I do not own the Ah! Megami sama / Oh! My Goddess series
Toshiyuki Aoshima. The very name that for the majority of NIT's graduate students was synonymous to a real life playboy, with more than fair number of conquests; even temporary as they were. In all fairness though, Aoshima never felt bad about it. From his perspective the world was big market, and those who had the most money deserved the best things life had to offer. No more, no less.
People often made him sound like a villain for misleading those poor women into sleeping with him, but he honestly didn't agree with that. In his eyes, it was those womens' fault for wagging their tails whenever money came into the equation, and gave in a bit too easily, only to blame him later on. No one wanted to admit their own flaws after all, and the rest just hated him for doing what they couldn't afford. Still, Aoshima felt that more than enough of those 'good guys' would've done exactly the same thing if they were given the chance, and his 'poor victims' would happily keep at it, as long as he offered them expensive gifts, flowers and the rest of those useless trinkets. That was his worldview at least, and he felt no need to change it anytime soon.
Until a god made him run around the crater of Mt Fuji, only to end up tripping and take a good tumble.
Thankfully for him, the rescue crews got him out, although the ride back home was an utterly humiliating one. After all, it wasn't his darn fault, but he couldn't exactly tell the true reason behind his actions, or they'd think that he's crazy. Instead, he tried to pass himself as an amateur mountaineer… which was met with some skepticism to say the least. Either way, he was now home, and in one piece, so that's all that mattered to him.
Entering his expensive penthouse that in many ways reminded him of his cousin's place -albeit this was a somewhat smaller one than Sayoko's- the rich playboy felt absolutely worn. He didn't even care for taking a bath, since he was so exhausted that all he could do was drag himself to his bed and simply collapse upon it.
"Mister Aoshima…"
Turning away from the vaguely feminine voice that prevented him from finding some rest, Aoshima made an attempt to fall asleep, when the mysterious woman spoke up again. This time however, she raised her voice to make sure that he did hear her.
"Mister Aoshima!"
The playboy in question cracked his eyes open in confusion, as he was so exhausted that he totally failed to notice someone try to talk to him. Of course, that by itself was a fairly unusual thing, given that he was supposed to be alone in his bedroom, and with his high tech security system covering every possible entrance to his apartment, Aoshima wasn't exactly worried of burglars. At least, not without having the police already aware of their presence. Still, when he absently looked around to figure out what was going on, Aoshima's eyes fell upon the salacious form of a scantily clad woman that stood by the window, allowing the moonlight to softly illuminate her features. She was a woman of average height, and with long hair that were pulled into a ponytail, although it was far too difficult to make any of her features too clearly. Only then did he realize that his eyeglasses must've fallen off when he hit the bed, but thankfully for him, they were just an arm's reach away from him. With his vision now working as it was supposed to, Aoshima turned his attention back to the mysterious visitor, and couldn't help but gawk. "Belldandy?! W-What?!..."
Although she had no intention to offer him such a glorious sight, Verthandi thought that in the long run it was better if she got this idiot hot and bothered. So, the demoness chose to wear a slightly more 'exciting' version of her red combat uniform, that in fact was the same one Belldandy wore during the Angel Eater incident, only this one had a decidedly more revealing backside. More specifically, the lower back side of her uniform could be better described as a thong, although in times of need it could also count as dental floss; thin as it was. Which… proved more than enough to capture the mortal's attention, when she turned around under the pretense of checking at the back of the room. Actually, she could feel Aoshima's arousal, that unleashed a torrent of unsavory energies, all associated with his feelings of dark desire, especially when she went ahead to tease him a bit. However, even a demoness like her found that wave of emotions to be rather… unpleasant, which gave her the impression of being covered in scum. Still, she had a goal to fulfil, and thus Verthandi put her best smile on, before turning around once more to properly face the… interested mortal. "Oh, I'm sorry! For a moment I thought that I saw something. At any rate, I'd like to introduce myself, since there seems to be a misunderstanding. I'm Verth the succubus, and given that you cannot perceive my real body, I chose a form you'll find sensual." Even if most of that was only partially true, with a lot of lies thrown in the mix, Verthandi knew that this provided her with a convenient explanation for her appearance. And with Aoshima a bit too dazed by the sight of her skintight uniform that gleamed under the moonlight, she carried on with her deceit. "After all, I came here to satisfy your deepest desire."
The mere sound of that statement was more than enough to get Aoshima's attention, as this was getting better and better by each passing second. Sure, the whole succubus part sounded a bit sketchy, but then again, not long ago he had a conversation with the disembodied voice of a god. At least this time he was talking to a physical entity, and not to mention how attractive said entity was. "Mm… satisfy my deepest desire you say? I really like the sound of that. Now, how about you come over here, so we can start talking about it?"
'I think I threw up a bit in my mouth,' dryly noted the demoness, thanking the poor light conditions in the room that prevented that lech from noticing her disgusted expression. "I'm afraid I can't do that, mister Aoshima," she apologized in such a convincingly respectful tone, that it was hard to think that she found him as repulsive as she actually did. "Negotiations for a wish must be done with a clear head, since men… often experience trouble thinking straight during intense sex. So, how about we talk a little, before the fun starts?"
"Oh, by all means!" purred the suddenly revitalized Aoshima, as the promise of carnal pleasure was apparently more than enough to get him all pumped up, despite being totally worn out moments ago. "Actually, come closer miss Verth! There's no need to stand up like that. Make yourself comfortable!"
'By the Allsprout's terrible name, I swear if he keeps up the creeper act, I'm gonna summon my vines and… take him… down a peg. Oh, yes I will… In more ways than one.' The brunette demoness' eyes started to give off an unnerving glow of pure malevolence, as her lips curled up into what could be best described as a slasher smile. It was only thanks to the low light conditions inside the room that Aoshima only managed to make out her glowing eyes. As chilling as a sight they were, they didn't betray the depths of the Dryad's depraved thoughts . Besides, if he could, then Aoshima would've also seen the faint outlines of more than a dozen vines sprouting from the demoness' shadow, and dance madly for the good couple of seconds that took her to recover from her euphoric state. After all, Verthandi was here for business, not pleasure, and thus recomposed herself before her victim started to wonder if it was time to run for the hills. "Ah, thank you, mister Aoshima. But I'd rather not leave any damp spots on such a lovely bed. You see, all this talk about sex started to… get me hot and bothered."
"Then what are you waiting for?" asked the overexcited Aoshima, finding it hard to resist the urge to just cross the distance between them and get started with the making out.
"To sell you a contract," dryly replied Verthandi, in such a dramatic shift of her mood that caught the amorous mortal off guard. "A rich boy like you should already know that a sale is all about acting cute until you get their damned signature, and then screw them up. Well… depending on how well you play your cards, there might some of that tonight, but let's not get ahead of ourselves," added the demoness, without elaborating as to who was going to get screwed and in what sense of the word. That was a totally different matter altogether, and one she wished to keep for later, just to avoid ruining the surprise.
"You drive a hard bargain, huh?" asked Aoshima, as he licked his lips in delight. Even though Belldandy's innocent act was enticing, this woman seemed much more interesting on many more levels. "Very well, then. Make your offer."
