Mykel was deep in thought that he tried to find a reason behind Zherlthsh and Vixelleth's decision to suggest them to clear the Behemoth tower. He couldn't find anything and started to feel anxious about those two, but he couldn't think straight because of his situation.
There was nothing he could do but be patient and wait because he believed that Mara was trying to get into his head. He decided to close his eyes and tried to ignore Mara's overwhelming presence for his own good.
(Inside the castle of Niflheim)
"Is he summoned to her world?" Aphrodite asked the moment she entered the hall with Hedone and saw Hel, Hera, Keres, Dionysus, and Apollo sitting at the long table.
"He's inside her world right now, that's the only explanation to why we can't find his whereabouts," Hera answered with her hands clenched. "Those demons, are they betraying him?" she stared at Keres.
"There's a chance they're betraying him because right now, Zherlthsh has been disowned by Azazel. The only way to regain his favor is by doing this," Keres answered and stared back at Hera.
"So it was all just an act? Vixelleth pretended to disobey Azrael's words and orders?" Aphrodite sat down and grabbed a grape from the plate.
"It's possible," Keres nodded her head, and then suddenly Hera slammed the table as she slowly transformed herself into her vengeful form.
"I knew it," Hera said calmly but Garm who was in the room with them was terrified by her vengeful aura. "Where's Loki?" she looked at Hel.
"He's in the middle of something and said he will come when he's done," Hel looked at Hera and was amazed by her anger and power because the table was cracked by her strength which was almost impossible to break since it was made from eternal ice.
"She doesn't know what we are doing, right?" Dionysus asked and he looked a bit worried because he didn't want to lose his wealth.
"She knows but she doesn't care about us. All she cares about is him since he's the only threat to her," Hera answered and stared at the crack on the table.
"I see, that's good news then," Dionysus sighed with relief.
"Can we focus on Mykel?" Aphrodite asked and looked at them. "I'm worried if she's going to kill him,"
"No, I don't think she will kill him, at least not yet because if she's killing him now, Lucifer would take over that world. I don't think she would let him get another world after all the previous worlds that have fallen into his hands," Hera answered as she sat down and rubbed the bridge of her nose.
"But what if she's fine with that? She doesn't need recognition by mortals, her power is unlimited and she has no reason to prevent Lucifer from taking that world," Aphrodite was so worried that she started to breathe heavily.
"You don't have to worry about him," Loki suddenly said as he appeared from another room.
"Where were you?" Hera asked as she stared at him with suspicion after knowing what was going on. Aphrodite and the others were also judgingly staring at him.
"Why are you looking at me like that? I'm just taking care of some business," Loki said as he stood behind Hel. "I also bring guests here,"
"Guests?" Hera furrowed her eyebrows and was ready to summon all the spirit animals that she had.
"Someone that you know," Loki said and then clapped his hands. Hera and the others were surprised the moment they came out from a portal that Loki made.
"Athena? Artemis? What are you two doing here?!" Hera asked with her eyes wide open and stared at them both.
Athena looked at Dionysus, Aphrodite, Hedone, and Apollo with a bit of surprised expression. She looked at Keres and her expression changed drastically but Loki stood in front of her before she could do anything.
"She's an ally, you can trust her because Mykel trusts her," Loki said with a gentle smile on his face.
Hera, Aphrodite, Apollo, and Dionysus walked toward them both and surrounded them.
"Athena?" Hera asked in her vengeful form which made Athena and Artemis looked at her with confusion.
"I came after Loki visited my chamber, we had a long talk," Athena answered. "Now, what are you guys doing here? This isn't the right place for you all to be here,"
"How about you sit down because this is going to sound crazy," Hera crossed her arms and turned herself back to normal.
Hera and Athena's relationship was a bit complicated because Hera despised Zeus for tricking her then played around and tricked others as he tricked her. She hate every child of Zeus and that included Athena, but Athena was an exception since she was born without a mother.
