I looked at Freyja first, then at the surrounding Eternals. Making a quick decision, I raised my hand and,
"Exploding Fireball!"
I unleashed an area-effect spell towards them. Now, since I like keeping simple names for my spells—and they do literally what their name says—they often get underestimated in terms of potency...
This Exploding Fireball used my Divinity of Creation to form a super small supernova, launched it like a projectile, and then exploded. To a layman, it would indeed look like a fireball—but they'd be in for a surprise when the explosion occurred...
Anyway, there was a large crater where the forest had previously been, and the Eternals were nowhere to be seen. Maybe they survived, maybe they didn't. Don't know, don't care.
Oh… Thena's left behind here… I thought, looking at the unconscious Thena who had been exempted from the spell.
I canceled the shield spell, and a golden streak—faster than Makkari—jumped at me.
Freyja gave me the tightest hug ever. It was as if she had poured all her strength into it, and she was crying too… badly.
"I'm sorry... sorry for being so weak... You had to ensure my safety first—it even put you in a bad situation... I hated that feeling... staying inside the shield while you were being attacked by enemies... Never have I hated myself so much. I was simply being a burden on you..." Freyja muttered between sobs.
I patted her back and head, and delivered a soft kiss on her forehead.
"You were not being a burden, Freyja. It was my mistake—being too overconfident, underestimating them too much. As for ensuring your safety first... can't say anything about that. Even if you were just as strong as me, my first thought while being ambushed would be to check whether you're safe. Maybe this is what love is. So don't be too hard on yourself..." I said, comforting her.
"Hmm... but I never want a situation like this to happen again. Please start teaching me from today itself. I'll work my hardest. Should we leave this vacation and go back to Asgard?" Freyja said. Maybe the attack spooked her a bit—after all, this was her first encounter with a fight.
"No need. This was just a minor episode. I'll ensure nothing like this happens again, so let's continue our journey..." I said thoughtfully. I had been too arrogant, and this is what happened. So, from now on, I'll exercise some caution. But there is a difference between being cautious and being a coward. If I go back to Asgard just because of this attack, then it would be cowardice. Caution is simply asking Raph to anticipate and warn me about such attacks beforehand.
I then looked at Thena on the ground again... What should I do with her... My eyes fell on Freyja, still within my arms.
Making a quick decision about who's more important, I decided to deal with Thena later. Being with Freyja was more important now.
Still, to ensure she doesn't slip away—
"Heimdall! Take this Eternal back to Asgard and place her in the prison. Wait till I return, and tell my father he doesn't need to bother himself with it. I'll handle it myself." I said, looking upwards.
What came was not a verbal reply—the Bifrost fell on Thena, and she disappeared, leaving runic symbols on the ground.
"Let's go back to the castle and have some rest. Then we'll continue with our journey." I said firmly, patting Freyja.
"Hmm." Freyja nodded.
I conjured a gate leading back to the castle I had just created and rested there for some time with Freyja. Then—
"Freyja, I'll be leaving for a while. Don't leave the castle, okay?" I said calmly, but my tone was firm, leaving no room for rejection. She understood that, so she nodded and promised me she would do as I said.
I left the castle and cast a dome shield over it.
'Raph, design a golem to protect the castle. Arm it with the best of what we can do now,' I ordered.
[Yes master, starting blueprint creation.]
[Creation completed.]
And it was done. The information on how to create the golem was sent to my mind directly. I then flared my Divinity of Creation into action and created the golem. Since it was a mindless creature, it could only be given simple commands—which was to protect the castle. As a general characteristic, whenever someone crosses a certain strength threshold and is not an Aesir, the golem will attack them.
'Well… that took far less energy than I had anticipated… I can create a few more…' I thought, and created eleven more golems, forming a total of a dozen golems.
'That was easy…' I thought, seeing the golems moving and surrounding the castle from all sides.
The reason I was out here now was to check up on the Eternals.
'So, are you sure they're all alive, Raph?'
[Yes master. But not all of them. Ajak used some drastic measure, bringing Ikaris back to health. He rushed into action, saving the others, but he could not save everyone—and he himself was injured too.]
'Oh… so it was Ikaris. Well, from what I remember about the Eternals movie, they should try to get back to their ship right now. Since that's the place where they could heal most efficiently. So for me to find them, it's as simple as finding their spaceship and just going there. Whoever's alive should be there. No, I don't intend to kill them all—but confronting them is still necessary. Though I might kill Ikaris too. After all, he was the first to attack…'
I looked toward Babylon, which was unusually empty today—but my ears could hear loud prayers from every temple and home.
'Hmm… The humans must have witnessed the battle from the town. And frankly, just seeing the aftermath should be enough to scare the shit out of them…'
[Yes master. According to them, this was probably a battle between gods and demons.]
'I see… I'll deal with the Eternals later. First, let's guide these humans to the right path. I am the god here—the Eternals are the bad guys. Oh, and also get a guy to inscribe the lore in a stone or something…'
[Yes master. Formulating the easiest plan to do so.]
'Yup… after all, this will be my first lore on Earth…'