“That is… a lot of dark, scary entities…”
Kuta peered out of the window from behind the curtain, trying to count the wall of black and gold, antlered Voidborns. They had clearly caught wind of their falling brethren and were now ominously surrounding the small, tropical island, waiting for someone to come out and greet them. What concerned Kuta more though was that Athanatea, the Life Goddess they were supposed to be protecting, didn’t seem at all worried about this.
“How many are there, Kuta?” Litvir asked. “If it is a reasonable number, we might be able to take them. Or at least defend Athanatea until she has done her… whatever it is called.”
The Life Goddess poked up next to Kuta, glanced out of the window, then patted Kuta on the shoulder. “Only about thirty of them! Just means I need to change my plans and speed up the process a bit!”
“Thirty…” Litvir trailed off. Kuta moved away from the window and joined Litvir and Retvik, who were trying to form a plan. Arkay was pacing up and down, distracted by his own guilt.
“Technically not that many…” Retvik frowned. “If they are like the one Arkay killed yesterday, then it should not be too bad. But that was just one and these ones are looking for a fight.”
“All you have to do is keep them busy while I speed things up!” Athanatea smiled, this time appearing next to Litvir and tapping him on the shoulder, something the psionic mastermind did not seem to like. “Only problem is, I can do the Xanagenysis if Arkay helps.”
At the mention of his name, Arkay immediately stopped pacing and turned to Athanatea.
“I said I wanted no part in that!”
“Yes, but I need to speed things up!” The Life Goddess’s chirpy tone remained unchanged. “After all, you caused this mess. Might as well help me fix this. They wouldn’t be here if you’d not overreached yesterday.”
Arkay started stuttering. “I… I know I fucked up… I don’t want to fuck up any more. I’ll… I can’t do this for you, I’ll just make it all worse.”
“Nah, you’ll be fine. You just need to do the initial push, and then keep an eye on me while I sort myself out. It’s very simple. A bit messy, but simple. Especially for a Life Goddess like you!”
“I told you! I can’t do this! I’m not a normal Life Goddess! I’m not even half a Life Goddess!” Arkay was getting very stressed out by Athanatea’s request, to the point that the black flames that cloaked his arms and tail were flickering rather wildly. “Why does no one get it? I’m NOT a Life Goddess! I’m a god of death!”
Athanatea simply shrugged. “Not a very good one, then. Considering your gentle touch and the fact that you won’t just murder all those Voidlings outside, like the one you killed yesterday. Where did your spark go? From what I have heard, you didn’t even kill your universe on your own, your old Life Goddess mother had to help you.”
Suddenly, Arkay fell silent, staring at the floor. He briefly shook for a moment, then stepped up to Athanatea.
“What are you going to do, little one?” Athanatea smirked.
“What you deserve.”
In a single, clean strike, the Life Goddess’s body split in two and collapsed in a heap. Mercury-like blood pooled out from where Athanatea once stood and collected in a small, round puddle neatly between the two silvery halves.
With a snarl, the Deathbringer ran his bloodied hands across his head. As he did so, his appearance changed, his light yellow plating turning into heavy, gold, armoured carapaces, covering much of his body and completely obscuring his face. The black fires that coated his limbs now burned with far more ferocity.
His transformation complete, Arkidetelos turned to face the three other Decaylings.
“Leave, now. If you are still here when I am done destroying this place, then I will destroy you as well.”
Before anyone could answer, the enraged god of destruction blasted through the front door of the mansion, and disappeared into the darkness.