Ngh...! Crap, no use! Olya actually got one over on us this time! I can't stop writing no matter how hard I try!
"Olyahim!" Meil shouted, his face gradually melting into a terrifying grimace, "You'll regret using the Books on Nelly!"
"Will I? Guess we'll see." He kept writing in his own Book, "But come on, it's not like I hypnotized her or anything scary sounding like that. Shiet, I just wrote in that she'll be very much inclined to help me out with getting Schnell and Shaid back, nothing she probably wouldn't do anyways."
"Ugh! Voices!" Meil ordered, "Blow Olyahim away! If one of them is unable to write, then we should still be safe!"
Right, this ritual Olya had set up will only work if both of us wrote the wish in after Meil agreed to the terms. Sadly, it doesn't seem like the rules of takebacks apply. Still, so long as either me or Olya are disabled from writing the wish in, then everything will be okay!
"Wouldn't it make more sense to then blow the little girl away?" They asked.
"Of course it would, do it!" I yelled.
"No, do not hurt Nelly!" Meil bit his tongue.
"It's okay, Meil!" I turned to him, "If it'll stop the end of the world, then I'm the smallest price to pay for that!"
"You are the biggest price!" He ran to me, only to trip and fall midway.
"Cheh, Luck's always on my side when I need it the most." Olya smirked, "Just ride the Sinus Wave, I thought you of all people would've learnt that by now."
The prompt Olya and I are supposed to write isn't anything too long, so we're already reaching the endpoint. Just a word or two more and it'll be over, in which case we'll just have to pray that this doesn't screw the world up permanently. Meil won't be able to get up in time to get to us, right now the Gods are our only hope!
"Hnf!" A powerful kick to the shoulder sent me sideward, "Augh, the hell was that...? Wait, I snapped out of it! We stopped the ritual! But who just...?"
"Seriously, I never understood why the old bastard wore those things covering his feet..." A reliable female voice complained, "You guys always seem to trip at the most inopportune times. Why bother wearing anything when you can just walk around barefoot?"
Of course, I should've guessed—Showa! She found us this quickly? Of course, we're not at anyplace hidden to her, since she knows where Meil and Lee's tent spot was set up, but it's still incredible how she knew we'd be here so fast. Ack, that being the case, that dropkick was a bit much, no? My shoulder is still feeling kinda stiff after it...
"Showa, get the Book!" Meil ordered.
"Got it!" She nodded, running on over to pick it up off the ground as she simultaneously propped me up, "Sorry for kicking you so hard. I overheard Meil shouting that you needed to get blown up or something. Hopefully I didn't mishear anything."
Well, the voices and Meil stated "blow away", not "blow up", but it's the same thing really. Fact of the matter is—The ritual was stopped midway, meaning hopefully we won't have to worry about any Hellbeing showing up here.
"Olyahim, you are finished here." Meil began approaching him.
"Cheh, nah bud." He grinned back, "Things are just getting started."
Having said this, a large hole began tearing beneath their feet. Both stepping away so as not to fall through, everyone on our side was appalled to see a bright black light shining through it. Weird, I never thought black light was even a thing, but here we were. Nevertheless, it seems we were too late anyways, for a single hand had clawed itself out of it. Nothing more, just a hand severed at the wrist with a Sun God Insignia scorched on the back of it's palm.
"Yuck!" I stepped back.
"I'm glad the ritual failed, but honestly that doesn't mean I'm happy to be seeing this..." Even Showa seemed disgusted.
"The hell? Don't tell me we messed something up in the prompt!?" Olya began panickedly sifting through Fortune, "No, everything was said to have been done properly, so then...!?"
"Poot." The hand squirmed about on the dirt road it stood on, "Pftl. Wraggle. Blerugh."
"I think I'm gonna be sick." I gagged before re-examining it, "Hold on, don't tell me...!"
"Haha! Attaboy, Schnell!" Olya praised it, "I knew you had it in you!"
The hand that was previously squirming about had propped itself up to stand on it's fingertips. Jumping up and down, gaining progressively more height as if on a trampoline, it had eventually flipped itself upside down. Slamming down hard on the ground wrist first, the rest of its body had seemingly grown from beneath the ground as well. A large, muscular and bearded man with long Brown hair and striking Green Eyes had emerged as if reborn. He was built like a brick wall, and almost twice the size of any of us. Certainly, this was the Grandmaster Adventurer in the flesh...
"Schnell, bud!" Olya called out to him from behind, "Why don't ya' put on some clothes first and then we'll catch up on all the things you missed out on, eh?"
"That voice..." The man turned to his old decrepit friend with a melancholic smirk, "Took you long enough, Fatso. So, how long d'you reckon it takes to win one over that God?"
"Too long." Olya shed a single tear, "Way too freakin' long, bud...!"
***
Hold on, if that guy standing in between Olya and us is Schnell Douglas, then how come the world didn't break apart? Maybe it takes a few minutes? Hold on, were the voices wrong, in that case? Is seriously nothing bad gonna happen now that we did this? No, that right there is called a flag, and a pretty dangerous one at that. I can't be caught even thinking that, much less saying it out loud.
"Welp, guess all's well that ends well." Showa haphazardly spoke with a shrug.
"Damn you, you've doomed us all!" I smacked her across the head, "Gah, I told you!"
