While everyone was making their individual moves, the one at the center of it all, Miko was thinking about the future even in his desperate situation. He was currently in the midst of being forced into an unconscious state by the seals engraved on his body. Despite this, Miko was very much active inside his soul.

“I think I’m getting a hang of this technique.”

He was standing in a spiritual valley that was overflowing with life.

“I still haven’t used it in real life, but it should be engraved in my soul now. All I need to do is to practice with my actual body and I’ll be good to go. Physical practice shouldn’t be hard since it’s something I developed to suit my body.”

He clenched his fists.

“That’s one thing down and a million more to go.”

“You shouldn’t push yourself too hard. You should focus on one thing at a time.”

A bright light flashed before Miko and Tia appeared with a smile on her face.

“Yo, Miko. Haven’t seen you in forever.”

“Yeah, I was beginning to think you’ve abandoned me.”

Tia laughed.

“That’s impossible. You’re the most important person to me in the world right now, there’s no way I would abandon you.”

“Your most important? Hahaha, I find that hard to believe.”

Miko sat down on the grass.

“So this is your soul? I expected it to be more gloomy and frightening.”

“Well, it was. I changed it recently after I matured a bit.”

Tia walked up and sat beside him.

“Saying yourself that you’ve matured isn’t something a mature person would say, you know.”

“For others, it might not be, but for me, I have all right to say so. I mean, I’m the one who knows myself the best, right?”

“I guess you’re right.”

Tia started looking around.

“It’s beautiful…..your soul. It surpasses all of my expectations.”

“I thought you wouldn’t like it. I mean, you were attracted to me because of my edgy personality, right?”

“No, I was attracted to you in your entirety. If this is also a part of you, I have no problem with it.”

“I see. Thanks, that means a lot to me.”

Tia curled up into a ball and rested her head on her knees. She stared at Miko with her glossy golden eyes.

“You really did mature. It’s nice.”

“………”

Miko looked at her in silence before turning his head away and looking at the sky.

“Tia, I’m sorry.”

“Why are you apologizing?”

“When I first became your proxy I did it with half-baked feelings despite talking big. Don’t get me wrong, I was serious about winning this war and even more serious now. But, I didn’t care about anything else. Not even you, who gave me the opportunity and had the most faith in me. I saw you as a tool, despite the support you gave me.”

“Hahaha!”

Tia burst out laughing.

“Don’t worry about it. A relationship between a Proxy and their Parent is one of using and being used. Just like how you were using me, I was using you.”

“True. But Tia, I no longer want such a relationship. What I desire, what Darius and I desire are authentic relationships. We’ve always desired true partnerships where we can truly rely on someone. We want to be able to walk around knowing that we have people watching our backs. I think that something everyone wants.”

He looked at her.

“Even you, Tia. You’re in a serious predicament aren’t you?”

Tia’s eyes widen. She then showed her usual smile.

“So you knew.”

“Well, our souls are connected. Just like how you can feel my emotions and my thoughts to a certain extent, I can feel yours.”

“I see.”

Tia sat up.

“I thought you were being surprisingly nice, but you were just being considerate.”

“Is there a difference?”

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“I guess not.”

She replied.

“So, what’s up?”

“You remember when I said that me making you my proxy is risky because you’re an Irregular?”

Miko nodded.

“During your battle with Nebulous, the other Higher Beings got wind of it and I was summoned to the Summit Of The Gods.”

“What happened?”

“They had a meeting, or rather a trial. Every one of them started throwing insults at me and tried to bully me. But don’t worry, I didn’t back down either. But I did something pretty stupid….”

She started to twirl her hair around her fingers awkwardly.

“I told them if they didn’t like it then they should all come at me and my proxy, and that we’ll take them all on.”

“Pfft! Hahahahaha!”

Miko started laughing hysterically.

“….I see, that’s quite a predicament.”

He wiped the tears from his eyes.

“So, the whole world is coming after us, huh?”

An excited smile appeared on his face.

“Isn’t it fine? I was planning on going after them anyway.”

He looked up at the sky.

“Tia, you and I are proud dragons. We are not the prey, we are the predator. So let them come! We’ll turn it into a feast! It will be like a waiter delivering our food on a bloodstained platter! We’ll eat and eat until we choke and die!”

Tia’s eyes peeled open. Miko’s words were domineering and lacked fear. They only held excitement. He was ready to fight the whole world. If he wasn’t before, he’s certainly looking forward to it now.

“Hahaha!”

She burst out laughing.

“As expected of the man I chose. You’re ready for anything.”

She wrapped her arm around his shoulder and brought him closer.

“So you’re willing to fight the whole world for me, huh?”

“That’s only because you’re willing to do to same for me.”

The two had big smiles on their faces.

“I really chose the right person to spend the rest of my days with.”

“Is that a proposal?”

“It could be. I’ve honestly had enough. I want to end this idiotic cycle. I’ve lost everything to this war and want to just go out with a bang.”

She rubbed her jaw playfully on Miko’s.

“So will you die with me, Miko?”

“No.”

Miko smirked.

