Ah! The following day

by zeroIQ

Getting married is never really simple for anyone, let alone a certain mortal and his goddess. One might expect that with the hard part out of the way, the rest would be just an ordinary married life. But with those two and the ones around them, there is no such thing as ordinary...

63. Chapter 63

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

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Odal's diary, Entry 10

How can you tell that enough is enough? Where do you draw the line? And above all, how far you must go before you realize that you crossed it?

It's unthinkable that for nearly a whole century, a sole god exploited the utter absence of others of his kind, went ahead and for all practical purposes accomplished what every megalomaniac dreamt of: conquer planet Earth. All those ancient wars of the past, along with the ongoing struggles of the survivors, and in the end a timid nerd of a god managed to sideline anyone and everyone, mortal and immortal alike, establishing his own empire.

And amusingly enough, that blasted god was none other than myself.

Now that I think about it, I must've been the closest thing to a mad scientist who sent his robot army to take over Earth. The only real twist to that overused trope, is that I succeeded instead of being stopped by whatever band of so called heroes typically rise up to save the day in fiction. And considering that the Earth Spirits had more or less revealed their existence to mortals, I found it pointless to go back at hiding my own nature from the world anymore. Of course, the biggest consequence of that decision was that in the following years I had more or less put the remaining humans under my control, whether they liked it or not. After all, the only thing they knew how to excel at was to fight over every bit of land they could each claim for themselves, as if that would do anything to restore this planet to its former glory.

I wouldn't exaggerate to say that we had wannabe warlords trying to fence in whatever valuable resource they and their cronies could get their hands on, and then demand tribute by their fellow humans. Needless to say, someone had to put an end to such practices, as well as restore a sense of order by bringing back a sensible law system that was highly influenced from what once used to be International Law, as well as an assortment of various laws from many of the old countries. While more than enough were unhappy to obey to someone else's rules -other than their own- the rest of the population was grateful to know that their most basic rights were to be guaranteed, rather than being trampled by the biggest bully around.

Unfortunately, like all legal systems, it was inevitable that some would simply refuse to listen and carry on as they pleased. At which point, it was all too tempting to make a proper example of them by going all out, rather than showing restraint, and completely disregard my non-violence policy towards them, with predictable consequences that I'd rather not mention.

Thankfully, that never came to be, as I still remembered everything my family had taught me, and not to say what they would've thought of me if I ended up being that cruel to those weaker than myself. Still, it's scary to consider that you're left alone in a world where you can do as you please, just because you can; that your word is law by definition, since there's no one powerful and influential enough to oppose my rule. And even though I chose not to follow that path, it as also true that I only did it because I wanted to, not because I had to.

Then again, leaving humans to sort this mess all by themselves would've saved me a lot of trouble, but judging by what was going on, I had my doubts as to whether they were capable of fully recovering from that state. While everyone I've asked wished for peace and prosperity to return, few were willing to let go of their seemingly carefree lifestyle and work as part of a fledgling society, where they wouldn't only have rights but obligations too. Still, as even the last of the ancient artifact from the old world had failed due to its age, and the contemporary humans incapable of fixing anything but the simplest of contraptions, they slowly saw the necessity to join me, in order to gain access to education and a comprehensive medical system, along with a sensible set of laws to ensure their own safety.

After what felt like an eternity to me, though it must've been a couple of years in reality, I tried to distance myself from the deleterious effect of having to deal with all that by myself. As such, I constructed the next generation of advanced robots to replace their aging predecessors, with their biggest upgrade being their increased autonomy in order to fulfil their new role. Being capable of virtual freedom of thought, and intelligence close to that of a well educated human, they were capable of overseeing the recovering planet on my stand. And to further improve their survival rating against Earth Spirits, I've equipped them with engines containing hundreds of low level, non-sentient Spirits, allowing them to use certain types of weak spells.

Sadly, the upgrade didn't come without its own set of problems, as it didn't take long for them to bombard me with all sorts of questions that I didn't even had the answers for. Worst of all however, their level of independence made me realize that they were extremely dangerous, should they misused the firepower I've so thoughtlessly granted them. And we're talking about a collection of mass destruction weapons that included -amongst others- a nuclear arsenal that made everything back from the Cold War to pale by comparison; and that was merely the tip of the iceberg.

Needless to say, I was becoming nervous by the prospect of having unleashed the seeds of yet another calamity, but with the planet in such a poor state, this would be the point of no return. There was simply no way to recover from an all out war with my own creations, and much to my horror, I came to realize just how divorced from reality I allowed myself to become. Taking my control over my creations for granted, I kept supplying them with weapons and resources to build even more, until the point where they became a force even greater than the threat they were supposed to deal with. And that wasn't the end of it either, as I also came to realize that since that fateful upgrade, my robots started to improve themselves, even designating networked clusters of their logic cores for the sake of further developing their own technology.

Unless I'm mistaken, that thing is called a technological singularity, and I had simply unleashed it upon the world in an act of complete recklessness.

It was so bad, that I remember myself assembling an antiproton bomb, should worse come to worst, and I was forced to at least spare the rest of Midgard from a menace of my own design. A fear that was becoming increasingly justified, as my robots had gotten totally out of my control and no longer ever asked my consent for radical changes they did to their bodies, as well as their logic cores. They even went as far as to access my personal archives in search of knowledge, and above all, references to human culture they could process, in hopes of understanding the species I originally tasked them to protect.

At that point my best chance to prevent things from going out of hand was to offer them a task I considered as both challenging and time consuming, in hopes of allowing them some time to adjust to their increased intelligence before they started to interact with the remaining humans and not to say anything of the Earth Spirits. As such, I tasked them to find a way to reach Asgard, since I've tried that on far too many times and yet failed every time.

Now, it pains me to admit this, but a mere month after I assigned them to this task, my robots had somehow managed to pinpoint an anomaly on the moon, that apparently escaped my attention for whole decades. To my defense though, the Lunar Prison was specifically designed not to be easily detected, so I don't know how close I came to discover it on my own, back when I was searching for any means to escape Midgard. And not to mention that no one had told me of the prison's existence prior of its discovery, which meant that I had no reason to extensively search the surface of the Moon for an Asgardian facility.

Regardless of how exactly it happened, for the first time in what felt like ages to me, I had an attainable goal, and my robots even went ahead to build a ship that would allow a proper expedition to the Moon, as we had no idea how well guarded the Lunar Prison was. Which prompted us to take all necessary precautions before setting off, just in case we had to fight our way into the facility. After all, we were no longer dealing with Earth Spirits, and considering that a celestial prison was meant to keep gods trapped inside of it, as well prevent others from entering it, we were in for a world of pain, should things got really hot.

But that's for another time, since I need to take my wife to Nekomi for our… date, I suppose. Seriously, I'm still unused to the idea of being married, and last night I nearly jumped when I woke up to find Hagall nearly latched on me. I mean, sure… she's my wife and all, so it should be fine to have a semi-naked, buxom demoness pressed against me, yet I can't shake the feeling that it's… um… dunno, too good to be true? Quite frankly I'm still undecided whether she's teasing me or not, given that she was raised by Hild and all, so the last thing I need is to let her make fun of me.

On the other hand, I may be the problem, as I'm still hesitant to open up to her. It doesn't even have to do with the fact that she's a demoness, as being alone for so darn long can do that for you.

At any rate, I need to go before I end up being so late that there won't be a date at all. Although, speaking of dates… I believe that dad is planning to take mom to the city too. Hopefully that'll be a nice opportunity for them to meet some of their old friends and forget about all the crazy stuff that's going on right now.

I know I need that, too.

XXX

The familiar sound of his Beemer's engine, coupled by the sensation of the air blowing against him was the best welcoming Keiichi would've ever expected, especially when his wife was sitting in the sidecar, and enjoyed the ride to Nekomi almost as much as he did. As a matter of fact, with him being a god now, Keiichi had to admit that his significantly more acute senses allowed him to experience this whole trip in a never before level of detail. Every bit and bolt of his bike registered in Keiichi's mind, offering an unprecedented insight on how they performed, as well as how he could further increase said performance.

"I've missed this so much, dear. Even though it takes longer driving to the city, over teleportation, it's a much more worthwhile experience."

Glancing briefly to his left, Keiichi couldn't help but smile back at his elated wife, whose happiness was simply contagious. The middle Norn was beaming, as the nostalgic feeling from relieving this particular part of their daily routine did wonders for her mood, and the fact that they were currently heading downtown only made her happier. And a smiling Belldandy was the most beautiful sight in Keiichi's opinion, making it very hard for him to turn his gaze back on the road ahead of them, just to avoid causing an accident. "I'll have to agree with you, Bell. It feels so nice to be able to do this with you, again. And if it's not too much of a thing to ask, can we stop by Whirlwind? I want to see how everyone's doing, especially now that Tamiya and Otaki are helping Chihiro-san in our place. Actually… just knowing that the shop still stands should be more than enough for me."

"Now, now… dear, don't be so harsh," said Belldandy with a soft giggle, as memories of Tamiya and Otaki's antics from back when they were the notorious directors of the Motor club resurfaced, and especially how Keiichi always saved the day when everything seemed lost. Even if she gave him a hand once in a while, Belldandy always admired her beloved's courage and determination, no matter how adverse the circumstances were. "I'm pretty sure that they're doing their best to help Chihiro in our absence."

"Ever the voice of hope, I see," said Keiichi with a chuckle, while taking a rather sharp turn with relative ease, mostly thanks to his better spatial awareness and superior reflexes. As a matter of fact, handing his bike felt way easier than ever before, making Keiichi wonder if he could even surpass most professional drivers with some additional training. However, it didn't take long for him to feel ashamed by his impulsive thought of using his new abilities for his own gain, even if he never pursued a professional career in motorsports. "Say, Belldandy? I've been wondering…."

"Yes, dear?"

"How fair is it for… us to compete with… mortals?" asked Keiichi, even though he still found it awkward to consider himself a god, and not to mention his former species as something different from his current self.

"Hm… that actually depends on the circumstances, as well as your intentions, Keiichi. If you have reasons to do such a thing, then it's perfectly justifiable to do that, but if it's for the sake of self gratification, then it's a pretty bad thing." Being reminded of all the times she lent a hand to the Motor Club, Belldandy also wondered if she had been a bit too supportive on a number of occasions, especially whenever they weren't facing someone like Aoshima, who was prone to cheating, but honest people who deserved a fair chance. "Actually, love… now that I think of it, I may sound like a hypocrite right now. I did show a lot of favoritism towards you in the past, and for a goddess like me, that's totally unacceptable."

It took Keiichi a good couple of seconds to actually register his wife's words, since it sounded utterly unthinkable that, Belldandy of all goddesses could've done something wrong, at least, intentionally. "I don't think so, Bell. If nothing else, I was to blame for dragging you into all those situations, because it was so convenient to have a goddess' help, no matter how unfair it was."

"Maybe… but when you love someone, it's only natural to help them, Keiichi. There's just no way I'd ever let you deal with your problems, because helping you would look like favoritism. And I'm pretty sure that you would've done the same, if you were in my position." Such was the Norn's confidence in her husband, that she didn't even have to ask him whether he'd support her, if their roles were reversed. As a matter of fact, even as a mortal, Keiichi had done more than anyone would've expected from a human, to not only help her, but also her sisters, too.

