Chapter 142: The Nexus, Olympics and Bishop

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a/n: Between my readers, there must be some wizard/witch/mage or something like that, because I woke up one hour after going to sleep and recover with no headaches whatsoever. So, I decided to write. Here it is.

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An entire decade. That was how much time Erik spent finishing his security array in the dimension he had taken for himself. But it was finished and it was a masterpiece. The wards would repel any attempt of teleportation to the dimension that was not authorized by force breaking the transportation spell, and any person who tried to force its way in would find himself being in the middle of the Dimensional Gap due to the wards redirecting the teleportation spell by force. The first would work more like a warning to the people trying to come in, while the second would be the punishment for people who ignored the warning.

One of the initial problems that Erik encountered while putting these wards in place was the energy requirements for it. Luckily for him, Erik managed to devise an energy collector that would siphon a little bit of the energies found around the dimension, that is, in the Dimensional Gap, and feed them to the wards. Ophis's help had been unmeasurable in this regard when Erik had some doubts about the Dimensional Gap. As one of the two residents of the place, Ophis knew a lot about it. Her help had not been forgotten, of course, and the 'little' Dragon of Infinity was showered with different sweets created by Erik, including some hard candies that Ophis would now always carry a package with it whenever it was and always would have one melting in its mouth.

After adding all of his family members to the white list of the dimension, plus Ophis, It was time to show the finished work to them. During one of the weekends that everyone was at home, Erik called them together and teleported them to the dimension.

"I'm proud to report to you all that I have finally finished the array around the dimension."

Erik said to the women around him grandly. The women followed his play and started to clap to Erik's announcement, some with more enthusiasm than others.

"Thank you, thank you. You are all too kind to me~."

Erik said while bowing to his audience. That set the women into a fit of giggles and laughs.

"Is it finished, then?"

Selena asked Erik, who nodded his head while smiling.

"Yes. This dimension is our own paradise to do whatever we want with it. Everyone here is already whitelisted on the protection wards, so you can come and go whatever time you like. Any other person who tries to teleport here that is not whitelisted will find himself getting a warning first. If he continues trying to force his way in, the protections will 'allow' the teleportation to go through while redirecting the final destination to the middle of the Dimensional Gap."

Erik said to the women, who nodded their heads in approval. They very much liked the idea of giving one warning before punishing.

"Erik, Even I can teleport in and out of this dimension?"

Hestia asked Erik, who looked at her and smiled.

"Of course, Hestia. You are my big sister and I went through all this work in protecting this dimension mainly for the family's use. And you, being adopted as my big sister, is part of this family."

Erik said to the goddess, who looked at him with some moisture in her eyes. Erik had already said that to her numerous times before and even prepared a room in his home exclusively for her use, but it seemed that it had not clicked yet for Hestia. The next thing that he knew, Erik was being tackled by the sisterly goddess in a hug. Erik smiled again at that and returned the hug. Sometime after the fluffy moment, the group started to discuss what they would like to do in the dimension. It was then that Serafall asked a very important question.

"Hubby, what is the name of the place?"

Serafall asked Erik, who looked at her in confusion. He then put one of his hands in his chin, making a 'thinking pose', and hummed.

"Hmmm… A name you say?"

Erik said while still thinking of a name for the dimension. It was just a minute later that a good name appeared in his head.

"How about 'Nexus'?"

Erik said while looking at the women around him. They looked at him and started to think about that name.

"Too simplistic."

Leona voiced.

"Not catchy enough."

Serafall added.

"Yeah, it has no impact when one hears it."

Musashi said.

"How about 'THE Nexus' then?"

Selena said, adding only the 'The' in the front of the previous name. But it seemed that it made all the difference.

"Oh, 'The Nexus'. Much better now."

Serafall said while nodding her head in approval.

"Yes, it has some impact now."

Musashi added, agreeing with Serafall.

"Now it seems like the name of a mythical place."

Ching Shih said too. Erik was watching this all while some imaginary veins were popping on his head. Just 'Nexus' was not okay, but 'The Nexus' was… It was at that time that Erik again concluded that it doesn't matter how old you are and how long you live with a woman because you, as a man, were fated to never understand the inner workings of this complex creature. Letting out a sigh in defeat, Erik made the official announcement.

