Chapter 26

The Twelfth Einherjar

Tense was the best way to describe how Amaterasu and Huitzilopochtli were feeling right now as they followed Ra down the hallways of the arena and back to the Palace of the Duat. The Heaven's had just experienced their first loss in the second Ragnarok, and they were justifiably nervous that at any moment, the Egyptian Chief God might suddenly blow up in a rage.

Strangely, Ra seemed much calmer than they had initially assumed he would be, in fact he seemed almost unbothered by the fact that they just lost, as the Three Suns got onto the Mandjet Barge ready to sail back to the palace.

"Uhmm… Lord Ra?" Huitzilopochtli bravely spoke up, "Are you… Feeling alright?"

"Perfectly fine, Huitzilopochtli, why do you ask?" The Egyptian Sun God coolly replied to his Aztec counterpart, as a servant aboard his barge offered him a glass of wine for him to enjoy whilst they sailed.

"Well… I mean…"

"What I believe, Huitzy is trying to say," Amaterasu interjected, "Is that we, the gods, have just LOST our first match to the humans! And during the same round as the FIRST Ragnarok! We are…" The Chief Goddess of Shinto quickly caught herself when she saw Huitzilopochtli frantically doing a throat-slitting gesture with his hand, reminding her that it wasn't a good idea to ever question Ra and his intentions, "We are… Simply CURIOUS as to why you are taking this so lightly…"

Ra scoffed as he finished his drink and placed it back into the tray provided for his servants, "Amaterasu… Amaterasu…" He chuckled darkly, "Hot-tempered and feisty as always. One cannot expect to win Ragnarok without there being a few sacrifices. A few lives lost on our side, PALES in comparison to the authority and honor of the gods we shall re-established to those pathetic humans in the few short moments they still live, before WIPING them once we've won! Zeus was a FOOL, thinking that a flawless victory would be so easily achieved when the opposing side has so much to offer. A mistake I will NOT make, and if anyone else thinks or says otherwise,will find themselves very much disappointed…"

Amaterasu swallowed nervously, "I… See… Very wise indeed, Lord Ra. Forgive us for ever questioning your leadership." She said, whilst signaling to Huitzilopochtli to bow slightly alongside her, hoping to placate Ra's temper.

Ra smirked at the show of respect, waving his arm to dismiss his groveling retainers as the Mandjet came to a land, having reached their destination, and the trio dismounted. But as soon as they had placed their feet down upon solid ground, a servant came rushing out of the palace gates, waving their hands frantically as they begged for Ra's attention.

"Lord Ra! Lord Ra!" They wailed as they threw themselves at the Three Sun's feet, "I hate to be the bearer of bad news! But shortly after the third round of Ragnark concluded, one of the fighters on your roster came calling for you, and has been causing a RUCKUS in the Palace of the Duat! On behalf of all your obedient and loyal staff, I beg of you to get him to stop!"

Ra sighed, as he looked up from his roster from which he was currently reviewing, "Indeed? And pray tell, WHICH of my fighters would be this brave OR idiotic to dare kick up such a fuss in my own palace?"

The servant nervously looked up and with Ra's permission, shakily pointed to one particular name on the roster, the second one that came right after Nezha's to be more precise. And when the Sun God saw this, he narrowed his eyes and let out an irritated growl.

"Of course… I should have known it would be him…" Ra let out another exasperated sigh as he gestured for the servant to lead the way, "And where is he now?"

"I-in the throne room, Lord Ra. Allow me to lead the way."

Huitzilopochtli and Amaterasu shared a curious look as they followed the Egyptian Sun God deeper into the palace, passing through various grand and spacious rooms and corridors. Or at least used to be, many of the rooms leading to their destination were thrashed and messed up, well and proper. Inside a few of such rooms were numerous guards who had multiple bloody slash wounds on their bodies, that were being tended to by medic whilst other servants were busy cleaning up the mess.

"Whoever this dumbass is," Huitzilopochtli chuckled nervously, "I both salute him, and wish him the best of luck. Cause while he definitely has the balls, he is D-E-A-D, DEAD."

"Indeed, how unsightly…" Amaterasu muttered in agreement, "Lord Ra, I assume that this particular fighter will be punished for his insolence? Perhaps we should remove him from the roster and toss him into Tartarus?"

