I do not own the Ah! Megami sama / Oh! My Goddess series
On board Brimir, S2, Sagittarius A Star
For the first time in her entire life, Urd found out why ignorance was a bliss.
The private conversation she had with her grandfather as they walked towards the 'bridge' of this ship was such a bizarre experience that in a way she envied Mara who was left out out of earshot throughout the whole exchange. Although Urd didn't like of keeping her girlfriend in the dark, she soon realized that it wouldn't do her any favors to carry the burden of knowing where their ancestors came from especially if that said knowledge changed her entire view of the world. At this point, there was no reason to even refer to either of her two sides as being something different at all; just variations of the same thing. After all, according to Ymir, both gods and demons were more or less the same bloody species, just specialized for a different purpose.
As a matter of fact, that was the very reason why she existed in the first place, since both her parents came from more or less the same general species, making her classification as a hybrid, somewhat inaccurate if not misguided.
"So… you're literally the first demon. No exaggeration, false claim or something to glorify yourself?"
"Yes, that's merely a fact. I was indeed the first of our kind, but… I realize that some feel the need to scrutinize old stories, given how many inaccuracies are recorded in such legends. So, I don't blame you for not wanting to take my word for granted," said Ymir, before he stopped and pointed at their surroundings. "This is all that remains of my original body, albeit in a somewhat different form that it used to look back then. The demons you saw earlier are an example of my early attempts to create some troops for myself when I took on the task of capturing Niflheim from Nidhogg's own creations. Yet as efficient as they were and still are, they're nothing alike you and the rest of your ancestors. These proto-demons were created by making autonomous versions of myself, but this process had a pretty serious downside. I ended up subtracting more than I could regenerate within a certain period of time, and besides… they lacked what I really needed to form a society. Only the most autonomous of them could be compared with contemporary demons as far as personality goes, yet… it takes a lot more energy to make them. At some point, I needed to avoid overexerting myself, and the best way was to rely on a creative process."
"Let me guess… sexual reproduction?" suggested Urd, as she reached the inevitable and rather obvious conclusion.
"Quite correct. Although with immortals the whole concept is far trickier than you might initially think. Coming up with a way to create individual sexes, let alone allow them to reproduce by creating new life, instead of chipping off parts of their already existing forms is far more difficult than most people make it appear. Ironically, that might've been my biggest contribution in our society: to set the very foundations of how to populate our realms. From that point on, my new demons started to invent concepts that were previously unheard of, or at the least, considered to be irrelevant. From love to happiness, and all the other things you take for granted today, just didn't quite exist back then."
"Okay… I think I get it, but… why are you like me?" asked Urd pointing between herself and Ymir. "You're the same type of demon as me and my mother, so what's going on with that?"
"Well… I must admit that I became fascinated with the whole idea of joining my second generation demons and see things from their perspective. The whole process of creating them left me completely spent as I used too much of my power and a full recovery was nearly impossible. Even at best I'd only manage to recover a tiny bit of my initial strength, so, instead of becoming a shadow of my former self, I decided to reform into a second generation demon," explained Ymir, before he realized that there was one more detail he had forgotten. "However, I had to become a child in order to properly adapt to the mentality of the newer demons and for the sake of preserving my original knowledge, I only converted part of my remaining body; with the rest of it becoming this very ship."
"So, Brimir is your backup… of sorts, while you're the result of becoming like us?"
"Yes, that's pretty much the whole idea."
"Then, I assume that the same can be said about Buri?" asked Urd, as she wondered if the history of gods was the same with their demonic… cousins.
"It's a bit more complicated than that, I'm afraid. Although I was the one who came up with the whole reproduction idea for our species, Buri was the one who started to give individual personalities to his early gods. So, unlike my first generation demons, who as you can see are very much like a collective intelligence, by the time Buri tried to reform his gods into a new form, most of them already had some kind of consciousness and simply decided to become like daddy," said Ymir with a dry chuckle.
"And that's a problem, because?..." asked the confused Norn.
"There weren't enough mommies," replied Ymir with a laugh, as he found Urd's surprised look to be utterly hilarious. "On the other hand, most of my second generation demons acted like rebellious teens who wanted to do the exact opposite of what their daddy chose for himself. So… we had more demonesses than you could possibly imagine, and… I think it's kind of obvious where I'm going with this."
"Please tell me you're joking… You're just trying to get me back for venting on you earlier, don't you?" It wasn't every day one could see such a magnificent blush on Urd's face and Ymir was thoroughly enjoying this whole conversation.
"Who, me? It's just your idea… I'm merely trying to explain a few things about our species' prehistory, which also predated a lot of other things, too," said Ymir with the most innocent smile he could manage.
"Dare I ask?... Do I even want to know?..."
"Well, considering that customs like marriage, dating rituals and a lot of that jazz didn't exist back then… you could say that those few initial eons were like the mother of all hippy parties."
"Bloody Hell…" muttered Urd, rubbing her temples as this whole conversation was so absurd, that it started to make her head hurt. However, that's when she realized something that should've been pretty obvious, yet all the evidence pointed against it. "Hold on a second! If all that happened, then pray tell me why we don't have hybrids like me running all over the place?"
"Ah… you finally figured it out," said Ymir with a grin. "It might sound extremely ironic, but… everyone you know is either a hybrid or a descendant of one; although I'm well aware why you may find this hard to believe. After all, nobody aside from you appears to an actual hybrid, right?"
"Well… there's uncle Loki, but he was split into his two components, and then there's Hrym, but he's an artificial one, so… yeah."
"Yes, Loki was indeed separated in two parts, but… what would've happened if one side was repressed?" asked Ymir with a raised eyebrow, letting his granddaughter to think about it for a moment.
"Then the other side would become dominant and at such a young age it would… absorb the other and… become fully…" The realization hit her like a freight train, and for several seconds the half demoness remained silent. "What's so wrong of allowing them to stay the way they were born?"
"Initially… nothing at all. The primary issue was the gender ratio imbalance between the two species, so at first the whole idea was to resolve that. But… as time went by, things started to change. The more the population grew, the more distant everyone became from others. It's easier to get lost in a sea of strangers and in such an environment, whoever doesn't look like you is suddenly suspicious and even undesirable. After a while, you start to pay more attention to what sets you apart from those strangers and ignore everything else you may have in common; and whatever falls in between those established groups, creates uncertainty. In many ways, there's nothing worse than not knowing whether your very own child is a friend or a foe. From that point on, mothers typically turned their children into their own species, although there were some exceptions to that rule. A rather notable one is your other… grandfather."
"Hold on… you mean… Odin?" asked the stunned demoness as she could hardly believe that the most famous of gods was actually like her; or at least, that's how he was born into the world.
"Yes, that guy. Although it's definitely not public knowledge anymore, his mother wasn't a goddess at all. Instead, she was a demoness called Bestla and, that simply means that he along with his two other brothers were all born as half gods before they were turned into full celestials. I have no idea whether he's aware of it or not, but the fact remains; the most influential god was pretty much a son of a demoness…" said Ymir with a grin, before he pointed at Urd. "And that's where you come in. I know that you've spent a lot of time thinking about your place in the world and all that garbage, since in the end… most of the current immortals are of mixed heritage to some level. The main difference with you is that your mother allowed you to remain as a hybrid, instead of choosing to keep you as a pure blooded demoness. Sorry to ruin any delusions of being special, but in the end you're not all that different than the rest. Although… I do find it ironic that in their ignorance they think themselves as pure blooded, which is a very inaccurate statement based only on their current nature."
