Danmachi: the Great Devourer

C192: Turmoil amongst the gods

Alt Title: Gratitude

Date published: 2/23/2025.

After looking through all the known gods shown in manga and anime, I decided to expand the known pantheons for the story as there is actually a lack of proper combative gods since the majority don't seem very strong compared to the first 3 fights thus far and I don't want to completely nullify the humans side of the fights.

(yes i looked through the entire 'List of Characters' page on the RoR wiki and found them lacking to fill up the whole bracket. There being only 2 exceptions but im saving one of those for later.

***************************

Axel casually made his way out of the arena, while the supernova did take plenty of energy from him, it's just a comparison of a bathtub's worth of energy which is barely a drop to the ocean within Axel. The stone walls he had made previously were actually the dungeon creation and that consumed a bit less energy as the dungeon walls have a preset durability and recovery ability. As such, mixing it with his other spells did diminish his energy reserves which he will need to replenish. 

As he makes his way to the Valkyrie to discuss something, he ponders what other abilities he could showcase in the upcoming fights. He has gone through Asura, migi, and his basic magic abilities. He still has plenty of options: Celebrimbor (shades), Pitou (nen), Soul Evans (soul eater weapon/Spirit Energy), Kratos (gow-weapons and powers from there), Accelerator (psy power). Even with all these options, he would only last until his eight fight. He already has a grand finale for the 13th if it even reaches that far unlike Canon. He could technically call upon his wives many divine powers to expand this listing but now the decision comes to which divinities to use or even who might be his opponent. 

"There are a few noteworthy fighters from the Gods Apocalypse tournament but the only ones I'm looking forward to are Sun Wukong and Prometheus. Unfortunately the titan wishes to call off the ragnarok but since the gods from the tournament have fought him directly, it is unlikely for his wish to be granted." As Axel talks to himself, uncaring of anyone who listens to his words as the humans directly revere him and give him their share of faith energy that he just teleports over to Bell and Welf to make use of. Whether they share this with their kids or take it themselves is not his problem.

["Warning, I have found that a god is attempting to curse you"] Raphael suddenly chimes in to give him a warning but Axel can tell that the sentient system is not actually taking any steps to save him. To anyone else this would have sent them into a frenzied panic but Axel simply channels his power of gluttony which rapidly gulps up and then the traces of the curse flow towards his Rhongomyniad. They flow towards the part of the divine spear that factors in fortune and fate but more on the basis of luck.

'Hmm, interesting curse. If I spend some time practicing this curse I might be able to turn my own luck higher as a reverse curse but for now I'm not worried as everyone here is too weak and only a source of entertainment for him' he makes his way to the human side of the stadium. Brunhilde is locked away in her room, celebrating humanities 2 points. A small group does offer their prayers for Lu Bu as well as his valkyrian partner who have died and likely disappeared from all of reincarnation. 

When Axel walks in, the room quiets down except for one individual who is casually sipping tea in his cup while another who looks like a crazy vagrant loudly consuming chunks of meat over and over again. The vagrant 'child' has his hair tied up in a spiky bundle, yet he still has more casually flopped on his head thus covering the upper half of his face akin to a certain type of anime protagonist template. He is wearing a blue Haori over a red japanese kimono that hides a lean physique. 

"Hmm, why did it get all quiet just now?" The messy eater stops chewing and looks around until his feline eyes lock in on Axel at the entrance as the door closes behind him. A sharp grin overtakes his face as he leaps at Axel with ravenous fervor, only to be blocked by a Thick steel shield owned by an aged man with short white hair but the scars covering his face and exposed forearms tell the tale of a lifetime of conflict. 

"Calm down, you're all on the same side here" Brunhilde gets up while Goll begins to panic like usual. 

"That's exactly whyyyyy!!! I have to fight him! Only he will be worth it unlike the gods" the vagrant swordsman excitedly states and the sentiment is technically shared by everyone here but they at least realize that they shouldn't fight Axel until after Ragnarok.

"Hmmm. ok ill be nice. Here, you can fight this. If you can deliver any sort of injury on my arm past the elbow then ill acknowledge your spirit and fight you myself" Axel pops off his left arm up to the halfway point to his shoulder and tosses it on a chair in the corner of the room. The arm begins to move by itself as it's fingers elongate into blades. 

Everyone recognizes the power of Migi but such versatility only seems to invigorate a few of them as the crazy swordsman is the first to rush towards Axel's arm and initiate combat. The sounds of metal clashing is heard in the room before Axel makes a barrier to enclose around the fighter

"Everyone can have a turn of 10 minutes before resting and thinking of how to fight my arm" He teases them, essentially stating that even after 10 straight minutes, they couldn't even scratch his arm alone, and that while only using 1 power that was already revealed to everyone. 

