บท 5: Second Blessing

As soon as the words left his mouth, a connection was formed between Nyx and Malachi that made him feel like he was overflowing with power.

He felt incredible, like he'd just been enveloped in the welcoming embrace of a lover under the night's sky.

It was as if a part of himself had been returned after it'd been missing for so long.

He felt whole.

"Impossible.. there was no backlash?"

"How is he still standing?"

"That was her main divinity..."

"He can actually bear the power of a primordial without issue?!"

"That guy Ouranos picked was bleeding from every hole in his body by now."

Malachi listened to the shocked murmurs of the gods and tilted his head in confusion.

'They seem surprised… I guess I did something cool without realizing it.'

Nyx disappeared from her seat and appeared right in front of him to ease his mind.

"They are simply in awe. No one has ever seen a human who can bear the weight of a god's main divinity without any sort of backlash."

The woman carefully touched his face and stared at him as if she were looking at something fascinating. "You are quite intriguing indeed..."

'First time I've heard something like that.'Malachi didn't know how to respond to the woman's closeness to him, so he elected for his default nonchalant persona.

"Alright…" God seemed to have finally gotten over the shock of this event and was now trying to move on with the proceedings.

"He appears to be fine...so does anyone else want to offer their blessing to this child?"

Immediately hundreds of gods from the Greek pantheon clamored to offer this human their blessing.

"Order! Order!" Zeus cried in an attempt to ease his rowdy children and siblings.

It wasn't like he couldn't understand after all the potential of this human in front of them was immense.

But even still, this human had already shown himself to be sharp. If he saw how desperately the gods were attempting to form ties with him, he might start asking questions and right now such a thing should be avoided.

It simply wasn't the time.

"Malachi, was it? Why don't you choose the god that you'd like to be blessed by."

Zeus then stuck out his chest with pride.

Of course, he was sure he'd be chosen.

He was a godking with an entire pantheon under his control!

Legends of his terrible powers and might had been passed down throughout human history!

Surely there was no better choice right?

'Well almost…' his eyes drifted to the seven seats where Nyx was sitting and suppressed a shudder.

Those gods are primordials and they.. are monsters that defy reason.

In his infinitely long life he has never feared anyone not even his father but those creatures sitting above him made his golden blood run cold.

They were just that incomprehensible.

Malachi dragged his eyes over all of the gods in the Greek pantheon before his eyes landed on the three in the front who were sitting on the biggest thrones.

Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades.

Each of them had already blessed a human already, so Mal knew what powers he'd receive if they blessed him but…

When he remembered his sister and thought of the conduct of two of the gods, he immediately shot down the thought when the idea that they might touch her bubbled up in his mind.

'No way in hell.'

Speaking of hell, Malachi then looked at the dark haired man who had a bored expression.

With Hades' blessing he would be able to summon legions of the undead and make them do his bidding.

But Malachi had always been the kind of person to handle things himself, so he did not really want to lead an army.

Even though it was a pretty cool visual.

He couldn't help but sigh internally.

This was literally the dream of every man and woman on earth, and yet he was being so indecisive.

'Should I just pick at random then…?'

Suddenly, out of the corner of his eyes Malachi saw something that intrigued him.

He turned his back to the Greek gods and walked towards a different pantheon altogether.

"What is he doing?"

"Human! Are you lost?"

"I had thought him smart but this is just stupid."

"Why is he walking toward the Egyptians?"

Malachi was too distracted by this feeling he was getting to pay the irate gods and demons any mind.

Eventually, he came to a stop in front of a fairly tall woman wearing Egyptian robes.

The woman had the head of a panther and her skin and fur were both a deep obsidian.

She stared at the human who'd come in front of her with two bright yellow eyes that did not hide her curiosity.

"How beautiful…" Malachi was so entranced by the deep black of her fur and skin, he didn't even realize he'd muttered those simple words.

"Damn, I'm sorry about that." He hastily bowed and tried to correct his mistake. "May I know your name, goddess?"

The beast woman looked him over curiously before she opened her mouth. "Bastet."

Malachi nodded. He hadn't heard of this goddess before yet she'd undoubtedly struck some kind of cord with him.

"Mind if I ask for your blessing?"

Immediately the gods began to buzz.

"Human… did my pharaoh not tell you that attempting to hold two blessings from opposing pantheons was tantamount to suicide?"

Despite the cat goddess' surprise, her tone hadn't changed much and she was only giving Malachi a blank look.

The boy briefly looked towards Ra who was sitting a fair distance away and smiled bitterly. "He did, but… I'm kind of drawn to you. I'll take the risk."

Bastet hesitated for a moment before she spoke. "Are you trying to bed me, mortal?"

"…No."

Malachi hastily deepened his bow and attempted to calm his beating heart.

'What if she gets offended? She'll chew my head off!'

Naturally Bast could smell the fear coming off Malachi and decided he must've been telling the truth.

"Bast, you're not actually considering this are you?!" Zeus roared.

"That's right this is madness." Odin agreed.

"What would it mean if he actually succeeded?" Tsukuyomi pointed out.

"I don't know." Bast responded only when the moon god spoke.

"But it'll be interesting nonetheless."

'She really intends to do it!' Zeus was panicking internally.

The boy would undoubtedly die and they would lose their most promising candidate yet!

"Nyx! Will you not stop-" Zeus turned around and looked toward the seven thrones only to see that they were now all empty.

Zeus clenched his fists and blue lightning began to crackle around his body.

'Damn it…DAMN IT!!'

Bastet brought her clawed hand to Malachi's face and tilted it upward so that she could look him in the eye.

"I, Bastet, goddess of felines, women's secrets, fertility and domesticity, wish to bestow my blessing of felines and women's secrets to you, Malachi Saint. Will you accept?"

Malachi could not suppress the grin that formed across his face.

"I accept."

Almost immediately, his head began to feel like it would split apart.