It's Just One Thing After Another

The pressure I felt from this dragon was immense. It was over ten feet tall, and moved at a rapid pace. I held full control of the situation though. I controlled my shadow to spread out around us and encompass the both of us in darkness. The dragon looked around like a lost lamb while I swam in the darkness like I was greeting a second home.

Circi

Kuroko was handling the Garchomp like it was a child. It surprised me to realize that our dimension was inhabited by Pokemon that could be brought out by Levi and her group of fishermen/women. Garchomp would be a fierce ally to Kuroko if his growth item worked as he felt it did. I didn't doubt it would though.

The sphere of darkness that surrounded the two of them didn't impede any of the spectators' vision, including myself. Although it seemed like Kuroko could hide from my sight if he chose to. The two of them clashed several times, with Kuroko coming out on top each time. The only time that the Garchomp was able to fight back was when it blasted a hyper beam through the shadows.

It did nothing to Kuroko since he saw it coming, and it only caused the pokemon to be fatigued. Not long after, Kuroko took out the Garchomp, and it fell over with wounds across its body, as it finally passed. The shadows receded and Kuroko walked up to the Garchomp.

"Erec…Ahem, Stand and fight for me!" I giggled at the crass joke he made. I think he was referencing the few memes he saw of the solo leveling anime in his free time. It was an interesting powerset, very similar to Kuroko's own. Except, when Kuroko uttered it, a deep blue color encapsulated the garchomp, and it rose with the same form as before, with each wound healing. The big difference was the fact that it no longer had normal eyes, but blue flames in the place where the eyes would be.

"Your name shall be Striker. Welcome to the team." Kuroko rubbed the garchomp now named Striker's head. It was a sight to see him not be serious for once. Not that I could say much, but I relaxed every once in a while when Mother, Miss Jane, or even Kuroko would bring me out of my research to play some video games or watch some anime. 

Retzio (Present Time)

I still haven't moved from my current position facing Father. Not out of fear, but rather in thought of how to even start this fight. He still had a feral smile on his face as he stared at me. I decided to test the waters. I conjured up several sigils that blasted powerful flames towards them, while using magic to make myself invisible from sight. 

The smile still didn't leave his face as he just utilized ice magic so cold that he froze the flames. Thankfully this caused the arena to be covered in mist, not that it would stop any of us from seeing through it, whether naturally, or in Loki's case, with magic. 

"Come now my boy, is that really how you want to start this fight? Don't disappoint me, fight me with all that you have! Show me your LIMITS!" Their voice shook the very arena as it caused all of the mist, and the frozen flames to dissipate. It also disrupted my spell, so I was clearly visible. No stealth allowed then. Shit.

Loki

Retzio was bound to lose. As much as I loved the man, there was a zero percent chance of him winning against his father. This was a test, I could already see it myself, even if I couldn't help but worry. Would Retzio meet his father's standard? Would I see an entirely different side of him?

"As much as their presence would normally cause worry for those around them, this is truly a test, Loki. The King has decided that our son needs to be powerful enough to protect you should anything happen. Of course, that doesn't mean you yourself are allowed to be weak. Your test isn't over either. When Miss Jane grabbed my shoulder after that, I felt a shiver at the very core of my being. Would the goddess be testing me? Or will it be someone else?

Miss Jess' smile did not help to placate me as I saw Retzio throwing a variety of elemental spells towards The Golem King. Each time a spell was thrown, it was countered by an opposing element. Fire was frozen, ice melted, water evaporated, earth was broken apart, the wind turned stationary. It was as if the king knew every spell he was using and could instantly prepare a counter. 

"Flinging spells is nice and all boy, but you haven't shown me anything that someone of decent power wouldn't have already seen. I know you have something more. Something that nobody has seen yet. Show me. Ś̴͙̝͚̦̳͓͍͎̙̗͍͔̭́̓̂̈́̅͐͋̏̎́̑͠͝ͅH̸̱̩̺̣̝̖̲̻͚̔̈͗̋̊O̶̡͓̬͍͉̲̠͇̠̥̲̟̻̺͂̎̈́W̴̟̣͓̹̹̩͇̻̟̞̏̓͌̆͊͌ ̸͚̭͐̓̈́͆̓̔̿M̸̛͎̤̑͛̅͑̍̎̍͘E̷̢̛̲͍̭̩̜̊̆̋ ̶̨̧̢̛̠̝̰̠̰̰̯̜̜͐̾̽͑̎̈́̽̓͗̂̕ͅY̵̠̬̯̱͉͓̘̭̻̒̓̾͜͝Ỏ̸̢̢̨̧͎͇͉̯̥̜͚̭͈̩͎̇̓͐͊́̽͐̃͘Ű̴̡̞̱͉͙͖̬̳̒̓̅̉̀͊̓̔͐̄̃̄͜͝R̷̢̝͔̪̆̿̌͛͜ ̶̝̖̣̲̃̽̔̂͗͋̀̏̚̚P̶̨̣͍̘̞͖͋̆̀Ǫ̵̛͍͔̼͖̪̻͉͇̦͇͙̇̂̄̊̋̈̃̋̈́̋̃͋̚͜͝Ẅ̴͓͙͔́͌́̀̉͠E̶͍̥̪̻͖̫̾̃́͒̈́̌̎͌R̶̜̖̗͙̰̳̃̏͌̏͌̈́̀͂̿."

