CHAPTER 282: CHAPTER 40

As the alliance between the Greek and the Norse fighting off an outer one occurred, various universes have also learned the news.

Across the brilliant expanse of the Celtic heavens, the divine light that forever radiated from Lugh’s golden throne dimmed beneath the storm of his fury.

His eyes, usually radiant like miniature suns, now burned with wrathful intensity as he gripped the fragile scroll in his hand so tightly that the sacred parchment crackled beneath the strain of his anger, threatening to be torn apart by divine strength.

"Is this true?"

Before him, Morrigan, the phantom of war and prophecy, stood as silent as the shadow between worlds, her long black hair cascading like liquid night over her shoulders, her crimson eyes gleaming faintly with restrained emotion, neither fear nor satisfaction betraying her calm demeanor as she confirmed the truth that her king wished not to hear.

"Yes," she said quietly, her voice like the whisper of twilight before the first drop of blood in battle, "the Norse have indeed allied with the Greeks. They fought together and repelled the fragment of the Outer Ones, securing their pantheon’s survival. Their victory is no rumor, it is a truth that echoes across the void between universes."

Lugh’s jaw tightened, his divine aura crackling violently, making the golden floor beneath his feet shimmer and warp as though the light itself feared his rage.

"So Odin..." he spat the name with the bitterness of betrayal, "...my oldest ally, the god I once called brother in arms, now kneels beside those abominations of the Greek pantheon? Has he forgotten what that woman, Nyx, did to the Romans? How she consumed their gods, devoured their divinity, and turned their heavens into an empty shell of nothingness to create her own divine Pantheon!?"

The scroll trembled in his hand as his power surged uncontrollably, and the air around him began to distort, the walls of his radiant throne hall bending beneath the weight of his fury.

Morrigan, ever unflinching, simply lowered her head and spoke again, her tone cold yet respectful.

"Even gods are capable of desperation, Lugh. Odin’s realms were nearly annihilated. The Norse faced extinction, and the Greeks offered them salvation. Would you not have done the same, had the Celts stood upon the brink of ruin?"

Her words were sharp, carrying both reason and accusation, but Lugh ignored them, his mind lost in a storm of betrayal and disbelief.

For eons, the pantheons maintained fragile connections, threads of divine communication woven across the endless sea of realities, messengers and emissaries traveling between them to share the tidings of fate.

However, the Greeks had long been an exception. Their isolation was absolute, born from universal fear and hatred toward the goddess who once erased a civilization’s gods as though they were dust before her night.

None dared send a spy into their universe, for to do so was to invite oblivion.

And now, Odin, the one who should have known better, had invited her into his halls.

Lugh’s grip finally snapped, and the scroll disintegrated into golden ashes, consumed by his divine flame.

"He’s lost his mind," he growled, voice deep and trembling with divine resonance. "He dares bring her shadow into his universe, he dares gamble the balance of all existence for the favor of that monster!"

The great hall shook, and every flame in the celestial realm flickered as though recoiling from his wrath.

Slowly, he turned, the sunlight from his form cutting through the darkness that had dared to creep into his domain.

His golden cloak flared behind him as he took a step forward, each stride radiating the authority of a god who once commanded armies across heavens.

"I will not stand idle while the Norse align themselves with that abomination," he declared, his voice echoing like thunder through the divine capital. "Odin owes me an explanation, and I will have it."

He raised his hand, and a brilliant spear of sunlight, his divine weapon, Gae Assail, forged from the core of a dying star, manifested within his grasp.

The air around him burned, distorting reality as he prepared to breach the walls between universes.

Morrigan’s crimson eyes gleamed faintly, a solemn look ghosting upon her face as she whispered, "Do not let your anger consume you, Lugh. The Greek with Nyx alone is not to be trifled with. Now, they even have that anomaly."

That anomaly who, according to the reports, have completely defeated a true Outer One.

"I know." Lugh nodded, "But I must have a talk with Odin."

And with a flare of blinding brilliance, Lugh vanished, his divine light cutting through the void like a sun piercing the endless night, headed straight for Odin’s universe.

*

*

*

Across the endless and formless void that stretched between realities where universes shimmered like distant stars adrift upon a cosmic ocean, news of the alliance between the Greeks and Norse spread like wildfire, rippling through the very fabric of the multiverse itself.

It reached every pantheon that still dared to call itself sovereign beneath the shadow of the Outer Ones.

From the highest heavens to the deepest realms, gods and immortals alike turned their gaze toward the Nine Realms, their thoughts a tempest of curiosity, pride, and unease, each pantheon reacting in accordance to its own nature and arrogance.

Far to the east, within the radiant palaces of Takamagahara, the Shinto gods heard of the alliance and reacted with the same serene indifference that characterized their long-held isolation.

Amaterasu Ōmikami, the resplendent goddess of the sun and undisputed ruler of the Shinto pantheon, merely closed her golden eyes as she sat upon her throne of light.

She declared to her council, "You have no need to concern yourself with the affairs of foreign divinities."

Her brothers, Tsukiyomi and Sussano, looked at her with doubt. Norse allying themselves with the Greeks to fight off an invasion of an outer one is a very big deal.

Not to mention that anomalous existence, Hades, even completely defeated a true Outer One.

Amaterasu lazily waved her hands, "As long as our universe remained unsullied by external influence, the tides of cosmic politics could crash and recede without ever touching the shores of our dominion."

As long as they can hide their universe and protect themselves, they can survive. Why should they risk exposing their universe just to ally with other Pantheons who may or may not even completely defeat all of Outer Ones?

"Just do your own thing, ignore those reports."

Although her council still has doubts, they didn’t say anything.

