Ah My Goddess Fan Fiction ❯ Trial By Tenderness ❯ Part 33 - Concourses ( Chapter 33 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Part 33 Concourses



"This time, I'm going to get it *right*!" a snarling voice echoed off the bloodwalls.
Illuminated by a hyacinth-hued light, Mara watched her silhouette while she carefully traced the contours of the mandala that illustrated the middle of her lair. She had set aside the extra-large central room for this purpose. Blood was filigreeing a series of carved lines, circles and intricate designs.
"Why does this summoning mandala have to be so blessed *big*? And why aren't I allowed to use lasers?" Mara continued to complain about the summoning mandala 'recipe' as she dipped the catheter straw into another pitcher of blood and extracted a few more drops, and then carefully deposited them within the concave groove of a carved concentric circle near the edge of the patterned yantra. She had spent the better part of the last month carving the designs into the nanonium slab...
Creating the stain of Evil was like scaling a wall of banalities with a siege rampart filled with inane speculations. Even Mara was beginning to relinquish the confidence that this summoning would *work*.
"If *this* doesn't achieve the intended result...then I give up!" she muttered. The summoning formulae from the Demon's Book indicated that the mandala surface itself had to possess sufficient Evil in order to accent the workings of the incisements that comprised the Ultimate Demon mandala. Mara had tried several times on differing surfaces: aluminum and concrete from various Earthrealm war zones, even a whale's finbone that she brought all the way back from Okinawa. Each time, after straining to carve out the mandala and fill it with blood...none of them worked. Her discomfiture became more excessive by degrees. After these abortive attempts, she was lodged with the task of undoing: siphoning all the blood back out of the engravings. This delicate work added maldeification to the wounding of her failures.
Finally, in a flash of devilish insight, she hit on an idea...a way to forge a material that would be *much* more evil than any of the others. She had been looking towards the mortals as a source for the evil-filled material she needed; now she realized that all the bane and strife from this admittedly corrupt and evil sentient species wouldn't suffice. She needed something that was much more evil. Ultimate evil, for an ultimate Demon. A basin for the summoning mandala that would be malignant with hate and dire aggrievment to a degree that would transcend anything this stupid mortal planet could offer. An excess of evil the likes of which has never been witnessed by mortal minds, so much so that agony would pour out of it like beads of water upon a frozen metal thermos cast into an oven.
Mara built a nanite evolvement chamber and replicated several trillion of the microscopic cyborgnetic lifeforms. By design, each one was gifted with a graceful, benign sentience. After they filled the chamber to saturation, she allowed them continue to reproduce...into a Mephistophelean quandary. There just wasn't enough room for them to expand; so the nanites fought wars and killed each other. Because living space was now a precious commodity, it didn't suffice for them to simply kill each other...they had to dispose of the remains *somehow*. So they killed and cannibalized their fellows. Crowded unbearably, drowning in their waste...they continued to suffer in this hellbane environment for an entire week. Then Mara used the gravity generator to increase the G forces in the chamber a hundredfold, crushing the surviving nanites into a slab barely half an inch thick.
The very slab she was carving upon. It possessed the psychic deathscreams of over 5 trillion living Souls. It was the equivalent of destroying the lifeforce of a thousand Earthrealms. Add to that a few pints of blood collected from an Earthrealm mortal with pseudo-Demonic properties...
"If this isn't the embastardized presence of *evil itself*, then I don't know what is..." Mara said to herself as she precisely carved another Demonic symbol on the smooth plane of crushed micromachine beings.

* * * * * * * *

Keiichi was driving his slotcar within the vehicle garage, the graypitch track running underneath his life-sized motorcycle and sidecar, now rendered mountainous in scale. By digression, the sight of his bike brought to mind how ironic it was that several counties like the USA manufactured sidecars for motorcycles, despite the fact their laws prohibited human passengers to ride in them. If Belldandy would have been standing next to his motorcycle, she would have looked as tall as Japan Tower from his ground level perspective.
Rounding a curve, he tensed himself. Now it was time to jump through the turning bicycle wheel again. This was just one road hazard among many that cooled Keiichi's racing blood considerably. Make a mistake of 1/10th of a second, and his car would rebound off the turning spokes of the tire, crashing off the track.
Race finished. Game over. Bell-chan gone forever.
Tyyr was still ahead of him by several car lengths, to his amazement. Keiichi watched, hoping his WarGod opponent would make a mishap when his slotcar rushed towards the spinning wheel. Deep disappointment followed as he saw his opponent's car complete the jump. But when his car approached, the spinning wheel seemed to *speed up* on its own!
The spokes began to mesh and emblur...
"Someone's cheating!" Keiichi yelled as he gunned the accelerator of the slot car on his console, his wheelchair rocking as he desperately tried to control his car. With driving logic, he knew that he had to floor the car...and chance it. A fast-moving slotcar had better odds of making it through the spinning spokes than a slower car.
In the floating holovid screen, he saw the rapidly spinning spokes of the wheel pass by with snapshot immediacy.
He was through!

* * * * * * * *

Urd was feeling urgently unrestful...she couldn't just *sit* on the porch with the rest of the others! This race was too important! After the first lap, the suspense was grating on her nerves like massive broken fingernails screeching on a chalkboard. She knew that the envelope of tension wasn't hers alone; her Little Sister was pacestomping anxiously back and forth on the wooden planking of the gallery that surrounded their temple home.
Soon, Urd and Skuld were accompanying the racers as they traveled around the temple environs. Stalking alongside the racers, they monitored the racecars and the track conditions. The two sisters followed the two slotcars into the vehicle garage, keeping an eagle eye on Keiichi's racer. Skuld held her breath as Keiichi's racer sped up and approached the wheel.
"What the hell is happening here?" Urd shouted as she saw the wheel accelerate its rotation as Keiichi's car approached it.
With a sigh, Urd realized that he was safe...despite Lokii's underhanded handiwork. It was a good thing she was watching things in the garage; now she could report this to the others.
"Somebody's *cheating*!" Skuld shouted with poignant disgust. She sprinted as fast as her legs could carry her back to the house to address her suspicions to the other Gods and Goddesses...who promptly ignored her.
Except for her father, Odeyn.

* * * * * * * *

The mini-billboard said "10", the final lap. Keiichi and Tyyr had traded leads several times. Keiichi had always raced *with* the Gods, but never *against* one of them. Belldandy and the others had always remained steadfastly on his side, abetting his success through inspiration...with the exception of Skuld's earlier efforts to affront any victories on his part. But now, the youngest Norn was as much a cheerleader as Urd and Bell-chan. Despite the tension, Skuld was acting the part of the Goddess of Future Kawaiiness.
But Tyyr simply possessed a God-like legion of refluences, which gained him an insurmountable edge in racing over Keiichi.
On the ascending straightway along the temple wall, Keiichi recalled the previous lap, with its one hilarious moment...at the time, a much-needed reprieve from the formidable challenges of the race.
...Inside the vehicle garage, Keiichi once more had to face the obstacle of the spinning bicycle wheel. Once more, it spun faster as he approached. That time, he didn't make it through. His car bounced off the spinning bicycle spokes...
He felt his heart ascend into his Adam's apple as the holovid showed a haphazard splishsplash of images as his car was thrown in the air, apparently spinning end-over-end. Urd and Skuld loomed closer in his holovid as his car headed straight towards them. Towards Urd's chest.
Keiichi watched in amazement as his slotcar stuck Urd in the bosom, bouncing off one of her...
He gasped as his holovid once more spun dizzily; his car rebounding from its impact with Urd...and somehow, his car alighted miraculously on the slotcar racetrack near the window, guide-pin miraculously in his lane's slot groove. Blinking back his shock, he saw that his car was at a standstill, sideways on the racetrack. He switched his holovid view to reverse...and saw a scowling Urd adjusting her tight-across-the-chest fallwear blouse, glaring at his car. Skuld was pointing at her older sister, consumed with side-splitting laughter. It was a good thing that Urd wasn't wearing a sweater...or his car wouldn't have had enough *bounce*...
As if it had a life of its own to protect from the now-wrathful Goddess, the little car did a 180 and the contact leads grabbed the track. It accelerated up the ramp and out the window in a flash. A few minutes later, Urd showed up in person, red-faced. Skuld was right behind her, hands on knees gasping...
"Skuld-sama must be winded from laughing," Keiichi guessed. "Well, it *was* pretty funny!" he thought with a chuckle. He looked away from his holovid 'windshield' for a second.
"Thanks for your…uhm…assist back there, Urd," he acknowledged. Keiichi caught a glimpse of Urd's face turning even redder, then he returned his attention to the race with a grin; Skuld's girlish laughter resounding all over the porch...