"Yeah… you really know how to not make me feel special," grumbled Urd, scratching her head. "So, what happened with my parents was in a way… history repeating itself?"
"Not at all. Although it might seem like that's the case, by the time your parents were born, the whole situation was vastly different and that ancient past was all but forgotten. It must've been very hard for them to overcome millennia old prejudice and bigotry to form a relationship, and above all, I must admit that your mother's decision to let you stay like this was far from an easy one."
"I know… I'm not sure if I could've done the same in her place."
"Anyway… the whole point of this discussion was to let you know that there's no reason to think less of yourself because of what you are. And on top of that, stop listening to those ignorant idiots who like to think that they're pure blooded. If only they knew what their true ancestry was, you'd have every right to make fun of them as failed examples of hybrids who lost their true potential! So, I don't want any of that pessimism anymore!"
Urd offered her grandfather a slow nod, and while she wanted to point out that he too must've taken part in that ancient past, she knew that some things were better left untouched. The important thing right now was her plans for the future; and to get her brother in law back. "Alright, I think I get it, grandpa. Actually… what do you think I should do from this point on? I mean, even if I stay like this, then what?"
"Personally I'd recommend you to turn back into a goddess and then go and depose your father, establishing a totalitarian regime?" suggested Ymir with a hopeful expression, only to receive a groan from his granddaughter.
"I've asked you about my future, not your plans to subjugate Asgard…"
"Fine, fine... Kids these days don't listen to their elders…" Letting out an annoyed huff, the ancient Daimakaicho decided to stop pushing his luck before the half demoness lost interest in his opinion. "In that case, how about you become an alchemist? Your knowledge of celestial herbs and remedies can proven to be invaluable in demonic academia. I'm sure you can become a researcher without too much effort and it's a lifestyle with the least amount of restrictions in our society."
"Hm… that's not a bad idea. I kind of like the sound of that, so I might give it a try," said Urd, before Brimir decided to get their attention.
"Sorry to interrupt you two, but the target's within sensor range. So, it's now or never."
XXX
On board Skidbladnir, S2, Sagittarius A Star
The moment Odal heard the proximity alarm for the second time in a couple of minutes, he knew that it was a very bad sign.
"How in Heaven's name did an old barge catch up to us?"
"Negative! That's not a barge I'm picking up!" said Gram as he analyzed the ship's readings, and despite his rather stoic nature, the synthetic couldn't help but feel a bit overwhelmed. "We've got a bio ship on our hands!"
"What did you say?!" shouted Odal, rushing to check the tactical map; nearly stumbling in the process. "This can't be happening! Why is that thing even here in the first place? Don't tell me we accidentally dropped by its den..."
"I highly doubt it, Odal. The gravity shockwaves I'm picking indicate that it folded into the mortal realm mere minutes after we did," said the synthetic, before he paused and blinked; almost as if he couldn't believe his feedback. "Um… we've got an incoming transmission…"
"Pardon me? A transmission from… that?" asked the baffled god, since such a thing was totally unheard of. "Patch it through."
The holo screen on his console flickered, switching from the map view to the communications window, where a particularly annoyed, platinum haired demoness stared back at him.
"Took you long enough, buster!"
"Urd?! What are you doing over there?!"
"Hey, who the Hell do you think you are, calling my name so casually? That's Urd-sama for you!" said the irate demoness, tossing her hair over her shoulder before she crossed her arms. "Actually… are you really the one behind Keiichi's kidnapping? You look more like a pet shop assistant than the leader of a group of ruthless rogues, if you ask me..."
"P-Pet s-shop… what?" choked Odal, blinking at the audacity of such a blatant insult. Sure, he wasn't expecting any less from Urd, but that still didn't mean that she had to go all out on him. "Hey! I'm a war god, you know!"
"Oh, sure! A renegade without even an official registration… somehow got a war god's license," said Urd with sarcasm evident in her voice. "Look pal… playing with toy soldiers doesn't make you a war god."
"They're not toys!" shot Odal back at her, only to stop when a wiggly tentacle tapped Urd's shoulder, causing her to scream.
"Don't do that!" shouted the Norn of the past as she glared at something offscreen. "What do you want anyway?"
"Get to the point, or get out of my life."
"Fine, fine!..." Turning back to Odal after she gave one last glare to the wiggly tentacle, Urd cleared her throat before she got down to business. "Now let's be reasonable. Instead of starting up a huge fight, how about you give me Keiichi and in return I let you go?"
"Actually, that's a perfectly reasonable deal," admitted Odal, before his initial surprise turned into skepticism. "So… what's the catch?"
"That's my line, pal! You're way too eager to comply!" said Urd who was equally suspicious of this god's honesty. "Anyone would at least try to bargain in a situation like this!"
"But… I wasn't trying to kidnap anyone! I just wanted to get Angrboda out of there and she's the one who grabbed Loki, and then it was Verthandi who snatched Keiichi for reasons that are… even unknown to her," explained Odal with a long sigh. "Honestly… if you take Keiichi back, you'll be doing me a favor."
"Wait!... Are you for real?" Urd was taken aback by the sheer absurdity of it all. She had expected this to be some sort of elaborate scheme to blackmail her family by targeting the weakest amongst them; and in the end it turned out to be an act even more random than her own shenanigans. 'Idiots… Idiots everywhere…'
"Yes… Would you be so kind to come and pick him up? Because I'm definitely not boarding that thing."
"No kidding…" Giving the tentacle next to her a sideways glance, Urd had to admit that she too would've been reluctant to board such a ship. "Very well… However I'm not coming along on my own and if you try to pull something funny, it's going to be the last thing you'll ever do."
"I understand…"
Once the transmission came to an end, Odal turned to his sentient weapon who had remained silent throughout the whole exchange. "Gram, we need to gather everyone and prepare to welcome our… guests. In the meanwhile, tell Verthandi to fetch Keiichi so that the we get this over with as soon as possible. We can't risk keeping them on board for too long."
"I agree. The sooner they leave, the better it's going to be for us."
No longer than a minute after they both left to prepare for Urd's arrival, the bridge's doors opened once more, allowing a very different god to peer inside.
"Good, it's clear." Tugging a reluctant Keiichi along, Odin made certain that they were indeed alone before he released the mortal from the headlock he had him in. "Now stay put while I'm recapturing the ship."
"Not to sound rude, but I thought that the idea was for us to get out of here. Just saying..." muttered Keiichi, rubbing the back of his neck.
"And that's exactly what we're going to do. However, it'll be much easier once we've got access to the ship's systems instead of having to bypass every single one of them. That's just going to take so much time and effort that it's impossible for us to do without anyone taking notice," explained Odin and for once, Keiichi had to agree with him.
"Sounds fair. Although, how are we going to take over an entire ship?"
"With a copy of its authentication keys of course!" said Odin as he reached his pockets to retrieve a small metallic card.
"Eh? How do you ever have something like that?" asked the startled mortal while gawking at the shiny item in Odin's hands.
"Easy… I've got the right connections."
Meanwhile, over at Asgard, the former Daitenkaicho's wife promptly sneezed, startling Tyr who happened to be nearby his stepmother.
