Chapter 7: Respite and Replacement

Jupiter stormed through the Gods' Hallway, flanked by his advisors on either side and with Eshu trailing behind. The Yoruban God was grinning mischievously as he traipsed behind the Roman trio.

"Who does that fool think he is, telling me no? When I so graciously brought him here! I should've left him playing in the mud like the filthy animal he is!" Jupiter snarled.

"Calm yourself, father-" Minerva was cut off.

"Damn your calm, he is defying the King of the Gods!" Jupiter retorted. Minerva and Juno opted to remain silent for a while longer.

Eventually, they came to a massive set of stone doors. On the stone doors were several etchings and hieroglyphics, showing the story of their resident. A king on a throne, carried by servants on the verge of breaking. That same king, wrestling with a mighty beast. Then, the beast and the king fighting a massive giant, ending in the beast's death and the king going on a journey through the Netherworld. The handles of the door were unusual, shaped like the heads of lions. Jupiter ignored these entirely, raising up a single fist that crackled with electricity, slamming it into the doors with such force that they came off of their hinges.

Inside the room was rather extravagant, resembling the throne room of a palace. A purple carpet stretched out, guiding any visitors to the throne. Several potted plants, statues, and podiums decorated it, furthering the illusion that they had stepped into a Sumerian palace. On the throne sat an individual, being served and greeted by various women in states of undress.

"GILGAMESH!" Jupiter called out, his fury evident. Lightning crackled through his beard and body as he entered the room.

Gilgamesh rose from his throne, gently brushing off his handmaidens and servants. He was a hulking man, taller even than Jupiter and broad-shouldered. Red tattoos ran across his tanned skin, showing images of beasts and monsters. A lion's head marked his right shoulder, a massive bull on his left. Across his back were several runes and letters in a foreign, forgotten script. His legs were covered in ornate golden armor from hip to toes, giving every step an echoing effect. On his chest, he wore a simple black vest to show off his musculature and tattoos, and a horned headdress sat atop his hair. Long black hair flowed from the back of it. He looked more monstrous than manly, Juno observed, choosing to stay out of the room.

"The King of the Gods, come to grace us with his presence? So, I guess you got my message, then? What a good little doggy Eshu turned out to be," Gilgamesh teased, winking at the Yoruban.

"Bite me." Eshu jabbed back playfully, earning a cold stare from Jupiter in response. The Yoruban, perhaps wisely, opted to close his mouth for now.

"I went to the trouble of inviting you into the Heavens, and all you had to do was crush the humans' spirits a bit by fighting on my team. And now you tell me you're saying no !" Jupiter growled.

"I thought about your offer, and I realized something: I really just don't like you, or any of those uppity shits in the Heavens. Why would I want to step down and lower myself to being like you when I am already perfect?" Gilgamesh prodded, smiling broadly.

His servants began to back up, feeling the tension in the air begin to thicken.

"You will fight the humans," Jupiter ordered.

"You will leave my throne room and go fuck yourself," Gilgamesh responded. "After what happened to Enkidu, you should be thankful I let you shitty Gods speak to me anyway."

"You dare-"

"So unless you're here to offer Ishtar's head on a literal platter, I'm not interested," Gilgamesh waved off the King of the Gods.

"I offered you immortality! The blood of a God! Why settle for being two-thirds divine when you could be the real thing?" Jupiter asked.

"I told you, I'm already perfect. I have everything I could ever want or need," Gilgamesh turned his back on Jupiter, gesturing to his servants. "I don't need you. And quite frankly, neither do the other humans."

Jupiter raged, raising up a fist to try and strike at the disrespectful demigod, when he found Minerva standing in front of him. He hadn't even noticed her enter the room, and he was in no state of mind to question how she had become so fast all of a sudden.

"Lord Jupiter! We must exercise caution. If you were caught engaging in acts of violence outside of the ring, we-"

"Would look weak, yes," Jupiter finished reluctantly. He lowered his fist, glaring at the smug and smiling figure of Gilgamesh. "This isn't over, boy. As soon as this tournament is over, you will be begging to receive a punishment as light as Prometheus did."

Gilgamesh looked over his shoulder at the King of the Gods, his mouth twisting into a gleefully sadistic smile. "Oh, I'm looking forward to it, old man!"

As they left, he returned to his throne, where his servants returned to lavishing him with attention. One female servant, in the midst of feeding him grapes, asked, "My King, you didn't tell him the best part, you know."

"Oh I want that to be a surprise!" Gilgamesh laughed. "The old man should've known that someone would come along and offer me a better deal!"

Prometheus was wandering down the hallways of the Edda Colosseum, looking for the waiting room for his second fighter. He passed several doors, finally stopping at one whose doorframe was designed to resemble a red torii gate, with the inner door within being a featureless wooden set of double-doors. Prometheus tucked his cane under his arm and reached out, pushing on the door and watching as it slid back to make way for his entrance, stepping into the dimly lit room within.