Ra snorted, "For anyone else, I would do that in a HEARTBEAT. But for this brazen bird… Well, of all the fighters on our roster, his power is perhaps only second to mine and your father's. Just barely a good enough reason for me to allow him to stay on the roster, but mark my words, he WILL face consequences for such an act of disrespect."

Finally, they arrived at the doors of the throne room, or rather what was left of it, both doors had been lifted off their hinges and thrown to the ground, causing them to shatter on the ground, into various pieces of gold and marble. The servant who led them there, bowed deeply to the Three Suns, before stepping to one side and letting them pass through the archway and into Ra's throne room.

"FUCKING FINALLY!" A piercing male voice oozing with pride and condescension greeted them the moment they stepped into the bright lights of the throne room, which thankfully for the most part, was relatively untouched, "There he is! The big man of this Ragnarok! The Sun God who went and kicked Zeus' ass in front of all of the Heavens, Ra himself! I've been waiting AGES for you to return! How're you doing BUD?"

Huitzilopochtli and Amateras felt their jaws drop at what they saw in front of them. At first glance, one might mistake the handsome male who was so brazenly sitting atop Ra's throne as one of the 4 Archangels, due to the presence of two large feathery wings that sprouted from behind his back, also tinted gold at the ends. But while the Archangels' wings were neatly preened with predominantly white feathers, his plumage was a much more unkempt golden yellow, with golden talons sprouting from his fingertips and toes to match.

As for his attire, he was decked out in full battle gear, armor, pauldrons, gauntlets and warskirt, all in the color of gold with sky blue accents and just a touch of white fabric. But it wasn't his avian-like features or the impressive amount of gold that covered his body that shocked the two Sun Gods, rather it was the fact that he was so casually lounging on the throne of one of Heaven's most powerful figures of authority, sipping a drink from a cup of tea held between his talons with seemingly little care in the world. Once he was done, he proceeded to fling said cup into one side of the room, spreading his arms out in greeting, shattering it into pieces while the remaining liquid within stained the wall.

Ra's right eye slightly twitched as he saw the mess created, before turning to face the intruder once more, "Golden-Winged Peng." He said through gritted teeth, "How… Nice to see you again. Pray tell, what in all the realms ever made you think it to be a great idea to barge into MY palace, terrorize MY servants, and sit in MY throne? For a being credited as one of the SMARTEST individuals in all of Heaven, your actions certainly say otherwise. And for your sake, I certainly hope you have a good reason for doing so."

The aforementioned Peng, smirked, slowly got up from his seat and patted himself down. Then before anyone else in the room could even blink, they all heard the quick beat of wings, and suddenly the golden god was no longer standing in front of Ra's throne. Instead, he had somehow made his way down the steps leading up to it without anyone even noticing, and now stood face to face with Ra, a wide grin on his face.

"Well isn't it obvious?" He exclaimed with a laugh, "We just lost our first match! So…" Peng then spread his arms and wings wide, presenting himself for all to see, "Here I am!"

Ra stifled a laugh, "I see… So YOU wish to be the next representative of the gods then, Peng?"

Peng's smile widened as he nodded up and down in a mocking manner, "Yes, yes, yes! I KNEW you're senile old brain can still keep up! Who better to CRUSH humanity's hopes and dreams right after their first victory? Come on old man! You KNOW I'm the god up for the task! After all I have the strength, speed, intelligence–"

"Hey Amy?" Huitzilopochtli said, leaning over to talk to his companion as Peng continued to list off his achievements to Ra, "Help me out here, but who IS that guy? And how the hell is he able to speak to Lord Ra like that without getting his ass whooped?"

Amaterasu's eyes widened as she looked at the Aztec God in surprise and disdain, "Seriously Huitzy? You don't even have the SLIGHTEST clue on who he is? Every god in the Valhalla Council knows who that arrogant jerk is."

Huitzilopochtli merely shrugged, "Nope, I don't, sorry. Never really paid much attention during council meetings. All I know is that the person currently in charge of the council is the one who has the power to kick everyone else's butt."

