NMHA Ch. 43 - Eyes On High
A/N - So I've been writing these chapters ahead of time, and that's been pretty nice, since it gives me the opportunity to run back through each chapter and look them over before I publish them.
One thing I noticed, for instance, is a relative lack of multi-individual conversations. Similarly, the world itself could use a little more background noise and whatnot. I'll be trying to do a bit more of this going forward, but please bear with me!
-in other news, im gonna take a break, story is going on hiatus, not sure when im gonna get back to it
No, not really. But I want to make sure all the setup starts landing, and for that I may need a bit of extra time
Lunarunn bit the side of her lower lip and kneaded it between her teeth as she walked along the river, her guide walking ahead as they traversed upward, further and further into the sky as she was led to the home of the gods she had come to entreat with.
She had hoped to find a certain Sumerian hero in her wanderings before the pantheon was ready to receive her.
Instead, she'd found someone she knew to be far more dangerous.
Thankfully, he was still young, still inexperienced. She'd been able to catch him at a good time, but even so the human-turned-Devil shivered at the feeling of the True Longinus.
Had he been more experienced, she had little doubt she'd have been drawn into a fight with Cao Cao.
That being said, she'd been able to talk with him instead, and even had a successful, if somewhat tense, discussion with him.
She wasn't sure if that talk would stick, but she certainly hoped so.
He seemed to have a decent head on his shoulders? Were Luna the religious sort she'd pray for him to see reason.
She'd rather not have to kill the fledgling, partially-formed Hero Faction after all.
"Are you listening, Lady Bael?"
The Worldweaver blinked, drawn out of her thoughts by the pointed question from her guide.
Shit. Not the best way to make an impression, even if he was considered a lesser god in the Sumerian pantheon, he was still a god and expected some level of respect.
"I am also musing, Lord Lahmu," she bowed her head, as an outright admission of guilt would reflect badly on her so early on. "It is not often that one receives the honor of speaking with gods, thus I am thinking of how I may best make use of the opportunity presented before me."
"Then it would behoove you well to answer when spoken to, and allow your betters the floor before."
'Tch.'
Even if their worshipers were basically nonexistent these days, some gods certainly still had an ego.
Lahmu, one of two twin Sumerian river deities, appeared to be one of them..
"I understand, Lord Lahmu. And what respects am I afforded, as the leader of a faction and the blood of the current Great King of the Underworld?"
"As a woman and a commoner, your standing is little before the King of the Earth. You will receive respect deserving as such, but afforded little more, particularly as your 'faction', as you put it, is still but an infant."
She was very glad that the dreadlocked hair remained in front of her, and that the river deity's face was not in her direction, as she stifled the scowl that had formed in response.
Right. The Sumerians were very hierarchical, so it stood to reason their pantheon followed the same logic.
The same archaic, outdated logic.
Luna was under the impression that they had since changed their ways, or at least adapted with the times.
Then again, given where they were located, Luna supposed she'd been optimistic again.
At least they did not know - or did not care - that she and her blood family were... on the outs, so to speak. That would have been yet another wrench in the plans.
No matter.
Her eyes shifted back to the river she and Lahmu were walking up, and the lands beneath. She had to admit, it was an awe-inspiring sight, seeing all the movement far below, with none the wiser as to the ascent of god and Devil into the heavens.
"If that is so, then why am I receiving the blessing of visitation by Lord Enlil? By that same logic, a god such as he should have little reason to interact with a woman and a commoner, much less hellspawn such as I."
Lahmu rolled his unclothed arm.
"I cannot claim to know the King of Kings's mind, nor his whimsies. Were I to hazard a guess, however, it would be opportunity."
"Opportunity," Luna echoed. "For what, exactly?"
"That would be for him to say, once we arrive in the Third Dome," the black-haired deity replied, the world around them growing misty as Luna felt them begin shifting between realms. "Power. Respect. Glory. Prosperity. A return to order, perhaps? I do not know. Again, I cannot and will not speak for Lord Enlil. You shall meet him soon enough, all the same."
'So save your breath,' the unspoken words hung in the air, leaving Luna with a faint grimace.
She was expecting an ambivalent reception, but so far the one the Worldweaver had received was nearly chilly. The 'slow way up', the disdain for her position, the way Lahmu had taken one look and then proceeded to begin walking, not looking back once when regarding her...
The brunette knew snubs when she saw them, and the Sumerians were practically thumbing their collective nose at her.
They saw her beneath them, Luna recognized.
As irritating as it was, she could also recognize the benefits that being considered underfoot offered.
She could work with that.
The walk fell silent after that, the mists around them giving way to the sight of finely polished stone - something similar to lapis lazuli, Luna deduced - beneath their feet as ziggurats sprang up around them, of reds, whites, blacks, and blues, all in various styles, against a backdrop of stars, not unalike to the inner world in which Ulan resided.
'Hey, how do you feel about 'em ripping off your look?' she sent through their bond, jokingly.
Still no answer.
Luna's eyes narrowed faintly, before she let out a low breath.
"Magnificent, is it not?" Lahmu asked, setting forth toward a massive building in the distance, a ziggurat to tower above ziggurats. The brunette immediately knew it to be Enlil's hallowed halls.
"Lapis is a very strong color, especially for stone and the ground," Luna replied, glancing around them and back at the wholly-blue ground beneath them. "I'm surprised that it can be used in such qualities and not come off as overwhelming."
"Hmh," her guide nodded, tone taking on more than a hint of pride. "It is a stone of the gods, after all. It is only right that we know how to properly use it."
Luna nodded slowly, letting the matter lie as they continued to walk.
Even as she did, however, she noticed that they were getting onlookers. Others were showing up to see the newcomer, lesser gods whose names she hadn't paid much attention to. There were too many for her to remember every single one, so the brunette chose to spend her time doing more productive things.
Though with all the gazes on her, Luna began to feel her heart speed up, nervousness dampening her brow. She made sure not to show it, however, instead choosing to walk ahead, paying no more heed to the curious eyes.
Instead, she spoke with Lahmu. "There are still many Sumerian deities alive. I would have imagined that with the worship of the people dried up, many would have faded away."
"And many did, until we found alternative means of existence," the river god sighed. "It is not the same, but so long as the sun rises we who have endured shall continue to persist. It is a kinder fate than many suffered, during the War Above the Heavens."
"'War Above the Heavens?' You mean to say that the entire supernatural world wound up pulled into a massive war at some point in the past?"
"One could argue that it still is; simply that those who sit in power have chosen to wait for a chance to claim the upper hand rather than waste lives and talent, now that the prior winner of the War Above the Heavens has passed from this world. The one you would call Yahweh."
Luna's gaze shifted to the side, taking note of the lesser gods still there.
Now that she thought about it, she wasn't receiving the disdain from the common folk that she expected.
Did they keep their true feelings under wraps, in the hopes that she would prove to be their way back onto the world stage?
Certainly she could hear whispers, but nothing she could make heads or tails of.
'Prior champion... yet, Yahweh is supposed to be a creator god, right? The big guy? Did the others forget that, or simply choose not to recognize it in favor of their own creator gods?'
Yet when Luna thought about it, the only other deities that could even hope to lay claim to such a title would be the Trimurti. She was pretty sure Brahma, Shiva, and Vishnu had little interest in taking it.
Or maybe they were just waiting to act, too.
'I'll need to do a bit more digging there. After I've convinced the Sumer pantheon to join me.'
More silence as they walked along, and as they came up to the base of the largest temple, Lahmu stopped. He stepped to the side, and gestured for her to climb the stairs. "Go now. Our King of Earth awaits you. Do not keep him so."
So Luna did, giving the Sumerian river god a nod of thanks before she started ascending the steps of the ziggurat, the peak high enough that she could only barely see it from her spot at the bottom.
But see it she did.
So she climbed, and climbed some more, refusing to falter even once, even as her legs began to protest the ascent.
Luna knew that they would be watching.
It was a long climb, but eventually the steps to the mighty temple ended, and atop it sat the high gods of Sumer. Indeed, the end of the steps led to the front of a large edifice, lion statues on each side, lapis eyes trailing her, as though watching.
