Meanwhile, in Lel, Astarté had just finished speaking with Zeus and had dismissed him. As the beautiful goddess spoke with Pidray inside the sacred chamber where the two goddesses were conversing, a dimensional hole opened high above them, as if it had been cut with a sword.
The two goddesses looked on in surprise when they saw Baalat’s nearly unconscious body fall from the hole to the floor. Her fall was so thunderous that it stained the entire chamber with blood.
“Baalat!” Astarté screamed, frightened, as she ran over to see her dying sister.
“Those barbarians from Asgard,” the Phoenician goddess said with a pained expression. “Those barbarians returned from Vinland.”
Immediately, a malak appeared, opening the doors of the goddess’s chamber. The man was very nervous and frightened.
“Miss Astarté,” the angel shouted nervously. “Orniskem has been seen in the territories of Rus. They wounded Artemis and Irene.”
Astarté was paralyzed. She wanted to go warn Zeus about what was happening, but tried to think it through more carefully. Zeus was possibly going to be ambushed by Tinia and Jupiter, and making him rush back to his land would only cause him to lose concentration.
“Pidray,” Astarté said nervously. “Don’t waste any more time. Gather your sisters and head to Olympus right away!”
Pidray began looking around somewhat nervously.
“My sisters took the day to rest. I’ll have to look for them,” she said.
“It doesn’t matter where they are!” Astarté shouted. “Go there and help Zeus, because a battle might swallow Olympus at any moment!”
Pidray nodded and, using her sacred abilities, immediately healed Baalat. Then she stood and ran toward the entrance door where the angel was standing.
Baalat rose from the floor, now completely healed. The goddess felt ill-tempered and sat furiously on the floor.
“Malak, bring me the communication sphere you have. I want to speak with Olympus,” Astarté ordered while tending to her sister, though Baalat pushed her away furiously.
The angel approached and, with a bow, handed the communication crystal to Astarté. The goddess then began trying to communicate.
The sphere lit up, and Apollo’s face appeared inside it. The god had a look of anger and irritation.
“You told me Orniskem was not a threat, and here I am healing my poor sister and Irene in Constantinople!” the god shouted furiously.
“Apollo, I am sorry for the mistaken information I had. It seems they are far stronger than we expected,” the Phoenician goddess excused herself.
“I see. So they had that idea of increasing luck because of that idiot Irene,” Baalat said, annoyed.
“Listen, Apollo,” Astarté insisted. “We cannot be overconfident right now. I want you to speak with Heracles and send him to kill them immediately.”
“Heracles?” Apollo asked. “You know very well that he is the guardian of our kingdom. Besides, why are you asking me for that now and not my father, who should still be nearby?”
“Your father will take care of another matter, but do not worry. I have already sent Pidray and her sisters to support him,” the goddess replied.
At that moment, Apollo received another call from another communication crystal. The god asked Astarté for time to answer it. After a brief moment, the god communicated with Astarté again.
“It seems we are lucky,” the god replied. “Iris informed me that the illness afflicting Ibiza has disappeared, and that two goddesses were seen entering the city. One of them was a redhead with slightly tanned skin.”
“It’s Tannit!” Baalat shouted with an angry look.
“Yes, it’s my sister!” Astarté said anxiously. “Send Heracles to Ibiza immediately and tell him to bring her to Lel, or at least incapacitate her.”
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Apollo then began to laugh.
“Do not worry. That will be a very easy task for him,” he replied. “I am sure he will bring you Tannit tied up within a few hours, just like when he brought Cerberus to Mycenae.”
Astarté thanked the handsome Greek god and closed the transmission. The god, dressed like a peculiar monk, was inside a beautiful room full of colorful tapestries and mosaics representing the glory of the empire’s emperor.
On an enormous bed, Irene lay with her skin completely burned. The goddess shrieked in pain while restlessly turning around on the royal bed.
“You are an idiot,” Apollo said furiously to the dying goddess. “You knew perfectly well that you could not abuse your miracles in front of those two fools.”
But Irene said nothing. She continued murmuring incoherencies while her body burned with pain. Her appearance resembled that of a charred skeleton. She was so skeletal that anyone would have thought she was a corpse.
“Damn bitch!” a woman’s voice was heard behind Apollo.
Walking quietly from one of the dark corners of the room was Artemis, dressed in a beautiful long purple greek dress with long sleeves. The goddess was furious.