The Shinto Chief Goddess rolled her eyes, wondering how her colleague could ever become a Chief God with such ignorance, "That bastard," She began as she pointed at Peng, "Is the Golden-Winged Peng, formerly known as Dapeng Jingchi Mingwang. Once upon a time he held a high position within the ranks of heaven, but for whatever unknown reason, chose to fall from grace and descend to earth becoming a filthy demon. Ever since then, he has been a constant thorn in the council's side, undermining our authority and causing trouble for various pantheons. All the while we, for the most part, are unable to stop him."

"And why's that, Amy?" Huitzilopochtli pressed on.

"Because Huitzy," Amaterasu sighed, exasperated, "Like what Lord Ra said just now, that cur is incredibly powerful despite his insubordination , possibly even stronger than some of the weaker Chief Gods, like yourself for example. The last time we managed to get him to settle down was by sending the combined might of the Monkey King and that traitor, Buddha. Take that strength and add it to having a massive disdain for rules and authority, and you have the being that has come to be known by many in Heaven as: The Demonic Anarchist. Though if you ask me, he's nothing more than an arrogant bird obsessed with stroking his own dick."

"Huh, never knew… Hey WAIT A MINUTE! What was that part you said in the middle?"

"You two dunderheads do know that I can hear everything you just said no?" Peng suddenly said, poking his head around Ra to gaze at the two Chief Gods with a cold smile.

Amaterasu merely returned a sneer of her own, "Who said anything about being discreet, Jackass?"

The sound of wings beating was heard again, and Peng had somehow moved forward without being seen, and was now leering over the Shinto Goddess.

"Big talk coming from the biggest bitch in all of Heaven, tell me does the idea of being in charge of an entire pantheon still send you scrambling for the nearest cave?"

Amaterasu's eyes narrowed as her fist clenched so tight that her knuckles whitened, clearly Peng's words had struck a nerve.

"Oi, get away from her feather face" Huitzilopochtli growled as a warning, though Peng merely laughed at his threat.

"And you must be the Aztec God of the Sun! Huitzilopochtli! Or should I say, the ignorant momma's boy? Coming to defend your wittle girlfriend now are we? Ooh! I am positively SHAKING right now!"

The Aztec God snarled, slamming his fist into his palm, "Choose your next words carefully, scum. Or I might just tear out your heart before shoving it up where the sun doesn't shine…"

Peng just laughed even harder at this, suddenly the demon unfurled his wings and spread them out wide as he floated in midair. From somewhere behind his back he materialized and drew his Divine Weapon, a golden Ji. And pointed it towards the two Sun Gods, a sinister look in his eyes as he gave a cruel grin.

"Your positions as so-called 'Chief Gods' have given you both a misplaced sense of superiority. I for one more than welcome a good two on one fight, but I guarantee… Ra will be finding it a great hassle to get replacements to fill up the two big gaping spots in his roster, once I've had my fun with you two."

Before either side could engage however, a bright ray of light exploded from Ra's fingertip, quickly reminding the feuding gods of his presence in the room, "ENOUGH!" He roared, eyes blazing with fury, "Any more LIP from any of you, and you shall ALL learn just how deadly a sunburn can be." The mere anger and authority in the tone of the Sun God's voice was adequate enough to make the rest of the gods back down.

"Apologies, Lord Ra…" Huitzilopochtli and Amaterasu murmured, frightened, with a bow.

Ra shook his head in disdain before glaring at Peng, "As for you,demon… I have already decided on the fighter for the gods in the fourth round, and it will NOT be you. In fact, with the impudence and disrespect you have shown me today, I think placing you at, perhaps… the twelfth round, might do something to help cure those bad manners of yours, hm?"

Peng's eyes widened as his lips pulled back into an irritated grimace, the demon nearly opened his mouth to make a retort, though was just as quick to prevent himself from doing so. Changing the expression on his face to an uncaring sneer, as he swung his pole arm casually over his shoulder, "I see… Second last round, eh? Well like the old saying goes, Ra! Always save the best for last. And we all know that unlike Zeus, you're fine with being our side's final contestant in the final round."

Ra smirked, "See it however you want Peng, I do not care. But now, you may get out of my sight before I decide to just remove you from the roster as a whole."

