24. On The Road Once More

" Hey, Hades. Have you ever thought about... automating this whole... judgement thing?" Levana asked from behind Persephone where she sat. She fidgeted as any battle hunger goddess would do when they are not fighting and are bored.

" And how would I automate my job?" Hades asked disinterestedly. He and his wife had humoured Levana for the past 3 months. He had more or less gotten used to the hyperactive goddess' antics that ranged from random not harmful pranks to just talking nonstop for hours on end while he worked.

" I don't know, it is your job. You think about how to automate it. Oh, anyway, I am leaving tomorrow." Suffice it to say, Hades was elated to hear the great news. He was so happy that he made a mistake.

" WHAT?! Great! I will send you off with gifts if you leave today!" Oh my, he really should not have said that. Persephone turned to look at her husband with a rather frantic look. Gifts? What gifts?

" Gifts?" Levana perked up and got up from her chair. She then walked in front of Hades and gave him a thumbs up.

" You got yourself a deal!" As she said this, both her eyes glowed royal purple, a testament to the fact that she had nearly fully joined with The Queen in her head. Though she did acknowledge that Hades was trying to get rid of her, she was not at all offended.

In fact, she was rather happy that she had fulfilled her promise to her adopted mother to annoy Hades. Getting a gift for leaving was a nice add-on that she would gratefully accept.

A shadow formed in front of Hades, like a portal, he stuck his hand through it and pulled out a sword with a black blade. It was a double-edged long sword with a rather standard hilt and guard. From Levana's estimates, it looked to be about 110 centimetres long. Short for a long sword but it was still one.

" This is a long sword made of Stygian Iron, the strongest metal. It can cut both mortal and immortal alike. This is your gift. Now please leave." Hades literally threw the blade at Levana but being the elegant being she was, Levana caught it by its hilt, did a twirl and swung the sword, holding it with two hands as it was intended.

" You mean the strongest metal in the Greek Pantheon, Hades. But, I do accept this gift. Thank you, no, thank both of you for allowing me to spend time in your abode." Levana said as she tried holding the long sword with just one hand. However, she didn't start swinging it around as she wanted to express her sincerity to the Rulers of the Greek Underworld.

" Yes, yes, strongest in Greece..." Hades said slightly dejected.

" Ah, do you have a scabbard for this baby?" Levana asked with a wide smile as she examined the sword's edge. Hades sighed and pulled a wooden scabbard wrapped in leather from the shadow portal thingy.

After strapping the scabbard to her left hip, Levana bid Hades and Persephone fair well and let herself be escorted out of the palace by the skeletons that were assigned to her.

These skeletons led her out of the palace, past the gates and to an exit from the Underworld to the mortal realm. As she walked, Levana began planning how she would enchant her new weapon. Though she had several ideas, she decided to run them past Gaia first, to see if her mother could offer other options or at least give her ideas a second perspective.

She also thought of where to go next.

Soon, she found herself in the mortal world again. For the first time in nearly 4 months, Levana saw the sun. The sun, was technically her father, at least the Sumerian one. She stared directly at the sun trying to see something else other than the ball of gas and fire.

Then, it changed, and the Veil shifted. She now saw Apollo driving his convertible, with the hood down, across the sky. He was probably listening to music as Levana could make him out to be bobbing his head up and down.

She then focused again on shifting the image, she wanted to see her father. The Veil shifted once more and she saw a sun chariot ridden by a man with bronze skin with wings on his back. Licking her lips, Levana prepared to do something that Hanok, her teacher, had specifically prohibited his students from doing.

" FATHER! I want to meet you!" She yelled at the sun. For a moment, there was no reaction from the man until there was. Utu turned in her direction and stared at her. She could tell that he was looking at her because the sun's heat suddenly became more intense on her skin.

However, she was a goddess of heat. Some intense sunlight wasn't going to burn her. Though the god seemed to acknowledge her, he didn't stop riding his chariot. He nodded at her and turned back to riding his chariot.

Levana felt an overwhelming sense of pride as she saw her father nod at her. Did that mean Utu approved of her? Was he impressed with her growth from feeble to the goddess she now was? Did he even recognise her?

As those thoughts ran through her mind, she felt herself get a little depressed and her anxiety started to spike. However, with a hard shake of her head. She turned away from the sun and began walking through the jungle of concrete that she had found herself in.

She really wanted to learn how the other gods teleport around. Teleportation would be SO convenient.

It was currently winter in the USA, she was somewhere in Manhattan. A conclusion she had drawn from the street signs. Levana was about to call for Gaia to help her until she spotted an interesting creature flying above her.

A blue-scaled dragon flew in the skies of manhattan. It looked to be bigger than the previous dragon she had slain.

Hyped for a good fight, Levana prepared herself mentally. She then crouched and utilised her supernatural strength to launch herself several dozen meters into the air. Next, she used her slightly more improved flight to fly towards the dragon.

" ENCHANTING MATERIALS, COME TO MAMA!!"

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