Good morning, I am Masika and this is the Egyptian News Network. We’re now back to talking about the disaster that befell Egypt in the last month, and it seems our investigation team has uncovered crucial information about the central events that unfolded during that catastrophic period.
Kurou Yamada, 32, is an American citizen of Japanese descent who worked at Trust International, a multinational company. For most of his life, Kurou kept a low profile and the only thing his family could say about him was that he was short-fused and gave little importance to social conventions. He had few girlfriends, and their relationships lasted just as little as his employment contracts.
According to testimonies from the airline and the black box hearing, when flying from the US to France on a commercial flight, for unknown reasons, the pilot changed the route and headed for Africa. The co-pilot and the stewards tried to convince him that he was being pigheaded, but he simply threw them all out of the cockpit, threatening them with violence and saying that he was going to fire them.
Busy with the pilot who seemed out of his mind, the flight crew didn't seem to realize that a fire had started in one of the bathrooms, and after much screaming and despair, all that was heard was an explosion and the terrible sight that the world witnessed in the desert of Egypt, with the hundreds of victims scattered across the wide area where the plane crashed.
The Egyptian Police and the Military from several countries tried to approach the place in Cairo where giant creatures were fighting and destroying everything around them. Military planes and helicopters were taken down before they could even fire, and the area around the city was rendered absolutely impassable by the flooding and destruction of the land.
Some cameras have managed to capture live footage and many still refuse to believe they are real. Images show a monster over 10 meters tall fighting a gigantic snake. In the midst of the chaos, none other than Kurou Yamada, one of the victims of the Airbus A321 accident, was spotted. The footage clearly demonstrates Kurou fighting the gigantic serpent, which has been dividing viewers. Some see the man as a kind of savior, fighting evil in a surprisingly supernatural world. Others consider him a vandal who is doing nothing other than causing destruction on Egypt and its ancient wonders.
Our team of reporters has been trying to get closer to the area where these spectacular events are taking place, but the destruction caused by the supernatural beings is far too great for us to be able to take the risk. From what can be observed, not even the most modern and well-armed military planes and helicopters were successful in trying to approach the creatures, and many fatal casualties have happened.
We'll get back to this subject as soon as our team provides us with news on the matter.
***
Kurou didn't want to imagine what would have happened if Ammit had hit him with its bite.
The mythological aberration looked at him with savage hunger, which, added to his outsized bearing, caused even the heir of Egypt to shudder.
But Kurou didn't have a second to spare. The safety of Hatshepsut and Harakhty were top priority now, and only after they were clear of the battleground, would Kurou be allowed to unleash his full power.
Set, malevolent and ignominious as he was, caught wind of such vulnerability, and combined forces with the crocodile monster in order to distract Kurou.
The god of storms launched himself against Hatshepsut, obviously knowing that Kurou would intervene and give him the opening to counterattack and throw him straight into Ammit's jaws.
However, Kurou had seen that move before. Apep managed to hurt Osiris with such a trick. So Kurou went full unpredictable in order to catch Set off-guard.
By concentrating his now godly power into his fist, he slammed the ground explosively, and the shock sent everyone flying, friend or foe.
Kurou knew it wouldn't be enough to harm any of them - except maybe Harakhty - but he had predicted such a possibility and teleported towards him, cushioning his fall.
He glanced at Hatshepsut to make sure she was okay. She shot him a cold glare, showing that she was not very happy at being thrown away inadvertently.
Nevertheless, she was seemingly unharmed. A woman of fiber, one could say.
A lot angrier was Set, upset that both his attack and strategy had failed.
The god of storms needed Ammit to participate in this battle, as the monster was probably the only one who could harm Kurou now. The Post-Mortal had undergone some kind of epiphany, and all the godly potential he had been granted by Osiris and Amon-Ra had now turned into an irresistible force, even for a God.
But that didn’t mean Kurou would wait for Set to build his strategy.
He needed to kill the god of storms quickly, before he could harm anyone and also before Ammit had a chance at gnawing his heart out.
Originally, the battle between Set and Horus had been called the Sacred Drama in the myths, and it went in...exotic ways. Kurou didn't know a lot about it and didn't have the chance of learning more since the Temple of Edfu got destroyed. In other circumstances, Kurou could have just grabbed his cell phone and found all he wanted in the language he knew best.
But now, in the middle of a city-wrecking battle, all he could do was fight the way he learned. The hard way, that is.
So he decided to accept whatever pain he had coming for him, all towards the goal of slaying that piece of crap of a monster.
"Hat, I'm gonna need your help here", he said, nodding towards Harakhty. "Get him to safety while I fight these two".
"Dammit Kurou!", Hatshepsut shouted. "I want to fight!".
