***The Crystal City***

***Angrod***

I don’t think it’s the best of ideas to carry Seria on my shoulders during a diplomatic meeting, but the faces of these people are priceless.

Never really met the great leader face to face, only in passing, but the Buddha-guy should be El Shaddai. The guy with the monocle is Amaru and the walking Amazonian has to be Enyo. Once Seria pointed out Lada by addressing her, the rest of the Council was easily identifiable.

“You are right, I am Lada. Should I know you?” the woman looks at us with an incredulous expression.

“Boooh! Don't you remember your best friend? I am Seria!” my daughter trills from above my shoulders with all the innocence of a child.

The jaws of the Council members drop as they stare at their former bounty hunter.

I lean over and whisper to Celes, “I should have brought a camera. Their faces are priceless.”

Lada gasps. “S- Seria!? Why do you look like that?”

Seria pats the top of my head. “Tjenemit killed me and I reincarnated. I have to introduce my parents! That is daddy, his name is Angrod, formerly Ascathon. And that's mom, the name is Celes, formerly Myrm.”

“B- Blasphemy!” El Shaddai exclaims, apparently finding the concept of reincarnating as the child of another god offensive.

“Gods having kids? Yuck!” Enyo also pulls a face.

I can understand their point of view, but it has to be said that they are lacking some game-changing information about our society. In fact, while I was Ascathon I would have probably had the same reaction. Before I decided to retreat from the mortal world I was Nova Mirai, and in that identity, I regularly interacted with family and people who I knew from my life as a normal immortal.

What I learned the hard way is that all things die and that it is impossible to be always there to prevent an accident. The path of a god is a long and lonely one.

It took centuries, but I finally got fed up with seeing those I care about inevitably pass away, their souls passing on without me and out of my reach, thanks to the damned fact that souls which passed on are untraceable if you don’t act quickly. All of the Council members are old enough to know this inconvenient truth of life.

But souls don’t pass on within a Void Zone, a trait that’s feared and dreaded among anyone who might get caught in one.

“Are you joking with us? First that message and now this? Who do you think you are?” El Shaddai growls through gritted teeth, his demeanour making him look like he is about to pounce at any second.

I clear my throat. “I am Angrod, God-King of the Chimerans. A few hundred million gods are under my rule and all of them are firmly behind me. All of us are people who were rescued by Seria. And now, we are here to fulfil her wish. Today, your rule will end, whether you want to or not.” I smile, admittedly exaggerating a bit. The way I presented the facts sounded like millions of gods would bear down on the Council at a single word from me.

Sadly, most of the people who Seria saved are far too weak to fight in the coming battle, as they were freshly awakened when she got to them. Given a few hundred years of getting used to their powers, that might change.

“And what if we don’t comply?” Amaru asks while chuckling, obviously not seeing us as a threat.

“Then we crush the Council. So, would you be so nice and disband today!? We will make sure to keep things in order for you.” Celes explains, her tone cool and seductive, making it seem like is flirting instead of threatening with death.

“Are you out of your mind? Lay down your weapons and surrender now! Do you think we ruled this long because we would cower down when we are faced with a joke like you!?” Enyo's voice is poisonous as she summons a sword into her hand.

I worriedly take note of the fact that the sword’s blade is a blue crystal.

So there were some weapons left behind in the Crystal City.

“Well...” I click my tongue in displeasure at this development, but it isn’t like we didn’t expect something of that sort to happen. “We already found out that you aren't almighty. Tjenemit was a tough bastard, but once we started beating him it turned out that he bleeds like anyone else. I would prefer if you give up now since I would hate to damage the city under us. I have many questions regarding it, and I can’t wait to have some uninterrupted time for research.”

“What did you do to Tjenemit?” El Shaddai growls.

I reach into one of my pockets, then I pull out the Tjenemit globe and show it to them.

“Deemons! Don’t be mislead by them! They are directly from the Infern-”

I rattle the globe to shut Tjenemit up, causing the simulation of his soul to bob up and down inside. “Shut up. Prisoners don't talk. They answer questions!” I am so happy that I got it back from Celes with a little persuasion.

