CHAPTER 495: FRANCIS VEIR AND URD

"I need you to kill someone."

"Ah Fuck You, mortal." Skuld snapped, her wings bristling with irritation.

"I will give you the details, the plan, and the currency to pay your penance to the World Will. All you need to do _ is slash."

Rio said while ignoring the goddess and her divine curses. "As simple as that."

"As simple as that?" Skuld spat, venom in her tone. Looking even more angry than before, "Do you know how many gods out there want to find my traces and trap me down?"

"How many demons want to devour my flesh or turn me into powder or panacea and just swallow, in hopes that they can learn my powers?"

"It’s not a god or a demon. Just a mortal." Rio explained.

"If he’s a mortal then why don’t you kill him, or let your family do your dirty work. I’m not your blade for this job."

"That’s not how our partnership works..."

"Would you stop and fucking listen for a second." Rio shouted, interrupting the goddess spouting nonsense.

Skuld looked at his eyes, and the darkness swirling beneath his skin like poisonous veins, and stayed silent.

Signaling him to go on, but she had already made up her mind to refuse.

She didn’t want to appear openly in this world so soon.

"His name is Francis Veir. An old man, who lives in a closed cemetery at the top of Mount Senhai." Rio started speaking about the target, "He guards a dungeon entrance hidden in one of the tombs, which I cannot enter, as long as he lives."

"He has a soul splitting skill, so when you do attack, make sure it’s the real body, and not just a puff of magic."

"It goes without saying that you can’t destroy the dungeon." Rio highlighted. "As for the punishment from the World’s Will that you’ll receive - I’ll pay the Oras in your stead."

"Are you done?" Skuld asked, finally when he was over.

"Wait, there is something else. A tip actually.." Rio said as if just remembering something. "Don’t try to search his soul to see his memories about the dungeon, or attempt to track his fate in the past or in future - cause you’d suffer. Just simply slaughter, and then leave."

"..." Skuld heard his warning, but chose to ignore it, passing it one ear to next. Because she had so many other more important things to focus on.

"How strong is he?" She asked.

"Does it matter?" Rio replied, "Don’t all mortals seem like ants to you."

"It matters cause the stronger the guy I kill, the bigger the ban I’ll receive." Skuld explained. "Every taboo we GODs break, we get fined for Oras and get different types of debuffs or bans issued from the World Will."

"You said you’ll pay the fine for Oras, which again is doubtful as that’s the currency of the divine, something which a mortal can’t even touch. But beside that, you never mentioned anything about the second punishment."

"What if I get cursed or lose some powerful skill? What then?"

"Well, that’s the price you need to pay, if you wanna talk to Verdandi." Rio said with a shrug.

Skuld looked at him for a few seconds after hearing his words, before speaking in a grim tone.

"He’s SSS rank, isn’t he?" Skuld said, thinking if it was anything less, he’d have asked his own father.

But Rio shook his head, saying "Not exactly."

"He’s SS+ ." He said, making Skuld feel a little less pressure.

Still strong, but not too much.

"But he has a habit of breaking through in battles, so I’d suggest you be quick in your slashes." Rio explained, giving her some more information.

Skuld felt speechless. The target’s already SS+, if he broke through in battle, won’t he be SSS. So why’d he say it so confidently earlier, that it was quite different.

Liar...

"Which God is he an avatar of? Or which group does he follow?" She asked, still feeling cautious.

After all, killing someone so powerful would surely rile up the Gods who groomed him.

"No one in particular." Rio replied, "Though he does have a history at Neisah. He was a Paladin there for quite some time."

"So he got connections."

"Many. Which is why you need to be ..."

"Swift and sneaky, I got it." Skuld said, finishing his words with her own understanding.

"I’d also suggest you murder him at midnight. Killing him with a sun in the sky is nigh impossible." Rio suggested.

"The sun does remain in the sky, even at night, you idiot." Skuld said with a mocking sneer. But Rio shut her up with his response.

"Not in the nights controlled by Nyx."

"..."

