AO 7 Ch 42

Emlyn was panicking, yet doing her best to defend Ard amidst the wild situation they had all found themselves in. She didn't know what to do besides swing her sword and hope one of the others did.

Yet amidst it all, she felt a tremble in her soul. It wasn't as if her soul itself were quaking, but rather the very foundation on which it rested was shifting. 

Without another thought, she spun around to look at Ard as he put a tarnished, cracked crown on his head.

Emlyn had no idea what it was, but the second it rested upon his brow, the tarnish vanished as if it had never been there in the first place. It revealed a glittering purple metal she found all too familiar. The crown was entirely Ard's mythical Ardenium, the metal that neither he nor the goddesses had ever truly understood. 

Though the cracks in the crown still existed, they began to wiggle, and vibrant, colorful vines started to grow from the crown.

"Ard, what are you doing? You might want to take that off," Emlyn warned, a bad feeling creeping over her skin. 

As Ard turned to face her, there was no usual humor or mirth in his eyes. Instead, there was a cold, powerful weight to his gaze that chilled her to the bone.

One of the vines stabbed into the side of his head, causing blood to trickle down his cheek. It seemed to pulse like it was feeding on Ard.

"What do you mean, Emlyn? Everything is fine, because I am here to solve this problem," he said. 

In the next moment, Ard, with a sweep of his hand, caused the same colorful vines to explode from every inch of his territory. They slammed into and shredded anything they touched.

The monsters of Jezebel's dreams were torn asunder, shattered and thrown to the wind like scattered ashes. Freya's army of cats were simply helpless as a vine shot through all of them making a macabre string necklace out of their skulls.

Even the large purple goddess, who had locked herself in a melee with Aurelia and Ditzy, was swept off her feet and slammed into the ceiling as vines surged into her chest and ripped her apart from the inside. 

Ard's sudden and brutal surge in power took the entire room off guard.

But Ard did not even hesitate. From where he'd pierced the large goddess, purple chains sprang out around her, wrapping her throat and binding her limbs before turning her into a helpless ball that the vines tossed aside at Ard's motion. 

"Freya, you picked the wrong fight. Jezebel threatened one of mine, and now you will be the example for all who dare such stupidity," Ard declared. 

Emlyn didn't like the way Ard was speaking. It was cold. There was no humor to it. There was no Ard to it at all.

Though he was clearly still upset about what had happened, what Jezebel had tried to do with Eva. Yet, at the same moment, he was completely and utterly devoid of emotion.

She could feel it. She was connected to his soul that had trembled and shuddered as if a last outburst before falling into a deadly calm.

Ard continued to fight. Vines raced across the room, joined by terrifying purple chains. Emlyn, however, didn't care about any of that fight.

Instead, she ran back to Ard and grabbed onto the crown that rested on his brow. In the short span that he had put it on, seven vines, each a different color of the rainbow, had stabbed into his head. They were growing thicker by the moment, branching out and securing their grasp onto his head. 

Emlyn looked around for help. "Maribelle!" she snapped, trying to get the other anchor's attention. "Help me get Ard back." 

Maribelle paused and frowned. But a small look inward, no doubt to Ard's Soulgard, was all it took before Maribelle was rushing to join Emlyn in trying to pry the crown from his head. 

"What are you doing?" Ditzy spun on both of them. 

"Does this look like Ard to you?" Emlyn gestured at the stoic face as he casually crushed goddesses with a wave of his hand. 

"Well, no," Ditzy admitted. 

And though Emlyn and Maribelle's pulling had had little effect, Ditzy cut at one of the vines with her spear. That had an effect. It was as if the two repulsed each other.

Ditzy was leaning her whole weight against Ard, and it made Emlyn terrified of what would happen when the vine broke. But finally, she kissed the tip of the blade to the vine and sliced. 

Ard staggered, and Emlyn watched as something flickered across his eyes. 

"Keep doing that," she said urgently, and lifted that part of the crown away. A new vine attempted to grow. But with her hands full, Emlyn leaned forward and simply bit it, thrashing like a dog to do everything she could to stop it from getting to Ard.

Because deep down inside of her, she felt like the crown was going to take him away. It was going to turn Ard into an emotionless monster, one that wouldn't come back to her ever again. He would never again be the man that she so loved. 

More hands joined hers before she knew it. All of the women in Ard's life were fighting tooth and nail to get the crown off his head.