"A harem of the prettiest models you'd ever get your hands on. And since you seem to like me, or should I say the one I'm based on, I'll do the same with them. With some variations of course, since it's boring if all of them look exactly the same. You know… different hair color, cup size, that sort of thing," said Verthandi in the most suggestive manner she could manage, just to make sure to sell the idea. Then again, considering that this was Aoshima she was talking to, it didn't take much to convince him, especially after she made sure to tease him for long enough to let most of his higher thought processes preoccupied with… reproduction.
"Done! That sounds like a sweet deal to me!" Even though a part of him knew that agreeing so easily was a waste, and he could've asked for something much grander than this, Aoshima found the prospect of having a harem of Belldandy lookalikes too enticing to refuse. While more money and fame could get him a lot more women, Aoshima knew that in the end that wouldn't count as a true victory on his part. For a couple of years, he did everything he could to prove that Keiichi was nothing more than a loser, and that the only real man for Belldandy, was none other than Aoshima himself. But with one humiliating defeat after the other, the only thing he ever accomplished was to cause his own popularity to wane. Not only because he lost so many times against a pretty worthless opponent, but also due to his seeming fixation on Belldandy, which became more than obvious and put off much of his fanclub. By the time he graduated, Aoshima's reputation was in shambles, and the only one he could blame for it was Keiichi, and that stubborn wife of his. But if he got several girls that looked like the Campus Queen, then he would have something really amazing to brag about. And the benefits from being surrounded by a dozen attractive ladies were a sweet bonus as well.
"Excellent choice! Please enjoy your new harem!" announced the demoness, before she casually snapped her fingers to summon this mortal's reward. Dark tendrils of magic sprang from her shadow and immediately began to take form as variations of her own body, that in turn was an exact lookalike of the middle Norn. As promised, a few of them were noticeably bustier, with one even outgunning everything Urd had to offer, while the rest displayed a wide variety of hair and eye color combinations. However, all of them were dressed in the same type of bodystocking, that left practically nothing to the imagination; much to Aoshima's apparent delight. Verthandi didn't even need to look in his direction to know what kind of thoughts were probably going on in his mind right now, as the sheer intensity of his lustful aura was almost nauseating for even a demoness like her. And though she had every intention to draw this for longer, just to make it worse for him later on, it was a bit too much for her stomach to handle. As such, Verthandi headed for the door, where the nearest light switch was located, and flipped it on. "Gorgeous, aren't they?"
The positively aroused mortal could only nod, as his greedy eyes took in every little detail of these amazingly erotic versions of Belldandy. And for obvious enough reasons, Aoshima started this visual inspection from the areas of great interest, before he moved his gaze upwards… and came to a stop. He actually did a double take, as the unexpected nature of his observation was too much for his brain to comprehend at the time being. But with more blood diverted to his head, since his little friend simply refused to find this experience nearly as exciting as he thought moments ago, Aoshima watched in horror as the dolls in front of him returned his gaze.
With a body stocking covering most of their bodies, it was hard to notice that anything was actually amiss. At least, until he saw their silicone faces, which was pretty much the base material for the rest of their skin. And no matter how well crafted these dolls were, to the point where one could confuse them for real people from a certain distance, there was no way for him to think the same from up close. Stranger yet was the fact that they seemed to move on their own volition, even though their faces were molded in a fixed expression, that may appeared to be pleasant enough, although completely out of context with the purpose of their presence here.
"W-W-What's going on here?! T-These are not women! They're…d-dolls! Sex toys!" squeaked the utterly shocked mortal as he was totally unprepared for this kind of development. He even backed away from them, and ended up pressing himself against his bed's headboard, in a desperate effort to stay as far from these unnatural things as possible. "I never asked for that!"
"Hm… is that so?" replied Verthandi, her voice dripping with sarcasm, as she finally got to the good part. "You see, the exact interpretation of wishes is regulated by Nidhogg, our computing system. And during that process, we take into account your personality, interests, and even past experiences to turn your dreams into reality. Which given your general attitude towards those you bed… I'd say that offering you actual women would've been a huge waste of time and resources for everyone involved. After all, what's the point of taking care of a whole harem, when you mainly want them for fun? I mean, would you rather have to feed, clothe, and generally tend their every need? This way you can spend more time doing what you like, instead of bothering with such extraneous things."
The demoness' retort came as metaphorical blow below the belt, given how accurate and straightforward it was; wasting no more of their time with pleasantries, and cut straight to the point. Which would've normally been fine by him as long as things progressed the way he wanted, but this time around that was far from the truth. "I don't care! I want real women, not… those things!" cried Aoshima as he helplessly watched those dolls creep their way towards him, in what seemed to be a rather unnatural and deeply unsettling manner, given that they were magically animated, instead of possessing real muscles. And once he combined this effect with their totally artificial appearance, the end result was so far into the uncanny valley that even someone like Aoshima felt appalled from the idea of giving in to their advances.
Still, that didn't deter Verthandi from letting them close the distance between them and the terrified mortal, to whom she only offered a cheeky grin. "Oh, don't be so negative, mister Aoshima! Who knows?... You may actually like it. Now, if you excuse me, I'll give you some privacy so that you can get to know your new best friends!" cheerfully declared the demoness, and then proceeded to walk out of the room, leaving a visibly distraught Aoshima behind.
"NO! Come back here! At least… STOP THEM!"
But despite his desperate pleas, the demoness did nothing of that sort, and merely chuckled as she walked away from the scene.
XXX
In the real world, the brunette dryad was in the process of raiding Aoshima's kitchen for anything she could use to replenish the energy she wasted on the sleeping mortal. While she normally consumed whatever dream she immersed her hapless targets into, this time around Verthandi had no desire to have a taste of anything tainted by Aoshima's unsavory thoughts. Instead of that, the demoness picked a couple of snacks she found in the pantry, and staffed her mouth like a squirrel. Cinnamon rolls, macaroons, and most of all, a splendid bar of milk chocolate with nuts, were part of the appetizer, that was soon to be followed by the main course: a family size carton of cheesecake flavored ice cream.
'Mm!... Now I see why Skuld eats this stuff like there's no tomorrow!' Even though this was far from the first time she was sampling such desserts, since she never had the time nor opportunity to try something like that in the past. Besides, under most normal circumstances, Verthandi got little energy from food, and simple needed to have a nap, just like the middle Norn. Then again, considering that this was no time for naps, Verthandi had no other option but to reply on food as an additional power source. From what she discovered though, there were quite a few things she enjoyed, which prompted her to try to see what else she could sample here. Just when she was about to turn attention back to the pantry, a loud thud could be heard from Aoshima's bedroom, soon to be followed by a scream of uncontrolled panic.
"HELP! SOMEONE HELP ME! THEY… THEY'RE AFTER ME!"
'Well… that was faster than I was expecting,' mused Verthandi, while the distinctive sound of hurried footsteps coming from the hallway, alerted her that the mortal was making a run for it. What he probably didn't realize was that there wasn't any immediate danger, since all she actually did was to manipulate his dream, and turn it into a nightmare. As such, in his half awaken state, Aoshima totally failed to notice that there were no magically animated dolls after him, and thus, his overreaction was for naught.
