Chapter 57: F for Loki and Ray

"Loki…" Odin growled before gritting his teeth. Of all people to be colluding with Khaos Brigade, it had to be the most troublesome one in his whole pantheon.

"Allfather Odin, you old fool. Why must you join the very alliance who stole our faith? Did you turn senile already to bow down and let those trash step on your head?" Loki said with care of the crowd below him which was ready to attack Loki at any moment. As if he is standing before ants.

"Time had changed, Loki. We must join forces against a common enemy, the Khaos Brigade who are terrorising the world and attempting to disrupt the peace. I did this to preserve our pantheon and to benefit us." Odin explained, trying to reason with Loki. However, Loki's reply is to summon his sons, Fenrir, Skol, Hati and Midgardsormr.

"Peace? Peace was never an option, Odin! You strive for peace but I instead follow our prophecy to start Ragnarok after killing YOU!"

Dark blue magic circles appeared instantly and two massive icicles condensed and quickly accelerated toward Odin who was still shocked by Loki's declaration. The valkyrie bodyguard of Odin quickly jumps in front of her boss to shield him from the magic attack of the shapeshifting ice Jotun.

The other leaders were busy keeping the guest safe from the evil god's attack to save Odin but thankfully Ray already knew Loki would attack and was expecting it. He is ready at any moment to equip his armor and join the battle. Besides him, Issei also sprung up and ready to fight as he already summoned his Boosted Gear gauntlet and moved closer to Loki with his other peerage members following behind him.

When the icicles about to impact the valkyrie, Ray used Sacrificial Bulwark to take the damage to himself that impacted his barrier made by the Ladon MK VII. The magic shrinked few times by Divide then the barrier was boosted a few times also to strengthen the defence. When the attack connected, he barely felt anything as there were more layers of barriers after the Ladon MK VII that protected his body. His health didn't drop even a single point from the god level attack which surprised almost all onlookers except the armor's creator, Azazel.

(Ajuka didn't attend.)

The smile on Loki immediately vanished and was replaced with a deep frown. "This… Divine Dividing and Boosted Gear?" The evil god muttered in disbelief that the power of the two Heavenly Dragons sacred gear can be harnessed and create another Sacred Gear.

"Oh, cool! So, that is what Azazel tried to make with Ddraig's power." Issei couldn't stop gaping his jaw at the power of Ray's artificial sacred gear.

The Ladon MK VII in Issei's opinion might not be able to upgrade endlessly like him but the whole system that channeled Albion and Ddraig power to enhance the effectiveness of Ladon's barrier. Even Ddraig inside Issei praised the ingenuity of Azazel for creating this armor.

As Heavenly Dragon, Ddraig never thought of learning other skills to complement or upgrade his skills like how the armor did. If only he thinks of this during his heyday, he will easily win against Albion if he can create a barrier and boost it to make it unbreakable to Albion and his obnoxiously annoying poison.

Then suddenly a light blue teleportation magic appeared again. The magic circle bears the crest of the old Lucifer clan and most already knew who it belonged to.

"Valina?" Issei said with a frown as he saw his fated rival arrive.

Everyone in the hall thought Valina arrived to help Loki since she is part of Khaos Brigade too but the surprised and angered look on Loki's face said otherwise.

"Oh, we are late to the party." Valina said nonchalantly while surveying the surroundings. A handsome blond man dressed in a suit also standing next to Valina like her escort and his identity is easily identified by the holy sword Caliburn hanging on his hip.

"I think we arrived just in time." Arthur said while pointing at their objective, the Fenrir.

"Tch, are you here to help that god Loki?!" Issei shouted at Valina with his question. However his answer is simply a glance from Valina before she ignores Issei who is still weaker than herself.

"So, indeed as I thought. You would attack Odin when he tried to join the alliance which made my job easier." Valina said while proudly staring back at Loki who obviously angered and currently tried to pressure Valina with his power. Valina however shrugged at the act and ordered Arthur to capture Fenrir.

The alliance looking at this exchange between the members of Khaos Brigade found that they aren't exactly harmonious with how Valina is clearly not here to help Loki but instead trying to steal Fenrir.

The faction leaders like Michael, Azazel and Sirzech didn't participate in the fight and instead protected the guests.

Baraqiel, seeing that the people are protected, initiated the attack on Loki with his Holy Lightning on the distracted and incensed Loki but a defensive magic appeared and blocked the attack. Odin also ordered his bodyguard to help before he also joined to attack Loki. Odin and his bodyguard used Norse magic to attack Loki but were also similarly blocked. Odin didn't bring any divine weapon with him since he is attending a peace meeting, bringing a weapon is frowned upon. The others too except sacred gear wielder, Ray and the appointed guards for this event who aren't strong enough to participate in the battle as a Mid Class against literal god.