The demon chuckled darkly in response, whilst giving a mocking bow, "As you command O mighty Ra." He said in a sing-song voice as he spun on his heels and prepared to head out. But as he turned to leave the room, something suddenly caught Peng's eye, situated above Ra's throne, almost invisible to the naked eye, was a tiny fly seemingly having been listening in to their entire conversation. Peng's lips tugged slightly at the corners as he saw this, but said nothing as he made his way out, it seemed that Ra had a bit of a bug problem of sorts… Though Peng definitely wouldn't be letting him know that just yet, it would be much more interesting to give those humans a fighting chance…

Once Peng had left, Ra turned to his retainers, "Huitzilopochtli, Amaterasu. I shall remember the atrocious display that you put on today in this room, so I had better see you put in as much EFFORT in your rounds as you did in your petty squabbles today… You are dismissed…"

With one final bow, the embarrassed Chief Gods quickly made their way out of the throne room, finally leaving Ra alone in his room. The Sun God exhaled loudly as he sat down on his throne, pulling out the list containing all of his fighters. He scanned through the various names before finding the one he was looking for and tapped it on his screen. And with that, Ra got up from his seat and started making his own way out of the throne room.

Above the Sun God seated on top of the throne's headrests, Maui in the form of a housefly felt his many eyes widened in fear at the name he just saw selected. Even though he was at a considerable distance away from the screen which made it hard to see things clearly, he could still perfectly tell which god Ra had chosen to fight next. For the name of that god was the shortest of all the ones listed, made of just three simple letters. But it was precisely these three letters, and the name they formed when put together, that worried him to no end.

Quickly transforming himself into a sparrow for faster travel, Maui frantically beat his wings, racing back to the Akashic Records as fast as he could, to share the information he had just learnt with Prometheus.

Akashic Records

"We won! We won! We finally won!" Pandora's ecstatic voice could be heard throughout the corridor as she and her companions reached the doors of the Akashic Records, the girl still over the moon about their first victory in Ragnarok.

"Alright, alright, Pandora!" Göll giggled seeing her friend's enthusiasm, "Don't get yourself TOO worked up over it!"

Prometheus chuckled lightly in agreement, "Quite correct Göll, our first victory in Ragnarok aside, we cannot let this single win distract us from the whole picture. After all we still have six more rounds to win before we have truly won, now let us begin choosing our fighter for the Fourth Round…" And with that the Titan held the doors to the records open to let his two companions in.

Upon entering, the three companions realized that two individuals had been waiting inside the Akashic Records for their return, and were currently deep in a conversation of their own. The first was Hera, who sat at the table, currently indulging in a bottle of red wine, looking quite pleased and overjoyed, undoubtedly due to the fact that Ra had just experienced his first loss in Ragnarok as she took another sip of her glass. Offering it towards another woman seemingly dressed in knight's armor, who was waiting alongside her with their back turned against the trio.

"Are you quite sure you don't want even a single sip Joan?" The Queen of Olympus said with a slight slur in her voice, most likely from the wine, "Best kind in all of Olympus, simply divine, the only problem I have with it is that it's produced exclusively by that bastard son of my husband, Dionysius…" Hera then notices Prometheus and the two girl's return from behind the other person's shoulder, "Oh, and how about that. Looks like the three saviors of humanity are back."

"JOAN!" Pandora squealed excitedly as she rushed towards this new individual, the woman turned, revealing a young beautiful girl, who looked as though she was just barely into her twenties, she had long flowing strawberry blonde hair held by a blue bow tied at the back, and a fair complexion. Her armor was predominantly silver with blue and gold trimming, and around her belt hung a pointed cross of the same two colors. And upon seeing Pandora coming towards her, a warm sisterly grin spread across her face as she greeted the girl with open arms.

"Pandora!" She gushed as the two of them embraced each other, "It's been a while! How are you? Oh goodness! You have certainly grown!"

Prometheus chuckled at this scene as he and Göll walked up to the two of them, "Joan of Arc, it's a pleasure to meet you properly at last, Pandora here speaks quite highly of you. Pray tell, what is the reason for your visit here today? Do you perhaps wish to be our representative for the next round?"

