its screen, indicating the Valkyrie's current whereabouts.

"Okay, that's good enough, I guess," said Urd, as she created a mini version of herself in her extended palm. "I'll go and get her." And with that, the mini Urd started to fly towards Nekomi's direction, leaving her main body back.

"Um... You need anything else?" Skuld already knew the answer, but hoped to get Urd to leave, since she still had a lot of work to do.

"Yes, I need to keep an eye on the screen. Otherwise my other self will not find anything by the time she gets there," said as she took a seat in front of the device, earning an annoyed groan from Skuld.

"I know!" said the middle of the Norns. "I still have some tea left. Let me get some for you as well. At least we can all have something to drink while we wait."

XXX

"Remind me again why we're still waiting in this cavern?" Ansuz's patience was running out as she stared at the demoness that was currently leisurely hovering above the ground. Above them, was the opening that lead to the vertical shaft that lead all the way to the throne room.

"Do you know that your canards start to flap when you're angry?" was Hild's amused reply.

"Don't call them that! I'm not an aircraft, Hild. They're actually called winglets. Besides you haven't answered my question at all." The goddess took a second to observe their current surroundings. They seemed to be inside a cave system of some kind, deep underneath the surface of Niflheim. Huge stalactites and stalagmites were surrounding them, with several others already joined, forming huge columns that spanned all the way from the ceiling to the floor, a process that certainly took several thousands of years. It was very dark as well, since the only light sources were above them, inside the vertical shaft. The only other source of illumination was a bunch of crystals that seemed to glow on their own, although that was barely enough to make any real difference.

"But they still look really cute! Oh, I'm so jealous," said Hild, as she hovered closer to her friend, although a bit too much for the goddess' comfort. Especially given the fact that the demoness' chest was nearly in her face.

'I'm the one that needs to be jealous here,' thought Ansuz, as she tried to get some distance between herself and that particular region of Hild's body, while the latter poked her winglets. "Hey! Stop that! They're sensitive."

"I knew that you were ticklish!"

"I'm not..." started Ansuz, only to pause as she saw two figures descend from above. Following her gaze, Hild noticed Hagall and Surt that were currently approaching them.

"Oh hi there, Hagall-chan. I see that you picked Surt-kun for assistance," said Hild, as she smiled at her second in command, before she turned to the Eldjotnar. "It has been a while, Surt."

"Yes, Hild... sama."

Noticing the demon's slight delay to add the appropriate suffix in their leader's name, Hagall was tempted to give the commander a bit of her mind, but decided against it for now. Instead there were other matters that required more immediate attention. "Hild-sama, why did you call for us?"

"She," started Hild, pointing at Ansuz, "lost her axe, which in fact is also the Judgement Gate. We need to find it."

"Eh? Why do we have to do that?" asked a puzzled Hagall.

"Because it's not in this area," replied Hild as she waved around with her hand. "One of the denizens of this underground cave complex must have taken it, as soon as it fell. They rarely approach this area, normally preferring the caves that are much deeper in, but at the same time, it's not every day that something falls from above."

"If that's the case, why don't you go tell them to give it back?" asked Ansuz. "You're supposed to be the Daimakaicho."

"I am indeed, but those serpents are outside of my jurisdiction. There is only one being that they actually obey and that is none other than the Infernal Dragon itself."

"Nidhogg?!" shouted both Ansuz and Hagall at the same time.

"Yes, the namesake of our own computer system," said Hild in order to explain. Even though it was supposed to be common knowledge, the demon's supercomputer was actually maned after that terrifying being that lurked deep underneath the ground, in its own realm so to speak, as no one ever dared to enter it. Well, there were a few foolish ones, but they ended up dead in the blink of an eye. "If you follow that path over there, you'll end up in Hvergelmir, the spring where those serpents live and close to where the roots of the Tree of Life enter our realm. It's also the likely location of the Gate, since dragons have that annoying habit of hoarding whatever catches their eye."

"Hild-sama, do we really have to go there?" asked Hagall, who tried to hide the fact that she was really scared, but failed to convince anyone.

"We do," agreed the Daimakaicho. "If we let her go there by herself, she'll most likely end up dead. The dragon's minions don't care about the doublet system. Actually they don't even care if you're a demon as well. Anyone that gets in their territory is not welcome."

Looking around her, nobody seemed particularly enthusiastic or eager to do this. Not even Surt, who was used to these situations. "Oh, come on! Don't give me those looks. Let's get going everyone!" said Hild in an effort to get them motivated.

As the other two started to walk, Hild found the opportunity to ask the Eldjotunn a question that was bothering her for a while. "What do you think happened up there?"

Surt remained quiet for a moment, as he considered his choice of words. "The cut on the safety nets was caused by a serrated blade. Given that what we're looking for has smooth edges, I doubt that this was an accident."

"I thought as much," said Hild, before they joined the rest. Even if the warrior avoided to use that word, she already knew. It was sabotage.

AN: I would like to offer my thanks to WhoIsAtlas for proofreading this and making the needed corrections.

Additionally I would like to thank everyone that has offered their feedback and support both here and on the Goddess Relief site.

Now a few more things for the background information. Muspelheim is the fiery realm in the Norse myths. Its inhabitants are the Fire Giants or Eldjotnar (plurar of Eldjotunn) and Surt (or rather Surtr) is mentioned as their leader. In this story there are certain similarities with that, although there are also some differences as well. Especially given the fact that there seems to be no Giants in the AMG world, so I reused the term for the demon's fighting forces. I felt that there was a need for something to act as a counterpart for the Valkyries and the rest of Heaven's Fighting Wings. Hild also originates from that realm as well and her general appearance was used as a template for the rest of the demons who live there, probably an adaptation to the natural energies of the fiery realm. I felt it would be nice to expand the backstory of Niflheim's leader a bit. Plus, the fact that she originates from a hostile and dangerous world, where only the strongest survives, would help to explain her own strength and even her name which literally translates into "Battle", something fitting for someone that comes from a society where most are warriors.

Speaking of Muspelheim in general, there are a few parallels with the Earth in terms of minerals, like the Basalt I mentioned in the story. However, that is mostly for the sake of familiarizing the reader with the realm. Obviously it is not part of the mortal realm, so it could be also made from very different materials as well, but I will continue to use some terms that originate from our world in order to make more sense. Of course, there will be some minerals that are unique and doesn't exist in our reality. The same goes for every other realm there will be in the story, including Asgard.

Nidhogg is an interesting issue in AMG. Originally it was supposed to be the name for Niflheim's computer system, but in the manga's latest chapters they mention it as being a dragon, with goddesses trying to put it into sleep. It is a bit confusing to be honest, so I decided to go with both versions at the same time. Nidhogg is indeed a dragon, but the demons also used its name for their supercomputer.

Finally, I would like to mention that I'm going on a short vacation in a few days, so there will be a longer delay until the next chapter shows up. I will have Internet access, so I will be around, but I doubt that I'll get much work during that time. Of course, I will continue normally once I get back, so no worries.