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- Skuld, The Goddess of Oracles ~

It was the middle of the afternoon when I found myself floating over a fairly small noble envoy as it approached a small town.

They had supposedly left from Fae a few days prior, but even with the innumerable monster outbreaks, they looked essentially unharmed.

"Haah..." I couldn't help but let out a sigh as I looked at the small, robed figure that led the group. -To think she can already kill such a large wyvern...-

Trailing the main carriage was a large wagon, usually used to carry food and general supplies for long trips, but it was instead filled to the brim with wyvern parts the envoy was likely going to sell once they made it to a bigger city.

But the wyvern wasn't exactly the reason I was so deep in thought.

-Should I really try and give her to Odin.

..- In her current state, she was an unpolished gem, one with the potential to become a god on her own if given enough time, and one that could ascend in just a couple hundred years if given some support.

-But if I give her to Odin, she will never ascend.

..- I knew if I convinced Odin to take her in as the hero, he would suppress her until she would eventually succumb to old age, just like all the other heroes he had groomed to be his slaves. -But...-

My body shivered slightly and an ecstatic look came to my face as I thought about the ability to feel once again. -Even if I took her under my wing and tried to hide her.. how long could I go before Odin noticed... How long could I go before Odin would consider it defecting and kill me...-

*vwoop* That was when a familiar sound came from behind me and I felt time stop.

I wiped the look off my face in an instant.

"I was wondering where you were..." It was Eir, the Goddess of Balance.

But even though I had always seen her as a sister, I felt oddly uncomfortable at that moment. "Is there something you need?"

She reluctantly nodded and looked around before coming closer. "Freya is looking for you... You need to get out of here..."

I immediately jolted. "W-what?" -Why would she ever want to see me?!-

Freya was a horrifically arrogant woman, to the extent that I had simply begun avoiding her not long after I ascended.

-But if anything.. she likes that I avoid her...- Fueled by the jealousy of Odin giving me his attention while I was still a young god, Freya had always despised me, and should she ever need to tell me something, she would simply send the message through Eir.

Seeing my reaction, Eir quickly straightened up. "I know how you feel, but you can't just stand around.. she wouldn't be looking for you like this if it was something small."

"Huh? Why should I run from her?" While Freya was not a weak god, even in my weakened state I could handle her.

"Because Hel is with her!"

My whole body tensed up instantly. "She's alive?!"

"Yes, she woke up a few days ago and she's pissed cause she just learned Loki was killed! You need to hide till she can cool off, Im worried Freya is trying to take advantage of her anger."

My mind went blank. -Oh sh*t...-

Back during Ragnarok, Hel did everything in her power to protect her son, Loki, and when we were all banished into that 'prison', he was alive and well.

But as fate would behold, he woke up a few hundred years before the rest of us and got himself killed in Bahamut. -Is Freya going to try and pin the blame on me?- "No.. Odin wouldn't let Freya trick her... She must need me for something else."

"Whatever her reason, it's not worth the risk! Even if Hel is weakened as much as we were when we woke up, I don't think I can take her!"

"Alright, in that case, I'll play it safe..." But fate was something that could not be tempted.

The moment I suppressed the activity of my divinity, the light around me began to warp. *vwoop* It was too late.

Turning around in an instant, I was immediately met with Freya's hand grabbing me. "WHERE IS SHE?!" Her eyes had a crazed look in them as she gripped the illusory clothes covering my body.

"W..what?" My expression immediately turned anxious. -She's lost it...-

"THAT UGLY WHORE! WHERE IS SHE?!"

My anxiety immediately worsened. "How would I know? Even Odin can't find her."

But as I reached down to pull her off me, her grip tightened. "Odin said he felt her aura next to yours for a moment yesterday, I'm sure you two spoke. NOW. WHERE. IS. SHE?"

"She must have been watching me then. I didn't even sense her." I looked back at Hel to see her rage-filled eyes. -So Odin decided to pin the blame of Loki's death on 'her'...-

But while I had started to calm down, Freya was still livid. "You expect me to believe that?!"

"Im not Odin, Freya. I can't even sense you if you aren't right next to me." I continued to feign ignorance as I tried to redirect her anger, but it only made it worse.