XXX
Waiting for the airlock to pressurize, Odal along with a full detachment of his robots prepared for the worst case scenario; a full scale battle, in case Urd decided to go overboard and attack them. Normally he would've gathered everyone in the room, but then he realized that such a thing would simply risk having all his allies taken down by a single attack. Instead, only Celestin was present with him, while Fenrir and Jormungandr stood by in a nearby room along with a squad of robots each; and in the dread wolf's case those were the very ones he took under his supervision.
"Are you sure it's advisable to face them alone? I'm in no shape to fight a demon in single combat and those robots aren't going to fare better," said Celestin as he looked down to the admittedly nervous god.
"It's going to be fine. Urd's not the type to start a fight just like that," said Odal, mostly to convince himself instead of the disembodied god. After all, there wasn't anyone else they could rely on, as Vidar and Ilmr were in charge of the evacuation of the ship should worse came to worst. And although Angrboda seemed as the best candidate for such a task, Odal knew that her temper could only trigger a fight to break out, so he tried to keep her out of this. "Verthandi's going to bring him in a few moments, and once they get what they wanted, we're free to go."
"Let's just hope that this is going to be the case here."
With an audible hiss, the pressure between the two rooms equalized and the inner door of the airlock opened, revealing three figures, donned in what appeared to be Niflheim's version of heavy armored combat uniforms. The fully enclosed exoskeletons worn over the skin-tight battle uniforms were designed to maximize their wearer's protection from most kind of attacks, which was essential in a situation like this. Even the slightest of advantages could make a difference when someone walked into a potential trap, so Ymir insisted for them to properly suit up for the occasion.
Only Urd refused to put on her helmet, citing that it would ruin her hairstyle; a decision she came to regret as soon as she stepped into Brimir's airlock. "I can't believe that the stupid thing literally spat us, and without even decompressing the room either! I've got ice crystals in some places I'd rather not mention…"
"Well… we told you that it was a bad idea to go into the void without sealing your suit, but you never listen," said Mara as she took her own helmet off and then attached it to her hips where it remained magnetically locked in place. "Oh, and by the way… your hair looks rather funny, too."
Eying her unruly bangs that stuck in all kinds of directions, Urd let out a sigh and reached for what appeared to be a gas grenade that was attached to her suite, causing everybody else to tense up. Especially the rogues who took this as a sign of aggression and immediately prepared for the incoming attack, with the robots aiming their particle rifles at the half demoness who was too busy fiddling with her grenade to notice them.
"Urd?! What are you doing?!" asked Mara, realizing that the situation was quickly deteriorating around them. "That wasn't part of the plan!"
"Huh? Oh… you mean this?" asked Urd, holding up her grenade, after she managed to remove the pin. "This isn't a weapon, silly! It's hairspray!"
And to prove her point, Urd went and pressed the valve at the bottom of the grenade, spraying herself before she produced a brush and began to fix the stylistic disaster that her hair currently was. Of course to the onlookers, this kind of development was so absurd that they had no idea what to make out of it. Eventually, Odal had to motion for his robots to stand down, as this was clearly just Urd being… well… herself.
Even Ymir couldn't help but palm himself over his helmet's visor, since he didn't take it off. With everyone's attention at Urd and Mara, he tried to keep a low profile and blend into the background, until his presence was needed. After all he was here to deal with this Angrboda and she was nowhere to be seen; meaning that blowing his cover now would only deprive them of the element of surprise.
"There! Much better!" Dismissing her brush after she was happy with the result, Urd turned back to Odal who simply stared her with a rather neutral expression; almost as if he was used to her antics. "Now, where's Keiichi?"
"Verthandi went to retrieve him, so, she should be back in no time." Despite his reassuring tone, Odal had to admit that the demoness in question was late. Even with a such a large ship, she should've gotten him by now and Gram was nowhere in sight either, making him a bit nervous as Urd kept staring at him. Eying at his side to one of his robots who stood by with the battleaxe it had kept from the battle at the Lunar Prison, Odal tried to keep his voice as low as he possibly could. "Gunnar… go take a look at what's keeping them. Just do it discreetly."
"Yes sir! I'll go and retrieve them at once!"
"Not so loud! I said discreetly!" shouted the frustrated Odal, as everything that could go wrong, just went wrong. Or so he thought, when the lights turned off, leaving them in the darkness for a couple of seconds before they turned back on. 'Okay… now that's getting ridiculous.'
"Technical difficulties?" asked Urd with a raised eyebrow, yet despite her sarcastic tone, the half demoness knew that something was off here. Most of their ships had several levels of redundancy to avoid such problems, and military class vessels were even more robust than their civilian counterparts.
"Um… it's a minor glitch," said Odal, trying to hide his worry, when his communicator demanded his attention, causing the god to excuse himself to answer it. "Gram! What's going on here? Where's Verthandi?"
"I've found her already, but… we can't find Keiichi anywhere. Still, that's the least of our concerns! Someone reset the ship's systems, Odal! I'm locked out of the main computer and that only means one thing…"
"They took over the ship? But how? Who?" That's when the shocked god looked over his shoulder at Urd and Mara who stated back at him with a puzzled expression on their faces. "Hold on! Do you think… this was a diversion, do you? But, how is it possible for demons to take over a celestial ship just like that?"
"No idea, but the fact remains."
"Gr… we need to get it back, so take Angrboda and head over to the bridge before…"
The sudden proximity alarm stopped the rogue god from finishing his sentence, not only due to his surprise, but his frustration as well. Nothing was going according to plan and as superstitious as it may sounded, Odal could only blame his bad luck.
'Out of all things I've got from mom, why couldn't I get her luck, too?'
XXX
On board Myrkr, S2, Sagittarius A Star
Hild was pissed and someone was going to pay dearly for that.
According to Skrymir's reconnaissance team, the barge her daughter stole was totally empty. Which… meant that she along with the rest of her merry group must've somehow gotten on board Skidbladnir, and if that wasn't bad enough, there was a bio ship nearly brushing against the stolen battleship's hull.
"Why the Hell is that bloody thing even here? And what does it think it's doing anyway?"
"Not that I'm a behavioral psychologist for living vessels but… celestials sure like to put a lot of curves in their designs, so… who knows? Maybe it likes that ship?" suggested Surt, earning several dirty looks from all across the combat Information center, since the Daimakaicho was clearly not in the mood for jokes and the leader of the fiery realm wasn't helping one bit.
"Oh really? How… touching… our star crossed lovers are going to meet their end while orbiting a star," spat Hild, only to stop when her mother placed a hand on her shoulder. "Huh?"
"You can ignore that ship and focus on those rogues," said the nervous Njorun, knowing all too well that it was going to be hard for her daughter to accept her word just like that, without any further explanation. "I know that I'm asking you to simply take my word for it, but… it's better if you focus on getting Urd back, especially if that ship won't attack you. Just don't ask me how I know that."
Staring back at her mother for several long seconds, Hild had more than enough reasons to dismiss such an outrageous claim; not without hard evidence to back her Njorun's words. Even worse, given everything else that was at stake here, a more cautious approach was necessary, yet as much as she wanted to ignore her mother, Hild wanted to trust her mother and after several moments of hesitation she turned to Surt. "Get a boarding team ready. We're going to take over that ship."
"Eh?! But… what about that one?" asked the leader of the Eldjotnar, pointing at Brimir.
"We're… ignoring it for the time being," said Hild, despite her apparent discomfort at the sound of her own orders. "Get on board Skidbladnir and secure my daughter, along with her two collaborators. And while you're at it, get Keiichi as well as those so called rogues. Oh, and by the way!..."
