The Goddess' Champion

*WHOOSH!!*

Precision and swiftness.

Constantine\'s steps revered through the forest like void gales. His speed faster and sharper senses, it didn\'t take long before he came to a realisation.

\'Werebeasts are the best!\'

As a warrior and knight, no one could tell him more precisely what abilities were more necessary when it came to fighting, scheming and even fleeing.

Speed, muscle tension, reaction speed, sense and why not? gallantry.

By becoming a werelion the increase in all those aspects, particularly in the gallantry department, was abysmal.

*BOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!*

His mind and consciousness sought both Nia and Zamira in the forest as he headed south following the trail of corpses he left behind until they disappeared, but the other part of himself, the new predator, would desire to at least implant a good bite into anything that moved in this forest.

\'I can\'t control these senses properly... they\'re overwhelming.\'

[It is because that old man was strong, you didn\'t inherit his entire power as you merely devoured his heart, but... his centuries of struggle and experience, predation and senses, I assume they should be washing over you, if your mind and soul wasn\'t strong enough... right now you might be nothing but a rabid beast thirsty for blood.] Zebellia yawned, apparently having woken up not too long ago.

\'Good to hear you... did you sleep well?\'

[Y-Yes?] His unanticipated attention brought her to a standstill.

\'What exactly happened in that pit? I can\'t remember very well, but I remember that you yelled something at someone.\'

[That cave wasn\'t a God\'s \'trashbin\' as the old lion called it. It was a prison created by someone to keep an entity sealed, a Foreign High-God] Inside of his inner realm lay a gargantuan fatigued mare, the black miasma struggled to spread relentlessly, yet her aura kept it at a bay.

\'What is a foreign High-God?\' He gulped, the name sounded overbearing enough.

[We call it foreign because that entity is not native to this universe, that is an extremely odd occurrence, there are forces in this universe that prohibit foreigners from entering, two of them are your father and mother-in-law, the forces of Space and Time... if he was able to bypass them, it must have been millions of years ago, back then... perhaps even I didn\'t exist yet, but my older sisters should have...] When she mentioned \'older sisters\' that wasn\'t pronounced with a kind tone.

\'And High-God?\'

[This is not something you need to know yet, but even among gods there are different ranks, you can see it this way, mortals are prone to worship gods, right?]

\'Of course.\'

[Well, in the case of High Gods, their faith doesn\'t feed on mortals, instead... they have millions of gods worshipping them.] Her tone contained an envy of sorts, as if this was a realm unreachable for her, yet there were those close to her that managed to attain it.

!!!

He couldn\'t even begin to comprehend what the scope of such an entity was, to put Aurelianne as an example, he thought of her as an ultimate entity, her capabilities depicted her as so, \'Yet there are individuals who would have gods and goddesses like Aurelianne worshipping them.\'

[There are several High-God level existences in this universe, for the most part they\'re called either \'Rulers\' or \'God Kings\' but two of the most famous, you are acquainted with... Goddess of Space, Nova and the God of Time, Toki.] Her voice contained no calculable amount of disdain towards either of them, her contempt wasn\'t directed merely towards Toki.

Of course at the mention of his scummy \'father-in-law\', Constantine\'s visage dwarfted to one of annoyance, it didn\'t help that such an annoying person happened to be so mighty as well.

Then it changed towards curiosity to this \'mother-in-law\' that apparently looked at him with quite a good eye to go as far as to give him a blessing, yet she hasn\'t appeared even once.

He could only sigh, hoping to meet her eventually.

\'Who are the others?\'

[I only know three more God Kings... one of my elder sisters who was able to achieve this rank after existing for millions of years, the oldest of us... Time Valkyrie of the First Order, Lemenia. Another one is a Spatial Keres, Nova\'s right hand man, Aubrey... He\'s so strong that across the universe he managed to obtain his own title, \'A Crack That Spreads Across\' and the God of Destruction \'Unshakled Core of the Universe\', Centrino... there are dozens of others, but they only appear once every dozen of millions of years, the last time they appeared, I wasn\'t even alive.]

