Apophis slowly opened his eyes to see both of his sisters looming over his head with worried looks on their faces.
His disorientation quickly gave way to plain confusion when he realized that he was lying on his back and staring up into the sky.
"What the hell is going on..?" He sat up.
""Brother!"" The twins knocked him right back down.
"W-Why are you two so-"
"No time, kids! Get to the plane and find cover!" Mateo warned.
He drew his weapon just as a hail of bullets started to pick apart the very place where he had told them to take cover.
Mateo used his magical talents to erect another barrier to protect everyone under his banner.
But this assault wasn't like the ones that came before.
These bullets passed right through Mateo's magical barrier and created utter hell for those inside.
With virtually nothing to impede them, the bullets traveled through tissue, bone, and sinew equally.
The only reason no one perished from this initial onslaught is because their reflexes were fast enough to get them all to cover quickly.
But even the golden Ziz was not unscathed this day.
He felt something running down his arm and looked down to find that his sleeve had been dyed a flaming red.
"How the f.."
A gust of wind blew past his vision and saw two figures moving at a blinding speed that would be difficult for most to manage.
Apophis and Mateo, seeing that magic did not work, both drew their weapons and started using their bodies to cut down the bullets before they could harm anyone else.
Even though such a thing took an immense amount of training and focus, the two still somehow had the wherewithal to make conversation.
"You're supposed to be recovering, niño!" Mateo yelled over the hail of gunfire.
"In a moment like this? My parents didn't raise me like that!" Apophis laughed back.
"Your parents are the reason I'm asking you to stand down! I know your mother well enough not to have a single doubt that she would skin me by my huevos if anything happened to you!"
"Then I guess you gotta make sure I don't get a scratch, huh??"
Despite clear nerves on this kid, Mateo couldn't help but find himself biting his own cheek so that he didn't smile.
There was finally a break in the gunfire from the jets.
As they passed overhead, Apophis parted his lips while Mateo held out his hands.
One unleashed a torrent of purple and gold lightning, and the other sent forth a great wave of ice.
But both of them were somewhat drowned out by the enormous tornadoes of flame that were sent forth from out of nowhere.
""..."" Mateo and Apophis both paused and glanced over their shoulders.
There, they could see a very irate looking Ziz wreathed in flame and the very picture of agitation.
"This... was my favorite sweater."
Ziz was royally upset, and rightfully so.
He stayed up here, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, minding his own damn business.
What possible reason could anyone have to want to kill him? There was none.
Which only meant the humans were doing something out of blind fucking greed.
Again.
And they cowered in fear as a result.
The largest living creature they had ever seen loomed above their heads in the sky.
It was exactly three hundred meters of scales, muscle, and anger.
The creature had the form of an unusually fearsome looking golden cobra. Glowing purple hieroglyphics started on both sides of it's hood and traveled all the way down it's body to the tip of it's tail.
It's eyes were a burning red color that betrayed it's carefully hidden ferocity.
A black forked tongue licked it's mighty jaws as if to savor the digestive process it was currently undergoing.
"... Cernunnos! Finally, it was killing me that I couldn't remember." Apophis nodded his head in satisfaction.
Everyone on the ground remained in awe. Too frightened out of their minds to make even a single move.
Except for Ziz, who gave Yemaya a small nudge.
"I know that's your brother, but I just wanted to say you have no idea how I-"
"Keep it to yourself, big guy. Just keep it to yourself."
"I'm just saying that..."
Yemaya stuck her fingers in her ears for what felt like a literal eternity.
And even when she took them out, Ziz was still talking.
-
With their plane as far from operational as it could get, Mateo's group had to be teleported home so that they could all get proper treatment.
Their wounds would heal in time, but for now they needed at least eight hours of rest before they could be ready to get out on their feet again.
Back at Mateo's base, Apophis was undergoing a full check-up by Mateo, the twins, and almost Ziz.
"For the last time, I said I'm fine! Better than fine in fact." Apophis said proudly.
Abaddon gave his eldest son the sin of gluttony not long ago.
So today, when he ate the body being possessed by Cernunnos, he gained both of their memories, as well as the god's divinities.
Making him a god of Magic, Poison, Gluttony, Beasts, Wild Places, The Hunt, and Fertility all in one fell swoop.
Right now he felt as if he'd just made out like a bandit.
But everyone else didn't seem to have such a lax attitude on the situation.
"I don't care what powers you got! You fainted, butthead!" Yemaja reminded.
"A-And you had a nosebleed..." Yemaya nodded.
Apophis scratched his cheek in embarrassment. "I'm sure it was just my blood sugar..?"
""DRAGONS AREN'T DIABETICS!!""
In fairness, if any of them were going to develop a lifestyle disease, it probably would have been Apophis.
Mateo sighed as he placed his hand on Apophis' shoulder.
"I'm sorry, míjo. Though I'm grateful for your help and the fact that you saved my life, I have to tell your father what happened. He'd be far too worried about you if he knew."
Apophis' face practically lost all of it's color. "W-Wait, you can't-" Find your next read at m-vl-em-pyr
*Knock, knock, knock!*
Just as Apophis was about to beg for them to keep his secret, a blonde visitor showed up at the door wearing an uncomfortable smile.
"I'm sorry... It seems I've come at a bad time."