The Yakuruna sighed once more at Tonks' refusal.
"It seems all the women are rebellious today..." he repeated, his expression hardening.
His aura shifted again. The seductive allure dissipated completely, giving way to an oppressive, heavy, and intimidating presence.
"It does not matter. In the end... they will all be mine."
He wasn't stupid. He turned his face slightly toward Elise, clearly perceiving how her divine power was interfering with his own.
"We have no conflict between us," he said to her, his voice barely cautious. "I do not know why you oppose me. I see no reason for you to interfere."
The Yakuruna was genuinely surprised by Elise's presence. Until that moment, he had assumed she was just another mortal magical creature. Now, sensing the divine power, he considered her perhaps something at a legendary level, touching divinity, but not a demigod—and certainly not an authentic deity. That error made him hesitate.
As a demigod, he knew how bad things were for his kind in this era. The world's energies were scarce. A wound at the divine level meant a slow, dangerous recovery… a period of weakness in which even mortals could kill him.
"I don't care about your games with mortal women," Elise snorted. "In fact, I understand you. Humans exist for us to bless them with our bodies..." For an instant she smiled, with a twisted joy fueled by the inspiration of what she saw. Then her expression hardened. "But you are aiming for the humans my husband wants. So, I have to eliminate you."
The Yakuruna looked at me then with surprise… and a hint of admiration. Having secured such an exceptional partner—a being touching divinity and one so loyal—was a notable feat for a mortal. A silent recognition of my capability.
It was brief. Fleeting.
He planned to kill me anyway and steal my women. Perhaps not Elise, who didn't fit his tastes, but even she seemed like a good food supplement if it came to that.
I didn't know exactly what he was thinking… but I felt it. And it infuriated me.
"Leave the big guy to me," I said, stepping forward. "Elise, go for the crocodile."
The Yakuruna watched me and dismounted, walking onto the water as if it were solid ground. He advanced toward me without haste, as if my presence were insignificant. It wasn't respect between us. It was only the intent to kill.
He wanted to shatter me with his own hands, to show Hannah how weak I was compared to him, to break her will bit by bit until she fell into his muscular, scaly arms.
The black crocodile also surged forward. That beast was no common animal, but a creature reinforced with divine power granted by the Yakuruna. It lunged at Elise, intending to keep her busy. If his mount was injured or even killed, it was easy to replace. A wound to himself was not.
Besides, he trusted that by killing me, Elise's morale would break, making the rest easy.
But no one else stood still.
The Yakuruna's women headed toward the shore, emerging from the water quickly, trying to surround Hannah and Tonks to prevent any escape. They were to be the new additions to their husband's collection. They couldn't let them flee.
Both witches raised their wands as they saw them approaching.
Hannah swallowed hard, nervous at the sight of the siren-like bodies advancing toward her, thinking that if things went wrong, she would end up turned into one of those. Tonks, on the other hand, grinned with enthusiasm.
"First time?" she asked.
"Against sirens, yes," Hannah replied.
"Perfect. Let's show them what a good pair of Hufflepuffs can do." (Tonks)
Tonks smiled… and launched the first attack.
...
The Yakuruna advanced slowly toward me, looking down at me. And not just because of his imposing height, but with absolute contempt. He didn't understand why he had ever sensed something dangerous in me. To him, I was nothing more than another mortal: perhaps skilled, perhaps terrifying… but mortal in the end.
When he was close enough, he stopped.
For a moment, I thought he would say something grandiloquent, some typical villain speech sure of victory.
But no.
*Swooosh.*
My wands rose immediately and created a reddish protective shield that shattered instantly, though it achieved its purpose: stopping the Yakuruna long enough for his attack not to split me in two. He had jumped toward me at a speed completely imperceptible to any human, as if it were a scene straight out of a shōnen anime.
I was sent flying several meters back. My whole body shook from the impact, but I forced my muscles and twisted in the air, landing safely before rolling across the ground.
We stared at each other.
It was terrifying what a demigod could do. This felt more like a brutal, exaggerated battle than any traditional magic duel. It reminded me of my clashes with Morgana, although in those, the terrain destruction was greater due to large-scale magics, not the direct violence of the blows.
The world at the divine level was different from Harry Potter.
The only reason I had come out relatively unscathed was thanks to the Jarjacha wands.
The Yakuruna noticed them at that moment. He felt their power. Something close to the divine, perhaps comparable to what he now perceived in Elise. That made him reinterpret the feeling of danger he had felt before… attributing it to my tools and not to me.
"You have good tools," he commented, relaxing slightly.
"Thanks, but compliments to my penis won't save you," I replied with a mocking grin.
He didn't react. To him, I was already a corpse. At most, my skull would end up as a decoration.
I, on the other hand, still felt the vibration of the blow coursing through my bones. I hadn't expected an attack like that. I wasn't as prepared as I thought. I supposed that was the difference between fighting legendary mages like Morgana or Merlin and facing an authentic demigod.
