Hades roared before he lunged at me, his scythe descending in an arc to behead me. Aware of his raw strength, I didn't parry his scythe head-on at the moment. Instead, I summoned Scutum Sobiescanium to deflect the strike.
Even so, the brute force behind his blow was enough to shatter the Constellation shield and send me hurtling several meters away. I crashed onto the ground, blood trickling from my mouth, and rolled to my knees.
Kneeling on the ground, I heaved and wiped the blood from my mouth.
"Is this the difference between a contracted spirit and a summoned Soul Beast created from my own mana? The gulf is enormous." Closing my eyes, I sighed. "Man, I wish I could have a contracted spirit too…"
"I'm surprised." Selina was still exchanging several blows with Anastasia, but she was somehow able to continue conversing. "I didn't think you of all people would want a contracted spirit."'
There was something in her tone that caught my attention. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Didn't you know?" Selina acted surprised as she dodged Anastasia's dagger. "You need a sacrifice of equal value in order to forge a contract with a spirit. Someone who can serve as a vessel for the spirit to maintain a permanent link not just to this world, but to you." a smile grew over her face. "It's a heavy price to pay…I'm not sure if you can afford it."
She ducked under Anastasia's daggers and then reached out to brush a finger against the latter's cheek.
"I'm sure you don't want to give up your pretty girlfriend here just to get a spirit, do you?"
"Don't touch me!" Anastasia hissed as she slashed at Selina's hand, but the dark-haired woman was able to quickly withdraw her arm in time before she could get cut. With Ana's poison, even the slightest of grazes could prove to be lethal. Selina was dancing on quite the fine edge there, but again, it was her funeral if she continued to underestimate her opponent.
Even so, I was more drawn to the information Selina was sharing than the fight. An image of Dad and Angelica swept across my mind.
"Don't tell me…"
"Oh, and you can't just sacrifice anyone, you know? Otherwise the contract will fail. The bond between you and the vessel must be strong enough to bind the spirit to you, after all."
"Impossible…"
There was no way Dad would…
…no. There was nothing Dad wouldn't do to save the world. The sacrifice of the few to save the many. The sentiment he wielded like his own sword and fire spells. If it was necessary to save the majority, then he would sacrifice the minority.
Even if the cost is his son, albeit adopted. Even if the price to pay is the life of the one he loved…
"Seems like you get it now. Power doesn't just come easily to anyone." Selina was sounding gleeful. "That father you look up to…the Angel of Fire, was he? He never told you how he obtained his contracted spirit? Funny…I thought there were no secrets a parent wouldn't share with their child. Then again, you are merely adopted…"
I didn't know how Selina knew about my dad and family circumstances, but it was natural that she did some research on me after that night when we first clashed. She did say she had some interest in me. However, that wasn't what bothered me.
Dad…and Angelica…just what was the truth behind them?
"Shut up!" Anastasia snapped as she sliced toward Selina's throat, her dagger missing by just a hair's breadth. Selina giggled as she retreated a single step, and countered with her sword, which Anastasia easily parried with her second dagger. My partner then risked a glance at me. "Richard! Snap out of it! Don't listen to this bitch's prattling!"
"Oh dear…it might be too late. That boy seems like he suffered some sort of mental shock. Perhaps I shouldn't have said anything about his being adopted?"
Selina's malicious giggle rang through the night.
Hades silently sauntered toward me, and then stopped a meter away. He didn't care that I had stopped moving and was kneeling on the ground. His mind was hollowed out, completely filled with nothing but thoughts of killing, of obeying his mistress. She had ordered him to kill me, and so he would obey.
He raised his scythe for a killing blow…
…and suddenly jumped back, retreating to a safe distance.
"Gr…"
His usually stony expression darkened and he bared his teeth before he glanced at his right arm. A red line of blood had appeared on his bicep and began dripping unceasingly.
"Damn…and I was so sure I could cut your arm off," I moaned as I removed my hand from the hilt of Gan Jiang. I rose to my feet again and smiled innocently. "That would have made this so much easier for me."
Unlike her contracted spirit, Selina was amused. She barked out a laugh while deflecting Anastasia's daggers. "Interesting! It seems that you still have a few tricks up your sleeve. I don't remember seeing that sword the last time we fought!"
"That's because I didn't have them back then," I replied wryly. Instead of drawing Gan Jiang and Mo Ye, I summoned Gemini instead, feeling the comfortable weight of the twin swords as they materialized in my hands.
For now, I was going to need speed and agility more than power and strength. Gemini provided me that. I was no match for Hades in a contest of strength, so I needed to outmaneuver him rather than face him head-on.
With a bellow, I sprinted toward Hades before launching myself at him. Hades watched calmly as I executed a series of relentless attacks that he simply batted away with a single swipe of his scythe. Tucking my legs into my chest, I landed on Hades' scythe when he slashed at me in a counterattack, and then used it as a springboard to jump high above him. