Ouroboros stopped in the throne room and turned around to his allies, while he could attack the enemy forces and siege their castle there was simply no reason for that. This war couldn’t be won, only lost and the loser would be the side that tried to force victory.. The war on earth would bring the final decision, his side or rather Ethan’s side needed to win there to make the decision of the heavenly court final.

  The good thing was that he had some influence on Ethan’s tutorial to give him a chance to develop not only the skills he needed for his normal path to ascension but he also learned how to be a diplomat and a commander. If everything goes well he would not only be strong on a personal level but also have the capacity to lead people and build something that lasts.

  But that was something for the future, right Ouroboros was focused on the war going on between him and the other gods. He didn’t plan to attack them; he was averse to crushing the spirits of the enemy soldiers; they weren’t his enemies,only to the gods to whom they had sworn allegiance. While godsworn were strong soldiers they could be broken as easily as every other living creature if you used the right methods.

  With a devious smile he snapped off orders to the less important allies. This included most minor gods. This included the gods that didn’t have the strength or the wisdom to embrace one of the larger aspects of the multiverse. The reptilian gods like the wyverns and true dragons and basically all of the arachnid gods, his trusted friend Arachnorax, the forefather of all spiders was of course with him and to his surprise Yggdrasil still decided to help him out.

  “Every god that is related to water, ice or some other form of liquid. Go and transform the meadow into a swamp and I want a constant fog bank around this entire castle, let them waste their energies on spells to clear it. Coordinate with the arachnids to infuse as much poison into the air and ground as possible. Remember we’re here to support the soldiers, don't overdo it, I won’t lose this war because someone decided to rot their flesh off their bones.

  As I remember you brought some broodmothers along, right?” His gaze rested on the spider gods that all had one or more physical traits that showed their heritage. This usually included more eyes but some of them had extra legs that sprouted from their backs or fangs sticking out of their mouths. He liked the arachnids, they were refreshingly straightforward with all things. One of them stepped forward and nodded, a small woman with eight black eyes and spider web in her long black hair.

  “Good, good, I think we should bolster our numbers and I bet they would enjoy a feast too. Send them into the moat and gather the corpses, we need as many fighters as possible and don’t hesitate to make use of their skills in web building. Now go, all of you.”

  Bowing they quickly left the throne room, eager to follow out the orders they had been giving. With the throne room almost empty, Ouroboros turned to Yggdrasil, the god who was an enigma to him, because if he remembered correctly, he never liked Aeloria since the moment she stepped into godhood. So it was time to get some answers out of him.

  His eyes stared into Yggdrasil's; he asked the only question of interest. “Why are you helping me? There is no reason, you actually should be on the other side right now so please enlighten me old man.”

  Hands clasped behind the back he waited for an answer, the oppressive silence in the room was almost suffocating and even the older gods squirmed under the pressure. Finally he answered, his voice deep and full of sorrow.

  “Because I didn’t stop them all those years ago. Winter is as much related to ice and snow as it is to nature. A part of nature I don’t enjoy but that doesn’t make it right that I ignored her pleas for help. She was prideful like all elves but even she asked for assistance when her children got slaughtered. That day I turned her away and the fragile balance between the seasons was destroyed. We all felt it, the shift in the order of nature and soon it will destroy us all. Call me selfish that I only now realized my mistake. But know that my intentions are honorable.”

  The god Yggdrasil, the primordial of nature, looked exhausted but his gaze never wavered from Ouroboros. “I did what I thought was right back then and now I’m here to help, I can’t change the past but influence the future.”

  He listened to the god of nature and sighed in defeat, he wanted to be angry but he knew there was simply no point. While he was wrong for not helping Aeloria he didn’t kill her or her people; others were responsible for that. So he would accept the help offered, even if it meant stepping out of his comfort zone. Her death was so long ago but even he couldn’t forget his own mistakes, he wasn’t there to help her either. A twang of pain filled his heart, no he couldn’t go there, not now.

