章 2: The End

The battle continued for days.

Both sides experienced significant losses, leaving them at an even playing field.

Amari, Hakim, Jon, Skylar, and even Halo died with Noah. Having gotten cornered, Noah went out with a bang. Having decided to take them all down with him, he used a frenzied wave of attacks that positioned them perfectly, ready to be blown to dust using a powerful detonation spell centered on himself, pouring every last ounce of his being into it.

Matt had survived, though now he was heavily injured. He quickly retreated, advancing into space to avoid getting caught in the crossfire of the ongoing battle. He watched on from afar now, recuperating by taking in Ardor from the solar winds.

Alex and Conner had beaten each other to death, their rivalry ending at a draw.

Ivan was killed by Shiva after he had killed Evelyn, and Sarah had been slaughtered by Ivy after she killed Shiva.

Nova had succumbed to one of Ivy's parasites, becoming unconscious first and becoming a mindless minion next. Unfortunately for Ivy though, Nova's power came from her smart application of her abilities. The parasite, on the other hand, only had access to those abilities now, not her smarts.

Rose, although pained to do so, made quick work of Nova.

Now, she and Ivy were on equal grounds.

Meanwhile, Valerio and Amon were fighting as fiercely as when the battle began. The clang of their weapons resounded frequently even as the other two felt their energy reserves finally thinning to dangerous levels.

Since Amon and Valerio were the closest to reaching divinity, it was only natural they could continue fighting so fiercely. If they had no other choice, their fight could last months. However, Valerio was confident it wouldn't last much longer.

His intricate spell was almost complete, though he had become a gory mess, covered in blood.

However, Amon thought differently. Given their past encounters, he figured that Valerio was at his limits. The sluggishness of his actions was becoming more pronounced as they continued fighting.

But, the real reason for that sluggishness was revealed as Amon took the time to take control of the spacetime in that area again.

Amon's eyes widened with shock and horror, when suddenly, Valerio's crimson aura was completely overtaken by white flares. He was now radiating a quasi-divine aura, and it washed over the entire globe. Even Matt could feel it, more than halfway between the moon and Magna.

The white flares solidified into a vast and intricate magic circle. It made the planet look as if it were on top of a large glowing plate. Unlike Valerio, the spell he had spent days inscribing was radiating a divine aura.

"Eat shit and die, you annoying mother fucker!"

Rose and Ivy immediately came to a silent truce and flew for their lives, beginning to ascend into space.

This attack was the end.

To their dismay though, they quickly found themselves trapped before they could escape. The outer rim of the magic circle had begun spinning. It encompassed Magna in a semi-transparent white sphere, but the next few rims joined the intricate process.

The rims began to shave down Magna as each rim began spinning, until eventually, Amon was trapped in the innermost circle with Valerio. Then, all of the runes began discharging their power at Amon, timed so perfectly that not once did they get intercepted by the spinning rings.

Thunderbolts, spears of fortis, comets made of flames, piercing tornadoes, and beams of light, all covered in a menacing crimson aura, were coming Amon's way. He instantly began fending off the attacks, slashing at them with his blade.

He even desperately teleported whenever a deadzone managed to appear among the attacks, only to find that the onslaught never stopped coming in his direction.

Even then, he somehow managed to find the time to talk as he desperately slashed away at the different attacks coming his way from every direction.

"HEY! IVY AND ROSE ARE IN DANGER! ARE YOU REALLY SO DESPERATE TO ACHIEVE DIVINITY!? TO GO SO FAR AS DESTROY OUR HOME?!"

Valerio remained silent as he watched the spell do its work, casually moving around the deadly attacks. The first wave was already putting pressure on his last hurdle to divinity, meaning the next seventeen were complete overkill. He'd won.

"You think you can appeal to my emotions like that, you scummy asshole? They knew the risk this fight posed. And what of our mortal plain? There are plenty others in this star system, let alone the universe! Once this is finished, I'll just go to another one and finalize my ascension!"

"YOU'RE A CRAZY BASTARD!"

