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The angel that had led the proceedings so far looked unfazed by the interruption, and indeed it seemed like she had expected a development like this. “Mount Celestis gives House Asuryan one chance to back down. Otherwise, we will challenge your House in front of the entire Grand Assembly and force your acquiescence. Do note that we are not challenging the emperor, but House Asuryan, so you won’t be able to hide behind the skirts of the Imperial Guard.”
A wave of murmurs spread across the gathered Divines, who seemed more than happy to allow this disturbance to continue. No matter which of the two came out on top, it would be beneficial to the other Houses. The angel’s wording was also important. House Asuryan was the Royal Family, but by excluding the emperor from the challenge, the guard protecting the emperor were not supposed to intervene. The emperor could choose to ignore that and order them to intervene, as that was his prerogative, but the rest of the family could not call upon the guard themselves.
“Why bother with a challenge when we can just deal with such cowards here and now!” The God from House Asuryan said angrily, clearly not expecting either the challenge or the exclusion of the guard. He threw a fist toward the angel and a large golden arm materialized and struck towards her.
The angel made no move to defend, as she knew she didn't have to. Maintaining order was the job of the Host after all. As she'd expected, a woman wearing the armor of the Host appeared on the path of the strike, lifting a large war hammer towards the attack before the attacks seemed to disappear into thin air. The god that had made the attack wasn't surprised the attack was deflected, as he hadn't expected to gain victory with a single strike and hadn't used even close to full strength. The strike had only been meant as a provocation. Still, the ease at which the attack was completely nullified caused him to raise a shocked eyebrow.
An enchanting voice spoke to everyone gathered. “The Host would like to remind all the illustrious personages present that the Assembly is not the place to conduct battle. Any fights and challenges should be taken outside. A proper arena can be created to accommodate any sort of challenge. This place is for negotiation and for resolving the problems of the Divine Planes peacefully.”
The red-haired angel standing behind the interfering member of the Host grinned widely. “Mount Celestis offered House Asuryan the opportunity to back down and was rebuffed as witnessed by everyone. According to our words before, we now officially challenge House Asuryan.”
At the gathering of the Royal Family, everyone turned toward two particular men. Two men that every god present at the venue recognized. Both carried themselves with gravitas and great power, but one was surrounded by a host of other gods, while the other one stood proudly alone. The first was Hoeth, one of the two main claimants to the throne within House Asuryan, while the other one was Eldrazor, the eldest son of the current emperor. There was another difference between the two men. While Hoeth was focused on the angels challenging them, Eldrazor's gaze was firmly locked on the member of the Host that had stopped the earlier attack.
“House Asuryan accepts. Name your terms.” Hoeth declared with a voice filled with confidence.
“As defenders, you’re entitled to decide the format.” The leading angel allowed with a magnanimous voice. “As for the stakes, I’d love to call for the dissolution of your House, but we both know you wouldn’t abide by the terms when you lost. So we’ll settle for a promise that you will not interfere with our proposal any further. In return, we will abandon our plan should we lose. Which you don’t have to worry about." With her little taunt, she also sidestepped the fact that you couldn't really dissolve the Royal House due to a challenge anyway. Some other houses could find their end that way, but the Royal House was special in that only those with the blood of the House could become the next Heavenly Emperor.
The challenged party conferred for a brief moment to decide on the details. This time even Eldrazor spoke a few words, which no one could hear since they had activated a cone of silence that prevented eavesdropping, though his gaze never wavered. After a few moments, Hoeth turned back towards the angels. “The challenge will be conducted as a series of one-on-one duels, king of the hill style with nine participants per side. Each pair of combatants can decide the particulars of their duel, which doesn’t have to be an armed fight. In case the two can’t come to an agreement, the party that stepped up will get to decide, but to balance that out, the previous winner can swap out for another person that has not yet lost a duel and is more suited for the selected format.”
“Agreed.” As if having predicted what was going to happen, the leader of the angels that had managed to charm everyone just waved a hand and eight other angels stepped up next to her, signaling that their nine had already been chosen.
Everyone present was shocked to note that every single one of them was a rank 13 being, even though none of them were gods. Despite this, their powers, even while suppressed didn't seem to lose to the gods around them. Their opponents couldn't make such a show of unity, as theirs was a camp divided. "I shall be taking part." Kurnous was the first one to step forward. He was the third candidate for the throne, even if his claim was the least likely to succeed.
