Deicide: To Kill The Gods

The amount of times I had repeated the trial was countless. I was beginning to forget how long I had spent in that damned dungeon with each repeat. Every time I repeated the process, I came out with large numbers of injuries. Though it lessened with each run, I was beginning to grow weary as my mental state took blow after blow, the only solace I had being Diana's presence with me. I thanked Meryll inwardly for forcing me to take her– if I hadn't, I would've certainly gone mad by that point.

My hands stroked her fur, before I pushed myself to my feet. The damage I had accrued across the runs had healed, though that didn't leave me without some scarring. Though it wasn't exactly significant scarring, my skin was still roughened because of it. Callused hands pressed firmly against the frame of the door, forcing it open as I had done many times before.

The statues wasted no time, as usual. Their heads snapped sideways as the stone fell from their bodies, revealing a black, fleshy inner beneath their rock armour. Spear Demon No.1 charged towards me, swinging wildly at a blinding pace. Though my movements were sluggish, it was good enough to escape the range of the gargoyle. It was a statue, without a mind of its own, and utterly predictable.

However, as we engaged in a dance around the circular room, an arrow made from ice nailed me in the foot, my head turning sharply towards my attacker. Letting out a hiss, I tugged on the arrow, ripping it out of my foot as I chomped down on the arrow, consuming the soul energy from it. I needed to deal with the ranged attackers first.

As I was focusing on them, Speary No.1 swung at me again, narrowly missing my head as my body dipped downwards. Wind coalesced around my fist in a spinning vortex and I jabbed forward, feeling the satisfying crunch as the amplified blow broke a hole through the statue's armour and left a deep dent in its fleshy body.

The vortex exploded, and the statue flew backwards, slamming into the wall.

“How d'you like them apples, huh?” I growled out, spinning on my heel and charging towards the bowsman that had just hit me in the foot. Blood soaked my boot– though the wound wasn't deep, every step sent a jolt of staggering pain through my leg and entire body. However as I moved, I was forced to ignore it, meeting Bow Demon No.1 head on, arrow point blank. It stalled for a moment and my fist crashed into the area its nose should have been, sending it into the ground, as I consumed the arrow it had at the ready as well.

Flames licked my fingertips for a moment, before growing brighter as I held my arm up. The flames shone brightly before collapsing in on themselves, over and over, before they sparked and jolted, becoming glowing white lightning that coalesced in my palm as I converged it into a ball. Placing said hand onto the beast's chest, electricity exploded out across its body as it twitched violently, before crumbling into dust.

Though that had served to kill it, it had taken up a lot of soul– and considering that it was being drained every second I spent in there, I couldn't do so a lot. Head whipping around, I looked for Diana, before letting out a silent sigh of relief as I watched her running around the opposite side of the room, drawing the enemies’ fire as they stumbled around clumsily attempting to hit her. She seemed to be having the time of her life. Well, that was good. If she kept them busy, I could deal with them.

“One down, eleven more to go…” I let out a sigh, fingers clenching as I turned back to Speary No.1, who was dragging itself out of the hole it had made in the wall when I turned it into a failed rocket test flight. If the statues could feel emotions, it would have undoubtedly been angry.

“Bring! It! On!” I roared in response to the battle challenge.

“I’ve been getting a little frustrated dealing with you guys, so I’ll use you as a punching bag until I can hit that Guardian bastard myself.”

–

Drawing Requiem, the edge of the blade glinted in the dimly lit room. I hadn't seen it use any elements as of yet, so I was somewhat surprised when it came charging towards me, the earth beneath its feet crumbled with every step, floating around it in rings which pulsated with energy.

Within seconds I was forced on the defensive, very barely fending off blows from the stone titan. Each attack was reinforced with the weight of the extra stone, as well as its body clad in soul. My blade was good for nothing but defending– it couldn't pierce through the stone, but it was better than leaving me with multiple bruises on every inch of my arms like in my last run.

