"Battle of the gods," Amaterasu said, smiling as her eyes flashed red. Her aura engulfed the place in warmth, yet scaring everyone around.
"Nobody needs to fight!" Thud! Chad stepped forward, clenching his fist, and glaring at the dragon king, "You will die here and end this mess,"
Thud! Amaterasu grabbed Chad by the head, "Calm down, it's too late since he jumped in here. Why do you want to kill him so badly?" She stared at Chad. There was something more than just wanting to help Cain in his eyes.
Chad glared back at her, "That is none of your problems,"
"Hehe," Amaterasu smiled, "Believe it or not, it's my problem here. I believe you don't have a reason to chase his life like this."
"The faster that dragon dies, the faster Cain will get to relax. The sooner I can get grandchildren," Chad stated.
Amaterasu burst laughing, "Is that it? You sound like Moradin. But don't you already have one? I'm talking about Gray,"
"We barely talked. Gray is always busy with something in hell or the abyss," Chad replied.
"You think your mere wishes would be enough to take me down?" the dragon king growled, but Moradin growled, "Don't you dare underestimate the father of all humans,"
Amaterasu started floating, "We shouldn't waste time. Let's start the fights right away," With the echo of her voice, a whole arena emerged from the pure white ground.
"The system has changed, and mortals with the power to rival us have emerged from the lower world. It's time for us to decide who deserves to stand at the top and those who are going down." A flash of light emerged from her body, illuminating the plane like a blazing sun. "Fight over your portfolios, and the winners shall be the new gods."
The dragon king growled, "Why should we listen to you?"
Amaterasu smiled, "You don't need to, but then everyone would gang up to kill you," She waved her hand, drawing a strange letter in the air.
"Portfolios, the essence of the gods!" Amaterasu started explaining.
Each god represents a concept or multiple concepts. The act of achieving them is what we call worship. Some are simple, and some are complex.
Whenever a dwarf craft smith something, Moradin grows in power, and whenever an elf pulls his bowstring, aiming at a prey divine might flows through Corellon's veins.
This is the gods' power source and their ultimate weakness. A god can't exist without at least one portfolio. And gods always fight among themselves for power.
With the rise of the new powers in the mortal world, the gods have started to feel the change, and they can't stay silent. A battle of domination is about to start, filled with the divines' greed and ambitions.
You can only participate if you have a portfolio to offer, so the gods who only had one are risking their lives, and those who have more are gambling with their power.
Balancing the powers of the world, without such a fight, the multiple gods will end up fighting each other using their followers in a bloody war. That is a day the sun will never shine on. Amaterasu won't let such a day come.
***
"Hey!" Chad shouted from the ground, "Little girl, neither me nor the dragon king has portfolios. Can I just kill him and be done with this?"
Amaterasu glared at Chad, "Did you just call me little girl?" She looked down. She was in a grown woman's body.
"Can I kill him?" Chad asked again.
"Who said you don't have a portfolio?" Amaterasu smiled, "What do you think the shards are?" She asked with a smile.
"The shards?" Chad stared at her, "I don't even have one of those,"
"Of course, you won't have it." Amaterasu smiled, "You are him. Humanity itself came from Adam. Your mere existence is a shard, the seed of a portfolio,"
"You're talking a lot today," Moradin stared at Amaterasu, smiling.
An evil smile crossed Amaterasu's face, "After all, do you remember what AO said?"
"I don't. Don't expect me to know what he said to you," Moradin sighed.
"No matter how much bright your light can be. Don't look down on humanity. Given enough time. They can even tame you, the sun in its full glory," Amaterasu lifted her hand, conjury a small sun in her palm, "I want to see what they can do against me,"
"Hmph!" Mystra growled, "You think a mere mortal will reach the gods?" She glared at Chad, blaming him for Cain's actions.
Chad stared at Mystra with a smile, "Weren't we mortals who created magic? Do you think we can't break what we made?"
"The fuck you said?" Mystra lifted her hand, creating a massive spear of magic.
CRACK! A beam of light fell from the sky, shattering her spear. "Mystra!" Amaterasu growled, "Know your place!"
Mystra looked down, "Fine," She turned away and walked outside the arena.
