“It seems the Aesir have attacked...” Kel’thul began as I seated myself at the nearest empty seat, “And they brought one hell of an army with them.” He gestured to the multiple maps and figurines strewn about the massive rectangular table made of polished red onyx that could be mistaken for a deep red ruby if not for the bands of white strewn throughout the stone.

“Particularly troubling are their Jotun vanguard,” Kel’thul continued as he glared at Zavus and snatched back the figurine, placing it with more of its vaguely humanoid shaped kind on a map of the continent’s edge to the east. There were twenty figurines thereafter.

“Seeing as you were summoned, you may not know Veloth, but Jotun are giants, very big, very strong, and very resistant to magic.”

“Ah, so how many Jotun does each figurine represent then?” I asked, the image of an army of giants stampeding over forests in my mind.

“One.” Kel’thul answered with a rasp. I raised my eyebrow at that. Why were twenty giants such a big deal? Upon seeing my questioning glance, Kel’thul continued, “Among them, Surt was sighted, a champion of the Jotun who wields a dangerous blade of fire that could burn through some of the most potent defenses. It’s not just Surt, either, all giants possess such troubling weapons and methods. The most troubling aspect, is that we don’t know where the rest of the Jotun made landfall.”

I see, so Jotun could be considered the equivalent to elite soldiers or super weapons, like a Gundam rampaging amongst a medieval world.

“So what were you arguing about earlier? Can’t you send enough forces to deal with them?”

“That’s the problem,” The man next to Kel’thul spoke up. “Our forces are stretched thin to deal with the human’s forces. To send forces to deal with the Jotun would weaken our front lines significantly.”

“Ah, I forgot, Veloth, let me introduce you to Prast Pride, and while we’re at it…” Kel’thul introduced me to his generals. I managed to get all their stereotypes correct, as each person was introduced to me.

“So, can’t you call for a temporary cease-fire?” I asked Kel’thul pointedly.

“Bah! The humans would sooner watch us be torn asunder then give us any respite.” The one to answer me haughtily was Ira.

“Indeed, it would be wiser of them to let us fight it out, then exterminate the weakened victor.” Sloth followed up rather gloomily.

“But it doesn’t make sense to assume there is no cease-fire before we even try.” Lust pouted.

“Besides, we could appeal to them the threat the Aesir pose to the humans as well. We know of the Aesir’s power because our ancestors fled Muspelheim when Odin’s foul magics took control of Surt, our then ruler. If the humans could come to understand this…”

“They see us as nothing but invaders! The humans would sooner claim all of Midgard as their own then share it with any other species!” At this point an argument started up again, each general arguing with those whose views were not similar.

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Myria POV:

Myria could feel it now, the beacon of power Drema was guiding her to. This is her fiance’s strength? With this much power, the manna spirit’s future as a race was secured, for with such power defeating even gods would be but a simple matter.

It excited Myria, Veloth had survived, and even from such a great distance, she could feel that his power could overwhelm even a star, a feat performed only in legends eons ago. Myria’s mind began to drift, thinking of the stories Drema had told Myria about Veloth’s youth.

She could envision the young manna spirit hunting down the ancient and powerful beasts of Holoth, beasts so powerful they were nearly gods themselves. She envisioned Veloth slaying these beasts with relative ease, consuming their flesh as though such prey was only natural.

Myria’s thoughts shifted again, she imagined herself, captured by a malevolent god of magnificent power, caged within a palace that existed at the center of a star. Then in Myria’s daydream, a magnificent manna spirit burst through the palace’s walls. The malevolent god and the manna spirit confront each other, flinging spells that could destroy entire worlds at eachother.

The malevolent god begins to lose confidence as the mana spirit begins to use increasingly more intricate and powerful spells. The malevolent god at last falters, and with an easily produced yet precise spell, the mana spirit emerges victorious. The mana spirit shreds Myria’s cage, nuzzling her, and she nuzzles him in return.

Abruptly the mana spirit creates a massive spell, and the star explodes.

“Buh-geh!”