***

When I put the crown on, the effect was instant. Everything felt as though it was just at the edge of my fingertips. My magic was bottomless and eager for my will. The death of anyone I wanted was merely a thought away. If I wanted their strength all I had to do was think about it and I could strip it from them. The only thing I couldn't do was change who they were. Or perhaps, I simply didn't care to.

Everything felt so black and white. The shades of grey that had existed within me were gone. 

So, I found myself operating off the emotions I had felt, the desires I'd had just before putting the crown on my head. Now that it was there on my brow, very little mattered to me. I simply wanted to finish the task before me.

Those who had gone against me and those who had tried to take what was mine needed to be removed. The emotion behind the action was distant, but that small spark of fury lingered enough desire for my present actions. 

My vines and Ardenium chased down the gods before me.

I tilted my head, somehow knowing the big purple one was Angrboda. Those vines pinned her against the ceiling, tore out her strength, and bound her in Ardenium to serve as a battery for me in the future.

As she lay helpless, expressionless and empty of what she had been before, Freya glanced over, her eyes filling with fear. The goddess wanted to be anywhere but here and tried to scramble away.

But Bastet nabbed her and threw her at my feet, only for the feline goddess to turn back around and look at me in confusion. "Ard?" Bastet asked as I felt several people beginning to tug at me.

That didn’t matter though, there was no hostility.

Purple chains shot up from the ground and snagged Freya even as she tried to crawl away. They burrowed themselves into Jezebel's dream world, ripping it apart until there was nothing left but my absolute chaos and the chains wrapped around her too, dragging Jezebel towards me.

As for Hades he’d vanished by the time I went to look for him.

"You have failed, and as a result, I will strip your ability to try again." I turned to Freya and Jezebel.

The Ardenium chains punched into both of them, and I felt their godly aspects dim and drain. It felt like the first ray of light after a long night. There was light in my world at the euphoric feeling of draining the two of their everything.

Bastet screamed something and suddenly joined Missy and Ditzy in trying to get the crown off of my head. 

"Do not fret, they will pay their due." I grinned as Jezebel turned into a husk and faded away. Her own power was a shallow pool compared to Freya’s. She hadn't lasted very long despite her confidence in her ability to beat me.

I felt another tug on my head and frowned. 

"Hecate, Aphrodite, what are you doing?" I glanced at both of them from the corner of my eye, even spotting a feral Emlyn gnawing on a strange red vine in her teeth. 

"Um," Hecate hesitated. "You never wanted to be a king, right Arden?"

I waited, not sure what she was saying.

"And now you're wearing this crown. It looks stupid." Hecate chuckled, and I didn't think it was very funny at all. 

"Why would I be a king?" I asked. "Power is only something that those who are weak need to take. For those who always have it, it is more akin to being a warden than a king. I don’t have to make rules or demands, they will capitulate in everything once they understand that I can do what I wish."

Hecate stared at me so I elaborated. “Ruling is a burden, a task to be completed day in and day out. Power requires nothing of you to keep everyone in line as if they're trapped inmates of a ward. As you can see, these two have become a problem, and it's simply up to me to take it away. Thus in the future I won’t even have to issue a ruling, problems will just vanish before me.” I gestured at Jezebel and Freya.

Hades had long vanished, and any other reinforcements for Freya either weren't coming or were too scared to show their faces. The Ardenium chains embedded in Freya pulsed as the last dredges of her power flowed through them.

While the final remnants of Freya flowed to me, I suddenly felt my crown come free. 

Like a sudden pop, the heavy burden that had weighed on my mind disappeared, and everything else around me came back into clarity. It was like being able to see color again now that it was lifted. 

"That's odd," I said, turning to look at my ladies. "Oh, wow. You do sort of a scrunched up face cry, Ditzy. It’s not…" 

The goddess threw herself at me in a flurry of kisses, and I blinked, looking at the rest of my ladies for an answer. "I'm Ditzy. Not Aphrodite. I'm your Ditzy," she repeated and pulled back to look into my eyes. "Tell me a joke, Ard. Any joke."

"Uh," I hesitated. 

"He gets performance anxiety," Emlyn smiled with tears in her eyes, too. "Just give him a moment. I'm sure he'll start cracking them left and right."

"You mean you want me to make more jokes?" I asked Emlyn, narrowing my eyes. 

"Yes, please," she said. "Jokes. More jokes. As many jokes as you can muster."

"Well, for one thing, you are all doing a lot of crying right now." I looked around the group and most of them were sniffling, if not outright rubbing tears from their eyes. "And that really kills the mood. Not to mention that," I pointed down where Freya was not much more than a husk and Bad Kitty had pounced on her. 