\'Why do Nova and Toki have no title?\' She hadn\'t mentioned them at least.

[They are different, where other High Gods or strong existences had come to be through the passage of aeons with their own growth, Toki and Nova have exited since the beginning of the universe as one dissociated entity, their power ultimate since the dawn. Hence, from the beginning of times their titles are \'Time\' and \'Space\' nothing more, nothing less.... other concepts had come to be, but those two existed from the beginning. At least hailing from this universe, there are no stronger entities.] Even if her attitude towards them was not positive for her own reasons, the tone of reverence couldn\'t be erased, she knew those two were unmatched.

\'To think you Gods have such hierarchy...\' Constantine considered himself small, thinking that his pitiful seventy-ish years of reign had been an event of grandiose proportions, turns out... there are such devastating entities in this universe.

[The hierarchy is way wider than just that, but... that is something for later, right now you aren\'t even a demigod yet know they would pay their own lifespan to obtain~]

\'Why are you with me, Zebellia?\' He asked suddenly, coming to a stop in the middle of the forest, on top of a branch.

[...] She didn\'t answer straight away, hence, Constantine insisted.

\'Why are you with me, in this trial?\' He asked again, solemnly.

[Why do you ask? what do you gain with my answer?]

\'I don\'t understand you, sometimes you\'re a wicked bitch.\'

[*SNORT!*]

\'But most of the time... you help me and guide me... it doesn\'t look like your responsibility. It feels to me, that you\'re doing it because it comes out of you.\' The conqueror spoke honestly, if there was something he hated was not being able to decipher and individual, and unlike everyone else he has met, even Aurelianne.... he hasn\'t been able to figure out Zebellia, The Time Valkyrie, there are so many secret around her that she knows he\'s aware of, yet she won\'t explain...

[...] Silence yet again, but he felt he was getting somewhere, as if that wall is cracking.

\'I\'m not a little kid, and there are still a lot of things I don\'t understand, when I was an Emperor, I knew nothing of this... nothing of my wives\' identities... Gods, worlds, magic, dimensions... I just don\'t want to be left in the darkness... if there is something I don\'t know, I want to understand it.\'

[Constantine Lionheart... that is what you are, no matter how much you deny it.]

\'...\' He frowned, yes, that small sting in his heart, he felt it yet didn\'t retort to her words even if he didn\'t understand what it had to do with his enquiry.

[All I can tell you is... that I am here to make sure things are the way they should have been. Please, ask no more. Until your trial is finished, I\'ll stick around with you, after that, we will part our ways.]

\'... You won\'t tell me, no matter what?\'

[It is for the best... the best for you and the best for me, the best result.]

It wasn\'t the answer he desired, but it he\'d have to be content with it because Zebellia would say no more.

\'I understand, just tell me this... were you someone important to me?\'

!!!

[What?] Her voice sounded stuttery, melancholic.

\'I don\'t know how... or when, but you know me... you know things about me that even I am unaware of, you spent time with me and hence, you are doing this... I\'m not blind.\'

[...] She didn\'t want to answer that.

\'Just tell me this, were you important to me? would I have given my life away for you?\' His fists clenched, if he wouldn\'t know who she was, or why was she doing this, at the very least he wanted to know if she was someone worth appreciating and keeping close, yet her answer was not what he hoped to hear.

[No, you wouldn\'t have...] Those words were dry like a desert, emotionless like her original being.

\'Got it.\'

He kept jumping and no more words were exchanged between the two, but he felt a pain in his chest, acute like a long yet thin sting poking through, but it perhaps wasn\'t his.

It belonged to the gigantic valkyrie that was in there, managing the trial that would one day turn him into a God, and perhaps... by the time that happened, she wouldn\'t be there, watching.