"My name is Freya, and this is my bodyguard Rossweisse. Nice to meet you!"
Freya gave a slight bow to Jay, her movements fluid and practiced with a characteristic of high nobility.
The two women stood just a few meters in front of him.
Though a friendly smile decorated her face, Freya's brilliant blue eyes were busy studying Jay with an intensity that belied her airy demeanor.
'His body emitted almost nothing... And that level of control over his own energy was impressive. But a human in this place was quite interesting, I thought only gods were invited here,' she thought.
Her gaze drifted momentarily to the massive, breathing mountain of crimson scales behind the young man, which emitted an immense demonic aura, then to the black cat in front of it that looked utterly paralyzed with fear.
No one was foolish enough to believe that the young man standing calmly before a dragon was merely an ordinary human.
"I am sorry for suddenly talking to you, but as you can see... me and my bodyguard are kind of lost right now," Freya said, her voice warm and melodic, carrying a hint of foreign lilt.
Meanwhile, Jay remained perfectly still, his expression one of pure indifference as he completely ignored the pink-haired woman's attempt at small talk. His silence stretched until the air felt heavy with awkwardness.
Jay glanced at the silver-haired Valkyrie. Rossweisse narrowed her eyes as her hand shifted slightly. She was clearly wary of him.
After a while, Jay finally opened his mouth, breaking the awkward silence between them.
"Norse goddess and a Walkure... What are the two of you doing in this place?"
Hearing his words, Freya's eyes widened in genuine surprise before a knowing smile spread across her lips. Meanwhile, Rossweisse stepped forward, positioning herself in front of Freya as a shield.
"I should ask the same thing! What is a human like you doing in-"
But before she could finish her question, Freya cut her off with a wave of her hand.
"Eh, we just received an invitation and came here," Freya said, projecting an innocent, almost ditzy smile.
"Freya-sama!!" Rossweisse barked at Freya, her face flushing with a mix of frustration and panic.
"What, Rose-chan? Isn't that why we came here in the first place?" Freya asked, placing a delicate finger on her chin in a thoughtful pose.
"And I thought it would be a welcome to a nice banquet and playing fun games with the Egyptians. I did not expect said games to be a death game where we literally need to kill each other." Freya's shoulders slumped theatrically as she explained their own situation.
"Yes, but still! You cannot just reveal our situation to a total stranger!" Rossweisse argued, her posture stiff and formal.
"Eh, you think so?" Freya asked, tilting her head.
Jay watched the exchange with a sense of detached amusement.
He suspected that this display was, at least in part, intentional on the goddess's part. By appearing harmless and slightly disorganized, she was likely trying to lower his guard or entice him into a friendly conversation.
'Well, why not... and judging by her words just now, it seems like not everyone here was forced to come,' Jay thought.
Jay still wondered if they knew about his large number of Kill Points and were intentionally getting close to kill him, but judging by the way they looked at him, that did not seem to be the case.
They did not seem to recognize him at all.
Freya and Rossweisse continued to bicker for a few more moments until Jay's voice cut through their conversation.
"That invitation earlier... can you tell me more about it?" Jay asked, successfully catching the attention of both women.
"Hm?"
***
And a few minutes later, the three of them were seated on the stones near the dragon.
Jay sat facing both women while Draghignazzo loomed behind him, staring at the two Norse women. Meanwhile, MiuMiu remained suspended in the air, still tense as it continued to float like a statue.
"So… you received an invitation to a banquet from this guy Aten, only to find that it turned out to be a battle royale where the gods have to kill each other… am I right?" Jay asked. His dark hazel eyes were fixed on the Norse goddess, searching for any flicker of a lie.
"Yes, and I thought everyone here was coming because of the invitation," Freya nodded, her face finally turning serious.
"So, you were forcibly dragged to this place?... That is... cruel."
"Well, if that is the case then..." Jay turned his head toward the shivering black cat.
"How many gods are participating as players in this game?"
"T-the information regarding the amount of players is unavailable-Miu! Even I, as a Game Administrator, do not know!" MiuMiu cried out, his voice cracking with terror.
"Hm?" Jay simply stared at him, his gaze alone enough to make the little floating black cat whimper.
