Thief's Theme: A Love Story
Chapter Sixteen

“Stop!” Exclaims the same goddess from before, a beautiful woman covered in exotic robes made of divine energy. Her hair is long, black, and braided and is shaped like a dream catcher as it sticks out behind her head.

“We can’t let you go.” Exclaims a male god, the first god to speak to Ji when he was brought to the heavens. “If we did, He’d take his wrath out on us.” He explains. Ji stops mid-step as he turns to the gods, eyes filled with irritation.

“I don’t hold as big a grudge against you, as I do—did the Destruction God, so I won’t kill you. But if you stand in my way, I won’t have much mercy.” He states with a cold voice. The gods all hesitate as they know exactly what Ji can do. However his power pales in comparison to the Creator in their mind, so they know what they must do, albeit reluctantly. They must stop him at all costs. Tension fills the air as Ji stares down the gods themselves, those who would stop him in his quest to save Sharia’s life. To say the least, he is not amused. A battle is brewing and both sides can feel it, though only one side is overly concerned with the outcome. Because of this, it is a long while before any of the gods step forward, though the first to do so is who else, but the god of speed.

The god of speed rushes Ji at impossible velocities, moving so fast he is everywhere at once, wanting to bombard Ji with force that will smite him into dust. Ji however counters by snapping his fingers and stealing the god’s speed, leaving him powerless. The god stops mid charge and falls over, sick from the feeling, as he curls up in a fetal position as he is without his very essence.

“Ironic isn’t it. I was named Merc, which is short for Mercury, after the Roman God of Speed. Yet here I face the actual god of speed, basically the real Mercury, and I am quicker on the draw. Perhaps you should be named after me.” Ji muses. As he does, he is attacked by the same goddess from before, the god of magic.

The god of magic immediately weaves a multitude of spells simultaneously, trying to find any possible weakness in the Universe’s Greatest Thief. The first of the spells attempts to turn Ji into stone, while the second attempts to bind him and seal him into an infinite dimension of holding. Both fail as Ji steals the ability for magic to affect him. She does not give up however and tries warping reality itself, affecting Ji’s destiny, his future, his past, and even removing his ability to steal from him. She tries turning him into stone, a sleep spell, and even an unbreakable wall to block his path, but all fail as he sighs and the wall disappears. Before she can do anything else, Ji steals her ability to do magic, ending the fight and causing her eyes to widen in shock.

“You…how?” She exclaims as she falls to her knees and hangs her head. “Creator, I have failed you.” She murmurs to herself. As she accepts defeat, another goddess steps up. This goddess is dressed in armored robes and has her hair tied up in a black bun. She is the god of victory. sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ FɪndNovᴇl.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

“I am the God of Victory, thief. Give up! By definition I cannot lose.” She proclaims. Ji shrugs and snaps his fingers.

“And now neither can I.” He snaps his finger again. “And now, you can’t win.” He states, as she backs away in fear, feeling his words to be true.

“I…you can override my divinity? The domain over which I rule? You can deny Victory itself?” She cries out, incredulous at the events that just took place. Ji shrugs once more.

“I guess I can.” As soon as he says that, another goddess, one with paler brown skin that is almost a grey color, with no hair, dressed in a dull white hooded robe touches his shoulder from behind. She is the god of death. White divine energy pours from her body as Death itself wraps itself around Ji, trying to snuff his life from existence. Ji yawns as it does, not the least bit worried, and casually steals her ability to kill. He addresses her with a shrug as she looks down at her hands in surprise, recoiling from him when he took her powers.

“I took my own mortality long ago. I can’t die. That makes you useless against me. And now, you can’t kill, so you’re useless against everyone.” He explains in a bored tone. “Now is that it or—?”

“Come face me in battle if you dare! All who test my sword, shall perish!” Ji is interrupted by a large man with locs on his head, a long beard, a mustache, and divine energy in the shape of heavy armor on his body. This is the god of war. Ji stares at the man who interrupted him and cocks an eyebrow.

“Did you not hear me? I can’t die. So anything you do is worthless—“

“We shall see about that, mortal scum!” Exclaims the God of War as he tries to rush Ji at superluminal speeds with his godly blade in his hand. Ji doesn’t even flinch as he steals the War God’s speed mid-charge, not allowing him to even move, and steals his sword as well for good measure. Ji holds the blade in his hand and feels the tip of the blade with pointer finger.

“Impressive blade, impossibly sharp, but still useless against me.” He says as the sword disappears from his hands. “Though I am a thief at heart, so it stays with me.” The god of war internally shakes in anger at his sword being taken, but is unable to move to do anything about it. Ji notices the struggle and gives a cocky smirk. “Oh yeah, you still can’t move. Here, have your speed back.” He speaks, somewhat enjoying himself. The War God grits his teeth and tries to attack once more, this time with a punch. BOOM! The punch lands on Ji’s face, though he’s unaffected by the blow, having stolen the strength from the punch long before it connected. The War God tries another punch, and this time Ji steals his durability, causing him to break his hand on impact. The god of war jumps back, howling as he holds his hand in pain.

