I do not own the Ah! Megami sama / Oh! My Goddess series
When Keiichi first heard about that concept bike expo it was hard to deny that he felt rather anxious to get started with this project. Working on a visionary concept, rather than simply following someone else's footsteps, was the truly artistic aspect of engineering, and what Keiichi loved the most about his job; aside from getting to test the bikes, of course. However, there was also the difference between theory and practice, as bringing something out of one's imagination and into a tangible object was easier said than done. In the human world, the two greatest restrictions for accomplishing that, are money and man-hours.
No matter how visionary a person could be, in the end they need the resources to acquire the components to give substance to their dreams, and the process is time consuming as well. With that in mind, when Keiichi was already presented with what Tamiya and Otaki had gotten for Chihiro, he knew that the road ahead was going to be rather bumpy. Although he was told that they were primarily relying on second hand parts, in order to keep themselves within budget, Keiichi quickly found out that those were no ordinary parts, but salvaged components that came from crashed bikes. While most of them came in a remarkably good condition, at least as far as humans could tell, the dark haired mechanic was no longer a mortal, and to his eyes, there were more than enough reasons to worry.
Deep within the metal body of several of those parts, were small fractures caused by the mechanical stress they were put under, when the bikes they originated from collided with another object. And while it was next to impossible to see them, except by conducting a thorough metallurgical inspection with a variety of fluorescent agents that would allow them to see those fractures under UV light, Keiichi doubted that they could afford to pay for such a thing. To begin with, if Chihiro had the resources, she would've bought brand new components, but that was clearly not the case, so, in the end they had to cut corners to fit everything within their limited budget.
At least the engine seemed to be a better case, as it was an almost new one, with barely any miles on it. Apparently it belonged to an imported, high performance bike that didn't see much use, as its owner found another, even better model to buy. Personally speaking, Keiichi didn't quite like people with such an attitude, yet in this particular case he was at least happy that they'd be able to put the engine to good use. If only the same could've been said about the rest of the frame, Keiichi would've been the happiest god alive… alas that was not the case.
"Keiichi, love… you seem troubled."
Looking up from the assorted parts he had arranged in front of him, Keiichi found Belldandy's gentle eyes staring back at him, and no matter how dire the situation happened to be, a smile crept on his lips. "I won't lie to you, Bell, this is a bit of a tall order. I know it's just a bike build, but I have no idea how to do it with what we already have here."
"Is it really that difficult?" asked Belldandy with a slight frown, and momentarily looked over her shoulder to make sure that Chihiro was still busy showing Laguz how to operate the cash register. And with Tamiya and Otaki out to deliver some goods, the field was clear for the Norn to have a private conversation with her husband. "We've been through even harder situations, love. So, don't give up just like that. If there's anyone who can do it, then it's you, Keiichi."
The dark haired god smiled and tried to hide his blush, averting his gaze for a moment. "Geez, you sure know how to cheer me up, Bell. Still, I don't think it's something I can do, this time around. You see, it's not that I can't build the bike at all, it's just… that I doubt it'll draw much attention. The whole point of creating a concept bike is to present an idea; an innovation. On the other hand, what we've got here are parts to build a racer, and that's not what we should be focusing on. And even if we did, that wouldn't do us any good, since the quality of several components is subpar."
"Keiichi, dear… I believe that deep down you already know what you need to do, but feel inclined to follow someone else's plan. As you said yourself, the point isn't to be the fastest on a track, it's to present an interesting idea. So, as long as you use your imagination, it should be fine. Don't worry about disagreeing with anyone, if you truly feel that you've got a better alternative in mind," said Belldandy, even though it felt rather awkward for her to correct her husband on such a topic; given that he was much more of an expert on the field than her. Still, she felt that he was overthinking about the whole expo, and probably set his expectations too high, which certainly did him no favors for the time being. "Do you actually remember the time you and Chihiro-san made those custom bikes? I believe you used a snowmobile to create a reverse trike, and Chihiro-san used a jet ski engine to power her own bike. I admit that neither design seemed to be suited for a race track, yet the vision behind each bike could be what you should be looking for here, too."
"The vision behind each bike…" mulled Keiichi, as his wife's words seemed to remind him something he had forgotten about designing motorbikes. There were so many different uses for automotive vehicles, that it was simply impossible to come up with a design that excels at everything. The biggest problem however was how to incorporate the supplies Tamiya and Otaki already gathered, into something that appeared innovative enough to attract some attention in an expo. "Hm… hybrid."
"Huh? Urd?" asked the confused Norn, as she couldn't quite understand what her husband was talking about all of a sudden.
"What?... Oh, no, not at all!" replied Keiichi with a nervous chuckle, even though it took him a moment to figure out what Belldandy was referring too; mostly because he was thinking about bikes, rather than his sister-in-law. "There's just a lot of talk about multi powered vehicles as of late. And maybe if I make this work with an additional source of energy, we could get some attention. Besides, those things aren't made to break speed limits, so it should be fine to use anything we've got here, since we won't be pushing it too hard." With that being said though, Keiichi's initial excitement started to wane, as the task of building something that probably required a lot of electrical components seemed way too intimidating for both their budget, as well as his own lack of expertise in that field. "Although, now that I think of it… I'm not an electrical engineer."
"Then why don't you ask Skuld to give you a hand? I'm pretty sure she'd love to help you, love."
"Hm… I'm not so sure about that, Bell. I mean, she'd definitely be a great help, but her designs are a little bit too… advanced for the average human. Like that foldable bike she's using? That's amazing, yet at the same time, we can't take that to an expo," said Keiichi with some disappointment. In all seriousness, he had thought about asking Skuld's input on the subject, but most the teen goddess' designs were far too complex, if not impossible for mortals to duplicate. And while he's no longer a human, that still doesn't mean he can also come up with something he can't quite explain how it works; especially if it uses magic as part of it.
"Oh! Why don't you ask Odal, then? I'm pretty sure he must've something more… down to Earth," suggested Belldandy, and this time she was fairly certain that her husband was far less likely to object. After all, according to Keiichi, their son was indeed interested in Earth technology, aside from all the other things he made by himself, so he was a much better candidate to borrow ideas from.
"You know what? I think I'm going to do just that," replied Keiichi, as he carefully leaned forward to give his wife a little kiss, making sure not to get her covered in grease. "Give me a moment to clean up my hands, and I'll give him a call."
"Sure thing, Keiichi! Although… while you're at it, try to see what he's doing, okay?"
XXX
Asgard, in a parallel timeline
"Absolutely fascinating! The fundamental composition of unit Excalibur is totally different from our own cores. An amalgamation of quantum neural processors and Earth Spirits, it's nowhere as much of a mechanical construct, but a reverse cyborg, with a digital neural processor for a brain, and a body consisting of thousands of synchronised Earth Spirits. No wonder his creator was sentenced to death… the technology necessary to make such a construct encroaches on the forbidden knowledge: the genesis of the divine."
The excitement in SA-γ's voice as the synthetic scientist processed the torrent of data that its sensor array was gathering from the inert form of Excalibur, as the apparently… fake synthetic remained inside an analysis tube. Considering that the robotic scientist didn't need to look at the holo-monitors that surrounded it, SA-γ seemed mostly interested in inspecting the metallic mass that Excalibur had turned into upon the beginning of this reactivation experiment.
At least until they realized that there was no machine to reactivate; just one artificial god.