The legendary Saintly Warrior smiled with a twinkle in her eyes as she let go of Pandora, "Greetings, Lord Prometheus, it is an honor to meet you as well. I originally came alongside Lady Hera to congratulate you three on humanity's first win in Ragnarok, but now that you've offered, I wouldn't be too opposed to fighting in the next match myself."

"You want to go into battle this soon already, Joan?" Pandora said nervously while looking up at her friend, "A-are you sure about this?"

Joan chuckled as she gently patted the girl's head, "Always worried for others safety, aren't we Pandora?" She said as she booped the girl's noise, making her giggle, "That's what makes you so special. Do not fret, Me and the rest of the Einherjar knew what we were signing up for when we agreed to fight, and I've faced worse things in my time than a stuck up god."

"Love the initiative, Joan!" Prometheus laughed, "But let us wait and see if Maui has any useful information we can use before we finalize our decision." At that exact moment, Maui in his sparrow form swooped into the room, and quickly whispered an urgent message into Prometheus' ear as he landed on the Titan's shoulder.

"I see… Thank you once again for your efforts Maui, you best head back to your room now and rest, all that flying around has surely taken its toll on you."

As Sparrow Maui gave everyone in the room a quick nod and flew out the way he came, Prometheus turned and walked towards the control panel in the room now with a troubled look on his face.

"What's going on, Prometheus?" Göll asked, concerned as the Titan opened up the screens on the control panel and surveyed through humanity's fighters, "What did Maui say?"

"Set," Prometheus said gravelly without even turning towards the Valkyrie, "Set is Ra's next fighter."

Everyone in the room went silent, for they all knew the infamy behind that name. Set, the disgraced Prince of the Duat, who had murdered his own brother, the then Chief God of the Egyptian Pantheon, Osiris and usurped the throne. Ruling over it with an iron fist for many years till Osiris' son and Set's nephew, Horus returned from years of hiding from his uncle's wrath, fighting and defeating him to reclaim his rightful place as the pharaoh. But even then, Set had shown not even the slightest trace of mercy to his own kin in their battle for power.

"Well that can't be good." Hera said emotionlessly whilst downing another glass of wine.

"Not Set? Surely Ra wouldn't send him out so early!" Pandora exclaimed, worried about her friend's prospect against such a infamous and dangerous foe.

"It should have been obvious that the gods would try to prevent us from obtaining another victory by sending out someone strong for this round." Joan said through gritted teeth, "Lord Prometheus, are you sure you do not want me to fight?"

The Titan shook his head, "No, I would not want to risk it, sending Set himself out now is quite unexpected on Ra's part. And to make things worse, the Usurper was one of the few gods who I could not find a suitable opponent on our roster for… I was hoping Ra would send him out in the late game, giving me more time to think, but it seems that time isn't on our side. "

With that reply, The Titan continued scrolling through their list of fighters, deep in thought about which fighter to choose instead, with the others all gathering around him to ponder their current predicament. With only 9 fighters currently on their roster, which among them could stand against the Usurper of the Duat himself?

"Quite unwise to go into the game with an incomplete roster, you three," Joan commented, "Our options are quite limited because of it."

"Yeah… You're definitely correct on THAT, Joan." Pandora said as she and Göll gave Prometheus a dirty look. With the Titan raising his hands in apology,

"Alright, alright my sincerest apologies, you two" he responded, "But if we truly can't find any fighters on our list suitable to go against Set, I can always-"

"Excuse me, terribly sorry to interrupt, but am I correct to assume that this is the place to sign up for Ragnarok?"

The group was suddenly brought out of their stress by the sudden appearance of a new voice in the room, their heads all turning towards the door to see who this newcomer was. Revealing a elderly old man with a dark gray beard and hair of the same color. His frail emaciated body was covered by leathery skin, an unnatural shade of ashy gray, save for the multiple scars on his face that were a pale fleshy color, the largest of which covered his blinded right eye, white with cataracts.

Prometheus got up from his chair, slightly confused and hopeful at the old man's words, "Well I suppose that is one way of describing the Akashic Records… But yes, it is… Who are you and why do you wish to know?"

The old man's eye lit up with glee as he made his way further into the room, "Oh wonderful! I was worried I was in the wrong place. My name is Koschei, and if it's no trouble at all for you, I was hoping to be one of humanity's fighters in Ragnarok? If the roster hasn't already been filled up that is of course!"

