Ch.16

When the horseman of death showed up to kill the president my coven acted helping Crane openly now to seal the horseman away in J street, a mystical street used like purgatory. They made sure no demons escaped while the sealed him inside with Crane's help.

When he asked what coven they belonged to they told him honestly. "We are from the immortal coven. Throughout history we've protected and healed those injured while fighting in wars. As it is our coven was once spread throughout the world helping on a global scale to fight evil."

Agent Diana asked. "Oh my god, what happened to you all then?"

My coven members each smiled fondly. "Oh nothing really, our coven as a whole is moving to the new world and we are here to prepare to receive them all."

The new guy from the vault, Jake Wells, asked. "How many of you are coming?"

The coven member who spoke first told them. "All of us."

That sent alarm bells in Agent Diana's mind. "How many are in your coven?"

A single answer was spoken as my coven members cast cloaking spells on themselves. "Ten thousand."

Ichabod and his entire team was shocked stiff until Jenny spoke up. "I can't believe it, a coven with ten thousand witches! Imagine what we could accomplish with the entire coven fighting by our side."

Ichabod sighed. "I fear they may not wish to cooperate with us if they see us as inferior. From what I've been able to deduce from my own perusal if the archives and what I know happened, odds are they've been fighting in every war since the American revolution. If they're as immortal as they claim then they've much more experience then we could hope to offer."

Agent Diana spoke up. "I don't see that as a bad thing. If they're as powerful as they claim then the apocalypse shouldn't be an issue right? That means we can at the very least take the fight to the demons."

I'd heard enough so I left them there. I gave the coven the order to spread out across the states and deal with any and all beasts and demons at will. They were to sell the monster bodies and parts that didn't disintegrate to Frosthaven which would then use outsourcing like Hawley to sell at higher prices to those on the black market willing to pay a lot of money.

The city they built in my realm that housed the covens families would receive the parts they could use for spells, rituals and potions to further the study of magic. In turn I'd let them use the bells in my realm to awaken their descendants magic as they finished their studies on the theories and histories of witches and magic.

As such the ten thousand strong coven would grow gradually to the point where this world would have a real defense against the so called gods. In turn though I hadn't realized it until today, Hecate and her counterparts in the other pantheons were growing exponentially stronger as magic users increased the faith and power they received as the population grew.

For now though I watched, invisible as Dreyfuss and Jobe released the horseman of death and the spider demon from J street. I was a bit irked but then who wouldn't be as the upstart used my coven's efforts for his own purposes.

I was half tempted to just seal them all in there but decided against it for now as while Jobe had an interesting pedigree, he was still receiving help from someone higher up in hell pretending to be the devil. I needed to know who so I could punish them for it and I didn't fancy reading demon minds as they in fact were evil.

It wasn't a pleasant experience and just watching for now was enough as they'd slip up sooner or later. That actually ended up as sooner as two weeks later a human whom I'd no idea was in hell, had escaped covered in enochian runes symbolizing high demons who'd branded him with their names.

He'd acquired a piece of the philosophers stone and had trapped Jobe in a sealing stone. I'd arrived as he left and saw the demon trapped there, banging on the stone seal, unable to get out much like Excalibur was unable to be extracted without the proper person. In his case it would have to be the one who holds his contract or another denizen of hell, stronger than him.

I broke him out and before he could do more, sealed him in stasis inside my realm before I followed the clearly agonized human Dreyfuss enterprises. There I watched as Crane and Agent Diana tried to stop the branded human from killing the mortals and loading the building with Greek Fire bombs.

I went below where they were sure to follow, inside the chamber where Dreyfuss had stored the pieces of the philosophers stone and the artifacts he already had. There I watched as Dreyfuss admitted to wanting to use the stone's power to make himself immortal, thus voiding his contract with hell.

Crane asked clearly. "Just so we're clear, you made a deal with the devil for your soul in exchange for a chance to build all of this and now you want to cheat the devil his due?"

Dreyfuss nodded. "Yeah, so?"

Crane held up a hand and called me.

Diana asked. "What are you doing?"

He smiled lightly. "Calling the devil himself."

Ironically my phone rang to highway to hell while inside the room. Crane looked rough the noise and said. "Wraith, reveal yourself!"

I took off my hood and cloak as I appeared, holding my phone. "Crane, you really know how to spoil the moment. I needed him to say the name of this devil he made a deal with. I've an inkling that a higher demon is pretending to be me."