For a human sculptor, it would be an impressive show of skill. For gods... she was sure that those stone lions were, in fact, alive.
She took a slow, deep breath, exhaled, and stepped through, paying no further heed to the lions guarding the temple of Sumer's high pantheon.
The gods were there, as well as a single vizier, standing close to one of the two other females in the assembly.
Her eyes shifted between each of them, taking in their features and their gazes.
Enki. The supposed creator of man, according to Sumerian logic, he certainly fit the bill of a 'father' figure and cultural patron. Tall, well-built, with just a hint of fat around the abs, a full, black beard and adornings such as a headdress, rings, and ornaments across his one-sleeved tunic, he watched the Worldweaver with the sort of curiosity one would give a child who was doing something odd. Patronizing, but not necessarily disapproving. Yet, at least.
Utu. The god of the sun and the deliverer of justice, much like Enki he fit the bill of his domains. Where Enki was built wide, Utu was lithe, and where Enki bore black hair and a full beard, the Sumerian god of justice was blond and clean-shaven. Luna had to blink for a second as his appearance briefly reminded her of a certain Phenex, then focused back on how he scrutinized her, gazing intently with citrine, as though judging her even now, fingers slowly drumming the spear he held on his lap.
Ninurta. The god of agriculture and healing, though Luna could see how he also was a god of the hunt, given the bow slung across his back, the outstretched, almost angelic wings behind him, and the way he scrutinized her. Much like Utu, he was intently focused on Luna, though his posture was more relaxed than the sun god's, down to his eyes.
Where Utu's were a sharp golden, his were a more easygoing, but no less intense, verdant green. It reminded her of a lounging predator.
Ereshkigal. Luna was surprised to see the goddess of the Sumerian underworld not only alive, but in the heavens. As an underworld deity, the brunette expected that she would be like Hades in that she had little participation in the primary lineup of deities beyond when they went to her. She leaned back, drumming her fingers against the seat. Her eyes were judging as well, but unlike Utu and Ninurta, her gaze lacked the same harshness theirs did.
A more personal curiosity, perhaps? The brunette wasn't sure she even wanted to find out.
Inanna. Goddess of beauty, sex, and politics. While the last was a bit odd even for the brunette, she could hardly deny the first two. A full, shapely body, long black hair, and glittering amber for a gaze, the sight turned the brunette's mouth dry for a long second. That might also have been because of the lion whose back she was idly stroking, almost like one would a cat.
Luna's eyes may have lingered on Inanna for a touch longer than the rest, but forced her gaze away from the goddess before she started to stare, though in the brief moment of eye contact that they made, the corner of Inanna's eyes crinkled, as if amused.
The brunette blamed that goddess's domain both for Inanna recognizing the moment for what it was, and for her own reaction. Or the thighs. Or the hips. Or the gentle swell of those sizable orbs on Inanna's chest. Though if politics was one of those domains, then Luna knew to tread lightly around her.
Nannar. The god of the moon, of wisdom, and father of Utu and Inanna. She could see some similarities, Nannar appearing somewhat older than either the god of justice or goddess of fertility, with blue hair, oddly enough.
Luna thought it odd that an old god would have blue hair, but she wasn't going to judge, especially given that the gleaming silver of his oculars made the blue look dull in comparison.
Ninshubur. Lithe, yet plain in comparison to the other gods, she was supposedly the vizier of the whole pantheon, and a close friend of Inanna. Judging by the way she whispered animatedly to the fertility goddess, Luna figured that was a pretty accurate estimation of their relationship.
Finally, Enlil. The King of the Earth, the King of the Sumerian Gods, and the one who presided over air and water. Where most of the other gods appeared young despite their true age, or middle-aged in Nannar's case, Enlil himself was older still, with graying hair and a more grandfatherly appearance, a beard decorated with stones glittering red, black, and white.
It was also at that moment, that he took in a deep breath, and breathed out.
The sound resonated across the ziggurat, silencing what conversations might have been occurring, as the older-looking god's eyes, matching the gemstones in his beard, opened up and gazed at the brunette.
"Welcome to the hallowed halls of the gods of Sumer, Akkad, and Babylon, young she-Devil," he spoke, not unkindly, with all the command and authority one might expect from a chief god. "I am pleased to see that our legacy has not been forgotten, even by those whose lives are so fleeting as those of mortals."
Luna made a bow. "Thank you for your kind invitation, Lord Enlil."
'The way you had me come up gave me a good show too. I'm not going to be swayed by shiny colors so easily, though.'
Ninshuber stepped forward, at this point, and cleared her throat, speaking up in Enlil's place. "We have been watching you since you have entered our lands, Lunarunn Bael. Listening. Waiting. Now that you have arrived in earnest, however, it is time that we actually discuss the missive you sent us."
"First, however, let us eat," Ninurta offered, bowing his head as he offered the brunette a faint smirk. "If you have room after the meal you had before the wielder of the strongest Sacred Gear decided to speak with you, that is."
Ninshubur turned to give the agricultural god a raised brow and a frown.
The brunette herself noted the fact that they had, in fact, been watching, and saved it for future reference.
"Your offer is kind, but it is unnecessary. Though it is the mark of a good host to offer such a thing, I made sure to come prepared all the same." Luna shrugged and beamed. "Up to and including food."
"A pity." the god waved the idea aside, leaning back in his seat. "It would have been entertaining to see how you hold your drink."
The beam turned into a wry, self-deprecating smirk. "I can assure you, Lord Ninurta, that I would be laid out flat before the hour was out. Of my many virtues, a tolerance for alcohol is not among them."
"Ha!" he boomed. "All the more the pity, then!"
"So you wish to begin with overtures immediately?" Ninshubur jumped back in, to which Luna gave a nod.
"I do. It would be remiss for me to waste any of our time. The clock marches onward, regardless of the whims of any who act by its rules."
The vizier bowed, then stepped back. "Then please allow us a moment to discuss, before negotiations ensue."
At Luna's nod, the gods began speaking, though no sound passed from their lips to her ears. An enchantment, perhaps?
She reached out with her magical senses, curious as to the cause, and paused when she noted a thin sheet where air did not pass, between herself and the gods that had accepted her offer of parley.
Enlil seemed to take notice of Luna's exploration, eyes shifting back to her, a brow lifting before she drew back with a brief nod.
Those eyes shifted away, and the talks behind the wall of silence continued.
Luna stood there, hands in her pocket as she waited.
The gods continued to talk, and she waited.
Eventually, she started to tire of waiting in the same place, taking a step back and letting her eyes close for a few minutes.
"We are ready to discuss, Lady Bael."
Luna's eyes reopened, and noted Ninshuber in front of her, the vizier's hands folded over each other at her lap.
"Very well. What is the first order of business, then?"
And so the brunette fell into old habits. Wheeling, dealing, and pushing her argument, standing her ground against a number of gods
One versus many. She remembered this sort of feeling unfondly, but she knew how to handle herself here.
Diplomatic overtures were as much trying to get as much as possible for the lowest cost as a duel to not lose the things you were unwilling to part with. Testing boundaries, scoping out areas for compromise, and avoiding landmines that would cause the whole process to fall through, in the hope that there is some common ground that can be reached.
Unlike with Azazel, however, Luna had no direct understanding of who the gods were.
Even if there were subtle jabs here and there on their side that set Luna's teeth grinding. Insinuations about her parents, implications of inexperience, suggestions of what she could otherwise be doing.
Even so, she had little reason to give them any more quarter than was necessary to not insult them.
"I have no intention of settling down, Lord Enki," she said, barely refraining from biting out those words. "Me and mine have suffered great wrongs in the past, and I seek to set them right. Until then, at the very least, I have no time for such things as child-rearing."
"So you would claim, yet is that not the duty of a woman, to nurture and raise the young?"
"It is the duty of a woman to raise children. It is the duty of a leader to ensure that as many wrongs to their people are made right as possible."
"So you're saying you are no woman," Utu suggested flatly, to which Luna gave him a fierce stare.
'Oh, if only you knew.'
"Do not misrepresent my words. I'm saying that I do not let such matters as the body my spirit inhabits determine the person I am. If I, as a woman, am intended to nurture and raise the young, then I will do so by giving them an example to strive for rather than by birthing."
