It was a nice summer’s day in the middle of Loki's fictional ocean. The pool water was just right, the drinks were excellent, yet the company…

"I've met Mammon."

“Huh?”

“The demon.”

One of Loki’s eyebrows went up. The company was shit.

"He’s big, shiny, covered in bling. He speaks like an opera singer if the music could reverberate spines.”

"Of course I know him, I'm God. What about it?"

“He’s trying to lure me to the mutants’ side.”

“They're recruiting humans now?"

“Not exactly. My body’s all red and grotesque at the moment; an eyeball appeared on my shoulder. I'm starting to look more like a ghoul than a human."

Suddenly, the cruise ship disappeared as did the ocean underneath it. Finn found himself inside a tiny ball of black energy, flying off of Loki’s asteroid towards the planet’s surface.

“You’re in the lake labyrinth, right? On what floor?”

“Sixth. Are you going to help me?”

“I’m God, I need to save the innocent. You are innocent, aren’t you?”

“Of course, are the demons your enemies?”

“Hmph, they’re level 20 noobs at best. They’re not even actual demons, the real ones are bickering over black holes in the ‘Don’t go there’ part of the Universe. It’s just,” Loki’s projection averted its eyes. “You have a bright future ahead of you, you know, as a nerd.”

The fist-sized ball of energy pierced through the lake near Labyrinth city and through all the floors underneath it. In a matter of seconds, Finn was on the sixth floor, looking at himself as he was about to transform.

Everyone was frozen in time. Bloodeye was clutching his chest inside the tunnel Finn had graciously gifted him. Mammon had his palm on the pillar of energy. His eyes were turning in their sockets as they followed Loki’s energy ball floating around.

Finally, Annie was staring at the mutated Finn. Her hand was stretched out and she seemed to be shouting something.

‘I didn’t even hear her.’ “Why are they all frozen?”

“My planet, my rules,” said Loki while the energy ball moved towards Finn’s body. There was an eye on each of his shoulders, and the boy’s flesh was putrid and deformed. His skin had turned purple in color, and there were two tiny horns sticking out of his forehead.

“Marky Mark, there’s only one solution to this problem I’m afraid: You need to kill yourself.”

“No.”

“It would solve the problem.”

“No.”

“I promise to send your soul back to Earth.”

Finn hesitated for a moment, until he realized Loki hadn’t mentioned reincarnation. Besides, was he even an earthling anymore? ‘My past life, it’s so foreign to me now. And if I leave, Tommy, Michael, Natalie, Annie… they’re all dead.’

“The answer is no. Help me reverse the damage or send me back and let me transform. I’ll kill myself after killing the lion.”

“Don’t you know what a mutation does to you? You’re growing eyes, so voices will start talking to you. You’ll develop 50+ personalities that will fight over your body, turning your original consciousness to mush. Forget about the beastman, you’ll become a monster a million times worse.”

“So, how do I stop it?” ‘And why the hell are you worried about me becoming a monster? I thought you loved seeing me suffer.’

Loki’s projection started walking back and forth, confusing Finn to no end. ‘They say God works in mysterious ways…’

Eventually, God gave in.

“Fine! You’re lucky I’m so generous Mark, I expect a hefty donation to my church after this.”

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“As soon as I get rich, my savior.”

Loki crossed his arms and hunched his back, looking all across the cave as if displeased with the situation. Finally, he moved the energy ball near Finn’s mutated body, pointed at it and said: “You need to blow yourself up.”

“...That’s still killing myself!”

Time passed, minutes for Finn and an instant for everyone else. Eventually, Loki’s bubble dispersed and his consciousness was sucked back into the mutated monstrosity.

Immediately, he felt Mammon’s gaze on his back and heard Annie shout out his name. However, Finn had more pressing matters to deal with.

‘Embrace the power,’ whispered the eye on his left shoulder.

‘It’s our destiny,’ said the one on the right.

‘Kill her,’ said an eye on his arm, at which point countless others gave it a disapproving wink.

‘Kill the baron!’

‘Kill Mammon!’

‘We must sell soap!’

