There was a moment of silence after the reveal.
Halvor and Ife were baffled that the mysterious godling that they were tasked to save was a self-proclaimed “first godling”. They began to wonder if this is the reason why the plan is crucial to have him. It’s probably because he’s the most powerful out of all of them.
Aster, on the other hand, howled in laughter. It may look like he’s laughing because Dion is proclaimed to be the first godling, but it was mostly because he was in denial that the name “Zeus” belonged to him. He was frustrated that this teenager was basically the “original”.
“Zeus? So you have that name. No wonder those scientists call me Jupiter instead.” Aster said, as his heart was filled with boiling hatred and jealousy. “You stole that name! I deserve that name! You made a mockery out of Me for years!”
Dion raised his eyebrow, “I don’t know who you are, but the fact that your personality reminds me of those wretched scientists pisses me off. And the way your methods are towards these three… you remind me of Alam Etana. That monster.”
“Do not dare mock our leader and savior!” Aster ordered him.
“Savior? He’s a narcissistic asshole. If you cannot see that, then you’re blind as a… something.” Dion pointed his arm at Aster. “Now, move. I have a ‘savior’ to kill.”
“You’re not going anywhere! You won’t bring harm to our beloved leader!” Aster covered his entire body with his purple lightning once again, failing to realize that he’s going over his limit already. “I’ll fight you and kill you! I’ll then earn that codename! I’ll become more powerful than you!”
“You’re personality… reminded me a bit of myself as well.” Dion muttered to himself before sighing. He felt pity for the child. He may have been tortured countless times, but it was better than being brainwashed by this mad organization.
Nonetheless, he doesn’t have time for emotions right now. He has a revenge to fulfill and a scientist to find. He has been waiting for this day to come during those five years of suffering. He isn’t about to be distracted by a child who has no free will.
“I’m warning you for the last time.” Dion raised his voice as the lights began to flicker rapidly and the walls were covered in violent yellow electricity.
“SCREW YOU!”
Aster zapped towards Dion with pure anger on his mind, but the fight ended in milliseconds when Dion executed the same move but a MUCH faster one. He was holding Aster by the throat before slamming him on the ground with zero hesitation. He then canceled his floating ability and landed on Aster’s stomach which caused cracks on the floor.
Aster coughed blood, “WHAT THE HE-!”
Dion kicked Aster across the hallway, sending him where the elevator was nearly located, with relatively ease. He then zapped towards Aster before he could get back up and slammed his head into a wall to knock him out unconscious. He felt bad for the kid, but it’s not the time to show sympathy towards others.
Without saying anything to the other godlings, he flew through the ceiling instead of using the elevator. He has no time taking the scenic route right now. He heard that there’s currently commotion going on, so he’ll take that advantage on meeting with the one who made him suffer.
“He easily defeated Aster… just like that.” Halvor said as his left arm and two ribs were completely healed thanks to that godling. “Not even Shu or Kaito could take him out that fast as others might think.”
“He must really be the first godling… but how? I thought the Fatherland told us that… our gifts emerged five years ago.” Ife pointed out. “How could he be a godling if he’s a teenager now?”
“There are things… the Fatherland lied about…” Ezekiel regained his consciousness while groaning in pain. He wasn’t completely healed from the wounds and injuries he received, but he certainly is better. He still felt weak like an old man because his blood that was continuously poured out hasn’t regenerated yet.
“Ezekiel, are you alright!?” Halvor asked worriedly.
“Never better…” Ezekiel stood himself up forcibly with the aid of Ife and Halvor. “We need to get… out of here. And both of you… are going to tell me… what in the world is going on…”
Halvor and Ife looked at each other before nodding in agreement.
Ezekiel was limping towards the elevator while Halvor and Ife made sure he suddenly didn't fall off. He stared at the unconscious Aster before staring at the wide opened storage room. He noticed that the box filled with information about the godlings were no longer here, meaning that somebody had stolen them when Aster arrived.
