Within a Divine Realm made up of volcanic formations, mountains filled with materials, and furious beasts of flames and magma, a stoic old man sat down relaxedly, glancing at his hammer.
The old man seemed to have the physique of a dwarf, with a small body but packed with large muscles, his skin was mildly red, and his eyes flashed with a furious orange flame.
He had a long black beard, and he seemed slightly irritated…
He has been waiting for a specific event to occur, and although God had great patience, this one God's patience was running low now.
"Without the flames of Palikoi, I cannot process my weapons and equipment as efficiently and fast as before… This is truly the most frustrating thing… And all of this happened just when I was about to break through my understanding of my Divinity and increase to a Rank 5 God! …Even worst, it was also the time when I was about to perfect my new accessories, the ones that held the power to grant gods to use their powers to an even greater extent within mortal vessels…"
The old man muttered in anger, glancing at his hammer, the artifact he had been using his entire life to craft and forge the equipment which made him so famous as the God of Blacksmiths, Hephaestus.
He had never imagined that his daughter Palikoi were to be so important and crucial for the craft of his materials, especially those ones with powerful effects.
Without the Divine Flames that made up the entirety of Palikoi's existence, Hephaestus would take years to complete his work, something that only took weeks at most with Palikoi's assistance.
However, up until now, he had taken things for granted, never imagining how crucial she was for his entire career as a God.
An obsession to take his daughter back from the vicious claws of Kireina had already been deeply seeped into Hephaestus's mind, rooting deep into his emotions and nature.
"If only I would have been more careful! None of this would have occurred, and I would still be crafting things as I desired…! How frustrating! How could a mortal be able to accomplish such feats one after another? It is incredibly baffling to see how everything she does always works! What kind of ridiculous fate chosen character is this?!"
Hephaestus could not help but express his deep hate to Kireina, even if he were to be alone. The number of things that Kireina could do that the Gods found ridiculous would amount to an enormous pile of things, she was simply a ridiculous existence that challenged everything that the Gods understood about the capabilities of a mortal.
Hephaestus ended up being reminded of the old tales about fate chosen characters from old, where heroes were blessed by the gods and any feat or thing they did always ended as they desired, despite there being greater beings that could easily destroy them, they would simply avoid such dangers and keep growing stronger without any issue.
Kireina's ridiculousness was similar to this, albeit everything she was capable of doing could be carefully explained by the enormous amount of Skills, Spells, and Abilities she had gathered through her short life thanks to Devour.
"To think that Devour could do such enormous things for a mere and pathetic mortal… How strong is such a Skill? I wish I could have it. With it, I could simply trample over anything and become unparalleled… Alas, there I am, reduced to the blacksmith of my bastard family, all of whom are pathetic worms that crawl in the shadows of that mortal, waiting for someday to exert revenge! Pathetic… Father, Athena, Apollo, I am not waiting anymore, I have prepared too many things just for this moment… I am going to crush her and show you that this mortal is nothing but another insect in our path!"
Hephaestus roared once more, standing up, at last, he wore a black toga that covered his muscular body and sandals made of a special material, he walked through the volcanic land of his Divine Realm, as a rift in space opened in front of him.
He seemed to not be surprised, however, as he knew who the gods entering his Divine Realm were, his family.
"My husband, preparations are ready… Our intel has informed us that Kireina is moving directly towards the Dark Steppes, just as you had predicted," said a beautiful fair-skinned blonde woman with shiny yellow eyes, Aglaia, the Goddess of Grace and Beauty and the wife of Hephaestus.
"Excellent, what about Jorgrakog? He better do as our deal stated if he doesn't want to be sealed again…" said Hephaestus.
"Jorgrakog seal is already shattering into pieces, in a few minutes he should finally be completely free. He had already created a large Wasteland to sustain his existence, so he will be able to fight with most of his regained power immediately," said another beautiful woman, with clear blue skin, fish gills in her ears, and a few other blue scales around her arms and shoulders, with long and flowing hair that resembled sea waves, covered in sea stars and algae, she was Kabeiro, a Sea Nymph Demigoddess, and another of Hephaestus wives.
"Good… What about the Dark Steppes Gods, have they done any suspicious move?" asked Hephaestus.
"Father, the Dark Steppes Gods had stayed within the territories and Domains they created, and seem to be ignoring what is happening outside… They seem oddly confident in Kireina's triumph," said four beautiful women at the same time, similar to Aglaia in appearance but younger and prettier, they were 'The Graces', Hephaestus daughters with Aglaia, who had their minds and consciousness connected.
"Hmph, such a pathetic bunch, they're the trash amongst trash within the Demigods groups, that one of those dragons joined them didn't change a thing about them, they're still pathetically weak and coward about fighting… Leave them be, none of them is a threat to us, their strength cannot even scratch us… However, if that dragon tries to do something, eliminate her…" said Hephaestus.
Hephaestus had already investigated the small Pantheon of Demon Gods within the Dark Steppes, realizing how weak they all were by looking through their history and some of their origins, none of those gods seemed like a threat to someone as resourceful as him and his family.
Unlike Hephaestus and his family, who all possessed incredibly high-quality equipment and weapons, alongside enormous amounts of Divine Energy, dozens of Divine Techniques, and more, the Dark Steppes Gods didn't have a big family to back them up, they were all exceptionally weak, to the point that the majority didn't even have a Divine Technique aside from the most natural of attacks using their pure divinity.
Hephaestus had assumed that due to their weakness and pathetic lives they gathered and became so close with each other, as they saw the weakness of each other and found someone to relate… Which made Hephaestus only laugh at their ridiculous and lowly existences.