"Yes?" asked the incredulous demon out of sheer curiosity, given that this already sounded like a pretty tall order.
"Since this is our flagship's maiden voyage, I don't want to risk wasting too many of my transport gunships, so you're using boarding rafts," said Hild, trying her best not to sympathize with her former student, given that the aforementioned crafts were nothing more that torpedoes with a command capsule instead of a warhead. "They're expendable to begin with, so they won't count as casualties and this whole incident is going to look a lot better in the news flash, and not to mention the history records."
"This is getting better and better…" muttered Surt behind clenched teeth. "Anything else?"
"Actually… try to come up with something nice to say once you secure the ship; a statement worth of someone of your status. It's the first real operation we've got for quite a while and I want a quote worth of a history book, so… no witty, disrespectful or cheesy lines," warned the Daimakaicho, much to her subordinate's chagrin.
"Can I go now?" said Surt with a groan, despite his best efforts to suppress it.
"Yes, I think that's more than enough for now. Although, make sure you're not going to get yourself killed."
"Trust me, I've got intention to…" started the ruler of Muspelheim, before was suddenly interrupted by Myrkr's alarms and then the First Officer who turned tried to get Hild's attention.
"My lady! Skidbladnir's weapons are coming online!"
"Well, would you look at at that… So, they finally decided to pick a fight with us? Brave but foolish." Grinning like a shark, the Daimakaicho decided that if they wanted a fight, then a fight they'd get. "Aright! Everyone to their battlestations! Let's show them how it's done!"
XXX
On board Skidbladnir, S2, Sagittarius A Star
"What's going on? Did we mess something up?"
Worried by the sound of all the alarms going off around him, Keiichi turned to the only source of information available to him and by the looks of it, Odin was far from happy.
"No, it's just that Hild picked the worst possible moment to show up. We just needed ten more seconds to finish resetting the ship's systems and her fleet's arrival put Skidbladnir in auto defense mode," said Odin with a frustrated sigh while trying to troubleshoot the problem.
"Uh… auto defense? Why do I have a feeling that I'm not going to like this?"
"Because we're about to fire at them, and as a result they'll respond in kind! And the worst part is that if try to reset the systems again, our shields will go down for long enough to let them blow us into space rubble."
The brilliant flashes of main cannons' salvos illuminated the whole bridge, forcing Keiichi to shield his eyes almost as if he was staring at plasma torch. In many ways this was vastly different from all those space battles he had seen in sci fi movies. For once there was no sound coming from outside of the ship, and the colorful particle blasts traveled so fast that he could hardly see more than a blur. Only when an incoming shot hit them did he see the rippling effect of their otherwise invisible shields that protected their vessel and even then it lasted for less than a second.
Considering that this was a case of miscommunication, Keiichi immediately realized that resolving this whole situation was actually more simple than he had originally thought. "Then why don't we call Hild and ask her to stop?"
"Because I've got no control over the ship's communication systems, that's why," replied Odin, before he realized that the mortal was onto something. Even without the main systems, there were a few standalone communication devices capable of punching through the ship's shields and other countermeasures, especially while it was on full battle status. "Wait a second!... The life rafts' emergency beacons! We can use them to send a message through! Quick, follow me! There's one relatively close to the bridge!"
"Huh? Sure thing! Let's go and give it a try!"
XXX
On a different part of the ship, what initially started as a peaceful attempt to resolve the whole kidnapping incident was now devolving into a crisis of its own. The ship's reboot along with the arrival of the demonic fleet was more than enough to convince the rogues that this was nothing more than a trap.
Narrowing his eyes at the confused half demoness, Odal had to admit that underestimated the otherwise happy go lucky Norn. "I thought we had a deal!"
"What are you droning about? I didn't do a thing! It's my mother who went after you, not me! So, just give me Keiichi and I'll get off your back!" shouted Urd over the loud wail of the alarms, urging the almost nonexistent crew to man their battlestations.
"Fat chance! Someone happens to take over this ship and then launches an attack at the same time? What are the chances for this to be a mere coincidence?"
"What's the point of taking over a ship and then attack it?"
"Other than coming up with a convenient excuse to damage it before you hand it back to the celestials?"
Glaring at each other, both Urd and Odal adamant that they were right, but for those around them, it soon became apparent that regardless of who won this argument, time was of the essence. Placing a hand on Odal's shoulder, Celestin made an effort to remind him that there were more pressing matters at hand.
"That's enough. We need to escape while we still have the chance to do so. Without the ship under our control, we're more or less trapped in a corner and soon, this place will be crawling with either demons or gods. Either way, it's going to be the end for us."
"I know...I suppose it was good as long as it lasted, so… we're evacuating." Despite the fact that this wasn't really their ship, the decision to make a hasty retreat was always a hard one for any kind of leader. Yet fighting an impossible battle was rather foolish either and at this point, there was only one prudent thing to do and that was to get out of there, as soon as possible. "Do as we've practiced! I want everyone off this ship before they overrun us!"
Offering him a curt nod, Celestine and the rest of the robots exited the room, leaving behind their three visitors, while Odal headed in a different direction as soon as he left the room.
"Hey! Where do you think you're going, pal? I'm not done with you!" shouted Urd, before she felt a hand on her shoulder.
"Don't waste your breath on him, we're here for another reason," said Mara in an effort to just get this over with. She was far from thrilled to get caught in a battle that had nothing to do with her and the sooner they got Keiichi, the sooner they could also escape from this vessel.
"Right… Keiichi." Nodding at her girlfriend to indicate that she hadn't totally forgotten about their original plan, Urd took a deep breath to clear her mind and motioned for Mara and Ymir to follow her. "Okay, let's go and find him! With everyone else busy evacuating, I doubt that they'll put up too much of a fight while we search for Keiichi."
"While true, keep in mind that under stressful situations, people have the tendency to act in all sorts of unexpected ways," said Ymir, after leaving his granddaughter to handle things so far. "But enough with that! We need to hurry before they actually take him with them!"
"That's not happening!" growled Urd, rushing out of the room with the others running after her.
XXX
"I thought you said it was nearby!"
Looking over his shoulder to the panting mortal who struggled to keep up, Odin couldn't help but feel some sympathy for Keiichi. "Well… in a ship as large as this one, the meaning of the word nearby is kind of relative. That, and you need to start exercising a bit more, by the looks of it. At this rate, if you keep eating Belldandy's food without burning the excess calories, it won't take long for you to become a couch potato."
Trying not to wince at how accurate Odin really was, Keiichi had to admit that ever since he got married, he spent a lot less time on his hobbies that gave him an excuse to keep his body fit. While there were no signs of him gaining weight, the mere fact that he got tired after covering such a short distance was a warning sign that he was getting out of shape. "Still, why can't we fly there?"
"Because I want to keep a low profile, if possible. The more magic I use the easier it's going to be for the others to pinpoint my location, so, I hope we'll manage to get to the escape pods without meeting any resistance," said Odin as he came to a stop, mostly for Keiichi's sake. "As a matter of fact, since we're in the mortal realm and not in Svartalfheim, once we get a certain distance away from the ship's own countermeasures, there should be nothing more to prevent us from teleporting wherever we want."
Despite his initial reservations, Keiichi wanted to think that his troubles were about to come to an end, only to notice Verthandi running towards him.