“Heeelp meee! No more shaking! I can’t take it anymore! Whahahaha...”

El Shaddai and the others gape at my Tjenemit-globe, their expressions horrified.

“Wha- How?” Then his eyes lock onto me. “This won't be over fast! I will tell you how this will work! You will lay down your weapons or we will crush you!” El Shaddai vanishes, apparently having retreated to the safety of the Crystal City.

I put the annoying, screeching globe back into my pocket.

Before the rest of the Council can make an offended retreat like their leader, I lock eyes with Eris, feeling the need to act quickly. “Deus Ex Machina. Ita diis placuit. Carpe Noctem!”

Eris and the others only frown before Amaru and Enyo disappear too, Eris joining them shortly afterwards.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Only Lada stays behind, looking like she intended this meeting to go down in a very different manner.

“Hey, Lada. Wanna come with us? It will become very uncomfortable down there soon.” Seria points down to the city. “My plan is playing out perfectly, so there is really no need for you to risk your neck any further.”

“I still can't believe you pulled a stunt like this. This feels unreal. And why did you have to get yourself killed? A new body?” Lada suddenly remembers that she is still on the other side of the city’s barrier, then takes out a bracelet and channels energy into it.

She floats forward and passes through the barrier a moment later.

“Neat!” I exclaim, holding out my hand. “Can I see that? It would make taking down that barrier a lot easier.”

“Don't worry! I am still me!” Seria reassures her old friend. “Though, I lost a few memories. My parents are also of the opinion that my character is a little different. Contrary to that, if I look back at my memories, I think that my old self would still do everything the same way again.” Seria gives Lada a thumbs up.

Lada fumbles at the bracelet and practically throws it at me once it is off. “You are definitely a little different, but in a good way. More cheerful. The old Seria would have made more of a drama while saying that.” Lada smiles at us. “Then I will come with you now. It's the best time to desert. The others didn't even think about me.”

Having caught the bracelet, I am already inspecting it. It is also made out of Mana Crystal. The Council has indeed a lot of secrets.

But we probably should get out of here first, so I grab Lada's shoulder and teleport us back to the command centre of the Ragnarok. Arriving there, Seria hops off of me and runs up to Lada, hugging her.

“So you are Lada. The other Council members really didn’t suspect you of anything to leave you behind just like that. Seria wanted us to get you out before the fighting starts and it turned out to be easier than expected.” I sit down in my command chair while our fortresses restart the bombardment.

I wave for a technician and hand him the bracelet. “Get that under a scanner. It somehow allowed a person to get through the city’s barrier.”

I am interrupted by rays of energy stabbing upwards from the city, bathing our shields in powerful energies. The floor shakes a little and there is a tense moment of silence until it is clear that our own defences are going to hold.

“It's less an issue of trust and more one of undervaluation,” Lada explains in a bitter tone. “They ignore me as long as I don't get in their way.” She smiles bitterly. “You should retreat. The city under us has access to the energy resources of a whole world. We won’t end this conflict by defeating them in their own stronghold.”

“Don't worry. There are many smart people with us who already anticipated every possible and impossible scenario. We are just bombarding their city to find its energy core or something similar. The more energy it has to draw upon, the easier it is to detect.” I shrug. “And once we know that, we can devise a plan to take down their shields.”

Lada tilts her head. “If you mean the main-grids for energy distribution, they are arranged in a square with the Council's tower at its centre. One is directly under the eastern market.”

“Hoh? That's interesting.” I wave for the man at the sensors to concentrate his search on the indicated area. “How do you know about this? Shouldn't this be restricted information?”

Lada snorts. “I am still a Council member, which means that I am privy to most secrets the Crystal City has. Amaru is a technology geek. There is hardly a day when he doesn't let something about his research slip. The marvellous process of draining mana from the planet's core is one of his favourite topics. That reminds me, you should probably know of the city's armouries. They held a few thousand crystal weapons when we found it.”

I sigh. Why can't things ever be easy? “That is worrying, but expected.”

“The enemy's army is on the move! They started a ritual to create a protective barrier and are moving in our direction. About fifty thousand,” an officer informs me.

