Rem's body jerked to the back to life as if he got struck by lightning.

"Thank god, you survive! Not bad at all for a mortal," Cytortia breathed a sigh of relief before greeting him with an uneven mixture of excitement and concern. "Stats check time!"

The badger leaped up the boy's leg and checked his temperature with a palm of her hand.

"Look like everything is fine," Scathach wrapped her hand around Rem's slim neck and started shaking. "Now, show me the card."

The glowing card with gossamer texture appeared in Rem's hand.

...

Remus Breaker

Messenger

Stat

Str: 70 [E]

End: 120 [E]

Mag: 135 [E]

Wis: 385 [C]

Dex: 140 [E]

Skill

Active

Arrival of Dream [N/A]

Calm mind [A]

Passive

Territory [E]

Reality Breaker [Ex]

The Way of Optimism [N/A]

...

"Congratulations, kid. Your power-level break past 800; this means you escape being feed to the crocodiles," Scathach said after short a calculation. "Wait!? A wisdom base Messenger?"

Scathach turned silent. Her brain began grinding in an attempt to dissect this information.

"Power-level?" Rem questioned the goddess.

"It is how we judged someone potential," the exhausted Cytortia handed Rem a cup of water out of concern while avoided looking into his eyes. "It's your battle-power calculated by taking the total sum of your stat. In this case, the value is 850."

"850 is pretty good, given that most human has initial power-level ranging between 600-750. Some rare cases will even touch 900," Scathach said, puzzling at the mystery provided by Rem's epithet. "This is bizarre; half of your stat weighted in wisdom, and your class is Messenger."

"Wait," Cytortia's eyes-brows burrowed in disbelief and confusion. "Isn't the elves have an entire island dedicated to getting that title? Only someone who receives divine's mission from a high-ranking god can get it, isn't it?"

"Yes, but which god could..."

"Her name was Satholia, Queen of the Center-force," Rem threw the metaphorical atom bomb into the open.

"Who?" Cytortia replied, her eyes turned into a pair of dots from curiosity.

Scathach wordlessly arched her arm back, and, to the surprise of everyone, especially Cytortia, she knocked out the clueless goddess with a punch. The young goddess spun like a top and resoundingly fell flat on the ground like a dead horse.

"Wow," Rem looked at the unresponsive goddess with an almost unnoticeable hint of concern. "That punch was uncalled. I know she might be a bit childish and arrogant sometimes. But that right hook was way too mean to be used on a kid."

Scathach brushed Rem's comment to the wind and wrapped her paw around his neck before shaking him like a tree.

"What do you know about that monster!?"

"She is the nicest, most upstanding person I've ever met," Rem answered. "Which say a lot about how much everyone else sucks because I only know her only for about five minutes."

"Kid, listen to me! That woman is a beast!"

"So the honey badger who sock an innocent goddess in the face claims the patron of all good is a beast?" Rem's mouth curled from annoyance. "Okay, as idiotically bias as that sound, I will at least gave you a chance to explain why the closest goddess to benevolence incarnate is secretly the enemy of mankind."

"She sacked Olympus," Scathach yelled. "That clusterfuck was so apocalyptical every pantheon is still reeling from the aftermath. We barely manage to maintain Phantasia's power-balance after that monster chainsawed it to piece."

"Boo-hoo, poor little Olympian got their ass kick, and I am supposed to be sad," a cold bonfire lited in Rem's gut. He could take the insult aim at him, but today's target was unacceptable. "So the person who scares the vain morons on Olympus and an egotistic badger who plan to make my life hell is a devil? Wow, where do I sign up to be a Satanist and bow to my goddess new order?"

"Kid," Scathach looked defeated. Her shoulder slumped, and her leg flopped like a wet Spaghetti. "I was on Olympus when your 'goddess' went to town. Trust me. she is the devil."

...

A brown-hair woman in dark red leather jacket and black shredded jean ran across the scorched pavement while building crashed resoundingly around her.

Black smoke hung on the air along with the stench of brimstone. It was like an image from the lowest circle of hell.

It was unbelievable to think that this disaster-zone was once the paradise capital of the Olympian.

The woman, the warrior maid Scathach, turned around and witnessed flashes of blue painted the smog-packed sky azure. Winds from the all-powerful attack ripped her jacket into ribbons of leather and pushed her into the nearby wall.

The blue light faded, and a body fell from the sky. Its torso was burnt black, both legs reduced to a burnt stretch of meant. The man's lustrous beard charred away, and his crown of coral was in shards. The azure beam of devastation completely hammered his body and emerald armor into an unshapely wreck. Smashed pieces of metal rained pathetically around him, the remains of his prize trident.

Poseidon, the King of the Sea, laid defeated and broken an inch away from death.

Scathach almost folded on her knees. Who or what could render the Olympian only second to Zeus into this heart-wrenching state?

A second later, she heard the wail of pain. A golden club of adamantine landed next to her and shattered like a ceramics plate.

