1 Chapter I: Ragnarok
The seven-million-year history of mankind is about to meet its end. It is not the result of any nuclear war or invasion by an alien race or even a catastrophic collision with an asteroid. As of now, mankind faces its extinction, its peril, its end, at the hand of none other than their creators, the various gods of mythologies.
The Council of Valhalla, a colosseum, is full of chattering from the different gods. Some conversations may be about their well-being, their past centuries, and such, but one subject stands out more than any of their current topics.
Whether they will spare humanity, or eradicate them completely and move on, to never let mankind rise once again as a product of their creations.
A god sat in the middle of the colosseum. Zeus, a skinny and wrinkly old-looking god with little to no hair left on his head. His eyebrows are bushy and his mustache is grown to a longer length, both of them being white as his hair. He has hollow eyes, like pools of darkness as he stares at the deities around him. The god merely wore a white cloth around his waist and nothing more.
With a mighty slam of his mallet, Zeus, the head of the Greek pantheon, and the councillor of Valhalla, clears his throat before speaking, his rough voice filling the council room. "Now then, a thousand years have officially passed since the last session, everyone." He said before pausing, looking at the massive crowd listening to him. "Let us commence our meeting."
Hearing this, everyone stayed quiet to listen to Zeus' words.
"The Council on the Fate of Mankind is attended by all the gods of the world with a few exceptions. The question that we all ask ourselves every meeting proposes itself once more." He paused, raising his head even more, his hollow eyes scanning the room. "Do we, the gods, allow mankind to continue existing for another thousand years? Or do we finally bring their existence to an end?"
At those questions, someone in a suit with long black hair and red tattoos on his face, Hermes, one of the 12 main Greek gods, raised two signs containing a circle for agreeing to let humanity live, and a cross for exterminating them.
"Gods and goddesses, make your opinions known." Zeus stated.
Not a moment later, a voice came from Hindu Pantheon.
"I think that they should be wiped out." Someone with purple skin, four arms, blue markings on his limbs, messy hair and a third eye on his forehead. Shiva, the head of the Hindu Pantheon, raised a couple of cross signs before continuing. "I've watched mankind these last thousand years and they have no intention of actually reforming. Let's just demolish the whole lot of them."
"Yes, you are quite right, Shiva." A goddess spoke from the Greek pantheon. Aphrodite, who wore golden accessories and a white dress, nods at the Hindi god. "The past years has caused the world to become increasingly unpleasant. The oceans are filled with trash and oil, the forests are dying out one by one, and innocent creatures continue to go extinct. At this point, you can even say that humanity is a calamity itself that is annihilating all living things on the face of the earth."
At that, the whole room exploded into a myriad of voices.
"Aphrodite is correct!"
"Mankind should be exterminated!"
"Those scum are nothing but pestilence!"
"I give up on leading them!"
"I couldn't agree more!"
Just like that, one by one, cross signs were raised by different pantheons, be it the Celtic, the Mesopotamian or the Irish. The room was filled by the roars of the deities who seek to destroy mankind once and for all.
"I vote for their survival!"
And then it was quiet. The deities slowly turn their heads toward the Shinto pantheon. There they saw a fair-skinned woman with long black hair that cascades past her back and elegant orange eyes. She wore an elegant white kimono with an intricate yellow design, secured by a sky blue fukuro obi with cloud patterns. Her sleeves don bright yellow patterns resembling suns with cuffs fading into an orange hue. Earrings in the shape of the sun hang from her ears and her attire is finished by a pair of geta.
"What's with that answer, eh? Amaterasu?" A voice came from the Roman pantheon. Jupiter, the head of the Roman pantheon, who is a muscular god encased in a golden armour from chest to toe, limb from limb. He has long and flowing white hair and his eyes are all white with visible sparks of lightning emanating from them. Although his arms are exposed in some areas, he still wore two golden gauntlets with sharp claws. On his shoulder was an eagle of golden color, holding in its beak what seems to be a lightning bolt. "Why vote to spare these puny creatures? Are you defying the decisions of the majority?" He asked, his voice being deep with an echo behind it.
The majority of the Shinto pantheon are immediately on the edge after hearing a silent threat from the head of the Roman pantheon, ready to lunge at the Roman deities, but Amaterasu merely raised her hand and stopped things from escalating.
Amaterasu smiled, but the deities present can feel the chilling feeling from the sun goddess' bright smile. It sent them into silence, prompting Amaterasu to finally speak uninterrupted.
"Oh? Jupiter, I was not aware that we are not allowed to voice out our thoughts and opinions. Oh my, I do apologize if I offended your fragile ego." Amaterasu said, covering her mouth when the Roman pantheon started spewing insults at the Shinto pantheon. "But I do believe that Zeus here stated that we should let our opinions be known. Do you dare defy that, hmm? Or have you gone deaf and were not able to hear our councillor state such facts?"
