'What? How did he—? …Why is he getting faster?'
The deity quickly lifted his sword to block. When their blades met, the blue-bladed tachi burst with dark flames right beside his face, the heat slamming into him. Azazul delivered blow after blow, each one nastier than the last. The deity blocked each attack one after another.
'What is he thinking? Is he trying something? …Can't he see his effort is in vain? That damned black flame is just irritating.'
Azazul attacked the deity with immense force behind each hit.
He had struggled a lot against the orange-eyed deity, and every time he tried to counter, the deity dodged with lightning-quick reflexes. Azazul couldn't hope to match his speed — he was still only at dark red, while the deity sat at the bottleneck of yellow. So Azazul thought of a plan: he had to catch the deity by surprise.
Now with the black flame's heat, the plan would work. The blows the deity had blocked were meant to weaken his sword for one desperate move.
So when the deity suspected he was "trying something"… yes. Yes, he was.
With a quick swing of his tachi, Azazul cut off the deity's left arm — finally landing a counter-slash — but the deity planted his foot in Azazul's chest, sending him flying back.
Azazul landed on his feet, mustered every drop of strength, mana, and the power of darkness, and vanished — reappearing right in front of the deity with his sword already aimed at the deity's neck. Just as the burning tachi reached him, the red-bladed katana intercepted the blow… but it burst into pieces.
This time Azazul didn't hesitate. His mind was clear, his bloodlust overflowing, and he went straight for the neck without stopping. The deity tried to escape, but the blade was too close. He felt the heat of the flames hit the right side of his face, neck, and shoulder, and even if he tried to dodge, it was inevitable.
The tachi sliced through the orange-eyed deity's neck as smoothly as butter, separating his head from his body. As the head fell toward the ground, Azazul's heterochromic eyes met the deity's bright red ones as they grew lifeless.
Azazul had killed him.
His Eye of Darkness deactivated.
He fell to his knees, burying his face in the ground. The realization struck him hard — his heart raced, and he could hear nothing but its beat. He uttered the same sentence over and over:
"I killed him… I killed… I killed him…"
The more he said it, the more his stomach churned. Before he knew it, he threw up.
After emptying his stomach, Azazul stood up and rushed toward where Akiko and Matthew were facing their opponents.
"I have to help them…"
But as soon as the thought ended, Azazul collapsed — his body still not used to the power of darkness.
---
***
"Akiko, you go for the woman. I'll go for that douchebag."
Akiko walked over to where the icy-blue-eyed deity stood. As she approached, the deity tilted her head and said:
"Are you… my prince's consort?"
Akiko was shocked but answered:
"No… why do you ask that?"
"Oh, well, we deities mark our consort with our scent. And may I say… you reek of his scent."
Akiko spat.
"Ugh! Why do I have to smell like that loser? No — me and that weirdo only train together, maybe that's why."
The deity smiled.
"I thought you'd say that. No — the only way that happens is when a deity is in love with their consort. His scent has imprinted on you. So your fate is already decided. In other words, you're fated to become his consort."
Akiko unconsciously lifted her dagger, taking a firm stance.
"Yeah right… like I'll ever fall for that weirdo."
Without waiting for a reply, she rushed forward. Her dagger was in her right hand; she considered commanding her shapeshifter but didn't want to show all her cards too early.
When she reached the deity, she vanished from sight — but unlike the younger orange-eyed deity, the icy-blue-eyed deity didn't wait. She summoned a thick layer of ice mana around herself and the surrounding area. If Akiko came closer, she would freeze instantly.
But Akiko was a quick thinker with good battle sense. She used her fire mana to create a small heated pocket around herself. At this point she was behind the deity, lifting her dagger with the blade pointed downward, aiming to stab the back of the deity's neck. But as her hand approached, she felt frostbite creep into her fingers gripping the hilt. She could see cold air frosting across her dagger's lusterless blade.
She quickly jumped back — the deity's ice mana had penetrated her heated pocket.
The deity turned around.
"Don't be so sneaky… I might just decide to kill you, you know."
Akiko laughed.
"You? Kill me? Please. It seems to me you're holding back."
She lifted her pristine white dagger toward her opponent.
"Are you underestimating me?"
Her expression shifted from calm and nonchalant to a cold, calculating stare.
"I'll kill you for that."
The deity summoned a spear — its long shaft made of strong but flexible wood, its blade clean and lusterless.
