Coughing up what was likely a piece of a lung, I spat it out and away from me.

The piece of black gunk landed a few feet away, staining the pure gold tile. It was one of maybe a dozen pieces of myself I had spat up in just as many minutes.

I was sitting up against a huge pillar. One that felt cold. It, like everything else in this palace, was made of pure gold. I still didn't have much strength yet, so I didn't even think about getting up or doing anything. I just… sat here.

Even as hundreds of soldiers ran into the palace.

My mouth pooled with some blood again, but I didn't spit it out. I just allowed it to overflow, leaking out between my lips and teeth. It tasted funny, which told me another organ had just regenerated. In a few moments I'd be spitting that one out too.

"Lord Vim!"

Coughing, I glanced to my right and watched one of the commander's of this battle take to the air. She flew over to me, landing a few feet away with a bit of ungracefullness as she hurried to take off her heavy helmet.

"You did it…!" she said happily as her wings flapped and folded up. She stepped over to me, kneeling down next to me as she placed a hand on my shoulder.

She looked worried, and that worried expression made her look rather cute. Though I knew better than to ever say such a thing. This bat was adorable, but she'd rip even my face off if I told her so to her face.

Taking a small breath, I went to tell Nectar that she needed to go secure the god's body before it faded away. But I wasn't able to get a single word out as I instantly had a coughing fit.

Nectar grabbed firm hold of my shoulder as I coughed up another piece of flesh. I spat it out, but this one landed on my lap instead of elsewhere.

"Steady," Nectar worriedly said, but knew better than to think I was actually in danger. She, like Kriss and the rest, had been serving under me for hundreds of years.

"God," I got a single word out, as my chest began to tingle and feel funny. Stuff was healing well, just slowly.

"Already got them harvesting it, Lord Vim," Nectar said with a nod.

Did she…? The body was behind this pillar, wasn't it…? Yet she had flown over to me, having entered from that side of the building…

Ah, no matter. It's not like we haven't done this dozens of times now. They knew what they were supposed to do.

Coughing some more, I nodded weakly. I wanted to thank her, and ask about casualties and other things, but my mouth was once again filling up with blood.

"Sheesh… You okay? Anything I can do, Lord?" Nectar asked worriedly as she watched a bunch of blood sputter out from my mouth.

I shook my head. I was fine, just healing. The damned god in her final moments had done something I should have expected, but hadn't. She had casted her ability inward, onto herself, just as I was ripping out her heart.

"Still… I can't believe she turned all this to gold. You should see the outside, Lord Vim, even the trees had turned to gold. Even the birds sitting on their branches!" Nectar said, speaking with a hint of awe. She stood a little, looking around at all the gold everywhere.

Very little of this building had been gold before I had arrived. During the battle though that had changed. And in fact, was the same reason I was now struggling so badly.

This god had only one real ability. And it had been a slightly simple one. She had called it Midas Touch, which I had scoffed at. I hated hearing of the same legends and stories from them as I had from my parents growing up. It was just a constant reminder, and I hated it.

But my hate hadn't stopped her ability. For as simple as it had been, able to turn anything she touched to gold, it had also been… very potent.

Luckily thanks to my blessings, I had resisted most of her attacks and attempts of turning me into gold. But during her last moment, as I ripped her heart from her chest… she had somehow found a way around my parent's blessings. By casting her ability on herself, on her heart, right as I took ownership of it had somehow allowed her ability to actually work on me. If even for a moment.

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My whole body had turned to gold. And of course, my own abilities wouldn't allow that. But changing something on a molecular level was not easy. Nor was it painless.

It took time. Time and…

"Look even the bugs are gold!"

Coughing, I turned my head a little to look at Nectar. She was kneeling down a little bit away, staring at the ground. Likely at ants or something. I watched the way her huge ears fluttered as she spoke. She always has had a childish side to her. It was why I found her adorable. Though of course, the bat didn't like being seen as adorable. Though I never could understand why.

