Chapter 365 - Fanya's Power

"Fanya… Fanya is Ozomene…"

Kazehaya Gin's voice trailed off as he looked in a daze. Perun didn't comment on it. Instead, he turned his head up to the sky as he remembered events of the past – a time long gone but never forgotten.

His relationship with his first wife had never been peaceful. Since he had wed her, they did nothing but fought. Of course, it wasn't as bad at the beginning as they even had twin children between them. But after she gave birth to the twins, everything went downhill. Consumed by her obsessive love and possessive nature, Fanya had launched a battle to try to force him to look at no one else but her – even their children.  

In the beginning, Perun just chose to ignore her schemes. But when she even put their children's lives in danger, he drew the line. He had confronted her delusions, but she misunderstood it as him, loving his children more than her – which was true.

He never loved her, but he tried to cherish her as his wife and was loyal to her. However, Perun knew that for Fanya, it wasn't enough. For her, if she couldn't have his heart, then no one could. Then, she committed treason by allying herself with Czernobog.

She had sneaked into the mortal plane to go to the Black God's lair to make a contract with him. Whatever it was, none of them knew about it fully.  But the current situation was largely related to her.

Fanya was officially a minor deity of ice. But she had a power opposite Perun's. If he could break souls apart, Fanya could piece souls together. Although she couldn't do it on a large scale since her power was limited, she could still do it.     

When she was taken back to the Celestial Plane and charged with treason and was executed, Perun had thought it would be the end. But no. Fanya had surprisingly continued to exist, as they realized that she too had borrowed Czernobog's energy so she could transfer her own soul somewhere so she'd be able to continue to exist.

At first, they had no idea with whom or what she fused herself together with. But now, it was clear. The Black God had given Fanya Ozomene. She had fused her soul with the harpy. It was why she was able to utilize its dark energy.

Being a weak deity, she could pass through the seal Perun set up to meet the Black God. She was able to take the piece of his soul and fused it with a woman who happened to be Perun's second wife. It was an unexpected event but was in Fanya's favor since she was able to take this chance to get revenge.

Their plan was originally to wreak havoc in the mortal plane by having a mortal give birth to the harbinger of catastrophe. But it would only annoy Perun. He could easily eliminate the cursed child, after all. However, the moment the woman became the King of Heaven's wife, and the cursed child turned out to be his, the revenge became real.

"That's why that bitch can pass through the portal," Gin stated afterwards.

He and Ryuu had been wondering how in the world Fanya was able to cross between Ged and Earth when only people who had Stribog's blood or those he allowed could do it. As it turned out, she had merged with a harpy, and Stribog was the master of a harpy horde.

"That's right," Perun stated as he stood up.

"Er… brother, where are you going?" Gin asked awkwardly.

He was very embarrassed upon realizing he had messed up on many things. If his twin were not here, he had no idea how to deal with their problems. Well, it's easy to kill for him, but it's difficult to keep people alive, and he needed the people he promised would be saved alive.

"I'm going for a walk," Perun answered as he started walking, but Gin tried to stop him.

"But what about sister-in-la –" Gin almost said sister-in-law but clamped his mouth shut when Perun turned to him with a sharp look. He cleared his throat and rephrased his words. "I mean what about Yuuka's parents? What should we do and what should I tell her?"

The dangerous glint in Perun's eyes immediately vanished and he let out a sigh. He contemplated for a moment before answering.

"I'll deal with the parasites and the miasma," Perun said before frowning. "As to how you would tell her, it's up to you," he said as he turned and walked away.

Gin watched his brother leave, but didn't say anything more. It was enough that his twin decided to help. He still felt bad about one little thing nonetheless. He couldn't understand why Perun refused to acknowledge Yuuka as his wife when she obviously was.

Also, even if Perun didn't want to, Alinea at least deserved to know. His niece had never experienced having a mother as Shitara died after childbirth. Now, her mother could possibly be just there under her nose, and her own father refused to tell her or acknowledge her existence.

"Ah, what a complicated love," Gin murmured as he released his wind and he flew back into the house.

However, just as soon as he landed near the house, he saw his worried wife clutching the puppy as she waited for him to approach.

"What happened?"

He'd never seen Emi so agitated before. Something major must have happened while he was not there. He glanced at the place where they had breakfast just earlier, but he saw no one there.

"Where are the others?"

"Ivan, Ryuu, and Ali went to practice. Aki went to work, but Yuuka received a call from her mother asking for help. I don't know what happened exactly because it was unclear, but it sounded urgent and Yuuka just up and left. Chiaki went with her."

"What? But we already told her that she should stay here," Gin said with an obvious upset. Foolish mortals. Chiaki knew what's going on and yet, she still went with his sister-in-law.

"I already asked someone to inform the Koutaishidenka," Emi added but Gin shook his head.

If the three went to practice then it meant they're in a different dimension now and no one could come in except Stribog who created it. But he had no time to go there.

"Did Aoi call?"

His younger brother was there with Shiro and the others. If an emergency happened, they should have informed the Cedar Palace at once. Emi shook her head so Gin took his phone out and called Aoi.

However, the younger Kazehaya's phone rang several times but he didn't answer. He was about to end the call when he finally did.

"Brother…"Aoi answered in between breaths and Gin instantly knew something was wrong.

And there was.

"Brother, everyone in the house is infected," Aoi informed him after several seconds as if he took time to go somewhere where he could talk properly which made Gin frown.

Even if that was the case, it should still be easy for him and the Fuuma to take care of them. He was about to ask when Aoi spoke hurriedly.

"I knocked everyone out in the house and was about to capture them when they all stood up again. The shadow lurkers are controlling the bodies. They're like a bunch of zombies. We're now being attacked but we're scared to kill them if we fight back."

Eh?

SQUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWRK!

A piercing cry sounded from the other end, and Gin's eyes widened more in horror upon realizing what was going on. "Aoi? Aoi?" he tried to call his brother but he was no longer answering.

Damn it!

"What's going on?"Emi asked worriedly, but Gin had no time to explain.

"I will go to the Makis' place. Wait for me here," he told her as he again released his wind and rose up into the air. But before he flew to the direction of the Makis' house, he released energy to give Perun an emergency signal.

There was no time to waste and so he left, wishing his brother would follow. After all, the sound he heard on the line earlier was a harpy's cry. Ozomene's double was there and everyone there was in grave danger, most especially Yuuka.