They were the most elite warriors the God Hunters had to offer. Clad in stolen Celestial Armor, wielding pilfered Celestial Weapons. Perhaps they were even aware of the truth of the God Hunter Leadership and knew that they served Void Gods. Perhaps they were loyal to Tyranos and Tyranos alone for some unfathomable reason Sophia couldn't begin imagining.

  … It doesn't matter though in the end. Because for all their stolen armaments, for all their bravado, for all their supposed skill… they're up against an Otherworlder. And they are all so very, very mortal.

  "On your left!"

  "He's fas-urk!"

  "Keep your guards up, all of you!"

  "Don't let him break through-guh!"

  Sophia has watched Oren commit several slaughters since they first met. From that first encounter in the woods, to the massacre of Command Hogarth and his men in Goldriver.

  One might assume once you've seen one slaughter, you've seen them all, and back before when she'd thought she was just a Minor Goddess of Wisdom and Equity, Sophia might have agreed with that take. The truth was though, there was a certain artistry to every single lethal encounter Oren found himself in. There's something so very raw about watching him resort to his more primal fighting instincts.

  And to top that off, there's something rather glorious about putting an Otherworlder like Oren in a room like the Celestial Armory and watching him go to work.

  He swipes one God Hunter's head clean off his shoulders with the halberd in his hands, then he uses his enhanced strength to throw the unwieldly, top-heavy thing like a damn javelin at the next. It whistles through the air and shatters the chestplate of the God Hunter he was aiming for, pinning the rapidly dying mortal man to the floor in a single moment.

  Oren is already moving on from there, pulling a sword and flail from the wall nearby and easily deflecting the opening attacks from the next God Hunters to reach him. Those who try for head-on attacks don't last long against the Otherworlder. He's just too fast for them. But then, those who try to be more subtle aren't much better off… he's just too aware of his surroundings.

  Sophia can see how Oren has improved just in the time they've known each other. And not just from Tyranos' no doubt reluctant training while they traveled together. No, Oren is like a sponge. He takes in everything that happens, he absorbs the relevant knowledge, and he does not make the same mistake twice.

  The Void Gods trained him to be a one man killing machine, someone who had no need to worry about allies because he had no allies. His entire purpose was to rampage through the Heavens before ultimately dying at Law's hands if Tyranos was to be believed.

  But Oren wasn't just the Void Gods' weapon. He was a living, breathing, thinking human being… and he could grow in ways they never could have predicted.

  Case in point, it eventually dawns on these Elite God Hunters that they can't hope to take Oren down in a straight fight. Even with their overwhelming numbers, even with their stolen armor and weapons… they're losing. So of course, they find themselves looking for any hope of victory, with their eyes ultimately falling upon Sophia.

  Unfortunately for them, Elric Steelwater beat them all to it… and Oren never forgets a mistake. They didn't notice, but he's already set himself up so that he's always between them and her across the Celestial Armory. And despite his speed, aggression, and all around straightforward attacks, he's always got one eye on Sophia herself.

  She doesn't even need to call out to him. The moment a few of the God Hunters reorient themselves in Sophia's direction, Oren turns, pulls a pair of Celestial Hatchets from their hooks on the wall and spins and throws in the same exact motion. The hatchets whip end over end through the air and bury themselves in the back of the helmeted skulls of the God Hunters who thought they could take her.

  The other Elites see this and make the mistake of thinking this means Sophia is Oren's weakness. They ALL reorient in her direction at that point… and they all die messily for it. The Celestial Armory is both a big space and not a big space. It's big in the sense of how many pilfered divine artifacts it can hold, but it's definitely not the largest room in the Grand Cathedral or anything like that.

  For trained warriors, crossing the entire length of it would maybe take half a minute at most if they were uninterrupted. But of course, Oren doesn't intend to leave them to their own devices. And Sophia isn't the weak little bitch she once was.