Offering no immediate reply, Keiichi turned his attention back to the road, even though his wife's words still echoed in his head. It was quite humbling to know that a goddess like Belldandy would actually stretch the rules a bit, just so that she made him happy. And knowing all too well by now, how much those celestials loved their rules, Keiichi wasn't entirely sure if he would've done the same in her place. However, instead of voicing such thoughts, Keiichi opted for a somewhat different approach. "You know, I'm not sure I'd ever get in your position, Bell. I just can't see myself as a wish granter, since I'd probably go for a technical job if I had the chance. Maybe something like Skuld's post, or even Urd's… You know, something that's a category 1 license; unless I got that wrong."

"No, you're correct, Keiichi Category 1 licenses cover the administrative jobs. I still believe that you'd make a great wish granter, though. Not many people possess your spirit of compassion, and that's more than good enough to make you an instant success in my line of work," replied Belldandy with a smile, until she paused and rubbed her chin. "Of course, there are a few things that need some attention, as your tendency to agree with others and never try to make them unhappy, could end up in so many random wishes, that's just far from perfect. Especially when attractive women are concerned. Yes, definitely something that needs fixing..."

Doing a double take, Keiichi could've sworn that it was merely his imagination playing tricks with him, as Belldandy almost sounded annoyed. Which, not only was strange enough all by itself, but the fact that she sounded pretty happy a moment ago, made the whole change even more noticeable. 'Huh… Is it too early for… mood swings? Do goddesses even have such things? With everything else that's going on, I totally forgot to ask Urd about that stuff, so I need to do that when I get the chance.' However, before he could even offer some sort of reply, Keiichi heard Belldandy speak up once more, and this time she baffled him even more.

"Um… Keiichi, love… do you know where we can buy some tuna salad?"

Taking in a deep breath, the former mortal had a feeling that this was only the beginning of a very long day, and something that might end up being the norm from now on. "I think I know a store, and it's on our way to Whirlwind, so, it won't take long to get there. Anything else, you'd like, Bell?"

"Actually, I'd love to have some caramelized peanuts, as well."

XXX

Perhaps she had been expecting too much from a human-made mode of transportation, but for love of her life, Hagall didn't know what was so special about this so-called ferry, that looked utterly puny in her eyes, at least compared to what they considered as ships. Granted, the demoness was well aware that sometimes big surprises came in small packages, but then again, she had a tendency to stay realistic, rather than being the ever optimist, like her… mother-in-law. Truth to be told, the demoness was still unused to considering the middle Norn as her mother-in-law, yet for the sake of their peaceful coexistence, Hagall had to humor her; for the time being, that is. After all, the worst any goddess was capable of, would only pale in comparison to her own mother; just to say the least. 'I really don't want to meet her ever again. Hild-sama was right on that one. Even seeking her out was a mistake.'

Shaking her head to push such thoughts aside, the blonde deputy of Niflheim, stared impatiently in the gift shop in the distance, where she sent Odal to buy a few things for his mother. Even if it was supposed to be a means to apologize for that argument, Hagall wasn't going to stoop so low as to ask for a goddess' forgiveness, and merely resolved this conundrum by having her husband buy the gifts in her stead. 'Hm… perhaps I should've gone with him, instead of waiting in front of the dock. This is taking way too long, and I'm getting bored already. I just hope that this whole tour thing is worth my time, and not turn out to be a huge disappointment, as I'm not in the mood for-'

"Excuse me, miss?..." Spoken in somewhat broken English, the masculine voice coming from her left, made it almost clear that it belonged to someone who mistook her for a foreigner, and given her rather impressive physique, he wanted to ask her out.

Narrowing her eyes in annoyance, Hagall turned to properly face her wannabe date, only to find a smiling man in an expensive green suit and a totally faked smile on his face, trying to act as casual as he could in her presence. He even readjusted his glasses in definitely suave manner, acting like a male protagonist from one of those cheesy soap operas. 'Note to self: Let's not forget to get a wedding ring on the way to the temple, just so that I don't need to deal with this kind of crap, every time I come to the city.' With that taken care of, Hagall turned her attention back at the newcomer, and almost felt tempted to tell him off. However… without anything better to do, until Odal returned with those gifts, Hagall considered amusing herself at the expense of this mortal. As such, the blonde's expression shifted from an annoyed scowl, and into a somewhat amused smile, doing her best to play the role of the pretty foreigner, replying in perfect English; not that she'd ever had problems speaking any other mortal language. "Oh, hello there! It's so nice I found someone who speaks my language! I wanted to buy a few things for myself, but I can't read the text, and I can't seem to make the store clerks understand what I'm telling them, either. Can you help me?"

"Of course! It would be my great pleasure," said the delighted Aoshima, who was already fantasizing just how pleasurable this encounter could potentially turn out for him. Yet, much to his credit, the rich playboy didn't lose his cool and faked a pleasant, and totally innocent smile that betrayed nothing of his true intentions. Yet to make matters a lot easier for himself in order to entice this bodacious woman for a casual one night stand, Aoshima decided that offering her a bit of a bribe was necessary, even though he had to be careful not to insult her in the process. "Actually, since I've got no plans for today, how about I take you to some of the finest shops, here in Nekomi? I'm pretty sure that you're going to absolutely love the wide collection of goods available, and not to boast, but money isn't an issue."

Feigning an enthusiastic smile, and even going as far as to clap her hands in sheer excitement, Hagall did her absolute best to convince the mortal of how grateful she was of his so called generosity. "You're gonna take me for shopping? Just like that? I mean… we haven't even properly introduced ourselves, and you wish to help me? Why, you're hands down, the kindest man I've ever met, mister..."

"Toshiyuki Aoshima, at your service," said the rich man, while offering the blonde an over dramatic bow. "Although, if you don't mind, what would you like me to call you, my lovely lady?"

Resisting the urge to roll her eyes at Aoshima's obvious attempt to hide his true intentions by acting all suave, the blonde demoness took a moment to come up with an alias, since she had no idea for how long she was going to stay on this city. "Heitt Kona, pleased to meet you, Mr. Aoshima," offered Hagall with a big smile, as this idiot couldn't even tell that this wasn't actually a name at all. Granted, few people could speak Icelandic in these parts, to actually realize that she merely said 'Hot wife' but then again, that's what made it hilarious.

"Oh, there's no need to be so formal with me! Just call me, Toshiyuki." Extending his arm, just so that the gorgeous foreigner could wrap hers around it, Aoshima's lips curled up in a delighted smile when not only the woman responded as he expected her to. Better yet, was the absolutely rewarding feeling of the blonde's heavy breasts as they pressed against his arm, causing him to almost drool as he walked side by side with this bombshell of a woman, much to the astonishment of the onlookers.

Which to a degree was justifiable by the fact that in reality, the rich man was walking with his arm outstretched, as if he was accompanied by an imaginary date.

Some shook their heads in disdain and even tried to pretend that they weren't paying attention to the bizarre spectacle, given that none of the bystanders -nor Aoshima for the part- could see through Hagall's illusion. As a matter of fact, the only individual who could, was at a fair distance away and unable to intervene for the time being. At least, not without causing a huge scene, and not only for the obvious reasons, but because it would've required him to cross the street faster than any mortal would've been capable of. Still, the dark haired god couldn't help but wonder what his wife was up to, considering that it would've been too out of character for her to simply fool around with some random mortal. 'Although… why does that guy look familiar to me? Did I see his picture somewhere or something? Funny thing, but I don't think that he was a family friend. Hm... '

Narrowing his eyes at the departing form of his wife, and not to mention the wannabe playboy, Odal decided to follow them and find out what Hagall was up to. Although, as he was about to go after them, the god saw something on a nearby shop's front window which made him pause and consider buying just one last thing, before catching up to his scheming wife.

XXX

"Well… you sure did him a number… The problem is that it would've been better if we could take him in for questioning, but… the dead cannot share their secrets."

Letting out a sigh, Ansuz turned away from the demon's corpse that was left lying in suspended animation on the desert sand, and briefly glanced over at the god of thunder who stood nearby and inspected his handiwork with an almost detached look. Once they became aware of what was taking place on the mortal realm, Ansuz was immediately dispatched along with a full detachment of Valkyries to pacify any rogue demons, only for them to find out that Thor and Loki had taken out all hostilities. Granted, it wasn't without making a mess of their own, which at this point left the air base in shambles, mostly due to the devastation caused by Mjolnir's deployment in such proximity to frail, human-made structures. "At the very least, how about refraining yourself from causing this much damage?"

"It's not like I did this on purpose," grunted Thor, hefting his mighty hammer over his shoulder. "And besides… this place was trashed before we even arrived."

Ansuz had no immediate response to that, given that from a certain perspective her brother-in-law made a valid point. Thanks to his intervention many human lives were saved, but at the same time, there were already a horrific number of casualties, and the rest of the survivors were now exposed to the existence of the immortal world. Although, in a manner of speaking, the living were the biggest problem at the time being, since the dead could wait. And as if all that wasn't bad enough, Ansuz was shocked to find that the synthetics who attempted to stop the demons' attack were led by World of Elegance; yet not the one she was familiar with. "No argument there. Still… what do you know about her?"

Following the goddess' gaze, Thor's eyes fell upon the enigmatic angel that even Loki seemed unable to explain her presence, and not to mention come into terms that his daughter seemed to be hiding things from him this early on. "Nowhere as much as I'd like, to be honest. Loki even thought that she might've been a copy, just like those dryads, but… As far as we can tell, she's our Urd's angel."

Pursing her lips in a thin line, Ansuz already knew that the biggest question was how could be possible for World of Elegance be here, while Urd herself was back in Nekomi, and without any sign of her sending her angel away. As a matter of fact, the moment she came face to face with her, Ansuz requested a search for Urd's angel; and lo and behold… there were two distinct matches, as reported by the Yggdrasil Center. Naturally, that report was immediately classified, and she even personally informed her husband for a good measure, but as much as she wanted to deal with this little issue, there was one more pressing subject that had to be settled before this new crisis escalated beyond anyone's control. "Alright!... One thing at a time. This place needs to be hard reset, before we cannot contain the information surrounding it."

"A hard reset? Ansuz… as much as I want to bring everyone back, don't you think that it's a bit extreme? The demons-"

"The demons are the cause of this whole mess in the first place!" forcefully replied the teal haired goddess, pausing for a moment to pointently glance at the bloodstained sand below them, just to get the message across. "I don't care if this was due to a rogue group or not, but this is the first time in a long while we actually had humans murdered due to our interference. And I have no intention to leave it like that, just because a bunch of renegades got bored and decided to lay waste on a human military facility."

"That's not the exactly the case." Interrupting the conversation when he showed up after he personally inspected the cache those demons tried so hard to access, Loki was left with more questions than answers. And there was nothing worse for the trickster god, than to have someone best him in a fight of wits. "Even though Hel's robotic entourage secured that cache before anyone had a chance to reach it… there was nothing of worth inside of it."