Thank Goddess for comic breaks! Keiichi giggled at the memory of one of Urd's breasts providing a trampoline for his slot car. The briefly humorous event had come at an opportune time. It was so crazy and random...it was just the thing he needed to ‘reset’ his nerves so he wasn’t over-invested in trying to control everything in the race. Being a racecar driver was mentally taxing; in order to deal with the sheer stress of having to be hypervigilant, concentrating on *everything* around him...Keiichi had developed a little mind-game to keep him on his edge. Experience had taught him that it was counter-productive to become too absorbed in the race...so he had to distract himself with other things in order to keep a 'fresh' orientation towards the rigors of contending with the race. Paradoxical, but it *worked*.
Throughout the race, he engaged his imaginative faculties in pleasant fantasy...like he and Bell-chan vacationing in New Zealand. Other times, his mental 'degausser' manifested itself by engaging in humor...like cracking jokes in his head or remembering absurd incidents. Like that time right after Skuld had first come to Earth...

...Skuld was still unaccustomed to eating mortal food, so during mealtime, she poured hot chili powder over her udon and stirred it in with her fingers. Keiichi warned her not to rub her eyes...and for some reason, Skuld rubbed her eyes to spite him...resulting in a torrent of tears. It wasn't *that* funny, but this was back when Skuld *hated* Keiichi with a passion. Keiichi had to admit that he found it quite amusing at the time...

But in this case, the little incident with Urd in the garage provided sufficient a mental remedy to the rigors of racing. Keiichi didn't know which was funnier...Urd's embarrassment or Skuld's perky amusement at her older sister's expense.

