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Chapter 6: No More Blessings

Malachi felt like he had two little children running around causing havoc inside of his mind.

They were smearing shit on the walls, screaming at the top of their lungs and breaking everything they touched.

\'Damn it… be quiet!\'

Malachi\'s command fell on deaf ears as the two opposing powers continued to fracture his sanity.

\'Getting real annoying…SHUT THE FUCK UP!!\'

As if they were responding to his will, the two energies stopped before separating into different corners of his soul.

With a relieved sigh, he wiped away the sweat that had formed on his forehead and opened his eyes to see… Bast?

Before she was a tall powerful looking woman with a beasts head yet now her frame had shrunk in size and she had a gorgeously delicate human face.

On top of her head was a sea of long black hair and two fluffy cat ears.

If before she was beautiful, now she was simply immaculate.

\'It\'s a good thing she didn\'t ask me that question before I would\'ve had to lie to a goddess.\'

Malachi didn\'t know exactly what would\'ve happened to him but he was sure higher beings were not fans of deceit.

He could tell because he\'d constantly seen gods shooting middle fingers at Loki since he\'d arrived.

"You… you actually survived somehow. "

Bast\'s voice before was much more regal and authoritative but now she sounded serene and soft like the purring of a cat.

"Ah.. yea I guess I did." Malachi rose up from the ground and stretched his body.

While he could immediately feel some changes when Nyx blessed him, right now he didn\'t feel much of anything.

\'Maybe it\'ll kick in when I go back to my body?\'

Mal suddenly noticed something didn\'t feel quite right and turned around to see every god in the coliseum staring at him open mouthed.

No one could speak.

Nor could they even think.

How could something so incomprehensible be standing right in front of them like this.

He\'d just made the blessings of two gods from two different pantheons submit to him easily!

"I feel fine so… can I choose again?"

The silence somehow multiplied before Zeus spoke for all of the gods present.

"Boy… are you telling us you can handle a third blessing in addition to the two you already have?"

Malachi poked his stomach a few times just to be sure before responding. "Yea?"

Like a bomb had gone off, several gods immediately began to attempt to solicit him with promises of their most powerful blessings.

Zeus, God and Odin were still in such shock that they did not even attempt to calm down the rowdy gods.

Suddenly, two flashes of light appeared in front of the young human.

"Kid, you\'re really something strange! Accept my blessing!"

"What an intriguing human. Do you mind if I am the one to bless you?"

The two looked at eachother for a moment before an argument broke out.

"As I have yet to bless anyone I think this honor should fall to me should it not?"

The one with a soft spoken voice who appeared in a flash of golden light was an angel well over six feet tall wearing pure white robes.

Behind his muscular back were six pristine wings that looked large and imposing and yet incredibly welcoming.

This man was the archangel, Michael.

"Shove off pigeon! Naturally your blessing would be a waste! My power would serve him much better in the eons to come!"

The man with a booming voice like that of rolling thunder who appeared in a flash of lightning was a red skinned being who appeared to be a demon.

Wearing simple robes that covered his lower body and two large drums behind his back, he was incredibly frightening and imposing.

This man was the god Raijin.

"Actually…" Malachi hesitated to interfere in the debate of these two higher beings. "If you\'ll allow it, I wouldn\'t mind accepting both."

Once again, Malachi had delivered a shock to every higher being in the room.

"Did you just say… you want to accept both of our blessings?" Michael asked while cleaning out his ancient ears.

"I did."

"Ha! That is how a man should be! I like you mortal!" The booming laughter of Raijin echoed throughout the coliseum.

"Shall we, pigeon?" Raijin clasped the archangel on his shoulder and prepared to begin.

"This is madness! Even if he has been lucky so far, there is no way he can handle a blessing from four entirely different religions!" Michael tried to reason.

"My apologies."

"I\'m glad you understand."

"I called you pigeon earlier but now I see that chicken is more appropriate."

Without waiting for Michael to retort Raijin released him and prepared to bless Malachi. "If you want to have a chance at this now is your only opportunity."

Michael ground his teeth in frustration. This boy was undoubtedly the best human to be selected since they\'d begun the trials.

If there was even a chance for his faction of heaven to emerge victorious he had to take this gamble.

He was the only one left who could after all.

The other archangels had no more divine energy left to give to humans and god had elected not to interfere in this matter.

With an exhausted sigh, he turned to face Malachi once more.

"Do not blame me if your demise is more excruciating than you could\'ve imagined. You will only have your own ignorance to blame, child of man."

"Noted." Malachi nodded.

"I, Raijin, god of thunder, lightning, and storms wish to bestow unto you my blessing of lightning!"

"I, Michael, archangel of fire, wish to bestow unto you, Malachi Saint my blessing of fire."

Michael/ Raijin : "Will you accept?"

"I gratefully accept."

Raijin had a satisfied grin as he flipped off the wind god Fujin who was watching with clear jealousy.

For a moment, nothing happened.

Mal started to think maybe the blessing had failed.

And then it began.

"AAAHHH!!!"

Malachi released a blood curdling scream as his body was wracked with the most intense pain imaginable.

His bones, his blood, his entrails it felt like his very existence was fighting against eachother.

He simply lay on the ground in an unimaginable agony, unable to even move.

The gods watched this with neutral yet slightly disappointed eyes.

The most promising human they\'d had in years and now he was going to be another copse in the dust.

Suddenly, Nyx\'s cool, serene voice began to play in Malachi\'s mind amidst all of the anguish he felt.

"Relax… the one I chose is much stronger than that right? Let me help you a bit child, but keep this between us okay?"

Almost immediately Malachi\'s screaming became dull groans and he felt the turmoil running throughout his body calm down considerably.

The pain had now diminished into a dull throb and a feeling of fullness enveloped him.

Malachi knew instinctively that he\'d hit his limit on blessings.

"Huuu…" Malachi slowly sat up on the ground and stared into the intense eyes of a smiling Raijin and a stunned Michael.

"Sorry about that guys.. I think I ate too much."

Malachi chuckled at his own bad joke before he was lifted off the ground by an excited thunder god.

"Ha! Is my chosen not amazing?"

Malachi looked into the eyes of the gods and once again saw them staring at him with disbelieving eyes.

\'You know, I don\'t think any of these guys remember the last time they\'ve been shocked like this.\'

Oddly enough Mal was beginning to feel sleepy and was having a hard time keeping his eyes open.

Sensing his weariness, Raijin placed him on the ground in the middle of the coliseum where he originally appeared.

He looked deeply into Malachi\'s eyes while he was still conscious.

"Listen to me mortal- no, Malachi. You will undoubtedly be the most fearsome blessed your world has ever seen.

The humans will love you, they will envy you and some will even fear you. But understand that in the larger scheme of things none of that matters."

The gods playful demeanor was no longer present and his eyes were hard and serious.

"Train well. Grow the blessings we\'ve given you, do not be complacent for a single second because there are worse things than those that lie in the gates."

Malachi nodded in understanding as his eyes began to flutter closed.

"Oh and mind your learning curve. I\'m sure yours will be especially… interesting." The god chuckled.

Malachi was now fast asleep as his body shimmered before breaking apart into flecks of gold and disappearing from his stage.

After he left, there was a moment of silence before god spoke while looking at the three individuals present who\'d blessed Malachi.

"I believe a new wager will have to be made no?"

Each of the gods sighed as they realized that this would be another long and arduous debate.