Inside was a rather simple set-up, similar to the interior of a Buddhist temple. A statue of the Buddha sat in the middle of the room, with multiple benches lined up to offer up seating for worshippers and acolytes. Candles illuminated the darkly lit room, showing off its red walls and simple architecture. One man sat kneeling in the foot of the Buddha, while three others in various states of armored dress sat on the benches nearby.

One individual, dressed in black armor with no helmet, rose up at the sudden intrusion of Prometheus. This was a tall and tanned man, with a black goatee and long black hair tied into a wild ponytail. The man smirked at the sight of the Titan, crossing his arms.

"Welcome, Kami-sama ," the man, Oda Nobunaga, greeted.

The next man who stood up was considerably more youthful in appearance and energy than Nobunaga, and lacked the ominous armor that his contemporary was wearing. His hair, dark brown, was cropped short into a militaristic cut, and his only piece of armor was a golden breastplate, worn under a golden vest and paired with golden pants and black armored boots. The symbol of the Tokugawa Shogunate was emblazoned on his back for all to see.

"So, this is the guy who's borrowing one of my favorite advisors for his little tournament," said the man in yellow, Tokugawa Ieyasu.

"For the love of all that is holy, show some respect to a God! You're a shogun, after all!" the third man, also seated beside Ieyasu, roared.

This third man was a beast of a man, broader and taller than even Nobunaga. He wore a floor-length red coat, the sleeves covered in plates of black armor and gauntlets. Black armor covered his matching black pants and boots, his chest the only unarmored place across his entire body, save for his mutton-chopped face. This man was likely Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Prometheus assumed, based on the company he was keeping.

"The Three Great Unifiers of Japan, all under one roof. I suppose I should be honored," Prometheus teased, smiling softly at them. "I thank you all for gathering here, and for allowing me to borrow one of your retainers."

"As if we had much choice," grumbled Hideyoshi. "We can't exactly let all of our people be wiped out, now can we?"

"Still, who are we to argue with the Gods' will?" Nobunaga pondered for a moment.

"How surprising, to hear the Demon King suggest we lay down without a fight," Hideyoshi snarled.

"Nobunaga- dono has his reasons for refusing to fight," Ieyasu chided sternly. An oddly serious look came over his face, and Prometheus felt a sudden surge of authority coming from the young shogun.

"I must admit, I had planned to recruit Nobunaga for my team in this tournament. But for this Nankobo Tenkai fellow to earn so much respect from the Great Unifiers despite having never even heard of him, I'm expecting good things. I intend to send him out into the second round," Prometheus explained.

This man was youthful, seemingly in his late twenties, wearing white floor-length robes and a white shawl. The robes had a red trim, with two golden diamonds on the back of the shawl. His hair started off a faded black, reaching down to the small of his back and ending in a gray ombre color, braided into two odd twin-tails. Around his neck he wore a necklace of large prayer beads, and the right shoulder of his robes had a patch of extra fabric, fashioned and twisted into a pattern that looked like a swirling mass of tails. Each of his hands were covered with immaculate, tailored gloves, his left hand wearing white and his right hand wearing black.

The man bowed his head as he approached, though he remained standing.

"This is Nankobo Tenkai, my most trusted advisor and the man they called Jigen Daishi ," Tokugawa Ieyasu explained.

"I had been expecting some kind of ninja or samurai, but a monk?" Prometheus raised an eyebrow. For a moment, he began to doubt the wisdom of listening to these humans.

"I understand your reluctance, but believe me when I say that we are not taking this challenge lightly. If we fail, thousands of years of blood, sweat, and tears will have been for nothing," Ieyasu said, oddly serious.

"If I may? I've not always been a monk. I once walked a rather dark path, so while it is not my preference to shed others' blood, I won't shy away from it," the monk finally spoke up for himself. Every word was slow and calculated. "I owe these lords a great debt, and I will repay that to them today by serving you."

Prometheus noticed Tenkai's eyes flick to the side at the last word, one last quick glance at Nobunaga before returning his attention to the Titan standing before him. His curiosity piqued, Prometheus smiled as the wheels within his mind began to turn.

"Very well then, Jigen Daishi, you'll be our representative for the second round," Prometheus agreed.

"If it's all the same to you, I prefer my Buddhist name. That title they gave me after I died always felt a little too ostentatious for me," Tenkai rubbed the back of his neck somewhat nervously.

"Then Nankobo Tenkai, as our second fighter in the Ragnarok." Prometheus lifted up Pandora's Box from where it rested in his other arm, watching as the monk reached out for it. "Let's see just what we can make of you."

