Chapter 10

The trip back was a quiet one, we made it back to the black circle headquarters and were quickly escorted back to the room we had met with Set and Khalilah. Set gave a smug smile as he greeted us but somehow I saw in his eyes a hunger, a desire for what we had. No doubt he could sense it.

Khalilah stood flanked by two large tough looking gentlemen one on each side.

"Ah welcome back Khalid I trust that your task was successful?" she asked.

Khalid cleared his throat as he stood beside us. "Yes, we were successful and acquired several rare items." He said, offering up the duffel bags.

"I see that's very good, where are Siaf and Rabi?" There was something about Khalilah in this moment that I couldn't place, gone was the playfulness and desire from earlier, here she was deadly serious. Her elegance and grace reminded me of a snake; A venomous deadly snake that could strike at any moment.

"Ah… about that, I am afraid we ran into some trouble." He began actually seeming nervous.

"Oh is that so, what happened?" she more demanded than asked.

Khalid reached up and loosened his collar. He was sweating now. "Well we ran into some heretic god they had trapped there. It was really the girl's fault; she was there to protect us from stuff like that…"

That was all he managed to get out. There was a blur from beside me as suddenly Inari was holding Khalid up by the throat with one hand. Khalid's face went white with terror.

"Excuse me; I am afraid I misheard something you said. It sounded an awful lot like you were trying to blame your Fuck up on Raven." Inari did not raise her voice but there was a definite edge to it.

"I-I-I" was all he managed to get out.

"Inari was it?" Khalilah asked calmly. "Would you mind letting Khalid down, I assure you he will be punished for his failures and do not hold Raven responsible for anything that went wrong here."

Inari's eyes narrowed as she let go and he fell in a heap on the floor and quickly scrambled to get up. He seemed even more frightened now.

"Boss… please it was an accident." He began.

"I take it that both Saif and Rabi are dead."

"Yes." He managed.

"Where are their bodies?" She asked.

"We were in a hurry, we didn't have time to bring them with us." He pleaded.

Khalilah sighed and rubbed her temples. "Let me get this straight, you left the bodies of two of our agents in the heart of the headquarters of a magic organization. Please tell me that I have something incorrect, I believed you to be much more competent than this, I would hate to be disappointed. You already know it's a bad idea to disappoint me."

"But-but what about the mark we have that protects us from divulging information, it shouldn't be that bad. All of us have that mark" He pleaded.

She sighed and shook her head "Did you not pay attention to where you were? Some of the most talented spell casters in the country are a member of that organization. Due to your incompetence you have exposed our organization to a great deal of harm." She began. She shook her head and turned to the man at her left.

"Get him out of here, take him to the Arena. At least someone can get some entertainment out of him."

The two men without a word walked forward as Khalid backed up "Wait, please don't do this. I have served you faithfully for years. I can fix this I promise…" he began before two men grabbed him and dragged him away.

Khalilah took a deep breath and let it out slowly once he was gone. "Why is good help so hard to find?" she asked no one in particular before turning back to us.

"You have my apologies,'' she said, turning to us. "I put a lot more faith in Khalid than apparently I should have. Rest assured he will be thoroughly punished for his actions and the insult he has paid to you."

There was a sinking feeling in my stomach "What's going to happen to him?"

"Oh he is going to the Arena, that's where I send people who displease me. I always liked the idea in tales of ancient Rome. He will be pitted against wild animals and magical creatures. Should he manage to survive he will be forgiven and given a second chance. However, that is very rare. On the positive side we make quite a good amount of money on the crowd betting for or against them."

I winced I hadn't known him long and he was… scum but I didn't think he deserved what was going to happen to him.

At that moment Set cleared his throat "As interesting as all of this has been I believe you have in your possession something that belongs to me."

Khalilah gave a faint smile "Oh, I know you are so eager to get that back. I won't make you wait any longer." She said reaching into one of the duffle bags and pulling out the tablet and handing it to him.

His hands shook as he took it and he almost seemed to drool.

