Chapter 5: Yumeko-chan gets a nickname!

two weeks before contact.

Freyja smiled at our surprise.

"Now, now, warring stuff IS one of my specialties, here's how it's going to be..."

She jumped off the table, swirling around, before pointing Agito with her finger.

"You guys are going to fight in a mountainous setting. Mister meteo, for two weeks, can you make it snow ?"

Agito nodded, puffing up his chest like an idiot.

"The great me can do this much. A word of warning though, the other side will scout it out too, so they'll likely be prepared for great colds."

...Maybe not that dumb.

"I expect them to, after all, the snowy mountains and high colds are only for one thing. Sensei said no traps, but what of setting up a base or material?"

Saeko-sensei smiled wryly.

"Nothing of the sort, people usually don't have time for this."

"Aaaaand that's when Yumeko comes into play."

W-wait, me ?

Freyja was circling around me, muttering to herself, before catching my arm.

"With that -hah- damn it's harder than I thought... Got it."

An intense wave of burning, biting cold went through me, and finally settled on my forearm, where a glowing symbol appeared. It was a straight line, and in the back of my mind, the knowledge of its nature, Isa, elder futhark rune for ice appeared.

Freyja looked exhausted as she let me go sitting on the ground and panting heavily.

"Haaaah... took most of my power. Almost -Hah- none left..."

What ?!

"W-Wait, you idiot! I didn't tell you to kill yourself doing it! What's wrong with you?!"

I jump out of my chair and scream at her, what kind of idiot...! She raised up her hand.

"It's... Okay. Very bad things are... going to happen. Need powerful people to be prepared for it."

I knew there was a catch to it. Enough of shady characters! But something that would push her, a goddess to the verge of non existence ? I don't care if I sound rude, I want my answers and I'll get them now.

"Spill."

She glared weakly at me from the ground, before sighing.

" Mankind's destruction. According to my calculations, I can, at most, buy you guys a year or two before you have to confront the army of the dead."

Say what now?

"T-That's preposterous ! An army of the dead ?!"

"So that's what they are doing with your body, and you expect them to fail and cause a 'zombie apocalypse' scenario."

It was Agito. Now that I think about it, Freyja should have been in our class, but she was nowhere in the campus, and she did mention that her body had been captured. A shiver ran up my spine. Humans playing around with the body of a god... That can't end well. The now-silvery blonde nodded and continued, a dark expression on her face.

"I made contact, intending for this to become a rescue mission, but frankly ? You can't take them all on. As such, the best I can do is stave them off and buy you time. But my powers are very limited right now, and they're getting smarter in their attempts to get samples... As a last resort, I'll kill myself, but in that case, the alien attacks will restart."

It was Sensei that hit the table with her fist, shaking us all off our shock, her eyes sharp and entirely focused on the visibly uncomfortable deity.

"What do you mean by that?! You were the one stopping the attacks?!"

She flinched and hugged herself, visibly frustrated.

"... Yes. It would be too long to explain, but currently, I'm... keeping Earth from emitting a certain energy wave that makes them come. Was. Should I die, though, they'll come back running."

"But what are the other gods doing then?!"

If anything, she looked even more comfortable and slightly scared, as if she was trying to deny something

"They are all dead. Their sacred grounds in shambles. Olympus is a fuming ruin and the Norse planes lost in the void. I'm the only one here. That I now of. Others might be hiding or have forgotten."

That... certainly explains. So they didn't answer my prayers, because they didn't exist anymore huh?

Freyja continued, eager to change the subject clapping her hands to get us out of our gloom.

"This mark is my blessing. It allows you to use and generate ice, that combined with your crafting abilities should give you enough leeway to make full use of the environment Agito will set up for you."

"Eh?"

Her smile was unnerving.

"My, my, Hepha-chan, you seem to forget that it's your mess, so you should be the one cleaning it up, ne?"

Uh oh, she seems annoyed now...

"D-don't call me Hepha-chan!"

"Eeeh? But it suits you so well Hepha-chan..."

I definitely don't like that name!

... I really don't!

One week, six days before contact.

As expected, some of our enemies were scouting around. Teacher's car helped us get to the mountaintop. The air was hot and humid, that's to be expected since it's the beginning of the wet season. Agito was standing around, eyes closed, and lifted a hand. The air started getting colder and the clouds started swirling towards the direction he pointed to. This stayed that way for minutes, and the onlookers from the rival faction started speaking between themselves.

In a way, the spectacle was awe inspiring, the dark clouds, the wind blowing furiously, the temperature that was getting colder and colder...

Sensei gave me a coat and murmured, smiling. She was happier that she'd ever been since that test came positive for her.

"Impressive right? As expected from the school's number five student. The only reason he isn't higher is the lack of direct applications from his abilities. They are all affecting an area, hardly useful to fight only one opponent with your allies..."

An hour later, the sky was dark and rumbling, we were now exhaling clouds, and with a final 'cade' from Agito, speckles of white appeared from the sky, falling gently to the ground. He then closed his fist and let his hand down, more and more snow fell. He turned towards us, looking a bit exhausted while putting on a coat.

