Chapter 77: ~Revealed.~ (2/2)
“Hey! She is one of them! I recognize her! They destroyed my ship!” He points at the goddess on the ground.
“Let her holiness speak. From what I heard you already built plenty of other ships. She may be able to clarify a few things.” Jazira steps between Ascathon and the child.
The child gets on her knees and introduces herself. “I am Lidith. The goddess of peace. Nice to meet you.” While she was speaking, the last bullet popped out of her and the wound healed. Even her dress starts to assemble itself back together. It looked like Ascathon's regeneration spell. Just faster and more sophisticated.
“To be honest, I didn't expect to be shot, so I didn't bother with a barrier spell. This hurt my pride as a goddess.” She starts to retch and spews another bullet onto the ground.
“You are the one who is responsible for the volcano!” I point an accusing finger at the child in front of us.
“No. No. That was Aneth! I was responsible for the lightning bolt! I helped you! I am one of the good guys!” She explains hastily while waving her hands.
“Then you'll have a long story for us, I assume?” Jazira crosses her arms in front of her chest and grins at the child.
The child nods and gets to her feet. “Could we talk inside? There is much to tell and it will take some time. On top I need to set up a good barrier, in order to prevent them from listening in on us.”
Nobody objects and a few minutes later we are sitting with everyone in our living room. From then on Lidith gives us a lengthy explanation on the current state of the world and the relationships between the gods.
She ends with an explanation on why they started to play their stupid game and how it works. Apparently she is only allowed to visit us once. Then she has to get back to the game to make sure that the others don't start cheating.
Ascathon started to scribble some notes at some point and stopped to listen.
“And that gets me to the reason why I am here. I wanted to warn you guys of a full scale attack by Mislow and the Nation of Mist. Both nations are preparing huge fleets against you. The Nation of Mist has four hundred ships at sea and the Kingdom of Mislow has three hundred air ships floating above their capital. They will move together as soon as they are ready. They are bringing everything they have.” Lidith ends her warning with a final line. “The Inquisition is moving too. They plan to infiltrate Sarn on the ground and cause chaos while you battle the fleets.”
I puff my cheeks. This is quite a handful to take everything in at once. “I am not even sure if we can trust you. If your story is true, then you are to blame too. Playing a game for several thousand years. Do you think that you are above other people! You guys are just idiots with too much power!”
Lidith looks down. “It is as you said and I am trying to stop this. But I can't go alone against three gods. And I always tell myself that it's better than having the four of us fight it out.”
“Then just fight it out yourself and leave us out of it!” Tjena interjects.
“Bad idea. The last time we almost destroyed the world. Gods have almost limitless access to mana. We lay waste to entire continents before we even start to damage each other.” Lidith shakes her head.
“But Ascathon wounded you with a few bullets!” Sagittarius looks confused.
“I am suppressing my powers. If I power up my battle aura to the maximum, everyone in this city would drop to the ground foaming at their mouths.” Lidith waves her hand. “Oh, and before you ask. I changed my outer appearance with transformation magic.”
“I see...” Ascathon is mumbling in his corner. Then he disappears from one second to the next. Everyone is gaping at the empty spot where he was a second ago.
Then the space in front of Lidith distorts and he reappears in front of her again. “Those pathways are very convenient! What else can you do with them?”
Lidith is just gaping at the black dressed figure in front of her. Ascathon is looming over her with demanding eyes.
“I was seeing these strange strings for quite a while now, but I didn't realize what they were. Who would have thought that they are the web of reality itself. No wonder that gods have access to huge amounts of mana. Although it seems that handling so much mana is quite difficult. I'll need some training to become a god.” He stops and grins at Lidith. “And I think I found the perfect advisor.”
Huh!? Ascathon? A god!? I jump up and grab his arm. “One moment! You can't become a god!”
He furrows his eyebrows. “Why not?”
Lidith finally closes her gaping mouth and scratches her cheek. “Ascathon and Jazira seem to be on the brink of transcending to godhood.”
“Eh? Me too?” Jazira looks surprised.
“Of course! Where do you think all your mana comes from. Ascathon sees the pathways and you managed to partly access your mana pool. It would be right to call you two demigods right now. Unfortunately I can't train you. I can only give you the advise to train the thing you are good at to utmost perfection.” Lidith smiles at us. “Maybe we can beat the three fools into submission if we work together and you two become full gods!”
“How would doing something with utmost perfection help to become a god?” Jazira wonders.
“Just think of it as meditation training to find yourself. We don't really understand why we are gods ourselves.” Lidith grimaces. “Try to hide your training. I'll do my best to give you as much time as possible. If the others find out, they'll get rid of you.”
She jumps up and bows to us. “My time is up. Proceed with care, I'll be watching.” The space around her distorts and she is gone.
Ascathon continues to scribble on his sheet of paper while I cling onto him. What happens if he becomes a god? My brain feels mushy and then I storm out of the room and towards the training hall.
“I won't be left behind.”
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