Jupiter leaned back in his chair in the Gods' Meeting Room, looking at the amassed individuals. Marduk sat to his right, but Horus' seat remained empty. The Egyptian Chief God was still off investigating Prometheus' return and schemes, according to his attendants. Eshu, Minerva, Juno, Kagu-tsuchi, and Odin had all joined them for this meeting, but there were many empty seats remaining.

"The demigod Gilgamesh was supposed to fight for us in the second round," Jupiter explained, sighing. "I had offered him full divinity and immortality, but he has spit in our face and refuses to step out for us."

Kagu-tsuchi slammed his fist down on the table before them, rising from his seat. "Screw that, then! I'll go into the next round myself, and when I get done roasting that human, I'll come back and light a real fire under that filth's ass!"

"Someone's eager," Eshu teased from his seat. He was leaning back in his chair, feet propped up on the table as he gave the Fire Kami a mocking grin.

"You ain't taking this from me, you little shit!" Kagu-tsuchi snarled, pointing at the Yoruban.

"Oh I don't wanna go in yet anyway, hothead. That first fight was something, but I haven't really seen anything inspiring yet, you know?" Eshu yawned.

"Cease this racket, this round belongs to neither of you," Jupiter scolded, looking at Marduk. "Marduk, will you be making this right? Stepping in for your friend's boy?"

"I told you before, I have no intention of participating in the Ragnarok. I agree that humanity has earned their extinction, but I refuse to be a part of this drawn out torture," Marduk's grin wavered slightly, suddenly serious as he crossed his arms. "You'll have to find someone else, the God of Babylon will not fight today."

"You going soft on us or something, old man? What kind of Chief God is too scared to step down and crush some humans?" Kagu-tsuchi roared indignantly.

"Remember your place, boy. You are only here because your sister refused to participate, remember that," Marduk said plainly.

"Mizuha, what's so special about that bore?" Kagu-tsuchi asked.

"Not her. The other one ," Marduk stressed.

Kagu-tsuchi realized what he was implying and kicked at his own chair, sending it rattling to the ground.

"Screw the lot of ya, then! I'm gonna go to my room and blow off some steam. Call me when it's my turn to show those humans some respect!" he stomped out rather comically, exaggerated high-steps as he headed for the door. "And don't even think of skipping me after this shitshow meeting!"

Kagu-tsuchi slammed the door shut, though his rambling could be faintly heard through even the walls of the room as he stomped back to his quarters.

"He's a spirited one," Marduk sighed.

"More like a hotheaded little yakuza wannabe," Eshu mumbled. "How boring."

Jupiter pinched the bridge of his nose, suddenly wondering why he had surrounded himself with Gods like these. "We still must decide on who to send out for the second round. I want to see those humans' spirits crushed, especially after that pitiful showing that Nemesis put forth. I'd prefer it to be Gilgamesh, or even one of us Chieves, but it seems we'll have to find another option."

"About that." Odin's voice boomed through the mostly empty room, reverberating off of the pillars and through the shadows of the barely-lit chamber. "I have a request about the next round. I would like to send out my son, Tyr."

"The Champion of the Norse wants to go out and play, eh?" Jupiter teased, smirking despite it all.

"Seems that last fight inspired something in him," Odin said simply.

"It would have been better if it had been Thor or Baldr, but I can't deny that the idea of Tyr massacring whatever human gets sent out doesn't get my blood pumping a little," Jupiter stroked his chin, his posture straightening. "Tell your boy he'll get his wish, then. He's to prepare for round two. I hope he doesn't disappoint."

The last words were paired with a rather stern glare from the King of the Gods, but Odin chose to ignore it. The one-eyed God rose from his seat and silently exited the room, leaving Jupiter and his attendants, Marduk, and Eshu to their lonesome. Outside of the room, Tyr waited as he leaned against the wall.

"It has been decided. You'll have your wish, my son," Odin said. "Do not underestimate the humans. They're frail and weak, but Prometheus is employing some rather old magic to even things out. So we will do the same."

The two Norse Gods wandered into the hallways of the Edda Colosseum, disappearing into the darkness.

Prometheus returned to his balcony, where Pandora simply sat, her head down and hands in her lap. She had cried as much as she could, convinced that humanity was surely doomed after their first loss.

"Where have you been?" she called out, seeing her brother-in-law's arrival. He set his cane and the Box down nearby, approaching the railing and looking down at the scene of Charles-Henri's death.

"So, I guess my last prediction was right. A shame," he mused to himself. "Our second fighter has his weapon and is ready. As soon as they finish clearing the arena, he'll be ready to enact our revenge."

Down below, various minor Gods were repairing the fractured arena. Charles-Henri and Nemesis had broken up several parts of it, and their mixed blood stained the ground. It would be a tiresome effort to clean it all up, but someone had to.

