Chapter 10: Godlings (5)

“Is really crushing those ‘weaklings’ worth it? We should be working together to achieve the Fatherland’s ideals. There’s a reason that they’re still alive, no?” Alcaeus pointed out. “We should help them achieve their full potential.”

“Heracles is right. We should be helping them, and that way, make the Fatherland proud.” Kléf agreed with him.

Aster scoffed, “You really believe they are important? I am not wasting my energy on helping them achieve their ‘full potential’. There’s a reason why their gifts are considered weak by the Fatherland. If I had a weak gift, I would’ve been ashamed of myself.”

“Jupiter is right. There is no way I’m wasting my time aiding the weaklings to become stronger like us. Just let them do whatever they want.” Itztli said while playing around with dark magic before staring at Halvor practicing a different magic. “Look at poor Odin, trying his best to master his magic yet ended up being a disappointment.”

Itzli. His codename is Tezcatlipoca, named after the God of the Night Sky, Providence, Sorcery, and Jaguars from Aztec mythology. His gift is called Black Magic. He has the ability to utilize the Dark Arts, a malevolent system of techniques that is based around a darker side of magic.

He is proud that his gift is superior to other magic-based godlings, including Halvor who is supposedly to have stronger magic than anyone according to the scientists yet his demonstration of magic has been disappointing so far.

Kléf sighed, “Give him a break, Tezcatlipoca. He is trying his best. All of them are.”

Sethos glared at Kléf, “Since when did you become so soft, Hermes? Feeling for the weak isn’t the Fatherland way. It’s also very human to have that type of emotion. We are godlings. We feel no such things.”

“I’m not being soft, Set. I’m thinking logically. Us, godlings, need to work together no matter how weak or strong you are.” Kléf rebutted the claim.

Maskim scoffed, “Are you Athena or Minerva right now? Not even those so-called ‘genius godlings’ earned the respect and admiration from the Fatherland. Her gift is useless in battle.”

“His point is… we need to stop being stubborn and ally ourselves with the ‘weaklings’. That way, we can make the Fatherland proud.” Alcaeus said.

“I refuse to work with someone that’ll hinder my progress.” Shu joined in the conversation. “I will never succeed in earning the Fatherland’s favor if I’m going to be working with godlings that don't put any effort in their abilities.”

Aster yawned in boredom, “Sorry not sorry, Heracles. As Zhurong said, we will never ever work with the weaklings. It’s just too stupid.”

Alcaeus sighed before whispering to Kléf, “We tried our best to convince them to change. I don’t think they will ever change.”

“Then we wouldn’t be worried about them when the plan sets in motion.” Kléf whispered back before slightly glancing at the wisdom godlings in the weakling group. “If they won’t change, then it’s their loss.”

A few hours later, all of the weak godlings have been healed. They were still feeling some internal pain, but they’re in a perfect condition to fight. The chosen contestants for sparring have been announced.

All of the weak godlings were hoping that they weren’t chosen because they prefer to stay back and watch. They don’t want to experience another agony of their wounds and injuries healing in excruciating pain.

When the board revealed the contestants, half of the weaklings sighed in relief. The match are:

Zhurong vs Quetzalcoatl

Ryujin vs Odin

Heracles vs Thor

Hermes vs Heimdall

Kymopoleia vs Bastet

Set vs Diancecht

Terra vs Xuanwu

Lamashtu vs Loki

Jupiter vs Habagat

“I’m facing Zhurong? This is bad for me.” Hugo said nervously. He never thought he’ll have to face the current strongest godling in his lifetime. His telekinesis could barely harm his fellow weak godlings, so it definitely won’t harm a stronger one.

Hugo. His codename is Quetzalcoatl, named after the God of the Sun, Wind, Air, and Learning. His gift is called Telekinesis. He has the ability to manipulate or otherwise interact with matter or another aspect of a physical system through non-physical means.

“Tsk. At least give me someone strong to fight.” Shu felt it was a waste of her time to fight someone who isn’t mentally strong enough for his gift.

“Odin?” Kaito raised his eyebrow. “Whatever. I don’t care.”

Kaito. His codename is Ryujin, named after the God of the Sea from Shinto mythology. His gift is called Hydrokinesis. He has the ability to create, shape, and manipulate water.