Even more impressive was that while he run across the corridor in a desperate attempt to save himself from his pursuers, Aoshima didn't notice Verthandi as he went past her. Instead, he threw the front door open and made a beeline for the stairs, since he doubted that he actually had the time to wait for the elevator. And before Verthandi could go after him to see what was going to happen, Aoshima let out a startled cry that was soon followed by a loud thud, soon to be followed by more, as it became obvious that he fell down the stairs.
'Oh… shoot! I hope he's not dead, or Odal's not going to be happy!' worriedly thought Verthandi. After all, the whole point was to scare the sleaze, not outright kill him, although she may have forgotten that people tended to involve themselves in accidents whenever they were under a lot of stress. For that reason, she had to go and make sure that he was at the very least breathing, and while she was at it, Verthandi also called for an ambulance to pick him up.
'What a pain in the ass! He's not only trouble to deal with, but also dealing with him is troublesome. Heh… that kinda sounded cool. Anyway, let's try to keep him alive for now, until the medics arrive.'
XXX
Hagall's villa, Niflheim
The welcoming party was a much greater success than expected, especially thanks to how little time they had in order to prepare. All in all, it was a modest event -at least by Hagall's standards- that primarily involved the residents of this estate, with the only exceptions being the two Ironwood Dryads; Verthandi and Angrboda. As a matter of fact, she even offered the middle Norn's lookalike the chance of staying with them on a permanent basis, given how close she was to Odal. Sure, the nature of her relationship with Odal was kind of confusing, since it fluctuated between that of a mother with her foster son, and that of an older sister with her adoptive brother. Then again, it was something she found relatable, as she also grew up as Hild-sama's apprentice, and yet most of the time, her mentor was acting more like a mother figure for her.
Despite that, Verthandi politely turned the offer down, since at the very least, Odal was now married, so it was far less likely for him to feel too lonely. On the other hand, the Dryad wished to stay by Angrboda's side, especially now that the latter had to play the role of Hild's double, something that was bound to have a detrimental effect on her mood. And to be fair, Hagall didn't take offense by it, given how much she understood Angrboda right now, even if she barely knows her.
With one monumental failure in her CV, Hagall was far less enthusiastic of acting as the Daimakaicho from behind the scenes. And the mere fact that not only they were in the middle of a huge crisis, but everyone thought that the one in charge was Hild… left her with a sense of responsibility that she wasn't entirely sure if she could handle right now. At least as long as the only thing at stake was her own reputation, then Hagall was willing to give it a try, in order to prove herself. But with the vast majority of demons thinking that Hild was still in charge, her mentor's legacy was now in her hands. After all, should she end up screwing everything up, then it was Hild who'd get blamed for it, and given the severity of the situation, the damage to her legacy may be irreversible.
As a result, anything that could take her mind off those troubles was more than welcome to Hagall, and that little welcoming party was no exception. At least she had the chance to blow off some steam, and at the same time introduce her husband to the others, which was something particularly useful now that Odal moved in with them. 'And speaking of him… that's one heck of an idea for a mattress he had. Seriously, I never thought he'd be into this kind of thing.' When she first noticed the difference, Hagall was astonished that someone like Odal would upgrade her bed with a water mattress. After all, this came from someone who thought that a futon was enough to meet her standards… although she also realized that perhaps it was due to her criticism that he went this far to satisfy her.
Meanwhile, as Hagall inspected the bed with an almost unreadable expression in her face, Odal began to fear that he may have gone a bit too far with this. Even though this bed was Verthandi's gift, he should've given it more thought, before he actually went ahead and installed it in their bedroom. And not only that, but once his wife found out what this mattress was lying on, she might get the wrong idea as well. After all, given the added weight of the water, Odal had to replace the existing box-spring, yet Verthandi's gift didn't come with one. Which more or less meant that he had to improvise and build one on the spot, with whatever tools and material he readily had available. And in his case, that involved a number of pneumatic shock absorbers meant for use in motorbikes, which was so over engineered, that in hindsight was capable of supporting a lot more stress anyone could realistically put on a bed.
Still, that was one thing that preoccupied Odal's thoughts, as the other had more to with his wife's current attire, that could be best described as something he never expected her to appreciate. After all, given her choice of everyday clothes, Odal firmly believed that his spouse had a taste of fashionable outfits that presented her otherwise impressive physique in the most flattering manner. Which couldn't be said about Hagall's green pajamas, that not only seemed way too modest even by celestial standards, but the fact that they must've been a size too big, practically obscured her curves. And though he knew that this wasn't the best time to have such immature thoughts, the somewhat less optimistic side of him wondered if this was something he should be worried about or not.
Unfortunately for him though, Hagall had noticed his stare for a while now, even though she didn't comment about it. Instead, she spent a minute or two to familiarize herself with the sensation of lying on a waterbed, and then reached for a book she left on her nightstand. While she casually flipped through the novel's pages, Hagall stole a glance at her side and offered her husband a cryptic smile. "You're staring."
"It's kind of hard not to," replied the god in all honesty, since he didn't see the point of hiding the truth from her. "You always wear such fashionable clothes, that I find this change a bit too… much? Dunno if that's the right way to say it, but I never thought you'd like something this… plain. No offense, though! I do like it!"
"Why should I take offense? It's not like I don't get your perspective. Besides, I did buy a few daring things for our honeymoon, so you must've gotten the impression that most of my nightwear are like that," said Hagall with a slight grin, and then waited for her husband to offer her a little nod, before continuing. "Well, you're wrong. As much as I don't want to sound boring, my position as Hild-sama's deputy comes with a lot of responsibilities and expectations. I just didn't have the time for flirting, not when I still had to find a way around my inability to use magic. So, without any partner to impress with fancy nightwear, I just wore whatever felt comfortable. Of course, that's no longer the case, but… if you want to see me in something enticing, you need to buy it first."
"Oh, no worries, I got it!" laughed Odal, although mostly to disguise his own nervousness. While he was happy that he avoided a potential blunder, this whole conversation was heading towards dangerous territory. And considering that this was his first night in his wife's home, the last thing Odal needed was to start this new chapter of his married life on the wrong foot.
"Are you sure about it, dear? After all, I haven't given you my measurements, so… buying anything for me might be difficult." Truth to be told, she knew that it probably wasn't a great idea to tease her husband too much, but then again, it was far too hard to resist. In a way she enjoyed this kind of interactions more than she initially expected, and even wondered if this was why Hild-sama loved to pull this kind of thing on everyone. Granted, she had no intention to become such a big tease, although a little bit now and then, was starting to look fun to her. More importantly though, what actually pleased her about this situation was that her husband seemed uninterested about her new position. Despite that the majority of demons were totally oblivious that she was effectively in charge, Odal was perfectly aware of the current situation, and yet he did nothing to make the most out of it. Of course, that was largely due to the fact that he was a god, but then again not every member of his species was an example of virtue. Still, he somehow tried to make sure she had a nice evening, and even set this bed for her, without expecting an immediate compensation for his trouble.
"Actually, there's no need for that. I kind of found out on my own, after I paid for the clothes you picked, back when that Aoshima character tried to bribe you with a shopping trip," said Odal in an attempt to change the subject before he ended blabbering about Verthandi's assignment.
