Beginning of the End 3

A few weeks ago, before the Gotts invaded Gehenna, the two Hauptmadns (German for Captains) were told by a messenger that they were summoned to the Die Krippe des Baby Regia (German for The Baby's Crib Palace) by one of their Kings. It was rare for the Kings to summon any lower rankers and below apart from the Oberbefehlshabers (German for Commander-in-Chiefs) so the summoned Gotts knew very well that it was an urgent matter, enough for them to be given permission to enter the holy palace.

They prepared themselves as early as they can that they started ten hours before the appointed time. It's not an exaggeration to say that the two Gotts were so nervous to be given the privilege to speak with one of the kings that they failed at everything that they did since their hands were trembling so crazy, that they looked like they had an epilepsy.

After seven hours of preparation, the two Gotts were finally finished and flew to the palace as swiftly as they could. At the entrance of the palace, the two Gotts met each other as they both landed on the ground and tucked in their huge white feathered wings to hide them. The female Gott crossed her arms to her chest as she confidently said,

"Who would've thought that we were both summoned by the king at the same time. I preferred that I was the only one though so that I got all their attention to myself so I could appeal to them and prove myself that I'm worthy for my rank to be promoted to be Oberbefehlshaber (German for Commander-in-Chief). Plus, I could also frequent here anytime and get to live in this city together with all the major Gotts. God! I can't wait for all of that to happen!"

"As if. You're not the one who's going to be promoted first... I am. That must be the reason why the king summoned me. They were charmed by my charisma, achievements, and amazingness that they finally decided to promote me, the divine one, and join the Oberbefehlshaber with all the other dignified members", the male Gott scoffed as he rebutted in great confidence.

The two Gotts then growled as they both stared intensely at each other in anger as minutes tick and go by.

Three hours had passed since they first arrived and at last, it was time for them to enter the palace. A messenger Gott came out from the palace and bowed courteously to them as she announced, "Good morning, Hauptmadns (German for Captain). The King has been expecting your arrival. Please follow me as we head inside the palace and do avoid going off on your own accord as it may be considered treason by the Kings and you two may be punished dearly for it." The messenger stood upright and went inside as the two Gotts followed from behind her. The two awkwardly replied in unison and gulped in nervousness, "We'll both be careful."

As the three of them entered the throne room at last, the two Hauptmadns immediately felt the intense pressure coming from the silhouette who sat on the dim lighted throne chair area while the left one that was beside them was empty. The Gotts then bowed down on one knee towards their king in respect. The messenger stood up and walked away to head towards the back area of the throne chair where the king was seated.

The king greeted their two subordinates formally, "I would like to thank you for coming per my request in spite of your busy schedule but what I am about to say to you is of utmost importance, so I have to inform you two as soon as possible."

"Thank you for your kind words, my king. It is but an honor to be summoned by your majesty", the female Gott courteously replied.

"Good. Now, let's get right to the point..." The king cleared their throat and declared, "I want you two Hauptmadns to lead a secret raid force for the upcoming invasion towards Gehenna starting from next week. My wisest and trustworthy advisor had suggested to form one for the Daemons to unnecessarily spend all their might to try and defeat the first army. While they had thought that they finally won, you and your army would ambush the 'Rotten Ones' and open a path for Elysium to freely invade. There was a blessing in disguise hiding amongst those filthy beings that we detected on our radar, and it was the cause that we were able to invade easier. Its presence made an easier route for us Gotts to penetrate through Gehenna's poisonous and indestructible barrier. The advisor had provided you with a safe route to secretly head towards Gehenna without being spotted by both the first army and the Daemons for an element of surprise. According to my calculations, the one that was detected in our radar may disappear anytime soon and we'll lose our chance to easily invade the enemy territory so this will be our final chance before we could finally invade again for the next plan. If, by chance that this fails, you two will receive severe punishments. Got it?" The two Gotts silently nod in cold sweat.

In the present, the voice announced as the Daemons were looking around to discover where the source of the voice was, "Pathetic. To think the Rotten Ones are already this weakened when we only released 60% of our Raid Force." When they finally found the voice, all Daemons were in total shock.

Eryl declared his disbelief out loud for everyone at the area to hear, "Wha—? Impossible. There are still more of you here? But I didn't sense any Reinheit (German for Purity) besides the ones we already fought." The other Daemons and the Gotts began to clash their weapons and fight while he was talking.

For those who weren’t clear of this, Reinheit is what one call to the Gott's positive energy that they gained from the humans' prayers and belief in them, used for making all kinds of techniques that they used on the battlefield like those white orbs, white slashes, and all of their weapons. It's basically a Gott's fuel of power but the polar opposite of the Daemons'. Just like how Daemons have various amounts of Impuritas (Latin for Impurity) in each of them, Gotts also have various amounts of Reinheit in each of them especially the ones who were born into major "Gods", as what humans preferred to call them. All of the Hauptmadns (German for Captains) were minor ‘Gods’ so they have vast amounts of energy and could release very strong techniques. But compared to them, the Oberbefehlshaber (German for Commander-in-Chief) and the Kings of Elysium, who were considered as the major ‘Gods’ by the humans, have larger amounts of Reinheits and the Hauptmadns couldn’t hold a candle to them.

The voice earlier was actually a Gott soldier. To be precise, a Hauptmadn. This cocky Gott, who had a reseda colored wavy long hair, eyes as gold as the sun with his pupils as green as nature, held a long staff with the same color as his eyes and wore a suit as white as the light, is Aesculapius. He was a minor God of Health and Medicine who was worshipped by the Roman humans.

