I awoke to the sound of weird gurgling going on in my room. My confusion only grew when I swore I saw the darkness around my room distorting.
"Rise and shine Demi-Maggot!" A Jackal headed abomination roared after appearing from the darkness.
"HOLY AKENO TITTIES WHAT THE FUCK!"
"Get used to this form, Fleshlight! There are a lot of nastier things down there than me." The jackal cackled.
Realizing that this fucked up creation was actually my father, I got up quickly and put on some gym clothes.
"Piss poor choice of clothes Maggot."
"Stop calling me a fucking maggot!"
"Or what!" The jackals snapped his head towards me. His voice distorted.
"I am the God Anubis. My son or not to me you are a mere maggot in terms of your power. When I am training you, I am not your friend, not your father, and certainly not your babysitter. You are going to the dangers of my domain. You are my slave. You do as I say. If you don't you will spend eternity there. Am. I. Clear?" The jackal asked, but it definitely wasn't a question. There was only one response.
"Y-yes."
Anubis wasted no time in grabbing my hand. We slowly fell into the darkness of the room. Suddenly we found ourselves in what looked like a cave. There were bones, guts, and heads strung up like ornaments everywhere you looked. I could see several humanoid figures walking around aimlessly. Their bodies mutilated. Some were mummified.
"Time in my domain runs significantly slower than time on Earth. It's how I am able to go in between work and home without you or your mother even noticing. Much like the Greek's hell, this domain runs on a nauseating time ratio. One hour out there is a week in here.
I fucking froze. No way this evil bastard was going to spend the next three weeks training me!
"It's my domain. Here I have more control than even the God of the bible has in heaven. Meaning something as simple as reading your mind ain't shit." He explained with a snarl.
I'm fucked.
He looked deep into my eyes. His overbearing red eyes were glowing even redder than before. "Run." I didn't need to be told twice as I took off. Running down the cave I noticed something was chasing me. I turned around and saw a fucking Hell Hound gaining on my ass. Why the fuck is there a damn hell hound in hell…Forget I asked.
Running is literally my weakness. It didn't take long for me to run out of gas. The hellhound was on my ass. Eventually I got too tired and slowed down enough for it to pounce on me. I had expected Anubis, you know my father, to stop the doggo at the last second before it eats me. Why the fuck did I think that creature could be so merciful.
The hellhound wasted no time in making my right arm for its early morning breakfast. The sheer pain of losing my arm got me to force the beast off of me. I realized that the bastard wasn't going to do shit. Since it's his domain, he'd probably just bring me back to life if I die, but that's death nonetheless.
Seeing a hole in the ground I jumped in. The hellhound tried to follow, but it was just a bit too big to squeeze through. I took this time to catch my breath. Summoning the boosted gear I decided It was me or them, and I just knew there was gonna be a lot of thems down here.
The hellhound started breaking its own bones to squeeze through the hole. The disgusting pops will definitely stick with me. Soon enough the shitty dog found its way to me. Injured, but a fucking hellhound no less.
'Let's go Ddraig'
[BOOST]
I rushed the broken dog and sent a left hook which found its target easily. After all, the dog was just too broken to make explosive moves. That didn't mean it wasn't deadly. I knew from experience that those jaws are no joke.
[BOOST]
Suddenly the tail of the hellhound knocked me backwards which made me fall right on my ass.
[RESET]
Fuck! I glanced around trying to improvise before freezing. This is Anubis' domain. I am the son of Anubis. This is my fucking domain. Which means this is my fucking dog.
A simple mental command to burn and the hellhound was set ablaze.
"Took you long enough to figure it out." Anubis appeared out of nowhere. "Hellhounds are quite strong, especially for a weak god that has just started out. That being said, in your domain they can't do shit. You're quite lucky. I'm sensing multiple domains coming off of you, which means that you must have inherited some from my parents. Bullshit if you ask me, but I'm not arguing." Anubis cackled before sitting down in front of me.
I'm an idiot. It really shouldn't have taken me that much time. God's have near perfect control when in domains. I am a god, even if some would like to put the word prefix demi in front of it. Realistically I should be able to grow my control over this domain to the level of even Anubis. I closed my eyes and focused. Slowly my right arm began to grow. First bone, then tendons, nerves, muscles, and finally skin.
