Chapter 146

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After the incident with Ugga... Ogga…. Nagga… whatever his name was, I decided the best path to ensure my victory on a future imminent encounter with him was to copy some his methods, while crazy and deranged, he had proved to be better prepared than any of us in the ways of war, his army was dangerous, too dangerous, meaning the only way to match his might, was to also create an army of drones to assist me when the time came, of course, this was easier said than done, besides Miss J and her clones, my experience in the area of creating self sufficient golems was…. Questionable at best.

But not all knowledge required decades of study and effort, some… all you had to do was eat a healthy meal, and I had the perfect dish for my conundrum, Hephaestus, the god of the forge, and my next target. Eating him, would grant me immeasurable knowledge in the art of creating and forging beings into life. Now all I had to do was find him, and kill him, or offer him once again an opportunity to join, I didn't have to eat all my problems away, that didn't sound like a healthy choice at all, who knows he might say yes.

"Time to find him," I sighed, finding this task rather easy, for a vast array of reasons, apparently he didn't lived on Olympus, because according to Athena, most of the Gods in there considered him too ugly to be on their realm full time like the rest of them were, meaning he would only attend meetings and go away as soon as they finished, thanks to that, his location was easy to obtain, and according to what I had read and found with my magic he was on the forge of the earth, a magical realm within one of the biggest volcanoes in the world.

"Here goes nothing," I muttered, teleporting to the forge.

Inside the forge, there was nothing but weapons of all kinds, armors, and so much more, the place was filled to the brim with thousands of weapons forged by the Hephaestus himself, from daggers to spears, he had it all, except a good security system, I mean, I had entered his realm without any difficulties, which shouldn't be possible at all.

I fully expected to be teleported out of his realm, in the edges of his home, I fully expected having to force my way through the dimensional barrier that kept his world out of the human world, and yet, nothing, it was as if I had been welcomed, as if the God of The Forge had invited me to his home, if so why?

"You alright there, kid?" a deep, gruff voice said, snapping me out of my long reverie. Turning around, I look up to see Hephaestus, the owner of the original, standing a few meters away from me, his apron full of burns and oil. "You looked like you were asleep on your feet there."

"You knew I was coming," I pointed out, to which he nodded.

"I had a feeling," Hephaestus grunted, "And here you are,"

"Why?" I asked, "Why are you so… welcoming, what is the catch?" I elaborated on my question, normally my meetings with the gods end up with me having to fight for my life, with fifty percent of them trying to molest me.

For a moment, the God looked at me, and said nothing, his eyes piercing into my soul like knives carving a turkey, both cold and hot, his almost emotionless gaze made me feel unease, strange, almost uncomfortable, with sigh, the old God broke the silence in the room, and said, "Follow me,"

I was intrigued, vexed by this turn of events, I knew I had thought of offering him the option of joining me before I tried to eat his soul, but I didn't really think I would get to offer him such a thing, and yet, here I was following him through his forge, "I have to ask, why are you so friendly… or at least, civil with the one that should by all means be your enemy?"

The God said nothing, he simply kept on walking with me following him close behind to who knows where, I knew he wasn't ignoring me, I knew that much, I also knew he wasn't planning anything, his soul vibrated in a very distinctive tempo, one that I had only encountered in Hestia, of course, his was diluted in a sense, unlike Hestia who was pure to the very core, Hephaestus had a more, dark tone to his essence, one full with bitterness and something akin to hate, the point was, that he didn't have any intention of attacking me, his entire aura was open for me to read, which was something intentional on his part.

You see, while reading the aura of a God, you don't get all the answers, only what they cannot hide, and they can always hide something, but right now? Hephaestus is letting me read him, he is intentionally lowering his guard, showing me he has no intention of fighting.

"Here it is," Hephaestus stopped on his tracks, opening a door that led to a bar, "Take a sit," he added as he walked behind the counter of his bar.

"I… I don't even know what is going on anymore," I was lost, his entire being contradicted what I thought of the Gods, "Why am I here?"

"To have a drink," Hephaestus answer was short, and to the point, "Why else would you go to a bar?" He had a point there.

"I meant, why have you brought me here?" I asked again, perhaps I needed to word my questions better.

The God of The Forge sighed, as he reached behind himself and grabbed a bottle off the tall shelf, uncorking it and pouring out two drinks, one for me, and one for him. "I don't know kid, I'm not sure why,"

Wasn't that informative, "Well, I can't complain… I'm fighting for my life, for once,"

Hephaestus snorted for a very brief second, "I… I know you want to kill me brat, the fates told me of this, centuries ago,"

I… mean, I… I.. I wanted to kill him, sure, but only if he said no to my… god how crazy I have that my solution for everything is killing those who oppose me, "Oh god, I am crazy,"

"Every God is," Hephaestus nodded, "The Fates told me you wanted to, not that you would,"

"Well, fuck the fates… I don't want to kill you anymore, I refuse to solve all my problems with the same solution, killing and eating my opponents," I still had lots of stuff to learn, powers to develop, limits to find… there was no need to kill everyone, just those who really deserve it, Zeus, Hera… maybe Sushidon, I was a God not a Tyrant.

"Remarkably they said you would say that," Hephaestus sighed, "Kid, I… I'm ready,"

"For what?" I asked, not liking where this was going.

"I lived my life, and did what I had to do, but I am done…. I no longer want to linger around those who ridicule me," Hephaestus stated, "And before you offer me a place in your Pantheon, have in mind… you can't force others to love what they disgust, I was born out of envy and hate, and the one person who should've have loved me, casted me away the moment I was born, then the woman I loved… hated me,"

"I'll be honest, I don't see why people say you are that ugly, I mean… you are not a ten, but you are not a one either," I replied, and in all honesty, while he was ugly, he wasn't the kind of ugly that would make you want to die, heck I have seen gods more ugly than him, my brother Ukka Ukka, and the Hentai one that sired me.

"This isn't about me being ugly," Hephaestus chuckled, "I know I am not the most disgusting thing to look at in the world, the real reason I want you to kill me, is because I have no will to live kid, the life of a God… is painful, I am tired of it, and so I waited for you, to put an end to this nightmare some call immortality,"

"Is it weird I don't want to do it?" I asked him, and he chuckled.

"Well, for someone who initially wanted to eat me, and then not… I suppose it shows you still have a long way to fully mold your path as a God, be sure to forge one you are proud of kid," Hephaestus smiled, "Now, hurry up, I don't have all day,"