Dracula spoke in a hoarse voice, "If His Excellency would dispel his pressure, please allow me to show His Excellency something."
Vlad gritted his teeth painfully as he listened to the person he worshipped lowering himself to beseech another. It didn't matter that it was an Asgardian. All that was important was that his master had lowered himself in such a manner towards another.
'This is my fault', he thought silently. If he hadn't made the wrong decision several millennia ago, his master would not have to endure such shame. He didn't dare look to his side. For right beside him was Lilith, and her angry gaze was fixed onto him. She clearly thought the same. And she was right. Their master was only doing this to ensure the survival of their race, a necessity since he had foolishly served them up to the gods years ago.
"You still dare to make requests of me" Thor's baritone voice thundered as loudly as the clashing clouds themselves. The huge gale that swept through the 'battlefield' pushed the vampires back by several metres. Even then, they didn't scream or panic. Their countenance truly was admirable.
"Calm down Uncle. There is little they can do against us. Let us hear what they have to say." The raging storm that engulfed the entire area, the storm that was so vast the naked eye couldn't capture it all, finally ceased. The sky turned clear once more, leaving the darkness that had appeared so suddenly a few minutes ago in the memories all who did see it. All this was made possible because of the hand that was on Thor's shoulder. The hand belonged to Forseti. As angry as the god of justice was, he was still a god of justice. His godhood made it impossible for him to ignore the pleas of those looking to defend themselves. A rejection of their plight would be going against his divinity itself, and in the grand scheme of things, eventually cause a crack in his godhood. This crack would spread slowly over time, until finally his godhood is completely destroyed. That was what it meant to be a god. Thor knew this. And it was because he had such knowledge that he decided to stand down.
"Thank you, Lord Forseti, he who is renowned as the true god of justice." Dracula politely extended his thanks to the god who stood beside Thor. When they had captured the Asgardians that strode into their domain, they had questioned them. They wanted to know what it was they sought, and whom they came with. At the time, they had assumed they had been tracked all the way here. They were wrong. After finding out that the answer to the first question had very little, in fact nothing to do with them, they could finally rest easy. The second question provided a surprising answer. Two gods were leading an expedition. That was a very rare occurrence. Even when their race was exterminated, only Tyr led the charge. That only meant that they considered their mission as very important. It was because of this that they had decided to meet the two gods and inform them of what they knew in return for their pardon. They didn't want to remain in hiding anymore. They wanted the kill order placed on their heads to be taken away. Fortunately, Asgardians were a reasonable bunch, hence the kill order wasn't publicised to the entire universe. Only Asgardians knew of it. That was the reason they remained alive, for if the entire universe had hunted them down, even if only the 1st heaven had come for them, they wouldn't have lived this long.
But this plan was a risky one. Although they knew that the information they had was very valuable, they couldn't guarantee that they wouldn't be killed before they had a chance to lay down this bargaining chip. They went along with the plan anyway. It wasn't because they were desperate to have their freedom, but because they found out from those they held captive that Forseti was one of the two gods. They didn't know much about Thor outside the sagas that were sang of his extraordinary power and strength. But they did know about Forseti. The god of justice was known to have a flawless divinity. Flawless divinities were rare, even among the powerful gods. When a person became a god, he/she wasn't outside the control of their attribute. Rather it was the opposite. Although they could freely command their laws, they also obeyed laws in return. But this wasn't the same for all. It only went for gods who commanded the moral laws. Like in the case of Forseti, who is the god of justice. He isn't the only god of justice, but he was definitely one of the most powerful in that faction. That is because of his godhood. Unlike many who ascended with already cracked divinities, Forseti's was flawless. Meaning that while other gods of justice could at times disobey the law of providing justice and equal measure to all, Forseti would never do that. And this was why his power was among the greatest in the ranks of the gods who governed over the moral laws. This rule didn't apply to Thor. He didn't govern such a law. His authority was over lightning. Luckily for the vampires, the rumours were true. Forseti was indeed a true god of justice. Their gamble had paid off.
Dracula and his people remained kneeling, even though the pressure that formerly weighed them down like huge trucks upon their slender backs was now gone.
"You may rise. Show us what you will in your defence. Your revelation would seal your fate. And I will be the judge of said fate." Forseti solemnly declared. As he did, the four vampires felt a strange connection to the god of justice. They could see a long red string that bound each and every one of them to the said god. This string was as slender as it was beautiful. Yet it wasn't its beauty that called to them. They could feel that their lives were connected to the strings. And although the strings looked so weak, it was not so. They all felt that even if they combined their strength- and even if they considered the peak states of Dracula and Alucard- they wouldn't be able to dent the strings.
"The cords of justice that belong to the strings of fate." Dracula mumbled silently under his breath. He knew of this power. He had heard of it before. It was one of the most powerful tools in the arsenal of the god of justice. It was a glow that belonged to Forseti, and as far as anyone knew, no other god- including those who governed the moral laws- had such an ability. It was an ability that placed him above most of the other gods, and above all the gods of justice. It was a glow that awakened with a name- Cord of Justice: String of Fate. This power allowed Forseti to declare a person guilty or innocent. It was great if you were found innocent. But be found guilty and…
Even the usually calm Dracula could felt a chill go down his spine as he thought about the results of such an end. And as his already pale face grew paler, so did those of his people.
"So you can also feel fear. It is impressive that you know of my nephew's technique". Although Dracula had whispered his words, everyone here was an ascender. Hearing his statement was of no difficulty. All it did was inform the two Asgardian gods that the people before them had done their homework well. And even Thor was surprised to see that the group of four who showed no fear towards his earlier display did so now. He didn't blame them. Anyone who knew of Forseti's ability would be fearful too. And even though he couldn't see the famous cord of justice, nor had he ever seen it before, he had witnessed the end of all who were found guilty.
"When did you place it on us?" Alucard asked with his formerly calm voice shaky and nerved.
"The moment my uncle summoned Mjolnir" Forseti smiled lightly as he replied. An ability like the 'Cord of Justice: String of Fate was a cheat. And every cheat-like ability like this one, had stringent requirements for its use. First of all, the person who was going to have the spell placed on him/her shouldn't detect this spell when it is being cast. Once they did, the spell would be broken. Normally it was difficult to fulfil the first requirement. After all, many gods would sense it if a spell was being placed on them. However, the normally stringent requirement had become easy to fulfil with a show boater like Thor here. His flashy moves had distracted them so well that Forseti had successfully placed it on not just one of them, but all four. The second requirement wasn't really a requirement. Unless of course you consider this instruction so: Judge fairly, so you would be judged fairly as well.
"Now you can go ahead and defend yourselves." Forseti ignored the ugly looks that were being shot at him and commanded.