Anubis

 The ancient stone door exploded inward with a thunderous crack, unleashing a maelstrom of swirling dust and debris. Akira burst through the chaotic veil, muscles coiled and ready for battle. But the scene that greeted them stole the very breath from their lungs.

Upon a obsidian throne that seemed to drink in all light, lounged a figure of impossible proportions and presence. Anubis, the jackal-headed god of death himself, dominated the chamber. His ebony fur rippled with barely contained power, and eyes like smoldering coals flickered with ancient wisdom and untold malevolence.

In one massive paw, he languidly tossed a glowing orb that pulsed with otherworldly energies. The casual display of cosmic might was a chilling reminder of the unfathomable gap between mortal and divine.

"Great Amun-Ra..." Jasmine's whisper was barely audible, yet it cut through the oppressive silence like a knife. "He's... titanic."

The god's muzzle twitched in what might have been amusement. When he spoke, his voice was a rumble of grinding tectonic plates, resonating deep within their very souls. "Your mortal eyes do not deceive you, little one," Anubis intoned, each word laden with the weight of millennia.

Ben's face had drained of all color. "He's grown..." he choked out, memories of their last encounter flashing before his eyes. "Exponentially more terrifying than before."

"Hastur!" Anubis's voice thundered, shaking the very foundations of the underworld. "King of the Nether, you pitiful wretch! Still sending children to do your bidding?" His eyes blazed with divine contempt. "I shouldn't be surprised. That was always your way in Greece, wasn't it? Parading boys with bared thighs. But what's truly pathetic is a son still pining for his mother's love after she sacrificed her own flesh and blood to Hecate for vengeance."

The god's words dripped with venom. "What do you want, Hastur? Mommy to restore your body so mortals won't be driven mad by your hideous disfigurement? Shameful! Pathetic!"

"NO!" The voice that erupted from Ben's throat was not his own. It reverberated with eldritch power, a sound that should never issue from human lips. "What's shameful is you sister-bangers!"

The transformation that followed was as terrifying as it was mesmerizing. Ben's shadow stretched and writhed, deepening to an impossible darkness that seemed to devour light itself. Inky tendrils of void coalesced around him, weaving into obsidian bandages that wrapped his form with alien precision.

A cloak of the deepest yellow materialized, its hue an affront to nature – too vivid, too wrong to exist in the mortal realm. It draped over Ben's shoulders, the fabric undulating as if alive. Above his head, a crown of golden flames ignited, casting eerie shadows that danced and leered across the chamber walls.

When the metamorphosis was complete, it was no longer Ben who stood before them. Hastur, the King in Yellow, inhabited the mortal vessel, his presence a palpable miasma of ancient malevolence.

Anubis's teeth ground together, the sound like continents colliding.

Raphaela's eyes darted between her companions, disbelief etched on her face. "No... no way, bro. This can't be true, can it?"

Akira suddenly found the ceiling utterly fascinating, while Jasmine became intensely focused on tracing circles with her toe, whistling an off-key rendition of "Happy Birthday."

Desperate for answers, Raphaela locked eyes with Anubis. "Dude."

The god's hackles rose. "She is not referring to me, just so you know," he snapped, divine indignation crackling in the air.

"Okay... okay... calm down, boy," Raphaela placated, hands raised.

Veins bulged on Anubis's forehead, his fury palpable. "Do not speak to me as if I were some common mongrel! What do you want?"

Akira stepped forward, pointing at the pulsing sphere in the god's grasp. "We're here for that."

A sardonic grin spread across Anubis's jackal features. "Ah, I see. The fox sent her most faithful and... unmarried servant, with a suicide squad."

Jasmine bristled. "Who says we're going to die here?"

"I do," Anubis retorted, "being the god of death and all. What's happening with the education system up there? Who's your teacher?"

"Mr. Cummings... Ste–"

"Steve Cummings, am I correct?" Anubis cut her off, earning a glare from Jasmine. "All I can say is be careful of him. There's more to that one than meets the eye." His tone grew lighter, almost playful. "Anyway, how about we make this fun, shall we?"