"Keiichi! Are you okay? We couldn't find you and…Huh? What's going on here?" Giving Odin a curious look, the demoness seemed almost as if she had seen a ghost, or rather an apparition.
"I'm taking him back, that's what going on," said Odin with a rather flat tone, eying his granddaughter's doppelganger with great suspicion.
Yet in all irony, Verthandi was rather distrustful of the one standing before her, considering that the elusive god remained out of sight for several millennia. The idea that he appeared without even a serious attempt to conceal his true identity, was a bit too suspicious in her opinion. "Not happening! I'm the one who's going to take him back!"
"You're the one who kidnapped him in the first place!" said Odin as he pointed a finger at her. "Are you seriously expecting anyone to take such a blatant liar for real?"
Stepping between them, Keiichi wanted to resolve this in a peaceful manner, worrying that a fight would only postpone if not outright prevent his return to Belldandy's side. After all, he honestly didn't care who was going to take him back, as long as they did actually honor their promise. "Why don't we all calm down and talk about this in a perfectly rational manner? After all, if we all want the same thing, then there's no reason to squabble about…"
Before he even had the chance to finish his sentence, the whole ship shook violently; almost as if it collided on something. Worse, considering the battle that was taking place outside, most of them feared for the worst.
"Did they breach the hull?" asked the worried Verthandi, only for Odin to shake his head.
"Not likely… If the shields went down or the hull's integrity was compromised, there should've been a warning," said the former Daitenkaicho, fearing that there was only one possibility behind such an event. "This must've been from inside the ship. In other words… someone must've started a fight..."
XXX
"Oof!... You… Where did you come from?"
Picking herself from the floor, Urd glared at her mother's doppelganger who was in the process of extracting herself from the opposite wall. When the two of them almost literally ran onto each other at an intersection, they instinctively launched a bolt each, which ended up in a rather powerful explosion.
"That's my line, you… ungraceful brat!..." spat Angrboda as she glared at the half demoness, but then paused and grinned like a madwoman. She had never expected to run into the Norn of the past in a place like this, and the prospect of seeing what she could do in a fight, greatly excited her. 'Hm… I never got the chance to see if a hybrid was worth the trouble of getting into a relationship with a god, so…' Summoning her raven wings, Angrboda's body glowed with a dark purple aura that slowly shaped into a series of runes before her.
'Uh oh… this is bad…' Looking over her shoulder at Mara who was still in the process of picking herself from the floor, Urd realized that her grandfather was nowhere to be seen. However, she had no time to wonder where the ancient demon may had gone, as there was clearly no easy way out of her predicament. And given that there was no one she could count for help at the moment, she decided to fight fire with fire and prepared an attack of her own. Mustering all the demonic power she possessed, Urd's eyes went completely crimson as their irises turned into cat like slits.
Shaking her head, Mara barely managed to see the two lightning attacks collide with each other, ionizing the air within the corridor to the point where the pungent odor of ozone assaulted her nostrils. Worse, that was merely the beginning as both launched one volley of bolts after the other, with Mara having no other option but dive out of the way and form a shield around her. Although she could also fight, it was far too dangerous to do so in such a limited amount of space; not with the risk of hitting one of her girlfriend's bolts and then making it explode in their faces.
'Yikes! That was a close one!... Just… where did she get all that power from? Don't tell me that Urd was always like that. For real?' Part of Mara was really relieved that she never got to actually get in a fight with her back when she was antagonizing Keiichi and Belldandy. Sure, they had their almost comical battles, just like the ones Urd loved to have with her youngest sister, but… this was on totally different level. Worse, the half demoness was teetering on the brink of losing control and it wasn't just because of her dual nature. Even pure blooded demons can fall victim of their own bloodlust and Urd was no exception. Discipline through practice was the only way of one to maintain focus in the middle of a battlefield and Urd was clearly ill prepared for that.
'Yes! This is so marvelous. All this power… all mine!...' Grinning from ear to ear like a shark, Urd's canines became noticeably more elongated as bloodlust consumed her mind. Launching herself at the one who looked so similar to her, Urd's fingers curled inwards as vicious looking spikes of energy extended from their tips; just like the claws of a hungry predator. Stabbing Angrboda's wings, she pinned her against the opposite wall, but before the berserk hybrid could laugh at her opponent's predicament it quickly became apparent that something was horribly wrong.
Angrboda's face had twisted into an almost bestial smile of excitement, even as her singed feathers scattered into the air around them. "Yes! That's more like it! MORE!" Grabbing Urd's wrists before she could pull away from the crazed demoness, Angrboda smacked their foreheads so hard that the resulting sound made Mara turn slightly blue. Yet despite that, they were both still conscious and above all; their grins became even wider.
"Whoa… are they masochists or something?" wondered the blonde aloud, only to attract their attention at her. Watching them turn their heads in her direction without even pulling away from each other, it almost looked like a pair of hungry cats staring a huge tuna; and for Mara, this was no laughing matter. Angrboda was already dangerous to begin with and Urd's unfocused eyes made it hard to tell whether she even recognized her girlfriend in this deranged state. "Eep! Don't mind me!"
An invisible hand reached to grab the distressed blonde out of harm's way, before either of those two got the chance to make the first move, and as they pulled away, Mara saw that it was Ymir who must've used a cloaking spell to avoid being detected by the others. "We need to put some distance between us and Urd! I never thought she'd lose control this soon!"
"But… what's going to happen now? We can't let her in there on her own!" objected Mara as soon as the ancient Daimakaicho let go of her.
"No, but that's a job better suited for me. In the meanwhile, just go find that mortal before they nab him on their way out of the ship!" said Ymir, while another blast shook them. "Okay, now get moving before those two actually do some harm!"
"Y-Yes! I'm going!" shouted Mara as she run away from Ymir, while the demon turned back towards the corridor where his granddaughter and that doppelganger were.
'Alright… I guess it's time to show them why I was the Daimakaicho for so long.'
XXX
"Mm… not bad… for an untrained brat, at least!"
Picking herself from the floor, Angrboda was overjoyed to see someone actually put up a decent fight for a chance. She had gotten sick of all those comments about her appearance, or worse… having idiots like Loki stare at her ample bosom, for more than obvious reasons. This was the type of combat she thrived for and in the process, it was almost certain that she'd drive Urd to the point of exhaustion, rendering her harmless. 'It's like killing two birds with one stone. I love combining work with fun...'
"Untrained my ass! You're hardly keeping up with me, let alone be my mother's copy," said the gleeful demoness as she was no longer restricted to how much of energy she could access. Without a limiter, Urd felt unstoppable and to prove her point, she unleashed an angry swarm of electro-wasps that flew towards her opponent.
"Copy this… copy that…" Forming a dark sphere between her palms that sucked the attacking swarm like a black hole, sending them to their oblivion. "Just because I'm not trying to harm you, doesn't mean that you can look down on me! You want to play rough? Well… I can do that!" Dark shadows appeared around Angrboda, taking all sorts of distorted, ghastly forms with large, gaping mouths and more teeth than anyone needed; all hungry to taste some flesh.
