When the god opened the portal I struck first. Lightning and a boulder the size of a large house crashed down on him. He raised a fist and reduced the ethereal reinforced boulder hardened with World Forge to powder.
“A bit rude,” he said the dust not even settling on his skin or clothes. “Is that any way to treat an ally.”
“We aren’t allies,” I said.
“Ah but that’s where you’re wrong the god said.
I focused on him reading his description.
Andelar, God of Asteroids & Extinction; Gifted- deity/Dikastheon, God, Rank: ????
“I’ve fought your champion before,” I said.
“I am aware,” Andelar said. “But I don’t control my champion he’s more of a….distraction.”
“For yourself or others?” I asked. “I never really enjoyed being viewed like some reality tv-star back when I was a champion.”
“TV…” Andelar said rolling the word around on his tongue. “Ah yes, some sort of entertainment from your world. No I never really got into enjoying the god’s game like my peers, I have a different game I’m playing.”
“And that is?” I asked.
I didn’t relax, this god and I might be having a peaceful conversation right now but that could change faster than a heartbeat. If Andelar thought to lure me into sense of security he had another thing coming.
“You have a daughter?” Andelar asked but I could tell it was more of rhetorical question.
My fist tightened around Clarent ready to strike this god down if he threatened my daughter.
“Yes.”
“I do not,” Andelar said. “None of us gods do, most gods have hundreds sometimes even thousands of concubines or consorts but we don’t have a single son or daughter.”
While I wasn’t comfortable around the threat of this god what he was saying was actually interesting. “Why not?” I asked.
“When we join our Pantheon we are forceably given a title, it doesn’t give us power but it prevents us from being able to conceive,” Andelar said. “The gods who made the System didn’t want more gods to grow organically.”
“You can be born a god?” I asked.
“No,” Andelar said shaking his head. “But they still fear the kind of split loyalties that having family will bring, we are supposed to be loyal to our Pantheon first above all other things.”
“But your aren’t I’m guessing,” I said.
“I’ve found someone and the two of us would very much like to have children together,” Andelar said.
“This is interesting but why does any of this make us allies?” I asked.
“You know there are ways to bypass they System if you have enough power,” Andelar said. “That includes ways to break titles or ties to your Pantheon but it requires unimaginable power. You’ve experienced some of this for yourself. I need the power held by other gods but as you know killing other gods is frowned upon.”
“Well you can do it now all you want,” I said.
“Yes,” Andelar agreed with a chuckle. “Don’t you wonder who killed Artrix after he fled from you.”
“That was you?” I asked.
The gods only answer was a grin.
“So why are you here?” I asked.
“To give you a warning,” Andelar said. “You know another god will be coming for you, I don’t know which one yet but they will not be alone. Arthur has gathered about forty others to accompany the god, they will be prepared to survive in the Void.”
“I’ve fought them before,” I said with a shrug. “Arthur and I facing each other is past due.”
“Do not underestimate him,” Andelar warned me sternly. “He has been tuning his build to face you, he is able to counter some of your most powerful abilities and titles; most importantly he is willing to die to kill you, he won’t run if it means your death whatever the cost to himself.”
I wanted to snap back at him but he was right, I’d beaten Arthur once before when he’d underestimated me but when he’d chased me down in the Ancient Forest it had been back to the usual of stalemates and losses. I could win battles against him but neither of us ever seemed able to put the other down.
The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
“So you’ve given your warning,” I said. “I guess we’re done now.”
“For now,” Andelar said with a grin. “Fight well Warlord, I’ll clean up this god when you’re done with him, provided you can survive of course.”
The god just disappeared, not even using a portal and I wondered if he had even been here in person.
Guinevere returned from where she had been handling her business in the bushes.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“We need to prepare to handle your cousin,” I said. “Arthur is going to attack us when the gods strike at us again.”
---
Guinevere did her own preparations while I sent out Ares and Karnen as my Heralds to prepare my vassals for war. I meant what I had said to Guinevere, I intended to finish her armor set before the next battle. Of all my allies my wife was the greatest of them all, Exar’kun, Juruk, Tobias and Jeriah, none were powerful as her and even together they couldn’t quite match her. I needed to make her able to stand beside me and face the threats I was fighting. Her chest piece I’d made her had greatly helped with her survivability by increasing her body’s hardness, but she was also going to need some more offensive abilities. There was a limit to the kinds of enchantments you could put on things, you couldn’t put a sharpness enchantment on a blunt club or helmet for instance. This meant armor was limited in what it could be enchanted with to enhance her offense; in the end I decided to greatly increase the range.
