The first strike cut the Kotsu-sha from its chest, down to its stomach and removed one of its two free arms. The second strike finished the job and took the spirit's entire torso off its body.
Astrid continued to stare in awe. Did he just teleport himself? His Totem surely had that ability, but it did not look that simple. She turned to the sword in his hand, which now appeared like its former plain pristine white greatsword with parallel edges. She had seen his Virtue, but even she was unaware of what was happening. The Night Chant is a Virtue that purposely feeds its assigned 'characters' information about what it does at a given time anyway, so being a complex Virtue to provide some kind of anonymity for its user is kind of a given.
Equinox was aware of this dangerous Vice, but Astrid was still there. Knowing his abilities or not, the second he let his guard down and drop his Virtues, she was sure to strike.
'I see.' Astrid did not need to try to hard to figure out what Equinox had just done when he was practically an open book.
"Nox." Yaga called out in a surprisingly urgent voice.
The Seer was well aware of the reason for the Augur spirit's worry.
Astrid stabbed the black Zweihander into the ground, her fingers pressing deep into the side of her stomach to pull out another sword— this one made of golden essence.
"What's your problem?!" Equinox yelled out. "I thought you read me already! Didn't you say I couldn't possibly be a threat to you?!"
Astrid pulled out a second sword from her stomach. "Don't put words in my mouth. I never said 'possibly'."
Her back swelled gradually till it exploded, letting out two wings with an outrageous span of of over ninety feet. But that was just the beginning. Two more wings popped out of her back, both bigger than the last, then two more...
The path before Ikky was covered in golden light, more and more wings still growing from the spirit's back. In time, the tunnel was covered and packed with her golden feathers, those feathers cutting through the walls and the ceiling as Astrid continued to grow.
Equinox's knees had nearly buckled in exhaustion. One look at the abomination before him and anyone would realise that there was no point in running. Astrid will find him as she always has.
Thoughts continued to race through his mind, the same questions stabbing into his brain over and over again,
"Why am I even here?"
Was it his fault for daring to be great?
"I didn't choose this power!" He shouted, hoping his words might somehow reach the creature standing in front of him.
"Why does it... Why do I have to pay for things that I have no say in?! If anything, I'm the victim, so why do I have to die?!" He pointed. "And who gave you the right to act upon my misfortune?!"
Astrid's voice echoed in his head. "Is it mercy you beg of me?"
Equinox clenched his teeth in anger. This bastard woman sounded so cocky and prideful.
"There are over one hundred and sixty billion humans with a lifespan of over nine hundred years on Svarga alone. Add the spirits and the numbers become more inflated. Yet, the mere prospect of what a lone Seer might become in a future that is not even set in stone is what scares you? How afraid do you have to be?! I am not your god!... Though if I were, you would not dare to raise your sword before me... before an existence so beyond your reach, that you would have no other choice but to bow in worship!"
Astrid's countless wings were folded and compressed within the trembling tunnel. They shifted and twisted, becoming more unstable and threatening to bring the entire tunnel down.
"Come to me, Equinox." She commanded.
Ikky did not move.
She continued to speak, "You brought me into this world, and by your spirit and life was I raised to become whole. So by all means, you are the god of this form I wear with pride. But you are an evil god! And all evil must be purged! So give it all to me, Equinox! Do one good before your inevitable death!"
The zweihander Astrid had been using was a manifestation of Astrid's spiritual essence, therefore a manifestation of Equinox's spiritual essence, and so he has power over it. He had figured the familiarity out earlier when the sword had entered his range of perception, however instantly dismissed that familiarity due to hate and the fear of having anything to do with 'that man'. But as soon as he had figured out how vastly outclassed he was to Astrid in their earlier encounter, Equinox had no choice but to give more chance to that thought. The sword's physical form had been undone at barely the right places to not allow him instant death, while the Vrykolakas worked on taking care of his internals the sword was still able to get to.
Ikky of course does not remember that Astrid had emerged in the anointment from right inside his own chest, and that her form was almost completely made of his own spiritual essence, combined with the life essence he had been feeding her for over a week. He of all people has the power to completely unravel her form with ease and make her attempts irrelevant.
However, despite the knowledge of the Night Chant making his essence use and control much efficient now, he would need a much higher level of mastery to do anything significant to someone of vastly better essence control than Astrid.
A stone spirit came down on Equinox's back, yet the man stood straight with his eyes open in shock. 'It...' His head slowly turned to the side, at the spirit turning to shattered stones and dust, then shifted his glance to the 'creature' pointing one of its swords at him as it ordered again,
"Come here."
Equinox clenched his teeth and squeezed his hands till his fist showed his knuckle bones, and his fingers sunk into his palms to draw blood. He took a step forward, and then another, swallowing up his pride. What pride did he have? What stubbornness could he afford in his current state?
Equinox looked up at the crown above Astrid's head, and at the shackles around his wrists.
'That's right. That's the difference between us. Not even in my own story am I the hero. How could I get it so wrong?'
Astrid was assigned the mark of "Human" by his own Virtue, while his was the mark of the Sinner. The Sinner can cause no harm to the Human. That was the rule.
"It is imperative to know where you stand in this world. I am in agreement with this ideology." Yaga suddenly spoke after a while of being silent.
"Straighten your knees."
A dark spirit flew out of his Virtue Mark, ruffling his hair. Yaga grabbed the Seer's head and moved her face close to the tallest standing strand on Equinox's head. "You're as tall as she is... taller by a small hair's length when you disregard the metrics of a prim and proper visage. Nox, we will wear these chains, but only as a weapon to strike with. And we will go wherever we want."
"Try it." Astrid dared.
Equinox's chest rose and fell, his legs now going in the opposite direction. 'As long as I don't go out of my Totem—'
Wishful thinking.
One sword struck his chest, sending him flying like a paper under a falling meteorite. His Totem was deactivated, and his chest exploded.
"Hmph." The golden spirit forced her self forward, moving through the tight tunnel step by step. As she continued to shift through the wide yet cramped space, Ikky's red eyes suddenly flashed at her. He was sprawled on the ground, no chest and scattered upper limbs...
"How is he still alive?!!" Astrid got down on all fours and begun to crawl with urgency. As long as his consciousness still remains, the Vrykolakas would eventually patch his broken body together. And she could not afford to let that happen!
The spirit crawled desperately through the tunnel, grunting as she pulled her massive body forward. Her pace hastened and quickened. She carried her second sword in hand and shot it right at the near-dead Seer.
Perhaps she had missed due to anxiety, or Equinox had just moved his head from being hit somehow, she couldn't even tell. Regardless, the impact of the sword in the ground was bad enough, shaking his body violently. Equinox's upper body was barely attached, strings of his flesh and the black Vrykolakas shifting grossly on the ground.
"Die! Die!! Die!!!" Astrid pulled herself forward even harder, quickly crossing the distance and disregarding the collapsing tunnel.
Her misshapen hand grabbed a hold of Equinox's head. His mouth was open and his eyeballs were rolling in their sockets all the way to the back, then suddenly moved to return her stare. Astrid shook.
"Of all the times to feel inferior, during the ritual is the worst possible moment." The voice of a mysterious man spoke aloud.
"And we're still here." Said the Seer's Augur spirit.