In the short time, it took to get Mizan's crew aboard the -Emperors Glory- years had already passed in the veil. Basillius slowly opened his eyes after all that time. Everything looked different to his eyes now as if he could see the underlying laws of the veil as a dimension. He slowly turned his gaze over the barren yellow-green hellscape and sighed in amazement.

His gaze finally landed on Maleficus after a few minutes and he had to shield his eyes momentarily. She had a pale-green light burning brighter than a sun within her that he understood to be the collective authority over death throughout the dimensions and universes. Through the blazing light, he failed to realize that she wasn't the massive dragon he knew her to be.

When he finally managed to tone down his ability to see her core of authority silence fell in his mind. She looked completely different. She had a seemingly pale Human face aside from the two crimson draconic slit-eyes, clear fangs, long elf-like ears covered in her scales, and a long set of black hair down to her shoulders that was parted by two long horns that curved from the top of her forehead to her the back of her head before curving back upwards into lethal points.

Her body was bipedal, though she was sporting massive black wings and a long reptilians tail covered in spines. He noticed that her hands and feet both ended in razor-sharp black claws as well. After a few moments, he realized that she actually looked incredibly similar to the 21st-century depiction of demons.

Basillius went to reach out to her only to be startled as his own hand was similar to hers. His fingers were no longer that of a Human. Slowly the realization dawned on him and he began to inspect his own body. Scale-like segments had formed in his metal body and he had gained a pair of wings and horns similar to Maleficus's own. He used the nanites to form a mirror quickly and was taken aback by his own demonic appearance. His eyes were slit and glowed with the pale-green of death constantly as if he was permanently using the power of the veil.

He looked back over to Maleficus who was simply watching him adjust to his new body silently, "M-Maleficus? I thought you said it wouldn't change me as I'm not exactly biological. Oh fuck... I was already terrifying to the fluffy ones... My mere appearance will be worse for diplomacy than Catherine's whole personality... Oh... I'm going to have to stop a new round of worship too. They are definitely going to think I have completely become some kind of demonic god now..."

Maleficus smiled mischievously, "Basillius? Before we start on all that talk, give me my new name."

He blinked a couple of times in confusion before he remembered what she was talking about. He put aside all of his worries for a moment and gave her name as much thought as she had given him when she engraved the name Basillius onto his soul. After a few moments, he looked up at her and smiled, "How about Amaranth? It means 'unfading' while the flowers were supposed to symbolize immortality."

She smiled softly and nodded her head, "It's wonderful. From now on, the veil will recognize me as Amaranth rather than Maleficus." She chuckled to herself before adding. "In your history rulers were always seeking immortality. It's funny that our names mean king and immortality."

Basillius cocked an eyebrow at her, "Ha! What a coincidence! Although my name was supposed to mean ruler or king, you accidentally wrote an extra L."

He grinned at her lightheartedly and she shrugged her shoulders at him nonchalantly but her newly Humanoid face flushed red. He snickered to himself as she hadn't realized that her Human side could blush from embarrassment.

She cleared her throat and took a deep breath, "Well then, let's finalize this. Oh, I forgot to mention earlier. You're gonna have a really hard time convincing them that you're not a god after this."

Before he could ask her why the pale-green core within her flashed brightly before dimming greatly. While it was still a vast amount of energy he could no longer see much of the authority of death within. She sighed and then bowed her head to him.

"You are now formally recognized as a god. Specifically, the god of death. Once you grow into your newfound godhood you will be capable of battling with Mael evenly even in the veil without resorting to the strange tactics you used last time. For now, I still hold some authority over death but that will change as time flows. Perhaps you will find a way to take Mael's authority over time eventually but soon I will be a goddess with no authority."

Basillius stared at her in shock and confusion for what felt like an eternity before taking a deep breath and steadying himself. "I know it's for giving me the power to defeat Mael... but giving me your authority is a bit much. That will make you much weaker. Also, regardless of whether I possess authority or not it doesn't change the fact that I'm simply Human. A regular old soldier whose life just happens to be like some kind of fucked up fantasy novel. I am no god, I don't have the ability, nor the power to be responsible for the weight that title holds."

She smiled at him, "Believe it or not, that mindset makes you more than worthy of the title in my opinion. Also, I don't have to worry about being weakened. I'm not some frail flower that will get trampled with a slight breeze. Not to mention I'll have you to protect me and you were capable of defeating both me and Mael with a pitiful amount of power. Now that you're actually on par with us in a contest of strength who could stop you?"

Basillius sighed, "You were under a spell that made you nothing but a ball of rage and hatred that couldn't think for yourself and Mael was so comfortable in his superiority that he walked right into my trap that took literally more than ten thousand years to set. I literally had to create an entire pocket dimension that would collapse on itself when he entered to beat him. Somehow, I doubt that he will just take the bait again."

She just shook her head and sighed, "You'll see."

He shrugged at her, "I guess we will. Anyway, I'm sure Catherine has caused some other incident by now so we should get going. Oh, almost forgot... you will be needing this..." He put out his hand palm down and nanites slowly cascaded down into a flowing black dress that shined with a silken luster.

He tossed the dress to her and she stared at it for a moment before smiling mischievously. "I hadn't even realized that I wasn't dressed. I can't believe that's not the first thing you mentioned!"

Basillius brought his hand up to his face with a resounding 'clang', "I'm never living this down, am I?"