He held his breath as it went in. Zarek held the blade there, unable to move, as the life of the man that he had once looked up to slowly drained. The blood and flown down the blade, onto Zarek's arm, and was now beginning to drip onto Zarek's cloths. Using his strength, he flipped Drew off of him, and layed him on the tile. He yanked the knife out of the wound, knowing that ther former hero was already dead. Exhausted, he leaned up against the nearest pillar, catching his breath. He whipped his own blood from his face, with his shirt. From the events prior, his shirt was now covered in blood. It reflected the intensity of the battle at hand, as well as the dreaded ending that had followed. It was a bit awkward sitting there attempting to regain yourself while a body lies next him. The body of Drew Stevenson. He was surprised that no one had come back yet. The guards must have heard something going on inside of the room, and the gods were more than likely watching the battle. Maybe the people actually wanted to be free from the reign of Drew Stevenson, thus, why they never came in to see if he needed any assisstance. An attempted assassination on the king normally wouldn't sit to well with the guards, but these ones didn't seem to care. Drew had enslaved them, so deep down, for all of these years, and they wanted someone else to ascend to the throne. There was just nobody powerful enough to do so. The thought that Zarek Lyle had returned to overthrow the king was their only hope.

He stood up, using the pillar as support and gazed around. Still there was nobody to be found, and here was their king laying in a pool of blood. Walking over to the throne, Zarek grabbed two items. The first was Drew's green cape that he had slung over the top of his throne. The second one one of the yellow flags that had been waving from the each side of the royal chair. He covered Drew's fallen body with the green cape, and layed the yellow flag next to him. No matter how things turned out, he had once fought along side this man, both as heroes. Drew had been a good man once, despite the turn of events later in his life. With that done, he slowly stepped towards the throne again. There was one more matter of buisness that he needed to attend to. The reason he was here, was to capture something his previous self was never able to grasp. Seeing it, he rested a hand on the massive golden belt, and brought it to his face. In it, he saw the reflection of a hero. Suddenly the two wooden doors on the opposite side of the room burst open, and in poured the guards. They gazed around wondering how the battle had ended, and saw the dead king.

"The king has been murdered. All hail the new king..."

It was a surpring twist for Zarek. In murdering the king, he didn't expect a warm welcome, but it's what he got. The guards walked towards Zarek, stopped in front of him, and they all dropped to their knees. Their helmets came off, and they began bowing at his feet. There he was, just as confused as when he first started this adventure, with Kronus' Belt of Glory in his hands, and the masses bowing to him. He wanted to tell them to get up, but time wouldn't allow it. Just as before, time seemed to stop, and the same emerald globe from before made it's way into view. Just as before, he looked into it, not knowing what to expect. Instead of seeing some evil king as before, instead, he saw nothing. A white empty space that contained nothing. Just like that, his surounding began to change around him. The throne he was standing next to disappeared, being replaced with white open space. The same with the pillars inside of the room. They were all replaced with the nothing. One by one all of the soldiers began to disappear and finally, the belt that he had fought so hard for, gone. He was alone once again, but this time there were no suroundings. None at all. Just a neverending field of nothing.

"Hello Zarek. It's nice to finally meet you."

The voice of a woman echoed throughout the emptiness, and without warning, she suddenly appeared. She wore a white elegant toga, and was beautiful beyond belief. Her brown hair flowed freely, and her green eyes were of the stars. She must be a god of some sort. She carried a shield in one hand, and a helmet in the other. She noticed Zarek eyeing them, and a smile broadened across her face like the sunrise. Of course, she must be Athena.

"We've been waiting for this."

This time it was a man's voice that echoed throughout the emptiness. Shortly after, just as Athena had done a second before, he too appeared. His toga was bright, a yellow-white color and he seemed to almost radiate a bright and happy vibe. His blonde hair extended into sideburn and a goatee. His eyes were a piercing blue color, but his inner eye consisted of yellow in the shape of a sun. It wasn't hard to figure him out either, they're always so cliche. Apollo.

"So, are you the ones backing me up, or are you two on Drew's side too?"

In Zarek's mind it was a serious question. Both Ares and Hades were backing Drew, so that spelled trouble if Athen and Apollo were as well. Besides, Hades had indirectly tried to kill Zarek, while Ares waited for Drew too. If these two were against him, he would need to prepare for it. Athena could do some real damage with the shield. Both Apollo and Athena began laughing.

"No, no. We're the ones supporting you."

Athena flashed a smile at Zarek, which secured him that she was indeed telling the truth. He smiled back, and nodded in approval.

"Nice. The Godess of heroic endeavours and the God of light and sun. Fits me perfectly."

It sort of evened the playing field in his eyes. He had through the fact that both Hades and Ares had teamed up against him were a bit unfair. Now seeing that he had his own little squad of Gods made it that much more fair. Besides, he liked Athena and Apollo better anyway.

"We surely thought so."

