63 Turmoil

"My task is over, now all is left is yours. Reclaim the world as you see fit and give me what is mine," Said Gilgamesh to the floating orbs.

"You are indeed worthy of many rewards Gilgamesh," Said Dementi, "Yet what you ask for is too much, you want to become one of us, You need more than what you have just done."

"THAT WAS NOT OUR DEAL!" Roared Gilgamesh "You all know well that I did this to gain Divinity, yet you have now spoken against it. When will those lies of yours end!"

"You dare label us as liars!" replied Dementi while the universe shuddered from its rage.

"Enough!" Said Nox who came into the picture. "Gilgamesh, you have done well in entrapping that abomination, you even reclaimed the divine essence that the former hero consumed yet you must know that to become one of us you need to conquer the divine stages of heaven. do you have the power to do it?"

"I did this so I wouldn't have to go through that place, you really want my death with that to don't you?"

"I would not want someone of your strength to die, Gilgamesh, So wait, for, but few more millennials and your body will eventually evolve due to being in constant presence with us. Then you will be one of us, you need but time."

"Those few millennia that you speak of as if they were but moments are far too much for one such as me…" said Gilgamesh, dejected but unable to convince them. They were not bound by time, it was not something that ruled over them anymore. But for him, a few millennia is too much.

"Shiva… you have returned." Said the pitch black orb of might.

"Nox. You seem to have been waiting for my return." Said the red goddess of destruction as she threw the unconscious Abaddon to the ground.

"Why did you bring this here Shiva?" replied Nox while he saw the body of Abaddon corrupting the holy ground.

"He will be needed later on, it seems that your fears were unfounded oh great ones, you remained here in your high tower scared of moving down to earth, while the one that you feared most was not even worth it. Pestilence no longer holds his old might, Famine grew too feeble with consuming the lives of the weak, while war could never show itself as these times of peace made him unable to manifest on the ground of the living…"

"What do you mean Shiva?" said Nox

"The world is no longer bound by the power of those four, I will be the first to go down and claim a piece of it for myself. There is nothing that could compromise our power in that world anymore. Lastly, the one you feared is bound in chains for an eternal prison… you may remain here, I will not."

"What do you mean War could no longer manifest itself?" said Gilgamesh

"Ah, Gilgamesh my boy, Your contractor is somehow unable to appear in the world. Perhaps he grew weaker."

"That is impossible, as long as there is strife in the world he will be there."

"That is not the case my boy, I ravaged through several territories to force him to show, but it was in vain. Perhaps he is afraid?"

"Preposterous, that being fears, not Death itself."

The red goddess then laughed saying

"Though Death is his brother, I assure you, he should be afraid of him as any of us must. Death is to not be trifled with. Though War loves to fight and is probably the only being that could stand on the same ground as me when it is about military strength, not even I dare disrespect Death. Or would dare say that I don't fear him."

A black vortex then soon opened in the realms of heaven.

Too dark not even light could escape it, then an enormous skeleton shrouded in black veils appeared, holding on his hand a ginormous scythe that looked like it would split worlds in half.

"Speak of the devil…" said Shiva, while a bead of sweat on her forehead, through Divine and should be fearless one would know when they are in trouble, and this time Death itself came to them.

"I feel… stifled" said Death while looking around

"Death." Said Nox, while reforming into a tall man with hair darker than coal that reached all the way to the ground, he wore black clothes, he looked handsome beyond the measures of a man, while his eyes contained the darkness of the night.

With that everyone followed him, they all took their humanoid forms. Perhaps it was a written law that all should respect the powerful.

Dementi was a woman with blue hair, a beauty amongst beauties, with a skin that took the color of porcelain.

She then paid respect to the guest

"Death," she said

Then all the glowing orbs took a position and showed their true nature.

It was one word they said, all of them, Death, they all acknowledged him, gave him his respect. As it was the many law, Death is their end. And the only one of the four that none of them could challenge.

As it was, Death was the first creation of the Oldest One, he gave him most of his power, the power to collect the ones that passed, the blessing of an eternal silence.

Looking at the suffering Gilgamesh as he was still bound by mortal laws dementi decided to speak for him, though he was not respectful towards her she even did not want to lose a potential powerhouse.

"Death. We revealed our true appearance to you, why do you retain that look?" said Dementi.

In her words, all knew that in the presence of this being anything that is mortal shall pass. Gilgamesh was one, though long-lived and a demigod he still was governed by the laws of mortals.

"I like it like this," said Death, just a few simple words made them all silence, he liked the way he looked?

