Chapter 193: That’s funny

Chapter 193: Chapter 193: That’s funny

At the end of it, Odin turned his attention directly toward Damon, making it perfectly clear who he had been referring to. Damon met his gaze without flinching. "If you have something to say to me, Odin, then say it to my face. There’s no need to beat around the bush."

Before the old god could respond, another voice cut into the conversation from the other side of the table. "So you’re the new King of Olympus."

Damon turned his head slightly toward Shiva. The Hindu god was watching him from his seat with a calm, almost pleasant smile, as if he were simply starting a casual conversation between acquaintances. "I’ve heard quite a bit about you," Shiva continued. "I have to admit, I didn’t even notice you were here."

On the surface, his words sounded polite, but Damon had more than enough experience with people who acted friendly while being completely full of themselves underneath. Shiva was simply much better at hiding it. Damon recognized the type because he had dealt with people like that for most of his life.

Normally he might have found some humor in it, but right now he had no interest in dealing with the Hindu god. "Yeah, great... Nice to meet you too," Damon replied with the same level of false courtesy before turning back toward Odin. "Now, if you don’t mind, I have something to deal with."

Shiva didn’t seem offended exactly, but he clearly wasn’t used to being dismissed as if he didn’t matter. The tension around the table rose almost immediately, and Michael felt his heart pounding in his chest. At that point, he wasn’t sure whether he was about to pass out or have a heart attack.

Everything had started so well..... The Archangel simply couldn’t figure out when he had completely lost control of the meeting.

Hela didn’t seem to know what to make of it either. She had seen enough powerful gods throughout her existence to know when someone should choose their words carefully, and the redhead seemed to possess absolutely none of that instinct. For a moment, only one question crossed her mind. Was this man an idiot, or did he simply have absurdly massive balls?

Odin, meanwhile, had hoped Damon and Shiva might end up exchanging more than words. It would have been rather convenient for his own interests, but unfortunately for him, the redhead didn’t seem willing to get distracted so easily.

"Very well," the Norse god replied with a sigh. "Yes, I’m talking about you. There you have it."

Damon showed no surprise. At that point, it would have been ridiculous for the old man to pretend otherwise, but that didn’t mean Damon intended to let his words slide. "I appreciate your concerns, Lord Odin, but whatever I do inside or outside my pantheon has its reasons. The idea that you think I just wander around causing chaos for the sake of it is absurd."

"That’s what everyone says, Lord Damon," Odin replied quickly. "You can’t seriously expect us to simply take your word for it when your actions suggest otherwise. We only need to look at what happened with the Devils and the Fallen Angels."

A bitter taste filled Damon’s mouth as he listened. It wasn’t just what Odin was saying, but the way he was saying it. The old man presented every accusation as though he were laying out indisputable facts, turning Damon into the problem while placing himself in the role of the reasonable man concerned for everyone else. Worse, he had completely ignored what Damon had just said, as if his explanation wasn’t even worth considering.

Odin clasped his hands together and put on the best concerned-old-man expression he could manage."My fellow gods, you must understand that the balance between the major pantheons has changed considerably over the last few years. I’m sure everyone here understands what kind of omen that can be. I’m not trying to accuse anyone without reason. I’m simply an old man concerned about the well-being of the world we all share."

Several deities around the table gave Odin their attention, some clearly considering his words. Michael, seeing where the conversation was heading, coughed discreetly into his hand.

"I believe we should return to the main topic..." ℴ

Damon had no intention of leaving it there. He kept his expression neutral, refusing to give the Norse god the satisfaction of seeing just how much his approach was beginning to irritate him.

"Fine. Let’s say you’re right," Damon replied dryly. "Then tell me where exactly you’re going with all this, because so far all I’ve heard is you complaining about the state of two factions that have absolutely nothing to do with you."

He continued before the old man could interrupt him. "Or maybe you, the man who keeps talking so much about this supposed balance, have interests somewhere they shouldn’t be."

His gaze remained fixed on the All-Father. "That wouldn’t be very good for that future balance you’re so worried about, would it?"

"Oh, please, Lord Damon. How could I possibly do something like that?" Odin replied calmly. "Besides, aren’t you and the Shinto the ones upsetting the established balance? I fail to understand how you intend to make this my problem when the two of you are the ones doing what you shouldn’t."

Ahhh... so that’s what really bothers you, you filthy old bastard, Damon thought. Now he was beginning to see it much more clearly. Of course someone with Odin’s personality would care about something like this. It wasn’t simply about maintaining some supposed balance between pantheons.

He was thinking about Asgard, about his own position, and about how much he stood to lose if Greece and Shinto continued growing closer.

"I think we’ve heard enough," Amaterasu interrupted before Damon could respond. The goddess clearly wasn’t pleased with the direction the conversation had taken.

Damon had to suppress a smile.

Odin, on the other hand, didn’t look particularly amused. "You have to understand, Lady Amaterasu," the All-Father replied. "An alliance between two pantheons such as yours should not be permitted. As I’ve already said, a concentration of power on that scale could create far too many problems."

Amaterasu stared at him for a moment, as if trying to decide whether she had really just heard something so stupid. "Oh, really? You don’t say." Her voice was dripping with sarcasm. "Is that the great wisdom Mímir granted you after you sacrificed your eye? Because right now, I have to say it seems you came up a little short."

Odin frowned.

But Amaterasu wasn’t finished. "Maybe you should give up the other one too. With a little luck, this time you might gain enough wisdom to see reality before opening your mouth and saying such nonsense."