"Hold on a moment! What are you talking about? I'm a bit lost here," said Peorth, who along with Lind had been patiently waiting for SA-γ to find a way to reboot Excalibur.
"I'll have to agree," added the equally confused Valkyrie, trying to make some sense of the rapidly changing schematics in the holo-monitors around SA-γ, just to get an idea of what was going on. "You're saying that, Excalibur is a… living being? Sure, he had mentioned that he had biological components, but… he's still a synthetic, isn't he?"
Pausing for a moment to turn around and face the two goddesses, SA-γ was about to offer a more detailed explanation, only to postpone that when the two demons entered the room and glanced around the contraptions attached to the tube containing Excalibur's liquid form. "Ah, we have visitors. Please, come inside! I was about to offer my analysis of this bioroid."
"Bio-... what?" asked Surt, shooting an inquisitive look at Lind and Peorth, with the latter merely shrugging back at him in response.
"Bioroid. The term had been used since times immemorial to refer to artificial organisms with a synthesised personality. From the casual observer's point of view, they behave like synthetics running on an AI program, yet their components are organic, and their personalities are their programs. In other words… they're the closest thing to our ancestors." Although the trio was expecting an explanation, when that came from Hild, the surprised immortals shot the demoness a bewildered stare as even Surt heard her say something like that for the first time in her life.
"Our ancestors? What are you getting at here, Hild? Even though we don't exactly know all that much about the proto-demons or proto-gods for that matter, it's still crazy talk. Are you implying that they were… constructs?" asked Surt, feeling a bit strange when he heard his own voice utter that word.
"In a manner of speaking. I suppose it's hard to put it in terms we're more familiar with, but even if I could, I would probably use words like 'reproduction' since they're… friendlier for our mentality. Still, that doesn't change the fact that our progenitors… no, our creators did the same thing like the ones who brought them to life, too: they've made organic 'robots' to serve them." It felt rather surreal for Hild to be able to say all that without her voice dying out at some point in the middle of her explanation, but she assumed that due to circumstances she was no longer subjected to the protector placed on her to prevent any disclosure of sensitive data.
Silence filled the room, perhaps aside from the low hum of the machinery still attached to Excalibur's container, until Peorth decided to speak up. "If that's the case, then how could no one figure it out before? Even Excalibur considered himself as a synthetic, and even acted like a machine at first. How is it possible for him to be… organic?"
"Technically speaking, the definition of organic is highly subjective. Unlike mortal beings whose physical composition is an essential part of their classification, all immortal groups are effectively extra dimensional entities, that could be better described as energy beings. Of course, they also maniest a physical body to properly interact with their surroundings, but the nature of that body isn't as important as their true nature," explained SA-γ before it paused and brought up a few schematics on one of the holo screens. "An Earth Spirit is essentially a lower tier immortal whose primary configuration is better suited to operate in the third dimension space, unlike you, who mostly operate in the ten dimensional continuum. Because of that, Earth Spirits tend to obtain bodies that seem a lot more physical than yours. And depending on their exact element, those bodies might even include inorganic components. Which… in your friend's case, that primarily included metal, electric and mineral based Earth Spirits. As such, the composition of his body greatly resembled that of a polymorphic automaton, to the point where unless he's been thoroughly examined, it could be possible to confuse him for a genuine machine. Now, in terms of his mind, a bioroid is essentially an artificially created organism. This effectively means that unlike natural occurring beings, bioroids have no ancestral blueprints for their neural networks. Basically, they're totally blank slates, lacking any 'instinctual' configuration for their minds. As such, they need some kind of AI program to provide them with their cognitive abilities, since those don't naturally occur to them. That AI was probably your friend's original personality, but from the looks of it, he also possesses an evolution function based on self-learning that progressively makes him less mechanical from your perspective. Given enough time, I believe that he might find it harder to consider himself a synthetic, although depending on the circumstances, I don't think that the transition is going be easy."
"But, if that's all true, then how come none of us ever picked any celestial energy from him?" asked the rose goddess, considering that any artificial god should at the very least possess some amount of energy corresponding to their own species.
"As they say, the Rome wasn't built in a single day. I doubt that Excalibur is capable of generating his own celestial energy, aside from augmenting and refining any that's offered to him. Other than that, it's going to take a while until he's even close to accomplish that on his own. However, given the uniqueness of this case, I don't have any information to use for a comparison. So, in the end, I've got no idea as to how long that's going to take."
"Excuse me, but as interesting as this all seems to be, I haven't heard anything about waking him up. He's still not work-... I mean, he's still unconscious," said Lind as she pointedly glanced in the tube's direction, causing SA-γ to turn and follow her gaze. "Does this mean that you can't do anything for him?"
"I'm afraid that you're right. Even though he still considers himself as a synthetic and believes that he operates as one, the truth is that his primary cognitive abilities are independent of his digital processor, that in reality is nothing more than an artifice," replied the synthetic, only to further confuse the Valkyrie, but this time SA-γ realized that this was the case and further elaborated. "Right now, I'm certain that Excalibur's electronic part of his persona is nothing more than a leftover of the AI that initially acted as his phyche's framework. Though he can reassemble his logic core to imitate that of a computer, in reality, that's a partially subconscious decision. In his current state however, he turned into a purely zero-instruction set computational unit. Which… more or less is true for all of us here, myself included. Furthermore, the individual Earth Spirits from which Excalibur consists of, had long started to fuse into a single entity, with the according psychological consequences."
"In other words, we're dealing with a being not unlike a Machiner, but on much higher level," concluded Hild after listening carefully to the entire exchange between SA-γ and the two goddesses. And though she found it really interesting to see how Excalibur would turn out once his assimilation process was complete, she had other problems to deal with at the time being. "But, I suppose that means that we'll have to wait until he wakes up?"
"Essentially, yes. I'm afraid that I don't have much experience on how to work with such beings, although I can confirm that he's undergoing repairs on his own. So, there's no need to worry about his well being."
Offering a nod, Hild crossed her arms and seemed skeptical, even though it was for the sake of buying time in order to consider how to phrase her request without getting a nasty response from the two goddesses. "In that case, how about we discuss something else? You see, I've been wondering about this ever since we stepped inside this vessel… well… submarine, but, it's class is capable of carrying null point weapons. So, are they still present?"
There was long silence as every set of eyes in the room turned to the demoness, who did her best to ignore them. However, considering that SA-γ was more or less expecting this very question, the synthetic didn't seem surprised to say the least. "Yes, although there are only three medium range missiles left. We more or less used nine so far, and I must admit that it got us nowhere."
"Well… there goes that option," said Hild with a sigh. Before she could ask anything else, the sound of SA-γ's equipment brought her and the others' attention to Excalibur's tube, where the liquid metal inside of it began to churn.
XXX
Hagall's villa, Niflheim
Not wanting to have his wife wait for him to return from the trip to Helheim, and on their very first night in her homeworld as well, Odal wasted no time to get back from Hel's domain, and even picked some flowers to decorate their room with. Sure, he had no idea whether that was a thing with demonesses or not, but with him already being somewhat late, he simply went ahead with his idea and tried not to worry too much. There just wasn't enough time to come up with something more elaborate, so he simply made a beeline for his wife's house… and promptly spent a good couple of minutes gawking at it.
There was opulence, and then there was showing off. Which ironically enough was the case here, especially when one took into account that Hagall wasn't from some well off family; at least as far as he could tell.