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Drema POV:

“M-Myria? Are you alright?” Drema saw Myria face-plant straight into a planet. She hadn’t realized the silly girl was day-dreaming again until it was too late. Drema approached the new crater on the planet and called out to Myria.

“W-what happened?” Myria called out.

“Whew, good, you're alright.” Drema let out a sigh of relief. The girl was prone to daydreaming, making her a little clumsy at times, such as not paying attention to astral positioning during dimensional travel, and crashing into one thing or another. Last time she crashed, it was into a space-faring insectoid hive, and they were certainly less than happy about a hole being punched through their ship. Fortunately David, Myria’s father, was there to aid the mortals.

“O-oh… Sorry Drema! Seems like I wasn’t paying attention! Tee-hee…” Myria giggled as the stuck her tongue out and lightly bopped herself on the head.

“It’s ok dear. We should get moving again before any mortals show up.”

“Right!”

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Tara POV:

Tara narrowly avoided the giant’s crushing blow as she countered with a slash at its achilles tendon. The slash was very shallow, barely a scratch on the giant’s skin. With a swiftness that did not match its size, the giant aimed a kick at Tara, who again narrowly avoided.

She had trained so hard to become stronger. ‘If I had been stronger, Veloth would still be with us, he wouldn’t have joined Ira to spare everyone.’ With that train of thought she tirelessly sought to improve herself, so much so that she was no longer a hero, but a champion of the human race, the general Tara Humility. Yet, why could she not bring down this single giant?

They had appeared abruptly from the eastern side of the continent, and brought destruction and mayhem mindlessly with them to whatever village lay in their path westward. There were only twenty of them sighted thus far, but a single one brought with it great destruction and power.

The King, desperate to save his people, dispatched all the forces that were currently at the castle to intercept the giants in an attempt to slow them so that civilians could evacuate. Tara has been successful only in slowing the two giants she and the forces under her command had encountered. Though Tara desperately wanted to save the village in the giant’s path so that the people could return to their normal lives, they could barely damage the massive tyrants.

For some reason Tara’s thoughts shifted. She began to think about Veloth. She missed him, though they had spent so little time together. She wanted to get to know him better, she wanted to ask him about his life before reincarnation, she wanted to know what he thought about her body from the time he… ‘Wha! What am I thinking about right now?’

Tara shook her head fiercely as she blushed. “ARAAAAHH!” She roared in frustration as she attempted to strike the same exact spot of the giant’s achilles tendon, deepening the wound slightly more. She struck again, then again, and again. She lost count of the strikes as she worked out her frustration on her foe.

“AAAAAH! PUNY BITCH!” The giant roared, attempting to create distance from Tara by leaping into the air. Tara saw his muscles tensing for the jump and plunged her blade into the wound and held on tightly. She soared through the air with the giant, like a thorn stuck in its leg.

“Bastard, you think i’ll let you run away after the atrocities you committed!?” Tara roared back as they landed.

“I WILL CRUSH YOU BITCH!”

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Veloth POV:

The argument settled finally settled down after an hour. Kel’thul, Zavus, and I had silently listened whilst the rest… ‘conferred’. That is when there was an abrupt knock, and a guard who was out of breath promptly entered without waiting for a response.

“What is it, we are in the middle of a war counsel here!” Kel’thul boomed.

“It’s the humans! they sent a message asking for a cease-fire!”

Looks of disdain, surprise, contempt, understanding, and sympathy spread throughout the room all at once.

“So the Jotun made landfall on their side of the continent as well… That settles it, tell them we accept-”

“Wait!” I interrupted Kel’thul. I had been mostly quiet during this entire time, so it was no surprise to me that Kel’thul shot me a look of confusion. “We can ask for an alliance against a mutual enemy instead.” I proposed. As soon as I did, the room erupted once more into heated words, only this time I participated.

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A/N: Unfortunately, there's a lot going on with my side of things, so I haven't been able to find a lot of free time to write. I truly wish I could give you more to read, and I will do my best to get more out quickly. Hope you enjoy! Tell me what you think of the chapter, what you do and do not like about it, etc. via comments or PM.