Advent Of The Matriarch

SPLASH!

A sudden, ice-cold, wet sensation enveloped Loki's face, including parts of her upper body, violently stirring her consciousness awake. In a panic, she sat up and opened her eyes, her gaze darting around her like that of a cornered animal.

"W-What's happening!?"

Right after this question had left her mouth, she got tormented by a coughing fit. Her excessively unhealthy lifestyle for this past week or so hadn't exactly left her in great condition. Even her mental faculties, which usually worked their hardest around the clock, found it hard to process the information that she found herself presented with.

It took her a good ten seconds or so to realize that she was still in her study, sitting atop one of her sofas. She had apparently fallen asleep on it sometime during the night. Countless empty liquor bottles were strewn around all over the place. Through the small gap in the curtains, some early-morning sunlight was already trickling in.

All in all, everything looked just like normal. Except for Finn, Isaac and Riveria, who stood in front of her with empty buckets in their hands, eyeing her with a mixture of stern annoyance, pity and amusement.

"You woke me up like that, eh? A classic. What's wrong for you to make use of such drastic measures? Do we have an emergency?"

Rousing her currently considerably impaired mind to the best state she could muster, the trickster goddess' gaze turned sharp. Although her own situation might not be optimal - nay, disastrous, even - she couldn't let her children suffer due to her negligence.

"Wait, what are you doing?!! Help…! Someone, help m--- M-MMMPH!!!"

Instead of an explanation, all that awaited her was a sturdy rope that tied her up firmly and securely, making her appear akin to a red-haired, human-sized shrimp. Her captors didn't even flinch as she screamed her heart out, heartlessly gagging her with a resilient cloth strip, before carrying her away unceremoniously.

-----

At exactly 8 a.m., a singular beam of light descended from the heavens, landing perfectly in the middle of the platform that was situated at the very top of Babel. Emerging from within the dissipating glow a few seconds later, a goddess stepped forward and opened her eyes, taking in the world around her with traces of excitement, intrigue, anger and resignation in her complex gaze. When she didn't see who she had hoped to run into, she heaved an exasperated sigh.

With quick steps, she made her way down the platform and walked towards the group of seven that was waiting nearby. There was an oddly charming, blonde Pallum, a stout, brave Dwarf, a refined, gorgeous High Elf, a pair of Amazoness twins that were extremely disproportionately endowed, as well as a handholding couple whose appearances could rival those of the deities. For a moment, her gut feeling told her that there was still someone else standing next to these two, but before she could further extrapolate upon that train of thought, her gaze fell upon the crustacean-shaped 'package' lying on the ground in front of the entire group. Her eyes suddenly widened in astonishment.

"We've already apprehended the criminal, Lady Angrboda. Please allow us to hand her over to you for her just punishment."

Stepping forward right at this time, the Pallum displayed immaculate etiquette as he bowed respectfully, complementing his image with a dazzling smile.

Not knowing whether she should chide him or break out into laughter, Angrboda halted in her tracks, the corners of her mouth soon rising ever so slightly.

"We of the Loki Familia welcome you to the Lower World, Lady Angrboda."

Following their Captain's footsteps, the rest of the group spoke up as well, entirely disregarding the desperately struggling trickster goddess, and courteously welcomed the lady of the house. At the same time, they were sizing up the woman that had somehow ended up married to their repeat sex offender of a goddess.

Angrboda wasn't much taller than Loki, maybe only five or six centimeters, making her about the same height as Riveria, who was already considered to be quite tall for a woman of this world. Age-wise, she appeared to be in her twenties, just like most female deities. As if the Amazoness twins were somehow based upon this married couple, Angrboda had a decently shapely figure when compared to the chopping board that was her wife.

Her hair was mainly long and wavy, reaching all the way to her shapely bottom, whilst being of an otherworldly white colour with a light blue tint to it. A portion of her locks, right next to her temples, had been fashioned into braids that were adorned with snake-like black metal hair cuffs. Her bangs ended slightly above her eyebrows, so her violet-purplish eyes with a hint of red within them could be spotted clearly.

She wore a pure white, sleeveless V-neck chemise, over which she wore a dark blue corset with a golden trim running across its top and bottom, propping up her chest most likely in an effort to evoke her wife's seething jealousy. An almost ankle-length embroidered skirt of the same colour as her corset and simplistic black leather sandals rounded out her outfit.

A natural regal, but also motherly, air surrounded her, giving everyone a good impression upon their first encounter. Of course, the somewhat mocking grin that she was shooting at Loki was completely ignored.

Suddenly, a grey-haired girl that was about half a head shorter than Angrboda appeared out of thin air from next to Ais and Isaac. She seemed to be on the verge of tearing up as she bolted at the new arrival completely disregarding the existence of everyone around her.

