The Day God Became A Demon (III)

Not once Seth expected training under someone with that scary presence could be an easy thing, and even so, he still felt overwhelmed by the sheer intensity of it all.

There were barely any breaks, and even those were not that long. He was told to fight like a beast against his enemies; without making use of his Authority. Just plain jungle-type fights. The young God was not allowed to back away until he achieved victory, even if that ended with him on the brink of death.

The only comfort he had was that the enemies were never on an unattainable level. They were stronger than him, certainly, but they were not impossible to defeat. It was as if they were meticulously picked up to make sure they could push him to the edge, yet not enough to leave him hopeless.

All this situation could be considered to be... wild, in a sense. If before everything, be it the place, the foe, the method of fighting, etc, was orderly planned, now it was the complete opposite. Fights all of a sudden; landscapes that made no sense or just plain nonsense when it came to enemies with abilities that blew his mind away.

No doubt it would be something unpredictable enough to warrant at least a complaint from Seth. However, he not even once made one. It was not because he wanted to look tough; quite the contrary. He did want to scream his frustrations to the world. Nevertheless, despite all of that, there was a bittersweet sensation that made everything worth it and outright enjoyable.

At first, he did not know where that feeling came from. Why suddenly something that felt tedious and monotonous was now a thing that he looked forward to? The answer didn't take long to find its way into his mind.

"Oldy" as he liked to call him, for lack of a proper name, was that answer. His company made everything feel just... different, in a good light. To him, that never had someone watching over his progress or even commenting on the things that he could improve, the white-haired man was a breath of fresh air.

The better part of it all for him was when he complimented him for a job well done. The concept was so foreign that he thought he had misheard it the first time. He would forever deny that tears streamed down his face back then.

Even so, from that moment on, he did his best to earn similar words from the man. His focus on who to impress had shifted from his father to someone else that had been more of a paternal figure than the God of the earth had ever been.

Apep, for his part, didn't know how to react. His successor had issues that made him want to facepalm, but at least he was earnest in what he did if anything. Some part of him related to the kid, though.

When he said he would help him be free, he did not lie. It was because that was what he wanted too. Not only for his newly acquired pupil but for him as well. This world was restraining them to suit its needs.

His Authority over Chaos was pretty much garbage. It offered too many downsides and almost none upsides. He couldn't even bring his real body and had to conform himself with an avatar instead. Chaos was strong because he embodied it, and not the other way around. Unfortunately, that meant little to the ever-suppressing Order.

The young God named Seth, though, was a bit of a special case. As he was, in simple terms, both good and bad, the repression on him was almost nonexistent. Nonetheless, what the world didn't, those self-important fools did.

Being a counterfeit Deity, it was only natural that there could not be any type of good relationship aside from self-gain between the kid and them. After all, he was the mirror that reflected the ugliness inside them. The line that separated empty lies and hollow truths was so thin that they couldn't look directly into his eyes without feeling as if they were being judged.

Apep could shamelessly say that he almost broke into a fit of laughter the moment he discovered what Seth's first Authority was. Not even the moment when he ate Amun gave him that much satisfaction. It was the ultimate mocking against those pretenders of order.

They would be having the enemy that would cause their downfall right inside their little fort without them knowing. Nothing could be more pleasurable. And the better thing was, their so-called chief God was lending his hand in that endeavor, thinking he would be able to control the kid. Truly laughable.

He would let them auto-destroy themselves all they wanted. His job was only to prepare Seth for the events to come, and depending on how the road leading to the said event was, he would modify his plans accordingly.

The kid was still way young for him to face any of the challenges the future held for him, so there wasn't much Apep could back then. Development came as a slow process for Gods, and even with his strange circumstances, Seth was no exception.

He guessed that it would take a little over ten thousand years for his objective to merely begin. The fools would be happy to have his successor gone, even if it was for such a short time, with the only one not thinking exactly that way being the stupid bird.

Fortunately for them, the light of the Sun didn't reach the wastelands they were in, so Ra had no way of spying on the two. Added to the fact that Apep would leave at night to continue his fight against him while Seth was sleeping, the Chief God had little to no free time for him to dedicate it to other affairs.

And so, the 'waiting game' began for him. Since his successor couldn't take that much strain despite being a Deity, he did not fully focus on fights. He had to teach him about different arts so that his arsenal would never fall short.

The Great Serpent thought long and hard about which one to impart first. Combat arts had to be postponed, so they were out of the question. He had to develop his instinct to efficiently make use of them.

It took him some daily fights with his old enemy to figure out what to do. And ironically enough, it was the first thing he himself learned to do.