"Quickly! Wanna risk an innocent's life now?", Kurou retorted, to what Hatshepsut sighed heavily and proceeded to retrieve Harakhty's unconscious body and retreat away from the area.
The first thing Kurou would have to deal with, and quickly, was Ammit. The fierce creature wouldn’t leave him alone and was probably the greatest threat he could have to face even with the combined powers of Osiris and Amon-Ra.
Although powerful and big, Ammit was still a wild beast. Dodging its straightforward attacks was easy for someone as fast as Kurou, but the crocodile-hybrid monster wasn’t alone, so Kurou had to be quick so as to avoid being cornered.
Summoning the power of Amon-Ra, Kurou raised his hand towards the Sun and it shone intensely, effectively blinding everyone. Taking advantage of such an opportunity, Kurou leapt in the monster’s direction and kicked it in the back, causing it to scream in pain. In order to keep Ammit restrained, Kurou made use of his newfound strength to pick up a big boulder and drop it on top of the creature.
"All right then. It's time for the showdown!", Kurou said, darting towards Set.
The Egyptian God was furious at how he was sent flying with just the shockwave from Kurou's ground slam, and even more outraged at the way the Post-Mortal easily manipulated sunlight, and seemed to forget for a moment that Kurou had impossible regenerative powers.
With great speed and strength, Set attacked the Post-Mortal with his scepter, which he blocked with the side of his forearm. Suffering through the pain of a snapped bone, Kurou grabbed the scepter with his other hand and pulled it towards himself, causing Set to be pulled as well. Kurou then clenched his fist and punched Set with such force that several of the god's teeth were broken. He fell to the ground as if hit by a wrecking ball, and raised his monstrous hand towards his bleeding mouth.
"Damn you, vermin...how is your arm healed after getting hit by me? And how did you become so powerful?", Set said.
"By overcoming hell, or whatever you wanna call it", Kurou answered, walking towards the god. "And it's your turn to spend some time there, Set. Does ‘for eternity’ sound good to you?".
“You cannot kill me, Post-Mortal. I’m a force of nature! I’m violence incarnat…”.
Before Set could finish speaking, Kurou teleported face-to-face with him and punched him so hard in the stomach that his insides exploded. Set’s eyes went wide in surprise and he felt dizzy instantly.
“Unbelievable…a mere human like you…cannot…”, Set said, his voice losing strength until his body went numb and he fell to the ground with a heavy thump.
“This was quite anti-climactic, but I don’t care”, Kurou said to himself, looking at Set’s lifeless body, laughing a little. “I’ve lost too much to care about having an epic fight. It’s time we end this Egyptian nightmare”.
“Such wise words, coming from a human who has lived so little”, a voice said, sending a chill down Kurou's spine. He turned around and saw the figure of a winged woman with an ostrich feather tied to her head. He immediately recognized her.
“Ma’at”.
“You have done well”, she said. “The Rebirth, an unfortunate event which should have never happened, took its toll on this country, and I’m glad it’s now over”.
“What do you mean?”, Kurou asked, frowning. “How do you know the Rebirth is over?“.
Kurou heard Hatshepsut’s voice in the distance and watched her run towards him.
“What’s going on? Is that Ma’at? Are you okay?”, she asked, panting.
“It’s all right. But Ma’at is saying the Rebirth is over like it was some isolated event”, Kurou said. “I really don’t understand what she means by that”.
Before he and Hatshepsut could say anything else, Ma’at darted towards Hatshepsut with blinding speed and pierced her with a spear that seemed to appear out of thin air.
“HATSHEPSUT!”, Kurou screamed, catching her as Ma’at removed the spear from her body.
“Kurou…”, Hatshepsut muttered. “That’s how it’s supposed to be. This is not my world anymore, it’s your world”. She coughed heavily and her wound hurt immensely, causing her to moan loudly.
“You don’t have to die. YOU DON’T HAVE TO DIE!”, Kurou shouted. “We can make it work, stay with me, Hat!”.
“I’m sorry, Kurou…I really wanted to…stay with you…”, she said, her eyes losing their sparkle until her body felt heavy and motionless.
Kurou’s eyes watered and he put her body down carefully, his eyes fixed on her face. As he stood up, his expression changed completely as he stared at Ma’at with uncontrollable fury.
“I WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU!”, he screamed and attacked her with his khopesh, hitting nothing but air. Ma’at gave him nothing but a light smile.
“What the hell is going on? Why is this happening?”, Kurou asked, confused.
“You still don’t understand who I am, Post-Mortal? I am Ma’at. I’m not bound by the rules of flesh, like you are. I’m a principle, a concept, as your human languages could best describe. You can’t hit me with a weapon made of iron or steel or any other earthly material for that matter”.
“This is not fair. Why do you make me go through all this? Why did you choose me for this?”, Kurou asked, with his hands on his head.