They used borrowed divine power.
This was genuine, personal divine power.
Moreover, while those were magical attackers, the Yakuruna was an absolute physical combatant.
The wands in my hands also vibrated, but not from the impact. It was excitement. Hunger. Thirst for battle… or rather, thirst for blood. They didn't care if the enemy was an ant or a god. They wanted to kill, devour, rape, corrupt. They whispered every imaginable sin into my mind.
And this time… I didn't reject them.
The Yakuruna gave me no more time. Now that he knew my strengths, he attacked again.
This time, I was ready.
The instant I felt the change in the wind, I leapt to the side to dodge him. But he moved in mid-air, twisting his trajectory impossibly, and reached out to grab my head.
With one wand, I raised a small defensive shield to intercept him. With the other, I fired a magical projectile as a counterattack.
His hand slowed upon hitting the shield… but he applied more force, more divine power. My defense shattered.
The blow hit me full force.
My body was hurled toward the lake, tracing a violent arc before crashing into the water.
As I fell into the water, I felt incredibly heavy. Not just from the blow and the wounds, but because the liquid itself seemed to grip me, as if it had a will of its own.
It was the Yakuruna's domain.
Even if he wasn't a true god, the Yakuruna was an authentic demigod: limited power, but with clearly divine traits. The water, the underwater realm—that was his conceptual domain, the principle to which he was bound. If the Amazon disappeared, his divine power would also be extinguished or drastically reduced.
That was why fighting there was an absolute disadvantage for me.
Now that I was submerged, I felt my body weighing ten times more than normal, and my magic… my magic no longer flowed. It had turned from a current of energy into something thick, clumsy, like mud.
I used Apparition to get out of the water and return to the shore.
It was horribly costly.
For an instant, I felt like splinching was inevitable. I suffered serious internal damage, but they were wounds I could contain or heal with my own powers. Even so, the effort left me hunched over, gasping.
"Uf…" I panted, blood trickling from my mouth. "Seems I can't take it easy with you."
"Accept your fate, mortal," the Yakuruna said with false mercy. "I can give you a quick death for having brought me so many beautiful women."
He bared his large sharp teeth and laughed mockingly, returning the same tone I had used before.
"Don't worry. I'll go find your other women. I'll take good care of them."
"And right there, you sealed your death…" I growled. "Bah, what am I saying? I was going to kill you anyway for being the massive bitch who wants to fuck my woman." My voice became increasingly lunatic, more distorted. My eyes became bloodshot.
I had decided to let it all go.
I straightened my body with an internal crunch of poorly set bones. Then I spat out a massive amount of blood… and perhaps something more. Organs, fragments. It didn't matter.
My expression was euphoric.
I cracked my neck and licked my teeth, now sharp as a beast's.
...
In the fief, in different places, the same scene was repeated.
In a desolate field where hostile NPCs appeared without rest, a gigantic figure in red spectral armor crushed them, tearing them apart without mercy… until it dissipated into crimson smoke.
In a forest full of animals, a gaunt creature with an immense mouth, like a black hole, devoured everything in its path: living, dead, organic, and inorganic… until it swallowed itself and vanished.
In a room surrounded by mirrors arranged in concentric circles, a faceless humanoid figure—no hair, no fingers, with a smooth, glassy body—observed itself. Little by little, it became transparent… until the mirrors reflected nothing.
In a cemetery, an elderly Red, with white hair and a face full of wrinkles, meditated in front of a grave… and turned to ash.
In…
...
"You know?" I said euphorically, feeling my dispersed power returning to me and my blocked abilities reactivating. "Besides gods, there were creatures capable of facing them… like the original dragons." I smiled. "And I'm aiming for something similar. Let's see how you fare now—"
I didn't finish the sentence.
A fist slammed into my head and made it explode in a pool of blood.
Or rather, my entire body turned into a red liquid before impact.
The puddle moved and reassembled a few meters away. I felt the loss of vitality from the destroyed part, but I remained standing.
"How rude… hahahahaha." I laughed like a maniac as [Wrath] and some [Madness] fully awakened.
My body began to grow, bulging with muscle. In seconds, I became almost as large as the Yakuruna. I reached around six feet, compared to his seven-plus, but I didn't need more size. I didn't intend to let [Wrath] dominate everything.
The Yakuruna frowned. He felt that sense of danger again… but this time, it didn't come from the wands.
It came from me.
He attacked immediately.
"LET THE FUCKING GAMES BEGIN!"
With speed almost identical to his, I threw a punch that collided with his. The roar echoed throughout the lagoon, momentarily stunning everyone present.
I was sent flying once more.
But I smiled at the sight of his frown.
I stood up and ran again, creating a platform of crystallized blood under my feet so as not to fall into the water.
"AHHHHHHHHH...!"
I lunged like a bloodthirsty beast.
The Yakuruna also leapt, decided to kill me as quickly as possible.