He had promised to grant Seth metaphorical wings to be free, but now it was time to give him real ones. The Art of Shapeshifting was something that was relatively easy to learn, so there was no way he could have problems with it.

The only concern would be the number and which forms he could take, but that was up to him. Apep only needed to teach him the technique itself. There was one thing he was sure, though. That those forms would be natural disasters. They would help him cover for some weaknesses and even give him the ability to control some elements.

It wouldn't be at the level of Authorities, but that did not mean the difference would be big either. Speaking of Authorities, he had to be careful about how many he allowed his successor to have. Having too many would only work to destabilize his mind even more, considering they were more of a curse than they were a blessing.

That aside, Apep got to work with his teachings. Unsurprisingly, Seth was able to master the art fairly quickly... not that it was a hard thing to do, to begin with. What WAS surprising, however, was the first form he shapeshifted in.

When he said he was going to give him wings to attain his freedom, he meant it figuratively. That was why it came as a surprise that his first form turned out to be a flying creature.

Gales formed around him soon becoming tornadoes, seemingly announcing the future ruler of the skies. It created quite the scandal with the already existing Magical Beast and stray Gods prowling around them, but just making his presence known was enough to send them scurrying away.

Shortly after, everything calmed down, and his successor appeared once again in a form that made his lips twitch a bit thanks to the resemblance to a certain bird.

The Griffin form of his successor took its time to do some acrobatics in the air, probably to get used to the new feeling and also to enjoy the experience of being free from the shackles of the earth.

Once he was done doing so, Seth dived down at Apep. The Great Serpent watched with raised eyebrows as he landed a little clumsily before throwing himself onto him, croaking happily like a crow while nuzzling his head against Apep's own.

Seth obviously couldn't speak, but being a 'monster' himself, he understood what he wanted to say. That didn't make it less awkward, though. Still, he considered that was acceptable. After all, if his successor was happy then he would give it his all when it came to absorbing all the knowledge the white-haired man wanted to impart on him.

Yet, fate seemed to have more surprises in store for him, as not even minutes after his first transformation, the kid acquired a new Authority. The Great Serpent was about to praise his luck for getting two in such a short of time when he realized just what kind of Authority Seth had obtained, causing his brain to freeze for a couple of seconds.

It is said that the world trembled with loud roars of frustration that night. Even Ra had wondered what had the beast in a fouler mood than usual.

Regardless of his misgivings, however, Apep still did not neglect to do his job.

With the passing of years, that decision proved to be the correct one. Not only did his successor acquire new, powerful forms, but he also gained more Authorities along the way, and much to his relief and delight, they were heavily inclined towards Evil.

There was a side effect, though. With his increase in power, his mind took on a heavier burden. Gone was the relaxed kid that would be happy with the smallest of things Apep did with his well-being in mind. Instead, what remained was a short-tempered youngster prone to make irrational decisions.

As much as he would have liked, the Great Serpent couldn't have taught him how to be patient when his newly-found anger issues were part of his core. It would be like trying to teach a sanguinary beast to change its diet to plant-based food—a futile attempt.

If there was something he found solace in, then that would be the fact that Seth still listened to him and treated him with the highest regard. Normally, he would have sarcastically laughed, saying that it was not at all hard to earn his loyalty. Normally, that is...

The few thousand years he spent taking care of him had changed him somehow. When at first he viewed Seth as an experiment of sorts; one that latched onto him like a tick, now he treated him as his own flesh and blood, which, considering that he played a big part in his existence, was not that far-fetched.

That was why he took a hard decision that would make Seth be prepared for anything the world threw at him. However, it was a double-edged sword that could very well mean the end of everything he had worked for. Even so, Apep still felt it was worth the risk.

As if by the intervention of a higher power, Ra would — unknowingly — help him again in that decision. Much to his regret and understanding, though; the self-poisoning of his nemesis brought him no joy this time. He knew it was not something to be joyous about.

The Sun God knew that his situation was dire, but he also could not simply make use of Seth while he was nothing more than a kid. That was why he waited for a couple of thousand years to allow him to develop enough. That way he would be ready to help him.

Naturally, he would not solely rely on him from the get-go. He chose to keep relying on the other Gods for support, at least until Seth was strong enough to lead the fight on his own.

For obvious reasons, the young God was reluctant to help the people he was supposed to get away from in order to obtain his freedom, but a good convincing from his father figure was enough to let go of his misgivings. That did not mean he was not feeling conflicted about it all, though.

In the end, he obeyed and went to help Ra, unaware that that decision would be one that he would regret for the rest of his life.