Seth's Secret

"Get out of my way," Seth gritted his teeth in anger as he swung the Dark Sword. The powerful artefact hummed dully as its figure blurred in the darkness that engulfed it. With great power it sent a thin but very sharp sword light flying at Ray.

"You're not the only one who can use a weapon" Ray said in disdain. The avatar he summoned seemed to share in his disdain, for it swung the large claymore it held towards Seth with great precision. And a burning sword light intercepted the dark sword light.

*Bang*

Both sword lights were strong, and neither could gain the upper hand, leading to each cancelling the other out. Seth's expression was very ugly upon seeing this. The dark sword light was a manifestation of both his and the Dark Sword's power. Yet together they couldn't overwhelm Ray.

"You are not going anywhere," Ray declared before launching several attacks, intent on keeping Seth grounded.

Alexis's floating image leaked out a small smile as if she could see what Ray was doing for her. But that was impossible, for a Soul Imprint was a message left behind and wasn't the actual person. Her smile may have been coincidental. Anyway, her pause was but for a moment. In just a couple of seconds, she continued with her monologue.

"In the past you warred against yourselves. Because of the greed of your emperors you put your lives on the line. But this was your planet. It was yours to do as you saw fit with it."

Alexis's words had many leaders blushing in embarrassment. Hearing one far above them call them greedy and imply that they were childish wasn't a pleasant thing. And it didn't help that Alexis was such a beautiful woman.

"But this war isn't one you asked for. The Eastern Empire has been nothing but a puppet for a god whose vileness knows no bounds. In his infancy he struck a blow at his parents and in his youth fatally wounded his own brother. He is a god so demonic that only he has been deemed worthy to carry the element of darkness."

The hearts of Zandorians were shaken by Alexis's remarks. How could one be evil from their infancy? Surely, the golden armored goddess was exaggerating. But when they looked at everything around them which was covered in darkness so great that their eyes could barely see; when they looked at everything strange that was happening; when they assessed these things that they couldn't understand, they found it difficult to refute the beautiful goddess's words.

Within the Northern Empire, two middle aged men stood side by side with their weapons in their hands. Their eyes, just like everyone's on Zandor, were fixed on Alexis's figure. These two were Duke Essandor and Sir Blunt, Jake and John's father. Since the day they fought together, the two had gotten much closer. Indeed, war brought enemies together and separated allies.

"In the end, we still needed her protection" Duke Essandor had more grey hairs than he did a few months ago.

Understanding how much he paled in comparison to the Universe was a cruel blow. Though he didn't whimper for long, his constant pushing to reach the heights above had taken a toll on him. Currently he was an Above Mortal Realm Wielder. It was good progress in just six months. But the Duke wanted more. For he understood how feeble he was in comparison to the gods. And he wanted to be able to hold his fate in his own hand the next time a storm struck. Alas, this was the next trial and it had come too soon. For he was nowhere near strong enough to stop anything that was happening.

"Indeed. The Absolute Queen is absolute indeed." Sir Blunt smiled and said. He was doing much better in comparison to the Duke. He had also reached the Above Mortal Realm. But he didn't feel the urgency the Duke felt when it came to his growth. For he was not the one in charge of his family's affairs anymore. He did still make decisions for his family, but he knew he was not the strongest. The burden of protecting his family was not on his shoulders. Unlike Duke Essandor this was not his yoke to carry. It was a yoke his sons carried.

"I don't know her that well. But for her to reveal herself like this means she wants us to do something for her." Duke Essandor analysed.

As a shrewd man with many ways of getting what he wanted, his brain was quite keen. He understood from the little time he spent with Alexis that she was just as shrewd, if not more so, than him. For her to address Zandor in this manner meant that she needed their help somehow. As for how they, with their meagre strength could help, the Duke didn't know. But he knew that as long as they kept listening to the Absolute Queen, they would find out. So he cast his mind back to the one who had saved their lives only half a year ago.

"He hides in the darkness, stalking all that is good and consuming everything that shines bright. He is the Dark God Seth."

Once his name was revealed, Seth released a loud roar of anger.

"Absolute Queen!"

"Would you shut up," Ray said in annoyance as his avatar's huge fist slammed into Seth. Using the Dark Sword Seth was able to defend against the strike, but he was sent flying, creating a larger gap between himself and Alexis's figure.

Why was Seth panicking so much? What was so fearful about his name and nature being revealed? And why was Alexis's imprint so keen on revealing all these things? The answer lay in Seth's Godhead. Seth had spent millennia hiding in the shadows, unknown by any. Many feared him because they didn't understand a thing about his godhood. After all, there was only one God of Darkness. So in his pompous nature Seth had terrorized many, since he felt that he had no equal.

But he made a mistake. He came to Zandor, a world which was closed off from the rest of the Universe. And since it was closed off from the Universe, it meant that getting in it was very difficult. And getting out was just as challenging. As mentioned earlier, Ray and Alexis were only able to visit Zandor so freely because they had grown up here. As a result they had been imprinted into this planet's mind as citizens. They weren't recognised as foreigners. It wasn't the same for others.

Indra had used a large number of resources to get here. And in his case he even had the help of Zandor's World Will. Yet the price he paid was steep. In fact the artefact he used to breach Zandor's security was dulled by the first breach, and couldn't be used for the next century! And that tool was a Divine Artefact!

Butler Fin couldn't enter and leave Zandor as he pleased either. He was only able to get here due to the Bifrost of Asgard. But he wouldn't be able to leave without paying a huge price. Luckily for him he had his own means.

So what about Seth? How did he get here? After listening to Indra's story on how he came to Zandor, Alexis was convinced that no matter how resourceful Seth was, he wouldn't be able to leave Zandor in a short time. The Dark God must have come here with full confidence, thinking that nothing could stop him on this small planet. His plan must have been to stay here for quite the while and achieve his goals and leaving after his artefact was recharged. But things didn't go as smoothly. Not only did he meet Butler Fin here, he also learned that Ray, Alexis and Indra were here as well. These were young gods with great potential and massive power that even he couldn't slight. And this meant that he had to be more cautious. Unfortunately for him, it was in his carefulness that he revealed a flaw.

Surely it must have cost him more to bring divine servants with him. And though it would cost significantly less resources to send them in and out of Zandor, it made no sense for a god who had so much power to bring Divine Servants with him to conquer a small planet. And then there was the one called Dominic. Why was there a need to recruit another? Even if Dominic was talented, there were many other talents in the Universe who would sell themselves willingly to the Dark God. So why recruit another? It was then that Alexis realised something.

In every world that had been taken over by the Dark God, it wasn't the Dark God who ruled. Always it was a Divine Servant of the Dark One who ruled that world, with the Dark God puppeteering things from the shadows. In all these worlds, no one had seen the Dark God before. In fact, they didn't even know about him!

And even stranger, the Dark God had destroyed some of his conquered planets for seemingly no reason. To be honest this wasn't so strange since gods were petty and vain and could cause destruction for silly reasons. But the thing was that there was always a reason for destroying a world, no matter how foolish it was. For the Dark God, there was none. He could suddenly wake up one day and destroy a planet he owned. It earned him the titles Lunatic and Crazy, but he did it anyway.

It made Alexis wonder, 'What if he destroyed them because of a reason stronger than anything else? What if he flipped out because they found a way to weaken him? What if they found a way to somehow deal with the Dark God?'