The villa he's been told of… appeared to be much bigger than he originally envisioned, as it almost rivalled the Daimakaicho's own manor, even though it still had ways to go until it matched it in both size and splendor. Still, as far as residences were concerned, Odal hadn't seen anything more majestic, and for a moment even wondered just how many demons Hagall needed to maintain this place. Only to find out moments later, when a group of more than two dozen demonesses assembled by the main gate, causing him to slightly hesitate to approach.
After all, while they did maintain a respectful and business-like demeanor, Odal could see the way some of them were staring at him. Not that he actually blamed them, given that from their perspective he was nothing more than a totally random god who somehow got himself lucky and married the second highest ranking demoness in Niflheim. Perhaps worse than all was the fact that said marriage was an arranged one, making him a far less likeable individual, if his own species didn't already alienate them to begin with. "Um… hello."
"Welcome home, master!"
The surprisingly polite greeting, which was followed by a deep bow nonetheless, almost caught Odal off guard. After all, he was bracing himself for a much colder welcome, although he probably underestimated these demonesses' sense of professionalism. Thus, the god needed a moment to regain his composure, as to avoid making a fool of himself in front of his wife's staff. But before he could utter a single word, another demoness joined the rest of the maids, although she didn't seem to be one of them. As a matter of fact, the deceptively young demoness in the frilly dress was none other than Ehwaz, who was not only part of Hagall's group, but also acted as her right-hand woman whenever she was busy elsewhere. And while Odal never had much of a chance to talk with her, it was already evident by her condescending look that she was going to be a pretty tough customer.
"Well, well… took you long enough to get here. Hagall did mention of giving you a map, just in case you got lost, but I never thought you'd actually need it."
"Who said I got lost? I just returned from Helheim," came the god's reply, as he calmly approached the tiny demoness. After all, he already knew that Ehwaz is one mean tsundere, and thus likely to get on anyone's nerves if they took everything she said at face value, which necessitated a more relaxed approach when dealing with her. "Still, I wasn't expecting to meet you here, of all places. Did Hagall ask you to wait for me?"
"No, I just happened to finish a bit earlier, that's all," replied Ehwaz ever so defensively, crossing her arms as she gave her boss' husband a long stare. "And considering that Hagall did seem to be worried about something, I assumed it was you. So, I came here to make sure you don't misbehave."
"Seriously? What do you think I am? A kid?" asked the peeved Odal, since it was becoming increasingly harder to maintain his composure. And the 'holier than thou' attitude of that half pint demoness did little to help matters, too.
As a matter of fact, the moment she saw his eyebrow twitch in annoyance, a tiny grin formed in her face, and then merely pointed at their surroundings. "Oh, you probably don't know, but in reality, you're the only guy in this villa. After all, most of the demonesses here are employed as maids, and in case you didn't notice, they're not bad looking either."
'We're in the middle of a goddamn crisis, and… she's worried about giving Hagall the horns? As if I'd do that in any other situation, still…' Letting out a frustrated groan, Odal felt more than compelled to excuse himself and find his way on Hagall's bedroom, where he could at least get some peace and quiet. Until… he remembered a tiny detail from Ehwaz's words from before. "Did you say that Hagall's troubled?"
"Avoiding the question, huh? But… sure, she does act a bit off. I dunno if it's just the pressure or something, but she's a lot quieter than normal, and occasionally spaces out. So, I thought that there was something going on with you."
'Great… just what I needed. A demonic version of aunt Skuld from her younger days, but in an extra-loli package and far more vicious than most mothers-in-law. Hm… that reminds me.' Even though he wasn't exactly planning to ask about it directly, Odal had a hunch that the main problem was that Hild's mysterious disappearance left Hagall worried that the closest she had for a mother figure was gone for good. At least back when she sealed her, Hagall was sure that Hild's well being was reassured, but now… without any new information, it was up to anyone's guess whether the Daimakaicho and the others were even alive. "I'm not avoiding any questions, you dumbass. It's just that you're being so ridiculous that I don't even know what to say. I mean, it's so obvious that she's worried about Hild-sama."
"What the?!... Did you… just call me a dumbass?" asked the incredulous Ehwaz, finding it hard to believe that anyone directly descended from those two would talk back to her like this. "Heh, it looks like I underestimated you, little god."
"You're one to speak, loli-chan," groaned Odal, after having to deal with yet another immortal who assumed that just because he was Belldandy's son, he had to be younger than her. And coming from someone who supposedly heard his story, made it even more aggravating.
"Who's loli-chan?" angrily demanded Ehwaz, only to have Odal point back at her, and with a bored expression on his face nonetheless. "You… You jerkass god! Do you really want to pick a fight with me, huh?"
Rather than offering a reply, Odal merely stared back at her for several tense seconds, until he decided that this farce had lasted for long enough already, and let out a sigh. "Nah… if you couldn't even defeat my parents, then I'm way too much for you to handle. After all, I'm not Ansuz's grandson in name only."
"Well said!"
The rogue god came to an abrupt halt when a gruff, yet somewhat feminine voice boomed from across the corridor, almost as if its owner didn't even care about everyone's eardrums. And if he was right -which much to his sorrow, he was- the that voice belonged to none other than Thrym: the most dangerous demoness in Hagall's group. 'Give me a break! The one time I decide to brag, and she shows up?' Worse yet, after saying all that, his only option was to stand still and act cool, while that tower of muscle approached him with the most pleasant smile on her face; at least for someone who could make a bodybuilder look like a wimp. "Ah, I didn't know that you were here, Thrym."
"Yeah, I didn't have much to do, so I came here to make sure that the chibi didn't go too hard on you," said Thrym as she casually scratched the back of her head. And much to Ehwaz's horror, she kept on. "She was really worried after Hagall left with you, and wanted to see what you were made of. But instead of being on the defensive, you went all out on her. That was so cool!"
"Oh, shut up you dumb muscle!" protested Ehwaz, as she hurried across the feur and tried to push Thrym back to the corridor she came for. Not that it was possible, but even then that didn't stop her from trying. "Why are you even here?"
"Hey, I wanted to say hello to the kid, too. At least, before the others arrive with Hagall," casually replied Thrym, without even commenting about her comrade's failed attempts to push her out of the room. Which of course prompted Ehwaz to give up, after she accepted the impossibility of such a task.
'See? I told you that some demons like this kind of thing,' sent Odal over the link he shared with Holy Bell, who admittedly felt intrigued by his choice to get into a seemingly pointless argument with Ehwaz. And not only that, but even some of the maids that stared coldly at him earlier, now seemed to accept his presence much better than they did moments before. 'As they say, when in Rome, do as the Romans do.'
'Not to the point of throwing yourself into the Colosseum, Odal. This is going to come and bite you in the back,' warned the angel, even shaking her head inside her dreamscape.
And in a case of bad karma, or just plain old bad luck, Thrym chose this moment to place a hand on Odal's shoulder, as he had gone silent for a while, at least from everyone else's perspective. "You know, it's going to take a while until Hagall comes back, so, how about you put your skills to the test? I wouldn't mind a little sparring session."
Although he tried not to show any emotion, Odal almost froze on the spot, as the towering demoness was more than intimidating enough, even when she was smiling. It went without saying that at this point, he deeply regretted everything he said, as it seemed that he was in for a world of pain. Still, no matter how much he wished to avoid fighting, there were times when it was just unavoidable. 'So be it.' Letting out a sigh, Odal threw a thumb over his shoulder, pointing at the garden outside. "On one condition, though. We're keeping this outside, and nowhere close anything that breaks. Understood?"