Hera was fond of Athena because they both had the same wavelength of thinking and history proved that those two could be called allies with zero proof of enmity.
Athena and Artemis were shocked about Mykel and what kind of things that he did for the constellations. They couldn't believe it at first when Hera told them about Mykel's wealth which sounded inexplicable until Hera showed the millions of Arcana Coins she had.
"So, all this time, it was you who started the war with Nyx?" Athena looked at Hera with disbelief because nobody dared to go against Nyx, even Zeus himself was avoiding her for that reason. "You trust a mortal? And you would go to that extent just to please him?" she furrowed her eyebrows.
"It's hard to believe but it all started when he came to me and ask for my help," Hera answered with a smile on her face which shocked Athena and Artemis because they hadn't seen her smile like that.
"Apollo, you were in this and you didn't tell me?" Artemis squinted her eyes and she felt disappointed in her twin brother.
"We are not that close to telling you about my affair, not to mention that you killed my lover," Apollo said as he played his harp.
Artemis squinted her eyes and looked at Apollo weirdly. "You tricked me and won't let me live my life peacefully because of your own jealousy!" she yelled at Apollo and it made everyone startled.
"Can you both be a good sibling for once? We are in the middle of something," Hera said calmly because she loved both Apollo and Artemis and thought of them as her own children.
Although they had a complicated relationship, both Apollo and Artemis couldn't hate each other and were always together since they only had each other. Though Hera was a bit sorry for what she did in the past to their mother, she redeemed herself by taking care of them.
"So, Loki, why do you bring them here?" Aphrodite asked.
"Since Mykel cleared the Veatika world, both Athena and Artemis are now working together with me to maintain that world. So, I use the opportunity to persuade them after they watch Mykel and now they're here to offer him help," Loki walked around the table and sat down in between Hel and Hera.
"Offer him help?" Hera furrowed her eyebrows and looked at Loki with a bit of confusion.
"Because of the current situation down there, I bet Keres is worried about her recipient as well," Loki answered as he leaned forward to grab an apple on the table. "Isn't your recipient in trouble as well, Hera? You should think about her as well since she's precious to Mykel, right?"
"Right, I was too occupied to think about him that I almost forgot about her," Hera said as she watched Lillith roaming around the forest. "Why do you bring this up so suddenly?"
Loki walked to the throne and sat down while eating his apple. "I was eavesdropping on all your conversations about your worries while I was with Athena and Artemis. Either those two demons are betraying Mykel or not, we need to focus on keeping Mykel's people alive first," he said with his legs crossed.
"What are you trying to say?" Keres asked.
Loki chuckled softly with a huge smile on his face. "This is what I'm going to propose..."
(On the eleventh floor of Behemoth tower)
"This isn't meant to be cleared, this fucking whole place is gigantic!" Rozan said as he looked at the massive tree that was as tall as the sky and they were in the middle of a forest. "This is too much for the first floor after the trial,"
"Something is wrong with this world, we aren't welcomed and now we are being chased away from their village," Agnez said as he looked at the giant wooden walls in the distance.
"Not only that, even the demons here are too strong not to mention how massive they are," Gunnar checked his shield that was cracked because he blocked an arrow when he tried to get close to the village.
While they were wandering in the forest to kill demons, Gunnar and the others suddenly stopped walking and looked at the notification in front of them. They were all bewildered and speechless with what they saw, they then looked at each other and they were all getting the same invitation.
[Goddess Hera of The Empress Arcana has offered you to be her recipient]
[Goddess Aphrodite of The High Priestess Arcana has offered you to be her recipient]
[Goddess Athena of The Justice Arcana has offered you to be her recipient]
[God Loki of The Fool Arcana has offered you to be his recipient]
[God Apollo of The Hierophant faction has offered you to be his recipient]
[God Dionysus of The Magician faction has offered you to be his recipient]
[Goddess Hel of The Death faction has offered you to be her recipient]
[Goddess Artemis of The Empress faction has offered you to be her recipient]