A deathly silence fell over the hall. Damon lowered his head slightly to hide the smile threatening to appear, while Susanoo looked completely satisfied with his sister’s response.

The tension lingered for a moment before Vishnu finally decided to intervene. "I believe that may be going a little too far, don’t you think, Lady Amaterasu?" the Hindu god said seriously. "After all, I don’t see why Lord Odin should be entirely wrong in what he has said."

"Well, in that case, I think Lord Odin is intelligent enough to simply avoid making enemies out of us if he truly considers an alliance between us so dangerous," Damon replied, clearly amused.

The mockery was obvious. Damon didn’t seem to be taking the old god’s complaints particularly seriously, and Odin gritted his teeth when he noticed.

"That is not the point," Vishnu replied.

"Isn’t it?" Damon raised an eyebrow. "Because it seems pretty simple to me. Greece isn’t telling Asgard who it can form alliances with. So I don’t see why we should accept someone else deciding who we’re allowed to associate with."

Amaterasu gave a small nod from her seat. "Exactly."

Odin slowly exhaled through his nose, clearly irritated by the way the two of them were reducing his argument. Before he could continue, Damon pushed his chair back and stood.

"I think I’ve had more than enough of this so-called meeting."

The redhead gave the other gods around the table a small nod, more out of courtesy than anything else, before turning to leave. Amaterasu followed almost immediately, rising without hesitation, ready to leave with him. Susanoo and Tsukuyomi exchanged a brief glance before preparing to do the same.

Michael opened his mouth, probably intending to stop them, but Odin spoke first. "You can say whatever you want," the All-Father called out, raising his voice just enough for Damon to hear him before he left the hall.

"But that doesn’t change the facts. Two different pantheons cannot simply involve themselves in one another’s affairs, territories, or descendants. There are boundaries that must be respected. If we allow something like that, sooner or later the borders between our factions will stop meaning anything at all."

Damon stopped. The Norse god’s words ran through his mind several times as he stood with his back to the table, Amaterasu stopping beside him. "How funny that you’d say that..." Damon replied.

Odin frowned slightly, probably expecting another argument over the same issue. "Because as it happens, I was about to bring up almost exactly the same thing," Damon continued without turning around. "Especially considering I currently have three demigods living under Olympus’s protection who, the last time I checked, belong to your pantheon."

At the mention of three demigods, Thor, who had remained fairly quiet throughout the discussion, raised his head. Even Odin and Hela looked somewhat surprised, although Hela much less so. The goddess of death was already putting the pieces together.

Only then did Damon turn around. "So explain something to me, Lord Odin. If the borders between pantheons are as important as you just claimed, what are Astrid, Hiccup, and Soren doing in Greek territory?"

Thor went completely still as the silence around the table grew much heavier. Thor placed both hands on the table. "What names did you just say?"

Damon raised an eyebrow at his tone. "Astrid, Hiccup, and Soren."

Thor’s reaction was immediate. Every trace of indifference he had shown until that point vanished, and Odin needed only a few seconds to understand how he could use this new information.

In less than the blink of an eye, Thor disappeared from his seat. An explosion of speed and lightning tore through the hall and, an instant later, the enormous Norse god stood directly in front of Damon. The movement was so sudden that nearly everyone around the table immediately went on alert.

Damon didn’t even flinch. Thor’s massive frame almost completely blocked the others’ view of the redhead, but Damon didn’t seem bothered in the slightest.

"I want my children."

The thunder god’s deep, serious voice carried through the hall. So they were his. That explained quite a bit. Even so, Damon didn’t like the Norse god’s tone one bit.

"I don’t like the way you’re talking to me, big guy," Damon replied bluntly. "So give me one good reason why I should do what you’re ordering me to do."

Thor’s jaw tightened. "They’re my children, not yours."

Damon tilted his head slightly. "So much for being a father..... leaving your children abandoned out there."

The comment clearly struck a nerve, not only because Damon refused to back down, but because part of Thor knew he wasn’t entirely wrong. "Look, I don’t want trouble with you," the thunder god warned. "So you’d better watch what you say."

"Huh. I was about to tell you the same thing," Damon replied. "After all, you’re the one acting all aggressive."

Thor stepped half a pace forward, but Damon remained exactly where he was. The distance between them nearly vanished. Neither had raised a hand, but no one around the table needed a display of power to understand how close the situation was to turning into a fight.

Then a wall of fire erupted between them.

Thor was forced to step back as Hestia moved in front of her brother. The difference in size between her and the massive Norse god was almost ridiculous, but the small goddess didn’t hesitate for even a moment.

"Take one more step toward my brother, and I won’t hesitate to burn every bit of that fat off your body."

Thor stared at her. while Hestia stood her ground. Damons face was like wtf. He definitely hadn’t expected that from the usually pleasant Hestia.

"I think all of you are taking this too far." Quetzalcoatl left her place among the Aztecs and moved beside Damon. "Lord Damon has nothing to do with whatever it is you’re talking about. Trust me. I know."

Odin clicked his tongue... The Aztecs, too, hadn’t been part of his calculations. Amaterasu joined them shortly afterward without saying a word. The cold look on the sun goddess’s face made it clear enough that if Thor took another step toward Hestia, the small Greek goddess would not be his only problem.

And just like that, with Hestia standing in front of Damon, Quetzalcoatl on one side and Amaterasu on the other, the position of all three women couldn’t have been clearer. A shit-eating grin spread across Damon’s face.... He hadn’t even needed to ask for help.

Ahhh... His life really was full of privileges.