"Ah at last… Oh how you mortals have no idea how it is to feel so incomplete. To be drawn into this world so weak. Yet finally I am closer to being whole. Finally I have a piece of my lost power back."

The tablet began to glow brightly with a white light in his hands and soon the glow began to pass to Set himself. Set held the tablet up as the glow traveled down his arms covering his torso, head and soon entire body.

Then the glow died down and he let out a satisfied moan of pleasure. Almost immediately the tablet began to break apart and soon crumbled into dust.

I couldn't help but wonder… was this really a good thing?

Minutes later we stood in an emptied part of the private parking lot. Cars had been moved out of the way and heavy barrier spells were now in place around us at the center of the barrier stood Set and me. We across from each other as the rest of my group as well as Khalilah and a few of her men watched eagerly from the outside.

"So let me get this straight, You want me to attack you seriously?" I asked again.

Set rolled his eyes, "Yes I do not see why you are having difficulty with this girl, use one of your Authorities and attack me." Set instructed.

"Alright. Get ready then" I said a bit unsure as I called Hunter of immortals to my hand. It appeared in the form of a sword. I was finding I favored that form now. I took a deep breath and tried to focus. I knew something bad was about to happen. I charged forth seeking to impale my opponent.

I felt something immediately as I started forward. My ability to feel Hunter of Immortal became… fuzzy. It seemed to flicker in my hand. I almost stopped in my tracks but by the time I reached Set, my hunter of Immortals authority was gone.

Set grinned smugly, his arms crossed with absolute confidence.

"Do you understand now?" he asked.

I blinked and then nodded looking down at my empty hand. "Yeah I see, you were able to cancel out my Authority. You… You used chaos to defy fate itself to cancel out my authority." I was shocked.

"Very good child, you learn quickly. Will you be able to replicate it?" he asked.

I nodded "I see so this is a counter to Horus's Authority."

"It is the power of chaos itself. Usually it is a passive field that makes things like attacks unreliable, either reducing their effect or negating them entirely, I can also use it offensively to release chaos against my enemies sowing chaos and madness amongst them. Lastly I can use it like I just did now and use it to defy fate making even impossible events possible. Canceling out your Authority was a trivial trick for me, however for you it might be difficult to do in combat." He stated.

"I'll find a way to pull it off." I told him I was determined. I didn't like his arrogance.

He merely smiled "good."

"It's a handy ability. I can see why you were so eager to get it back."

"Actually you're slightly mistaken about that. Mortals will never know what it is to feel incomplete in such a way as we do when we find ourselves in this world. The closest I could explain is that it is like missing a limb. I would wish to reclaim it no matter its usefulness. It's a part of me. It belongs to me."

"Ah I see."

"So I heard that you encountered another heretic god in the base of the Golden Ankh, was that true?"

I winced "Sort of… It was a god but not much of one. It was Osiris but I guess like you explained a moment ago. Most of him was missing." I explained reluctantly.

"Ah I see. Had it been my Brother at his full strength that you encountered I imagine things might have turned out differently. Were you able to claim an Authority from him?"

"Yeah… kind of it was kind of a weak one. I didn't really do it for the Authority. I did it because he would have killed everyone there had I not killed him."

Set nodded in understanding. "I could feel that your power had grown even if only slightly. Be careful if my Nephew deems you a worthy threat you will have a much harder fight on your hands."

"Wait, is that why you aren't helping me? Because you are hoping he will underestimate me and get sloppy?"

His lips drew back in a grin, "Very good I see you truly do learn quickly."

I sighed, I wanted to refute that but as much as I wanted to it was probably true.

Soon the field around us dropped. The first to reach us was Katashi who walked very purposefully up to me. "So are you able to duplicate his Authority?" he asked.

I nodded "For me it will come with a nasty downside that I won't be able to use that authority for a bit so I'll have to make it count." I admitted.

He nodded in acknowledgement. "Well, do you think you can defeat Horus?" he asked.