"Well then… don't be afraid to surprise me with something good from now on," said the blonde demones, even though she felt that her husband was deliberately trying to dodge the subject. Still, as if by some sort of strange coincidence, Hagall did get her surprise when Odal's communicator chimed. This prompted the god to nervously stare at the nightstand next to him, where he left the device to recharge over the night, and then turned back to her, almost as if he sought her permission to check it out. "Go on. For all I know, it can be something important."
Offering a nod, Odal quickly grabbed his communicator, and privately hoped for the best, since they had more than enough problems already. However, the moment he opened the message that actually originated from Verthandi, the god's eyes went wide in bewilderment. "What the?!"
"Hm? Did anything just happen?" asked Hagall, mostly to get more information from her husband, since it was otherwise painfully obvious that something did happen. "Well?"
"Uh… it's a kinda funny coincidence, but it's about that Aoshima guy," said Odall, in an attempt to buy himself the time to organize his thoughts.
"What's actually funny is that you assume that I give a rat's ass about him, dear. But... I'll bite. What happened?"
"Well… I kind of asked Verthandi to give him a little scare, and… she ended up overdoing it to the point that he fell down the stairs," said the god with a hint of remorse in his voice. "And thanks to that, he kind of broke his leg, as well as his left pinky."
"Aww the poor guy… he just broke a leg and a… pinky? Oh, the tragedy!" dryly remarked Hagall with such a sarcastic voice that caused her husband to slightly wince in response. "Seriously though, I didn't think you'd send Verthandi to roughen him up. I mean… sheesh!... You may look innocent, but jealousy sure has an effect on you."
"Hey, I'm not jealous! Besides, I never really thought you'd stoop so low to sleep with that guy!" protested Odal, much to Hagall's amusement. "Oh, and for the record, I didn't send Verthandi to physically harm him! Only scare him! So, it's not my fault that he took a tumble!"
"If you say so," teasingly purred Hagall, before she pointedly turned her attention to her book. She even ignored the long stare she was getting from Odal, allowing him to simmer in his supposedly nonexistent jealousy; which was actually far from the case. And in all honesty, as long as he didn't cross any lines, it was fine by her. After all, as Hild-sama often said, a heart that doesn't yearn for another, is boring. "Now, given that all is well, I suggest you stop worrying about it, and get some sleep. We'll need it tomorrow."
"Yeah, I know… Goodnight, Hagall," said Odal in resignation, before he replugged his communicator to its charger and turned off the light on his nightstand. Just as he was about to go to sleep though, the god could've sworn that he heard his wife's stifled chuckle, along with a 'goodnight, love' that was barely above a whisper. Which in all honesty sounded way sweeter that he would've ever expected from a demoness, yet at the same time, it felt just about alright. 'Well… at least something good did come out of all this.'
XXX
Asgard
After spending the last couple of hours trying to decipher the mystery that the business card he got from Nidhogg truly was. Sure, the god knew all too well that this might've been nothing more than an elaborate farse, yet the fact that it was built with technology unknown to them was more than intriguing. The only issue with this particular device was the potential that it contained sensitive information hidden within it, and for that reason, Tyr avoided following the normal protocol for analyzing unknown artifacts. Even if the researchers appointed for such an important task were subjected to the most thorough background checks to eliminate the possibility of a double agent, or even someone with an agenda of their own, Tyr felt that with everything else going on, it was for the best if he just handled this all on his own.
Unfortunately for him, the Dragon proved to be even more paranoid than Loki, and thus equipped the device with a suicide switch that was beyond anything ever used before. Not only did it probably contain the device's encryption keys, but the integrated processor was in effect a programmable field array. This simply meant that instead of a fixed architecture, the array was a fully programmable collection of logic gates, interconnected by a vast array of simple wires. All logic circuitry was created by programming the connection between the gates, which was described in an instruction file that acted as the processor's blueprint. As in the case of such devices, efficiency was far from ideal and lagging considerably behind any fixed architecture. On the other hand, the obvious benefit was that these processors could be modified at will even on the field -hence the name- without any actual change taking place in the hardware itself.
What surprised Tyr however, was the fact that Nidhogg had not just used a suicide switch that was designed to render the device inoperable if the power supply was cut, but the instructions for the whole thing's architecture were stored in the aforementioned amount of volatile memory. So, when he tried to tamper with the card, he ended up losing not just the data stored in it, but the entire processor was rendered into a completely blank array of logic circuits. This denied him even the fleeting glimpse of Nidhogg's technology from an architectural point of view. And to make matters even worse, the moment he tried to probe the array, he found out much to his displeasure, that the array was deliberately designed to short if someone didn't know how to disconnect certain electric paths. In other words… he also lost the blank array itself, when the whole device fried itself in 2.36 seconds of activation; which was more than enough for him to realize that it was completely wiped clean of any useful information.
'Perhaps I should've asked Skuld to analyze that card,' lamented the exhausted god as he entered his office's apartment. Located in the same complex as his workplace, it saved Tyr a lot of time to go back and forth to a remote residence, even with the benefit of having teleportation available. After all, administrative buildings as well as military installations came with all sorts of countermeasures to hinder the use of teleportation in and out of them, for obvious security reasons. Which in this case would've required him to go through the screening process far too many times a day for his liking.
At least amidst this whole nonsense, Tyr was expecting his wife to show up late at night, so that they could discuss this whole situation. But, if he really wanted to be honest with himself, Tyr really wanted to just spend some quality time with Ansuz, since all the stress as of late wasn't good for him. With everyone making such a fuss about the ongoing crisis with the moral souls, as well as Thrivaldi's betrayal, and the resurgence of Fafnir and his goons… the Daitenkaicho needed a chance to have a moment of peace with his wife. It didn't really matter what they were going to discuss, as long as it didn't involve work.
Because of that, Tyr wasn't surprised to see light coming out of the bedroom, and knowing that he was late, the god made a quick detour to the kitchen to grab one of the bottles of Champagne he got for his wife. In all honesty he would've preferred something harder, or at the very least more traditional than that, but trying something different may as well work in his favor. So, without any further ado, Tyr put the Champagne bottle in an ice bucket and retrieved a pair of brand new tall-glasses from the minibar, since most of his older sets were pilfered by his eldest daughter.
As he approached the bedroom's door, Tyr momentarily paused to make sure that everything was in order, and at that moment he couldn't help but notice that the TV inside the room was on. Which was kind of strange, since Ansuz generally preferred to listen to music, rather than watch shows, but then again, he dismissed it as unimportant. After all, he was late, and his poor wife must've been bored to tears by now, so she must've tried to find something to pass time while she waited for him.
"Sorry for the delay! I was just busy trying to figure out something, and lost track of time," said Tyr as he opened the door and entered his bedroom, pushing a small cart he placed the ice box with the Champagne in it, as well as the glasses. It was a bit of an unnecessary detail, since he could as well hover everything along, but it was the gesture of servicing his beloved wife that counted. Which also explained why he was so focused on doing this the right way; to the point that he was staring at the cart so intently, that he failed to look towards the bed. "Oh, should I get you anything else while we're at it?"
While the initial response was nothing more than a muffled grunt, as the woman lying on the bed was still munching on her snacks, she soon came to realize that her bag of chips was now empty; prompting her to speak up properly. "Can you grab me another bag? I run out of chips, but the show's too interesting to go get one myself."
