Blessed by Night

He, Arias, and Morgan all were being targeted by specially designed cybernetic beings designed to counter their specific sets of abilities.

If the trio of primordial blessed were hailed as the Three Living Gods, then their antithesis would be Three Living Weapons.

This was actually the first time that Malachi had actually run into his, but he remembered the story Morgan told when he came back from a mission with his unit one day.

He was cleaning fire retardant out of places that no man should ever find it.

But he also explained that the worst part of the battle was that if you didn\'t beat the robots quickly, then you ran the risk of creating a bigger problem for yourself later.

The visor that these government sanctioned science projects wore acted as a recording device.

Any and all data captured during the fight was sent back to headquarters, so that if the unit failed, they could analyze, reassess, and if necessary, upload the data to a new host.

Malachi didn\'t know how to feel now that the government had sunk quite a great deal of currency into killing him. In a way, it boosted his self esteem a bit.

"How much time we got left?"

"I\'d say about five minutes." Aisha answered.

"Don\'t be out here taking your time now."

"Yea, yea."

Malachi hurled a single iklwa at the cybernetic monstrosity faster than the human eye could see.

There was a loud clanging noise and his blade went flying into the air where it was caught by Aisha.

She leapt out of the sky and attacked the cyborg from behind while Malachi engaged it from the front.

A second iklwa appeared in Malachi\'s hand.

While Aisha went high, he went low.

The cyborg put all of it\'s focus into it\'s processors to prepare for the fight of his life.

- New York

"It\'s strange no matter how many times I think about it…"

"What you talking about, cheeto-head?"

Morgan felt a vein bulge in his head uncontrollably. But he\'d been dealing with this kind of nonsense for about two months now and he was getting used to controlling himself when agitated.

He turned his gaze from the large window overlooking the city and glanced at Arias.

As always, the golden haired avatar was seated behind his desk while signing a stack of papers.

…He was, of course, in his pajamas again. But as I said, Morgan had learned to ignore that little idiosyncratic tendency.

"Living here… It really hits home that the world isn\'t at all like it was before. When my wives and I walk on the street, I still get stared at, but I feel more like a politician than a celebrity… it\'s new for me." He said.

Arias paused in the middle of signing his signature on a new document.

His tone became slightly less humorous and more noble. Like a dignified aristocrat.

"You\'re finally starting to see it then. The real purpose behind why we were given these powerful gifts and extraordinary abilities.

It\'s not to make television appearances, sell action figures, or act as meat shields against monsters.

We work to bring about true change here, Morgan. The kind we should have been pursuing all along."

Morgan stared at Arias for a long time.

Eventually, his thoughts spilled from his lips without him even realizing it.

"Sometimes, I do think you may have been a good man at some point, Arias. I spend a lot of time wondering exactly what could have happened to twist you into this man I\'ve come to know."

Arias smirked humorously and just went back to signing papers.

"A pity… My story isn\'t all that original. Hence the reason why I don\'t like to tell it.. No one likes teenage tragedies after all."

Morgan knew Arias well enough to know that he wasn\'t going to get anymore than this out of him.

It was a pity, because Morgan had developed quite the listening ear as he\'d grown older.

"Now go get me a sandwich, bitch."

"Do you think I work for you, motherfucker!?"

A wave of heat washed over the room just as the door to the office finally opened.

When a familiar duo passed through the door, their argument promptly ceased.

Arias\' cheeks ballooned and his entire face turned a very unhealthy shade of red.

"…HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!"

Malachi felt his irritation soar unnecessarily.

"Lad… What exactly happened to you?" Morgan covered his mouth.

"That boy got grill marks on his face!!" Arias fell out of his chair laughing; taking all of the papers on his desk with him.

Now, even Morgan was doubled over as he tried, and failed, to maintain his professionalism.

In their defense, it was a pretty difficult sight to remain stone-faced in front of.

Malachi\'s face did bear sharp looking lines across it that looked like cuts from a flaming knife.

It turned out that the strange purple glow the cyborg\'s blades were projecting was extremely concentrated UV light.

And Malachi, who was mostly made from sentient darkness, was slightly allergic to such a thing.

Hence the reason why his face now looked like a handsome T-bone steak.

Aisha also had a few cuts, but due to the nature of her enemy, hers were understandably healing a lot faster.

"Yea, yea, go ahead and laugh it up, you bastards. Don\'t worry, I\'m not injured or anything." Mal rolled his eyes.

"I\'m sorry, I\'m sorry…" Arias crawled out from behind his desk, completely out of breath and with his hair strewn all across his face.

"I do have… just one question though… Are you okay?"

"…I\'m fine, Arias. Don\'t need you to-"

"That\'s a shame, cause I thought I ordered you well done! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

Arias went back to rolling around on the ground in a childish fit of laughter. Even Morgan soon crumbled and joined him.

The last piece to fall was Aisha, who coincidentally, needed help standing up from the very person whom she was laughing at.

Malachi eventually just let her fall and left the office entirely. He didn\'t almost die to put up with shit like this.

\'I just want to go see my family…\'