NABC Chapter 215 – Heavenly Connections
Chapter 215 – Heavenly Connections
Chapter 215 – Heavenly Connections
“Right, all you idiots listen up and-... bah! Will you all just get in the hall already!?! There’s enough room in here so stop pushing and shoving, all of you can hear me!”
‘This fucker... it’s taking all of my willpower to keep calm right now. Petra seems surprisingly calm considering who he has hostage’
The fabled Olympian Hall, as large and endless as rumoured and right now, we’re just a speck of dust in the grand scheme of things with the hundreds of other Gods and Goddesses all around us. We arrived via portal to this marbled wonder of construction and admiring its handiwork right now is not on the list of my priorities.
----------
Spoiler
[collapse]
----------
Right at the far end of the hall standing on a platform is the God who rules all alongside the blue and sweetest of us phoenixes. I dread to think what she’s suffered if she’s been forcibly moved up here, she’s even freaking handcuffed. Bringing Zeki up here wouldn’t be as bad... probably because he’d enjoy it especially with all the toxicity with the dryad... forget that! My point is, I’m personally going to rip out Zeus’s throat...
“Calm it sister, look closely and you’ll see past the vail. He’s only doing this to get a reaction... probably an idea his wife gave to him”
Listening to Asmodeus, I focus in on our blue sister and notice something slightly strange. At the right angle, you can see the faint outline of horns and gigantic breasts if you stare at the right places.
“Is that... Loki? Why the hell would he take Ariza’s form like this?”
My anger immediately fades when I realize it’s the shapeshifter hellbent on destroying nuts is in front of us! I presume Loki hasn’t betrayed us so did Zeus threaten him to do this?
“It’s not just that sister, he’s appearing differently for every person. Right now, he’s the spitting image of the oracle for me”
(Artemis) “Wait... why am I seeing Freyja? Has she betrayed us or not then?”
(Uriel) “Of course she hasn’t friend... I have no idea who I’m seeing. An ageing grizzled knight?”
(Aphrodite) “Not that anyone asked but why am I seeing a gigantic olisbos? That’s way too big, even for me!”
(Petra) “Heh, I’m proud of you for spotting it Ikarus. I can see you up there right now... not close to being perfect enough though”
‘Urgh, why say that woman? My freaking heartstrings... and hang on. I called it with Uriel! She’s seeing captain Jekyll up there... I think? A grizzled knight sounds about right though’
Anyways, moving on from the fact Petra’s made me blush and I still resent the angel, Zeus finally regains control of the packed-out hall with a shouting that even a deaf person could hear.
“BAH, ALL OF YOU SHUT UP!!! Now... it’s come to my attention that some of you idiots think it’s a good idea to start attacking the pillars that adorn our heavenly realms”
“Yeah, keep destroying those gigantic pillars of shit!”
The wild huntress of our party can’t help but rile up Zeus which basically causes a chain reaction of facepalming from us all. Talk about sharing our involvement in this much!
“Bah, you want me to smite you Artemis!?! Shut up and let the grownups talk about serious issues. As if anyone could ever take your rambling seriously”
“*Grumbles*... fucking idiot”
It’s roughly around this point when Zeus is joined by the two women supporters he seems to have obtained, that being the grey-haired Hera and the orange haired Demeter. Even though they may not speak, I think it’s safe to say they all can be considered enemies especially with what happened back in the arena. Little shit Plutus had to do Hera’s bidding after all.
“Where was I? Oh right... I want to make sure all you idiots know the consequences for defying my rules so I promise, things will get heated if you dare try and go for destroying anythin-”
“Will you get to the point already?”
“Yeah! Why the hell is she handcuffed up there? My muse is in distress!”
Cutting him off, a couple of unidentifiable Gods scream from the crowd which only causes a vein on Zeus’s head to expand.
