While the awakened humans fought with a god, the Serpent threatened to swallow the Sun, Theodore seemed to be gaining the upper hand against Ra, his gigantic body weaving incoming fiery spikes that the sun god shot towards him while he counteracted with his own shards of ice, which unlike his opponent, actually managed to land.

Ra gritted his teeth in annoyance, Gabriel Griffin's once blue eyes had now turned into a hot gold, clearly expressing that someone else had occupied that body. [What makes you think a fletchling god like you could oppose the heavens?]

[Oh please, don't let that be your last words.] Theodore was sort of getting tired of these people speaking like they rule the world, especially if that someone couldn't even dodge a basic spell properly.

Anyhow, his words had successfully managed to anger his opponent, and Ra began to gather more energy around his palms, fire thrash violently from his fingers and swiftly shot towards Theodore, forming the shape of a giant hawk.

The bird let out a fierce cry as its wide wings beat against the air, the booming noise causing the air to ripple. However, while this spell might seem threatening, Theodore simply swatted it away with his tail, which was encased in another layer of the skill 'Scales of the Serpent'

His defenses were practically through the roof at that moment.

[Warning! The effects of 'Equality' on the target 'King of Olympus' has 2 Minutes remaining!]

After hearing that notification, Theodore turned towards the other group of heroes that were fighting Zeus, it seemed that for the time being, no one was gaining the upper hand, but this has to change now. [Guys! Hurry up and end it in two minutes!]

"What? Why?" Merlin shouted back as he shot an arrow at the lightning god, it embedded itself into his thigh which had incidentally supported Frey and Eugene at the front line, both of them began raining down attack after attack the moment they saw Zeus staggering from the wound.

[Zeus has a debuff on him right now!]

"Roger!" Instead of his friends answering him, the High Priestess Hina spoke instead, she clasped her hands together in a prayer before beginning to mutter something under her breath, not long after, the team main attackers became engulfed in colorful light, signaling that they'd been affected by buffs.

Seeing this, the other supporters began to cast as many spells as possible and stack them on top of the High Priestess', it didn't take long until crazed fighters began to violently attack Zeus, showing absolutely no mercy behind each hit.

'Equality doesn't nullify buffs applied after the skill is used, things are looking good.' Theodore turned his focus back to Ra, who'd begun to resummon the undead Egyptian soldiers that he'd gotten rid off before, though this time the numbers seemed to have increased and their eyes were giving off a dangerous look.

Ra himself looked to be exhausted, sweat dropped from his chin but his heavy gaze stared at Theodore with stubbornness. [I will not lose to a mere child!]

[Warning! 'King of Scorching Heaven' is breaking a big taboo!]

Theodore immediately felt that something was off, the aura that Ra was giving off was a lot more powerful than before, at first, he didn't know what was going on until the sun god suddenly shouted at Zeus. [Use it! We need to win at all costs!]

Having heard that, the Olympian covered himself in a shield of electricity before pushing it outwards, warding his attackers away for a moment which allowed him to gain distance, landing just about fifteen meters behind Ra. Zeus gritted his teeth as he looked at his own body, it was covered in wounds as golden liquid oozed from them bit by bit, he was reaching his limit too.

But despite that…He didn't want to believe he needed to go 'that' far.

[Are you out of your mind, Ra? If we do that…We'll be marked as the enemy of our heavens instead of their king!]

[I've already used it! Pay the price later, if we win this, they'll have no say in us stealing their divinity!]

Zeus seemed hesitant at first, but when he saw that the army of humans were creeping closer to him, he decided that this would be their only chance. He gave the incoming heroes a threatening glare as sparks began to fly from his body. [Mere mortals stand no chance against gods…Know your place!]

After that declaration, a surge of energy suddenly bursted forward, covering the entire battlefield in a fierce thunderstorm. It was so powerful that the humans couldn't even hope to stand up properly, some were struck by lightning while some were hit by the fallen debris from the broken buildings around them.

"Ack! What is this?"

"Help!"

"Why did he suddenly become so—Ahhh!!!"

"Run! We can't fight that now!—No, ah!"

In only the blink of an eye, only a small group of heroes were left standing, this included Theo and Frey's group with Hina joining them also.

The High Priestess was busy healing the injured ones though, so it didn't seem like she was going to continue fighting with them either.

Theodore let out an annoyed hiss, the thunderstorm didn't affect him much at all so he decided to ignore it for the time being and turned back towards the undead army that'd now began to rush towards him, he tried to squish them under his weight like before but there were simply too many of them, and not only that, some under undead creatures were crawling out of Ra's portals too.

"Grr…"

The low growl sent chills down everyone's spine.