Diana pulled her gun asking. "You're the devil?"

I nodded. "I am, Wraith Morningstar, son of Lucifer Morningstar and current king of hell."

I ignored her and turned to the shivering mortal who'd done so much to avoid his contract. I told him coldly. "You've actively planned to subvert a contract with hell, as such your contract clause is activated now by my command."

Seals of fire and words of the contract appeared on his body, burning him in agony. I waved a hand as he screamed for Jobe to save him. The demon in question appeared at my command as I began summoning my devil aspect here with the ancient seals of the contract they both signed.

Jobe looked to me sensing what I was doing and tried to flee. My magic sealed the room from all those going out. The elevator ringed though as the branded human came in. He went for Malcom but I waved a finger. "Ahah. Daddy will be with you kids in a moment. Sit tight."

A binding spell hit him and sealed him in place while negating his runes. I turned to Jobe. "Who is the demon who dared use my name for his contracts?"

Seeing no way out he immediately kneeled as a burning door to hell appeared behind me. "My king, it was Asmodeaus, fourth son of Lilith and prince of the seventh third circle of hell."

I growled and the doors opened as my demonic devil self walked in, dragon wings flaring. I used him to grab Malcom saying. "Your contract is up, your soul belongs to hell."

He screamed as I ripped his soul from his body and flung it to Jobe who caught the astral body like form that was now on fire with seals. "I'll give you one opportunity to repent, take him to Lilith and have him remade into a lower demon. There you will teach him his new duties with relish or you will know what it truly means to be the prince of pain, a silly title you were given by my father for your previous services."

He bowed once more and I waved a hand saying. "Go now!"

He passed my devilish body and when he stepped through the hell gate I'd opened up, he vanished in flames. My devil form shifted as it touched me and became one. I then shifted to my angel persona and walked passed a stunned Diana and Ichabod as I kneeled down to face the burned and broken human who'd been tortured in hell.

I sighed. "I am truly sorry for what has been done to you due to mine and my father's negligence. Hell hasn't had a ruler in almost a decade before I took over and even now I rule over only the middle and lower class demons. Only Lilith and those who fear me completely are loyal. Had I known you were being tortured in hell, I'd have waged war on the higher demons who did this to you."

I touched him and drew the runes from his body onto my own. Sighing sadly I released him from the spells and he was both shocked and terrified. I told him softly. "I cannot change what happened to you as your soul is scarred from your time in hell. But I can suppress the memories if that is what you wish and upon your mortal death you've my word I will attempt to purify your soul to give you a shot at heaven and everlasting peace."

Tears fell from his eyes before he nodded and I reached into his mind, dimming and suppressing the memories to the point where he no longer felt burdened by them. Sighing I stood up and coldly told him. "While I understand your pain, I cannot allow you to use the philosophers stone to become immortal. It would kill thousands of people around you as a price. If however, you are determined to take this path, I will let you know that hell welcomes even former immortals."

He shivered and handed me his piece of the stone to which I put in my realm. I waved a hand and took the rest of the stone pieces in the room. Then I separated from my devil self as my angel wings tucked away.

He walked to Diana and Crane saying. "Witnesses never go to hell as their duty and sacrifice is accepted as a noble burden. They would have to sell their souls to achieve such a thing. Hell however is open to all who feel they deserve to be there. The demons torture and keep the vilest of souls in line, but in the end it's the guilt and regret that human souls feel that weigh them down and keep them in hell. To want revenge is fine, but forgiveness is divine. Forgive yourself and forgive others and you will have found the path to heaven."

I touched both their cheeks as they both shed tears by my divine presence. After that my devil self left through the fiery doorway to hell. It closed behind me and I went to the third circle where Asmodeus was set up in his white palace.

There, I broke down the doors and walked to the half burnt demon pretending to be me. My form wavered as it grew back into my demonic form. He was shocked but not afraid, he would learn though. Back in the human world, I divided my attention and told Crane and Diana. "Call your team and have them gather all the artifacts and and spell books here. They can be locked away in the vault."

That jump started their systems as they moved into action while I turned to the human man who'd been given a new life and was looking at the now dead body of his former friend. I sighed. "You needn't worry about him. I've people working on a cover story for his death as we speak. You, as the last founding partner, will receive the company and all it's influence. What will you do with it?"

He shook his head. "I've killed so many people upstairs."

