Chapter 196 - 2.73 Xander Unleashed (3): Princes
The secret realm stood silently for a moment with the tables filled with host bodies. Instead of bringing in the souls to place inside of them, the trio found themselves in a rare meeting with Chronos.
"So, this news you bring?" Lord X asked bluntly.
"Ok Chronos what's up and does Athena know this as well?" Hades couldn't help but add.
"She will. I am just a messenger of the events affecting the gods."
"Well, what is it?"
Chornos, "The final war will take place in Limbo, not on Exteria."
"Wait, what?" The three muttered.
"That is all." Chronos said, vanishing to Paradise.
"He just drops that and leaves?! That couldn't have been in his original timeline! Bring in the souls! We have to get to work." Hades demanded.
Persephone opened a portal and thousands of souls poured into the first open body they could see. When every host was full, she closed the portal.
"Hello everyone. You have volunteered to dedicated yourselves to Hades and the cause to overthrow Athena in Paradise. You will be gifted with a pair of transplanted eyes that carry special power that will allow you to defeat enemies with ease. You will be sedated, we will do the transplant, then we will wake you up and send you to a planet to try them out. Are we clear?"
"Wait, we lose our eyes?"
"We don't have eyes, you idiot we're dead!"
"Oh! Sorry!"
Hades unleashed a spell that knocked everyone other than his wife and Lord X unconscious, pulled up another freezer, and the two gods got to work on another round of surgeries.
*****
"Hello lady Athena," Chronos said with a polite bow.
"Hello Chronos. How are you doing my dear friend?"
"I am quite well, my lady. But I bring news. The final war will take place in Limbo, not on Exteria."
"I see that is an interesting development. I see that Pride and Eris joined with Sora. Did you see this coming in the original timeline?"
"I did not. The original timeline of Sora was quite different in most of the views I saw. This one is quite a rare one that only happened one time."
Athena smiled. "Looks like we selected the right human and right split soul for our first try."
Chronos laughed. "Indeed. Be well."
"You too Chronos. Oh, in this vision have you seen yourself in Paradise?"
"There are too many different journeys to say for certain but yes, there is a chance I end up here and Sora and Brie take over my job, just as you promised."
"That's very good. That is what we should hope for then, is it not."
"Indeed. I would very much like to rest and relax with the rest of you. It is lonely there my lady."
"I know Chronos, but you are so talented and I am sorry this has taken longer than I anticipated. I am not a perfect ruler."
"But a wise one. It is ok. Do not dwell on the past, we can only focus on the future, and right now that future heavily relies on how a young man is going to fare against the demon princes."
"Yes… I have that feeling too." Athena said while looking at Exteria.
"Well, it was good seeing you Athena. Until next time." Chronos said politely.
"Chronos."
"Yes?"
"I really do hope everything works out how I originally intended, I hope you know that."
"I do." He said with a kind smile.
Chronos appeared back in his own realm, laid down and stared at his usual monitors which showed live time, future timelines, everything he normally could see. He pinched his nose at the top.
'I'm getting sick of this job.' He thought before finally falling asleep.
*****
Xander quickly began teleporting quickly, evading the massive onslaught of coordinated attacks the princes shot at him.
"This makes so much more sense now after watching training babe." Sora said to Brie.
"It really does. I think Xander is doing well. It's a shame Pride couldn't say anything because he could have used Bishop and his clones to simulate the fight better."
"I really wonder what bonds he's tied to where he can't reveal anything. He should be safe with the party conditions but it's something he doesn't want to risk. I can't blame him for that, he's been nothing but helpful."
"You have really good intuition for someone who used to live under a giant rock!" Brie giggled.
"You know I love you and had I not lived under that rock, I never would have had an excuse to bug you about all the stuff on Exteria and get all that extra time in with you."
"So that's what you were doing? Setting me up to fall for you, I see how it is wise guy."
"No! I swear, I really didn't know!"
Brie laughed. "Still too easy babe."
Sora smiled and kissed her. "I love you. I'm sorry we have to watch our son fight like this but it's the only way he's going to get stronger for what's next. At any signs of trouble, we jump in ok?"
"Ok. I trust you and I can't believe you genuinely love and care about me so much. I hope you know I adore you just as much."
"I do. Don't worry about that, let's watch Xander kick their asses!"
"Yes, that sounds good and I will always worry about that Sora. You confessed your love for me and I said I adore you with all my heart. I wanted to tell you I loved you right after that because I knew, but that would have ruined the moment."
"Really?! Why didn't you just say it?"
"Because I wanted it to feel genuine and that I wasn't just back-tracking from what I said. Your response was just so amazingly sweet, I never expected you to be so excited that I wasn't able to say it but I adored you and cared about you with all my heart."
"Well, I think the way you finally said it was pretty awesome, if that counts for anything."
Brie smiled while looking off and watching Xander exchange blow for blow with the princes, narrowly dodging harm each time.
"It counts for everything. I'm just glad we have eternity to spend and as long as we win this war, there's literally no time limit on how much time we have together. Maybe one day when the kids are older and this is all behind us, we can live peacefully together, just the two of us for once."
"Yes. I would love nothing more than that. That would be the most human experience we could have. I think my foster parents used to say they would finally have an empty nest or something."
"Oh! Like birds when their kids finally fly away and it's just the two of them. I guess we are silly little love birds."
Sora smiled as Xander landed a big hit on Beezle, causing black blood to fly.
"Soulmates for eternity. I love you Brie Reinhardt."
Brie blushed. "I love you Sora Smith."
Sora smiled and kissed Brie passionately.
Meanwhile, Xander was locked in a fierce battle with the princes.
'Ok, I'm getting the hang of this. Had Pride not trained me as specifically as he did, I think I'd be in trouble but I'm figuring out their pattern.'