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

"Oh, hello everyone! I'm sorry I got up this late. Yesterday's party was so great, I've stayed up later than normal. Uh… what's with the long looks?"

Materializing above the pond in the temple grounds, Laguz noticed the unusually quiet crowd around her. Peorth, Lind and Skuld seemed to be staring at each other as if trying to figure out who was going to explain what was going on, and no one so far volunteered for that task.

"What's wrong? You're starting to scare me…"

"Well, you see…" started Peorth, clearing her throat as she reached to get the sword from her Valkyrie friend. "Excalibur is kind of unresponsive."

"Unresponsive? What exactly do you mean by that?"

Holding the sword before her, Peorth removed it from its sheath and let the Goddess of the Lake to take a closer look. "He's been like that since earlier today and so far we can't wake him up. I mean, he's just a regular sword now."

"Oh! He's in hibernation mode!" said Laguz with a sigh of relief. "As a living weapon, he was meant to spend extended periods of time in this mode, activated only when duty calls. It's not unusual for him to do that, although… I thought that he was far more active lately. I wonder what happened to make him go back to his old habits…"

As Skuld and Peorth gave the Valkyrie a pointed look that made the latter lower her head in embarrassment, Laguz started to think that they actually had a good idea as to what may had taken place and probably it was for the best not to ask. At least not while Lind was present and even then, she thought that it was something that could wait for a bit.

"In that case... you can wake him up, right?" asked Skuld, trying to get straight to the point.

"Of course! It's been a while though, so I might need to check the User Manual. Hold on a moment!" said Laguz, searching her robes in a manner that was reminiscent of how Skuld does the same whenever she needs a tool or… a bomb, while the rest wondered how could something as complex as Excalibur even have a manual.

"Is everything alright?"

Turning to face Belldandy and Keiichi who were also interested to see what was going on, the group failed to notice a shadow that loomed above them before it disappeared into the house.

"Yes, I'm just… huh… that's strange… I thought I still had it on me."

"Have you lost something?" asked Belldandy.

"My instruction manual."

Turning at the unexpected source of interruption, the assorted group of goddesses plus Keiichi stared at the sword with a variety of expressions, ranging from surprise to utter confusion.

"You're okay?!"

"Why shouldn't I be?"

"We've been trying to wake you up all this time and you said nothing!" countered Peorth, pointing an accusatory finger at the sentient weapon. "Are you playing games with us?"

"Nope. I was just… um… conducting research…"

"Research? About what?" asked Skuld who was the most interested in anything that would've kept the synthetic busy for such a long time.

"Classified."

"Hey, that's not fair! I want to know!"

"Access denied, locked file and all the rest of that jazz," replied the synthetic, before he finally resumed his humanoid form and stared at the house. "Now, if you excuse me, I've got a job to do."

Staring at the departing synthetic, the goddesses shared a baffled look, while Keiichi was the one to ask the obvious question.

"What was that all about?"

However, none of them had any answer to provide.

XXX

Meanwhile, inside Urd's room, Hild was staring between her daughter and her former mother-in-law with an almost unreadable expression on her face, after the proverbial bombshell they dropped on her.

"Are you two absolutely sure about this?"

"It's hard to say, mom… Surt insisted to test those two and see whether their story was true, but…" started Urd a worried frown, before Frigg continued for her.

"This is Ymir we're talking about, Hild. I cannot believe that the long thought dead Daimakaicho just showed up to pull a prank just for the giggles; it's not his style."

"Do you actually have any idea how crazy it sounds? Me, being the daughter of the first demon? That makes me a… a second generation demoness! And to top it off… My mother is a former Valkyrie?!"

"I can understand that it might be a bit hard to accept that you're not the child of two lowly demons with no social status, but if you think about it, it does explain how strong you are. And I thought that you've been aware of where Muspelheim's population first originated from. Since you've been their leader for a while, and especially now as the Daimakaicho, access to such information should be…" said Frigg, trying to maintain her cool under Hild's intense gaze.

"Yes, I do know that! I just never thought that one of those converted goddesses was my mother!" replied the demoness' avatar. "And what's up with that story anyway? Who leaves his kid in an orphanage and thinks it's a good idea?! I… I… left Urd with her father not..."

"It's okay, mom…" said Urd patting the avatar's head as Hild was back into her childlike appearance. She had no idea how to actually handle this, but it was obvious that the only one who could provide any comfort for her was the half demoness herself.

"You don't have to say it, Urd-chan. It all looks so ironic now…"

"Not really. Like you said, you did leave me to my father and besides, I had my sisters to keep me company," said Urd with a soft tone on her voice. "Well, at least Belldandy at first. It took a system crash for a certain someone to get enough free time to make me another sister!"

"Yeah… your father is a bit hard to deal with at times…" Struggling not to laugh, Hild had to give her daughter some credit for trying to do something to cheer her up. What actually pleased her the most that, Urd didn't hesitate, thinking about their respective species; even if she was temporarily a demoness right now. Actually, Hild was fairly certain that her daughter would've done the same even if she was a goddess like she used to be and for once, she decided against making any comments about it. After all, she wasn't in the mood to tease her right now and besides, Urd was the only one she had to turn to in a moment like this.

"Tell me about it." Chuckling as she held her mother, the half demoness could feel a nostalgic feeling, although she was fairly certain that this was the opposite of what she could barely remember from the past. As a little goddess, it was normally Hild the one who supported her and made sure that her daughter was happy, even if she later tried to push those memories to the back of her mind as she desperately wanted to keep some distance from the demons. And now, it was Urd's turn to offer some comfort to Hild, even if she mostly did it out of instinct.

"Although, to be honest, I never thought I'd get a father of my own to deal with. I mean... sure, I knew that I had one, but I was under the impression that both my parents were dead a long time ago."

Before either her daughter or her former mother in law had the opportunity to reply, a new voice could be heard from the shadows as a form started to emerge, drawing their attention to him.

"Information is a real power that can shape the world and misinformation can be a weapon too. In your case, Hild-sama, most of your past was merely fabricated to suit Ymir-sama's plans for you. And based on the result, I'll have to admit that he couldn't have done a better job."

Turning to the newcomer, the Daimakaicho narrowed her eyes at the ruler of Jotunheim and head of the Intelligence Sector who had apparently invited himself in this gathering. "Do you mind explaining yourself, Skrymir? I don't recall asking you to follow me here."

"My apologies, Hild-sama, but I was already monitoring the situation and once a… particular topic was brought up, I decided that coming here was the best course of action. I meant no disrespect, of course."

"And yet, it looks like you already knew about it, right… Loki?"

Blinking at the way her mother addressed her subordinate, Urd noticed that neither the demon nor her grandmother seemed to be surprised by it, making her even more curious as to what was going on here. "Hold on a minute! Loki? As in… my uncle? That Loki?"

"Yes, and no at the same time." Shifting his form as he turned to the astonished Norn of the past, the leader of Jotunheim changed from the tall, red haired demon to one that was virtually identical to the well known trickster god; even though his nature remained the same. "As you can see, my normal appearance is nothing more than a facade I'm using to avoid any… undesirable questions. Of course, I'm not the same one as the god of mischief; or even a god at all. Yet, I cannot say that I'm totally unrelated to him, either."

"How's that possi-..." Stopping abruptly in mid sentence, Urd finally realized that the answer to that should've been a very obvious for someone like her. "Wait! You're like me!"

