CHAPTER 88(Goddess Complication)

Please read the author's notes. (Examples and explanation of moves and appearance+ Monster Sources)

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pat.treon:/Keanu_Eugene

CHAPTER START---

---Tower of Babel, 7 AM...

"Mmm, so bright..." Yang groans as he raises a hand to block the sun.

The sound of fingers snapping is heard before the light fades away.

"Better?" A feminine voice asks softly.

"Yeah," he says while delving back under the covers, wrapping an arm around the woman at his side.

After a few long moments, unable to go back to sleep, Yang finally thinks over what the hell just happened.

"Freya?"

"Expecting anyone else?"

"Nope, just making sure I wasn't dreaming," he says under the covers, his arms wrapped around her with his chin just above her head, the goddess laying with her back pressed against his chest as she enjoys the warmth radiating from his body.

"Congratulations, that was my best first date ever, well done Yang..." the goddess says as she settles into a comfortable position against him.

"FIRST date?"

"Mhm, problem?" She asks, a bit of apprehension in her voice, was she nervous about that topic, strange from the ever-confident goddess.

"Discussion for later, too early, need sleep," he mutters out before they both easily fall back into a restful sleep.

Almost two hours later, Yang stirred awake.

As his eyes opened he was greeted with the red ceiling of Freya's bedroom, spreading his arms out to his sides he feels the goddess's legs at his shoulder level.

Turning to his left, the very goddess was leaning against the soft backboard of the bed with a book in hand, the covers stopping at her waist to leave her ample chest exposed.

"Like what you see?" She teases him, eyes never leaving the pages of her book.

"I called you perfect for a reason, you seem to like reminding me every chance you get..." he teases right back as he joins her in sitting up against the backboard.

"Sleep well?"

"Better than I have in longer than I'd like to admit."

"Well not to brag, but I am perfect," she says with a small smile.

"Ha.Ha. Very funny Freya, what time is it?"

"Almost 10, you have somewhere to be?"

"Shouldn't I be asking you that, you're the one running the top familia."

"Hedin handles the boring day-to-day, I only step in when my children need a guiding hand."

"That's the guy that helped me with my magic, was that you or---"

"Ottar, you caught his eye sometime during that expedition, too bad we can't have more expedition, Ouranos tends to keep my children on the surface in case the dragon attacks Orario," she says with no real care.

"That explains why Mr. Level 7 hasn't been to floor 59, the guild can't risk losing any of your combat power huh."

"Exactly, not that I'm eager to send my children into that hellscape. I'd rather keep them close."

"Because you care about them, or because they're yours?" Yang asks, clear words with a second meaning that the goddess cannot miss.

"Both really, is that so surprising?" Freya asks, genuinely curious about what he thought of her before they met.

"No, not that I gave it much thought honestly. I knew you were keeping an eye on me because of the magic training 'Lesson', just tried to not piss you off so you'd stay away from me, but we see how well I did with that."

"Hmm, you're smarter than you look," she takes a playful jab at him.

"You're not as 'charming' as you think," he responds without missing a beat.

"And yet you're in my bed still..." she leans in and gives him a kiss on his lips.

"Cute, but about what you said this morning..."

"Mhm, I thought that was clear enough," she closes her book to give him her full attention.

"And don't I get a choice in this, or do you plan to force me into whatever this is," he gestures between them.

"Depends, are you stronger than Ottar?"

"Ugh..."

"Most people would---"

"Kill for the chance just to speak to you, yes you've said that before. As long as this doesn't get in the way of my goals, and doesn't complicate my life too much as well, then fine I'll go with it, we clear?"

"That's easy enough, good luck explaining this to Hephaestus, I won't be helping with that."

"On a scale of spilled some water to roped into some kind of weird relationship with the most powerful woman in the world, how man you think she's gonna be?"

Freya chuckles at his annoyed expression, her laughter rings out like the sound of soft chimes.

"I think her face will match her hair, it's difficult to make her lose composure, but I tend to push all the right buttons back in heaven," she says with a devious smile on her face.