I nodded. "You were influenced by demonic magic and the tortured of hell. I can't say you're not blameless, but it's not entirely your fault. If I'd acted sooner you'd have been free of the sin. Unfortunately I waited as I needed to know who was behind it all."

He sighed. "What will become of them? Can you bring them back?"

I shook my head. "No, most of them were good nice people attracted to the lure of Malcom's charity work and building a brighter future. Their souls are in heaven now. As for those that knew, well, I doubt you'd want them back anyway. Hell would've effected them the same as it did you and I wouldn't help them anyway. They chose to be evil."

He sighed. "Give it all away to charity. I'll sell the company and give it all way. Hopefully some good people out there will be helped by it."

I nodded. "Very well, that's up to you."

I turned to Diana who just got off the phone with her agency. The assistant director of the FBI had come back after his supposed demise and was cleaning house. The first thing he did was call in a favor with homeland and get her transferred officially to section 355, the vault. He was now cleaning up the mess upstairs and sending my coven members to help him take apart the Greek Fire bombs.

It wasn't ten minutes later that Jenny and the team arrived to load up the artifacts and books to be taken back to the vault. The rings were still a secret for now so they couldn't just use them openly. As it was, I left their and headed home to begin the real cleanup.

Soon enough I used my influence on the major corporations to repeal and enact laws of real change. In the next few weeks hundreds of old laws and bad ones were repealed and forgotten while new ones replaced them. No longer was it legal for companies to take bribes of tax cuts, foreign or domestic. Nor could the stock market be used by brokers and bankers to make too much at once or work together.

Healthcare became free for all while those that adopted children were screened very thoroughly as my coven practically took over all medical and child services. Those who abused children were sentenced to severe jail time while the major corporations were forced to start paying taxes again and were all encouraged to build safer environments for workers as they would be inspected.

Frosthaven practically took over the energy business as big oil merged with them to create more jobs while taking down all the old factories and power plants that were ran on fossil fuels. They actually made even bigger business and more money as with their contacts Frosthaven went global as the only clean power supplier of the world.

All the radioactive fusion reactors were shut down and dismantled while Frosthaven bought back and disposed of all the radioactive materials. Frosthaven branched our, absorbing General Motors and creating solar, electric and water powered cars.

Massive recalls and trade in were made while cheap upgrades were offered to replace the base powered engines of everything from motorcycles to airplanes and rockets. Soon enough the whole US would be using clean energy.

As it was though, they were in a state of flux and change.

An unexpected event happened next back in DC. Several months after Diana and Crane beat a shapeshifting wolf that started the little red riding hood tales, a woman from an alternate timeline appeared.

I found myself staring at the poor girl in pity as she explained after realizing what'd happened that she was Molly from the future and had come back in time to stop Dreyfuss from ruining the future. In her timeline I didn't exist so when Malcom successfully became immortal, it was the beginning of the end.

Shit snowballed and he became president of the United States. I did however find an interesting artifact on her, Delilah's Dagger, a rare artifact that could cut through anything.

I tested it against demon and god weapons I'd made from Celestial bronze and imperial gold. It cut right through them. When I tried it against the sword of Enoch, I smiled. The dagger was made from the same material and only spelled differently.

I kept it and used it to locate the one in this world. I found it at one of the nine holy sites Corbin had known about. It was guarded by an Iffret, a fiery demonic being summoned by Sumerian priests to guard their treasures. A demonic Sumerian attack dog if you will.

I destroyed the demon and absorbed its massive essence and lifeforce into my coin before raiding the stash. It was mostly scrolls and tablets on Sumerian magic and rituals. I gave them to my coven to study and took the second dagger for myself as well.

After that I helped her by opening a portal to her reality to fix the problems there. Unfortunately, she couldn't go with me as she was needed to ground the spell and keep the portal open. I traveled through and was met by the four horseman and Malcom Dreyfuss with his pet demon. Unfortunately for him I was joined with a god aspect, one I knew I needed, death.

The horseman of death was frozen stiff by my presence while the rest went to attack. I waved a hand and summoned the horseman's axe, using it to block all three blows before sending the three horseman flying into the walls of the chamber, imbedding them in concrete.

I walked to the poor fool Malcom and his demon went to strike me, with a thought, I sent him back to hell the hard way as I took his head with death's axe. Malcom spoke up. "You, you can't kill me, I'm immortal!"

I snorted. "All things die, even immortals."

