The King's Gamma (#Wattys2024)

Seventy Eight

Third party POV

The hush over the crowd was palpable. The change in the princess was instant. They watched as her eyes blackened completely, miasma spreading from her very being, pulsating as though it was an extention of her body. None interfered, none made a sound. 

The two gods in front of her seemed as shocked as they felt. 

"How can you, a god tied to the body of a mortal, do anything to us?"

The gods slowly stepped forward, the power rolling off them in waves that made many stagger and some even fall. The man rushed towards her, the very air stilling as his fist connected with her cheek. An audible gasp rang out in the crowd, many of the men moving forward to save her. However, she stood tall. A light pink mark on her left cheek appeared, and the god himself seemed perplexed. He stood, still thrown forward in his stance, staring at her with wide eyes.

"Would you like to try that again?" 

It was strange, the way she seemed to smile wider. Her mouth now too wide for her face, almost like a beast.

The woman immediately pulled a spear out of thin air, horror in her eyes as she rushed to Millicent, stabbing it straight through her heart.

Black miasma dripped from the back, almost as if her whole being was made up entirely of the miasma, instead of blood.

The goddess laughed, sounding unsure at first. Then the laugh turned brighter, victorious.

"Are you quite done?" the voice now sounded strange. It was not the voice of Kent Bardell nor the voice of Millicent Mazgannek. But it came from the same mouth.

The sound of metal tearing apart screeched loudly as she tore the back end of the spear off, throwing it aside as though it was a mere toy. She rolled her shoulders, the other side of the spear pushing itself out.

"If you're done playing, is it my turn to attack?"

They watched in horror as she ripped the earrings from her ear, blood spraying as she tore her own flesh, and a moment later flames spread from her skin, overtaking her entire being. The power rolling off her body was like an inferno scorching the earth. The ground shook, water particles seemed to weightlessly drift into the air, the wind roared, and it all came from her. Black miasma followed, coating the world around them in complete darkness until the only thing they could see was the glow of fire from her body.

She looked back to those who were watching. "You wanted to know how powerful I am. Should I show you my true form now?"

The flames engulfed her in a fiery tornado, until nothing but the flames could be seen. 

A moment passed that felt like an eternity, and the miasma and flames cleared all at once, as though they had never existed. Where Millicent once stood stood a woman with fiery red hair, scales adorning her skin and large horns on top of her head. She looked nothing like the woman they knew, and yet the feeling she gave off was so very obviously her. 

She turned her head slightly, her lips pulling in a too wide smile, showing sharp teeth. On her back two large wings shook themselves out before stretching wide and receding back to a relaxed position again. A large wolf ear beside one of the horns twitched for a moment before twisting like that of an animal's, picking up sound around her. She turned suddenly, and disappeared. A sound in the midst of the crowd caught the attention of many, and they found her new form standing there before Ora and Azrael. She smiled at them, the sight frightening many.

"I hope you do not hold it against me for keeping you in the dark for so many years." she spoke with the same strange voice that none of them recognised.

"You're planning on killing us, aren't you?"

Her hand stilled mid-air where it had been closing in on Ora's cheek. Her head turned slightly as she pulled her hand away.

"Didn't I tell you to be more stupid, Azrael?" She asked sweetly, petting his long hair as she spoke. "I like it when you pretend to be stupid. It means I don't have to play mind games with you."

"Get your hands off the mortals, Macey."

She twisted back to the arena, her sweet smile frozen.

"I have not heard that name in many lifetimes... Why are you here, you black bearded bastard?"

"Anubis asked that we stepped in before you annihilate another world."

"Of course the fox is always a step behind its master."

"Nice to see you too, little pet."

"Do you know these men, Kent?" Ora asked, eyeing the two men with suspicion.

"Know them?" Her smile became truly terrifying then. "I've been waiting to tear them limb from limb for so long..."

Gem frowned at the sight before him. This was a mere shard of Macey's soul. A miniscule piece. And yet why did it feel infinite times stronger than the last time he came across Macey herself? Had the reincarnations not slowly stripped away her power as they had been told would happen?

"Gaelik, something is wrong."

"You realised it too?"

"Anubis said that he had the main soul in his realm, right?"

"Yes. And shards of it were sent to reincarnate. Enough was kept to not kill her body while enough was taken to split into infinite realms and worlds. She is said to exist at all times all at once."

"The god of death sure likes to fuck around, doesn't he?"

"Marcenia..."

"It's Millicent in this world." She responded calmly, her eyes straying back to Ora and Azrael. "or Kent. I don't really care as long as they can become part of Deimios and Felix..."

"Marcenia... What happened to you? We lost track of your soul shard..." Gem eyed her warily.

"Lost track?" She guffawed. "Yes. Perhaps you did... Perhaps I became too complacent and allowed you to find me." she stepped backwards, her hands dropping to her sides when she held her hand out and two men appeared beside her. One was the Oni who had been following closely behind her and the other was an elf who smirked coldly. Each placed a black jewel in her hand and she eyed one carefully as she gave a satisfied nod.

"Don't tell me... Are those soul shards?"

"You have a keen eye, you black-bearded asshole. More specifically, these are the ones I took great pains to leave behind in previous reincarnations."

She dropped both into her mouth and swallowed the small jewels, and the sight of the red flames turning an eerie glowing grey on her skin seemed to frighten the gods.

"Which gods did you slay, Marcenia?" Gem seemed furious now, his eyes darting from one lick of flame to another.

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I am so sorry for the extremely late update. I honestly got stuck on how I wanted to have this play out. I had 20 scenarios in my head and rewrote 30. Lol. But I hope you enjoy this chapter, regardless of how short and late it is.