To put it simply, Loki is fighting with his weapon in hand while the other leaders are with bare fist. Those that have weapons are too weak to fight against a god like Loki.

While the battle is ongoing between Loki, the alliance and Vali team, Ray went to the faction leaders. He already knew that just Odin, Roseweisse, Baraqiel and Vali's team wasn't enough to defeat a fully prepared Loki. He instead thought why not just let him take care of the defence of the people and free the three leaders to join the fight. With Sirzech's help, Loki's defeat is assured.

The Ladon MK VII can create barriers and those barriers aren't limited to just himself. Ray can freely expand the barrier size and alter its shape.

"You three go and help defeat Loki. I will take care of their protection." Ray said after creating a dome shape barrier that encased the guests behind him. "Issei, you start boosting and transfer it to Sirzech."

"Oh, got it Uncle!" Issei replied before his gauntlet glowed in emerald green light. "Boost!"

Then the three leaders looked at each other before nodding. Since Ray is already determined to replace them to allow them to join, then why not.

Azazel was waiting for Ajuka who he alerted when Loki appeared. He and Michael joined Raynare, Mittelt, Kalawarna and the twins with their group of elites that is fending off against the child of Loki, the Midgardsormr, Skoll and Hati. Meanwhile Sirzech joined Baraqiel, Odin and the valkyrie to fight Loki. Valina and Arthur are subduing Fenrir.

Occasionally, stray magics and attacks went toward the guests while the battle was getting more intense which the barrier Ray created was able to block without problem. However, Loki who is being ganged by 4 people, he needed to distract his opponents to create an opening which Loki did by creating a large ice meteor and hurl it towards Sirzech. Sirzech reacted immediately by wanting to pulverize the magic with his Power of Destruction but the ice meteor changed its trajectory at the last moment and accelerated toward Ray's barrier.

Sirzech immediately wanted to jump away from Loki to disintegrate the ice meteor because his sister Rias was within the crowd of guests. However the ice meteor suddenly shrunken multiple times in quick succession while the blue orb in Ray's Ladon MK VII blinked a few times. Then the green one starts blinking before the barrier glows stronger in intensity as it's being reinforced by more power stolen from the incoming ice meteor. When it impacted the barrier, the barrier only shooked for a moment before it cracked a little but immediately mended when more power poured into the barrier to repair it's damage.

Valina on the other side quickly saw it as Divine Dividing power was being used. She stares at Ray then at Azazel who is gauging her reaction but looks away immediately when Valina turns her sight on him. Azazel gulped a little since he is the second most knowledgeable about Divine Dividing in this world now and he knows if Valina wanted to kick his ass, she can 100% do it the most painful way possible by dividing away his power before tying him up on a pole to whip his ass till skin tore off. Baraqiel would love this kind of punishment but not Azazel, he ain't into that shit.

When Issei boosted more than 30 stacks, he quickly transferred it to Sirzech who was waiting for it. Sirzech's power instantly skyrocketed and crimson aura blasted off his body, covering him with the aura that danced like a wildfire. Sirzech lifts his right palm to his chest level before his crimson aura condensed in his palm and sucked in more Power of Destruction which formed a ball of concentrated, disintegrating energy.

"This is for daring to attack my beloved sister, Ruin the Extinct!" Sirzech then chucks the ball of concentrated Power of Destruction like throwing a pokeball at Loki. However, instead of catching Loki, Sirzech intended to eradicate Loki from the face of the world.

Baraqiel who was standing in front of Loki immediately did a barrel roll to quickly get out of the way. He silently grumbled and cursed that the attack almost hit him.

Almost everyone focuses on Sirzech and Loki when Sirzech uses his flashy attack. Valina and Arthur who subdued Fenrir using Excalibur Ruler escaped while people weren't paying them attention. They rather not stay here and fight everyone when they are outnumbered.

"Wait! Don't kill him." Odin pleaded and used his magic to create a shield to lessen the attack enough to not kill Loki immediately.

"Please let me punish him for today's transgression and I will take the responsibility for everything he caused today." Odin pleaded again.

The leaders looked at each other before agreeing because there wasn't any death that happened. The only damages are the building and several injured soldiers that fought against Loki's childrens.

"If so, then we will leave him with punishment in your hand." Sirzech said to Odin and shake hands with Odin when he offered his hand.

With Loki defeated and imprisoned, the matter today concludes since the agreement was also signed. The event continued with a banquet to celebrate the joining of Norse mythology into the alliance but in another bigger castle and it was open to the public.

———

Later that night at 2 am, Ray returned to his home at the base and he had three guests that followed him home. Xenovia tagged along with Ray after obtaining permission from Rias to stay one night at Ray's place.