"Huh!" Amaterasu looked at Chad, "Sorry for that. I will call the others as well. For now, get ready for the first fight."
"Who are you calling?" Sylph asked with a worried face.
Amaterasu smiled, "The other mortals who achieved godhood," With a smile, she lifted one finger and closed her eyes, "Starting with the strongest,"
After a few seconds, "Why, I can't find her," Amaterasu gasped. She can't sense Lilia's location. "How could she hide this well?"
"Wasn't she always hiding from us?" Mystra said from a distance.
"You couldn't see her. But I was able to just this morning when she was bathing with Cain," Amaterasu replied, "What is she doing?"
Cain and Sylph stared at each other. Sylph knew that Lilia is down looking for the tarrasque. She probably hid her existence so the gods won't know she is trying to cause such a disaster.
If the tarrasque rampaged and killed many elves, that would weaken Corellon, and the gods won't find that funny.
"Fine," Amaterasu sighed, "Let's just get the second one,"
"Did you call me?" A voice boomed in the sky, and Amaterasu looked up. "I haven't summoned you yet,"
"What does it matter?" Aria shouted, crossing her arms and staring down at the gods, "I don't appreciate you seeing me as someone different from Cain!"
"From Cain?" Mystra giggled, "That weak bastard? I got him whipped real... bleugh!" As Mystra said with a smug face, her body felt weak and she fell on her face coughing blood.
"What?" Aria said, glaring down at her with glowing blue eyes, "Big words for someone who doesn't even control their portfolio," All the gods froze in place except Amaterasu.
Aria controls the system, and most people rely on the system for magic and spells. She can just rob that ability from all the people using the system and effectually remove magic from the world, killing Mystra.
Thud! Amaterasu touched Aria's shoulder, "Come on! Spare her this time," She smiled.
Aria stared at her, "Just this time." She released the magic of the world, and Mystra instantly healed. In the mortal world, that even was known as the great magic halt. Ten seconds where magic stopped working, causing massive damage to a lot of countries across the world.
"Let me introduce you!" Amaterasu shouted, "The collective consciousness, the world system, and the divine creation of Cain lisworth and Lilia Bodhimicah. Aria Lisworth!"
Amaterasu lifted her finger. But then dropped it, "Ok, let's start the fights," She said, looking away.
"What about summoning the others?" Sylph said, glaring at Amaterasu.
"They can wait," Amaterasu replied, looking away with a hint of red on her face. Aria approached her, "You tried to summon Cain?"
"Yeah," Amaterasu whispered back, "They are doing so I can't pull them here,"
Aria coughed, "Two of the gods have already arrived. Let's start with their fight," She smiled, flying beside Amaterasu with a smile.
"The first death match of the gods! A fight over the storms and thunder!" Amaterasu screamed at the top of her lungs.
The sky turned black, the winds blew cold, and lightning crackled in the sky as a tornado reached the ground. "Born from the storms. Marching to the wars, leading his armies to an absolute victory, can he keep that here on this sacred battleground?" Amaterasu waved her finger and pointed at the buff man emerging from the violent wind, "Talos, the god of war and storms!" She shouted.
Talos stared up at her with his single eye, "Doing whatever you like,"
Amaterasu stared at Talos with a smile, "No matter how much the storms whine and scream in the skies, they can never hope to reach the sun,"
"The arrogance of the sun knows no bounds," Talos sighed, holding his spear and looking forward as lightning fell from the sky.
"The titan hated by most titans and the one who slew the most of his kind. The god of titans and lightning, the raging bolts from the sky. Zeus, the god of lightning and thunder!" Amaterasu shouted, and a topless, muscular man who looked in their late nineties walked out. "Amaterasu, I know lightning can't reach you, but you won't survive the day I lay my hands on you,"
"You're welcome to try. But I prefer younger men, so no thanks," Amaterasu shook her head, smiling.
Everyone stared at each other, are they going to fight right now?
"What are you waiting for?" Amaterasu stared at Chad, Sylph, Aster, and Corellon, "Get out of the arena. They are going to fight!" She shouted, "And the prizes are the storm portfolio from Talos and the lightning portfolio from Zeus. The winner takes both!"
The source of this c𝐨ntent is freewe(b)nov𝒆l