Shiva's Avatars

The battle with Ignarath's troop was fun, but it was even funnier to see the mighty Hercules and Asterios cowering before Talos. Unfortunately for them, Talos's anger was justified.

Since Arnold's army was Earth's protector against the Titans, all forces were on a strict schedule. Some were protecting the planet, while others were looking for clues about other titans and primordials.

Yet the two brutes left their posts without permission. As Arnold's right hand, Talos couldn't let it slide and taught them a lesson. Once he was done, they all returned to Cetus, the floating island, through [Void Travel].

"Store the titan's corpse in the reserve," Arnold instructed Talos. "I'll make something out of it later."

"Already on it, master."

They had spent the last fifteen years on countless such operations. Besides, as Arnold's most loyal follower, Talos often knew what he wanted without Arnold having to speak a word.

"Oh right, where are those chains?"

"Gaia's chains?" Talos asked.

"Yeah. Those," Arnold nodded, "have Dani separate the links—"

Upon hearing Dani's name, Talos froze at the spot. It took a minute for Arnold to realize what he said and clicked his tongue for his mistake.

The fight against the Titans came at a price. But no one knew that better than Talos. Dani, Talos's dwarven wife, had paid the ultimate price in their struggle.

Back then, Arnold was busy recruiting Shiva's fragments, scattered across the multiverse. As such, Talos was left in charge of monitoring the Titan in their custody, Menoetius.

It was still unknown how it happened, but Menoetius broke out of the prison. Talos rushed to get things under control. They fought a fierce battle, but in the end, the titan overpowered the automaton.

However, Menoetius knew Talos was immortal. As an automaton, one could only destroy his body, but not him. That's why Menoetius targeted the only thing that could hurt Talos… Dani.

It wasn't until Nina, Arnold's wife, deployed the containment procedure alongside Hercule that they could take Menoetius down.

However, the damage was done.

Countless lives were lost that day… including Dani.

As a robot, Talos didn't have many emotions. But Dani's death hit him harder than anything could. It wasn't until Arnold returned that Talos began acting normally.

But in his forgetfulness, Arnold mentioned Dani, who had acted as his smithy assistant for more than a decade.

"I'm sorry… I didn't mean to—"

"It's alright, master. These things… happen," Talos replied. "I'll get started on Ignarath's remains."

"…thanks."

As Talos walked away, Arnold smacked his head. Just then, someone placed a reassuring arm on his shoulder.

"Bad day?" Nicole asked.

As a god, Arnold hadn't aged at all. But that wasn't the case for his sister. Even though she had a dormant seed of godhood within her, Nicole had aged through the fifteen years, and now looked older than Arnold ever did.

"Not a bad day," Arnold shook his head. "Just me being a dumbass, as always."

Nicole smiled, patting his back. "I'd be worried if that wasn't the case."

Arnold smiled and shook his head. Pushing Talos out of his mind, he turned to Nicole. After all, she wouldn't visit him for no reason.

"Zaen and Ashton are on their way back," she told him. "As for Zok…"

"Let me guess, he got another pet?"

Nicole shrugged.

Arnold liked animals too, as long as they fulfilled a purpose. But that wasn't the case for Zok, Shiva's animal-loving avatar.

For him, taming animals was second nature. So much so, that Arnold had to create a sanctuary for the strange animals of the multiverse. But it wasn't all that bad, considering the animal safari generated significant revenue.

Who wouldn't pay money to see aliens in a zoo?

Still, every time Zok went on a mission, he always brought back a pet, and handling them was getting increasingly difficult.

"It's fine. I'll send some automatons and golems to expand the sanctuary later," Arnold said, shaking his head. "What about Zaen? Please tell me he got the fragments this time."

Nicole's smile dropped as she turned to leave.

"Nicole! Stop covering for him!"

Arnold yelled, but she practically ran off. He was left staring at her retreating back before sighing.

Collecting a titan's fragments was important as it could be used to make god-slaying weapons. However, Zaen often failed to get those. The fragments meant a well-preserved corpse of a titan or at least a part of it.

But for Zaen, none of it mattered as he often lost his cool and thoroughly destroyed any titan he came across. It looks like he did the same thing again.

"He's got Lord Shiva's rage alright…" Arnold mumbled, shaking his head.

The only responsible one in their group proved to be Ashton. He took his job seriously… too seriously. He never failed to deliver, no matter how difficult the task was.

"Why can't they be like him…?"

Arnold didn't have the time to dwell on it and hurried into the shower. He had places to be, and he didn't want to risk angering the mama bear again. Not for the seventh time in that month.