"Take this time to polish your techniques or make new ones while you can." Axel says the last bit as he moves to the food and takes up a plateful before sitting down and eating. His shoulder extends to create a smaller hand to help him eat when he is interrupted by two of the human representatives.

One begins to question Axel on the technique he used in his last fight against Ra-Horakhty but every single question ends in a single answer, "Magic". Seeing his scientific inquiries proved fruitless, he steps aside, allowing the other to talk now. 

While this second person appears to be a blind man as they wear a white blindfold with red markings on it over the center of his face. Wearing a bare shoulder outfit and golden finger guards on their right hand. Axel can recognize that the individual was remarkably irked by being on the sidelines as the first person spoke yet as a magnanimous person they must experience the factor known as patience. This also gave them the privilege of studying Axel with his own unique sight.

"How can I help the King of Qin? I'm sure you didn't come towards me just to admire me like the Englishman?" Axel says with a bit of Sarcasm while the emperor, Qin Shi Huang is notably surprised that Axel knows of him. His head lowers slightly as he laughs a bit at being so arrogant that he wouldn't be known. 

"I do indeed have some questions for an esteemed traveler such as yourself. Do you need help?" The emperor asks as ever since he saw Axel enter the room he could tell that his 'qi' was unusually fluctuating, increasing at times while decreasing at others. To someone like him, this appears like Qi deficiency and he offers to help Axel if he can.

Axel just shakes his head as he states a bit of what he is going through, "no need, just a bug trying to mess with me and failing" he offhandedly comments as [Raphael] continues to give him warnings about a god planting a curse on him and then him absorbing it. 

Thus far he has been afflicted with over 20 curses, the worst amongst them being: Explosive Diarrhea, Heart Failure, Brittle Bone Disease, Pneumonia, Cancer and the curse of hitting his shin on various corners. Each one weakens him a bit before he absorbs it and then restabilizes himself which is what the King of Qin sees. Though seeing the sincere request from the emperor, Axel decides to humor him a bit. Axel decided to explain the differences of his Nen and the emperor's Qi. 

The natural power to compress his life force for momentarily boosts of power or defense is all known to the emperor yet he is happily taking in this information as it helps him diversify his own repertoire. Axel offered to unlock the emperor's nen but he refused as he does not have enough time to learn all the techniques or the fact that it could potentially be incompatible with his Qi. Axel respects his decision as they continue to bask in the party's aura while the fighters regularly switch to fight against Axel's arm with no lucky winners. 

As compared to the happiness of the humans, the gods are all gritting their teeth as they have lost 4 powerful godly fighters. Ares and Hermes temporarily take over the position of Chairman of the gods Assembly that originally belonged to Zeus. 

They have to keep the various other pantheons in check but there are still a few amongst them that go rogue or just dismiss them. Amongst the dismissive is Odin and Loki who are already set to fight in the future. For them, they don't care about Ares and Hermes as they have their own plans. As for the ones who choose to go rogue is the Incan pantheon (based in South America along the Western side, aka part of Peru, and Chile that makes up the Incan Empire)

A tall man wearing a black tunic with golden accents around the sleeves and jewelry of various colors to showcase his wealth. With a skull bone type of mask resting on top of his black horned head. The glowing bronze colored skin perfectly contrasts his clothing and fashion. This is Supay, the Incan God of Death, he walks over to another of his 'kin' who is resting on a mat with their hands together as if praying. 

This second person shares the similar glowing bronze skin but his is decorated with markings that appear like a tapestry of death and murder or torture. A dark aura shrouds this individual as they continue to mumble something and a chunk of the dark aura separates from him. This is Piquerao, the god of evil and darkness as well as the very source of the curses constantly targeting Axel.

As the god of evil finishes his next chant and takes a small rest, Supay speaks to him, "how goes it, is that pathetic mortal already dead?" 

"I am unsure, the moment my curses seep into him, the connection to me is cut but I am certain that he has been afflicted. It might not be immediate as their inhuman properties could potentially resist it." Piquerao confidently describes how each of his curses reach Axel but then becomes uncertain as he has never had this happen before, he could only chalk it up to Axels slime physique. 

