Orario.
Have the gods declared war on us in the usual sense? No, of course not. They called a Denatus, a meeting of the gods to decide a matter if simple talk could not achieve a result, and, inviting Tia, they called a War Game.
Like I said, the pride of the gods is a pretty easy thing to understand, and they did not deviate from their supposed rules in absolutely any situation. In this case, the quest for entertainment. They couldn't just kick us out like that, because it would undermine their own authority and power among themselves and mortals, well, and cause the Dungeon to react to Arcanum, and so they came to this decision.
Tia herself took it surprisingly boldly and proudly, though she usually did not recognize any conflict and wished to avoid it in any way possible. Tia accepted the challenge, as well as the stipulation that if we lost, we would have to serve them for a time, but demanded a fair reward for victory.
In that case, the power over the city, including the gods, would have to pass to us for a rather short time. Did they agree to her condition? After some debate, yes, because, in fact, not only our Familia, but also the dragon could fall into their hands. And now.
- "So, we need to take the fortress, killing the members of the Familias of Ishtar, Loki, Soma, Freya, Apollo, and Hermes," Morgan listed and smirked, "Gods are funny, aren't they, husband?"
It was just me and her, the Xenos had already gone to the Dungeon, and Tia and the dragon were watching the game from the Tower of Babel, as were the other gods. The War Game itself was taking place outside the walls of Orario, and a couple hundred meters in front of us was a fortress with high stone walls, thick wooden gates, and tall towers.
I sensed about a hundred people inside it, though if you counted only members of the Familias, the number shouldn't exceed fifty. As Tia had explained, because of Morgan's reputation, the gods had hired more people to bring "balance" between the powers. And it was only ironic, because it wouldn't have changed at all if there were a thousand or more of us.
- "You're really having fun, huh?" I rolled my eyes, "I take it you don't want to solve everything in a couple of seconds?"
- "There's that girl among them, so it's not advisable," Morgan said, "And why don't you have fun?"
- "I'm not a sadist."
- "Lying to me is rather silly, husband," Morgan let out a chuckle, "You can clear the way for me, though, so I don't waste my time. And do it in such a way as to cause them instinctive fear."
- "Why would I…"
- "I have an excellent memory, husband. Do you see where I'm going with this?" Morgan smirked, which made me wince, because she was definitely referring to her 'soup', which thankfully hadn't gotten into my system, "They must realize how foolish it is to cross us, and fear is precisely the feeling that best promotes humility and submission."
- "You do realize that I am the Master, not you, right?" I tried to assert my rights, and Morgan was immediately in front of me, so close that I could feel her breath and scent on my skin.
- "Then you want the reward?" she whispered seductively, touching her nose to mine, "We weren't performing marital duty, were we? I definitely don't mind sucking the juices out of you, and I promise you'll love it."
I gave her a blank stare, and after a few seconds, I sighed tiredly and gently pulled Morgan away from me, causing her to smirk.
Would she do it? Of course she would. What doubt could there possibly be about that? But on the other hand, her words made me think of one thing about libido, but come on. It wasn't a particularly important question.
My appearance changed to that of a Servant, and then I raised to the sky, and the next moment, a magic circle lit up over the fortress that was twice the size of its area. When Morgan saw this, she nodded and walked slowly toward the gate. A crown appeared on her head and a veil covering her face, her axe staff appeared in her right hand, the hem of her dress lengthened, and a structure that resembled the back of a throne from the Lost Belt materialized around her.
Well, if Morgan wants a show, why not? After all, no harm will come to me, and neither will Tia, right?
-0-
Morgan walked through the ruined gates of the fortress while Romany's magic circle showered the entire area with spears of light. Stone walls melted, towers collapsed, and the ground exploded from the Magician's attacks. Panic reigned all around, everyone who could, trying to escape from the seemingly endless hail of attacks. Though Romany didn't aim much, almost every time the spears caught up with those fleeing and defending.
The adventurers who were considered 'strong' took to defending themselves and pulling their weaker counterparts out from under the attack, but no one could stand up to Romani's might for long. In the end, all they could do was try to attack the Fairy Queen that had entered the fortress and hope for the best.
Morgan's gaze under the veil was directed solely forward, from where she sensed the Ais she was interested in. She didn't care about the deaths surrounding her, the stunned and blank stares of the fortress defenders, and so on. Morgan did not slacken her stride, and every attack aimed at her was instantly foiled.
Her two skills, Fairy Defense and Elemental Magic, did all the work without any strain on Morgan's part, making the attempts to attack her resemble buzzing insects. The former provided her with extremely high luck in combat, while the latter allowed her to use all six known elements. Any spell below rank C was instantly canceled, and attackers were either burned in fire, frozen to death, torn by the wind, and so on.
Morgan saw no use for either the Rongominiads she had woven in the planet's Inner Sea to the tune of twelve, much less Noble Phantasm. Her current opponents were trivially unworthy of seeing all that.
The other issue would be with her sister, though right now even Morgan herself wasn't sure about that. Though Morgan had vowed to always rely only on herself and not be influenced by others, time with Romany made her remember a time when she still had not closed her heart.
With him, she felt truly free and at peace as much as it was basically possible. Being with him had changed her, and she loved that feeling, to the point where Morgan definitely wouldn't hesitate to use any available method to keep it. Now...
- "What a warm welcome. I'm flattered," Morgan smirked, looking at the members of Loki Familia and the captain of Freya Familia, not all of whose names I hadn't bothered to remember, "But you're redundant, I just want that girl."
- "Fuck you!" The beastman shouted, "What do you want with Ais?"
- "How rude," Morgan said and slammed the hilt of her weapon to the ground.
In the next moment, all but Ais and Ottar were thrown away by the strong wind that left multiple cuts on their bodies. The captain of the Freya Familia tried to counterattack, but the magic beams that suddenly appeared behind Morgan pierced him and nailed him to the wall nearby.
- "What do you want?" Ais asked, looking at Morgan and clutching the hilt of her sword aimed at the Fairy Queen.
- "I sense the darkness in you, child. A desire for power and hatred that is directed at the dragon. Yet why would you turn to the gods for help if you have spirit blood in your veins?"
Morgan realized what kind of personality Ais possessed. And someone like her would do anything to achieve her goal. And if that was the case, then the Queen of the Fairies wanted to take advantage of it.
- "What are you talking about?" Ais said calmly enough.
- "Oh, so you don't know? Your goddess didn't tell you anything? It's unfortunate," Morgan said with pity in her tone, causing even more confusion, "Who did the dragon take from you, child?"
- "...mother..."
- "And she was a spirit?" Morgan asked, and received a nod, "I sympathize. But what would you do if you found out it wasn't the dragon's fault?"
And at the same time as she said that, the Queen of the Fairies slowly approached Ais, who had already lowered her sword, and touched her forehead with her finger, transmitting the knowledge of why the spirits had disappeared. When the information was processed by Ais' mind, she stunnedly looked at Morgan, who smiled sadly.
- "This... How is this..."
- "I'm sorry, child, but that's just the way it is. And now that you know everything, what do you plan to do?" Morgan said, to which she received silence, and then turned her head sharply towards the city, "Oh, it's finally starting to move, huh?"
- "What?"
-0-
A/N: How's the chapter? Give us your opinion. You may well be able to influence future chapters.
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