I sighed "It depends if he sees me as a serious threat then it's unlikely, if he doesn't can very likely catch him by surprise." I explained.

"You do know that you don't have to do this. I can find another way."

I sighed and nodded "You probably could but I promised someone once that I wouldn't run away just because things got hard. I owe them a lot and I feel I should at least try here."

He nodded in understanding "Alright. You have had a long night, why don't you rest for the rest of the night. Tomorrow we can come up with a battle plan and likely tomorrow night you will face Horus."

I nodded trying not to let the apprehension show on my face.

"Are you sure that it is wise to wait?" Set interjected. "Right now Horus is likely at his weakest. He has fought a couple battles and is likely very tired. It might be best to strike before he recovers."

"The same could be said for Raven. She has been through a lot tonight and though she has quite a bit of stamina as a Campione I don't want to push it." Katashi replied.

"Well it is her battle I shall leave the planning for it up to her. I have played my part and look forward to her success." He said with a grin.

With that Set left and I was free to return to my friends.

Immediately I was tackled-glomped by Yuki. The little white haired spirit had been very quiet throughout the night. She looked up at me with her big pale blue eyes concerned "Are you ok?" she asked.

I couldn't help but smile and muss her hair "I am fine kiddo." I answered.

"Everyone is so serious they are talking about you fighting again. I don't want you to fight. I don't want you to get hurt." She complained.

I sighed a little and kneeled down to talk to her face to face. "Sometimes in life that for one reason or another we can't really avoid. It looks like this is one of them." I began then smiled "but don't worry, I am going to win. I'll make sure I don't get hurt so it will be alright." I told her with more confidence than I felt.

"Really?"

"Of course, I mean I couldn't forgive myself if I made you worry about me."

I felt a hand on my shoulder and was unsurprised looking up to see Inari looking down at me concerned. I picked up Yuki in my arms who snuggled against my ample bosom and stood up.

"So… tell me about this promise that you made. What exactly did you promise that is making you fight Horus." It didn't take a genius to figure out she wasn't happy about this upcoming fight.

I motioned for Mitsuko to come over. My maid/knight eagerly complied. I asked her once again to take Yuki. Yuki protested but I explained I would be back in a couple minutes because I had to talk with Inari alone. Eventually I had to promise to buy her something nice later but she went along with it.

It took us a couple minutes to find a place where we could be alone.

"You remember the being that I told you I made this deal with?" I began. Inari's eyes widened "That one?" she said, surprised. I nodded "She asked me not to run away when things got hard. She showed me quite a few times in my previous life where I had done just that. I realized it was something that I didn't like about myself. It's something that I really don't want to be that person anymore. I have a second chance and I want to make it all that I can." I explained, strangely saying that I felt like a weight had been lifted off of my chest.

Inari's frown deepened, "Listen, that's all well and good but Horus will kill you! Don't you get that? I understand not wanting to run away because something is hard but this isn't the time?"

"This is the time, Look I know Horus seems scary but I know how his powers work, I know their limits and though he fought Hercules I know that he was relying mainly on one Authority. I have seen how he fights and how much he relies on it. If I can take that away from him I can win. I can defeat him."

Inari blinked surprised then looked me straight in the eyes and asked. "Do you really think so?" she asked.

It was funny but right there under her gaze any trace of fear or doubt vanished. I couldn't help but smile. "I do." I said simply.

A faint smile crossed her lips. "Very well then I shall be by your side for your victory."

"Actually why don't you hang back unless I really need your help. I have a feeling the moment that this isn't a one on one fight, he is likely to take to the air and just nuke the area with fire. He seems honorable and proud, which is good. I can beat him in a fair fight." I told her.

The faint smile was replaced with a frown but she nodded.

"Oh excuse me I hope I am not intruding?" came a somewhat familiar voice from behind us.

I turned to see Khalilah watching us seemingly amused. "As touching as this is I wanted to be sure to give you something." She said she reached into her ample cleavage and pulled out a couple of cards.

