' Am i fit enough to fight Lucifer? ' Rudra questioned himself in his mind, the past encounter with the devil had planted a seed of doubt in his mind regarding his own capabilities.
He was unable to track the movements of the devil against Omar , they were too fast for his eye to catch.
He was unable to unable to hurt the devil even when given an open shot , and to make matters even worse he healed him and provided strength to replenish his tired core.
He was unable to defend against the devil's attack and was knocked unconscious, becoming a burden to Omar in the fight.
To be honest, Rudra knew it himself , he was not strong enough to hold his own against the god's. Nowhere near their level , however he had no other choice but to fight!
He could not just pawn off the task of killing the devil on the god of death and the ancient beast king as while the two of them had their own vendettas none of them was fighting for the future of humanity like he was.
His success and failure was to decide the fate of the entire planet and not just his own guild or the men with whom he marched into hell and for that reason he had to fight this hopeless battle eventhough it was akin to an ant challenging an elephant.
Raising his eyes , Rudra looked into Hades's eyes and said " 2 months …. In these 2 months i will be prepared enough to fight Lucifer. How i don't know , but i can assure you , i will claw my way through hell if i have to but I'll be damned if i don't plunge my grim reaper into Lucifer's heart the next time i meet him! ".
Hades mentained an expressionless face and looked into Rudra's eyes with a gauging look. He did not want his number one strategist gone for two months however looking at the conviction in his eyes Hades had a slight change of heart.
Omar said " we are already in hell , and you have already improved a lot. But it's just not enough …. "
Hades pinched the top on his nose as he shook his head and said " Finish up your affairs here in the next two days and be prepared to undergo the most hellish 60 days of your life after that . However if you are serious about doing this then i don't think he'll is the right place for you to claw at , if you really want to claw at some place powerful and get a feel for fighting god's then i think i need to send you to the realm of the angels , heaven ".
Rudra half expected Hades to be stubborn about not allowing him to fight Hades however little did he expect that the god would actually send him to heaven as a training opportunity!
Omar smiled as he said " I told you this one won't be rattled by us , his perspicacity is unmatched ".
panda (nov)el? Hades said " One needs to be sure , he took an attack from a dark divinity head on , a normal mortal would have nightmares for life under such an experience however he is not afraid of Lucifer but still possesses a strong desire to kill him.
Truly admirable ".
Omar nodded , the two shared fundamental knowledge about the workings of divine power that Rudra had no idea about , and apparently when a mortal was hit by a dark divinity attack it would affect their psyche extremely negetively and most even developed an extreme fear of the caster when such an incident occured.
This is why Omar and Hades needed to probe Rudra to make sure he still had the heart to continue, as if he was going to shrug away in fear upon seeing Lucifer the next time the duo met in battle then it was better that someone else lead the army of death rather than a broken first commander.
Hades said " I'm calling old favours to send you there pope , don't dissapoint me ".
A determined look could be seen in Rudra's eyes as he shrugged off his fears and boldly said " aye ".
***********
( Meanwhile Jhonny)
Having taken a hold of the city , Jhonny blew up the sewers and collapsed the route that the army of death had taken to enter the city hence sealing it completely from outsiders.
Using the city's own defenses , the army of death then slaughtered several million of the enemy reinforcements before the generals on the ground were forced to call a retreat and the troops had to flee back to the fort of Mirzapur.
It was a comprehensive victory for the army of death and Jhonny gained international fame and prestige as a result of it.
There was actually a lot of aftermath Jhonny needed to deal with even after the actual fighting was over which was controlling civil riots , preventing terrorist attacks and the like and a hell lot of judicial work too.
However Jhonny being Jhonny pawned all off the boring work to his junior's while he himself went off sightseeing into some adult demon establishments.
Jhonny was having a field day until someone dropped a message in the group chat that guildmaster Rudra was knocked out unconscious in battle and was currently in an infirmary, when he immediately stopped his sightseeing and rushed back to the base .
Upon reaching , he saw all the elite elders except Karna who was dead had gathered outside the tent , waiting for the gods to come out so that they can enter and check on their beloved guildmaster.
Sometimes Jhonny was moved by this show of love and concern by the guild as his old heart turned to mush on such occasions. The guild was more like a family to him and seeing them United in face of adversity always gave him a sense of pride and comfort.
Although he would never show it openly, Jhonny loved each and every one of the kids in the guild as if they wer his own.