"MOOOM!!!!"

The moment that the mother in question spied her little Hel sprinting at her, a doting smile spread on her lips and she opened her arms wide, welcoming the shivering girl into a long, tight embrace. Just like this emotional daughter of hers, she ignored the current situation and peppered Hel's head with kisses, patting her back all the while.

"You've suffered a lot, sweetie, haven't you? Don't worry, mommy is here now. I'll beat up Loki for you as much as she deserves!"

Even though her voice was soothing and practically dripping with affection, a cold shiver couldn't help but run down Loki's spine. If her mentality had been any weaker, she probably would have started to shed tears at this point.

As the mother and daughter pair reunited for the first time in about three decades, the Loki Familia's members could only transform into an irrelevant backdrop, left to stand there without being addressed at all.

Only about ten minutes later did Hel reluctantly let go of Angrboda, before realizing how she had just publicly behaved and blushing, hiding herself under her Shroud of Hel. She didn't stop standing next to her mother, though, holding onto her skirt shyly. As he was the only one who was able to see this clear as day, Isaac suppressed the adoring smile that almost crept on his lips, leaving the goddess of the underworld with some of her dignity intact.

"Thank you all for the warm welcome! I'm terribly sorry to have kept you waiting for so long. Now then, how about you introduce yourselves while you bring me to the home of the current Loki Familia?"

Smiling ever so warmly, not the slightest bit embarrassed, Angrboda stepped forward and grabbed a part of the rope that was restraining her wife with one hand, lifting her up with no difficulty. She carried her like a handbag while leading the way towards the nearest exit leading down into the extremely high tower atop which they were currently standing. It almost seemed as if she was out on a casual shopping trip, making the Loki Familia's Executives speechless.

But of course, it didn't take long for them to come to terms with the ridiculousness of the situation and catch up with her. A pleasant conversation brightened up the atmosphere soon after, the gentle affection exuding from the motherly goddess' voice caressing their hearts as if a parent wrapping a jacket around their child in the middle of the winter. They might have gotten fooled by her demeanour otherwise, but the ghastly pale Loki that had resigned herself to her exceptionally dark but well-deserved fate served as a grim reminder about how terrifying this woman could be if she was enraged.

An hour later, the lavish breakfast that they had prepared for her in the Twilight Manor's canteen came to a close. All this time, Loki had been tossed aside and lay weakly on the floor, like a discarded tissue. But after having been borderline neglected for so long, she returned to being the focus of Angrboda's attention once again.

"Oh darling, we haven't seen each other for so many years. Have you been good all this time?"

In response to the loving, bright smile on her wife's face, Loki hurriedly nodded, desperation evident in her trembling eyes. Although she knew that she couldn't fool her, she at least had to try, right?!

"That's great! I'm so proud of you!"

Suddenly turning her head to look at Riveria, who sat next to her, Angrboda asked her about something that she had requested earlier.

"Did you assemble everyone?"

Respectfully nodding, Riveria stood up and pointed in a particular direction.

"Yes. Every member of the Loki Familia, aside from the ones currently in this room, has been gathered in the courtyard out there. Please follow me, Lady Angrboda."

Evidently pleased by how promptly this issue had been handled, the true head of the familia rose to her feet and grabbed her rope-bound wife, slinging her over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Led by the ones who had welcomed her earlier this morning, as well as by the few non-combatant familia members that had been serving her, she eventually arrived at the place that the Vice-Captain had mentioned.

Way more than 100 people of various races were lined up orderly, waiting for her instructions. Some of them were evidently anything but happy to be here, sporting dissatisfied frowns - a certain Werewolf standing at the very front was one of them.

However, Angrboda didn't pay any attention to their bad mood - she honestly didn't care about it. There was a more pressing issue at hand. Letting her gaze wander across every single person that was present, including the ones that she had already been introduced to, she asked a question, her voice entirely natural and her smile devoid of even the most remote hint of a threat.

"Nice to meet you all, I'm Angrboda, Loki's wife. Aside from making my arrival known to you, I have just one other purpose. I want to know… which ones of you did my wife sleep with? Come on, don't be shy~ Raise your hands!"

All of a sudden, a pin-drop silence ensued. Most familia members that had been out of the loop about what was going on froze in shock, not daring to believe their ears. Not only was it revealed that their goddess was a married woman, but it was also quite apparent that she was an unfaithful one. Even more than that, though… was there really someone who had actually responded positively to Loki's acts of molestation?!

Noticing that nobody had made a peep or even dared to move, even after a minute had passed, Angrboda's smile widened a little. While twirling her hair around her finger in a playful manner, she tilted her head slightly, in a clear attempt to look adorable and harmless. Additionally, her voice had turned a notch more soothing than before.

