"I have to admit… I didn't see that coming…" Zeel whispered, staring at the dagger that was poking out of his chest.

Zeel was a professional in the art of betraying others so he wasn't sure about what to feel when he found himself on the opposite side of betrayal.

Should he feel honored by an unanticipated betrayal or feel a bit sour that such a betrayal came from a pseudo-friend who educated him about womanly scents?

"I honestly don't know how to fe-feel!" Zeel commented, coughing a couple mouthfuls of golden blood.

Still, even as pain ripped through Zeel's body, he wore nothing but a faint smile that would occasionally turn into a frown.

Seth rose to his feet, eyeing Zeel with endless anger from forcing him into his earlier pitiful state.

Seth had never been felt so enraged and violated since he achieved Godhood but even with all that anger, Seth was still afraid to directly attack.

Nick continually channeled Death-Energy into the dagger embedded in Zeel's back. Nick was sure that a moment of distraction would be all it took for Zeel to kill him.

Truly, Nick wasn't even sure what he was doing.

All he felt was an overwhelming sensation of pain and suddenly he knew exactly what needed to be done to get the pain to stop… and that was to kill Zeel Crawford.

Every proceeding action was as natural as breathing for Nick and the next instant he found himself with a dagger piercing through Zeel's back.

At first, Nick considered releasing the dagger and joining forces with Zeel to fight Seth once more but something about the situation warned Nick that should he release the dagger, Zeel would slaughter him.

Nick was fine with dying but not before he had a chance to resurrect Jenny and he was sure that he was close to finding her amidst the shores of the Nile.

Cough

Cough

Zeel coughed two mouthfuls of blood and glanced at Nick behind him. Zeel felt a bit saddened by Nick's lack of will but the dice had already been rolled and somehow Nick got a zero.

Zeel's eyes flickered with codes as he accessed the evolved algorithms that came along with his Stage 4 Nanite Upgrade.

Within moments, Zeel had analyzed everything that could be analyzed about his current situation, and a clear path to victory was determined.

The first thing Zeel noted was the fact that Nick pierced him with Seth's Dagger. The Dagger held no small amount of Mare Curses and Poisons.

Zeel's Homo-Superior Physiology struggled against the curses that were threatening to consume his flesh.

Even the proud Homo-Superior Survival Equation was forced to exert some of Aurolana's Apollonian Grace to halt the progression of the curses inside Zeel's body.

Usually, curses would be unable to affect Zeel's soul but with Aurolana in battle and the Cosmic chains in an exhausted state from restraining Seth, Zeel felt the full brunt of the Mare Curses.

Zeel attempted to struggle intensely but there was nothing he could do about the Death-Energy Nick was channeling into his body through the dagger.

Thankfully, Zeel's frozen state also meant that the Abyssal Bead was frozen inside his hands, which kept Seth at bay but it also meant that Zeel was losing control of the Bead as well.

"You can't hold that weapon forever God of Speed… Release The Abyssal Bead and meet your death as a man…" Seth commented while carefully maneuvering his body around The Abyssal Bead in Zeel's hand.

Zeel gritted his teeth, forcing control over The Abyssal Bead as it threatened to run amok and consumer everything sinful in its surrounding environment…

Sinful things nearby included Seth, Nick, and even Zeel, himself.

"R-r-re-release m-me!" Zeel stuttered anxiously "I-if this b-bead g-g-goes out of con-control… we will all DIE!"

Seth frowned hesitantly since he could see Zeel's hands turning pitch black from holding the Abyssal Bead for so long.

There was no doubt in Seth's mind that Zeel's hands were dying… and not just an ordinary death, it was a soul-death… the type of Death that would prevent him from using his hands ever again.

Of course, Seth decided he would wait until Zeel was entirely consumed by The Abyssal Bead before he stole it for himself.

"Just release The Bead…" Seth mocked "Only a God of Death can hope to control something so sinful and dark!"

Zeel's eyes opened wide since he had also arrived at the same conclusion as Seth "You're right… A God of Death can wield the power of The Abyssal Bead the best…."

[warp]

Puchi

puchi

Nick didn't even suspect Zeel's retaliation even a little. A small warp created a faint portal in front of Zeel in the air.