Though all knew that the actual image of death was much more gruesome than this, he decided to retain the appearance of a grim reaper

"After all this is what my Proxy sees me at."

Other few words made the whole universe tremble, every single one of these beings new the weight of those spoken words.

Death took in a disciple!

"Now what have you done with him? I can no longer feel his presence in the world, and his soul has yet to pass through me."

"What do you mean Death?" said Nox. "We do not have any…Don't tell me! YOU TOOK IN THE HERALD!"

Shiva then laughed hysterically.

"Indeed, how didn't I see this, the one that has power over death itself is none other than one related to death, a being that dies not, a being that revives, one that is banished from death, an immortal that never crossed the realms of divinity! The disciple of death…" she said

"This is no time for jokes Shiva!" roared Nox "Death! Why have you done this! Do you seek animosity with us?"

"Animosity you say? Do you think that if you all become my enemy that you will have a chance at defeating me?"

Words of challenge Death spoke yet all knew well, that none of them can defeat him, even if they managed to group their forces and fight as one they would all die with but a word, after all this is Death.

"No, perhaps I should consider you to be my enemy for that you have done this… yet still, I always remained Neutral, and will forever remain, my task remains the same as I was given it the first time, govern over those that passed, I don't want to interfere with your matters but I don't like it when I lose a soul like that without knowing why so tell me, where is Daiki." Death said. Green flames for eyes shone, they contained the world of the dead within them, souls that rampaged through and through unable to leave or live. Imprisoned within his eyes are realms of the deceased.

"We don't dare disrespect you," said Shiva. "And you just said that you will remain neutral, what happened is simple. He crossed us and was sentenced to exile, to a world that is unbound by laws or morals, a timeless world where he cannot leave nor any can enter."

Death looked around and thought about the current situation before speaking something.

"Afterall, he didn't make it then. You who claim to be divine, do you honestly believe your reign will remain unperturbed? You have all seen it, you saw how he will upturn this world, and you all know what you have done is nothing but buy time for yourselves. Yet in doing so, you have brought about another disaster upon yourselves."

"What do you mean Death? We have succeeded in shutting down a future threat, and we will do our all in maintaining this situation, hundred of lower divines have grouped at the entrance of the seven heavens, and many have been assigned to guard Solomon's domain, nothing will come close to the only one that managed his seal. If worse comes to worse we will have Solomon himself die for that with his death, the only path toward freeing the Herald will be shut down."

"You should know, that death is not the end to everything, and my proxy was a fine example of that, But Nox, you are indeed intelligent thinking about countermeasures to shut down those that will prove to be a disturbance to your future. However, you focused so much on the Herald that you didn't notice a simple matter…" and before Nox could speak.

The skies broke.

"Ah, he is here…" said Death, and if a skeleton could smirk… this one just did.

A green torrent of energy shot down, making way toward a single humanoid existence that appeared in front of everyone. A man wearing nothing.

"Oh my…" said Shiva as if she understood.

"My children." Said the man as he looked at everyone" with that they all knelt down to the ground unable to resist the unwholesome power of the being that just came down.

Some knelt down on their accord, and some couldn't manage to resist the raging instinct within them that forced them to their knees.

Only one remained standing, though he towered over the man that just appeared he still gave a slight bow.

"My lord." Said Death, "Don't you think that the beings here will know your true identity?"

"No, the system doesn't work on me, and those that haven't seen my face before will not know who I truly am. Except for Shiva and Gilgamesh, yet that weak man has long since lost consciousness so he will not remember, the only one that remains is…" he said as he turned around looking at the kneeling goddess in red.

"Will you tell them, my dear?"

She then replied as if rejoicing

"Never shall I divulge on who you are my great lord."

"Very well." Said the man then addressed everyone

"I will make a bet with you." He said just a few words

"For that, I am the reason behind your birth. And the reason behind your creation, I gave you life and purpose, but you wasted that, now there is one that will bring the requiem, and in it, all shall disappear. All shall end, and all shall start all over. I will not interfere with this matter though, for that the one that shall bring it, is not me" said the man.

At that moment Death couldn't help but snort at the man's words.

With that Shiva and The man in question also laughed at his words.

"Then you are allowed to do anything in your power to stop this being from ruining your reign. With the sole exception of directly killing any of the residences of the lower realms, you are to only kill those that attack you, you may send beasts to do the job for you, but sending any of the divines to do it is punishable by deletion from the world's record. As for my bet, is that if you manage to retain your reign, and fully destroy the Herald, then I shall give you all of what is left of my power."

