BXBX NOVEL Chapter 83: Serious Punch.
"I'm sorry, but this is my dream, it always has been.
Sure; I love being a hero it is a true passion that I have developed, fighting for the sake of others is something that is very new to me who grew up selfish after tending to everyone around me out of duty and not purpose, but before we were dragged to Arkadia, before I met all of you, Sol and I were going to disappear, the same day that we met was to be his last in his old home." She stared up and saw Dina's expression turn from sadness to shock again.
"That day?" Eris asked, surprised.
"Yes, at that time our relationship was still very undefined, and it is shocking how much closer we have grown in the three months we have spent together." She admitted.
"He wanted to leave, to disappear to a far corner of the world, and I was going to leave with him and spend the rest of our time serving him as loyally as I could." She admitted, and Usami hummed with a shake of her head.
"Well congrats on achieving your dream then," Usami stood upright and stretched. "I can't wait to see the dumb look on his face when he finds out." She chuckled and then left without another word.
...
[Mana: 70%]
*Haa~
*Haah~
[The goddess of war expresses her impressed gaze at the goddess of the sun]
[Eh, why am I the one you are impressed with, do you believe that I am at a disadvantage?] Sorath asked with her brow raised in frustration, she was unable to sweat as anything that touched her skin was vapourised, but she was visibly a bit exhausted after going toe-to-toe with Sol for what had elapsed to hours.
"You are indeed impressive."Sol stared at his 70% mana reserve and wiped the sweat from his forehead. "Not only did the other two not keep up, but they also forefeit and left shamefully, this is the same power that had Saat begging me to spare her, but you've not only kept up, you've kept me on the defensive this entire time."
Sol's white irises shone brightly as he stared at her, trying to figure out a way to get through her defenses, so far all of his attempts had led to him either getting badly burnt or repelled by scorching flames, it was obvious it was taking a toll on her, but aside from her slightly winded expression she was otherwise unscathed.
"Not to mention ever since he started hearing those drums her body had negated every single magical attack thrown at her, breaking them down into raw magic and dispersing it harmlessly, the only thing that worked were his bare knuckles, but with the heat she produced that was a problem as well.
"I never needed to be challenged by anyone else it seems." He commented, and received a prideful grin from the goddess who welcomed the compliment from one warrior to another.
[Of course, the terms are the same, the loser loses their right to challenge using the safety of the system, anything outside of that will result in severe backlash by the pantheon.] She stood upright and clenched her fists, mimicking Sol's fighting stance. [My goal is still to break your resolve and take the authority you have gained in a fair manner!]
"Then come at me!" He charged first, stopping just short of her and summoning his trusty hammer while she had been baited into punching downward after thinking he was going to throw an upward punch.
"I'll try everything until I find a way to break that absurd will of yours, and if I can't find a way, I'll usey bare fists and teeth if I have to!" Sol swung pass her descending fist and slammed the hammer into her chin, snapping her head upward.
[Then prepare your teeth!] Sorath opened her mouth before the hammer had passed and bit into it with her teeth, chomping through the legendary metal like a cookie.
[I am the sun, my light never dims, my will never breaks, and my power never fades, this is what it means to be strong, Sol Vestic!] She grabbed the hammer and pulled him into a punch that folded him around her fist, creating an explosion and burning him as if he had indeed crashed face-first against a raw Solar star sending massive cracks across their dimension once more.
[Heal!]
Sol was sent flying so far he lost sight of her as the burns across his face mended and were replaced by fresh skin. "Shit," he released the handle of his burnt away hammer, angling himself and crashlanding backwards. "Prepare my teeth, huh?" Sol asked, righting himself and stopping his momentum when he noticed her rapid approach.
[Clockwork]
He summoned a sphere of slowed time around himself just as she was about to connect another hit again; he wanted to refrain from using [clockwork] as much as possible, after his experience with Saat learning his divine skill.
He had come to the decision that it was supposed to be used only in emergencies, otherwise he would have no trumps left aside from his demon-god transformation, and he was getting a weird feeling about using that too often; after his evolution, the demon god transformation felt like an alternate persona instead of the boost of power it was supposed to be, and that ridiculous cooldown and the 50% nerf that followed meant that if he used it and failed to defeat his opponent before time ran out he would most certainly lose that fight.
"I'll put everything, into this one attack!" Sol walked up to Sorath and cast clockwork on his arm.
"I like you, so I hope this doesn't kill you, but if what you want is my full power then look no further!!" He warned her and himself and threw his hand back grinding his teeth as his body was in regular motion while his hand had slowed down, building kinetic energy as his blood vessels burst and healed and his bones cracked and mended from the pressure of his attack.
[Mana: 65%]
[Mana: 50%]
[Mana: 30%]
[Mana: 25%]
[Clockwork deactivated-]
Sorath recalled nothing that happened, she just saw white and flashes of her blood as her head shook when Sol's invisible punch sent cracks all across her skull and deafened her on one side before the world around her became a mixture of colours and fuzzy shapes with lines and squiggles of light.
The punch itself was delivered faster than time could perceive it, the pocket dimension shattered, and a wave of energy exploded into the cosmos preventing the system from reforming the barrier immediately as Sorath was sent flying horizontally, she limply crashed across the entire ocean, dug a trench through a whole other continent and ended up stopping after colliding into and destroying several mountain ranges, leaving nothing but a trail of fire and destruction in her wake.
"Haah," Sol winced falling to his knee and cradling his arm that had been broken and destroyed beyond what regular magic could repair. "That's in the direction of Argom, shit," He stood with a grunt as his eyes returned to normal and his hair stopped glowing.
[Mana: 20%]
It was indeed the direction of Argom, another few miles and it would have reached close to the Obelisk. Night had already fallen, alerting him that he and the goddess of the sun had been fighting for the whole day.
He had enjoyed the fight, and learned firsthand that the gods if given the chance could adapt to any situation, as Sorath had learned most of his fighting techniwues after duelling with him for hours, however, something was off. "Why hasn't the system announced anything yet?" Sol felt a bead of sweat roll down his cheek as the cold wind brushed against his face.
"No... No way, I gave that almost everything I had!" He flashed his torn up hand tearing it clean off his shoulder with a pained grunt as he grimaced in Sorath's direction. [Regenerate\\Heal!]
Bones painfully erected from his shoulder and rapidly formed and mended into flesh and blood forming his hand after a few seconds of agony; without the knowledge Ikaris had in fine details he had to force his limb to grow.
"You've got to be kidding me!" Sol leapt into the air ascending to the clouds in an instant and grinding his teeth again as he began gliding with his arms and legs spread. "Did I call it too early?" He questioned.
[Arkadian mana: 300k]
The system ralerted him, and it was a reminder that he had been inactive for the last few days not leveling up after his fight with Saat and his evolution to Demigod.
[Activating absolute shield]
[Activating telekinesis; limitless]
He applied two of his Atlan skills using his Arkadian mana, and immediately he shot off like a comet, the shield protected his body from harm while the air around him burned because of the absurd speeds he was moving at, parting the clouds like water as he travelled, following the traces of Sorath's crash across the lands and seas until he was above Argomite territory again.
On the other side staring at a mountain that had solar energy radiating into the skies like tentacles and reaching into the deepest parts of space was Ikaris and the others, the mountains burned and melted, and although their first order was to confirm what it was, a quick word of warning from Ikaris had halted everyone from interfering as she had one eye closed looking at Sorath while she used her divine abilities to sense for Sol, and sure enough he was on the approach, rapidly at that.