"I'll still forgive you if you step forward now. Only Loki will have to bear her due punishment. However… if I find out that one of you hasn't been straightforward with me… well, you'll be able to enjoy my gentle touch alongside my wife here~"

The seductive wink at the end of her speech sent terrified shivers down the backs of all those in attendance. They didn't doubt at all that a horrible future would await anyone who chose to keep their involvement with their goddess a secret. The worst part about this was that nobody would be able to escape, because Angrboda, seemingly, already had the staunch support of the strongest in the familia.

Finally, someone could bear with it no longer and raised their hand - it was a young human woman who appeared to be in her early twenties. She had been assigned to Gareth's party during the Knossos raid, so Isaac had a certain impression of her - her name was Anju, a Level 4 halberd-wielder. Contrary to the air of confidence that she normally exuded, she was shivering and somewhat pale, but also flushed red at the same time. Caught in a state between fear and embarrassment, she did her best to ignore the incredulous stares of her comrades.

Where there was a first, there would be a second. A short Bear Person by the name of Ruuni, a girl slightly younger than Anju, reluctantly raised her hand as well. She was a Level 2 who had barely had any presence in the familia, but Isaac still recalled seeing her in the canteen a couple of times.

Three more came forward. They were part of the staff at the Twilight Manor, and Isaac had spotted them from afar occasionally, but he had never directly interacted with them. They were two men around thirty years of age - a bulky, exceptionally tall Cow Person by the name of Xavier, and Luhan, a slightly scrawny Cat Person - as well as a more than forty years old woman - a Sheep Person clad in a chef's attire, named Kathleen.

"Anyone else?"

Waiting patiently for a while so that more people could buckle under the pressure, Angrboda asked once more. When nobody else joined the five that had already raised their hands, she nodded at them with a hint of pain flashing across her features, before addressing everyone else once again.

"That will be all for now. I'll go and have a long-overdue talk with my wife now. I hope I don't have to find out that someone here wasn't being honest with me~ Dismissed."

Only after she had disappeared into the manor, followed by the group consisting of mainly Executives that had brought her here, did the familia members in the courtyard allow themselves to heave sighs of relief. The atmosphere just now had simply been too stifling! Although this lady, who they already regarded as their matriarch, didn't appear to be dangerous on a surface level, for some reason, their instincts kept telling them that they were staring directly into the open maw of a bloodthirsty beast.

'Honestly, I didn't expect my goddess to have such… brave tastes. Isn't she afraid of getting torn apart?'

Staring at Xavier from his spot in the courtyard, Jakk couldn't help but imagine how the affairs between this hunk of a towering man and the comparatively small, petite Loki could have played out. As a veteran man of culture, his expression betrayed no shame or lust whatsoever. Instead, he raised his right eyebrow and nodded, inwardly expressing his deep admiration for their courage, because such a size difference couldn't have made it easy. Of course, he didn't approve of his goddess' adultery, but that was for the married couple to work out - it had nothing to do with him.

-----

Pained screams and despair-filled apologies, mixed with the echoes of various punches, whipping, the clinking of chains and a cacophony of other hair-raising sounds that would make even the most steel-hearted criminal go weak in the knees partially penetrated the soundproofing of a prison cell beneath the Twilight Manor for about four hours.

Loki had been dragged in there immediately after Angrboda had inquired about a suitable place to have a private talk. Of course, Finn had been able to read between the lines. But now that he had been waiting outside for all this time, he wondered whether he had made the correct decision. He was completely drenched in cold sweat and had started to feel genuinely sorry for his goddess about an hour into the torment that he had ever so indirectly witnessed.

'I can't wait to take a shower…'

Creak.

The sudden opening of the cell door snapped him out of the thoughts that he had deliberately tried to distract himself with. What greeted him was Angrboda, who was covered in splatters of golden Ichor almost from head to toe. The ever-present smile on her face was a very slight bit more relaxed than before.

He was too terrified to take a good look at the interior of the room, but the sheer amount of deity blood that he saw with even a mere cursory glance made him worry about Loki's survival. If his Falna hadn't still been working, then he would have suspected that a torture-preceded mariticide had taken place.

Closing the door unhurriedly and stretching herself as if she had just taken a comfortable nap, the light blueish-haired goddess addressed the shell-shocked Pallum.

"Can you lead me to Loki's bathroom? I would like to clean myself up a little."

Forcing out a polite smile, Finn nodded hurriedly and bowed ever so slightly.

"But of course! Our goddess' private bathroom is the most luxurious one in the entire Twilight Manor, I'm certain you'll have a pleasant time there."

In the end, he didn't even dare to ask her about how long she intended to keep Loki in that cell.