"Oh, sure! I'd hate to have Hagall all pissed off because I wrecked our house," replied Thrym, much to Odal's confusion.
"Wait… our house?" asked the god, almost dreading what the answer would be, and even shot a sideways glance at Ehwaz who gleefully waved back at him. 'You've got to be kidding me!'
"Well, Hagall did invite us to stay here, as soon as she got the place," said Thrym as she scratched the back of her head, while Ehwaz laughed in Odal's expense.
"Did you seriously think that it was only you, Hagall and a dozen sexy maids?" managed the childish demoness, between her fits of laughter. "No, you're going to have us as your housemates, too! Aren't you happy?"
While it was of little consequence to him, given the sheer size of this villa, Odal wasn't going to let her have the last laugh here. "Of course I'm happy. This way, I don't need to buy a garden gnome."
It took Ehwaz a couple of seconds to figure out what the god meant by that, and the moment she did, her face turned into the same shade as her markings. And to make matters worse, everyone around her seemed like they were trying hard to contain their laughter, which only infuriated her even more. "Thrym! Give him a good thrashing! Go! CHARGE!"
XXX
Asgard
With everything else going on at the moment, the Daitenkaicho really couldn't afford any more surprises. And for that very reason, he had to make absolutely sure that he gave the Doublet System's log files a good look, just in case there were any delayed orders in there. Although he was certain that the System wasn't triggered, this didn't necessarily eliminate the possibility that a doublet pair had been broken. If either member of the destined pair happened to be in suspended animation, and the other died in the meantime, the Doublet System wouldn't activate. Instead, an order would be left in the system's log, and take effect only after the other party was released.
Still, that wasn't the only possible scenario of a delayed activation of the Doublet System, but then again, it wasn't as if the system was what really enforced the death of the other half of a Doublet. In reality, it was the pact itself that caused the two 'furthest twins' to share their life, and in the event of one dying the same happened to the other. Yet regardless of the circumstances, the log entry is more than enough proof whether one of the pairs was broken, and in most cases the exact location is also recorded. Without a single entry for any of the missing immortals though, it was clear as day that they had to be alive in some shape or form.
The only problem with that theory though, was that it still didn't answer some very simple questions, that must've been going on in everyone's head; at least, those privileged enough to know the truth. And even though he can't exactly meet Hild ever again, this changes nothing of the fact that he still cares about her wellbeing. Personal sentiments aside though, if word got out that both the Daimakaicho, and the ruler of Muspelheim were gone, then there were no guarantees what kind of power upheaval that could cause to the demonic realms. Quite frankly, a civil war amongst demonkind was a very realistic possibility.
Figuring that the best way to get any definitive answers was by asking the most likely suspect behind Hild's disappearance: Yggdrasil itself. Granted, that wasn't exactly the most sound of methods, as aside from the inherent risks of making contact with the World Tree, the very fact that Daimakaicho vanished while attempting something similar was more than ominous. If things went horribly wrong, Tyr could very well share the same fate as Hild, leaving both sides without their respective leaders at a time when tensions were already at a critical point. That was exactly why he tried to keep this a secret from Frigg and Ansuz, since the last thing he needed was to have them chew him for taking unnecessary risks. Which was also why he chose the most indirect route to the Tree's Complex, trying to make sure that whoever happened to see him, wouldn't immediately figure out his destination.
'Not that they should track me, but then again… Why do I feel like I've been watched?' The Daitenkaicho came to a stop and carefully surveyed his surroundings, checking the entire length of the corridor he's been walking through to get to the Yggdrasil Complex, yet no matter how much he tried, there was nothing there to justify his hunch. Even a quick scrying spell failed to provide him with any results, at which point Tyr had no other option but to dismiss this whole thing as part of his imagination. 'Maybe all the stress is starting to affect me. If that's the case, I really need some rest after all this.'
Just as he was about to resume walking towards his destination, Tyr noticed something, or rather someone leaning against one of the columns in the distance, even though he was absolutely sure that there was no one there just a moment ago. More importantly though, the very identity of that person was a total shock for the unsuspecting god, who took a few steps back in sheer disbelief and fear. "What the?! HILD?! What are you… doing here?!"
Taking this as her cue to approach the distraught god, the bronze skinned demoness leisurely sauntered towards him, grinning ever so slightly as he got to take a better look at her. Although virtually identical to the Daimakaicho, this demoness had a set of very different markings that her, that basically consisted of a pair of double claw like marks running vertically under her eyes, and a similarly oriented symbol on her forehead. The latter could be easily mistaken as the number 8, although closer inspection would reveal that it was far too elongated and squished to be an actual number; rather, it was the symbol for infinity. "Hm… it seems that even making a quiet entrance took you off guard. Or is it my choice of a body that startles you? I must admit that I'm not generally fond of these squishy bodies, but since she didn't want it, I had no other use for it. But I'm a naturally curious being, and I thought it would've been interesting to appear before you in this particular form. Can't say I'm disappointed."
As much as he wanted to say something back at her, Tyr couldn't seem to overcome his sense of fear, and it wasn't cowardice that seemed to be the problem here. There was something fundamentally wrong with this demoness -her appearance aside- that brought up an almost instinctive fight or flee response from his body. But once he took a moment to consider what he's been told, Tyr began to slowly piece together this puzzle, no matter how implausible those claims seemed to be. "Alright… who, or rather what are you?"
"Somehow… it feels sad that you're not even going to take a guess. I was really looking forward to testing your deductive abilities, but you just want me to tell you my name? Where's the fun in that? Oh, well… nothing gained, nothing lost," said the demoness with a somewhat disappointed tone, as she came to a stop just a couple of steps away from Tyr. "I've been known with a lot of names over my eternal lifetime, but I prefer something as simple as Nidhogg. Pleased to meet you, linear one."
Now, Tyr had been expecting something more along the line of her being yet another Dryad, from who knows where, but this… was a lot harder to swallow. At no point in all recorded history had Nidhogg taken the form of either demon or god, as both were essentially creations of Yggdrasil. Which was exactly why he seriously doubted that this demoness was actually Nidhogg itself. "Preposterous! You're implying that you're the Infernal Dragon?"
"I'm not implying anything, Tyr. I outright said it," tutted the Daimakaicho's double, in an almost eerie imitation of Hild's mannerisms. Yet interestingly enough, Nidhogg seemed perfectly willing to offer its -or rather her- identity without much of a fuss, which practically eliminated any benefits from her current form. "Oh? What's with the long face? Are you disappointed that I'm not your ex for real? Well, I could've been, or rather she could've used this body I've offered her, but… no, it seems no one really trusts me anymore."
"Nobody trusted you; ever," forcefully corrected Tyr, and even narrowed his eyes at the 'demoness' who had the nerve to try to play mind games with him. Sure, in reality he no less afraid of this… thing, but for the time being this demoness seemed to be in an amicable mood. Still, this was also the being that would -and had- killed others at a drop of a hat, meaning that he had to be careful not to agitate her far too much, and get his hands full with something way beyond his league.
"Tell me about it," muttered Nidhogg, much to Tyr's sheer disbelief, as her mannerisms were becoming more and more similar to that of a normal… person. Worse yet, if Nidhogg could make doubles of Hild, then the same could be said about practically anyone.