“Bah! This is just a demonstration to all of you involved. I invite you to attack the last pillar because I promise you... the consequences will be dire. It’ll be the ones you care for that suffer the most... like so”
A large gasp and a scream rings throughout the hall when Zeus places a hand on the disguised Loki’s shoulder, only to electrocute the poor idiot right in front of full view of everyone.
“Hold up one second big guy, I didn’t agree to thi-, aaaerrgggghhhhhh!”
...
Literally turning Loki to ash, silence beckons as everyone isn’t sure what to make of this threat. I assume all the Gods inside this place know it’s not actually someone they care for, but seeing him go like that definitely wasn’t pleasant.
Surprisingly, the reaction turns to pure anger and rioting when things get interpreted differently to how I thought they would.
“Malaka! Is the God who rules all saying he’s breaking the immortality pack!?!”
“Were the rumours about him abusing his power true?”
“Everyone heard what happened to the mad hatter Lyssa, we really are screwed it seems”
“No no! The ruler would never betray our trust like that! This is just pure blasphemy!”
“Aye! Put your faith in him and ignore those idiotic rebels!”
Differing reactions from the crowd as things rapidly descend into chaos and disorder, even looking like a fight or two may quickly break out.
“Bah, of course I haven’t disabled it you freaking idiots! The point is, don’t force my hand and I won’t have to do anything rash! The Ragnarök whore will wake up shortly”
Despite all the havoc and chaos erupting into violence in the hall, none listen to Zeus and continue to riot causing him and his two supporters to leave shaking their heads. As for us, we try to get out of there asap! No point traumatizing the masses... even if I can get upgrades from defeating Gods though.
I do find it odd that Asmodeus has been grinning from joy seeing all this occurring right in front of us, almost as if this is a good sign?
“I think it’s safe to assume we’ll be getting more recruits then?”
“I don’t think he knows who he is brother”
“Tell me something less obvious sister... just give him what he needs already. It’ll make this a whole lot easier”
Retrieving the vial of potion, Athena passes the thing to a still confused Apollo who has no idea what’s going on. This was something we secretly had Loki make in case one of us ended up in a heap of trouble losing our memories down below. I think it’s safe to say it’ll best be used on my hoarder of a brother though.
Looking towards his emperor, he really has no idea if he should take the dark coloured vial. Do you really think we’d blatantly poison him like this? It does sound like something us Olympian’s would do though.
“I’m not sure on what this is Nathan so... go ahead?”
“One suggests you follow your destiny and if drinking vial of potion is the way to do so, then do what you must”
He receives encouragement from his superiors, then decides to put it down the hatch in one go. Maybe he’d be better taking it slowly but oh well, let’s see how this goes...
After getting though the vial, his face looks as pale as a ghost. Clearly, something has gotten through to underneath this Nathan shell.
(Denver) “So, looks like you’re back to us? Minus the blonde hair, you seem to be looking well considering the circumstances”
...
Apollo looks to me like I’m still meaningless to him yet holds his head, has this worked or not then?
“Your majesty, I immediately request some personal time alone with this idiot who dared to give me something that foul tasting”
Desmond seems shocked from the demeaner his knight shows yet is more than happy to allow him to speak to us privately.
Heading to a private visitor’s room led by Apollo, he waits for us to enter, then closes the door all the while looking like he’s still stressing out.
“It’s great to see you again brothe-, ouch! The hell was that for?”
Receiving a punch the literally knocks me onto the chair, the first thing this shithead does is punch this young dwarven body!? I know we had a dicey relationship but I’ve gone the full pacifist mindset this life not harming a single soul... guess that might be why that hurt so much. Let’s just hope I start growing into this body when puberty finally comes around.
“Of all the ways you could’ve done this... feel like I’m about to pass out. The entire trip to save Dionysus, why not do it then?”
Holding his head, he takes a seat on the sofa next to me while I still hold my nose. Imagine him daring to do this in front of my dwarven guards... let this go Hephaestus. Just because you’re still in a child’s body doesn’t make you one.