The group turned to look at each other dumbfounded. Here they were brainstorming on who to send out next against Set, the Usurper of the Duat himself, and some random senior citizen comes sauntering in asking to be a part of the roster. Strangely though, Hera, even in her slightly intoxicated state, leaned forward to inspect this new individual, a look of familiarity on her flushed face.

Göll was the first to break the awkward silence by approaching the decrepit old man, who now gazed around the room with a look of childish wonder, "W-well uh, Mr Koschei, while we are glad that you are willing to lay down your life for humanity, but… Well you just don't seem like…"

The Valkyrie was soon cut short, when from behind Koschei, stepped into the room what could only be described as an entity made purely out of darkness itself. With a featureless face covered entirely by a black helmet, save for his two glowing red eyes, smoky black claws and feet, and two boney, membraneless wings sprouting from behind his back. The imposing figure stepped into the room, but stayed just under the archway, far from the rest of the people in the room.

"W-WHAT IS THAT?!" Pandora screamed as she ducked behind Joan for safety, Göll quickly following suit. Koschei meanwhile wore a look of surprise, as he turned to look from the shadowy being and back to the group again, "Oh, so you can see Chernabog? Interesting, usually I'm the only one cursed with that affliction. Don't worry, you all have nothing to fear from him, the only person actually in danger when he draws near is me." Despite his assurance, the girls still chose to keep their distance.

Hera snapped her fingers as realization hit her, "I knew I recognized you from somewhere. You're that deathless fellow, Koschei the Deathless. That one human who somehow found a way to stay alive for so long, that when you finally DID die, my husband and his council punished you by trapping you in the decrepit form of your twilight years rather than your true golden age. Complete waste of effort on their part though if you ask me."

Koschei grimaced at the Queen of Olympus' words, "Yes… That was one of my given names, though I prefer to just go by Koschei these days if you don't mind, the whole deathless thing is all in the past you see. "

Prometheus now got up from his seat, an intrigued look across his face, "Koschei the Deathless? Interesting… Now while we do have vacancies on humanity's roster, I'm afraid we cannot add you to it unless you are able to prove that you possess the necessary strength or skill to potentially defeat a god. So unless you're able to do so…"

Without warning, Prometheus' gauntlet suddenly ignited into flames, and the titan threw a punch straight towards Koschei. But as though his attacker were moving in slow-motion, Koschei's body had already skillfully moved at speeds unnatural for his wizened frame, with him already being well out of harm's way before Prometheus' hand had even come into contact with the empty space now in front of him.

The TItan then threw fist after fist at the old man, but for each and every one, Koschei was always just able to get out of harm's way, with only the Titans final strike slightly grazing his right cheek. Koschei chuckled slightly as he wiped away a speck of blood from his face, "Won't catch me off guard that easily friend! Though I must say, my skills work much better when my foe is actually aiming to kill, and not when they are holding back for a mere trial run."

The rest of the room gasped in shock, while Prometheus lifted his arm up from the ground, with an approving nod

"W-WHOA!" Göll gasped, "H-how did you do THAT? Do you have some super special ability to see into the future like Buddha?"

The old man just chuckled as he stretched his fingers, "My body may look old and shriveled, little miss. But I assure you there is no magic at play here, just experience! For once you've evaded death as much as I have... You start seeing things others can't, for example the muscles of your foe tensing just before they even swing their fists, or perhaps even the slight twist in their wrist, indicating which way their blade shall soon swing."

"I see," Prometheus commented as he stood up straight, "Forgive my earlier doubts Koschei, consider yourself now an Einherjar part of humanity's roster, we'll call you when it's your time to fight..." Just as he said these words however, the Titan received a message on his tablet, which he quickly read through before he looked back up at Koschei, "And it seems that time is now, Heimdall has just announced that Round 4 will be starting right away immediately, Ra's doing no doubt."

Koschei whooped in joy at this news and clapped his hands together, "Whoohoohoohoo! Happy day! Happy day!" He cackled madly whilst jumping and clicking his heels together. But as he was celebrating, Chernabog who had the entire time been standing stockstill at the back. Rushed forward the moment Prometheus had agreed to let Koschei fight, till he was just an arms reach away from the old man, his smoky black claws outstretched, almost touching Koschei shoulders.