"How can you be so casual about this? Someone died because we sent him out there to fight some kind of monster God!" Pandora rose from her seat, eyes already watering again.

"Pandora, I knew going into this that some of our fighters would fail. To think we would get a perfect 7-0 victory was foolish," Prometheus said coldly. "All of our fighters know this, and still they're offering up their very souls to save mankind. Crying and raging because someone gave up their life will get us nowhere, and it is a luxury we cannot afford."

Pandora got a better look at Prometheus' face as she closed the distance. Emboldened by her feelings of despair, she had been intending to shake some sense into the taller man, but upon closing the distance she could see plainly: a look of pure, unadulterated rage.

"I hate so many things. I hate Jupiter, I hate losing, I hate the Titans, I hate the Heavens themselves, and I hate that we're having to resort to this idiotic tournament to get what we want. But this is a necessary evil if we want to save mankind. Just know this: We will win the next round, and wipe that stupid satisfied smile off of Jupiter's face."

Pandora leaned onto the railing, resting her head on her hands as she looked down below. "I'm sorry for doubting you or raising my voice, brother."

"This is a difficult time for all of us, Pandora," Prometheus explained. "I know I come across as rather cold, my brother was always better at…people, than I. But there is a reason for everything I do, I just need you to trust me."

The twos' moment was interrupted by the voice of Selene, cutting through the sky. "As we prepare the arena for round two, we have a special presentation for you all! We will reveal the rosters for today's events, the brave souls putting it all on the line for survival or extinction! First, we have the chosen ones of Lord Jupiter, the fighters of the Heavens!"

Two screens had been installed atop the arena, each large enough to be seen by anyone in attendance. The screen closest to Jupiter's balcony came to life, displaying a list of names:

THE GODS' FIGHTERS:

Nemesis

Nezha

Horus

Saint Michael

Vahagn

Yama

Tezcatlipoca

Kagu-tsuchi

Eshu

Tiamat

Tyr

Moloch

?

Already, the humans in the audience began to react to the information.

"What kind of ridiculous line-up is that? How are we supposed to beat freaking Saint Michael?"

"Tiamat? An actual fucking dragon, what the hell is that?"

"Wait, why are there only twelve names? Is that prick mocking us?"

Pandora looked like she was about to be ill, she had turned so pale (impressive, considering her already sickly complexion, though Prometheus opted to keep that observation to himself).

"So he really only put forth twelve names. He expects to win this before we even get to the point of a round thirteen," Prometheus thought to himself. "A shame, I had been hoping that our plan might have provoked him more."

"Brother, how are we going to win this? The humans are right, even I know most of those Gods are gonna be a bunch of heavy-hitters," Pandora whined, voice trembling slightly.

"You worry too much, dear sister. We have our own trump cards, you know," Prometheus smiled.

"And here are those dangerous rebels banded together by the traitor Prometheus to save mankind! The thirteen humans who dare to stand against the will of Lord Jupiter!" As if on cue, the second screen came to life and displayed its own list of names:

HUMANITY'S FIGHTERS:

Rashid ad-din Sinan

Saint George

Khutulun

Yeonsan-gun

William H. Bonney

Ragnar Lothbrok

Charles-Henri Sanson

Hou-Yi

Aleister Crowley

Nankobo Tenkai

Vlad Tepes

Ptolemy I Soter

Gilgamesh

"WHAT?" Jupiter's voice echoed through the arena, eyes transfixed on a single name. "That traitor!"

"Should've seen that one coming," Marduk sighed from his own seat, shaking his head.

Jupiter's gaze went from the last name on the list of humans, to being directed squarely at his counterpart on the other balcony. Prometheus could only offer him a self-satisfied smile, not even dignifying his heated gaze with a response. Instead, Prometheus cleared his throat and grabbed his cane, slamming it down on the ground to attract attention to himself.

"Look at this and behold!" Prometheus called out, addressing both his sister and the humans that had just moments prior begun to lose hope. "With these humans we will reclaim humanity from the Gods and their tyranny! These are the thirteen souls who will save humanity and build a new world, without Jupiter and his cronies: These are the Thirteen Archons!"

A/N: So, as usual, the kind words (especially from my fellow Ragnarok writers) are always appreciated. If you somehow haven't already, I of course recommend Redirected, Rising Sun, and Pandora as Ragnarok fics, all three have been doing such creative and amazing things with this weird niche little fandom we all dwell in. Seeing how many other talented Ragnarok writers are out there has been a great kick in the pants on getting me to keep going with this.

Anyway, gonna be experimenting a bit with some shorter chapters, to keep them from being too bloated and keep me from burning out too badly. This chapter was a lot of set-up, but we did get to see the final rosters after many, MANY changes.

Next time: the start of Round 2, Asgard's Most Honored General VS The Master with Buddha's Compassion.