Athena took the stage and began explaining the things their husband had said, along with the loopholes she had found.
The husband of these Goddesses, he was a near-perfect being. Almost nothing went wrong when he calculated things.
It was because, as individuals, the Goddess only knew how they themselves worked, but as the Balance, he knew exactly how everybody worked.
It was important to know this to keep a balance at everything.
Where there was creation, there was destruction. Where there was light, there was darkness. So on and so forth in all aspects of the cosmos.
There was no such thing which didn't have a balance and it had been going on from the very beginning, before even the existence of time or space.
This perfect being had descended down in the mortal world, surely it wasn't simply because of the reason of finding an answer to the question of who was superior.
"Husband said he needed a challenge when in the mortal world and then suggested us as being the antagonists…" Athena repeated the things every Goddesses here knew about.
"…however," Athena got to the main part, grabbing everybody's attention. "The keyword here is 'suggested'. He didn't outright instruct us to do this."
"Hmm? Athy-chan, isn't that the same?" Scarlett asked while hugging the cute Lumina in her embrace.
Athena shook her head. "It isn't, big sis. This thing was something we all mistook, including me. At that time I didn't find any faults, but it was after husband was gone that I came to this realization."
Athena, just like the rest of her sisters, missed Alex. She may speak in a monotonous voice at all times, but she wasn't someone with a monotonous emotion.
She had feelings too and during the time she missed her husband, she tried to figure out if there was a way to get back at him faster.
This was how she came to realize the loopholes. However, she chose to keep it within her as there was a slim chance, a really slim chance that she may be wrong about it.
As she knew, her husband was a near-perfect being and the number of times he had been wrong could be counted on one hand.
Even if she was the concept of Wisdom herself, she couldn't compete with such a being. He wasn't the 'One Above All' for nothing.
However, right now, she seemed to be having a way at things.
"As I said, he 'suggested' and not ordered us. The important thing isn't this sentence, but the one before it. He needed a challenge and that's why he asked us this. He went as far as to not rely on us and only took one thing with him, the 'Protection of the Divine' blessing."
Athena continued on with her explanations.
A near-perfect being, just what could challenge him? He himself couldn't come up with anything else but thought of his wives providing a challenge.
So, this meant, if all the girls racked their brains, they could think of something more challenging and break free from this instruction their husband had imposed on them.
As long as there was a challenge to their husband, they could do anything they wanted.
There was no need to go into the mortal world while taking turns. They could all go together.
They all got happy, especially Lumina, who was now crying in joy and getting comforted by Scarlett and Fate near her.
Their happiness didn't last for long though, as none of them could come up with anything that could challenge that monster.
They all turned dejected, but Scarlett didn't. She didn't have an answer to this, but she had hopes in her sisters. They were all very smart and could definitely find a way out.
Time passed with everyone sitting around the round table and wondering about the possible challenge they could give to their husband.
Lumina began crying once again as she didn't see hope any more and out of the fifteen goddesses at the table, three were trying to comfort her.
Lumina may be a big pervert, but she was the most delicate of them all. Her ego was that of a teenage girl and not of someone mature.
All the people who had reached Godhood… they were all required to seal their egos to one point of their life.
It was because if they didn't seal themselves, they'd go mad with the passage of time.
Eternity wasn't a joke and would even turn a God to ashes. The long life immortals and Gods had was both a curse and a blessing. If not handled properly, chances of destruction were very high.
Only three beings were exempted from this. These three were the ones who were there from the very beginning. Them being Alex, Melissa, and Scarlett.
Their egos didn't have constraints, but they too lived in a similar fashion as the rest to keep themselves at check.
They didn't seal their egos to one point of their life, rather, their egos juggled with their emotions.
Say, if they were having a serious conversation, their ego would shift to the point in their life when they were completely serious.
Or, if Alex was having some perverted thoughts, his ego would shift to the point in his life where he was being nothing but a big pervert.
It was similar, but not the same.
These three beings were basically living their emotions and life at a complete hardcore mode and to the fullest.
If it was a game, they could be said to have their emotions at max sensitivity.
Fate, Ava, Scarlett, these three didn't try to think of the solutions as they were busy comforting Lumina while the rest of girls did their best.
After a while, Nefaria, the black-haired, crimson-eyed, Goddess of Calamity, looked at everyone and said calmly, "I have a proposal."
Everyone's attention turned to her as she said that.
"You do?" Lumina, finally not crying for once, asked.
"Yes," Nefaria said and went to the raised platform.
She looked at everybody and said, "What I'll propose now will bring a great calamity in the entire cosmos. A calamity no God has ever foreseen."
"Nef-sis, we don't need a calamity, we need a challenge." Ember, the Fire Goddess, said.
"I know," Nefaria answered calmly. "But this very calamity will be the biggest challenge that husband would need to overcome. The biggest hurdle of his life probably."
"Hmm?" Everyone's attention piqued and they watched Nefaria with great interests.
Nefaria looked at them and with a calm voice, continued, "Ever since I came into existence, I've always had a thought. Just… what would be the biggest calamity that I could create? From that time onwards… I tried to think of something, but never once was someone's karma so bad that I would need to make such a thing rain."
"Also, I had to rack my brain for a really long time to actually come up with what I am about to propose. It is a completely blasphemous thought, something that would harm my very own loving husband. For this reason, I never mentioned it to anybody and tried to forget."
"But… the situation really calls for it now and I have to say it to you all."
Lumina frowned and said, "Big sis, just get to the point!"
Nefaria nodded lightly. "Everybody knows what our husband is, yes?"
They all nodded.
"He's the Balance that is keeping everything afloat. It is due to him that there's no great calamity ever occurring, and it is due to him that our youngest sister Order was born."
Order, the young looking Goddess with blue hair and silver eyes blushed slightly in embarrassment as she got called out.
She was one of the eighteen wives of Alex and was also the youngest among all, as Nefaria had mentioned.
"Order didn't come into existence until everything in the universe was stable and running properly. To do that, husband worked really hard and created a balance in everything. However, what I want to say here is that things had always been pretty balanced even before Order's birth."
"It was just that after every gear of the universe was properly connected and running, did she come up. Now…"
Nefaria's explanation was going over the heads of a few like Lumina, Ava, and even Ember. But they kept their focus and listened to the profound things their sister was speaking about.
"Order has been born. Order has been there for quite a long time. But… There is somebody missing. Somebody who should've been born long ago, but hasn't yet."
The girls felt their hair stand and a chill down their spines as they heard that.
Now that they thought about it…
Everybody turned to look at each other and then finally turned to Order.
Order was too embarrassed to speak anything, but she understood everybody's gazes.
The girls, with chills all over, turned their gaze back to Nefaria. They finally were starting to understand everything.
Nefaria flashed a cold smile. "That's right, my sisters. That's right. The great calamity… it's not that I couldn't make it descend, it's that I was never in control of it. But now I am— no, now we all are in control."
"The greatest calamity and the biggest challenge we could bring for our husband… the thing that'll lead to the birth of our 19th sister…"
Nefaria's grin turned wide while Order and a few others trembled.
"…it is to simply topple the balance."
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