She pointed it at Akiko with a mocking voice:
"I hope my prince doesn't get mad at me for adding a scar to your collection…"
They rushed forward with immense speed.
The deity thrust the spear toward Akiko's chest, but Akiko used her small, athletic frame to her advantage. As the blade shot toward her chest, she jumped into a half frontflip, placed her hand on the spear, swung her legs over, and pushed off. In the air, the deity looked over her shoulder just as Akiko shifted her dagger from her right to her left hand and threw it into the deity's face.
When she landed, she rushed the deity, grabbed the spear, and aimed it at the deity's heart — but the deity lifted her right hand, blocking. The spear pierced her forearm deeply. She slapped Akiko back, sending her stumbling.
Akiko spat blood.Her face contorting into a menacing grin...
"Shall we start round three?"
---
***
Matthew jumped back from his opponent. The deity was still as strong and fast as ever. He was somewhat scared he might die today — not fear of death itself, but a feeling of unfinished business. Things left unsaid… things left undone. But he kept one thought:
"Take out the strongest."
After a while of only using her hands, the woman summoned her weapon — a beautiful spear with blades on both ends.
For Matthew, this was a terrible matchup. His daggers were meant for close combat. Her spear was perfect for long-range, and with blades on both ends she could counter both daggers.
'This is really bad… this plan has to work…' Matthew thought urgently.
He dashed forward. The deity thrust one end of the spear toward his chest. Matthew dropped to his knees, twisting narrowly under the blade. In a millisecond he was already within range and stabbed his amethyst-purple right-hand dagger into her throat — but she pulled her spear back, the second blade sliding into his ribs.
Matthew endured the sharp pain and stabbed his dagger even deeper into her throat. He brought his left dagger up and stabbed it into the right side of her neck, trying to decapitate her — but unfortunately the deity commanded her spear to shrink and stabbed the lusterless steel straight into Matthew's heart.
'Ugghh… No!… No!, what have I done? I was too impatient…'
Gathering his last strength, he ripped his daggers sideways, decapitating the deity. He fell to his knees as his body grew cold.
"How dare you decapitate me?! You'll die soon — and may you rot in hell, you good-for-nothing!"
Matthew looked at her, smiled, and said:
"I'll be waiting for you in hell… you demon."
"You expect this to kill me?! After you're dead and I'm healed, I'll tear your students limb from limb! Just a pity you won't see it!"
Matthew layed on his left side, unbothered by her threats. He was only disappointed — he still had things to say… and things to do.
"I leave… the rest to you… Aza…zul…"
'I'll be waiting for you on the other side, Ivara… Meira… Emma…'
Then Matthew's breathing stopped.
Azazul arrived at that moment, collapsing against a tree for support. He summoned all the strength he had left and staggered toward the deity's head and Matthew's corpse. A miniature spear stuck out of Matthew's chest. His white tunic was stained with blood. His eyes were closed, almost peacefully — but Azazul knew he wasn't sleeping.
Azazul stumbled and fell to his knees, his whole body screaming in pain, but he forced himself up again and endured the distance to Matthew's body.
"Oh my prince… did you actually win that fast? I see you were worth the chase…"
Azazul fell to his knees again as his emotions spiked. His Eye of Darkness activated and pain shot through it, black ink leaking from the corner. It stabbed into his brain, making everything worse.
Through the blinding pain, he noticed the deity's body rising — trying to retrieve its head.
So he fell forward toward the deity's head, body heavy and weak, the pain in his eye still growing. He knew he couldn't just kneel and make everything worse. Matthew had sacrificed himself for this one chance.
Azazul stood, stumbled, and pushed through the agony. He unsheathed his sword and stabbed the electric-blue tachi into the deity's head. He heard the body collapse hard behind him.
Slowly, he calmed himself, letting the Eye of Darkness deactivate.
When he looked up, he saw a woman in white robes stained with blood around her neck and arm pieces. Silver-white hair, icy blue eyes. She looked at him with cold indifference.
Then the deity neck-chopped him. He fainted. She picked him up, threw him over her right shoulder, and extended her left hand — a portal opened.
Akiko suddenly appeared. Surprisingly, she had no wounds. She saw the deity taking Azazul and commanded her serpent to stop her.
"NOOOO— let go of him!"
But the serpent was too slow. The deity stepped through the portal with Azazul.
Akiko fell to her knees and whispered one word:
"No…"