The board had been set, and the gods were moving their pieces. One pawn at a time, they'd played thus far, and now came the turn for the knights and the bishops to make their move. But the game wasn't being played for a checkmate, instead, it was a stalemate that they were after. Keeping the goddess busy inside while the others assaulted her kingdom was their plan, and although they'd succeeded for the most part, they couldn't keep holding on until she could allow Markus' spell to successfully act on another god's chosen.
"This is the last thing I needed today…" It happened so quickly that it took Athenia a moment to realize what was even going on. The gods had premeditated the attack, and to ensure that she couldn't do anything while it happened, they sent in a distraction in the form of two of the otherworlders. Not being gods, they were free to come and go as long as they had help from someone from the heavenly order. "In what world did they think this would work?"