"Really? You try to prove me wrong by copying one of my mother's attacks?" asked the sarcastic half demoness, yet despite her dismissive attitude, she prepared her strongest shield. She had never faced her mother in battle, and if this Angrboda was as powerful as she claimed, things could easily turn pretty bad. After all, she was correct in her assumption that Urd wasn't properly trained and despite her bravado, when the shadow beasts slammed onto her shield; it was hard not to worry. They mercilessly assaulted the barrier from all sides, just like a group of starved sharks attacking a helpless morcel. So, before they managed to chew their way through the shield and then get her too, Urd summoned her mismatching wings and with a fluttering motion she sent a series of feather shaped lances towards them, just as the protective field collapsed. Without time to evade her counter attack, the beasts were impaled with several of the lances which soon exploded, destroying all traces of them.
Unfortunately, given their proximity to Urd, the shockwave of her own attack sent her flying across the corridor, and before she could regain her composure, Angrboda saw her opportunity. Launching herself to the dazed hybrid, she pushed Urd on her back and then used her own weight to keep her opponent pinned under her. "That's the end of the road for you. I won't kill you, but it's time for bed."
"What the?!" Urd felt her energy being sapped out of her, as red lines appeared on her skin and started to travel towards Angrboda's claws that were pressed hard against the exposed skin of her neck, given that most of her body was covered by her combat armor. Of course, draining someone of their energy wasn't nearly as easy as it sounded and in most cases it exhausted the one using that technique, since their targets didn't voluntarily offered their energy. Still, if the attacker was stronger than their target, it was possible to render them harmless by bringing them to the point of exhaustion, although in this case it did have a rather unfortunate implication for Angrboda. With Urd's mind losing some of the power that made her go berserk, it was now possible to try using her head than brute force.
When Angrboda saw the tiny smirk on Urd's face, she initially dismissed it as mere bravado, until she noticed that someone was floating right behind her. Another disadvantage of draining the hybrid's energy was that for a while her senses were overwhelmed with the 'scent' of Urd's power. As such, it was possible for the latter's angel to creep behind the demoness and remain undetected for long enough to form a blade out of the other half of what Angrboda wasn't capable of extracting: Urd's goddess energy. "What?! When did you?!..."
'Surprise!' Bringing the blade down in a horizontal slash, to avoid hitting her mistress, World of Elegance drove the solidified energy sword deep into the demoness' left arm; sending her flying towards the opposite wall. Albeit not in one piece, since most of Angrboda's left arm was left attached on Urd's neck, and by the looks of it, both her and the dichromatic angel didn't seem too thrilled by the outcome. 'Oops… I overdid it a bit.'
"Overdid it? I said hit her, not maim her!" said the horrified half demoness, while trying to detach the severed limb from herself. However, before she could throw it away, Urd noticed that there was something strange with it, as it began to turn into an almost metallic version of itself, yet not unlike any kind of synthetic construct she had seen. This appeared to be almost organic and far more physical than any part of an immortal's body, although it was definitely a ten dimensional in nature. Worse, she could've sworn that she had seen something similar to this material, back in Yggdrasil's command center where their computers interfaced with the World Tree itself. 'Hold on a minute… this is just like Yggdrasil's connectors, where we attach our network cables to the Tree.'
Getting up, Angrboda didn't seem to be phased by her loss of a limb and simply stared at what was left. "Well… it seems I was wrong. You're kind of resourceful for an untrained brat. Now, can I have my arm back? I'd rather put it back, instead of having to grow another."
"Hey, wait a freaking second! What the Hell are you?" asked the somewhat disturbed Urd, pointing at her opponent's metallic limb.
"An Ironwood Dryad," came a voice from the far end of the hallway, as Ymir approached them. "It's been so long since I've seen one, that I've almost forgotten that they can assume our… softer forms."
"Huh? I've heard of dryads, from some old books, but nothing like that," said Urd in confusion, staring between Angrboda and her severed limb.
"That's because ordinary dryads are far less powerful than either a celestial or an infernal, although the same can't be said about their more capable cousins. Still, I'm rather shocked to find one who looks like my daughter, let alone copy her energy signature to the point of being an exact replica," said Ymir as he approached Angrboda. "I was under the impression that once you're given a certain form, you cannot change it voluntarily."
"You're correct. I'm not a natural shapeshifter, so this is my social form, not unlike the humanoid forms you two use to interact with others,. After all, your true forms are nothing compared to what I'm currently seeing," said Angrboda, before Ymir interrupted her.
"That's common knowledge. Still, it implies that you're much younger than any of the ancient servants of the Tree. The last time I've seen one of your kind was back… when I was… I don't know… an eon or two old?"
"Yes, I'm significantly younger than any of my older sisters," admitted Angrboda, before reaching out to Urd. "Can I have my arm back, now?"
"Depends… do you surrender?" asked Urd, as she glanced over to Ymir who nodded in agreement.
"Very well…" She hated to admit defeat, but under the current circumstances, fighting both Urd and Ymir at the same time was a foolish notion. Especially if she had to use more energy to grow a new arm.
Handing her the severed limb, Urd watched the faux demoness attach it back where it was and soon enough it merged to the rest of her body, assuming the same appearance it previously had.
"Now, let's go and find Keiichi before anything else happens. And no silly moves or you're going to lose a lot more than that," said Ymir, leading his granddaughter and their prisoner out of the hallway's door.
Gritting her teeth, Angrboda offered him a nod and started to walk towards the bridge.. She was going to get her chance to escape later, but for now, she had to play along.
XXX
When the ancient Daimakaicho asked her to find Keiichi in the middle of this chaos, Mara was initially rather skeptical. It almost felt as if she was sent on a wild goose chase that could take a while before she even searched a quarter of the whole ship, but her gut feeling to check the area around the bridge proved to be a moment of pure brilliance.
Keiichi was standing in the middle of a corridor, between a scantily clad Belldandy and someone who reminded her of the previous Daitenkaicho. And a closer look verified that she was indeed correct as far as Odin was concerned, although the brunette she was staring at was clearly a demoness, despite her striking resemblance to the goddess of the present. 'Huh… would you look at that… This reminds me of that Angel Eater fiasco. I really hope this turns out better than that, because I'm not in the mood for getting involved into another embarrassing incident. Actually… if I do rescue him, then I might get a medal or even a promotion! How crazy does that sound?'
Grinning, the blonde demoness rushed to get her hands on Keiichi and take claim of the glory, whether the others liked it or not. "Hey, Keiichi! Over here!"
"Huh? Mara?" The poor mortal sounded a bit baffled by the fact that the first person he recognized turned out to be the same one who gave him so much grief in the past few years. 'Okay… this is really funny. Then again, she did had a tendency to run into me at the most unexpected of moments, so, maybe it's not that strange.'
Both Odin and Verthandi turned to face the newcomer who rapidly approached them to resolve the stalemate they had fallen into, and while the former was relieved that there was someone here to take Keiichi back to Belldandy, the latter's lookalike was far from thrilled. As a matter of fact, she wasn't sure what to feel about the whole thing, with part of her happy that he was going back to his wife's side and another that actually envied the Norn. Still, regardless of her own feelings, Verthandi's determination to be the one to return him back was unshakable and the blonde's obvious attempt to steal the glory for herself was too much for her demonic sense of pride to swallow.
"Hey, hands off, blondie! I saw him first!"
"Eh?! What are you droning about?" asked Mara as she made an effort to get closer to Keiichi before the other demoness got there first.
But her attempt was in vain, since Verthandi was well aware of her intentions and moved to intercept her, standing between Keiichi and the newcomer. "What I'm droning about is the fact that you're looking for an easy promotion and a day in the limelight! I'm the one who was going to return him!"
