King of Gambles

Deafening silenced seeped around the carriage. Their eyes wouldn't want to believe it, but reality was harsh to them. Thelamia just shivered in fear,

"Y-you're the Revelas king, Zero?"

Zero held his own forehead and bared his razor sharp fangs by grinning as a lord of ravenous corruption. When Julieth saw his reaction, she stopped doubting herself.

There after, she grit her raging teeth,

"My dear Zero would never make a face like that."

She pointed her enchanted rapier to his neck,

"WHO ARE YOU!"

Zero didn't respond. Rather, his mask of magic broke into millions of fragments such as his face was molting. As his illusion spell wore off, Thelamia took witness that it wasn't Zero in front of them anymore, instead it was a different person.

The mysterious man with them now has a silver hair of the shining moon, while he had the bloodlust eyes of a vampire king. More so, he has a huge scar running through his cheek and neck as well.

Thelamia's eyes widened even more than before,

"Acrux?! The silver blood knight?!"

Julieth returned her composure and corssed her legs,

"Tell me Acrux, I thought you were dead and had ascended to the promised land already?"

Acrux just touched Julieth's rapier with the tip of his deathly finger. In an instant, Thelamia observed that her friend's dazzling weapon shattered such as those were fragile glass shards.

Acrux laughed as he was demonic lord,

"I can't believe it myself as well!"

Acrux held his staff of captive souls beside him,

"Let's just say a very beautiful maiden who proclaims she's a Goddess from a desolate world had resurrected me from the dead."

Thelamia pointed, while her eyebrows were twitching,

"HEY! THAT'S ILLEGAL!"

There after, she continued to express her know-it alls aided with gestures,

"Us deities from Celestia Heavens can't just ressurect someone out of the blue!"

A swirl of darkness condensed at the left of Acrux. The next moment, the petite Goddess Nearis appeared from the sphere of darkness,

"No it's not illegal Thamy. Since he shall prove his divine purpose."

"What?!"

Thelamia was just flabbergasted.

Julieth just crossed her arms in an effeminate manner, while her tigress eyes were staring at Nearis,

"So senior Nearis, care to explain your DIVINE PURPOSE upon resurrecting this man from the lands of the dead?!"

Acrux intervened,

"Oh she didn't resurrect me, but the..."

He stood up from his seat and worshipped the heavens with such glory,

"TRUE GODDESS OF LIGHT! THE GOLDEN GODDESS!"

Soon, Acrux sat down and rubbed Nearis's head,

"This little girl is just an accomplice. I can't even comprehend that this little girl is also a Goddess, the Goddess of true darkness in fact."

Acrux shifted his eyes at Julieth,

"Now why don't we make a deal?"

Julieth just crossed her eoegant legs once again,

"What kind of deal!?"

Acrux spread his hands as he was a considerate gambler,

"Why don't we bet upon which king should fall?"

Julieth just shut her eyes,

"Then, betting is out of the question, we won't have a deal."

Thelamia butted in with full spirits,

"Yea! It should be you who should fall! You're the evil king Acrux!"

Acrux just laughed, as it wasn't a big deal,

"That tickled my funnybone. You do know that Zero was evil too right? Goddess of Creation?"

Nearis nodded to his statements. Thereon, Thelamia just kept her mouth shut.

Though Julieth doesn't seem to agree with them, instead she opened her eyes and swayed her hands, while her expression was true to tell,

"ZERO CHANGED! HE'S NO LONGER THE CRUEL KING YAH KNOW!"

Acrux just grinned,

"I do wonder about that."

Afterwards, he went close to Julieth's face and held her lower chin with his delicate touch,

"You're truly a fascinating woman Julieth. Before, you're hating Zero. But now, you're loving him with all your Goddess heart.

He sighed and removed his hold on her,

"Getting your sacred flower raped by him must've been enjoyable for you I guess? You masochistic Goddess."

Julieth just slapped the disrespectful Acrux. In her thoughts, she wanted to rip him up apart,

"I can't believe Acrux turned into a demon!"

Acrux just tapped his staff,

"Yet, I'm still going forward with this deal."

Julieth just composed herself once more,

"Like I said—."

Acrux interrupted,

"Do the two of you want to end this needless bloddshed?"

Thelamia just looked down,

"That's...yea."

Julieth was just silent.

Thereupon, Acrux clasped his hands together as he was an expert dealer,

"Now here's the deal. Within seven days, you four Goddesses will tour around the lands of Athlus and decide which king would fall under your judgement."

He nodded,

"That way, no such innocent people will die."

Thelamia felt complacent about the deal,

"I-I guess that sounds good."

Somehow, her eyes noticed a glimpse that a spectre was spying on them behind the tinted windows. Thereon, Thelamia was puzzled in her thoughts,

"Who was that?"

Julieth just flipped her hair,

"Fine. But if you break your oath, we will not show any mercy."

Acrux witnessed that Julieth was glaring at him, as she was about to burst an outrage unearthed from the abyss,

"Those cold raging eyes, truly arouse me my Goddess Julieth. Though yes, I shall keep my word as the king of Revelas, your new husband soon enough."

"Ugh!"

Julieth was just irritated.

A while later, Nearis snapped her fingers and poofed out a divine glowing contract in front of Thelamia and Julieth. More so, the two Goddesses also had feather pens offered to them.

Julieth just flipped her hair as a woman of elegance and intimidation,

"Still the divine scrolls and feather pen? You're truly behind the times senior Nearis."

Nearis just didn't respond.

