Orario.
After some time, which at that moment did not concern me in the least, I stood at the top of the Babel and watched what was happening below, my mood unchanged.
Of course, there was a battle between the gods and the Beast, now fully incarnate, but interestingly, it was not taking place in the center of the city, but on the outskirts.
The air itself was so saturated with divine power that you could almost touch it. This was because the gods were not holding back and were using their Arcanum to the maximum, and I could feel the participation of almost every god living in Orario, including Ouranos, Hestia, and Freya.
They did this not just for the sake of it, but because the evacuation of civilians was taking place below, led by the Familias of the Gods and Hermes. A huge crowd of children, old people, the sick, and the injured, with panic in their eyes and fear in their bodies, hurriedly moved and descended into the Underground.
Interestingly, everyone else who could hold a weapon, and they were holding the ones I had created on my last visit, stood outside and helped the group at risk. They were also afraid, glancing from time to time at the battle site, but they did not move from their places and continued to maintain relative order. Of course, they were of no use, but their determination to do so was worthy of respect.
The beast... she was definitely enjoying all the attention she was getting.
Her appearance hadn't changed much since that encounter in Griselda's inner world, but she looked younger. And she still had the same dragon features: eyes, horns, scales on her legs and arms.
The only thing that had changed was the outfit she wore, which consisted of... essentially nothing. A scarlet cape with white and black patterns on the shoulders, barely covering her body and resembling large dragon wings. A heavily modified nun's outfit, again hiding essentially nothing, barely covering her private parts. And, of course, three crowns: one on her head and two on her shoulders.
There was also another change, which was also present in her version of Nero, namely a gold cup encrusted with precious stones, which was obviously the Holy Grail. And there was a tremendous amount of power in this thing, because it contained everything that Yahweh had not managed to absorb from the Babel. Consequently, the Babel was now just an ordinary piece of stone.
The city had obviously suffered greatly and continued to be destroyed by various natural manifestations of divine forces and something specific, as in the case of Loki and her illusions. And the entire landscape of what was once an objectively beautiful city was now a combination of massive craters, crevices, the smell of burning, and other consequences of a battle of this magnitude.
In any case, everything went pretty much as it should have in the canon, but intervening right now was... unnecessary. After all...
- "...after all, not everyone has taken the stage yet, right?" came a very familiar voice from my right.
I didn't need to turn around, because I knew for sure that the voice belonged to Zelretch, and that his face was wearing the same annoying fanged smirk.
- "Am I that easy to read?" I asked calmly.
- "Oh, not in the mood, colleague?" he smirked, ignoring my question. "As I understand it, the local version of Yahweh got on your nerves?"
- "So much so that I let him kick around before he died just so he would regret his sin," I replied, stretching out my hand, in which a white sphere appeared in the next moment.
- "So you killed him after all," Zelretch muttered thoughtfully. "However, I didn't particularly like him. Too boring. The only strange thing is that you didn't absorb his core."
- "I absorbed only what I needed. The rest... It's too disgusting, and why would I need it?" I said, throwing the sphere to Zelretch. "I'm sure you'll find a couple of ways to use it. This world doesn't need it anymore."
- "Of course. And you have no idea how true your last words are," he smiled, and the sphere disappeared into his portal. "Then I'll wait for the signal."
I nodded briefly, but when he was about to leave, I raised my hand to stop him.
- "Anything else?"
- "After all this, we need to talk."
- "Yes," Zelretch agreed calmly. "I suppose the time has come."
With that, he disappeared, and I turned my gaze to the battlefield.
Let's see if they need this little thing...
-0-
Hestia, covered in soft flames, held her staff with trembling hands and continuously directed her divine power at her allies, healing their wounds and helping them regain their strength. But even doing all this and pushing herself to the limit of her abilities, she didn't know how long they would last.
Finishing with another god, Hestia looked up to see the battle for the world itself unfolding before her.
The Beast, as their enemy called herself, held back the onslaught of dozens of gods with Arcanum, and all the while, she wore nothing but a smile on her face. She enjoyed the battle, or rather, the gods' attempts to resist her.
And not only that, the only damage they were able to inflict on her was to her clothing.
Hestia gritted her teeth and prepared to take on the next god.