"In a manner of speaking. Although, I'm currently half of myself with the other half being the troublesome god you all know," explained the demonic part of Loki. "Given that I was one of the first recorded cases of a hybrid, back in an era where such a thing was highly controversial and tolerance was an unknown concept, I was split into two by Odin and Frigg who took me in after my mother's demise."

"Wha-.." Turning to the elder goddess who was calmly watching them, Urd was at a loss of words. She would've never expected the kind goddess to force that kind of decision on anyone, especially considering how supportive of her she had been in the past. "Why would do something like that, grandma?"

"To save his life, of course. At that point of time, relations between our realms were particularly strained and as a result any deviation from the well established ideals was unacceptable. One such thing was to avoid fraternizing with the enemy, let alone have children with a demon. The only way to prevent him getting sealed or… worse, was by taking that course of action, Urd; even if I never agreed with it," explained Frigg, as Loki offered her a nod.

"That she did. Unlike me, you were born during better times and as a result, it was you the one who officially got recorded as the first hybrid. Yet, like I said before, information is a powerful tool to be utilized and in my case, that allowed me to fabricate a fake persona for my demonic side," said Loki, pointing at himself.

While Urd absorbed all that information, Hild decided to find out what he really wanted, since she doubted that he suddenly wanted to share his life story with his niece. "Considering that you already knew all that, what prevented you from sharing it with me? I was under the impression that as the head of my Intelligence Sector, you'd think that I had the right to know about my real heritage. Apparently I was mistaken as it seems."

"Forgive me for giving you that impression, Hild-sama, but... I had to consider the repercussions of such an action before I relayed that information and given all the unknown factors involved, you can see why I hesitated. Now that you do know, however…"

"Yes, now what? You think I'm just going to forget the fact that you've been keeping secrets behind my back and simply shrug the whole thing off? Do you really think I'm that stupid?"

There was a long pause as the demon stared at his Daimakaicho and unlike most other subject of hers, Loki seemed to hold his ground pretty well. Unlike his well known counterpart who was all too eager to have fun and mess around with others, this one was totally serious and focused on his goals. And while he was no stranger to careful manipulation, on this instance, he opted for a more direct approach as the best course of action. "I think that you're pretty competent as a ruler. However, as a person you're not any better than the average demoness, since magical and physical strength means nothing when a person's character is concerned.."

"Oh? Prey tell me how exactly have you reached such a conclusion?"

"I know how to observe and learn from others' experiences. As a leader you wisely avoided the same mistakes that some of your predecessors had repeated time after time. Yet the same couldn't be said about your approach with a certain test. Stepping right into a trap was far from the advisable course of action, and the result was hardly a surprise to be honest with you."

Both Urd and Frigg winced at the demon's caustic comments that were more than enough to make Hild growl in a low tone, her eyes narrowing dangerously as they burned with a sinister glow.

"Do you actually have a point or it's simply funny to criticize my private life? Especially when you never had to make such decisions in the first place. It's so much easier to say things like that as an observer, compared to actually experiencing the whole situation by yourself."

"My apologies if I offended you, Hild-sama. It was never my intention to sound as if I disapproved of your life and even then, my opinion in such a case is irrelevant. My point was that you're a person like anyone else and as such there was always the possibility of overreacting at the news of your parents' identity," said Loki in an attempt to appease the irate demoness before she unleashed her wrath on him. "I merely did what I thought was necessary to ensure that this situation wouldn't had gotten out of hand, should such information was revealed too prematurely."

"Still, you said nothing until they told me about it," said Hild pointing at her daughter and Frigg. "If you ask me, it seems that you're trying to find an excuse for yourself now that the cat's out the bag."

"Actually, I won't deny that I've thought of telling you right after I've learned that your parents came into contact with Urd, but even then, hearing about it from me would've been far from ideal. While it is indeed a bit late right now, I still wish to provide any information that may seem useful if you allow me to do so."

"Very well… I don't think that staying angry with you will do me any favors at the moment, although, I'll have to note that I'm far from pleased by your stance. Now, before I ask what information you may have, I need some time to process all that I've heard so far," said Hild, rubbing her temples as she felt a headache forming from all that she heard during the last couple of minutes. "Just a warning, though: Don't try to hide things from me again, or you'll find out what happens when someone manages to really piss me off."

"Of course, my lady," said Loki as he offered his ruler a bow. "In that case, I should take my leave, if that's alright with you. Please contact me as soon as you want to, in order to learn all the details I happen to know."

Offering a nod, Hild watched her subordinate disappear as silently as he had initially arrived, leaving her alone with Urd and Frigg once again. Letting a sigh, she suddenly felt a hand on her right shoulder and turning around, Hild saw her daughter smiling at her.

"If you want, you can stay here tonight, mom."

"There's no need to impose on you and Ma-chan, silly girl. I'm a lot tougher than I appear to be, Urd-chan."

"I don't care. Just for tonight, okay?" insisted the half demoness with a softer tone that made her mother pause and think about it.

"Fine, I'll do it, but only because you insisted."

"In that case, I'll go and inform the others that we're having a guest," said Frigg as turned towards the door. "Rest assured that I won't go into any details about the whole situation, since I want to respect your privacy."

"Thank you, Frigg. I really appreciate this," said Hild, before she offered her daughter a smile. "Cheer up a bit, Urd-chan. That serious expression doesn't fit you at all."

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?"

"Probably that I'm pretty lucky to have such a good girl!" squealed Hild, grabbing her daughter in a tight embrace, much to the latter's embarrassment. "Mama's so happy!"

"Okay, okay… I got it, so, cut it out already! Just go and find something to do for the moment," said Urd, trying to hide her blush.

"Yay! See you later, Urd-chan!"

Shaking her head as she watched the Daimakaicho's avatar rush out of her room, the half demoness wondered what would've happened if she was still a goddess.

'Perhaps it's better that everything happened the way it did. I'd hate to think that she would've to deal with all that on her own. She may be annoying at times, but she is my mother and supporting her is the right thing to do. After all… she would've done the same thing for me too.'

XXX

Once she was alone in her room, Urd took the chance to gather her thoughts, despite her splitting headache. It was undeniably true that some of those topics were too much for her mind to absorb right now and as a result, the half demoness reached her cabinet for a drink.

Still, despite everything that happened, Urd couldn't help but smile at the memory of her mother hugging her. Perhaps it was due to the fact that the Daimakaicho was using her childlike form and in a manner of speaking, it woke up her own maternal instincts; even if she wasn't aware that she had them in the first place. Of course, another likely possibility was that she may had simply remembered of her own childhood; a far more carefree period of her life.

Taking a swing from her bottle of sake, the half demoness turned to a seemingly empty corner of her room and smiled. "You can come out, Excalibur. I know you're hiding over there."

"I must admit that you've done an excellent job at spotting me. I'm sorry for infiltrating your room like that, but, your guest made me a bit nervous," said the synthetic as he shifted from being a decorative vase to his normal humanoid form.

"Ah, you mean Loki?" asked Urd with a sigh. "I guess it was a bit of a surprise to me, but… I'll manage. Perhaps I should meet his counterpart and learn more about both of them, yet, we've got more pressing matters at hand."

"Yes, it seems that you mother might finally meet her parents."

"And I hope it won't cause a huge mess. Njorun seems like a decent demoness to me and I have little doubt that they'll certainly get along well, but, Ymir?..."

"That could certainly go well. I mean, what could possibly go wrong?" said the somewhat sarcastic synthetic, before he noticed the look he was getting from the half demoness. "Uh… what is it, Urd?"