Inanna was smiling. Had Luna said something to amuse her?
After an extended amount of time in discussions, it was clear that her choice to push her case was warranted. Had Luna gone in with only the demands she truly wanted, she'd have been accused of being stubborn and unrelenting. Good traits... were it not for the sort of expectations the Sumerians seemed to hold of her.
She refused to play into them entirely, but nor could she ignore them either.
"We cannot agree to a system of tithing," Enki cut Luna off mid-sentence as she discussed an alliance-wide resource pot.. "The idea that Sumer would pay for membership into your 'alliance' is laughable."
"Then you will have to take our vassalization off the table," Luna tilted her head, gesturing to the side. "I did not come here to bend knee, I came to gather potential allies. I do not appreciate being taken with such little weight."
"Would that you came with a true diplomatic convoy, perhaps we could reconsider," Enlil's eyes crinkled, and he smiled in such a way that Luna immediately took it as patronizing. "As it stands, all we see is a girl with large aspirations and a larger ego."
"Then you'll have to temper your expectations. Times have changed. Day becomes night, and night becomes day. Water washes away even the toughest stone. Sumer's pantheon is impressive for its resilience, but compared to the Greeks, or the Trimurti, or the Big Three, it's clear that time has taken its toll on you all."
"Perhaps we could say the same for you," Ereshgikal hummed, lifting a single brow. "What holdings do you possess? What armies do you have at your disposal? We have endured through diligence and patience, and so our forces remain. Yet I see no army at your beck and call."
"If you stand by the tenets of diligence and patience, you will give me ten years. I have investments across the human world that, in that time period, will make me one of - if not the - wealthiest individuals alive."
"A bold claim," Ninurta chuckled. "Are you sure you are not inebriated?"
"Then why not agree to a bargain?" Luna's outstretched hand shifted, now held out to the gods instead of held to the side. "You give me that time, and I give you proof that your decision to join is not misplaced."
Her lips quirked upward. "It is, after all, a mere pittance compared to the long lives of gods and Devils."
"We will give you five. If you fail, what lands, titles, and possessions you do have at the time become ours, up to and including your own service," Enlil cut in. "You, additionally, will agree to a contract, enforced by blood, to ensure this comes to pass."
...So in other words, she has to show ludicrous holdings of wealth to the Sumerian pantheon, or she effectively becomes slaved to them?
'Reminds me of the Underworld, in a sense.'
"Then we'll do seven."
"Six."
"2015?" Luna smiled. "I accept. Shall we sign on it, at the end of this gathering?"
At least here, they could claim the idea of mutual compromise.
More time passed, and Luna was pretty sure that their talks took all of the afternoon.
It was hard to tell given the nature of the Sumerian divine realm.
"Very well. Now that such is settled, I believe we have nearly come to an acceptable place to begin the first steps of our... treaty. Diplomatic overtures are all fine, and you certainly have a sharp tongue where it counts," the fertility goddess demurred. "I believe that it has been a productive first meeting, but we are still far from finished. We would offer you a place to rest and recover after today's discussions."
Utu's gaze shifted to Inanna, who gave him a short nod back.
"However," the sun god stated. "There is one more thing we feel the need to discuss."
"What does that mean, Lord Utu?"
"That would be in regards to your history." Utu stood and took one step forward, keeping his eyes on Luna once more. "Before we can set this deal in stone, we must speak of your past. I can see there is more to you than meets the eye; as such, we must determine your trustworthiness moving forward."
'Ah crap.' And here's where the 'law' bit of the Sumerian pantheon came into play?
"Yours, I am aware, is a checkered history," the god of the sun continued. "I do not know the details, but that alone makes this a difficult proposition to entertain, much less the rest of your promises. We are gods of justice, order, and good, so to ally ourselves with an evil being would be reprehensible, even if we were assured of your strength."
"Aren't Devils 'evil' beings to begin with?" Luna pointed out.
"Only insofar as they are inclined towards such. We have, however, seen examples of morally-exemplary Devils." Utu gestured to the side. "The Marchosias Pillar and the Haagenti Pillar, may they rest well, were the types of individuals that we would welcome within our temples to partake in drink and merriment with any time. So I am curious whether the blood in your veins sings their song."
Luna slipped her hands into her pockets and sighed. "That's the thing though; I claim neither name. I was told that I could become a Marchosias, but I am sure it was just a ploy by my family's patriarch to further extend his influence, over both the Underworld and myself."
"Are you not? I am no seer of bloodlines, but I have spent many a time interacting with them, and there is a resemblance however small. You may yet bear their blood, even if you are a bastard to a bastard in terms of claim. If even that."
The sun god bowed his head. "Out of respect for the fallen, I will grant you one - and only one - chance to contextualize the crimes that cling to your being. We do not tolerate evil, and to my sense of justice you leave me... wanting."
Crimes that 'clung to her being'?
A domain trait, maybe. As an arbiter of justice it is not out of the realm of possibility that he would have a supernatural sense of one's 'guilt'.
Or had they been listening into her meeting with Cao Cao?
Hadn't she put up Bounded Fields and privacy wards, though, to keep their actual discussion private from prying eyes?
Did their clairvoyance penetrate such barriers? Or was that part of being in their domain too?
...It didn't matter.
The real question was, was it a matter of guilt in what she had done, or guilt in terms of the laws she had broken?
Luna didn't know, but she had to make a guess.
"Before I answer in full, what is justice to you?"
Utu lifted a brow, and his chin. "I beg your pardon?"
"What is justice, to you?" she repeated herself. "Is it the following of law, down to the very letter? Is it the imposition of one's perception of right to correct what they see as wrong in the world? Or do you see justice as something else?"
"I fail to see the difference."
Luna's eyes sharpened into a glare. "You want to know my crimes, Lord Utu? I'm a criminal, yes, but I get the feeling that you want me to spell it out for you."
He was silent. Her lips split into a grin.
"I've killed, that I won't deny. The ones whose lives I brought to an end were victims, considered... subhuman, for the sole reason of being considered beneath the ones who wronged them. It's ironic, because in the end I became one of those heir-killers."
Luna spread her arms wide. "And you know what? After the one responsible tortured my parents to death, after innocent blood was spilled because I helped someone, a living, breathing person, he thought as his property despite orchestrating the death of their mother and father? I still think it was the right thing to do. If making somebody pay the price of his actions is a crime, then I have no qualms with being guilty of such. Justice, to me, is making sure that everyone gets their dues, for the good they do, the evil they partake in, and the context in which they do so. Everyone, no matter their station."
By now she could hear the murmurs from the other Sumerian gods, and Utu's gaze was fiery. Luna met it in kind.
"And where does that leave you?" he ground out.
"No more guilty than the ones I hunted down, yet all the guiltier for delivering innocent souls to the unjust system that wanted them dead. Even so, the weight of their lives is a cross I intend to bear for the rest of my life, by living in such a way as to give them peace.." Luna squared her stance, hands still in her pockets as she broke from Utu's fiery gaze to give a closed-eye shrug before meeting it once more. "Once my work is done, I will accept whatever judgment comes. Until then, however, I intend to strive for a world where one's actions determine their fate, not the circumstances of their birth."
"A thousand good deeds does not overcome the weight of one sin."
"No," Luna agreed. "A sin is a sin, and the idea of measuring good deeds against the wrongs one has done is like comparing apples and oranges - to compare the two beyond the simplest measuring stick is a fool's errand. But if a thousand sins can make the lives of even two others better, and prevent them from committing more evil in turn, then I will admit to them all and bear them going forward."
She smiled. "I said it back when I spoke with the hero descendant Cao Cao, didn't I? Your inquiry suggests you were watching, but I will say the same thing I did then and I will say it now: I'm a monster that hunts other monsters."
A thought occurred.
"Though... what is a leader, if not one who must bear the ultimate weight for the choices they make; the understanding of what they are, and the lives that their actions have cost?"
Utu growled, and readied his spear, voice rising into a furor as he started circling the Devil. "You would come into our halls, profane our ears with such drivel, and claim yourself a King in doing so? How dare you!"