Scathach looked at the broken weapon in disbelief. She was here as a referee for a match between Heracles and Ares. Not that it mattered, the duel got canceled. Someone broke all of Hercules' limb and crucified him at Athena's temple.

She looked up and finally saw the devil, the ender of the gods, and their worse fear incarnated.

The queen of the Center floated on top of the burning scape. Red inferno highlighted her silhouette. Her gossamer dress shone with bright multicolor arrays, lighting the queen's black-lustrous hair in a majestic glow. Satholia's eyes blazed bright-red and unleashed a volcanic ray of light, torching the nearest temple to the ground. The war god Ares's eyes were blank from a millennium of torture and his right arm was now a cauterized stump.

The torching continued, and a scream of pain followed.

Scathach gritted her teeth; she knew that scream. Hera, the queen of Heaven, was getting lasered. Scathach always thought rainbows were too hippie to look scary, but she changed her mind.

Rainbow was fucking terrifying.

The scream went on for a solid five minutes before a silent shadow arrived behind Satholia with the wind. An owl landed from the sky and transformed into a beautiful woman with auburn hair. A golden shield brandishing image of the Gorgon slid into her left, while her right flourished an ivory javelin.

"Satholia, isn't it?" The goddess of wisdom, Athena, stood up against an overwhelming force of power before her. "Why are you doing this to Olympus?! What are you trying to gain by crippling my family!!? Answer me!"

The usually stoic Athena lost her cool and screamed. 

In return, Satholia cut off her heat vision and snapped her finger without bothering to glance back at her challenger.

"The World," She called.

Athena felt something, someone, flew past her and embedded into the road below in an explosion of dust and brick. When the smoke cleared, a man wearing light armor and winged boots laid buried into the pavement. Fist-shape impressions adorned his body as the evidence of the thousand punches he ate.

"How?" Athena looked flabbergasted at brother Hermes who fell defeated in the pool of his blood.

"I stop time when your half-brother was about to launch that sneak attack," Satholia said, congratulating at Athena. "It was a nice plan. Faking an outrage as a distraction for Hermes to slap a teleporter to move me to Tartarus. It wouldn't work, but I will give a solid 85/100 for effort and creativity."

Satholia stopped smiling.

"Now if only you applied that intelligence to solve the food distribution problems rather than, well, I don't know. Maybe challenging a talented young girl to a weaving contest and turning her into a spider when you don't like the result."

Satholia threw the broken shell of Ares into a building, collapsing it into a shower of marbles, and cracked her fingers as preparation to smash Athena.

Silence followed, then the sigh arrived. 

"Still can't admit your arrogance even when it stares you in the face? Very well, it appears that I have to drive the reflection into your head the hard way."

"How did you discover my plan?" Athena readied her spear and pretended she never heard the lecture.

"I overheard It, " Satholia pointed at her ears. "Superhearing."

Sweat trickled down Athena's cheek. Was there any chance for them to win?

Time stop. Heat vision. Superhearing. Super-strength above Heracles, an illusion that broke the will of Ares and energy attack powerful enough to down Poseidon. Athena grasped her spear a bit tighter. Just how many powers could the woman in front of her use? What exactly is her limit?

The goddess of wisdom readied her shield in a defensive stance. Athena's breathing became more controlled and synchronized. Her eyes sharpened. She had to be careful. One mistake, and she would end up like Hermes or Poseidon.

Satholia clenched her fist and disappeared in flashes of rainbow lightning.

Athena's eyes widened. Super-speed too!? She gritted her teeth and swept her spear in furious circles, aiming to take the enemy coming at her blind spot.

Sadly for Athena, Satholia saw that coming. She stopped outside the range of the ivory weapon and caught it in her grasp. Athena's eyes widened with surprise, but it was already too late. In bizarre wrapping of flesh, scales grew on the elegant divine spear as it contorted into green snake baring it fang at Athena.

Athena instinctively flung the snakes away with enough force to shatter its spine and raised her Aegis against Satholia without a pause. But instead of continuing her attack, Satholia sadly watched the snake writhed and slithered away.

"You are lucky it isn't dead."

Athena stoically ignored Satholia.

Crack!

"What!?" Athena fell face-first to the ground, crying from the sharp pain from her shattered spine. "I... I can't feel my leg!"

"Of course you can't, " Satholia said calmly. Immense power churned around her fist as she walked to the disabled Athena. "The injury that snake suppose to take will be reflected at you. You shouldn't break its spine, but again, lack of compassion is one thing I can count on to stab you in the back, little Athena."

Satholia's voice turned from motherly to reproachful as she charged the finishing blow.

"Athena, dear, you never have a chance. You are a master warrior and tactician. No one can dispute that fact, but you are incapable of taking a loss or learning to reflect on yourself. Gods like you over-relies on your power to bull-doze everything that disagrees with you. What you have is strength without a heart, and such a thing will lose its purpose by tomorrow."

Athena tried to scream, but her fear choke her cries in her throat.

