Dungeon of Niflheim

After Frost and Gobuske settled their dungeon affairs for a few minutes, Dark loudly clapped, grabbing their attention. He appeared on each of their dungeon menu screens with a great big smile. His arms were outstretched in a friendly greeting as he spoke.

“The dungeon war has now ended, so the two of you and your guardians will now be teleported back to the gathering hall.” With his usual subtlety, the moment he finished talking a magic crest developed beneath Frost, Maya, Gobuske and Bala before encapsulating them within a black egg and vanishing. If Nanna and Loki didn’t receive Frost’s warnings in advance, they would have been mighty shocked by such an event. Instead, they simply waved goodbye in the short moment they had before letting out a deep restrained breath and collapsed onto their chairs. The war was finally over, and they could relax.

Although they didn’t take part physically in the battles, commanding and monitoring the situation was just as if not more taxing. Especially on their young minds, the tenseness of the battles certainly amplified the stress on their bodies. The moment Dark announced the end and took their master and Maya away, their bodies finally relaxed, turning akin to jelly.

A few moments later Frost, Gobuske and their respective guardians arrived within the grand gathering hall that had been rearranged to support the large audience. Frost and Gobuske’s siblings were all by their seats, with many of them standing with varying expressions on their faces. Some were excited, some were nervous, others depressed, and another group were completely indifferent, Bahamut led this group. Pyro was in the excited group, he loved battle and greatly enjoyed Gobuske’s efforts against Frost, looking towards the short goblin with a wild smile full of praise. Yet from the perspective of other it simply looked as though he was eyeing up prey, very intimidating. Gobuske couldn’t help but shiver and reel back somewhat, afraid of the Pyro’s gaze as well as many others. Though he found some backbone to argue against Bala. That was mainly to defend his prided monsters, he was still at heart rather timid and cowardly.

“Hmph!” Bala snorted in contempt at his actions, his eyes full of disdain. His snorting attracted Frost’s gaze, who was seeing this guardian of Gobuske’s for the first time in person. His gaze was anything but friendly, he had the sudden urge to bash the iron dragons face in but before he could act Dark appeared at the top of the staircase and spoke up.

“Congratulations Frost, Gobuske, you both performed admirably in this dungeon war. I couldn’t be more proud of your achievements, you both surpassed my expectations and then some, well done.” Dark starting nodding his head in appreciation as he spoke. Silently and without effort he started to float and come close to Frost and Gobuske. When he was standing in front of his two children, he placed a hand on their shoulders and continued. “But unfortunately, there can only be one winner.” He then looked towards Frost, his face filled with pride, yet he didn’t neglect Gobuske, strengthening his grip on his shoulder to show support.

“Frost through immense trials you overcame your younger brother’s defences reaching his final room all while successfully protecting your own through the hard work of your monsters, traps, chosen environment and last but not least your own strategic ability. You successfully eliminated Gobuske’s invasion force, bringing you a well earned victory, well done my son.” Dark looked into Frost’s eyes as he sang his praises, causing Frost to feel rather embarrassed. His nose felt itchy, yet he liked the feeling. Being praised by his father in front of all his siblings was invigorating, he smiled bashfully trying to maintain his calm demeanour, but the redness of his cheeks gave away his true feelings. Maya couldn’t help but giggle at the side as did Aqua and a few of his other siblings.

Dark then looked down towards his other son. “Gobuske, unfortunately you did not win here today but your defeat was hard fought, you pushed your elder brother to the very edge and made great use of your ingenuity and the adaptability of your goblins to make this a very close fight. I’m sure I speak for everyone here when I say that you have greatly changed our understanding of goblins. You proved that even the lowest rank of monster can be devastating when utilised well, very well done Gobuske, I’m proud of you.” Dark gripped Gobuske’s shoulder firmly and forced him to look into his eyes to see his genuine feelings on the matter. Though Frost won he was most impressed with Gobuske. Not only standing up for himself against his own instinctual personality but even he a God was greatly surprised by the abilities of an only goblin army. The possibilities were impressive, and he felt that Gobuske would become a very powerful adversary over time, his potential was incredible.