"And you're going to be dead soon, annoying fucker."

The two went silent after that.

As Amon fought desperately to survive, unaware of how long he had to continue, Valerio subtly took control of the spell again, helping Rose escape, while forcing Ivy to come closer to the center. Rose managed to escape into space as the Second Wave began, while Ivy entered the inner circle.

Valerio effortlessly maneuvered his way through the onslaught of spells, grabbing Ivy by the neck before moving his way over to Amon. She desperately tried to free herself to no avail, having suffered too much on her way there.

Amon's face flashed with fury when he saw that. But the majority of his focus had to remain on the spells coming his way, or he would die. He couldn't help her.

"I think, it's about time I got back at you for the innumerable grievances you've caused me throughout the last five thousand fucking years."

Ivy began to squirm violently, but her strength was nothing in front of a Quasi-Divine Being. "NO! Please, don't defile me in front of him! I'll never be able to rest in peace if you dirty me like that!"

Valerio's face contorted in disgust. "And who the fuck do you take me for? Disgusting whore. I'd doubt it'd be the first time he's seen you with another, but that aside, I'm going to do something much, much worse to you."

She froze up in terror, and Amon's face of fury grew fiercer.

"I'll give you a brief run down for shits and giggles, since your dearest here won't be done for another month or so."

Amon's face paled, but the thought that Valerio could be bluffing kept him going.

"You see, rapid cellular decay is easily one of the worst ways to go, as far as I've managed to tell. The screams of pain leave them breathless, and they begin to choke to death as their body falls apart because of the screaming their body forces them to do. The terror in their eyes is always the worst I've ever seen."

Valerio then chuckled as he saw a fortis spear obliterate Amon's left calf, leaving his foot to float freely amongst the diminishing gravitational pull of Magna's debris.

It then got obliterated by a passing beam of light.

"As you know, I've yet to completely figure out the underlying laws that give birth to Life Ardor. So, I can't do it the same way Rose could. Yet, I've come up with my own method. It's a bit brutish in comparison, much less efficient even, but I'd argue that only adds to the pain."

He then began a live demonstration.

Ivy's armor and equipment vaporized all at once, leaving her naked.

"Wow, not bad at all. Rose is leagues better though. . . Anyway, as you can see, by using the fortis element, I can remove an essential binding element in all of Ivy's equipment, vaporizing it. I can take this same idea and apply it to living organisms. It goes without saying, but Air Ardor is pretty important in keeping a body together. So, I just break apart her body at around the same pace it takes rapid cellular decay to do its work."

Ivy reinforced her entire body with mental energy, hoping it'd be enough to fend off Valerio's influence and survive until either an opening appeared or Amon managed to break free from the onslaught somehow.

Her hopes instantly shattered as she felt Valerio's mental energy effortlessly bypass her mental energy, despite her best efforts.

"First comes the skin!"

Ivy's skin began to vaporize from the bottom up, starting at the sole of her left foot and moving upward, before moving back down and vaporizing the rest of her skin. All over the course of fifteen minutes. The screams of agony were the most intense Amon had ever heard her scream before.

"And now, everything else!"

Just as he'd described it, the instinctual need to scream made her lungs collapse, and dry choking noises resounded amongst the chaos of flying spells. Amon got to see every angle of that decay as he moved from deadzone to deadzone. The anger boiling up from within was the fiercest he'd ever experienced.

After about a minute, Ivy had been completely vaporized.

Amon's rage had reached a deep and critical level.

A menacing crimson aura began enveloping him, and Valerio smiled when he saw that occur. That might have just thrown a wrench into his plans, but he had achieved true, bonafide revenge.

"Do you feel it, Amon? THAT BURNING SENSATION PERMEATING THROUGHOUT YOUR BODY?!"

Amon began growing more powerful, his casual swings fully countering the onslaught of spells coming at him. He began radiating a quasi-divine aura, just like Valerio had done.

"This is what you've done to me, you fucker!"

"FEEL IT DEVOUR YOU AS I SEND YOU TO THE GRAVE!"