A ritual? “Increase the distance between our fortresses to force them to split their troops. The Nomad can hold position and continue to search for a weak point.” They are really insane to try this against us.

A few thousand deities might be able to mount a mentionable defence against the fortress's weapons, but we will have them as soon as they split up.

There is only one thing that could bite us in the ass. “Do they have any big weapons?”

The technician shakes his head. “Nothing we can identify.”

I start humming while I think about the situation, still expecting something worse to come. A straight fight will cost us in blood, but we came prepared to pay such a cost. “This is far too easy. Did the Council really not bother with creating some big and nasty god killing machine? All those years and they just leaned back and twiddled their thumbs?”

Lada shakes her head. “I don't know what you expect. Our hidden ace were the crystal weapons, and those should have been enough against any uprising. I never saw something like this ship before.”

She stops for a moment, thinking. “During the great war, everyone fought with their own power. We captured the Crystal City in the war's final stages. The previous owners didn't even know how to control it. Amaru invented those laser-cannons, which they used to counter-attack. He hasn't created anything mentionable ever since.” She shrugs. “I don't know why. And on top, we had the black hole to seal uncomfortable individuals.”

Lada gives me some vital information without even knowing it.

Here is another clue that Amaru never knew how to create crystal seeds. He just used some existing ones for the cannons. Though, I don't understand why he never managed to find out the secret behind them. The seed is pretty complicated and it requires soul-magic, but that's still no insurmountable hurdle. He had so much time!

The globe-like barrier containing our enemies veers off course and approaches us. Maybe they used the Sphere of Sight and went directly for me?

“Seria, go with Lada to the secondary command centre.” It’s the safest place I can think of. Not only will it be the last room to fall – should it come to that – it’s also completely inactive as long as the fortress’s main bridge stays active. Not that I distrust Seria’s judgement regarding Lada’s person, but I would rather have the Council member somewhere where she can’t do any damage.

“What? But I want to stay here!” Seria complains.

“You are a child, your powers are unstable, and I don't know our enemy's capabilities. I want you out of the way so that there is one thing less to worry about. You will go now, or you will be punished!” I glare at her.

“No? All this is my responsibility!” Seria continues to refuse. “I have to see it through.”

“Your responsibility ended when you died. Celes! Help me.” I look at my wife.

Seria looks at her mother, frowning.

Celes looks down at her daughter and forms a voiceless word with her lips.

Seria's eyes widen in shock as she gasps and a second later, she is gone like the wind, two guards and Lada following her.

“What did you tell her?” I wonder “That was really effective!” If I knew how to make the little critter behave…

Celes smirks at me and crosses her fingers in front of her chest, striking a pose and replying with the voice of a seductress, “That's a secret between mother and daughter. Men have no right to use this technique.”

“I will make you tell me,” I grumble, promising myself to find out her secret once I have time.

“Unfortunately, knowing won’t help you. It's something only mothers can do to their daughters.” She smiles at me.

“The enemy is closing in,” a technician forces me to return my attention to the battle.

“Then start to show them our weaponry.”

Beams of light stab into the enemy formation, but they pass right through without doing any damage.

“No damage! It's as if they aren't there!?” My men start losing their heads, surprised that the energy weapon didn’t impact on the barrier.

“It has to be an illusion!” I call them back to order, trying my best to sound calm and collected. “Use our energy weapons to search for them if the scanners don’t work! Fire blindly!”

“That's a favourite tactic of Enyo’s. She will set up such an illusionary decoy and approach in hiding from another direction,” Lada’s voice comes from behind me.

I turn around, frowning. Lada is back, with Nix and two guards watching over her.

“I thought I sent you off to safety.”

“I made my case to your daughter that I would be more helpful here,” Lada explains, gesturing towards Nix.

“Any idea how to break the spell?” I ask her hopefully, but she shakes her head.

“She has a group of very skilled Illusionists, but even they can’t hide several thousand people. Search the background visually for distortions. It won’t give you much of a warning, but you won’t be caught completely off-guard.”

Sigh. I already said that this was too easy, so I give the vital order.

“Everyone, prepare for being boarded!”