Just as Tyr was about to reply, his eyes went wide from the realization that no matter how familiar that voice sounded… there was no way it came from the demoness he knew so well in the past. But that was definitely not possible anymore, and even then, Hild wasn't even present in his world. Instead, the only person capable of imitating her to such a degree… was the last thing he'd ever wish to meet, let alone invite in his home.
And yet, there was she, lying on his bed without a care in the world. To the point where she even dared watch TV and eat his snacks as if she owned the place.
"YOU?!" shouted the startled Tyr, as he glared at Nidhogg's audacious avatar that merely stared back at him with a somewhat bored expression evident in her face. "What are you doing here?!"
"Have I mentioned that this body is pretty limited?" asked Nidhogg, albeit in a rhetoric fashion. "Well, as it seems I'm far more susceptible to boredom, so… here I am."
"That doesn't explain a thing!" shot Tyr back at her, although the Dragon's avatar showed no sign of being intimidated by him. If nothing else, she looked even more bored than she already was, and even had the gall to yawn, much to the Daitenkaicho's chagrin. "Seriously, what do you think you'll accomplish by all this!"
"Like I said before, I'd like to take me to that thing you call your creator. Unfortunately, I can't get there on my own, since… well, we don't get along. But, if you bring me into its chamber, then perhaps I might be able to poke it enough to get a reaction. So, should we discuss a payment you'd like for assisting me? After all, I'm not expecting you to do it out of the kindness of your heart."
"And like I said before… that's not happening! Only an idiot would negotiate anything with you!"
"Well, we finally agree on something! Excellent! We've made progress!" cheerfully declared Nidhogg, leaving Tyr with a surprised and somewhat baffled expression.
"Are you implying that I'm an idiot?"
"Actually… how about I answer that, after I'm done with you?"
Despite the totally pretended innocence in Nidhogg's voice, Tyr felt no amusement from this little act, since deep down he knew that this was no Hild. He even contemplated how safe it was to simply kick the persistent demoness out of his house, but before he reached any decision, the situation took an unexpected turn.
"Honey, I'm home!" announced Ansuz as she entered the apartment.
The sound of his wife's voice was all Tyr needed to try to get rid of his uninvited guest, since there was no way of properly explaining what was going on, at least before Ansuz got the wrong idea. "Okay, you're leaving!" ordered Tyr, and even made an attempt to forcefully teleport the annoying demoness out of his house, but to no avail. The Dragon's avatar was apparently capable of resisting such forms of external manipulation, and even smirked at him when it became obvious that she wasn't going anywhere. As such, the Daitenkaicho made one more desperate attempt to physically remove her from the scene, this time by seizing her arm and tugging hard at her. Unfortunately, this demoness was more than just Hild's lookalike, and thus proved strong enough to resist such an inadequate attempt to get rid of her. At least, for as long as it took Ansuz to get to the bedroom and find the last person she expected together with her husband.
As a matter of fact, Ansuz's eyes had grown so large, that with her winglets framing her head, she could be mistaken for an owl; albeit a very confused one at that. "YOU?! What are you doing here?!" asked the shocked goddess while she looked between her rival and her husband, who clearly didn't look comfortable with the way this was escalating.
"I can see why you're a couple. Such a harmonic accordance of opinions… it almost feels like there's an echo in here. Now, can we at least have a meaningful conversation, or are you gonna keep this farce for much longer?" asked Nidhogg, only to further confuse Ansuz, who still struggled to understand the current situation.
On one hand, thanks to the curse Hild used in order to meet Tyr for one more time, those two were never meant to see each other from that point on. And if that wasn't enough, Hild was supposedly missing, even if the whole incident was kept under tight wraps. So, to see that very demoness here was beyond unusual to say the least. Then again, with those Ironwood Dryads running around, it was far from impossible that there was one more copy of Hild, aside that Angrboda woman; although, even that Dryad didn't resemble Hild's overall presence to such a degree. As a matter of fact, if it wasn't for the different markings, then Ansuz would've sworn that this was none other than Hild herself. On top of it, Tyr didn't seem nearly as shocked to see this Hild lookalike, as she would've thought. Which also raised all kinds of questions all by itself. "Excuse me, but who do you think you're talking to? You show up in my husband's house, and you dare say about a farce? Really?"
Having a bad feeling about this, Tyr let go of Nidhogg's avatar, and instead moved to get hold of Ansuz before the temperamental goddess did anything stupid. After all, she couldn't possibly expect that this demoness was directly controlled by one of the two most powerful beings in existence. "Ansuz, can we talk for a moment, please? Privately."
"Why? We can talk in front of her. Or do you have anything to hide from me?" spat Ansuz, shooting the Nidhogg's avatar a positively dirty look.
In all fairness, ancient as the Dragon may be, this was actually the first time it was about to get involved in what linears would call a… cat fight. And though ridiculous in every sense of the word, the idea of trying something new did seem appealing to Nidhogg, especially if it got the excuse to remind them of its abilities. "Out of all things I've been attributed over the uncountable epochs of my existence, I was never called a homewrecker. Then again, there's always the first time for everything." Strange as this may be, the relationship between this particular avatar of the Dragon and the rest of its existence -both in this timeline and elsewhere- was fairly unconventional in every sense of the word. While this avatar was undeniably following the Dragon's will, there were moments of deviation from the well established course of action, to which point this avatar would impose her own desires above those of her main body. Such behavior was far from impossible even to those beneath her, although any sign of this phenomenon present in either celestials or infernals, was most commonly attributed to schizophrenia.
Ignoring the Infernal Dragon for a moment, Tyr forcefully pulled his wife aside, before she actually let loose on the Hild's clone. "Okay, listen here Ansuz… I know it sounds crazy, and by all means it is, but that thing is Nidhogg. And when I say Nidhogg, I mean the dragon."
"Use female pronouns while I'm in this form, please," said the avatar, with a healthy dose of sarcasm in her voice, much to Tyr's great annoyance and Ansuz's further confusion.
As a matter of fact, the teal haired goddess glanced between her husband and this Hild lookalike for the second time, and much to the former's confusion she turned away. Instead of an answer or even a form of acknowledgment of his words, Ansuz got hold of the Champagne bottle and removed the protective foil. She had experienced a lot of strange things as of late, which included the loss of her Judgment Gate along with the trip down the Pit to get it back, the fact that her father-in-law was still alive even though everyone considered him a goner for so long, and finally… the transcendence of her son-in-law in godhood by none other than Yggdrasil itself. Actually, as she popped the cork, Ansuz remembered that having a grandson from another timeline also counted as one bizarre experience, too; which did little to improve her mood.
Much to her husband's astonishment, Ansuz merely poured a glass of Champagne for her, and then one for her beloved, since this mundane act did wonders to help her calm down. Perhaps more than anything, it gave her a sense of normalcy she so much needed right now, especially when just across the room was a creature whose very existence defied logic. Not that its counterpart was any better when it came to that, but at the very least, Yggdrasil didn't assume her old friend's form; it merely created a type of Dryads capable of such a feat. Now, it was still debatable whether this approach was any better, since it allowed a demonic copy of her daughter to exist, along the first Hild lookalike they were introduced to, but this wasn't the time for such thoughts. Instead, as she handed the glass to her husband and finally got the chance to take a sip from hers, Ansuz took the time to study Tyr's features. It was understandable for anyone -the Daitenkaicho included- to feel awe and fear in Nidhogg's presence, although at the same time, the Infernal Dragon's current avatar was by far the strangest of any other form that metadivinity had assumed over the millennia.
