Absolute chaos.

No other words could better describe what was happening in Cairo.

The Temple of Seti I, in Abydos, the Temple of Akhenaton in Amarna and the Temple of Horus in Edfu had been subjected to the fury of Set. The Egyptian Museum of Cairo, a beautiful building full of priceless artifacts millennia old, was in ruins.

Not to mention the casualties, numbered tens of thousands of people and innocent animals.

So much of human history, buried under rubble and wreckage. People around the country started wondering if the end of the world was coming, and if Egypt was cursed. Many of them attributed such tragedies to the Rebirth.

Rebirth was how the people started referring to the phenomenon that had been taking place in Egypt since an airplane crashed in the Egyptian deserts with Kurou in it. Entities long deceased came back to life, and even Gods started to roam throughout the land.

Some of them were discreet, imperceptible even. Hatshepsut managed to blend with the townsfolk and nobody could notice who she really was except for a few individuals, like Mahmoud, who was an Ancient Egyptian scholar. Tutankhamon had been lucky – or not – to have found Kurou right after his Rebirth, and had no trouble walking around for as long as he managed to stay alive.

Other figures, on the contrary, made sure they were seen and took pleasure in making a fuzz, like Akhenaton, who put people through forced labor with his mind-controlling power in order to build his new Temple to Aton in Amarna, the city he once called Akhetaton.

But the most ambitious of them all was certainly Ramses II, son of Seti I. Even before regaining a human body, one could tell how problematic and dangerous the Pharaoh was going to be, and Kurou experienced that first-hand when one of his acolytes tried to kill him.

From the start, Ramses showed disdain towards Kurou and his Post-Mortality, believing him to be a freak of nature and treating him like an undead, a zombie of sorts. But the idea of being immortal corrupted his mind as much as it could corrupt anyone with great ambitions, and eventually he began to desire that power for himself.

For that purpose, Ramses took a big gamble by sharing his body with the living aspect of Isfet – Apep, the Serpent of Chaos.

Although eager for revenge against Ma’at and Thoth for refusing to share the secret of Post-Mortality with him, the influence of Apep inside his body made him thirsty for the blood of Set, the Serpent’s mortal enemy along with Amon-Ra, the Sun God.

But in order to ensure his immortality, Ramses' ultimate goal was to destroy Ammit and prevent any souls from going through the Weighing of the Heart ritual; by doing this, he hoped for a chance to banish the aspect of death from existence, so that he could rule forever and perpetuate the wealth and prosperity he once enjoyed as the Great Pharaoh of Egypt, around 1250 B.C.

When Akhenaton vanished from sight in the blink of an eye, Ramses felt tremendous anger welling up inside him as he had been made a fool of by the fake god Aton and Set, the one who promised him power but ultimately revealed himself as a betrayer.

Now, Set had the heretic Pharaoh within his reach, and should the God of Storms kill him and absorb his energy, he would become virtually invincible.

Even though the world had no clue that a threat of such magnitude was materializing in the modern capital of Egypt, the armies of the country and many others still mobilized.

TV channels around the world had been broadcasting footage of a tall creature, half human half animal, manipulating the weather into storms, floods and hurricanes, and causing mayhem wherever he went. It wasn't difficult for anyone with some understanding of Egyptian culture to spot the similarities of that creature with Set.

Politicians, Secret Police and bureaucrats from all over the world had their attention fixed on what was happening not only to protect the Ancient Egyptian heritage, but also to find out more about the godly powers being revealed before their eyes.

Many of them, specially scientists and their patrons, were effusively interested in Kurou and eager to learn how he could survive even when subjected to certain death.

The arrogance of human beings made them believe they could defeat the most violent of the Gods of Egypt by attacking him with grenades and gunfire, but Set came out unscathed even after taking a whole barrage of heavy artillery head-on. Bullets couldn’t even leave a scratch on his supernatural body, and military aircrafts had been taken down by powerful lightning the God of Storms kept casting.

What began as a single storm now had the apocalyptic look of an alien invasion.

There, in the middle of the chaos and havoc, is where Akhenaton suddenly appeared, amidst a shining golden light.

“What is this place?”, he asked. “What’s going on here?”.

“The heretic pharaoh”, Set growled, turning his gaze towards him. “It seems your master kept his end of our bargain”.

“What bargain?”, Akhenaton asked, reaching for his khopesh, but having trouble to see with so much wind and rain.