"Since you are planning on taking care of Horus tomorrow, I insist that you stay here tonight as my guest. This card is the room key to the finest sweet upstairs." She said, showing me the card. "And this card…" she said with a grin. "This card is sort of like a credit card. I have given you a credit line of $100,000 dollars should you wish to gamble. Don't worry about anyone bothering you because of your age. I have already okayed it. Feel free to have some fun tonight and rest up." She said, handing me the cards.

"Ah thank you, you didn't have to…" I began.

"No, but I wanted to. As I said, enjoy yourself. Life is to be lived." She told me before turning away.

After she was out of ear shot Inari leaned over to me "I still don't like her."

I couldn't help but shake my head "Yeah I could have guessed." Usually I would have guessed it was the drawbacks but with how she was coming on to me earlier. I suppose it was likely more natural that Inari wouldn't.

We went back to find the others. They had been given similar gifts by Khalilah so we decided to head up to the casino and hotel. Thankfully I could feel from the magic aura of the place that this building would be protected from Horus' Authority.

I was still a bit amped up from what happened earlier so we decided to make use of the funds given us to gamble.

I don't know if it was my luck or Inari's blessing but I had the Midas touch. I found I pretty much could not lose. I felt bad once I realized I was up 2 million dollars and decided to call it a night. My companions had also been fairly lucky. It had taken a bit of encouragement for Mitsuko to actually gamble but she too had amassed quite a bit of winnings and seemed eager to collect her winnings. I was fairly sure that her family must be financially sound now but she did seem the type to be careful with money anyways.

Eventually it got late and we headed to bed, Yuki, Inari and I shared a room and Mitsuko was given a room next to us by her own insistence, should she be needed. Hercules and Katashi each got their own room though I doubt a sweet to them was anything out of the ordinary.

Maybe it was the long night taking effect but I was out as soon as I hit the bed. Usually I would never be able to sleep well when I had something important to do the next day, in this life or the previous but that wasn't the case this time… This time the next thing I knew I was being shaken by Inari because it was time to get up.

We had a breakfast meeting with Katashi, Hercules and Set. Set was eating Lettuce for breakfast, no surprise. We sat around a table.

"Good morning everyone" Said Katashi Somberly "Before we start this… Raven, are you absolutely sure that you want to go through with this?" he asked me directly.

"Yeah, I am sure. Thank you for your concern but I have to do this." I replied.

He frowned slightly. "Well, If you wanted to pull out this would be the last chance." He informed me.

"Thank you but it will be alright."

"Relax Katashi, She'll be fine." Hercules chimed in.

Katashi nodded. "Well since you are going through with this, I have a suggestion. I think we should use the same Park for the battle where Hercules fought him previously. It's going to be vacant. I called in a few favors and made sure of that. It should give you plenty of room to fight without having to worry about civilians."

I nodded and it sounded good to me.

"Very well, if that is where you choose to hold the battle, it shall serve. However, what is your plan? The Black Circle seems quite competent at evading my nephew's sight. Perhaps with their help we could challenge him to a fight there and stage an ambush" suggested Set.

"I really don't want to do that because of his ability to summon people serving him, I don't see such an ambush as viable. I don't want to get other people hurt. I want to keep this between him and me." I replied.

"Huh, you are very lucky my Sister, Horus' mother Isis is not here then. She was a conniving bitch, who cheated at every opportunity. Thankfully my nephew seems to lack her creativity in that regard."

"Yeah, it did kind of seem like outside of using his own broken powers that he was a little too proud to cheat."

"You sure about that Kiddo, he didn't hesitate to use that poison against me." Hercules Interjected.

"Yeah but that was part of his own powers." I pointed out. "Remember he could fly and nuke the area with fire, which would have been infinitely easier for him than what he chose to do. He seems to have quite an ego." I pointed out.

"Well so do most gods, that doesn't stop them from cheating" pointed out Hercules.

