The Achievement Junkie

With a loud sigh, Halmut retrieved two scrolls. The other three gods saw Halmut take one in each hand. But before handing them over, one of the contracts suddenly caught fire.

"Halmut, we had a--"

"I'm only honoring the contract that Kori agreed to long ago," Halmut stated, not flinching at all. "This is technically his third offense against his isolation, which merits the loss of his godhood."

"That--"

"It's too late Sterfen…" The remains of the contract fell out of Halmut's hand and fell to the floor. "Now, I'll give you Lunara's contract for both Lyrun's and Naparn's lives."

"That's ridiculous!"

"Would you rather I kill you now? Release Naparn first and then I'll hand you the contract and escort you out like a proper guest."

Sterfen eyed Halmut, utterly repulsed by the sudden development. Then, Sterfen grinned and snapped his fingers.

Lyrun finally took a deep breath, feeling sweet relief as the Mark of the Reaper vanished from the elf's neck. A thin scar was still left from the blade, something that would never fully heal thanks to Sterfen's abilities, but the threat to Lyrun's life was gone.

"Now hand it over."

Smiling back to Sterfen, Halmut replied, "Very well… I like your confidence, so I'll play along this time."

Halmut casually extended his hand, passing Sterfen the contract to his wife's godhood. "I suppose this means that we'll be enemies after your departure from Olympic Chateau?"

"Yes, but that's by your decision, not ours. Feel free to not do anything and maybe we won't need to face you in the end…" Sterfen paused to open the scroll and take a peek at the contents of the contract. Then, he chuckled and shook his head. "But I doubt a greedy pestro like you could keep yourself from trying to kill them off for your own EXP."

"We'll see," Halmut replied with his false friendliness that could fool almost anyone. "For now, at least let me congratulate you on the birth of your daughter. I'm sure she'll be something special in the future."

"Oh, Jack and I are sure of that. I'll see myself out so no need to walk with me. Just make an opening in the barrier so I can step out."

"Very well."

With that, Sterfen walked out of Olympic Chateau with only half of his goal realized, yet still fully satisfied to finally have freed his wife.

*****

As Rikko rushed to greet Kori, the Fox God started to groan and pant.

Dropping his flame body, Kori reverted to his normal fox form. He writhed in pain for a moment, leaving everyone in suspense as to what was going on. Then, a mass of holy energy erupted from Kori's body, causing the fox to howl in pain.

It only lasted for a moment, Kori was left panting and breathing heavily. His body was shaking and struggling to stand straight. He laid himself down beside Bowzer, with a small, relieved smile on his face.

"Kori, what happen?" Rikko asked, carefully patting his old friend on the back. "Kori okay? Wait…"

"Yeah… I guess Halmut was watching after all…" Kori sighed, not dwelling on it too much.

"What?!" Eedaj was startled and read the fox's mind to learn the truth of the situation. "Kori… your level…"

"Yeah, I know… I guess I'm no longer the Fox God, am I?" Kori chuckled, trying to play it off. "Either way, at least Bowzer's okay and I don't have to worry about that contract anymore."

Amazed at Kori's optimism, Eedaj sighed. Rikko, on the other hand, was instantly back to his jovial self.

"Kori let Rikko ride? Like old time?" questioned the Goblin God, easing the situation with his humor.

"Later, okay Rikko? Right now, I want to make sure Bowzer's evolution goes well," answered Kori. "Also, shouldn't you go check on Jack? Do you know where he is?"

"That…" Eedaj paused for a moment but smile and quickly resued the conversation. "Jack's currently in his office. I guess he forcibly teleported away to avoid Tralbok, which is both great and devastating at the same time."

"He pushed too hard, huh? I've been there…" Kori sighed, reminiscing about the days passed.

"Either way, we need to attend to Jack and make sure to include you in our latest strategy," stated Eedaj.

Looking back at the Mind God, Kori raised an eyebrow and asked, "And what strategy is that?"

"To raise more gods. Pretty simple really."

"Yeah, but--"

"After we let Jack kill this ugly, breathing corpse, then he'll gain more EXP then ever before and we'll be able to use his dying energy to temporarily revitalize your immortal potential," explained Eedaj. "And since you're now at lv. 89, I'm sure you'll be able to level up within a week's time and become a god again."

"That's… That's what you're doing?!" Surprised and convinced, Kori started to laugh. "That explains why both Lorwynn and that chaotic champion sided with you. I didn't know that such a strategy existed."

"You'll have to thank Daruun for that. Now, all we have to decide is which god will make you a demigod now."

"Rikko choose Kori!" The goblin instantly shot his hand up to the sky.

"No can do, Rikko. You'll choose Hadurt since you both wield wind and lightning. That would be ideal," stated Eedaj, replacing Rikko's smile with a grumpy frown. "That leaves Guuro and Jin as the only ones who haven't chosen demigods, but Jin is off doing who knows what so I doubt he'll be available…"

While Eedaj pondered it more, a bright flash of light filled everyone's views. A sense of worry took their hearts but was quickly replaced with joy as Sterfen now stood before them all.

"Kori… I'm sorry but I couldn't get your contract before Halmut activated it…" Sterfen sighed.

"That's fine… Wait, what do you mean by that?" questioned Kori.

Sterfen smiled lightly, retrieving an unfurled scroll for the former Fox God and the others to see.

"No way! You actually got her contract?!"

"All I had to do was take Naparn and Lyrun hostage, no big deal," chuckled Sterfen, surprising them all further. "But Halmut used your contract before handing it over, saying you breached it by leaving isolation again."

"Yeah, don't worry about it… I'm just amazed that you got Lunara's contract and lived to tell the tale," Kori laughed along with Sterfen. "I'm sure she'll be glad to be free. I may have lost my godhood, but I'm so happy they can't hold that contract over my head now…"

"If Lunara is free to join us, then she'll be able to choose a demigod too, right?" added Eedaj. "That means Guuro can choose Lorwynn and Lunara can choose you, Kori. It may not match up with your magic types, but you'll have a slight affinity to water magic out of it."

"Speaking of which, I don't think I'll be able to cast my few holy spells anymore… Bummer…" Kori sighed. "I guess having some of Lunara's skills or abilities wouldn't hurt though. "

"Sounds like a plan," Sterfen stated. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go see my wife."

"Don't you want to go with Jack? He'll be able to teleport after he wakes up," Eedaj added.

Sterfen shook his head. "Nah… I just hurried back to make sure everything was okay. I'm going to go ask Lina if she wants to help me bring Lunara back to Trodar. Maybe we can make it back and surprise Jack when he wakes up."

"Well, I'll be waiting here with Bowzer. Once his bloodline reaches the third stage, I'll be glad to go along with whatever plans you have for me," stated Kori, glancing back to his son.

Each of the gods and the former god smiled. With excitement for what was to come after enduring such an intense battle, they happily ignored Pestro's mumbling.