Dungeon Raider System-Chapter 932: The fist that tasted like sacrilege

An eerie silence enshrouded the church as the supposed nun carefully pondered how much could the bunch of mortals in front of her. She knew they somehow found out all living beings were actually a biological field rather than a physical manifestation and she only confirmed their theory to gain their trust, but the extent of their knowledge could change the course of events that would lead to the only positive outcome for divine beings.

"Was that all? All you wanted from us was to do the exact thing we’ve been meaning to do all along?" Asked Uriel with a confused expression on his face.

"That and for you to leave the city." The nun replied questioning herself as to why she even bothered answering.

"No, thanks. I’m good."

"You will face Zeus’ judgement." The nun insisted.

"Says the one outnumbered and outmatched." Uriel grinned despite being fully aware that he didn’t stand a chance against a god. He made it seem as though defeating Arausio was an easy feat, when in reality Uriel prepared himself for days by subjecting himself to all the possible meanings of hurt a human can go through in order to empower his repentance skill. Not just that, he also knew more or less what was Arausio capable of while he didn’t have a clue of the identity of his current enemy.

"Maybe you knew about our plan, maybe you didn’t, but that doesn’t change the fact that you are the ones at a disadvantage here," Aphrodite smiled as a godly presence entered the church after the door hissed open. "show them who’s boss, Thanatos."

Dana, Nika, Jon and Scofield entered the church in that order looking pale and disheveled the same as if they came from another country on foot rather than the other corner of the megacity with Scofield looking particularly weak and feeblish.

"Daddy!" Lizzy Dragonfang rushed over to hold Scofield in a tight hug to which he replied by slowly patting her head.

"I’m fine, dear. I just need to rest." Scofield lied through gritted teeth. Every muscle fiber had been stretched to its maximum, his heart rate had increased to an inhumane point causing his blood vessels to pop like bubbles in a cascading sequence that would inevitably lead to death.

"Son!" Dana rushed over with the intention of holding Uriel in her arms, though her attempt was elegantly prevented by the use of Dash in the right moment.

"Son?" The nun echoed.

"Stop whatever you’re doing, Marianne. Or should I say Aphrodite?" Nika glared at the nun who flinched on the spot.

"Aphrodite? I’m not that whore..." She uttered what would be recognized by everyone present as a lie.

"We triple checked the surroundings, there’s no one coming to help you. It’s over, you may as well make things easy on yourself and leave that vessel on your own volition." Dana scoffed expecting the goddess of beauty and lust to give in to the demands of no other than the goddess of death herself.

"No, no, no," Sister Marianne, or rather Aphrodite, waved a finger while shaking her head. "I have you all right where I wanted you from the beginning. True, I didn’t know you were involved in this but it’s all the same. Nothing changes the fact that you can’t meddle in these matters while I can."

"So you want to have my son killed by Zeus and I’m supposed to just let it happen? I don’t care how many rules I have to break, I’ll break them along with your bones." Dana’s eyes brimmed in a purple shade that contrasted with the shadows that began forming all over the place giving what used to be a church a different look than it had during the exorcism, yet just as ominous.

"You are misinformed in more regards than you can imagine, but let me set you straight." Aphrodite said prompting Dana to walk forward as she rolled up her sleeves.

"I’ve been waiting to do this for centuries."

"Hey! No violence, you know I’m not a fighter," Aphrodite carefully retreated making sure to keep the same distance from Dana at all times while avoiding giving her back to the many hunters that wanted to see her dead. "I’m merely doing my job."

"And what exactly is your job?" Asked Uriel from behind the goddess who could have sworn she just saw him in the other corner of the room causing the supposed nun to remain stunned for a few seconds before realizing the magnitude of her miscalculation.

First, she did not know Uriel had any relationship with Thanatos, let alone that they were blood related. That was bad enough, but considering that she didn’t want to kill him and only take him to justice she at least had an excuse. Things were different when taking into consideration the steps she took to make sure the secrets of the divine realm remained a secret and she knew the moment her actions were revealed not even the gods on her side would be enough to keep her safe.

Sure, Thanatos was far from being the strongest goddess in the Olimpieion and they could easily defeat her and her allies by number or quality, but defeating Thanatos didn’t necessarily mean she would survive enough to see it.

"To save humanity." Aphrodite said, a serious expression and the semblance of a kind smile on her face.

"You ’gods’ sure are funny. Just because you’re older than us doesn’t mean we’ll believe the bullshit that comes out your mouth" Uriel sneered, causing an immediate reaction on both Aphrodite and Thanatos.

"Who do you think you’re calling old? We’re not old for divine beings!" Thanatos rebuked secretly crossing her fingers hoping Aphrodite didn’t out her as being older than most antropomorphic gods.

"It is true, though. Our task is to keep humanity as a species alive by whatever means necessary and you meddling in our business is only making things more difficult." Aphrodite remarked.

"Is it true? Is that what the gods are trying to do?" Asked Uriel directing meaningful glare at Dana. ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom

"Well... yes. All gods want to keep as many humans alive as possible with one exception." Dana replied. It took everyone present a few seconds of silent pondering to realize the single exception to that rule was actually Dana herself whom as the god of death had the exact opposite purpose of keeping people alive.

"Does that mean you are the bad one?" Medusa asked with the kind of naivety rarely displayed by her anymore and Uriel added.

"We won’t judge you, but we would like to know if we’re on the bad side."

"The bad side...," Dana muttered. "living is a good thing... until it isn’t. Before I came into the picture humans were biologically immortal, but just because they had long life spans didn’t necessarily mean they lived lives worth living." Dana confused herself and everyone present but Luna who jumped to explain.

"Biological immortality means they didn’t suffer from cellular degeneration and perhaps that they could also regenerate wounds over time like hunters. But they could still suffer from disease, accidents, getting eaten, and a long range of violent deaths."

"So death is a mercy." Dana nodded.

"Beauty is mercy. Even death can achieve the ultimate beauty, but they can also be ugly and meaningless." Aphrodite rebuked.

"This has more sides than a dice, it seems," Uriel tapped his foot in frustration as the fight he expected turned into a moral debate. "but if we all want the same thing."

"Uriel," Jon called Uriel by his name for the first time ever and looked him in the eye. "we’re on a sinking boat. This world is about to end one way or another."

"Jon!" Dana scolded, but Jon stepped forward and continued anyway.

"The gods want humans to survive, yes. After all, they all were heroes at some point in time. What they’re not telling you is that not all humans will survive what’s coming."

"For fuck’s sake, will someone tell us what the hell is going on? I’m sick and tired of breaking into places and studying old remains just to find out truths that have been kept a secret. For just once I’d like to unveil something nobody knows and actually discover something!" Exasperated was one word that could describe how Uriel felt, but infuriated or enraged would work as well.

"We can’t really tell you," Dana said apologetically. "if we did, we would be breaking the rules."

At that moment the epiphany Uriel had been seeking for so long finally came, though instead of the ’Eureka’ moment he hoped for, he received so much more than he bargained for. Learning so much in such a short span of time had left him devoid of the energy to debate and he wished there was a way to solve everything with violence like heroes of the old times.

"It would make things so much easier if there was a name to the enemy, something to hate. Something to punch in the face and beat into submission, but what can you do when the way forward is blocked not by a single enemy but by reality itself." Uriel soothed his mind with a single thought which he immediately put into action as he punched Aphrodite right in the face.

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