"You lying bi*ch!" *VFWOOOM* Everything nearby bent into her hand as she slammed it into my chest. *VWOWOWOWOWOOM*

The ground around me instantly vanished before I stopped myself on the side of an unfathomably massive mountain with a hole in my chest. -She's lost her mind...-

*vwoop* Appearing next to me, Freya lunged at me again, but this time I caught her arm. *VWOOM*

"Freya, you need to calm down before you do something you regret." I gave her a threatening look as Eir and Hel appeared behind her. "I'm sure she is somewhere in Bahamut, so why don't you look there?"

"So you did know where she was..." Hel's cold voice sent a chill down my spine instantly.

"That isn't the case." I quickly corrected her before her anger could shift to me. "Tyr was killed in Bahamut yesterday, I'm simply confident that she was related to it."

"Is that so..." The light around her started to warp more and more as she slowly looked up toward the clouds not far above us.

"Saying I killed Tyr is a bit of a bold assumption, isn't it?" A smooth and calm woman's voice resonated through the air around us.

Everyone but Hel jolted and went wide-eyed immediately. -Does she have a death wish?!-

Looking up, I saw an incredibly beautiful, black-haired woman in a red dress, but her eyes were locked on Hel.

"You must be Grace." Hel's divinity stiffened and sharpened to form a blade as she looked up at her.

"That is correct. And who are you?"

As the black blade became more distinct, her aura turned cold. "A mother.. here to avenge her son." Finally gripping her sword she looked up at the goddess with an unfathomably heavy bloodlust.

But Grace was smiling. "Here to avenge your son? Why would you look at me while saying that?"

Hel immediately hesitated.

"I couldn't kill one of you old war gods even if I wanted to. How could I kill the child of a goddess as strong as yourself." She released some of her aura for a moment to show us that it was in complete disarray, almost like she was on the verge of death.

-W..what.. happened to her?-

There was another moment of silence before Hel pulled back her posture. "Odin told me you killed my son before any of us woke up. Are you trying to say he lied?"

"Absolutely not. How could I blame the ignorant."

Freya instantly tensed up and looked as if she was about to attack the goddess, but Eir reached out and stopped her.

"To call Odin ignorant... You truly don't value your existence."

"Hoho, that isn't the case." Her smile slowly widened. "Odin may be incredibly powerful, to the point that some believe him to be omnipotent, but he was also trapped in that prison like the rest of you... How would he know exactly what happened during that time?"

Hel continued to pull back her bloodlust as Grace spoke. "In that case, do you know who killed my son?"

"DON'T LISTEN TO HER!" Freya finally snapped as she broke free from Eir's grasp and lunged at Grace.

But Hel's blade appeared right in front of her neck before she could reach her target. "Freya." Hel gave her a horrifically cold look. "If you take another step I'll kill you."

Grace gave Freya a smug look for a moment before looking back at Hel. "Was your son that troublemaker named Loki?"

Hel slowly turned back to Grace with a serious expression.

"He was truly an incredibly talented child, but his shenanigans put him in deep water in Bahamut." She paused while intently watching for Hel's reaction. "He was killed by a dragon."

Hel didn't believe it at all. "To tell such a blatant lie-"

"The dragon's name is Myles Kalfas. The one currently in possession of 'that' artifact."

Everyone including myself, looked up at her with wide eyes.

-If she is siding with the dragons.. why would she expose her card?

- My only guess was that it was a trap, and she was confident that Myles could handle Hel, but even I had begun to question her motives knowing she wasn't dumb enough to entice Hel's anger.

Seeing our expressions, her serious look nearly cracked into a smile. "I am unsure about the details of what happened to Loki myself, but I would be wary... Loki is not the only god Kalfas has killed."

There was a long silence that filled the air as Hel dissipated the blade of divinity in her hand.

"What you decide to do with that information has nothing to do with me, but I hope you allow me to continue to live quietly."

Hel slowly looked up at her in silence for a moment. "If I find out anything you have just said to be false..."

"If what I said is false, you can absorb my divinity. How about it?"

We all looked at her like she was crazy. "Alright. I sure hope you aren't going to try and hide."

Grace's smile slowly widened. "Of course not."