He cursed himself, but there’s nothing he can do about it now. While he is slowly regenerating, he’ll find an escape route that Halvor and Ife mentioned to him just now. There’s no going back anymore. He has to succeed if he wants to be freed.
—
After arriving back to the upper level, it was a chaotic mess. There were guards that laid dead on the ground or pierced through a wall with spears. The same goes to some godlings who have perished or are slowly dying from limb dismemberment. The godlings are unable to regenerate their missing limbs unlike Leighis.
Blood was everywhere as well as musty organs. It was a horrific scene to look at.
“How in the world did this happen?” Ezekiel was horrified by what he’s witnessing. All of those innocent godlings who didn’t get to live a proper life died before his eyes. He then pinned Halvor against the wall. “So is this part of the plan!? Sacrificing some to earn freedom!?”
“No! There shouldn’t be any casualties from both sides! Rashidi says so!” Halvor defended himself truthfully. “Whatever happened here must’ve deviated from the original plan!”
“Let him go, Ezekiel! This isn’t time for squabbles!” Ife snapped him out of his anger. “We need to go now or we’ll be the ones to… end up like them!”
“Tch.” Ezekiel released Halvor and gave the deceased godlings one more look before clenching his hands in anger, forgetting to calm himself. “Where are we going? And why am I so crucial to the plan?”
“We just need to go to that hallway. There’s a tunnel that was dug for three years.” Halvor pointed at the hallway which supposedly leads to the Arena and Training Room. “As for the last part, we do not know. We just know that you’re crucial to the plan in order for this to succeed, but we don’t know what it is.”
“So you got nothing.” Ezekiel then breathed in and out to gain some bit of air before calming himself down. “Fine. Let’s go then.”
The three of them departed. Ezekiel couldn’t bear to look at the deceased godlings on the way, as some of them were still 7-8 years old. They died so young, but it made him wonder. How were they killed in the first place? This shouldn’t be possible.
It has been proven that guns, grenades, and any other firearms are ineffective against godlings. Only a godling can kill another godling, but the way these godlings died is not the work of a godling, not even the superior godlings. He speculated that there is something that can bring harm to them now, something much more powerful than ordinary firearms.
He has a bad feeling about this.
—
When the three of them were in the hallway, they heard a tumult in the Training Room. A bunch of gunfire, plasmafire, lasers, and many more. They decided to head there. They found some godlings engaging in a fight against automatons and a couple of Fatherland members. The godlings were Klef, Alcaeus, Fendurr, Daria, Torvald, and Oskar.
Alcaeus and Torvald were fighting numerous automatons while Klef was fighting the remaining Fatherland members. They were protecting Fendurr, Daria, and Oskar from them. Judging by how many automatons were destroyed and couple of dead bodies, they’ve been ongoing for quite a while now.
“Die, traitors!” One of the Fatherland members yelled while firing plasma bullets with all of his might.
Klef ran towards him at incredible speed before ripping out his heart instead. He then ran towards the other guards who were hiding behind the automatons. He dodged all of the automatons’ physical and laser attacks before kicking all of their heads with full force, decapitating them in instant due to the kinetic energy that he built up.
Meanwhile, Alcaeus threw Torvald into the automatons which destroyed two of them. The remaining five made their way towards Alcaeus while Torvald was recovering from the dizzy move. Alcaeus dodged and blocked all of their attacks before delivering a devastating punch to the four of them.
Unfortunately, he was hit in the face by the fifth automaton who sneaked behind him.
Klef ran towards Alcaeus’ aid and jumped on the automaton. He attempted to penetrate through its hard shell to pull out the wires or something, but the automaton grabbed him and slammed him on the ground. The automaton then stepped on his face, which made him groan.
Torvald lunged himself forward, sending the automaton stumbling. He then grabbed the leg and ripped it off before throwing it at the other four automatons that got back up.
Alcaeus managed to recover in time and destroyed the fifth automaton before making his way towards the other remaining four, along with Klef and Torvald to end them once and for all.
“I’ll strengthen you!” Oskar shone a lunar light upon all of them.
