Later That Morning...

"Where am I?" thought Vincent upon wakening.

It appeared to be he was in some sort of cabin, perfectly decorated with lots of plantation of different colors and shapes and sizes. The potent botanic fragrance would make one believe they were in a greenhouse or a garden, or more accurately, a forest. He looked down at where he was lying to find he was on a pure white cotton couch, but not like a typical one that could be found in a furniture store; this couch felt like natural cotton, as if it was straight from cotton plants, but was complexly sown into a suitable seat.

"Good morning, Vincent." Geo walked in, holding a red serving tray with bowls, plates, and cups.

Vincent straightened to sit up while Geo set the food on the wooden center table that had a tabletop of interwoven vines. The cabin had open windows everywhere, and a light breeze brushed Vincent's cheek, noticing a cold spot by his lip. He passed his wrist over it and realized he was drooling in his slumber.

"Have you ever heard of the Amazon Rainforest?" asked Geo, noticeably tan and dark-eyed and dark-haired as he sat down on a wooden rocking chair across from Vincent.

"Uh, I think so. Hey, you look Spanish now!" said Vincent.

"Well, we're in the Amazon, South America."

"I like your house...Oh, I'm sorry Mr. Geo!"

Geo and Vincent had just noticed the stain on the white couch from Vincent's sneakers.

"Oh, no worries. That's my fault for not taking them off for you, beforehand. And, please, just call me Geo!" he dismissed.

He waved his hand and the dirt rose from the fabric into specs of dust, and Geo threw it out a nearby window.

"Whoa. You're so cool!" gasped Vincent.

"You're pretty cool yourself! Eat now, we have a long day ahead of us." replied Geo, cutting into his fried egg.

"What's happening today?"

"I'm going to give you a tour around the forest. And, maybe even teach you some cool tricks I know."

Vincent nodded excitedly, stuffing his bacon in his mouth and readying his next spoon of scrambled eggs. There was suddenly a deep purr in the room. Vincent's eyes flicked around the cabin, but there was only Geo who continued eating normally.

"Was that you?" said Vincent.

"No, that was Bruna." Geo calmly replied.

"Bruna?"

A sharp roar sounded and a golden jaguar leapt over Geo and next to the center table. Landing in a bowed position to observe Vincent.

Vincent dropped his fork and scurried to the far end of the sofa, "What the barnacle is that?!" he shouted.

"Hey, hey, easy Vince! She won't hurt you. Aqui, Bruna." Geo addressed the jaguar in Portuguese.

The jaguar, Bruna, rose up and serenely went over to Geo, flicking its tail when he pet her head.

"You have a pet jaguar?!" Vince bursted.

"Well, if you call her that, then you might as well call all of the wildlife my 'pets.' But no, I allow any living organism into my domain. A cobra can come in and sleep on my bed for all I care! Bruna visits me more often though." explained Geo.

Bruna walked away for a moment then came back carrying a jaguar cub in her mouth and another one walking by her side. Bruna then placed the cub beside Geo. A look of concern fell on the Guardian's face as he scooped up the fluffy blue-eyed cub.

"This is Milena, and that one beside her mother is Luana." introduced Geo.

"Why did you look at it that way?"

"'Her,' Vincent. It's a 'her.' It seems Milena here is very sick." said Geo, changing Milena into a cradle position.

Despite this news, Milena was still trying to nibble on Geo's fingers. Geo chortled, poking the cub on the nose. Bruna let out a rough growl at Milena to stop her, but Geo shushed her as sign that it was OK. The cub proceeded to nip, so Geo stuck three fingers in Milena's mouth to clamp the jaw and placed his other hand between her ears, then closed his eyes. After a moment, the cub froze for a bit, then stopped nibbling on Geo entirely and rolled off him, appearing more energetic. Milena pounced on Luana and the siblings started playing on the floor.

"And now she's all better." Geo smiled.

"Whoa, you can heal like my Daddy too? I just found out I can heal too. Well, only myself, I can't do other people yet." said Vincent.

"Well, finish eating so I can teach you!"

"Really?! OK!" he rambled, going back to his plate, realizing he dropped his fork.

Bruna let out a small roar and the cubs ceased in playing to follow their mother out the entrance.

"Tchau, Bruna. Here, let me get you another fork, Vince." Geo arose to go back to the kitchen.

Meanwhile...

"I need to keep moving." Nathan muttered, holstering his Blazers after his tenth dispute of the day with several more demons.