"You, much like your brother, have five domains. Hypothetically your Domains should rely on [Storms], [Chaos], [War], [Air], and [Death]. This means you should have near total control in your domains. However [War], [Air,] and [Chaos] are a little tricky. When it comes to [War] perhaps you would get an increase in tactics, and weather control for a more favorable battle. It would be your strongest domain if you end up with my fathers draconic attributes. [Air] like my mother would give you the ability to have free air manipulation. Something like flying should come naturally to you. Now [Chaos], I believe this would be your ability to create and inflict new and old diseases on people. The nastiest of the domains in my opinion. [Death] is mine. It grants you the ability to absorb souls and view their experiences. The only real way to kill us is to wipe away our souls. We thrive in death after all. So if they end up fighting here in our world they are destined for failure unless they are overwhelmingly powerful like that boosted bastard." I nodded at my fathers explanation. It was a lot, but it also got me quite excited. Such godly powers.
"Right now in terms of the biblical faction power scales your low tier low class. You will not be allowed to leave this realm until you are low tier high class at the very least. If you wish to stay longer, do that. Neither your mother nor I will complain about you missing school." He said. Rising to his feet. He reverted back to the same old man I've known for the past seventeen years.
"I will be overseeing your training for these next three weeks. We'll be focusing primarily on the Domains, [War], [Death], and [Chaos]. You can learn the others on your own time. This realm is always open to you." He explained.
A look of determination came across my face. I plan on becoming strong. No matter how hard it is. No matter how long it takes. If beings that can kill me with a thought exist, I do not deserve to call myself a God until I can walk the Earth confident I can defeat any opponent.
"I like that look, Isamu. Now let's start with my domain. [Death] relies on the power of darkness and shadow creation and manipulation. You'll spend the first week fighting hellhounds. You will only be allowed to use [Death]. If I see you use something else, I'll drop the golems. Trust me, you don't want the golems."
I gulped. I don't like the sound of the golems. "R-Right, when do we start?"
"Now."
Suddenly I was teleported to a dark area within the cave that is the Egyptian hell. I couldn't see anything. I was about to make a light when I remembered my fathers words. I can only use darkness and shadow creation/manipulation for this training.
"GRR."
I heard the sound of a hellhound in the darkness. I turned around only to hear another growl to my left. Then another to my right. Another in front. Then the sound of hundreds simultaneously. I'm surrounded.
'[Do you need my help, Partner?]' Ddraig asked. He sounded amused again.
"You know as well as I that my father said I can only rely on [Death]. It's like you're trying to make me…Who taught you how to tease people?"
'[The idiot who's about to get his body ripped to shreds.]' Ddraig snorted.
I couldn't deny the shitty lizards words. Suddenly I felt a shiver in my spine. I jumped to the right and narrowly avoided what I think was an attempt to pounce on me, if the gust of wind I felt was anything to go by.
'[You're in darkness. This should be where you thrive, Partner.]'
Deciding to listen to him, I closed my eyes. I imagined a sword made of darkness, and all of a sudden I felt a solid object in my hands. Although it felt a bit weird. Solid, but wavy.
'[For a god you're rather weak in your imagination. How is that sword going to help you when you can't even see the hundreds of enemies that surround you?]' It seems like the dragon has had enough of my weakness, because his voice was roaring.
"Shit my bad." I said out loud. Think like a god, Isamu. Think like a god. Then, an idea popped in my head. Sending the sword to the darkness where it came from, I felt the same tingle in my spine. Although this time, instead of dodging I remained standing. I gathered the energy I felt from the darkness around me, and when the hound reached me something amazing happened.
It passed right through me.
A shit eating grin formed on my face when all of a sudden I could see all of the hounds. It was still dark, but I could see them. The reason why? I succeeded in step one of my training. I dominated the dark. I became one with the darkness.
'[What's next, did you get a harem and neglect any sexual activities with them? There aren't many things I hate in this world, but an emo teenage human is one of them. You damn chun.]'
