Anubis had long stopped using his scale for judgements.

It was said that the kind lord, realizing that the scale was too harsh on the innocent people. had refrained from using the scale, instead relying on the judgement of 3 dead great kings to help him decide on the placement of souls.

But this did not stop him and his kin from using it in combat.

Dong!

The reverberating sound of the scale could be heard as two things apparated onto the scales: a heart and a feather.

The two objects fell unto the scale, as the scale immediately weighed the heart the heaviest.

As the heart went down, the aide felt a tremor within his mind, an innate fear of something.

If he had a system, it would've appeared as a status ailment and would be labeled:

[The gaze of ammit(S): You have been found wanting, and wanted by the maw of the underworld. Your every move for the rest of the battle will be watched by her, and your every action impaired by her eyes. Stats suffer a 10 percent decrease and the followers of Anubis will receive a 20 percent boost in strength so they may deliver justice swiftly]

The aide felt it, the gaze of a greater being, of a God, as his body trembled inadvertently. He resisted as best as he could, but there was no way he could do so, for what was a mortal before the authority of judgement?

Regardless, the elf snorted, as he immediately conjured a fireshower, as the fire rains down in a shower of red.

The anubian did not flinch, indifferent to the attack, as he waived his hand..

His companion, the child of Ammit grew in size, overshadowing the battlefield, taking the shower of flame in stride.

The Anubian was gone, as if it had disappeared into the shadows.

Sensing danger, the aide moved quickly, but still took a lash to the back.

The Annubian now had a crook and flail in his hands, as the scale hung behind them quietly, as if mocking the aide.

The aide knew the situation was quite bad, as he quickly dodged, just barely dodging the flail this time, his mind running rapidly.

The elf couldn't figure out how the gods had gotten involved in this, or more importantly, how a god's favored child got involved.

This was bad.

Whoosh!

A giant ankh came flying down, forcing the aide to use his own divine artifact, a leaf from their lord, to shield the blow.

He responded quickly, but so too did the child of Ammit, which charged forward incredibly fast, contrary to its appearance.

It attempted to swallow the elf whole, but the elf reacted swiftly, not daring to stay near those jaws, not merely because of their immense size, but also the feeling of danger as the aide could feel the tugging of his soul the closer he got to it. It felt as if he could hear the whispers of desperate souls, the way one smells the stench of previous hunts off the maw of a predator.

How horrifying.

He avoided it more than he did the anubian, for one was clearly more dangerous than the other.

It was well known that the gods were willing to ignore certain things, which helped the people grow,or things simply too difficult to root out.

They were one of these things. The Gods usually wouldn't bother to personally intervene so, but when their favored children get involved...

Things got messy. There would be no half measures, merely war and destruction, whatever it took to destroy those who dared harm their favorites.

Even know, for merely threatening one of their favorites, they were willing to send out two S-ranks, of which one could absorb souls the other capable of using the authority of justice to severely weaken him.

He had to get back and investigate how the gods were involved in this, to best figure out how to respond to this situation. Clearly, one of the ones inside the house was involved with the Gods.

This could be highly disruptive to their plan to get rid of the high elf girl. They may even have to shelf the plan altogether.

He may revere his lord, but he was not foolish. His lord was not ready to face the full power of the old and dominant pantheon of the Romana empire, not when they hadn't even seized the throne yet.

All of this predicated upon the idea of him being able to leave this current situation.

But to retreat now, or to investigate and glean the identity of the godly favorite....

Roar!

Skree! The roar of Ammit's child echoed, as a corresponding roar emerged alongside it.

A large serpent emerged, with a familiar Dudley emerging alongside him, puffing and coughing.

"Dangnabbed Knifear! Didn't even have the decency to die an easy death!" he cursed, looking over to the Anubian.

"Hey you! Did your God send you here to do an errand too!?"

The Anubian frowned as he stopped mid-combat, completely dismissive of the elf before him.

The aide could do nothing but watch, as more S-ranks entered the field, running up to a 4 v 1.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

"It is not an errand, but a great honor to protect this child who is so dearly favored by my lord.

But yes, I have been ordered to protect him at the lord's discretion."

The dwarf grunted. "Me too. I was told to protect that kobold over there. The other elf blew himself up, and took most of the good stuff with him.

I don't suppose you'd be interested in divvying up this elf's resources."

"If you wish to aid me in killing this pest, I have no quarrels about this." The anubian said indifferently, but not refusing.

The elve's eyes narrowed, as he made his decision to wisely retreat.

Luckily for him, the dust had cleared thanks to an inadvertent swipe of the serpents tail, revealing a group of kobolds, a rat, and a turtle.

That was enough. He could investigate this much when he returned.

The aide turned to flee, but not before sending a message to the group protected by the demigods.

The anubian and the dwarf made move to chase, but the elf reacted smartly, throwing out a small seed, which quickly burst forth into a giant plant monstrosity, forcing the S-ranks to stop and deal with the plants, as the elf got further and further away.

It wasn't a danger to them, but it was a danger to the innocent civilians and the people they had been sent to protect.

Not dangerous to them, but hard to ill for sure, especially since its attribute of life clashed with the attributes of death and the earth.

By the time they finished dealing with the plantish monster, the group could only watch the elven aide escape swiftly, announcing the end of the battle.

----------------------------------------

'We will meet again' Those were the last words that S-rank elf sent, clearly indicating an ominous threat.

I wasn't the only one, as the kobold Philly rolled his eyes, waggling his finger in his ear as if pulling out wax.