A prospect that left Tyr with a true sense of dread, since he couldn't imagine worrying about everyone he interacted with on a daily basis being a fake made by Nidhogg to infiltrate their society for its own nefarious agenda. 'Even thinking about it makes my skin crawl. I wonder if I could find a way to tell who's who, before this… thing starts messing around with us.' Despite not having said anything, Tyr noticed Nidhogg screw her facial features in a clear sign of displeasure, and for the briefest of moments, he worried that the Dragon just had had enough with him.
"For your information, linear one, I'm not a thing, no matter how that other thing refers to me. And I'm pretty aware of the irony behind statement, so don't bother pointing it out. Additionally, when using a female body, I'd prefer to be addressed with the pronouns she and her, rather than the asexual it." Pausing all of a sudden to inspect her body, Nidhogg seemed almost amused by her current form, to the point that earned herself a curious stare from Tyr. "To be tied to linear body, requires the mind of this avatar of mine to synchronize with it, and therefore subjected to the same limitations of your kind. No wonder I never found it worth the trouble to try this before. Yet, ironically enough this is so much fun, that I might declare this as a usefulness all on its own. After all, irrelevant as they may be, your social interactions seem amusing; for what little usefulness they provide to me. But when you're eternal in every sense of the word, novelty can be a quite welcome change of pace."
The sheer self-pleasure in Nidhogg's voice as she carried on about her views of her current body… left Tyr with the impression that, should he allowed her to keep going, he might end up witnessing something he'd rather not see from someone who effectively had Hild's appearance. "That's all fine and dandy, but I still fail to see what they have to do with me. Or rather, why you chose to spend your… I suppose invaluable time in this manner. Even as a novelty, having some chit-chat with me must be practically pointless from your perspective. So, forgive me if I don't exactly buy this excuse."
"Well, that's a darn shame. Here I was trying to have a meaningful conversation with a linear being, only to end up proving myself: you're far too dim-witted to recognize an opportunity for what it truly is. Still, just in case you change up your mind…" Reaching into what was actually a goddess' attire, since Nidhogg probably didn't care too much about the fashion differences between the two main immortal factions, she produced a business card and promptly handed it over to Tyr. "Feel free to give me a call. I'm quite sure that you're going to find my information quite valuable, and at a fairly decent price, too."
If this whole exchange wasn't bizarre enough, Tyr was now holding the Infernal Dragon's… business card that came complete with an address, phone number and even digital mail. As a matter of fact, Tyr would've normally dismissed all that as part of a joke, but given who -or rather what- was involved here, he was somewhat skeptical that the Dragon would bother with practical jokes. "I'll keep that in mind. Still, can you at least answer me something that's bothering me."
"Hm? Could it be… about Hild's whereabouts?" coyly asked the Infernal Dragon, as she knew that she had him there, and was likely going to use that to her advantage once he took the bait. "After all, I was the one who sent her, there. So, it's only fair that I keep tabs on her. Anything in particular that interests you?"
"How about the whole reason for sending her to… wherever she currently is? And you did mention about her asking for a new body?" Granted, Tyr knew that Nidhogg had no reason to tell him the truth, especially when it was next to impossible for him to verify those claims. Yet, this may had been the only chance to get any kind of answers, and in a sense, Nidhogg was right about one thing: he had to take the opportunity now that it was available to him.
"Ah, it's kind of simple. She wanted to get rid of that curse of hers, but couldn't do so on her own. So, she kinda tried to enlist that thing's assistance, but instead I took the chance to answer her call. Yet for all my trouble for listening to her, she was even worse than you on so many ways, that I decided to send her to your grandson's timeline, just to build some character," said Nidhogg ever so casually, almost as if she was talking about the weather.
"Build character?" countered Tyr with a snort, before he added under his breath. "Sounds more like jerking her chain, if you ask me."
"Which is more of less true about your job in general. So, spare me the sermons, mister high god," breathed Nidhogg as she sarcastically rolled her eyes, much to Tyr's chagrin. "Of course, if you feel like hearing more of this, I wouldn't mind sharing some details… providing that you'll do me a little favor."
Although returning the favor was more than tempting, Tyr felt that escalating this even further could end up with him finding out more about Hild's current location, by joining her. Which as useful as it may have been for his ex, the same couldn't be said for pretty much everyone else, if he disappeared into thin air at this crucial moment. "Even if you want a favor, I don't think there's anything I'm capable of, that you already can't do on your own."
"Actually, that's a valid point, indeed. However, there is one little thing that I'd need some help with, and that's to let me have an audience with… well… that thing."
Just the way she spat that last word, left Tyr with no doubt as to who she was referring to, although in all seriousness that sounded like a bad idea to him. Allowing any avatar of Nidhogg to enter the Tree's chamber felt like a rather foolish thing to do, and Tyr likened to think that he was no idiot. Thus, the Daitenkaicho merely shook his head, and made an attempt to sound somewhat diplomatic about this. "I'm sorry, but it's going to take more than that to convince me. Taking anyone's word for a fact, even yours, isn't something I can afford right now. But, I suppose I do have your number, so if I change my mind, I'll let you know." The Daitenkaicho even flashed the business card he got from her, mere moments ago, and judging by the looks of it, the aberrant demoness got the point.
Rather than pressure him any further, Nidhogg merely tossed her hair over her shoulder, as she had them in what seemed to be Hild's old style, and offered Tyr a casual wink. "In that case, I hope you'll change your mind while such a thing is possible. Not so sound morbid, but I doubt that your ex will be thrilled to hop from one dead world to another. Of course, if that comes to happen, you'll be too dead to worry about it, so make use of what time you still have. Ta ta!"
Watching her wave at him, Tyr wondered if he should return what he knew was a sarcastic gesture, but either way the demoness vanished before he reached a decision. Instead, he remained silent for a long time after Nidhogg's departure and tried to pull his thoughts together, as hard as that appeared to be. On one hand there was the fact that for a couple of minutes he was more or less conversing with something that resembled and even acted like Hild -to a degree- yet on the other hand that may be what also made this into such a disturbing experience. Tyr never thought that the day would come when Nidhogg would just walk around the place disguised as one of them. Perhaps more than anything else, this little interaction shattered any notion that the Dragon was simply a chaotic being, only capable of senseless destruction. Worse yet, he could tell that from the very first moment she started talking to him, to the way she smiled just before her departure, Nidhogg was playing him like a violin. 'Then again, she or rather it, had been fooling us for all this time, too. Business card… my foot! That's not a business card!'
Holding up the item in question to give a better look, it soon became apparent that this was no ordinary translucent card, to the likes of those they typically produced in Asgard. Instead, what he had in his hands was a mini holographic projector integrated into the borders of the card, yet without increasing its overall dimensions by a millimeter or so. Stranger yet was the fact that as far as he could tell, there was no magic involved, as he failed to sense anything of the sort. Which clearly implied that this was a digital device; yet one that was clearly way beyond their technological level. 'And to imagine that all this time we thought that bloody dragon was stupid. Guess we've been had from the very beginning. This… can be bad; far worse than anyone can imagine. Ugh… I really need a stiff drink.'
XXX
Hagall's villa, Niflheim
Having his phone ring amidst all this silliness was more than enough to make Odal jump, as he almost feared that it was yet another crisis that loomed over them. However, as he noticed his parent's number, the god breathed out a sigh of relief and casually tapped his screen to answer the call. "Hey there, dad. Don't tell me you already missed me."
