“But…Odin already occupies the Norse camp! You can’t possibly be Odin!” Cried Athena.

“Obviously, that’s not Odin.” I said, shrugging. “Heimdal, explain?”

“Of course.” He replied. “I suppose it started with the Pantheon. For the Greeks, the Egyptians, the Hindus and the Christians, and all other major denominations, their heads were among the first gods to be found. Zeus, Ra, Yahweh, all these leaders emerged first from the destruction of Moonfall. Sometimes, one will fall and another will appear in the universe, ready to assume the mantel of power. There have been three Zeus’, each one radically different from the one before.

“However, us Norse have never had an actual Odin. Typically, Loki would be forced to stand in as a replacement. This is kept a secret, as politics in the Pantheon can become…messy without a proper name to stand behind. Regardless of the Norse strength as a whole, missing Odin was an embarrassment to us, and we took measures to know that very few were aware of our plight.

“Originally, Loki would continue to stand in until the true Odin was confident enough to step forward. The plan was to bring Revian back to the Pantheon as a different god, commence her formal training, and allow her to grow into the position. We expected to find a weak Odin, untrained and soft, in need of teaching. Fate is an odd thing, however. As it turns out, Revian is already more than capable of standing on even footing in the Pantheon. While she is apparently lacking in a few areas and requests our help in shoring up those weaknesses, she is otherwise without fault. And, above all that, she decided to go ahead and assume Odin’s mantle without any delay.”

“So, wait. Revy is already a member of the Pantheon?” Asked Sabrina. “I mean, you keep referring to her as Odin and all that, but what does that mean?”

“It means that she is in charge of the Norse fraction, even if she is yet to formally take that burden upon herself. Now, she only needs convince all in the fraction of her worthiness, no?” Replied Jvorg.

“Will she be able to, though?”

“Easily.” Said Heimdal. “You might not have realized it thus far, but Revian is extremely powerful. From my understanding, she has kept this to herself for multiple reasons—“ I nodded in affirmation here. “—But she will easily be able to hold her own, just from what I have seen of her abilities.”

“Won’t be problem, I’m strong enough.” I stated, easing my friend’s concerns.

“But then, what’s your power?” Asked Godard, his eyes shining.

“Illusion.”

“Eh? That’s it?” Said Haven.

Ah, that’s right. Normal illusionists are nothing special. They can only create their illusions mentally, and can be blocked by someone with sufficient willpower or shattered by routing enough mana through the mental illusion. They have to be stronger than the person they’re combating both mentally and mana-wise, since the illusion must overwhelm the target entirely to be effective.

My illusions, however, are different.

Smiling just a little, I release my Awakening and form an illusory domain, catching everyone inside its boundaries. Nobody noticed my actions until the ship interior shimmered, and disappeared. Green grass sprouted underfoot, and wind lightly teased across our faces. A small group of birds flew overhead, their song trilling so vibrantly in our ears. Mountains rose to pierce the skyline out in the distance, and trees blanketed our vision in a forest so vast and unending that it seemed to have stood forever. Occasionally, the cries of animals carried over to us from inside the forest, some of them obviously issuing from the lungs of beings more titanic than the imagination could ever attribute to anything.

“Wha—where are we?” Asked Athena, speaking for the first time since the revelation my being Odin plunged her into silence.

“On ship in space. Only illusion.” I said.

“But this is….this is impossible. I didn’t even feel you enter my mind to create all this…”

“It is not just you, Athena. This is why I said Revian is more than powerful enough—Isis, Jvorg and I are also experiencing this illusion.” Said Heimdal, to Athena’s astonishment.

“But you and Isis are elder level gods within the Pantheon!”

“We are. But that does not matter, since this illusion is not in any of our minds. In actuality, this might not even be qualified as an illusion, for that would likely be too simple a word.”

Eh, not exactly true. This is still just an illusion. It’s just a different sort, set in the world as well as the mind. My illusory domain doesn’t exactly impress changes in the universe, rather it layers a new version of reality atop the existing one.

“But…I’ve never heard of an illusionist capable of doing something like this.” Said Athena, looking in my direction with some measure of caution, like she had upset a behemoth and was now testing the waters to see if she would be eaten.

“That is because normal illusionists cannot do this. They are limited to simply affecting the mind, and cannot interact with reality at all. See, Revian has created an illusion out of reality itself, instead of influencing our minds to see one. It is a difference in external versus internal illusions.”

“I thought illusionists were unable to touch reality though?” Asked Sabrina.

“Yes, this is true. However, that restriction is artificial, no? It is not the natural state for an illusionist.”

“Never had restriction, never will now.” I said, shrugging.

Athena looked horrified.