I tick mark formed on my nonexistent forehead. 'We both know I meant it literally, not in the cringy emo anime protagonist way.' I deadpanned.
'[Hmph.]'
Deciding to cut the link myself I started test my limits with this new power. I could move around as a cloud of darkness that was indistinguishable from the rest of the dark area around me. Let's call this {Shadow Walk}. Eventually I got a feel for it and decided to do away with the hellhounds. Using my own control of the darkness I imagined one of the hounds getting impaled by a spike of darkness, and that's exactly what happened. I repeated this action until all of them were motionless. Each one allowed me to use the skill easier than before. {Shadow Manipulation} for the win.
Once all the hounds were dead, I wondered if my father was going to come back.
He didn't. Instead I noticed new life forms were teleported around me. There were a little over a hundred of them, although this time they were Jackals. If that isn't intimidating, I don't know what is.
I summoned the same spikes to impale the jackals, but the spikes didn't pierce their fur. Instead, I noticed that they only got angrier. They were moving around trying to find their attacker. Unfortunately for them, I'm literally a cloud of darkness. I tried again, this time imagining that the spikes had more force, and were sharper. This time it worked as all the jackal bodies simultaneously dropped to the cold ground.
I wondered what my father would send next. I was greatly disappointed when I saw the jackals again. I quickly dispatched them the same way I had. Then he sent more jackals, and I killed them again. Then again. Then again.
'This is going to be my week huh.'
'[Seems so.]'
—
1 Week Later - Egyptian Land of Lost Souls
They spawned, they died. They spawned, they died again. I was honestly tired of this. There was no limit to my Domain's power, so I never grew exhausted. This also meant I didn't have to sleep, eat, or drink. I spent the entire week as a cloud of fucking darkness slaughtering these poor jackals. Half way through I just started to feel bad.
"First week is done, kid." My father said as he appeared by my {Shadow Walk} form.
"Finally." I dismissed the darkness and felt my body return. "That was hell. What was the point of doing that over and over again?" I asked as I threw my arms behind my head.
"Considering you're in hell, it should feel that way." He chuckled and I sighed. "As for why? Repetition. You know how much I love me some movies. Bruce Lee is a wise man. I fear not the man who has practiced ten thousand kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick ten thousand times. I let you choose an attack to kill the hounds. Then summoned the jackals and watched you do the same. Once you did that, I used the power of my domain to implant the idea of only killing them that same way in your mind." The large man said while handing me a jolly rancher.
"For real, Anubis? A jolly rancher." I deadpanned.
"Yup, I wasn't actually watching you train after I put the idea in your mind. I went back and ate breakfast and grabbed a few jolly ranchers. Thought you'd want one." He laughed.
"You know me too well, Anubis."
"Right enough fucking around, week two." The man said, regaining his serious attitude. "[Chaos] is the next domain you will learn the basics for. This domain is expansive in terms of epidemics, diseases, poisons, venoms, and like [Death], you can inflict curses on people using this domain." The black man explained.
"Got it. So what do I have to do for this domain?" I asked curiously. I really just wanted to get into it.
"Read."
"Come again."
"Study." He sent out a dark low chuckle.
"Y-You monster." Once I said that, we were teleported back into an area of the cave with light. Not even half a second later a stack of books landed next to me.
"Get through as many of these as you can. To inflict diseases, you must be knowledgeable about diseases. The same could be said for the other harmful aspects of [Chaos]. In those books are every recorded disease in supernatural history.
"So I need to study these books so I can give people AIDS?" I asked. This shit was not how I wanted to spend an entire week. I absolutely love reading, and life sciences are a great interest to me, but a whole week of reading about diseases without any break sounds more taxing than a college final.
"That, and any other nasty impurity you want to inflict." Anubis nodded.
*Sigh* "I'll start reading." I said. The giant dark skin man nodded and teleported from sight. No doubt going back to Earth. I looked at a few of the books in front of me.
Supernatural Anatomy and Physiology Part 1.
Chemistry and the Supernatural.
Egyptian Curses for Beginners.
How to Please a Yokai.
"All of these books sound rather useful." I said out loud as I opened the last book about pleasing yokai and dove right in.
