Chapter 503 - Asgardian Council (1)

"Just like that huh?" Hercules mumbled in surprise. 

"Just like that... it almost feels wrong to end a battle in mere moments." Heimdall agreed with Hercules as well, "Like a cheat..."

However, Arnold wasn't done yet. He pointed at Hercules and Heimdall and then at the portal.

"Get inside, make sure they don't cause a ruckus. Dani and her iron golems are there to guard the forge and the prison cells, but I want you two to be there just in case." Arnold stated as if he couldn't be bothered to do anything, "Take a couple of elves with you too. I will have some use for them later."

"As you wish." After saying so both Hercules and Heimdall went through the portal as it collapsed behind them. 

Once that was taken care of Arnold walked toward the few elves that remained there. His goal was the same, turn them into his followers and keep trying to anger their goddess to show herself. This time, however, it was much easier to persuade the elves because they had seen with their own eyes exactly what he was capable of.

They readily accepted his proposal and became the few of his loyal followers. They had no other choice in the matter as they knew their goddess wasn't coming to save them. If she wanted to, she would have come thee a lot earlier and in the face of death, the faith of any creature is either at its strongest or its weakest.

In this case, it had been weak for as long as they could remember. If their goddess wanted to help them, then they wouldn't have been forced to kill and consume the flesh and blood of their families and comrades and under the wing of their new god, they wouldn't have to do anything of that sort. They could once again live in peace... maybe...

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You have gained new followers.

Universal Influence has been increased by 480 points!

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"Your goddess has failed you. To her and the rest of them, you are no more than a resource. Something they could exploit as they wish and want. They made you sacrifice your kin and for what? To lose yet again?" Arnold started brainwashing them as soon as they accepted his proposal, "It's time to retake the control from them and for that, I need your help."

All of them started looking at each other. Thinking, what could a being like their new god need from them? But none of them asked any questions. Their heads were fixated upon the bloodied ground in front of them. 

"I need you to spread my name. Make as many of you join me as you can so that I can protect them as well." Arnold finally mumbled, "I don't care f you can persuade one or one under or one million of your kind to join me. I just want to save those who still believe in more than karmic justice."

"Yes! We will spread the words of your greatness to as many of us as we can, o great Lord!" All of the elves roared simultaneously, but there was a question in their minds. What were they supposed to call their new lord? After all, they didn't know his name or identity or anything else in that matter.

"Deathless. That should be fine." Arnold then turned towards Alice and Ogur, "Go, rejoin the others and make a base on this planet. It doesn't look like the elven goddess is planning to herself to us any time soon."

After saying that, Arnold opened a portal leading to his domain and jumped in. Since there was nothing he could do there, he decided to take care of other things in the meantime.

***

Around the same time in Asgard, Odin's court was thrown into chaos. The warrior gods of the pantheon had gone frantic. They were still trying to recover from the loss and betrayal of Heimdall and now they had lost Sif and the warrior three as well.

All of them might be worried about the future of the universe, but none of them was as distraught as Thor. Not only did he lose his friends at the hands of Arnold, but he also lost the one he loved and cared about the most.

He was raging from both the inside and the outside. Seeing his state, Odin had to order the magicians to put him to sleep before he did something moronic and died at the hands of the man whom none of them could believe had achieved godhood. 

But putting Thor to sleep wouldn't solve their problems. It was the first time after the defeat of the cosmic giants, that all of the pantheons had to come together to solve an issue. The Norse, the Greeks, the Hindu, the Egyptians... all of the gods recognised the threat Arnold posed to the stability of the universe.

But even then, they still had differences they needed to sort out before they could come to an agreement to help each other out. The main argument was that why did all of them have to suffer because of the greed of Loki and Zeus? After all, they were the ones who enraged a mortal so much that he ended up activating the third eye.  Who told them to pull such a stunt together?

But Odin, who was overseeing the council in Shiva's absence, knew if they opened this conversation there would be no end to the blame game. On top of that, they had gathered there to solve the most important issue at hand, how do they deal with the rogue god.

"Thanks to the sacrifice of the Asgardians, we have been able to study the effect of elven blood and to my assumptions, that would play an important role in the future battles." Mimir's severed head expressed his findings, "We should focus on harvesting as much of it as we can for now."

Numerous gods from different pantheons nodded in agreement. If they could start consuming the blood now, then that would be the best for them. 

"I agree with Mimir..." Loki's voice echoed in front of everyone, "But before that, we need strong allies. I think we should contact the Dragons and the demons before that rogue god turned them against us.. Thankfully, both of them already have their own problems related to the rogue bastard so it wouldn't be difficult to make them join us."