I buried the axe in his chest and poured pure death into him. His skin turned grey then black as the sliced of life was drained from him and through the axe, into me. He turned to dust and bones as he decayed rapidly. The three horseman faded away, leaving their human forms, dying in their places.

I sent a massive jolting healing spell into their bodies, preventing death and healing them to full health. Then I summoned the horseman's skull pieces and repaired it before reattaching it to death and reviving his flesh and even hair. He stood before me now as Abraham Van Brunt, a former friend turned enemy of Ichabod's.

I told him coldly. "You've dome nothing to deserve my sympathy but as you haven't truly been yourself, I offer you this one chance. If you agree to give up your status as a horseman, I shall revive Katrina and bind her to you. If one dies, so does the other."

He stared at me coldly before asking. "What is it you want?"

I sighed. "You will both give up your obsession with harming Ichabod or creating an apocalypse. For her I shall even revive Jeremy and returning him to a baby form. You may have one final satisfaction that you'll be raising a son Crane never truly got to know and you may do so with the knowledge that you can be a better father than him."

He thought it over before agreeing. "So be it."

I handed him the axe and did the separation spell on him, where he rejected the horseman's powers. I then summoned both Katrina and Jeremy from hell and gave them flesh. I suppressed Jeremy's soul as I returned his body to that of an infants and erased his memories while cleansing his soul forcefully and painfully.

When he was just a crying infant now, I cleansed all three of them from sin and connected Katrina's and Abraham's fates. I warned her and him one last time before giving them both a suitcase of money and passports before sending them to a one way trip to England.

With that, the Diana and the two other horseman of this world came forewards. I turned to the two former horseman of Pestilence and Famine and sighed. "Both of you chose to become like that, so your souls are bound for hell unless you change your ways. Go!"

I waved a hand and sent them to the surface. I then turned to the older Diana and shook my head. "I'm sorry but your Molly went to my reality. It's her whose the focus of the spell that brought me here. If you got to the portal, you can talk to her but you cannot step through without dying and she cannot enter this way without doing the same."

Tears fell from her eyes and I sighed. "I'm truly sorry."

She nodded and I waved a hand, taking all the spell books and artifacts into my realm. There my coven would go through them except the Grand Grimoire I put into my ring. Even the second sword of Enoch was here surprisingly.

I stored the axe of death and sent the horseman of war's gun back to the trench in this world like I'd done in mine. I only sent the scales of famine and the bow of pestilence with it now.

When everything was set, I sent a massive death spell to the hardline followers of Malcom, killing them all. The rest would be given a chance to right the world before it always destroyed. Then I traveled this world with my death aspect and stole the artifacts of the gods with my immortal body. When I gathered them all, I went to the fires of eternity over one of DC's lay line intersections.

I summoned the fires of Prometheus and drained all the gods of this world not of the Christian pantheon into my coin except the gods of death. Then I brought out my soul swords and the artifacts of the death gods of both worlds. I'd long since prepared and now it was time. I mellow red their essences into a deathly liquid black metal substance.

Adding the two daggers of Delilah to the mix, I siphoned off the death gods essence from this world into the metal, killing all the gods of death now as well. Only my brother and Hela from my own pantheon remained untouched as I killed off the rest of the gods of death from my world and this one to infuse the blades with pure death.

I summoned and tossed in both Dagger's of Z'urn D'oragh from my world and this one as Malcom has it in his stash once more. After adding them to the mix, I fused with my death aspect and separated the glowing black pulsing liquid as I fused it with both my soul swords.

For a moment I thought it wouldn't take, but the blue fire of the Prometheus flame heated further, melting the stones around the lake into lava as it slowly fused both my blades with the deathly essence.

A day, a week then a month passed as finally it finished and the blades shown blue while the fire extinguished. I plunged them into the lake and it caught fire for a moment as the lake boiled, killing all life within it and lowering the water level to a small puddle.

A fog covered the area but I waved a hand, sending it up into the sky as it formed a massive rain closed that covered half the continent. After picking up my swords I understood how that was possible. The lake was connected to a massive underground reservoir. That'd all been turned into vapor and risen with the rest I sent into the air.

My swords were now a deep black with a silver deadly edge. I felt the power in them and knew I'd succeeded in my mission. They would cut through anything anything but perhaps the flaming sword and bring death with even the smallest of cuts.

The power of death inside them strengthened my own understanding and aspect as I was connected to them intrinsically. Next came my final project. As the pagan pantheons had all died in this world, those that relied on them, ie, the primordial gods and goddesses, were loosing touch with this world.