Ray was slightly tipsy, definitely not drunk from the celebration since many keep giving him a toast and he is forced to drink alcohol. At least he isn't like Azazel and Odin who went into a drinking match and drank barrels of alcohol. This is the first time he consumed alcohol more than his own body mass and he wondered where the alcohol went.

"Hey, Raynare."

"Hmn?" Raynare looked at her best friend who called for her.

"Aren't we supposed to only hauling Ray back home? Why are we bringing Odin's bodyguard and the Phenex clan princess too?" Kalawarna asked as she was hauling the two like a sack of potatoes on her shoulder.

"Yeah, are they Ray's lovers too?" Xenovia who followed them from behind, hauling Mittelt on her shoulder asked.

"Ravel does harbor love towards Ray although being the indecisive bastard as usual even if he also shows interest in Ravel. He is just too lazy to deal with the problem that comes from taking Ravel as his lover that he gave up on simply to avoid the trouble." Raynare complained to her best friend and her fellow sister who nodded to her words.

"Still, I guess he thinks that he already had enough on his plate that he simply didn't want to have more lovers because he was afraid he couldn't give us his attention equally. *Sigh* He sometimes is just too considerate for his own good."

"I agree with that part." Xenovia said after remembering the talk she had with Ray. He is indeed considerate that he is afraid he couldn't give everyone the attention because he is too busy with his job. Xenovia already knew this is the reason why he hadn't made any move on her other than bringing her out for a short date when he had some spare time while sending Cheshire to visit Miki Hyoudou.

"Also! You!" Raynare suddenly burst out at Kalawarna. "How long are you going to wait for him to initiate the first move? You should know by now that he simply wouldn't do it until the Khaos Brigade is dealt with and who knows how long it would take." Raynare huffed at Kalawarna who could help but sighed before looking at the shit faced Ray, carried by Raynare.

Then Raynare looked at Kalawarna with a disappointed expression. "I thought we made a promise to stick together forever? What if he suddenly left with us? You do know he…" Raynare paused then looked at Xenovia who was also looking at her waiting for Raynare to complete the sentence.

"What?" Xenovia asked curiously.

"Ray isn't a human from this world. I don't know if you already learned about this but the faction leaders already knew about this but I don't know about anyone else but our group." Raynare said while pointing at Kalawarna and the passed out Mittelt.

"So, you mean he might one day return to his world or leave this world?" Xenovia guessed.

"Yeah, basically that." Raynare nodded, then looked at Kalawarna.

"Then, what do you propose me to do?" Kalawarna replied back at Raynare. "You already said it's unlikely for him to court me or even accept any more lovers."

Raynare then smirked mischievously then grinned. "That's easy. He is the type that would avoid the problem from reaching him but if the problem already reached him, he would deal with it. So, instead of waiting for him to be ready, you two should be aggressive just like ma and Mittelt or he will just keep you hanging." Raynare imparted her knowledge while nodding sagely.

"Then… you're telling me that I should do 'that'." Xenovia asked with a surprised look on her face and light blushes while stopping on her step.

"Of course, you do the deed and cook the rice. If it already happened then there's nothing for him to delay and deny anymore." Raynare stated sternly like she is lecturing in a class.

"Isn't that a dirty move to do? What if he reacted badly to it?" Xenovia addressed the flaw in the proposed solution Raynare provided them.

"Good question. We just have to play the victim and fortunately luck is on our side tonight." Raynare points at the drunk Ray with her thumb. "He wouldn't realized who he fucked while he is drunk and this is the opportunity you two been waiting for."

"Wait, Raynare. Did you bring Ravel and Roseweisse along for this too?" Kalawarna asked with worry in her tone and the smirk on Raynare's face is enough answer for her.

"Why is the valkyrie included?" Xenovia pointed out at the valkyrie which included for no reason.

"Bah, that valkyrie blushed like a lovestruck virgin highschool girl. Did you not hear the obvious interest she showed to Ray when she was drunk?" Xenovia and Kalawarna shake their heads.

"What did she say?" Xenovia asked.

"She basically said she is an unwanted bachelor and wished to have a boyfriend with stable income, attractive and loving her. She cried next to Odin when Azazel told her that Ray already has me, Mittelt and you as his girlfriends." Raynare replied to Xenovia. Xenovia also nodded and suddenly Raynare and Kalawarna stopped in front of a door which she assumed was their home entrance. They are so absorbed with talking that she didn't even realize they had already arrived.

"This house is ours and the next one on the left is Ray's house. Come on in, we have a busy night ahead of us." Raynare said with a grin as she invited Xenovia in.

————

(F to Ray. I blame him for being the indecisive bastard that the girls have to resort to extreme measures to tie them down to Ray.)

Is the latter part of the novel bad? I mean my experience with romance is nonexistent and my knowledge come from other novels and mangas that idk if what i write is bad. And I mean bad is illogical rather than from moral standpoint.