"So, you're essentially a perfect copy of Hild, huh..." said Ansuz, as she suddenly turned to address the otherwise silent avatar, who merely observed her and Tyr from the sidelines. Furthermore, she handed her glass to her husband, and casually approached the perplexed demoness that apparently didn't seem as eager to reply as she was before. This actually gave the goddess the opportunity to get a much closer look at the Hild copy, and for once her eyes weren't tricked by the superficial resemblance this avatar has to the genuine article. In many ways, this demoness was much closer to Hild than any of her relatives, as well as Angrboda, the Ironwood Dryad that also counted as Hild's double.
"As far as you linears are concerned… only my emblems set me apart from Hild," calmly replied Nidhogg, even if her main body kept warning her that she was treading on thin ice. It was fascinating how limiting the nature of these creatures truly was, which it had to impose upon this avatar to avoid the rapid deterioration of her current body. Still, that apparently also prevented her from perceiving things that came as natural to her original body as breath was to the mortals, leaving this avatar of Nidhogg unaware of the impending threat that Ansuz posed to her right now. And case to the point, no sooner had she finished her sentence, the avatar barely saw a white blur on her left, before it got into her field of vision.
That, of course was Ansuz's foot, as the goddess finally had had enough of this farce, and decided to take advantage of the fact that this avatar was on her level. As such, Ansuz didn't hesitate to quite literally kick her out of her husband's bedroom, even if she actually slammed her onto the wall, leaving a cobweb of cracks on the once pristine surface. Still, if she had to be absolutely honest with herself, Ansuz was quite surprised that she managed to land such a hit on her, since she halfway expected this Hild lookalike to effortlessly block this attack. After all, the Daimakaicho herself was more than capable of stopping such an attack, and as such, Ansuz expected the same from this copy; only to find that the supposedly almighty Nidhogg failed to do so.
As a matter of fact, even though his wife didn't say anything out loud, and only shared a curious stare with him, Tyr also made the same observation. Given that he had witnessed their play fights enough times already, he found it almost unheard for Ansuz to take down Hild that easily. In the vast majority of cases they were evenly matched, with each side gaining the occasional advantage over the other, but never had one caught her opponent off guard in such fashion. And a quick look at the still dazed copy of Hild verified that while she didn't seem injured, the avatar was indeed in a state of utter disbelief. 'It's almost as if she never saw it coming. Hm… didn't she mention that this body was originally meant as a replacement for Hild's? Perhaps the inconvenience it poses on Nidhogg is way greater than I thought.'
"That… was… fun!" laughed the avatar after she managed to snap out of her stupor, much to the others' surprise. Instead of being outraged by this attack, Nidhogg looked like she was having fun; albeit in a demonically bloodthirsty manner. "I can now see why fighting as a limited, linear being can be enjoyable! The thrill of seeing what comes next, as well as overwhelming your opponent is-" Just as Nidhogg carried on, she noticed that for the second time, a white blur was about to enter her field of vision, just as the teal haired goddess disappeared from sight. So, before she was caught off guard again, Nidhogg's avatar reached to grab Ansuz's ankle, effectively stopping the goddess from delivering her a second kick to side of her head, and tisked at her. "Now, now… this is starting to get predictable."
"You think so?" was Ansuz's cheeky reply as she purposely lost her footing and landed on her hands, using the momentum to deliver an upwards kick with her free leg on the demoness' gut. This proved more than enough to cause Nidhogg to let go of her ankle, and nearly sent her on yet another collision course with the wall. And knowing that the element of surprise wouldn't last forever, Ansuz did a backflip to right herself up, before she launched forward to tackle the winded demoness, only for the latter to finally decide that the best defence was a good offense.
The avatar caught Ansuz's hands and immediately discharged a lightning bolt that hit the goddess full on, soon to be followed by a headbutt that sent her adversary reeling back. And to prevent her from recovering, she prepared a much higher tier electric bolt, only to have Tyr step into the frey and counter her spell with its celestial equivalent. Not only that, but the way the two attacks countered each other was so perfect that not even the Champagne glasses toppled over, let alone the whole building blown to bits from the detonation of either spell.
Not taking his eyes off the avatar even for a moment, Tyr approached his wife and helped her up from the floor where she landed after Nidhogg's counterattack. "Are you okay?" He could hear her swear something under her breath, but at the very least, that was positive proof that Ansuz was indeed fine. "I'll take that as a yes. Good, because we're far from done with her."
"Oh… I'm not so sure about that, Tyr," snarled Ansuz, before she sidestepped her husband, adamant to land another kick on the demoness, since she didn't wish to unleash her full power inside such a confined space. The demoness not only managed to deflect the attack though, but also tried to retaliate with a punch of her own, resulting in a rapid exchange of blows that lasted for a mere fraction of a second. Still, that was more than enough to allow Ansuz to notice the gradual improvement in her opponent's reflexes as well as her technique. At first, Nidhogg seemed to follow a brute force method approach, that primarily focused on sheer strength and speed, but given how well-matched she was with the person this avatar was supposed to imitate, the Dragon quickly shifted gears and tried to focus more on her movement. And in all honesty, to see someone make such tremendous progress in such a tiny amount of time was awe-inspiring, even if she didn't wish to admit it.
Watching them fight from the sidelines, Tyr also reached the same conclusion, since he had more than enough experience with Hild's fighting style -which in turn was a more free-form version of the hand-to-hand combat taught by Muspelheim's forces- to notice that this had little to do with that. Instead, Nidhogg seemed to primarily learn by imitation, but to an almost impossible rate, allowing this avatar to reach a skill level that typically required years, if not decades, worth of hard training. 'Alright, I think I saw enough. Time to put an end to this.' The biggest problem right now was that restraining Nidhogg's avatar in the middle of a fight was easier said than done, since she not only moving rapidly, but her proximity to Ansuz was equally problematic. As such, Tyr created four little avatars of his, and prepared for the moment the two women would pull away from each other, just so that he could launch them at the distracted Nidhogg.
This didn't take too long to happen, as Ansuz backflipped to dodge an incoming jab, giving the Daitenkaicho the best opportunity to try his idea, which as expected caught the demoness off guard. The four chibi versions of Tyr encircled Nidhogg's avatar, each casting a binding spell in perfect synch with the others, which collectively managed to momentarily stun their target, at least for long enough to allow their main body to prepare his own spell. In total, five mandalas appeared around Nidhogg's body: one around each limb, with the last -and by far the most elaborate- forming around the demoness' midsection.
"What are you?" Just like a caged animal, Nidhogg struggled against her binds, desperately trying to break free from their effect before she ended up sealed. Even if this body meant nothing to the Infernal Dragon itself, the newfound convenience of having this type of agent running around, meant that it was beneficial to avoid letting them capture her. And almost as if on cue, the teal haired goddess summoned a CD which she was obviously planning to seal her in, and even started the incantation. With time running out for her, the avatar subdivided her body into more than four dozens chibi versions of her, just to overwhelm Tyr's binding spell, and then made a dash for the window.