His mind returning to the present moment, Keiichi realized that he had given it his all...but right now, Tyyr was in first place and gaining. It seemed that whenever Tyyr was ahead, the track would *alter* itself in some way to protect his lead. Corners would bank at a reduced grade, slowing Keiichi's slotcar down. Obstacles would pause or slow down. Straightaways would lengthen. Ramps would become steeper. He had half-heard Skuld's complaints about cheating...but all the Gods and Goddesses seemed ignore her entreaties except Odeyn. But even Odeyn wasn't paying too much attention to his youngest daughter.
"Lokii's manipulation of events must be incredibly subtle! No one has noticed except Skuld and Urd...and me, of course," he mused, wondering why the other Gods didn't observe the fraudulent circumstances. On the holovid screen, his car was topping the long ramp that ascended alongside the temple walls. The winds had picked up a little, and the black slotcar track was wavering like a drunken rope atop the wall. Keiichi was too engrossed in driving to notice that Tyyr had stood up and was walking towards him.
He heard Belldandy and Skuld gasp loudly behind him.
"What *now*?" he thought irritably. Out of the corner of his eye, his peripheral vision caught an image of the WarGod standing next to him.
Belldandy blanched as Tyyr reached down and gripped the right wheel of Keiichi's wheelchair. Lifting it high off the ground with one arm, he upended it, sending Keiichi crashing to the deck.
"HA HA HA HEH HAH!" the giant WarGod boomed with vile laughter as Keiichi sprawled out of his wheelchair, his console thumping loudly on the wooden gallery.
"That's not fair, you...*bastard*!" Peorth screamed as Keiichi yelled razorsharp with pain, fighting to hang on his console when instinct pushed to grab both legs in pain.
"I'm sick of this stupid mortal race! The Rules said I couldn't touch his console, but they didn't say anything about touching *him* once the outcome has been decided! It is now impossible for him to catch up, and I'm not going to wait until this ridiculous contest is finished to pay him my intents," Tyyr said as he pressed several buttons in sequence on his driving console.
"Now, thanks to your little autopilot setting on this device you call ‘slot car’, I'm going to win this idiotic challenge. But first, I'm going to beat him into a bloody pulp for distracting the attention of my future wife. And especially for insulting me!" the WarGod announced in a voice filled with terrible threat.
Belldandy tried to scream for help, but her throat was constricted by the horrible sight. Keiichi was on his back, trying to crawl away from Tyyr, clutching his holovid/driving console to keep it from being damaged.
Keiichi turned his attention away from his holovid as the giant WarGod cocked an arm as thick as one of his thighs in a backwards motion, the hand gnarled up in a tight fist. The fist moved towards his face, lightning fast...and Keiichi saw his life flash before his eyes as he reflexively held the driving console up as a shield.
"NO YOU'RE NOT!" a feminine voice that sounded like a hundred shouts blasted his ears. He looked up after flinching to see Tyyr suddenly jerked out of his line of sight in mid-punch in a blur of brown and black.
As if from nowhere, Peorth had hurled herself at Tyyr, knocking him over with her slender body before he could throw that fatal punch. In response, Tyyr gained his feet and grabbed her by the shoulders and neck. Lifting her off the ground in a chokehold, he grinned sadistically as he began to strangle her until she was gasping for breath, eyes rolling back...and then he expertly threw her like a limp rag doll *through* the wall into the living room.
"HELLLLP!"
Tyyr's vicious mistreatment of a fellow Goddess broke her out of her daze, and Belldandy's voice found her mouth with a scream as Tyyr turned his assaultive wrath back to her boyfriend. She was stunned...Tyyr had actually assaulted another Divine and had choked her to near death, just to toy with her! The race wasn’t even over and he was already running amok. With a concerned glance, she saw Peorth slumped unconscious against the compound wall. Tyyr had thrown her clear through the house! Why wasn't anybody doing anything?
After a moment of gloating over his expert military throw and the unconscious Goddess at its receiving end, Tyyr turned to advance on Keiichi. He was still trying to crawl away from his wheelchair, desperately clutching his driving console upright as he scampered on the wooden deck.
"No weak little Goddess Relief Office pampered princess...is going to stop me from beating the shit out of you, mortal!" Tyyr threatened with a scowl. Belldandy tried to restrain him, but he brusquely shoved her out of the way. Keiichi noticed that Tyyr had only exerted a minimum of force on Bell, but she was thrown backwards at least 10 meters, colliding hard with Skuld, elbows in her younger sister's face. He heard a gasping "oomph" as Skuld was knocked on her back by Bell.
"DAAAADDDDYYYYYYYY!" Skuld screamed at the top of her lungs in sheer terror soon as soon as she got her breath back.
Tyyr grabbed Keiichi's wheelchair, lifted it up over his head and began squeezing it, compacting it down into a long metal rod-like shape.
"And now, for you..." Tyyr said, grinning sadistically, savoring the moment. The compacted wheelchair jutted sharp metal edges as he held it over his head, ready to strike fatally. Keiichi's eyes flinched uncontrollably with dire fear.
Suddenly, a pair of arms reached around Tyyr's waist, squeezed...and *lifted* him off the ground.
"I've had it up to -here- with you! If you’re going act like a petulant child, then you need a ‘time out’," a loud voice shouted angrily. Belldandy watched...filled with emotion, clutching Skuld tightly, worried that the collision with her younger sister had hurt her. Skuld looked like her nose was broken, and a trickle of blood was slipping down her chin from the corner of her mouth. Already, Mother and Urd were sprinting towards she and her sister, their faces rapt with concern.
"Daddy!" Skuld yelled in cheerful triumph...as their father struggle-wrestled with Tyyr.
Odeyn turned to see his daughters...and he saw that his baby girl was hurt, her sister sitting next to her in a daze!
"YOU'RE DONE! THIS ENDS NOW!!" Odeyn roared. Straining with righteous anger, he reached up and around Tyyr's back and shoulders...and then threw him to the ground with an expert flip.
Hard.
The ground shook as the WarGod slammed into the dust...
"You forget who I am, Tyyr! I once was a WarGod Marshall, and now I have a Senior First Class, Unrestricted, Unlimited License! I will tolerate no more disrespect from you towards my family! And I will not let your temper bring more shame upon your parents!" Odeyn said, huffing and puffing with effort as he pinned the struggling younger WarGod to the ground. Despite the fact that Tyyr was at least 300,000 years younger than he, Odeyn continued to bear down on him with a sumo-like persistence. He looked over at Lokii, who simply nodded his head to indicate that he wasn't going to intervene. He asked his Wife with his eyes for permission to continue, and she flashed him a smile as she attended to their youngest, who was scared out of her wits.
"You should consider yourself well-starred that it is me and not my wife who is intervening, Tyyr," Odeyn noted in a low basso voice. Which was truth; his Wife was really pissed off. He recognized the maternal fury in Freiija's eyes as excelling his own anger by leagues.
Belldandy knew that the 'fight' between her Tyyr and Peorth...and now Father and Tyyr...was only a physical representation. The real battle involved huge amounts of arcane power on another plane of existence. Mother was comforting Skuld, but she could sense the rage in her Mother's aura. She was angry herself at this beast-man who had hurt her little sister. Skuld nodded to her to assured her that she was hurt, but okay. Belldandy rushed over to Keiichi to see if he was all right.
Keiichi noticed that she was affrighted; he grinned at her to assure her that things were okay...that he was unhurt.
"Is Skuld okay, Bell-chan?" he asked, forcing a smile.
"Ohhhh Keiichi," she said worriedly, then looked up at her father, tears misting her eyes.
"Skuld just got the wind knocked out of her for a moment...she's fine. How are *you*, my love?" she asked.
"I'm okay, Bell-chan. You better check on Peorth, and stick close to your Mother, Urd and Skuld. They're all really upset," he suggested, smiling through grit-toothed pain. Keiichi didn't want Bell to worry about him...and he had to grab the console and return his attention to the race! He hoped that his false cheer could conceal the fact that his right leg was shooting agonizing spikes of pain up past his knee. Belldandy kissed him quickly on the cheek and rushed over to wherever Peorth was.
"Oh God, this hurts..." he said under his breath as he tried to sit upright with the racing console in his lap.
Freiija watched her Husband restraining Tyyr with a series of wrestling moves she hadn't seen since him employ since he was in his youthyears. Her excited mind was impressed with her husband's ready willingness to defend his daughters, to put their welfare first as a Father should...
...and Freiija felt herself go rigid with amazement. The young mortal man-child was gamely fighting back a lot of pain...and when B'dandy asked of his welfare, he not only reassured her with confidences in an effort to allay her fears...but he also asked her to attend to the young GRO Goddess who had borne the brunt of Tyyr's fury...and then insisted that B'dandy focus her concerns on she and her daughters rather than himself. The very idea of it! And yet, he was just a mere mortal! He had put her and her daughter's welfare above his own! He had put B'dandy's feelings and welfare first...
...Just like a husband would.
"Keiichi Morisato, if you survive this challenge, I will give you your chance for my daughter's hand," she pledged wordlessly to herself.
Odeyn had finally managed to pin Tyyr down. The younger WarGod wasn’t half as fatigued as he was, but Odeyn had the position of power. He looked back and forth between Tyyr, and Keiichi. It was clear as day that the mortal had comported himself with greater self-control and courage than this oaf! And he didn’t miss what he had just told Belldandy, either…setting aside his own difficulties to help her with hers. Something this ox-headed WarGod had completely lost sight of! He liked this Keiichi Morisato. In his mind, Odeyn decided...that if this was the best that humanity offered...then this mortal may have the right stuff to marry his daughter. If this Keiichi could remain steadfast and prove himself through the tests to come…he would finally have a son-in-law that he could be proud of! A taunting voice broke his reflections...
"Heh!!! It's too late for you, all of you, heh! My slot car is locked at its highest speed setting. There's no way you can catch it now!" he shouted mockingly, and then he turned his attention to Odeyn.
"Like it or not, old man...I'm going to *win* this challenge...and your daughter! Grapple with me all you want for now, for you will never have the chance again!" Tyyr railed vaingloriously. With a brief shudder, Odeyn realized that there was nothing he could do if Tyyr won this race.
*Everything* was in the hands of a young, injured Earthrealm mortal.
Keiichi felt a stabbing despondency in his heart accompanying Tyyr's boastful news. He looked...and sure enough, Tyyr's car remained well ahead of him, despite the fact that his slotcar was racing at its top speed.
This was looking *really* bad...
"It ain't over until it's over!" he heard Skuld shout shrilly in her girl-woman's voice, surprising the hell out of Belldandy, Urd, and Bell's Mother. His heart winced as he saw Skuld's bloodied face...Keiichi wished he could stand up and kick Tyyr in the nuts for what he had done to Skuld!
"Watch *this*, boys and girls!" Skuld announced, limping towards Keiichi's side.
"Banpei-kun?" she summoned. Almost immediately, Banpei whirred around the corner and slid obediently to a stop in front of her. Skuld pressed a sequence of buttons on his chest plate, and then stepped behind him as a panel opened in his back. She reached in and removed a handheld mini-mecha the size of a cellphone. Grinning ear-to-ear, she limped over and handed the mecha to Keiichi.
"Skuld subatomic molar valence accentuator! The Transatomic Kushin Suru Slotcar Booster, Mk. XI!" she announced, her youthful vigor and excitement piercing the shadows of her own path. Skuld's whole head ached, especially her nose and jaw. And her left foot felt funny...like it didn't want to support her weight.
"Mk. XI?" Urd exclaimed, shocked by the high version number. She had been drinking steadily all day to try and calm her nerves, and then had heard the ruckus and had rushed over to see that things were in utter chaos. Seeing that Skuld was hurt, she pinned an angry glance on Tyyr, who was pinned to the ground, restrained by her Father. Wishing she had her License and her Goddess powers so she could lay into the bastard while Father had him down, she rushed off to comfort a very upset Skuld. Who now was acting like she’d just saved the day.
Belldandy looked with deep concern at the seriously injured Peorth, then back to her little sister. Rarely did Skuld's mechas pass the Mk. V stage.
"She must have *really* worked hard on this one!" Belldandy observed to herself, still fuzzy from the shock of Tyyr's attack on her beloved. Peorth was crumpled, her face dazed from Tyyr's choke hold and judo-like throw...she had a disoriented look to her two blackened eyes as Belldandy lightly slapped her on the cheeks to try and bring her around. If Tyyr and Peorth were Earthrealm mortals, what he just did to Peorth was nothing less than attempted murder. But God can't kill God; that was a strictly-enforced Rule.
"Press the red button in the middle and watch what happens. I *promise* you that it'll really be cool!!" Skuld instructed. Keiichi nodded and pressed the red button...
On the holovid, the graphic representing his slotcar seemed to transform. A pair of spoilers emerged from the rear...and the rear bumper separated in the middle while the rear quarterpanels rounded into a sleek side-fin design, like tiny wings. The front end of the car seemed to flatten even more, making the slotcar much more aerodynamic. Something that looked like a small rocket engine exhaust cone emerged from where the rear bumper was. The tires turned into luminous circles of energy...and the rocket fired a long red sparkling burst.
"Batmobile!!! Heeee!" Skuld shouted with glee as Keiichi's slotcar burst forward with speed.
"The reduced molar valance allows for only the minimal necessary physical interaction between the contact leads and electrical strip on the track, as well as the wheels and the racetrack. And the rocket was just ripped out of an old mortal model rocket kit. Something intentionally simple...so that Lokii wouldn't consider it to be suspicious," she explained.
"That's *cheating*!" Tyyr accused angrily, still struggling against Odeyn's grip.
Lokii regarded Odeyn’s daughter with an unreadable expression bordering on cool amusement. This challenge had actually resolved into a very intriguing outcome. This little Goddess had bested him because he had failed to fully attend to the old axiom: children can occasionally be more unpredictable than adults. This girl had done something utterly unpredictable…hence, chaotic. She had surprised him, just like Tyyr used to do when he was a whelpling. Unfortunately, his son had unmanned himself once again with his temper. The youngest Goddess was smiling confidently, swinging her mallet casually in front of her like an arcing pendulum. Luckily for Yggdrasil, she wasn’t a Demoness. Although this was not the outcome he was seeking, it had been a good diversion. For her self-sacrificing conduct, he decided to spare the Goddess who had intruded on their son’s omiai and taunted him. Two black eyes from Tyyr were probably just as injurious as what he planned to exact for her insolence. He favored the young Goddess by ..allowing her a brief nod and a smile of respect for her cleverness, and then resumed his impassive, ever-vigilant countenance.
"One good cheater deserves another, eh! I bet you guys haven't heard about the Robot Wars, havya? Tell 'em, Megumi!" Skuld said, waving her forward. Megumi stepped out into the circle of Divines and elaborated. This was her moment of glory.
"In the Robot Wars, Skuld and I designed robots with the aim of destroying the most metal barrels. She was ahead, until I captured her robot, rendering it useless. Then she cheated...she blew up her robot and mine! A tie is better than a loss. But in this case...losing is *not* an option. Oh, and by the way, the model rocket thing was *my* idea!" She shared a private smile with Skuld--the two of them had been up all night working on this surprise.
Keiichi tore his attention away from his racing console for a split-second to stare at his younger sister with bug-eyed shock, and then returned his attention to his slotcar…which was literally rocketing down the race track.
Megumi raised her hand for a high five and Skuld followed through, stretching to her tiptoes despite the pain in her foot. With an exaggerated flourish, she deliberately missed Megumi's palm...then both girls dissolved into laughter. Belldandy started giggling as she saw the dejected look on Tyyr's face…this was just as funny as her dumping sake over Tyyr’s head during that idiotic omiai. She looked at Urd, who was jostling with laughter. She heard more giggling; and to her surprise, even her Mother was tittering with a hand politely covering her mouth.
"I *knew* you guys would..heehee..be cheating, so that's why the Mk. XI. I had to make *sure* that you couldn't do anything to prevent my slotcar speed booster. That's why I decided..hahee..to hide the controls in Banpei," Skuld remarked. As he heard his named, Banpei tipped his metallic head to the crowd.
Megumi burst into another round of giggles.
"That's *my* daughter! That's my little girl! She's just outwitted the head of the Deliberate Chaos Ministry!" !" Odeyn praised her loudly, every bit the proud father. Skuld halted in mid-giggle and blushed beetroot red at the compliment. Freiija came over and hugged her from behind, using her sleeve to clean up Skuld's bloody chin. Odeyn looked at his wife, and saw maternal pride glowing on her beautiful face.
All heads turned to the track as the checkered banner popped in the air over the finish line. Keiichi's car flashed around the corner then traveled parallel to the driveway towards the house, a tiny red flame coming out its back.
Belldandy emerged in the doorway; Peorth woozily propped up against her for support. Peorth's beautiful face was graced by two black eyes and a crooked nose...
Trying to keep from passing out on her feet, Peorth was gifted with the sight of Keiichi's car drawing fast towards the finish line...well ahead of Tyyr's.
Keiichi sighed with relief as he saw the finish line...and sped through it. As he pulled his slotcar to a halt, he remembered one race in particular...a treacherous hillclimb a couple of years back. Sora had got him into that one...