The Christian god was all that remained with his angels and demons while the rest faded away. All the souls of the underworlds were up for grabs and Azrael was doing her damndest to secure them all.

I however, am a greedy bastard as I used my blades and their former connections to rob all the souls into my realm from the collapsing realms of the dead in this world. My brother was doing much the same in my reality as was Hela, with my help of course.

I turned and left this place back to the portal. There I found the new president of this world, Diana, working at a desk and talking to her daughter through the mirror like portal. They'd both had a month to say all they could and with my arrival, they knew it was time to say goodbye.

I separated from my death aspect and sent it to gather all the hidden treasures of this world including the non magic kind that I knew about. When I was ready and they'd said their goodbyes, I left the president with a ring of half the non magical treasure my aspect had gathered which was a shit ton as I really was quite generous.

I told her how to use it and gave her some suggestions including a data load on clean energy that would change the world if she was wise and an air purifier design to get rid of all the greenhouse gasses. In a few short years if she was wise, she could quite literally make it a safe and peaceful world.

I stepped back through the portal with my aspect and sent it back to my throne above Sleepy Hollow. The only remaining pantheons Ingrid world we're now the Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Norse and Christian.

The Egyptian has left and cut contact with this world now and the Christian didn't bother with the other two. The Norse, Greek and Romans were all here in the US and while I could kill all of them, I instead had a different plan. One I'd long since worked out with my brothers and now, Odin, who all agreed.

I let out the last descendants of my coven that evening and set them up with houses and meeting places all over the world. Katrina joined and as such a council formed. After I left them copies of all the scrolls and books we'd attained over the centuries, I and Betsy set their goal as furthering magic studies and peaceful cooperation with the Freemasons, forming a new group called the immortal magic society.

I added a slight curse to the spell that slowed aging so that if anyone used them with evil intentions, the aging spell would kill them instead and bring youth to those using it twitch good intentions. All were allowed to use the spell so long as they knew magic as it only took a one time use of magic to cast but the recipient had to have magic themselves for it to work.

With the goals set as the betterment of magic and non magic users and the protection of humanity, from all supernatural influences, they would be left to their own devices. Agency 355, aka Ichabod's group, had grown with my influence fully backing them and the Freemasons as well.

The coven and society had created a three way alliance with them before the weak was out. The Freemasons would deal with human threats, and work with both sides when necessary. The agency would deal in all supernatural threats and do the same while the immortal magical society would deal in rouge and evil witches and help like the rest wherever needed.

With that set in motion Betsy and I gave our shares to the masons to use and guide humanity properly from now on. I had them replace my bots with freemasons and coven witches in the Frosthaven company and Ichabod was set as the chairman and majority holder. A lot of power was given to him but not enough that neither secret society couldn't keep him in check if need be.

It was the same with both the others as the agency had artifacts I no longer needed and could create on a whim but would be useful in battling either one side but not both. With that Betsy and I said our goodbyes and headed to New York next. As the souls of the damned filled Hel, the Nordic underworld, it had grown and with it their influence.

The Nordic pantheon now rivaled both the Roman and the Greek pantheons together with my help. More and more minor and Major gods had been born in the Nordic pantheon and as such my aspects left it in droves until they'd filled most of the basic roles.

It was time and I was ready to deal with the problems so I called a sit down with all three pantheons, dividing the Greek and romans forcefully now with a bit of know how and power on my part.

I was nearly ready anyway and Betsy was beyond ready to ascend. As such, I called them meet over Long Island, both away from Olympus and Valhalla. When is separated the Greeks and Romans with the door they walked through, only a few of their ilk like Hecate did not split.

There in the great hall I built for the occasion, high in the sky, all three pantheons and all gods present met up. When the Greeks saw me, the looked envious until they looked around at the thousands of me's that radiated different aspects and lines the walls in full battle gear.

Then they curbed their greed, well, all accept Hades who was no longer greedy but instead nearly rabid with rage. I'd not only humiliated him, I'd done so in a way that spread the rumors of his inability to keep others out of his wife and her bed.

Persephone though, for all her shamelessness, looked at me with pure lust. While Artemis with sadness in her eyes tried her best to looks away. Hestia though had grown far stronger than the rest now and rivaled Odin in power. She'd learned how I purified the human emotions out of the power and essence gods fed on and had replicated it with verging degrees.