"M-Miu! Miu is telling the truth!" MiuMiu insisted, his paws flailing uselessly.
Sensing no deception from the creature, Jay turned back to Freya. The goddess was watching the interaction with a look of pure fascination.
"I have so many questions, but... Why is your game administrator still here? I thought they were supposed to disappear instantly after delivering the game instructions," Freya said, a confused but intrigued smile playing on her lips.
"Hm? Because I told him to stay here?" Jay replied flatly, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
Freya and Rossweisse shared a long, meaningful look before turning their gaze back to Jay, staring at him as if there were something wrong with the young human in front of them.
"Anyway... so you were invited here for a banquet, and it turns out to be some death game conducted by this guy Aten... My question is... isn't it weird for gods from various pantheons to be gathered in one place? I have never heard of such event occurring. Why did you, the Norse, accept this invitation in the first place?" Jay asked.
"Hmm. Truthfully... It is definitely odd that I was the one invited here instead of the Allfather, Odin-sama, as the Chief-god of the Norse," Freya admitted. She revealed such important information with a casualness that made Rossweisse's eyes widen in panic once again.
"Freya-sa-"
"No, it is okay, Rose-chan," Freya said, raising a hand to silence the Valkyrie once more.
She turned back to Jay and continued.
"Of course, initially, I thought about rejecting this invitation. But Odin-sama is a person who believes in reconciliation and harmony above all else. A peaceful, fun invitation, especially from a fellow Chief-god of a major pantheon like Egypt, is a great news to him. This seemed like a great chance to finally build a relationship with Egypt after such a long time."
"What do you mean? Was there a conflict between the Norse and Egypt before this?" Jay asked, raising an eyebrow.
"No, it is not like that," Freya shook her head, her white hair swaying with the movement. "Ah... how do I explain it? Let's just say that for thousands of years, the Egyptian pantheon has been in a weird state... It is as if they have been isolating themselves from all other pantheons."
"Isolating?"
Freya nodded.
"Actually, ever since the Supreme God Aten became the Chief-God of the Ancient Egyptians, replacing the Sun God Ra thousands of years ago, the Ancient Egyptian deities became more closed off... You could say they are rarely seen anymore." Freya explained.
"I do not know what happened between them since then, though I have heard some rumors that they are in conflict with each other. But the point is... this invitation was the first time the Egyptian side had done anything even close to building a relationship with the other pantheons. That's why us, the Norse accepted it."
Jay clasped his hands together, resting his chin on his knuckles as he contemplated the motive behind the game after hearing the goddess words.
One thing still did not make sense to him. He still could not grasp the goal of that guy, Aten, inviting gods from other pantheons and making them kill each other just to inherit all of his power.
"So you accepted this shady invitation just because you thought it was a genuine invitation to have fun with other gods?" Jay asked, his voice tinged with a hint of disbelief.
"Yep," Freya said with a warm, beaming smile.
Jay couldn't help but rub his temples in disbelief.
"You have got to be kidding me."
'How naive are these gods?... Or to give them the benefit of the doubt, they probably already knew there would be something wrong and came to investigate it themselves? Either way, it was too reckless,' Jay thought.
'Well, whatever... it really doesn't affect me. And since all of this is happening in the realm of gods, at least there shouldn't be any innocent people being dragged here... But I am not even a god, nor do I have anything to do with the Egyptian faction. How did I even end up here?' He thought.
He looked back at the two Norse women.
"So, what are you two going to do then?"
"Well, maybe you already knew it, but we have tried to teleport and find a way out, but all of it failed... We cannot even communicate back to the North because all signals are blocked. So, maybe we are just going to wait until this game is over and go back to Asgard after that," Freya said with a smile of acceptance.
"You know this game will only be over if Aten is defeated, right?" Jay asked as he raised his eyebrows.
Freya nodded.
"Do you know what happens if there is no one who is able to defeat him?" Jay asked.
Neither Freya nor Rossweisse said anything.
It was clear they had not fully processed the darker implications of the game's rules and were operating under the assumption that this shady game, hosted by a Chief God, would have some level of sportsmanship or a fail-safe.
'As I thought, these guys are hopeless,' Jay thought, shaking his head.
His expression then hardened as he looked them in the eye and spoke.