Her words were law, after all, and so the Shinto pantheon remained still—untouched, unmoved, and completely unbothered.

*

In the realm of the Hindus, where the dance of creation and destruction was eternal, Lord Shiva merely laughed when he received the tidings.

"Hahahaha! That brat, Hades, sure is something else!"

His divine trident resting lazily across his shoulder as he declared, "But it doesn’t matter, the affairs of others were nothing to me, for I am was destruction incarnate, the end and the beginning, the flame that consumes all delusion!"

What could possibly threaten the one who could dissolve the universe with a single breath?

The thought of fearing Outer Ones, or relying on another pantheon for aid, was beneath his notice.

Although he hasn’t yet reached the level of a Transcendent Being, he was close to that level. What is there to fear!?

He closed his eyes once more, continuing his sleep as his brothers, Vishnu and Brahma observed silently—each knowing that if chaos ever reached their domain, it would not be alliances but Shiva’s wrath that would preserve their universe.

*

In the celestial courts of the Chinese pantheon, arrogance thicker than divine mist filled the Jade Palace; the gods of Heaven, from the august Jade Emperor to the most venerable Immortals, heard of the alliance and dismissed it with derisive laughter.

They believed their civilization, their Dao, and their cosmic structure to be the pinnacle of order and perfection.

"So what if the Greeks and Norse hold hands in fear?" one celestial general scoffed.

"Even should their heavens collapse, it changes nothing for us."

Their pride, honed through countless eons of self-worship and divine bureaucracy, blinded them to the storm beyond their universe; to them, all other pantheons were ants scurrying under Heaven’s gaze.

*

The Mesopotamian gods, however, were less prideful and more pragmatic.

Within the ancient ziggurat of the heavens, Anu and Enlil listened intently to the report delivered by their messengers from the void.

Though the so-called Divine Council—a gathering of all pantheons under Hades’ distant watch—had long fallen into disuse, ignored by gods too proud to cooperate, the emergence of this true alliance between the Greeks and Norse drew their interest.

Here, at last, was something tangible, something real an alliance forged not from words but from war, sealed in blood and survival.

Enki, the wise, suggested that this might be the beginning of a new divine order, one that could either protect or threaten them depending on their response.

And thus, the Mesopotamians began to watch closely, weighing their options in silence.

*

Further west, in the lands of endless sun and crimson sacrifice, the Aztec and Mayan gods stirred in fascination.

Within the obsidian halls of Teotihuacan, Huitzilopochtli, his eyes like twin suns of blood, declared, "Hurry, we must send emissaries to Odin’s realm to inquire about this alliance!"

This was not out of reverence but strategy.

For the Aztec and the Mayan understood the importance of strength through unity. Eons ago, they were not even close, but the destruction of the Inca Gods forced the Aztecs and Mayans to unite, creating a solid alliance to resist the fragments.

And if the Norse and Greeks had found a way to settle their differences and unite, perhaps they too could secure their survival in the face of the ever-devouring chaos beyond the stars by joing them.

Quetzalcoatl, the Feathered Serpent, merely smiled, his voice a calm wind cutting through the war god’s fire, as he said, "This alliance sure is similar to ours, they at least have some tangible benefits to offer and not just empty promises."

*

Although there are Pantheons eager to join the Greek and Norse alliance, nowhere did the divine reaction burn more fiercely than in the deserts of Kemet.

The Egyptian pantheon, once resplendent in eternal glory, now bore the scars of countless wounds, wounds that no passage of eons could heal.

When word reached Ra, the Sun God and king of the gods, his golden face twisted not in skepticism but in eagerness.

The idea of a functioning alliance between pantheons, one that actually acted instead of merely talking, struck him as salvation.

"So what if it is with the Greeks?" he declared from atop his solar barque, his divine flame burning hotter than ever. "If it means the survival of Kemet, then I, Ra, will burn my pride before I let my gods fade into dust."

For their pain was deep and ancient, an agony born not just from war but humiliation.

Eons ago, when they faced one of the Outer Fragments, they had triumphed, yes, but victory came at a price so steep that it crippled their pantheon for ages.

And before they could recover, the Angels of the Christian pantheon, those radiant zealots of "divine justice" descended upon them in holy wrath, nearly annihilating what little strength they had left.

The Egyptians still remembered the agony, the invasion that stripped their universe of divine energy, weakening their stars, dimming their temples, silencing the prayers of countless mortals.

And all because Ra, in his fiery pride, had mocked their god, an insult so small, yet answered with devastation so cruel that even the proud Pharaoh of the gods could not forget it.

Even now, the Angels were still feeding on the energy of their Universe, and they can do nothing about it.

Ra had long since suspected that Yahweh had long since ascended beyond divinity and became a transcendent being.

After all, he was a monolithic god, he alone bears majority of the power of his universe, not to mention he also siphoned energy from the Egyptian universe.

He has more than enough energy to support his ascension.

That’s why Ra completely gave up the thoughts of revenge, letting them siphon energy from his universe, after all, they still have enough to survive.

But he also does not want to continue living like this!

Thus, when the word of Odin’s alliance came, Ra clenched his golden scepter and laughed bitterly, the sound echoing like thunder over the Nile of the heavens.

"Petty angels," he growled, eyes burning with vengeance. "Petty God of purity, afraid of their own shadows. Let them preach of judgment while we prepare for survival. If Odin and the Greeks have forged a union strong enough to defy the void, then Egypt shall not be left behind. Not this time."

And so, across the infinite expanse of realities, the ripples of Odin’s decision spread like the first tremor of a divine storm, every pantheon stirred, every god watched, and for the first time since the birth of creation, the heavens themselves whispered not of supremacy, but of alliance.