Erasa said mockingly:
"Wait, is this a joke? I was planning to tear this Nimrod apart myself... Nehemi, just make sure you do enough, alright?"
Nehemi replied with sharp calm:
"I'll try, my lord."
Faced with their nonchalance, Nimrod burst out a nervous, offended laugh:
"Hahaha! Such arrogance! Your Nehemi will be crushed. You'll be begging for his life!"
Erasa shrugged, still disdainful:
"If you say so... By the way, where is your famous Gim?"
An annoyed tic passed over Nimrod's face.
"He will come. Don't worry... He's already here."
The combat programmer then wrote on the table: "Let the battle begin: Nehemi vs. Nimrod."
The two fighters were thrown into a closed universe, while the door vanished behind them.
Nehemi stretched gently, a calm smile on her lips.
"It wasn't very smart to close the door. No one will come to save you... and you can't run anymore."
Nimrod immediately reacted with a direct kick. But his attack passed through Nehemi's body as if he were a mirage.
"You don't have hastou... How do you plan to hit me if I don't allow it?" Nehemi said, curious.
Furious, Nimrod growled:
"Shut your mouth, bitch...!"
He didn't have time to finish. A fist smashed his face, followed by a kick that sent him flying backward, then a second right punch that made him fly even further.
Nehemi grabbed him by the head and smashed him against a planet, creating a massive crater. Without giving him a moment's respite, she dragged him from planet to planet like a piece of trash thrown to scare flies.
Then, releasing her grip, she sent him flying with a masterful kick toward a medium-sized planet.
Nimrod got up, staggering. In space, a blazing light formed: Nehemi was concentrating her power.
"Explosion creation: 60,000 mega novas per hastou."
The energy burst and struck the planet. The impact was cataclysmic. The explosion wiped out billions of galaxies. A black hole formed in the void, swallowing everything.
Nehemi looked at the void, slightly disappointed.
"Already over? Pfff. Not even funny."
But Nimrod was still standing. Unrecognizable, his body dislocated, his face split, blood streaming down his hollow eye sockets.
Nehemi approached, impassive:
"Want more?"
She struck him again and again until only a bloody puppet, barely human, remained.
Grabbing the few hairs left on his head, she whispered:
"Never insult Lord Erasa's name again. If you dare mispronounce it, I swear I'll kill you myself."
She let him fall, and the programmer's voice echoed: "First victory: Nehemi. First defeat: Nimrod."
They were teleported out of the battlefield.
Erasa, a smirk on her lips, congratulated Nehemi with a gesture before entering the arena. On the table, a new phrase appeared: "Next fight: Erasa vs. Gim."
In the closed universe, Erasa grew impatient:
"Well, where is your Gim? I don't have all day."
A medium-sized humanoid being, vaguely resembling her, appeared silently.
"I am Gim. Ready to start?"
Erasa responded with a lightning-fast punch to the stomach, sending Gim flying:
"How light... Pathetic."
Around them, the universe crystallized into galaxies and stars. A cosmic face appeared above them.
"Let's go," declared the giant voice.
Erasa stared at it, impassive.
The universe launched a first attack: a giant fist passed through Erasa... with no effect.
Gim, stunned:
"What? Impossible..."
"Not bad," replied Erasa, calm as death.
The universe closed around her, forming a trap of explosive stars. But when they detonated, Erasa remained unharmed.
"Absorption. You know it?"
She remembered. The gods said: Mü Thanatos had killed Gilead, proclaimed herself demon, the demon Erasa. People avoided her. They whispered her name in hushed tones.
Gim, bitter, spat:
"What a disgrace, Mü Thanatos... You, a goddess... What a shame."
On the table, a new note appeared: "Death match engaged: Erasa vs. Gim."
Erasa slightly frowned. She didn't understand this fixation.
Gim launched a series of furious assaults, but none landed.
He shouted:
"Become a demon to massacre the gods? You have no shame left, Mü Thanatos?!"
Erasa stretched out her hand. A purple flame formed there.
"You scream way too much. Absorption."
In ten seconds, the universe was sucked in, reduced to nothingness. Gim with it.
Erasa simply declared:
"It's over."
She reappeared beside Nehemi.
"You won, my lord!" she exclaimed, laughing.
