The smallest movent of the titan displaced enough air to cause gusts of wind. Necrotic energy pulsed through the plague that had buried itself deep in Atlas’ corpse. Hands that could have held up the world rose with undead slowness. Titanic thighs rose from the muck, gaps in the remarkably well-preserved flesh filled by the very sa disease that had caused them. A skyscraper-sized rupture in the stomach was all of the titan that remained utterly destroyed.
On his throne, Macuil leaned back. A multitude of worms, connecting the backrest to his individual vertebrae, shifted alongside the motion. “Co on, show your bravado!”
“If you insist,” John answered.
The purple mist all around them stirred from the movents of Atlas reanimated. Among the dark and sickening particles, five of John’s elentals ca together. Gno, Salamander, Sylph and Undine all joined the swirl of elental energies, Stirwin at its centre.
The air, already heavily saturated with magic, sparked and cracked around the spawning place of the 5-type Combination. Heavenly rays of light fell from nowhere and everywhere, illuminating golden scales. The creation of light was blinding in its existence, a mass of concentric rings swirling around a small, curled shape holding the foetal position.
“And all shall know and be rewarded and be certain in their virtue.”
As swiftly as the Combination had appeared, it shattered. Pieces of light arced towards John and his allies. Warm, the light seeped into him, filling him to the brim with power.
“I declare myself the centre of magic!” John chanted, activating the Arcweaving Class’ Overlock.
Not the strongest one in his repertoire, but it left him capable of fighting after it had run its course. The nuclear option ca after. ‘Would be neat if I could use more than one at a ti,’ he thought and glanced to the side. All of his allies were also benefiting from the buff Ascension had provided.
“LADY, HEAR MY PRAYER, AWAKEN !” Moira shouted, her halo burning almost as bright as the Combination had.
The paladin appeared to benefit the most from the virtue elental’s blessing. A predictable fact, that did not hinder everyone else from experiencing a boost in power that more than made up for the temporary loss of 5 of John’s elentals and the opportunity cost of not using another 5-type.
“Full throttle,” John said, before teleporting forwards. Just barely, he caught Malady giggling.
John, Siena and Moira charged towards the god of gluttony. It was odd only having those two by his sides, just as it was odd to rush into lee combat while the hand of a titan was descending on them all. The hand moving made John’s ears pop from the pressure differences it created.
“Aww, you are so cute, you think you can threaten because you’re glowi-uuuuargh!” Macuil’s boasting ca to a sudden end when a 10-tis fused Blast Ray slamd into his belly with all of the force of a 90% damage buff. The entirety of the god of gluttony bent over forwards.
John knew that a creature with over 6000 Endurance in his base form should not have reacted to that even to a direct strike.
“ATLAAAAAS!” Macuil scread, necromantic magic pouring out of him to surge the speed of the titan. It did what it was supposed to do. The second John teleported into the ten tre radius, it also topped off his MP bar quicker than he could start casting Arcana Rays.
Thin silver light poured from the Gar’s fingers, the tips of the Ego Blades, and the Companion Cube. Macuil threw up a defensive wall, in a panic unbecoming of the strongest god that was. John had not aid directly at him in the first place.
Arcane lasers collided and lded with each other, angling and angling again while the various origin points all beca tributaries for a singular stream. A network of silver light more complicated than the constellations enveloped Macuil. Supre reflexes tried to track the geotry and failed.
The damage maxed out after 10 bounces, but it hardly mattered. At 10, the damage output doubled. Thin line joined into slightly thicker line repeatedly, only for the final product to swell thrice over in diater, turning into a pillar of obliterating energy half a tre wide that now slamd into the grotesque neck of the plague chira that the Gorged God had beco.
And Macuil scread, the god of gluttony scread.
Because he had not known true pain for thousands of years.
“YOU ACTUALLY DARE?!” Macuil roared and stretched out one of his human hands. A clenching gesture transford the plague mist around John into a coffin of stone, fishbones and sharp flower petals. The spell crushed down on John, just as the expenditure of the spell worked to fill up his mana bar and keep Particle Skin running. His mana would run out first, that much was certain, but he could hold on for long enough for Moira and Siena to leap into the field.