His words are only met with the black scaly hand of Supay on his face, dragging Piquerao up into the air as he begins to flail about. "I do not need uncertainty, I need results, afterall, it will be us who kill this hateful fiend. For the honor of Ataguchu" The malice emitted by Supay chokes but is eventually released as he also repeats the phrase, "For the honor of Ataguchu"

"Hmph, continue your work. I have more to discuss with the rest" The demonic god leaves the other god to his evil work as Piquerao pants from the loss of breath. Supay meets with the other gods and after a little while the general consensus is to send one of them in the next round to kill off Axel, now it's just a matter of deciding who does it as most of the Incan gods are not primarily combative, most of their focuses are on nature, human related growth or gods of certain plants and animals

"I will go" an echoing voice states their demand as most gods in the room have to strain their necks to look up at the towering behemoth of a god that just spoke. They whisper amongst themselves that while Axel is not human, his flesh should still be delicious for the animalistic god that spoke.

The next day soon arrives as both gods and mortals funnel back into the stadium. The energy on the human side is high due to them being ahead by a single point, one provided by the first human Adam and the other provided by the inhuman unknown Axel Gram. It is now the humans' side battle so Axel rests in the waiting room along with the other human champions. Though, one may notice that his left arm is still missing as one amongst the human warriors is missing, endlessly pursuing the goal of eternal swordsmanship.

Heimdall first begins by introducing the new battle platform as the arena has been changed into primarily a water level with a single regular circular platform in the center. Next step is to introduce the two warriors that shall meet here in the arena. On the gods side is the brother of Zeus, another of the Greek Trinity, The god Poseidon. Wearing a deep blue body suit that leaves his chest, from his neck to his waist, open. Seaweed covered fingerless gloves and a white coat with golden lines that is tied around his waist, covering most of his blue baggy pants.

Poseidon carries his trident to the arena, being brought up by the water itself as is natural of it's ruler, his apathetic face not changing once. Considered the most fearsome of gods he bears the title of G.O.D. or God of Gods. Axel cant help but smirk as this very god died to a mere mortal long past his youthful prime but well into his aged and skilled prime. 

The very mortal soon enters the arena right after Poseidon, With long silver hair tied up in a knot and freely flowing, he wears red orange haori with flower patterns and a darker colored hakama on top of it. Wearing black, toeless leggings he steps onto the arena. The valkyrie Hrist turns into an odachi, the Monohoshizao as he holds the sword with both hands. For this is Sasaki Kojiro, the man who delivered the first victory to mankind in canon. 

The two, god and man, face off against each other. Yet while it looks like they don't fight, they have actually been undergoing a mental battle against each other where Sasaki Kojiro, the swordsman has lost hundreds if not thousands of times. Each twitch or shift in Poseidon's body demarks another of his mental deaths. And the god of the sea twitches quite often as he has his own flashbacks to all his interactions with a young Zeus, and the rest of his brothers. He lowers his head in mourning and Kojiro seems to sweat even more as if he can see the resolute aura on Poseidon. 

As Poseidon lifts his head, he strikes out with his trident, the sword and trident clash but while Poseidon had initially planned to end this in one strike, he was surprised that Kojiro could read him. Meanwhile the swordsman himself is confused as his body seemed to move instinctively in response to the piercing attack but the only event that correlates to this attack was the training he had with Axel the previous night. 

Sasaki Kojiro grins as he realizes that Axel had seemingly given him the key to defeating the god before him. 'Hehe, now it's just up to this old man to deliver on the tips given to him.' With a resolute look, he executes Tsubame gaeshi (swallow reversal) to deliver 2 deep cuts to Poseidon. The physical pain and mental anguish of losing his brother seem to make him more indifferent yet Sasaki can tell his battle aura is invigorated and the battle gradually ramps up higher and higher and soon enough the valkyrie is snapped in half but after a dramatic showing the broken blade splits into 2 katanas that Sasaki Kojiro uses to execute the final Niten Ganryu Style technique: Sōen Zanko Banjin Ryōran. The finale of the world's greatest loser's work comes to fruition as it splits Poseidon into chunks. 

With tons of injuries, Sasaki moves to the infirmary only to be healed by Axel, leaving him newly scarred but healed. "Thank you". With a returned nod, Axel moves to the arena where poseidon body is collected along with his trident. The water gradually flows away from the arena, returning the arena to a blank as Axel steps onto the the raised platform, taking out a chair to wait for his opponent who doesnt take all that long to come out. 

**********************************

Alt Title: Humans' Party, King of Qin's questions and Friendship, Sasaki's gratitude

Word count: 2953

Drop a comment if you wanna judge my writing or the story. I'll try to respond, especially if you're confused or anything.