Though the place reset every time I closed the doors at the entrance, and Diana could heal me of my injuries, I didn't wish to redo the trial once more. It was taking too much of a toll on my mind– and my frustration was beginning to take shape in a sickeningly sweet voice telling me to give up, that I wasn't strong enough, that this was as far as I could go.

But it wasn't enough. I had to save Hua. I had to make up for the fact this wasn't my body and I didn't belong. That by some miracle I was granted a second life, a life that should never have been mine to begin with. Why didn't I die? The words had never left my head, not since I had met Isabella in the Mind's Eye.

My blade dropped towards the ground as I swung my fist forward with one hand, simply reinforcing my hand with soul. It was the best way to use up as little soul as possible whilst doing more damage. Not as much damage as using the elements, but enough that I could fight sustainably.

My fist collided with the titan’s face– or so I thought. It had actually been caught in the gargoyle's hand as I felt it twist my wrist sideways. Not good. If it pushed enough, my wrist would snap for the duration of the rest of the fight, and I couldn't defeat the rest of the golems with a fully broken wrist.

Augmenting my other fist with more soul, I jabbed into the same area I had struck it before, feeling the flesh give way as I tore a hole straight through the beast. In the centre of its chest was a glowing orb, seemingly the source of its power– a pseudo-soul core. So, the Guardian guy who made these was indeed strong. Imbuing every single one with a pseudo-soul in order to allow them to use their own spells was difficult. I couldn't even begin to fathom how much output a person needed to have to do such a thing.

What level was his core? White? It had to be.

My fingers closed around the pseudo soul, tearing it from the titan's chest as its body collapsed to its knees, fully lifeless, head tilted towards the ground. And there it would stay, eternally. Absorbing the soul from within the core into my own, I could feel my energy become fully replenished, enough to use more than just flames. Completely revitalised, I turned back to Diana, beckoning her over and watching her curl around my leg.

She cooed quietly, letting out a pulse of energy– I could feel the wound in my foot closing up with each passing second. However, the moment ended as the remaining ten rotated their bodies towards me menacingly. Three spear wielders, three bow wielders, two sword wielders, and two staff wielders.

If it was before, I might have been scared. Yet now, I knew their weaknesses, and although my soul was being drained, I could replenish all of it simply by killing one.

My fingers buzzed as air gathered in my palms. The titan's advanced, and I did as well. Augmenting my legs with soul, I blitzed forward, meeting them head on.

—

I was done with the first bowman in a moment, the electricity coursing through my body, increasing my speed resulting in movements too fast for it to react as my fist put a sizable hole through where the brain should have been– if it had been truly and fully alive.

“Well, that’s one down.” I said quietly, before leaping backwards, lightning sputtering out as a sword slammed into the ground where I had previously been standing. If I hadn’t moved, I would have likely been cleaved in half. My leg slammed into the ground, causing rubble to fly up, before I sent a wave of flying rocks towards the thing.

Earthen spikes rose from the area beneath the titan’s feet, though most of them missed. Note to self– practice earth magic, since I was clearly not very good at using it. As it batted the rubble away rather easily, it failed to notice me standing before it. I raised a hand, index finger pressed into its solar plexus, right above its core, hand in a finger gun shape.

“Bang.”

[Flame Bullet]

Flames converged at the tip of my finger, before shooting a thin yellow-orange laser into the titan’s chest, shattering the pseudo soul in one go.

The second sword-wielding giant slammed the fuller of the blade into my side, sending me tumbling off to one side as it jumped, all of its weight put into a single downward strike. I couldn’t block it all– no way in hell, I wasn’t that physically strong– so I tilted Requiem down diagonally and watched as it slipped off to the side, foot slamming into its chest, but that didn’t do much.

I needed a way to end it quickly. The staff user conjured a ball of flame above my head, and I dodged it, barely, rolling off to the side. The more of them that gathered around me, the more cornered I ended up being. And facing nine enemies at once wasn’t ideal, not for a body that was beginning to physically tire. I had enough soul to last me, but my legs were starting to feel like lead as fatigue set in. Diana couldn’t fix my tiredness, and she’d already spent her energy healing me before.