As for Thelamia, she was more and more engrossed inside her mind while she was scanning through the contract,

"The DIVINE COUNCIL approved of this?! WHAT THE HELL?!"

Later, both of them signed the contracts. The contracts vanished without a trace afterwards. Julieth just touched her forehead, as she was getting stressed,

"I'm gonna report about this to Zero by the way?"

Acrux nodded,

"I don't mind. Also, thank you for the company again, my soon to be Goddess wife."

Thelamia and Julieth just left the carriage of the Revelas king. As soon as they set foot on the barren ground, the carriage left in a jiffy.

While Thelamia was looking at the sky blanketed by mindnight clouds, she remembered something,

"Wait...who's this fourth Goddess?!"

Julieth sighed all of her tensions,

"Must be one of our seniors Thamy, since Nearis is involved."

Thelamia touched her cute lips,

"Senior Goddesses, hmmmmm..."

Not much soon, they returned back with the knights. When they returned back to the castle gates of Azuria, Zero was waiting for them at the entrance. Though, Thelamia wasn't scared of him anymore since she noticed that he was making a grateful smile when they came back.

Zero greeted them wholeheartedly,

"I'm glad you two came back safe and sound. Also, the others already left."

He held his divine wife's hand,

"So ready to go now my dear Goddess wife?"

Jukieth nodded, but she just looked away."

Zero was a little mystified by the weak reaction of his woman. Not much soon, he remembered something important and looked at Thelamia,

"Oh yes and Thamy? Geno and Spheera already went home early, so you can accompany us until we arrive at our household."

Thelamia didn't look fine as well,

"Yea, sure..."

Thereon, the king of Azuria himself was even more curious about their sudden strange behaviors. They strolled along the night of serenity. Zero kindly suggested to the nearly half-asleep guards to sleep at their homes. The guards did as they were told and closed the castle gates. As soon as the three of them were inside the cozy home, Zero gave Julieth a smile,

"My dear wife? What do you think of the partaken dinn—."

Julieth just pushed herself unto him. Thelamia was a tad bit surprised. Thereupon, Julieth poured out tears of mourning, while her shivering hands were gripping his shoulders tight,

"Please...please Zero...prove to us Goddesses what you can do."

Zero was shocked at first. Though, he just soothed the worrying Goddess Julieth's head,

"Then, I shall do what I can, my dear Goddess."

Julieth made a subtle smile when she heard those words. There after, Zero continued with the conversation, since he was still boggled in his mind,

"Although, can I ask what I should actually do?"

He shifted his glance at Thelamia,

"Also, I think you should explain this Thamy. Since I could feel Julie is worried about this."

Thelamia nodded complacently,

"Uuuh sure."

She made a deep sigh, while she was convoluted in her thoughts,

"Yea, Julie sucks at explaining things when she's in an emotional state."

Sooner or later, the three of them sat on the sofa, while Zero was caressing his worried wife's shoulders. Thelamia explained to Zero, about meeting with the Revelas king as invited guests. While Julieth was hearing Thelamia's statements, she was drinking crystalline water.

Zero scratch his chin, as was filled with curiousity,

"So the king of Revelas is actually Acrux who rose from the dead. Now, he wants to propose this deal suported by these other Goddesses by his side."

Juleth brushed away her tears,

"Yes and this is what frightens me."

Thelamia tilted her head sidewards,

"Why is that Julie?"

Julieth looked down with disappointment on her face,

"Revelas has been more progressive and less immoral than Vamp...I mean Azuria, during the cold regime of supreme Generia."

Thelamia tried to liven up their hopes,

"B-but Azuria can prove that it can be better right? Since Zero now is willing to cooperate with the needs of the nation and its people around it right? And it's also propsperous too! Since Azuria is the manufacturer of magical crysalis and magical crysalis products."

Zero nodded,

"That's correct Thamy. I...I mean we are willing to take the change for the better and brighter future."

Julieth sighed,

"Even so Thamy, Azuria had a dreaded history that Revelas was sought to be the new refuge to almost all of the people."

Thelamia just made a frown, when she heard the harsh truth once more.

Zero scratched his chin and guessed above,

"While that is the case, we still have 7 days. By thay time, we shall prove that Azuria is no longer the shard of the past."

In an instant, Zero grabbed Julieth's flawless hands. Then, he gave her a look of compassion,

"So do not worry anymore my Goddess."

Julieth was touched,

"I shall put my trust in you, my dear hero."

As Thelamia was witnessing the fluttering hearts and aroma of love emanating from the two royal lovebirds, she was engrossed in her thoughts,

"Awww, this is such a romantic scene."

To her eyes, she was watching an episode of romance.

Suddenly, she remembered something, inside her deep mind,

"Wait...where's my romantic scene?!"

Maybe this gullible Goddess just missed an opportunity.

That moment, she felt a pat behind her back and heard Genocide's rough voice,

"Geez! Mom and dad are at it again."

Thelamia looked behind and saw Genocide scratching the back of his head,

"Oh hey Geno! Had fun with Spheera?"

Genocide crossed his arms,

"Yep. But I think we should go upstairs...since Spheera's in a bind."

They heard the squeaky voice of Spheera above,

"SOMEONE HELP ME!"

Meanwhile, Raze was at his run-down office in his own humble village. Though, he wasn't looking relaxed, rather he was walking back and forth capriciously,

"No! It can't be!"

He stopped and smacked the wall in front of him,

"Was that really father?!"

The presence of death and darkness had swirled behind his back. Not much soon, Acrux emerged from the burst of chaos,

"It has been a while, my flesh and blood son of mine.

Raze turned to look at Acrux,

"Father?!"