"You can't just drop a bomb like that and change the subject!" Raphaela protested.

Akira shouldered past her. "What do you propose?"

The god's eyes glittered with mischief. "If you win our little dance, I'll give you the head. For the bultungin, a drop of my blood – granting her all my power and more. However," his voice lowered ominously, "if I win, you'll owe me a favor. Do we have a deal?"

"Aww, come on!" Jasmine shouted, exasperated.

Akira rounded on her. "Jasmine! What's your problem?"

"Don't you see?" she fumed. "If we keep taking these deals, this novel will never end, and it's supposed to be a short one!"

"She does have a point," the possessed Ben intoned, Hastur's otherworldly voice lending the observation a chilling gravitas.

Anubis sighed, a sound like wind howling through ancient tombs. "I know this might be strange to hear, but these aren't my ideas. I'm just saying what was dictated in the author's head." He paused, tilting his head as if listening to an unheard voice. "Though I must say, even I'm curious to see where this particular narrative thread leads us..."

"Enough!" Raphaela's voice cut through the banter, sharp as a blade. "We're straying from our purpose. The fate of worlds hangs in the balance."

Ben, his form still shimmering with Hastur's otherworldly presence, nodded gravely. "We accept your terms, Anubis. As if choice were ever truly ours in the games of gods."

A smile of terrible satisfaction split Anubis's jackal visage. "Excellent," he intoned, his voice resonating with the finality of a tomb door slamming shut.

The god rose, placing the sphere containing the coveted head atop his obsidian throne. What followed was a metamorphosis that seared itself into the mortals' minds.

With each thunderous step Anubis took towards them, reality itself seemed to warp and compress. His titanic form, once towering and majestic, began to shrink. But this was no mere reduction – it was a condensing of divine essence into mortal scale.

His ebony skin darkened to the shade of the deepest void between stars. Flesh sloughed away from his face, revealing a rictus grin of gleaming fangs that spoke of endless hunger. Eyes that had glowed with the warm embers of judgment now blazed with the crimson fury of a dying sun.

The air grew thick with the miasma of death – not the stench of decay, but the very concept of mortality made manifest. Each breath the mortals took felt like it might be their last, their lungs filling with the weight of eons.

Anubis's form, now compressed to a mere six feet, rippled with power beyond comprehension. Every movement, no matter how slight, sent shockwaves through the chamber. The very stones beneath their feet groaned in protest at containing such might.

Jasmine's confidence, bolstered by her mystical growth to seven feet, wavered in the face of this display. Raphaela, partially transformed into her arachnid aspect, chittered nervously.

"This... this will be easier than I thought," Raphaela boasted, her bravado ringing hollow.

Akira's eyes narrowed. "Do not be deceived. This is his true power – Compression."

Confusion clouded her companions' faces. Akira sighed, searching for words to convey the inconceivable. "Imagine the fury of a thousand storms, the weight of mountains, the very essence of death itself – all contained within a vessel of flesh. Every movement, a cataclysm waiting to be unleashed."

Understanding dawned in their eyes, quickly replaced by dawning horror.

Anubis chuckled, a sound like grinding bones. "Perhaps a demonstration is in order." With deliberate slowness, he lifted his golden staff. The merest flick of his smallest finger reduced the divine artifact to shimmering dust.

Raphaela's outburst at the loss of a potential souvenir shattered the tension, drawing a laugh from the death god that echoed through the ages.

"Fear not, strange one," Anubis rumbled, amusement dancing in his infernal gaze. "I'll gift you a staff for the joy your peculiarity brings me. It has been... millennia since laughter graced these halls."

Raphaela's multiple eyes widened with childlike glee. "Promise?"

"You have my word," Anubis intoned, the vow carrying the weight of divine law. "Now, shall we commence our dance?"

Crimson flames erupted from his hands, not mere fire, but the very essence of destruction made manifest. The air crackled with power, reality itself bending around the god's condensed form.

Raphaela, steeling herself, spat a glob of caustic venom. "With pleasure."