A wave of confusion suddenly hit Zarek in the face. Hades had intervened in order to help Drew win the title. Ares hadn't really intervened, but he had obviously been with Drew assisting him. So why did he have to go through that whole thing by himself, without any help, and thinking that all the Gods had it in for him? Another thing, isn't he supposed to be dead or something?

"So what's this all dead stuff about anyway, and you couldn't just talk to me to begin with? Instead you sent me on some random goose hunt."

Athena sighed and stepped forward. She knew that herself and Apollo had a lot of explaining to do. Afterall, Zarek had almost been killed...again.

"The Fates aren't allowed to cut the strings of people whose time isn't up yet. Plus, we needed to see what Drew had become."

Zarek was indifferent. There was no way that the king in that alternate world was Drew Stevenson. Sure, he had the same physical characteristics as Drew, and he even acted a little the same. But there was one major difference between King Drew and the Drew he knew. Drew would never do that, not in a million years. Even though Zarek wants to tear him apart inside of a cage at the current moment, he still knows that wasn't Drew.

"That wasn't Drew Stevenson. Drew would never turn his back on the people like...that guy...did."

Athena looked over at Apollo, it was his turn to try his hand at explaining such things to Zarek. All the while the two gods were walking back and fowarth.

"It's not Drew Stevenson...yet."

It wasn't making Zarek made, but even more confused rather. Corruption of a hero was not something you joke around about. Despite what the duo have been through this past week, Drew was not anymore near evil, nor anywhere near being corrupted by greed.

"What are you trying to say? Drew will turn into that? I don't believe it."

Athena jumped in, seeing that Apolo's attempt didn't really help that much.

"It's our belief that Drew's mentality isn't strong enough to carry such a prize without going corrupt. Power corrupts even the best of them."

Click. The click is beginning to turn. It's somewhat beginning to make sense now.

"On the other hand, we believe that you'll be able to carry it, and and to true to your virtues. Which is why we've tried many a time to put you in that position."

Tried many a time? Zarek wasn't able to see his face, but if he had been able to, he would have seen one of amazement. Tried many a time, meaning that they've tried other times to put the title into his hands, probably knowing that both Dante and Bobby would abandon it.

"So wait, this isn't the first time you've been on my side."

Both Athena and Apollo shook their head a slight no. How long had they been with him? Ever since DW?

"Oh no, definitely not. The Heavyweight title battle royal was an opportunity I lead you too."

"And challenging Bobby Johnson for the title was my thing. But you failed both times."

Ouch, that hurt. Both when he failed to make it to the final two in the World Heavyweight title battle royal, and when he failed to defeat Bobby Johnson, he had let himself down. Looking back, he wasn't only disappointing himself, but he had also disappointed the Gods.

"Gods can't do everything for you, you know, you have to lead yourself to the prize in the end..."

"And now the main event at Krystmas Kaos, I presume..."

He had been helped this whole time, and each time he had let them down. It's time to prove that he's actually worth something.

"Make the most of this chance because it may just be your last."

Apollo set his hand on Zarek's left shoulder.

"Don't worry, I won't disappoint."

Just as Apollo had done, Athena rests her hand on Zarek's right shoulder.

"Let's hope not."

Just like that Athena disappeared into thin air. Zarek turned behind him, only to realize that Apollo as well had left him. Now what was he supposed to do? Sit and wait for someone to come save him? For the third time, he saw the emerald globe coming toward him. He was beginning to like this whole god-like travel system. It was definitely faster than taking the freeway. He gazed into the globe and this time saw a local park in Atlanta. All the kids have left. Either run away to their parents, or had joined a group of people that were over by the street. A closer look would indicate the group was crowded around something. The scene looked all to familiar, and he suddenly realized that they were crowded around him. The scenary began to change again and instead of the field of white nothing, he began to see the scenary of the street of Atlanta. It seemed like almost a year ago that it happened, but in reality, it had only taken a quick minute.

Darkness followed. One second he had been watching the scenary change back into his own world, and suddenly the lights went out. There was that pain in his head again. He felt like he had been hit by a truck. Oh yeah, he did get hit by a truck. He was beginning to remember everything that happened. He could hear the voices of people around him now, speaking with concern. He felt someone poking him. But why was it so dark? Then he realized his eyes were shut. Opening his eyes, he could see everything the way it was when he left it. He sat up a second, and some people began cheering. Probably cheering that he wasn't dead. A man came and helped him to his feet, the man that had been driving the truck. He offered his apologies, probably so Zarek wouldn't press charges. Zarek still had a splitting headache. Reaching up and feeling his head, it felt wet. He brought his hand to his face, to see what it was. His fingers had blood on them. Great. His head was busted open. He didn't care about the man who hit him, or pressing charges or anything, he needed to get out of here. Get checked. He needed to be one hundred percent for his match on Sunday. Not just his sake, but for Drew's as well. Krystmas Kaos was just around the corner, nothing would stop him from walking out of that cage. Not just as World Heavyweight Champion...

...but the last hero standing.