A man with black hair and skin with obsidian eyes advanced rapidly inside one of several temples in the city of Cairo.
The Fifth Campione - Rael Seth - stepped forward with a serious face as he looked around the temple.
The place was gigantic, a temple with several massive pillars. The walls had several hieroglyphics and other symbols that detailed some tales from the Egyptian myths.
This temple was one of several dedicated to the gods that the [Eye of Ra] organization maintained, an important tourist spot and something Rael was used to visiting.
As the [King] looked around the temple in search of something, soon a young priestess of the place approached him.
She had a stern expression for someone being in this place that should be forbidden. Still, the young woman immediately knelt after recognizing who was before her.
"Your Majesty, is there anything I can help you with?"
Rael finally seemed to notice the existence of the young woman in front of him.
"Where is Nefertari?"
The young Campione asked seriously. He knew that the Princess of Egypt had the custom every day during these hours to visit to say her prayers, but she was not here.
"Lady Nefertari was taken by Lord Asenate, who wished to speak with her"
The young Priestess explained but hearing her words, Rael's expression became rigid.
"Where?"
The place's temperature seemed to drop by several degrees as the Fifth Campione's expression became serious. A cold fury shone in his black eyes like an abyss.
The young Priestess shivered uncontrollably. Even if Rael didn't use his divine powers, just the overwhelming amount of magical energy in his body was enough to drive any mage into submission.
"I-I-I d-don't know."
Hearing what the young woman said, Rael frowned as he quickly marched out of the temple, leaving the traumatized young woman behind.
...
"Where are we, grandfather?"
The soft, calm voice of the Princess of Egypt echoed in the middle of a large cave.
The place she was in was a large underground temple, the walls were immense, and although it was a place built below the Earth, it possessed an incredibly vast space.
The older man remained silent while they finally seemed to reach their destination, a vast hall built underground. In the end, a colossal altar stood on the site. Around it, complicated matrices made of magic were scattered.
Nefertari could see several mentions of various gods around the great hall. On the walls were engraved many myths of the gods of Egypt and even of other mythologies such as Sumer.
In the great place were dozens of people wearing ceremonial robes that surprised the young princess.
"I didn't know something like this existed..."
Hearing the young woman's murmur, Asenate earned a slight smile.
"This place was built over several centuries by the ancestors of our organization, a complex network of tunnels and halls stretching across most of Egypt. This place was created especially to connect the Leys Lines of the region, a source of tremendous magical power drawn from the Earth. It is a great secret in our organization."
The older man explained with a calm tone.
Nefertari looked at her grandfather suspiciously, "And why are you only showing me about this place now?"
"Because, finally, the time has come for you to fulfill your purpose."
The older man answered immediately.
Nefertari widened her eyes, she had always heard her grandfather talk about 'how the world was lost' and 'how they had turned away from the gods' and other things, but she never fully understood this.
What it all meant.
Before any words could come out of Nefertari's mouth, a magic circle flashed below her feet. The young woman found herself frozen in place with her eyes wide open.
"A-grandfather...?"
"As expected of you, your magical energy is so strong that it is resisting the effects of paralysis" Asenate nodded with a satisfied smile on her face, "Your talent truly surpasses that of your mother."
Nefertari's eyes widened slightly as she tried to fight the paralysis in her body.
"I guess I never told you about how your mother and father died, did I? Well, it's about time you knew."
Asenate's eyes drifted away from Nefertari as he looked at a fixed point on the altar, almost as if recalling the past.
"Your mother was born with great talent as a Hime-Miko. She could communicate with the Gods from a young age, even though they existed on another plane." Asenate said with a nostalgic smile: "She was treated as a kind of Pharaoh by us. She was seen as a reincarnation of the gods of Egypt and was even blessed by those who communicated with her."
"Her father was just an ordinary mage in our organization. I honestly don't even know how the love between them came about and blossomed, but I never objected. I was happy seeing my daughter happy."
Asenate was telling the story to Nefertari with a happy smile. She was paralyzed precisely because of him. The older man looked like a beaming grandfather while talking to his granddaughter.
But then, the sparkle in Asenate's eyes disappeared as his smile became strained.