"What do you mean, nothing? Are you sure they didn't manage to take something while this whole mess took place?" barked Ansuz, while Thor thoughtfully scratched his head.

"Not as far as I can tell. The cache was a forgotten storage bunker the demons last used eighty five million years ago. And the best thing they had inside was a bunch of encoded intel that's so outdated it's not even funny. Why the Tree's name anyone would want that garbage is beyond me, but…" Shrugging off, Loki had to admit that he'd been stumped by the lack of any obvious clues as this cache's importance, unless of course… there was something hidden in all that trash. It wasn't exactly unheard of for demons to try and hide things in plain sight -so to speak- hoping that no one would discover its actual importance, so, this might be one of those cases. The only problem is that searching through all those files was going to take some time, which… they didn't really have right now.

"Are you telling me that a group that's been in the hiding for several millennia, just decided to show themselves to do what?... Collect garbage?" Just the angry tone of the Ansuz's voice was more than enough to cause the two gods to back off; especially in Loki's case, who happened to be the primary target of the goddess' ire. Approaching the trickster god with fury evident in her eyes, Ansuz seized him by his collar and pulled him dangerously close. "Look… I'm not in the mood for bullshit right now, and this goes twice for your shenanigans. You're gonna pick all that trash and take it with us for further analysis, whether you like it or not. Do you understand me?"

Glancing nervously towards Thor, instead of offering Ansuz a reply, the trickster god felt immense relief to see the thunderer approach the furious goddess and then place a hand on her shoulder. "It's not like you to lose your cool so easily, Ansuz. I know that there's a lot going on at the moment, but as a former Valkyrie, you ought to remain levelheaded."

"Not to sound sarcastic, but… you're far from one to speak, Thor," said Ansuz, giving her brother in law a rather pointed stare, before glancing at the felled demon's remains, just to get her message across. "We could've gained a lot more information from him if a certain someone remained levelheaded and captured this demon. But… no... you just had to kill the bastard, and with his friend's successful escape, we have no idea what they even wanted here in the first place."

"Touche. However, just because I made a mistake doesn't mean that you should do the same. Reverting local time back to the point prior to the attack can lead into another mess, as doing it without the demons' permission is like asking for them to start a fight with us. And while I have no love lost for those bastards who attacked this place, I doubt that we need to get on Hild's bad side, when we actually avoid it," reasoned Thor, doing his best to deliver a logical argument, instead of letting his emotions to take over and end up in a fierce argument with his sister-in-law. After all, politics was the one topic he most disliked, and probably the reason behind his determination to not take his father's position, back when Odin first went missing in action. Still, he wasn't such a brute to think that everything could be resolved through force, and as such, from time to time he had to resort to diplomacy, even if it wasn't his forte.

If there was one thing to be said about Asgard's second in command, was that she was as tenacious as she was stubborn. Ansuz simply refused to make compromises over certain subjects, even when such a thing could be seen in a negative light, as she knew that unless she held a firm stance, she would eventually do her people a disservice by being too passive. "Negotiations take time, and that's the only thing that we don't have right now. If we don't fix this mess as soon as possible, the rest of this planet is bound to figure out what happened here, and that'll cause a nightmare for everyone; demons included! And like I said, it's the demons' fault in the first place, since their rogues are their responsibility too. So, they've got no right to complain at all! Now, remove everyone of us from the perimeter, so that I can initiate the restore operation at once!"

The two gods shared a long look, with Loki shrugging in response to Ansuz's orders, especially as in all fairness, the goddess had a point. Letting humans find out about the attack that took place here, was going to cause mass panic with potentially devastating consequences, to the likes of which neither Asgard nor Niflheim had never seen before. And thus, with great resignation, they turned around to head to the others and organize the evacuation, all while Ansuz began the preparations for the restore operation, that not only included a fairly elaborate and sizeable magic circle, but also establish direct connection to the Yggdrasil mainframe. A task that normally would require a whole team of celestials, although in this case, Ansuz had to do all that on her own in an exceptional example of why she's Asgard's second in command.

After all, the clock was ticking.

XXX

Nekomi, Japan

Never did Keiichi think that stepping in front of a such an undescriptive building would evoke such strong feelings to him, as when he caught a glimpse of his old dorm. Even though he had no intention on visiting this place, Keiichi couldn't help but feel rather nostalgic, and given that the dorm was on his way to Whirlwind, he decided to make a quick stop and take one more look to where everything started.

"It almost feels like yesterday when we met," idly commented the dark haired god, glancing over at his wife, who was munching at some of the delicacies they bought on their way here. "And to think that I really hated staying back to answer that call… I wonder what would've happened if I missed that chance, or I never got hungry and attempted to order some food."

"Actually, as long as you were eligible for a wish, I would've contacted you on another opportunity, love. It was only a matter of time before you'd reach me, although to be fair, I really loved the way we met," commented Belldandy, as she idly tossed another peanut in her mouth and even held the bag closer to her husband to take one too. "Tamiya-san and Otaki-san thought that we were doing it, and on the hard floor, too! How anyone would think that you're the type of person to go all the way with a goddess you just met is beyond me, but… in hindsight it was quite hilarious," she added with a giggle, failing to notice Keiichi's stunned expression, until she got curious as to why there was no reply and glanced over at him. "What? Didn't you find it funny?"

"Well… At the time, I was more concerned about ending up sleeping on the streets," said Keiichi with a heavy sigh, knowing better than try to come up with a convenient lie, just to make himself seem better in his wife's eyes. "I mean, not having a shelter is kind of big deal for humans. Besides, I hardly knew you, and it wasn't until a few days later that I came to realize just how lucky I was to meet you."

Tilting her head to the side to hide her blush, the brunette Norn felt more than happy to hear what she already knew, yet listening at her husband say it out loud was more than enough to bring a smile to her face. "I'm glad," she whispered, and then turned back to her husband and leaned closer to him, offering the unsuspecting god a kiss on the lips. A gesture that he immediately returned, as the two of them stood right on the same spot where a couple of years ago, they were thrown out by Keiichi's dorm mates.

Unbeknownst to them though, a pair of immortals were spying on them from their hiding place on the roof. As a matter of fact, one was actually recording the event on her communicator, while the other decided that it was time to take a break and headed for a walk on the roof, before the sight of the happy couple turned her face totally green.

'Hm… they've made a lot of improvement. From barely able to hold hands, to kissing in plain sight. And not to mention, Bell being pregnant, too!' Try as she might, Urd couldn't help but grin like an idiot from how well things were going for her sister… until a sound from behind her brought her back to reality. "You okay back there, Ma-chan?"

"Just peachy…" came the sarcastic reply, as the blonde demoness extracted her right foot from the hole she accidentally created when she stepped on an oddly placed set of tiles. "Jeez… that's the shoddiest repair job I've ever seen! They just covered a friggin hole with a plank and some loose tiles? Besides… how the heck did they make it in the first place?"

Approaching the somewhat peeved demoness, Urd glanced down at the now exposed hole and her eyebrows went up in recognition. "Ah, that must be Belldandy's handiwork. She made that when she uploaded Keiichi's wish to the System, although I'm surprised it's still here. Then again, that's a piece of history, so I might as well take a pic, while I still can," said the Norn as she went ahead and snapped a few photos of the aforementioned hole, just to show her future niece the place where her parents first met.

"Hey, Urd… I know you said that we were gonna check on them, but, shouldn't we leave them on their own now? I mean, I thought that we were heading to buy some stuff, and all…" said Mara as diplomatically as she could, trying to remind Urd of their initial plans for the day, before the latter got sidetracked.

"I suppose you do have a point," admitted Urd with a sigh, and then pocketed her communicator. "How about we fly over to the local mall? We can grab something to eat and then go and buy something."

"Sounds like a plan to me," said the demoness, before her lips curled up into a sly grin. "But, since I've already done you a favor… you're paying today."

"Why you stingy!... Fine, I'll go with it, but only for this time. Now, let's go before I change my mind!"

XXX

A detour or two later, just so that they could buy some additional supplies for their kitchen, Keiichi found himself before the very place he originally intended to visit during this excursion: his old workplace, Whirlwind. Judging by the looks of it, the shop was still in one piece, which… was reassuring, considering just who Chihiro probably had to rely on for help, during his and Belldandy's absence. And it would seem that no matter how well intended, his wife most certainly shared his thoughts on this matter.

"It's nice to see that Tamiya-san and Otaki-san had taken great care of our shop. Chihiro-san put a lot of effort to keep it running, so, I'm really happy that they haven't lost it on a bet."

The sheer bluntness of Belldandy's statement caught Keiichi off guard, as his wife wasn't known to point out people's shortcomings, but the exact opposite. Still, the lack of sarcasm in the Norn's voice, convinced Keiichi that she was most certainly attempting to make a joke. "I doubt that Chihiro would allow them to bet the shop in one of their schemes. Come to think of it, those two have considerably calmed down after they graduated," said the amused god as he approached the front door and prepared to open it. However, given that he was paying more attention to his wife than his surrounding, Keiichi was quite surprised to find a rather imposing shadow looming over him all of a sudden. Not only that, but his initial attempt to find out who was standing behind the door, only added to further confusion. "Gamera?!"

Of course, it wasn't a miniaturized version of the fictitious Kaiju that stood behind Whirlwind's front door, but a rather well crafted -albeit somewhat bulky- cosplay suit, that ended up falling on top of the unsuspecting god who was clearly not prepared for such a development. Worse yet, there was a wide assortment of all kinds of random stuff precariously piled up next to the suit, and with the latter out of the way, the resulted avalanche of… junk caused Keiichi to lose his footing and end up falling on the ground in the most inelegant of manners.

While Belldandy's initial reaction was to protect Keiichi, she almost immediately realized the folly of such thought, considering that her husband was no longer a mortal, and thus highly unlikely to end up injured from such a thing. Still, the sight of all that stuff falling on him caused her to wince, even though she knew that only thing hurt was her poor Keiichi's pride. "Are you alright, dear?"

Poking his head out of the pile of trash he was buried in, Keiichi seemed rather peeved by his predicament, but in the end he knew what was going on here. "I'm fine, alright! But I'm definitely not happy that those two turned the shop into a dumpster; again! This is like the… second time they've done this."

Before Belldandy could offer anything more than a thoughtful nod, the sound of tires skidding against the asphalt brought their attention to the road, where a heavily customised bike came to a stop. Judging by the looks of it, the driver was a woman, who actually seemed rather surprised to see them standing outside of the shop, and almost jumped off the bike to greet them. "Morisato-kun? Bell-chan? Is that really you? Where have you been?"