Set chuckled "My Nephew is a god of Kings; it is in his nature to try to prove he is better than everyone else. This is one aspect of him I understand very well. While he went along with Isis' schemes he is not a schemer. It is one of many areas in which he is lacking. The girl is correct if there are rules established he will likely try to follow them."

Inari sighed "Please tell me the plan isn't to call him out for a challenge and defeat him fairly. That is a really stupid plan."

My cheeks grew a little warm. "Actually, that is exactly what I was thinking." I admitted.

Inari's eye twitched a little.

"Look if we try to cheat he is going to fly up and carpet bomb everything or just bury us in members of the golden order that he is controlling. My best chance is actually a fair fight where he plays by the rules.

"And what if he cheats? What if he isn't as honorable as you believe he is?" She asked me.

"Well then I will have you and Mitsuko there to help." I told her.

She just sighed.

"Relax I am going to go in buffed up with every spell that I have. Also I have Set's Authority, Which I can even use for defense should I need it, though I am hoping to use it as my trump card."

Inari sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Raven dear, I have absolute faith in you in a lot of things. However it seems your tactical prowess is somewhat lacking."

I winced at that "Not as much as you may think. I know it's very foolish to bet on a fair fight against someone thousands of years older than me with that much experience. However I need him to believe that it is a fair fight. I need him to believe that so I can find an opening to cheat. I know he is going to be better skilled, likely stronger than I am but I just need a moment. I need a single strike to turn that around. There are other options but most of them involve a lot of people getting hurt and risking their lives. Also they seem to have a lower chance of success."

Inari sighed "I see… Well I will be there to help you if you need it." She relented.

"Alright, If that is settled" said Katashi checking his water. "Then why don't we ask for the duel to be at noon?" he suggested.

I almost chuckled "High noon huh? well it does seem appropriate. Alright make it for noon, that gives me a few hours to prepare." I replied. He nodded. "Good, I have some calls to make then." He added.

With that our meeting was adjourned.

Time is a funny thing, sometimes it drags on forever, other times it goes by in the blink of an eye. This time it went all too fast and we found ourselves in the massive park. Not far off I could see the battle from last night's fight, where the ground was either scorched or heavily cratered.

The sun was high in the sky, there was just a gentle breeze. It was a little warm but pleasant actually. It seemed far too peaceful for the death match that was about to take place.

Behind me was Inari waiting anxiously with Mitsuko. We had left Yuki in the care of a Kitsune babysitter. Katashi and Hercules were also there though they had made it clear to the other side they were just there to observe.

Across from me was just an empty field of grass as we waited. A part of me was eager to get this over with. Another part hoped Horus wouldn't show. My stomach was tight with anticipation and fear if I am being honest. The longer I waited the more I wondered if I could actually do this.

Soon though I began to feel the familiar power from high above us, at first even to my keen eyes he appeared a dot in the sky only to slowly grow and gain form and features as he lazily lowered himself down.

I would love to say he practically radiated arrogance however I knew better. He was self-assured, He could more than back up the boasts he made by his mere presence. Eventually he landed a few dozen feet away from us with his arms crossed across his chest. With a smooth motion one of his arms shot out pointing next to him and Dr. Karim and a half dozen other members of the order of the golden ankh appeared at his side. This had all been agreed upon; they were here to observe and be sure the battle was fair just as the people behind me were.

"So you have thrown your lot in with my twisted uncle Set. I am surprised at how low you have fallen, Campione." he spat at me.

I guess we were doing the pre-battle dialogue thing.

I sighed "Look we came here to prevent a battle that would cause a great loss of life. We would have helped you had you been reasonable. You drove us to Set, You are the one who made us his allies."

"I need no help from a Campione. One does not bargain with vipers, one kills them. I am told that before I was summoned here my Father had been summoned but I was robbed of a chance to reunite with him by a Campione."

I took in a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"Is that what you were told?" I asked.

He crooked his head "Yes."

"So the Order of the Golden Ankh lied to you."

"Tell me, what do you mean child?"