"Actually that should be my line. I've heard some of the commotion earlier, so… what happened?"

"Nothing!"

"Hm… a bit too eager to deny it. Okay, start talking now before I go and ask the others," warned Urd with a smirk, making the unfortunate synthetic let out a sigh.

"Okay… I suppose I could tell you, but I'm not certain if it's a good idea."

"Try me."

"Alright…" said Excalibur, before he started explaining what took place a few hours ago. Much to his relief, the half demoness hadn't started laughing already which was a good sign, although the sentient weapon wasn't sure as to how long that would last.

"Let me get this straight: You slept with Lind." Scratching her chin, Urd wasn't sure whether to feel shocked or happy for her synthetic friend, as this was his first big step as a person and not the weapon he used to be.

"Only in the most literal manner. You know, as in sleeping right next to her," said Excalibur, trying to avoid any further misunderstandings that could earn him a lot of unnecessary comments from her.

"Actually I got that and yet it's the very reason why I can't seem to see what's the big deal about it?" admitted Urd as she tried to find out what the problem was. "If nothing really happened, then what's up with your reluctance to talk about it? Never mind that, why did you faint in the first place."

"Correction; I didn't faint. It might seemed like that, but I was genuinely worried that my runtimes weren't functioning properly and I had to enter my safe mode to run a series of in depth diagnostics."

"Yes… but what triggered that? That's the most important thing here and I'm not listening anything about it." Raising an eyebrow as she drank from her bottle, Urd could've sworn that for a moment a blush formed on Excalibur's face.

"I… was startled by some observations I've made."

"Okay, listen here! I don't have all day to get one word out of you at the time. Just say it!"

Taking a deep breath, even if it was totally unnecessary for him, the sentient weapon prepared for the inevitable that was going to follow. "At some point after Lind went to sleep, she accidentally brushed her bottom against me and… well… For the lack of a better word, it felt nice."

"And that's a problem, because?" asked Urd with a frown. "That sounds like a normal reaction to me."

"Maybe to you it does, but... I shouldn't experience such emotions. I may have the basic programming to understand them, although that doesn't mean that I should feel such things."

"Oh! Now I get it!" said Urd with a big smile. "Your attempts to improve your personality profile may have caused some unexpected results. That's all."

"You think so? I sure don't remember adding such parameters in my adaptation algorithms."

"Not necessarily. I may not have any idea what's going on in that head of yours, but if your intent was to become more like an actual person, I'd say that your algorithms did a perfectly fine job," said Urd with a smirk, floating towards the embarrassed synthetic. "Apparently, you've learned the concept of arousal and that's what pretty much happened back there."

"I know that. It's just that… I found it to be a really stressful situation, since any non deterministic results of my personality adjustments routines are undesirable," said Excalibur with some hesitation. "It's much easier for my mind to get in a state that could be described as broken if things get out of hand. Then the only option is for me to reset my behavioral algorithms and lose a lot of what I've learned in the meantime."

"Well, losing part of your personality is indeed a fear that's real and not a baseless worry, but… if you constantly avoid anything that might get you out of your comfort zone, you're going to lose a lot of opportunities. With some moderation of course, since I don't think that doing crazy stuff will lead to anything positive," said Urd as she considered the similarities between herself and him. "Speaking for myself, the reluctance to accept my demonic side had denied me the chance of interacting with my mother in the way I've actually wanted to. And considering how long it took me to overcome that, I can certainly say that while it's possible for us to mend up our relationship, the same can't be said about my childhood. That's one of the cruel things about the past; some things cannot change no matter how much we eventually come to regret them."

Blinking as he processed her words, Excalibur could only wonder how all that applied to him, even if it made perfect sense for everyone else around him. "I cannot find any real flaws in your logic, yet I'm uncertain what kind of opportunity I'm going to miss."

"Look, I know that it might sound a bit of a weird thing to ask and probably quite indiscreet, but have you ever considered… dating anyone?"

"Um… no… not really..." replied the synthetic with a long pause as the entire concept felt almost incomprehensible to him. "It's possible to emulate the whole feelings involved and act in a manner one might've expected from a male like I appear to be, however, emulation and actually experiencing something are two totally different things."

"Right! That's my point to be honest. With your body, or rather your mind adapting to accept and process such feelings, you can probably give it a try now!" said Urd with a smile, only to notice that her synthetic friend didn't seem to share her enthusiasm.

"Why would anyone date a… well… synthetic? Most think of me as a robot, to be brutally honest with you."

"Since when did you become a pessimist, mister?" said Urd with a huge grin as she got right in front of his face, making Excalibur lean back a bit. "For beginners, you're a shapeshifter, which allows a lot of… possibilities. And let's not forget that while a bit too sarcastic as of late, you're way better than most of the dumb dudes who try to buy me drinks on a regular basis."

"Thank you, I… guess." said Excalibur unsure whether she was trying to praise or make fun of him.

"Anytime!" Pausing all of a sudden, Urd's expression turned into a troubled one as a really strange thought entered her mind. "Actually… how come you've only realized that only now, while you used to stay in my room?"

"Um… lack of physical contact?" suggested the worried synthetic who didn't like the direction this conversation was taking. "Yes! That must be it!"

"Not so fast pal! People can get turned on even through visual stimuli alone. So… Lind was hot enough to overclock your processor, but I'm not?" If it wasn't the low tone of the half demoness' voice, her cat like irises and fangs did the trick to scare even the most sophisticated weapons platform Ansgard ever built.

"I don't think it's a case of overclocking!"

"Sure thing, mister longsword!" said Urd as floated after the synthetic who kept stepping backwards, getting closer to the door. "And I didn't knew that you could moonwalk! Still, you haven't answered my question."

"Now, now… think about your poor girlfriend! She's going to be devastated to hear you ask that!"

"Nice try, but no cigar! I'm not asking you to replace her, but why on Earth you've found Lind of all goddesses hotter than me! Now, start talking before I go and tell her!"

"T-That's cheating!"

"Everything's fair in love and war!"

"I'm not in love!" protested the embarrassed synthetic, only to be ignored by Urd.

"Who cares? It's still war! And in a ship to ship combat, tonnage counts!" said the half demoness as she thrust her chest out, making her ample chest bounce from the sudden motion. "Yet you're comparing a battleship with a frigate!"

"With all due respect, but your calculations in terms of tonnage may be slightly off. I mean, you are heavier than Lind, although, not by that much."

Taking a sharp breath as she heard the synthetic's reply, Urd was hoping he had simply missed the metaphor and wasn't trying to make fun of her; especially not right now. After dealing with the other half of a certain uncle of hers that she wasn't aware that even existed, Urd was in no mood for games, and in desperate need for releasing some of her frustrations. "Okay… now you've done it! So… what is it going to be? Urd bold or weird medicine?"

Not bothering to stay and offer an answer, Excalibur bolted for the door, with the half demoness chasing right after him.

"Hey! Come back here, you!..."

XXX

CIC of MMV Naglfar, high above Martian orbit

"Sir! A ship just entered the solar system! Unknown configuration and IFF code!"

Blinking, Hrym turned to the radar officer's post, as such a thing was almost unheard of. "Are you sure it's not a glitch in the system?"

"Positive! We've verified it with some of our other ships, although only the ones with the latest generation of long range sensor arrays managed to pick this signal up."

