The Black Smoke Squad

The scorching hot sun beat down on the yellowish sands, with the temperature of the landscape boiling at over 170.3°F—hot enough to literally cook an egg.

From afar, the desert looked beautiful, though no water supply had existed there for hundreds of years.

The golden sand hills and mountains gave off a striking beauty, even though danger lurked in the silent environment.

A black lightning bolt, unlike anything ever seen before, struck the sand, and two individuals of opposite genders plummeted onto the hot surface.

The moment the unconscious Evan's skin touched the sand, pain coursed through her entire body.

She immediately jolted to her feet, flinching in agony.

"Ah! What the fuck!!" Evan screamed. "It... it hurts!"

The pain lasted only a few seconds before she recovered.

A reddish burn mark was clearly visible on her otherwise milky skin.

"Such a weak mortal," Azrael remarked, staring up at the scorching sun.

"We're definitely going to be cooked here."

"What happened?" Evan shouted in a panic, scanning the unfamiliar environment like a cornered animal.

Her bloodshot eyes locked onto Azrael.

"Where am I?! You bastard, I'm sure this is your doing!"

The harsh sun beat down on her relentlessly, amplifying her frustration and rage.

"Calm down, princess. I got us out of there. You're safe now," Azrael said as he spotted something in the distance.

He paid no attention to Evan's distress and started moving forward, with her running after him.

"What happened to my people?" Evan asked, clinging to a sliver of hope, though she suspected they hadn't survived.

Still, she held on to that hope, which Azrael quickly crushed.

"They're probably dead. The God King was on his way, and he never leaves weaklings alive," Azrael said, clenching his fist.

"I'd love to crush that bastard when I regain my full strength."

"How do you know Zeus? Who the fuck are you?!" Evan demanded.

She'd heard Gray call him a god, but she still couldn't believe it.

"Well, as you should obviously know, I am a god. Not just any god—the very first god who became a Godslayer. Azrael Nekros, the Dark Emperor," Azrael said with enough pride to fill the Atlantic Ocean.

"Yeah, never heard of you," Evan replied.

(—_—) "What?!"

"There's no recorded history of a Dark Godslayer or god," Evan stated.

'I was transmigrated into this pathetic body against my will, stripped of my powers, and forced to start from scratch."

"And now, a weak mortal tells me my reign wasn't even recorded."

"Such disrespect to my name,' Azrael thought bitterly.

[Body temperature increasing. Find shelter before your body overheats.]

"Hmm, let's get out of the sun, shall we? Then I'll tell you all about me," Azrael suggested.

Twenty meters ahead, a strange-looking cave stood in the middle of the desert.

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.

.

"Zeus, why does Azrael's awakening trouble you so much? He was just transmigrated into nothing more than a weak, useless human body, so relax," said a handsome man with a calm expression.

His extremely muscular frame exuded a chilling presence, as if blood itself flowed with power.

If a human stood before him, they would crumble to their knees and tear out their heart to offer it as a gesture of great respect.

He was the God of War, Ares.

"I have to agree with Lord Zeus on this," a goddess spoke, her voice both seductive and firm.

She was known as Sandra, the Goddess of Sand.

Ares shot her a look so piercing it seemed to cut into her soul, but Sandra ignored him and continued.

"Azrael terrified us for centuries with his unstoppable army of undead. At the Olympian level, that's how terrifying he was."

"Ares, you should know—after all, he killed the original God of War."

During the war, Azrael slayed many gods, including the God of War, ending his cycle of reincarnation.

To permanently kill a god, you must either be a god or a godslayer.

Gods could kill one another due to their use of celestial energy, one of the few forces capable of harming them.

Then there were the godslayers—humans who achieved the near-impossible feat of slaying a god.

That was how one became a godslayer.

But how could a weak mortal possibly do that?

There was a special kind of weapon, forged from an extremely rare golden steel called Secril.

Secril weapons trapped celestial energy and were potent enough to penetrate a god's skin.

Empowered by Qi, these weapons allowed mortals to send gods to their reincarnation.

Though these weapons could permanently kill a god, even sending one to reincarnation posed a serious problem for the god.

"If you're so worried, Zeus, why don't I send out the Black Smoke Squad?" Sandra suggested.

"Who are they?" Zeus asked, raising an eyebrow.

"They're a little team of demigods I've assembled."

"They're like assassins, and together, they could take down a god.

"At Azrael's current level, he would stand no chance."

"And we wouldn't have to lift a finger," Sandra smirked.

"I see," Zeus muttered thoughtfully.

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.

.

"2,997, 2,998, 2,999, 3,000... Ah!" Azrael sighed heavily, pushing himself to his feet.

"That was a good workout. Seems like I'm handling this body better than its former owner, huh?"

[Body physique enhanced: 5% power restored]

[Body capacity: 20%]

'Looks like working out helps, too,' he thought.

Shirtless, Azrael admired his ripped abs and muscles, which bulged with pent-up energy. Veins pulsed along his arms and legs.

"He was better than you," Evan said, remembering her time with the body's former owner.

"He wasn't strong in terms of power, but he had a good heart."

"He was weak, and it was his good heart that got him killed in the first place," Azrael smirked.

"Being a hero isn't all it's cracked up to be. A good hero is a dead one."

"A villain always has a reason for turning evil. Some were betrayed so deeply that revenge became their only path."

"While others... they just want to watch the world burn."

"And as for me, I'm both... hahaha.

***