“How long are you going to keep this up?”

Pandemonium. Chaos. Death. The smell of smoke and blood filled the air as destruction spread everywhere ‘she’ went. Her twin blades danced in between the woman’s fingers while she nonchalantly walked towards a group of four, who were bleeding from various cuts on their bodies.

“Not until he shows up!” Merlin shouted and let go of the arrow from his fiery bow, despite having an injured eye, his accuracy was still monstrous nonetheless, it struck its mark and exploded instantly.

However, the woman was unfazed by the attack and simply shrugged it off, her skin was barely scratched from it. Her smirk grew wider, revealing the canines that were hidden inside her mouth. “He? You’re putting blind faith on someone that isn’t even showing signs of arriving?”

While Merlin nocked another arrow, Asmodeus and Mammon jumped from their spots and readied their respective weapons, Lust struck first with her whip and the lasso wrapped around Sekhmet’s body while Greed punched her in the face and sent her flying, the knuckles around his hands were stained with the lioness’ blood.

Sekhmet surprisingly didn’t fall down, instead she spun her body midair and landed on the broken asphalt road with her twin swords planted into it. Her eyes gleamed as she laughed while wiping the blood from her mouth and nose. “Oh that was a good one…How interesting…aren’t you guys from the Eden pantheon?”

Both demon kings furrowed their brows. Asmodeus spoke first with an annoyed tone, she didn’t seem to like hearing that name at all. “…Do we have to answer that?”

“Hm? Not really…I already know you’re not deities.” Despite being several meters away from them, Sekhmet managed to close in that distance with a single leap, catching the demons off guard. She swung her weapons and both struck their targets in the chest, forcing them to retreat. “You’re both nothing but exiled troublemakers~”

Merlin fired his arrow the moment the demons had fallen back, although Sekhmet easily deflected it with a slight flick of her wrist. She laughed again and lunged forward, preparing to take all of them down at once.

‘CLANG!’

The twin blades collided with a battleaxe, the werewolf Eugene was quick to react and managed to successfully block the attack. He pushed harder and smacked the lioness away.

The wolf’s eyes gave off an eerie aura as they stared at their opponent as if they were uncovering everything about her no matter where she tried to hide them.

[Reaper’s Gaze.]

Sekhmet’s amused smirk was never wiped off of her face, she huffed arrogantly and crooked her neck. “Really? Still resisting? The longer you spend entertaining me the more people are going to die, you know?”

Sekhmet didn’t come to earth alone, she’d brought Ra’s mummified warriors and wreaked havoc on Manhattan. Buildings were destroyed and the soldiers showed no respect for the dead as they mutilated and littered the streets with bloodied parts and organs, shouting at the top of their lungs in their language as if they'd already won.

If not for the two demon kings holding back the goddess, there would’ve been more bodies on top of the mountain-like pile.

Merlin and Eugene can only support, they’d gotten stronger thanks to Theodore, but it wasn’t enough for them to confidently go up against a deity.

‘…Is there a way to contact Theodore?’ Merlin couldn’t think of anything. He nocked another arrow and rapidly fired them at Sekhmet, who was occupied with fighting Eugene, despite being distracted, the lioness simply parried and connected her movements and continued her duel with the werewolf.

Asmodeus glanced at Mammon. “Should we really use ‘it’ here?”

Mammon crunched up his face. “What choice do we have? Our wounds are barely healing and we’re slowly tiring ourselves out.”

Lust looked at her own injuries, bitterly agreeing that Mammon had a point. If Sekhmet had put in more power behind her attacks, they would’ve been cleaved clean in two by now. “Those blades are a problem. It doesn’t feel like holy magic…is it really just divinity?”

The ‘Holy’ attribute was exclusive to the Eden pantheon since it was formed from the ‘Creator’ and can be used by anyone other than ‘Evil’, however, ‘Divinity’ isn’t meant to be used by mortals, they’re basically the attribute of the gods.

‘Divinity’ can pass judgment on anyone and anything the god considers to be their enemy, unlike the holy attribute that weighs the sins fairly.

