Deceiving the Gods (2/2)

Suddenly, Das feels his power draining from his soul. Freyya must have taken this chance to order her army to reveal themselves and destroy his shrines. With all of his best fighters here, there's very little he can do to combat her wayward army.

Most horrifying of all is that nearly all of his temples are destroyed in a single moment – only leaving a handful still intact.

Right now, Das's power has dropped to less than 1% of his original power. Even Haalfrin would be able to easily destroy him.

What's even worse is that Das realizes that the Freyya here is still her True Body. 'I suppose wishing for her to send down a few Avatars instead was too much to hope for.'

Das then looks down at his feeble hands. To be honest, he's feeling weary and afraid. 'She's in her true body,' he thinks, 'wielding the full might of a death reaper… while I'm stuck in with an inferior divinity of a mere god-king – one that's already losing most of its power anyway.'

Das then turns to Haalfrin. He hates to admit it, but this man is the only one who can fight back against her now.

Das then looks down and thinks to himself, 'This is what they wanted, I suppose. Haalfrin – a mortal – can fight against a freaking death reaper in her full might. This is it. She won.'

The old Reaper is in such shock that he barely feels any emotions as his front gate is torn off its hinges. He doesn't even react when Freyya walks through the front entrance, as if she owned the place.

Das only snaps out of his stupor when she points her spear up at him in a silent, haughty challenge. 'How did Freyya trick me?' he wonders, 'It's one thing to hide your aura, but it's another thing completely to create the aura of something that's not there. I felt massive power coming from the mist – power that isn't hers… so…'

He looks closer and sees a black dragon scale around her neck – Drakavar's scale. He then looks down in realization. 'She used the scale to emit a thick aura to confuse me.'

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-The Far Future-

The divine emperor, along with many of the other generals, is genuinely puzzled over the same thing.

'How did Drakavar fool us into thinking she was so far away? We wouldn't have been so confident if we had known she was right there. I mean, we'd rather fight a few trillion dragons than fight her.'

Because Drakavar is just strutting through the gates casually without caring to attack them further, everybody atop the walls has time to look carefully at her.

Suddenly, somebody notices what was wrong, and they shout frantically, "Look! Look at her chest!"

Everybody's eyes focus on Drakavar's chest, and they see a fresh scar right between her two collarbones – above her breasts and below her neck. That's the place where an Elder God keeps their Soul Stone.

Nobody really knows much about Soul Stones, since they only naturally manifest in Elder Gods. It's not clear why they have them, though the most mainstream answer among scholars is that an Elder God's soul is so large that the thing became a physical organ in their body.

Either way, It's known for a fact that these stones contain their soul. It's through these stones that an Elder God gets their infinite power.

Yet, there is a scar over Drakavar's Soul Stone, and the wound is stitched closed. When you look closer, you can even see the Goddess being careful not to twist quickly and strain herself. Her breathing is shallow, and black blood is trickling out of her mouth and nose.

General Haalfrin crosses his arms and suggests, "Hmm… Drakavar has removed her soul gem. The scar is right over where her soul gem should be. She definitely removed it…"

"Ah…," Imho'Reeth realizes, "That's why we're sensing her power on the other end of the universe. It's because she took out her Soul Stone and left it there – all to fool us about her true location.

One of the other generals listening in adds excitedly, "Which means she tore out most of her power in order to get us to stay here…" It's obvious that had the gods known that Drakavar was showing up herself, then they'd have scattered and fled, making the Dragon Goddess's search across the universe completely futile.

Word of Elshirothe's weakening quickly spreads among the gods, and hope is rekindled in the ranks.

Emperor Imho'Reeth curls his fists and says to his armies, "That's right… We should kill her now while she's weak!"

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-The Present-

As Freyya is walking into the fortress – clearly not taking anyone seriously enough to attack first, Haalfrin points out to Das, "Look at the dragon scale around her neck."

Das looks more closely, and he sees that the scale is hung low on her neck – just over her heart. The scale seemed to be digging into her skin and decaying the skin around her heart. She also appears more sickly pale.

'The power of the scale is hurting her body. We might have a chance!' Das realizes. Hope suddenly rekindles in Das's heart, and he orders the attack to continue.