"No, how dare you!" Luna shot back, raising her voice and bending her knees as her wings extended from side to side, flinging one arm to the side, fingers splayed wide. She kept her voice even, even as she met his intensity with her own passion. "You call yourself a god of justice, but all I see in the face of your accusations is a god of law, cold and heartless! Law is codified to protect the people, but without justice - true, honest justice - to preside over it law becomes nothing more than a prison! A house for the wealthy and the powerful to exploit those beneath them without fear of repercussion!
"So before you throw stones in a glass house, ask yourselves this!" Her eyes narrowed. "Are you gods of justice, or gods of law? Because if your answer truly is what your accusations suggest... then we have nothing more to discuss. If anything, we may even be enemies."
She could have heard a pin drop after she finished her declaration, before Enki spoke.
"You would deliver such an ultimatum, right within the seat of our power. Are you mad? Or simply foolish enough to not realize the consequences of your words?"
"Neither." Luna swiped her freed hand to the side in a slicing motion. "It's a promise from someone who's seen and experienced creatures beyond even your ken."
"You speak as though you could face us all, and win," Ninurta pointed out, fingers around his mace tightening.
"Tiamat, goddess-consort of Apsu, left the Sumerian pantheon to become the Chaos Karma Dragon." Luna rolled an arm, careful to keep her senses trained on the justice god behind her. "If she's the pinnacle of your strength, and given your obscurity I would imagine she is, I may struggle. But I do not doubt that I alone could fell a set of gods who are, even now, barely clinging to their existence."
That got a laugh from Inanna, who shook her head at the brunette. "My, you truly do lack a filter, don't you? Your words are downright... provocative."
The brunette smiled, shaking her head back at the goddess. "I can play the game of politics if I need to. But Utu wanted to know my past, and my past has shaped who I am even now. You asked for the truth, so now you have it. I will not hide what I've done, but I'm not going to apologize for doing what I believe is right."
She felt motion behind her, so Luna turned and snapped her pocketed arm upward, knocking Utu's spear out of its drive for her midsection.
"So that's your answer," she muttered, eyes sliding half-closed as she readied a sphere of stardust. "Guess we're doing this, then. Pity, I was hoping there'd be more eye-to-eye."
She heard a word ancient and unknowable resonate behind her, and Luna felt her body contort as some invisible force slammed into her and pushed her backward, away from Utu before she could counter his lunge. Though her Worldweave-induced spell dispersed into motes, the brunette flipped back, body twisting in mid-air to face the culprit, eyes landing on a now-standing Nannar as her feet met the ground.
"For one who claims to know how to play the game, you certainly have no qualms with flipping the table," he said, hands behind his back as their own gazes met.
"Just because I know how to talk realpolitik doesn't mean I like to. Sometimes, it's just easier to say what you want to, and let the pieces fall as they may. More earnest, too."
She flexed her wings, the dust around her stilling in place as Luna focused inward. "Besides... it was always going to come to this, wasn't it?"
Nannar lifted a brow. "We are the gods of Sumer, the kings above the kings of the ancient world. We would never bow to a weaker ruler."
"Hah. Go figure. So, this is a test of my strength?"
"You are a woman, an exile, and a commoner, yet would claim to be King," Ninurta stood, idly swinging the mace in his hand, casually. "What madness claims you? You clearly intend to continue this farce; we would free you from your insanity instead."
Luna scowled. "Then why go through the process of diplomacy first?"
Her question went ignored as the gods started talking amongst themselves.
Then it hit her.
'They were trying to do to me what Zekram did back in the Underworld.'
"You sons of bitches," she breathed, pupils dilating.
Well, that certainly caused her blood to heat up further.
"Count me out," Ereshgikal finally spoke, waving a hand dismissively. "I have no interest in fighting with the rest of you like the brutes you are."
There was, however, a glimmer of interest in her eye. "But once the Bael does die, I lay claim. She may well make a fine retainer."
"Wanting a reward without doing any of the work, Ereshgikal?" Inanna giggled saccharinely. "You certainly remain true to yourself even to this day."
She got a glare from her fellow goddess for that remark, but that only seemed to lift Inanna's spirits further. The latter goddess seemed to be getting a kick out of it all, but otherwise didn't appear hostile. Ninshubur was just staring curiously at the forming battle.
The female deities seemed uninterested in fighting, so Luna paid them no further heed, instead shifting her gaze between the three gods who were standing, flanking her.
Her gaze shifted to Enki and Enlil, who also remained seated, though both kept their gazes on the brewing fight.
Enlil waved a hand. "If you expect us to bend knee to your will, we will give no quarter. Utu, Ninurta, and Nannar will be your foes. Defeat them... and then perhaps we will take you seriously. Otherwise, we will put you down like the mad dog you are."
He spoke, a resonance that outstripped even Nannar's spoken spell, and the world around them shifted, the ground between her and the other gods expanding, the seats of power representing the seven deities who received the brunette rising into the air, leaving her in a circular arena with Utu, Nannar, and Ninurta.
'A colosseum. How... fitting. Must've taken a note out of the Romans' book.'
Her eyes shifted back to the two she could see still on the same level, Utu behind.
She breathed in, and breathed out, and dove inward.
'Focus. Relax. Let your mind steep in that well of potential. Synchronize your Id and your ego, let your instincts and your desires act as one.'
What did she desire, right now? What was her body yearning for?
What did she seek to achieve with every fiber of her being?
'To teach these bastards that they shouldn't have underestimated me.'
Her eyes reopened, the sapphires within now gleaming with every color imaginable.
Luna's lips quirked upward, and she stepped forward toward Nannar..
In the span of that single step, she moved past him, and whirled around to plant a knee in the small of his back, sending him flying past the 'younger' Sumerian gods as they charged, Ninurta hurling his mace at the brunette.
"Sharur, go!"
"Right!"
'There's a fourth?!'
Luna swayed, the wind of the thrown weapon flying by her brushing her cheek, then her arm, then her stomach, the god of the hunt's fists adding to the flurry of blows that she interrupted with an expanding barrier, driving an elbow into his gut before a wingbeat carried her away from Utu's spear and into an elbow of his own.
'I should have been able to avoid that. Was Utu hiding his speed before, or...?'
She dropped to the ground with a grunt, and rolled away before Sharur - Ninurta's flying mace, she figured - crashed into the ground where her head had been.
Luna made to get back on her feet, but with widened eyes continued rolling as the mace continued bashing relentlessly against the ground, until finally she managed to throw up a barrier. Not a second too soon either; not only did the barrier deflect the mace, which bounced away spitting what Luna could only guess was a curse, but also a number of arrows, Nannar floating in the distance, speaking more into existence around him, each one spinning and glowing blue as they fired, a storm of azure magic that bore down on Luna like a tidal wave.
She could hardly pay her undivided attention to the moon god, however; Utu continued his assault, running forward and jabbing rapidly with his spear, heedless of his father's flurry. However, compared to a certain other spear-wielding individual Luna had recently faced, his own were noticeably slower.
She'd managed to survive Kokabiel, and Utu was clearly weaker than the Fallen cadre.
So she let herself fall into instinct, body twisting and dancing out of the way, leaping back to buy herself some distance and drawing Utu after her. He continued his assault, keeping Luna on the back foot, but her growing irritation was quelled by patience and discipline, just waiting for an opportunity.
Yet when she tried to make that opportunity, she was punished for it, Sharur slamming into her side and carrying her into a wall, a burst of air escaping her in a pained grunt as her ribs rattled from the blow.
'Ngh... scratch that, that's definitely a cracked one...!'
She recovered quickly and dodged the coup de grace that the mace attempted, but she could feel her body groaning in protest at moving so quickly after the crushing blow.
Not that she could get any respite, however; the sun god continued bearing down, and Luna gasping as the point of the spear tore through her duster and gashed her arm.
'Shit!'
She couldn't check how much blood she was losing, not in a melee like this, but the brunette was pretty sure it didn't nick a critical blood vessel. She'd have to continue.
So she thought, as fast as she could.
'...Enlil and Enki are dampening my powers, aren't they?'