"Damned knifear. His words are clogging my ears." The rest of the kobolds and the skaven nodded dumbly.

But that wasn't really important at this moment.

No, what really matters is what in the name of all things holy is going on here!

I know the serpent and the dwarf, but why is there an anubian and a child of Ammit here!?

"You had a guardian too? Why didn't you call him out earlier?" The dwarf-turned kobold asked and I could only shrug helplessly, unable to respond to that complaint.

"He wasn't meant to know, not unless he had to know." The anubian responded as he walked over.

The mini amitt had shrunk to the size of a dugg, waddling behind its owner, easily hiding the terrifying aura it had given off earlier.

Hearing this, Dudley laughed. "I swear, you patheonic gods! Some of the most mysterious folk I've ever seen. I'll take our blunt lords over your mysterious ways nonsense."

The Anubian rolled his eyes, clearly disdaining him. "Your gods, as it were, are more akin to ancestors than gods. All of your gos are merely famous dwarven craftsmen who gained recognition by the people. You're more like those barbaric mongolian gods than our lord Anubis. And it was for his good, to ensure the turtle didn't get too reckless. I've already helped him once in secret."

I frowned, trying to recall any instances in which an external force came to help, but at the moment, I couldn't recall any.

As if seeing my confusion, the Anubian went ahead and cleared it up. "It was during the traps you set up for the elves. One of them had a bomb that could've blown you all sky high had I not interfered."

I immediately thanked him. "Thank you your grace. I apologize for not realizing it sooner."

He waved it off. "'Tis my duty to do so, no need to thank me for it. It is my honor to do this for Anubis' favorite." the anubian said with a calm voice.

"Alright. Then do you mind explaining your appearance to the people here then?" I asked hopefully, and the anubian nodded.

"Of course." He agreed, walking over to speak with the guards over there.

There was some pointing, some gasping, and some curious eyes looking over before he came back over.

"I told them that we came as representatives of the pantheon to deal with foreign gods. It should be enough." He said casually, though I did have to express my concern. "But isn't this more of a Jorvus matter by that logic? Won't this cause trouble once he finds out?"I asked worriedly, and the jackal headed being merely chuckles.

"I'm sure they know already, and are cleaning things up. One of their other missions is to clean up after all sorts of godly beings, from monstrous gods to demigods and cultivators alike. Don't worry about it." He said, revealing a wolfish grin.

Alright, looks like it won't be that big of a problem for us.

He indicated with his thumb, reminding me. "Your friends are waiting over there for you. " He said pointing towards a group of familiar people though he said something gravely.

"I hope you understand the gravity of this situation. Being involved with the elves has already nearly gotten killed you twice." It warned, but I could only smile.

"Perhaps, but I have already taken this path. I am not the kind of man to abandon his friends to avoid trouble."

The anubian could only sigh helplessly as he sank into the shadows as he complained. "That's one reason he likes you." Was his last comment, and the cub of Ammit cannonballed in, disappearing shortly thereafter.

Seeing the elves rushing over, the kobold leader Philly snorted. "I'll take my leave now. You might enjoy hanging out with them, but I for one have better things to do. We can talk about that later when you're alone" The kobold emphasized, and I nodded in agreement.

Indeed, the root was something we would need to discuss.

Whether it be to whom the root would go to, or what the implications were of the description, it was something that would be needed to talk about.

Seeing me nod, he jerked his head at the other kobolds and the rat, who followed obediently and left with Dudley.

As for me?

The familiar group arrived as Leon and Willow ran over, looking worried.

Though Willow didn't say anything, Leon clearly expressed his worry.

"Are you okay?Are you hurt? What happened?" The boy asked urgently, as he spit out concerns, though more worried than scared.

Made sense, I looked tired and inured, but I was clearly recovering.

I was back in elven form, so no one thought anything about me. Though, I think no one would have looked at me in this moment anyway, after he showed up.

Lenore and Servante walked over, one more wry, the other severe.

"So, you've been keeping something from us?" Lenore said clearly surprised, but not too worried.

Servante on the other hand...

"You didn't think to mention this earlier?" he said harshly, and though Lenore frowned at his tone, made no comment.

"I believe that faith is a private matter." I responded, and Servante snorted. "There's faith, and then there's being tied closely enough to a God that he'd send a guardian for you." He pointed out, to which I could only shrug helplessly.

"Lord Anubis didn't tell me about the matter of-"

"-YOU TALK TO HIM!?" Servante screamed in astonishment as his glare perced through me.

Oops.

Servante was practically boiling and I couldn't blame him.

I was the favorite of a GOD. Regardless of my current race, this was a fact. I, a favored of a God, was protecting an important political figure of another country. One could argue that I represented the attitude of Anubis towards this high elf, and have essentially implied the stance of the temple as a whole in this matter. It's not true mind you, as Lord Anubis is merely humoring me, but that doesn't matter to outside forces.

This would essentially become an international matter if people found out.

I assured the elf. "Don't worry about it. The Anubian assured me that this matter would be pinned on lord Jorvus before it would be connected to us.

Though he looked slightly better, it didn't stop him from spitting me out.

I shared an exasperated look with Lenore behind him, ruffling the hair of the two children, who reacted timidly to Servante's complaints as we left the scene of the battle.

----------------------------------------

near the fallen mansion...

Somewhere unseen by all, a small ant queen emerged from the dust of the mansion, having been forgotten by all who were in the underground dungeon.

Its attanae twitched, before turning and following the trail of life energy.

Traces of energy that told it a suitable environment was nearby.

It quietly began walking in the direction of a very familiar group of elves.