"You dare mock me, Amaterasu?" Jupiter growled out, his eagle giving a cry of anger, ready to give Jupiter his lightning bolt. "I do not take such unkind words lightly, I must remind you." He said, glaring at the goddess who merely giggled.
"My, my, you lots sure are bickering like children." Shiva laughs lightheartedly, resting his chin on two of his hand while his other pair raise his cross signs. "Can't we talk here like proper grown-ups?"
"Is there something we can do to change your minds?" A goddess spoke from beside the Norse pantheon. "I am quite aware of humanity's pungent acts of atrocities but removing them from existence seems too much, yeah?" Santa Muerte, a tall goddess with long black and white hair, black skin and white markings on her face and different parts of her body, wearing a humble black, white, and red dress, spoke with concern.
"Yes, there must be an alternative here." A goddess from the Egyptian pantheon with a throne-shaped headdress adorned with a solar disk and cow horns, spoke with a soft voice, earning a few stares from her fellow Egyptian deities. She is holding an ankh, and a scepter. "Countless flaws in our humans but I cannot simply watch them perish in front of me. That is just unjust, they will not even know what happened." She said, her voice protective of the mankind, making some Egyptian deities sigh, groan, or curse.
"I can always slaughter them myself! Is that a good enough alternative for you, huh? What do you say about that, Isis?" Mars, a god with red hair and black hair, in Roman war armor spoke with a mocking tone, kicking his feet up and grinning at the Egyptian goddess, Isis, who frowned at his words.
"Humans have been dishonorable these past few years! They must suffer the consequences, but I believe that completely erasing them is not befitting of their sins!" A booming voice came from the Chinese pantheon. Jade Emperor wore a majestic imperial robe of the dark green color with yellow outlines. His mustache connects to his beard that reaches way past his chest, and his eyes seem like they are made of galaxies. His hand gripped the head of his ornate staff, "A catastrophe would be a fitting punishment for their insolence! Any more than that is injustice!"
Amidst the argument of different pantheons, a loud groan was heard by the people of the coliseum.
"I'd prefer if you all leave the bloody humans on their own and let them suffer the consequences of their actions by themselves." Someone near the exit spoke with an annoyed tone. A fine looking gentleman in a black suit and red tie, black dress pants, and black shoes. He has short and slick hair, brushed to the side, and goat-like pupils in his yellowish eyes. "Their existence are punishment enough for them. They create their own problems and we don't even need to mess with them anymore. You lots are just bored as fuck and can't find anything entertaining to do." Satan, the ruler of Hell, said while glaring daggers at the deities. "Trust me, I've been here longer than any of you combined, they're extremely flawed creatures, but they function on their own even without any divine interference. So, cool your asses down and grow up."
"We created them, we can do anything to them! Why don't you just shut it, eh? We strive for perfection, to be honest. Any flaws they have is an insult to our names!" Mars said, standing up and pointing his sword at Satan who narrowed his eyes at the Roman god of war.
"Then you bloody created their flaws, you dimwitted sorry excuse for a god." Satan's rebuttal earned him a set of glares from each pantheon. "All of you has a part on their creation. That means their flaws came from all of you. If they are to be erased because of their flaws then why don't we erase ourselves after that, eh? That will prevent us from fucking up another time." The Devil chuckled when a large amount of deities glared at him and spat insults at him.
"Dumbass! You dare mock us!" A white bird on Odin's left shoulder screamed.
"You're dead! Fucking dead meat! You hear that?!" The black bird on the right followed.
Hearing the words of the birds, Satan laughs at them, and then Odin who frowns at the Devil's behavior. Next thing everyone know, the birds drop to the floor and Satan began whistling and walking around. A lot of deities were about to spring into action but Zeus stopped them.
"Alright, alright, that's enough already, all of you." All the deities then look at Zeus who now stood up and walked forward. "Let's all be calm before things get ugly in here, hehe." The head of the Greek pantheon chuckled at the end which was enough to make everyone stand down, except the other major deities and heads of pantheons.
Seeing that things might escalate further and become troublesome, everyone decided to stand down to avoid any complications.
After that is done, Zeus looks around and finds a lot of deities holding up cross signs. The amount of those raising circle signs are miniscule compared to the cross. At this, the extermination of mankind won by a landslide, making Zeus chuckle lightly before raising his voice.
"Well, it seems that we've come to a decision." He said before walking toward his desk and picking up his mallet once more. "Winning by an enormous margin with little to no resistance, The Council on the Fate of Mankind has decided to end-"
Zeus was about to bring down his mallet but a sudden interruption stopped it by a mere centimeter, sending a gust of wind throughout the coliseum.
