Chapter 17: Hope of Avalon

Up above, at the top of the tower of Babel, the goddess of love, Freya, stood by the windowpane watching the chaos unfolding below in the streets.

"...First, they usher our greatest heroes into three separate locations. Then, once our forces were split, they sprang the jaws of their trap across the entire city, leaving us flat-footed and unable to respond."

She watched as her beloved children fall in the streets. A rage began to brew in her heart.

"We goddesses of beauty could intervene and end this war in an instant. We could charm and neutralize all of the Evilus children. But... it seems our enemy is determined to prevent that."

Freya's gaze turned toward a hill near the central park. There, a group of heavily armed Evilus soldiers waited, keeping watch over the gates of Babel. They were there for her. If she set one foot outside, she would be sent back to heaven. These fanatics would shoot her, bomb her, or whatever else it took. 

And even if these mortals got cold feet at the consequences of sending a god back to heaven, there were evil gods amongst them that would do the job personally.

Freya spotted one of them, a goddess standing within the group, covered in heavy amounts of makeup. Noticing Freya's gaze, she looked up at the tower and grinned before sticking up her middle finger at Freya who responded by casting a cold gaze and turning her attention elsewhere. In several different places, she spotted more of these special forces, most of them seem to have surrounded the pleasure district where Ishtar was. Probably because Ishtar never sent any of her own children to participate in the raid nor to lend aid in the crisis, meaning she had a considerable force under her command. Her amazons were only protecting the pleasure district and nothing else.

But even if these Evilus special forces were removed, Freya doubted if Ishtar would truly intervene. She understood that woman's personality quite well. More than anything, she was a coward, Freya surmised that Ishtar was just waiting for her to be sent back to heaven out of some petty grudge she held because Freya was more beautiful. 

Freya had no interest in this one-sided grudge; she always ignored Ishtar. But today, whatever pity she had for the rivaled goddess of love was now gone, she was determined to find a way to eliminate her. But that was for the future, for now, Orario needs to overcome this crisis.

"The pieces on this board are quite ill-spirited... and unscrupulous."

Her gaze dropped down to the central park. While all the gods were engaged in strategy, determining long and hard of where to deploy their forces, or simply guarding their pieces jealously. One goddess seemed to be an exception.

Astraea.

She smiled as she watched Astraea, with Hermes and Merlin following shortly behind.

"I don't think I've ever seen you so determined..." Rarely, were such words of respect ever spoken from her. But her sight moved from the brave goddess of justice to the self-proclaimed mage of flowers.

Suddenly, the doors busted open, a member of her Familia walking.

"I apologize for disturbing you! Please forgive me!"

The man kneeled, covered in blood. Whether the blood belonged to his friends or his enemies, who could say.

"We cannot stop the Evilus followers from self-destructing! Their chaos is unstoppable! Please give us your commands!"

Freya didn't even look back at the man, her eyes were fixed on the adventurers gathering at the base of the tower. "Recall your troops to, hm... no, send them to Central Park and set up formation. Loki's children will there too."

...

"Loki, we can't keep fighting like this! Every time we finish one of them off, they explode and take our forces out with them!"

Loki's face was grim as she listened to her follower's report.

"Dammit, they're like livin' bombs. It's insane!"

She had already relocated all of her remaining forces to Central Park. Her careful observation of the battlefield had led her to believe this was the clearest course of action.

"I dunno how things can get much worse than this. But I got a bad feelin', like everythin' so far's is just some openin' act."

Then a group of adventurers entered Central Park, which caused many to cheer.

"Loki!" one of the cried.

"Finn! You made it!" Loki replied, her smile returning at her returning captain. But the joy was cut short as she got straight to business.

"Where's Gareth and Riveria?"

"I left half the force in their care and sent them to the south to strike back at the enemy." Finn explained. "How goes the evacuation?"

"I called everyone I could here to Central Park, Freya's kids are here as well."

They continued their discussion, moving their forces accordingly.

Elsewhere in Orario, every Familia was now throwing everything they had. Medicine Familias were delivering potions and medical supplies to everyone they could while magic healers took to the frontlines to heal adventurers to return to the fight, blacksmith Familias opened their stores, giving their entire inventories to the defenders, even giving away their prized magic swords like hot cakes, not caring about the fortunes they were losing. Freya Famila defended the churches where the civilians were currently taking shelter.

In the Northwest, in the edges of the pleasure district, a group of amazons had finished cutting down a swarm of Evilus followers.

"Wow, things are really heating up! Say what you want about Orario, at least it never gets boring!"

The amazoness wore very little fabric, with the crest of her Familia hanging on her belt - Ishtar Familia.

"What now, Aisha?" A woman asked.

"That's obvious, we leave the pleasure quarter in search of our next battle."

"But Ishtar wants us to head back and protect our home."

"Yeah, and?" Aisha responded with little care to her goddess's orders. Aisha and her band were the lowliest fighters within the Familia, there were plenty of stronger people there, so Ishtar wouldn't care if Aisha's group went off on their own to play for a while. 

"You made sure all the wounded returned to base?" Aisha asked.

"Yes of course. The brothels are safe too!"

"Then let's go, Samira! Let's have some fun! Even in the deserts of Kaios, I never found enemies this crazy!"

...

The fires of war burned throughout all of Orario, no place was left unstained by ash and blood. Merlin stayed by Astraea side, using her magecraft to repel any attempts on the goddess's life. Hermes who tagged along was starting to feel like dead weight, when earlier he declared he would protect Astraea. Who would have known that a monster of a mage would show up.

Merlin observed everything around her, everyone had gathered in Central Park.

"It seems it's time for me to act." She said aloud.

Astraea and Hermes looked at her. "What do you mean?" Astraea asked.

"All our pieces have gathered her in Central Park, now it is the time for the counter-offensive."

"Counter-offensive?" Hermes asked, he didn't understand what Merlin was planning. "We are barely holding on as it is right now, how could we possibly stage a counter-offensive against Evilus?"

"Tsk tsk, watch and learn old man." Merlin turned and walked straight to a pile of large, stacked crates.

"Old man? That's a first..."

Astraea ignored Hermes and kept her eyes on Merlin, who climbed up the crates, giving herself a good view of the chaos around her.

'Barriers first.' She quickly casted protection around herself to prevent interruptions. She closed her eyes and gathered mana toward herself as she held out her staff.

A heavenly pink glow emitted from around Merlin, gathering the attention of many.

Then she opened her eyes, now glowing a bright pink, and spoke.

Her voice was calm, yet it seemed to boom all across the city. Everyone despite the loud chaos, could hear her voice perfectly, from the adventurers, the healers, the blacksmiths, the Evilus followers, and even the gods. All could hear her.

"At the world's farthest end,

Beneath an undying light.

From the farthest reaches of time,

I will declare it.

Your ideals shall become the path you walk upon.

Now continue and walk on without surrender.

Hope of Avalon!"

.

.

.

[A/N] Cliffhanger!!

I made some changes to the chant, cause I thought the original chant sounded kinda boring. 

OG chant: The ends of the world. The eternal shine. From the distance of times, I will declare it: your ideals will become the path you walk on. Now, continue without giving up. Hope of Avalon

I don't know, just kinda bothered me. Oh well, enjoy your two chapter this week. I'm gonna try and finish up this arc by the end of the month!!