New York City, Earth
Vesta lands on the rooftop of the half-rebuilt Null Tower, accompanied by someone who could very well be her twin. Even the red hair is the same length, and the small difference in hairstyle is one of the only two ways to differentiate them, the other being their exposed midsection: Vesta is showing off her bellybutton, while the other woman doesn’t have one.
Noriko Null, Quantum and Lily are waiting for them, and the question on their mind is so obvious that answering it is the very first thing Vesta does.
<Guys, this is my mother Rhea. Mom, these are my friends: Noriko, Max and Lily.>
<Aww, they look so adorable!> Rhea comments, her voice a little more high-pitched than Vesta’s. She pats Lily on the head, smiles at Quantum, and finally grabs Noriko by her shoulders.
<How cute, this one is even menstruating! You knew I was coming, Hestia?>
<If I knew, we would’ve met on Pluto> Vesta answers, covering her eyes in shame. It’s nothing compared to Noriko, turning red when Rhea puts her hand around her shoulders and says:
<Didn’t my daughter tell your people it’s because of me that you don’t breed like animals?>
<Vesta?> Noriko asks, trying to free herself from Rhea’s titanic hug.
<Yeah, my mother… kind of invented menstruation> Vesta reveals, even more embarrassed.
<How nice of her> Noriko comments through her teeth.
<“Vesta”? Is that how your subjects call you, Hestia?> Rhea asks her daughter.
<No, I mean yes, I mean… it’s how I call myself now, Mom.>
<What’s wrong with the name I gave you? You know how hard it is to go through eight months of labour and come up with a name? After pushing a baby literally made of fire out of your…>
<That’s right, “hestia” literally means “hearth” in Olympian> Lily realizes.
<So, miss, ehm, ma’am, what brings you to Earth?> Quantum asks, trying to change the subject.
<“Earth”? You changed the name of the planet, too? I can’t take my eyes off you, sweety!>
<Mom, we haven’t seen each other in three thousand years. Why now?>
<Well, I wanted to talk about this silly thing about Demeter playing dead and Zeus stealing his brother’s Helmet of Darkness, but I came across something else: Enyo and Persephone are fighting.>
<Of course they are. Enyo is the Goddess of War and Persephone is, well, Persephone.>
<But they’re both members of the royal family! What will mortals and other pantheons think about us if we start acting like jerks?>
Noriko and Quantum raise an eyebrow each, at the same time. Even Rhea notices the awkwardness.
<What?> she asks.
<Mom, I appreciate you wanting to be involved, but Enyo and Persephone can both act like adults… or at least I think one of them could learn to… you shouldn’t worry about these things.>
<Don’t be silly! You know what we should do? Strongest Under The Heavens! Wouldn’t it be fun?>
<Oh no. No no no no, we are not doing another one of those!!!> Vesta pleads with her mother.
<Now now, Hestia, aren’t you just a little bit curious? You’ve never participated!>
<And I don’t have the slightest interest in that ludicrous contest.>
<Fine, if you don’t want to play with your family, I guess I’ll have to take away your toys> Rhea angrily responds, pointing a finger towards the ground: as soon as it begins to glow, Vesta grabs her hand and holds it between hers. There is still some energy glowing between her fingers.
<Okay, Mom, I’ll play, alright? I’ll play! Just don’t destroy the planet!!!> she pleads.
<That’s my girl!!!> Rhea answers enthusiastically; her finger stops glowing and she playfully pinches Vesta’s cheek, so hard that it leaves a mark despite her invulnerability.
<I’ll tell the others! How much time do you need to prepare?>
<How about a couple of centuries?>
<Oh Hestia, you and your silly jokes. I’ll pick you up in four months, okay? Have fun with your mortals!> she tells Vesta, giving her a motherly kiss on the forehead before flying upwards.
She disappears inside another portal, leaving her visibly emotionally drained daughter behind.
<What the heck was that!?> Quantum asks, scratching his head.
61,000,000 light-years from Earth
Under the strange light of the two planets in the sky, near the edge of a cliff taller than Mount Everest, two women are fighting. Well, the pink haired one is fighting, doing everything she can to land even a single hit. The white skinned one, however, is gracefully avoiding her with elegant and absolutely flawless movements.
<Nice form. Not perfect, but you almost made me make an effort> Inanna comments, sidestepping to avoid the punch thrown by Kari Zel. The goddess takes the opportunity to lock her arm behind her back in a rather painful way, effectively making her lose the fight.
<You were too focused on how to position new duplicates> Inanna criticizes her, allowing her to break free of the lock. Kari massages her arm, catching her breath.
<Force of habit. I was trained in non-Myridian martial arts, but duplicates are my bread and butter.>
<You eat your duplicates? I didn’t know Myridians did that. Who trained you?>
<Lots of people. Mostly Old Man Vor> Kari answers, deciding not to explain to the goddess Earth’s idiomatic expressions… her experience with Torn tells her it would probably backfire.
<Let me guess. Military, solitary, living all his life convinced to be inferior to something incomprehensibly better than him, only trying to survive and care for those he loved?>
<Wow. I didn’t know you could read minds, Inanna.>
<I can’t. But you fight like someone who wasn’t taught that any limit can be exceeded> the goddess reveals, staring at Kari with her ominous red eyes. She gets closer, uncomfortably so, almost pushing her down the cliff.