"Hello!... You're the one who kidnapped him in the first place, or do you think that by acting like his savior, you're gonna get him to sleep with you?" Raising an eyebrow at Verthandi who was slightly taken aback by the accusation, Mara knew that she had her cornered. "Ha! You really thought that you're oh so clever, miss copycat? A demoness who just happens to look like Belldandy, and on top of that… she's wearing something this skimpy? It's almost as if you're screaming sleep with me lover boy, I'm hotter than your wife!"
"Lies!" shouted Verthandi only to pause a moment later, furrowing her brows in wonder. "Well… I am hotter than his wife and wouldn't mind sharing a bunk, so what's the point of wearing something skimpy just to advertise it? It's not like I'm all that subtle you know… I even tried the whole naked apron routine earlier this morning! No… I wear this only because I like it."
"No kidding! Even Urd's not that blunt!" shouted the panicked demoness as she turned and gave Keiichi a stern look. "Tell me you didn't jump her bones… If Urd hears about this…"
"Eh?! Of course not!" said the offended mortal, before Odin decided to vouch for him.
"That's right. I've been spying on him ever since he got here and nothing actually happened. Good for him too, as I would've thrown him out of an airlock if he cheated on my granddaughter. Nice and clean; just the way I like dealing with situations like these," said Odin… until he realized his blunder, but it was too late to fix it now.
"Wait! Your… granddaughter?" asked the stunned Keiichi. "You're Belldandy's grandfather?"
"Not bad for a god my age huh…" said Odin with a sight grin, knowing that it would've been futile to try and lie about it.
"Someone's too impressed with himself. Nice eyepatch by the way."
Swearing under his breath at the eerily familiar voice that interrupted their conversation, Odin turned to face his arch nemesis who was apparently not only alive but had somehow subdued Angrboda who simply stood next to him. Or at the very least, he must've assisted Urd who seemed as if she was totally exhausted. "It's a visor, not an eyepatch. I've got a second eye, thank goodness for small miracles! Now, what's wrong with my poor granddaughter?"
"Your granddaughter?" countered the ancient Daitenkaicho. "Urd's my granddaughter! You've got more than enough grandkids already, so keep your grabby paws off my grandkid!"
"Oh really? If that's the case, then why are you dodging the question… mister doting grandfather? Do you want me to tell your daughter about this and see what she thinks of your total indifference of Urd's welfare?"
"Indifference?! Are you for real, you… you womanizing upstart who knocked up more goddesses I can even count! And you raised none of their kids!"
"Says the demon who put his only daughter in an orphanage… Double standards, much?"
"You bet! And don't bring up such depressing topics in front of my granddaughter! If she gets traumatized by all that, then I'll hold you responsible for it!"
"It's still a lot better than letting you get her physically traumatized! Don't tell you actually let her do all the fighting, because you're a lazy old man!"
"Old man?! You dare call me old man?"
"You're one of the few I can still call that!"
"ENOUGH!" Tired sick of all this pointless bickering that gave her a splitting headache, Urd rubbed her temples and struggled to hold back and not attack both of them. Of course, lacking the energy to do so was a bit of a bummer, so, the half demoness decided that the best next thing was to chew them out, until they stopped acting like juveniles. "I never thought I'd say that, but… I'm actually glad that my parents were split by a stupid door, instead of having you two screw everything up for them. Oh, and for the record, you're both my grandparents, whether I like it or not... So, put a sock in it!"
While everyone else winced at Urd's harsh words, both Ymir and Odin simply stared her with unreadable expressions, that slowly… turned into a definitive look of pride.
"Not bad at all… She definitely sounds much more like me than Tyr ever did," said the overjoyed Odin. "I can't wait until she becomes the Daitenkaicho! It's about time we got a goddess as our leader."
"I really hate to burst your bubble, but I'm not going to let my granddaughter waste her talents on a bunch of worthless bums. Unless she forms some type of totalitarian dictatorship over there, but already declined that," muttered Ymir, giving his nemesis a side glance. "Besides… you can always have Belldandy or even Skuld fill that role if you want."
"Hm… possible, although I think that Belldandy's too nice to kick the Councilors' backside. Skuld however does have a lot of potential, but she's way too young," said Odin as he scratched his chin in deep thought. "Although… why would you suggest one of my granddaughters as their father's successor?"
"Because they're Urd's sisters? Which means that we could pull all sorts of favors behind the scenes," said Ymir with a shrug. "Of course it can work the other way too, but… you you
ve got to admit that it has its merits."
"That's not a bad idea, actually. For once, the diplomatic relations between our realms could be much more simplified. Perhaps we might consider this as a serious option in the future," said Odin, before Urd interrupted them.
"Hey, quit lobbying, will you? I hate that stuff!" shouted Urd at her grandparents. "Besides, I don't want to be my mother's successor!"
"Whether you like it or not she's going to have to be deposed once her second term comes to an end," said Ymir in an effort to remind her of the inevitable need for someone to overthrow Hild. "Now, I don't think that Hagall's going to stage another coup, so… someone has to do it. And that might as well be you!"
"But… what about… um…" scratching her head, Urd came up with the first name that crossed her mind. "How about Surt?"
As if on cue, the door in the far end of the corridor exploded in a spectacular manner, and given that it was a reinforced one too, it must've taken a rather impressive skill and precision to take it down without blasting a huge chunk of the surrounding area too.
"Okay, nobody moves and…" noticing the dirty looks he was receiving from nearly every person in the corridor, the leader of Muspelheim paused and almost took a step back. "What?"
Turning at his granddaughter while pointing at the Eldjotnar who still had no idea what was wrong, Ymir couldn't help but voice his opinion. "Do you really want this guy as the Daimakaicho?"
"Uh… okay, I see your point…"
"Can someone tell me what's going on?" insisted Surt, until he spotted Keiichi and decided to secure him before he captured the rest of the ship… only to have Verthandi right in front of him. "You want something?" asked the dark haired demon, preparing for an imminent fight, and even summoned his converted angel in his sword form as an extra measure.
Returning his intense glare with one of her own, Verthandi reached into her skimpy outfit and while the others feared that she was looking for an explosive, the demoness actually retrieved a little card. "Actually…I'm a bit of fan, so I wanted to offer you my business card. I know that it's not anything official, but it had my contact info on it, and I really hope you'll give me a call later. I'm looking for a nice guy to get to know better, and despite appearances, I'm ideal for a serious relationship!"
"Eh?!" Taking a step back as he wasn't quite expecting something this ridiculous, Surt grit his teeth once he heard Urd's shrill laughter. 'Great… now she won't let me live this one down.'
However, the Norn of the past stopped when she noticed Ymir's troubled look. "Hey, what's wrong?"
"Brimir contacted me and said he's retreating," said the ancient Daimakaicho, keeping his voice low, so the others wouldn't hear them. "An Asgardian fleet is upon us, and by the looks of it, Hild's going to let them handle this to avoid a direct confrontation with your stepmom."
"Ansuz is here?"
"Yes, and so are your sisters," said Ymir, before he noticed a move on his side. Odal had just entered the corridor and by the looks of it, he wasn't happy.
"Verthandi? What are you doing over there? We need to go!" shouted the dark haired god, eying the rest of the immortals with some concern, as the situation was no longer in their favor. Most of them had already evacuated, save himself, the brunette demoness and Vidar who was maintaining the gateway out of there.
"But…"
"No complaints!" Just as he was about to run towards her, a goddess followed after him though the door and nearly shoved him to the side; much to Odal's surprise.
