[Insolent...! To think you would dare challenge me with only the power of a half-baked goddess!]
All ten of Ravana’s heads erupted in simultaneous fury. The bastard had begun to faintly perceive the true essence of the pure white spear in my hand. It wasn't merely a clump of fire.
It was the source of both creation and destruction itself—a power seeking to return every existing concept to the primordial 'void.'
It was the perfect counter to his divinity, which had been stitched together like a patchwork of rags. Ravana no longer toyed with me.
His newly sprouted twenty arms brandished divine armaments, each imbued with the Authorities of different gods. A sword of lightning that cleaved the heavens, an axe of frost that froze the earth, a whip of wind that seemed to slash through space itself, and daggers laced with the venom of hell—all of them rushed toward me at once, ignoring the constraints of time and space.
But I didn't dodge. No, I couldn't. This white spear, 'Pāoa,' was a power manifested by sacrificing everything I had. I had to gamble everything on this single strike.
I conjured a gale at my feet. I lacked the strength to manifest a full storm, but the remnants of Tāwhirimātea pushed my body forward like a scrap of paper, serving as the propellant for my charge. The wind became my legs.
“Melt it all away!”
Stepping forward, I thrust Pāoa in a straight line. There were no grandiose techniques. I simply threw the pure concept of destruction inherent in Pele's Authority directly against that impure, syncretic god!
CRASH!
The moment the tip of the white spear collided with Ravana's myriad Authorities, all sound vanished from the world.
The lightning lost its luster and evaporated; the frost melted into the heat; even the whip of wind that threatened to sever space dispersed into nothingness.
My spear advanced like a tempest, liquefying the very 'concepts' Ravana brandished. It wasn't a mere suppression of power through force. It was as if water were poured over a painting to wash away its form—the very fact that his Authorities existed was being erased.
[Ugh...! That power...! It ignores both compatibility and hierarchy!]
For the first time, bewilderment clouded Ravana's ten pairs of eyes. His personal law—absorbing lesser concepts into superior ones—failed to function.
Pele’s power did not exist within a hierarchy. Because it was the starting point of all things, the primordial 'Hearth' from before any power was born, it treated all later-added concepts as mere 'impurities' and burned them away.
Clang! Clang! Shatter!
Pāoa finally struck Ravana's golden armor. The divine mail, said to be forged in the fires of hell, began to melt helplessly before the white heat. A scream-like rupture echoed as a vivid crack was etched into Ravana's breastplate for the first time.
“It's working!”
I saw hope. However, Ravana was the Devil King who had frustrated countless gods and heroes in myth. He was not a being to fall from a single effective hit.
[That power of yours is certainly an anomaly! But how long can you maintain it with that spindly human body!]
Ravana immediately shifted tactics. Ten of his twenty arms focused entirely on blocking Pāoa.
He generated layers of ice shields harder than diamond, and behind them, he used an Authority that warped space to forcibly bend the spear’s trajectory.
The defensive wall he created was not just a physical barrier; it was a complex barrier that twisted time, space, and even causality. Simultaneously, his remaining ten arms began pouring a merciless assault toward my physical body.
A massive iron club descended, crushing the ground beneath me, while from another hand, a spear imbued with the dark Authority that devours souls was launched. Meanwhile, the other arms swung swords and axes, perfectly cutting off all my routes for retreat.
Damn it...!
I had to maintain Pāoa to break through Ravana's frontal defense, yet lethal attacks were closing in from every direction. Every nerve in my body screamed.
I squeezed out the last dregs of Tāwhirimātea's Authority. The vortex spinning at my feet forced my body into an unpredictable trajectory.
My ribs rattled from the wind pressure as the iron club grazed over my head. As I twisted to evade the dark spear, a blade of wind sliced across my thigh. Blood geysered. Before the pain could hit, a hollow sense of exhaustion from the drain of my magical energy overwhelmed my body.
Just maintaining Pāoa felt like my very existence was being incinerated. Pain, as if lava were boiling inside my skin, colonized my entire being.
It wasn't just heat. My very concept, my soul, was being consumed as fuel for this spear. At this rate, my body would turn to ash before I could fully pierce his armor.
I have to hold on...! Just a bit more! If I can just break this barrier...!