"Objection! Keep all of your mouths shut!" A booming voice of a female came from the top of the entrance. With a loud crash, she landed in front of many deities who stared in shock. Dust rose up and covered the newcomer but it did not stop her voice as she growls out these words, "I refuse to let humanity just flicker and die just because you lots decided to take them out!" With a gust of wind, the dust was blown away, revealing a woman holding a thick black book. "That is against the Valhalla Constitution, article No. 62, paragraph 15 of the super special clause! As the leader of the Valkyries, the protector of humanity, I shall go against any adversary that threatens them!" She shouted, tossing the book in front of Zeus, showing the exact article she mentioned.
Freya, the goddess of the Norse pantheon and the head of the Valkyries, is a vision of strength and beauty, donning war-forged armor that gleams in the light. Her flowing golden hair is crowned with a circlet of intricate design. Her fierce blue eyes hold both wisdom and determination. Her arms don metallic gauntlets and she wears metallic boots, both in radiant orange and gold color. A shield is strapped to her back, and a sword rests at her hip to finish her attire.
Zeus looks down and sees the rule the deities have written, and then he laughs. He chuckled before looking at Freya who wore a serious expression, almost glaring at him.
"Look, Freya, while it is on the rules, us gods cannot simply be defeated by mere humans. You already know that." The god said with a small laugh, making almost everyone follow his lead.
"Yeah! How dare you mock us like this, Freya!"
"Us? Fighting humans? What a load of shit! Battles are going to be over in seconds!"
"Ha! Give us a human that can withstand a blow from us, then maybe we'll consider it!"
Hearing the last one, Freya grinned before laughing loudly, silencing everyone present.
"You said you want a human that can withstand a blow from a god or goddess? That's easy!" The head of the Valkyries states before using some magic to project a picture of a lean blond man without any clothes other than a leaf covering his groin. "Father of Humanity, Adam! He will knock your lights out if you people are not careful!" Looking smug, Freya then asks, "Now that I've given an example of a human that can survive a god's blow, is it time to reconsider? Because I can definitely present dozens more similar candidates to beat your bodies into a bloody mess!"
Facing such claims from the leader of the Valkyries, Zeus looks down, thinking.
"Is that so?" Zeus grumbled before spreading his arms open, raising his head up and letting out a laugh that echoed throughout the area. "If a fight is what you want, Freya, then a fight is what you'll get! My fellow divines, let us show those humans just how much of a gap we have compared to them! Let us give them hope in this Ragnarok before destroying it in front of their faces!"
The deities roared in defiance, their pride wounded at Freya' words which prompted them to agree to the challenge. They all cheered when Zeus pointed at Freya who crossed her arms, looking smugly at Zeus whose eye sockets glow a faint white hue.
"Remember that you chose this, Freya. After this, you can settle with being my booty call since barely any deities here will accept you." He said with a perverted grin that made Freya scoff. "Hehe, I like fesity ones. They are the most satisfying to break." He then turns to Hermes who raised an eyebrow. "Hermes, kindly arrange a meeting for the pantheons, we'll choose our fighters after this. Although, they can be anyone at this point." He ended with a laugh, patting Hermes on the shoulder. "It's not like humans will be able to hurt us, hehe."
Zeus leaps and landed on the other entrance of the colosseum before looking back. His eye sockets giving another glow before saying, "Alright, this meeting is dismissed! All of you, get ready for a battle!"
Just like that, every pantheon stood up before vanishing from the colosseum, already planning what they will do with Ragnarok.
This left Freya standing there with the same expression she had when looking at Zeus. She then lets go of the breath that she has been holding before sitting on the ground, her hands on the side and preventing her from falling back. The goddess took deep breaths, keeping her heartbeat steady. Her facade, broken after making sure that most of the deities are gone.
"That was awfully brave of you, what on Yahweh's name did you have for breakfast?"
Freya blows another breath out, her hands tapping her armored chest, before looking at Satan who sat beside her.
"I had to, you know? We Valkyries are protectors of humanity and I can't let them get this treatment!" Freya whines, pouting before hugging her legs and burying her face between them. "I should've stayed behind and let Brunhilde do this thing. She would've been better at it than me. I'm too much of a nervous wreck when it comes to this type of thing. Brunhilde is not, though."
"Uh huh? Yeah sure, Brunhilde would've done a lot better in hurting the prides of the deities here, that's just given." Satan laughs lightly, looking at the center of the colosseum where Zeus stood. "You still didn't answer what you had for breakfast though." He said with a chuckle.
Freya, caught off guard, giggles at the Devil's behavior which made him laugh as well.
"Oh, you better dodge though." She heard Satan say before looking forward.
Next thing she knew is that she was staring at the orange sky of Valhalla, indicating that it is almost sunset. Freya looks at the individual who tackled her to the ground and is now hugging her armored abdomen.