Luna grit her teeth, feeling a heat rush through her at the realization.
'So that's how they're gonna play, is it? They couldn't put themselves above me in talks, so instead they're trying to do so through force of arms and play off 'sparing me' as mercy?'
The desire to unleash Cataclysm Eclipse against these arrogant deities reared its head, but Luna forced it down, instead focusing on the god before her, and either deflecting or evading his attacks.
As Utu stepped forward and overextended but a hair, the brunette struck with all the coiled tension of a serpent. She ducked beneath the spear and slammed the side of her foot into his, grabbing his wrist with one prismatic-glowing hand and piercing through his spear arm with the other, using that impaling grip and Utu's disrupted balance to slam him into the stone floor, adding her own strength to his and cracking the ground beneath the sun god.
With a pivot of her stance, the brunette swept both arms to one side, pillars of lapis curving into the path of Nannar's attack, blocking the arrows as the rapid impacts turned the pillars into blue dust.
Luna scowled. The pillars were supposed to be far sturdier, lending credence to her previous theory.
"Utu!" Ninurta roared, rushing forward to engage Luna up close again while Nannar took potshots, forcing the Worldweaver back on the defensive while Utu got back up, streaming golden ichor from the wound that the brunette had inflicted, and fell back, barking out words like the more middle-aged god to cause the blue-glowing arrows to start glowing green. "Nannar, switch!"
Her eyes flicked between the two younger Sumerian gods and the older one as he flew in, arrows shooting toward the Worldweaver while Ninurta disengaged and hurried over to Utu, Sharur covering for its master by swooping down at her head whenever she tried to draw a bead. Every time Lunarunn avoided one of Sharur's attacks, the ground beneath the swing cracked and gave under the wind pressure.
'That mace is proving a problem...'
Then Nannar came into range, and Luna reprioritized.
As the empowered arrows and the larger form of the older god raced in, she discarded her focus on Ninurta in favor of handling the threat before her, throwing a hand up, palm to the sky.
Much like with Utu, however, she'd seen worse from Kokabiel.
Luna's hand clenched into a fist, the sky solidifying into a sphere of blue-stained glass, pulverized stone coalescing and fusing into a translucent orb.
Nannar screeched to a stop in midair to avoid flying into the lapis prism that Luna had created. He did not, however, stop the empowered arrows of light.
They met with the transmuted stone, and the prism did its intended purpose in refracting the magic, each arrow landing in locations not dangerous to Luna and delivering their payload, completely obscuring the Devil from Nannar's view and vice-versa, allowing her to evade the few that got through with ease.
It also allowed her a moment to breathe after avoiding another swing from Ninurta's mace, a beckoning gesture with her arm shattering the now-glowing prism into motes of raw magic and debris, weaving the results into a storm that harmlessly flowed around her.
She was surviving, all things considered. But Luna could tell they were testing her defenses in her weakened state, and even then finding weaknesses.
Once they got a better read on her, the brunette had little doubt the Sumerian gods would press what advantages they had. Even now, they had her constantly on the back foot.
What injury she'd inflicted was undoubtedly undone by this point, and considering the warfaring nature of Sumer she had little doubt their gods also had the stamina to outlast her.
'Okay, so I'm outnumbered against a team that have experience covering for each other. Sharur keeps trying to brain me, so I need to try and disable it somehow. Magic nullification won't work; Sharur's a divine weapon. They outnumber me, they outlast me, I'm being dampened, and the instant I falter I have no fallback.'
She took another breath and set one hand against her gashed arm and the other against where she was sure an ugly bruise was forming. Those hands started glowing green, the injuries beneath mending to the pulsing inside her head.
'Can't overpower any of 'em either. If I pull out Cataclysm Eclipse someone's gonna die before I regain control, and I'm not strong enough to just out-strength them without. Wrong gender and wrong specialty. Outlasted, outnumbered, and overpowered? Haha... I'm gonna have to play this slick and fast.'
Even so, the call of that black rush of power remained. It'd be so easy to just let loose and make them bend the knee.
But if she did, she'd stoop to their level.
Luna was better than that. She had to be.
One more breath, then she ducked as Sharur cut through the storm for Luna's head. Dropping low, Luna dispelled it, seeing as she'd get no more respite with her stalling tactic.
Immediately, a Ninurta and a healed Utu were upon her, forcing Luna to leap back and sidestep another swing from that flying mace.
'So, how am I gonna bullshit my way out of this one?'
Nannar shouted out another word, and Luna started running, stone spikes shooting up where she stood, as well as around the makeshift arena itself, blotting out the stars as the spikes began to converge toward the center.
'Kh, they're closing me in!"
Luna grit her teeth, then yelped as she skidded to a stop, leaning back over Utu's swing with a blade of concentrated heat.
'Way too close! If this game of cat and mouse keeps up it's not gonna be pretty!'
She fell back, dodging and weaving between the three gods' assault.
'Just focus. Focus on the facts, and the world around you. How can you turn the tide?'
"For someone who says she's met more dangerous foes than us, you sure have a penchant of running away!" Utu growled, physical weapon spearing down in a flash of light, piercing the ground if not the intended target, who rolled along the wall away from harm.
Her eyes flicked to the spear.
"Is that what you mean, perhaps? That you met greater fish, but fled?" Ninurta continued, a volley of arrows freezing in the air as Luna threw up a barrier between the god of the hunt and herself. "It certainly seems so!"
Her eyes shifted to the winged god's arrows.
"Where is the woman who said in full confidence that she could fight us all? You're struggling against not even half our strongest! You claim to be a king, but all I see is a coward!" Nannar finished, landing behind the other two as the stones around them closed completely, trapping Luna inside the makeshift dome with two melee fighters and a mage, the only lights visible being Utu's sun blade and a blue, moonlike orb at the top of the dome.
She stared at them.
'That... might work.'
Luna reached out to feel the world around her, and grimaced when she realized where exactly she was.
The divine realm was essentially a massive bounded field, wasn't it?
Hadn't she been able to create her own before?
Back when... she'd lost her parents.
She wasn't quite sure how, but as long as she was able to negate the dampening effect on her then it didn't have to be a fully-actualized one.
'Okay, I can still work with this. I just need a little time.'
The brunette started trailing the wall, the three gods making sure to keep her cornered, even as she surreptitiously dragged her hand across the wall with her.
"If I let loose, someone's gonna die and it's definitely not gonna be me," she warned, continuing her stepping to the side as much as she could.
Utu scoffed. "Holding back? When you've been on the back foot this entire time? When we seek your head from your shoulders? What was that human saying? Ah yes; pull the other one."
Luna cleared her throat. "Then how about this; I'm avoiding using my full power because it includes an evil curse that I still don't have full control over."
"What sort of curse would you be reluctant to use on your executioners...?" Ninurta lifted a brow.
"The kind to make monsters seem tame," she fired back. "A monstrous curse to monsters, I personally find it rather fitting!"
"Really now?" Utu grunted.
"Yep. Like I said, push me too far and one of you is biting the dust. I will if I have to. But so far, I've been holding back."
Her face twisted into a grimace. "Even with my powers limited, I'm holding back. What does that say about you?"
"That we're willing to do what it takes," Nannar said, even as Utu growled, readying his spear for another charge.
Luna continued undeterred. "This isn't justice. This is barbarism."
"The strong are the ones who rule," Ninurta commented. "The strong flourish, and the weak must either accept their place beneath or perish."
"Strength comes in more than one form."
"Perhaps it does. But in case you haven't realized... you're cornered."
'Come on... C'mon... this better work!'
"I'm aware of that."
"And you're still insisting on not using your so-called 'curse'?"
"Yep."
Nannar furrowed his brow. Then, he paused, eyes widening in realization. "Wait-"
She smiled. More grimaced, really, but she kept it from reaching that point.
The god of wisdom moved, cottoning on to Luna's grasping at the air with her weakened Worldweave, blue bolts of magic spiraling toward Luna before blinking out, lost in the pitch black.
For them, perhaps. Luna, however, ran. Not away or through but to continue her path, sidestepping the projectiles, ducking beneath the wild slash from the blond of the three, and discarding subtlety for speed.