The battle for the fate of worlds had begun.

Raphaela hurled a seething ball of acidic venom straight at Anubis. It hit him square in the face, sizzling on contact. But Anubis didn't flinch. He stood there, grinning through the smoke, his decayed skin peeling back to reveal the bone beneath.

"Is that the best you've got? My face is already rotted to the bone—a little acid's not going to change much." He winked at her mockingly.

"Like we practiced," Akira said, her eyes locked on Anubis.

"Oh, this might get interesting," Anubis muttered, wiping away the acid with the back of his hand.

Ben took a deep breath, his hands glowing as he summoned a swirling black fireball, edged with a crackling indigo aura. He unleashed it at Anubis, who, yet again, didn't even move. The fireball collided with the acid still clinging to him, causing a sudden, violent combustion. Flames erupted around him, engulfing his body in a swirling vortex of fire.

Akira didn't hesitate. She drew her sword in a flash, her body a blur as she closed the distance, severing Anubis' head with one clean strike. His head tumbled through the air, only for Jasmine to leap into action.

"Not gonna miss this," Jasmine muttered, running full speed toward the dismembered head. With a powerful kick, she sent it flying like a soccer ball. It splattered against the wall with a wet crunch, oozing like a rotten tomato.

"Well, that was almost too easy," Jasmine said, her body shifting back to her human form.

"A little too easy," Akira replied, narrowing her eyes.

"A win is a win," Raphaela added, stretching casually.

"Not with an enemy like him," Ben warned, his gaze fixed on Anubis' crumbling body.

Suddenly, a powerful gust tore through the chamber, extinguishing every torch, plunging them into utter darkness. A crimson flame exploded from Anubis' body, the force knocking Jasmine to the ground.

"Of course," she muttered, getting up and dusting herself off. "Why would anything ever go smoothly?"

When the flames finally died down, they saw him. Anubis' body was wrapped in tight, ancient bandages—a mummified shell. With a horrifying crack, the shell split open, and Anubis clawed his way out, his form grotesque and twisted, like a monstrous butterfly emerging from a cocoon.

"Seriously?" Raphaela groaned, rolling her eyes.

Anubis cackled, his voice thick with malice. "Ah, I never get tired of that look—fear, confusion, hopelessness."

With a casual motion, he began cracking his knuckles, his joints popping like distant gunshots. To their astonishment, he dropped into a series of yoga poses, calmly moving into a downward-facing dog.

"Is he… doing yoga?" Ben asked, baffled.

"Shut up! Get ready!" Akira barked, drawing her sword.

Before anyone could react, Anubis moved, shattering the sound barrier with his speed. He lunged at Akira, jaws wide, ready to snap her skull in half. She barely managed to draw her blade in time, slashing upward just as his teeth closed around her. His jaw shattered like glass, but he didn't stop. With a roar, he swung his flaming claws at her face.

Out of nowhere, Jasmine appeared. She sprinted behind him, locking her arms around his waist. With a savage roar, she suplexed him into the stone floor, the impact so violent it cracked the ground and sent his head sinking deep into it. One of his canine teeth snapped off with a sickening crack.

Jasmine released him, giving Raphaela her opening. She fired a web, slinging him up toward the ceiling. Ben immediately followed with twin lightning bolts, arcing through the air, striking Anubis mid-fling. At the same time, Akira summoned two massive stone pillars, one from the ceiling and one from the floor, slamming them together with a thunderous crash, crushing Anubis between them.

Ben didn't stop. He slammed his palms together, summoning colossal spectral hands that clapped around Anubis, grinding him into nothing but dust and shadow.

"Finished!" Raphaela shouted, a satisfied grin on her face. "Now I can finally catch up on my sleep."

 A bone-chilling laugh echoed through the chamber, its otherworldly resonance filling every crevice and shadow. The team's eyes darted frantically, searching for its source.

"Mere mortals," Anubis's voice boomed, each syllable dripping with ancient power. "Your hubris amuses me. But playtime... is over."