Dr. Karim by his side was now quite pale and sweating.

"I mean when we broke into their headquarters last night, we found A tablet used for capturing beings of great power. Due to a screw up by someone who was with me, that being was released… It was Father or rather it was meant to be. It was an Incomplete summons of him. There was barely any of him there, just a poor twisted creature in perpetual pain seeking the release of death. When I freed him from that existence; as I was forced to do, he thanked me."

Horus was taken aback for a moment almost taking a full step back before a look of rage crossed his face. He reached over and grabbed Dr Karim by the caller and lifted him in front of his face.

"Dr. Karim, is what the girl said correct?" he demanded.

Karim tried to speak several times before finally slumping and answering in a small voice. "Yes your Highness, we tried to summon your father first… It did not go well. We-we summoned something. It was too powerful to kill, it killed several of our members, It was a miracle we could even contain it. We knew you would sense that your father had been summoned previously so we lied to cover our mistake." He admitted.

Horus shook with rage and his eye literally was on fire. He tossed Dr. Karim into his fellows with one hand.

"For your crimes I shall extract a grave price. Once I am finished here I shall burn your order down to ashes. I will find another base from which to build my throne. Enjoy these last few minutes during the duel for they will indeed be your last." He told the men who all trembled with fear.

He turned to me. "In a way I believe I owe you my thanks for ending my father's misery. It is a pity that you are a Campione. I would allow you to leave here alive with your friends. However One does not spare a viper once one has come across it even if it is young and not awakened to its true nature yet." He said, pulling his Khopesh out of thin air.

"I will not draw this out further, Know that I will let your friends go. Even Hercules." He said.

"Ummm thanks. However I refuse to die here. I have too much to live for. I do appreciate that you won't harm my friends." I said materializing Hunter of Immortals It hovered over my palm in the shape of a liquid metal sphere for a moment before taking the familiar shape of a European longsword.

Will of Magic told me he was already using his Vengeance Authority, even the smallest attack that hit him, even the lightest blow would start the cycle, he would begin to adapt. He would begin to become resistant to my strongest attacks and likely gain new attacks that I couldn't deal with. My best bet was a single decisive strike or waiting and using Set's Authority when he thought he was invulnerable.I quickly called upon a defensive Authority. Hercules Authority, Path of Heroes. Immediately I was almost overwhelmed with swelling confidence, and knew my luck and cunning would similarly be increased.

We walked forward until we were a few feet from each other. Our eyes met and wordlessly both of us got into our battle stances. There would be no more words past this point; we would communicate through cold steel and death beyond this point.

He charged forward seeking to end the fight quickly by removing my head from my shoulders I rolled out of the way and countered with a slash to the gut to try and cut him in half but he parried. On instinct I almost followed up by slamming my shoulder in to him but stopped myself and almost got cut in half for the hesitation. I managed to back up and take a defensive stance. Horus seemed to be getting annoyed that I was just defending.

Things were looking bad… On the good end though I realized I was actually a good bit faster and stronger than Horus. That surprised me. However Horus was considerably more skilled than I was. I had only a few months of training with swords and combat where he had the lifetime experience of a god to draw upon. This duel was already decided before the start unless I did something unexpected.

Horus seemed to grow tired of waiting, began to press his attack, Authority or no he seemed to wish to end this quickly. I was forced to dodge and parry as my mind whirled. I needed something to change things.

The fight became a dance, he was the lead. He would slash at me viciously and I would counter or dodge and try to strike back, however with his skill he didn't leave many openings for counter attacks. I was starting to realize my plan had a few flaws. I needed a new plan. For my trouble I was starting to acquire cuts on my arms and legs as his strikes were growing more accurate and I was being pushed back further.

My mind raced. I could tell this wasn't going to end well if I didn't do something soon. Then a crazy idea came to mind as I managed to sneak an elbow into his ribs to try and force an opening to which he merely replied with a knee to my gut.