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-The Far Future-

Suddenly, Drakavar's lips curl up in a genuine smile. 'I was right to come here,' she thinks, 'No matter how well they tried to hide it, being this close, I can sense it; I can sense my little treasures… They're… in the highest tower!'

Yes, she can see those little children's Auras nearby…

The Goddess of Power looks up, and through a barrage of hundreds of gods throwing themselves at her, she shouts irately, "Get lost, uglies!"

Everything that happens next… It all goes by so fast that it's hardly worth writing about. Or rather, it's hardly possible to capture what happened.

One moment, the gods prepare to attack her again – both the ones on the walls and the ones clogging the streets.

The next moment, white energy explodes out from the Dragoness's body, engulfing the entire fortress and blasting apart everything it touches – no matter how advanced the enchantments they may be.

Drakavar barely even smiles at her handiwork. Despite the cries for mercy and screams of anguish echoing in her ears, she hardly notices nor cares. Rather than worrying about these pissants, she's far more preoccupied with that pair of familiar Auras…

With the hot glow of Power around Drakavar, none of the gods in the citadel are able to even come close to her, and all of the various traps in the vast hallways are little more than decoration.

Drakavar would've just used her great power to leap up to the tower in a single bound, but after ripping out the Alrond Gethkin Gate, she felt a huge pain in her chest where her Soul Stone used to be.

'It's best to not tax my body too badly. I'd hate to get killed after retrieving the children. I'd like to be somewhat healthy when I go back to retrieve my Soul Stone.'

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After a relatively short stroll through the castle, Drakavar arrives at the main tower, where she's sensing the children's Auras.

She extends a fist and knocks on the door. "Ahkra! Saiyana! You in there!? Open the door…!"

She looks down and thinks with embarrassment, 'I forget that they still don't speak my language. Maybe they'll answer to the Names that Mora gave them?'

"Ehem, Rehkavar?! Rehkawyn!?"

There is still no answer.

Feeling impatient, Drakavar reaches her hands to the tower door and tries ripping it apart… but for some reason, the door doesn't budge.

'Huh…? That's strange?' Drakavar wonders, 'Why won't the door obey me?'

Feeling determined not to lose to this stupid tower, she plants her feet in the ground and lifts up as hard as she can. Her face turns red from fury and exertion as she's pushed further and further into the ground…

What's further annoying is all the pesky flies trying to kill her. Can't those gods take a hint and run away? When has she ever seen the gods stand their ground against her?

The dragoness ignores the pesky gods as best she can, but after finally wrestling with the tower with all her strength, she finally tears the side of the tower completely off.

Smiling in triumph, the dragon waltzes right through the "door" she had made.

After erecting a small barrier to keep the flies out, Drakavar calls in a cooing voice, "My little treasures! Hide and seek is over! It's time to go home now! Mommy has a lot of snacks for you!!"

The children are both 9 years old by now, but she still can't help treating them like they're still 4.

Despite her calls, the dragon is met only with silence. "Come out now! Mommy's getting scared!"

The mother dragon gets a bad feeling in her heart, and she briskly walks toward where the children's pulsing Aura is coming from.

It's… coming from a safe in the wall – not a separate room, but a safe, where people keep materials.

Feeling her heart sink further, Drakavar tears the safe open… and inside are two Soul Gems the size of a heart – one being the deepest black, and the other being the purest white.

Both Gems are stained with dried blood, and both are hooked up to the Enchantment Circle in the center of the room.

Drakavar steps back in horror as she realizes the terrible truth.

It was her own children's power that was fueling this tower; how else could she have a hard time breaking in, if it weren't the strength of other Elder Gods keeping her out?

The Goddess immediately loses the strength in her legs, and tears stream down her face. She looks down in silence. She feels so lost and confused that she doesn't immediately feel angry.

'They're… dead, aren't they?' she thinks despondently.

Drakavar then looks outside and sees the glittering white city and the host of gods in the midst of trying to flee.

She felt sadness before… but after looking at these… THINGS trying to flee, all the sadness in her soul evaporates.

… The only feeling left is the purest wrath that has ever burned in her soul.

Great billows of smoke rise from her mouth as she slowly exhales, yet her golden eyes shine through the smog.

Before, her golden eyes were always still and focused, like a predator looking at prey…

… yet now, her slitted pupils are dilating and shaking with complete madness.

After that, the Goddess of Power's mind goes blank, and she loses all recollection of what happens next.