"I can't lose...because I have a Goddess waiting for me at the top of the hill," he remembered saying then as he hurled past the surmount of the hillclimb. Now...he had a Goddess waiting at the end of his race...to be his wife whenever time cast them in circumstances to get married. This was much more than a race; it was a Rite of Passage.

"YES!!!!" Keiichi shouted as he thrust a fisted "thumbs up" in the air, his trademark victory gesture.
"Keiichi, you won!!" Belldandy shouted, slumping against Peorth from exhaustion.
*It was finally over.*
"Guess that means that you lost, Tyyr!" Odeyn said sharply, releasing his vise-like grip on the WarGod once the race was safely concluded.
"Shit! Damn! Fuck! Sonovabitch! Goddammit! You cheated me out of what was mine!" Tyyr shouted angrily once he had been released. Lokii shook his head in disgust and turned his back to whole wretched drama as his son stomped his feet in anger while waving his arms with flailing motions.
Peorth felt her eyes tear up as acrid feelings of happiness and sorrow broaching her heart's concourses. Keiichi would be Belldandy's. She now knew for sure that she would never have him as a lover or as a Goddess Relief Office case. But as she grasped the hidden depths of Belldandy's angelic smile of relief...*this* was reward enough for her! She had granted *two* wishes with one cast...more than good enough for a GRO worker. Her actions today would raise her a level in esteem at the Office in the minds and hearts of her co-workers.
"You *better* make me a maid-of-honor when you guys get hitched," she whispered into Belldandy's ear with faux threat. Belldandy looked at her with an embarrassed grin, and then recovered herself. There had been *too* much emphasis on marriage lately...
"*If* you behave yourself...I might consider it, Peorth," Belldandy replied, faux threatening back.
Peorth grinned at her, and Belldandy noticed that her fellow Goddess was missing a number of teeth. Belldandy said a silent prayer, hoping that the injuries to her face wouldn't be permanent. It reminded her of the outcome of Megumi's "Demon Rally" race...but there was no spell she could cast to undo what Tyyr had done to Peorth's face.
"I really owe you one, Peorth!" she added before rushing over to Keiichi's side. Keiichi was sitting on the edge of the wooden planking, soaked with sweat.
Urd reached over and hugged Skuld as she ran over to her. Once more, her little sis had won the day for them!
Freiija watched her two daughters communing in sisterly affection, feeling maternal love and pride swell up in her heart at the sight. She had always wanted a boy to balance out these three girls. But having *these* three daughters was a gift. No...it was more than a gift...it was a blessing.
"I can't believe you...you cheated!" she teased Skuld. Lokii walked over to the two sisters, eyeing Skuld. Skuld stepped back warily.
"If you ever want to work for one of the Deliberate Chaos Offices, young lady...there's a job waiting for you when you grow up," he said in a voice filled with compliment, catching everyone off guard.
"No thanks! I'm right where I'm supposed to be!" Skuld said, shaking her head vigorously. Once more, Urd pondered how her youngest sister could be so *mature* at times; her reply was something she expected Bell or Keiichi or Cevn to say...

**THAT'S ENOUGH CELEBRATING FROM YOU!"**

A pallor of silence ensued as Belldandy, Urd, Skuld and Peorth looked up to see an enraged Tyyr.
"When isn't he being an angry sore loser?" Urd said to herself in exasperation, then noticed what he had in his hands.
Tyyr was wielding a SoulGun.
A collective gasp cried out from all the Gods and Goddesses at the sight of Tyyr's weapon. Odeyn immediately felt sincere regret that he had released the younger WarGod after the race was concluded.
"Tyyr! That's *illegal* to have in your possession! Put that away...right now!!!" Lokii commanded his son sharply.
"Y..you just shut up, father!" Tyyr said insolently. Lokii and Friijda looked at him with facefallen astonishment at his disrespect.
"Belldandy...what is going on?" Keiichi asked, his voice filled with apprehension at this new development. If the Gods themselves were afraid...
"Keiichi, Tyyr has a SoulGun," she explained in a shaky voice. "They're banned on Yggdrasil...or any other parts of the Multiverse, for that matter. Except in desperate wartime situations... and *only* with the Almighty's permission. They're the one single weapon that could *kill* one of us," Urd explained nervously.
"You mean...the Real Death?" Keiichi asked, reluctant to hear the answer. Urd gulped and nodded her head, affirming his worst suspicion.
"All of you...get away from Belldandy," Tyyr commanded, motioning with his gun towards the group. Urd, Skuld, Peorth...and Belldandy looked up at him defiantly.
In response, Keiichi wheeled over to Belldandy and reached his hands upwards. Belldandy gently pulled him up to his feet and reached around his waist to steady him. By touch, she could tell that he was in enormous pain...his face was taunt and pale, his forehead capped with sweat.
"I...I'm not leaving Bell-chan. Not now...not *ever*!" he said through clenched teeth.
"Then you'll die with her, idiot mortal! If I can't have her, *nobody* can..." Tyyr said as he raised the gun, staring down the barrel at them. This was no longer a matter of winning Belldandy to wife...this was a matter of saving face! He had been *beaten* by a mortal!
Belldandy gasped as her mother calmly stepped in front of the group, right in Tyyr's line of fire.
"Mother! W..what are you doing?" Belldandy said in a quiet voice, astonished once more by her Mother's actions.
"Tyyr...you're an *fucking asshole*! I haven't had cause to swear in 170,000 years, but you have given me leave to speak of the anger in my heart. As far as I'm concerned, I would much rather see my daughter marry this mortal than you. You actually threatened and harmed my daughters! Consider your suit rejected. And if you're going to use that thing, you can use it on me. I've been a total standpattering fool...thinking that it would advantage my daughter to marry the likes of a shithead like you," she stated bitterly, fighting back tears. Belldandy and Urd looked at each other, awestruck by what Mom had said and that she had actually used foul language. The last time she had cursed like that was when Urd had stolen Sleipnir from the Almighty.
Odeyn stepped in front of Belldandy and put an arm around his wife.
"I've decided...that if this mortal should wish my daughter's hand in marriage...he has my permission to prepare a suit for my Wife and I to consider. Especially after today's events! Nothing you can say or do will change this. If you're going to go on a killing rampage, you'll have to go through me to get to my family, Tyyr," he announced, and then he started walking towards the WarGod.
Lokii and Friijda both walked over and stepped in front of Belldandy and Keiichi.
"It's time to put an end to this charade. Any son who raises arms against his parents...should not be called a son," Friijda said in a grim and saddened voice. Belldandy felt an immense sense of sadness for a mother thus betrayed by her only son.
"For the last time, as your father and as the head of the Deliberate Chaos Ministry...I *demand* that you lower your weapon, Tyyr!" he commanded.
"N..nuh. No!!! If I can't have her..." Tyyr repeated himself like a tapeloop.
Belldandy broke ranks and walked past the group and her Father, walking right up to Tyyr, whose face registered surprise as she approached. Keiichi grabbed on tightly to Urd, scared to death for his girlfriend.
"What is she *doing*?" he whispered to Urd in absolute panic. Urd shook her head quickly, also afraid for her sister. Urd could tell by Bell's stride that her sister was *angry*.
Keiichi and the others watched as Belldandy stopped in front of Tyyr, the SoulGun leveled at her waist. Reaching her hand up quickly, she cracked him as hard as she could across the face with a slap. Turning around without a word, she walked back to the group, relief visible on his face.
"He deserved it," was the only explanation she offered to the group...but a slight smile borne on her face gave away the fact that she *enjoyed* slapping Tyyr. Keiichi hugged her, expecting the worst.
Tyyr looked irresolute for a moment, glancing at the gun, then back at the assembled group of Divines and mortals. The manic glow in his eyes brightened...to a psychotic glare.
"I'm going to kill you all!" he said as he squeezed the trigger.