<Why are you here, child?>
<I… I want to be a better fighter. Torn said you could train me.>
<Why? You have everything a mortal needs. A healthy body, a husband, soon a child, money, fame, a purpose in life. Why come here, where no human has ever been, other than to waste my time?>
<I want to be able to help my friends.>
<Your friends fight gods. What if I told you there is nothing more you can do, that you have achieved the physical peak of what mortal bodies are capable of, and that you should just give up?>
<I’d say that I’ve seen all kinds of impossible things happen before and that I don’t have patience for people who tell me what I can’t do. Cut the crap, Inanna, and let’s get started.>
<Ah!> the goddess exclaims, surprising Kari with a flirty kiss on the lips <What is your name again, little pink child?>
<Kari Zel> she answers, wiping her lips. It wasn’t as unpleasant as it was unexpected; certainly better than the creepy smile that Inanna gives her next.
<Let’s begin your training, Kari Zel. This will be one for the history books… if you survive, that is.>
Mandarin Oriental, New York
Unlike the apartment that Noriko has rented for her father, Vesta’s place is just as empty as her former room in Null Tower: not surprising, considering that she almost never uses it.
But it means there’s room for the rest of the Vanguard and Lily, and since Vesta is the goddess of the household it means there are comfy chairs and everyone’s favorite drink ready to be consumed: coffee for Noriko, beer for Quantum, bubble tea for Kari, even celery juice with vinegar for Lily.
<How can you drink that stuff!?> Quantum asks her.
<How can you not?> the blue alien asks back, greedily drinking from her cup.
<So what exactly is this “Strongest Under The Heavens”, Vesta?> Noriko asks, blowing on her cup.
<It’s the title granted at the end of a tournament of the same name. The winner is proclaimed as the most powerful being beneath the Nine Gods and awarded a prize by the contest’s patron deity.>
<Great, as if the gods need yet another reason to fight each other> Kari sighs.
<It’s a very old tradition, going back four billion years: Inanna was the first winner, defeating my grandfather Uranus. It was suspended during my father’s rule, then brought back by Zeus who was the winner a few times until Hera convinced him to stop… he had a habit of sleeping with every female contestant and most of the male ones.>
<Have you ever participated?> Quantum asks.
<No. I kept being invited and I’ve seen a couple of matches, but it wasn’t my thing. My mother used the tournament to settle the score between Hera and Demeter about who was the most powerful: Hera won the fight, but she ended up losing to Anubis in the finals. After that, Ares has won every single contest, except the last one a few years before my exile. Herakles won that one; Hera was so mad that a demigod won the tournament she banned our entire pantheon from participating again.>
<Your mother didn’t seem to know that> Noriko notes, raising an eyebrow.
<Mom lives in her own little world. I mean, literally she has her own private planet, but she’s not… well… she’s not entirely all there, you understand?> Vesta notes, pointing at her head.
<She didn’t seem to grasp Demeter’s death> Lily recalls.
<I’m not even sure she understands Dad is dead. You have to realize that she doesn’t spend too much time with mortals, so she hasn’t adapted to your way of seeing how time passes.>
<I don’t get it. Time is time, isn’t it?> Quantum asks.
<She’s a billion years old and my father has been dead for one thousandth of that. If she was thirty years old, one thousandth of that would be… uhm…> Vesta answers, pausing to calculate it.
<10 days, 22 hours and 48 minutes> both Noriko and Lily answer simultaneously, although the Lampyrian continues to specify:
<If we don’t consider leap years, in which case…>
<They got the point> Noriko stops her before she can continue rambling.
<This is interesting and all, but didn’t you say Hera won’t allow the tournament?> Kari asks.
<You don’t know my mother. Once she wants something, she won’t stop bothering everyone until she gets her way… even with Hera.>
<And that’s if Hera is still against the tournament. I’m not so sure about that> Noriko says.
<Trust me, Nori, my sister can hold a grudge forever.>
<Maybe, but she wants Ilithyia to have her own sector, and she’s under threat by Apollo. Could she use the tournament as her means to get an advantage?>
<You don’t understand the scale of the prizes of the Strongest Under The Heavens. If one of Hera’s children wins the tournament, they can become the only rulers of the Olympian Galaxy.>
61,000,000 light-years from Earth
Inanna’s kingdom is unlike what Torn imagined. He’s standing in a canyon of jagged red rocks, filled with the ruins of a once great temple; he can still see the columns, as tall and wide as skyscrapers, surrounded by naked statues of men and women in lewd positions, but everything has been scratched and cut into hundreds of pieces. And everything is red, even the translucent silhouette of Inanna that just appeared in front of him.
<Hey, handsome. Ready for your lesson?>
<I thought you’d be here in person. Why the projection, Inanna?>
<You’re a Demon, your friend needs my help more than you do. Besides, I’ve already done this with your sister, so doing it exactly the same way would be such a bore.>
<So this is where Pain was trained> he says, touching one of the columns. It leaves a red smear on his hand, and he can see that the column was originally white.
<This is blood. My sister’s blood> he deduces.
<Oh yeah, the whole place was white. And, y’know, intact. Your sister had such passion, Torn; are you sure you can work up the same kind of attitude?>
<I am determined to aargh!> Torn screams in pain: Inanna’s double has just grabbed his arm, twisted it to snap the ligaments of his elbow, and then pulled it to dislocate his shoulder.
<You know the Blood reacts to biological stimuli, right? Well, what they don’t teach you in Hell, handsome, is that not all stimuli are the same: suffering and hatred can make you far more powerful than you can possibly imagine> she explains, violently throwing him against the ruins so hard that she breaks his nose and fractures his left cheekbone.
<But my lessons don’t come cheap, Torn. You’ll either learn or wish you were dead. Deal?>
Torn wipes away the blood from his nose, and holds his broken arm together with energy knives.
<On one condition> he adds, spitting a couple of his teeth.
<What’s that?> she asks.
<Stop holding back. I’ve been through worse things.>
<Oh, believe me… you haven’t> she replies with a smile, hitting him hard enough to break his jaw.
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