"Uh… Sorry for calling you all of a sudden," came the apologetic voice of Keiichi from the other end of the line. "I've been meaning to call you for a while now, but we ended up getting too busy when a client showed up all of a sudden. And then, we had Urd and Mara drop by to check on us, and then… I suppose you get where this is getting, right?"
"Yeah… I guess you've been quite busy on your end, too," said Odal with a chuckle, as this all seemed quite normal by his family's standards.
"Too, you said? Is everything alright there?" asked Keiichi in a much more serious tone, as he had no idea what was going on over there. After all, he was vaguely aware of the problems that was keeping everyone else busy, and considering that Hagall was Hild's second-in-command, he assumed that she immediately got involved in all that. After all, he doubted that Hild would've recalled them if there wasn't enough of a serious reason to do so. "You're not involved into anything dangerous, right?"
For a moment, Odal felt tempted to actually tell his father the truth, but decided against it. In all seriousness this whole thing about having a match with Thrym was nothing in comparison to some of the hardships he faced in the past, so letting his parents worry about it, wasn't an option. Still, he didn't feel right to tell them all sorts of lies, so he decided to stick to the truth; just… part of it. "I'm pretty fine actually. Hagall has quite the house… no, I think more of a villa, actually. Hey, I'll send you some photos first thing tomorrow."
"Really? You've got a whole villa all by yourselves?"
"Well… for the most part." Once again, the temptation to bring up that little terror or a demoness was strong, but Odal decided that keeping the problematic part out was for the best. "We do have about two dozen maids living with us. Sure, they're not exactly live-in maids, as some of them have their own houses, but you get the idea." Judging by the somewhat embarrassed stutter coming from the other end of the line, it appeared that Keiichi had indeed gotten the idea, even if this was partially his intention. "Say, you want of photo of them, too?"
"No! That won't be necessary!" hastily said Keiichi, taking a moment to check in the kitchen's direction, just in case Belldandy happened to hear any of this. And while she didn't seem to be aware of what the men -or rather gods- were talking about, she did choose that moment to literally poke her head out of the kitchen, causing Keiichi to nearly jump in surprise when he found her staring back at him. "Oh, right! I almost forgot about what I wanted to ask you!"
Given the urgency in his father's voice, Odal deduced that either his mother, or one of his aunts walked in on him, and thus decided to give the poor guy a break. After all, one could go that far before a joke lost its levity, and turned into a cruel prank. "Sure thing. What's the problem?"
"Well, we kind of want to participate in a concept bike expo, although we've got nothing to show for ourselves. I mean, we do have the parts to build a somewhat decent bike, but it's just not going to cut it all by itself. That's why I thought to use something extra to get some attention, and I wondered if you could give me a hand with that."
"Sure thing, dad. Although, what do you have in mind?"
"Actually, I was thinking of something hybrid. You know, there's a lot of talk about this kind of things, so I wondered if we could get some extra attention by making one," said Keiichi, although given the silence that followed up his announcement, he began to wonder if it wasn't such a great idea after all. "Uh… Odal? Are you still there?"
"Yes, I am. Although, are you really sure about this? Building something like that is a lot trickier than you might think. And just how much time do you have?" asked the confused Odal, given how unusual his father's suggestion seemed to be.
"I'm afraid not nearly as much as I'd like," admitted Keiichi with a heavy sigh. "That's why I'm looking for anything to give us an edge over the competition. Even something that I'd normally wouldn't consider."
"Look, no offence but that's not exactly your style. However, I do have to agree that something like that might just do the trick, so, what do you think of giving you a front wheel drive system? It's a simple electric-driven wheel, and you practically build the rest of the bike as you know, with the addition of an alternator to get some energy from the gasoline engine, plus a power bank that you'll have to assemble from lithium-ion batteries. Sorry, but I don't have any of those in supply, as they're kinda obsolete from my perspective. And while the hydrogen cell I was using for this retro design I made a long time ago, it still requires hydrazine hydrate. So… yeah, I can't give you that."
"Wait a second! Isn't hydrazine… rocket fuel? How does that even count as a retro design?" asked the surprised Keiichi, as he felt that he probably missed something here.
"Believe it or not, they used hydrazine hydrogen cells in the 60s for the US space program. The idea is to use the normally liquid hydrazine as an alternative to pure hydrogen gas that has to be contained in either cryogenic temperatures as a liquid or under extreme pressure. On top of it, hydrazine can react in a cell even without the presence of an extremely strong acid, so you don't need to include rare metals like platinum to resist the corrosive effect of the acid. Overall the cell is cheaper, and pretty much does the same thing, since hydrazine basically breaks into atmospheric nitrogen and water, once it passes through the cell. Now, I did kind of use a slightly different approach, by putting hydrazine into a tank along with a double-bonded carbon-oxygen carbonyl to create a safe solid called hydrazone. The only thing left is to add water into the solid fuel to release the hydrazine, and everything's much safer that way." Taking a moment to catch his breath, since he more or less said all that in one go, Odal realized that in his… enthusiasm he probably confused his father even more than he already was. "Still… how about we use batteries? Sounds better?"
"Considering that I only got half of what you said?... Batteries will have to do," replied Keiichi in a somewhat flat yet not overly sarcastic tone, as Odal's whole explanation was a bit too technical even for a motorhead like him to understand. Then again, he was a mechanic, not a rocket scientist. 'Come to think of it… did Odal just learn all that slowly over a long period of time, or was he like Skuld from the beginning? Will I also end up like this after a few… centuries?' After all, he only had a couple of years worth of experience, but unlike before, he could now gain a lot more, over the course of his immortal life.
"Excellent. In that case, just grab some 18650 lithium batteries. They're the most convenient size to find in the market. Also, if you can't get enough of them from a local shop, remember that you can always order them online. As for the rest, there's no need to worry about anything. I'll have them shipped to the temple first thing tomorrow morning. Just ask aunt Skuld to give you a hand with the assembly, and you should be good." This time around, Odal tried to keep things as simple as he possibly could, considering that his previous attempt at an explanation left much to be desired. "Actually, can you grab a pen and paper to write something down?"
"Sure thing." Scribbling down his son's instructions as to what exactly they need to get, Keiichi had to admit that he was genuinely impressed. The notes he took not only covered the amount of batteries they needed to get, but also all the additional supplies to interconnect them, and even all the precautions they had to take while charging them. It was basically a step by step tutorial on how to build what most automotive industries took months to figure out, and yet his son pretty much recited that on top of his head. "You know, just out of curiosity… Have you built this kind of vehicle before?"
"Uh… kind of? I mean, not exactly the same thing, but I used the same principle with the construction machines I needed to rebuild Earth in my timeline," casually said Odal, before he realized his folly and immediately changed the topic. "Anyway!... It's going to be a child's play for aunt Skuld to build those power banks, so don't sweat about the details. And since the electric motor and DC to AC transformer are on me, you'll save tons of money, too. You just build the rest of it the way you know, and it's going to be fine."
"Thanks, Odal! You're a real lifesaver! I'll be looking forward to getting them. Oh, and the photos, too!" Even though he attempted to ignore that little errant comment about his son's original timeline, yet Keiichi certainly didn't miss it. Still, he knew that asking for details wasn't the best of ideas, as Odal probably needed something positive in his life, and not to be constantly reminded of the past. After all, if all he did was talk about it at every given opportunity, then it sure wouldn't allow him to move forward with his life, and that wasn't exactly what Keiichi wished for anyone. And that was why he tried to help bring some positivity in Odal's life, even if he really wished he could do more than this. Then again, considering the circumstances of how -and when- they met, it would've been too awkward to try and poke his nose in his son's life. So, the best he could do was to slowly work his way to become the other god's friend, before he could actually fill in the role of his counterpart from that doomed timeline.