-----

In the late afternoon, Angrboda spent all her time with her daughter, snuggling with her atop one of the sofas in Hel's room. Due to Loki's behaviour being unbearable most of the time, the goddess of the underworld hadn't made much use of this accommodation of hers, but the Loki Familia had still kept cleaning it regularly, so it wasn't difficult to move back in now that it was safe.

Amidst patting her daughter's head and playing with her hair, Angrboda got regaled with the tales of Hel's exploits as well as her experiences ever since she had descended shortly after Loki. Whether it was about the various people that had been a part of the Loki Familia since then, or the events that all of Orario had to endure, Hel had witnessed them all. While she wasn't always privy to the most core secrets of them all, she had usually snuck in whenever important discussions that she caught wind of were happening.

Chuckling warmly at Hel's more wholesome memories, including the time when she had snatched the weapon of a drunkard who had wanted to start a bar fight, her heart practically melted.

It hadn't been easy for her to be this heavy-handed towards her true love. Unfortunately, Loki had never learned her lesson when she had tried a softer approach. At least when she made her suffer for what she had done - namely: betraying her, molesting their beloved daughter and making countless others experience the same thing - the trickster goddess settled down significantly for a time. Loki then also always felt scared witless before she committed any of these misdeeds. Only after the two were separated for a decade or so did she push the trauma to the back of her mind again.

In all honesty, Angrboda had no clue what to do with her. She loved Loki from the bottom of her heart, but the trickster goddess continued to hurt her time and time again. Then, she promised to never do it again, yet she repeatedly betrayed her. Despite that, she couldn't let her go. So now, for a few hundreds of thousands of years, they had been stuck in a destructive cycle during which she ended up beating her wife within an inch of her life for weeks or even months on end, both in an effort to relieve her wrath as well as in a hopeful but ultimately vain attempt at triggering a change.

Sighing helplessly, Angrboda shook her head. Many times, she had already suspected that Loki might secretly be an extremely hardcore masochist, because she always ended up cheating on her and molesting others again. What else could she hope to achieve by doing this aside from a just punishment? She was pretty much arranging her own funeral…

At this point in Hel's retelling of her adventures, she had almost arrived at the present day. It was finally time to mention Isaac, as well as what had happened since she had met him. However, as she began to explain their first encounter, she suddenly stuttered and ground to a halt. How much was she allowed to tell her mother anyway? Would Isaac be okay with her clueing her in? After all, Loki was already mostly in the know… it would be weird for only her mother to be left out, right?

"What's wrong? Is there something special about that Isaac boy~?"

Misinterpreting her silence for something that it most definitely wasn't, a teasing smirk stole itself on Angrboda's lips, and she began to envision her grandchildren. Had the time finally arrived? Had the flowers of love finally bloomed in Hel's heart? Part of her was reluctant to let her go, but most of her was very excited about potentially getting introduced to a son-in-law soon!

Utterly confused at her mother's behaviour at first, Hel needed a moment or two to figure out what kind of wrong idea Angrboda had gotten. When she finally did, a deep blush spread all the way to her ears and she hastily shook her head, both in embarrassment and unease.

"Mom, you're wrong! It's really not what you think!"

Instead of helping to clear up the misunderstanding, her words only further exacerbated it, causing her mother to grin in 'understanding'.

"It sounds like it's exactly what I think it is, though?"

Almost hyperventilating out of panic, Hel shook her head like there was no tomorrow, worry flashing past her eyes.

"Really, it's not! While Isaac is someone very special, it's really not in that way!! He's an unfathomable being, someone far beyond the understanding of mere deities. Our relationship is one of platonic friendship! I don't harbour any other feelings for him. Heck, even if I wanted to, I wouldn't be qualified to fight for him or to earn his affection."

Witnessing her adorable daughter putting herself down like that, Angrboda furrowed her brows and a spark of anger ignited in her heart. The apple of her eye thinking herself not worthy of someone? How was that even acceptable in any way?!

However, she didn't allow herself to be overcome with motherly, righteous rage - the other claims that Hel had made caused her to become cautious. Her daughter had experienced a lot ever since she was born, so she would definitely not joke about matters of such magnitude.

Realizing that her mother wouldn't fully understand what she had said until she saw the truth with her own eyes, Hel sighed and addressed the enigmatic young man who they had been talking about, convinced that he would most definitely be able to hear her.

"Isaac, can I bring my mom over?"

"Sure. Feel free to show her around."

Before Angrboda could exclaim in astonishment and ask her about the disembodied voice that had responded out of nowhere, Hel had already dragged her towards the nearest teleportation node. A private world tour that was sure to expand the horizons of a certain self-proclaimed 'gentle housewife' was sure to follow.