"What is this trick, she-Devil! Do you think that you can hide from the light?!" Utu roared, and Luna had to squint and look away lest she be blinded from the burst from the sun god.
"She blinded you three!" Sharur resounded as it soared at her again. "She's running to the side, completing a circle!"
'It's not affected!? Damn it, gotta pin that thing down!'
Luna grit her teeth and pivoted on her heel, turning to the mace that was bearing down for another swing, swayed past its head, and latched on to the hilt with one hand, even as the blinded Utu and Nunurta ran by her, Nannar himself scrambling backward, buying more distance from Luna.
"Wha-" The brunette almost immediately felt the mace shifting to smash her face in, but didn't give it any time to do so before slamming it into the ground beneath her, stone giving way to the weapon's massive force, cratering the land around her.
Even as it started to rise again, the broken earth surged to claim Sharur, gathering around it to pull it back down, a tug of war between stone and weapon.
Sharur would win, Luna knew, but it would be delayed. It'd have to do.
She grimaced, and kept moving, ducking beneath an arrow of moonlight that would have impale her to the wall.
She couldn't overpower them.
But she could easily cut them off from leveraging their strengths, like they had with her.
All she needed was the opportunity, and they'd given her the chance to wrest control of 'others perception of light', if for a moment.
The three blinded gods reacted remarkably well to even the reverberation of Sharur crashing into the ground, Ninurta firing his bow in that direction, Nannar enhancing the arrows as they left and Utu firing bolts of divine sunlight that curved in on the location of Sharur's impact.
It was impressive, seeing the teamwork they held even with the two most important senses to beings such as she and them. She'd readily admit to that.
Luna ducked beneath the arrows and blocked the sunbursts with barriers across one arm like a shield, dispelling them as she continued her sprint, trailing a hand behind her against the stone as she circled the enclosure.
She had to pause and throw up another barrier as a blast of divine light crashed against it, grimacing as she realized that had Utu landed that shot she might not have survived it.
Behind that hand floated motes of stardust, glittering in the darkened room, as did wherever else her hand touched the stone pillars blocking them all in.
Luna still wasn't sure how dampening magical senses worked, though, which meant that even blinded and deafened they could tell where she was, her own relatively weak magical signature contrasting sharply against the divine ambiance of the Sumerian third celestial dome.
They could tell where she was, and increasingly, what she was doing.
So even as she stopped, paused, danced, and weaved through the combined fire of the three gods, Luna proceeded, glittering stardust glowing brighter and brighter as she channeled Worldweave through the physical manifestation of her unique bloodline.
Her job was almost finished when the mace finally broke free of the stone prison that Luna had trapped it in.
"Disrupt the circle! Hurry!" Sharur warned, even as Utu charged her and Ninurta and Nannar moved to do just that.
Luna smirked, feeling something click.
'Too late.'
"What!?" she heard Enlil roar from outside, and her smile widened.
The circle closed in, forming a field of two meters around Luna as beams lanced from all sides, cross-crossing, intersecting with each other in an intricate lattice that spun rapidly around the Worldweaver whilst leaving her untouched. Luna swept both arms to each side, sending forth a wave of force to throw the three gods off-balance. Ninurta and Utu were able to stand firm, but Nannar, in the process of trying to counter the circle the brunette created as it closed in around her, found himself slamming against the wall and staggering. Sharur slammed into the wall beside Luna, the stone attempting to claim it once more at the brunette's command.
This time, Sharur was swallowed whole, the earth far more lively in its response to her channeling.
Luna wasted no time, immediately stepping forward.
While Ninurta and Utu were formidable fighters, the Worldweaver's circle, a burst of wind carrying her past the charging gods and toward the recovering Nannar.
'Time to shut you up, Mister Spellcaster!'
Eyes glimmered every color as her arm swept upward, stripping heat from the air before her, encasing the god in a prison of ice even as her other hand swept around to unleash the stolen heat in a mighty conflagration toward Utu and Ninurta. Utu pushed on through, unfazed by the flames, but Ninurta drew back and restrung his bow.
By that point Sharur broke out and started flanking again, but that in and of itself gave Luna important information.
'Guess my full power's limited to the inside of the circle.'
Thus, anything that originated or had a continuous effect outside would be weakened. That would have to be enough.
"My turn."
Utu raced forward, but this time Luna didn't let him get close, a downward swipe smashing him into the ground as pillars - of ice, rather than rock - speared downward in his path, the very stone shattering around the sun god as the impact pulverized not just the ice but the land itself. A flick of the wrist and a telekinetic slam sent Sharur off-course, back into the earth. The mace immediately made to escape, but a quick stomp drove it further into the stone maw, which closed around both it and Luna's foot, only the latter of which escaped.
Her hand went to the arrows flying her way courtesy of Ninurta that same moment, crushing them to dust with a twist of her wrist and a clench of her fist before ducking low and shooting forward with the beat of wing and boost of foot. The god of the hunt reached out to grab, but Luna stopped as soon as he passed the threshold of the circle of stardust around her.
He found himself lifted off the ground with a swift upward swing of her forearm, a pillar-boosted uppercut carrying them both into the air. Where Ninurta smashed into the roof as the pillar carried him all the way up, a hop off the pillar and a wingbeat ensured she remained unharmed, and more importantly, kept Ninurta within her range.
Luna didn't stop there, throwing her other arm out to the side to drag the god to the side, Ninurta scraping across the ceiling of the stone enclosure fast and hard enough for the sound to reverberate like a rockslide as he crashed back into the ground on the other side of the dome.
The sun god barked a word as he rolled to his feet, two blasts of fire spat from his mouth, screaming for the brunette and Nannar respectively. Luna dove out of the way of the first and skidded into the path of the second, summoning the crack of a vacuum, the flames within flickering before vanishing from existence. The residual heat, she gathered around one extended hand, condensing it into a sphere of shimmering wind, the air around her gathering contrails from the sheer force of the orb.
She spun in place, hurling it at the dazed Ninurta. He made to get out of the way, and stumbled due to the damage that she'd inflicted with her telekinetic drag, arms starting to come up in a block. Luna's other arm wheeled in response, and she crossed them together, pre-emptively triggering the superheated wind orb before Ninurta could fully brace himself.
The base impact might have been lower due to being farther from the source, but hitting the Sumerian god of hunting and healing before he could get his guard up would mean the overall damage would be far greater.
The resulting explosion threw Ninurta back into the pillars, driving him clean through to the other side. The stars of the Third Dome shone through the opening his body made, and Luna was pleased to hear shouts of alarm from beyond the enclosure.
Her eyes flicked back to Nannar, and the slowly cracking ice surrounding him.
She'd have enough time to handle Utu.
Her back arched, narrowly but smoothly ducking backward beneath the furious sun god's spear, sidestepping or deflecting every stab, before sliding beneath, as though to punch through his arm again.
This time, however, Luna didn't do such a thing, instead lunging for his neck and grabbing on with one hand.
Utu stilled, eyes widening as Luna's fingers tightened.
"I know you don't need air to survive," she said, quietly, eyes still glimmering with the sub-real power that was Worldweave. "And I know that you could pry me off of you. But you won't be able to do so fast enough to prevent me from piercing your eyes with wind claws and turning whatever's behind them into a fine slurry."
Her gaze shifted back to Nannar, and the way the ice was starting to shift.
"Ninurta is out of contention, I have you by the throat, and Nannar is imprisoned within ice. Before he breaks out, I could effectively kill you, and Ninurta, and he alone isn't enough to deal with me, especially now that I've figured out your tricks."
Her eyes shifted to the mace still pinned to the ground. "Surrender. Even after Enlil and Enki weakened me using their ownership of the Sumerian domain, I still won. I'd much rather not kill you all, but if you force my hand I will not hesitate. I will count to three."
Utu just glowered back, even as the ice continued to tremble, one of Nannar's arms finally breaking out of its icy imprisonment.
"One."
Her other hand readied another sphere of wind, this time with a low keen as she sharpened the air within to blades, rather than bludgeons like she had with Ninurta.
"Two."
Utu's harsh gaze did not lessen, refusing to give ground even as his hands started rising to try and deal with her's.