“But I will live with you. I will destroy all of our enemies and live in a world where we’re all fulfilled, together with everyone we care about. That’s my new goal. For that, I’m willing to burn this world to the ground over and over again, and together we’ll rise from the ashes.”

Miko wrapped his arm around her shoulder and gripped it strongly.

“How does that sound?”

Tia grinned and nodded.

“That sounds great.”

She looked as happy as a child with innocence that you wouldn’t expect from someone her age.

“That sounds really great.”

The two sat there enjoying each other’s company with smiles on their faces for quite some time. The first one to move was Miko, who stood up and faced Tia.

“This might sound lame after all I just said, but I’m going to need your help on a few things, Tia.”

“Lame or not, I’m willing to help you with whatever you want.”

Miko nodded.

“First, I would like to know who our enemies are. I have an idea, but I want to hear from your own mouth who will definitely stand in our way and who might help us. I mean, even you have allies right?”

“Of course, I have allies. I’m a very lovable person after all.”

“Says the woman who just picked a fight with all of the Higher Beings.”

Miko shook his head while smiling.

“Anyway, start with our enemies. Who do you think will be the biggest pain in the ass.”

“Well, there is quite a bit.”

Tia started to think.

“First would be Marduk, my ungrateful descendant. Because of the influence of the other world, he gained some even more troublesome personas. The most troublesome would be Zeus, which he now uses as his main form.”

“You’re talking about God Personas, right?”

Over time, billions of myths about gods, demons, beasts, and heroes have been created and passed down from person to person. Most of these myths have been lost down the flow of time. However, countless myths were fused to form a new myth. Let's use the Greek god, Zeus for example. After the Greeks invaded Egypt, they fused their religion with theirs. This brought forth the fusion of Zeus and the already fused god, Amun-Ra. Hence Zeus became Amun and Amun became Zeus.

There are other times when myths got lost in translations and underwent changes. For example, name changes. For whatever reason, countless mythical beings have had multiple personas throughout time. Because of this, these gods can change between these personas of their free will. These are called God Personas, which their proxies are able to access as well. Meaning, a Proxy of a god with multiple personas can change the personas of their God Parent and obtain the powers of their other personas/identities.

“Yes. You can say that Marduk, who killed me in the myths, was Zeus’ prototype. Hence they’re the same person.”

There's a lot of evidence that indicates Marduk and Zeus are the same. It's just that they were worshipped in different eras. It's quite possible that Marduk’s legends got changed over time, because it was passed down orally, which led to the creation of Zeus in Greece. Over the years, the Greeks changed the story to their liking to fit with their culture and morals, thus leading to the creation of Greek mythology.

It's similar to how Christians destroyed hundreds of pagan religions but took some of their customs and festivals. Like Easter, which was a festival in honor of the Germanic goddess Eastre. Even the religious meaning of Easter was stolen from the myth about the Mediterranean god Attis, who was believed to have been born via a virgin birth. Attis was believed to have died and had been resurrected each year during the period MAR-22 to MAR-25. Easter was later moved to April because Christians and pagans used to argue over which religion imitated who.

Another one would be Christmas, which was a combination of several pagan practices. There was also Thursday, which was originally celebrated as Thor’s Day. Tuesday is named after Norse War God Tyr. Friday was named after Frigga, and Wednesday was named after her husband Odin, who was the original inspiration for Santa Claus by the way.

Long story short, civilizations and religions stole from each other and made lots of stolen concepts into their own.

Hence Marduk became Zeus over time.

“Doesn’t matter what persona he takes, that bastard and I can never see eye to eye. What’s more, he and my husband were sworn enemies. So he’s the enemy of our clan. Nero and Nova killed his proxies several times already just to mess with him.”

“Sounds like something they would do.”

Miko said.

“Then I should look out for his proxy, Black Heavens, Eris.”

Tia nodded.

“She’s very powerful and has completely mastered his power, which makes her a proxy who surpassed the threshold of mortality, a Divine Proxy.”

“Who else?”

“You should probably look out for everyone. You know all of the Divine Proxies right?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, I’m not really that caught up on the proxies, but the Higher Beings you should be wary of are Zeus, Lucifer, Baal, Angra Mainyu, Azi Dahaka, Paimon, Loki, Odin, Thor, Fenrir….There are many more but those are very active. Oh, look out for Deiciders since they hunt strong proxies.”

“It really is the entire world, huh.”

Tia laughed.

“But I have allies too you know. Like Ouroboros, Alexander the Great, Asmodeus, and Bacchus.”

“Ouroboros, huh?”

A familiar face appeared in Miko’s head.

“I might have to take her down too.”

He suddenly remembered something.

“Ah, Tia. When you get back could you take over from Regis and Ishma? Things should be getting hot soon.”

He started grinning.

“A new chapter is about to be written in this empire’s history, and the three clans will bear witness to a new era. MY ERA.”

Tia smiled when she saw him brimming with confidence.

“Sure, but what else did you want my help with.”

“Oh, I forgot about that.

Miko grinned.

“I want you to help me create some techniques. Some KILLER techniques.”