"Thanks a lot for that." He groans, dreading the conversation he's about to have with his goddess.

"If you ever need her to yell at you, I'm a good person to ask for help."

"I'll keep that in mind," he says while getting out of the bed, still completely naked just like Freya.

As he stands away from the bed, taking a deep breath he begins to use magic to heat up his entire body, his caramel skin glows with the heat, his mouth holds small blue flames that try but fail to reach out. Freya takes in every inch of his muscled body as he stands there performing his morning ritual.

As he stops the flow of magic, the heat recedes and the goddess can't help her curiosity.

"And what exactly was that?"

"Showering and brushing teeth, enough heat burns away anything on me or in my mouth, a few seconds of that and I'm completely fresh," he says with a shrug, "still can't make up for the feeling of a nice long bath though."

"You really are something else."

"I get that a lot, I need to go give Welf these Ingots..." he says while walking around the room to collect his clothes.

"And here I was hoping that we'd spend the day together," she says with a playful pout.

Stopping for a moment to take in her expression, the goddess now standing completely naked in front of him. Yang pulls her into an intense kiss before pulling away.

"You're much cuter when you aren't trying to act serious all the time, much cuter," he gives her a warm smile," but I'm an adventurer first, already told you my goals come first didn't I," he says while pulling on his outfit from last night.

"Yes, I recall, training for your expedition. Be sure to inform me when you return at least," her voice holds no real emotion as she speaks to him, as she watches him get dressed she isn't sure what she feels, but she knows how she's SUPPOSED to feel.

"I'll see you around Freya, and not like I can hide from you anyway so you know how to find me," Yang says while giving her one last kiss before walking to the large window, leaving her in a stunned state.

With a step, he begins his descent from her penthouse down to his apartment.

Standing with the wind coming in from the ajar window, Freya takes a deep breath, eyes closed as she reflects on the last day of events.

'He disrespected me.

He ordered me around.

He had me change my plans.

He refused to be a piece in my game.

He took me to the clouds.

He made me hide my body from him.

He called me beautiful.

He called me PERFECT.

He still disregarded me as a GODDESS.

He treated me like just any other WOMAN.

He was HONEST with me.

He is PERFECT.

HE MUST FALL FOR ME!'

Her thoughts crashed back and forth in her mind, the goddess who had everyone and everything groveling at her feet lost. Someone beat her at her own game, worse, he showed her she could never have won. He challenged her and before she realized she already lost. The moment she changed her plans for the evening and put on the baggy robe, he won. He showed her how dependant she was on her charm, he disassembled her.

She had to have him. She WILL have him, not in the way she acquired her children, no. She would have him fall for her, she'll make him want her, even more than she so badly wants him, the only thing born of this world that has ever refused her.

"Ottar," barely a moment later the Boaz is opening the door to the room, "Tell Horn(The girl who acts as Freya when the goddess acts as Syr or vice-versa) that anytime Yang is around only I'm allowed to deal with him. And have anyone who interferes with him be deemed a traitor, make sure the entire familia knows this."

"Yes my lady," he nods before leaving the room.

---1 Hour later, Hephaestus's lounge...

The goddess herself can be seen slumped back in her seat on the fine couch, a glass of wine in her hand and an empty bottle on the table.

Tsubaki sits beside her with a glass in her hand as well, keeping a close eye on her goddess so she doesn't do anything too uncalled for, though she can't think of what such a thing would be given the current situation.

Thalie and Welf sit quietly on single seats on either end of the large coffee table while Yang occupies the couch opposite the eyepatch-wearing ladies, the current hot seat.

"I... am so tempted, to kick you out of my familia, or at least Babel..." Hephaestus says, fixing her one eye onto Yang as she glares at him," you were supposed to go to dinner, get the ingots then leave, why'd you put your dick in crazy, are you dumb?"

"..." he doesn't respond, because he has no response. His own ego and arrogance refused to let Freya disregard him and the effort he'd put in, and now he was paying for it.

"If she didn't make that promise I'd really kick you out, you're lucky, THIS TIME."