.....

Gobuske’s personality was a lot less stoic than Frost, instantly tearing up, both from joy and sadness. Happy that his father was proud and that his goblins were praised but also sad because even with those goblins, he lost. And despite was Dark said about this being a close fight he felt that was just him being nice. Frost still had an entire floor left for him to fight through.

“T....than....nk....you...father.” through sniffles Gobuske thanked Dark for his kind words. The happy situation however was ruined by Bala snorting once again, clearly disagreeing with Dark’s words.

Dark lifted up his head to glare at Bala but before he could speak someone already beat him to it.

“Do you have a problem?” Frost spoke coldly, taking a forceful step towards Bala, full of intimidating air. But Bala was a powerful iron dragon, the aura of Frost had no effect on him plus since he felt that he did nothing wrong he kept his arrogant attitude, staring down Frost before replying. Too be honest he would have much preferred to have someone like Frost as his charge but that was that and this was this, he wouldn’t flatter for their potential.

“As a matter of fact, I do, young Frost.” Bala decided to speak from his heart, it wasn’t in his nature hide or act subtle in the first place, might as well speak now and deal with the consequences later. He really didn’t agree with Dark in regards to goblins but he knew better than to directly contradict a God, Frost however was not on such a pedestal. “Although Dark God-sama spoke of changing our understanding of goblins I disagree.” Bala warily looked towards Dark for any reactions, but the old man simply looked in his direction, not interfering. So, he took that as a sign that he could continue to speak freely. “Goblins are of the lowest rung of monsters and should be treated as such, they are nothing more than cannon fodder as this war has clearly proven. Regardless of how good a demonstration it was Gobuske here still lost and not by a small amount!” Bala spoke loudly, speaking towards not only Frost but every dungeon core present, letting his thoughts be heard.

Frost clenched his fists hard causing them to audibly crack, Maya wasn’t much better, she looked towards Bala as though she wanted to cut him up into pieces. Though indirect, Bala was insulting her young master, since he not only struggled against goblins but also utilised a great many.

Gobuske visibly trembled at Bala’s words, biting his lip drawing blood but was unable to retort. Bala was right, he was completely overpowered in this dungeon war, his goblins did struggle to combat high ranking monsters such as the frost wolves and frost dwarves but.... He was a goblin, his whole wheel house was goblins, they received discounted purchasing rates as well as bonuses to their ability and starting levels. Bala was effectively stating that he was a born loser and would remain a loser for his entire life, he felt incredibly hurt but yet again struggled to argue. His frame visibly started to shrink, much to Bala’s enjoyment who smiled as it did.

Frost was near boiling point as were a few of his siblings in the audience. Aqua, Indra as well as Void and Chronos were but a few that were incensed. Did this Bala watch the same fight? Is he truly that thick headed? And what gave him the right to speak to their younger brother in such away? The most pissed off however- even if it didn’t show- was Yami. His fist was already coated in darkness chakra, and he was primed to launch himself at Bala.

‘How dare he insult my younger brother with this bullshit!’ Yami like Dark saw the incredible potential in Gobuske and his monsters, completely opposing Bala’s thoughts. He couldn’t and wouldn’t allow a guardian of all people to crush his younger brother’s potential due to some idiotic mindset like some monsters are inferior and always will be. He himself was quite drawn to using skeletons also regarded at the lowest rung of monsters in their respective ranks. Bala was not just insulting Gobuske but an entire race as well as all other monsters considered on the lowest rung but more clearly, he was insulting Dark and his choice in design for this new creation/child of his.

Dark at this point had a rather easy-going expression on his face as though he was letting Bala’s words wash over him but under this fa?ade he was fuming and had already decided to take drastic actions against Bala if need be. It was clear to him that this kind of person was not suitable to be a guardian and should immediately be removed from his position at the very least.

Indirectly this would actually fulfil Bala’s wishes to be removed from having to guard Gobuske. But whether it would at a simple dismissal well that would depend on Dark’s mood and how this whole situation ends, but at the moment things really didn’t look good for Bala, his life was in serious jeopardy.