"[Onepunch]+[Vector Manipulation]+[Earthquake]+[Aura Coating]," Satholia called. Her power blazed, turning her fist a shining sun. "Sleep tight, little Athena."  

Athena shut her eyes tight, but it didn't save her.

"[Space Crush Impact]!"

Scathach never witnessed that blow, but she felt it. Every soul on Olympus did. The air-pressure from this single blow lifted everyone into the sky in a galeforce and let them witnessed the might of Satholia first hand. 

The queen's fist cracked the air itself as the shockwave shattered the reality on Olympus like glass. Glowing web of fractures was seen from space as they spread a hundred kilometers in every direction. But the power didn't scatter far, no. Instead of diffusing, the force's vector was directed on Athena's arms, crushing it to non-existence. The raw pressure dug a pit through the heart of Mt. Olympus. The updraft and wind formed a hurricane that pried the mountain from its foundation.

That was the Olympus End Incident. It was an event that forces the pantheon of Phantasia, spearheaded by a critically injured Zeus, to drag themselves in front of Satholia and commit themselves to world peace. The Olympians survived to tell the tale, but some never psychologically recover. 

...

"Wow," Cytortia's gaze widened with stars. "That is so awesome."

"When did you wake up?" Rem said, wishing for a bag of popcorn and marshmallows for this epic story. Well, at least he learned the life-lesson: always bring snacks.

"When that awesome goddess stopped time like a total badass and beat the crap out of Hermes," She squealed like a fangirl while venting her vengeance. "Serve you right for always pranking me, you jerk! Can't run in stop-time, can you, asshole!!!"

"Do you know you are admiring a monster so terrifying the gods, one of them happened to be your master to boot, dared not to speak her name?" Scathach tried not to curl into a ball and cried in terror. Rem could understand why Scathach's fear, so he decided to respond with detached silence. Cytotia, on the other hand, was ruled by her passion.

"You won't understand,” Cytortia accused at Scathach. ”You and the gods are like Chuang and Tie Hua, so drunk in the taste of power you can barely see anything else any better than ants.”

Cytortia went further.

"Wow, so Olympus got smacked around. Yeah, after the crap they pulled, I am only surprised I am hearing about this now? Don't tell me, I already know why. The senior gods stopped bickering for once and hid her existence from us, right? Your vanity and idiocy wouldn't fly with mommy handing out punches, so you buffy your head in the sand and pretend she doesn't exist."

Scathach's expression pretty much confirmed what Cytortia had said.

"Yeah, I guess so," Cytortia said. "You can't hold onto power the moment we know about a better alternative."

Rem decided that was the moment to cut to the chase.

"If you want to join Satholia's fan club, here how?" Rem said out loud. "But I don't think you will like the initiation."

...

"Fuck," Scathach cursed and hung her head in depression.

”Why me?" Cytortia's emotion laid stuck between happiness and soul-crushing terror. "She must know I will die in the first round, right?"

”There are tonnes of better choices out there, ” Rem admitted and nodded toward the goddess with a new sense of kinship. ”You can always ask her when you have a chance.”

”But this means that you had to join me!” Cytortia shrieked. ”No offense and all but, mortal, my rivals will annihilate you.”

”Which is why we will go incognito until the right timing,” Rem stated and glanced at Scathach. ”I guess you know the stake.”

”Stupid goddess and her plan,” Scathach muttered, dragging herself to her bike. Her depression was obvious. ”Why the hell do I have to be dragged into this death trap?”

"The short and only answer is karma," Rem said. "So about the Northland. What should I be expecting?"

"The elves," Scathach answered while crying tears of blood. ”They live in the forest the size of Earth in an ancient capital city made out of trees. Although they lost to the human in number, even the weakest awakened elf would trump untrained mortal like you. We are all screwed, and she will blame me for sure. What did I do to deserve this hell?”

Rem bit back a snark for that last comment.

Scathach flipped a hidden switch, and in flash of light, the bike transformed into a black family van. The van was well-maintained with a glossy back surface and silver components. The engine rumbled, ready for an adventure.

”Welcome to the Black Mercy, ” Scathach dejectedly climbed onto a driver seat. ”Hop on.”

She closed the door dejectedly.

...

The Black Mercy was a van incorporating space-folding technology. It had four bedrooms, each containing a bunk-bed and a wooden desk. 

The common-room came with a tea-table, sofas and flat-screen television. A mini-fridge and a computer sat to the side of a cupboard-wide cubical. Panel lamp and skylight decorated the ceiling. For the final touch, a black wall of glass separated the driver seat to the living quarter.

Cytortia and Rem looked inside the bathroom. It was a Japanese style bath-house with a sweet hot spring. The aroma and steam hit the duo nose like an early new year; further investigation led to a door labeling supply, gym, kitchen, and Armory.

Cytortia procured a towel from one of the shelves inside the hot spring.

”No peeking,” She stated.

Rem nodded. He was not a degenerate, so an excuse wasn't needed.

And with that, the van headed toward its first adventures.