****BOOOM****

A blinding flash exploded in front of everyone's eyes...causing their sight to hazeout momentarily. When the dusty froth cleared, Belldandy and Keiichi saw Tyyr laying in a smoldering heap...his beard and eyebrows almost burned off, his clothes in smoky tatters. The SoulGun lay in pieces all over the temple grounds, as if it had exploded in Tyyr's hands.
"*Of course!!!*" Keiichi realized. There was one more party to this misadventure, unseen but always actively involved. True enough, there was a message engraved in the ground next to Tyyr's unconscious form. Friijda ran over to her son, worried that he might have been struck dead.
"Thank you Lord, for sparing this miscreant son of mine!" she shouted with arms held upwards in an attitude of praise.
Odeyn read the message burned into the ground:

"By My will it is thus. Let it be known that Tyyr, son of Lokii and Friijda, has behaved in a grossly inappropriate manner by threatening other Divinities with a stolen lethal weapon. Because of this, and his failure to accept his defeat in the matter of the honorable contest to conclude the omiai, I have deigned to intercede.
"Tyyr's Military license is hereby revoked. Further, his revocation remains in effect until he can demonstrate an appropriate change of attitude. Given time, he will see the error of his ways and rehabilitate his character so that his parent's faith can be rewarded by his honor and good deeds. To instigate this process, his Marshal status in the WarGod military is summarily reduced. He will be assigned to work closely with the Proctors as the Ethiopsylogic Clinic. His new rank of entrant-Private should go far in teaching him to practice humility while working with others...rather than against them."

Relieved as she was at the pronouncement of the Lord, Belldandy couldn't help but feel sorrow for Tyyr's parents. This omiai had pushed their son over the edge, bringing shame upon the whole family. But the Lord had said that Tyyr would 'grow up' someday and restore their faith, which meant that there was hope for him.
Keiichi was right...Tyyr *was* a loose cannon. Belldandy shuddered as she thought how close she came to being *married* to Tyyr.
Everyone breathed a deep sigh of relief, trying to abandon the climactic near-death groon of the past few minutes. Blessed silence reigned as the significance of Kami-sama's power suffused the air...along with a gently vaying November breeze. Belldandy looked at Peorth; there was no trace of the injuries from Tyyr's assault on her face or body. It was as if she had never been hurt.
Keiichi looked up to see that the sky was a uniform gray as Belldandy helped him into a lawn chair.

* * * * * * * *

"B'dandy dear...I simply *must* talk to you before we leave," her Mother said. Pulling her by the arm, Mother escorted her over to a place under a thickly branched tree. They sat down on two rocks and Freiija turned to face her daughter with a serious expression, reaching out and grasping Bell's delicate hands in her own.
"Do you *really* love this...Keiichi mortal?" her Mother asked. Belldandy was almost struck speechless by the nakedness of her question. With an effort, she nodded her head.
"Mmnm. Yes, Mother...I *do* love him...with all of my heart," she replied.
"Dahling, if that would be the case, so be it. I know that you're young and probably will change your mind ofttimes. For the meantime, Mother will be watching you closely. Much as I'd wish to make you happy...and I must admit that part of me really wants to condone this relationship you have with him...yet, I cannot bring myself to fully accept that my *own daughter* is in love with a mortal. But...he *has* impressed me in some little way. It's no secret that your Father admires him. Perhaps I will too, given time...
"But what I really want to say is this. That I'm sorry. I made a terrible mistake betrothing you to that monster! I hope that when we meet again, it will be under happier circumstances," Freiija finished. Belldandy listened in respectful silence to her mother's confession of bad judgment.
"And I have something to say to you, Mother. You rarely ever considered what I wanted through this whole ordeal. And I..I couldn't tell you. You just..snff..don't listen. I just wish you'd realized..snff..that I *am* an grown-up, adult Goddess. I'm your daughter...but what I really want is for you to be my mother...and to be my friend too. Don't ever forget that I love you...but please let this misadventure be a point of departure. A chance to learn...and change.
"Mother, *please* try to accept Keiichi into your life...he's a good man. For a mortal...he is a shining example of all that's good. He may be subdued and mellow...but that's just because he is sensitive," she said, then waited for her tears to pass.
"You need to let go of me...just a little bit, Mom. For all my faults, I genuinely *do* want to make you proud. Perhaps you can be proud that I'm participating in the first romantic union...the first *real* romantic union...between a Divine and an Earthrealm mortal. That's a first! A..and I *know* that in your heart of hearts, you're probably in approval of it. Don't fight with yourself so much...and don't let those Yggdrasilian society-types cloud your thinking or your heart. Redirect yourself *to* yourself."
Freiija looked at her daughter, the memories flooding her like a storm. Belldandy being energyborned. Belldandy crying when she fell off a crystal cloud, scraping her elbow. Belldandy fighting with her older sister, Urd. Belldandy becoming sickly for the longest time...and *still* fighting with Urd. Belldandy being jealous when Skuld was born...jealous because *she* was no longer the youngest. Belldandy arguing with Odeyn and she with teenaged ardor, arguing about these very same mortals right after they built their first city of Nebbur, some 70,000 Earthrealm years ago at the start of the Wurm Glaciation. Belldandy finishing her Goddess Transcend Inculcation with highest honors. Belldandy being selected from hundreds of candidates to serve a prestigious posting in the Goddess Relief Office. And recently, Belldandy standing up in front of the assembly at the Well of Urd and debating on behalf of the mortals after their last little global squabble.
And now...her daughter was in love...of her own free will!
"And now..?" she whispered to herself amidst the whirlwind of memories. Now, her daughter was addressing her as an equal...for the first time in her young life. Overwrought with the emotions of millennia of memories, Freiija felt tears streaming down her cheeks as she reached out and hugged her daughter to her.
Mother and daughter cried together...their tears a bridge of birds...a rainbow of understanding...a bonding of equals...
After a long-treasured moment, Freiija looked at her beautiful Belldandy with a misty eyed expression of reluctance.
"Time for us to go. I *love* you, B'dandy. I need to say goodbye to your sisters...you know how jealous Urd gets," she said, managing a smile.
Watching her Mother float off towards the house, Belldandy was struck by her own happysad tears...and curious about Mother.
"Why was Mom crying?" she wondered to herself.

* * * * * * * *

After all the good-byes were said and done, Skuld decided to request leave to go back to Yggdrasil and spend some quality time with her parents. Urd was too emotionally spent to tease her when she admitted to a severe case of homesickness. Belldandy had anticipated Skuld's action; after all, she *was* the youngest.
"This whole ordeal has been a trial for her," Belldandy whispered to Urd, who nodded her head in assent.
"I'll only be gone a couple of weeks," Skuld added as she hugged both her sisters before walking ever to stand by Mom and Dad.
Keiichi watched the three preparing to leave, thanking his heart of hearts that Bell wasn't among them. Unexpectedly, Odeyn stepped out of the Gate circle and walked over to him, extending his hand for a handshake. Keiichi was so riveted by the gesture, he just stared at Bell-chan's Father until Urd elbowed him. He reached his hand out and shook Odeyn's hand. He felt the Elder God squeeze his hand, hard, until it hurt...but he didn't remove his hand and even tried to squeeze back. After a moment, Bell's Dad released his hand and said with a wink, "You've just passed your first test, young Keiichi."
Belldandy watched her Father walk back to Mother and Skuld, feeling a swarm of emotions in her breast as she realized that her Father had just met Keiichi as an *equal*, in the mortal way that men used. She felt Urd lean her chin on her shoulder, her older sister recognizing how special this action by her Father was.
A shaft of light slowly descended and encircled the three. Freiija looked at her noble husband, cupped her hand to his ear and whispered something. Odeyn grinned and nodded his head.
"Try for another what?" Skuld repeated aloud in a question, not hearing all of what her Mother had whispered to Daddy. She looked up to see both of her parents blushing slightly with embarrassed grins. Then her attention was redirected towards the now-visible wind.
"Oh...look! Yuki! Pretty snow!" she said, pointing at the gracefully whirling snowflakes as she vanished.

* * * * * * * *

Mara finished the mandala with ever-increasing anticipation. She had labored day and night with the final arcane symbols...filling them with blood. Backing up to one corner of the room, she marveled at the intricacy of the mandala. It was by far the most complex summoning mandala she had ever made. As a matter of fact, it was the most complex mandala she had *ever* seen, besides those artifices created by the Dark Lord.
"And *I* did this...all by myself!" she said proudly. Stepping outside of the circle, she collapsed in rapturous exhaustion.

