BXBX NOVEL Chapter 22: One Foot In The Heavens
[The goddess of war accepts your challenge]
[The goddess of war is making preparations for battle]
"Good grief can\'t you take a joke?" Sol snickered when the clear morning skies began darkening and rain clouds began racing toward them from across the horizon. "Or, do you truly want to fight here, in the presence of your precious heroes, Dr\'ul?"
"M-my what strange and unpredictable weather we are having t-today!" Arla held on tightly to her staff preparing to flee on the first sight of any divine magic being activated near her after hearing Sol directly address and tease the goddess of war who she believed had abandoned Arkadia long ago. "Should we perhaps start training the heroes tomorrow?"
"It is just a little could cover," Grim looked around at her after Eris had finished healing the hand of Sir Morn.
"Well..." Arla stared at Sol\'s provoking expression as the clouds slowly vanished again.
[The goddess of war is reconsidering her attack for the heroes\' sake]
[You have gained the spite and interest of the goddess of war once again]
"Master Vestic... Sir," Arla approached Sol\'s side nervously. "Did you just converse with the gods?" She asked, and Sol looked down at her with a raised brow.
"Master?" Ikaris repeated.
"Lady Amastacia," Grim called to her. "Please stay focused, your student is Dina, not the imposter, as interesting as he might be he is not the focus of today,"
"Ah- yes," She nodded and approached Dina with a bounce to her steps. "Apologies Dina, something interesting caught my attention,"
"... It\'s fine," Dina glared at Sol and turned her back, continuing her introduction to her future tutor.
"Even though it seems like I\'m welcomed here, I get the feeling that I am just a distraction," Sol looked at Ikaris sheepishly. "I thought I\'d at least learn something interesting, but being around so many warriors has only served to bring out that part of me which I want to keep hidden," He explained and turned his back.
"So... It is not your wish to challenge the heavens?" Ikaris asked, slightly disappointed.
"I don\'t... I\'m not sure if I\'m ready for that yet, maybe with some more time spent relaxing, I can do it whenever I feel the urge," Sol chuckled and began walking away. "Isn\'t Dr\'ul kind of cute when she\'s upset though, like an ember that won\'t go out,"
[The goddess of war curses at your impudence]
Unlike the times they had appeared in the mortal world, the realm of gods seemed normal, aside from their grand structures most of the pantheon of gods looked like normal people, aside from the ones who were different in appearance completely, like those with multiple heads, arms, and such, Dr\'ul in particular carried with her the flames of warfare, so as long as there was the spirit of battle her red hair would glow brightly, but currently, the goddess of war\'s head was flaming because of how badly she wanted to teach Sol a lesson.
She sat on her throne with her sword in her lap, grinding her teeth and tapping her foot impatiently.
[How dare he, how dare that mortal make fun of a god so openly, how dare he stare at my face, how dare he laugh at me!] She held a hand to her red cheek as a blush crept across and doused her anger in one fell swoop while the system window closed. [How dare that man... With those eyes... I want to fight him more than anything else!]
[Dr\'ul!] Another voice echoed through her chamber while she was in the middle of fantasizing about her fight with Sol. [Dr\'ul have you yet to smite the little bastard?] Came the voice again, and she sobered up and watched a male god with the head and horns of a goat with a shield on his back tear the space of her domain and enter unannounced.
[You little goat,] Dr\'ul grabbed him by his head and raised him off the ground, revealing that she was even more massive in her own realm than she was when she was on Arkadia or elsewhere, the god was as small as a cat to her. [How dare you enter my palace unannounced, did the human beat the last sense out of your ugly head as well?]
[M-my apologies lord Dr\'ul, but I spied and saw him walking unharmed after you descended and struck him!] The goat-head shrieked when Dr\'ul squeezed his head.
[My affairs with that man are to go undisturbed, they most certainly do not need to be discussed with the likes of you.] She shook him like a doll.
[But know this, he may not be equal, but he already has a foot amongst the gods, several times more powerful than the vast majority of you lesser gods and almost equal in strength to many of the higher echelon, do not treat him like a cockroach, otherwise you will be trampled and embarrassed again, Sven.] She warned.
[He may be human, but he has divine blessings from his own goddess, who treats him like her own god, he is beyond you.] Dr\'ul stared at the shocked expression of the goathead and released him to the floor, and then watched him scurry away again and disappear through the system gate he had entered.
[Sol Vestic,] She spoke his name with an air of respect, holding her cheek.
[I truly wish to fight you.]
Back on Arkadia Sol felt his ear ringing as he was being discussed by many gods.
"Ugh, this is annoying," He tried drowning out the sensation by smacking the side of his head but in the end, it was to no avail, and he just started ignoring the feeling.
"Lord Vestic," Sara held a fork with a red grape to his mouth, and Sol ate from her hand with a gleeful and carefree expression, sitting in the castle\'s kitchen with her as the other maids had to be doing actual work.
"Ah, it really does taste different from earth grapes, is this really grape?" Sol picked up another one, and the maid waved her hands with a sheepish smile. While the others gave her expressions ranging from annoyance to jealousy.
"I assure you it is!" She chuckled, taking a seat next to him and smiling fondly at his almost childish mentality.
"Next then, what\'s that over there?" Sol pointed to another random fruit he had never seen before, a large purple fruit that had swirls in the form of wrinkles. "It kind of reminds me of the bubblegum demon fruit from that anime \'three-piece," He stared at it with a grin.
"That is just an ingredient," Sara quickly fetched and brought it back to him, presenting it like a baby, and Sol reclined like a demon from an exorcist after smelling it.
"I-Isn\'t that garlic?" He asked, and she laughed out at the way he behaved.
"I do not know of anything called \'garlic\', but the bane root is a very potent medicine, it also makes for good ingredients,"
"Gosh, get that thing away from me it stinks!" Sol held his nose and turned his head.
"Very well, I will make up for it by introducing you to the nectar of wraith ants," Sara smiled and hurried to the other side of the kitchen again.
"This isn\'t so bad," Sol smiled and rested his cheek on his fist, peeking through his left eye at the status window right next to his head. "If only you bunch would just stop staring at me,"
[You are being observed by the god of disaster]
[You are being observed by the goddess of chaos]
[You are being observed by the god of destruction]
[You are being observed by the god of goats]
"Wh- the goats get their own god too?!"