I felt my very soul tremble when he uttered that last sentence. One thing that they would probably not mention, is the fact that anyone 'decently' powerful to them are beings of ultimate class level and above. I'm fairly certain that my own father barely reached whatever standard they set for someone who is truly powerful. 

Regardless though, Retzio's facial expression changed from one of seriousness, to an expression similar to his father's. It was scary to see him not have that permanent serious expression, or even a casual smirk. I haven't once seen him spot a smile that could have bordered on insanity.

"One thing you will learn as time goes on, is that out of all of his siblings, Retzio took after their father the most." Miss Jane had a smirk on her face as she motioned back to Retzio as he pulled a unique looking dagger from who knows where, took a low stance, and did something entirely foreign to me. 

I am the soul of the dimensional engine

Magic makes up my body

Primal Force fuels my core

I have enforced silent vengeance across the universe

Having withstood the embodiment of wrath itself

Yet this body knows the weight of each world

By the grace of the Golem Goddess

Endless Legion

Jane 

It looks like Retzio has decided to stop holding back and truly let go. The area around us changed entirely. Retzio transferred us all to something similar to a pocket dimension. I believe it is called a reality marble if our most recent binge of Fate/Stay Night was correct. We were at a place that resembled a cathedral, funny enough. 

The three of us were still sitting on the same bench, but encased in a barrier on the edge of the place, probably courtesy of Mark. In each row of seating within the cathedra, sat a seemingly endless amount of people with similar builds to Retzio, but with assassin and templar garbs. The size of the place did not seem to end either. Mark was in the center of the place, still facing the original Retzio in a standoff, but Retzio was wearing pitch black assassin robes, and was wielding two long daggers.

"Finally. This is what I'm talking about. You have been keeping out on me boy. This is the type of power I have been looking for, something to give you a clear edge over your peers. So, for this show of power, I have decided to lay out a condition, and give you a proper chance to impress me." His grin seemed to split his face, insanity didn't even begin to embody the expression he was making. It was so bad that it would make some eldritch gods blush.

"I am listening, Father. State your condition, and I will complete it." 

"Good Retzio, good. As much as I would love to thrash you with my own power, that wouldn't seem fair, and would just end up in a similar situation as what was happening earlier. So, fight your mother." This made Retzio pause, and then pale when he realized that Mark wasn't shifting, and instead, Jess got up from the bench, and teleported beside Mark. I started laughing.

"Miss Jane, might I ask why Retzio seems to have such a visceral reaction to Miss Jess being their opponent? Also, I didn't realize that you two were also mothers to The Goddess' children." I stopped laughing for a second to give Loki a smug look.

"While The Creator is their true parent, we are the ones that made sure they employed the manners that they have today, and the ones who decided how they were punished. The goddess was there every step of the way, but would rarely, if ever, actually punish them when they do something wrong. It was up to us to keep them in line." The little girl showed true fear towards me and Jess for the first time since coming here.

That information, while held closely, is known to most leaders and powerful figures. However, they tend not to mention that fact since it normally isn't relevant. 

"Father, surely there are other conditions I could meet to reach your standard!" He left the fact that he would probably let Mark kick his ass several times over unsaid.

"What's the problem Retzio, afraid of little ol' me?" Jess twisted her head to the side and leaned against Mark a bit as she said that. But something about her made Retzio almost get on his knees to beg. He probably would have too, if Loki wasn't here.

Retzio

FUCK! Here I was, ready to go all out against Father in order to satisfy his love for battle. However, he decided to pull a full 360 and have me face off against Ma.I would rather take on several Thor's at once right now. I would rather fight Father at full power, at least that will end instantly. Loki is the only reason why I wasn't begging on my hands and knees to have to do something else. I was tempted to do it anyway. 

"Come on my boy! Surely it can't be any worse than fighting me!" He was laughing at me. I could feel it, he kept a poker face, but I swear to the golem goddess that he was laughing at me right now. I forgot how sadistic he can be at times. 

"Everything will be fine, Retzio! All we need to do is test your magical and physical prowess against me! Of course it would have to be in a different setting from this." She raised her fingers on her right hand, and just snapped. She just snapped my most powerful ability out of existence. I didn't even feel it dissipate. One moment we were in my endless cathedral, the next, we were back at the arena. This is bullshit. 

Father teleported next to Miss Jane and sat down, while Ma pulled out a sword almost as large as her own height. Yet she was wielding it like it was a paperweight. Before I could even react, my face hit the ground.

"Come on Retzio, how are you supposed to fight alongside Loki, and occasionally protect her if you still can't react to my speed?" I hate it here. I struggled to stand up, but just grit my teeth and prepared to face my greatest fear, and an opponent I hoped to not face in any serious capacity, one of my three mothers. The one that has trounced on my pride the most. I swear she makes the thought of ragnarok seem like child's play in comparison. 

Why am I still here? Just to Suffer?

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