Aesculapius scoffed, "What are you talking about? Daemons can't sense Gotts' Reinheit, just like we can't sense..." He then realized, "Oh. So, you're a descendant of Hades’s pet. That's why you made such remark. The Tuphon is one of the few Daemon families that can sense our Reinheit (German for Purity), after all."

All of a sudden, Raaz unexpectedly charged towards Aesculapius head on for a surprise attack with his double axe, but Aesculapius blocked it immediately with his gold staff. It became a battle of strength and endurance to see who could push the other person's weapon, remove the other person's defense, and land a hit. They're not exactly humans, but you get what I mean.

Raaz asked while he silently grunted, "Nice staff. Where did you get it?"

Aesculapius replied in an overconfident way, "Oh, this? I actually pre-ordered this from one of the most famous shops at—"

While those two were fighting in a stalemate for now, the others were busy of what they were doing and were not paying attention at all. Sirius was occupied with Natsu when he saw him already standing all alone without any kind of support and asked,

"Is it ok for you to stand now?"

Natsu replied, "Yeah. My Impuritas (Latin for Impurity) has recovered enough for me to stand and walk."

Back to the stalemate battle... They were still at it...

Raaz asked again, "Wow, I really like how shiny and smooth your hair is. How did you do it?"

Aesculapius replied with a smug look on his face, "Oh, nothing. I just used this really expensive herbal conditioner for at least three times a day everyday."

Raaz reacted and sweat awkwardly but he still wore a poker face, "Ehh... It's also amazing how you hid yourself really well earlier before flashily appear before us. How did you do it?"

Aesculapius answered confidently without any hesitation or doubt, "We were on standby a few distance away from the Bermuda Triangle exit. It was a bit dangerous, but it was totally worth it if you were so amazed by my beautiful presence."

Raaz forced himself to not give a comeback from the enemy's comment and thought to himself instead, "Narcissist much..."

Besides the narcissist Hauptmadn (German for Captain), Aesculapius, there was another Hauptmadn that were leading the second Gott army that the Daemons are currently facing against. The other one, who had a pair of really long pigtails with a gradient color of dark and light violet, a pair of eyes that were a dark red color while her pupils were as white as the light, two dark red line marks almost covered both of her cheeks, wore a long white robe that almost reached her feet, a gold cross necklace around her neck, a gray colored metal eye shield from a helmet was tied on her forehead, a pair of golden gladiator shoes, and a huge hammer with a long handle was held on her right hand, is Enyalius. She was a minor God of War who was worshipped by the Greek humans.

Enyalius, while on the other part of the battlefield, swung her huge hammer towards a crowd of Daemons and yelled to complain, "Hey, narcissist healer! Why do you have to run your mouth and told them that?!"

Both Raaz and him were already at a fighting stance and faced each other. They must have become tired of that position earlier. Aesculapius confidently replied with a yell to reach his message, "He has asked me regarding my brilliance. Of course, I wouldn't disappoint such dedicated worshipper."

"Did you already forget that he's a Daemon? You always assumed that everyone loves you when haters dominated your 'worshippers'," Enyalius held out her irritation despite she expressed it very clearly.

Aesculapius's face turned into a shoujo manga style shocked expression when he realized it.

Enyalius's voice while he continued to do that expression, "Will you stop that over-the-top reaction? I'll hammer you."

Aesculapius suddenly became mad at Raaz and acted like he was betrayed, "You tricked me! I really thought that you're one of my worshippers."

Raaz replied in comeback immediately, "Why blame me? I only asked you a few questions, that's all."

Aesculapius's staff glowed white and aimed it towards Raaz, "Die!", and he thought to himself, "Reine Heilung (German for Pure Healing)!" His staff then fired a huge white light to Raaz.

Raaz swiftly teleported to a distance and dodge the attack... At least, that was his intention. He saw that his right hand was gone, and his wrist started to turn into ash. He was in so much pain that felt like someone was burned alive to a lava.

Raaz grunted in pain and thought to himself, "I didn't manage to completely dodge that attack, huh? It didn't feel like an attack, though. More like..." He asked his opponent while forcing not to show on his face that he was in extreme pain, "You used a healing technique against me earlier, right?"

Aesculapius replied in a smug expression, "That's right. I'm impressed that you noticed right away. I'm a healer-type Gott, after all. Many may think that healers are utterly useless in a fight, but currently we're the ultimate trump card to end you. We're now the strongest asset in every Gott army!"

Enyalius yelled from a distance, "Don't get cocky, narcissist healer! I can instantly turn you into white flour with a swing of my hammer anytime I want."

"She was listening. How far could she hear anyway? Is she a dog or something?", Aesculapius thought to himself.

Natsu's face turned pale and started to panic, "Raaz, your hand! You're starting to disappear!"

Raaz said while forcing himself to smile, "Calm down, black cat. I'm fine. Fortunately, because of my cursed bloodline that I was saved from that last technique. If I was like any other Daemon, I would've turned to ashes ages ago. I can still hold out for a few hours or so."

"Quit putting up a strong front! Hold up, we're switching ri—", Natsu was about to go to Raaz, but he got interrupted by him.

Raaz scolded with an angry expression, "Don't you dare move from that spot. You're still overfatigued so you should be the one who should stop putting up a strong front. Just stay where you are and protect Sirius, got it?!"

Natsu growled while he stepped back to his original position, "Tch! Fine! Don't you die on me or I'll kill you myself."

Enyalius spoke up in an optimistic manner while there were multiple ashes behind her, "Sirius? Oh! So, you're the Gott that we detected on our radar earlier and who made our job easier for the past the century. I'd like to thank you for your help. Because of you, it's been easier for us to invade and bring more soldiers compared to before."

All Daemons were shocked.