Countless voices fought for control, straining Finn’s consciousness and causing inflammation in his brain.

‘Together, strong.’

‘Mammon is watching.’

‘Get out of my head!’

‘This is my head!’

Eventually, the boy screamed out in pain, his normal voice distorting into something inhuman. He was clutching his head while shouting nonsense.

"Soap… is good. Kill soap!"

"Resistance will only prolong your pain,” said Mammon. “Renounce the tyrant God and embrace your destiny."

Eventually, Finn stopped squirming and shouting. His arms fell by his sides and his head dropped low.

"Welcome. From henceforth your name shall be…"

[Splash!] went Finn's body as it exploded in a million pieces. His skin, his muscles, even the bones broke apart and flew in every possible direction.

One of the mutated eyes hit the energy beam Mammon was looking through, and then slowly slipped down while staring at the demon.

"Disappointing!"

"Finn!"

Annie rushed to where her friend had been while Mammon tried to push his palm through the beam of energy. The purple crystal at the center of the array began shrinking rapidly, and protrusions appeared on the pillar of light as Mammon pushed his fingers through.

“Finn! Finn!”

'Another… voice. Didn't I… get rid of them?'

'Hey Mark, it's do or die.'

'Ha, funny… voice.'

'Don't you ignore me!'

Something zapped Finn's soul, bringing his consciousness back from the brink. In the spot where his body had exploded, a tiny cluster of brain cells suddenly lit up.

'Yes,’ muttered his consciousness. ‘Blow myself up… Blow the… mutant flesh…and energy… up. And then… heal!'

The cluster of unalter cells started replicating themselves. They floated away from the infected flesh and grew in number and mass.

'I didn't think you had it in you.' Loki's voice resounded in his head.

'Is this… going to be a thing, now?'

'You need my energy to heal, don't you?'

Loki started laughing as his black energy ball merged with the shred of earth mana Finn still had left in him. While the boy’s brain cells recovered, Loki modified a tiny portion, so they'd report solely to him. Finn's senses, everything he heard, felt, and even what he thought would now be reported to his God almighty.

'It's a small price to pay for your life, isn't it? This way I can keep an eye on you, my loyal servant.'

‘Great, just peachy. I'm still dying though.'

Even God's ball of mana was insufficient to properly restore Finn's body.

'You can’t have more, and that furball is moving. Mark, you need to heal faster.'

Although half dead himself, Baron Bloodeye was slowly pulling himself out of the tunnel. His eyes were fixated on what was left of Finn and he was still frothing at the mouth.

"What are your orders, Mylord?" Surprisingly, some of the baron's consciousness had returned.

"Isn't it obvious? Kill the human that's colluding with the tyrant God. Purge the new hero before he is born!"

"Yes, Mylord." On all fours, Bloodeye started crawling towards Finn's newly reformed, floating head. At the same time, Annie reached her friend and started injecting him with her mana.

"What hero?" Finn’s head chuckled as his body restored itself. "I'm just an archer that's terrible with flames. You can't think…"

The words he was about to mutter remained stuck in his throat. There was something off with his new body, no, with the mana which filled every one of his cells.

'Loki, what did you do?'

'Since when do you call me by name?'

'What is happening to my mana?'

'Huh? is the mana you took from your former self, a half demon, a prodigious mage, and a literal God not acting to your liking?"

As Finn's organs were being restored, so were the mana pathways all over his body. However, these were not the large, rigid pathways carved by the warrior's breath or the thin, delicate ones present in a mage like Annie.

These were an amalgamation of both, a myriad of connections of different sizes and shapes throughout Finn’s body. Similar to his bloodstream, yet even more complex, they allowed for mana to pass freely through every nook and cranny, in every shape or form, at any speed or velocity.

‘You better be grateful, Mark. Life and energy will always rise up to the challenges we throw at it. You’ve pushed your soul to the brink of extinction and made it back. A transformation that might have taken centuries under normal stress is now happening all at once.’

‘So you mean…’

Loki smirked.

‘You’re like a little butterfly, Mark, coming out of your shell. Now fly, before the lion stomps on you.’