My side ached from the blow as I pirouetted acrobatically around the room, dodging various attacks and attempting to not get hit, the same way Diana had been doing before. I had told her to go and hide in a corner, and my eyes occasionally strayed from my enemies just to make sure she was still there, safe and sound.

Good.

I was unable to properly control ice, and it normally ended up coming out like snow. However, even a basic understanding was good enough. Although I wasn’t as talented in it, I could supplement that with my knowledge of the others. Whether it would be enough… I didn’t know. But I had to try.

Catching one staff in my hand, I reinforced my hand, uppercutting it in the jaw before leaping upwards. My fingertips rested on its head as I perched in a one-armed handstand, before falling forward and smashing my heel into the base of its neck. My barrage continued seamlessly, weaving out of the way of clumsy physical attacks without giving it enough space to chant or conjure any elemental attacks.

The moment it dropped its staff, I augmented Requiem with soul, making it sharp enough to cut through the stone of the giant. Flames smouldered around the blade, before being sucked into it. This was why I used Requiem over any other blade– its affinity to elemental magic was far, far higher. Now the metal was searing, with no visible flame. Requiem slid through the titan’s neck as though it were butter, before I watched as the head slipped from its shoulders and hit the floor with a loud thump, creating a sizable dent due to the weight of the stone.

Its body dropped to the floor, and I reached in, collecting the soul before absorbing it. If I got all the rest, perhaps I could advance from a Light Stone core to a Dark Grey core. I doubted it, though. The pseudo-souls weren’t worth much other than refilling soul energy due to their rather shitty quality.

After absorbing the soul energy, I felt myself replenished enough to end this fight. Nodding to Diana, I mouthed a few words.

“Go, and find cover.” Watching as she ran towards a secluded corner of the room, I made a mental note not to stretch the reaches of my spell out that far.

‘This is going to take everything out of me, but by the gods is it worth it,’ I thought to myself, watching as the gargoyles approached me silently.

My hand was placed on the floor as I kneeled, ignoring the advance.

[Embrace of the Frostfire Empress]

Fire burned at my palm, before the flames turned to a white, and burned me no more. As a matter of fact, they were rather cold. The flames glowed brighter and more fervently, before exploding out across a majority of the room, covering everything in reach in flames, which then quietened down, becoming a thick layer of frost that completely stilled all movement within the enemies.

They had been frozen to death, the subzero temperatures enough to freeze them right through, I noted, tapping on one and watching its body shatter like glass into a pile of ice chunks.

Diana came out from her corner and made her way over to me. I glanced around, looking for the ones wielding swords and spears. Slowly burning away the ice, I took the two swords and four spears, strapping them to my back as I gave Diana a grin, who looked back at me with something akin to disbelief, her small paw resting on her face in what looked like a facepalming motion.

“What? They’re mine now! I won them rightfully.” I retorted, feeling the need to justify my actions, before collecting the soul orbs, feeding half to Diana to replenish the energy she had spent up– she was the one healing me, after all. I now looked like a porcupine with the variety of weapons strapped to my back.

The entire place shuddered and rocks fell from the wall to the floor, revealing another door. I nodded to Diana as we walked over, seemingly the same procedure as before. Cladding my entire body in soul, I pushed the door wide open, and all flames lighting the room I’d been in previously extinguished immediately, engulfing the area in complete darkness, the only thing I could see were Diana’s amber eyes. Adjusting to the light, I could make out a figure in the next room, a large square room with different-coloured tiles on the floor.

A large chess board?

The figure turned. A tall female, with purple hair down to her waist and bluish eyes. Her skin was tanned, and her lips pulled back in a toothy grin to reveal a set of sharp teeth. Her hand rested below her chin, her face tilted to the side.

“Welcome. I’ve been waiting for you to arrive. I will explain the rules of the second trial in a moment.”

A shiver passed through my body. This woman’s aura was far more scary than the titans added together, all twelve of them. She was dangerous. And I was nothing more than an ant standing before her, an ant that she could easily crush if it ever piqued her fancy.