—–
Within a beautiful and pristine-looking Japanese-styled city, people of all kinds of shapes and forms lived in harmony.
Young Kobold men were working in making up a house, they were tired but happy to know that there was happily waiting for them when they were to walk back home.
A group of Arachne Sisters was sewing clothes within their family's Clothing Shop, chatting together about the latest trends in the Empire.
A young Fox-kin Beast man was selling hotcakes over a small stall, as a little Harpy girl bought three of them at a cheap price, one for her and the other two for her parents.
The man glanced with a happy and relaxed smile, life in the Empire was not easy, but anyone that worked hard to earn their living in the various places of the Azuma Empire would never starve, and because there were so many working opportunities, the only thing they needed was the will to work.
The Azuma Empire has self-sustained itself through this hardworking policy, always seeking better ways to offer new types of jobs to its citizens.
And above the clouds, as the people lived their everyday lives, a group of Divine Entities who have lived for hundreds if not thousands of years glanced at the form above, such entities were so strong they were considered Gods… And well, the System also did.
Such Gods were within their Divine Realms, internal worlds which mortals down below would never be able to even understand how they work.
They glanced down below through small crevices within their Divine Realms, after having gotten the news about the Yggdrasil Branch being stolen, they had begun to raise their guard about any enemy approaching, and had been promised reinforcements soon… But almost three hours since that started and there has been absolutely nothing said about this yet…
For a God, three hours was nothing of time, but these Gods were still beginning to grow concerned…
The Gods guarding this place were the strong offspring of Zeus sons, Hermes, Dionysos, and Aphrodite, the grandchildren of the powerful God of the Sky and Thunder, and each one possessed unique abilities and divinities ready to be showcase against any enemy that was to dare come here…
The Gods guarding the Azuma Empire were a few, but strong.
Palaestra, The Goddess of Wrestling was the daughter of Hermes, strong and stoic-faced, yet filled with compassion for the mortals down there, which she glanced at attentively as they lived their lives with her shiny golden eyes, her body was slim yet strong and holding good muscles. Her shiny blonde hair was made into a ponytail, and she looked like a gorgeous Amazon with her Axe at hand, waiting for any enemy to come…
Pan, God of Shepherds was a son of Hermes as well, a man with a gentle and relaxed smile, and sharp eyes that glared below at the mortals with great responsibility, seeing them as his sheep, which he needed to protect at all costs. Unlike his aunts and uncles, he valuated mortals greatly and had decided to put his life to protect them from Kireina. The man has the characteristic golden eyes of his father, with short brown hair and goat hooves instead of feet, alongside small goat horns growing at each side of his head.
The twin siblings that always followed their brother Pan, often referred to as Panes were two goat-footed young men with shiny golden eyes and blue and green hair, Agreus, the Demigod of Wheat, and Nomios, the Demigod of Grains, children of Hermes.
Himeros, the God of Desire, twin brother of Eros, and son of Aphrodite who gave birth to the two twins naturally while still being a virgin goddess in the past. He looked like a beautiful and muscular young man with short pink hair and shiny aquamarine eyes, he wore a simple toga, ad held a staff covered with flowers. His smile was confident and rather cheeky.
Pothos, the God of Sexual Longing was the brother of Himeros, a man just as beautiful and muscular as his brother, but whose hair color was red. His weapon of choice was his bare fists, and despite being a God of something so abstract, he was considered rather strong.
Deimos, the God of Fear resembled a thin and pale-white-skinned man wearing a black mantle, covering his body as only crimson eyes appeared beneath the darkness of his face. He seemed mysterious and watched in silence at the place and his surroundings… he was the son of Ares, who had recently learned the death of his father and felt sorrowful. Despite that, he seemed calm and rested in silence.
Enyalius, the God of Battles, son of Ares was also shocked by the news, and he felt like the best thing he could do is to obey his father's last wishes of protecting this place. The man was muscular and his skin seemed tanned, with long crimson-red hair and sharp golden eyes.
Nike, The Goddess of Victory was another of Ares children, a beautiful and radiant woman, tall, robust, and strong, her appearance truly made her look like a Goddess of Victory, as her muscular beauty held only equals to her father, she looked like the ultimate Amazon, with tanned chocolate-colored skin filled with scars, sharp crimson eyes, and long crimson-red hair, she was impacted by her father's death alongside Tereus, and much like her siblings, she stayed here to accomplish his father's last wish of protecting this place.
And lastly, there was Phobos, the twin brother of Deimos, Phobos was the God of Panic, and had a similar appearance to Deimos, both were mysterious and didn't show their faces, often covered with black clothes as their shin red eyes shined brightly below it.
Suddenly, Pan senses that his Divine Connection with Zeus and all other Gods was cut…
"Hm? What…? Why?" he wondered.
He, like everyone else, still didn't know that Zeus was long dead, and thought that he was merely recovering after being hit by Kireina's attack.
At first, Pan thought of this as some kind of mistake or error… but no, this was real.
Something was going on.
"Eh? This is… Why would they cut Divine Connections like this? Erm, anyone there got the same?" he asked, but no one answered.
