The forgotten god of the underworld.
Of the listed Divine protectors, the goddess Ereshkigal, without a doubt had the saddest backstory.
Once known to be the twin sibling of the god of Fertility, Ishtar, Ereshkigal was considered the Lady of the Earth, polar opposite of her sister.
She was loved and praised by the other Mesopotamian gods, often called Mother due to her great influence.
But after the world needed a ruler in the underworld, Ereshkigal was the first to be chosen as a replacement.
The phrase "Suffering from success" would best describe it.
Forced to carry on the role of the ruler of the underworld, she bore a new title.
The goddess of the underworld.
Ereshkigal felt betrayed; not only did her sister abandon her to carry this burden, but slowly the other gods began to forget about her too.
She was alone for all of eternity.
Any other person in her place would have retaliated by waging a war on the gods, but two things stopped her from doing that.
One of which was her hidden love for a human.
Staring at the screen, Jayhan had already made up his mind on who he was going to pick.
Even if Ereshkigal was not the most powerful amongst the Mesopotamian gods, she was still incredibly influential. And that was all he needed.
His eyes glanced at the second option.
'The young maiden of the west.'
Since Jared was the first to arrive at the plaza, it was no surprise he got the chance to pick two powerful Divine protectors.
This particular Divine protector, from their name, Jayhan could tell who they were.
One of the strongest gods in Japanese history, Amaterasu.
Known to be the goddess of the sun, she was extremely powerful; without her, it was said the world would plunge into darkness.
'If lady luck is on my side, she better not stop. This is a good improvement.'
His mind had been made up.
With the little time left, he went toward the rest of his colleagues, showing them what they should pick.
Just like him, they got two options, both of which were powerful gods from different mythologies.
After a while…
(Congratulations on completing the Divine selection.)
(Information about your choices will be revealed.)
Everyone once again found the glowing screen glimmering in front of them with information about their Divine protection.
With her back resting on the wall, Seo Yuna received hers.
(Congratulations on your chosen Divine Protector.)
(Name: The one who crafted wisdom.
True name: Athena, goddess of wisdom and craft.
General Rank: High tier.
Description: She is the patron goddess of Athens, symbolized by the owl and the olive tree.)
Folding her arms, Seo could only give a little smirk. Athena was a strong goddess, so she knew she had picked well.
Her smirk quickly faded when she remembered it was Jayhan who did the choosing.
Next was Veronica.
(Name: Beauty of the heavenly garden.
True name: Freya, goddess of beauty and magic.
General Rank: High tier.
Description: As a warrior goddess, she is a powerful sorceress and deeply associated with passion, prophecy, and life.)
She wasn't all that knowledgeable when it came to gods, but having a High-level rank was enough to convince her that it was good.
Now came Adonis's turn—
(Name: The one who attained seven layers of immortality.
True name: Sun Wukong.
General Rank: High tier.
Description: Having over 72 transformations and several layers of immortality, he was considered to be one of the strongest gods in Chinese mythology.)
"Does this god Sun Wukong ring any bell to you, little one?" Adonis asked, his gaze shifting to where Jayhan was.
'I picked it for you, what do you think?'
Jayhan thought to himself before he replied, "Yes, he is quite a powerful god. He should prove to be helpful."
A smirk showed on Adonis's face upon hearing that.
"As he should. Someone as great as I should never have to settle for less."
Jayhan could only watch with numbness.
His delusional main character syndrome was why Sun Wukong chose him in the first place.
Seo was listening in and took a second look at the Divine protector she chose. She thought of asking Jayhan if the goddess Athena was any better than Sun Wukong. Her pride was not in support of that.
"YO! Girl, what did you get? I bet it's something totally strong, right? Come on, tell me. Pretty please~." Veronica leaned in front of Kara as she asked.
Kara, taking another glance at her screen—
(Name: Tamed by love, loved by riches.
True name: Ishtar, the goddess of fertility.
General rank: High tier.
Description: Known to be the embodiment of victory and happiness, the goddess Ishtar was both strong and surrounded by everything good. But still could not protect her sister.)
(As a support system, a surprise package has been gifted.)
Sigh!
"If you all got High tier gods, then yeah, we got the same thing," Kara eventually replied.
"Hehehe~ that means we all totally hit the jackpot. J bear is a genius!" Veronica danced around for a while like a drunk cat.
The rest watched but didn't really have any reaction to what she said.
Though deep down, they knew Jayhan was the reason they got the grand choice to begin with.
While they were not aware of this, every Divine protector was still different in strength, regardless of their ranks.
As Jayhan remembered, the rank of the Divine protectors fell into four levels: Low rank, which were mainly spirits; Mid rank, consisting of historical figures; Elite rank, demigods and higher rulers; and the last, High rank, which were gods.
Other than his group, no one else would have the chance to select High tier protectors, and still, if their bond with their protectors was stronger than their opponents', 7/10 they would come out the victor in a battle.
'... Studying the multiple options I saw paid off. Kara and Veronica were different; they were not in the game. If I hadn't studied…'
He suddenly paused mid-thought when he noticed everyone in his group was staring at him.
Then Adonis asked,
"What tier protector did you get? Surely you didn't think we wouldn't ask."
...
[A\N: I wrote this chapter on a bus. Sorry it it's rushed.]