Each of them understood that this battle was not for victory over the Beast, but for the time they could win for their children. Anxiety gnawed at Hestia from within, but she was prepared to endure and hold on so that their Familias could be saved.
- "Chibi!" She heard Loki's voice and looked up, where she saw the battered owner of the voice. "Don't sleep!"
- "Y-yes!" Hestia exclaimed with shame in her voice, for she had allowed herself to be distracted, and began to help Loki. "T-thank you for saving me back then..."
- "Forget it. We need to hold on a little longer. Hermes said that the evacuation is almost complete, and one of Ouranos's people met the mortals," Loki replied when she felt a little better. "This thing is too strong, but for some reason, it allows us to heal our wounds and buy time. I don't know what she's trying to achieve, but this is definitely a game for her. And she infuriates me. How dare she mock me?!"
- "Even you don't know?" Hestia asked quietly.
- "Hey! I can recognize lies, not intentions!" Loki smiled with a hint of positivity, then took a deep breath and looked at Hestia. "If what you said on Denatus was true, we need Romani. Can't you contact him through that thing he gave you?"
- "I tried, but the staff seems to reject me..." Hestia said, almost in a whisper.
- "Then try again. That's an order from Ouranos," Loki said. "Right now, our only hope is Romani, and we need his help."
- "But..."
- "This is no time to be stubborn!" Loki raised her voice slightly, causing Hestia to flinch and return to the battlefield. "Go. There's no time to waste."
Hestia shook her head and gripped her staff tighter, channeling her power into it once more. She tried again and again, but instead of receiving a response to her attempts, things only got worse.
- "You are weak and, moreover, boring. I'm losing interest," she heard the Beast's voice say. "And since that's the case, you're no longer needed."
And as if in response to her words, the cup in the Beast's hand glowed with an ominous scarlet light, and then a wave emanated from it. It was very slow, as it seemed to Hestia, but the effect was devastating.
The gods who were closest instantly broke the distance, but those who did not have time instantly turned to dust along with everything else the wave touched. Buildings, plants, the earth, and even the air. All of it was turned to nothing. But Hestia, like the other gods, was horrified that it affected not only the physical shell, but the very cores of the gods, completely erasing them from existence.
Hestia knew she would not have time to escape, for she had never been fast, and so she did the only thing she could do at that moment...
...and the answer came.
- "Use the staff, Lady Hestia. Now is the time," she heard Romani's voice.
Hestia wanted to ask him many things, but now she decided to trust him and do as he said.
As soon as she filled the staff with the last of her strength, it glowed with a soft pink light, and then, as if taking possession of Hestia herself, her lips began to move on their own.
- "From the stars of the inner sea and the tower of insight… From the four corners of paradise, let them know: Their story is filled with blessings..." she began, feeling her own strength begin to return. "Only those free of sin may pass..."
Hearing the aria, the remaining gods rushed toward Hestia, for they all felt something distant, protected, and full of hope.
- "Garden of Avalon: Eternally Secluded Utopia!"
In the next moment, a tower appeared out of nowhere above the gods, as if drawn from fairy tales. It was tall, with fabulous decorations, ornaments, and a base shimmering with all shades of pink. And from there, something fell, like a drop shining with a soft light. And when it touched the battle-scarred ground...
...a truly magical scene appeared before the gods.
In a matter of seconds, millions of pink flowers bloomed everywhere, their petals immediately caught by a pleasant, refreshing breeze that came out of nowhere. They flew across the endlessly expanding pink sea and then joined together in mesmerizing spirals that swirled around the floating tower.
- "How beautiful..." several gods exclaimed in admiration, while Hestia and the others, more serious and focused on the enemy, saw how these pink flowers were able to stop the wave released by the Beast.
- "How long can you maintain this field?" Ouranos asked seriously.
- "I... I don't know..." Hestia replied. "But Romani said that the staff would only work once, and..."
But she couldn't finish, because the wave released by the Beast suddenly disappeared, and the Beast itself was now looking at the top of the Babel.
- "Finally, you're here," she said eagerly, then disappeared from the gods' sight, her aura now felt in the very center of the city.
The gods felt relieved to see that the threat had receded for a moment, giving them time to catch their breath, but Hestia was filled with anxiety.
Would Romani be able to handle what they had been unable to handle together?
-0-
A/N: How's the chapter? Give us your opinion. You may well be able to influence future chapters.
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