'A stealth ship of unknown origin? That's not good… Not good at all…' Hitting a few buttons on his own console, the half demon got all the feedback from his subordinate's station and what he saw was far worse than he had initially expected. Not only this thing was massive, but the numbers he saw made absolutely no sense whatsoever. It was no wonder that they had trouble figuring out what it was, as most programs were designed to deal with conventional vessels. This one, however wasn't made out of cold metal and other composites as everything both gods and demons had created so far; it was made out of flesh.

"Call Surt-sama to the CIC at once! We've got a bio-ship in our hands!"

Heads turned as Naglfar's officers tried to make sure that they've heard right. Something like a living ship was stuff of legend, a technology so ancient that nobody even knew what they looked like, let alone how they were constructed in the first place. As a matter of fact, the very existence of such vessels was a topic disputed amongst the immortals with most assuming that the few obscure references found in their species' oral tradition was nothing more than a myth or at the very least, a bard having a bit too much mead.

Yet the first documented sight of such a spectacle ended in the obliteration of a whole celestial task force, with five ships wrecked in seconds by something that was later determined to be a living entity. That was the only occurrence where one such ship was ever encountered, even by accident and as a result, everyone was on their toes whenever the possibility of another run in with whatever those things were, became a possibility.

"And while we're waiting, raise the alarm across the entire fleet! I want all ships on full battle status!"

XXX

Nekomi, Japan

"Hey! Come back here, you!..."

Running across the hallway, Excalibur nearly ran into Keiichi and Belldandy who were about to enter the house, forcing them to stand aside for him and the angry half demoness who chased him to pass.

"Sorry! I've got places to go!"

Blinking, the Norn of the present barely had enough time to register her sister as she zoomed by and went after the rapidly departing synthetic, while Keiichi tried to figure out what was going on.

"Are you okay, Belldandy? What was that all about?"

"Hm… I can't say I know, although with neesan, everything's possible," said Belldandy with a giggle. "I still don't think she means any real harm to him, so, I suppose it's safe to leave them on their own. However, I believe that there's something going on with Hild, and I'd like try and cheer her up a bit."

"That's right! Frigg mentioned that she's going to stay here tonight, although she said very little aside from that. Perhaps something happened?" said Keiichi with a frown. "I wonder if Urd knows about the whole thing…"

"I believe she does, but given that she's not terribly worried, I'll have to assume that it's not something bad."

"Are you absolutely sure about that?"

"Yes, I know my big sister," replied the confident brunette. "And I think that the best choice is to prepare a nice meal for everyone, especially since we've got a guest for tonight."

"Actually… where is she going to stay? We're kind of out of available rooms right now," said Keiichi, scratching his head as he recalled their sleeping arrangements.

"How about yours?"

The suggestion came so suddenly that both of them nearly jumped as they spotted the hovering form of Hild's childlike avatar who had a huge grin on her face. "I can change my appearance to an older one, you know. That way, I can show Bell-chan some tricks she might like to try with you!"

All that Keiichi could do was open and close his mouth in a perfect imitation of a fish, as the mere thought of having anyone with them during their intimate moments was too much, let alone Hild.

However, Belldandy who had managed to recover sooner decided to offer the Daimakaicho a proper reply, instead of simply making a fuss about it. "Thank you for your offer, but I'm afraid that I'll have to decline."

"Oh well, I just wanted to let you know that the option was available," said Hild with a wink, enjoying the look on poor Keiichi's face whose legs suddenly became wobbly, as most of his blood rushed to his head.

"Actually, neesan offered to provide me with some lessons," said Belldandy much to Hild's shock, while Keiichi was just about to lose consciousness.

"She did?! And you're okay with it?!" Blinking as she stared at the smiling deity, Hild was seriously considering that she may have experienced enough stress for one day that she was now hallucinating.

"Of course I am. Why shouldn't I be, after all?" asked the brunette goddess, tilting her head in confusion.

"There are so many things wrong with that statement that I don't even know where to start, Bell-chan…" muttered the demoness with a raised eyebrow as she struggled to accept that this was reality and not some weird dream. "Are you sure we're talking about lovemaking and not something else?"

"Yes. We even had our first lesson already."

"Hold on, are we talking about a theoretical or… a practical one?" asked the demoness, finding that the former may had been something that the goddess could agree to.

"Um, it was a theoretical one," admitted Belldandy with a blush, lowering her gaze a bit before she continued. "I wanted some tips for certain things I wasn't sure and…"

"No worries! Actually, since I'm staying here for the night, how about I offer you some advice, too?" offered Hild, much to the Norn's embarrassment. "There are a few things that even Urd-chan doesn't know. So, why not use this opportunity to learn some new tricks, Bell-chan?"

"But!..."

"I insist! Come on, it's going to be fun!" Tugging the hesitant goddess along, the little Daimakaicho left a stunned Keiichi behind them, unable to utter a single word.

'T-This won't end well…'

'Dunno about that, master,' replied Terrestrial Spark from within the mortal's mind. 'I think that by the end of the day, you might change your mind.'

'That's not true!'

'You said the same thing when she tried to wear Peorth's clothes and it turned out you loved the entire idea more than you liked to admit,' said the angel, without any attempt to hide the sarcasm present in his voice.

'I… I…'

'Give up, master. You may be able to hide it from others, but not from me. Besides, there's nothing wrong to appreciate your wife's efforts to spice things up a bit,' said Terrestrial Spark with a much more pleasant tone.

'You think so?' asked the embarrassed mortal.

'I know so. Although, it's been a one sided effort so far, so how about you do the same? It's unfair for Belldandy to be the only one who gets outside of her comfort zone to make you happy, and as such, I think it's your turn to return the favor.'

'Um… well, I guess you've got a point there,' admitted the mortal, scratching his chin in wonder. 'Do you have any idea as to what I should do?'

'Not really, but let's start with getting something nice for her. You know… flowers, a date, perhaps a gift too.'

'Is all that worthy of a goddess, though?'

'Is doing nothing a better alternative?' shot Terrestrial Spark back at his host. 'Seriously, you're still thinking that kind of stuff? She's your wife, for crying out loud!'

'Alright! How about starting with some flowers then?'

'Excellent! I'll give you a hand then! Perhaps we could ask Urd and Skuld too? I think they could give us a few ideas for an extra gift too!'

'Hm… let's start with Skuld, since Urd's kind of busy chasing Excalibur around.'

Smiling as he felt his angel's approval, Keiichi headed out of the house to find the youngest of the Norns who was still talking with the other goddesses, only to stop as the phone began to rang. 'Huh? I wonder who is it now?'

"Hello, this is Morisato residence... Huh?!... E-Evacuate… Earth?!"

XXX

CIC of MMV Naglfar, high above Martian orbit

"Status report!"

Entering the command information center of his battleship, Surt was unsure whether he should feel happy that he finally had something serious to deal with, or worry that this would end up horribly wrong. Dealing with a threat of that level wasn't a trivial thing and no matter how much he enjoyed fighting, leading his troops to certain death was clearly out of question.

"Sir! The target is currently orbiting this system's fifth planet! Further analysis of the long range sensors indicate that we may be dealing with the Celestial Slayer!"

Cursing under his breath, the ruler of Muspelheim sat on his chair and immediately brought up the tactical display with the sensor's and compared it with the said ship's last known profile. "Hrym, what's the status of the rest of the fleet?"

Turning up from his own console, the half demon's stress was starting to show up on his face; even if centuries of training had prepared him for almost any kind of situation. "They're standing by and wait for further instructions. We just have no idea whether opening fire at that thing is a wise decision or not."