The shadow spirit threw herself in harm’s way first, using her sharp claws to carve a path through barriers of crystalized disease and blood. Moira was right behind her, the paladin moving faster than Rave did normally. Holy rage brought her hamr down. Macuil blocked it with one of the titanic, scaled, plated, liquid monstrous limbs.
Atlas’ hand descended further, a palm to crush a city. “I got one more of these in ,” Rave coughed, purple spreading slowly under her skin, and crouched down. “Ya got , Momo?”
“Always,” the supporter assured, getting all of her buffs at the ready.
“A solemn reign for the few that rise up high…” Rave chanted, setting her eyes on the hand above. Despite her situation, she was smiling. “…and we all fight…” Why wouldn’t his beloved adrenaline junkie be smiling? “…Let our worlds collide!”
When she was about to do sothing this aweso?
Buffed up to the maximum, Rave zapped upwards, swinging her claws. A speck of dust swung in the direction of a descending mountain – and the mountain was pushed back. The titan’s hand t scorching, slicing, flickering lights and flew back upwards. A ghastly groan escaped reanimated lungs. The world shook as the half-risen form of Atlas turned sideways, shoulder slamming into the wall of the sealing chamber.
“STOP BEING USELESS!” Macuil scread at his puppet. In a hurry, he sunk his two largest arms into the dense mist and pulled out swords of purple-hued obsidian. The weapons were created just in ti to block the twin strikes of the tracanas, descending on wings and through a portal. “WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?!”
“”WEAPONS OF THE ONE TRUE KING!”” the ancient weapons declared in unison, Astrotium and Fusionals shattered obsidian, then carved into the body underneath.
“Let’s dispose of this worm,” Aclysia told her fellow maids. “It offends Master’s palate.”
That sentence was the last bit of grace the first maid had to offer, before activating the Glacial Scourge of her weapon. Beatrice and Claire followed her close, the three maids joining the elental, the paladin, and the two tracanas in the lee.
Macuil’s gargantuan form worked against him. Imposing as it was, all of the surface area he offered was easily exploited. All of his limbs thrashed around at incredible speed, utilized without any semblance of skill. The warrior won around him, having been through many gauntlets together and on their own, had fought such a power imbalance before – and they knew each other.
Moira was the weakest link, but she was the Warden and she knew to put her faith in those she purged the wicked with. Always pushing herself to the front, the redheaded paladin was the literal shield of them all. Leaping into the path of a multitude of panther-headed snakes, the Warden protected Beatrice.
Saved from taking damage, the passive maid continued her combo of delivering swift stabs and repositioning herself via air walking and her Skills. On the other side of his body, Macuil tried to take a hold of Claire, just after she had reford herself out of a harassing swarm of bats. Aclysia Aided her fellow maid, taking the hit with her blade of frost. A swift counterattack carved a wound of Black Ice into the god.
“ENOUGH!” Macuil declared, catching first tra, then Ehtra with flailing swings. “THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE MY TRIUMPH!”
“Who the fuck cares,” Malady drawled, her voice echoing over Norahnon’s loudspeakers. The reinforcing units were latched onto her already. Thunder danced between her fingertips. The ch behind her was technically still operational, but all of its joints had lted together. As long as the man inside still worked, so did their combination. “Want to see sothing cool?”
“I’VE HAD IT WITH YOUR SURPRISES!” Macuil declared. “COUGH AND DIE!”
‘That’s my sign to leave,’ John thought and burst out of the constricting spell around him. It took several Unstable Arcanas simultaneously going off, but he had that mana. Once out, he teleported away. Moira, Siena, tra and Ehtra remained in lee only until a cascade of projectiles of all kinds of devoured godhood slamd into them all. Siena was outright shredded, lacking the defences the other three had. Even being made of Astrotium, the forms of the tracanas were dented. Moira’s armour fared better, if only because her indestructible shield moved in the way. The maids were partly flayed, their surface tals splintering clean off.
That was just the first wave of the attack. A tsunami of Digestive Plague followed, rolling outwards with undeniable power. “A strike to rend the waves,” John caught a woman muttering in Japanese. “I request your assistance, Miss Momo.”