“You! I will end you with an arrow to the heart!” He spits out angrily. Ji grins at those words.

“A good idea, let’s see how you fair.” He says as he suddenly has a godly bow in his hands, nocks an arrow from the god of war’s own armory, steals his own ability to miss, and aims for the War God’s heart as he lets said arrow go. The War God’s eyes widen as he’s hit by the godly arrow and brought to his knees by his own weapon. Before Ji or the god of war can make another move, another god steps up, this one dressed in golden robes with a strange hat on his head, and a black clock hanging around his neck. He lacks any facial hair and looks serious and ready to go. He is the god of time.

“Stop!” Yells the Time God, exerting his power over not just normal time, but the time of the immortals as he tries to freeze Ji in place and trap him in time. Ji raises and eyebrow and dispels the god’s hopes with one simple word.

“Nah.” The god of time doesn’t take kindly to the resistance put forth and tries to age Ji first forward in time until his death, and then back in time until before his birth. Neither work. The god then tries a different strategy and tries to force Ji through time itself, sending him to the future, the past, and all sorts of times in between. Again it doesn’t work and Ji stays rooted. ‘Why won’t this work?’ Wonders the Time God to himself, as he exerts the full might of his powers. Ji simply sighs and snaps his finger, stealing all of time itself, making the Time God useless.

“Now what do you rule over? Nothing.” Says Ji with a sneer as he awaits his next divine challenger. Like clockwork, another goddess steps up, this one with long braided hair and dressed in long flowing silver robes. She is the god of Space.

“You guys don’t quit.” Ji states in a bored tone, becoming more serious again as he calms down from his spat with the War God. The Space God tries her hand at stopping the Greatest Thief in the Universe, folding space itself around him, and even trapping him in an infinitely folding dimension that allows no escape. Until now, when Ji escapes it and snaps, stealing Space itself. “And now you’re like your brother.” He states, referring to the sister-brother relationship of space and time. “Powerless.”

The god of fate is next, an exotically beautiful woman with an afro, wearing a black and red dress. The Fate Goddess tries to manipulate his essence, his future decisions, his luck, and so on, but Ji merely steals his own bad luck and his ability to perform and make bad decisions. This leaves Fate powerless against him. At the same time the god of sleep, a man with a long beard and long braided hair, wearing blue robes, steps up and tries to force Ji to sleep, using his divine influence.

“Sleep, mortal.” He commands in a hypnotic voice that works without fail. Unfortunately there is a first time for everything as Ji merely steals the ability to go to sleep from himself.

“I’m good actually, thanks.” He replies as he turns to his next challenger, a gorgeous woman in red with her hair done in curls wearing a seductive red dress. She walks up to Ji slowly in a graceful manner as he keeps his eyes trained on her, as if in a trance.

“Ohiji Olezuo.” She says softly in an enticing tone. “You can defeat any force in the universe, but not that which you fight for.” She says as she is now right next to him, circling him like an animal circling its prey. “For if you do, then your entire purpose for being here is gone.” She says softly, as Ji’s eyes continue to follow her movements. “You cannot defeat Love.” Speaks the god of love herself, as she tries to influence Ji to give up, to leave the heavens and instead spend time with Sharia in her last few moments she has left. Ji takes a deep breath as he responds to her.

“I can and I did.” He says, referring to her last statement. “You have no hold on me.” This causes the Love God to recoil in surprise as none have resisted her so, especially none that were in love. “It was a fine try though.” He remarks.

“I see…then perhaps you will fare better without me and my forces.” She states as she tries to sap the love from his body, and thus his reason to want to see the Creator. Ji grins in response.

“Nah, I’m good as I am. I’d prefer to keep my love as it is, so back off before I go on the offense.” He warns the Love God. She does as he says, seeing that it’s a fight she can’t win, allowing the god of wisdom to step forward, a man dressed in black robes with no hair on his head, but a heavy braided beard and mustache combination. Before the Wisdom God can use his vast intelligence to try to figure out a way to stop Ji, Ji strikes first and simply steals his wisdom from him, ending their conflict before it begins. He then turns and does the same to the god of power, a man with a large afro and no hair on his face, dressed in divine energy shaped as pants on his legs, boots on his feet, and gloves on his hands.

As Ji takes his power, he feels something that he’s never felt before: a feeling of invigoration from the power. The power he has is above the power he experienced from the other gods by a large margin. Even the Destruction God paled in comparison as far as raw power goes. Ji basks in the power for a little while before letting it go (not back to the Power God however) as it’s not his thing to be immensely powerful. He’s a thief and nothing more. Ji scans over the gods and sees dozens of other gods looking on hesitantly, unsure if they should challenge him as well. He steals their emotions and sees that they’re fearful of truly stepping up as none of them are as powerful as the gods he just beat and made fools of. To solidify this, Ji voices a challenge to make sure his path will be unimpeded.

“Anyone else?” He asks threateningly. The remaining gods back down as he predicted they would. “Thought so.” He says as he makes his way to the Creator.

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