I finished all six hundred pages in the first day. A great read. I learned things about the women's body that I should have never known. I also learned much about my own body as the second half was dedicated to pleasing a male yokai. Interesting shit. The book was co-written by a man by the name of Azazel, and a woman named Penemue. 'The depravity of the Fallen knows no bounds.' I chuckled.
'[I personally like the crows. Their honest to their desires without being stuck up.]' Said Ddraig who seemed completely bored.
'Perhaps, but their manipulative nature makes them shitty friends.' I shrugged.
'[Who would have a crow as a friend? If it's a friend you want, maybe try some of those doves in heaven. Some may have a small stick up their ass but the majority are rather pleasant.]'
Nodding, I picked up the next book about Egyptian curses and started reading. Only a couple of pages in and I found myself absolutely enthralled. Most of the curses focused on paralyzing thieves, or messing with their nerves. Sometimes it was just outright death.
Once I finished the book I had a greater understanding of curses and how to inflict them. I would either have to coat my hands in chaotic energy and touch them, or I would have to direct my chaotic energy to them and utter 'The words of the Gods.' Which basically means make up my own bullshit dramatic cliffhanger line that curses them.
I read the Chemistry book and was bored. This book had the most use, but was also the most tiring to read. Elements and bonds, molecules and atoms, it was all a massive headache to me. The book basically explained how I can change the atomic composition of an organism's body. For example I could turn a small amount of someone's blood into lead which would lead to their very very slow and painful death if not removed. That being said, I could also turn someone into a solid gold statue and sell it. Decisions, decisions.
Suddenly I realized it had been six days already and I hadn't even gotten through a one-hundredth of the pile. I shrugged and started reading the book about supernatural anatomy and physiology.
Everything was interesting. There were explanations of every race in the supernatural world from the organism as whole, down to the cellular level. I knew this took a gut wrenching amount of time, so I decided I would give my credit to the author. Although when I saw the name my eyes widened.
Satoru Shizune. My mother. This book was three thousand pages and this was only part one. How the hell did she find the time to write this.
Then I realized something. She's a yokai. Just like how Anubis is a god. They both have greatly extended lifespans. Shit I wouldn't be surprised if he cursed her with the inability to die.
I finished part one around half way through day seven. Learning a lot about the physiology of different creatures from different pantheons. Did you know dragons really do have eyebrows? I did. 'Thanks Ddraig.'
'[Your insanity is rather hilarious.]'
'Thank you.'
I won't lie, two weeks in a place that smells like shit, looks like shit, and has guts, blood, and other body parts everywhere you look will cause your mind to wander. And the occasional mummy that bumps into me while I'm reading and stares at me like an obedient dog is rather off putting. However it somehow feels like home?
I spent the last half of day seven talking to myself and Ddrajg, and the occasional mummy who just groaned in response. They're actually great listeners though.
In a swirl of darkness the old man returned again.
"Week two is over. Learn something new?" He asked with a small smile.
"I learned that when fucking a Kitsune, the first thing I should do to assert my dominance is bite them nipple, not too rough as you don't want to hurt them, but rough enough to leave them yipping." I deadpanned.
"I'm glad you read that one. I threw it in there more as a joke but I'm sure it will come in handy one day. Also Kitsune? Really aiming high." He said with a smug look.
"Says the Nekoshu tamer. Bite me old man."
"Seems like you've changed a bit in the past week. Let's see how much." He said as his face slowly morphed into that of a Jackal.
In an instant he was in my face growling. I could see the rotten flesh stuck between his sharp K9 teeth, his red eyes crying tears of blood as they bore into my own. Black bile slowly started to leak out of his mouth as he opened it mere centimeters from my head.
All the mummies and rotting corpses crouched in fear at the appearance of the King. All the hellhounds sat and lowered their heads in respect. Then there was me. Sitting there. Looking up at the God of the Dead. Feeling absolutely nothing. The previous fear I had for the man was gone. Knowing he wouldn't actually hurt me played a part, but once you have seen a mummy shit himself and rip off the cloth that wrapped around his body to wipe his ass, there's very little that could scare me anymore. Why was it blue?