"My Lord. Those are heavy words, you will be giving us your remaining power, that is something that we will gladly seek, but won't that mean that you shall disappear?"

"This is the last entertainment I have left in this world. I grew bored of this life, looking at countless beings being decimated, they die, and others take over, worlds crumble, and others grow, it is a vicious circle that I would gladly give up for one last entertainment."

"The creator grew bored huh…" said Dementi

"Then who shall be given most of your power?" she added

"Stand up dementi," said the Man.

she did and looked at the small man, though her figure could easily be ten times the size of that man, she knew well that he can destroy her will with a flick of his hand, if death who was one that could fight against all of the Divine without problem, this man was his creator, and would only need to sneeze for all of them to disappear.

A power he has that everyone want. And he just said that he will gladly give it to him if they destroy the Herald? A simple thorn that grew too painful and too annoying for them to just swallow. But now, managing that discomfort comes with the position to indeed rule the world, and not only to claim to be its owners have taken over the seats of the upper realms. Now it was the chance to indeed rule the world, and any would do their best to take it.

"I remember creating you. You were bound to become the goddess of madness. However, it seems that even madness has a beautiful side to it. You are indeed one of my most beautiful creation."

If there was any man that could move this one's heart, it was now right in front of her. Dementi, the definition of madness and power, just blushed like a high school girl being praised for her looks. However, after coughing a bit and regaining whatever dignity she had, she spoke back.

"My, Lord I thank you for your opinion but still what of my question."

"Indeed, I got off track. Anyway, the one that slays the herald shall be the one to gain my power. Yet you are not allowed to do so in the lower world directly, you may send in your creations, and your underlings that are not labeled as divines to do the job for you in the lower world, however, once he stepped in the upper realms you may move as you see fit, you may hunt him down yourselves, and if you do, the one that slays him is to be rewarded with my power."

"But that is rather unfair my lord," said Nox.

"Why is it Nox?" said the man with a smile.

"Death is the one that gave him his power, he can just cancel that and force that man to die. We don't stand a chance, this test is too biased."

"Oh," said Death "If it is about that, I will not participate in this hunt," said Death

"Neither will I," said Shiva

"What?!" said Nox "I can understand Death's reason he probably thinks that the herald as his proxy and would not want to kill him but why you? Your very existence is one that seeks carnage and destruction? Why would you not hunt that man?"

"Oh, if you see things from my point of view, you will not dare hunt that man Nox." Said Shiva with a smirk as she was looking for the oldest one

"For I know for a fact, that none of you shall slay that man even if you all combine your strength." She said. "My lord your bets are ruthless. This will bring great suffering to the Herald."

"Indeed," said the man "Yet it is needed for him to grow, if not then he deserves not his future."

"So cruel…" said Death "Yet indeed, the world grew too dull without proper entertainment my lord, this should heat things up a bit."

The man then smirked and disappeared from the plateau.

"It seems that my worry was in vain, I shall depart back to the world of the dead, I hope to never see any of you there shortly…" said Death, but looking at the place where the man just stood he added

"But I doubt it…" and then Death disappeared into a cloud of dark smoke.

Everyone then turned to Shiva, they all had one question in mind. The first to speak was of crouse Dementi that went toward where the unconscious Gilgamesh was and held his head to wake him up.

"Who is that man?" she said.

"Oh, I cannot tell you, my dear. You know I promised the Oldest one to not reveal his identity. And I cannot cross him. But what I can tell you is that in due time you shall know."

"But," said Dementi but Nox stopped her

"Dementi. There is no need for you to bother with that, now there are more important matters at hand." He said

"We all know each other, and we all know that our greed for power is limitless, I will not ask you to give that power to me or to promote a leader, no it is a free for all battle for that power, any that has the strength and wits to slay that man is and will be deemed our new lord." He told them

However, what he was thinking about was something much more sinister. There is another pressuring matter at hands. Should her release that man to accelerate his climb to heaven? Or should he keep him locked until the end of time and leave the status quo?"

Nox was thinking deeply about the happenings, not only Death but even the oldest one showed up. Too many variables, too many things at once, he feared that if he tried to release the Herald then whatever the agenda in the Oldest one's words will come true. He didn't forget how Shiva quickly abandoned the idea of hunting the Herald… something was fishy here, something that was missing, something he didn't see… a hint somewhere on why they all acted that way…he pondered and pondered on what the reason and why would things turn out this way…

However, he could not manage to arrive at a proper conclusion… Only time will tell him if whatever action he will take now is the proper one or not. So he could only wait.