World Forge began shattering more artifacts and I gripped the shattered fragments with Force of Will as they tried to flay me alive for transgressing against the gods who had crafted them. Once the pseudo-intelligence and energy behind the shards had died out, I condenses the shards into ingots. I took the dragon adamantine I’d won from the Swarm Dungeon adding them to the gauntlets/bracers I was creating for her. Mab and I designed the enchantment, but it was a lot easier since the set enchantment had already been created for the set so I only had the enchantment for this piece of gear to create.
Once the enchantment was finished everything came together easy. I didn’t use anvils or hammers and World Forge let me perfectly create anything I could imagine.
Claws of the Midnight Queen, Type: Armor (Torso) (Artifact Rank V): One of the three pieces of the Armor of the Void Queen, crafted for her by her husband the god of the Void. Crafted from the condensed remains of shattered artifacts of rival gods and the raw power of the Void. These gauntlets and bracers are part of a larger set that gains more power the more pieces of the armor the wearer possess. Made from Void-matter, Artifact-alloy, Dragon Adamantine and Crystalized Storm energy. Can only be worn by Guinevere, the Dark-Valkyrie.
Adamantine Mind: Increases the range of all your abilities by 25%.
(2 Pieces) Reaper’s Harvest: For every Severe wound you inflict your armor stores up to 1% of the damage dealt as healing which when released will instantly be expended to heal as much damage you are suffering as it can.
(3 Pieces) Iron Maiden: Your weight increases while in battle by 1lb per rank making you an unmovable fortress and giving such force and momentum behind your attacks that city walls break before your charge.
Weight:
50 lbs.
A twenty-five percent increase to the range of every ability she had wasn’t the most powerful of effects, but it would increase her effectiveness in ways that couldn’t be properly calculated until seen in battle. I set the armor aside to give to Guinevere later and began to work on the last piece of her armor.
I used more ingots formed from the remains of shattered relics. I was somewhat amused that I so casually destroyed what others considered priceless treasures. The sabatons were built like the gauntlets the toes ending in claws. Putting the final touches on the armor I set it out and looked it over. The greaves would run up mid-thigh on Guinevere.
Sabaton’s of the Midnight Queen, Type: Armor (Torso) (Artifact Rank V): One of the three pieces of the Armor of the Void Queen, crafted for her by her husband the god of the Void. Crafted from the condensed remains of shattered artifacts of rival gods and the raw power of the Void. These sabatons and greaves are part of a larger set that gains more power the more pieces of the armor the wearer possess. Made from Void-matter, Artifact-alloy, Dragon Adamantine and Crystalized Storm energy. Can only be worn by Guinevere, the Dark-Valkyrie.
Strength of the Mountain: When in contact with the ground for over ten seconds your Might attribute increases by +1 every second (Might bonus reduced to zero if you lose contact with the ground for any length of time)
(2 Pieces) Reaper’s Harvest: For every Severe wound you inflict your armor stores up to 1% of the damage dealt as healing which when released will instantly be expended to heal as much damage you are suffering as it can.
(3 Pieces) Iron Maiden: Your weight increases while in battle by 1lb per rank making you an unmovable fortress and giving such force and momentum behind your attacks that city walls break before your charge.
Weight:
50 lbs
Leaving the temple, I found Guinevere rocking Aurora in a cradle hanging from the bough of one of the silver trees.
“You know there is nursery song about not doing that,” I said pointing to the crib. “When the bough breaks the cradle will fall.”
Guinevere slashed at the trunk of an adjacent tree with enough force to shift a mountain and didn’t leave so much as a scratch on it.
“Well, I guess its fine then,” I said and held out the leather hide I had her armor in.
Guinevere eagerly took the armor and tried it on. She looked vaguely like Exar’kun when he adopted he half-assed his human form. Smooth black scales covered her torso, her greaves and bracers weren’t scale mail but I had made scales on them as well. Claws at the end of her fingers and toes gave her a savage oppressive appearance.
“How do you like it?” I asked.
“I feel ready,” Guinevere said pulling down here veil. “Let the Champions and their god come.”