"Hello again, Chihiro-san. It's been a while," said the smiling Norn, while helping her husband up on his feet and then helped him to dust himself off. Which, in reality was an excuse herself to remain silent for a while and avoid having to answer most of Chihiro's inevitable questions. Although it was distasteful to her to resort to trickery, Belldandy had learned over the years that exposing her nature -and now her husband's too- would only cause problems instead of solving any. Worse yet, if it came to that, it was unlikely that they'd be able to stay in the mortal realm anymore, and considering their previous absence, Belldandy wanted nothing more than to let Keiichi go back to his old lifestyle. Even if it was merely a temporary thing, as their immorality would inevitably force them to depart for Asgard at some point of time, she was certain of how important it was for Keiichi's mental health to regain a semblance of normalcy. And for the sake of accomplishing that, she needed to help him get back into his old routine; at least for as long as it was necessary for Keiichi to adapt to his new reality. While most of the scholars back home would argue that sending Keiichi to… pre-school was for his best, she begged to differ, as she knew how strange it felt for her to mingle with the mortals when she first enrolled to NIT, and she was walking amongst adults, too. Keiichi on the other hand had not only to deal with things beyond his wildest imagination, but he was also in the awkward position of being amongst kids.

"Ah, hello there, Chihiro. It's been quite some time," hesitatingly added Keiichi, not looking forward to the explanations, or rather the excuses, he had to offer in order to explain just why he and pretty much everyone else disappeared from the face of the Earth for several weeks. While he was previously hiding Belldandy's secret with some effort, he now had to do the same for himself, as he was certain that once they took a good look at his face, his control programs would become too hard to ignore. And judging by the long stare Chihiro was giving him, Keiichi knew that this was already happening.

"Hm… let me guess… You stayed in Belldandy's country for longer than anticipated? I do remember you saying something about her… father. Sheesh!... It's been so long, that I can't recall much of the details. Still, I can't help but notice that you got some tattoos, too, Keiichi-kun," said the curious businesswoman, raising an eyebrow at the sight of Keiichi's facial markings.

'Oh, she already noticed. This is so not going well…' Tugging his collar ever so tactfully, Keiichi cleared his throat and glimpsed at his wife, who obviously stated blankly back at him; as deception had never been her forte. "Well, it's an ancient tradition in Belldandy's homeland, and with me being her husband now… well, I decided to follow it, too."

No matter how plausible that story seemed to be, Chihiro was somewhat skeptical of the whole idea, but a quick glance on Belldandy's angelic smile convinced her that the Norn wasn't capable of involving Keiichi into anything shady, so, she decided to drop it. Instead, the shrewd business woman had more pressing matters to deal with, and thus turned towards a suspicious pile of junk in the middle of her shop and narrowed her eyes at it. "Okay, that's enough you two! I know you're hiding under all that stuff, so come out and say hello. Although… before that, you clean up this mess!"

In an almost comical fashion, two heads popped out of the pile, and offered their once senpai a deeply grateful look. "Chihiro-san!..." cried Tamiya in what seemed to be the duo's melodramatic mannerisms, with Otaki quipping in. "You're too kind!"

"Well, I won't be in a moment!" barked Chihiro, as she was far from happy to see her shop in this kind of state. Her ideal for Whirlwind involved neatly organized shelves and pristine interior, just so that the customers would not only feel welcome, but also become convinced of her and the rest of the employees' level of professionalism. After all, no one would ever entrust their precious bikes to the hands of someone who thought that it was a great idea to fill the floor with tools, construction equipment, lucky charms, and even cosplay outfits; all of which thrown randomly about the shop. "I'm giving you an hour to get all that garbage out of my shop, and I won't take any excuses! Do you hear me?"

"Yes, ma'am!" choired the two beefed giants, before they rushed to get everything out, and load them to the shop's minivan that was parked right outside of Whirlwind.

Watching them haul their stuff across the shop, Keiichi couldn't help but shake his head to the infamous duo's lack of maturity. As brilliant as they were when it came to machines, and as hardworking they happened to be, despite their reputation for trying all kinds of shortcuts to reach their goals, Tamiya and Otaki were acting like big babies most of the time. Which in reality did them a great disservice, since he was certain that if they got a bit more serious and put more effort in their work, those two could become quite the mechanics. "Oh, well… I suppose I might give them a hand, since I don't have anything else to do."

"If you wish, but in reality… I was wondering, if…" said Chihiro, trailing off as she wondered if it was a good idea to ask this just as soon as they got back. However, seeing how much she's been struggling with those two, Chihiro needed all the help she could get to start bringing people back into Whirlwind. "Well, if you and Bell are interested to work here again? I mean, your posts are still available, if you need a stable job now that you returned."

Exchanging a look with his wife, Keiichi waited for some form of confirmation from her, which eventually came in a form of a nod. "Actually, we would like that, Chihiro-san. I hope you don't mind having us back once more."

"Mind you? I'm more than happy to get all the help I can get right now!" said Chihiro with a dry chuckle. "We were running out of ideas as of late, so I kind of bit more than I could chew. There was an opportunity to take part in a concept vehicle expo, and while I had the perfect idea for a bike… building it is a whole different ball game altogether. Not only I don't have the manpower to pull it off before the deadline, but I'm already close to get over budget, and any more will put my shop in the red for good. Although, the thing is that I've already signed, and while I can withdraw if I want, that's certainly not going to make Whirlwind look good. That's why I went on a road trip over the weekend, to haggle for some cheap parts for the bike. And while I got some -that are on their way- it's not nearly enough."

"Hm… I see." The dark haired god and mechanic, rubbed his chin in deep thought, especially after Tamiya and Otaki had removed enough of their stuff to expose the skeleton of a bike that he totally failed to notice earlier. "I'll take it that this the bike in question, right?"

"Yes. And as you can see, it's nowhere as complete as I would've preferred," admitted Chihiro, much to her frustration. "As you can imagine, we're gonna need all the help we can get if we wish to even come close to have something to show at the expo."

"In that case, we must give them a hand, Keiichi." Speaking up for the first time after the initial greeting she offered, Belldandy tried to convince her husband that this wasn't a lost cause. Even though it was fairly simple to pull this off with magic, the Norn was well aware that this was unacceptable by Keiichi's standards. And despite his new nature as a god, using magic was still out of question, especially if it resulted into far too many questions. That being said though, she was fairly sure that Keiichi's skills had gotten a significant boost, thanks to his ability to perceive things that his previous self was blissfully unaware of. As a matter of fact, this could turn out to be the best opportunity for Keiichi to discover his new abilities, and while he's doing something he's already familiar with.

"Of course! You know how much I love to take a challenge, Bell!" said Keiichi with a smile, as well as a thumbs up that earned him a loud cheer from his troublesome senpai.

"The A team is back, Dai-chan! We must celebrate this occasion!"

"Right after you, Den-chan! Let's grab the karaoke machine! We had in the truck, right?"

"Wait, wait!.. We don't have the time for…" Letting out a frustrated sigh, as her attempts to stop the over enthusiastic duo proved fruitless, Chihiro decided that since she couldn't beat them, she was going to join them, and headed to the shop's mini fridge to grab a few beers. "Oh well… I suppose having Keiichi-kun and Bell-chan back, is enough of a reason to celebrate. So… welcome to Whirlwind, you two!"

"Thanks Chihiro-san. It's good to be back," chorused the celestial couple, and then stared at each other; at which point they started to laugh. Soon, the sound of Tamiya's karaoke machine caught everyone's attention, and without wasting any time, Belldandy made a beeline for the mike. After all, she absolutely loved to sing, and for those around her, it was a true joy to listen to Asgard's most renowned songstress. And thus, the festivities carried on, with several old members of the Motor Club showing up, as Chihiro made a few calls to gather the old gang once more.

Which, ironically enough left the shop in the same state it was a few hours ago.

XXX

Posing in front of the full sized mirror, inside of the lingerie store's changing room, Hagall was quite pleased by her choice of a bustier, and decided that this one was a keeper. For the last half hour, she had been going through one design after the other, trying to find not only what flattered her physique the most, but also match her husband's tastes. Of course, knowing little about Odal's preferences, Hagall went for something rather classy and made out of the finest lace, hoping that her guess was spot on. And even if it wasn't, she had already picked more than enough types of lingerie to make sure that something would actually work for Odal, and the idiot outside the room was more than willing to pay for them. Sure, that guy was probably fantasizing that this little trip was meant for his own enjoyment, but then again, at no point did she agree to offer him something back for the gifts; if those even counted as such.

"Are you done yet, miss Kona? Not to rush you of course, but I'm quite anxious to see how those lovely undergarments look on your breathtaking body."

Furrowing her eyebrows at what she thought as the worst ever attempt at subtlety, Hagall made a mental note to find a better method to vent in the future. While her argument with Belldandy peeved her to a much greater degree than she let others think, given that few people dared to talk back to her like that, messing around with this particular mortal was starting to prove more of a headache than a way to solve one. "Not yet! I've got half a dozen different sets here, and each has more fasteners to even bother counting! So, put up or shut up, damn it! I'm a lady, not a fucking stripper!" barked the demoness with such force that all Aoshima could do was let out a meek yelp and back off from the changing room.

However, when she glanced back at the mirror, Hagall nearly jumped by the surprise of staring at Odal's face, instead of her own. "What the?! How did you?..."

"Found you?" suggested the partially teleported god, as his head literally poked out of the mirror's surface. "You might say that I've been following you and… the guy outside. Now… call me slow, but I think I've missed something important here. I mean, what's the point of this?"

'Oh, I think he's getting jealous! How cute!...' Resisting the urge to giggle and make her already precarious situation even worse, Hagall regained her composure and addressed her husband as if nothing in this whole setup was remotely wrong. "I was just pulling that womanizer's leg, just to make some quick and dirty profit for us. After all, causing him some misfortune is both beneficial to calm down my nerves, and teaching him a lesson. You see, that guy has a history with your family, so, messing around with him is more than fair."

"He does?" asked Odal as he glanced in Aoshima's direction, even though there was a curtain between them.

"Yes. From what I remember this is the same Toshiyuki Aoshima that used to antagonize your father for your mother's hand." Taking a pause, Hagall scratched her chin as she tried to recall more of the details from Mara's past reports, but ended up drawing a blank. "Although… maybe saying her hand is a bit of an exaggeration. He's more likely eager to tap a girl's booty, than actually date; even if that happens to be someone like Belldandy. But… yeah, he did make your father's life a lot more difficult than necessary."

"Oh, I know about all that. It's just that I didn't immediately recognize him, since he's the last person to end up in the family album," said Odal with some disgust evident in his voice, when he talked about the womanizer that was still waiting for Hagall to come out of the changing room. "But… if that's the case, then go right ahead, and…" started the god, until he realized that letting his wife go on with whatever her original plan was, would be nowhere as rewarding as having a few words in person with this Casanova wannabe. "Do you mind if I deal with him, instead?"

"Huh? No, of course not!" said the confused demoness, who wasn't quite expecting to let this whole thing go on for much longer. "Be my guest and do what you will with him. I don't mind, as long as he's denied of what he really wants. Let your imagination run free and have fun!"

"Sure thing! Just gimme a second to prepare, and we're gonna have some fun, indeed," quipped Odal before vanishing back into the mirror. And in the meantime, knowing all too well that her husband was going to show up, she changed into her civilian clothes, and waited to see what was a god was capable of doing.

Meanwhile, outside of the changing room, Aoshima was biding his time by pacing about the shop, waiting for the temperamental foreigner to finally let him see what he was going to sample later; after he manages to smooth talk to her into going to a love hotel with him. That was the regular deal after all: pick an attractive girl, shower her with gifts and compliments, and… have his way with her, later. An almost foolproof plan that he expertly executed time after time, with great success… except for one woman. 'Alright, let's forget about Belldandy. I've got someone else for now, but… what's taking her so darn long! And who is she talking to? Don't tell me she's talking on the phone! Oh, that's what I needed! A stupid bitch talking to-'

"Toshiyuki Aoshima."