"I know… Last time, it took out a small celestial task force single handedly and without making it look as if it was a big deal, too. However, we're better equipped and have a much greater number of ships and troops at our disposal," said Surt in his typically confident manner, even though he was treading lightly on this occasion. Bravado and overconfidence had led the celestial commander of the doomed fleet to attack the unknown vessel and according to savaged recordings, death was swift, yet far from painless as they were literally torn asunder as they sank into Ginnungagap. As soon as they opened fire, those ships had signed their own death warrant as they were ill prepared to face something that possessed null point weapons.

"Shouldn't we inform Hild-sama first?" asked Hrym, fearing that his commander would go with the only available option to ensure a certain victory; fight fire with fire and in this case, that involved strategic warheads.

"I'll do that. In the meantime, contact the celestial ships above Luna and warn them of the imminent danger. Last thing we need is to worry about is the Doublet System or worse, the celestials freaking out once we decide to open fire at that thing. And then leave us to clean up the mess!"

"Yes, sir!" said Hrym as he prepared to hail the two celestial battleships that orbited Luna. "Although… may I speak freely?"

"Go on."

"You seem far less enthusiastic than normal," said the half demon with some hesitation, wary that he might've crossed the line on how honest he could be with his superior.

"No, I'm not. There's a difference between a situation where all sides involved follow the rules of engagement and this… standoff," replied Surt, much to his officers' surprise, as they had expected an angry retort instead of a calm response. "I don't find this to be as enjoyable as messing around with celestials who respect the same, millennia old laws that govern all aspects of warfare. This on the other hand… is like sticking your head inside a hungry beast's maw and wait to see what happens. You can successfully pull it of so many times, but you can only afford a single error before you pay the ultimate price for your arrogance."

Silence fell upon the CIC, as everyone looked up from their stations and stared at the ruler of Muspelheim, who suddenly became aware of the astonished looks he was getting from his subordinates.

"What's so funny, now?" asked Surt, turning to Hrym who happened to be the one closest to his station. "Well? I'm expecting an answer, so stop looking me like that!"

"Well… it's just that…"

"Out with it!"

"It sounded almost… reasonable?" tried Hrym, edging further away from his commander who glared at him.

"If this wasn't a crisis, I would've sent you down on this frozen planet we're currently orbiting to draw mustaches on those human made rovers. Sounds reasonable enough to you?" shot the irate demon at his sub commander.

"Actually, that sounds like something Loki would've done."

"My point exactly! Now, stop this nonsense and just do as I say! We've got a job to do, and by all means we'll pull through it even if the last thing we'll ever do!" shouted Surt, making everyone get back at their tasks at hand. "Hail Skrymir's fleet and request his immediate assistance! If it comes down to it, we'll fire everything we've got to that thing until no trace of it is left in this world!"

"Yes sir!"

XXX

Nekomi, Japan

"Evacuate?…"

The word echoed in the living room where everyone had gathered to hear the rather unexpected news that arrived mere moments earlier from Asgard. All celestials were to immediately leave the mortal realm and unlike somewhat similar occurrences in the past, this was an actual emergency.

"Yes, Belldandy. I'm afraid that it can't be helped at this point of time," said Ansuz who had just arrived from Luna, along with a squad of Valkyries that stood outside the house while the teal haired goddess explained the situation to everyone. "I know that it's probably too sudden and many of you like your current lives here on Earth, but… this planet is no longer safe and as such, you're all recalled back to Asgard."

"Even we have to evacuate, too," said Hild from her spot right next to her dazed daughter and Mara who just returned back from her old hideout, only to find everyone shell shocked by the news.

"But!... What is going on?" asked Skuld who was the most upset by the recent development. "Did a war broke out or anything?"

"No, that much I can say. However, anything other than that is restricted information and as such I cannot disclose it," said Ansuz with an apologetic frown, as she watched her daughters' crestfallen expressions, although it was the youngest of them who was the most vocal about it.

Glancing over at her mother, Urd hoped that she would've provided some more insight, only to be disappointed as the Daimakaicho simply shook her head. She knew that it wasn't Hild's fault, as information was carefully monitored on both Asgard and Niflheim alike. Despite their connection, there were sensitive topics her mother would never reveal to her and such was also the case with the celestial part of her family too.

"Um… I'm sorry to interrupt, but… what about me?" asked Keiichi, who had remained eerily silent throughout the whole debriefing. In the past he had often worried that one day, Belldandy and her sisters would be forced to leave, but as time went by, his fears slowly disappeared; especially after he and the Norn of the present passed the Gate and finally got married. Still, that scenario suddenly became a reality and it would've been a lie to try and deny that he was devastated; even if he tried to put a brave act, mostly for his wife's sake.

"Actually, we haven't discussed all the details, but, as Belldandy's rightful husband, I think that it's fair to accompany her in Asgard," said Ansuz after some thought, since this was a rather unusual case. After all, there haven't been any marriages between celestials and mortals, which simply meant that a lot of the practical matters were never addressed in reality. Even after the creation of the Judgement Gate, nobody actually made an effort to figure out what would happen to those who managed to pass it.

"But, mother?... What about the others? He… no… we can't just disappear without traces and leave everyone wondering what happened to us," said Belldandy, voicing her husband's concern at the prospect of following them to Asgard.

"We'll have to use some kind of an excuse, even if I really dislike such methods," said Ansuz with a sigh, only to be interrupted by Urd.

"Don't worry about it. I'll call Chihiro and explain that the others had to visit me and Mara overseas. We can say more to Megumi, but at the same time, I'd rather not make her worry too much, so I'll have to leave some things out; just that we have to go back to Asgard and…" started Urd as she realized one important detail about the situation. "Well… I guess you're going to Asgard, while I'll have to return back to Muspelheim for the time being."

"It's only a temporary arrangement, so don't look so down, Urd-chan," said Hild, patting her daughter's back. "For all we know it could take only a few hours or a couple of days at most, before we can consider Earth to be safe for us to stay. In that case, I promise that I'll send you here to spend some more time with everyone even if you're not finished with your training."

"Thank you, mo… I mean… my lady."

"Give it a rest, Urd-chan. There's no need for such formalities right now. Just make those phone calls and I'll go and pick Welsper in the meantime," said Hild, before she teleported out of the room.

"Regardless of how long it's going to take, I recommend you take everything along with you," said Frigg, drawing everyone's attention to her. "If any of our possessions falls into human hands, that could cause severe problems, so, clean everything properly. Even if it's for a few days, we must leave absolutely nothing behind."

Nodding, the assembled goddesses headed for their rooms, and even Urd decided to take another look at her room just in case she had forgotten anything there. The half demoness had already packed her things when she first went to Muspelheim, but taking a second glance wasn't going to hurt anyone and probably in a literal sense too, as most of her potions could be really dangerous if an unsuspected mortal found them. However, before she left the living room, Urd turned to Excalibur who simply waited in place, given that he had no possessions; except for his pedestal. "Actually, before I forget about it, I need to talk to you."

"Yes, what is it, Urd?"

"I know that you followed me in Muspelheim before, but on this occasion, I think it's better if you go with Keiichi," said the half demoness once everyone else had left.

"You're not… mad with me, are you?" asked the nervous synthetic, as he worried that their previous interaction was the cause of her change of heart.

"Not at all. I just feel that it should be better to keep an eye on Keiichi from now on. Asgard isn't exactly as perfect of a place as it seems to be and for a mortal like him, it's a good idea to have someone watch his back," said Urd in a hushed voice, just in case the others happened to be within earshot. "I may have no reasons to doubt Belldandy's determination to keep him safe, but you can act as an extra layer of defense."