Just when he was about to answer, Odal came to a pause as a wicked idea popped in his mind. "Very well. I'll see if the maids have anything nice to wear, aside from their uniforms." It was a joke of course, but it was still funny to hear his father stammer from the other end of the line, only for another voice to cut into their conversation.
"What's all this talk about… maids?"
That, was unfortunately none other than the Norn of the present, and judging by the sound of it, she wasn't pleased at all. As a matter of fact, Odal could clearly hear Keiichi's desperate attempts to placate his wife, since she didn't seem to appreciate that little joke nearly as much as the rogue god would've liked. And it wasn't just that, but this lengthy phone call was starting to make the said demonesses quite impatient, as they waited for him to get ready, too. "Noting! Nothing at all! It was just a joke, mom! You don't seriously think I'd ask my wife's staff to pose for a photo or something!"
"Hm… I suppose not," mulled Belldandy, before she finally relented with a heavy sigh. "It's just that your father is quite good at getting surrounded by pretty ladies, even though he's not actively seeking their attention. So, it would've been too hard on your poor wife, if you start acting like this."
'Look who's talking about acting… Maybe it's her pregnancy? Yeah, that must be it. Goddesses get those mood swings way earlier than mortal women do.' Making a note to tell his father about this later, Odal tried to avoid making matters even worse than they currently were. And as if that wasn't enough, the glare that he was getting from Ehwaz reminded him of the whole nonsense about his promise to spar with Thrym. "You're worrying too much, mother. And you know that this isn't good for you right now. Just take it easy, and try to relax a bit."
"I… I know… It's just that with everything going on, I can't help it," admitted Belldandy, even though she probably missed the main reason behind her odd behavior. Then again, she wasn't totally wrong either, so, it didn't strike her as strange to think that this was likely culprit of her current mood swings. "Oh, I almost forgot! Have you settled in your new home?"
"Actually… no, not yet. I had a few things to take care of before I came here, so, I haven't even seen my bedroom." Sure, there was one more thing he had to take care of, although telling that to his mother was foolish at best. Even if she didn't come all the way to Niflheim to teach those demonesses a lesson in manners, she could always involve Ansuz or another of their relatives. However, the last thing Odal needed was to have others baby him, especially when in reality he was older than them.
"Then don't let us waste your time!" exclaimed the excited Belldandy. "Please, try to make yourself comfortable in your new home, and we'll catch up later!"
"Alright, mom. I'll do just that." Ending the call with the same cheerfulness as the middle Norn, Odal had to admit that lying to his mother wasn't exactly ideal, but in a sense the lesser of two evils. Any other alternative would've resulted in her worrying about him, and that was the last thing he needed right now. 'Ugh… let's get this over shall we?'
XXX
Unsurprisingly, by the time he finished talking with his parents on the phone, the maids have already gathered in the villa's rather extensive backyard. Actually, this place was nearly as big as, if not even bigger than, the whole Tariki Hongan temple complex, yet far more lavishly decorated. Even though it was meant to be a garden, there were decorative arches, as well as ornate lamp posts to illuminate this area during nighttime, and most importantly, a hedge maze that framed the perimeter wall. Still, Odal could tell that the vegetation around the area also hid more than enough security cameras, as well as a couple of traps meant to capture any trespassers.
'Those certainly look custom-made to me. Most likely Mokkurkalfi's work, since she's also staying here, along with her sister and the others.' Making a mental note to ask the blonde inventor about these systems, as he was also going to live here from now on, Odal slowly approached the towering form of Thrym, who's been leaning against one of the arches and casually waited for his arrival. "Sorry about that. I had to answer the phone."
"Nah, it's alright," cordially replied the demoness, without the slightest hint of annoyance. As a matter of fact, Thrym was a bit of a mystery, as she was very friendly towards everyone, and yet she could get pretty aggressive whenever she got an opportunity to fight a worthy opponent. And from what she heard from the others, this god had been through a lot of difficulties. Which practically meant that he must've seen a lot of fights in his time. "As long as I get to exchange punches with someone worthy, I don't mind waiting for a bit."
Even though he tried to maintain a calm expression, Odal sure didn't share the same enthusiasm with this… blood knight. At least, that's what some people called whoever seemed this happy to get a change to massacre them, and despite Thrym's polite manners, Odal wasn't fooled. "That's quite the honor, but I'm not really that much of a fighter you know."
"Aw… don't be so modest!" laughed Thrym in such a pleasant tone that even some of the maids started to nervously squirm on their seats around the villa's veranda. To say nothing of the god standing a couple of steps away from her, who clearly didn't want to be here, right now. Yet despite that, Thrym carried on as if nothing was wrong, which from her perspective might've been the case. "I'm pretty sure you have your fair share of fights, and since these are peaceful times, I'd love to spar with someone who actually has experience."
"Thanks for nothing," muttered under his breath the frustrated god, as his last way out of this nonsense was effectively cut off. Instead, the only way to deal with this was through brute force, and while he did have a few aces in his sleeve, Odal would've preferred if he didn't have to get involved in a fight if he could help it. Yet as he assumed a defensive stance, the god felt a portal form on the ground, just between himself and the muscular demoness that prepared to charge at him. 'What the?!'
Apparently, that phone call must've stalled them long enough for Hagall to decide that it was about time it call it a day and head back home. And judging by the looks of it, she wasn't alone, as soon after she passed through the portal, Verthandi emerged from it, too. Interestingly enough, the middle Norn's lookalike seemed to have seen better days, as she was almost literally dragging her feet in exhaustion, even though she was full of energy mere hours ago when Odal last saw her.
None of that mattered to the rogue god, since Thrym's sheer momentum was too much to stop herself in time. Actually, everyone aside from the two newcomers watched in horror, not unlike the unwitting audience of a train wreck, since it was far too late to even raise their voices before Thrym's fist connected to either of the two demonesses, that happened to be in its path.
But at the last possible moment, a third and final person emerged from the portal before it finally closed behind the trio. Yet unlike her two co travellers, this particular demoness seemed to be full of energy; if not a bit too much. As a matter of fact, it took her a tiny fraction of a second to respond to the incoming threat by raising up her hand to effortlessly catch Thrym's mighty punch, much to the onlookers' surprise.
It was only after the threat was properly neutralized and the muscular demoness was stopped on her tracks, that the peeved newcomer even bothered to shoot her accidental assailant a withering stare. And thanks to her looking the spitting image of Hild, it was more than enough for even Thrym to take a step back from her. Granted, this wasn't actually the Daimakaicho herself but Angrboda, who was going to act as Hild's double in her absence. "Do you mind telling me what the Hell you think you're doing?" Her tone was so harsh and low that caused everyone present to back off, as not only was her glare the very image of death incarnate, but even Hild didn't look this menacing. At least the Daimakaicho normally maintains some semblance of her playfulness during a fight -except on the most dire of circumstances- yet the same wasn't true for this Ironwood Dryad. "Well? Aren't you going to say something?"
Realizing that she's been silent for far too long, Thrym shook her head and calmly backed off from the pissed off Angrboda. "Oh, sorry about that. I wanted to have a match with the kid, so I wasn't expecting anyone to show up all of a sudden."
