Roughly 2,500 years ago, in the realm of the Egyptian gods known as the Land of Manu, all its inhabitants were celebrating their independence from the Canaanite gods of Lel.

  Amun, now recognized as the new anunnaki of the Land of Manu, rose as the perfect leader.

  A war quickly erupted against a weakened Lel—an attempt by the Land of Manu to conquer the territories of the Canaanite pantheon. Endless clashes between igigi and malakim of both sides shook the heavens, and thousands of lives were lost.

  The gods of the Land of Manu drew power from the faith of the ancient New Kingdom of Egypt, rising as the strongest celestial kingdom of their era. But Lel fought with passion and devotion—they would not be subdued so easily.

  To strengthen his rule, Amun married Princess Mut, but she was sterile; and so they adopted a young boy—a katteres named Khonsu, born with the powers of a lunar god.

  Little by little, Khonsu was integrated into the royal family and became beloved by all in the Land of Manu. Charismatic, handsome, and always accompanying his parents during state ceremonies, he grew up as the favorite candidate to become the next anunnaki once Amun retired—though that future was still far away.

  However… not all news was good.

  Rumors began to spread: malakim and women disappearing throughout the Land of Manu—and the same phenomenon was occurring among the humans in Egypt.

  When the situation reached a breaking point and the pressure from the celestial populace became unbearable, Amun consulted Thoth, the wisest of the Egyptian gods, to resolve the case.

  After two months of investigation, Thoth finally arrived at an abandoned granary.

  When he entered, what he saw horrified him:

  Torsos, arms, legs, and severed heads hung on spikes.

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  Malakim previously reported missing were stitched together with humans.

  Women who had been raped lay disemboweled.

  There were even grotesque creations—malakim and humans sewn together with animal heads.

  Thoth’s men vomited on the spot.

  In the lower section of the granary, humans and malakim were starving, forced into cannibalism. They lived among bones, corpses, and rotting excrement.

  The investigators tried to rescue the captives, but the few malakim who survived were left mentally shattered.

  “Not all of these malakim are from the Land of Manu,” Thoth realized, noticing that some were winged—unlike the darker-skinned, wingless malakim native to Manu.

  The one who committed these atrocities had taken advantage of the war to experiment on prisoners. Thoth concluded that the perpetrator must be someone of high status.

  “Do you like my work, Thoth?”

  A voice came from the entrance.

  Khonsu walked calmly into the vault.

  “Is this your doing?” Thoth demanded, furious.

  Khonsu laughed.

  “It’s just a hobby. I’m sick of the weakness and uselessness of malakim, humans, and their women. I’m trying to perfect them. I started experimenting on the malakim of Lel, but when they weren’t enough, I continued with our own—and with humans.”

  “You… you’re a monster,” Thoth whispered, trembling in disgust.

  “Oh look, the great sage Thoth speaks. The god who stole most of my lunar power when I was a child. You dare lecture me on ethics and morality?” Khonsu replied coldly.

  “That’s… not even comparable, Khonsu,” Thoth said, horrified.

  “Progress requires sacrifice. If we can create stronger malakim and humans, we will rule at the top forever,” Khonsu said, calmly placing his right hand over his chest and staring upward.

  “I do this for the Land of Manu. That is my dream.”

  Khonsu was immediately arrested for crimes against sentient beings.

  But due to his father’s intervention—and to avoid tarnishing the royal family’s reputation—he was not executed.

  He was simply exiled from the Land of Manu.

  “Over 2,500 years ago, I was expelled from the Land of Manu,” Khonsu said to Maahes and Montu.

  “I would have made the Egyptian Empire the greatest. Now it’s nothing but a pigsty ruled by filthy Muslims and those swine in Lel.”

  “You’re nothing but a vulgar genocidal maniac, Khonsu. Only scum like Ares would keep you in his ranks,” Montu growled.

  “You’re right. I no longer care about the Land of Manu.

  Now I only desire destruction—and Lord Ares gives me the freedom to indulge in it.

  And for that reason, I will kill you here.”

  Khonsu smiled—a wide, macabre grin.

  Khonsu reproaches Thoth for stealing his lunar power. This is based on a myth from Egyptian mythology:

  Khonsu, confident in his power, wagered portions of his own moonlight. Thoth played strategically and kept winning.

  five extra days that lay outside the official 360-day year.