“But then, that means she’s an unbound illusionist! That’s a violation of the Federation laws, and punishable by death to all associated! She needs to be turned over to have the restriction applied!” She said.

“W-we’re members of Pantheon, not the…Federation.” Said Isis.

“It does not matter to us. All are welcome in the Pantheon, no matter what the Federation thinks.” Said Heimdal. “You should know that your own Zeus is an abomination by Federation standards, with a bounty of several billion credits on his head. They fear his power, just as they fear Revian’s.”

“But this is different!” Screeched Athena. “There’s no telling what sort of havoc an unbound illusionist would wreak on the universe if let free! I’ll not let you all….”

“Unfortunate—” I said. “—that you’re still in domain.”

There was a moment of silence as everyone realize what I was saying. I could squash Athena like a bug if I wanted, and prevent her from doing anything.

She also realized this suddenly, and took a step back from me.

“You-you wouldn’t…”

I shook my head.

“No. Tell who you want.”

The domain was withdrawn, leaving us standing inside the ship once more.

I ignored the looks sent my way while returning to my small little room and grabbing a towel. Everyone was still standing around in the common area while I made my way to the showers. While I had peeled off the clothes worn while meditating and thrown on my Halo gear instead, my body still felt dirty underneath.

It wasn’t anything a quick wash wouldn’t solve, and such an action gave time for the others to decide their next moves.

I mean, it’s not like we can do much out here, without the crew to man this ship.

~

~

~

~

“Anything on the scanners?” Asked the captain of the Federation scout ship.

“Nothing, ma’am. We appear to have lost them.” Replied the cool and collected navigation officer. “That vessel must have been a better distraction than anticipated, to let us completely make our escape.”

“I would rather it be that such tactics were not necessary in the first place.” Said the captain. “Are we out of jamming range yet?” She enquired.

“We are, captain. Messages are being received normally.”

“Good. I want a report sent to the nearest Federation outpost, detailing our encounter with these new ships, and the specifics of their speed. Give them everything we know—firepower, combat ability, maneuverability, and anything else you can think of. I don’t want all the other patrols to be as badly underprepared as ours was.”

“Aye aye, captain!”

Sighing, the captain lightly shifted in the command chair. Even if it had to be done, sacrificing a vessel full of innocent bystanders in order to escape weighed heavily on her conscious. No matter what sort of punishment her superiors levied onto her, she would accept it.

At least they would be happy about having the scout issue being solved. The fact that many patrols venturing into the borderlands simply vanished had been vexing high command for a while, or so the captain had heard. It didn’t matter how large the patrol was, or how well equipped they were—once having entered the borderlands; it would be highly likely that the ships would not return.

Even more frustrating was the fact that the ships that did return came back without any news or trouble. They simply made an incursion into contested space, and didn’t see anything of note.

The captain and her crew had heard about what was going on, of course. They were aware that venturing into the borderlands would end with them returning unharmed, or not at all.

But, well, nobody thinks that the terrible thing happening would ever happen to them, right? They felt sure that nothing would happen, only to be proven wrong halfway through the mission.

An ambush, of little ships with far more firepower and speed than they should have. Obviously, these unknown combatants had access to unknown and potent technology, being able to wipe out a scouting fleet within minutes. Hell, just the opening seconds had them lose seven ships.

Seven ships in seconds. It was a scary concept to think about. Anyone of those ships could have been her own, and it was only due to divine providence that they escaped with their lives.

“Huh?” Exclaimed the navigation officer, who was keeping an eye on the energy level monitors. “Captain, I’m seeing unusual surges of mana in our area.”

“Damn it! Did those vessels manage to catch up, after all?” Yelled the captain, expecting the mana signatures to be those of a ship’s engines.

“No, ma’am, I think this is something different. It doesn’t match the energy of a ship—It’s too concentrated for that. Rather, it feels like….”

“Like what?”

“Like…someone’s personal mana signature. I’m reasonably confident that the reading’s I’m seeing are from someone channeling a large amount of mana.”

“And? What are your conclusions from such an event? What does that mean for us?” Asked the captain impatiently.

“It means that we should brace for unfriendlies.”

“What leads you to this conclusion?”

“The fact that this mana is now being concentrated somewhere inside our ship.”

“What!? Where?!”

“Someone near the engine rooms, I think.”

“Shit! Everyone, prepare for boarding!”

“It is a bit too late for that, I am afraid. However, do not be alarmed. We mean you and this vessel no harm.” Said someone from the entrance of the command bridge. Everyone’s gaze instantly shot towards the man, and were immediately stunned by the aura her put out, as if he were the master of this space, and all were subject to him.

“You would not mind giving my group a ride, right?”