"Oh no, you don't!" cried Ansuz, when she realized that their captive was about to turn tail. So, before every single one of the chibis made it out of the room, she pointed the CD at them and quickly cast the sealing charm she's been preparing, even if the outcome far from ideal. Only three of them were actually caught in light beam coming from the disc's reflective surface, and even with Tyr's assistance, that number was only increased by five. Which was obviously nowhere close to the actual number of avatars that managed to escape, at least before they triggered more alarms than she even bothered to count. "Dammit! We were so close!"
"Don't fret about it. I'm sure we'll see her again," said Tyr, as he stepped closer to the broken window.
"She? Don't tell me that her resemblance to a certain someone is getting through your head," moaned Ansuz, since she had her fair share of nonsense for one night.
"Okay, now you're ridiculous! There's no way I would ever see that thing as Hild. But… if it really insists on being a female, who am I to deny that?" At least his reply seemed enough to placate his wife, although that didn't mean that they were out of the woods just yet. "Anyway, let's relax for now and come up with a plan to capture her tomorrow."
"What about the alarms? Surely, everyone in the Fighting Wings should be at high alert by now."
"Officially… we'll declare it a misidentification. After all, this isn't the real Hild, right?" replied Tyr with a slight smirk, enjoying the momentarily confused look he got from Ansuz, until she caught on. "Unofficially though, we need to keep tabs on her, and find a way to corner that fake. Still, it's better not to make her feel trapped before we've got a plan, or we'll have someone with Hild's power on a rampage."
"That… goes without saying." With a heavy sigh, Ansuz plopped on the bed to cool off after this quite unexpected encounter. "Seriously though… I sure wasn't prepared for this when I came here."
"Tell me about it. I got quite the shock when I first saw her, too," admitted Tyr, although the way his wife was staring at him, spoke volumes of her curiosity. "You know what? Give me a minute to go grab something else to drink, and I'll tell you everything about it."
"Sure thing, love. Just get me something… stiffer, okay? I've got a headache just thinking about this."
XXX
Tariki Hongan temple, Japan
The delicious scent of breakfast lingered in the air, as the resident early bird cooked up a storm, so that everyone else welcomed the new day with a full belly. Truth to be told though, none of the immortals present needed the food, since even Keiichi was no longer a human, and thus didn't depend on the stuff for survival. Still, gathering around the low table in the living room was an essential part of their daily routine, as it provided them the perfect opportunity to spend some time with each other. For the goddess of the present though, there was also a very personal reward from this seemingly mundane task. The mere sight of everyone's smile as they consumed her food, and not to mention Keiichi's honest praises were more than enough to make her truly happy.
As of late however, Belldandy's happiness for being in the kitchen also had to do with her daughter, who may still be too early in her development, but could already respond to her mother's emotions. So, whenever Belldandy was happy, Lofn tended to reply in kind, almost echoing the emotion with her own innocent giggle. Sure, it wasn't exactly a sound so to speak, but the euphoric effect it brought to the Norn was the best thing in the world for her.
Just as she was about to announce that breakfast was ready to be served, the sound of the door bell caught her attention. After all, it wasn't exactly normal to have a visitor show up this early in the morning, but then again there were more than enough incidents as of late. Either way, Belldandy took off her apron and prepared to head for the door, only to find that her little sister beat her to it.
"No need to worry about it, sis. Leave it to me," said the young Norn as she passed in front of her sister, and then proceeded to open the front door… and immediately slammed it shut when she saw a healthy amount of tentacles waited for her outside. "Oh no you don't! I know your ways!" cried the genre savvy Skuld, and immediately grabbed one of her bomb clusters, much to her sister's confusion.
"Skuld? Do we have a guest?" asked Belldandy mostly to provide a distraction for Skuld, before the latter blasted their visitor sky high.
"Not for long!" urgently replied Skuld while she prepared to throw the bomb through the door, only to have Belldandy take it from her hands, and shoot her a withering look of disapproval.
"Now, now… that's terrible manners, Skuld! You shouldn't greet a guest with explosives." Gently pushing her unnecessarily violent sister aside, just to find out what this fuss was all about. Of course, Skuld made an attempt to stop her and even tried to physically block her path, but Belldandy was faster and managed to slide the door open before her sister prevented her from doing so. "Oh, you're…"
"You've got signed mail!" said the oversized demonic octopus, interrupting the middle Norn in mid sentence. The creature was easily comparable with Keiichi's bike in sheer volume, which also explained how it was capable of moving around a wooden crate that even larger than it. Yet hilariously enough, the octopus had a comically small baseball hat with the distinctive logo of Niflheim's postal service. Additionally, the creature was 'holding' a notepad with the delivery manifest stuck onto it, and then handed it to Belldandy who curiously checked the sender's identity.
"But of course! This must be the bike parts, Odal said he'd send us! I almost forgot it was supposed to be delivered today," said Belldandy as she signed the manifest, and then handed it to the demonic octopus. Just as she was about to thank the creature for his hard work, the Norn heard footsteps from behind her, and briefly glanced over her shoulder to see that it was actually her half asleep husband who also wanted to find out who was by their door. "Good morning, Keiichi. Did you sleep well?"
"Good morning, Bell. I slept like a baby," said the dark haired god with a yawn, since he was still trying to keep himself awake. As soon as he got a glimpse of the octopus outside, Keiichi blinked and rubbed his eyes. "Wait… have we met before? You kind of look familiar to me."
"Of course I do! I'm the booster demon, Mara sent to mess around with you, a long time ago! Well… I mean, I was several individual booster demons, although in the end you had all of them merged into this form. But you obviously know all that, right?"
A drawn out moment of silence followed the octopus' statement, since only Keiichi had the foggiest idea about the creature's identity, and even then, he could barely recall that incident. By contrast, the two Norns shared a blank stare, each hoping that the other knew something about this booster demon, yet in the end they decided to leave this to Keiichi. Still, even without a single word being uttered, the octopus managed to figure out what was going on here.
"You guys totally forgot about me…" concluded the poor booster demon, feeling dejected by this shocking realization. Worse yet, given her license, Belldandy couldn't quite lie about it, and thus tried to avoid making a comment; yet given her honesty, the way she fidgeted around was so obvious that even a total stranger could tell what she was trying to do. "Oh well, it's not a biggie. I've been here only for… what was it?... A day? Yeah… pretty much," said the octopus, before his curiosity got the better of him, and used a tentacle to point at Keiichi. "Still, he wasn't a god back then, right? How did that happen?"
"Long story," said Keiichi with a sigh. By now, he had figured out what this octopus had come to deliver, and in all honesty the anticipation was killing him. After all, whenever it came to new bike parts, Keiichi was like a kid in a candy shop; even if this time he was about to tackle something profoundly different from what he was used to. "Anyways… you're a mailman now?"
"More or less. Since I'm the biggest booster octopus in Niflheim, I easily got the job. Besides, moving around these crates is no biggie for me." There was a clear hint of pride in the octopus' words, especially towards the end when the mollusc tried to flex his legs in a similar display of strength to what a human would've done in his place. Which resulted in a rather hilarious sight that brought a smile to the assorted immortals, Belldandy especially, since she felt somewhat guilty for having forgotten about this fella.