"Well, I may not have the power to directly antagonize a celestial, but I'll have to agree with you. Keeping an eye out for threats could be the best available option in a situation like this," said Excalibur with a nod. "In that case, I'll have to wish you the best of luck in your training. Just don't forget to call from time to time."

"I won't. That much I can promise," said Urd, before her smile turned into an impish grin. "And best of luck to you, too. After all, this is a great opportunity to earn some good points too!"

"Huh? What are you talking about?" asked the confused synthetic.

"Oh, you know… Since Keiichi is a certain Valkyrie's lifelong friend, Lind's bound to be around him and act as a bodyguard of sorts. So, try to do a good job, too and who knows? Maybe you're going to become her new favorite weapon," said Urd with a wink. "Just give it a try and have some confidence! Make me proud!"

"My runtimes are giving me a 100% estimate that not only such an attempt would end up in a disaster of epic proportions, but, even if I were to escape with my body unscathed, my dignity's going to be a totally different matter altogether."

"Tell your runtimes that unless you try, you won't pop any cherries anytime soon!" said Urd, as she leaned closer to the synthetic. "Trust me on this one, and you'll come to thank me later. After all, it's best of you get her now that there's still no competition."

"Look… to properly clarify a potential misunderstanding, I simply mentioned my physical reaction to a kind of input that I wasn't familiar with, as well as my inability to understand how I came to develop such instincts," said Excalibur with a sigh. "I never implied that such a reaction specifically had to do with Lind, let alone indicate that I wish to date her; or anyone at all, for that matter."

"Excuses, excuses… You said nothing about me or anyone else who lives in this household, so, I think you're just trying to come up with a cover up story to avoid me poking my nose into your love life."

"Obviously, mentioning anything about any of your relatives who live here would've been downright stupid."

"Not so fast! There's also Laguz and Peorth who aren't related to me at all!" countered Urd. "What about them?"

"Well… Laguz is an old friend, so it's a bit more complicated than that, but… you may have a point about Peorth. She does look attractive enough, if I have to say so for myself," admitted the synthetic with some hesitation. One one hand, he wanted to stop Urd from 'helping' him what she considered as a crush, but on the other, he may had just made matters even worse for him.

"Hm… Well, Peorth once mentioned that she's not that much into monogamous relationships, and she seems to get along with Lind, so…Get them both, tiger!" said the Norn of the past with a wink, much to the sentient weapon's chagrin.

"I should've known not to mention anything at all…" said Excalibur with a tired sigh. "Seriously… I'm a sophisticated weapons platform, not a protagonist of a harem manga. More than anything else, my concern was an existential one, a milestone in the evolution of my personality; not how I could get lucky with a few goddesses."

"Fine! Have it your way… I won't argue anymore if you don't want to listen. Just remember that sitting idle and letting a great opportunity pass could eventually lead into regrets. For example, if you came to this realization earlier, I may had been a possible option as well. However, I'm not available anymore and the same could happen with a certain Valkyrie if you do nothing about it now that she's still single."

"For the sake of putting an end to this argument, I'll consider your advice and act accordingly," said Excalibur, as he turned to head towards Keiichi's room and inform the mortal of his new assignment as his bodyguard.

"Oh! One last thing!'

Pausing, the synthetic looked over his shoulder with a somewhat worried expression on his face. "Yes?"

"When I've mentioned about me being an option earlier… you made no comment at all. Given how chatty you've gotten as of late, I find that suspicious. So, out with it. Do you think I'm a lousy candidate for a girlfriend?"

"Um… I think that answering such a question is detrimental for my well-being."

"Out with it!"

"Error 90089. Please consult the user manual for further information about this issue," said the synthetic in a mechanical voice, as he bolted for the door.

"Hey! Don't you dare act like a robot all of a sudden!" said the irate half demoness as she went after him. "You work well enough to run you stinking liar! Now come back here! I'm not done with you! You hear me?"

However, the synthetic in question had already made a beeline for Keiichi's room, leaving Urd no option but to chase after him; again.

XXX

On board CMV Skidbladnir, unknown location

"Odal! We've got a situation!"

Running through the corridors of the stolen battleship, Fenrir tried to find the leader of their group. Moments earlier they've received news from the mortal realm and anything that made his otherwise rational sibling panic was more than enough to make him worry as well.

Coming to a stop as he reached the god's workshop, the little canine waited no time and rushed inside, where much to his relief he finally found the rogue god working on Celestin's robotic body.

"Big trouble! Someone's about to unleash Hell and we're not even there!"

"Calm down a bit!" said Odal as he and the disembodied god turned to see what the commotion was all about. With Fenrir being so impulsive and easy to get excited, it was hard to figure out when his reactions were justified and when he was simply exaggerating.

"I'll calm down, but you better go to bridge right now! There's apparently some living ship or whatever that thing is, and the demonic fleet is about to open fire at it!"

"A living… ship? Are you sure this isn't some fake rumor to lure us out?" asked Odal, finding it hard to believe that something as crazy as that was actually happening.

"Yep! They even recalled everyone back to Asgard and the demons did the same too!"

"Okay, tell the others that I'll join them in a moment," said Odal as he watched the canine nod and rush out of the room. "Celestin, do you know anything about this?"

"If you mean about the bio-ship, Fenrir mentioned… then I'm afraid that I have little to offer. There are only a few obscure references about them and even then, little is actually understood about them. We never got a real chance to contact, let alone study one from up close, as most of them maintained a fair distance from any of our own ships. That's why many celestials thought that those old tales were nothing more than silly rumors and made up stories," said the disembodied god, as he detached himself from the diagnostic system he was previously connected to, in order to see how well his new body was responding to his mental commands. There was some progress with his adaptation to the mechanical body and as much as he missed his real one, this was the only option for him to have some autonomy.

"Great… as if we don't have enough problems already…" grumbled the rogue god, although he tried not to show his surprise at the news. 'That wasn't supposed to happen! I've never… I've never heard of any bio-ships… How did?... I don't like this...'

"Shouldn't we get to the bridge?" asked Celestin as he noticed the dark haired god pause for a moment.

"Ah, yes! Let's go and see what's really going on over there. I hope the situation won't get out of hand. We've already had to revise our plans several times and this is way too much of an unpredictable variable."

"I may agree with you, but it's too naively optimistic to expect that nothing will go wrong; and the more ambitious their plans are, the worse it becomes," said Celestin, pointing at himself. "I can personally attest to that."

"Well… what can I say? Being optimistic runs in my family… But we've wasted enough time here. Let's go to the bridge and see what's happening in the mortal realm."

XXX

Europa, Jupiter

Orbiting above the white, frozen surface of the gas giant's sixth moon, a glistering silver entity flexed its 'head' as if looking for any threats around it. A truly unusual being that vaguely resembled a mix between a plesiosaur, a whale and a legless wyrm was something so unique that even celestials had no picture of it. Only recordings of its energy signature existed and that was enough proof of how elusive it was; leaving more questions about its nature than providing any answers to those who attempted to learn more about it.

Like a monster from a horror story, its elongated body gave it a sleek profile, while the six spindly arms that protruded from its torso and ended in sharp claws, made it seem as if it possessed wings, even though they served no such purpose. However, it was the head with the multiple rows of sharp teeth and the six eyes that have it a truly nightmarish appearance, especially given how it was otherwise totally featureless and as long it remained still, one could easily mistake it for some sleek, futuristic craft.