"Too easy. It's almost sad. Come on, let's go home. Nimrod has been defeated; that was the goal."
But Nimrod, still lying down, murmured in a hoarse breath:
"You... scum... Who do you think you are..."
Erasa appeared behind him, like a whisper from hell.
"My nerves are on edge. One more word and I'll devour you alive, trash."
She stuck out her tongue-over twenty centimeters long, dark and slimy-and licked Nimrod's bloody cheek.
He froze, chilled with terror.
Erasa turned back to Nehemi. Together, they left the arena.
In the distant, secluded world of gods like the Underworld, draped in metaphysical abstractions and meta-conceptual veils, Mü Thanatos sat alone on her throne of silence. Her vast, impassive mind wandered between doubts and premonitions: could she reign like Zeus, despite the echo of storms ravaging the higher planes and the stain of her name, spread like sacrilegious venom?
The soft sound of a door opening.
Wamy entered the room. He bowed deeply, sincere respect in his voice:
"You seem troubled, great goddess. May I... offer you some respite, perhaps?"
Mü Thanatos's icy, unfathomable gaze fixed on Wamy's, freezing the moment in sacred suspension.
"Wamy... I want to divert my thoughts. Do you have something to suggest?"
He blinked, surprised, then regained his enthusiasm:
"Of course, my lord. A game... with this."
He raised his hand. On his finger danced a chess pawn, a tiny symbol of a mortal world.
"What is this?" Mü Thanatos asked, tone mixing curiosity and disdain.
"An artifact from the humans' game. Even kings, in their palaces, play it. Fascinating, isn't it?"
The goddess's aura thickened, twisting the light around her.
"Do you mistake me for a human, Wamy?"
Panicked, he waved his arms:
"Never! I... I just wanted to distract you. We could even... spice up the game. If I win, you grant me a favor. If you win, I become your toy. Deal?"
The darkness around Mü Thanatos dissipated. A sly smile touched her lips.
"Very well. Let the game begin."
The first game was a formality: Wamy won. Mü Thanatos made no comment.
"See," he explained, "that was... a demonstration. The real games start now. The conditions... will apply."
"You won. State your wish," she ordered.
"Huh? But... that was just a warm-up!"
"You won the round. Ask. Because after this, you will know no more victories."
Wamy hesitated. Then, emboldened by the opportunity, he exclaimed:
"Then... I want you to multiply my strength. Radically."
"Granted."
Without ritual or incantation, the transformation was immediate. Wamy's body shimmered. His nature, already torn from the dualities of being and nothingness, rose even higher. He felt the thrill of new, unprecedented power.
"Incredible... Maybe... Maybe I can finally..."
"Don't even think about it," cut Mü Thanatos.
He jumped.
"You read... my thoughts?"
"Of course. And I warn you: you could not defeat the Great Goddess. Not yet. Not you. The difference between you is abyssal. You don't even represent one percent. For her primordial state transcends ordinary deities. You are a breath in the storm. She is the origin of the storm itself."
Wamy bowed his head, humiliated.
"I'm sorry, goddess... I lost my way."
She gave him a soft, almost motherly smile.
"It's nothing. Free yourself from that pride. Let's resume."
And the game restarted. This time, Mü Thanatos dominated. One victory, two, then five, ten. Wamy struggled to keep up, each defeat a silent lesson. The tension grew.
"You still don't ask me anything after all this?" he whispered, panting.
"Not yet. The moment isn't ripe. I'm waiting for the right instant."
Then a divine messenger entered, looking grave.
"Goddess Mü Thanatos. A demon named Erasa... has begun devouring gods. Is this your creation?"
"No," she replied, distant. "I have other matters. Go away."
He disappeared.
Then she turned to Wamy.
"You will speak to this demon. You will do everything to make him stop. You will not kill him. I have a meeting with Zeus, at the Father and the Son. When I return, this matter must be resolved. That is your condition... So that all this has a taste of reality."
Wamy understood, and his eyes lit up.
"With this power? I will go. I want to see how far I can go now. With pleasure, goddess. A god-eating demon... now that's an opponent worth watching."
"You don't need luck. He shouldn't intimidate you."
Mü Thanatos vanished. Wamy remained alone in the game room, the pawn still between his fingers, a smile on his lips... and the shadow of Erasa in his mind.