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"That should hold for a week. You know what you have to do, Hephaestus."

"Hmph, of course I do, I'm not stupid! Let's go, contrary to you , I can catch a cold here. And don't call me that!"

I ignore the highly amused glances thrown my way. Time to design.

One week before contact.

The sky was thundering over an undersnow facility and voices could be heard.

"Bwa ha ha ha"

"The great me would like to say that you're not doing it right. First, you have to straighten up your spine, throw back your head to ease the passing of the air, and clawing your hands can help reinforcing your image."

"Oh, is that so? Thanks. BWA HA HA HA HA! IT LIVES!!!! Wow, that really worked. I need a bit of lightning to set up the mood perfectly though."

"The great me can do that."

In an undersnow facility, a female figure was laughing madly, head back and hands clawed, as a lighning storm raged in the sky.

"BWA HA HA HA HA IT LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVES!"

"The great me wonders what lives, though, those are only automatons."

"...That's a good question."

Contact.

The sun was shining, blindingly so over the snow, the sky had some clouds, but none masking the light source. There was a cold wind blowing, making some snowflakes dance around us.

Seventeen students were in the vale , at the mountains' feet, snow up to their waist. Agito and I were up there, in our white clothes, specially made to resist the cold. A commlink station was installed between our two encampments. Why seventeen? Nagito, Agito's younger brother, decided the whole thing was stupid and skipped altogether. There seems to be bad blood between the brothers, but Agito was polite enough not to ask about my private life, so I'll do the same.

On the screen, was that guy's face, and behind him, Irina was crying, supported by the two extra. He was stone faced, and looked like he didn't sleep in a while.

"Yumeko, I..."

"Shut up."

I glared at him.

"I don't care about your stupid apologies, I don't care about your motives, I don't care about anything anymore. The only thing I care about now is destroying what destroyed the old me. That means you."

His expression became pleading now.

"Yumeko, please, Zeus, he's playing with your mind and..."

Hah, that's his excuse ? I'm not allowed to hate him out of my own will ? What does he take me for!

If I was angry before, now I'm absolutely furious.

"Oh please, he's a first category idiot, but he's a better human being than you'll ever be. Now I break your army, then I break you. Sayonara, Tasuku-kun. Agito-senpai, please."

I close the commlink and turn towards him.

The black haired man gets it, climbs up the stairs on the peak of the mountain, and reaches to a gigantic ice horn. He puts a plastic bit to avoid getting his lips stuck to it, inhales and then blows the horn.

A very loud, deep sound floats through the mountains, followed by a great rumble. I put down a lever, and get on my mount.

-???-

Avalanche. I realized. They were starting an avalanche!

Prioritizing my own survival, I switched from telepathy to telekinesis and floated up to avoid the white doom that was quickly reaching my comrades. I don't even know why I accepted to be part of this, probably to see 'Athena' create interesting things ? But they were all energy weapons, boring, I could do that in my sleep, those 'another side' gods really are letdowns huh?.

The snow ravaged and devoured and soon, save for me, 'Cronos' 'Athena' and 'Artemis' were the only ones left standing, the others buried under dozens of meters of snow. That was a very intelligent trap. Then I looked at my surroundings, and my heart skipped a beat. Pure ice mechanisms transparent and solid, complex machines, an army of Ice automatons walking towards us all shining in the sun, sending diffracted light everywhere. And at their front, the enemy leader, on an neighing icy steed. Part of my mind screamed that it was irrational. Clad in white, she was on her roaring icy horse, and then, its wings spread and she took off. She was flying ! This was a horse headed, winged, flying motorbike! Irrational, impossible, and yet she did it.

This was Hephaestus, the in game god of crafting, fire and metallurgy.

I read her students info, and it said nowhere that she could control ice, but there she was, turning the snow into compact ice spikes and chucking them at her enemies from the skies in a show of righteous fury!

The army was upon us. I had to, no I needed to investigate them !

-Hephaestus/Yumeko-

Ice spike ice spike ice spike

"Stop dodging you f*cking jerk and take your punishment !"

Ice spike ice spike ice spike

"Yumeko ! What happened to y-eargh!"

Got Athena and Artemis.

Ice spike ice spike ice spike

He still dodges. I have no other choice. All of the falling snow coalesces into a gigantic ice hammer.

I'm running out of insults there. Oh, there's still one I can use.

"Join your dead gods, you f*kin heathen!"

And bring it down, squishing them deep into the snow.

And I waited for the victor signal that didn't come.

And then, the improbable happened. A brown haired, grey eyed boy my age put a knee in front of me, in the air.

"I fell in love with your workmanship, please go out with me!"

...

My mouth reacted before my brain could, frozen by the absurdity of the situation.

"Eh?"

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Yay, as in true Yuri style, battles are won because she used the environment.

Also, flying ice pegasus motorbikes, because why effing not °-°

A new character appears ! And he's a scientist type ? Hepha-chan, loos like Yuri's followers attract weirdoes too...