The most shocking fact though was that it was a vessel and not just a living being, as much of its internal space was designed to accommodate for passengers; a detail that almost no immortal was aware of. Of course life 'on board' a 'ship' like that was just as bizarre experience as the vessel itself, with corridors flexing and bending in various angles and rooms often changing size and shape, too.

Still, it was all a routine for those who considered themselves at the crew of this vessel and besides, they weren't exactly normal either. Bearing a slight resemblance to the very being that housed them, yet with a much more humanoid appearance in terms that they possessed four limbs and bipedal locomotion, they were a truly frightening sight to even the bravest of immortals. After all, nobody had seen what proto demons looked like, being prehistoric creatures in the most literal sense of the word. These first generation descendants of Ymir lacked a lot of the features that modern demons identified themselves with and should the latter ever encountered them, only their energy signatures would provide a hint as to what they actually were.

No features to set one apart from the other, no personal belongings or even a gender, but above all else no sense of self, they collectively existed in constant connection to each other as a single consciousness. Only a few select members of those early demons possessed individuality in the same sense like modern day sentients had, and that was typically a gift meant for officers of the world's first army.

One such example was the current captain of this vessel, even though such title was actually misleading. Standing twice as tall than his subordinates, the ancient demon sat on his chair in what was the ship's frontal cranial chamber or... bridge as it would've been called normally, and studied the holographic map of the Solar system that was projected from a hovering orb in front of him.

'Hm… they haven't opened fire yet. Interesting... Not what I was expecting from them, but, within the expected parameters.'

Narrowing his two pair of eyes, the silver skinned demon decided to ask the only other real crew member, which happened to be the mind of the ship itself.

"What's your analysis, Brimir?"

"Given who's the commander of Muspelheim's fleet, I was expecting a salvo already. Yet, it would appear that when things get real, the lion roars like a kitty… Maybe next time, I'll try to disguise ourselves like a celestial vessel and even send him a polite invitation?"

"You have many virtues, but politeness isn't amongst them."

"Always the wise and observant one, Vafthrudnir. Although, you too seem to be less eager to engage our current targets on combat. Can I inquire as to why that's the case?"

"I thought that you were perfectly aware of the orders Ymir-sama gave us. Hostilities are to avoided at any cost, unless we have no other option. Our job here is to scare them enough for their higher ups to issue a recall order."

"Great… Ever since he fell for that stacked goddess, we've been reduced from a force to be reckoned with, to… mere boy scouts. What's next? Start helping old ladies across the street? What's the bloody point of coming all the way here and not fire a single shot? Do I have to hail those ships and say please? It's been eighty nine and a half millennia since I've tasted real combat and I'm itching to blow something up! Anything!"

"Do I have to remind you that most of the property you wish to destroy happens to belong to the current Daimakaicho? Or that she happens to be our lord's daughter? Of all demons, you should know better than any of us; being part of our master's former body."

"Fine, I won't argue anymore… Last thing I need is to end up arguing with Ymir over something as insignificant as a couple of ships. And to answer your original question, there seems to be some activity from them, too. Although, I doubt that they're planning to open fire anytime soon. Instead, it seems that they're focusing on evacuating their comrades from the third planet of this system. Which… is exactly what we wanted by the looks of it."

"Indeed. As soon as they're done transferring out of there, prepare to move to the sixth planet of this system. We'll gradually put more distance between ourselves and the military presence here in order to prevent them from attacking us directly. After all, they're far from harmless and no matter how much you desire to see combat, we had to purposefully compromise our position for the sake of this mission. Giving up the element of surprise puts us in a very bad situation, since we're outnumbered and perhaps even outgunned, too."

"Actually, the last of them had just teleported out of there, so... should we get going too?"

"Positive! Fold towards the next planet in the system as soon as possible, and send a message to Ymir-sama. Tell him that we've done our part and we're standing by for the next phase to start."

"Understood. Although… can we blow up a planet on the way out of here?"

"No."

"You're not fun at all."

"I'm a strategist, not a comedian. Now, get us out of here."

"Fine… you don't have to say it twice… But, it's moments like these that I miss the good old days of senseless destruction and brutality on an industrial scale. Nowadays… it's all work and no play. And reports… and schedules... and more reports and more deadlines and..."

Letting a sigh, Vafthrudnir could only envy his subordinates, who dutifully stood by in the chamber and appeared to be totally unaffected by the ship's ramblings. Still, he knew that, Brimir was right about one thing: they were far less active than they used to be in the past. So, the ancient demon decided to use the rest of his free time to figure out a way to put them back in the greater picture once again. If nothing else, planning future missions was one of his favorite things in the world.

In the cosmic game of chess, the victor could only be the one who predicted what his opponents failed to see.

XXX

CIC of MMV Naglfar, high above Martian orbit

"Sir, that thing's running away! Should we open fire?"

Holding up a hand to indicate that he had acknowledged what the weapons officer had reported, Surt turned to his tactical screen instead. While he did seem to be the best opportunity to attack while their target was retreating, something about the whole situation seemed off. That bio-ship almost appeared as if it was baiting them to attack it or at the very least keep them on high alert and the longer he watched its movements, the more he became certain that it wasn't here to start a fight.

"What's the status?"

Glancing towards the entrance, while the rest of his subordinates offered the Daimakaicho's avatar a salute, the ruler of Muspelheim was pleased to see that both his leader and the two other demonesses that were previously stationed on Earth were now present on board Naglfar. This whole situation felt like a diversion to him and with all three of them here, that eliminated them as potential targets for whatever that thing really was.

"The bloody thing is messing around with us. One moment it shows up, and now it want to play tag."

"Can you be a bit more specific about it?" asked Hild as she approached him to take a look at his tactical screen.

"Well, as you can also see, it's currently heading towards the sixth planet of this system. And to be honest with you, I doubt that we scared it, so… it's most likely a trap," said Surt as he pointed at the map on his holo-screen.

"Hm… I'll have to admit that you're right about it; that's the same feeling I'm getting from this whole situation and to be honest with you, I'm kind of pleased that you haven't fallen for that trick," said Hild, before she paused and smiled as she recalled something. "At least, I don't have a crustacean for an admiral."

"A what?" asked the baffled demon, totally missing the reference.

"Never mind that. We're not chasing after it, although I do want to stay on high alert until it leaves the system," said Hild, dealing with one of the most serious problems at hand, before she decided to address the second. "Now that this thing is no longer an imminent threat, I have a bone to pick with you."

"Look, if you want to start complaining about that amusement park again, I think you're just exaggerating…"

"No, this has to do with a certain couple that you've got in quarantine over at Muspelheim," said Hild with a low growl, making her former student flinch.

"Uh… I suddenly remembered something really important I need to take care of! Hrym! You're in charge!" said Surt as he attempted to escape, but to no avail, once Hild grabbed him by the back of his neck and dragged him along towards the exit.

"Oh no you don't! You're not going to get away with this!" said Hild with a chilling grin, that made the rest of her subordinates turn back to whatever they were doing, while their commander was dragged out of the CIC and to an uncertain fate.

However, as soon as he and Hild's avatar left the room, some of the female officers gathered around Naudiz and began to talk amongst themselves; which inevitably got Urd's attention.

"Hey, you think it's a lovers' spat?"

"So soon? I mean, it's been like what?... A day?"

"Well, they're both kind of hot tempered… I dunno, maybe something happened?"

"Oh my! You think he got her?..."

"Nah… that's Surt-sama we're talking about. He's kind of slow when it comes to those things."

"But they slept together, yesterday! That's certainly something, right?"

