The wind blew softly, lifting the dust of the red Martian desert.

  Stone mountains rose on the horizon, forming a natural corridor between them.

  The sky was bluish-gray, with no clouds in sight—there was almost no moisture in the region.

  Maahes and Montu readied their weapons.

  The lion-faced god unsheathed two large curved knives, lowering into a combat stance, while Montu gripped his golden staff with both hands.

  Khonsu walked toward them slowly, arms extended slightly downward as he held his strange scepter—an instrument shaped like a whip made of steel cords with hooked thorns, resembling the stem of a rose.

  “Rodrigo, malakim—move ahead. We’ll handle this one,” Maahes said, eyes fixed on Khonsu’s approaching figure.

  “This is personal. You all go on and find Mount Areopagus,” Montu added without taking his eyes off the evil moon god.

  “You’re joking, right? You can feel that overwhelming power! I’m fighting too!” Rodrigo shouted, furious.

  “Do you not trust us, Rodrigo?” Maahes asked calmly.

  Rodrigo stayed silent, visibly frustrated.

  “We’ll carve you a path—watch what Horus’s disciples are capable of,” Montu said with excitement.

  “Escape? Don’t make me laugh. This time I’ll exterminate all this garbage,” Khonsu said, raising his index finger again.

  In that instant, Maahes vanished—and, like a flash of lightning, appeared crouched right in front of Khonsu. With a single slash of his glowing red blade, he severed Khonsu’s finger. A streak of crimson light followed the cut.

  Still in front of Khonsu, Maahes lifted his head and met his eyes.

  “Sesen Da ("Lotus flower tornado" in Egyptian).”

  A tornado of petals burst beneath Khonsu’s feet.

  The storm lifted him into the air, the petals carving hundreds of cuts into his body.

  “This is nothing, you miserable lion bastard!” Khonsu roared.

  At the same time, two gray wings opened on Montu’s back. He shot into the air, positioning himself ahead of Khonsu at a safe distance.

  Pointing his staff, he chanted:

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  “Xet Seser ("Fire arrows" in Egyptian).”

  Countless flaming arrows materialized behind him, then launched with tremendous speed into Khonsu’s already wounded body—piercing chest, eyes, abdomen, legs, and arms. After several strikes, the arrows exploded, blasting Khonsu out of the whirlwind, sending him crashing into the ground like a meteor.

  “Now, Rodrigo!” Maahes shouted.

  Rodrigo and the surviving malakim sprinted forward, leaving the Egyptian gods behind.

  The boy glanced back over his shoulder.

  “I hope I don’t regret this…” he thought.

  Maahes and Montu unleashed their techniques again on Khonsu’s broken body—but as the damage accumulated, Khonsu let out a furious scream, and both attacks shattered under the pressure of his divine will. His wounds closed instantly—their ichor consumption had been minimal.

  Khonsu turned his head toward Rodrigo and the fleeing malakim. Though they were now far away, he raised his index finger again—

  —but Maahes drove his dagger into Khonsu’s back, the blade bursting out through his abdomen.

  “We’ll kill you if you don’t take this fight seriously!” the lion god roared.

  “But… this battle is already over. You just haven’t realized it yet,” Khonsu replied calmly.

  At that moment, Maahes’s abdomen burst open—his internal organs shooting outward as his body collapsed into a pool of blood. He vomited even more as he fell.

  “What in the—?!” Montu cried.

  The falcon-masked god dove from the sky, staff ready to strike Khonsu’s skull—but before he could land the blow, his head was severed cleanly from his body.

  Khonsu hadn’t even lifted a finger.

  Montu’s corpse fell lifelessly to the ground.

  Khonsu fired a white beam from his index finger toward the fleeing malakim—but Rodrigo felt it coming. Transforming his arm into scales, he deflected the beam with a swift motion, batting it aside.

  “Well, well… my eyes do not deceive me. What an exquisite specimen!” Khonsu said with disturbing delight.

  Rodrigo froze as the evil moon god gathered strength for another attack—

  —but before he could release it, Maahes and Montu, despite their grievous wounds, pierced him from behind with their weapons.

  “Go, Rodrigo! We’ll deal with him!” both gods shouted.

  Rodrigo nodded and continued flying until he disappeared over the horizon.

  “I’ll admit it—I underestimated your ichor. I was certain your wounds wouldn’t heal from those attacks,” Khonsu said, still completely unfazed.

  “Don’t underestimate us, Khonsu,” Montu growled.

  His staff turned crimson red—

  BOOM!

  A violent explosion tore through Khonsu’s abdomen, blowing out a chunk of his torso.

  But the moment he hit the ground, the wounds knit back together instantly.

  Before either god could react, an invisible force slammed into both of them, bursting their bodies into sprays of blood. They dropped to their knees, their life pooling into the red Martian sand.

  “When… when did he…?” Maahes whispered.

  “I am a lunar god,” Khonsu said.

  “I can manipulate bodily fluids—bursting the internal organs of my enemies at will.”

  He cracked his whip forward—

  —but the two gods leapt aside just in time, barely recovered.

  Khonsu laughed.

  Maahes’s head exploded.

  The evil god lashed the collapsing body and knocked it to the ground.

  Montu tried to summon more flaming arrows—but before he could finish, his heart burst in a shower of blood.

  The falcon-masked god fell backward, lifeless.

  “Don’t worry,” Khonsu said, smiling grotesquely.

  “I’ll kill you slowly… until I’m bored. Then, once your ichor runs low, I’ll use your bodies for experiments.”

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  Next chapter tomorrow!