* * * * * * * *

After seeing Skuld off, Belldandy had a long talk with Peorth, mostly to catch up on events at the GRO. "Grow," as they all nicknamed the Goddess Relief Office. Peorth spent a whole afternoon catching her up on the latest GRO news and the most noted breakthrough wishes.
Then Belldandy confronted Peorth on her aggressive attitude towards human males. It was pretty much moot about how Peorth felt about Keiichi, but Belldandy tried to explain that her 'attack' on Cevn was not only inappropriate...but it had dramatically damaged his fragile psyche.
Peorth listened with a guarded expression as Belldandy tried to justify why Cevn had reacted the way he did. Despite her immense headache resulting from her physical confrontation with Tyyr...for some reason, the Almighty had healed everything but that...Peorth felt her spirits dampen as Belldandy patently described how Cevn was thrust into their lives. With his history of abuse, he definitely qualified for a wish.
Belldandy knew that as a fellow GRO Goddess, Peorth had been exposed to all sorts of human tragedy; this was the necessary downside of being a Relief Goddess. Most people selected as wish candidates arise from disadvantaged backgrounds and circumstances...after all, why grant the wish request of a mortal who was already satisfied with her or his life? In her gentle, inimitable fashion, Belldandy explained to Peorth that her romantic inclinations towards human males were at cross-purposes with her role as a wish-granting Goddess.
Somehow, every time Peorth came to visit and was around Belldandy and Keiichi...she'd gotten wildly out of hand. She would just go *wild*. Belldandy had often tried to construct a plausible explanation, but neither she or Keiichi could dig out a reasonable conjecture from the roots of sheer possibilities.
As Belldandy finished, she noticed a deep look of regret in Peorth's eyes.
"Well, Peorth?"
"I..I didn't know. How could I have been so suspended in my own denial?"
"Peorth, Urd's the one who's really going to suffer. She's in love with Cevn."
"Urd...in *love*?" Peorth blinked back her disbelief. "But that's impossible, isn't it? Are you for real?" Belldandy nodded 'yes'.
"So that's why she's so pissed off at me!" she observed with a dawning recognition of the source of Urd's cold shoulder towards her.
"She'll get over it. Urd may fastfall into a rage, but she rarely dances with a resentment," Belldandy assured Peorth.
"But, you mustn't be too hard on yourself, Peorth. After all, you were just being *you*. Things may be cloudy, but I sense that somehow what you did...is part of Cevn's training. It is unnatural for him to remain constricted by his victim's mentality. Perhaps your actions will provide a catharsis...a catalyst that will help him seek the love of others...so he can finally put the past to rest. Besides, it can only bring him and Urd closer together," Belldandy said, trying to cast an optimistic umbrella over Peorth's gloom.
One thing that resonated in Peorth's mind was the resiliency of the mortals. Watching Keiichi take on Tyyr, and then beat him, and finally remain steadfast beside his ladylove in the face of death...these were attributes that reminded her why she held great respect for the mortals. She hoped that she would emerge from this encounter with a greater degree of sensitivity towards humans.
"Could you have...*Wishout*, Peorth?" Belldandy inquired softly. Peorth held her silence as she examined her recent rash actions. She had to admit to herself that, for a while, she *may have* been experiencing Wishout...a condition whereby a Goddess Relief Office agent becomes entrenched in seeing mortals as 'jobs', rather than sentient entities. Becoming fixated on doing right by their mortal charges, a wishgranting Goddess suffering Wishout can become overzealous and lose sight of the wider picture
"I'm not screwing up any more," she mentally promised herself, deciding to get checked by the Proctors at the Clinic. And with this new information about another mortal whose life she completely upended...Peorth realized that she had to become more ambitious...more empathetic. Somehow, in the recesses of her mind, Peorth knew that things would mend here in this temple house. There was just too much love in the air to expect otherwise.
"Well, you've given me much to think about, Belldandy. I've got to be going. Please apologize on my behalf to both of them. I'll keep an eye on the squirt while she's up in Yggdrasil too. Thanks for the somewhat wonderful time," Peorth said.
Belldandy brought a flower vase from the bedroom, so the Peorth could transport herself. Peorth thanked her again...then vanished into the flowers. Belldandy watched the fading afterimage of Peorth. She knew in her heart that Peorth wasn't all bad...after all, she *had* rescued Bell from the omiai...and risked her life to save Keiichi from harm when Tyyr went berserk. Despite her ongoing rivalry, Peorth remained Bell's good friend. As if on cue, a shower of roses popped in the air and floated en masse to the floor---Peorth's calling card. Belldandy smiled to herself and retired to her bedroom with the vase.
"Oh...and one more thing. I almost forgot!" Belldandy whirled around to see Peorth floating in the air behind her...in a different outfit.
"Peorth, did you go to Yggdrasil just to change clothes?" Belldandy asked, half-teasing her friend.
"No, Belldandy. Ooouhh! You're still naive at times. I came back to set things right!" she said ebulliently. Belldandy narrowed her eyes, feeling a cautious dread.
"Where's Keiichi?"
"Peorth!" Belldandy said in an exasperated voice. But Peorth had already floated out of the room.
With a rising apprehension in her throat, Belldandy chased after her.

* * * * * * * *

Keiichi was in the sunroom. His legs were killing him with a rhythm of slow throbs...and he had a migraine of a headache. He felt like his head was caught in an unoiled visegrip. Earlier, Bell-chan had drifted off with Peorth to have some kind of private talk. Now that he was alone, he was beginning to enjoy a rare moment of quiet. He needed desperately to decompress from the events of the past few days.
He watched the snow splay out in lazy swirls and circles with the chill November air. The ground was just beginning to film over with a cover of cool white as he sat in the sunroom doorway admiring the sight. Like the whirling snow...his mind was unraveling its tension. Urd's painkillers had helped a lot...but he was almost certain that he had reinjured his leg. Maybe even re-broke the mending bones, especially in his right leg which was shooting stabbing pains with rhythmic regularity.
"My doctor is going to kill me..." he said to himself.
"Keiichi?" he heard Peorth's voice interrupt as she floated up in front of him. Peorth's floating form still unsettled him at times...as she tended to float right into his lap or arms! Having a Goddess settle herself softly into his arms was very stimulating to his senses...and very trying for one who was in love with another Goddess.
Belldandy arrived a split-second later, just as Peorth began to cast a spell. Peorth saw the look of panic on her friend's face.
"Don't look so worried, Belldandy. I'm just healing Keiichi," she said with a smile. As she weaved her hands, she looked at Belldandy with a questioning expression.
"By the way, you might want to help me...it seems that your powers are back online," she said to Belldandy with a wink. Peorth could feel the telltale sympathetic vibration emanating from Belldandy as she cast her healing spell. A co-vibration that could only come from another Goddess First Class Licensee. A vibration that indicated her slight 'adjustment' to the Ygg System was successful.
Belldandy reached into her soul and tapped into her Goddess powers...which burst forth as a light blue aura from her fingertips. Glowing and pulsing with light, the electric blue glow settled on Keiichi.
"Attagirl!" Peorth shouted with joy as Belldandy found herself smiling...then grinning broadly.
"M..my powers are back!" Belldandy exclaimed gleefully. She spun in a circle like a ballerina, and then encanted a spell:


With soundless grace unvie, unstrain/
all sense'd discomfort release/
Comb through the perceived swords of pain/
knit fibrous muscle towards peace/
Draw forth the willow of bone astraight/
and flesh and mind to strength increase!


Keiichi felt a tingling sensation in his legs as they seemed to liquefy for the briefest of moments. The sensation was somewhere in-between ticklishness and 'foot falling asleep'. A blue light joined the pink light as his casts dissolved.
"I hope that's better...I *really* need to be going!" Peorth said as she leaned in and stole a kiss on Keiichi's cheek, then floated out the door for a flower patch. Keiichi watched her wander off...
"Fat chance she has of finding flowers in sere November, a month after a Supertyphoon basically stripped everything bare," he said as he stood up to watch her diminishing form.
His proprioception was all askew; his legs wobbled uncertainly under him as evidence of this. Then it occurred to him that he was standing.
"I can stand! I can *walk*! I CAN WALK!!!" he shouted...feeling the sensation of his feet on the sunroom tatami. He walked tentatively towards Belldandy, and then tripped over his own feet and fell into her arms, almost knocking her down.
"Bell-chan...I can walk! And you have your powers back!" he shouted again. Then he noticed a grin on Belldandy's face...she was sure happy to have him whole again.
"Keiichi, you're going to need to take it slow. You should do some practice exercises first, before trying to walk. But for now, I think you need to rest until you get used to being vertical again," she said, observing his uncertain gait.
"C'mon...I can think of some great ways you can enjoy your newly healed legs..." she said as she gathered Keiichi up in her arms and floated down the hallway. It felt so good to be able to levitate again, she realized.
"By the way, Keiichi-honey, did I mention that for some of these 'exercises', you'll have to be in a horizontal position for a few hours?" she said slyly as she floated into her bedroom.