"Your eyes remain unmoving, bored even. No, bored isn't the right word. Traumatized. Great Osiris, what happened." Anubis asked in his rather terrifying voice.
"Dad, you ever see a Hellhound get so tired of it's own existence that it decides to end it's suffering by consuming itself only to learn that it literally can't fucking die." I asked with hollow eyes.
Anubis gained a worried look and reverted back to his original form. "Isamu, you alright kid."
"I don't know. Ddraig has been questioning my sanity almost everyday the past week. I feel fine though, maybe a little traumatized." I answered honestly.
"I think we should get you back home." Anubis said worriedly before a glint of fear entered his eyes.
Did he tell mom how long he'd be training me here? He fucking didn't did he? Oh I can work with this. Blackmail material.
"Nah, I'm used to being here now, plus it's only a week left, and the last domain is my strongest. Leaving now would be a waste." I shrugged.
He looked a bit hesitant but nodded anyway.
"Alright. Then let's finish your training and get you back home. I'll stay here the entire time for your last week to keep an eye on you." He said with an apologetic look.
"You don't half to. If you're worried about me being lonely, don't worry. I have the mummies, the hounds, and Ddraig. Not to mention the occasional golem that wanders its big ass around. Seriously though, those things are intimidating." I shivered a little. I saw a golem on day three of week two. I expected it to be a big rock monster lacking features, and it was but the problem was it was…lengthy. They were ten meter monsters with very skinny limbs made completely of a tan stone and they lacked faces. They looked like SCP-3008 if it was taller and made of stone.
"Oh you saw one of them…I had told them to stay out of the lost souls domain and stay with the tortured souls, but I guess one must have sensed you and grew interested. Don't worry too much about them. They, like all the other creatures here, are completely loyal to me, and by extension you.
I nodded and smiled hoping to show my father I was okay. He picked up on it and proceeded to the next phase of my training.
"Right so first things first you'll need to find the domain of [War] within yourself. My father told me it was the hardest of all his domains to master, so it may take you a great deal of time son." He said seriously.
I made no move. Closing my eyes I instantly got to work. I reached deep within myself. I could feel all of my domains. They all felt different. [Air] felt like a cool breeze starting from my stomach and flowing softly to my limbs. [Chaos] felt like a ping of darkness that circulated in my brain. [Death] felt like a stinging in my lungs. Painful, but the good kind of painful. [Storms] felt like lightning coursing through my nerves, and water coursing through my blood. And [War] felt like a very strong case of heartburn. Though much like [Death], it felt good.
I singled out [War] and tapped into the domain. The result was a mass of red aura forming around my body. Something else was forming in my body.
Rage.
I wanted to punch something really hard, over, and over again.
"Seems like you did it but it's rather unstable. Know the domain is yours. God's can lose themselves to their own power. Don't become a statistic kid." Anubis ordered.
I closed my eyes and slowly calmed myself. It was hard, but remembering my time with Issei, Motohama, and Matsuda pretty much brought me back to inner peace.
"Good. Now that you have controlled the domain, I want you to try and use it the same way my father does. A god's main domain is focused at their heart. You much like my father have the domain of [War] as your main. Which means, like him you should have a form befitting of your domain, like he does and like I do."
"The jackal head thing you do is your true form?" I asked. The King of this realm nodded at me with a rather mischievous smile.
"That sucks." I chuckled.
The old man growled but scoffed after a while.
"Just try it. Focus all your power into your heart. Don't worry about dying. Your heart is the one thing that is born very strong for a god. Even babies have hearts that are harder than steel." He explained.
I listened to his words. Focusing all of my aura and power into my heart I felt a great deal of power surge. Then came the rage again. Who the fuck am I, Kratos? The power and rage rose as I put more and more aura into my heart. Eventually I stopped and collapsed on the ground.
*Crash*
I panted heavily. Seems I failed. I looked up to my father expecting to see a disappointed face, only he wasn't there. My eyes locked on the distant cave ahead before looking down. It was then where I saw my fathers face in his true form. Surprisingly though he wasn't disappointed. Though I couldn't tell what he was feeling. Deciding to use my ability I checked. Pride, Awe, Shock.