Zeel's hand that held The Abyssal Bead darted into the warp, piercing through the exit point at Nick's back, burying the Abyssal Bead inside his heart and continuing further to pierce into Zeel's own body.

Zeel had performed such a complicated action after strenuous calculations to ensure that The Abyssal Bead was inside of Nick's Heart, and Nick's Heart would be inside of him.

Seth didn't even know how to react when he figured out what Zeel was about to do…

"Switching Divinities to A God of Death?" Seth asked perplexed, even forgetting to stop the action due to the absurdity of it all.

Converting Divinities amidst a battle was something that even The God of Craziness would loathe to do.

Black Veins spread from Zeel's chest location as Nick's heart (The heart of an Ascending God of Death) and The Abyssal Bead (An object of sinfulness) merged with Zeel's Homo-Superior biology.

'Should I kill him?' Seth mused conflicted 'Or should I wait for him to kill himself? Admittedly, That Homo-Superior is more likely to kill himself if I just leave him be…'

"AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Zeel's shouts of pain increased an octave as The Abyssal Bead, Nick's Heart and the Darkness in his soul merged into a Dark Divinity that was eating away at his Speed and Dimensional Shift Divinities.

Zeel was mere seconds away from becoming a full God of Death… and not just any God of Death but A God of Death closely related to Seth himself.

Seth was leaning back and enjoying the show of Zeel's transformation. Seth was sure that it would end in a grant explosion or implosion, whichever came first…

However, the explosion never came and Seth was growing a bit anxious… that was when Zeel decided to speak.

"First… I transferred Master Control of The Nanites to my Wife Alice because my nanites ran the risk of being permanently damaged by my bodily corruption…

Second, I allowed my Draconic Energy to permanently alter my internal energy so much that the corruption around my soul is tainted with Draconic-Energy as well… it gives the darkness inside of me a wild and unrestrained feeling.

Third, I used all my Gravitational-Balls to create armor around my body so I could keep the rampaging energy inside my body from killing me… I gave it time to incubate…

Fourth, I had Alice burn away as much as your Dimension she could manage with her [Malevolent Gaze] … I needed you to think that I could not do much damage to your Dimension.

Fifth, I needed someone to test if Alice had weakened your Dimension slightly enough to create a small crack where creatures could be summoned through… My Second Wife, Elizabeth, called two creatures into your plane and it worked…

Sixth, I needed a bit of your Resurrection Mare Magic for my own purposes so I manipulated events so you would smugly turn Ahmanet into a mortal again and I took her power…

Seventh, I required enough energy to weaken your Dimension but I needed to do it an obvious way that makes me look stupid… that way you wouldn't doubt my intention. So I used Reverse Energy to convert Death Energy into Life Energy…

Eight, I needed something exceptionally powerful to break through several dimensions, creating a direct line to this Dimension through all the other Dimensions… basically, the Celestialsapien created a road for me…

Ninth, I required Nick to take control of at least thirty percent of this Dimension and allow someone to walk the road created… Of course, he was a failure so he only managed about twenty-nine percent…

Finally, I needed Nick frightened enough to betray me so I could justly kill him… due to his weakness, I am forced to become a God of Death and weaken your Dimension for him….

So… tell me Seth… what Being do you think requires so much planning and preparation to summon?"

Seth's face grew pale since he obviously knew the answer "You wouldn't… such an action would earn the ire of all the Gods… this will become a Pantheon War!"

Zeel smirked as he felt his Death Divinity finally complete "I never leave anything to chance… I didn't come to eliminate your Dimension… I came to get rid of your Pantheon as well…! Did you think I would let a single thing survive?"

"War it is then!" Seth stated strongly, knowing it was futile to stop Zeel from Summoning one of 'those' entities.

Zeel raised his hands to the skies, light pulsed and multi-colored light blossomed "COME FORTH PURITY INFINITE!!!!"

---- Five Minutes Later… Zeel's summons failed to heed the call…

Zeel awkwardly brushed his hair behind his ear "Maybe we can discuss a truce or something?"

Seth smirked but didn't reply, rising to his feet and walking towards Zeel joyfully…