I clenched my teeth. If I couldn't evade, I would block with minimum damage. I blocked the incoming axe with my left arm. Along with the sound of crushing bone, my arm bent at a grotesque angle, but I didn't even have the luxury to scream. I bought myself a fraction of a second. I bet everything on that instant.
I concentrated all my focus into my right hand holding Pāoa, while simultaneously swinging my mangled left hand through the air.
“All who gaze upon me, all who face me. Turn to stone and be silent!”
The Authority of Medusa activated faintly. It was impossible to petrify Ravana. However, simply hindering the bastard's movements for a split second was enough.
Several of Ravana's heads, which were targeting my body directly, flinched and averted their gaze from the flash of the curse. It was a period shorter than the blink of an eye—less than a second. But to me, it felt like an eternity.
I didn't miss that opening. The pressure pressing against Ravana's defensive wall momentarily weakened.
“Break through!”
Using every scrap of my remaining life force as fuel, I poured it into Pāoa.
KRRRRRAAAAACK!
The ice shields shattered, the warped space snapped back to reality, and the white spear was finally liberated.
“ARGGHHHHHH!”
Was that my cry or the bastard's scream? A discordant shriek from ten heads shook the entire mountain. The white spearhead finally pierced the armor and made contact with his obsidian skin.
SSSSSST!
The flesh of the holy god began to incinerate with the gruesome sound of meat on a searing griddle. It wasn't a simple burn. The very 'concepts' of the various divinities composing Ravana were being disassembled and melted down before the primordial flame of Pele.
The blessing of immortality received from the Creator God and the protection of power from the God of Destruction lost their divine links and scattered before the source-flame.
[You... you insect-like bastard!]
All ten of Ravana's faces contorted in agony and rage. He writhed, exploding his remaining magical power to shake me off. Shockwaves rippled out, making the entirety of Mt. Inwang tremble as if it were about to collapse.
I vomited blood in that storm but clung to Pāoa with desperate resolve. I ignored the sensation of my palms burning as the heat of the spear melted them. If I let go here, it was over. I had to pour everything left inside me into this weapon.
How much time had passed? Amidst a struggle that felt infinite, I suddenly felt the white light surrounding Pāoa begin to dim. My internal magical energy was bottoming out. Pele's Authority was powerful, but its consumption was extreme. It felt like my very essence was being burnt as fuel.
Ravana was in the same state. A massive hole was gouged into his chest, and within it, the inconsistently mixed powers of various gods flickered unstably like dying embers. His golden armor was in tatters, and the twenty arms at his back hung limp and drained of strength.
Crumble.
Finally, the Pāoa in my hand scattered into a handful of ash.
“Pant... huff... gasp...”
I fell to my knees. With every breath, blood flowed into my torn lungs. My body was a wreck, and not a single drop of magical energy remained.
The same applied to Ravana. He barely supported his massive frame, black divine power gushing like bile from the wound in his chest instead of blood. Several of his ten heads had already lost the light in their eyes.
Silence fell. At the end of a long, grueling battle, neither of us had the strength left to kill the other.
Ravana was the first to break the silence. His voice held no contempt or mockery—only the pure battle-lust of a warrior who had met a worthy opponent.
[...Impressive, Usurper. I took you for a mere thief, but it seems you truly possess the qualifications of a Godslayer.]
I lacked the strength to reply, so I merely glared at him.
[Neither of us has the power left to finish the other. However, I cannot allow this fight to end like this.]
As if squeezing out his last bits of strength, Ravana regripped his iron club with his one uninjured arm. The massive weapon trembled like a sheet of paper.
[Stake everything. You and I shall gather every scrap of power remaining within us and collide in a single, final blow. We will decide the victor with that.]
It was neither the proposal of a loser nor a winner. It was an invitation to a final duel, possible only after acknowledging each other's full strength.
I spat out bloody saliva and staggered to my feet. Truly, there was nothing left inside me. But... I couldn't give up. Kneeling here would be a disgrace worse than death.
I gripped the empty air with trembling hands. I grasped nothing, yet my will scraped together the final fragments of Authority, the dying embers remaining in that place.
"...Fine. I'll carve my final flame into that filthy myth of yours."
Comments (0)
Please log in to leave a comment. Login or Register