"I’ll make a deal with her too." Rio answered, before she even asked. "She’ll cover the darkness. So before you make a move, do pass her a message first."

"And you’re sure she’ll agree because...?"

"That’s not your problem." Skuld asked but Rio didn’t explain. "Just tell me, will you do it or not?"

Silence remained in the surroundings as Skuld chewed her lips and gave herself some time to think more, but after weighing pros and cons several times, she still felt it wasn’t worth it.

She could’ve done it before, but not now. Not when the great changes in the world are so close to coming.

She didn’t want to ruin a thousand years of patiently hiding, just for this.

Not to mention she had zero trust in this mortal. Who knows what else he is hiding?

"I won’t...."

But before she could announce her refusal, the void rippled behind her. Forming a spatial crack, through which another goddess stepped out of.

One similar to her in looks, but just — better. At everything else.

Rio looked at the goddess, and instantly guessed who she was.

Urd

The fate goddess who oversees the past. Watcher of what has been.

She’s the one who guards the spring beneath the Yggdrasil. Oldest, wisest, and the most mysterious, and powerful amongst all the Norns.

"She will do it." Urd responded as soon as she came.

"But sister..." Skuld wasn’t surprised by her arrival, but she wanted to argue about her agreement.

But Urd didn’t even give her a chance to speak. As she just waved her hands, and instantly, the Valkyrie goddess disappeared from her own domain.

Rio looked at everything happening around him, and then at Urd, who freed him from his restraints, and started walking closer. Feeling a bit wary and confused in his heart at the same time.

His mind replaying the rows of paragraphs from the original novel, where it was clearly written, how Urd was the goddess who chose to support the Devil (Rio). Even when everyone else opposed him.

She even refused Leon’s harem invites, went against the wishes of both her sisters, and in the end, died in the process of protecting him.

There was never any mention of why she did what she did, no dialogues between different characters, or monologue in her own mind - nothing.

The author never explained the change in her attitude or allegiance.

Back then ’Shiva’ the reader, simply thought it was because the author wanted some sister vs sister drama, or add emotional melancholy in the plot - but now...Looking at that gaze filled with a longing and loving - he couldn’t be so sure anymore.

It wasn’t the first time they met, as he had seen Urd before when dealing with Skuld over the years. Hell, he even trained the blessing for ’Threads of mana’ under her eyes for a period of time too.

But the more time he spent around her, the more weird he felt.

Just like now.

She was so close that Rio had to hesitate if he should step back a little. He could feel the heat of her body, the scent of her smell.

It was .... enchanting to say the least.

"Aren’t you going to avoid me today?" Urd asked with a playful smile. Her fingers tracing across his cheeks in a warm way.

Rio’s face was rosy, not sure if by blood from hanging upside down for so long, or from feeling shy and blushing from having a touch of a goddess.

"I can’t force Nyx’s hand, so you can leave if you want to." She said, taking his hand in hers, gently massaging the mark of the moon on his wrist.

"...."

"I can wait more, if it’s you." She said and raised her hand to place it on his forehead. Instantly soothing the storm of thoughts running wildly in his head as she fixed his hair.

"Shh, don’t think so much. Whatever ..." She started speaking, while leaning for a kiss on the forehead, but before her lips touched his skin, a burst of darkness pushed her back.

Separating the two.

The sudden magic also breaking the trance-like state Rio felt earlier.

And when he looked up at Urd again, who still maintained a warm smile, instead of feeling surprised, hurt, or displeased at his attack, cold sweat formed on his forehead.

"I_ I’ll _ go." Rio muttered and without waiting a moment, vanished from this place.

Leaving behind a goddess, who was still finishing her unfinished sentence.

".... happened will happen again."

####

Oras - The currency of the divine.

Something issued by the World Will program, which is being used by all the gods who stay in Arcadia.

Ways of earning it, spending it, mystery of it’s origin, design, demand, transaction, and etc etc - will all be explained slowly when gods start becoming more relevant to the plot.

For now just know, it’s in the form of silver coins. And it’s name comes from the word ’Oration’ which simply means prayers, chanting, or the offerings given by faith.