He took a running start, then hopped off the city building to fly to the skies. The streets were empty, in which everyone was most likely at home committing their Sin. He no longer had the worry of his wife or son's safety as they were now in better hands. With this, Nathan took the opportunity to take a tour of his own for any trouble. He believed he was no longer in the the same state as the one he lived in, but chose to have no specific direction, as trouble could be anywhere, and as long as he served his purpose to protect his world. A duty like this also included flying and fighting for nine hours straight, going in random directions, and barely allowing time to heal. There was a war coming, and he needed to minimize as much harm as possible.

Nathan's wings suddenly felt like they were heavy. He pushed through it, working his wings harder. As soon as he gained his desired air and altitude again, a cramp in his right wing flared up. Nathan uncontrollably dipped to the right in cause of this, trying to flap his wing against the pain, but then the other wing gave out too. Before Nathan could even notice, he wound up awkwardly crashing neck-first onto the sidewalk.

"That was pleasing..." he grumbled, popping his neck as he stood up and his flexible wings folded back into his body.

"I've never felt so shitty before." he commented, catching one of his own feathers from the air, then releasing it into the wind.

Nathan went for a step forward to continue his journey, but a familiar feeling halted him. He listened to his instincts and rotate around, already a hand on one of his guns.

"Kunt almawt. You're dying!" said the blue demon ahead with a heavy Arabic accent.

Nathan knew this demon very well, as it wasn't any generic one, it was a lord. The deep blue skin, large downward-curved horns, and scruffy black hair that connected to the medium goatee through just as thick sideburns. A large pug nose, large pointed ears, menacing black eyes, and wearing nothing but a short brown robe bottom.

This was the King Of Jahannam, Islamic jinn: Iblis.

"Husnana, 'ana last maytana hataa alan. Well, I'm not dead yet." Nathan shot back, flipping out his dual chrome weapons at Iblis.

"Ahh, you still speak Arabic? Good. I remember you were a little demon boy the last time I saw you." laughed Iblis.

"I'm not that same boy anymore."

"I sure hope Satan kills you. A traitor like you doesn't deserve such a powerful entity like The Black Phoenix."

"What's he offering you for your assistance?"

"Power, of course!"

"You fool, his own power is crossing into every religion! He's belittling you, using you!"

"You think me a fool?! 'Ahmaq?! Your disrespect will be costly!"

"[Come then,-] Taeal thum, I'm quite willing to pay up."

The lean-cut demon drove a blazing fist below him, and right below Nathan, a combustion of inferno was summoned, but Nathan evaded right over it with a handless cartwheel. Upon landing, Nathan was already pulling the trigger at Iblis. To his dismay, the first two bullets missed and the rest had no target as Iblis had vanished.

"My aim is off, damn it...And so are my reflexes." he told himself, scuffing the fire off his hair.

There was a sharp cackle behind him, but he was slow to turn around as he was met with a spine-snapping kick by Iblis, launching Nathan through a further streetlight pole. Nathan bellowed and cursed and blood trickled from his mouth like a faucet upon landing, with his chest pressed against the broken metallic pole. He tried to stand, but now realized he was paralyzed, so instead rolled off onto the side of the road.

"Fuck! I can't move!" he wheezed.

He only lifted an arm, but that enough to make him cry out in pain again. Iblis reappeared beside Nathan with an abnormally wide, yellow-toothed grin. He lifted a foot and violently planted it on Nathan's sternum, adding pressure to the back and increasing the heavy flow of his blood loss. Iblis snickered, leaning his leg against a powerless Nathan who howled and choked on his own blood.

"What's wrong? Too weak to transform?" mocked Iblis.

Iblis continued to laugh at Nathan's suffering, until a pebble caught his eye. Not a regular pebble from the ground, but one that was ascending in front of his gruesome face. Then another flew up, then another. The whole ground started to rumble now beneath them. Iblis released his foot and glanced around, but when his eyes met Nathan, he was appalled. Nathan's eyeballs were already violet and a black aura engulfed him.

Iblis stepped back from Nathan as the ground quaked harder, but even more to his surprise, he felt something fiercely gore him from the side and knock him into a clothing store. The demon quickly recovered to a roll and used his clawed feet and hands to stop him from sliding any further, but was met with a thick rope constricting around his neck like a lasso.

Nathan levitated upright from the ground to a stand, but his eyes flickered from violet, to normal, to violet momentarily, and his aura became vague, feeling much weaker than he should when transformed. He looked to his chubby, blue-skinned savior riding a brown bull.

The figure's white teeth showed under his coarse black mustache, "Hello, Nathan! It's been some time, huh?"

Nathan chuckled and bowed to the Hindu God Of Death.

He returned to normal, unable to sustain The Black Phoenix, "Good to see you too, Yama."

"You don't look so well, you should rest. Let The Black Phoenix rest too. You've done too much good already, Nathan." advised Yama, keeping Iblis in his lasso.