* * * * * * * *

"What am I going to do? He hasn't come out of his room in *five days*," Urd exclaimed in frustration. Several days after the 'Omiai Incident'...and Cevn was still screwed up!
"Urd, you need to give him time...at least he's eating the meal trays you're leaving him."
"But Belldandy, he hides under his futon blanket every time I go in his room...he hasn't said a word to me. Keiichi's tried to talk to him. Megumi's tried to talk to him. He just acts like none of us are here. Maybe I should just forget about him for now..."
"No! That is *not* the answer and you know it! Cevn-san has experienced a traumatic shock. You know mortals...sometimes when something really horrible happens they tend to withdraw. Remember just a few days ago when my dear Keiichi thought he was going to lose me?"
Urd remembered the hollow look in Keiichi's eyes; eyes that were filled with loss and regret. The whole omiai experience had taken Keiichi on a breathtaking ride into absolute despair.
"The longest trip you take is inside..." Urd recalled, something Cevn had told her one day. She just hoped his journey wasn't caught in a loop.
"Urd...one thing that I have learned about love from being with Keiichi is that it's *work*. There's no such thing as an easy love. Especially with mortals. I've stuck by Keiichi's side through the many trials and tribulations of our romance. Through all this striving, I realized that if I wanted to stay in love...I needed to *stay* in love," she said with conviction. Urd felt uncomfortable about what her sister was saying, and yet part of her knew she was telling the truth. A truth won out by hard experience.
"Bell, how is Keiichi, by the way?" Urd asked, not wanting to dwell unsettled upon her own sense of loss. Belldandy had a healthy glow...obviously the result of some intense lovemaking with Keiichi, Urd suspected.
"Ahhh. He's doing much better with his legs. And other things as well," she said with an inward-dancing smile.
"Like...*what* other things?" Urd teased her sister.
"Urd! That's private!" Belldandy replied indignantly with a slight bloom to her cheeks.
"Yeah...like I haven't been trying to get you guys to do the 'wild thing' for a few years? What kinda appreciation is this mum secrecy on your part...for all of the years of effort by your older sister? Now that you're completely sex-satiated, you won't even talk to me about it!" Urd said with a scowl.
Belldandy shrugged her shoulders. She knew that once Urd had become insistent about finding out something...her older sister just wouldn't give up. She stretched her imagination towards a disturbing scenario: what if Urd did something to *us* like she did to Cevn when she impersonated his therapist. Belldandy shuddered at the thought of Urd spying on her and Keiichi...then blushed a shade of crimson as she remembered how she had spied on Urd a couple of times while they were all living in 'harmonious' Yggdrasil.
"You're blushing...*little* sister," Urd observed, then playfully lashed Belldandy with a blouse from the laundry basket.
"Don't call me that!" Belldandy retorted mock-angrily.
"But it's so true," Urd said between giggles, reaching up for Belldandy's nose for a pinch. Bell pulled back just in the nick of time as Urd's long fingernails grasped thin air. She quickly grabbed a pillow and engaged Urd in a pillow fight. Moments later, both sisters were giggling between gasps for air...the pillows all busted out of shape, their outfits all in a mess.
"Might as well get this over with..." Belldandy thought with a sigh of resignation. She sat down cross-legged on her futon and spent the next half hour in reticent embarrassment, battling her reserve as she described to her older sister about the mortal 'facts of life': explaining how mortals make love; how she liked Keiichi to touch her...how he liked to be caressed. Urd listening intently...*too* intently, it seemed.
"Her eyes are drooling with interest," Belldandy thought. Then, in complete discord to her engaged attention, Urd's mouth slipped into a frown.
"What's the matter, Urd? I told you what you wanted to know...and now you look upset," she asked.
"Damn it...I can't even *touch* him! I *know* that if I was just able to hug him...I could make him feel better!" Without a single word more, Urd stood up and left.
"Don't be so sure, Elder Sister," Belldandy thought glumly.

* * * * * * * *

Megumi was talking to a body, hidden under several blankets. It didn't seem to be alive, but she knew that it was Cevn. Once more, his absence at N.I.T. had been sanctioned by some trivial excuse...but it occurred to her that he needed to come out his shell.
"Cevn...it's like I'm talking to a cocoon rather than you. You're not supposed to climb into a cocoon and hide away because of the pain. A cocoon is supposed to be the place where the caterpillar becomes a butterfly. Don't you understand? We love you! *I* love you. So Peorth messed things up. It doesn't make you any less of a man in my estimation."
"Megumi...leave me alone," a muffled voice sounded from under the covers. She smiled to herself, these were the first words she had heard him speak since Peorth's visit. They may have not been the *right* words...but the fact that Cevn had responded to her was indication that he was emerging from whatever black hole he was in.
She tried to picture herself, how she would react if some God would have popped up in her bath, and made an advance on her. She remembered her accident in the hotel in Sapporo with Genji and grinned, rubbing the back of her head where she had banged it. She knew she'd never forget Genji's embarrassed expression. That was funny; this wasn't! Her imagination failed her when she considered how it would feel to be seen...naked...by every member of the house. *That* went way beyond embarrassment. She just couldn't live with the memories. If there only was some means for her to forget...then maybe she could face the others...
"Only some way to forget..." Megumi mumbled to herself. "To forget the bad things...as if memory was like a pencil line that could be erased somehow..."
Megumi grinned conspiratorially...

* * * * * * * *

Urd was barely touching her food. She seemed to have no appetite these past few days. Belldandy noticed that she was nursing a bottle of sake as well...drinking constantly.
"Not to get drunk...just to forget," Urd had 'assured' her.
Megumi walked in the room, a broad grin on her face.
"What's up, sis?" Keiichi asked, seeing the change in his sister's demeanor. In the past few days, she usually emerged from Cevn's room with a grim look of disappointment.
"I think I've found a way to help Cevn!" she said in a louder-than-usual voice. Urd looked up at her with a hopeful expression.
"Didn't you guys once say that...as Goddesses...you could perform something called a Mindwipe. I know Peorth mentioned it..."
Belldandy looked alarmed, and then glanced at Urd, who also looked surprised. Mindwipe was *supposed* to be a last resort in cases when a mortal's wish backfired. Sometimes, a mortal would wish for the wrong thing...and then would be in more pain than before. Like a mortal who wished that his neighbor's wife would fall in love with him...then had to deal with the fact that his neighbor hated him with a murderous intensity...and his newly found lover was a bitch.
"Peorth said that? Really?" Belldandy asked innocently.
"Yep. And I know that *you* know how to do it, too" Megumi said, calling Belldandy's bluff. Belldandy thought hard for a moment, and then smiled at Megumi.
"Yes...now that my Goddess Powers are restored, I can perform a Mindwipe. But what good would it do? Making Cevn forget about it is one thing, but everyone else who saw him would still possess the memories. It would only be a short time before someone mentions it, or something cues him. Once that happens, the memories would flood right back," she explained.
Keiichi was reading a motorcycle magazine, listening to the discussion. He wasn't present to witness Cevn's 'exposure' by Peorth...he had been in a different part of the house. So he had little awareness of what happened, except from the embarrassed description Megumi had imparted to him. But he was still worried about his friend.
"Bell-chan, what if you wiped *everyone's* memories? Everyone that was there that night who saw it?"
"Keiichi, that just wouldn't be possible. Besides, how fair would it be to wipe Urd, Megumi, Skuld, Genji and Tomohisa's memories? Not to mention all the ethical considerations..."
"You're not wiping *my* memory," Urd said in a warning growl of a voice.
"If it meant that you had to wipe my memory, then you have my permission," Megumi countered. "Besides, it's totally embarrassing to think that I saw him without any..." Her blushing face finished the sentence.
"Don't worry about me. I'd have no problem if you cleaned *that* memory from me; it's really been bothering me. There's too much information and then there's wrong information. What happened that night was definitely in the 'wrong information' zone," Genji agreed with his girlfriend.
"Totally ditto. If it was some beautiful babe that came out of the bathroom, well then I wouldn't know. But since it was Cevn, and he's a guy...why would I *want* to remember that? I'd rather remember that beautiful babe Peorth," Tomohisa exclaimed. "Waitaminute! If you take away my memory, then I won't be able to remember Peorth!" Tomohisa argued aloud with himself. Keiichi grimaced at Tomohisa's adolescent turn of logic.
"Grab a brain! You got to see Peorth a whole bunch of times that weekend!" Keiichi said, exasperated at his younger cousin.
"But not like *this*," Tomohisa countered as he stood up, imitating Peorth. "Come to me, Tomohisa-baby..." he said, arms outstretched as he tried to imitate Peorth's voice in a falsetto.
Urd giggled at his antics, while Megumi and Keiichi shook their heads with less-than-amused expressions.
"Tomohisa, I wouldn't have to wipe out all of your memories of Peorth...as *strange* as they are," Belldandy said with a puzzled expression.
"Yeah...you should just wipe out *all* of his memories," Keiichi said sarcastically. Tomohisa expertly hit him on the head with a wadded up cloth napkin.
"Then we're agreed?" Megumi asked.
"No, we are not agreed! I said I *don't* want my memory altered in any way!" Urd once more said warningly.
"Urd! Of everyone here, you should especially see the reason why we all have to do this," Megumi argued.
"And lose my only chance to have seen him naked?" Urd shot back.
"Geez...and I thought Tomohisa was weird," Keiichi muttered under his breath.

