The Dark Rebirth of Pandora: Revenge of the Abyss

Chapter 603: Two Sides of the Same Coin

”Okay, Elysia, whatʼs this meeting for?” The elf goddess questioned me, frustrated, as we all sat gathered here, minus Delphina, whoʼd made it clear she wasnʼt going to help.

”Eryndriel, I donʼt want any conflict this time. I called you all here so we could start getting ourselves coordinated. For that, since weʼll need to unite and get along, how about we talk about each of our divine weapons?” I said, tossing my sword onto the table to start things off.

If I told one of them to start, they wouldnʼt want to. After all, this team isnʼt really very united; we only came together out of necessity.

”This is my weapon. Itʼs called the Sword of Lamentation. Its ability is to enslave an opponent I defeat with the sword. Only one target at a time, and the sword becomes unusable until I release the slave. Then I can use it again.”

”Its powers are simple, and there isnʼt much more to explain about it. Most of you here already knew what it does.” They stared at my divine weapon on the table, while Morynna looked irritated, since sheʼd been a slave to that sword herself until recently.

”So thatʼs it? ...Letʼs just get this farce over with, then. Elysia, if youʼre so curious, this here is my divine weapon.” Eryndriel tossed a bow onto the table.

The bow was a very deep green, with a black center, and had several brown, black, and different shades of green spots, as if designed to blend into a forest.

The weapon itself was a precision longbow, and it likely used arrows formed from Eryndrielʼs own mana.

”Itʼs called Cloud Hunter, and it has two abilities, but only one can be used at a time. It can fire arrows infused with multiple elements at once to have the effect of all of them, or it can fire arrows that will always hit the target and cannot be dodged.”

”But itʼs either I choose not to miss, or I choose for them to have powerful effects. Itʼs pretty limiting.” Eryndriel stopped talking as we all stared at her bow. It was undeniably a strong weapon, very much her style.

”W-Wow...” Elowen, the weakest one here, looked at Eryndrielʼs weapon with obvious admiration, while I looked at her with disappointment. A weapon only useful for support.

ʼDamn... my weapon has an ability thatʼs nearly useless in a direct confrontation, and Eryndrielʼs is just as bad.ʼ Against Pandora and Azraelith, this would only help them adapt faster. It was only useful against Echidna.

”Whoʼs next to show theirs? I hope to see at least something useful.” I spoke without any filter, earning me some ugly looks.

”I-I... I-I have th-this...” Elowen weakly placed a staff on the table. It had a wooden handle and a green sphere floating at its tip. I was surprised someone as pathetic as this girl had a divine weapon, but what could I do? She was still a goddess, and quite old, so it made sense sheʼd awakened hers.

”I-Itʼs called the Staff of the Nine Realms... i-it has five abilities, w-which are... creating a barrier that can only be used once every several hours. The barrier blocks any attack and breaks after blocking one strike.”

”T-The second is creating plant life. The third is completely healing someoneʼs injuries, but that can also only be used once every few hours...”

”T-The fourth is an area buff for m-my allies, i-increasing their strength by fifty percent... a-and the fifth is an attack... I donʼt know exactly what it does. I-I just know it fires a beam of mana...”

”A-Also, the weapon c-changes shape. I-it has four forms: staff, shield, harpoon, and axe...” She finished her explanation, blushing with embarrassment.

”...At least your weapon is more useful than Eryndrielʼs. That barrier, if used at the right moment, is great. And despite the drawbacks for the fight weʼre facing, youʼll be relatively useful,” I said, frustrated that she also had support abilities.

ʼThe problem is if Pandora has awakened her divine weapon... that creates an unpredictable variable...ʼ I hope she doesnʼt have one yet.

”And you, Morynna. Reveal your weapon to those two who donʼt know it.” I looked at Morynna, who rolled her eyes at me. She soon placed a spear on the table. The spear had a black shaft with a pattern that looked like magma, and a tip with an incandescent glow of red, yellow, and orange, as if it were extremely hot.

”This is the Spatial Disruptor. Its ability is to accumulate continuous damage into a single, powerful strike. The more hits I land with it, the more charge it stores. Thatʼs it.” She spoke, clearly annoyed with me.

”Undeniably, Morynna here has the best weapon, especially for use against Azraelith and Pandora. The problem is charging it. To take down those two pests and their adaptation, a single strike is the best choice.”

”But for Morynna to charge the spear with enough power is complicated. Although, since normal strikes from the spear donʼt trigger adaptation, charging Morynnaʼs spear against Pandora is easier. Only Azraelith is a problem, since she gets stronger with each blow she receives.” I said, taking my own weapon back.

”By the way, for those of you who donʼt know, I know what Delphinaʼs weapon ability is. It was useful. If that bitch helped us, itʼd be good to have her,” I said, irritated with her.