“I will kill that Morrigan, even if it is the last thing I do!” she continued saying with rage. “And that voice… I am sure that voice belonged to Bellona.”
Apollo shook his head while closing his eyes.
“Sister, calm yourself. What happened is that you grew overconfident and did not carry any Hikaptha with you,” Apollo tried to say, calming his afflicted sister.
Then Apollo made another communication sphere appear, and when he activated it, a very beautiful feminine face appeared, with long, elegant purple hair. The person’s eyes and lips were painted.
“Dionysus, inform Heracles that he is to head to Ibiza and bring two goddesses hiding there to Lel. One of them is Miss Astarté’s younger sister, a woman with reddish hair and skin native to Libya.”
“And what about the other goddess?” the beautiful androgynous god asked in a very syrupy voice.
“What do I know? Kill her and be done with it,” Apollo replied.
Dionysus nodded and closed the transmission. Immediately, Iris’s communication crystal activated again.
“Apollo!” Iris shouted anxiously. “I found Prometheus! He met with Orniskem on the Taurica Peninsula!”
The goddess Iris was panting as though she were utterly exhausted. Apollo could see that she was badly wounded and that blood was coming from her mouth.
“Damn it, Iris! Did they attack you?” Apollo shouted, annoyed.
“One of them… has scary-dark powers like Miss Hecate,” Iris said. “But be happy. We finally found that nasty traitor.”
Apollo nodded.
“Do not worry. I will send an army for that traitor,” Apollo said. “Those brutes of Orniskem, ironically, are making our work easier.”
“And come to Constantinople so I can heal you,” Apollo added, to which Iris nodded.
Artemis then approached Apollo curiously.
“Are ye goin’ to look for that traitor Prometheus yerself?” the goddess asked.
“I cannot move from here until Irene is well,” the god said. “And I believe you are not in any condition to search for and face the group from Orniskem either.”
Artemis swore a curse at her brother in a murmur.
“I will send Hecate to counteract that dark energy Iris mentioned,” Apollo said. “Go and tell her to head to Taurica together with an army of Amazons and her ladies-in-waiting.”
Artemis nodded and left the room, though not before looking at the terrible state Irene had been left in and making an annoyed gesture.
Freyja, Loki, and Tyr had already left Anat, while she continued silently attacking the dimensional walls that kept her trapped. Far from there, Heimdall stood together with Thrúd.
“I will continue watching Anat’s cell. If she escapes, you will be the first to know,” the white god said.
Freyja thanked the guardian god, when suddenly, something paralyzed them with fear at that moment.
Very far away, a monstrous power could be felt. It was so immense that it could be sensed even from there, despite coming from another universe. Anat, who was still in the prison, merely smiled faintly.
“It has begun,” the Phoenician goddess said with great confidence.
On the island of Ibiza, the powerful dimensional shield Nabu had raised fell to pieces, as though a crystal sphere had shattered. The hooded man had broken that defense using only the tip of his right foot thumb.
The moment that abyssal demonstration of power could be felt, the Mediterranean Sea trembled as though a typhoon had erupted from within it. Ships sank, coasts were destroyed. That man’s power shook all of Europe and North Africa.
When Tania came out of the cavern together with Tul and Nabu, they saw the majestic man floating in the sky.
“Damn it! I knew healing those people was an awful idea!” Nabu shouted, frightened.
Tul began trembling, filled with fear upon feeling the immense power of that being. Never in her life had she felt power like that. His presence was so powerful that she felt like a dry branch that could be snapped with the slightest touch.
Tania also looked at the mysterious man, filled with worry. His power was something she had never experienced before. Not even in Vinland had she felt an immensity of that magnitude.
“And that monster had the nerve to come here without a totema,” Tania said nervously.
The hooded man then pointed at Tania.
“You, the pretty redhead,” the man said. “I came for you and that hooded little chick beside you. If you don’t fight back, I won’t hurt y’all too bad.”
Tania immediately slapped herself to regain her composure.
“And if we resist?” she asked, annoyed.
“I’ll have my fun with your friend’s body and then kill her. After that, I’ll massacre every last soul in this miserable port,” the man said with a smile.
Tul turned to look at Tania and nervously asked who that person was.
“He is the most dangerous man in Olympus and one of the most powerful beings in the universe… Heracles, the Greek hero,” the goddess said pessimistically.