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  Taking a deep breath he focused on the here and now. With his biggest uncertainty out of the way he could focus back on the war. With his plan to make the environments around the castle as bad as possible, using his limited methods, he turned to one of the true dragons, Gemera, goddess of gemstones. Her scales were like crystals and her magic was very interesting in Ouroboros' opinion. Because she was a master in illusions, using crystals or her own scales to create pictures and even sounds.

  Back when she was still a mortal dragon she used those abilities to control entire war worlds. Like a conductor she guided the flow of battle in her favor and while she couldn’t do that here, some of her godsworn had learned to use her methods, in an inferior way but it would still help out in the end. She gave the serpent a knowing look and nodded, leaving the group.

  “I think we’re all set for now, there is only one thing left that I want to discuss but for that I require only a few people. Yggdrasil, Thalor, Cryos, Nivalis and Verdantia please stay here.” The others turned around without needing to be addressed, their steps echoed over the polished floor as they left quickly. Ouroboros waited until the last was gone before focusing on the group in front of him.

  “What I require of you isn’t help in the war effort right now, I need knowledge of your elements. Nothing as private as your path to ascension or your godhood but very basic knowledge to give to my disciple.” Ouroboros snapped his fingers and showed moments from Ethan’s tutorial and how he handled his magic so far.

  The first to speak was Nivalis the god of frost. “He’s good, for being newly integrated and basically a child by our standards. I see certain things he needs to expand on, especially his subclass, it’s not well integrated. Did he blend them already?”

  Thalor laughed and shook his head. “Well he’s locked in already with his element, do I see some of your aspects in there Ouroboros? You never share…well this is certainly interesting, even his mana is attuned completely to his variant. Now you got me curious, maybe I'll pick a disciple myself this time around.”

  Cryos rubbed his chin. “He can’t blend them for now, I believe it was at level 100 in both classes for them to fuse. You certainly need to work on your memory Nivalis, that is basic system knowledge. But I like the path he has chosen, control is a good aspect especially with your concept of eternity infused into it. He will grow even stronger in the future.”

  The small dryad woman, Verdantia stepped forward. “I like his use of poison, his subclass is certainly interesting but he needs to make the right decision when he reaches Level 25, otherwise he might crippled his path forever.” She turned to her forefather, Yggdrasil for an answer.

  He stared at Ethan before speaking. “He’s an amateur, there is more nuance to poison magic and he just focuses on the basics. His use of frost combined with it is clever but ineffective, he needs a good education to utilize it properly but…he could make it far if he manages to use it alongside his ice magic. Before his next class choice he needs to make sure they’re intertwined and build on each other.”

  Ouroboros smiled, he came to the same conclusions for the most part. Now he just needed their help, he wasn’t an expert on elemental magic, far from it actually. “Well it seems we see it the same way…” he pulled a crystal the size of a marble from jacket and held it between two fingers.

  “Feel free to infuse this marble with as much knowledge as you like but make sure to space it properly, no need to give him an aneurysm the moment he tries to retrieve the knowledge. Also have him work for it. I’m not against sharing one of my aspects with him but if he wants the information stored in here he has to fight for it.”

  With things set up he left them alone to discuss what Ethan would need after he finished the tutorial. There were so many subjects that could be important for him so they gods had a lot to discuss, especially since they needed to think differently. Adjusting themselves from the power of a good to the power of a low level mortal. The interesting thing Ouroboros noticed was that every one of them believed Ethan would return to his world, there was no doubt about it in their words.

  Ouroboros teleported to the wall and looked over the field that was already transforming into a health hazard, a gauntlet to break the spirit of the soldiers and turn this into a proper siege that would go on for years . He just needed to endure and trust in Ethan, the man that his late wife chose to carry her legacy.

  A smile tugged on his lips, he might join the fun and pummel some of those upstart gods. He had enough reasons to inflict unimaginable pain to them anyway, so he could enjoy himself just once after eons of grief.

  The serpent grinned, time to fight this war and win it.