Chapter 194: Where Have I Been?

Malachi didn't know how long he had been gone.

Or even where he went.

He simply floated within an endless chaotic space of which he was unable to process even with his immortal mind.

He felt like someone was speaking to him while he was out and touching him while he had no control over his body.

He thought it may have been a woman... but he truly wasn't sure.

He felt like it asked him questions.

About what he wanted from life in the future, and exactly how he wanted to be seen.

But he couldn't remember his answers either.

The things that he saw and experienced within that domain would be forever locked away to him.

In the end, the only thing he could remember was a name that he'd heard only once before.

It was the very same name he heard his mother yell in that argument with the gods that had taken place only a mere moment ago.

.....

-

"Get him out! Let's see if he's gotten anything on him!"

"Ah... this guy definitely doesn't have anything valuable on him."

"Well he does, but... We can't exactly steal that."

"His makes mine look cute..."

In the dead of night, a group of five men fished a body out of a large lake in the middle of the forest.

Pulling it onto the shore, the men realized that the body they found belonged to a handsome young man with dark skin and gray dreadlocks.

His body was not covered by a single fabric, and he didn't appear to have anything on his person either.

"Wait... Don't the two of you recognize this guy??"

"I think... Maybe"

"It's him! That blessed who went missing after he got outed as a nightmare!"

Suddenly, the five men had a very different air about them as they realized their companion's words were true.

This man's disappearance had caused quite a disturbance in the world when he was first found out, so much so that his face was all over every paper, tv, and smart phone for weeks.

While his hair was previously black in the photos, this was exactly the same man as before.

"Don't take a chance... Kill him, now!"

At the behest of the leader, the rest of the men started to pull out a variety of weapons, ranging from strange looking guns to swords that looked like they were made out of some sort of monster carapaces or skeletons.

They pointed their weapons at him without a lick of hesitation or reservations in them, almost as if they were more than used to doing this kind of thing already.

At that moment, the young man lying on the ground opened his purple eyes as wide as they would go, startled awake.

"Shit!"

"Kill this freak!"

The men pulled their triggers and swung their blades recklessly, but Malachi raised a single hand to stop them cold in their tracks.

Even the strange bullets slowed down to a crawl before inevitably falling out of the air harmlessly.

The bat opened it's mouth wide and shot out a giant ball of orange fire from it's mouth.

Malachi felt a foreign energy wash through his body, at the same time as he threw a hand out to stop the incoming ball of fire from vaporizing the lake.

The ball of fire hovered above his hand, and it became smaller and smaller until it was the size of a golfball.

However, there was something strange about the way that he had done it.

As he grabbed the attack to stop it, a smoky black and red energy left his hand and infected the ball of fire; corroding it and turning it into a much more sinister and smaller looking attack.

Malachi flicked his finger and the compressed ball of fire flew back towards the bat creature at twice the previous speed.

For the first time in it's egregiously long life, the bat made a pitiful sound as it watched the attack that was drastically more powerful than it's own fly towards it.

"Awro?"

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!

For the first time in a year, an explosion temporarily lit up the sky and turned it as bright as the day, and the banshee class nightmare plummeted from the sky into the lake- missing it's entire upper body.

As the creature reached it's final resting place, Malachi looked down at his hands like he was having some sort of epiphany.

He placed a hand over his chest and he felt something that he hadn't felt in a very long time.

A heartbeat.

As his eyes went wide, he assessed his body and powers in an instant.

Once again, his body was flesh and blood, albeit a very... very...strong version.

His blessings were gone as well as all of the elemental powers that came with them.

However, he still had monstrously enhanced strength, speed, senses, flight, and telekinesis.

The one special ability he had left was the absolute force manipulation that he had stolen from Lucifer but even that seemed to have been... altered.

For some reason it was drastically easier to use than before... it didn't even require half as much concentration.

The strange black and red energy that he could now produce from his body helped to act a bit like a conduit to provide greater control and power.

"I wonder if..."

Using a bit of this new internal energy of his, Malachi reached into the shadows at his feet once again.

This time, he was able to open them and crafted clothes made from their darkness just like he'd practiced in the underworld.

A sleeveless white tee that only barely covered his lower stomach, golden armbands around his powerful biceps and a pair of black pants with sandals.

Golden necklaces adorned his neck while matching the threads he had in his hair.

Now that he was dressed, he immediately started searching for the five connections within his mind.

Four were farther than others, but there was one that was a bit closer to his position; unmoving and asleep.

'Girls... please tell me that you can hear me.' He pleaded.

Much to his relief, he received responses immediately, and they all sounded like they were on the verge of tears.

Sei: 'H-Honey...?'

Bianca: 'T-This is really you, right... W-We aren't dreaming again..?!'

Luna: 'Oh my god... Oh my god...!'

Nadine: 'I-I was so scared, we thought that we would never...!'

Unconsciously, Malachi unclenched his chest as he let out a sigh of true, sweet relief.

'My loves.... You have no idea how glad I am to hear your voices right now...'