The disembodied voice caught the playboy by surprise, especially when it seemed to be coming from inside his head, as impossible as it sounded. Worse yet, everyone else around him didn't show any signs of hearing something out of the ordinary, and merely carried on with their business, leaving him to wonder if he imagined the whole thing. 'Heh… I must be hearing things from all the anxiety.' Yet as much as Aoshima wanted to reassure himself that this was nothing more than a figment of his imagination, the voice returned again, and louder than ever.

"I know you're listening, since I'm bypassing your ears, mortal. There might be some echo in there, thanks to how empty your head really is, but I'm not even going to start with that. I may be a god, but… fixing that problem is one miracle too far, even for me."

"Hold on a second! H-How dare you insult me like that! And who are you to call yourself a… god? What is this? A setup to pay for some stupid religious cult?" demanded the annoyed Aoshima, totally missing the fact that he did so out loud, causing more than enough of the shop's customers -Hagall included- to stare at the seemingly delirious man, while he carried on with his angry tirade. "Answer me, oh god!"

"Ah, yes… the older than feudalism, prove your divinity to me, argument. As if talking with a booming, disembodied voice is something everyone can do. Perhaps… you need more convincing?"

Before Aoshima could utter a single word, loud music filled his mind, causing him to cringe from the cheezy soundtrack that he was certain he heard somewhere. Which, unfortunately for him turned out to be the Motor Club's anthem, with Tamiya and Otaki on the vocals. A truly horrible experience for Aoshima, who desperately tried to block his ears, yet his instinctive reaction proved absolutely ineffective, as telepathy couldn't be clocked by such means. "No, wait! Y-You can't do this to me! Stop it!"

"Hm? What seems to be the problem? Don't you like the manly song of your past adversaries? Or… did you think I wasn't aware of your past? I am a god after all."

"Yes, yes… I got it! Now, please stop this! I can't stand those stupid lyrics!" cried the desperate Aoshima in plain, while one of the shop's assistants was in the process of calling the mall's security to remove the clearly delusional man and put an end to this unsightly scene.

"Very well."

The rich man in the ugly green suit let out a sigh of relief, as his ordeal seemed to be over; for the most part. He could still feel a presence in his mind, as if someone was very close to him, and yet the rest of his senses reassured him that this wasn't the case. And try as he might, Aoshima had no other means of ridding himself of his tormentor than by playing his game. "What… do you want… from me… god?"

"It's quite simple really. As much as I don't like to slut shame others, I cannot simply turn a blind eye to your vices. To that end you need to embark on a spiritual journey of atonement for your misdeeds. Get on top of mount Fuji and make a run around the whole caldera in order to cleanse your mind and body from your desires. Now, go."

There was no reply, as Aoshima made a mad dash for the exit, sidestepping those who weren't quick enough to make room for the clearly deranged man. He didn't even bother responding to the approaching security staff, that demanded his attention, as he was already running away as fast as his feet could carry him. And not to mention that he totally failed to notice the eerily familiar looking man that was watching him from the cafe across the shop. At any other time, he would've thought that this strange man with the blue markings on his face is a relative of Belldandy's, but… right now, Aoshima was too busy running to pay attention to such details. After all, he was on a divine mission.

'Serves you right…' Letting out a chuckle as he paid for his coffee, Odal headed for the lingerie shop where his wife awaited for his arrival, but not before he glanced at Aoshima's departing form, who was still being chasen by the mall's security staff. And ignoring the odd look he got as he entered the shop, as some patrons must be thinking if he was yet another weirdo, Odal approached his wife, who awaited for him with a cryptic smile on her face. "I suppose you approve?"

"Honestly?" Tilting her head, the blonde demoness rubbed her chin in deep thought, and no matter how much she found it hard to believe, her husband had done a much better job at making that idiot miserable. "I was planning to pull a practical joke on him, but… you took it on a totally different level! Why… we infernals may have the reputation, but boy… you celestials can be such pricks!"

"Well, excuse me for being somewhat upset about a guy that simply refuses to learn his darn lesson," sarcastically replied Odal, although it was clear that no ill will was directed to his wife, but rather the same guy that caused his father such a headchake in the past. "Besides, haven't I already told you that I'm not my parents? Anyways, let's forget about the fool, and focus on us. For beginners, how about you buy whatever you've been checking here, and we can go somewhere else? I'm paying, by the way."

"Oh? You're buying me anything I want?" purred Hagall, when she found an opening in her husband's defenses, and decided to tease him a bit. And thus she quickly retrieved some of the bolder designs she chose earlier. "Including… these?" So sure was Hagall that the mere sight of the see-through lingerie she held up for Odal to check, that she was momentarily stunned when he merely nodded without making a huge fuss, or even blush like a schoolboy. She even worried that despite her previous explanation of her motivations, Odal didn't quite buy that, and he probably was angry with her for this whole fiasco.

Noticing the gradual change in Hagall's attitude that went from mischievous to cautious, and then even apprehensive, Odal realized that even though he wanted to keep this a secret for a bit longer, given the current situation, it would only lead into a misunderstanding. So, despite being in a less than an ideal place for such a thing, the rogue god decided that he had to spill the beans, before the mood deteriorated even further. "Um… look, I kinda realized something when I was passing in front of shop window on my way back to where we were originally supposed to meet. Oh, and that's why I was so late too, by the way. You see… it's sort of customary here on Earth to have a wedding ring, and while it's not the same in Niflheim, or even Asgard… I couldn't help but…"

"Buy me one?" finished the somewhat incredulous Hagall for her husband, as it wasn't the ring itself that matter, but the thought behind it. After all, human made trinkets, no matter how expensive they seemed to be, were practically useless to a demoness like her. Yet, the idea that Odal went ahead and bought her something that from his perspective validated their marriage. 'And what a coincidence. I was thinking to get a ring myself. Hm…'

"Yeah, I got it here," nervously said Odal, as he started rummaging his pockets for the tiny box that suddenly seemed way more difficult to find than it should've been. 'Oh boy… I'm acting like an idiot, and it's not even an actual proposal. I mean… we're already married, right? Sure, it's sort of backwards, giving her the right after the ceremony, but it's not like we're a normal couple either. Oh, the heck with it! Let's get it done, before I make a fool of myself!' Finally, with the box in his grasp, Odal regained his composure by taking a few deep breaths, and then went ahead to reveal the ring to his wife.

True to her demonic nature, Hagall didn't show any immediate reaction -whether positive or negative- to the sight of the platinum ring with the oval shaped emerald gemstone dominating the whole piece. While she was vaguely aware that on such occasions, mortal women tended to favor diamonds, Hagall didn't see any reason why she should prefer something that stereotypical. Diamonds were worthless to demons, after all, just like the majority of the mundane gemstones. Only the magically enriched gems were actually valuable to them, and even then, their worth depended on the type of the enchantment and its capacity. Which, simply meant that when it came to mundane stones, it was more important to match one's personal tastes, rather than go for the perceived value of a gift or even some sort of generic tradition; especially, when it wasn't her people's tradition. "Ah, it looks like you figured out what my favorite color is."

"Trust me… it's hard not to," chuckled Odal, despite his own nervousness. After all, despite her approving look, Hagall made absolutely no effort to even touch the ring, let alone pick it. Naturally, the first thing that crossed his mind was that she was going to reject it, deeming it unsuitable for a demoness of her status, yet… paradoxically enough she didn't seem to dislike it. Instead she was staring at him with anticipation evident in her eyes, and the longer the thought about it, the less he liked where this was heading. 'Uh oh… I think I may have dug my own grave…'

"Well? What are you waiting for, Odal?" asked the bemused demoness, playfully tilting her head as she pointedly glanced at the ring. "You need to propose, or have you forgotten about that?"

If Odal had any hopes to get out of this with his dignity unscathed, this was the final blow that dashed that dream. Even his own angel seemed to like the idea of the whole… proposal, no matter how unnecessary it was for a married god to propose to his… wife; after their wedding. 'Et tu, Holy Bell? I get it that, Hagall wants to see me squirm, but you too?' sent the god over the link he shared with his angel, only to make her giggle even louder, inside of his mindscape. 'Come on! You didn't even like her!'

'I can't say that I can totally trust her; not yet, but… I think she likes you, and that's what matters. I'm fairly sure that over time you two can nurture a bond, given that she's not the cold and manipulative demoness she pretended to be during that rebelion. Besides, the fear of losing someone shouldn't stop you from getting close to others. I know all too well what happened in our… world, but this is a different place, and a chance to start anew.'

The rogue god didn't reply, given that his angel most certainly knew the answer already, leaving Odal with what was essentially the toughest decision he had to make so far: move on, or being stuck in the past. 'It seems so simple to choose, and yet when it comes to making it into a reality… it's a whole different matter altogether.' He let out a deep sigh, and shut everyone's looks out from his mind, focusing on his wife alone, as doing this in front of her was already difficult enough, without having an audience on top of it. As such, he stared right in her eyes, and ignored the whispers going on around him when he got down to one knee. "I suppose it's a bit backwards to ask this now, but… it's only natural to think hard before making such a serious decision. And while a lot of things are happening right now, I believe that you deserve better, than just having me tag along. So, will you stay by side forever?"

In all seriousness, Hagall was expecting a tongue in cheek proposal; something akin of a joke, given the fact that they were technically speaking married already. What she got however, was an actual proposal, which not only caught her off guard but made her feel rather strange about the whole arrangement. While it was undeniably Hild's idea, and one she initially followed out of a sense of duty, without much personal involvement, it was now her turn to decide whether she wished to become fully committed to this marriage, or tactfully make it clear that this was an arrangement and nothing beyond that. So, after a moment of hesitation, that probably lasted forever for the already nervous Odal, the blonde demoness reached to take hold of the ring and pausing briefly to give it a closer look, she eventually put it on. "I will. For as long as you really mean it… I will."

Getting up, Odal took a moment to realize that this actually went way better than anticipated, even though it was also true that he had little to lose at the time being. With Hagall being his wife -all thanks to Hild's idea- it was highly unlikely that she was going to outright reject his proposal. However, that still didn't mean that she wasn't merely playing her part, and while they had actually discussed it before, Odal needed a bit more to convince himself that this was mere act. 'Oh, for goodness sake! Verthandi is so right when she says that I've become too pessimistic! I think it's about darn time I do something about it.' The rogue god offered his wife a big smile, before he pulled her for a tight hug, and even twirled her around once, and then caught her lips in a kiss, that the demoness happily returned. "Thank you, Hagall! I… I won't let you down! I promise!"

"You're welcome, dear," cheerfully replied the blonde, but soon her expression turned into a mischievous smirk. "Although… you do realize that this changes a few things, right? For beginners, we now must buy a proper bed for the two of us, and then we need to get some matching bathing supplies! After all, we're gonna do a lot more things together from now on, right dear?"