”Itʼs the Twin Bloody Fangs. The ability is to break any form of defense if Delphina hits the defense with both daggers. So defensive abilities, shields, anything defensive becomes useless against her.” That ability would be perfect.

Especially if Delphina stuck close to Morynna. Theyʼd make the perfect pair to fight together. But that bitch left without even wanting to hear anything.

”Elysia, honestly, the more we gather here in your home, the worse our situation seems. Do you really think we can win? I donʼt have much confidence in your plans,” Eryndriel said with sarcasm and disdain.

”Of course we can. And I have plans for us to win. Iʼm just adjusting and refining ideas. Plus, anything we have to use is something Iʼll evaluate to see if it can be useful.” The three of them looked at me as if I didnʼt know what I was doing.

”Youʼre complaining?! If you think itʼs so bad, do better than me! Come up with a plan that can take down those three aberrations using what we have!” I spoke mockingly to the three, who said nothing.

Because they knew it wasnʼt something easy or simple. Just as they knew that all of us here would likely be targets anyway, even if they didnʼt want to fight, because Echidna hated us all and wasnʼt going to let it slide.

”Itʼs past time to jump off this sinking ship. So now, either sink with me and follow my ideas to save us, or try to jump off and die alone.” When I said that, no one said a word.

”No courage, huh? You stupid women. Then donʼt complain about what I do. Itʼs pretty hypocritical when no one wants to take responsibility for planning or even trying to come up with an idea.” Elowen shrank back into her chair.

Morynna frowned but didnʼt say anything, and Eryndriel just stared at me with a clear look of disgust. But all of them were clearly tense.

”Letʼs end this here... I have things to do. Do what you want.” I said, leaving the table and walking away, not wanting to see them in front of me anymore. I had more important things to do.

ʼI need to secure my survival in case everything fails and we end up losing...ʼ I was sure Pandora knew how to destroy souls, but a goddessʼs soul wasnʼt as simple to destroy as a mortalʼs.

I could try to reincarnate and recover my power later, as long as I had my memories. If I had my memories, I could continue. Of course, it was just an extra plan in case of death, but I didnʼt plan on dying. I just understood the unpredictability of such a battle and was accepting the risks.

...

...

...

”Pandora, are you okay?” Azraelith asked me as I entered the room on shaky legs. I slammed the door and dragged myself to the bed.

”I am... I just got the strangest massage of my life... It was good, I think... Here, take this.” I tossed a piece of paper onto my sisterʼs bed.

”Whatʼs this?”

”A plan. Iʼm working on how weʼll fight against the goddesses. Since weʼve already slept together, I donʼt think I need to act cute anymore, right? So letʼs get serious!! Increasing our strength is important, but we need to know how to handle the goddesses.”

”Besides that, thereʼs also the fact that we donʼt even know when this fight will start or who will start it! While weʼre in the Abyss, obviously the goddesses canʼt start anything, but as soon as we leave here... the fight could begin at any moment.”

”We donʼt know if theyʼll start it or if we will, so Iʼve been making some contingency plans. And now that weʼre in a good place, I think itʼs time we consider our actions.” I smiled at her, flopping down fully onto the bed.

”Okay... now.... COULD YOU LET ME GO?!!” Azraelith yelled as I looked at the bed, seeing she was still tied up where Iʼd left her.

”Nah, you can get loose, big sister.” I said, staring at her swollen belly. What an adorable woman. I was so in love with this woman. Just lovely.

”...Bitch...” She insulted me while I ignored her, thinking about Elysia. She was the biggest threat among the goddesses, and the opponent I wanted to face personally was someone who shouldnʼt be underestimated.

ʼThe plans Iʼm making with Mommy are good, but I also need to think about the post-battle...ʼ If the goddesses lost, I doubt they wouldnʼt try something. Maybe reincarnation magic, which my mother said many goddesses have their own versions of.

ʼI need to block reincarnation, or at least control how their reincarnation works...ʼ The Beastman Goddess was a servant in my castle, showing that even if they reincarnated, as long as they had no memories, they essentially became another being.

Besides, as someone who understood souls, I knew that when a soul reincarnates, it changes. It adapts to its new existence and becomes another being. Since my conflict with Elysia was more a matter of survival and incompatibility, I figured that even if she reincarnated, Iʼd find her, take her new version for myself, or kill her new version and steal her soul.

Either option was good for me. That made me smile. If someone canʼt even envision victory, their chances of losing are immense. Meanwhile, those who can see the aftermath are confident in their victory. And I was confident I would win.

ʼWeʼll roll the dice and see the outcome...ʼ I stared at Azraelith with a smile, satisfied with the current results.