  Unbeknownst to the Elite God Hunters, Sophia has been layering something she calls a 'Zone of Misfortune' on the ground in front of her ever since Oren left her side. As Oren savages their backline, the first of the God Hunters reaches that zone… and comically trips over his own feet, sending him sprawling forward. Another 'Elite' God Hunter trips over him. Still a third falls in such a way that he impales himself on a nearby Celestial Spear.

  The following moments are as much a comedy as they are a massacre, but the end result is really all that matters. Sophia allows herself a smile, but she doesn't allow herself to spend even a second on laughing at them. They aren't worth it… and frankly, her and Oren's time is limited enough as is.

  The last of these so-called Elite God Hunters dies and she and her Otherworlder lover stand there for just a moment before Oren begins to move around the crates stacked high along the center of the armory. Cracking them open, looking inside, it's obvious he's trying to find the biggest amount of Celestial Metal that he can.

  If the God of Forges still lives, then Sophia would imagine he could smelt just about anything made of Celestial Metal down into its base component and reuse said metal for their purposes. However, there's a lot more Celestial Metal in a sword than there is in a spear. And still more in a breastplate than there is in any weapon in the Armory.

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  Finally, Oren picks out a crate and begins throwing even more divine artifacts into it from nearby, filling the damn thing to the brim and then grabbing himself a sword to wield in his free hand as he balances the crate on his shoulder.

  "Come on. Let's get going."

  "Right."

  As Sophia follows the Otherworlder out of the room, however, she does find herself stopping for just a moment to reach down and pull the Celestial Dagger out of Lopov's throat. Call it sentiment if you want, but she finds herself unwilling to leave the dagger behind after everything it's been through with them. And besides, even if Oren is armed with far better Celestial Weapons, she can always make use of the thing. Wiping it off on her dress, she holds it in her hand, clutching it tightly at her side.

  Oren watches her wordlessly for a moment and then the two of them are racing back to the spiral staircase that will lead down to the catacombs. Fortunately, it would seem that Lopov's people are still making a mess of things throughout the city. She wonders how the God of Thievery and Shadows was going to explain all of that to Tyranos and the God Hunters even if they did succeed at killing her and Oren… but it doesn't really matter now, does it?

  Perhaps Lopov had sent everyone he liked the least so that the God Hunters could thin out would be dissenters in his ranks or something. Or perhaps the 'Kingpin' simply hadn't thought it all through. That would certainly be mighty… foolish of him.

  Still, Sophia is glad that they have no intention of returning to Lopov's little underground community with their stolen goods. Having to explain what happened to the Kingpin to any of his people who still remained after this would be a pain in the ass. Not to mention, depending on how much Lopov betrayed them, that underground community might fall to the God Hunters by the end of the day.

  It wasn't their problem though. Sophia and Oren had another destination in mind entirely. Arriving back in the catacombs, racing down the hallway, they eventually come to their ultimate destination… an empty-looking side room that Lopov had offhandedly pointed out to them on their way through here not even half an hour ago.

  Sophia can't see anything, but she can feel it. There's a sense of divinity in this room, and maybe that's why there was no divine suppression runes in here despite them lining the rest of the catacomb walls. The portal here would have come first. The divine suppression runes would have come later, once the Void Gods had all cleared out.

  Biting her lower lip, Sophia steps forward hesitantly, even as Oren watches the door. She reaches out both physically and mentally, focusing on the sensations she's picking up.

  "What's the verdict, Sophia? Can you unlock the portal?"

  That was the question, wasn't it? Ever since Lopov had dropped that line about the portal to the Void being locked to Tyranos' blood, Sophia and Oren's hope had been that her blood would be similar enough to count as well. They were, after all, related.

  Inhaling and exhaling, Sophia brings the Celestial Dagger across her hand, opening up a shallow cut in her palm. Then, she drips her blood over the center of the room, where the feeling of divine magic feels the strongest.