Oskar. His codename is Khonsu, named after the God of Moon, Time, and Healing from Egyptian mythology. His gift is called “Lunakinesis”. He has the ability to create, shape, and manipulate all aspects of the Moon, depending on the eight cycles of the current night.
He was considered to be a superior godling by the scientists due to possessing different abilities for each moon cycle, but he was considered weak due to his cowardly and timid behavior.
Each of the eight cycles of the moon have different abilities. He is currently using the eighth cycle of the moon - Waning Crescent Moon - as that is currently tonight’s moon.
This cycle gives him the ability to strengthen one’s strength and power, which is convenient during this situation but has a 7-second time limit and 30-second cooldown. This is one of the reasons why he was considered weak due to the absurd time limit and long cooldowns.
With the additional power bestowed upon them temporarily, Alcaeus, Torvald, and Klef destroyed the remaining active automatons with pure ease, though Klef was sent flying across the training room afterwards due to running too fast.
He wasn’t used to going beyond his speed limit and it was an awful.
Alcaeus breathed in and out, “Is everyone… alright?”
Fendurr whimpered in response while Oskar nodded in confirmation.
“Yeah, we’re alright… for now.” Oskar answered before sitting down to calm his rapidly beating heart, otherwise, he’ll receive a shock.
While Klef and Alcaeus were catching their breath from the seemingly endless fight, Torvald noticed Ezekiel, Halvor, and Ife on the entrance.
“Ezekiel, Halvor, Ife. What are you doing here?” Torvald asked. “Shouldn’t you be ahead by now?”
“No? What about you? Why are you guys…” Ife stared at Alcaeus and Klef cautiously. “…here? Didn’t Rashidi tell you what to do?”
Torvald sighed, “There has been… a flaw to his plan. The Fatherland had a secret weapon that can… kill… godlings easily. It was a massacre…”
“What killed those godlings?” Ezekiel asked while controlling his anger for the Fatherland.
“I… don’t know how to explain it.” Torvald was traumatized upon witnessing his friends dying at the secret weapon. “It was… a man. He was wearing… some kind of black armor. There were also light-thingies on the armor. They were colored pink and seemed to… emit electricity.”
Pink.
Electricity.
Ezekiel realized what this means. He didn’t think the Fatherland would take such absurd measures to keep godlings in check. He speculated that the damn Fatherland scientists managed to extract… some energy from Theos Krustallos to weaponize it, which is similar to most novels’ plot nowadays.
The Theos Krustallos was the godlings’ kryptonite. Aside from the “only godlings killing godlings” thing, the godlings can now be easily killed by the energy from the Theos Krustallos. The same energy that granted them gifts, which only he has the knowledge about for now.
Oskar noticed the disturbed expression on his face, “Is something bothering you, Ezekiel?”
“Huh? Oh, not at all.” Ezekiel snapped out of his thoughts. That isn’t important right now. He isn’t sure whether his speculation is true or not anyway. He then took notice of Alcaeus and Klef. “And what about them? Why are they here?”
“We are to help of course. We have been part of the Crusade of Contempt for a long time now.” Klef answered while raising an eyebrow at him. “Why? Is it weird that a superior godling is helping the ‘weaklings’?”
“Sorta.” Ezekiel admitted. “Where are the others? Are they escaping?”
“Some of them might be. The only reason we retreated was because the black-armored person blocked our path. We had to retreat. Some of us were separated.” Alcaeus answered before looking down dejectedly. “We don’t know if they survived or not, hopefully they did.”
“So what are we planning to do now?” Halvor asked.
Footsteps can be heard from the outside. Loud ones as well as soft ones. Reinforcements have arrived.
“We have to run now!” Alcaeus answered.
All of them began to dash for the door before the reinforcements managed to enter the Training Room. As they ran across the hallway, the Fatherland captain saw them escaping.
“After them! Do not spare the traitors!” The Fatherland captain yelled at his men who were all wearing black armor with deadly melee and ranged weapons on their hands.