Goddess Collector: Every Hole is a Goal

Title: Humble Eye

Despite Nik's lack of kingly decorum, he did observe the change in expression of those well-read, including Morgan, as his body grew tense. He wasn't going to look down on gods, at least, not after his battle with Hela. She is crazy strong and even using her sorcery, Morgan would barely match her. In fact, aside from a truly emotional Jennifer with her physique raised to its maximum quality, none from Nik's group stood a chance.

So, when he saw the cacoon of hair forming in his court, like any sane man, he didn't try to preemptively attack the strange situation and offend the beings who affirmed their identities as the Mistresses of Fate.

"Greetings," Hela whispered and Nik could feel hope in her voice. In fact, he felt from Hela's entire being that whoever this strange visitor was, it brought good news to Hela and indirectly, sour grapes to Nik.

"The thread of fate... hath broken," a soft whisper cooed and from the elliptical-shaped construct of pitch-black hair, a pair of pale grey hands slowly slithered out.

"The queen must not slave," A raspy whisper stunned the court of Hel as another pair of hands slithered out of the top of the cacoon.

"Fate must be restored," the third pair of arm ripped from behind the cacoon and by now, Nik easily understood what this presence meant. Somehow, Nik stepped on their toes when he casually enslaved Hela.

'Tch, classic cn plot. Although I haven't read many web novels in fear that I might be transported in one of those worlds and know about every event... the fact that mc would attack an unreasonable being only for more to appear is simply the most overused plot device,' Nik narrowed his eyes. Alas, this wasn't novel but the real world.

'I digress,' Poole whispered.

{A/N: Shut up.}

---

The hands spread apart and the hair soon congealed together to form a large cloak with three hoods stitched on top, left, and right sides of the clothing. From within, three faces, one belonging to an infant, the other belonging to a fair maiden, and the last one belonging to an old witch slowly surfaced as all of them had their eyes glued to Nik.

'This is it!' Hela grew excited. It won't take long for her enslavement to be abolished and beside her, Loki had a truly ugly expression.

'In this universe, the Fate sisters are the same. They appear to the different pantheons of gods in different forms. Greek gods have them as oracles, and so do Romans. I read about them. Act carefully,' Morgan's voice appeared in Nik's mind as he nodded.

'Greek gods? Like Aphrodite?' Nik barely got sidetracked when the hissing voice of these so-called mistresses echoed.

"Misfit... peri—"

"— sh."

The Norns suddenly quietened down. They weren't in the hall of Hel. Ther weren't in Niffleheim and instinctively, they knew that they no longer remained within the confines of Yggdrasil.

"Well, hello there," A cool voice blew past the three women and they shuddered instinctively. It was as of something gripped their heart. Unknowingly, the trio's form changed and from their current form of escapees from an asylum, the three 'stood' over the darkness. Naked. Instead of revealing three different ages, the figures were completely white, shining, without any facial feature of hair.

They looked like white golems made out of light to replicate a female's physique.

"Who?" Before one of the three could begin, a figure slowly materialized in front of them.

The man had a shit-eating grin, long black hair, purple eye marks, pale white skin, and yellowed eyes with vertical pupils while he wore off-white clothing and a thick violet rope belt tied into a knot behind him.

"Don't assume this as my true form. This is merely... the form I assume to meet strangers. I can be quite shy. Call me Orochimaru."

The women stretched their arms forward and their fingers disassembled into strings that slowly slithered forward.

"Now, now, I've long grown my passion of being tied down. It's an elegant solution, really. A sad one though. Those who wanted to tie me... they're no longer with me. You three can't replace them either. After all, you have no facial feature for my sake, and let's be honest, compared to other cuter cosmic deities, you bunch look like dolls of rag."

As Orochimaru said so, the white threads crumbled apart.

"The One above—"

"He's asleep most of the time. If my math is correct, he should be stuck in limbo right now. Evolving to rank 10 can be quite challenging," the smile didn't fade from Orochimaru even for a single moment.

"Why?"