"Oh right, my connection with everyone here also cut down… how odd, the only one capable of doing such a thing would be Grandfather Zeus. But why would he do such a thing, to begin with? …Wait, was he trying to tell us something through this? Maybe… Something bad is going on?" wondered Pan, although he was a mere Shepherd, he was smart and immediately concluded which was not accurate but still plausible.
Pan quickly decided to exit his Divine Realm as he coated himself in a barrier of energy to protect himself from the natural miasma of the world, as the rest of the Gods also exited their Divine Realms, beginning to chat around asking what was happening.
Palaestra, The Goddess of Wrestling, quickly noticed Pan who had come out of his Divine Realm.
"Pan, did you felt it too? The Divine Connection… What is going on now?" she wondered, reaching her brother with a concerned expression.
"There shouldn't be any problem, I was constantly checking the other side… Grandfather is fine, and so is our father, who is currently meditating inside his Divine Realm… But out of nowhere, all our Divine Connections with them were cut off…" said Pan.
"That's… that's something that only Zeus can do…" said Palaestra.
"Indeed. This is why it is weird. Why would grandfather do such a thing? And wasn't' he resting now? This is odd, very odd…" sighed Pan.
The other Gods quickly ran to the side of Pan.
"Big brother! We lost our connection to the family… even father…" said Agreus, the Demigod of Wheat, and Nomios, the Demigod of Grains, the little twins and siblings of Pan, often referred to as "Panes".
"Agreus, Nomios, stay at my side, things are becoming off…" said Pan, feeling that something big might happen any moment, but the other Gods seemed too concerned to calm down as he did.
"This… what is going on? Can someone even explain it to me? I am getting frustrated now!" sighed Himeros, the God of Desire.
"Is mother okay? Why can't we speak with her again? She just cut us off her Divine Connection?!" asked Pothos, the God of Sexual Longing.
"Please you two, calm down and listen-" muttered Pan, as he was interrupted once more.
"Something bad… Something bad is going to happen!" cried Deimos, the God of Fear.
"Wait, no, Deimos…!" muttered Pan.
"The world is changing, events are transpiring way too fast… That woman is behind this…" said Phobos, The God of Panic while squinting his eyes, referring to Kireina.
"Is this her… doing?! Then let her come at us! I will pulverize her entire body into pieces with these fists of mine!" said Enyalius, the God of Battles.
"Please calm down everyone. I believe we should listen to Pan, he's amongst the eldest of us," said Nike, The Goddess of Victory.
"Thanks, Nike. As I said, we need to calm down and assess things correctly. We have to prioritize the safety of Azuma and-" muttered Pan, as he was interrupted once more.
"Who cares about the safety of some puny mortals?! We should be taking care of OUR lives, not of them! This is the real thing to worry about!" said Himeros.
"Himeros, how can you say that?" asked Palaestra.
"This is the people that father desired us to protect! We'll never give them up!" said Deimos.
"Your mother might not be dead, but our father died mysteriously, don't you know how much we miss him?! We want to do what he wanted us to do!" said Phobos.
"Yeah, that's right!" said Enyalius.
"I am sorry for your father's death, but that he died doesn't mean that all of you should give up your lives!" said Himeros.
"Everyone please calm down…" sighed Pan, as Himeros glanced at him while frowning.
"Ugh, shut up already Pan! I don't care if all of you want to waste your lives he-"
Flash.
It happened in less than a second.
The Gods were not able to do anything against it, it was too fast, and the distortion in space that happened was way too instantaneous, something that could only be produced through… Teleportation.
Space within the same space where Himeros distorted, as a figure appeared.
Not at his side, not above him, nor below, right in the same spot as him.
What would happen if a being teleports in the same spot where another being is?
SPLAT!
Without even being able to cry in agony, Himeros saw his entire physical body explode into pieces, as the figure of a beautiful Fairy emerged right where he was.
Kireina showered herself in the blood of a God, as she smiled at the other Gods around her, who were shocked.
"Oh my, what have I done? I have become a mess~ Fufu…" she laughed, glaring at her entire body shrouded in blood, flesh, and guts.
"Unnngaaggh…! M-My physical bodyyyyyyy…!" cried Himeros Divine Soul, as he tried to slowly fly away from Kireina's range!
However, she smiled back at him as he tried to move his mass of formless ethereal essence.
"You're not going anywhere, dear~," she said, her eyes flashing with crimson-red light, as Himeros suddenly felt the pressure of two enormous strong forces crushing him from above and below.
"Nnghhaaagghhh…! HELP MEEEEEEEE…!" cried Himeros in agonizing despair, as the other Gods were too shocked to move an inch, Kireina's presence was twisting their perception of reality and were also affecting their sanity all at the same time.
CRUNCH!
Imitating the ability of Scarlet, her daughter, Kireina unleashed the power of Monarch of Gluttony, releasing a Devouring Domain that was able to devour anything around her through invisible phantasmal jaws.
Himeros was eaten just a split a second after having his entire physical body crushed by the weight of Kireina's body emerging in the same space as he was.
The Gods glanced as one of them disappeared in… less than three seconds.
Despair.
There was only despair within their eyes!
It was hopeless!
—–