I rolled out of the way of a strike that would have bisected me and was up and ready to fight some more. It would be dangerous, it would mean keeping two borrowed authorities open at once which was going to hurt but I started my incantation as I fought. Apparently Horus didn't like that at all as He launched a fireball from his eye at me, which I dodged, then another which I quickly threw net of the waves out to block, both fizzled out and I ran through them thankfully they had canceled each other out so I didn't burn to death as I finished my incantation and dove forth.

Horus's eye widened in surprise at such a suicidal move, he was taken by surprise by my charge and even more so as large spikes emerged from my body. We clashed together and wound up on the ground, several of my spikes impaling his body. He grunted in pain looking down to incinerate me but My spikes extended and split multiplying within his body shredding his internal organs.

He paused and coughed up blood right into my face.

I tensed and waited to be consumed by flames from his eye yet fire never came instead he began to speak.

"Ughh Very well Viper you have struck me down. I will not mar your victory." He winced. "Finish me." He said letting go of his Khopesh.

"I will finish you but I take no joy in this Horus. Once again I truly wanted to help but your own stubbornness did you in." I said raising Hunter of Immortals.

He gave a bitter chuckle "Perhaps, should we ever encounter each other again it will be under better circumstances. I will admit I may have misjudged you." He said, closing his eye.

I sighed and decapitated him.

I felt the rush of power in to me. It reminded me of the old Highlander movies and series. Yet I felt no joy. Soon I was rushed by Inari and Mitsuko checking to see if I was alright. Truthfully I felt tired and a little numb.

I let out a deep sigh of relief and flopped down on the ground rolling over onto my back. I had done it. I had faced up to something that should have killed me and managed to rise above it… Still I wasn't thrilled I had taken a life to do so. I was a bit torn.

At the very least I was glad things were over. I had done something I had been dreading and it was now done or so I had thought.

There was a slow clap from not far off as Soon Set and several of the Black Circle revealed themselves. Set carried his bladed staff and the dozens members of the Black Circle were armed with guns or magical armaments.

"Well done Campione, I'll admit I had hoped that things would turn out a little different so that I might be able to finish my Nephew with my own hands but well done." He said, stepping forward. There was an aura of Malice around him now.

Mitsuko drew her sword and took a defensive stance Inari was already half changed into the form of a giant many tailed fox.

"Relax, I have no intentions of harming any of you." He started with a smile that somehow wasn't reassuring.

"After all, if I were to harm you it would reduce your value as slaves." He said as the Black Circle members began to spread out.

"Now if you would be so kind as to surrender since you have no chance – " he began to say before he was cut off by a loud crash of thunder as lightning split the sky and there was a flash of brilliant light between us and Set.

It took me a moment to regain my sight. Soon I became aware of a Tall muscular figure in a horned helmet and Viking armor in front of us. In his hand he carried a huge hammer. The end of which was slightly curved. The figure had pale Nordic skin and fiery red hair and a beard.

"That's far enough you cowardly dog." The newcomer spat to set.

"What? Who?" Stammered set in surprise.

It was at that moment I noticed Katashi walking up beside the newcomer.

"I hope you don't mind but just in case things didn't go well I invited a few friends. This is Thor, god of thunder. Thor, this is Set." Katashi added smugly.

Set's Eyes narrowed as he looked at Katashi. "Well aren't you the sly one. It is a shame. Very well you may leave with your freedom." He began.

Katashi smiled at Set "Actually I have many more friends, some of whom are keeping an eye on Egypt. If I were you I would suggest leaving this land and laying low."

"You dare to threaten a god?" said Set incredulously.

"It isn't the first time actually." Katashi replied. "If you think I am leaving you to conquer Egypt and build an empire you're a bigger fool than I thought." He added.

"Very well mortal" Set growled "Just know that you have made an enemy this day. God's have long memories and I will repay this insult."

"Well you are more than welcome to try but as I said. I have a lot of friends, so I would be very careful if I were you."

Set left in disgust, the members of the Black Circle falling in with him.

