Knock knock. Jorgen felt his heart thumping like never before as he silently waited for someone to answer the doors to the house addressed on the slip of paper he was given. What certainly didn't help the situation were all the local townspeople giving the rugged looking man horrible death stares and side glances as they saw him just standing there, but he just kept reminding himself that it'd all be worth it, as he would eventually have all the money he would ever need from this commission.
"Ahem! Anyone in there?" Jorgen knocked once more.
"It's for me!" A girl's, nay, a young lady's voice could be heard rushing to open it, "Yo."
"Excuse me?" Jorgen looked baffled.
Yo? Is that any way for a lady of her age to be addressing someone at the door? Is this just a local greeting from Stringwood? Or perhaps this girl just doesn't know who he is.
"Pleasure to meet you, ma'am." Jorgen extended his hand nonetheless, "I am..."
"You the guy?" She cut him off.
"T-The guy?"
"You're the guy the ITA sent in, right?"
"Ah, yes. The apprentice knight."
"Mhm, okay. Sign here, please." She took out a sheet of paper with a bunch of words on it, "Quickly now, otherwise I'm closing the door."
"Hey!" Jorgen snatched the quill from her and hastily jotted his name down in the blank space, "Geez, the hell even is this?"
"A marriage certificate." She grinned.
"Eh!?" He jolted.
"Daddy! I found a male successor to the clinic, so is it finally mine now!?" She hollered behind her.
"Wait, you actually wrote your name into a marriage certificate by accident?" Aaron interrupted the story to laugh at him.
"I thought that only happened in cheesy love stories, but to think our super-serious general actually fell prey to the trap..." Maxwell stifled his laughter as well.
"Shut it, if you were as desperate to get that sum of money as I was, then you'd have done the same." Jorgen explained, "Besides, turns out the reason she wanted us to get engaged is just to trick her old man."
"How so?"
"Apparently, she was a nurse that wanted to take over her father's clinic." Jorgen explained, "But her old man was sexist as shit or whatever the word is and only wanted a male successor."
"I think the word is misogynist." The boys pointed out.
"Yeah, that. In essence, she just wanted him to write our names down as the successors to the clinic in his will before he croaked." Jorgen sighed, "But sadly, I wasn't freed from her stupid commission just yet. That was only the beginning of our horrible story-"
"Generals!" Fess slammed the door open in a panic, "Come out, quickly! We're under attack!"
"Tch, why're you out of bed so soon?" Jorgen rolled his Eyes.
"I wanna get that promotion, but never mind that!" He said, "This is serious! A monster is inside the base!"
"A monster?" Maxwell asked.
"Yeah! Like an actual, giant orc monster!" Fess continued, "I couldn't believe my Eyes when I first saw it, but it's somehow already breached into the Fort!"
"And tell me, is this giant orc monster perhaps the color Red?" Aaron sighed.
"Yes!"
In all three of the generals' minds, only two words appeared: Ahh shit. Without a doubt, the monster, or rather the God that had entered the Fort was none other than Auros himself. Even though he had helped immensely during the war effort and the aftermath of it, none of them particularly enjoyed his presence as an entity. He was a brute, annoying and immature, and he kept making perverted half-jokes that at some point started to sound worryingly real. Another detail that they have surmised was quite scary in and of itself—Whatever the reason is for him coming here so suddenly, it can't be good.
"Let's just go see what he wants." Jorgen got up begrudgingly.
"At least finish the story first!" Aaron and Maxwell complained.
"The fuck!? Fuck the story, you idiots!" Fess shouted at them, "A never before seen beast is INSIDE our base! Why aren't you panicking!?"
"Meh, just give him a porn mag and he'll leave." Maxwell still refused to get up, "Jorgen, I swear to Prylos if you end this story on this big of a cliffhanger...!"
"Man get the fuck up." Jorgen grabbed both of them by the arm and lifted, "We'll continue after we settle this. It's probably not gonna take a few minutes at best."
And so, the four men made their way outside. Fess was jogging ahead of them in a rush, but no matter how many times he told them to hurry or turned back, he would always see them strolling down the street at a leisurely pace. This infuriated him, drove him up the wall, and finally when they had made it to the thankfully stationary beast, what happened was.
"What is it now, Golden God?" Jorgen groaned.
"Huh!? G-Golden God!?" Fess fainted.
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***
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"Ah, your friend died." Auros pointed.
"No, he's just unaccustomed to your grotesque appearance." Jorgen explained.
"That's not nice to say about someone, brother!" A small man could be seen popping up on the Red orc's shoulder, "Much less our own God!"
"Ayo, is that Pierre?" Aaron waved, "Hi boy~!"
"Aaron, Max! How you two been!?" He happily waved back, "Yeah, no need to be alarmed, Auros just..."
"The world will end before the new month arrives." Auros spoke calmly yet with a bone chillingly ominous phrase.
"...Yeah." Pierre paused briefly before continuing, "Like I said, Auros just wanted to tell you that."
"Oh, okay." Maxwell shrugged.
"Cool." Aaron nodded.
"Is that all?" Jorgen raised an Eyebrow.
"Do you guys seriously not care about what THE GOD OF FIGHTING just told you right now?" Auros facepalmed, "I mean I was surprised when Pierre didn't trust my word, but you three? What the hell!"