"It's only fair we put forward our best foot as well," Hoeth stated and stepped forward while gesturing towards Eldrazor, who did the same. "I also suggest we take turns to name our other participants." His suggestion got agreements from the other two.
“I call upon Addaioth, the God of the All-Consuming Flame.” Kurnous declared, and another extremely powerful-looking man that looked like a mix between a living flame and an elf stepped forward.
“I call upon Vaul, the God of Smiths and Artisans." Hoeth declared. A god with powerful muscles and attire more suitable for a smithy stepped forth.
“I call upon Drakira, the Goddess of Retribution," Eldrazor stated more calmly, and a stern-looking goddess dressed in the attire of a court official stepped forward.
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“I call upon Atharti, the Goddess of Beauty.” Kurnous declared, his gorgeous wife stepping forward.
Choosing a goddess famed and indeed deified for her looks was a choice that spoke of tactical thinking beyond combat. The goddess was almost like a copy of both Karna and her mother, causing Karna’s teammates to raise their eyebrows in surprise as well. Yet somehow the Goddess managed to look less attractive than both Karna and the Angel standing behind her, as naturally Karna had been the one to stop the attack earlier.
“I call upon Isha, the Goddess of Fertility.” Hoeth drew heavily on his allies, choosing his most important supporters.
“I call upon Ynnead.” Eldrazor declared next, his words catching everyone by surprise, including the angel behind Karna.
“Is the Royal House truly so low on strength that you must resort to calling on outsiders and those you’ve cast out?” The angel asked, her tone mocking, though there was now a slight tinge of worry on her features. The angel knew better than anyone what it would mean for the person in front of her to take part.
"Ynnead is still a member of the House, is she not?" Eldrazor pointed out. "At least I have not heard of her officially removing herself from the family." Everyone aware of the situation knew that was just a pretext. Eldrazor had just made a rather intelligent political play.
Karna knew it too and chewed on her lip under her helmet. If she refused, she would officially be breaking her already tenuous connection with the Royal House. She would officially be picking a side against them. So far her position had been somewhat unclear, which had provided some political protection for her, and had stopped her ‘family’ from actively going after her as an outcast. Only the emperor as the head of the family could cast her out officially, unless she broke the connection herself, and so far the emperor had not done so. It was a thin excuse, but it had been enough so far.
Surprising everyone present, the one to provide the answer was not Karna, but the Grand Marshall. The Titan stood at his full height, drawing everyone's attention before speaking. "The Host is supposed to remain neutral in battles between Houses, especially at this place. However, this challenge will not take place within the Grand Assembly, but outside, and members of the Host have often been given dispensation to deal with family matters. Princess Ynnead, you are granted such dispensation and can participate with the Host’s blessing.” The Grand Marshall was signaling that the titans wanted her to take part and wouldn’t mind. They stood to gain more from allowing her to take part than from her initiating hostilities with the Royal Family at this point.
“I hear and obey.” Karna finally nodded and joined those on the side of the Royal Family. Part of the reason she was so willing to join was because she had noticed a loophole in the rules, and she was quite certain she wasn't the only one to notice that loophole.
The Host had been prepared for something like this to happen, and they had already constructed a suitable arena beforehand. The combatants moved to the arena and the people back at the Grand Assembly were allowed to freely observe what went on in the arena without actually entering the separate dimension that had been created just for that purpose. The arena could only be called such because it had the rough shape of one, but it floated in vast nothingness, allowing the powerful beings to fight freely without worrying about damaging the surroundings.
As the two teams separated to strategize, Atharti was the first one to comment on Karna’s presence. “You brought her along as cannon fodder? Sure, we need someone to take the first fight, but wouldn’t someone stronger have been much more useful?” She asked snidely, allowing her hatred of Karna’s mother to color her view of the daughter.
To her surprise, Eldrazor laughed derisively before speaking. “Princess Ynnead will be a much more useful addition to this team than you, that’s for certain. In fact, I don’t think there’s a single thing you’d beat her at. Even when lower ranked, she’s more powerful than you, so you won’t have even that to fall back on.”