  For a long moment nothing happens and Sophia finds herself catastrophizing like nothing else. What if only Tyranos can unlock the portal to the Void? What if he can sense when someone else tries to and comes for them here before they can get through? What if, what if, what if…

  And then, ripping a hole in the middle of the air, the portal opens up in response to her blood, looking like a tear in reality itself. Sophia swallows thickly before glancing at Oren.

  "What's it like? The Void?"

  Hefting the crate of Celestial Metal on his shoulder, Oren grunts as he considers the question for a moment.

  "… I honestly don't know. I was under an illusion the entire time, remember? How much was their illusion and how much was real? In the end… I suppose we're going to find out together."

  Together. Sophia nods, liking the sound of that and wishing she could take Oren's hand in her own. But while she has the hand free, he doesn't. Instead, all she can do is reach out and put a hand on his shoulder, even as they both step through the portal and into the unknown.

  She's not sure what she's expecting on the other side. A hellish landscape? A blank void of darkness? Instead… it's just another underground room carved out of stone. They've gone from the catacombs under Skycastle to a place that looks similarly 'created' rather than natural.

  At the same time though, Sophia feels it in her heart. They've left the Mortal Planes behind. This is the Void. There's a metaphysical emptiness here that weighs on her. Even as Oren sets the crate down and looks around, Sophia finds herself biting her lower lip.

  She has to focus though. Turning back around, she focuses on the portal and tries to re-lock it. She's not sure if it'll work, she's not sure if the damn thing is that intuitive… but to her immense relief, it does seem to work. The portal to the Mortal Planes closes shut after a few moments, the tear in the air slipping closed.

  Nobody except Tyranos himself could come after them now. And maybe he would eventually. All Sophia could do was hope the Curses of Misfortune and Folly she'd laid on him continued to hold. And, of course, that the God of Forges was still down here.

  "I hear something."

  Sophia looks over to Oren, biting her lower lip as he tilts his head to the side.

  "What do you hear? Are there any other Void Gods left here?"

  He shakes his head.

  "I don't think so. I don't sense anyone nearby at least. But I hear a distant clanging coming from… that way."

  He points in a somewhat random direction, causing Sophia to let out an explosive breath.

  "Right. Then… let's go."

  They leave the crate of Celestial Metal in the Portal Room for the moment, because the halls outside aren't wide or tall enough for Oren to hoist it on his shoulder like he was doing before. And needless to say, they both agree that he should have his hands free depending on what they find here.

  Following Oren as they creep along, Sophia bites her lower lip when she eventually starts to hear the banging too. She wishes she could say it matches what she remembers the sound of a blacksmith banging on an anvil being… but it's not quite right. There's something off about this clanging sound.

  And yet, when they finally reach the source, they do in fact step into an underground smithy. And there, in the middle of the room, is a god hunched over an anvil, lifting up his arms and slamming them down onto the top of it.

  Taking the lead, Oren clears his throat.

  "… Are you the God of Forges? Of Forges and Smithing?"

  The banging slowly stops… and the god turns to face them. Sophia stiffens up at the mania she sees in his eyes. And at the sensation she feels wash over her. It takes her breath away and in that moment, Sophia knows that they're once again in the presence of an Ancient God. And not a particularly stable one either.

  But what truly catches her eye and then holds it… is his hands. Or rather, the lack thereof. Turning towards them has revealed just why the sound of clanging on his anvil had been so off to her ears. He wasn't wielding a hammer or anything like that because he quite literally couldn't wield one. Each of his arms ends in a stump that has been covered in metal that looks like it was melted into his flesh in the process.

  They've found the God of Forges and Smithing alive just as they so desperately wished… but at what cost?

  A/N: Dun dun DUUUUN! Looks like Tyranos wasn't quite so foolish as Sophia hoped… but still perhaps pretty foolish. Can our intrepid heroes salvage this? Hmm…

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