‘Holy’ is pure and upholds justice beyond all else, but ‘Divine’ doesn’t necessarily mean it's good.

All the demon kings know this fact well, although not in much detail since they’ve never once thought they would face someone using the divine attribute.

Mammon grounded his teeth and frowned. “F*ck it! Just call Theodore somehow!”

“How do we even do that? He’s practically in another world!”

“Guys!” Eugene shouted while struggling against Sekhmet’s strength, he was blocking her swords with the handle of his axe, but it looked like he wouldn’t be able to hold on for a second longer.

Merlin reacted first and fired five arrows, forcing Sekhmet to at least block with one hand and giving Eugene a chance to fight back.

The arrows exploded with each swing of the goddess’ sword, which created a smokescreen perfect for the demon kings to use and ambush her. Asmodeus used her whip to bind Sekhmet’s movements while Mammon switched to a sword and delivered a large cut to the chest, however the goddess managed to lean back and the wound was only shallow.

Sekhmet laughed, unfazed by the injury. “Oh just keep struggling! The prideful, desperate ones are always so satisfying to kill!”

With another snicker, the goddess broke through her bindings and slashed her swords blindly around her, none of them managed to hit anything but it’d successfully cleared out the smoke, giving her vision again.

But this also gave the archer a target to shoot at, Merlin shot several arrows at Sekhmet the moment her position was revealed and one arrow managed to hit its mark right in the wound Mammon had made, the explosion that followed brought out a scream of pain from the goddess as she was knocked off balance.

Eugene didn’t waste this chance and rushed in, his Reaper’s Gaze showing him a string made of light and guided him towards the stumbling Sekhmet, when a dot blinked from the goddess’ throat, he swung the axe with all of his strength.

“…I guess it’s time to stop fooling around now.” Sekhmet’s pupils narrowed and suddenly a powerful gust of hot wind bursted from her body, it knocked Eugene back and he crashed into a building tens of meters away.

The demon kings instinctively knew they should get away at that moment and they retreated to the back row where Merlin was. Asmodeus looked at her broken and tattered whip for a moment before summoning a silver rapier to replace it. “Didn’t you say she’s in her weaker form? That’s weak?”

Merlin swallowed nervously. “Yes…Gods can’t come to earth in their true form…”

‘Hey Theo,’

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‘What?’

Merlin was reminded of a distant past, before his best friend set off to the divine world. ‘I’ve been thinking about it and I think it’s a bit repetitive…’

‘What’s repetitive?’

‘You know? How gods come to the human world. What’s the difference in power between possession and partial descension?’

Theodore was in deep thought for a moment. ‘…Possession has a shorter time limit due to the host’s difference in strength, some humans can’t handle a god’s possession at all and they risk dying from exposure to divine powers.’

‘Then why do gods use that method? Isn’t partial descension better in that case?’

‘Not always,’ Theodore went quiet again. ‘While you can exert more power using partial descension depending on which sort of god you are…You’re more at risk of something else entirely…’

‘…And what’s that?’

Back then, Theodore had given Merlin the evilest smirk that he’d ever seen. ‘Exposure. If you have enemies, then you’re bound to attract a lot of unwanted attention to yourself.’

Merlin didn’t know why his friend had smirked like he was some sort of serial killer out for blood, but now he finally understood why. He frantically turned towards the demon kings. “That’s it! We don’t actually need to win!”

“What do you mean?” Asmodeus frowned.

“Let that goddess use her powers! The more the better!”

“Huh?” Mammon’s mouth fell open and he shouted in anger. “Did you lose your mind from the fear of death!? You want her to use her full potential and kill us all!?”

“No you moron!” Merlin pointed at Sekhmet, who was laughing like a maniac while a storm of energy gathered around her. “Beacon! If she uses a lot of her divine powers then she’ll become a literal beacon!”

Asmodeus laughed. “Ah! Then we can call Theodore that way!”