Like Alcaeus and Kléf, he doesn’t care much about mocking those that are weaker than him. He prefers to be in peace rather than dealing with people, but whenever he’s in battle, he certainly won’t hold back and will have fun if the opponents are strong as him or stronger than him.

Halvor dropped on the ground after seeing his opponent, “This sucks. I’m facing the third strongest godling. Níð me.”

Halvor. His codename is Odin, named after the Chief of the Gods and God of Wisdom, Sorcery, Poetry, and the Runic Alphabet from Norse mythology. His gift is called Mageíakinesis. He has the ability to utilize magic, specifically rune magic. He can basically replicate the gifts through magic, though he is inexperienced due to his lack of understanding with it.

The scientists theorized that his magic would’ve been superior to other magic-wielding godlings if he were to try hard enough to have deep understanding with runic magic.

“Me and Heracles. This is definitely not good for me.” Torvald knows that he is completely outmatched against Alcaeus. Their strength difference was laughable for him. He is much weaker than the godling who is named after the God of Strength.

‘Thor? I am really hoping that your strength has improved.’ Alcaeus wished him luck. He doesn’t know how much stronger Torvald has gotten, but he certainly could his own against numerous automatons earlier. He just thinks that Torvald simply needed training. That was the only thing missing.

“Heimdall.” Kléf stared at Arne who was sweating profusely. ‘His gift is Foresight. He could see into the possible futures of my attacks. Like Halvor and Itzli, he also possessed magic albeit much much weaker. It is basically like a sub-gift to his Foresight according to Klókr. Gods in Norse mythology are experts in magic as Corey said. His magic has the ability to slow someone down called Chronokinesis. This will be an interesting match.’

A sub-gift is derived from the main gift as the ancient gods may have mixed their secondary abilities with their most powerful one in order to increase its strength. There are only a few godlings who have a sub-gift, making it rarer than most. Corey could potentially have a sub-gift but nobody, not even him, knows.

Idris gulped, “Hermes. The fastest godling alive. I am no match for him.”

Idris. His codename is Heimdall, named after the Watchman of the Gods, Guardian of the Bifrost Bridge, and God of Foresight and Surveillance from Norse mythology. His gift is called Foresight. He has the ability to foresee possible futures and observe what may happen.

His sub-gift, which he awakened unintentionally two years ago, is called Chronokinesis. He has the ability to slow down time within a five meter radius and enhance his movements, though he’ll receive constant nosebleeds if he overuse the ability.

“Tsk. Great. I’m fighting a cat.” Nikole felt disappointed that she’ll be wasting her ability on a cat lady. She wondered why the Fatherland had decided on a match between the superior and inferior godlings. She wants to have a match against Sethos to show him who has the superior gift.

Nikole. Her codename is Kymopoleia, named after the Goddess of Violent Storm from Greek mythology. Her gift is called Tempestakinesis. She has the ability to sense, create, shape and manipulate storms, specifically a violent storm.

Chadlynn sighed in nervousness, “Out of all the godlings, I have to face the most violent one?”

Chadlynn. Her codename is Bastet or Bast, named after the Goddess of Feline, Fertility, and Childbirth from Egyptian mythology. Her gift is called “

Felidae. She possesses the traits, attributes, characteristics and abilities of felines.

Sethos clenched his hands in anger at his opponent, ‘Why am I facing someone like him? All he does is heal? I want someone worthy of my time.’

“Why… me?” Leighis was on the brink of fainting.

Leighis. His codename is Diancecht, named after the God of Healing from Celtic mythology. His gift is called Regeneration. Unlike other godlings, he has the ability to rapidly heal and get restored to his optimal and full health or state at an extremely fast rate.

The problem, however, is that he can still feel pain. His gift isn’t a gift, but a curse. He’s definitely going to be tortured by Sethos in the match.

“A martial artist?” April was holding her laughter at the idea of fighting someone whose gift is only effective in close quarters. “Fine. I’ll humor the Fatherland.”

Shan calmed himself down with a quote he read this morning, “Bú pà màn, jiù pà zhàn (Be not afraid of growing slowly, only of staying still).”

Shan. His codename is Xuantian Shangdi or Xuanwu, named after the God of Martial Arts from Chinese mythology. His gift is called Martial Arts Mastery. He has the ability to perform any and every type of martial art there is and was with great ease. He also has an intuitive mastery of the associated martial skills, techniques & body language and, granting them leverage in any martial situation.