The frozen prison that had momentarily contained the god of death shattered in a nova of blinding light. As their vision cleared, the team beheld a sight that would haunt their nightmares for eternity.

Anubis stood before them, transformed into an avatar of divine judgment. His form was clad in armor forged from the very essence of gold and silver, metals bent to his will by cosmic forces. But it was his wings that struck terror into their souls.

Vast, obsidian pinions unfurled, each feather a tapestry of writhing, tormented souls. The damned, stitched into unholy fabric, wailed in endless agony. Their eyes glowed with eldritch fire as Anubis stretched his wings to their full, terrifying span.

"Behold the price of defying the natural order," the god intoned, his voice reverberating through time itself.

The mouths of the damned gaped wide, green energy coalescing within their spectral throats. In a heartbeat, beams of pure necrotic force lanced out, shattering the chamber floor and sending the intruders tumbling through the air.

Anubis moved with impossible speed, seizing Akira by the head. His grip, infused with the weight of millennia, ground her face against the unyielding stone. The sickening crack of bone and the smear of crimson marked her passage as he discarded her broken form.

As if summoned by the god's will, a colossal cyclops erupted from the fractured earth. Its hands, large enough to crush boulders, closed around Akira's limp body. The sound of her final demise was lost amidst the chaos.

Jasmine, thinking herself clever, had created a decoy. But Anubis's perception transcended mortal trickery. Even as his hand pierced the false construct, his gaze found the real Jasmine clinging to the ceiling.

She dropped, fangs bared, tearing at his wing. But the souls trapped within would not be denied their master's defense. Their mouths opened, disgorging swarms of putrid, undead puppies. The creatures latched onto Jasmine, detonating in a storm of necrotic energy that flung her through the air.

The cyclops, moving with surprising grace for its size, met Jasmine's arc with a devastating punch. The impact echoed like thunder, silencing her forever.

Raphaela, desperate, tore open a portal to their training grounds. Ben, seizing the opportunity, tackled Anubis with all his might. They tumbled through the dimensional rift, reality warping around them.

On the other side, Anubis's grip found Ben's skull. His eyes, pools of infinite darkness, bored into Ben's very essence. When he spoke, it was with the finality of fate itself:

"Foolish child," Anubis rumbled, his voice a symphony of dread. "You dare challenge death incarnate? I, who have guided souls since the dawn of creation? Your bravery is admirable, but ultimately... futile, your too close.', he tightened his grip around Ben, pulled his head back and sucked out his soul, tossing the body one side.

"Then, only one remains. She always knew you would lose," Anubis said, his deep voice rumbling like the echoes of an ancient crypt as he stretched his arms wide, his hollow eyes locked on Raphaela.

"Whatever, it's not over until the fat lady sings," Raphaela shot back, her eyes narrowing as tension crackled in the air.

Anubis chuckled darkly, his lips twisting into a smirk. "Well then, let's dance," he said, his voice dripping with sinister amusement.

Without hesitation, Raphaela thrust her hand into the ground, and the earth responded to her command. A forest of jagged stone spears shot up in a deafening roar, the rocks glowing with her power. But Anubis merely smirked and soared into the air, avoiding the deadly spikes. He rose above, but as the clouds swirled ominously, a red dragon exploded from the sky, its enormous jaws snapping shut around him. The beast slammed him into the earth with the force of an earthquake. As they collided with the ground, the dragon burst apart into hundreds of shimmering dragonflies, scattering into the sky.

Raphaela stood tall, her hand still outstretched, her lips curling into a smile. "Guess you're not the only one who commands beasts."

From her shadow, she dipped her hand, pulling free a long, black blade. The sword gleamed with an eerie light, its shadow-dark steel reflecting nothing, the indigo hilt resting comfortably in her grip.

Anubis rose from the crater, dusting himself off as if nothing had happened. His cold eyes met hers, unshaken, unbothered. He clapped his palms together, and slowly drew them apart, summoning a beam of radiant gold light that grew as his arms stretched. The light coalesced into a weapon—a massive scythe made of silver and golden bones. At the weapon's end, a golden skull grinned back, its mouth opened wide, a gleaming diamond blade protruding from it, shimmering with deadly brilliance.