Coughing again, I found I had enough strength to lift my arm. I went to wiping my mouth on my forearm, though it barely did anything. What little blood and gunk I could wipe off was just replaced by more.

"Ah… want me to clean you up, Lord?" Nectar noticed what I was doing and hurried back over to me. She didn't hesitate to rip off a piece of her shirt and go to wiping my face off for me.

She was quick about it, and gentle, but fussed in a way only a winged-creature could. She kept wiping at the corners of my mouth as more and more blood seeped from it.

"Nectar…" I groaned her name, and coughed some more as I tried to gently wave her away.

"Ah…!" she didn't seem to understand my meaning though and instead went to patting my back. As if I was some child choking on food, or something.

Blasted bat. Her father had not been so fussy!

Although a little annoyed, I let it be. It wasn't as if she was actually being rude, after all.

Leaning back against the pillar, to stop her from patting my back needlessly, I nodded at her as one of her soldiers hurried over. The fellow winged man was not a bat, but some kind of crane. His wings were lithe and long.

"Commander…! Several of the monarch carcasses are already decomposing, permission to burn them?" he asked as he saluted her.

Nectar turned to look at the man, and at an angle I saw the way she frowned. "Didn't I order you to skin them before they did?" she asked.

Yes. I had ordered I too.

"Ah… well…" the man flinched as Nectar stood. Her leathery wings fluttered in anger as she stepped forward and started chastising the soldier. She wasted no time barking more orders, ones that were heard by many of the other nearby soldiers. They all ran off in a hurry, to obey.

Watching her huff at them, I felt a small bit of relief.

She may not have inherited all of her father's traits… but at least she had inherited his good ones.

Unlike her, whose arms were detached from her wings, her father had been more non-human. He had not only had combined arms and wings, he had also been born not with human feet but claws.

Nectar was, like many children being born now, more human than her parents. They were still far from being human, of course, but it almost felt as if every few generations now a trait was being lost to evolution.

A stark warning that I needed to focus more on them than I had been.

But what could I do about it…? What could be done?

It wasn't as if I could just snap my fingers and adjust their very genes or anything… and even if I could, that'd be going against all I stood for.

Sighing as I felt the tingling and burning come to an end inside me, telling me my healing was mostly finished, I went to stand up.

I did so with a little bit of wobbliness, to which Nectar immediately noticed and hurried over to help me. She wrapped a strong arm around me, under my own, and helped me to my feet.

"Sorry, Sir, I really had given the orders properly…!" Nectar said worriedly, likely thinking I had stood because I was upset over people not doing their job.

"Fine. Tis' fine…" I waved her worries away. It wasn't fine, actually. We needed as much resources we could for our war against the other remaining gods… but it wasn't as if I'd actually punish anyone for it. This god, this gold making one, had dozens of monarchs protecting her. I had not expected us to be able to gather all of their materials in time before they decayed anyway.

No matter…

Nectar helped me step away from the pillar. Several nearby soldiers noticed and stood at attention, but I ignored them as we rounded the pillar to see the other side of it.

The building beyond the huge golden pillar was destroyed. Collapsed. The sunset sky was visible, and a half burning city of glistening gold lay just beyond the broken walls of the palace.

Some soldiers were kneeling nearby. Hovering over a corpse. A woman draped in gold cloth, which defied the natural. They were hurriedly cutting away pieces of cloth and flesh, doing all they could to gather up as much of the god's corpse before it could wilt away.

"Again, Lord Vim… congratulations. Another god dead!" Nectar said happily, praising me.

"Hm."

I accepted the praise, since it was indeed praiseworthy.

But I knew better than to get all excited.

After all… she was just one of many. And she had been an easy one.

Abandoned by her fellows. Left behind like a sacrifice as they fled. Treating me like nothing more than a savaging wolf, capable of being distracted.

And it had worked.

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