The ground shook once more, and as we expected another wave of hellspawn to come rushing through the gaping ravine separating us, it seems we were mistaken in that assumption. Nay, t'was the Gods that were causing us to quiver and shake on the very ground we stood on, for they fast approached from the Tree Island's direction.
"Oh right, I almost forgot about those assholes." Olya clicked his tongue after handing Schnell some rather old-fashioned clothes he had created with the Book of Fortune, "You guys, now it's really your time to shine. Be our defendants and try to get us acquitted with the Gods."
"You are asking for our help after all this!?" Meil raised his tone, "Are you insane? Or rather, I know you are, but to think you were this shameless!"
"Yeah, what Meil said!" I pouted, "We're not helping you with jack squat! I was actually willing to, but after you backstabbed us, I say you're on your own!"
"Olyahiiiiim!!!" The large Red orc screamed at the top of his lungs, "You're so dead for this!"
"Crap, we were too late!" A little girl with long Purple hair sat neatly on his shoulder, "He revived Schnell!"
"Dammit!"
They seem pissed. Thank the Gods we didn't agree to defend Olya in any way. Yeah, you reap what you sow, but to say I don't feel bad for Schnell would definitely be taking it too far. The poor guy spent over 800 years in Hell, got summoned on out of it without any knowledge about the situation, and suddenly he sees these two rushing towards him with a rather probable intent to kill. I definitely pity him, as for Olya on the other hand... He can go suck an egg.
"Olya, situation." Schnell calmly asked.
"I'm old but immortal, you're young but mortal." Olya readied himself into a fight or flight stance, "Those two are the Gods of Water and Fighting, and from what I've gathered, they're about on par with our Sunbright friend who personally sent you to Hell in the Lair."
These two, are they actually this in sync? Don't tell me they're gonna try and fight these two head on!? Ah, then again, I feel like even I could take on the Water Goddess. She looks tinier than even me.
"Where's Shaid?" Schnell pointed out.
"Missing in action." Olya replied, "I wrote him in, didn't work though. We can solve his deal later, for now I'm gonna need your help with this first."
"I see." Schnell nodded, "Still got that Book?"
"You know it!'
"Great, then follow my lead."
Just like that, they fist bumped before running off into opposite directions. So much for following each others lead, these two couldn't have been more out of sync on that one! Ah, but they don't seem to be stopping in spite of that, could this perhaps be part of their plan as well?
"Graaahhh!" The Golden God roared as he barreled towards us.
"Nelly! Meil!" A few familiar voices shouted for us, "Get the hell away from there, it's not safe!"
Hold on, I recognize some of those voices... Lem and Issei! And is that... Pierre as well? The hell is he doing here? I haven't seen him in ages! Three other guys are with them, but I can't tell who they are. Holy crap, am I dreaming or what? Seriously, how'd these two numbskulls stumble onto the damned Gods of this world!?
"Come here!" Meil grabbed my wrist and pulled me away.
"Showa!" I shouted for her to follow behind.
The three of us just barely managed to run out of the God of Fighting's path of decimation as we made our way into the bushes where Olya went. Seeing as the Gods went after Schnell, it was safe to assume we would have a better chance of surviving if we went opposite of them. But apparently that wasn't the only reason why we came here.
"Meil, where are we going?" I asked, "Don't tell me you plan to fight that old guy like this!"
"I saw Lee." He briefly stated with a smirk cracking through, "Among a few other helpful ones."
"Huh? Helpful ones?" I looked in front of me before smiling as well, "Oh no freaking way!"
Indeed, in front of us stood Lee, but in comparison to him, the two others that stood by were even more exciting. Shaid was there, safe and sound, along with...
"Mom, dad!" I ran to hug them, "You guys, how did you-!?"
"It wasn't easy." Dad smirked, "Your uncle and Issei were supposed to be here too, but we got separated."
"Uncle Ed?" I shook my head, "I'm sure he's fine. In any case, we saw Issei with Lem just now! What the hell is going on? Everyone's suddenly here."
The Gods had appeared to track down Schnell, with Pierre and those other three guys sitting neatly on top of the Fighting God. When did mom and dad get here though? I wonder, could that be the reason Lee never came here to help us? Was he guiding them around the island maybe?
"Nice to meet you, I am Showa Schnell." Showa bowed her head deeply, "I am a friend of your daughter."
"Dear, it's rude to stare at another girl..." Mom glared at her giddy husband as he proudly shook Showa's hand.
"Did you not hear what she said? She's THE Schnell's descendant!" Dad replied with a grin that went from ear to ear, "I'm on cloud nine just from being on this archipelago, but to think I'm actually shaking a Schnell's hand right now!"
"Would it kill you to take the situation more seriously, guy?" Lee sighed.
"I very much appreciate how you care so much about Schnell's hot great granddaughter but don't give a crap about his best friend Shai, amigo." Shaid also had a few words of complaint addressed to him.
"Dad's always like that." I giggled, "But I guess things aren't over just yet."
"Right, we cannot just leave the island until we deal with Olyahim." Meil added, "The question is—How do we kill an immortal man?"
Ah, back to square one, then. He ran away earlier, but he can't have gone far since we're all stuck on this island together. The Gods went after Schnell, so now it's our turn to do something as well! Right, I still have Misfortune with me, so we can use that to defeat Olya!
"Let's-!" I shouted.
"Oh yeah. Nelly, be a dear and hand me that Book." Dad smiled, happily extending his hand to me, "I ought to burn it with Spark."
Eh!?