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"Impudent to the very end."

Zeus appeared in midair before Malachi could reach him and caught him by the neck.

With speed and power befitting a god of lightning, Zeus slammed Malachi into the ground face first and placed his foot on top of his head.

Manda, Gwiya, Onini, and Vritra tried to bite into different parts of the Greek god, but their fangs were unable to pierce his flesh altogether.

This was the first time such a thing had ever happened to him, and the fact that he was suffering from this fate at Zeus\' hands only made the insult that much worse.

"That\'s enough, Zeus."

Out of nowhere, a hand appeared on Zeus\' shoulder and stopped him from behaving even more irrationally than he already had.

Looking over his shoulder, he frowned when he realized that the culprit was one of the few individuals in the room who he couldn\'t beat.

"...He attacked me first, Michael. I am only defending myself."

"Yes, well, I feel that this does cross the line a bit. Besides, he did tell you not to summon him again."

"Do I look like a being beholden to the whims of lesser creatures?"

"Is someone incapable of a modicum of self-control capable of referring to themselves as a higher being?"

"Spare me your mind-numbing lectures on chaste! If you want to lecture someone you should find one of those mortals who falls all over your every word!"

It seemed like the two of them were going to come to eventual blows, but to save face the thunder god retreated first and returned to his seat as if nothing had happened.

Michael tried to help up Malachi, but the young man simply glared at his hand until he retracted it.

Sensing that friendly relations were a ways off, the archangel just decided to leave him alone for the time being, as he doubted there would be any hope of reconciliation at this moment.

Once Michael retired to his seat, Malachi finally stood up in the foulest mood of his life.

He fabricated his own clothes so that he didn\'t have to stand around naked and directed his gaze towards a seat he was most familiar with.

Unfortunately, he found that his mother\'s throne was empty.

In fact, the seats of most of his siblings were vacant for some reason.

"You should do your best to get used to this feeling of being alone, Malachi. Things are in motion that Nyx cannot protect you from."

Malachi turned his gaze back to Zeus and it was clear that he didn\'t understand what he was talking about.

"We gods all have a sacred pact. The decision made by this body are insurmountable, and cannot be overturned by the griping of one overprotective mother, no matter who they may be.

Since you are the sole nightmare remaining on earth, our wager is not actually over, is it?"

Malachi finally seemed to understand where this was going, and his eyes showed clear disbelief.

"No... You wouldn\'t dare..!"

Zeus smiled as he continued. "And since you are... of a special breed, we figured that the rules needed to be amended.

Instead of possessing only 30% of our power, our chosen will utilize 60. Those blessed by primordials will have 35%... save for you."

"What!?"

"In addition, I hope you do not set your mind on calling your little friends for aid. They have already forfeited their claim to this game by leaving once, so we will not be permitting re-entry.

The blessings of your allies and companions will also be stripped away. Provided that they abandon your service, their powers will be returned to them."

"You cannot do that!" Malachi roared. " They have nothing to do with this!"

"In fact they do, boy. We don\'t need our chosen aiding you, an enemy of humanity, do we? Now, as I was saying..."

Malachi gritted his teeth and listened to it all.

The confounding anger he felt grew and grew with every new stipulation that was leveled against him, and after a while it was as if he didn\'t even hear anything anymore.

But while Zeus was talking, Malachi saw one individual to of the corner of his eye that made his already simmering blood start to boil.

His supposed sister, Hemera.

It was then that he remembered the words of Arias from a few hours ago, and he felt his temper flare once again.

He raised a black claw and pointed at her directly, ignoring whatever nonsense Zeus was spouting at the moment.

"You... this was your doing...!"

Frankly, Hemera seemed quite surprised.

This was the first time that Malachi had ever spoken to her openly, and he was doing it while trembling with murderous rage to boot.

She found it interesting.

"...I had a hand in it."

Hemera\'s voice was as beautiful as a summer day, and as soft as the wind that blows through the leaves.

Her demeanor was that of a gentle woman, the kind that doesn\'t even have vulgar thoughts or raise her voice.

And in certain regards, she was that.

She was the manifestation of day, the lover of humanity, and the bringer of light.

But she was also a deity.

And deities, primordial or otherwise, are all incredibly petty beings with no real sense of morality.

Mal had just made the unfortunate mistake of choosing the wrong side of a conflict that was even older than he.

It was maddening.

"All may not be lost for you, kin of night. We have given you our stipulations, would you like to make any of your own?"

Malachi bit down on his bottom lip until blood ran from his chin.

There were a slew of things he probably should have asked for, but in that moment there was only one thing that he could think of.

It may not have been smart, but it was his one desire.

"You..." he slowly drifted his pointing finger from Hemera to Zeus. "And you..."

"If I kill everyone that you send to me... If I transform this whole world into a planet populated by N\'Kai... I will have your heads to celebrate."