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"I mean, I see you every day in Sulfury, so I know you as quite the unserious guy." Pierre explained, "That being the case, I did enjoy getting whisked away from Sulfury to Entropa. You really make a good mode of transport!"
"Thanks..." Auros grumped.
"Alright then, if we're supposed to be taking you seriously, then the least you could do is tell us what's going on exactly." Jorgen asked, "How is the world ending?"
"An old enemy of us Gods finally made his move after an incomplete 1000 years." Auros explained, "He's in Schnell's Archipelago right now, his goal is to bring back his friends from the dead, but doing so is equivalent to the destruction of the Universe."
"Ah, so we're dealing with ancient foes this time?" Aaron cracked his knuckles, "I can see why you came to us for help! We're Entropa's greatest, after all!"
"Hold on, Aaron. Auros, what does it mean to bring someone back from the dead?" Maxwell asked, "Is it even possible?"
"Possible? Yes, but it isn't nor should it ever be in the hands of the living to make that decision for the deceased." Auros shook his head, "Unlike Lune Grimheart's case, this person will be returning from hell, so..."
"Wait." Maxwell, Aaron, Pierre and Jorgen all spoke in unison, "Lune's alive?"
"...Gah, spoiler!" Auros realized his flub, "Wait, they never told you!? That happened a year ago, man! Yeah, the dude had time to get married and all that! Held a banquet even! You telling me he never invited you?"
"No!" They all shouted, "What the hell!? That ass!"
"Wait, Auros, why didn't you tell ME this at least?" Pierre raised an Eyebrow, "These guys were far, but I was with you when it happened, right? So why didn't you say anything?"
"...Cause he didn't invite me either..." Auros crossed his arms and pouted.
In that moment, everyone thought—This guy's a total hack! For a God of his stature to show such childish reasoning and selfishness really does disillusion any and all that have even heard of the Golden God, much less believe in him. Thankfully most of the people here are believers in Prylos...
"To continue though, I meant to say that unlike Lune's situation, where he went to Heaven 2.0 after he died, the person this bastard's trying to revive comes from Hell."
"So demons, then?" Maxwell raised a question.
"HUMANS." Auros got annoyed by the constant interruptions, "You're human! You die and go to Heaven 2.0 or hell! But you're still human, dammit! Oh my Me, is this really that difficult to understand!?"
"...You say Oh my Me instead of Oh my God(s)?" Jorgen raised an Eyebrow.
"Shut the hell up!"
Auros was pretty peeved by this point. These guys weren't listening at all, and with such a serious situation in preparation, he felt as if he couldn't waste even a second more.
"So, what does it even mean for a Universe to be destroyed?" Jorgen sighed, "Is that like, the end of the world? And if so, what does the end of the world entail?"
"Everyone and everything in this Universe Cycle will effectively cease to exist, Jorgen." He explained, "The past, the present, the future. The Sun, the moon, the very ground you stand on. It will all be nothing until the next Universe Cycle."
"And what is a Universe Cycle?" Aaron asked.
"Listen, guys." Auros pinched the bridge between his Eyes, "I can't explain to you the entire freaking lore of the Universes and Linearity of Time Passing on such short notice. I came to ask you for help because I knew you'd be good at taking out a potentially super dangerous foe. If you're in, say you're in—and if you're out, say you're out."
"Fellas, what do you say?" Jorgen smirked at his fellow generals, "Ready to throw your life away to become this world's protectors?"
"What a stupid question that is!" Maxwell and Aaron dapped him up, "We're totally in!"
With a loud applause and cheering erupting from the entire Fort, the loud screams and clapping noises eventually woke poor Fess up, prompting him to rub his Eyes, scream at Auros again before hiding behind the generals for protection.
"He's still not gone, why the fuck is everyone clapping!?" Fess asked.
"Cause he's our ally." Aaron grinned, "Next time, don't skip the cutscene."
"Men! It appears we've a new war to fight, starting today!" Jorgen decidedly announced to the crowd, "Once again, we shall be guided to flawless victory by the Fighting God Auros! Our destination, as well as the location of the battlefield, shall be—Schnell's Archipelago! Men, shall we save the world from those that return from hell!?"
"Aye!" Everyone raged.
"Shall we be the sole saviors of this world!?"
"Aye!"
"Who wants to date me!?" Aaron butted in to ask.
"Aye! W-Wait-!?" The crowd suddenly got all weird.
With a strong guffaw that could be heard all across Bilgam, Auros had appeared to have found himself quite overwhelmed by this situation. With a bit of disappointment in his voice, he had to sadly break everyone's hearts with his statement.
"Sorry to burst your bubble, guys, but I only need the generals." He said with a slight chuckle, "Yeah, since I'm gonna be swimming there, I can't exactly carry you all on my shoulder."
"Wait, what?" Maxwell asked, "...But didn't you say this was gonna be a super dangerous mission? Shouldn't we bring all we can if the fate of the world is at stake?"
"Nah, you guys'll do." Auros chuckled, "The others will just slow you down.
Hearing the all too familiar phrase from his past get spoken straight from his God's mouth, Jorgen was left stunned and speechless. With a wry grin, he turned back to his gang members.
"In that case—Everyone here, do your best to protect the base while we're gone!" He yelled, "I want this place to be spic n' span when we get back, otherwise it's a thousand pushups for everyone!"
The generals, and the God of Fighting, join the fray.