"Hephaestus please, either way, she wasn't going to stop, at least now she won't come after him as an adventurer, just as a man," Tsubaki says, trying to help her goddess calm down.

"HOW THE HELL DID THAT HAPPEN ANYWAY?!" Hephaestus spills some wine as she waves her arms around.

"Mmm, she implied that well, I can stop seeing her if I can beat Ottar, so not much of a choice..." he says quietly, both his teammates stare at him with wide eyes.

"HA, you've gotta fuck her till you can beat her son, hahaha," Thalie cackles as she holds her stomach.

"If this bullshit gets any of my familia hurt, that's on you, got it!" His goddess bellows.

"Understood Hephaestus, I'll make sure that doesn't happen."

"I can't even look at you right now, you're kicked out of Babel until I calm down, starting tonight!" she huffs while storming out of the room.

"Looks like I won't be in my apartment for a while..." Yang mutters quietly.

"Sigh, I don't think I've ever seen her that mad, I'm sure she'll calm down. You're too valuable to throw away, at least until you bring danger to our familia more than you already have. Honestly, I'd be trying to kill you right now if Freya didn't make that promise," Tsubaki says, no hint of humor in her voice.

"She threatened me into a relationship, I think, I dunno, ugh!"

"Yeah can't help you there, I see why Thalie calls you miracle boy, got yourself Freya of all people," Tsubaki shrugs while leaving to find Hephaestus.

"Well, let's head over to the forge and check the spoils!" Their resident excited smith says, excited to get his hands on new material.

Making their way to Welf's forge in Babel, the smith locked the door behind them, clearly intent on shutting himself in here instead of dealing with customers.

Barely a moment passes before Yang withdraws the crate, immediately digging in Welf starts appraising the jet-black Ingots.

"Hmm, durability is their main thing, ridiculous durability from the looks of it. No wonder Ottar's sword is the only 'Supreme' classed weapon."

"Think you can handle it?" Thalie asks.

"I've been practicing making Durandal all week, thank's to money bags over here," he gestures as Yang," and my own money with it, bought a lot of material and got Durandal down to a routine. If I add some of this and the Rok Ingots, well, supreme should be the minimum if I get the proportions right, nowhere near enough for a switch axe though so that'll have to wait till you get the drop item in full. Might even have some extra properties too if the Rok talon reacts for you guys as it does for me..." he says before trailing off into theories that went right over the heads of Thalie and Yang.

"AHEM!," Yang fake coughs, shaking Welf from his theory crafting, the smith was like a kid in a candy store with the new material," you need anything else, I wanna head to the dungeon and get training in so I can get you whatever you need."

"If you spot any Orichalcum or Adamantite, that's always useful. I've got a good amount right now but more never hurts to save money. As for monster parts, the 28th-30th floors are supposed to be having an increased number of Irregulars and new species, they might have something but I don't NEED anything in particular, oh, follow me."

Leading him to a block of metal, Welf points at it before instructing Yang,"I need a mold for your hands, melt your arms into this."

"Uh, sure," Yang says with a shrug before placing the tip of his fingers on the metal block.

As his hands heat up he eventually pushed through the metal, like a knife through stiff peanut butter, carefully regulating his heat so the metal doesn't fall apart, allowing a proper mold to form.

As up to his forearms are in the metal, the metal begins to cool as he uses his Cold element to drain the heat out of it. With a wiggle here and there he removes his hands from the metal block.

"Damn, that never gets any less absurd," Thalie says as she looks at the new molds.

"Yeah, what I wouldn't do to be able to do that, would make forging a whole lot easier," Welf says as he looks at the block.

"Alright that's it, everything should be ready before we head down ahead of Loki familia."

"Then I'll get out of here, Thalie you wanna come with?" Yang asks the woman.

"Sorry I've gotta head out to Melen to do something for Hephaestus, I'll try to be back in time for the expedition."

"Alright, let's get our stuff done and meet here afterward, and hopefully Hephaestus won't be mad at me anymore," he quietly adds the last bit.

"Good luck with that," The woman mutters.

END CHAPTER---