85 Chapter 85
I was already behind him.
Durandal dragged a streak of black and red through the sky as it came down on his neck. Caelith barely brought his forearm up in time. The collision rang like metal screaming, a shockwave blasting through the ruined street and flipping cars like toys.
Caelith's golden armor dented under the impact.
My feet never touched the ground. I pressed forward, forcing him through the air, each strike heavier than the last, each swing stronger than the next.
He snarled. "You persist—"
I cut him off with my fist smashing into his jaw.
Bone cracked. Blood — gold and brilliant — splattered through the air.
He answered instantly.
A spear of light formed in his hand, and he rammed it straight through my ribcage.
The world flashed white. I felt the heat burning through the bone — but my hand clamped around the spear shaft before it could exit my back.
"Too slow." This armor? It's helping me, I'll take advantage of this.
My head slammed into his face.
His nose shattered. His body dropped from the air, smashing into the asphalt hard.
I landed on him before he could breathe.
Durandal came down. Caelith rolled aside, the blade carving a trench that swallowed the street whole. Buildings trembled, windows exploding outward. He countered with a palm strike that hit me right on.
My entire chest lit up — I flew back, skidding through pavement, carving a long scar in the earth.
He was already in front of me, knee raised.
His kick hit my ribs and the entire left side of my body collapsed inward.
The pain was instant, but it didn't stop me.
The armor of Umbra and Sanguis pulsed, knitting bone in real time. I grabbed his leg, twisted, and slammed him through a broken bus stop.
He rolled, light erupting from his entire body.
The golden radiance burned like a star about to collapse.
"You," he hissed, "are becoming an inconvenience."
He vanished.
My vision blurred, a fist hit my spine.
Another hit my throat.
Another hit the side of my skull.
I tasted blood — my blood — filling my mouth fast. He was behind me before I could fully turn, palm out.
A beam of pure light erupted point-blank — it tore through my abdomen and out my back, incinerating a chunk of street dozens of meters behind me.
My knees hit the ground.
For a moment the world dimmed.
"Aruno!"
Serenia's scream reached me faintly.
But I wasn't done.
The armor surged, crawling over the wound, sealing it shut with brutal efficiency.
I rose again.
Caelith's eyes narrowed. "You should have stayed dead."
I lunged.
We clashed midair — light and darkness detonating. Every punch was a shockwave. Every block shattered something nearby. The sky rippled like fabric being torn.
Caelith caught my wrist — I let him, then I twisted my arm, breaking his grip and driving my elbow into his solar plexus.
He coughed blood.
I grabbed his face and slammed him straight into the ground.
The earth split again. His body cratered again.
He erupted upward immediately — spear in hand — and stabbed for my throat.
This time, it connected.
The spear pierced through the side of my neck, spraying red across his glowing armor.
My vision wavered — but my hand moved faster.
I grabbed the spear, snapped it in half, and plunged the broken shaft into his stomach.
Caelith roared in fury, divine, furious, and animalistic.
He blasted me off him, sending me smashing through a building wall. Dust swallowed me whole. I hit the ground inside the rubble and spat blood onto concrete.
My heart was pounding — too fast, too loud, too alive.
This was what Void wanted.
This was what I needed to become.
I stepped out of the smoke.
Caelith hovered above the street, breathing hard. His armor was cracked. Gold blood dripped. His perfect, untouchable form now bore wounds he couldn't ignore.
His voice shook with restrained rage.
"You are not a god. You are not even close. You are a corpse with delusions."
I smiled, blood dripping from my mouth.
"Funny."
Durandal materialized back in my hand, darker, heavier, vibrating with hunger.
"That's exactly what I was about to say."
We charged.
The world split between us.
Caelith flickered out of sight.
Aruno's instincts roared a split second before impact — he twisted, blade snapping upward just in time to deflect the golden arc aiming for his throat. Sparks burst across his vision as metal screamed against divine light.
He keeps going for my neck, Aruno realized.
He's trying to split my head before I can regenerate.
Caelith reappeared behind him, spear thrust already halfway through the motion. Aruno spun, forcing Durandal into the path of the strike. The shock rattled his bones, but he pushed forward, using the momentum to shoulder-check Caelith.
The god slid back only an inch.
Aruno rushed him.
Their weapons collided in a storm of gold and dark. Every clash sent tremors through the ruined district. Shattered buildings collapsed under the pressure waves. Caelith moved like a perfect machine — clean, efficient, merciless — each strike cutting dangerously close to Aruno's neck.
Aruno ducked under a sweeping horizontal slash meant to take his head clean off. The blade clipped his cheek, peeling skin open. Warm blood ran down his jaw, but he didn't flinch.
He countered with a rising knee to Caelith's ribs, followed by a downward slash that cracked the ground open. Caelith blocked it with his bare forearm, light bursting from the contact point.
Aruno's eyes widened slightly.
He blocked Durandal… with his arm.
Caelith grabbed Aruno by the face and slammed him through a car. Steel folded around his skull as Caelith pinned his head to the ground and thrust the spear down toward his neck again.
Aruno caught the spearhead between both hands, stopping it an inch from his throat. The divine light seared into his palms, skin splitting, blood sizzling.
"You adapt quickly," Caelith said calmly. "But not fast enough."
Aruno snarled, twisting his hips and kicking upward. His boot cracked Caelith's jaw, sending the god skidding back for the first time.
Aruno leapt after him.
They met mid-air — Caelith stabbing for Aruno's neck, Aruno redirecting it with the flat of Durandal, answering with a brutal downward elbow that shattered the air around them. Caelith caught the elbow, flipped Aruno by the wrist, and slammed him spine-first into the pavement.
Before Aruno could breathe, Caelith's spear punched through his shoulder, pinning him to the ground.
Blood sprayed like a fan.
Aruno roared and ripped himself free, tearing the spear out of his own flesh. He hurled Durandal like a javelin, forcing Caelith to dodge. The sword embedded itself into a distant hillside, splitting it open.
Aruno appeared beside Caelith the next instant, grabbing him by the collar and driving a headbutt into the god's nose. Light burst as Caelith was thrown back, crashing through a building.
Aruno didn't let up.
He smashed into the rubble right after, burying Caelith in a flurry of punches — fast, vicious, each one cracking stone and bone. Caelith raised his forearm to block, but Aruno bit into his opening, twisted inward, and tore a chunk of divine flesh from Caelith's shoulder with a diagonal slash.
Golden blood sprayed across the ruined room.
Caelith's expression tightened.
Aruno grinned. "You'll continue to bleed."
Caelith's eyes flashed.
"So will you."
His hand shot out, gripping Aruno by the throat. Before Aruno could react, Caelith rammed him through three walls in a straight line. Dust exploded outward as Aruno crashed into the street again.
Caelith descended swiftly, spear forming in his hand.
Aruno forced himself up, chest rising and falling hard. "I know your pattern now," he said, voice steady. "Neck. Every time. You want to break the brainstem."
Caelith hovered silently, reading him.
Calculating him.
"Then try to stop me," the god said.
Aruno's eyes sharpened. "Gladly."
They clashed again — faster, closer, more vicious than anything before. The street cracked apart beneath them as blood and light scattered in every direction. Aruno ducked the killing stroke aimed at his neck, answering with a slash that cut Caelith's ribs open. Caelith retaliated, carving a line