"Thr-"
The ice came off Nannar's mouth and he shouted out to interrupt.
"We concede! That's enough!"
The god of the sun's glare shifted to behind Lunarunn. "Father!"
"No. That's... that's enough." He shook his head, shivering, even as he tore his way out of the frozen space that Luna had created. "She won. We underestimated her."
The brunette stared back at the older god, gaze icier than the prison that Nannar just escaped. "And you think that just surrender will spare you all? That I will just let bygones be bygones?"
Nannar made to respond, but something caught the side of Luna's eye before he could.
Her head whipped back around, and she released Utu as the two pushed away from each other, skin tearing and blood flying as the two staggered back and let out simultaneous pained shouts.
"Utu, that is enough!" Nannar roared. "Stand down, now!"
Said god continued to glare, contempt for a 'wrongdoer' shining from his remaining eye as Luna grit her teeth and let out a grunt of pain as a hand went down to the hole in her gut.
At least this time, it wasn't poisoned with a top-form cadre's holy energy.
"That's the second time I've been impaled by a spear there, dickwad," the brunette hissed, even as her hand glowed green. "You don't think I wouldn't have learned... to heal that sort of injury after the first?"
Silence hung in the air as the hole in Luna's gut started to slowly close, golden ichor flowing down Utu's face from the remains of his left eye. Neither looked away from the other, though Luna made sure to widen her stance in case Nannar tried to ambush her from behind.
"That being said," Luna's gaze finally shifted, briefly, to Nannar, then to the hole that she made using Ninurta's body, before returning to the one-eyed sun god. "Your lives are now mine. I win today, unless the others in your pantheon mean to step in."
"...It is so," the god of the moon replied, solemnly, from his place behind Luna. "You froze me, but you could have torn me to pieces. You took Utu's eye just now, when it could have been his head."
"Father, you're capitulating to this Devil!?" Utu bellowed.
"Learn your place, child!" he barked back. "The she-Devil spared your life not once, but twice! Once when she took you by the throat, and again now! If mine and Ninurta's lives are hers by mercy in conquest, yours is so twice over!"
Utu growled, but said nothing more even as the pillars around them began crumbling away, revealing Ninurta in the distance, being tended to by Inanna, Ninshubur, and Enki, while Enlil himself sat in his original seat and sneered down at Luna.
Now, she turned away and faced Enlil in full.
"Enlil, king of the Sumerian gods, enough of your games!" she called out, holding her arm out to the side, revealing only an angry red mark where before she'd been completely run through, the motionless body of Ninurta rising to float in front of her to the alarm of the three divine beings who had been treating him, while stepping behind the other two gods, a swift kick to his ankle knocking Utu to his knees. Only Nannar remained standing, and even then it was with a bowed head, an admission of defeat as any. "You forced me to face your sun, your moon, and your law of the natural land, all the while limiting my power using your domain. Yet I prevailed over all three at once despite your interference!"
Her eyes flicked from chief god to the three before her. "Furthermore, by sparing your fighters, I now hold claim to Sumer's war, wisdom, and justice. Nobody needs to die today, but keep this up and it will be on your hands!"
Indeed, the older god seemed rather displeased, his sneer only intensifying as his eyes shifted from her face to the circle still surrounding the brunette.
"Be that as it may, I must ask; what are you, to overwrite the realm of the gods with a domain of your own, however small it might have been?"
Luna tilted her head and smiled, though it failed to reach her eyes..
"I'm the one you declared an evil being and attempted to execute. No more, no less. So, now that I've completed your fake trial and not just come out on top, but took your three executioners to task... why don't we strike a bargain? The lives of your brethren... and in exchange, the service of Sumer for the duration of ten years?"
A silence.
"Ten years, for the lives of three gods?" Enki asked, glaring at the brunette. "Do you truly consider our lives to be worth so little?"
"Of course not." Luna scratched her head, eyes shifting over to the Sumerian patron of culture. "Aren't slaves meant to only be held for three years? So three years of an alliance for each of them, and then a year on top of that for being presumptuous, holier-than-thou douchebags for which even a century is practically nothing? That sounds like a deal to me."
Silence.
Her tone became mockingly casual. "...Riiiight, that's if a child gets sold off. Though isn't that what you did, throwing these three at me?"
"Enough." Enki cut a hand through the air, and then brought it to pinch the bridge of his nose. "You expect us, the gods of order and good, to bind ourselves to the will of a dark creature, even for a pittance of the cost you could ransom? If there isn't anything more I'll eat my headdress."
The brunette shrugged. "You could just take back what you said about me being 'evil'. I could have just slaughtered you all, since I was holding back anyway. Oooooor," she lifted a finger and waggled it, "it could be our little secret, that the stoic gods of the land between the Euphrates and Tigris walked back a declaration after trying to execute someone who came on a mission of diplomacy."
"...It's blackmail then," Enlil spat.
"No more a crime than to attack the envoy of a foreign while pretending I'm beholden to your laws. A lesser one, even." Luna put the lifted finger to her lips as she returned to facing Enlil. "As it so happens, the Grigori officially recognizes my group as a sovereign bloc. We even have a written non-aggression pact, to boot."
More silence, as a smile drew across Luna's face.
"I never did tell you that little bit, did I? Who knows what other factions I've made traction with? You sure you want to test me further and risk an outright war?"
"Not many leaders would go to unknown grounds, much less alone, to speak for an opening of diplomatic channels." Inanna stood and brushed off her robes, stepping between Luna and Enki. "Much less take on three of said unknown grounds' leaders on their home territory, supported by two more, and win. I have to say, I'm impressed by your tenacity... as well as your cleverness, holding out that particular piece of information in the event that we did turn hostile."
"Are you suggesting that you didn't have a part to play in this?" Luna shot back coolly.
"Perhaps I did, perhaps I didn't. Maybe I was the one to suggest the idea to the rest of us," Inanna smirked coyly. "It's not like you'll trust what we say without empirical proof after this, am I mistaken?"
Luna crossed her arms and lifted her brow at the goddess of fertility and politics, noting how the colosseum was starting to fade, returning to the original throne room configuration.
"Smart girl. For what little it is worth, I did suggest trying to obtain supremacy on the battlefield if it fails on the diplomatic grounds, but was against the idea from the start. I merely floated it as a joke. A shame that the others took it seriously."
The goddess's pout was a convincing performance, but the brunette didn't buy it.
"You do realize I left a notice back at home in case something like this happened, right?"
"Of course. You've come well-prepared despite your lack of fanfare, and considering the circumstances we must submit, lest we face the consequences."
"So what are you getting at?" Luna asked.
Inanna splayed her hands to both sides. "It's clear that a full vassalization on such salted grounds will be prone to issues of mistrust and tension, something that quite frankly you cannot tolerate given your own faction's youth. So if you cannot trust us to stab you in the back when you are focused on other matters, why not lay claim to something instead and let bygones be bygones?"
"You mean the lives of the gods you threw at me? You'd just leave them under my rule, regardless of whether or not it's good or bad?"
Inanna's smile fell, eyes narrowing faintly as she crossed her arms beneath her sizable bust.
"Of course not. We are family, and we must stand together regardless of the circumstances. In fact, due to the aggressiveness Utu in particular has shown you, I mean to offer myself in his place, both as an envoy between Sumer and... whatever your faction is, and to take on the debt my brother owes you twofold."
The wounded sun god started, getting to his feet with legs spread as though expecting to fight again. "Inanna, I-"
"Enough, brother," the goddess cut him off, before her tone softened. "I don't want to see you hurt any more because you chafe at the idea of serving a dark-aligned creature. I will go in your stead."
Her gaze shifted to Luna. "If you will accept me in my brother's place, that is."
Luna looked between the two, Inanna solemn and Utu scowling.
The brunette sighed.
As did the blond.
"No, sister."
Eh?
The Worldweaver blinked, glancing over to the sun god, spearhead against the ground as he put a hand to his missing eye.
"No, this is my onus to bear. I was the one to push for the Devil's supplication, thus this is my punishment. I will not use you to hide behind it."
Luna blinked again as Utu released his spear, the weapon vanishing in a flash of light.