The difference in power between a Demigod without any resources or riches to back their cultivation or strength and someone in a prestigious and ancient family of gods such as Hephaestus was incredible, the gap was enormous, and their strength could not compare at all.
Hephaestus even saw them as weak as mortals, so weak that they could be squashed like ants if they tried to interfere with his plans.
Hephaestus children nodded to his commands, more than a father, he was like their commander and his family his soldiers, they were incredibly loyal to him, reporting things as if they were reporting them to an official.
"How is the formation? Has it been settled accordingly?" asked Hephaestus.
"Yes, father. We had distributed each artifact that can generate the formation, alongside the desired materialized Divine Techniques and the several Divine Constructs around the space surrounding the area where you desire the fight to unfold…" said Cabeirides one of Kabeiro's children, a sea-nymph Demigoddess of Sea Shores, who held a similar and beautiful appearance than her mother.
"Excellent. We will lure Kireina and her group with Jorgrakog inside of that area, and then, enclose her in that Divine Formation… She has been fighting very weak Gods up until this point, completely unaware of all the tricks and abilities that we, the true Gods, have. With enough resources and time, we can even overpower a ridiculous being such as her… Oh, right, her Empire as well, how are things settled there?" asked Hephaestus.
"Papa! I have settled everything… Everything is done~ The Demon Kingdom of Thanatos will cover us there, but we'll also make suuure to wreak some havoc… I am going to demolish the whole place~" said a young girl, another daughter of Kabeiro, Thalia, another Sea-Nymph Demigoddess, her divinity encompassing Sea Islands.
"Have you found anything on Kireina's side?" asked Hephaestus.
"Indeed, it seems that you have predicted correctly, father, as Kireina had acquired the ability to wield Spatial Magic, albeit it is of very weak quality and her talent lacks a lot of refinement. She has settled around three hundred spatial barriers that distorted the spatial layers around her Empire, but through the formation, we created there alongside the help of the Demons, it should be easy to break them all down and forcefully make our way in…" said the last child of Kabeiro, Cabeiri, the Demigod of the Sea Depths.
"I see. Everything is going smoothly. Did she really think that it would be as easy as setting some spatial barriers? Spatial Magic might be rare, but it is not near as invincible, you only need a method and the resources. Using such a thought process, we even defeated a Great Goddess, Gai, long ago, despite all of us being below her rank and power… As long as we had methods, there are always ways to breakthrough," said Hephaestus.
"Now, my children, you go to her Empire, I will stay with your mothers in here, alongside Jorgrakog, we are good enough to finish Kireina off. Remember that she has another clone that contains her power within her Empire. Whenever we are done exterminating her, we will go and support you…" said Hephaestus.
"Father, what about the Gods that back her up?" asked one of Hephaestus's children.
"Ah, those pathetic rats that hide below the shadow of a mortal? Don't worry, Thanatos has informed me that the 'insider' they have in there will open a portal to her Divine Realm inside of the main Divine Realm where these Gods gather and bring some of the Demon Gods to quickly weaken and seal off the Gods helping the mortal. The Demon Gods seem to have their whole plans altogether, and Thanatos is an even more cunning bastard. I am rather confident about their victory. Despite our differences, we had come to a treaty just to eliminate this nuisance," said Hephaestus.
"Father, there is another thing…"
"What is it now?"
"Uncle Apollo has contacted us, alongside Cyrene-sama, they want to help you out," said one of Hephaestus's children.
"Oh? Has Apollo finally recapacitated?" asked Hephaestus.
"It seems so, my husband. Apollo and his wife are rather strong, especially Apollo who has lived almost as much as you, with him and his wife at our side, victory will be guaranteed," said one of Hephaestus's wives.
"Hmm… Indeed, and if Jorgrakog tries to escape or attack us afterward, if we have Apollo and Cyrene with us, we will be able to seal him again with more ease. This was one of the risks I was taking, but if Apollo is with me, then there is nothing to fear anymore," said Hephaestus with a smile.
As Hephaestus spoke, a portal opened once more inside of his Divine Realm, as two Gods entered his Divine Realm, a handsome and tall blonde man with fair skin and aquamarine and gold eyes, and a beautiful woman with long hair, slender body, and an atmosphere of emerald winds, Apollo and Cyrene.
"My brother… I apologize for having been such a fool, I have thought about things more these last days, and I have realized that cannot let that mortal do as it pleases, especially after it attacked my soul directly… I will assist you in defeating her, that demon will stand no chance to my blinding light and my wife's legendary bow, the one you crafted very long ago," said Apollo.
"Hephaestus-sama, it is a pleasure to meet you once again, I thank you once more for having accepted our assistance," said Cyrene politely.
"I am glad that you had realized that planning around for months and months like our father and sister will never lead to any results, that mortal is too strange, and if we let it grow any longer, it might one day strike us down, we must now combine our strength as we had always done, and finally defeat her and her wicked empire before it is too late. You've chosen a wise decision, Apollo, this is why I see you as a brother, more than simple bloodline," said Hephaestus with a confident smile.
"Thanks, Hephaestus. I am pleased to hear such words, after having seen you so enraged, I was a bit worried that my brother had stopped seeing me as an honorable man," said Apollo.
"Don't worry, now let us do our duty and be done with this, afterward, we can enjoy some booze and a party," laughed Hephaestus, walking through his Divine Realm with the group of gods behind him, completely unaware that Apollo and Cyrene were not the same they used to be.
