Chapter 1992: Uru, Lazuli's Knight

Uru, the loyal knight of Lazuli was assigned to her since she was a little girl and saw her grow since Lazuli was nothing but a baby frost fairy. Originally, he was born as a Polar Bear Divine Beast, whose siblings and mother were hunted by stronger beasts across the wilderness of the Realm of Niflheim.

Through his own sheer willpower and latent talent, Uru slowly grew stronger, defeating foes and devouring their bodies to become stronger. Eventually, through luck, he evolved and became a God instead of a Divine Beast, developing a Divine Beast, and also some intelligence.

Standing in two legs permanently, he traveled the far snowy lands, until he landed on Skadi's territory. After almost having been mistakenly thought to be a divine beast, and almost hunted by her Pantheon, he was spared.

Skadi offered him a chance in that moment, noticing the talent and luck he held. It was not normal for someone to suddenly find a divine beast having evolved into an intelligent god after all.

"I shall name you Uru, like the Divine Beast of Frost my kin used to worship in ancient times, when Genesis was not divided into fragments, and when the world was whole." Said Skadi. "Now, stand up, and look at me into the eyes. You will become my knight."

"Y-Yes, Queen Skadi!"

Growing to admire her after he had a small spar with the titaness, Uru learned the tremendous difference in power, and became a much more obedient and loyal, perhaps more loyal than most of his retainers in a small time frame.

Joining Skadi's Pantheon wasn't easy, there was a lot of discrimination among the other Gods, who laughed at him for having been a beast before. However, Uru did not care about their mocking remarks, as he was maybe too dumb to perceive as something bad, and often took cynical comments as praises.

"Uru, from now on, you will become my daughter's Knight, put all your loyalty to her and be more loyal to her than you are to me. I want you to be her shield, her armor, and her sword. Protect her more than anything."

"M-Me? This little child?"

"Yes, you, who used to be a beast, has the most pure heart amongst all my retainers, and quite honestly... You're the only one I can trust to this task."

"Queen Skadi..."

Eventually, as they saw him grow stronger with each passing year, the other Gods accepted him as part of their "family", and over time, as Skadi finally got pregnant again with Lazuli, he was assigned as her knight, to protect her.

"Uwah... Gugah...!"

"H-Huh? What are you trying to say?"

"Gugah!"

"My paw? Young lady, don't touch it! My claws are too sharp for you-"

"Gugaah!"

However, despite his words, Lazuli still touched his sharp claws gently, with her tiny fingers, her small, weak hands shouldn't be something he could find interesting, he often loathed weaklings... yet this was different.

It was the first time Uru ever experienced the feeling of being a father figure, something that Njord, Lazuli's real father, never was, as he was a rather silent, depressed man, with a stoic personality that didn't interacted with his children as they grew up.

"Young Lady, are you not afraid of my beastly appearance?"

"Why would I be, Uru? You're my knight! It's nice if you look fearsome, so people don't mess with me! Heheh!"

"I-Is that so? Hahaha! I guess it is!"

Seeing his little lady grow up moved his heart, as he felt more and more connected to her as the years went by... He grew stronger faster than everyone else to protect her, becoming the strongest Great God among all others within Skadi's Pantheon, just so he could protect Lazuli with all his might.

Yet... Because of a single mistake. Because he thought that Lazuli would never be in danger if she gathered with her believe sister Tundra, that mistake led to his duty to fail miserably.

"W-What do you mean the young lady has disappeared?! That's impossible!"

"It's the truth! And it was your responsibility to protect you! Don't get angry at me, you beast..."

"Weren't you the one that had to protect her?!"

"Uru, you've failed the task our queen gave to you!"

"T-That's...!"

Uru looked at every nook and cranny of the entire castle, and then searched through the surrounding country, and then traveled all across the realm of Niflheim.

But wherever he looked for, he simply could not find the young lady. It felt as if Lazuli had simply disappeared, and not even her mother, Skadi, could sense her presence anymore, nowhere.

Despite that, he was not punished as he thought he would be. Skadi said that a force that she couldn't comprehend had snatched her daughter away, Tundra said she left her alone after talking with her, so she didn't knew anything either...

Skadi empathized with him instead of punishing him for his irresponsibility, which only made him more frustrated with himself. If it wasn't because he had to stay protecting his Pantheon's territory, he would had surely ended traveling the entire World of Genesis to find her.

Yet, one fateful day, it was revealed that Lazuli was not only alive, but well! Uru couldn't contain his tears, but it wasn't all of that... He also grew a tremendous feeling of hate towards the perpetrators, the "Mysterious God serving Hel" and... Tundra, Lazuli's sister!

He couldn't believe that the sister Lazuli cared for so much ended being the one that betrayed her this much! And in the day of the confrontation, he could not avenge his young lady, as Tundra used the powers of this mysterious god to wreak havoc, seal many gods, and then even Skadi, stealing her powerful Crown in the process.

For some reason, he was lucky enough to not have been sealed into a black crystal statue, and after Niflheim landed in the Spiritual Plane, and all these events were happening one after another, he decided to simply do what he was best at, while hoping for Lazuli, wherever she was right now, to be alright!

"I'll protect the young lady's home! Come at me, as many as you can! I will face you all by myself!"

And the Insectoids took that to heart...

"SHYAAAAAH!"

A huge Insectoid King appeared!