My body was a bit sore from all the magic I had just thrown around. Still I easily managed to repair my clothes in the name of decency. After all, Inari's shape shifting Authority didn't change the clothing around it.

With some effort and a bit of help from Inari and Mitsuko I made it to my feet and dusted myself off. I thanked both of them before heading to Katashi.

"Wow, that was kind of Badass Katashi" I told him.

He chuckled "Nah I was just covering my bases, what you did was badass." He replied before turning to Thor.

"By the way Thor, this is Raven, the girl I was telling you about. Raven, this is Thor."

"Nice to meet you" I managed.

"Hmmm so you are the new Campione." he mused looking me over. "It is nice to meet you though I thought you would be older and larger." He said.

"Yeah well I am kind of surprised you aren't blonde." I said to which he chuckled. "Ah yes, I am not sure whether I owe Stan Lee thanks for bringing my legend to light for so many or to be angry with him for changing it so much. I am a little surprised I wasn't blonde either by this point."

We shook hands and I noted the tremendous strength in his grip.

"Well I didn't mean to steal your thunder so to speak" Began Katashi but as you said we couldn't trust Set and I felt you could use some back up so I called in a few favors."

"I am glad you did."

"Anyways I really wanted to thank you. I never intended things to fall on your shoulders. In fact I was kind of hoping you would choose to back out. Still you impressed me. I am glad to work with you" noted Katashi.

"Yeah hell of a job kid, I couldn't have done a better job myself" said Hercules who slapped me on the back hard enough to make me stumble. I was sure he did that on purpose.

"Thanks." I managed.

Hercules greeted Thor and they both decided to go get a drink to a job well done. I was invited too but I declined. Somehow I wasn't sure wherever they got a drink was going to still be there in the morning.

Inari and Mitsuko made their way up to us, Inari gave me another hug and told me she was proud of me.

Katashi mentioned that he would have to make sure I was properly rewarded for all that I had done in this job.

"Thanks but… I am not sure working for other people is really what I want to do anymore. I mean I know I probably will get drawn into crazy adventures no matter what I do because I am a Campione but the next one I want to at least be for me or some cause important to me." I admitted.

Katashi nodded "I understand completely. Don't worry, maybe we can be business partners with that venture you mentioned yesterday. I am sure I can help open some doors for you." He replied.

I blinked in surprise then smiled "Sure that sounds wonderful." And with that a new partnership was formed.

It didn't take long to learn and master Alchemy even beyond the level of my teacher but learning business took me a lot longer and I was happy to have both Inari and Katashi helping me. Still a little over half a year after that we started producing a product. At first the profits were small and things were slow. Then things took off to an absurd degree when some starlets found that my stuff actually worked and word got out. I had to eventually hire and train alchemists to help me and it turned into a huge operation.

When I wasn't making absurd amounts of money I had formed a family with Inari and Yuki. As years passed we moved away from my parents. I had my Mansion rebuilt elsewhere, this time without any problems with ghosts. Inari and I never really married officially but we considered ourselves so. Yuki eventually came to treat us as parents.

I continued my training in both magic and martial pursuits, even joining Katashi and Hercules again for a few adventures. In time I became known as quite a formidable Campione for my talent of copying the powers of others. I didn't add any other Authorities to my repertoire. Honestly I found I didn't enjoy killing. It was easier to copy authorities than claim them outright. Set wound up resurfacing only to get himself picked off by another Campione. I can't say I was sorry to hear that.

Eventually a decade passed and it became time to leave this world. I took as much money out of my company as I could and converted it to gold, easily sellable items like jewelry and high end electronics and stocked up on things like a super computer full of different series of movies, anime and games just in case as well as information that would be helpful should I need to rebuild civilization. I also stocked up on weapons, magic and mundane just in case.

I was a little nervous. I had no Idea where I was going. I had no idea what I would be facing next but as I stood and waited with Inari and Yuki to face the unknown, I at least knew one thing. I wouldn't be facing it alone.