105 Betrayal (2/2)

I dashed into him, slamming him into the ground. We rolled on the ground before he kicked me off of him. I flopped through the air before landing on my feet. I dug my arms and feet into the ground, slowing down my drag backwards. Elijah stood up, sweat falling from his forehead.

Wounds covered him, along with his tattered white robe. Splotches of red soaked it from head to toe. Four stubs gushed blood from his back from his severed wings. He heaved his breaths,

“Neither of you can kill me. I’ve been blessed by his holiness.”

He tore of his robe, revealing eldritch runes littering his body. I reached him, slamming my fist into his gut. He grinned at me, blood leaking from between his teeth,

“It doesn’t matter.”

I slammed a hook into his face. Two of his molars were sent out of his mouth.

“His gifts will save me.”

I slammed three consecutive hooks into his side before whipping another hook up into his jaw, all with the same arm.

“And they will destroy you.”

Just like with Dakhma, the eldritch runes glowed. They didn't shine red. They shined a bright white, like Elijah's light magic. I didn’t let him complete the ritual. Legions of the named ones sprinted towards us. During the fight, the shockwaves of our strikes kept blowing them away.

Now that we were finally standing still, they caught up.

Elijah smirked, “They will buy me the time I need.”

I slammed hook after hook into his stomach, turning his bones to mush. My fists punched holes through his robe, waves of kinetic energy bursting out from the back of Elijah. As the named ones fell into range, I extended Event Horizon out. As they ran into the aura, a surge of power flooded my system.

Elijah slammed a fist across my cheek, rupturing the metal of my face. I grinned at him as it healed, the wounds snapping back into place. I laughed at him, my armor grinning and laughing with me. Elijah’s smirk turned into a frown as each of my strikes increased in power.

Every hook was empowered by my overcharged runes. I slugged at him, keeping us pinned with an enormous gravitational vortex beneath us. I powered it with the named one’s life force. My quick, compact punches turned into a slugging fest as I hit on Elijah like a punching bag.

He attempted fighting back, but I twisted, contorted, and molded my armor, deflecting his strikes. Without him being blown back, he couldn’t escape my full onslaught. It was a freeing feeling, like finally being able to use your own trump card. It turned the tides of our battle.

Like with Dakhma, the tendrils of flesh kept forming over him. I converted his body into pulp as quickly as it transformed. With all the excess mana from the named ones, I kept us right beside each other with gravity. I could rear back and slam my fists with unobstructed destruction. He wasn’t sent flying backwards anymore.

No, he faced the full force of my fists. As more named ones came in, I gained more mana to play with. I overcharged the runes over me, unleashing them with every strike I used against Elijah. I extended the gravitational warp beneath us, increasing its intensity.

It pulled us both down and the ground up. Pinned on this makeshift arena, Elijah and I struggled just to stand. Any named that came near us was instantly crushed into the ground, unable to approach. Elijah glanced around as I struck him. Horror spread across Elijah’s face. His eyes widened as his hands shook in terror.

Malice spread over my face,

“That’s right Elijah. They only make me stronger.”

Elijah shouted out in between my strikes, “Stop...Run...a...way...you...idiots.”

My laughing drowned out his cries, however. They turned into weakened grunts as the flow of mana increased. It was like I was in an ocean of raw energy, drenched in the overwhelming power. It fueled me as I tore Elijah apart.

Seconds dragged on into minutes, his eldritch form unable to complete itself. Elijah suffered the entire time. He gasped in agony as I tore him apart. He choked on his own blood, sharpened pieces of his own bones digging into him each time I hit. It sounds brutal, perhaps even a bit evil, but I couldn’t help it.

I hated Yawm, and I hated his followers. For all I knew, Elijah killed Hod in that portal. A part of me wanted him to suffer. A part of me wished he would howl out in agony as I wrenched out his guts. It was a primal part of me, but I couldn’t deny it existed. At that moment, it surfaced with all the hate and rage and wrath that came with it.

Elijah recieved all that pent up rage in full. By the time the named ones discovered what was going on, it was over. The bodies pinned down near us melted, revealing Elijah to them. He was broken, every piece of his shattered beyond recognition. With his face destroyed, he reached out and spoke with a broken jaw,

“Please...help me.”

I lifted a foot and stomped his skull, caving it in. His death notification appeared beside my view. I had learned from the fight with Dakhma. I didn’t give Elijah a moment of rest, punishing every moment where he was vulnerable. It cut the fight short, far shorter than with Dakhma.

Just as I let my guard down, cracks ushered from the earth beside me. Fire spread from these cracks, scorching the earth. A pit of lava formed, erupting upwards. I raised my fists, ready for the fight. A moment later, the lava fell off of Hod. Gashes covered his body, his shadow form leaking black blood.

He glanced at me, the red, featureless eyes menacing. He stepped forwards, out of the lava before falling onto the ground. I shifted Event Horizon off him. The portal disappeared a second after. As Hod hit the ground, he opened his mouth and let out the eldritch energy within him. His head raised up as streams of the energy were released.

That makes it sound cool, but it was like he was barfing,

“Bleeeeeeeeeeehhh...Bleeeeeeeeeehhh...Oh, Hod going to hurl again...Bleeeeehhhh.”

He finished puking before his face slapped against the ground.

“Hod feel better..”

I sighed out, my fists lowering. I pulled back my helmet before dragging my hands across my face. I turned towards elijah, his mushed corpse resting beside us. I picked it up, dumping it into my armor mouth. My armor assimilated the energy, the metal shivering over my skin in pleasure.

I shook out the fighting jitters, turning towards the assault team of Torix. The plumes of smoke were massive, far larger than I imagined they would be. In the corner of my eye, someone was standing. I turned around, expecting Torix. It wasn’t.

It wasn’t human. It was porytian, the species Yawm hailed from. Slender, muscled limbs covered in bark skin, it heaved for breath, a green glow webbing outwards from its eyes. Wherever the green traced, the veins and muscles were large and tense. It had large hands with thin fingers, spiking a dormant fear in me.

It lifted a hand, an unmatched grace in the movement. Somehow something as simple as raising a hand was elegant and refined. A main of leaves trailed down its back, acting as a mane of ‘hair’. Above its head, I read it’s name and level.

Ajax Volan, the Void Eater(lvl 4327)

He leapt up off the tree, sifting through the air with more grace than birds. He landed in front of me. As he did, a few of the outer named ones caught up to us. I lifted my fists and tucked in my chin.

Ajax waved his hand behind him, some unseen wave slicing behind him. Reality split, two halves forming. They slid against each other, separating before snapping back together. The named ones behind him weren't so lucky. They fell apart, all them sliced with laser precision wherever the split in reality had been.

With a deep, pained voice, Ajax raised a hand,

“Come.”