Chapter 20

As each god who knew of his arrival schemed and planned Billy couldn't help but smile. Although he couldn't read the gods thoughts to know exactly what each one was thinking, he could determine their intent towards him.

He was actually quite surprised by a few of them while others he wasn't surprised at all.

There were a few gods that really rubbed him the wrong way, not just regarding their thought towards him currently but what they did in the past as well as what they do in the future had he not shown up.

Gods like Ishtar and Apollo who took what they wanted by any means whether it be coercion, blackmail or even charming a person into a mindless slave it didn't matter to them.

Freya was close to being on that list but for all her faults she never went too extreme like the others. Sure she used some underhanded tactics to get what she wanted here and there but nothing like Ishtar and Apollo.

Apollo bullied adventures and Familia's alike, stealing any talents that caught his eye. He never stopped harassing the adventurer who caught his eye, he was even known to travel country to country following them and doing everything he could to force them to join his Familia. Granted once they joined he would cherish them and even buy them expensive equipment, he even mourned those that became his lovers for several days after they died, even wearing an accessory the departed had owned. But no matter his attitude after they joined, the fact remained that many didn't want to be there in the first place.

Even in the main storyline Apollo tried to take Bell from Hestia by having a group of his children attack them, not long after Bell fought them off did Apollo invite both Hestia and Bell to a party at his familia where he told Hestia to compensate him by giving him Bell and when she refused he challenged her familia to a War game with Bell going to the winning familia. Basically putting Bell against the whole Apollo Familia considering he was the only member of the Hestia Familia at that time.

Then there was Ishtar, the most self centered and prideful of them all. She cared little about her own familia, even hiring assassins to kill her own children to either force their level up or die. She forced many people into working in her red light district, her own familia included. Ishtar had no limit to what the rich and powerful could do to her toys. If the buyer wanted to torture one of her prostitutes to death, as long as they could afford it she allowed it. Not only would she get paid handsomely but she would make sure there was evidence of what they did thus giving her power over the richest and most powerful people in Orario.

In the original story when Aisha shattered the first Killing Stone Ishtar planned to use to steal Haruhime's soul then shatter it into hundreds of pieces to level up all her familia to wage war on Freya, Ishtar charmed Aisha so harshly it removed her free will and she made sure that many of the more perverse clients to her red light district each got a turn with her to the excitement of the clients, after all a level 4 adventurer could survive some very harsh treatment.

Ishtar also forced her to once again watch over Haruhime during the day as she acquired another Killing Stone to use, thus causing Aisha great sorrow at knowing what was to become of her friend with no way of being able to stop it again since she had no free will. She still had her faculties but was unable to disobey any order Ishtar gave, which was much worse than what she endured on a nightly basis within the brothel.

So those two were definitely on Billy's shit list and he hoped with all his being they both made a move as quickly as possible, he couldn't be the one to attack first and he knew it.

It wasn't out of fear for the rules of this world where a mortal can't kill a god, he wasn't a mortal anyway. Although he also wasn't a god he felt he still lay in that grey area, something that this world didn't have, a demigod.

Then as if that wasn't enough he also had his technology, access to the rarest of material that even Hephaestus would gladly offer herself to him in order to just look at, let alone work with the metals. Uru, Vibranium, Adamantium, Nth metal and Element X all metals from another universe that greatly overshadowed even the strongest of metals within this world such as Oricalcum and Mithril by leaps and bounds.

Then there was the Infinity, the flag ship of a world whose tech tree was so far ahead of many worlds that you had to add multipliers to the years. With one push of a button he could send every god back to heaven across the globe with no collateral damage to the planet or any structures.

So fear isn't what hindered him from acting first, it was more his own personal preference. He rather enjoyed his enemies knowing that their own undoing was brought upon by themselves and their own arrogance.

He knew that was arrogant in and of itself but it wasn't like he was in the SPC universe or Warhammer where just about anything could kill even gods. Those were definitely universes he would tip toe around and had even offered every once of luck he had to any higher being out there to not have to step foot in either universe, ever. He can only continue to pray that they take him up on that offer.

Using all his knowledge of multiple universes Billy was able to create a mental maze of false memories and useless information, its sole purpose was to absorb any mental attack whether it was mind control, charm or illusion.

He didn't want to take chances even though he naturally had a resistance to such attacks and coupled with Angel his Motherbox who also had defenses against such attacks he felt having a mental maze would work best if anything got past Angel or his natural resistance.

It would not only act as a defense but could just as easily turn offensive in a flash. He would be able to trap the mind that was attacking allowing him the time he needed to end the distracted individual with ease.

By the time he had completed his preparations it was only a few days till the start of the festival so Billy decided to begin preparing his ship for live people.

The Infinity housed greenhouses which produced many kinds of fruits and vegetables and did also hold areas that did contain wildlife that could be used in times of need but unlike other futuristic ships it still relied on resupply ships to transport food to feed its crew.

This wasn't very feasible for a fully manned ship, not that he planned on getting such a large crew any time soon but planning ahead never hurt. He also had no resupply stations setup like the USNC did or any money for that matter to be able to afford it.