"Well… it's start alright, but I doubt that he got her pregnant that fast. Besides, it's rather too sloppy for Hild-sama to be so careless."

"Excuse me."

Turning to the sudden source of the interruption, the demonesses noticed Urd who cleared her throat as she approached them.

"Care to explain what's all that about?"

"Oh, that's right! You weren't on board the ship, yesterday, so you probably missed it," said Naudiz, motioning for the half demoness to get closer.

"Missed what?" asked Urd as she approached Naudiz, while Mara also tried to tiptoe towards them, pretending that she wasn't paying attention.

"Well, you see, yesterday…"

XXX

Asgard, Gate room

"Are you feeling okay, dear?"

Shaking his head to recover from the disorientation that gave him a headache, Keiichi offered Belldandy a nod in an effort to reassure her, even if he was a bit dizzy at the sudden sensation of having everything around him change. One moment he was standing outside his house and the next, he was in a vast chamber that could easily fit even the largest building in Nekomi with plenty of room to spare.

"I'm fine, just a bit dazed, I guess," said Keiichi as he looked around him. Aside from his group, Thor's family was also present, since they too were temporarily on the mortal realm and recalled during this crisis. More importantly though, he noticed the presence of numerous Valkyries and even those he assumed to be war gods, given that they were dressed in a similar manner to what Thor used to wear when he first showed up a while ago.

Walking towards him, a small group of Valkyries led by Thrud were the first ones to greet him, although the sight of their axes made Keiichi a bit nervous.

"Hello again. It's the second time we meet and to be honest, I really wanted that to happen under better circumstances."

"Uh… you're Belldandy's cousin, right?" asked Keiichi, before Sif got sight of her daughter and decided to interrupt them.

"Thrud-chan! It's nice to see you again! I'm so sorry we couldn't take you with us to..."

"Not now mom! I'm still on duty!" said the Valkyrie with a tiny blush on her face, while her father tried to get his wife out of there, before she ended up embarrassing their daughter in front of her fellow warriors.

"Let's go and see what's going on, instead of sitting here doing nothing, Sif," said Thor, pushing his wife along, while Magni could only offer his sister a shrug.

"But… Thor…"

Watching them walk away, Thrud let a sigh and turned back to Keiichi who was at a loss of words. "Sorry about my mother, she's a bit… over enthusiastic at times. Now, let's get you properly registered, so that you're allowed to walk around Asgard on your own."

Keiichi may had been blissfully unaware of what all that involved, but the wince on Belldandy's face was more than enough to convince him that this wasn't going to be all fun and games.

"Can't we just get a temporary permit?" suggested the Norn of the present, with an almost pleading tone, only to have the Valkyrie shake her head.

"I'm afraid that we cannot do that. A temporary permit only works for a certain period of time, but given that we have no idea how long this will take, a proper one is necessary," said Thrud, as two of her fellow Valkyries got on either side of Keiichi. "Don't worry, we'll return him back as soon as possible."

Offering a nod, as she knew that any further objections would be pointless, Belldandy tried to reassure her husband who was definitely getting a bit nervous by now. Everything happened all of a sudden and not only he found himself in a totally different environment, but soon enough, he was going to get a taste of Asgard's bureaucracy. "We'll wait for you over at our home, Keiichi!"

"O-Okay… I'll try to find it once I'm done with the paperwork," said Keiichi, as Thrud put a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry about that. I'll take you there after we get your permit. However, let's not waste time and get this over with, shall we?"

"Very well," said the dark haired mortal with a sigh, following the blonde war goddess, while pausing for a moment to look back at his wife and the other goddesses who waved back at him.

Seeing her granddaughter's disappointed expression, Frigg decided to do something to not only keep her and the others busy, but to help them cheer up a bit as the whole situation had most certainly upset them to a certain degree. The worst part was that this whole crisis triggered Urd's departure much sooner than it was necessary and that definitely troubled her sisters, who hoped that she could stay for a bit longer.

"Actually, why don't we prepare a nice welcoming party? After all, this is the first time he's visiting your house here on Asgard and I think that this will help him feel more comfortable with the current situation."

"I think you're right, grandma!" said Belldandy with a smile, trying to cheer up a bit herself.

"We're going to help you, as well," said Peorth on behalf of Laguz and Lind who stood next to her, while Skuld gave her big sister a hug.

"Count me in, too!" said the Norn of the future, before she pointed towards her robots. "And we're going also to have Banpei and Sigel help too!"

Only Excalibur remained silent, as he looked around at the members of the Fighting Wings that guarded the Gate room during an emergency and one particular question came to his mind.

'Why are they ignoring me? You'd think that since I'm… well… I was a member of their AI squad, they'd try and retrieve me now that I'm back. Besides, why did they have to accompany Keiichi? I know that it's normal to do so for demons, but… a human? Something's wrong here and I don't think that getting the others involved is necessary. Although, as much I'd like to deal with it on my own, I doubt that I've still got the necessary clearance to access the necessary areas without causing a commotion. Well… I guess it can't be helped. '

Approaching the blue haired Valkyrie without making any sound, the synthetic tapped her shoulder and made the sign that in the Fighting Wing's battle language meant 'we need to talk' as he pointed towards the back of the room.

Offering a nod, Lind followed the synthetic as they tried to get out of earshot from the rest of the assorted goddesses. "What's the problem?

"I think that there's something wrong here. And to find out what's going on, I need your clearance…"

XXX

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

There are a few things that I'd like to note for this chapter.

First of all, I'd like to wish everyone happy new year. I hope you all had a great holidays season, although for me, it was a pretty busy one.

Now, as far as the chapter is concerned, before I even start with any of the details, I think it's fair to note that the first phase of the story is more or less over. It's true that it took me forever to get to this point, but, with most of the necessary plot elements already in place, I can finally stop going back and forth between things that happen in the background and the main characters' life on Earth. From the next chapter, all those side stories will converge with the main one and stop being a story within a story. Quite honestly, I think that I postponed it a bit too long, causing some issues in the latest chapters where Keiichi and Belldandy didn't have enough presence and I must apologize for biding my time until I felt that everything was right for me to move on to the next phase.

As a note, this doesn't mean that we'll never see Earth again, but it will take Keiichi a bit longer than he probably thinks before he returns home. Although… I think that for any fan of the series, it's obvious that his home is where Belldandy is.

Also, while the setting will dramatically change, there won't be tons of new characters introduced, since the majority of the important ones are already in the story. It's just that they'll start to interact with the main characters in more direct ways, instead of acting in the background.

Now, as for the chapter itself, the first thing to note is the nature of demons. Obviously the current ones and the first generation of them are vastly different. Ymir first created them as troops, and as such, most their specifications had to deal with combat and working in groups. As a result, aside from the officers or his army, the rest of them were a collective intelligence, which allows for perfect coordination. Of course, the needs for his later descendants were vastly different, causing him to radically redesign them, which resulted to the current version of the demons. However, I'll explain more about their history at another chapter, since this isn't the time for that.

Brimir, as the name of the bio-ship happens to be is merely another name for Ymir in Norse legends and this isn't far from what's true here. Again, more details about the nature of Ymir and Brimir will be revealed later.

Vafthrudnir (translates as "mighty weaver") was a wise Jotun in Norse legends. His name comes from Vaf which means weave or entangle and thrudnir which means strong or mighty. As a result, he means someone who's strong in riddles and as such, I've felt that it was fitting for him taking the role of one of Ymir's oldest strategists alive.