“Guess he’s not playing nice,” I pointed out the obvious while sticking my hands in my pockets and stepping away as all the attention turned toward Grim and Vivien.
“Why are you here?” Grim asked, his voice suddenly as resonant as Seth’s in the massive ballroom.
I couldn't shake the feeling that this was all about to go horribly wrong. The tension in the air was a tangible thing, a live wire sparking and ready to ignite. Seth's presence alone was enough to set everyone on edge, but it was the look in his eyes that had me feeling the real danger. It was the look of a predator that had just cornered its prey.
Seth raised his arms and the murmur of the crowd hushed in a crescendo of suspense. “My dear friends,” he began, his voice a melodic poison, “I thought it was time for a grand reunion. You've been hiding from the world, wallowing in your own self-pity and fear. It's time to remember who we are!”
As he spoke, the edges of the room darkened, shadows shifting and coiling like living things. A chill ran down my spine as I realized what was about to happen. “Miranda,” I breathed, my eyes searching frantically for her in the crowd.
As if summoned by Seth's words, the gods and monsters released from the blade began to appear. They materialized from the shadows, grotesque and terrible, their eyes alight with bloodlust and chaos.
A monster slithered from the shadows with its many heads weaving through the air, each one bearing a crown of venomous fangs. Another creature that could only have spawned from the darkest depths of fear itself, moved on all fours, its body a grotesque amalgamation of wolf and serpent. Its sickly yellow eyes scanned the room with a predator's interest.
Next came a goddess, her beauty terrible to behold. Her eyes burned with a furious light, her gaze alone enough to ignite the very air. Flames danced around her, not providing warmth, but a cold, consuming fire that sought to incinerate all it touched. Her laughter echoed, the sound of delight and destruction, turning blood to ice.
The air became a cacophony of roars and hisses, the elegant ballroom suddenly a stage set for a massacre.
It was an ambush.
I pushed through the crowd, my heart pounding in my chest. “Miranda!” I called out, my voice drowned by the burgeoning chaos. I had to reach her, had to get her out before all hell broke loose.
I spotted her then, moving with a grace that belied the deadly purpose in her stride. She was making her way behind Seth, unnoticed by the preoccupied god. My breath caught in my throat as her hand gripped the hilt of the Blade of Bane as she maneuvered through the throng of deities.
Seth, too caught up in his moment of glory, was blind to the mortal danger approaching him. “We will rise again,” he proclaimed, “and under my leadership, we will?—”
Miranda lunged, the blade piercing through his back before it split through his front. Seth's eyes widened in shock, the crowd gasping in unison as the god of chaos was skewered by the only mortal in the room.
And then the impossible happened. The tip of Miranda’s blade emerged from his chest, and the exit wound caught fire.
Like an ant under a magnifying glass, Seth began to burn.
Chapter 29
The Badass
The smell of charred flesh assaulted me as Seth burned on Bob like a shish kabob on a barbeque. His chest was a pulsing beacon of light, somehow sucking the air from the ballroom.
Light erupted from Seth's chest in a blinding, pure, brilliant white that seemed to radiate from within him. It shot out in thick beams, hitting each dark god and monster with precision.
It spread out in every direction like a burst of energy. It seemed to target the dark gods and monsters that had surrounded the ballroom. They burst into flames, their screamsand cries filling the air as they all burned alongside Seth. Flames danced and flickered across their writhing bodies.
The smell of burning flesh and hair filled the room, a pungent aroma. The mixture of sulfur and charred meat was suffocating, filling every corner of the ballroom with its putrid stench.
Then the panic exploded amongst the immortal guests in the ballroom. Half of them began to shift into their god-likeness, while the others tried to flee. They turned on each other in the confusion.
As chaos enveloped the ballroom, Vivien leaped into the fray with a ferocity that was both exhilarating and terrifying. She moved like a shadow among the flames, her figure a blur of motion as she dispatched dark gods and monsters. Her laughter, wild and unrestrained, echoed above the turmoil, a testament to her unhinged nature as her fangs gleamed with menace. But when a dark god landed a lucky strike, wounding her, the atmosphere palpably shifted.
Grim's reaction was immediate and visceral. His form blurred, and for a fleeting moment, the fearsome visage of death itself flashed across his face, a skull wreathed in shadows. With a roar of outrage, he extended his hands, telekinetically hurling assailants away from his wife with the force of a tempest. His power, dark and implacable, swept through the room like a scythe, clearing a path to Vivien's side.
Timothy, ever the tactician, didn't leap into physical combat but instead orchestrated a battlefield of his own making. His fingers flew over the surface of his tablet, glyphs and symbols dancing in the air around him. With a few swift taps, barriers of light snapped into place around allies, deflecting attacks and sealing wounds with precision.
Fallon transformed into his monstrous likeness of Horus, his eyes glowing with a fierce, blue light. The transformation was both terrifying and awe-inspiring. With a roar that seemedto shake the very foundations of the ballroom, he positioned himself in front of Bianca, his massive wings unfurling to shield her from the chaos. His sharp talons glinted dangerously, ready to tear apart anyone who dared come near her.
For her part, Bianca stood calm and serene behind Fallon's protective form, her hands glowing with a soft, golden light that pulsed with power.
“Bob?” I asked audibly, shock turning my limbs numb.
“It’s not me,” he confirmed, his tone filled with revulsion. “Now get me out of here. It’s disgusting.”