With effortless grace, Anubis spun the scythe overhead, the air howling as the blade cut through it. His presence radiated divine authority, an aura that whispered of death and judgment. He lowered the scythe, taking a battle stance, the ancient god of the afterlife preparing for a dance of death.

Raphaela's patience snapped. She charged with the fury of a storm, moving with the precision and speed of an ancient samurai. Her blade arced through the air, aiming to cleave Anubis in half with a single strike. But the god merely stepped aside, the silver glint of her sword missing him by a hair. Just as the blade was about to touch the ground, Raphaela's lips curled into a smile. "Tsubame Gaeshi," she whispered, and in an instant, she reversed the attack. The movement was so fast it blurred, the blade flipping mid-air, its trajectory bending in an impossible arc.

Anubis, caught off guard for a split second, barely ducked, the tip of the blade slicing through the edge of his ear. A thin line of black blood dripped down his face, but he didn't falter. Raphaela wasn't done. She summoned a second set of arms, her body moving with unnatural speed and force. Her four hands raised the sword again, doubling its power, and brought it down in a deadly strike.

Anubis grinned, his expression gleaming with an otherworldly thrill. He spun his scythe in a blur, parrying the blow at the last second. The clash of their weapons sent shockwaves through the battlefield, the sheer force shattering the earth beneath them.

In one fluid motion, Raphaela sprouted a razor-sharp spider leg from her side, thrusting it toward Anubis's chest, aiming to skewer his heart. But before she could strike, a skeletal hand erupted from the ground, grabbing her leg. Anubis grinned viciously, his jaw opening wide, and in a flash of blinding light, he fired a beam of energy straight at her.

The blast sent Raphaela hurtling across the meadow, her spider leg torn off in the explosion. She crashed into the ground, the force shaking the earth. Even as she staggered to rise, the severed leg began to writhe and twist, transforming into a massive black-and-gold anaconda. It hissed and coiled, lunging at Anubis with fangs bared, wrapping itself around him and snapping his arm clean off.

But Anubis, unphased, merely laughed, a deep, hollow sound that reverberated through the sky. With a vicious bite, he tore the snake's head clean off, its body dissolving into dust in his hands. "You weren't expecting that, were you?" Raphaela panted, her body trembling as she pulled herself from the rubble, blood dripping from her wounds.

Anubis stood there, arm regenerating in a swirl of golden light, his expression cold, yet filled with a cruel, ancient amusement. "No, I wasn't," he admitted. "But it has been ages since I've had this much fun." His eyes gleamed as he continued, "But this dance is over. Your master failed to teach you one crucial thing—how to wield your energy wisely."

Raphaela's legs buckled, her breath coming in ragged gasps. "I can still fight."

"No," Anubis said, his voice sinking into something far darker, far more final. "You cannot. Now... it's time for judgment."

The moment the words left his lips, the world around her dissolved into darkness. Raphaela gasped as the ground vanished beneath her feet. She was floating—adrift in a vast sea of blood. Crimson waves lapped at her ankles, and suddenly, from the depths, cold hands reached up. Dozens of pale, skeletal hands dragged her down, their icy grip pulling her into the abyss.

Raphaela struggled, but it was useless. The more she fought, the deeper she sank, until everything was swallowed by darkness.

When her eyes fluttered open, she was lying on cold, hard ground. A steady drip... drip... drip echoed in her ears, and her chest felt unnervingly cold. She reached up instinctively, feeling something warm trickling down her skin.

Her fingers brushed against her chest, and she pulled her hand back, staring at the crimson liquid staining her palm—blood. Her blood.

Dread filled her as she looked up. Standing over her, towering and unshaken, was Anubis. In his hand, gleaming wet with her blood, was her heart. It pulsed weakly in his grasp, still beating.

"You fought well," Anubis said, his voice like death itself, chilling and calm. "But in the end, judgment is mine."

He raised her heart to his lips, his eyes glowing with the cold fire of the afterlife, and smiled.