"Keiichi!" Launching herself to the abducted mortal, Belldandy was the first goddess to find him, and she had no intention to let go.
"Bellda-... mphf?!" was all he managed to say, as the goddess silenced him with a kiss, much to Verthandi's chagrin, especially after the latter's failed attempt to attract Surt's attention as a contingency plan.
"Hey, I wanted some too!" Looking over to Surt, only to notice that he was no longer standing next to her, but used this opportunity to hide behind Odin who happened to be nearby, the demoness puffed her cheeks in annoyance. "Not fair! I never got a smooch!"
While the unfolding scene kept everyone busy, Angrboda who maintained a low profile up until now decided that this was their moment to act. Picking Odal up from the floor, she leaned closer to him and summoned a small cylindrical object. "Okay, I'll cause a diversion so that we'll get a chance to get out of here. This is our last chance, or we're as good as dead!"
"Yes, but… what's that you've got there?" asked Odal, only to have her push him out of the door.
"Run you idiot!" shouted Angrboda as she threw the item at Belldandy, who effortlessly caught it.
"Oh no you don't!" shouted Surt as he run after them, leaving the others behind; watching in stunned silence as another drama was unfolding before their very eyes.
"Huh? Cola?" Blinking as she had no idea why anyone would throw her a can of cola, Belldandy didn't notice the tiny runes on it side until it was too late. Her eyes were became slightly glossed over and the goddess couldn't explain why, but she had a great desire to take a swing from the offered drink; just one little sip. Of course, she was perfectly aware that it was a very bad idea to try that carbonated beverage, given her past experiences with it, yet Belldandy just couldn't help herself. Opening the can, she raised it to her lips and much to both Keiichi and even Verthandi's horror, the Norn took a swing from it, before her lookalike reached to grab it out of her hands. "Ah!… thash actuaalish goosh!"
"No! That's definitely bad!" said Verthandi as she kept the can out of reach from the inebriated goddess, only to fall to the trap that was probably intended for her. As soon as she kept it for more than a second or two, the runes began to influence her better judgement as well, and given that the can was already opened, it was even easier for her to drink some of its contents as well. "Mm… that's not bad indeed! I wonder why Odal told me that this stuff was horrible?..."
After what felt like an eternity, Keiichi recovered enough to ask the one thing everyone had in mind, but didn't even dare to voice. "Belldandy? Are you okay?"
"Yesh… I'm alrish… Keiishii…" slurred the blushing goddess as she swayed, only for Verthandi to join in, although it was hard to tell whether she thought he he was talking to her or not.
"Yeah… I'm just feeling a bit… hot, Keiichi!' said the demoness, opening her top way more that it was decent.
"Hey! Shhtop tryinng to showing yoush boobshh to my Keiishiii," protested Belldandy, trying to wrestle her husband out of her doppelganger's hands. "Mine'sh are as goosh as youursh!"
However, Verthandi was as stubborn as her lookalike and refused to let go. "No way, little princess! I can do a better job at satisfying a man… or a woman. So, let him try someone who knows what they're doing!"
"No! That's notsh happenish! Keiishii's mice! Findsh yoursh!"
"Hey, that's enough, you two!" said Urd, trying to give her inebriated sister a hand, only to make matters worse when she pulled Keiichi from behind. With the two immortals attached to him not paying too much attention to their surroundings, Verthandi moved forward and tripped on Keiichi's leg, which sent her on a collision course with her lookalike.
Unable to respond in time, Belldandy ended up on the floor with Verthandi sprawled on top of her, all while Urd fell on her back with Keiichi landing on her lap.
"Oof!"
Opening their eyes only to find Keiichi closer to Urd, and although her exoskeleton preventing any kind of serious contact, the who brunettes had no intention to lose to anyone. Launching themselves at the stunned Keiichi, they both managed to kiss him; with Belldandy claiming his lips once again, while Verthandi landed a kiss on his right cheek. Yet the close proximity of the two competitors caused sparks to fly, and in the most literal sense too. And when their emblems started to flash brightly, even Urd became worried.
"Okay, stop this before…"
But there was no time to stop the reaction after it started. The two streams of energy twirled around each other before they exploded in a brilliant yellow flash, leaving everyone just a split second to raise a protective shield.
XXX
Running through the corridors after the two fugitives seemed a bit trickier than Surt had originally anticipated, given the sheer size of the sheep and the numerous decoys the rogues had left behind. The talismans carrying a tiny portion of their power weren't enough to actually fool anyone if they carefully analyzed them, but given the circumstances, Surt just didn't have the luxury to stop and run a thorough scan. As such, the only option was to pick the most likely source and go after it, hoping for the best.
'Come on! Just how many of those stupid things did they place? Seriously… this is no fun…'
Felling the next source from right over the corner, the dark haired demon prepared to launch himself at the rogues, only to stop at the last second when he noticed that it was Ansuz, along with Skuld and a few Valkyries that accompanied them. Drawn to the same decoy that fooled him in the first place, the goddesses seemed startled for a moment, while Ansuz pulling her daughter behind her, before aiming one of her larger battleaxes at him.
"Whoa, calm down, I'm not here for you!" said Surt, holding his hands in front of him to indicate that he had hostile intentions; towards them at least. "I guess you didn't run into them, as well…"
"Unfortunately, that's quite correct," replied Ansuz with a frustrated sigh. "And Belldandy took off on her own, too!"
"Actually, she's back there with Keiichi and the others," said Surt while pointing in the direction he came from. "The real problem is that the so called leader of this band of thieves and Hild's double managed to disappear."
"Well, at the very least we got Keiichi and Skidbladnir back and…" Pausing as a low rumble could be heard in the distance, Ansuz's eyes widened as a literal tsunami of… lemons headed in their way; flooding anything in its wake. "What the?!..."
Turning to face the rather absurd sigh, Surt merely formed a shield and braced for impact with an otherwise stoic expression on his face.
"Well… you know what they say… When life gives you lemons, make lemonade."
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 thank Urd from the Goddess Relief office and IdiAmeanDada for their feedback and suggestions for a few parts of the chapter (Urd's battle with Angrboda and the cola scene respectively).
In the Norse legends while the gods and the Jotnar were two totally different groups of beings, there were several occasions of crossbreeding between them. Even Odin had a Jotunn grandmother (Bestla) and he's the most important god, which made me think that it's possible to have something similar in the early stages of immortal society in AMG. Technically speaking, there could've been a lot of hybrids earlier on, but unlike Urd, most of them were either turned into gods or demons, and in the process lost their unique nature. With most of them being unaware of their true origins, it's likely to consider themselves as pure blooded and due to their parent's decision they possess only one of their two natures, effectively making them not much different than a true pure blooded member of either the demonic or celestial society.
Angrboda is obviously not an exact replica of Hild, as she's revealed to be a type of Dryad called an Ironwood Dryad. Technically in Norse legends there's a place in Midgard called Jarnvid (translates as Iron wood) where a witch by the name Jarnvidia lives, and some speculate that she's identical to Angrboda. That's essentially where I got the idea of using the above legend in a modified version to introduce her as one of Yggdrasil's creations.
Now, on a personal note, I'll be on vacations at some point between this and the next chapter, so there's going to be a longer delay than normal. I'll try to be around and not disappear from the web from the duration of my vacations, but I doubt that I'll make a lot of progress during that time.