“It’s quite simple, pharaoh. Your master and I have similar views. We hate this world as it is, and you will help us reshape it. A small toll will be charged for that to be possible, but you are used to sacrifices, aren’t you?”, Set said, with an impossibly cold tone of voice.

“I won’t go down without a fight”, Akhenaton declared, his sword in hand.

“I don’t think you get it, mortal”, Set said. “If I say you must die, you will die, and your power will be mine to harvest”.

“Then you’ll have to come and take it”, Akhenaton replied, pointing his khopesh at the Egyptian god.

Set waved his hands and a tornado formed under Akhenaton’s feet, lifting him off the ground as rocks, chunks of concrete from buildings and car parts crashed into him. The water from the heavy rain was pooling on his face and making it hard to breathe. The Pharaoh felt like he could lose consciousness and had to act quick or that really would be his end.

By focusing his energy and his mind, Akhenaton disrupted the tornado with an energy blast, nimbly landing on his feet. He gathered impulse and ran in Set's direction, khopesh in hand.

"Begone, false god!", he shouted. Set felt Akhenaton's intimidating power, but the god of violence could not be underestimated. By channeling his own power, Set manipulated the plentiful wet sand around them and launched a massive sandstorm towards Akhenaton, burying him in mud and debris.

"You are only human, pharaoh. Do you really expect to defeat a God?", Set asked, rhetorically.

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A hand stretched out of the sand, revealing that, despite hurt and bruised, Akhenaton wasn't defeated.

"I don't care if Aton made a deal with you, false god. My faith is real, and I will die for it, if necessary", Akhenaton remarked, getting up on his feet, with resolute countenance.

"Very well. I admire your determination, mortal. But it's for naught. Aton, show him what he's worth", Set said, looking up to the sky.

A shining light dazzled everyone's vision, and a large beam of light fell continuously over Akhenaton. The light burned his skin like fire.

"ATON! WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME?", Akhenaton screamed, feeling such pain it felt like he was next to the Sun itself.

“Your death is what your god wants, pharaoh. Understand that you’re nothing but a broken tool, and shall be used for spare parts just like one. Feel honored that your blood will be of use for something good instead of pumping a useless heart”, Set said.

“ATON!!!”, Akhenaton shouted again and fell to the ground. His skin had been burned to a crisp and even his ornate sword melted.

Set began walking towards the heretic Pharaoh’s motionless body but a sudden gust of wind pushed him back.

“Go no further".

Ramses appeared in the middle of a sand swirl, with his hand extending towards the god of storms. Set looked at him for a couple of seconds and frowned before opening his mouth.

“So that’s how it is. Your cowardice is such that you surrendered your soul to the Serpent”.

“I did not surrender to anyone, betrayer. I’m just tired of counting on self-indulgent, unreliable gods”, Ramses said in a frightening voice that only Set could hear without a chill running down his spine.

“Uniting with the Serpent of Chaos serves you nothing, except giving me one more reason to kill you”.

Ramses opened his arms and started levitating. Sand revolved around his hand and turned into a huge khopesh. He assumed a fighting stance and darted towards Set.

Set's demeanor changed completely now that his enemy was Apep, the Serpent of Chaos. The mythological embodiment of chaos and evil that required Amon and Set to work together in the myths was now sharing Ramses II's body, ready to take revenge on Egypt and everything that dare to stand in its way.

Set conjured his staff to block Ramses' strike, and the shock of both weapons was so strong the clouds immediately dissipated. The rain, consequently, stopped, and a huge amount of sand and dust rose from the ground.

None of them cared about the sand or dust, which couldn't hinder their vision in the slightest. Set raised a hand and a powerful bolt of lightning fell on top of Ramses, but the Pharaoh deflected it with a swing of his sword, causing it to fall on a car, exploding it. Before Set could make another move, Ramses summoned a sand snake which wrapped itself around the god of storms, attempting to crush it.

Set went furious.

“Do you intend on defeating me with magic tricks, sandcrawler?".

Set focused his strength for a second and destroyed the sand snake from the inside, easily breaking free. With blood-red eyes full of hatred, Set held his staff with both hands and slammed it into the ground with extreme strength, causing a powerful earthquake.

Ramses lost balance but managed to recover quickly enough to parry another blow from Set, causing yet another shockwave.