"S-Sure thing,... love," said Odal ever so nervously, as he began to realize that they had attracted quite the crowd. Apparently it was simply irresistible for the women in this shop to watch such a spectacle, which… resulted with having more than a dozen curious spectators, who watched them as if this was a scene out of a soap opera. "Um… I think that we-"

"Need to get going," finished Hagall for her husband, and picked the undergarments she chose earlier and started for the cashier, only to pause for a moment and look over at Odal. "Are you coming, dear?"

"Ah, yes! After all, I did mention that I'm paying, right?" replied Odal with warm smile, as he moved closer to his wife… until he spotted two, rather familiar looking women amongst the crowd of spectators, now that most of the others had lost interest and went back to their business, since it was apparent that the show was over. Still, those who remained… were the worst possible individuals to witness such a scene, leaving Odal in despair. 'Oh, gimme a freaking break!. For once… why can't I do something like this without someone catching me?'

"Aw! Oda-kun, you're so cute!" squealed Urd, while making a kissing expression, just to annoy her nephew even further. "That was so romantic!"

"Hey, it sure was awesome!" quipped Mara, who for once didn't seem queasy from witnessing something of this nature. "Bullying that Aoshima guy? That was downright awesome! You've got potential, kid!"

"Gee… thanks," muttered Odal, adding for nothing under his breath. It was already embarrassing enough to be caught right as he proposed Hagall, but to have his aunt and her girlfriend witness that whole exchange he had with Aoshima was way worse. Even though no mortals aside from his intended target could hear his telepathic call, the same wasn't true about the immortals present, especially as he didn't make it difficult for them to eavesdrop.

"I suppose that you two also came here to buy something?" asked Hagall, in order to turn this whole situation around, and avoid ending up becoming a target of their teasing. "There are some nice options for you to try, especially if you're in the mood for something special. Right, Odal?"

"Sure… I guess that'll look great on both of you," said Odal, throwing a thumb in a random direction, as he was fairly sure that Urd and Mara could look nice in anything available here. More than anything else, he was tired of being treated like a kid, and therefore the de facto target when it came to teasing, but… when he didn't get a reply from either of them, Odal wondered if he said anything wrong. As a matter of fact, even his wife remained silent, prompting him to follow the stunned gazes and find out just what he had actually recommended.

From what he later found out, it was something called a full body stocking, but for the time being the best he could do was pay for it, as Urd didn't mind having something new in her collection, and not to mention that it was essentially presented to her as a gift. Yet strangely enough, this whole thing began to shape into a more enjoyable experience once they left that lingerie shop. Considering that this was he felt that had to end this day with something less… embarrassing than listening to Hagall's description on how good that darn stocking looked on Urd. After all, he refused to open his eyes and potentially mentally scarring himself from watching his aunt wearing something like that. Even though he had a weird life, Odal had no wish to take a turn to that kind of weirdness; just listening to Mara's… heavy breathing was more than enough for the moment.

Once they were out of there and he could safely observe the way Urd and Hagall interacted, Odal was surprised that they not only seemed to tolerate each other, but almost… acted so similarly that it was eerie to watch. Surely, the common denominator here was Hild, who was the biological mother of the former, and the role model of the latter, which explained why they shared so many common interests. Granted, they had plenty of differences too, but for the most part they were able to sit next to each other without starting up a fight, which in Odal's opinion had something to do with the fact that Hagall was now married into the family, and thus had no reason to resent -or envy- Urd anymore. That aside, Urd also seemed to be the kind of person to help her middle sister by having a talk with the one she ended in a fight not too long ago, especially since her normal methods wouldn't work in this occasion.

Humorously enough, he had to take Hagall to that ferry ride on a different occasion, as they ended up hanging together with his aunt and her girlfriend, and thus preferred to visit a bar, where he had to prove his manliness as a god. By ordering a lemonade.

They could laugh as much as they wanted, but someone had to carry them back home.

XXX

Asgard

"You mean that after all their bitching over Hel, they go ahead and perform a local time restoration without informing us? Double standards much?"

Taking a moment to stare at the Daimakaicho's one millionth avatar that was floating next to him, Surt's own miniature form returned back to his previous task, that required him to burn through a reinforced grate in order to reach Yggdrasil's chamber. Even though security around the World Tree's vast hall was extremely tight, the sheer size of this enclosure made it hard to secure every possible point of entry, allowing a well informed intruder to exploit those weaknesses to their advantage. Such was the case with a rather obsolete air filtering system that was supplanted by a much newer one, but due to a design oversight, the two systems were separated by a relatively weak grate, that could be quietly broken if one knew how to do it. After all, the biggest problem wasn't how to gain access to the Tree's chamber, but how to achieve that with the minimal chances of being discovered, although in this case part of the job was done thanks to the miscommunication between two technical teams that removed much of the security systems from the obsolete air filtering ducts, before the other team had the chance to install all the security sensors on the new one.

Of course, it wasn't easy to gain access to such privileged information, yet for the Daimakaicho nothing was impossible, providing that she didn't outright break any laws in the process. That being said, twisting some of them to her gain was fair game for Hild, and that's what she did. "We both know that this is true, although… on this occasion, it's mostly Ansuz's fault. She's the one who went ahead and reversed time in the affected area, reverting it back to its pre-attack state; humans included."

"Yes, but… wouldn't that also erase all traces of what Fapnir's men wanted?" countered Surt as he finally removed the last bar from the grate, allowing them to squeeze through.

Just as Hild was about to reply, the miniature avatar realized a small irregularity in the way her subordinate addressed her predecessor, and promptly burst into laughter. "Fapnir? Oh, it's been ages since the last time I've heard that nickname!" Struggling to keep her voice down, and in the process avoid being detected, Hild slowly began to recover from her laughing fit and wiped the joyful tears from the corner of her eyes. "Ah… I needed that. Anyways… back to what I was saying. From what I heard, Loki managed to retrieve most of the cache's contents, but it's irrelevant. I had long ago removed the really valuable information from that cache, recognizing the stupidity of leaving those records unattended. However, it was done in great secrecy, which also explains why…. Fapnir never learned about it."

"Why am I not surprised? That prick acts as if he's so much better than everyone else, and the same goes to his band of goons who still believe that acting like idiots will help them accomplish anything. Well… the only thing they did accomplish was to piss off the gods and end up having one of their own killed. What a bunch of losers!" spat Surt disdainfully, as he jumped out of the air duct and right into the Tree's cavernous chamber. The scale of this room was so awe inspiring that the lord of Muspelheim found it hard not to take a moment to let it all sink in, looking at his surroundings not unlike a newborn child. "So… this is Yggdrasil. And that's supposed to be its dormant state?"

"Yes, and according to the legends, the Tree's almost three times taller, but few have lived long enough to see it in its full glory," came a voice from a fair distance to their right, prompting Surt to regain his original size, and Hild's miniature avatar to hide into her subordinate's combat uniform.

Much to the Eldjotunn's surprise, it wasn't a whole complement of Valkyries waiting for him, but merely two goddesses, with one of which being an actual member of the Fighting Wings. More impressively though, the one addressing him was the somewhat eccentric administrator that was chosen -for some unknown reason- to act as their guide throughout the course of the negotiations. "Ah, Peorth and Lind! I must admit that I wasn't expecting you two to show up on your own. Still, I applaud your courage, as misplaced as it is."

Extending an arm in front of Lind to stop her when she sensed her friend reach for her earrings that contained her battleaxes, Peorth narrowed her eyes at the smirking demon. "I wish I could applaud your decision making, oh great lord of Muspelheim," sneered Peorth in irony before carrying on in an even more caustic tone. "But your sheer lack of awareness of what's at stake here, leaves me with little choice but to speak up my mind about your bright idea to infiltrate the Tree's chamber. And it's not pretty, you backstabbing asshole!"

Three pair of eyes widened slightly at the rose goddess' choice of words, and even Excalibur who was currently disguised as her belt assembly made a record of what was likely the most outrageous moment of Peorth's recent life. After all, despite her strong sense of pride, she was not known to pick a fight with demons, unless provoked. And while one might argue that Surt's presence here was a passive form of provocation, the fact that she went ahead and effectively challenged him was remarkable all by itself. "Who gave you the bright idea that this will help the negotiations? Don't we all agree that things are getting out of hand, and yet… you end up doing this?!"

'Attack from below! Jump!' Leavatein's warning came not a moment too soon, giving Surt a meager millisecond to backflip, as the ground underneath him blew up in a cloud of dirt, revealing a pair of thorny vines that would've caught him if he had been there for just a bit longer. Though before he could properly retaliate, Surt sensed something move in an arch around Peorth's left flank, at a speed that was too much even for a trained demon to track. Bringing his arms up to block the incoming blow, he barely managed to make Lind's form as she spun past him, sparks flying where their combat gloves came into contact. And as if that wasn't enough, the dark haired demon realized that something silvery grey entered his peripheral vision, where Peorth once stood, and glimpsing towards it, he realized that this was still Peorth, only wearing a high tech armor that could only be one thing: Excalibur. A suspicion that was more or less confirmed when the armor's shoulders expanded and formed into a pair of particle cannons.

"Hi there! Surprise!" The cheerfulness in the synthetic's voice didn't match the viciousness of the onslaught he unleashed. Bolts of searing hot plasma shot at the demon, who had to erect a barrier to stop it from hitting his face, but the freeze beam from Lind's direction put a damper to his plans. Worse yet, at the same time, Excalibur expanded his shoulder mounted guns and together with Peorth, fired a version of the goddess' 'shotgun rose' sending a series of highly charged particles at the demon's barrier.

Like glass, the shield shattered under the strength of Peorth and Excalibur's combined attack, along with Lind's own onslaught, launched by her twin angels that emerged to assist their mistress with this unexpected battle. Still, Surt wasn't one go down that easily, and without wasting time, Laevatein emerged from his back, shooting a fire spell from both hands, in an effort to push the attackers back.

The resulting exchange of spells, finally triggered the alarms, giving a sense of urgency to Surt, as he had yet to accomplish his goal, although he had no idea how to. Even if this actually Hild's job, the ruler of Muspelheim wasn't one to botch a mission for the sake of his own enjoyment; namely, this rare chance to exchange blows with one of the best Valkyries of her age, along with someone that was proving to be a pleasant surprise. No matter how negligeable of a threat Peorth seemed at a first glance, the administrator was quite agile and aware of her limitations, always keeping a fair distance from her opponent, should she end up biting more than she could chew. Not only that, but Excalibur's presence allowed her to focus her powers in the same manner that a magnifying glass confused the otherwise harmless sun rays and turn them into a viable threat.

Moreso, the moment one of them let an opening, the other moved to close it, although the demon also employed the same strategy with his own dark angel, baiting the others to attack him whenever he deliberately left an opening. The end result was a virtual deadlock that left one of them utterly unhappy, given that the Daimakaicho's miniature avatar knew all too well that they were wasting valuable time here.

"What are you doing?!" demanded the agitated Hild, as she poked out of her hiding place in her subordinate's combat uniform. "If you don't finish this now, the whole place will be crawling with Valkyries! So, stop stalling and go all out on them!"