Göll and Pandora yelped from the entity's sudden movement, with Joan and Prometheus adopting a fighting stance, ready to defend them if necessary. But Chernabog did not go after any of them as they had feared, but instead just stayed where he was, hovered menacingly behind Koschei's back.

"Like I said,'' Koschei grumbled, having stopped his celebrations to look at Chernabog with a mixture of fear and annoyance, "You all have nothing to fear, he's only a threat to me. But no need to worry too much for me either, the old nuisance will back off soon enough." True to his words, after a while Chernabog did indeed move away from Koschei, standing back at his original position.

"Well… That is a relief," Prometheus said as he and Joan slowly lowered their guard, "Now if you please, step forth and draw your Divine Weapon from Pandora's Jar to assist you in your fight against the gods."

His face turning back to one of excitement, Koschei wriggled his fingers impatiently as Pandora held out her pithos to allow him to draw his Divine Weapon from within. The old man reached in, and quickly pulled out a glowing orb as the other fighters had before. The orb then began growing in brightness and length, till in Koschei's hands was a long deadly scythe, with a sinister black blade full of serrated edges.

Koschei however, glanced at his new weapon with mild dissatisfaction, "Ah well, pity. I was really hoping my weapon wouldn't just be something related to death, but seems like your box has a sense of humor, eh Miss Pandora? Now let's see… I think Vechnost Grasp should be a suitable name for this one, hm?"

"Eternity's Grasp?" Prometheus translated, "Quite the interesting name. But I must now ask you to please accept my apologies for not giving you as much time as our previous fighters to prepare for your bout, you had best start hurrying to the arena now."

"No worries at all!" Koschei replied cheerfully, "The sooner the fight is, the better for me! Thank you once again, so kindly the chance to be a part of this Ragnarok! I swear on these withered old bones to give my all for this fight! Heh, heh!" With that the old man began spinning his new weapon causally by his side, whistling happily as he exited the room with a slip in his step. All whilst he was still being followed closely by Chernabog, who loomed over him like the ominous shadow of death itself.

"Is this a joke, Prometheus?" Hera growled as soon as Koschei had left, "You would just let anyone into Ragnarok? That insane old fool is nearly skin and bones! Set will crush him as though he were paper!"

"I understand your urgency, Lady Hera," Prometheus replied calmly, "But with the current situation, it was simply more advantageous for us to take Koschei's offer. Another thing about Set that I did not mention, is he hasn't been in the spotlight for quite some time after his defeat at the hands of Horus, we have no information on him from the past few centuries. Which translates to us essentially facing an unknown foe for this match, hence we shall counter with a surprise fighter of our own as well."

"I suppose that makes sense… But I still have doubts about suddenly adding Koschei to the lineup." Göll said, "We should really find our last human to fill up the roster for Ragnarok so that something like this doesn't happen again."

"Don't worry about that Göll, this time I swear to you all that I have ALREADY handled the matter of our final missing fighter." Prometheus assured as they all started leaving the Akashic Records themselves to head to the arena, "In fact if Koschei hadn't already offered his services, I would have suggested sending that very fighter out instead."

"Well that's a relief," Hera grumbled, "But it still doesn't explain why you're so comfortable with sending a senior citizen stalked by a shadowy creep to his death, even if he has quite the impressive reaction speed. "

The Titan gave a grim chuckle, "I am not without a heart, Lady Hera, I would not have allowed Koschei in if I thought him unfit to do battle against Set. You see, it's quite rare to meet an individual unfortunate enough to be cursed and bound to a Deity of Death, but it is a much rarer sight to behold one SO enthusiastic for the thrill of battle in spite of it all. So fret not, I believe that human has MUCH more to offer in this round…"

And so the second mystery human fighter on my roster has been revealed as Koschei the Deathless, but he wasn't always suppose to be on the roster, in fact he was a very late change, and the last fighter to be added. This was mainly because I realized that the original opponent I had in mind for Set was a very bad pick, in terms of story-telling and just overall being a VERY shitty person who should NEVER be on anyone's fanroster. Anyway thanks for reading and see you in the next chapter!