What? I must have done something amazing!
'[Amazing is an understatement. Your a literal fucking dragon.]' Ddraig roared in excitement.
'Huh?' I replied mentally before looking down and noticing I was quite a ways off the ground. I moved my arms and I was golden fur along them, with sharp black claws as my hands. Looking back I saw the same for my legs.
"Wow. You look just like him." Anubis commented in a rather nostalgic tone.
"Like who-?" I asked before noticing just how deep my voice was. I guess I really did become a dragon. And I'm fucking huge. Maybe just a little smaller than Ddraig.
"HAHA! You look just like my father. It seems you inherited more from him then from me!" Anubis cackled.
I tried to walk, stumbling a bit as I tried to get used to four leg instead of two which took me a couple of minutes. Once I had it down I looked at the golden feathery wings on my back. They kinda looked like angel wings. Then I felt a new limb behind me. Turning around I saw a golden serpentine tail with faint brown stripes along the top of it swaying left and right. Looking up I saw two large antlers crowning my head with two smaller ones off to the side.
"The Akhekh." Anubis grinned.
My eyes grew wide. I assumed the form of The Akhekh? More specifically, this was my true form? Fucking badass.
I started moving my wings, just about ready to test these babies out. I looked to Anubis who realized what I wanted to do and nodded. I jumped into the air and nearly landed on my neck. With one powerful flap of my wings I was soaring at the top of the massive cave.
It was exhilarating.
Not only was I flying, I was an honest to god dragon.
"[Congratulations, Hatchling.]" The gauntlet appeared on my front left leg although now it was less of a gauntlet and more of a shoe. It looked even more badass though because it followed the shape of my claws perfectly.
"Thanks, Partner." I said with a smile. The gear stayed on my leg as I flew around for an entire day. I made sure to stay in the land of the lost souls while I flew but I did explore some areas of the domain I had not seen.
After the first day I decided the best training would be to get used to this new body and the abilities it gave me. Ddraig said before my base power was around high middle class, but whenever I transform into {Akhekh Incarnate} as I like to call it, my power increases to low ultimate class. With the last six days of training I should be able to raise that up to mid ultimate class if I practice with my [War] domain. Even in the form, I could still bring out the red aura that surrounded me. I decided to call it my {War Mode}.
I spent the next six days working to keep my {War Mode} and {Akhekh Incarnate} both on the entire time, while using short bursts of extra power. I managed to increase my stamina and overall time I could keep the aura active. As for my dragon form, it was pretty much permanent unless I decided to turn it off.
Finally the last day was finished and my father appeared.
"That concludes your training kid. Woah! I sense a huge increase in your power!" Surprise etched on the man who had just returned to his domain.
"Yeah, I managed to control my primary domain. I still have a long way to go but this is good enough for now." I said with a wide smile on my golden bird-like face.
"Good, I'm happy. I can sense your mid-ultimate class. Very good. You're still nowhere near the level of the other main gods in our pantheon, but it's good progress for three weeks.
Reverting back to my human form, I sighed in disappointment.
"I had a feeling, but damn. Just how strong are the other gods?" I asked.
"Well Ra is the strongest, followed by Set, and then Osiris. I come in just after him." My father said feeling quite proud of himself.
"Oh? How strong are you?" Curiosity was getting the better of me.
"Hard to say. However, if I had to fight an army of ten thousand at your strength right now, I'd be home in time for breakfast." He shrugged.
"So stupidly strong. Got it." I sighed. "Another question. Why did you and mom decide to live in devil territory?" I asked as the thought just occurred to me.
He raised an eyebrow. "Oh you met the devils huh. I had expected as much sooner or later. As to why, it's because we lived here first. They only came around two years ago, While we've been in Kuoh for fifty years give or take."
I nodded with an expressionless face. The old me would have had his jaw on the floor, but when your best friend in your second home is a mummy named Ron, you tend to stop giving a fuck.
"Anyways ready to head back?" Anubis asked with a small smile.
"Yeah, I'll probably come back here soon anyways so I'm more than ready."
"Right." He placed his hand on my shoulder and the darkness consumed our bodies.