Her stomach was now extended with child as my son grew in her belly. She was proud and powerful, both making rumors in her own pantheon. I sat beside Odin as an equal and I offered Zeus and his counterparts all the same. Minor or major gods, all sat as equals at my table.

The more war like Roman pantheon was hesitant at first but in the end my mother Nyx decided to intervene and showed herself it was just now nightfall so we were all in her domain. She told them all coldly. "Sit, you have all disappointed us primal gods, well, all but a few. My son has made this place as one last chance for your survival. If you refuse, I will not morn your losses as he destroys you all."

I looked at her sadly and so did many other minor gods and goddesses from all three pantheons. Our mother was giving them one last chance as was I and while she had not answered, it did not mean she wasn't not aware of their plight. The problem was they were drawing their powers from a separate source than what they'd originally done so.

They used to rely on nature and their command of the primordial powers but now they all primarily relied on the belief and essence they gathered from mortals. They all paled and sat down obediently before she looked at her children one at a time proudly and shamed those amongst them that had fallen so far as to infighting amongst siblings.

When she turned back to me, she gave a slight nod and a smile saying. "They shall listen, of this, you have my word."

I nodded back sadly saying. "Their fate will be their own then as their survival will depend on both listening and understanding."

She agreed and sat down on her horse, Hrímfaxi as it's icy hooves created frost on the floors. I spoke before the pantheons with great authority. "All three of your pantheons have drawn strength from humanity to keep yourselves alive. I'm here to tell you that it's a poisoned well."

They were silent as I continued. "Humanity does feed those who willingly take from their souls but their emotions come with it, ensnaring the minds of even gods. It is why the Christian god does not partake and the Egyptian gods have left willingly."

There was murmurs and commotion but a sigh from my mother quieted them down. I continued. "I gave the Greeks a simple solution but it was a stop gap measure to limit their further exposure. I showed my brothers, Thanatos and Charon how to filter the emotions out and Hecate, the mother of my child, how to do the same. Each of you have been influenced for far too long though and have lost your ways."

They were dead silent until Artemis asked. "Do you have a solution, other than bringing death?"

I nodded. "I have devised a way to purge the emotions clouding your minds and influencing your thoughts and actions out, but in exchange, I wish for all three of your pantheons to not swear on the River Styxx, but on my mother's name that you will create a triangle of power. Each of your pantheons will be able to continue to feed afterwards, without worry of contamination, but in exchange all three of you will make a pact to never encroach on each other's territory and abide by the territories I give you."

There was more rumbling and even outrage until my mother's horse neighed and stomped, creating a miniature earthquake.

They shut their mouths and I continued. "I have, of course, separated the world into thirds and even America into thirds so that none of you are actually loosing out but instead tapping into even more faith and energy. All the leyline intersections have been marked and noted to whom they shall go to. You may study the passage you entered and find the method I used to separate you and as such you shall be able to make even more aspects in time as you make more miniature pantheons of yourselves around the world. In this way you shall learn to gather and grow far stronger than ever before."

They were all quite now as the map behind me that covered the expanse of the back wall lit up in different colors and areas with writing for each color denominating each pantheon belonging to what and where. When I finished Artemis asked. "How do we purge these emotions?"

I made a book appear before each of them and told them as they read out loud the title: The Mind Arts. "After you've done as instructed, you will find that the influencing emotions and thoughts are far different than your own and shall be better equipped to deal with them yourselves. On the last page you shall find the methods to change your thrones of power to filter it all out automatically."

When I finished, I stated coldly. "Now I shall have your paths or you shall understand why my mother declared your deaths!"

An oath each god must declare out loud to my mother appeared before each of them in bright burning letters. My mother stood before them and one at a time they each gave it. It forbade war or contact with one another unless they were fighting a primordial, the and only then could they call on aid to assist and the rest would be oath bound to do so.

As they were making the oath to a primordial goddess, they had no real say in disagreeing. Only Hades resisted as even his former other half had taken the oath. He sneered at me and declared. "I will not bow to your whims you bastard."

I sighed and half my aspects moved, blasting him as one and eradicating his essence from reality. I turned to Thanatos and told him as I gave him the seed of Hades aspects. "Congratulations on your promotion as a god of the underworld. Be fair and just brother."

The other gods were stunned silly now as I'd killed one of their own without breaking a sweat and leaving no room for resistance. Persephone celebrated and Pluto frowned. His own wife looked at her counterpart in envy.