“Will he even notice?” Mammon frowned. “I mean, for all we know, he could still be fighting Zeus…or—“

“Shut up if you’re not helping.” Asmodeus smacked the demon king hard on the back before rushing in towards Sekhmet, her rapier ready to deliver a swift jab to the goddess’ open wound

Seeing this, Sekhmet chuckled, looking down on Lust as if she wasn’t even worth moving for. “What are you going to do with that sloppy blade? Eden folks are sure hilarious!”

The goddess’ hot red aura suddenly lunged at Asmodeus. She blocked with the blunt side of her rapier but was being visibly pushed back by the clear difference in strength.

Merlin tried assisting, but the tendril-like shapes of Sekhmet’s energy simply grabbed the arrows and crushed them instantly. He clicked his tongue and tried again, but it was all meaningless.

Mammon groaned. “Ugh! Whatever!”

Orange magic circles appeared above Sekhmet and spears made from gold shot down from them at high speeds, the goddess’ aura collided with them but it’d only managed to block some of it, which forced her to use her swords as extra shields.

Taking her attention off of Asmodeus proved to be a mistake, she used this opportunity and quickly jumped in, landing a stab in Sekhmet’s waist.

“Ack!” The goddess gritted her teeth in annoyance and turned towards Asmodeus, but doing so only gave way to Mammon’s spears and soon attacks began raining down on almost all sides with Merlin joining in after finding an opening.

“Damn annoying mortals!” Sekhmet released another powerful burst and forced Asmodeus to retreat, the spears all shattered from the force and even the magic circles were destroyed as well.

Mammon stumbled from the rebound of his circles breaking, but he managed to stay standing while gritting his teeth through the stabbing pain. “F*ck…!”

“Are you okay?” Merlin was worried, he hadn’t experienced it, though since he’d seen his best friend get his circles broken forcefully before, he could take a guess at how painful it really is.

“I’m fine…But I won’t be able to cast any magic for a few minutes.”

Asmodeus clicked her tongue. “Damn it…Is this not enough?”

Sekhmet glared at her three remaining opponents, the storm of power around her had grown larger and was swirling more violently than before. “You really thought you could win against me…huh? Foolish mortals! How dare you think that you can win against us gods!”

Despite the threatening words, the goddess didn’t come closer, instead, she continued to speak as if she was sure that she could kill them at any point now that she’s fixated on using her full available strength. “Look at what you’ve done! Because of your futile resistance, many have fallen!”

It was just Sekhmet and a part of Ra’s army, yet over a hundred civilians and heroes were either heavily injured or dead. The four of them buying time here didn’t stop those numbers from rising at all.

“If you’d just surrendered to the gods…none of this would’ve happened! You could’ve lived in peace while we co-exist!”

The people hiding nearby heard the goddess and they looked at each other. “…We didn’t need to fight?”

“Wait…really? Can we really live on without all of this happening?”

“Then why did we even fight? Did we throw away our lives for nothing?”

But then…

[The evidence is quite clear, Your Honor.]

[Well, well…The Jury has spoken, care to guess what your sentence is?]

‘BOOM!’

When the voices of two unknown men faded, a yellow portal suddenly appeared behind Sekhmet and everyone’s attention immediately shifted towards it.

“…What is that?” Asmodeus raised her weapon warrily. She could clearly feel the intense energy spreading out from the portal, hinting that something extremely powerful was about to come out. “Another enemy?”

[Goddess of War, Sekhmet! I, the Judge of Fire, sentence you to death by the Executioner’s hands!]

“What!?” The goddess turned around and watched as someone walked through the portal.

He was dressed elegantly in a full black royal gown covered by a dark green cape, by his side was a sheathed sword, gleaming dangerously with divine power. His expression was dull and his gaze colder than ice, but at the same time, they shined with anger.

He glanced towards where Eugene had fallen before turning back to the enemy and unsheathed his sword. “…Sekhmet, was it? Ra sent you here didn’t he?”

Sekhmet bared her fangs and held out her twin swords. “How dare you utter His Majesty’s name!”

“If you don’t like it,” Suddenly, the ‘Executioner’ was in front of the goddess, a single step was enough for him to cross their distance. “Then come at me.”