"Fine, fine!... And I was just beginning to have fun, too! After all, this waiting… and I have to back off…" grumbled the clearly peeved Surt, and moved up a category in his attack spells, just in case, Peorth cannot handle more. However, as he was about to launch his counterattack, Surt noticed that the armor was missing a head; or upon a closer look, that it was actually empty. And as to verify his observations, Lind's demand for Peorth to stop, meant that whatever the rose goddess had in mind, was clearly not part of the Valkyrie's plan, let alone a sound one. Tilting his head up, the demon saw the dark haired goddess soar across the air in what appeared to be a flying kick. One that was so easy to dodge that he didn't even bother countering it, and merely jumped up, and out of harm's way, allowing the goddess to shoot past him.

Or, so anyone thought, as even Laevatein pulled away and turned his attention on the momentarily distracted Lind, only to realize his folly far too late to intervene.

The very moment Peorth was about to pass under Surt, the goddess twisted her torso, so that her back was facing up, and in a glorious eruption of feathers, rose petals and… vines, her angel was brought out, mere inches from the surprised demon who found himself in an unexpected and quite painful embrace. Gorgeous Rose effectively gave one of Hild's regional commanders a taste of her mistress' rendition of marshmallow hell, but instead of a scene out a comedy gag, the thorny vines that wrapped her body ended up puncturing the Eldjotunn's combat uniform. As a matter of fact, if she hadn't deliberately pushed Surt's face to the… softer part of her cleavage, the demon could've lost an eye for sure.

Still, that by no means meant that the rest of the cuts, along with the blunt force trauma from the impact itself was enough to take a combat hardened demon out of commission, and without wasting time and risk him getting hold of her, Gorgeous Rose leaned down and forced the momentarily stunned demon into lip lock that only made the rest of the spectators to stare in utter silence. Lind even dropped her axe from the shock of what she was witnessing, and immediately grabbed the Mints and tried her darnest to cover their eyes.

"The Hell you're doing, you…. you… unbelievable nympho! Even we don't do things like that in the middle of a battle! Only before!... Or after it! But not in the middle of it," barked Hild, who ended up on the ground, as the force of the angel's impact caused her to let go of her subordinate and ended up flat on the ground, right next to one of the World Tree's roots.

Meanwhile, Surt who was still trying to detach Gorgeous Rose off him, realized that the whole point of Peorth's attack was not only to catch him off guard, but also to administer him a rather powerful tranquilizer that was slowly making it harder to keep his eyes open, let alone continue fighting. Yet he somehow resisted the effects of the spell for long enough to call Leavetain to his side, who switched to his flaming blade form as he got into his master's right hand. "Nice try… but… no cigar."

Fearing that she was about to get skewered, Gorgeous Rose tossed her captive demon to the ground, and made a beeline for her mistress who was about to erect a barrier to counter the apparently imminent counter attack. Granted, their attempt to stop Surt wasn't exactly a total failure, as the demon teetered about for a while, trying to fight off the effects of the tranquilizer by sheer willpower. And for the most part he was successful, although it would still take him a while to get back to his full combat status, as well as heal the numerous lacerations left by Gorgeous Rose's vines.

"That was a dirty trick for a goddess… but then again… your kind is dirty to begin with. Maybe that's what makes you… tolerable," managed Surt between clenched teeth, while summoning a literal firewall around him to keep Lind from exploiting his weakened state to launch an attack. A fiery tornado twirled around the demon with its vicious flames threatening anyone foolish enough to get too close, all while inside of if, the ruler of Muspelheim accessed one of his combat medkits to mend his wounds, since he was still too lethargic to properly cast a healing spell. Although only the boosters were part of the standard combat gear, medkits were frequently issued during operations in hostile territory or solo missions, where an injured unit would be too far from any extraction points, or in such a state that casting a healing spell on their own would be unlikely. And while Surt's injuries were superficial, the stimulating effect of the medkit could help him regain his composure, which was exactly why the Eldjotunn justified its use.

'This is bad. We wasted so much time already that the Fighting Wings will be arriving at any moment now. If only I could…' Despite her subordinate's recovery, Hild knew that things weren't looking up for them. This whole idea of infiltrating the Tree's chamber was starting to turn into yet another fiasco, and with already more than enough problems as of late, this could become the proverbial last straw that broke the camel's back. 'Surely, I can find a better way to communicate with Yggdrasil, than make a series of complicated runes. I don't have enough power in my current body to draw them in a timely manner, and Surt's too busy with those two.' As if by a huge coincidence, the moment she thought that, Hild noticed that there were some faint runes engraved all around her, and yet she wasn't the one who did that, nor did she took notice when it happened. Even though the magic circle was scaled down to match the size of her avatar, its complexity was mind boggling. More than that though, the runes seemed to 'ripple' like the surface of a turbulent sea, making it almost impossible to read exactly what was written. And as if that wasn't enough, Hild could tell that the symbols changed in a seemingly random manner, despite the impossibility this posed. Magic circles were carefully formed using geometric principles, where even the runes inscribed into them were part of the overall design. 'Wait! Could this be?...'

The miniscule avatar reached down to inspect the runes, and just as her hand was to make contact with them, Hild realized that everything has gone absolutely quiet. Looking up, she found that Surt had dispelled his fire tornado and was about to engage Lind in combat once more, only… that nobody was moving. And it wasn't just those two -along with the Mints- but Peorth and Gorgeous Rose, along with Excalibur were immobile, too. Even the air itself seemed frozen in time; and yet she was unaffected, just like the ever changing runes below her.

'Heed my call.'

The Daimakaicho tried to back off, only to find that her legs betrayed her, and remained perfectly still, as the alien voice in her mind paralyzed her. Although… voice wasn't quite a word she could use to describe the maelstrom of thoughts, sounds, colors and raw emotions that flooded her mind, projecting a message she could barely interpret. Her vision became blurred as the physical pain she was experiencing from that simple call was more than enough to bring out her tears, and she didn't cry easily.

'Answer, or perish where you stand. Your choice is now mine to make, but not the consequences. Those are still yours.'

She had regretted ever setting foot in this chamber, but it was too late to reason with what was beyond reason, and thus the best she could do was to regain enough of her self control to touch those runes. It was the last thing she did, before she slipped out of consciousness.

'Excellent.'

XXX

Light.

A sourceless, blinding light was all she could perceive; all she could feel, to the point where there was nothing else around her. Just that light… that malevolent and ancient pulse, that started beating before the concept of time came to be.

Even though she knew that this was supposed to happen, and even mentally prepared for the eventuality of this confrontation, she found herself unable to even form a simple, coherent thought, to say nothing of making the first step at establishing communication with the World Tree.

'I… I never thought it was going to be this hard. If only I had known… I would've done some more… research before… leaving… Where was I living again?'

"Niflheim."

'Ah, yes, Niflheim. How could I even forget-... Hold it! That wasn't my thought!'

"Thoughts are nothing more but fleeting things. So easy to become detached from the limitations of the linear account of events you like to think as your timeline, yet so persistent to sometimes transcend their singular origin, and become a commonplace amongst many unrelated realities. And case to the point, you've appeared before me on so many occasions, or will appear depending on the point of reference; which… merely doesn't exist in this domain. So, good luck sorting your thoughts out, linear one."

'That's not what I meant! And…' Coming to an abrupt halt when she realized that not only did she get a reply, but its source couldn't be pinpointed in any comprehensive manner, Hild was finally certain that this was no mere delusion. She was indeed conversing with someone -or rather something- beyond her understanding, and thus it was ill advised for her to carry on with her verbal rebuke. Even though she felt that she had experienced this moments ago, her memories of it were too fuzzy to recognize this feeling, allowing her to experience it once again as if this was the first time; leaving her with a sense of deja vu that was hard to ignore. Making her best attempt to regain her composure, even though she was still disoriented from lacking a physical body as well as spatial cues of her surroundings, Hild steeled herself for what was likely the biggest gamble in her entire life. 'My apologies, I wasn't actually expecting an answer. Now, I assume that you know the reason of contacting you?'

"Although your ignorance is monumental, linear one… this lack of insight can prove invaluable to me. As foolish as emotional attachments are, it seems to be your kind's greatest motivational force. And I indeed know the desire that drove you to that thing's chamber, almost without the slightest regard to the innumerable cautionary tales, of what you perceive as the past. Such simple mindedness… and yet so much power behind it. You can be of use to me… yes."

There was no immediate response from Hild, as she found herself at a loss of words; given how unexpected this response was. Although there were no written records of the past attempts to interface with Yggdrasil, thanks to every participant -Keiichi included- experiencing some form of amnesia, Hild couldn't shake the feeling that there was something wrong here. Not only this response didn't feel right to her, but the choice of words used to describe the Tree's chamber was… bizarre to say the least. Moreso, as her memories started to put themselves together, the way she was summoned here -wherever here was- seemed very strange for Yggdrasil to pull on anyone. Even Keiichi never mentioned anything about runes and voices prior to his contact, leaving her wondering if things were different for immortals who attempted to talk to the Tree. 'Unless… No, this-'

"Can't be?" finished the sinisterly deep voice for her, with a strangely familiar, and quite feminine ring to it as the tone of the disembodied voice shifted. Soon, a figure rose out a ripple in the intense light that burned bright inside the infinity outside of the space-time continuum. "No matter how many times you linears reach me, your reactions remain the same. Sheer shock and disbelief, laced with fear." By now, the figure's features have become clearly noticeable to the demoness, who stared back at a pretty naked, carbon copy of her full body, that inspected itself -as the will behind this shell was none other than the most terrifying being in existence. A being that apparently inspected the shell it constructed by running its hands across the flawless skin on Hild's copy, and with a bemused if not borderline lustful expression turned back to the petrified demoness. "Ah… the raveling sensation of being bound to a singular facade of reality. So limiting, yet allowing such vastness of possibilities. You can now see why I devoted so much of my efforts to raise you from the dark age of ignorance, to a state of partial awareness. So much work, and all of it without the sightless bit of recognition, too."

'You're… Nidhogg.'

"Took you a while to accept reality, no matter how obvious it was from the beginning. Still… you did, so my faith in you wasn't totally misplaced, my darling little child."

'What are you even droning about? None of us is your creation, you omnicidal maniac! The only thing you leave at your wake is death and destruction… you corpse eater! Scourge of Nastrond!'

"My poor, misguided Hild. Still ignorant of the truth, even after it's being so obvious. Although that thing you call your creator offered you substance… I gave your kind the gift of evolution. As you adjusted to counter me and my purposely useless creations, your ancestors were forced to learn from my techniques and adjusted to them. Soon enough, this adaptation was set loose, as your father saw the need to switch to a creative form of reproduction, first observed by some of my creatures. Which not only proved beneficial as it didn't require him to weaken himself every time he created a demon. However, by doing so, your father unwittingly went ahead and turned the majority of his demons into proper individuals, rather than mass produced soldiers, each meant to think and act on their own, as well as being able to choose the direction this evolutionary path would take by picking their own mates. And once Buri saw the advantages that this arrangement provided to the demons, he too adapted the gods accordingly, for he feared obsolescence. Thus, from mere automata made for the sole purpose of servitude, you have now inherited the fate of your world. And for that same reason, I've intercepted your attempt to reach what should not be named, and offer you a brand new body; one that is untainted by the terrible curse placed upon it for the sake of meeting your former lover."

