Chapter 237 - A Messenger

Somewhere far away from the Alpha base...

Under the scorching sun, cracks grew deep in the barren, parched soil like a wizened old face, baked hard, no more hospitable to the delicate seeds than a scorched rock. The leafless tree gave company to the dusty weather. The earth grew wan and weird, unfertilized, dehumanized... It looked like nature had sided itself with the monsters. The once tall skyscr.a.p.ers were now nothing more than a reminder of how civilization had once prospered on those same ground. A ground now ruled by the monsters. 

In the harsh weather, two human-like beings were walking behind a horde of monsters. As they walked, a trail of sand was left behind they moved as if choreographed by the wind, in perfect time with one another. Goblins, ogres, and orcs all moving together but something was off... They were different. They weren't alive and yet walking and running as if they were... 

Leading them was a man. The man whose birth name had been long forgotten. The man who felt 'betrayed' by his soldiers. The man who was once known as the Brigadier General of the Alpha base and now he was a soulless servant of an honourless God. 

The two people following him and his army of monsters were his masters. Hel, his mistress who gave him his supernatural powers of controlling the dead while Surtr, was his master who taught him techniques and tricks to help him in warfare as well as gave him his bone axe to slay their enemies. 

Generally, they would only observe him after giving him a mission to complete. However, there was a stipulation attached to his missions. If he failed to do as they pleased, his life would be forfeited and his soul would rot in hell for a hundred years. Way to give motivation right? 

But these days, however, something had changed. His masters were participating more and more in his training and were focused on increasing his strength. At first, he was happy that his masters had given him a new name, Ros, and were putting in more effort into training him but it soon turned out to be hell. 

He was pushed beyond his limits every day. Forced to do an impossible task whenever they wished so. Every time he was pushed to the verge of dying before his mistress pulled him back into the world of the living. He was a 'necromancer' yet the only thing he was afraid of was death. But even if he was pulled away from death's grasp, he felt a part of him was left behind to die... but it felt good. A feeling he had never felt before! 

Soon he got addicted to the feeling and latched onto it whenever he could. He didn't care if he was forced to fight a deathclaw with his bare hands if he could get a mere second of the rush he craved for. 

Things were going in his favour. Yet for a few days, his masters have been tensed and whenever he would ask about it, they'd just punish him more. He couldn't understand what was going on but after getting punished so many times, he finally gave up and sealed his mouth shut. If his masters didn't want him to be involved in their affairs then he wouldn't do it. After all, he didn't have a death wish... even though he would get to feel a rush like never before. Just like always, they were busy having a private conversation. 

"He has gotten a lot stronger than before..." Surtr asked Hel, his companion, "I gave up on my paladin when she died and helped you raise a new and stronger vassal, but I'm afraid to even with our powers combined, we might not be able to defeat him..."

"Surtr, stop whining. Your voice is hurting my ears." Hel snapped back as she pulled her hoodie to cover half of her dead face, "You used to be a God whom the mortals feared to death and now look at you! Whining like a little bitch!"

"Is... Is it true?" Surtr ignored her snide comment and kept 'whining' into her ear, "She came to earth!?"

"You felt it when she arrived here, didn't you?" Snapped back at him. 

She already had enough on her plate. She didn't want to babysit another crybaby. But Surtr wasn't backing down. He kept asking her questions he knew answers to but wasn't ready to believe it. 

"I... d-did," Surtr replied with a tensed look on his face. 

"And do you feel her presence now?" Hel asked him another question. 

"Not anymore... "

"Then you know she's dead. End of discussion."

"You know it very well I'm not talking about her. I'm talking about immortal one's paladin! The one who killed the Goddess we all cower before! He, a mortal, killed her! Something we could never even get close to!" Surtr roared in fury. 

"What are you being so paranoid about?" Hel finally lost it with him, "She was just a demigod for Odin's sake!"

"Just a demigod? She massacred our bravest and proudest fellow gods. Hell, she even managed to sever one of my arms and you tell me to relax? Even in her weaker form, Tiamut was stronger than we are right now and you think your vassal is anywhere near ready to take on the man who killed someone like her?" It was Surtr's turn to snap now.

People who hate getting off on the brain chemicals of hate. They were addicts. They find groups to hate and encourage others to do the same, and Hel was one of such being. She had been actively trying to harm Shiva indirectly as she never had the guts or the strength to face off against the supreme being on her own. If someone like her lover and Tiamut couldn't do anything to him, how was she supposed to defeat him?

She thought going for his paladin would be an easier way to piss him off but even that was proving to be a herculean task now. That damned bastard was just too lucky whereas she was not. 

Her knuckles turned white from clenching her fist too hard, as she gritted her teeth in efforts to remain silent, her hunched form exuded an animosity that was like acid - burning and slicing everything. Holding a grudge required way too much effort. The effort, which Hel was willing to put in yet the universe wasn't making it any easier on her. 

She knew her paladin was nowhere as strong as her enemy. She was running out of time, no matter how hard she pushed Ros, there was a limit to even what a paladin can take. She was afraid if she pushed him too far, he could die and then she'd have to start all over again giving Arnold more time to gain more powers. Just like he did after killing Jake.

'At this rate that bastard would ascend and I'll never have my revenge!' Hel spat on the ground in fury. 

She had to stop him from becoming powerful but she couldn't. It looked like Immortal one's paladin had limitless growth potential. The longer she waited, the stronger he became. 

"What if we send the monsters to attack the place he dwells in once again?" Surtr suggested her. 

"Do you not remember what happened the last time?" Hel snapped at him once again. 

Some time ago she managed to persuade the mountain trolls to attack the place known as Alpha Base. The place of Arnold's residence. Her plan was flawless. It was supposed to put an end to him and other infidel humans. She was hoping to hear some good news, but alas, her perfect plan turned out to be blunderous. Not only did the trolls and other monsters failed to eliminate him, but she also ended up providing him more fodder to gain strength. And now Surtr wanted her to repeat the same mistake again? 

"Then... How about we create trouble elsewhere? But make sure that he is the one who has to deal with it?" Surtr mumbled, "That way we'll be able to delay his progress by a bit."

She realised something from Surtr's words. She didn't need to defeat him... She only needed to create trouble for him. And she knew the biggest troublemaker in the cosmos. Her brother, Loki. 

Even though Loki was a higher God, everyone knew how much he loved his younger sister even when the other higher gods ostracized him for it. Unlike Thor, her other brother, they had always shared a strong bond. Also, adding the fact that Loki too had a paladin somewhere on the wretched planet, Hel was sure Loki could help her.

There was one problem though. According to the rules, the Higher gods weren't allowed to interfere or interact with the lesser gods or even the other higher gods participating in the same round of the games.

This rule had been made to ensure fair play as well as the lesser God's safety. If a higher god went against this rule it might end up in banishment. Something she didn't want her brother to endure for her sake. However, she knew of a loophole in the rule. 

The rule didn't forbid the lesser gods from interacting with each other. All she needed to do was to contact a lesser God who wasn't participating in this round of the games and persuade them to act as her messenger and deliver her message to her brother. If she managed to pull it off, then Arnold was certainly done for.

Thankfully, she knew where to find one such god. Ymir, the goddess of giants and Loki's loyal follower. 

****

Author's note: (a little info about Ymir.) 

Ymir, also called Aurgelmir, in Norse mythology, the first being, a giant who was created from the drops of water that formed when the ice of Niflheim met the heat of Muspelheim. 

(P.s. Att*ck *n T*tans who? Lol. I love that anime btw.)