"What…is that?" Merlin muttered as he and everyone around him too was suddenly frozen with fear gripping their legs.

Theodore looked towards the direction and saw a gigantic creature coming out of an enlarged gate specifically made for its exit. It has a body made of floating, corrupted bones and a pair of bright green eyes filled with life. The beast let out a terrific roar before spreading its incomplete wings, its words were incomprehensible to others but Theodore could hear it loud and clear.

[Who dares awaken the General of the Underworld?]

[Achillas! I command you, kill that serpent!]

Achillas the undead dragon turned its head towards Ra before giving him the equivalent of a bow. [Oh if it's our king's orders, this lowly servant shall follow.]

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

[...I can't be bothered to deal with you.] Theodore hissed at the dragon just as it looked up at him, the undead army was still being crushed from all around, this time by ice magic instead.

[And who might you be to act so arrogant around a superior being such as I?]

Theodore immediately manifested a spell, this time it was Demon Arts, though instead of giving off an eerie, evil feeling, its aura was that of something divine. [Why don't you take a guess?]

[Demon Arts: Archangel's Might.]

As a giant blade appeared in the air, Theodore caught it between his fangs before bolting straight towards the dragon, killing any undead beings that were unfortunate enough to be underneath him at that time.

Achillas seemed surprised by the sudden attack, he didn't seem to be expecting a gigantic serpent out of all things to be fast. [It seems you're more interesting than I thought…]

However, just as the dragon was charging up a breath attack while bracing for the sword to reach him, Achillas would only find himself standing all alone while a strong gale brushed against his boney side as Theodore simply slithered past him like he wasn't standing there in the first place.

[...You actually ignored me?]

Ra frowned as his gaze followed the serpent's movement, confused as to why he would choose to run away rather than fight, he didn't have a problem challenging a god before, so how would a minor deity like Achillas be all that threatening?

That was when Ra realized what was actually going on.

[Zeus!]

By then, it was already too late.

[Oh mortals, if you wish for me to spare your pitiful lives, apologize and bow down to me, worship me with faith and all shall be forgiven.]

While Zeus was too busy laughing like an evil supervillain, Theodore had reached the god and brought the sword down onto him, a line made of light struck forward and cleaved right through his body, splitting the god in half as if a hot knife had sliced through a block of butter.

['Equality' effect has concluded.]

Just as the notification rang out, a small yellowish orb floated onto the ground where Zeus once hovered over. It occasionally gave off tiny sparks but overall it seemed pretty harmless.

[Status Orb: King of Olympus.]

From what Theodore had heard from Apophis, a god could descend onto earth if they were willing to sacrifice some of their strength and leave them in their respective heaven, at most a god could bring about thirty percent of their full power with them, and that seemed to be the case for Zeus as well.

Combine this with the fact that Zeus was using the possession method, Archangel's Might had no problem cleaving through a mortal's body.

[Go tend to the injured.] The sword in Theodore's mouth disappeared as he began to speak. He lowered his head until he was able to pick up the orb with his fangs before throwing it into the air and ate it.

[You have gained a new Title: 'God Eater'.]

[When consuming a divine being's powers, the effectiveness and speed increases by 20% and 50% respectively.]

[The Status Orb is being processed…Estimated time until completion: 24 Hours.]

Theodore didn't focus on all of that for now, he turned his head back towards Ra's group and saw Achillas trembling in his spot, it seemed that witnessing a god, whether weakened or not, defeated in a single strike was enough to make him fear for his own life.

[Your…Your Majesty…Why hasn't he killed you yet?]

Ra seemed to be in shock as well, there was practically no way for one attack to kill a god so easily. [I…I don't know…]

[I still haven't used half of what I have.] Theodore began to slither back towards them, which caused Achillas to step back on instinct. He could only kill Zeus because of Equality, but he didn’t mind using their ignorance to his advantage. [Since you didn't attack me yet, I'll spare you, but Ra? I've got business to deal with him.]

The only reason Zeus went down so easily was because of Equality, Theodore would love to use it on Ra at that moment if not for one notification that'd popped up right as he was done with the lightning god.

[Warning! The Scale of Balance is giving you a look of warning.]

[It is not advised to continue using 'Equality'.]

With great power…comes great drawbacks, Theodore couldn't actually be angry about this considering that he could make do with his other abilities, Apophis had already done so much to him, he couldn't possibly ask her to break the law of the universe for him.

[Achillas…Kill him…Kill him now!]

[But Your Majesty—]

[I command you! Go die for me!] Ra extended his glowing hand towards the dragon just as he spoke and Achillas' body began to move on its own, it was the king's authority, and no matter how much he tried to struggle out of its grasp, Ra ruled with an iron fist.

[No…Your Majesty, please! Have mercy!]

