"Hear out!" Tina shrieked before Uriel had the chance to lunge at her and he took a pause to study her. She looked better than she ever did, which said a lot, but her attire was ssy and not even Aphrodite's blessing was enough to make it look charming. If anything, she looked pitiful, not that it mattered to Uriel who had long lost connection to that sort of emotion.
"Fine." Uriel said calmly, despite the fact that he was being restrained by both Nika and Luna.
"I just wanted to be the governor and never intended for any of this to happen, you have to believe ." Tina sobbed and wiped a tear off her eyes.
"So it was you the one tipping the gods. I've been tailing our entire company, I even had to go on a bender with Dana!" Nika hissed as though she made a huge sacrifice.
"She's telling the truth, she actually ant well." Aphrodite said through Tina's mouth.
"The way towards hell is paved with people who ant well." Uriel said in such a calm manner no one could have guessed he was still angry, if not for him still attempting to release himself from Nika's shadow bindings.
"The world really is about to end and the gods have been trying to prevent it for the longest ti, but all we have managed is to stall it. The titans are loose and we cannot defeat them. I, myself, am not a fighter." Aphrodite said.
"You're just a scheming bitch, that is what you are." Nika shouted and released Uriel's bindings just enough to make Aphrodite jolt.
"True, true... but that doesn't change the fact that I've been helping you all this ti. When all the gods forgot about you, I was there for you." Aphrodite said to Uriel who tilted his head in confusion for a brief period.
"Now you're just spitting lies." Uriel shook his head.
"How can you say that, when I've been throwing pretty girls your way since the mont you beca a hunter! And I worked so hard to get you to fall in love with Tina!" Aphrodite stomped her feet like the pampered goddess she was, though she caused the entire church to quake due to her imnse power. As a threat, it didn't really work, but it served to remind those present that although coward and 'peaceful', Aphrodite was still among the most powerful gods in the Olimpieion.
"Really? I thought it was just the disparity in male and female population caused by how many n died during the arrival. Most of soldiers were n after all and even those who didn't belong to the army were still expected to defend won."
"That may be true, but do you really think you eting with so many cute girls was an accident? Phlox, Nika, Luna and particularly dusa, they've all been blessed by . Every ti they took care of themselves, every ti they put on make up or took their ti picking their outfit, I blessed them with beauty each in their own way."
"What about ?" Miss Dragonfang butted in, but Aphrodite looked at her with pitying eyes and remained silent.
"Why are you here talking with us instead of doing whatever it is you gods are doing outside right now." Uriel said, finally relenting on his attempts to punch Tina despite how badly he wanted to do it.
"They're outside revealing themselves to humans, showing their power and granting blessings all over the place." Aphrodite said.
"In other words, they're raising an army." dusa added.
"I'm afraid that's the case. But before you judge us, you have to understand we are also human beings. Sure, there are plenty of ancient gods that don't care about what happens to humanity, but there's hundreds of forr heroes who overca their limits and beca gods at so point. Those heroes of the past, they're all now trying to do what they think it's best for humanity and you must not interfere." Aphrodite said, hinting that she knew Uriel could do it.
"What do you want, then?" Uriel scowled as he recognized in Aphrodite the face Tina made whenever she asked him to do his howork.
"I first noticed you when this vessel chose you as her boyfriend and I saw you work hard for her for nothing in return."
"Not going to happen, those days are over." Uriel cut the goddess short.
"I know, and I definitely will reward you. But that is only if you stop all this."
"There is a way to stop this!?" dusa lunged forward and so did many of the Dungeon Raiders as they encircled Aphrodite and although they didn't show any signs of hostility, she did felt threatened.
"If you sohow stop the shadow from going further north, then we might have a couple more centuries to prepare against the titans. It's not much ti, but at this rate we will all be destroyed and it's the only thing I can think of." Aphrodite said, then her deanor shifted as she explained the situation.
As Uriel suspected, the end of the world was not a single event that occurred in history, but rather a cyclic event that ca and went many tis since the earth was born. That part wasn't new, but when Aphrodite ntioned how it happened things finally beca clear.
According to her, humanity, the gods and even all the species that inhabited the earth before they existed were nothing but spectators in the outgoing battle that's been taking place since the beginning of ti. Titans would fight for supremacy unleashing all sorts of power that no living creature could withstand and depending on who won the fight, the earth itself would change.
"So, you're basically saying that the birth of the moon was the titan of earth winning, then ca a period of fire and then?"
"Water," Aphrodite said casually, ignoring that she actually provided Uriel the biggest clue on Water warlock's identity. She then kept going. "then ca ice, and so on and so forth. All the gods that look like humans co from the sa period."
"The anthropocene," Uriel answered as that wasn't even close to a mystery to him. "and it's coming to an end."
"Yes. That's not really a problem, since our species will be able to persist as long as a couple survive. The issue is the titan that has the upper hand now, he's particularly powerful and vicious. The titan of darkness."
"So, why don't you take him out then?"
"The short answer is we can't... we gods keep the balance, which ans we can weaken so titans to make sure our species will be able to live in the outside world after the titans are over fighting each other. Our biggest concern is that few hunters or gods even have been able to return from the darkness, and two of those hunters belong to your company. Sure, you're not nearly strong enough to face a titan, but stronger beings have challenged the southern hemisphere never to be seen again. Nobody knows what's in there, except..." Aphrodite pointed at Nika, who hid behind dusa. When dusa moved aside, Nika crouched between Luna yet the accusatory finger remained pointing towards her.
"And our reward?" Uriel rubbed two fingers together.
"Anything, absolutely anything you want. God, blood, artifacts, slaves. I swear upon my na, I will give you anything you want as long as I can provide it. Save the world and you shall own it!" Aphrodite smirked, which looked weird coming from Tina's body, but her tone and solemnity would have made it a perfect mont for epic music to sound in the background as the band of reluctant heroes finally gathered their determination to save humanity.
"No, thanks." Luna politely said.
"I'm out, too. If the world really is about to end, I want to at least et my mom before dying." dusa followed.
"And I don't want to go back to that place... at all." Nika added.
Each remaining mber of the Dungeon Raiders had given their all to survive in a less than welcoming world before even joining the company. They've had a great ti and learned they were capable of achieving things far beyond what they thought possible, yet the request from the goddess didn't sound like a mission but rather suicide. Not a single mber in the entire company felt compelled to take part in it and the sound of 'not it' spread around like wildfire. Safe for one person.
"I'll do it." Said Uriel.
Most of the company employees knew him as their reckless boss who would usually put his own life at risk, but only as long as the reward matched the risk and they didn't think for a second he chose to accept to help humanity. Him being greedy and sotis reaching a little beyond their capabilities was one thing, but everyone understood this to be a far different scenario than any they've ever faced.
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