"Hmm?" He tilted his head as his physique slowly crumbled into dust but his voice remained quite passionate. It boomed within this strange dark space.

"Why are you?" The middle of the three inquired.

"You can't really question my existence. I'm already dead," as the body of the Orochimaru wilted away, a single palm-sized eyeball floated in front of the three.

The iris of the eye was tinted in violet but the deep red pupil showed extreme strength. The three shivered just by matching its gaze.

"Anyway... you three arrived into our soul uninvited. Good for you... I was bored. Now, I'm not unreasonable like many other gods with inflated egos but... I need you to return this favor. You know, the favor I'm granting by not killing you.

When I throw the three of you out... wait a minute, where were you at the moment?"

"Hel."

"Which universe?" the eye inquired again.

"What?"

"Er, nothing. Hel... hmm, ahhh! Finally remembered it. Damn, I was tortured too much under Hela," the disembodied voice sighed wistfully, "When I throw the three of you out, I need you to share your method of Removal of Shackles to the handsome lad on the throne."

"... understood."

The three of them disappeared as the voice snickered, "Suckers, I wouldn't be able to do anything to them either way... ahh, I can still lie with a single eye. This is my absolute peak!"

---

Soul Ruler already appeared around Nik as the three figures began giving out their judgment when they suddenly flinched and then grew silent. The oldest of the three looked at the soul ruler and her lips twitched once again.

'He is similar to the one who interfered with Odin's fate but... far more terrifying,' they instantly discussed with each other.

'Odin's case is simple. Asgard perishes in Ragnarok so they either leave with that boy or die, which means the same thing. They will no be a part of this reality. But...'

'Hela cannot be taken apart. However...'

The infant spoke internally and grew silent. They all faced the same threat.

'Was that One Below All?'

'Doubtful.'

'I highly doubt it.'

'We cannot free Hela unless we obliterate his soul and his soul... is indestructible...'

'We leave.'

'And the return of favor?'

With a conflicting gaze, the teenager out of the three conjured a bright green piece of parchment and controlled the piece until it fell close to an alert Nik's feet before disappearing.

Their disappearance dashed all of Hela's hope while the remaining individuals at the hall looked towards the paper with a confused expression.

None of them, including Nik's spirits, were able to even feel what had happened in the span of second but the disappearance of the strange women made the group sigh in relief.

Gazing at the paper... Nik thought for a moment and then controlled the soul ruler to dig underneath the paper and pick it up. It felt strangely heavy and after using a few investigation spells including the use of purification, Nik finally touched the paper only for it to start melting.

"Throw it!" Jennifer shouted.

'Why?' Nik frowned. But he didn't question Jennifer's concern. Instead, he questioned the Norn's intentions as his mind was actually kissed with a technique that seemed too good to be true. In fact, it felt like this technique was made for him.

"It's alright," Nik smiled and stood up.

Looking at Sera, he smiled warmly, "I'll make sure that the souls of Heven are not subjected to the curse and just receive the same treatment as any dead individual would receive... well, after I figure out how Hel works.

Morgan... Loki, and Hela, follow me. Hela, get Leah to make appropriate arrangements for the girls."

As he said so, Nik looked towards them and snickered, "Give me an hour or two to freshen up... these oldies gave me a good present. You guys should rest, too. We'll meet here in two hours."

With that, Nik walked out of the hall quickly as Hela reluctantly led the group to a room for the personal stay.

Meanwhile, a conflicted Leah walked out from behind the doors of the hall as if she was waiting there and finally spoke with a sigh, "Please follow me."

---

Within a rather large room now alight with flickering candles, Nik took a deep breath. The three girls waited beside a large bed quietly as an understanding expression flickered on Loki's face before she found her breathing turned warm, unlike the cold Hela and the stoic Morgan.

"Would you three tell me every single detail you know about these Mistresses of the Fate?"

Much to the trio's surprise, Nik's desire was purely academic in nature while his thoughts continued to understand the second technique that can break apart the first five shackles of the soul and allow the person to become a rank-six individual.