Chapter 1088: Eat Your Heart Out
Shiva was an immensely highly regarded figure within the heavens.
With deities placing such a high value on individual strength and leadership ability, there weren’t many that were above him in such a class.
In terms of sheer popularity, he was more well-liked than even Abaddon. Though that wasn’t necessarily surprising to most, since Abaddon’s role was occasionally antagonistic to some gods.
But Shiva was one of the most famous patrons of destruction who carried a terrible burden for thousands of years.
He held a poison in his neck that was said to be so terrible and horrific that if it were ever to be exposed again, it would assuredly mark a dark day for the divine race. Even the progetenoi would not be spared from it’s foulness.
Shiva altered his body in a particularly ingenious way to keep the poison from destroying him.
He created a field of suspension from his Adam’s apple to the bottom of his esophagus. The field prevented the poison from rising or sinking, keeping his organs solid and his soul unburned.
After a while, Shiva didn’t even notice it anymore, and the deeper blue coloration his neck took on as a result became one of his most notable characteristics.
It was an unquestionably noble thing to do. Shiva’s sacrifice was what protected the lives of numerous divine beings.
...But none of that matters if he gets stabbed in the throat.
Grasping at Shiva from behind, Percival’s headless body removed a black knife hidden in his waistband.
Abaddon was still in a blind rage, but he almost stopped when he smelled it.
The scent of Chaos.
He shed the scales on his body all at once, and a sea of miniature (100 meters) dragons rushed toward Percival. Brahma and Vishnu were also not slow to act.
But with Percival’s tail still embedded within Shiva, a transfer of power was slowly taking place.
Meaning that not only was Percival quick enough to stab his hostage in the throat before anyone could reach him, but Shiva could no longer hold the barrier up either.
And without the trimurti to hold all of the energy that was still being projected by both Abaddon and the Ophanim, the metaphorical garbage bag ripped open.
There was a flash of light that drowned the entire heavenly domain in it’s heat.
Heaven was vaporized in an instant.
-
Ganymede is cupbearer to the Greek gods. As well as a former personal attendant of Zeus.
His appearance is that of a handsome young boy in the midst of puberty with features that seemed more feminine than masculine.
He is just one of the numerous Greek deities that was present at the trial today, despite his better interests telling him not to go.
When the fighting started, Ganymede was just as hopelessly outclassed as any of the other minor gods were.
He had been busy trying to nurse a headwound when the stadium collapsed and spent the next several minutes trying to get up to leave.
Abaddon’s pressure had knocked him unconscious before he even knew what was happening. He couldn’t even attempt to fight it.
And then when he woke up.... he was falling.
He had seen the space between worlds once before, a lifetime ago.
The last thing he ever expected was that he’d end up falling to his death in it.
He hadn’t the faintest recollection of how he ended up here. Nor did he have the energy to struggle for his survival.
One of his eyes was obscured by the blood rushing from a rather nasty headwound.
But even with his incomplete vision, he could tell that he was inside of something. A bubble of some sort.
"Eyes open! All of you!"
Ganymede turned his neck slightly.
With his limited vision, he could see one of the largest dragons that had ever crossed his path plummeting through the space with him.
It was a slender, black creature with a lengthy body like a centipede. It’s scales were glossy and gem-like. They almost resembled precious minerals instead of body armor.
A crown of rainbow, pink-colored frills circled the top of it’s head. From it’s back, an enormous quartet of butterfly wings flapped majestically.
Valerie looked around her at the hundreds of thousands of bubbles falling through the gap between realms. She grimaced at the numbers.
"Are you sure this is everyone??"
From atop her back, Courtney crawled onto her frills; her face dusty and her clothes tattered.
Sweat dripped down her brow as she concentrated more than she ever had in her life.
"I-I think so..! I got everyone I could feel! Dead included!"
Valerie almost couldn’t believe it. Her daughter was so much more talented than she had ever given herself credit for.
"I-I can’t hold them much longer! I’m going to drop them!"
"Not yet, Courtney, not here! We could lose them in all sorts of directions here, you have to wait for your brother and me to finish!"
"HURRYYY!!!" Courtney started to cry.
Valerie glanced at her side, where Straga and all 100 of his heads had come to her aid.
His usually impeccable bronze colored scales were littered with wounds. The battle had hardly been easy for any of them.
"You know what to do! Make it solid!"
Straga and Valerie let out twin roars of agreement. They were heard by every single realm within the prime universe.
An illustrious white light shone from them both.
"Now, Courtney!"
Courtney collapsed onto her face before her mother even finished her words.
In the blink of an eye, the gods, angels, and heavenly deceased were all sent to a new realm crafted by Straga and Valerie.
They didn’t have the time to make an exact replica of the domin that had been lost, but they had done what they could.
Straga immediately turned around to vanquish the rest of the demon dukes, but his mother put a stop to that immediately.
"Straga! Leave them, get your sister home!"
Straga immediately started to refuse. "But mothe-"
"I don’t want to hear it, Straga! Get your sister home and make sure she gets looked after!"
Straga couldn’t swallow being sent away from the fight. Especially not with the rest of his siblings still fighting to finish off the last of the demons. They were so close to a victory.
But he made the mistake of looking at Courtney. And when he saw how bad of a state she was in, he didn’t care about anything else.
Straga vanished from between the realms- and in doing so, he took Courtney with him.
Valerie started to go back to the fight herself, but all of a sudden, she saw a flash of light and Seras and Bekka whizzed past her.
She didn’t even have to ask where they were going.
Without a single moment’s hesitation, she followed closely behind them towards their husband.
-
Percival’s twisted sense of humor was already well documented.
With all of the lightheartedness of a career clown and the morality of a death row inmate, he was an abomination when sufficiently excited.
There was no limit to just how twisted he could be.
With his head regrown and Shiva’s limp body in his possession, Percival laughed maniacally as he spun in disoriented circles.
Shiva’s impaled neck was like a fire-hydrant.
The unbelievable amount of poison inside of Shiva’s body was being used like water from a hose, keeping the primordial deities chasing after him at bay.
He had already gotten a few Progetenoi in the first wave. Three were dead: Kek and Geb from the Egyptian Pantheon, as well as Surtr from the Norse.
Percival laughed maniacally as he mocked the gods openly.
"What’s the matter!? The great old gods are scared of a little water!? I almost can’t believe it!"
The gods hated his taunts. They wanted to crush him underfoot more badly than they had wanted anything in years.
But they had to be careful.
Making themselves larger here would just give him more surface area to hit.
A few of the gods had already been splashed. It took an ungodly amount of divine power for them to stop the spread of poison from just a drop or two.
This toxin wasn’t far inferior to Lillian’s or Abaddon’s. It was to be taken seriously at all costs.
"Won’t come to me?! That’s fine, I can always come to you!"
Percival flapped his wings hard and appeared in the midst of the crowd of primordials.
He turned Shiva’s neck toward the first god he saw. Unknowingly burning through the back of Osiris.
His dagger was also coated in the special toxin. This made it easy for him to lash out and stab Hypnos before he could defend himself.
"That’s quite enough, foul monster!"
"Oh, I couldn’t agree more!"
Father Dagda made the mistake of opening his mouth.
Percival had been playing around with a bit of the venom in the back of his mouth, hoping to get his body used to it so that he could absorb it.
When Father Dagda got his attention, he pursed his lips and spat.
The toxic lookie landed right on the center of Father Dagda’s head. Burning through his flesh and skull in seconds.
The assembled gods were shocked. Percival was so delighted by their expressions that a tent rose up in his pants.
He smiled at the gods madly, with his sharp teeth glistening red.
"Well!? Who’s next!??"