Both Ramses and Set took distance from each other in order to assess the situation and prepare for the next strike when Ramses realized his arm was bleeding from what seemed to be a cat scratch, and a very big one. The bleeding quickly stopped, but the pain was unbearable, to the point of making Apep scream inside the Pharaoh's body.

In the middle of the devastated area where they had been fighting, a very large cat, the size of an adult cheetah but with grey fur and yellow irises, was intelligently staring at them.

The large cat spoke in a powerful voice.

“Let's finish this feud before the whole country, or rather, the world, is destroyed".

“I don't need your help, Amon-Ra", Set said.

“Arrogant, as always", Amon-Ra said.

“Good. Now I can destroy two mummified gods at once", Ramses said.

“Sorry for being late, vermin". Amon-Ra said, disgusted. “But the one who will destroy you is not me or Sutekh".

The big cat's eyes glowed a strong yellow and the most unpredictable thing happened.

***

Kurou and Harakhty were with a firefighter in their truck, running at full speed through the heavy rain and wet sand on the road that led to Cairo. They could see and hear thunder and lightning from afar, deducing it was happening in the Capital, where the Egyptian Museum had just been destroyed.

Kurou noticed a clash of godly powers was happening and felt revolted. Not for being too far from the tragedy to avoid it, but for letting the worse happen to his friend Mahmoud. He knew revenge wouldn't bring him back, but he still wanted it. He didn't care about justice or peace. He wanted retribution.

He also missed Riddle, the avatar of Anubis in form of a moody jackal.

Kurou was lost in thought when he suddenly disappeared from inside the truck. Harakhty and the firefighter looked at each other with extreme astonishment, and the driver almost went off the road. Kurou appeared in front of a big cat, tumbling heavily on the ground since he was at a very high speed before being teleported.

"GASP, GASP, HOLY MOTHERFUCKER, WHAT THE HELL!", he coughed as he stopped rolling and tried to stand up.

Set, Ramses and Amon-Ra turned their gazes at him.

"What? WHAT? What the fuck is going on? Why am I here? Why are you here? What the hell is this huge cat?", Kurou asked, astonished, pointing a finger towards Amon-Ra.

“Hahahahaha...Amon-Ra. Is that how you plan on defeating me?", Ramses asked, amused.

"Amon-Ra?", Kurou asked, in disbelief. "Where is he? I really need to give him an earful".

“I'm right here, Post-Mortal", Amon-Ra answered.

"You are Amon-Ra? Why a cat? I thought you couldn't assume a material form", Kurou asked, puzzled.

“Are you finished with the chatter yet?", Set asked, dissatisfied and impatient.

“Almost", Amon-Ra said. “Kurou, this is your chance to fight and defeat chaos. Look up to the sky and summon the power of Ra, and it will be granted to you".

As Amon-Ra was looking up to the sky, he failed to see that Kurou started running the opposite direction, away from the three entities gathered there.

"YOU CREATED THIS SHIT, YOU SOLVE IT!", Kurou shouted, running his ass off.

Amon-Ra sighed, embarassed.

“I guess your Post-Mortal is not exactly the greatest example of bravery, Amon", Set stated with an ironic, yet guttural voice.

“He's not ready yet, Sutekh. But he will be soon, and then you'll understand why I summoned him here".

***

As Kurou ran through the streets of a devastated Cairo, he realized the storm stopped, something his high adrenaline levels kept him from observing during his encounter with the three Gods/Monsters.

The sky was clear, but the landscape was apocalyptic. Buildings, stores, roads, everything had been destroyed by Set's terrifying powers.

Kurou clenched his fist once again. Although not interested in a fight between the Gods of Egypt, and even less in becoming Amon-Ra's pawn, he wondered if it wouldn't have been a good idea to accept Ra's power in order to defeat Ramses and Set, and put this nightmare to an end once and for all.

Distracted, Kurou took some time to realize something was biting his leg. The pain became too strong for him to ignore and he looked down.

"RIDDLE!", Kurou shouted in delight.

Along with the jackal, Kurou could see Hatshepsut and Ankhesenamon. The Pharaoh was okay, but the Princess had cuts and bruises all over her body. It seemed that the storm had taken a toll on her.

"Hello, Kurou", Hatshepsut said, smiling slightly. "Glad to finally see you again".

"Hi Hatty", Kurou replied, cheerful. "You won't believe what I've just witnessed".

"I'm not sure I want to know", Hatshepsut said. "Now come on, we have work to do. I'll explain it on the way but, in short, you have a trial to pass".