"Aten will kill all of us,"
The words hung in the air. Both Freya and Rossweisse widened their eyes as the gravity of their situation finally sank in.
"Eh? Then doesn't that mean we're fucked?" Freya asked.
Jay could not believe that he had just spoken with one of the most famous goddesses, if not the most famous one, from the Norse pantheon. Hearing the new information from him, even the usually serious Rossweisse looked concerned as she glanced at the pink-haired goddess.
"Freya-sama... what should we do then?"
Meanwhile, seeing that there was nothing more to discuss with the two of them, Jay suddenly stood up.
The abrupt movement immediately caught both Freya's and Rossweisse's attention as their eyes snapping toward him.
"Eh? Where are you going?" Freya asked.
"To find where Aten is and kill him," Jay said, walking toward the resting Draghignazzo.
He did not have time to waste in this pointless game of death that had been set up by some lunatic, likely just for amusement.
'Let's try to locate Lavinia, Kuroka, and Glenda using the Grail after this. I should get moving now,' Jay thought.
Rossweisse stood up quickly, her silver hair whipping in the wind. "Wait! Kill him!? He is a God! And the Chief-god of a major pantheon at that! Odin-sama even said that guy is even stronger than him! Do you really want to kill yourself!?"
She failed to believe any of Jay's words. Even though she was wary of him, she couldn't simply stand by and watch a human, someone who had seemingly been dragged here against his will to throw his life away so recklessly.
Jay simply ignored her as his foot already finding purchase on Draghignazzo's side.
Freya also stood up, her usual playful aura replaced by a genuine concern.
"What Rose-chan said is true. Even though I have never met him myself... the fact that he is the Chief-god shows you how truly strong he is." She paused, studying Jay's back.
Jay simply ignored her as she continued speaking.
"So, why don't we cooperate and find another way out? Something more reasonable than playing along with the game and killing each other, or seeking a direct confrontation with a Chief-God?"
Hearing the offer, Jay stopped. He turned his head, sending a sharp glance over his shoulder at the two Norse women.
Cooperation was not a bad idea. He was in unfamiliar territory, and they clearly had knowledge of such divine realms that he lacked. On top of that, they did not seem to be lying either, judging from their conversation just now.
Though Jay remained cautious. Freya was a goddess of significant power said to be the strongest woman in the Norse, while Rossweisse was most likely a high-tier Valkyrie based on her position as a bodyguard of such major god.
But the fact that they had just met him and were already trying to talk and cooperate with a stranger like him was definitely suspicious.
'They could not be doing this out of pity. Still, I could not point out any hidden motive from them at the moment,' he thought about it for a while.
'Well… I can still deal with them if they decide to do something,' Jay decided, having already analyzed their power level using Avesta.
After a short silence, Jay finally asked,
"So, do you have a better idea of how to get out?"
"Well, I do not know specifically how this divine realm, Heliopolis is constructed. But to block an entire realm from the inside, there must be some sort of device or focal point that allows Aten to maintain such a massive barrier field. Whether it is the Golden Throne or something else, if we could just find it and do something about it... maybe this barrier field will be removed," Freya proposed.
"Is that how Asgard operates?" Jay asked.
The question caused both Norse women to fall into a sudden silence.
Jay just shook his head at their reaction.
'I cannot believe they sent these two people here.'
"Anyway... that makes sense and all. But what if he isn't using a device? What if the barrier is maintained by his own inherent power?" Jay asked.
Freya shrugged, a small, defiant smile returning to her lips.
"Then I guess we should all go hand-in-hand and kill him together."
Jay sighed.
'Though, her idea also makes sense… There must be something maintaining that many layers of the Divine Barrier Field, and if it is all Aten using his authority and his own power, then might as well forget about escaping from here…'
'So, what do you think about my offer? Since we both share the same goal, which is to get out of this place, I don't think cooperation is a bad idea,' Freya asked, her eyes searching his for an answer.
Jay weighed the pros and cons of cooperating with the two Norse women. Having two extra allies to face Aten would likely help, unless they had been manipulating him all this time.
Even so, cooperation might still be beneficial for now.
After a moment, Jay nodded.
"Alright. Let's cooperate."