Karna couldn’t help a small smile. Despite their differences, the Sins always did feel a little like siblings that just didn’t like each other very much. Even when they hated each other, an attack on one was like an attack on a sibling, something not to be taken lightly. Eldrazor also pulled her a bit further away from the others, and another field of silence appeared around the two. “Wrath. How very good to see you again.”
“Greed. I must admit, I was expecting Pride in your place.” She responded with the same familiar tone.
“Most would, and it would suit him, would it not?” Eldrazor, or Greed smirked a bit. “But here I am, and he isn’t. You’re not the first one to make that assumption though. You do realize though, that if he had been in my place, you’d be dead, right? Unlike him, I don’t want you dead though.”
“He would’ve made his best effort to kill me at least. We both know he hasn’t succeeded very often.” She realized there was some truth to what he was saying though. Unlike Greed, Pride would’ve most certainly hunted her down if they had been born in the same family. “And we both know why you haven’t tried to kill me.”
“Of course. Unlike some, I’m not ashamed of my Name. I want everything. And you’re included in that everything. The jewel of the Sins decorating my crown. What would be better than that?” He admitted freely. Notably, he didn’t mean it necessarily sexually, though he probably wouldn’t count that possibility out either. No, he just wanted her as his subordinate in some way.
“And I keep turning you down, the pest that I am.” She only half-joked.
“Speaking of which, we both know that if you went all out, you could ensure our victory in this challenge.” Greed shifted the topic, as they were treading ground they’d gone over many times before.
"That's the problem, isn't it? If. I have no reason to, though. I'm not going to put on a shameful display, but no one expects me to win against our opponents either. And if you try to pit me against her, then I have very little reason to give it my all. I like her more than I like you. And just in case you missed it, most of their team is made up of reincarnators. And not insignificant ones either.” She pointed out.
“Oh, don’t worry about her. I can take care of her myself. That’s not the problem. No, she’s too smart to make a challenge like this without having a plan ready for me specifically. I want you to foil that plan. We both know you’ll be able to. You saw her face when I called you out. That was her seeing her plan crumbling in front of her face.” Greed posed.
“Or that was her acting like her plan had been foiled. You know she isn’t so easy to figure out.” Karna had seen that as well, but she’d also seen something else. Something Eldrazor had apparently not caught during the explanation of the rules.
“Be that as it may, it seems the others are finished.” Greed noticed the other members of the Royal House looking their way and lowered the silencing effect.
“Are you quite finished?” Hoeth asked a little mockingly.
“No, but I decided I could deign to talk to lesser beings for a moment.” Greed, returning to his Eldrazor persona, said cockily.
“Well, perhaps you’d deign to listen to our plan then?” Hoeth was visibly holding his anger back. It seemed Greed was good at getting on his nerves and knew which buttons to push for maximum effect.
“I honestly don’t care. However, I’m not going first and neither is she.” He pointed to Karna. “The success of our team relies on keeping the two of us back until the right moment.”
Hoeth narrowed his eyes a bit and now seriously considered Karna. To him, her presence and even existence had been relatively inconsequential so far. Now he was re-evaluating. "Well, good thing then that Addaioth agreed to go first. The first bout will be a fight anyway."
"A very short one," Karma mumbled as she noticed the angel stepping forward and read the True Name. It seemed the fight would turn into a matchup between elements, and fire was not a good matchup against gravity.
“Oh, by the way. If you do agree to do your part for our team, I’ll make it worth your while.” Eldrazor whispered.
“Oh? Do tell. There’s very little you can promise me. Unlike you, I’m not one to hoard resources or valuables.” She didn’t shoot him down outright though.
“How about information on your father? Your mother may have been able to hide it from everyone else, but not from me. And her red herring with the Grand Marshal is cute, but not enough to fool me.” He suggested slyly.
“While I’m curious, I don’t truly care. Not enough that I can’t wait for the information to come out on its own. A secret like that won’t stay a secret forever.” She could be patient.
"Understandable. How about I sweeten the deal a bit? And speaking of hoards, I do know you like to hoard something as well. I may or may not have stumbled upon something extremely soft and fluffy.” Greed knew his audience. And unlike all other reincarnators, he wasn’t limited when it came to bringing items from one life to the next.
“Now you’re starting to speak my language. However, I’m afraid this won’t go as you think. You might actually wish me to not put in too much effort if I’m right…” She said enigmatically.