The great halls of the heavens echoed with the chatter and laughter of gods. Seated upon their golden thrones, lounging in their cloud-like palaces, the deities were reliving their own stories of grandeur and excitement. Tales of divine wars, romances, and escapades colored the atmosphere. But today, something was different.
Odin, the All-Father, stood at the center of the gathering, his single eye gleaming with seriousness. Around him, gods and goddesses from various pantheons sat attentively. Zeus and Hera, Shiva and Parvati, Freya and Loki—all had come to listen to what he had to say. Even Thor, known for his short attention span, was focused.
Odin raised his hand, and silence fell over the assembly.
"As you all know," he began, his voice low and commanding, "the mortal realm has changed. It is no longer a place where we gods can freely exert our influence."
A murmur spread through the crowd, some gods rolling their eyes. The idea that a mortal had defeated them still seemed too far-fetched for many to take seriously.
"You mean that little upstart, Bell Cranel?" Ares scoffed, crossing his arms. "So, we got knocked around a bit. I was holding back."
Odin's gaze turned cold as it fixed on the god of war. "You weren't holding back, Ares. None of us were. We were bested by a mortal—a mortal who wields power and skill beyond our understanding."
The room fell silent again. This time, the gods looked at Odin with more focus, realizing that this was no joke.
"We were forced," Odin continued, "to create the Divine Sealing Pact. Any breach of that pact—any divine interference in the mortal realm—would lead to the permanent erasure of our existence."
A sharp intake of breath spread through the crowd. Erasure. Not banishment or imprisonment. But complete non-existence.
Zeus, who had been reclining lazily, now sat up straighter. His pride still stung from his defeat at the hands of Bell, but even he couldn't ignore the gravity of the situation.
"We thought we were invincible," Odin said, his voice carrying a tinge of bitterness. "We were wrong."
Freya, seated at the back, leaned forward, her lips curling into a smile that bordered on madness. "Wrong, you say?" she purred, her eyes gleaming with interest. "That mortal, Bell Cranel—he's no ordinary man. He's… special. I've never seen anyone like him."
Her fingers twirled a strand of silver hair as she spoke, and there was a hunger in her voice that made even the gods uncomfortable. Freya had always been drawn to beauty and strength, and Bell embodied both in ways that intoxicated her.
"I want him," Freya said, her eyes narrowing with desire. "I want to descend and meet him."
Odin's expression darkened. "None of us will descend, Freya. Not yet."
Freya's smile faltered. "Why not? Are you afraid? Afraid of a mortal who dared to defy us?"
Odin's gaze bore into hers. "I am cautious. There's more at stake here than you think. Bell Cranel is not like other mortals. His power isn't just strength or magic—it's something deeper. He defeated us not only because he's strong, but because he understands us. He knows our weaknesses."
The gods shifted uncomfortably in their seats. Many of them had never felt weakness before, and the idea that a mortal could exploit something within them was unnerving.
"So what do we do?" Hera asked, her voice calm but laced with concern. "We just… wait?"
Odin nodded. "We watch. We observe what this mortal does next. If he continues to rise, we may need to confront him again, but not in the way we did before. For now, we'll see how far his ambitions take him."
With that, Odin raised his hand, and a shimmering screen appeared in the center of the hall. It glowed with divine energy, slowly clearing to reveal an image of Bell and his group of heroes as they journeyed across the world. The gods leaned in, their curiosity piqued.
The screen showed Bell leading his students through a dense forest in the far east. His white hair shone in the sunlight, and his body radiated a presence that drew the attention of every deity watching.
The goddesses, in particular, couldn't take their eyes off him. Freya's grin widened as she leaned forward, her heart racing. Hera's cheeks flushed as she stared at the way Bell moved—so effortlessly, with grace and power. Even Artemis, normally stoic and reserved, felt a strange warmth blooming in her chest.
"He's… perfect," Aphrodite whispered, her eyes wide with awe.
As the gods watched, Bell stripped off his shirt to bathe in a nearby river. His body, sculpted to perfection, glistened with water, and the goddesses nearly swooned.
"Oh… my… stars…" Hestia gasped, her hand shooting to cover her mouth. Several other goddesses let out similar gasps, their faces red as they tried to keep their composure.
Freya, however, made no effort to hide her reaction. Her eyes gleamed with desire as she watched Bell with a hunger that bordered on obsession. "What a man," she purred, her fingers drumming against her thigh.
The screen continued to show Bell's actions, and the goddesses couldn't tear their eyes away. It was as if his very presence captivated them, drawing out feelings they couldn't control. Even the gods associated with healing had to step in to tend to the goddesses, who were swooning and fainting left and right from the sight of Bell's body.
"How can a mortal be so…" Hera began, but she couldn't finish her sentence. Her mind was too clouded with thoughts she normally kept in check.
"Focus," Odin snapped, trying to break the growing tension. "We need to pay attention to his actions, not… his body."
But it was too late. The goddesses were lost in their own fantasies, and the male gods, too, were struggling to focus. Even mighty Thor scratched his beard in confusion, finding it difficult to explain why so many of them were so enamored by Bell.
Finally, the screen shifted again, this time showing Bell standing before a group of people in the far east, helping them establish cities and governments. Among the mortals he encountered was a serene, enlightened man—Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha.
The gods quieted as they watched Bell interact with Siddhartha. Bell spoke with wisdom far beyond his years, sharing teachings that mirrored what Siddhartha himself would come to understand in the future.
"He's teaching him?" Odin muttered, his brows furrowing in confusion.
Indeed, Bell was speaking to Siddhartha about peace, enlightenment, and balance. The words he used, though simple, resonated with the future Buddha. Siddhartha sat cross-legged, listening intently as Bell imparted the teachings of mindfulness and inner peace—lessons that Bell had learned from Buddha in his own future.
The gods watched in awe as Bell's words seemed to shape Siddhartha's path, laying the foundation for the teachings that would later spread across the world.
"He's not just powerful," Athena murmured, her eyes narrowing in thought. "He's wise. He knows the future and is shaping it in ways even we couldn't foresee."
As the scene unfolded, Bell's students—Argonaut, Yuri, Galmus, Elmina, Finn, Fianna, and Epimetheus—gathered around, absorbing his teachings as well. They sparred, meditated, and learned under Bell's guidance, each growing stronger by the day.
The gods couldn't deny it—Bell was molding these mortals into something far greater than any hero they had ever known. They were watching legends being born before their very eyes.
As the gods continued to watch, Freya's lips curved into a dangerous smile. "He's going to change the world," she whispered, almost to herself. "And when he does, I'll be there to meet him."
Odin glanced at her, his expression unreadable. "We'll see, Freya. But for now, we watch. And we wait."
And so, the gods turned their attention back to the screen, watching as Bell and his students journeyed onward, their presence shaping the world in ways that even the deities couldn't predict. It was only a matter of time before the balance of power shifted, and Bell Cranel would stand at the center of it all.