"Thank you, may you be blessed for eternity!" Santa Muerte said, standing up and lifting Frey like she weighed nothing. "I can't believe they gave mankind a chance after you said those words! I must thank you!" She exclaims in joy, spinning Freya around which made the other goddess gasp in surprise.
"Oh my, careful now, Santa Muerte. You might break our little brave goddess." Amaterasu giggles in amusement as she nears them. "But I do believe that it's going to be tough for our little humans, Freya. They simply are not well-equipped to face divine beings like us." She pauses as Santa Muerte puts Freya down. "But I do feel like you already have a plan."
"Oh," Freya catches her breath, dusting off herself before standing straight and looking at Satan, Santa Muerte, and Amaterasu. With a grin, she says her next words with confidence.
"You better believe that! I'll tell you later and you should give me suggestions! For now, I will gather up the humans that will fight, I already have a few in mind!"
{•===Valkyries' Meeting Room===•}
Tomorrow came and the rosters of both sides are now done.
Gods:
• Amaterasu (Shinto)
• Athena (Greek)
• Brigid (Celtic)
• Jupiter (Roman)
• Kālī (Hindu)
• Loki (Norse)
• Mars (Roman)
• Namaka (Hawaiian)
• Nyx (Greek)
• Odin (Norse)
• Set (Egyptian)
• Quetzalcoatl (Aztec)
• Zeus (Greek)
Humans:
• Adolf Hitler
• Alulim
• Arthur Pendragon
• Beowulf
• Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri
• Edward Teach
• Hua Mulan
• J. Robert Oppenheimer
• Lapu-Lapu
• Moses
• Pandora
• Vincent van Gogh
• Vlad Dracula
Freya had to stop herself from screaming on the top of her lungs before throwing a vase to the wall, making her fellow Valkyries wince.
"Amaterasu joined?! After all of the shit she said?! And then she joined to battle humanity?!" Freya rages, feet digging into the floor of the oval room as she stomps.
"You should stay calm, sister." A voice cuts Freya off before she can start shouting again. "You will think better when you are calm. So, be calm."
Brunhilde, the charismatic second-in-command, is a figure of elegance and resolute determination. Adorned in ornate armor that gleams with divine luminescence, her flowing silver hair cascades down her back. Similar to some of her sisters, she wore a gold wing-shaped hairpin. Piercing blue eyes reflect both wisdom and resolve as she stares at the list of fighters.
"Maybe we should've swapped Pandora with Adam, though." Brunhilde said, analyzing the humans they have chosen. "His abilities and skill is definitely on par with the deities, maybe even better. Pandora is unwilling to fight but you still add her to the list and that will backfire if she decides to just accept her fate." Brunhilde shifted her gaze to the now composed Freya. "Is there something that you said to Pandora, sister? Or is she really going to fight?"
Breathing deeply, Freya lets out a stressed sigh before speaking. "Yes, Pandora is quite determined to fight now after I convinced her that this is for the betterment of all things. I added a little something that made her accept but I cannot reveal it yet because there might be spies peeking from the shadows." Freya said, making Brunhilde nod in understanding.
"While being physically weaker than the first man, Pandora has many strengths that Adam lacks. She has a vast array of abilities while Adam can only copy abilities and make them better, and I believe that she is more tenacious than Adam after unleashing everything inside of her cursed box, the first catastrophe of humanity." Brunhilde nods before pointing at another name. "Now, Vincent van Gogh, I know that he is cursed by Loki after the sadist got bored. He made Vincent suffer from constant voices in his head and made his vision twisted, other than that, he has no fighting experience. I warned you but you ignored me, why?"
"You notice someone is missing here?" Freya asks Brunhilde with a smug grin. "The plan is already in motion."
Brunhilde then looks around, her blue eyes scanning every nook and crevices of the room, only to shake her head with a small smile.
"I see, so they are partnered?" The second-in-command asked.
"Yup!" Freya nods with enthusiasm.
Before Brunhilde can question Freya further, they heard a buzzer before the large screen in the oval rooms shows who is the vanguard of the deities.
"Kālī," Freya frowns at the name. "They are sending a master of combat as their vanguard. Only a couple on our human list can match her."
"Who are we sending then, sister?" Freya's hand went cold the moment Brunhilde asked that question.
"We're sending a master of combat as well. Valkyries! To battle we go!" Freya said, a determined expression present on her face before clicking on a name and walking out of the room, shouting one of the Valkyries' names.
Soon enough, the room was vacated and the screen was left on, showing the first round of the first ever Ragnarok.
ROUND 1
Hua Mulan vs Kālī
{•===To Be Continued===•}
I wanted a more diverse roster for the humans so... yeah, here it is. Might edit this chapter if I feel like it.