It was something he never even thought of even after so long due to the fact he no longer required food, air or sleep for that matter and he didn't have any crew yet. He only had the AIs and some droid robots that handled the cleaning and maintenance of the ship.

It was seeing the festival and all the foods that reminded him of his future dilemma. So he decided to put Oracle into solving the issue for him, he really couldn't think of any other solution besides adding more animals but then he also knew that could just add more issues down the road.

Oracle was a super AI as well as Angel so he knew they should be able to fix his issue much easier, they both had access to multiversal technology thanks to their connection to him and the Rock of Eternity.

So he decided to send out probes into the vast space to see if any rare materials could be found that could be used to upgrade more ships within the Infinity. Only a few had been upgraded by Oracle due to the lack of metals. He didn't want to use all his stash he received from the previous SHAZAM, never know when he may need it.

After the probes had been sent out and Billy once again retreated to his room to study the structure of the dungeon, the scanners could penetrate most of the dungeon but not all due to its depth and as it got deeper the walls thickened and became tougher making it impossible to see the whole thing.

He had attempted to send probes but after they descended to the mid level floors they would lose signal, he wasn't sure if they were being destroyed or if there was something blocking them, but Billy knew they weren't coming back cause each probe had an explosive charge to ensure his technology didn't fall into someone else's hands.

It was set to completely obliterate itself the moment the signal was lost or if it was being tampered with outside the ship.

Finally the start of the Monster Feria came and Oracle notified Billy it had started. Opening up a video feed of what was going on he was surprised to see Hestia partaking in the banquet with the other gods.

'Wasn't she supposed to descend a few years from now? What would bring her down so early?' Billy tried to think what would've changed but couldn't think of what since he hasn't done anything except probe the dungeon and space.

Shaking his head he puts those thoughts to the back of his head.

Using his teleportation to appear outside the ship, Billy floated just outside the atmosphere to enjoy basking in the solar radiation for a bit.

His suit, tailored after the Kryptonians skin suit but rather that the iconic S on the chest he stuck with the lighting bolt and ditched the cape.

Using his enhanced senses he watched as the coliseum was filling down below and the gods all taking their seats.

As he watched he noticed a few gods looking up in his direction, most of them with a look of hesitation while he noticed the creepy look of Apollo he knew he would probably be the first to return to heaven.

His body shuddered a bit at thinking of Apollos preferences, although he was considered bi-sexual he did have a preference for young men.

Seeing no point in waiting any longer since it seemed that he was seen Billy sped down toward the coliseum. As he broke thru the atmosphere the friction from the air engulfed him in flames making him look like a ball of fire.

Down in the coliseum the announcer who took over after Ganesha had introduced himself as he always did, was giving an introduction of one of the fiercest monsters in the Upper floors..

"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls we have a special treat for you all. A hard to come by monster that is making it first appearance within our coliseum has been caught thanks to the efforts of the Ganesha Familia. They put much effort into catching this one for you all and you will soon know why. As you know the reason for this festival is to not only show you the types of mosters our brave adventures face daily but also to hopefully save some the newer adventures alot of deaths. This monster is nicknamed the "newbie killer" and for good reason." The announcer spoke to the crowd with excitement.

During his pause slowly a section of the floor in the arena opened and a large cage was raised. Once the cage was high enough a collective gasp from the spectators could be heard along with a few screams.

Inside was a dark humanoid monster with longs arm and three claws at the ends of each arm. Those claws looked like knives and just as sharp. It was attacking the bars of the cage repeatedly causing sparks to fly where it hit showing just how strong and powerful they were.

"Yes, the War Shadow does instill fear in its opponents, especially within the darkness of the dungeon. They are rarely seen until it is too late and has killed many adventurers from new to seasoned alike. They are found on the 6th floor and are usually always hiding in passages near packs of other monsters. They strike once a group has finished of other monsters knowing they have relaxed their vigilants after defeating the others. So my newer adventurers, do always keep in mind to never relax even after the battle is over. Its never truly over until you reach the surface. So now that introductions are over one of the Ganesha Familia dungeon teams will now show you how to handle one if you do have the misfortune of running into one." As the announcer spoke a team of five adventurers entered the arena and the cage slid open to release the monster.

As the group of adventurers got ready, a scream was heard then another but the adventurers ignored it thinking they screamed because the monster had exited the cage and dashed toward them.

However, very quickly did they realize the scream was because of something else.

Even the War Shadow had stopped in its tracks and looked up and roared. Its senses had detected the higher threat and ignored the smaller threats.

This action caused the group of adventures to follow it gaze along with the other spectators. What they saw stunned and frightened them at the same time. A large ball of fire was speeding down towards the arena. Quickly the group of adventurers rushed back into the safety of the arena walls hopeing that the walls were strong enough to protect them from the blast.

Many of the spectators too began to run to the exits wanting to get as far away as possible. While many of the gods stared in shock while others such as Apollo just studies the ball of flames seeing exactly what was inside the flames.

Before any could even make it to the exit the ball of flames crashed into the War Shadow, completely annihilating it and causing a massive dust cloud to fill the arena.

to everyones surprise there was no massive explosion like they had expected. Only a rumble that knocked a few to the ground.

Instantly the coliseum went quite as everyone held their breathe awaiting for the dust to clear to see what happened.