“Apologies Apollo, we just didn’t know. On recollection... a coincidence like this doesn’t seem that impossible”
“Please... I understand, just don’t use that name Athena. Lotte can’t know this, if you dare tell her, that’ll be the end of us”
“Why not brother? She seems to worship the feet of the guy who stole your power. Knowing it originally comes from you might bring you even closer”
...
Getting a deathly glare in return for my joke, clearly he didn’t find that entertaining. In some ways, we’re in the same boat with this sort of thing. I’d rather not have the dwarves know who I really am and he’s the same with his partner. Although, mine results in an entire kingdom becoming a cult while his just shifts his relationship dynamic up a bit.
Still holding his head, clearly awakening is still proving troublesome for him to come around to. Both me and Athena both skipped the losing yourself part of incarnating down below so I can’t relate to that unfortunately.
“Why was it necessary to even do this? It’s not like this world is on its last legs or something... or is it?”
“Are you purposely acting naïve brother or is this just part of this new persona of yours? We’re at war and soon, everything will be coming to our shores. You’re either with him or against him by this point”
Still coming to terms with what’s going on, Apollo, or Nathan can’t help but continue to stress when suddenly, a knock quietly echoes on the door.
“*Knock knock*... sorry to disturb but the priestess is here to see you knight”
Right in the middle of our conversation, the captain Jekyll knocks on the door giving us a quick shock. He’s a devilish fellow if he’s able to sneak up on us like this, he better not also be a hidden God. Although, the only missing one left is Hestia that we know of now... would she be willing to be a grizzled old man? I’m extremely doubtful on that.
As Apollo opens the door, the urge to rat on him becomes overwhelming as the priestess leans in for a quick kiss, albeit trying to be discrete as possible. Eh, I guess it’s good he hasn’t forgotten who he was in this life because that would’ve been a huge complication in its own right... don’t let this slip Hephaestus. Apollo will go mad.
“I’m slightly busy at the moment Lotte so can we continue this later?”
“Of course Nat. I’ll need to speak with Esmerelda-sama anyways so I’ll find you later”
Once those two have had their little moment and Apollo’s face clearly glows with love and guilt, he closes the door and we resume where we left off. I’m still not sure why he cares that much about it but if he wants it kept secret for now, then so be it.
“So then... Natty, where is your stash down here?”
...
Another deathly glare, he really doesn’t like that nickname. You can thank Aphrodite for that because I know what happened in that love dungeon. Frankly, half of Olympus does and when they find out Apollo got stuck in a situation like that, it’ll be the talk of the town. I don’t plan on telling but all lies come out eventually... I feel like Loki may grow to like him loads considering his tastes.
“What do you mean by stash?”
“Well, both Dionysus and Loki managed to procure your power while you were down here playing family. And don’t even act like you don’t hoard powerful items, your work with father on the pillars says it all really”
I’m not saying he was directly involved, just that he did allow Zeus to store one of them in his own pillar after all. I assume the guilt was too much to bare so that’s maybe why he decided to incarnate down below?
“Don’t even remind me on that, he really has lost the plot. If let’s say... hypothetically, I do know where some stuff is stored in this world, where would we put it? I’m not touching anything if we don’t know where it needs to go”
‘Of course I’m right. I create artefacts, he hoards them’
(Athena) “Actually Nathan, we do have a good idea on where things will happen. The demon Asmodeus does like to plan ahead”
Even if it wasn’t explicitly said, we now know what the demon’s plan is and all hell will break loose when it happens. Our main focus is damage control, like when I set my volcano off early for example. This could end up worse if things aren’t contained quickly. Once we’re done reuniting with Apollo, there needs to be words spoken to the empire on some serious topics as well. We’re so close to the end yet so far as well.
“F-Fuck. I’ve just remembered where s-some of it is stored, this isn’t t-terrifying at all”
‘Apollo stuttering? What’s the reason for that...’