“Don’t waste ti asking, just go!” the fairy maid assured.
“I have all the ti I need,” the samurai assured and grabbed the handle of the sword she had fought Rave with.
A glint of tal. A sharp sound. The tsunami was suddenly split, the cut so clean that John was looking at smooth surfaces while it rolled past him. Hikari withdrew her hand and flipped a Lucky Coin on her thumb, it tumbled through the air, then landed where it had launched.
John was not privy to the way the item worked and he had no ti to question it either. His attention instead lay with Malady, whose voltage had steadily risen since combat began, now exceeding the point at which their duel a few days prior had concluded. “Releasing limiter,” she chanted. “No sense holding back. Inhibitions are a prison.” Vacuum tight seals hissed, while the outer layers of Malady’s tal body were cast aside. The base tal skeleton underneath was not even faintly visible, all of it enveloped by a facsimile of her naked body made by lightning. “LET’S GO MAXIMUM POWER!”
The new age thunder goddess moved with an intensity that, John loathed to admit, would have put Sylph to sha. Through the gap in the tsunami flew a thunderbolt, the electricity left in her path so dense and physics defying that it kept on crackling and discharging on its own long after Malady had ramd into Macuil.
5.
Malady punched a burning hole through the centre of the god of gluttony.
4.
She erged on the other side and kicked the air with enough force to treat it as solid ground.
3.
Slamming into the head, she forced the entirety of Macuil to kneel to the world.
2.
Malady zapped in front of the throne as if she was the Flash reincarnated.
1.
She carved through defences, layer upon layer of muck incinerated by her touch, and grabbed the human body of the god by the shoulder.
0.
Macuil did not even get to scream as excess voltage arced from his orifices. Then, as quickly as Malady had made her way across, it was all over. Her body could not sustain the electricity anymore, forcing it all to shut down before she cooked herself alive.
“Shit,” she cursed.
Macuil’s eyes rolled back down and focused on her with raw, red hatred. A primitive kick to the stomach catapulted the woman off the biological platform. The living carriage and extension of the god spasd as trace amounts of voltage continued to leak out of the system.
John caught Hikari flipping the coin once more and once more it landed back on her thumb. “Seems like we’re out of luck,” she comnted.
The Gar hated to agree. Macuil was slithering after Malady, shaking the last involuntary contractions out of his muscles as he moved. With no other tools available, John activated the Arcane Ascension of Purgatory.
Macuil recoiled instantly upon seeing the many Mana Chains surface all around him. Retreating, the god focused on defence, not only when it ca to dodging the manifold arcane projectiles but also in fending off the many lee combatants around him. The god had grown weary of their attacks, a testimony to the threat they posed to him and a terrible tactical developnt.
Their enemy had realized he was fighting a battle he could lose.
“I KNOW MAGIC!” Macuil laughed and forced all assailants back with another spell. “I KNOW YOU ARE FIGHTING ON BORROWED TI, JUST LIKE I AM BURNING STORED POWER!” The ten wings on the god’s back beat rapidly, letting him gain altitude. “SO WHY SHOULD I ENGAGE IN YOUR GA?!”
Atlas’ hand was incredibly close again and it was that hand that the massive form of Macuil moved towards. Arc Lances, sword waves, and direct lee hits all carved into the god on the way up. tra directly teleported in Macuil’s way, but was swatted aside. None could stop the ascent of the god.
Latching onto the palm, laughing maniacally, Macuil fused into the diseased flesh. A worm was truly the most apt description for him – a parasitic thing that drilled and devoured its way up the titan’s limb. Enormous as Macuil was, he was a re twitching line on the titan’s arm at first. The form swelled and swelled as he went up the shoulder and disappeared as a pulsing vein in the neck of titan.
A few seconds later, Macuil erged, a chiric thing of puss and ooze with a human face, from the empty eye socket of the half-eaten titan. A worm stretching for the first ti from the apple that had seen it grow fat, that was what the god of glutton was. Wicked and mocking, he grinned. “Let’s see you try to kill quickly now!” he mocked them, his voice booming all around.
‘God, I hope I calculated this right,’ John thought.
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