[Shouldn't you be asking me that?] Theodore didn't need a system to tell him since it was easy to guess what Ra had done to Achillas, it was magic, an unbreakable one as well it seemed, it didn't matter if he ignore the dragon, his body wouldn't rest until he accomplished the task given by His Majesty anyway.

Achillas shook his head as he continued to beg, he was still trying to yank his uncontrollable body away from the giant serpent, but the result was the same.

The Necro Dragon, Achillas, known to be a great general of the Egyptian Underworld, the invincible, most powerful undead, yet he screamed out of the fear of death.

Theodore thought that it was ironic, but at the very least, he could grant this poor dragon a swift, painless death. He used 'Flaming Life', which was imbued with holy magic, it made Achillas' bones caught on fire and a blood-curdling cry erupted from the dragon as it began to thrash around violently. [AHHHHHHH!!!!]

Maybe that wasn't a swift and painless death like Theodore had hoped it would be, but nonetheless, in mere minutes, where Achillas once stood tall now was occupied with a bright green orb resting on top of burnt ashes.

[Status Orb: Necro Dragon, Achillas.]

Theodore didn’t focus on it right now though and he instead began to look around, seeing that while he was preoccupied with Achillas, Ra had already disappeared from the battlefield, leaving behind confused troops who only stood still in their place, unable to move without their masters' words.

[...He ran.]

He was annoyed at this development, maybe it would have been better if he'd attacked both Achillas and Ra at the same time, even if it wouldn't kill them, he would at least know that he's weakened even further than before.

But then again, Theodore couldn't risk the humans behind him getting hurt by his spells either.

Speaking of which, seeing how quiet the entire area has become, the heroes erupted into cheers of joy, screaming at the top of their lungs that they'd won a battle against gods.

Theodore sighed as he shifted back into his humanoid form, picking up the Status Orb on the ground in the process. His friends soon approached him along with Hina and Frey.

"Where's Ra?" Merlin was the first to speak.

"Ran away like a little b*tch." Theodore replied before handing the item in his hand to his best friend, who took it with a confused frown.

"What is this?"

"It's called a Status Orb, and you can gain some power from the original owner if you cultivate it properly."

"Huh? You're going to give me something this precious?" Merlin's eyes widened as he looked back and forth between him and the orb.

"Well, I'm not entirely sure how it works on humans…But I'll help you tap into its abilities, at the very least, giving you some new useful skills would be a great benefit to us."

"Aw, nothing for me?" Eugene pointed at himself, he was now back in his human form with his battleaxe swung against his back.

"If the Status Orb can't be fully consumed…Then you two can share it, but I want to give it to Merlin first just because you're already an okay fighter."

Merlin narrowed his eyes. "...I have no idea whether to take that as an insult or not."

"So," Hina cut off their conversation, she gave Theodore a smile and a tilt of her head, as if saying that she was curious and wanted to ask him some questions. "You're the Winter Frost mage? The one that's supposedly dead?"

"Yeah, sounds about right. Why do you ask?"

"Nothing…I just want to say thank you for helping us today." Hina chuckled. "If you didn't come to fight those gods with us…We might have suffered more damage than this."

Theodore looked off to the side. "That technically wasn't my intention…I just wanted them dead."

Suddenly, the High Priestess bursted out laughing. "Oh my god…You're still the same after all these years, you always deny being a good person in interviews, why do you do that?"

Theodore raised an eyebrow as if the answer was obvious. "Because it's true?"

"No way!" Hina shook her head, still smiling from hysteria. "You're just a little cold, that's all, you're a real hero, Theodore, a lot of people still look up to you these days, you know? That includes me."

"That's right, me too." Frey finally decides to speak up as well, he raises his hand slightly like he was trying to gain their attention. "You might not realize this, but you're an idol, many want to be able to protect humanity like you."

Theodore was about to continue his protest when suddenly he felt more eyes landing on him, looking on ahead, he saw that the group of heroes were now smiling at him, some waving and calling his name while some shouted his alias. Frey was right, he never truly realized that people actually knew and looked up to him that much.

'...I've always thought like I'm alone in this world.' From the start of his new life, Theodore had never thought of receiving help from anybody, he simply focused on getting stronger by himself, and even when he'd reunited with his old friends, he still fought alone and only thought of his own next moves.

It was kind of funny how it took Theodore this long to notice that he was human, no matter what sort of creature he'd reincarnated into.

Serpent or Human, he was the Winter Frost mage in everyone else's eyes. An idol of heroes and the world's first line of defense.

Theodore could only stand there and scratch the back of his neck, he didn't know what to do or say in that situation. "...Thank you?"

Sometimes, he wished he was still a tiny snake.