"Thank you, I appreciate it."

"Ah, this is nothing! I'll take care of this damned Iblis for you! Goodbye now!"

Yama jerked Iblis closer and skewered the Islamic demon into his bull's horns. They sunk underground in a pool of lava, back to Yama's realm of Naraka.

The Black Phoenix boosted Nathan's healing, so he was now able to stand on his own with slight struggle. As soon as he tested his ability to walk, an excruciating and sharp force pierced his spin again to pin him down to the rigid ground once more. The weapon burned him in addition to the severed spine, giving away who the attacker was.

"Talk about backstabbing." Satan guffawed.

His pitchfork glowed violet now as he was draining life from Nathan once more. Nathan clawed at the asphalt, trying to fight back, but was overwhelmed with Satan's pure strength. He couldn't move, he couldn't fight back; for once, he knew he couldn't win. He grew light-headed throughout the process, and the world seemed to tilt and turn and warp the more he wanted to focus. He finally shut his eyes, submitting to the inescapable. Without Nathan's willpower, Satan could complete his task more efficiently.

Just then, the sun was noticeably blocked, casting a huge shadow over the area. Satan peered up and instantaneously, a white lightning bolt zapped through his body and blasted him away to undraw his pitchfork from Nathan. Satan used his bat-like wings to break his momentum and land into a fighting stance, scouting around for his new opposer. A nearby fire hydrant suddenly bursted open and water vigorously streamed out. It then curved up on its own and molded into a man. The figure's physical features then formed on this blob, revealing a shirtless, but muscular old man wearing a scaly shamrock green armor on only his legs, and held a symbolic trident that matched the crown on his short and curly silver hair.

"Leave him be or face me, Satan!"

"Fire versus Water. How cliché, Poseidon."

Poseidon charged forward with his weapon and swung at Satan, but Satan deflected it with a quick twirl of his own. The two saw an opening on the other and thrusted forward at each other, but they wound up colliding together, trident on trident. They pushed against each other with all their might as steam began to rise from the friction of their weapons rubbing and twisting together. Realizing the stalemate, they both released their weapons and gave space to one another.

Poseidon let out a chortle, circling Satan, "Breaking a deadlock without a cheap shot is quite honorable. Perhaps too honorable for the likes of you."

"You honestly think that low of me?...I'm flattered! Besides, unlike the Christian gods, you're experienced in battle; you would've saw it coming. I figured I'd play fair for now." grinned Satan.

"Hmph. Talk about a backstabbing."

Poseidon stuck the prongs of his trident into the street and Satan's smile turned into a grimace with the Sea God's words. Abruptly, Satan felt his body entrapped in levitation without his doing. A green energy sphere bloomed around him and went into a temporary paralysis.

"DAMN Y-" Satan snapped before the sphere collapsed inwards into nothing, disappearing with the latter.

"What took you so long, Anubis?" Poseidon addressed the dark and slender Jackal God far behind where Satan was.

"The intensity was gripping, I had to let it play on a bit longer! You two seem like you'd make a great battle! If the coliseums of ancient time still existed, I'd make sure you two competed."

"Easy, Anubis, this is no entertainment. Satan is much stronger than I remember. If you haven't arrived sooner, the confrontation would've escalated."

"That sounds exciting."

"How humorous you are..."

"What about Nathaniel? Should we take him?"

"Where? There's risk. If we take him, he's not serving his purpose and will revolt against us for that. If we leave him however, he will be vulnerable."

Anubis aimed his golden scepter at the inert and insensible Nathan. The eyes of the canine on the top of it dimly glowed in response.

"The Black Phoenix is weakened. The host and spirit require rest. Should we consult with Jehovah or Jesus?" suggested Anubis.

"The upper realms are sealed. Zeus is even forbidding Hermes from delivering messages." returned Poseidon.

"Even if I take him with me to Duat, Satan has effortless access to it- along with any other underworld for that matter."

"Enough, I will take him."

Poseidon and Anubis looked above and a man in a gray hoodie landed beside Nathan's body. The two knew exactly who it was.

"How can we trust you? You're the last to consider!" barked Poseidon.

The man's head focused passed Poseidon, to Anubis specifically. "I will not hurt him."

Anubis clapped his scepter on the ground, "Swear to Osiris!"

The man confidently grabbed Nathan and turned his shaded face to Anubis, "I swear to Osiris."

"Should you fail, I will not hesitate to make room for you in Duat."

"I understand, Lord Anubis."

*Mysterious, mysterious...Whoever this man is, has a respect for Anubis, or even Egyptians for that matter. But who? And why was Poseidon skeptical? Find out next time!

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