"But then someone learned of your mother's talents, and that marked the end of her"
"The cause of that was a Demon King, the Devil who rules the Balaces."
"The First Campione - Marquis Sasha Dejanstahl Voban found out about your mother."
The older man's eyes were full of resentment.
"He came to our organization and ordered us to hand over your mother to perform a ritual using her. If we did not obey him, he would destroy us."
The older man said with a tired sigh.
"You sold your daughter!"
Hearing her granddaughter's words, Asenate looked at Nefertari and saw the emerald eyes glowing with endless fury towards him.
Tears were already beginning to drain from the girl's eyes.
"Sell? No, I made the best choice that would guarantee our survival. If not, everything my ancestors sacrificed for this organization would have been thrown in the trash."
Asenate said as her voice rose with her granddaughter. With a sigh, the older man returned to the story.
"In the end, the ritual worked, and the [Heretic Goddess] Inanna was summoned, the Marquis took advantage of her battle and got a new Authority thanks to all of this"
"But in the end, your mother, my daughter, did not survive the ritual, and the Marquis killed your father."
Asenate's eyes flashed in fury as he clenched his hands so hard that he began to bleed.
"It was that day that I understood everything, how twisted this world was, these Demon Kings who rule rampantly... How we mere mortals can do nothing against them... How this world has turned away from the gods..."
Nefertari could see in her grandfather's eyes how his mind was twisted by anger, how he had given himself over to an unhealthy obsession.
His love for his daughter turned into an overwhelming hatred for the one responsible for her death. Hate is so overwhelming that it clouds even the love he felt for his granddaughter.
"But in the end, there was nothing I could do against the Campiones, what a mere mortal could do against those who defied the Gods."
Asenate's eyes were covered with despair. Even if he wanted to take revenge on those Demon Kings, there was nothing he could do.
But then his eyes lit up as if he had seen the light at the end of the tunnel.
"But if they say that only the Campiones are equal to the Gods, then the reverse is also correct."
"All I needed to do was to bring Gods to fight the Campiones that haunt this world or become one of the Demon Kings to oppose the others!"
Asenate stated thoughtfully and with total conviction in her words that made Nefertari widen her eyes.
"You must have realized... it was our organization responsible for summoning Seth, Horus, and Thanatos to this world."
Asenate's eyes frowned in disgust.
"But instead of them following their instincts and exterminating the Campiones, they started fighting among themselves, and at the end of it all, they only served to increase the number of Demon Kings in the world."
The older man said, letting out a tired sigh.
"Even if the ritual was done again, only one God could be summoned, and against so many Campione's in the world, it would only serve to increase their power."
Asenate strolled toward the altar while smiling.
"So, I needed to increase the number of sacrifices and a central one to summon more than one Heretic, God."
Nefertari, concentrating on trying to free herself, widened her eyes as the realization of what was about to occur finally hit her.
"You can't be wanting to...?"
"You possess even greater talent than your mother's, so I have no doubt you will do much better."
"You want to use me as a sacrifice?! Nefertari shouted as she tried to move.
"Almost that, my granddaughter, you will not achieve this alone despite all your talent, so I have prepared more sacrifices."
The altar pulsed in an ethereal light.
"I told you, this cave network covers all the Leys lines in our country, its true purpose was to gather all this magical energy to be used should a God manifest, but over the years, I have modified this magical circle to absorb the energy of everyone it reaches."
Asenate smiled as she extended her arms.
And then all hell broke loose.
"Not just you. All the magical energy and life force of everyone in the range will be sucked up and used as a sacrifice. In that range are you and even a Campione who possessed divine level energy!"
All as one, all the mages present on the scene began to scream uncontrollably. Nefertari began to feel her magical energy being absorbed while Asenate seemed the only one calm.
The screaming reached a level that seemed impossible as a mist began to come out of the mouths and eyes of the mages on the scene.
"Along with this is the sacrifice of over 100 million people living throughout Egypt!"
The energy from the mages began to clump and gather in the center of the altar. Nefertari stared at it with shock and turned to her grandfather.
Amon Asenate extended his arms as he had a huge smile, and the altar behind him glowed immensely.
"Here and now, a portal to the Kingdom of the Gods will be opened!"