"I do not like this; it stains my pride and my honor to bend knee to a creature of darkness such as you, much less one from a branch house of nobility and a low status," Utu growled, but knelt once more all the same. "Still, I will not run from that which I have wrought. I place myself in your service, Lunarunn Bael, for the ten years you offered Lord Enlil for our lives plus another ten. I will judge you by your actions in that period of time, and should you prove yourself a wise and honorable ruler, you may yet be spared my wrath upon the expiration of the decade."
"As will I," Nannar agreed, taking the same position of supplication as his son. "The sun and the moon bow to your will, Lunarunn Bael. We hope to provide you wisdom in your quest for justice, and the direction to remain on a righteous path. Lest we be forced to stop you for what you become."
"I'm quite certain that Ninurta would follow suit alongside Utu and Nannar," Inanna offered, before frowning. "Though I am unsure how long it will take for him to recover after the blow you inflicted on him."
Luna looked at the still faintly shivering form of Nannar, then the way Utu kept his hand to his eye, golden fluid seeping through between his fingers, and the badly-burned form of the god of the hunt.
"Alright, fine." Luna sighed, setting Ninurta on the ground before kneeling down in front. "You two, come over here."
"Eh?" Ninshubur blinked, glancing between the brunette and Ninurta as Inanna and Enki knelt down on the god's other side. "You mean to say you'll help?"
"It's a gesture of goodwill," the Worldweaver spoke slowly. "If I can end something I get pulled into, I will, and if it's done peacefully, then even better."
Her hands went to the raw skin of the air-scalded war god, and they too started to glow a light green as the other gods began speaking healing spells for their fallen.
It was slow, arduous work, but eventually Ninurta's skin started to return to a moderately healthy color, and the Worldweaver pulled away with a grunt and a pounding headache.
"That should suffice for now. And you," Luna pointed over to Utu, who had not moved from his kneeling position. "Lay down. I'm taking care of your eye next."
She got glances from the other conscious gods around her, but the blond himself just grunted.
"Don't bother."
The brunette's nose twitched. "You mean to say you're fine losing depth perception? If it scars over, I won't be able to do anything without reopening the wound."
"I will adjust." He let his hand fall. "It will be a reminder of my arrogance, until such a time comes where I believe I have moved beyond that mistake. Besides, I'd much rather have Ninurta tend to it than the one who inflicted such a wound to begin with."
Utu looked up, and his eye focused on Luna's neck. "I imagine it is the same for you. If you claim you can restore an eye, then I have little doubt that you could remove your own scars if you so choose."
"Is that so...?" Inanna murmured, gaze landing upon the discolored slash mark on the side of Luna's neck.
"Insightful of you," said Devil replied, lifting a hand to her neck before rubbing it gently. "Well, doesn't matter to me. As long as you're in my service, the offer remains open, but it's gonna be a hell of a lot more painful going forward."
The sun god gave a single, curt nod and turned to stride off.
Luna turned to Inanna, who bowed her head.
"I will attend to my brother," the goddess said, rising again before taking her leave in favor of chasing down Utu. Before she did, however, Inanna gave Luna a side-eyed, piercing look and a smirk. "But I may well join him in attending your little faction anyway. You are... interesting, especially after so many dull years."
"...What are you up to now?"
"Now that would be telling, wouldn't it?" She let out a small giggle, before finally hurrying after Utu.
'Well that's not concerning at all.'
The Worldweaver let her go without issue, before her eyes shifted over to Nannar, who joined Enki in restoring Ninurta now that Luna had stepped away.
It seemed that even though it was out of their respective domains, they were able to use some basic healing magics. That certainly sped things along.
"Do you have any issues with this arrangement?"
"Many," he admitted. "But they are ultimately unimportant. Ninurta should awaken soon, and I will inform him of the circumstances once he does."
The brunette gave him a nod of acknowledgement before her gaze met the remaining gods. Enki just watched, less wary and more cautious now that she'd helped heal Ninurta, while Ereshkigal and Enlil watched onward. One had a sour look on her face, while the other was leery, though no longer outright hostile.
It was an uneasy truce, she recognized. But a truce and the service of three of Sumer's gods was still by and away a significant advancement. Even if the new relationship was a tumultuous one, it had steadied out enough that time would show the Sumerians what they all stood to gain.
It was all starting to come together. Luna could take that as a win.
"Are you sure about this, Nannar?"
As Nannar stood, staring into the sky of the third celestial dome, he responded.
"How often do we receive an opportunity like this, Lord Enlil? Our strength is limited, stripped away by the sands of time. Our domains have long since been supplanted by younger, more powerful gods."
"Like how the she-Devil overrode my influence over the Third Dome?" Enlil grunted.
"Exactly. If she can do that even now, if she can stand up to gods, weakened though we are, when she in turn is being dampened, then what are we dealing with here? Inanna has voiced a willingness to join her, and as the most... ambitious of us, that is telling of what Lunarunn Bael is."
"A threat."
"And an opportunity," Nannar glanced back at the Sumerian King of Heaven. "She came to us because she believed we share similar ideals. Us, who have long since been largely forgotten by the common human. Is she a threat? To deny that would be the height of foolishness, especially considering her admission to a dark past."
"That darkness still clings to her," Enlil pointed out.
"So it does." the god of the moon agreed, turning to him fully. "Yet she seems to be reasonable; confident, if perhaps a touch arrogant in her abilities, but sharp of mind and competent enough to back that confidence. She deduced what was happening swiftly in combat, held her own in diplomacy, and offered stern but fair magnanimity in the face of surrender. There is darkness, but is it not our job as gods of light to prevent that darkness from swallowing the people?"
"By abetting it?"
"By guiding its host to not succumb to its influence."
"I still do not agree with this path."
"Someone mustn't agree." Nannar chuckled. "And Ereshkigal is a contrarian by default, so her disapproval does not count."
"And what of Utu?"
"My son knows when to bend. He may not like it, but he and I are of the same mind; our position within this infantile faction will allow us to shape it into something greater."
"A rebirth of Mesopotamia?"
"No." Nannar shook his head, letting out a slow, soft sigh. "It has been millennia, Enlil. Our time has long since passed. As much as we wish that were not the case, such is an undeniable truth." Nannar turned back to the stars, crossing his arms behind his back. "That does not mean, however, that we cannot leave our legacy in the hands of someone who shares many of our beliefs. Perhaps she might raise a world that fulfills our ideals even greater than Babylon itself?"
"I do not see where this is coming from."
"Our Great Mother Tiamat gave rise to the land between the Euphrates and Tigris. It is not impossible that the Devil we've sworn ourselves to has the potential for even greater."
Enlil didn't respond.
"That is the way of life," Nannar finished, arm shifting. "All life builds from that which came before it, inexorably and implacably climbing higher and higher despite endlessly consuming itself, replicating and reiterating, reimagining and re-engineering..."
His hand lifted, as though to grab the sky before him. "...until eventually the stars themselves come within reach."
"Is that what you see in her?"
Nannar didn't answer, but knew that was enough. He heard Enlil exhale behind him. "I see. Then I will leave my distaste of her in favor of cautious observance, like my brother Enki."
"We will see the sort of individual Lunarunn Bael is in time," the Sumerian god of wisdom agreed. "Whether she's a harbinger of justice, or of destruction... we will be there to act appropriately."
A/N - First reaction when I read through this myself: Ahhhhhgggghhh, this chapter feels so pushed, this was such a painful chapter, i wanna rework it entirely, aaaaaaahhhhhh
At least I feel as though it's improved now that I've given it several run-throughs, an expansion of the fight scene and the intricacies involved, and some more interactions to better flesh out the characters involved.
And also getting a document from my beta's mythologist friend who's done some extensive research into the Sumerian mythos. The story's not quite the same as what's going on in there, but it helped give me a better feel for each important god here.
Still not quite sure how I feel about it, but I'll leave my complaints about the chapter at that. It's a real big chapter, but it's a good place to leave Luna's 'grand designs' before going into the last chapter before the timeskip to canon.
That is to say, next chapter is the last chapter before said timeskip. We're almost there folks!
Tempura Wizard out.