“Someone had to deal with the Rebirth, and you were chosen. I won’t lie to you, Kurou, you were chosen for a reason. Every other god lied to you up to this point”.
“Why don’t I feel surprised”, Kurou said, disgusted.
“The reason is that…you had nothing to lose. I knew you wouldn’t try to leave this place after obtaining Post-Mortality because, honestly, you had nowhere to go. I know about your family, your work, your problems. I know everything”, Ma’at said.
“So you knew I could end up making friends or developing feelings for someone here in this country, and you didn’t even care if such person was destined to die soon”, he said, gritting his teeth.
“That’s rather insignificant compared to the balance of this world, Post-Mortal. Your human relations are of no concern to me”, she said, coldly.
“No concern, huh…”, Kurou mumbled, his eyes burning with rage.
In a flash, Kurou appeared beside Ammit, still struggling to break free from the boulder he got buried under, and pulled the khopesh from his waist.
“What are you doing, Post-Mortal?”, Ma’at asked, her eyes filled with concern.
Kurou ignored her and plunged his khopesh into Ammit’s skull, provoking a shrill scream from the creature as it fruitlessly tried to escape.
“STOP!”, Ma’at yelled, to which Kurou responded only with a sarcastic grin.
“If you kill that creature, you will doom Egypt for eternity!”, she shouted.
“Then let it burn”, Kurou said, twisting his sword and causing Ammit to scream even louder, until the creature stopped moving and finally went silent.
“There you go. NOW the Rebirth is officially over”, Kurou said, throwing his sword on the ground.
“You reckless, useless vagabond", Ma'at said, suddenly appearing in front of Kurou and putting her palm on his chest. Kurou felt it burning as all the godlike energy he had gathered escaped from his body and dissipated into thin air. He fell to his knees from a sudden fatigue he had not felt for a long time.
“You eliminated my tool for the Weighing of the Heart; your purpose was to defeat the evil gods and kill all Pharaohs, and nothing else. Now look what you have done...", Ma'at said, enraged.
"Serves you well, goddess", Kurou said, maliciously, without raising his head. "That's what happens when deities treat humans as tools".
“Even if you have killed Ammit, there's still a way for me to make you pay", Ma'at said, raising a hand that created a sand swirl, revealing Anubis, in his real form.
"Riddle! I missed you, ma boi", Kurou said and coughed heavily, looking at the fearsome jackal God with an ugly but honest smile.
“Inpu, I order you to take this man to Duat and leave him there for eternity", Ma'at said gravely, pointing towards Kurou. Anubis just looked at them, impassive.
“What are you waiting for, Inpu? I'm giving you an order. Do it!", Ma'at yelled, increasingly nervous. Anubis looked at her with cold, ruthless eyes and spoke with a deep, resounding voice.
"I'm tired of you, Ma'at".
“What? What did you just say? HOW DARE YOU?", Ma'at screamed.
"Don't make me repeat myself. I won't hurt this human, nor will I obey any of your orders. I don't want to be your tool anymore", Anubis said.
“That man has just eliminated the Weighing of the Heart! He destroyed our purpose, and you are going to let him be?", Ma'at asked.
"He never asked for any of that. It's your fault for asking me to watch over him, Ma'at. I ended up learning more than you would want me to", Anubis retorted.
“The time will come when all who disrupted the balance of the world will pay. And you, Post-Mortal, don't expect to have a happy life just because Ammit is not here anymore. Eternal life, if anything, is a curse", Ma'at said while grimacing, and disappeared with a flash.
Kurou looked at Anubis, trying to understand what had just happened.
"You are an interesting human, Kurou Yamada. We will probably never meet again, but if that day ever comes, please refrain from calling me 'ma boi' or I will personally rip your heart off in ways not even Ammit could".
Kurou smirked in a melancholic way as he saw Anubis parting ways. They had been a nice duo, at least until the Egyptian God was separated from him. He had made nice memories of their time together and remembering them was already quite nostalgic. But then Kurou looked at Hatshepsut's lifeless body, lying on the ground. With a heavy heart and watered eyes, he caught her body in his arms and walked towards her tomb, widely known as Djeser-Djeseru.
After saying his goodbyes, Kurou looked towards the blue Egyptian sky, feeling just as alone as he was in the beginning of his journey. He could only hope Harakhty was doing fine, but he had no intention of going after him. All in all, Kurou was a loner, and Post-Mortal or not, that probably would never change.
What really changed was Egypt, in ways that could never be repaired. Some would blame those changes on Kurou, others would blame the Gods; none of them would really understand the truth. They couldn't stand the truth - that humans and Gods are nothing but each other's tools, and acknowledging that fact is the only way to escape becoming one.