'No… No, I'm not gonna buy it. I don't care how much of an idiot you think I am, but I'm not going to fall for something that obvious. At first, I'm a linear one, and then all of a sudden, I'm your precious child? And even if I ignore the times you directly called me an idiot, you expect me to shake hands… with that clone of mine, and let you replace my real body with one of your own creation? You've got to be kidding me! Not even the greatest fool in the world would fail to realize a trap when it's thrown right in their face! Besides… why are you talking like I do, all of a sudden? What happened to the 'look at me, I'm mysterious' mumbo jumbo from earlier? You see, my omnicidal… not... friend, aside from obvious traps I can also tell when someone's trying to subtly manipulate me. I didn't become the Daimakaicho because I was an empty headed moron! So, no deal! Just send me back to where I came from, and spare both of us this big waste of time.'

"Time is quite a foreign concept to me, my dearest Hild, yet I do understand what you're trying to communicate. A shame, really. Even though, this… is what I'm expecting of you; all of you. To trust no one, except for your own wits; to seek the answers for yourself, and to research everything. For that is the basis of evolution. The perfection of what is, and the framework of what's going to be. And to see that happen, there's no such thing as a sacrifice too great. Even you, a bearer of my will, can be expandable. After all, letting you go is unlikely to bring me the exciting results on so many threads of time; way more than the one you hail from. That, and I already told you this: Your choice is now mine to make, but not the consequences. Those are still yours."

Although she really wanted to show any weaknesses in the Infernal Dragon's presence, Hild had to admit that for the briefest of moments she was actually afraid. Not of her life, but what was going to become of her daughter, as well as the world she was going to leave behind. She even berated herself for the stupidity of tempting fate over something that by all means should've been ancient history by now; yet as the mortals said, crying over spilt milk was pointless. There was of course the chance that she'd be able to survive whatever, Nidhogg had in store for her, given that the death of this one millionth avatar of hers wouldn't have much of an impact to her main body, but realistically speaking that was doubtful. She was dealing with a higher being here, and it was unlikely that Nidhogg would let her slip out of its claws so easily. The damage was done, and given that either way she was at the Dragon's mercy, the Daimakaicho decided to accept what was to come with dignity, rather than grovel to be spared. And case to the point, during the silence that followed, Hild felt herself getting stronger and stronger. A clear indication that her main body was forcefully brought to this… realm -for the lack of a better word to describe her surroundings- and merging with her avatar; their thought processes becoming one once again. And with the determination of her full self, Hild turned her attention back to her double body, that kept staring at her with a strangely bemused expression. "Do me a favor and spare me an unnecessary speech. I may have my regrets, but there's no need to rub that on my face. Let's just get this done."

"Death as punishment may be a popular concept among your fellow linears, but to me, it the denial of possibilities. And while some variables have such an insignificant impact on their timestreams to be taken seriously, the same is not universally true. Those who may affect their timestreams -their world- aren't as easily dismissed. And you still have more than enough potential be wasted like that. Still, that potential is greatly diminished as it is, and to revive it, I'm going to give you an eye opening experience."

"Huh? What eye opening ex-" started to utter Hild, but never finished her sentence as her double literally exploded into a thousand of iridescent threads that gleamed in a chaotic display of colors. Threads, that she soon realized that represented different timestreams, yet they kept unfolding at such a rate that they soon become impossible to count. Still, as they twisted and twirled around each other, a pattern began to emerge; one that fit the shape of a gargantuan dragon, the favorite shell Nidhogg used to represent itself while on the physical world. And that 'dragon' was currently staring at her like a delectable morsel that it was preparing to swallow her whole, as its gaping maw approached her at an alarming rate. Before she could -instinctively- scream though, her voice was caught in her throat, due to the latter being pierced by what seemed to be an imperceptible thin wire that almost acted as the beast's tongue. A wire that turned out to be a since timestream, which slowly absorb the Daimakaicho's consciousness.

And then everything turned dark.

XXX

The rumbling sound of heavy footsteps echoed across the cavernous walls of the underground tunnels that run across the once thriving capital city of Asgard as a means to allow safe passage during emergencies, yet they had now been reduced to the predating grounds of nightmarish beings that patiently bid their time until pray foolishly walked into their territory. Still, no matter how foolish it seemed to step right in what effectively was a trap, these tunnels were in reality the lesser of the two evils, as walking on the ravaged surface world was not for the faint hearted, given the sheer number of extremely hostile creatures that indiscriminately attacked everything and anyone on sight. To the point where if left alone for prolonged period of time, they'd happily turn on each other out of boredom.

:Base to SA-α. Do you copy?:

Coming to a stop, the imposing, five meter tall synthetic readjusted its head mounted antennae to maximize the signal gain, before transmitting back its response. :This is SA-α, I read you loud and clear. Is there a change in the target's status?:

:No, but I still think you're too rash, SA-α. Walking into a trap is one thing, but to do so while on your own is an even bigger mistake. While you may be my commander, as the next on in the line of command, it's my duty to warn you of any dangers, and there's nothing greater than looking for a dead demoness! Reconsider, SA-α and return to the base, right now!:

:No can do. The discovery of any remaining immortal is too much of an opportunity to turn the tide. Even though I must admit that it's quite sketchy, it's also strange that the signature of a deceased demoness showed up. If this is indeed a trap, then the choice of bait is highly illogical. Why would they somehow fake the signature of someone classified as KIA, rather than those we cannot conclusively confirm their status?: retorted SA-α as it carefully progressed through the next intersection, scanning either side of the adjacent tunnels for any signs of hostilities. Finding none, the towering synthetic navigated around the numerous tree roots that protruded from the cracked ceiling, as well as fallen rubble, that could in reality be camouflaged proximity mines.

:So, you're telling me that searching for a… ghost, is worth the risk of losing one of us; let alone our leader?: The electronic sound of a frustrated groan over the comm channel betrayed the other synthetic's annoyance, but either way it knew all too well that it was likely wasting cycles trying to accomplish the impossible. :By Skuld's name, SA-α! Will you listen to reason or-...:

The unexpected end of the transmission put the synthetic on a state high alert, raising its high power ion cannon just in case this turned out to be the opening phase of an ambush. It was customary for Nidhogg's spawn to jam communications with a cacophony of high energy signals they emitted from their bodies, just to prevent them from coordinating an effective defense against them. And the moment the synthetic's sensors picked a sudden movement from across the other end of the corridor, and with its silhouette conforming to the overall parameters of a mantrider, a creature somewhat resembling a three meters tall mantis, with a lot of features borrowed from a drider, SA-α didn't waste time and pulled the trigger.

A brilliant blue flash travelled at hypersonic speeds across the mile long tunnel, colliding with the unsuspecting creature's head, who was still trying to locate the intruder. There was not enough time to even let out its trademark high pitched shriek, since the head -alongside with the brain- was already gone, leaving a shocked body behind that stumbled across the corridor for a good couple of steps on its spindly legs, before it fell flat on the floor. Yet it was not to be approached so carelessly, as the seemingly dead body soon started to spasm and within seconds, exploded in a shower of gore, covering the nearby walls with its highly poisonous and corrosive blood. It was actually so dangerous that even immortals had to keep a fair distance from the dying splatter of a mantrider, since their poisonous blood could make them sick as well; and in high enough doses, even kill them.

Meanwhile, SA-α had taken the opportunity to hide behind a crack in the wall, that over the decades formed a cavity large enough even for someone its size to take cover, leaving only its ion cannon to poke around the corner. Using the gun-mounted camera to safely peek over its hiding position, the synthetic was moderately surprised that there were no more targets by now, since most ambushes typically involved dozens of mantriders, or at the very least a couple of them; never one. 'It must've been a coincidence,' reasoned the heavily armored synthetic, as it reluctantly got out of its covering position and verified that there was practically no activity in the corridor.

:Base to Sa-α! We've got a situation!:

'I knew it! A distraction!' Staring in the direction of his destination, further up in the corridor, Sa-α wasted no time, and broke into a sprint, heading back towards their Base, hoping that it would back in time to assist its comrades during what seemed to be a diversion tactic. :Status report! What's going on over there?:

:Here? Nothing at all, but we've got explosions from across… wait!... from two seperate areas of the city! Three signatures are confirmed, with one more semi recognized, but uncertain; two celestials, one demon, and the last seems some kind of artificial life form:

Despite its inability to display facial expressions, the sheer disbelief was evident by the way it gradually slowed down, and transitioned from a sprint to a brisk walk, until it finally came to a halt and looked back in the direction of its original destination. :Alive immortals? And more of them? Can you confirm it?:

:Positive on both accords. It's impossible to provide a definitive identification from such a range, since they're nowhere as powerful as Hild, but we're certain that we've got at least three immortals. That… or we have two groups of angry ghosts causing explosions across the city. Your orders?:

:We cannot allow them to be overrun by the hordes of Nidhogg's spawn! SA-β, by the authority passed to me by our maker, the energy conservation policies are to be suspended. You're allowed to use whatever means necessary to extract the stranded immortals and take them to safety. Form two teams to approach them from the air, and leave the rest to the Base, where they are to man their battlestations. I'll be back as soon as I secure my original target. Fight well, and take care. That is all, SA-α, over and out.:

:By your command. We shall succeed, or die with honor. SA-β, over and out.:

There was a moment of respite as the suspended the limiter routines of his systems, bringing itself to full combat status, and finally closed the commlink, just as it received the Base's automated confirmation of its elevated combat status. And in the meantime, SA-α's audio sensors picked up the low, rumbling thud of an explosion in the distance, that caused some loose debris to fall down from the ceiling. More than that though, it picked the stampede of mantriders that rushed into the tunnel system, almost as if a swarm of angry bees responding to an intruder.

Thus, it wasted no more time here, and immediately started for its initial destination; and hopefully towards what could very well be their last hope.

---

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

First of all, I wish everyone happy New Year! I hope that you're all doing well, and may this year prove to be better than the last one.

I know that this chapter took a bit longer to finish, but I had recently ended one of my other stories (Ah! The lost contract) and the ending took me ages to complete (I still have an epilogue to write of course). Still, this is most certainly the longest chapter thus far, and I hope that the added content will make up for the delay.

Now, as far as this chapter is concerned I must note that this covers a fairly interesting dialogue that I've been planning for some time. After all, Nidhogg's role in the story is a little different than most people might assume, and this also goes for the characters themselves. Of course, I barely scratched the surface, but I think that it'll leave the rest to the following chapters. Until then, I'll have to say that Nidhogg is the most peculiar character in the story, and leave it like that. Also, for those wondering how it's possible for Nidhogg to reach Hild even though she's in Asgard, then I'll have to point out that the one thing that's in direct contact with Nidhogg, is Yggdrasil.

Keiichi's return to Whirlwind is not just for the sake of old times. As Belldandy noted, allowing him to work his new abilities in a familiar environment can be quite beneficial to him. Of course, the added bonus is to have some of the good old hijinx to happen in the next chapters.