The last to take the oath was Hecate. She did so while rubbing her stomach and as she finished, her stomach burst into light as my son was born fully grown as any god here was. He was quite different from me as he absorbed the aspects around him.

My aspects fed him willingly as he learned and absorbed what he could. I myself taught him mentally all I knew. When I finished he opened his eyes and I saw one was that of my green fire and the other mimicked the night sky.

He spoke in a lyrical voice as he announced. "I, Dramian, god of evolution, greet you father."

I smiled and patted his black and white hair. "My son, it is good to finally see you. Do me proud and help your fellow gods and the mortals here in my absence."

He nodded with a smile and turned, receiving his mother's hug. Betsy walked up beside me while Nótt spoke happily. "Is it time for us to say goodbye my son?"

I sighed. "Almost. We shall have one more month before I attempt it."

She nodded and I took Betsy's hand as I sent the gods to their places with my own powers. She and I left next before I shed my god of death aspect. I returned it to the hall when Betsy and I appeared outside my father's place.

I knocked on the door and he answered a minute later. He had moved in with his detective as they'd married. He left LUX to Maze and his brother Michael who'd come to ruin his life but instead had been settled down after a hard and violent lesson.

He was surprised to see me nonetheless. "Wraith! It's so good to see you. Amenadiel said you were back on earth. Honestly I expected a visit long before now."

I smiled and told him what all I'd been up to as I introduced Betsy whom he remembered getting kicked in the balls from. He'd long since forgotten it and now forgiven because of the various reasons behind it. The only real anger he showed was when I mentioned what all Asmodeus had been up to. There's where I saw the real fire in his eyes.

I mentioned how I was handling it and all the high demons in hell who tried to make plays for the throne or didn't kneel to me. They all met slow and painful days ahead as even Lilith had learned a great deal about what a demon could and couldn't withstand before even their immortality and divinity wasn't enough.

None would ever question my authority again as they feared me far more than they ever had my father. He seemed both bitter and satisfied about it. In the end they were using him and his rebellion as much if not more than he was using them.

When Betsy and I left, I left him a ring with a small branch of golden apples that would replenish should he ever need them to. He gave one to Decker immediately and she'd eaten it in front of him.

Her aging halted then and there while the rest would come in a few years. Then she'd be able to manipulate her appearance when necessary to become younger or older. I headed to New York after picking up nearly a thousand bounties for the FBI all across the states. I'd turned them in as I went.

When I reached New York, Neal and Peter were just bringing in Henry Dobbs. I smiled and gave Neal the sheet of paper that held the CD with a hundred million, collecting interest. He took it with a smile while Peter handed me a pamphlet for the little league team charity he wanted sponsored.

It wasn't even an issue as I had the money transferred in his name to the charity. I then arranged the billion dollars left in my personal account to be given as a donation to the White Collar division of the FBI as Hughes smiled. I showed him and Peter that I was a man of my word.

With that I gave Hughes one last warehouse address where he could find the Chinese seal of the emperor and the broken down amber room to be traded back for influence and to pay off America's debt and buy Hawaii outright.

I left a few suggestions on who to contact and how to achieve it. He thanked me immensely as I finished with handing him the inventory file. The last warehouse had the religious artifacts I'd trade to the Vatican with the location of Christ's tomb and the rest of the cross he died on along with all the other religious mumno jumbo they prescribed to.

I'd already thoroughly checked it and found no signs of magic or enochian runes so it was not of interest to me. With that Betsy and I went to Rome to meet with the pope. Pope Francis agreed for the terms immediately provided they turn out to be true. The Vatican moved quickly to secure their religious artifacts and when they found the cross and the tomb, the Pope agreed to my request.

Betsy and I perused the archives and ancient books. Some were on witchcraft and even ritual magic surprisingly. The best of it was the history itself. The Vatican has widely influenced how history was written for over a thousand years and with it they preserved the real history in their own records.

Most of it was cover ups and false miracles they used to promote the church, but in it I also found the greatest treasure ever hidden. I wasn't about to tell them that but I did find something that made it all worth it, the location of the library of Alexandria. Where the Dead Sea scrolls had originally come from and been plundered and lost later.

The library itself housed most of the treasures looted throughout history but had been secreted away by a group of Templar nights. The moment I knew of it's original location, I knew there was an adventure to be had.

Betsy agreed with me and we set about making it a reality. We headed back to DC next and found a raving man named Benjamin Gates. He and a friend of his were looking for backing to find the treasure of a lifetime.