"From what I remember, you do like Sake, right?" asked Belldandy, once she managed to recall more details about the octopus' last visit here. "Would you like to have a drink before you leave? It's the least we can offer for your trouble."
Just as he was about to accept the offer -and quite eagerly too- the devil octopus stopped and reminded himself of his busy schedule. "Aw… I'd love to, but I need to go places. Apparently, there's a lot of work as of late. Dunno what's up with that, but if the boss says that I've got stuff to deliver, then I deliver!"
The trio watched the octopus tip his comparatively tiny baseball hat to them, and as the trio waved back, he turned and slowly floated in the direction of the concealed Gate of Niflheim. That was apparently still located where Hild left it a long time ago, back when she originally visited them, and while this did raise some concerns due to the current circumstances, they've been assured that the demonic Intelligence Sector was monitoring the Gate at all times.
"Well, that was a blast from the past," said the amused Keiichi once their visitor was out of sight. "Time sure flies, huh… I still can't believe it's been years since that Valentine's day."
"Yes, love. Change is the only constant in the world, and it's only more noticeable here in Midgard. Because of that, making happy memories with all our friends here is even more important, Keiichi." Belldandy's face light up with a warm smile, as she stood between her husband and Skuld, before she pulled both of them in for a hug. And though Keiichi was far from surprised from this gesture, Skuld was kind of surprised that she was included as well, since most of the time the 'lovebirds' tended to ignore anyone and anything around them.
Just as the little Norn returned her sister's hug, another pair of arms wrapped around them from behind, catching the trio by surprise. Apparently, Urd found the best opportunity to sneak up on them, and given her tendency to float around, no one noticed her approach. "Good morning, everyone! What's the big occasion?" asked the half goddess, despite the fact that she more or less heard half of their conversation already. Not only that, but she also 'accidentally' squeezed her little sister against Belldandy, which resulted in a series of loud protests from the young Norn who clearly started to get embarrassed from all this.
"Hey! Get those fat bags out of my face!" protested Skuld, as she tried to dislodge her head from Urd's bosom, much to both her sisters' amusement. Even Keiichi smiled at the sight of all three Norns together, and he was pretty nervous to be this close to Urd's… assets to begin with.
"Do I really have to remind you what was the first thing you did when you got those fat bags, too?" teased Urd while she ruffled Skuld's hair, just to annoy her even further. Of course, she was referring to the now infamous incident when her little sister temporarily changed into her adult version, and almost immediately tried to prove that she was sexier… with predictable results. Then again, she didn't quite blame the kid for trying to pull that, since her constant teasing must've taken its toll on Skuld's sense of vanity. On the other hand, Urd was quite happy that her little sister was aware of her self-image, since she often worried that the kid would end up being too one-dimensional thanks to her fixation on designing and building machines. And right now, her embarrassment to get in a group hug was likely due to the first signs of entering her adolescence, where goddesses wished to be more independent of their close relatives.
"Grr!... You're treating me like a kid again!" grumbled Skuld, and turned away from Urd, even if the real reason was to hide her tiny smile from getting some attention from her sisters. With Belldandy now officially married and Urd in a relationship with Mara, it was hard for Skuld not to feel somewhat left out.
"Who, me? Nah… that's just your idea!" laughed Urd, before she turned to Keiichi who clearly didn't appreciate having to clean up her mess. But, that never stopped her before, and this was no exception to that rule. "After all, Keiichi's got a pretty important job for you, Skuld. That's surely not something fit for a kiddo, right?"
"Actually, she's right," replied the dark haired god, despite the pointed stare he was giving to the eldest Norn, until he gave up and turned to young goddess. "We need to set up this bike, and apparently my idea involves a lot of electric components. And we already got the parts delivered, so you don't actually need to build them; just help me figure this out."
"That sounds fine by me, Keiichi. How about we take look at the parts, first thing after breakfast?" replied Skuld with a genuine smile, since she was always happy to start a new project. After all, she hit a snag with Odal's request, since programming a ternary computer was surprisingly different from what she was used to, and the initial results didn't meet her expectations. As such, having something a bit more straightforward to work on could help her come up with fresh ideas.
With the two resident engineers discussing their plans for the day, Belldandy turned her attention to Urd, who sobered up quite noticeably for the middle Norn to miss. "Something's bothering you, neesan?"
"In a manner of speaking. Apparently there's no protocol for having a goddess transfer to Helheim, so, it's taking them way longer to clear me up for a visitor's permit. And with everything else going on right now, I doubt that my request is a high priority," said Urd with a heavy sigh, as the frustration of having to tackle what was quickly devolving into a bureaucratic nightmare was taking the toll on the impatient half goddess. "Mara told me that it's likely to take another day or two, but… I wonder if they're just lying to her."
"Perhaps. Although the timing is bad, so, it's hard to tell for sure." Pausing for a moment, Belldandy watched Laguz lethargically emerge from their pond, since she most certainly woke up just now. Furthermore, the blonde goddess of the Lake seemed curious as to what the commotion was all about, given that Keiichi and Skuld were trying to 'take a quick peek' into the crate that was like a beacon, calling them to check its contents. "Anyways… I need to stop those two, before they end up missing breakfast. In the meantime, how about you grab Mara?"
"Yeah, I guess you're right. Just gimme a second, though. That girl's really hard to wake up sometimes." Despite her frustration, Urd couldn't help but crack a smile, as Belldandy also giggled at the mention of the resident demoness' sleeping habits.
"Well, at least she's no longer sleeping in coffins. That's definitely an improvement… although, Neesan?"
"Yes?"
"Please don't go too hard on the poor soul. She might end up thinking that you're a pervert."
The line was delivered in such an innocent tone, that Urd didn't immediately realize what her sister meant by that. It was only after she started to float towards her room that, Urd paused to properly process what she heard… which understandably brought her to a halt, and then prompted her to look back at her sister. And though it was initially hard to notice, that tiny little smile gradually widened, making it perfectly clear that it wasn't her imagination. "Hold it! Since when did you start making this kind of jokes?"
Rather than an instant reply, Belldandy gave her sister an affectionate pat on the shoulder, before she leaned to kiss her on the cheek. "Ever since I need to cheer you up, Urd. After all, it's not like you to get worked up over such matters. I know that you're anxious to find out more about the other World of Elegance, but don't work yourself up like that, okay?"
"Alright… I'll try not to, Bell. Now, let me get Mara, so that we can all enjoy your breakfast."
AN: I would like to thank everyone here and the Goddess Relief site for offering their continuing support.
I must admit that I had a lot of fun writing that first scene, especially since it works perfectly with Verthandi's ability to manipulate dreams, as well as Aoshima's own desires. So, the end result isn't just a fun scene, but an opportunity to see Verthandi act in a scenario that her counterpart wouldn't certainly put herself in.
Although the Hild look alike avatar of Nidhogg isn't exactly a proper character in this story, she's still relevant to what's taking place, and will play a more important part in future chapters. For the time being though, she did kind of said hello to Ansuz (this is indeed a pun for anyone familiar with the manga).
The mail delivery octopus in this chapter is the same booster octopus from the early manga, when Mara used five of them to create a protective barrier for her. In the end, the five octopuses were combined into a single, bigger octopus, that simply vanished without a trace after that chapter. A somewhat similar booster octopus was also featured in the anime, but it was only a small one instead.