* * * * * * * *

Skuld returned a few days later, all bubbly about the marvelous time that she had with Mom and Dad. Her Father had sent her to the spare parts office of the Energy Guild with an open invoice, so that she could select whatever she wanted from the new batch of mecha components. Thus, she brought along a couple dozen large boxes of choice parts, which Keiichi had to lug to her "Skuld's Labs" room while she prattled on about the component's vitae datum. She readily agreed to have her memories wiped, noting she had never seen a mortal male naked before, except for Keiichi. Fortunately it was just her, Bell and he in the room; otherwise Keiichi would have suffered massive embarrassment.
"Once with *him* was quite enough, thank you," she replied to Belldandy's inquiry, glancing sharply at a red-faced Keiichi.
"So everyone agrees...except one stubborn Goddess," Belldandy said to herself. She still had to convince Urd. A few minutes later, she hit upon a plan...and without wasting any time, Belldandy took Urd by the arm and led her to Cevn's room.
"Why didn't Skuld just have you transport these to her room?" a wind-lagged Keiichi gasped as he emerged from the "Skuld Labs" room. Belldandy stopped to kiss him on the cheek.
"I'm sure that Skuld appreciates your help," she said sweetly, and tugged Urd towards Cevn's bedroom. Sliding the shoji door open, Belldandy noted sadly that Cevn had crawled under the futon itself this time.
"Read this, Urd," was all she said as she reached under the futon blanket pile, withdrawing a personal journal book and handing it to her sister.

"Nov. 26th, 20XX,

It's snowing outside...but nowhere near as cold as my heart feels. I know that Urd must hate me, after seeing me with Peorth. How can I explain to her that it was Peorth who attacked me, not the other way around? I know that I can never emerge from the embarrassment of this incident. Megumi, Skuld, the guys--they all saw me.
I had just begun to feel love again--and now I've been victimized. Again. It's freezing inside of my soul. I know that Peorth didn't have a clue, so I can't really be angry with her. Perpetrators often don't know that they're doing anything wrong. I mean, they often do know: but they don't realize how much it can hurt the person they're taking advantage of. But in Peorth's case...I'm pretty sure that she just made an honest mistake.
I just wish that it had never happened. I wanted Urd to be the only one to see me...that way. But now it will never be. I wish I were dead. I'm sick of having to haul all these memories of abuse and ribbon-sharp pain. Just when I think that it's all over...something like this happens, crushing my hopes. I feel like I've drowned, but yet I live on in the wake of the drowning.
I can't write anymore. Life is suffocating me."

Belldandy watched as Urd shakily set the journal down on the small bedside table. She didn't want to hurt her older sister; but a little jarring reality might make Urd see what was hanging in the balance if she refused to have a Mindwipe. She could see that Urd was devastated by what she had read.
"You say that you love him...now make the right choice, Urd," Belldandy confronted her in a level-but-angry voice.
Urd looked up at her younger sister and slowly nodded her head, holding back the tears that threatened to storm forth. Her mind was swimming in a fog. Cevn's journal entry had been written just a couple days ago...it really didn't say much.
But it said everything.
Belldandy was occasionally intolerant towards her older sis, and this time she knew that Urd sensed that her resentment was genuine. If one of the sisters was angry over a matter of principle...anger beyond a routine sibling rivalry...it was usually sufficient notice for the other sister to do a self-check of her motives. At least, that's how it was *supposed* to work...
"Let's get it over with," Urd finally said, snapping out of her fugue. She looked at Cevn's still form, hiding under the futon blanket.
"Why am I so selfish?" she asked Belldandy. Belldandy smiled back at her.
"In an hour, you won't even remember why you're accusing yourself of being selfish. It's really for the better," she said to Urd.

* * * * * * * *

An hour later, Belldandy had Mindwiped everyone in the house that had any involvement with the 'bathroom episode'. Peorth had even made time out of her busy wishgranting schedule to drop by and get Mindwiped.
After she wiped Peorth, Belldandy asked Peorth to Mindwipe her memories, just to make sure that she wouldn't trigger anything by being the instigator of the Mindwipes.

* * * * * * * *

"What am I doing under here?" Cevn said, finding himself buried underneath several futon blankets in his room. "And why should I come out from under here, after what happened?"

* * * * * * * *

Mara lit the candles in the prescribed sequence, then heated the arcane dagger in their flames, one-by-one. The dagger slowly luminesced through the color spectra, glowing silver, then gray, then dull green, then aqua green
"Grrr...stupid time-consuming rituals! And that stupid biblical number again! I wonder which of us leaked *that* out to the mortals," Mara complained in a low voice as she visited each of the 666 candles encircling the mandala. By the time she got to the last one, her arcane dagger was glowing bright green.
She walked over to the pile of her translations and pulled out a parchment.
"Now, take the tip of the knife and dip it in the blood at the exact point where the upper arm of the pentagram intersects the outside circle," she read aloud. Taking the knife in one hand, she rolled back her robe's sleeves with the other. Grasping the knife, Mara lowered the hot tip until it touched the exact spot indicated. A shower of sparks exploded at the point of contact.
A ring of grayish-rouge fire erupted along the edges of the circle...which seemed to run along the traces of the circle. Mara watched in fascination as the circle began to become a symmetrical pattern of multicolored flames. She pulled back the hood of her cloak as the room became *hot*.
The flames began to dance around the circular mandala in a lively discussation. In their midst, Mara could see a shape forming. A sphere of some sort, coalescing in the middle of the flames. No, the arcane fires were like an engine that was fueling the slowly turning sphere. The sphere looked like a crystalline golf ball, with random spikes and a fluxing surface spectra.
The fires seemed to be drawn upwards into it like sperm seeking an ovum...until they were absorbed one-by-one.
Finally, the last fire disappeared into the egg-shaped floating object. Suspended in mid-air, the object slowly floated down near the center of the summoning circle.
"You gotta be kidding! I spent a whole fucking *month* building this blessed mandala...and the end result is an *egg*?" Mara yelled in rage. She wanted to throw something...to smash something. But the only objects in the room were the mandala and the egg.
"The Ultimate Demon is an egg?" she shouted again, bitterly disappointed. As if on cue, the egg started to shudder, and pieces of its surface began to solidify and flake off. More and more flakes fell off the egg, like dust powdering down from a shelf. A pile underneath the egg began to form, shaped like a miniature volcano. Each layer of flakes was a different color...and the egg got smaller and smaller.
Until the last tiny bit of egg particle fell into the pile.
"NOOOOOO!" Mara screamed, gnashing her fangs together with a clacktering noise. "NONONONONONONO...." she yelled until she was hoarse. All her hard labors ended up in a pile of...eggcrap...in the middle of the circular mandala.
The pile suddenly burst into flame, sending comets flying throughout the room. Mara ducked as the dense cloud of comets came shooting in random circles...one almost hitting her in the head. They looked like floating balls of fire...or floating novae. Their presence suggested to Mara that round 'ghosts' that often appeared in older Japanese ghost story movies. The lightshow of flashing fireballs continued until they accumulated near the ceiling...in the exact shape of the mandala underneath them.
Purposefully, they all converged into a central point and arced downwards into the middle of the mandala as one...blasting the mandala with the force of an arcane explosion. Amidst the incredibly bright light, Mara saw the surface of the mandala fold upon itself and disappear.
Mara cocked her head to one side as she saw the embers of the flames dying down where the mandala had been. As the flames diminished, she saw the form in the middle...
The form of an infant.
"This is it!" Mara thought, rapt with excitement. Somehow, the entire mandala had collapsed upon itself. Of course! Now that made sense. The material that the mandala was carved upon had to be Evil, because it had to transform itself into the body of the Ultimate Demon.
Mara looked at the baby boy, who was quietly considering her. His skin was just like the surface of the mandala, except that it was a dark red. Two small horns protruded from each temple of his head, while his feet were cloven.
"This is silly...he looks like some kinda mortal conception of the Devil!" Mara exclaimed. The little infant looked like a cross between a gargoyle and an oni devil. The little one fell to the floor, then started to crawl towards her.
"He's so cute..." Mara couldn't help noticing as his little chubby cheeks strained with the effort. He made some cooing sounds...then he raised his head unsteadily and caught Mara's eye.

"M..ma...Mama!"

* * * * * * * *