Sekhmet blocked the cut with her weapons, but surprisingly found herself getting easily pushed back. She stumbled backwards and almost lost her balance, however her cat-like nature allowed her to keep her feet stable.

“Damn you! Has the divine world gone mad!? Why would they appoint ‘you’ as the Executioner!” The lioness roared and rushed forward, putting everything behind each of her frenzied slashes yet all of them were parried by the opponent’s sword.

“…Long story, but I don’t think you’ll be living long enough to hear it.” With that, the Executioner’s sword suddenly glowed and his next horizontal slash cleaved Sekhmet’s weapons in half, hitting the goddess in the process.

She screamed in pain and tried to create distance, however her opponent didn’t even let her move three steps and with another vertical strike, blood shot from the clean split.

.

.

.

Before Theodore would return to the human world, he visited Apophis first.

Entering through the gate-like door, he found himself back standing in his mother’s maze garden. He went to the wooden house and knocked on the door.

His father was the one to open it, and after seeing that it was Theodore, Lawrence smiled brightly. “Ah! You’re finally back! How did it go?”

“As expected, it wasn’t easy.” Theodore walked inside. “But I still managed…next would be to find Ra’s whereabouts, where’s mother?”

“I’m here~” Apophis was sitting on a couch while eating a slice of strawberry cake, in front of her was a TV showing a channel from earth; some sort of game show about answering questions. “Eh? You became the Executioner?”

“You noticed?” Theodore didn’t sound surprised, his aura had changed almost completely after getting his new divine name. There was a trace of coldness that wasn’t from his ice magic added into his already sinister air of a demon god.

“…This is bad,”

“Huh?” Now Theodore was surprised. “What do you mean? Is it bad if I become the Executioner?”

“Well…” Apophis put down her half-eaten cake on the coffee table by her feet. “I don’t know if you remember…But I’ve told you once that doing quests will preserve your past life’s memories, right?”

Theodore’s eyes widened, it’d never crossed his mind before so he’d never thought anything of it. “Is it related to that?”

“Yes…Gods give mortals ‘quest’ with the purpose of accumulating ‘Achievements Points’…The more you have the more ‘Authority’ you can exert…I haven’t paid the full price of reincarnating you with your memories yet so that’s why I’ve been giving you quests.”

“…But you’ve only given me, like, four.”

“Hidden Quests are created by the divine world itself, and they obviously give more points…so much so that my own quests weren’t needed as much.” Apophis let out a sigh with a shake of her head. “But it seemed like the divine world had grown impatient…or should I say that it’d taken a liking to you?”

“What?” Theodore frowned.

“I’ve made a deal with the divine world…saying that I’ll pay off your ‘Debt’ for you…but since you’ve become one of the divine world’s most trusted aids…then it must’ve wanted you to pay it off while working with it.”

Theodore subconsciously licked his lips, suddenly feeling his heart pounding from nervousness. “Debt…how much is it, exactly?”

Apophis looked up at her own son and gave him the most pitiful look that he’d ever seen, this made Theodore even more terrified of what’s to come, since if it’s a god’s debt, then he guessed that it must be something big.

“…Uh…Three-Three hundred years of labor.”

At that moment, Theodore felt like fainting. “Three hundred years? Seriously?”

“It used to be a thousand! I paid off a bunch of it already!”

Theodore went over to an armchair and sat down, leaning back far against the backrest. “…Then I can’t leave the divine world until then?”

“No, from your situation, that isn’t the case.”

“Oh?” Theodore didn’t mind needing to pay off his debt for using his powers, he was more worried about not being able to return to earth when there could be a potential crisis that needed his strength.

“You’re the divine world’s Executioner, so all you need to do is perform your duty for three hundred years then it should be fine.”

“That…That doesn’t sound so bad?” Theodore sighed with relief.

“But you don’t get any type of vacation and you don’t get paid either.”

Theodore’s expression sank. “…F*ck.”

Three hundred years of continuous labor with no breaks or salary. ‘Okay, that sounds like paying off my debt, alright…’

Before Theodore could continue sulking, a knock sounded from the door.

[The Executioner is here, right? I’m the Judge of Fire, can we have a moment of your time?]