"Tell me. Tell me where she is,” Bad Kitty screamed and shook Freya, slamming the near dead goddess’ head against the ground. 

"Careful, you're going to kill her," I said. "She's not much more than a flickering candle right now."

Cowtits had turned into a saggy mess, but apparently still had enough in her to laugh mockingly at Bad Kitty. "No matter what happens, I would have never told you," Freya laughed mockingly. "Even in death I will be victorious in this thing you shall never have."

Bad Kitty hissed and slashed Freya with a swipe of her nails, bloodying the already dying woman to very little effect.

The only thing the attack produced was more mocking laughter from the dying goddess. "It brings joy to my dying heart to watch you fret so much over something I will make sure you never get," Freya coughed up blood from her battered form. 

"You bitch," Bad Kitty yowled and tore into Cowtits' face. "You give her back to me, or I swear I will hunt the ends of this earth, find anyone and everyone that has ever known you existed, and I will wipe them and your entire legacy from this world." 

I let out a whistle. "Remind me not to get on her bad side." 

Emlyn gave me some serious side-eye, but there was a wildly large smirk on her face that seemed to be impenetrable to anything I might say. "I'd remind you, but we all know you're going to do it anyways." 

"Yeah, you're probably right," I said and shook my head.

"You know, she probably has fantastic angry sex," Ditzy offered. 

I turned slowly to the other goddess. "What?" 

"You know I'm right. A temper like that?" She gestured at Bad Kitty. "I guarantee as the go-- something of love that she's a scratcher." Ditzy hesitated to use the word ‘goddess’. Who knew they were a superstitious lot.

Bad Kitty spun away from her attack on Freya. "Make her tell me," she demanded. 

"Make her tell you what?" I asked. "Whatever you two are arguing over, this is the first I've heard of it." 

"My daughter," Bad Kitty said. "She took my daughter." And for the first time, I saw Bad Kitty deflate. She’d always been taunting, teasing, but full of confidence. 

My face soured at the new revelation, mostly because Freya was toast. Even if I wanted to help, and I did for Bad Kitty's sake, there was very little I could do to pull Freya back from the absolute brink of death that I had left her. 

"I'm sorry, Bad Kitty, but she's a goner." I answered. “If it’s any consolation. She was never going to tell you, said it so herself. So, alive or dead doesn’t make a difference.”

The goddess didn't take that news well and screamed before lifting her up and swiping Cowtit's head off with a swing of her hand, sending the goddess's head flying as Zenov's in the room began to rouse as they fell out of Jezebel's spell. Bad Kitty disappeared, which then left me with a gushing red fountain of a body as they all woke up.

The first of the Zenovs shook themselves awake, scanning the scene and freaking out.

The only one who seemed completely unsurprised was Eva, who simply shook her head. "What happened?" she asked. 

"Well, it's kind of a long story. The short version is Freya dead, Freya's daughter is dead. That’s Jezevel and she was the one killing all of the Zenovs, or at least most of them. And finally, you're alive." I smiled.

"Yes, that makes everything so much clearer." Eva's tone dripped with sarcasm as her eyes drifted over our group. 

"Well, I tried." I shrugged. "What do you want me to do with all of them?" I pointed at the other Zenovs.

"It's a good question, Ard. Let me get over this headache. Maybe then we can start sorting things out." Eva told me.

"Perfect, because if I'm honest, I'm really hungry." I looked around, trying to identify a way to get food.

"Yeah, Ard, let's go eat." Emlyn said in a super agreeable way.

I was not sure why, but somehow it felt like I could get away with anything at the moment. I started running through all the possible ways to take advantage, but was cut off as Emlyn turned to Eva.

“When you get a minute, we do need to talk." Emlyn looked my other woman in the eye and there was some sort of silent message that clearly passed between the two of them. 

"Of course," Eva said hurriedly. 

"What's gotten into you two?" I asked and rolled my eyes as I started to walk out of the room. 

"Just girl things, Ard." Emlyn was all smiles. "Let's get your tummy all filled up. And then maybe we should go home for a little bit. Wait, we came here to get the books on your father. Can’t leave without those, Eva?" 

Eva glanced at the room of rousing and very confused Zenovs. “Might not be the best time to bring that up.”

"Yeah, I'm sure they have bigger things to worry about than us just rifling through the library," Emlyn said, with a hopeful look at Eva. 

"If they have anything like the headache I have at the moment, they're not thinking about much at all." Eva replied.