'Why is everyone calling me a kid, dammit it!' thought the aforementioned god, much to his own frustration. Of course, he did appreciate the irony of being called the same thing that irked his favorite aunt for nearly as long as he could remember, yet this wasn't exactly one thing that he wished to share with her.
Meanwhile, Angrboda's ire also turned into frustration, as this muscles for brain totally missed her point, and nervously scratched the back of her head in a display that would've made Keiichi proud. "I don't even!..." Throwing her hands up in display of exasperation, Angrboda felt like saying a lot more than that, but came to a stop when she noticed the disapproving stare she was getting from Verthandi, and Odal wasn't happy either. So, instead of that, the Ironwood dryad calmed herself down by counting to ten, before she let out a sigh. "Well, let's just call it an accident."
"Sure thing! Although, you're pretty impressive, too! I'd love to train with you at some point!" laughed Thrym, much to everyone's chagrin, as she unwittingly tempted fate by bringing up the whole sparring match fiasco.
"Maybe, but not anytime soon," replied Angrboda in a much calmer manner than before, and even pointed at her new hairdo -the same one Hild sported prior her disappearance- as she tried to remind her of the proverbial elephant in the room. "As you can see, I'm supposed to substitute for your boss. At least as far as her public functions are concerned, since I don't have the clearance to do anything else."
It was Hagall's turn to feel frustrated, as that errant comment brought memories of today's brutal schedule. And the added stress of having to convince an obstinate demoness like Angrboda to go the extra mile in order to look exactly like Hild-sama, sure took the toll on her. Yet even back home she wasn't allowed to truly relax, given this ridiculous setup that must've been Ehwaz's fault. The deceptively young demoness didn't seem too thrilled about Hagall's marriage to someone who was an outsider in every sense of the word. After all, not only did Odal show up from nowhere to become the husband of the second highest ranking demoness, but also threatened Mokkurkalfi's role in the group, being an inventor himself and one with even more experience than the teen demoness.
In all honesty though, Hagall could understand her subordinate's concerns, since she too imagined herself reacting the same way -if not way worse- if someone got to marry Hagall-sama. But that was neither here nor there, since the situation was vastly different, and Hagall had to find a way to find a way to reassure her closest associates -and friends- that Odal's presence wasn't a threat to them. Which in a way should've been a lot easier compared doing the same thing for the general population.
As much as she initially didn't seem too thrilled about spending her honeymoon on Earth, Hagall now came to appreciate the fact that for even these few days, she was spared of the media circus that was going rampant here. Unsurprisingly not many were thrilled that a god managed to become her husband, and the sheer lack of details about Odal's origins and backstory made matters even worse. And while Hild-sama somehow quelled most of the voices that demanded an explanation why a god was suddenly not only rubbing shoulders with their higher ups, but actually married their second-in-command, there were still several who refused to listen. Actually, from what she heard, Hild-sama didn't seem prepared for a backlash of this magnitude, even though she knew all too well that such a plan would meet some opposition. 'And if it's this bad with me, then she must've realized that in her case, this could've ended in a rebelion.'
Pushing such gloomy thoughts aside, Hagall turned to her maids who immediately noticed her and stood up in attention. "Alright, girls! Enough fooling around! Tonight we've got a celebration to welcome my husband, so I'm expecting the best from all of you!"
"Yes, ma'am!" chorused the assembled maids, before they hurried inside to carry out their orders.
Watching this scene unfold left Odal with a rather strange feeling of euphoria that he initially found hard to explain. Perhaps he was a bit slow when it came to such matters, but hearing Hagall address him as her husband, and so casually too, did bring up a smile on the god's face, although not for too long. For the last couple of seconds, Verthandi had been attempting to covertly catch his attention by nudging him, until he had no other option but to turn to her. Now, it wasn't that he wanted to ignore her, but knowing her tendencies, Odal feared that she was likely going to give him some 'advice' of an explicit nature that he'd rather not deal at the moment. "Yes?"
Instead of offering an immediate reply, Verthandi cast a quick glance over at Angrboda, and made sure that she was still busy talking to Thrym. Only then did she leaned closer to Odal to whisper at him. "Can you cheer her up a bit? She's been pretty upset all day long, and it's not just due to the strange hairdo. I mean… sure she thought it makes her look like an eagle owl, but that's not the problem. I know that it's ironic, but I don't think she wants to fill in Hild's shoes."
"Oh… I see." He mentally kicked himself for assuming that she wanted to talk to him about something immature, when in fact Verthandi had been pretty serious for a while now. "Don't worry, I'll make sure I'll spend some time talking with her. And invite Hagall later on, too. Perhaps having them talk can help them work together better."
"Please do that," said Verthandi with an excited smile, and then reached to ruffle the god's hair; much to his chagrin. "Actually, I'll give you a nice reward if you're a good boy."
"Verthandi," growled the rogue god behind clenched teeth. "For the millionth time, I'm not a kid! And you can't bribe me with ice-cream! Or candy!"
"Oh, but you're so cure, Odal-kun," cooed the demoness as she started to act like the way her charge used to remember. "Who said I'll do something of that sort? You see… I've heard from your wife about someone who tried to do this and that and the other thing with her. And while you… punished him, I think you were a tad too lax. Well, I suppose that's normal for a god. But, I can do a much better job."
"Look, I don't need anything in exchange to help Angrboda or you for that matter," said Odal with a shake of his head. "However, about that… punishment," the god carried on, as he conspiringly wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "What do you have in mind?"
"Mhmm… something really good."
AN: I would like to thank everyone here and the Goddess Relief site for offering their continuing support.
I believe it was about time to address one thing that I really waited for a long while to touch: Excalibur isn't exactly what he or the others think. Even though he acts and looks like a synthetic, within this world, he's an Earth Spirit, albeit one that originally consisted of thousands of much smaller spirits. And due to the way those were interconnected, he worked like a massive neural network, that came with his own programming of sorts. Since his introduction, that programming was removed for the most part, allowing him to slowly turn into a more natural Earth Spirit. Still, this is only part of his character evolution, and far from the end of the road for our not so synthetic. Although the term might still be correct from the standpoint that he's artificially created.
The body Nidhogg is using in this chapter is the same one the Dragon used during the time it communicated with Hild, but considering that she turned the offer down, this carbon copy of Hild's body is now used as the lowest level avatar for Nidhogg. Unlike any of the other double characters (like the Ironwood Dryads for example), this isn't an autonomous character of her own, but a mere shell for Nidhogg to interact with others. Still, it's slightly different from any of the other avatars the Infernal Dragon possesses, since using this body subjects it to the same limitations that any demoness (or goddess for that matter), as well as certain peculiarities that come with this type of entity.
As with some other examples of technobabble in my works… the whole part about hydrogen cells isn't fictional. Rather, it's fact, rather than fancy words thrown together. Hydrazine cells do exist, and were used for space applications, as well as some other environments too.
Also, a quick reminder that I've got a poll in my profile, for you to pick your favorite recurring characters of mine.
Finally, while I don't feel comfortable to bring such subjects up, I'm really happy to note that this story at the time of writing this Author's Note reached the 100 followers mark. To be fair, I would've never dreamt of reaching such a milestone when I first started writing my little take on a sequel/continuation of the AMG manga, so I have to thank every single one of you who supported me over the last few years by liking, following and reviewing my work. Thank you very much, and I hope you'll stay along for the rest of this crazy story.