*Sigh*

"It's decided then. From now on, this dimension will be called 'The Nexus'!"

Erik said and received another wave of claps from the women around him.

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As the nineteen hundreds approached, since he had concluded the project on creating the protections around The Nexus, Erik turned his attention to other projects in sight. Hestia had commented with him that Olympus was planning on patronizing a very ambitious event on the human world. The Olympics. That's how they were calling it. It used to be an event that happened every four years during a festival to honor Zeus but it had been prohibited by a Roman Emperor one thousand and five hundred years ago. This time, Olympus wanted to make it a worldwide event. A worldwide competition on various sports where every country could send their best to compete in it. And Olympus was searching for supporters for it because they knew that an event this big could give some stupid people some stupid ideas. Then, after having a conversation with some of the gods responsible for the organization of the event, Erik wrote an Official letter and sent it to all pantheons. In it, he announced his support with the ongoing project of Olympus while inviting the various pantheons to support their followers in sending competitors for the event. Soon after, the two factions that lived in the Underworld, Devils, and Fallen-Angels, pronounced themselves in support of the event too with the signature of the Satans and Azazel respectively. Heaven was not behind them too when Michael, through the Church, announced their support too. Soon enough, almost all pantheons had announced their support to the event forcing the rest to support it too. This created the first instance in which the entirety of the supernatural world agreed upon something, transforming the first Olympic Games into an event that no pantheon would mess with, leaving it entirely in the hands of the normal people.

That didn't mean that there would be no problems. Some independent people, mostly criminals that were unhappy with some pantheons, had tried to mess with it, but they were caught before they could do any damage and were delivered to the hands of the pantheon that had problems with them. This was just possible due to a huge temporary array that Erik had prepared around the city that would be hosting the event, Athens.

Erik, together with his wives and the newest addition to the family, a little bundle of curiosity called Rossweisse, were there to watch the opening and ending ceremonies of the event inside a specially made private booth. In fact, every pantheon who had supported the event had received one private booth for them to watch the games if so they desired. Most of them sent envoys to represent them while counted with the presence of their leaders.

In all, the event had been a success and talks were being made for it to be reapeated again every four years.

Speaking about Rossweisse, that was the name of Erik's little cousin. Galdun had given birth to a girl. A Valkyrie. The little girl had white hair, just like her mother's, and big curious light blue eyes that mirrored her curiosity about everything around her. Erik ended up being her 'favorite person' much to the mother's, Galdun, chagrin. She would complain in good banter to whoever wanted to hear how Erik was stealing her daughter from her and how he was pampering her by giving Rossweisse everything that she wanted. Erik would not lie about that since the last part was true. But luckily for him and Galdun, the only thing that Rossweisse asked him was to see magic. The little girl was fascinated with all the different colors and shapes that Erik could create with the use of magic.

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It was during this time that Serafall tried to recruit another member for her peerage under the recommendation of her husband, Erik. Her name was Florence Nightingale. The old nurse was considered the mother of modern nursing with all the books that she had written about it together with all the new and efficient procedures that she created. At the age of seventy-eight, Florence Nightingale's body was becoming frail which was aggravated by all the years of work that she had done in war hospitals but she continued to influence the world through all the books containing all her experiences and knowledge. When Serafall came back from the meeting, it was with a smile on her face. Apparently, Serafall had been successful to convince the old nurse to join her peerage. At first, Florence Nightingale was suspicious about Serafall's claim of being a Devil, but then she remembered some of the situations that she had encountered and witnessed during her life on the edge of battlefields. After some more convincing, which involved a visit to the Sitri territory, more specifically to the medical facilities of the Sitri territory, Florence Nightingale was sold on the idea of becoming a Devil and a member of Serafall's peerage. She, just like Ching Shih, received an artifact that would warn Serafall when she was ready to 'change'. Florence Nightingale had asked for some time to finish her business in the normal world before entering into a new journey. It had taken twelve years for the woman to put everything in order, but at the end of it, Serafall gained a new Bishop for her peerage.

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