Ed couldn’t even think as he watched the entire world melt away under Superbia’s glorious golden light. It was blinding. Every cell in his body was set alight and blazed with an unmatched fury. His entire body had turned into a pyre of majestic golden flames.

There was nothing left in this world but the flames and Lord Superbia. His wings stretched on for eons as he grew in size until he dwarfed the universe itself. Everything was wiped away by his flames and crushed beneath his foot.

Ed was in extreme agony, but at the same time felt nothing. His organs were ripped apart at the seams, but were cleansed by the fire. Every molecule was diced into their smallest components, but were bonded back together by the flames. His soul was torched to ash, but burned brighter and grander than the sun.

It was a constant cycle of pain and purification. Every part was burned away until there was nothing left of him. But at the same time, it all became part of something bigger, something stronger.

HIs body and mind had long since ceased existing. It was all too much, even for him. He had died of sickness, been torn limb from limb, scorched by hellfire, and shot more times than he could count. But none of that even came close to what he was feeling right now.

Only his soul remained, and even it was quickly being cleansed and washed away. It was only because of his lineage that his soul had managed to hold on for this long. It wouldn’t be long before the person known as Edward Armitage ceased to exist in this world.

But what was happening to him wasn’t of much importance to Superbia. He knew how weak Ed was, and that just the natural energy radiating off him would be enough to kill Ed a trillion times over. Ed was like a tiny bug to him in this form. He wasn’t even close to being on Superbia’s radar.

So he completely ignored Ed and spoke out in his perfectly charismatic voice. “Buddie, explain yourself.” Superbia spoke with a calm but authoritative voice that would cause the universe to bend to his every word.

After all, he was Lord Superbia. The Sin of Pride. And one of the two gods who initially created this universe. The other was his partner and the love of his eternal life, Humilitas, the leader of the seven heavenly virtues and the ruler of heaven.

The two of them had seen the worlds that the other gods had created and decided to have a go at it too. This universe was like their child, and they carefully watched over and protected it with all their might.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

They may not have been the strongest of all the gods, nor did they spend as much time in the pool of fate as some others, but they were still a dominant force to be reckoned with.

Just after Lord Superbia finished speaking, another sound appeared. It was the sound of static. Of a computer powering on and buzzing into existence.

“What do you want to know Lord Superbia?” Buddie’s monotonous voice sounded frail and weak when compared to Superbia’s. He was neither haughty nor humble, and spoke with his own strength, but it was clear he was struggling to maintain himself in Lord Superbia’s presence.

Buddie may have been very powerful, with a level of omnipresence that spread across countless universes, but he wasn’t as powerful as a god. He was just a computer program that worked as a middleman between the worlds of the living and the dead. The gods didn’t necessarily even need him and the company, it was just that their services provided a lot of help.

“Explain why one of your people wound up in Hell without my authorisation. I thought part of our agreement was that you would inform me whenever you were going to send one of your employees over. Was I wrong?” His voice was calm and majestic, devoid of any anger or emotions, and completely different to how he was acting in the throne room with his family a moment ago. He didn’t show any respect to Buddie. He just sought an explanation.

“I had already sent out all the requests, and even received your acceptance and confirmation to these requests. I promise that I have not sent anyone over to Hell without your permission.” Buddie was sounding genuinely confused as he scanned through the backlogs of his system. He identified every time he had sent someone to either Heaven or Hell, and confirmed with himself that he had gone through official means.

“Is that so? I remember accepting that team you sent in over a year ago that was there for research purposes. And I remember accepting that angel girl, Zara, and her healer for her week long vacation. But I never received a request for her boyfriend and his healer. I had even waited a couple of months to see if it was just delayed. But he was still waltzing around when I came back.”

Buddie froze, confirming over and over again that he had sent in Ed’s request and that his punishment had been accepted. “But I can confirm that the request was sent. I can even play back your response.”

“Do you think I’m a fool? Don’t try any of your parlour tricks on me. I know very well that I never received it.” Superbia didn’t accept anything that Buddie had said, and now his emotions had started to seep into his voice. His power swelled, breaching past the confines of his universe and alerting the other gods.

His power ate away at the surrounding nothingness, adding more land to his universe. But he stopped himself before he encroached on someone else’s territory. “I will give you a warning here. I respect your boss, but if you try and pull something like this again, I will destroy your entire company.”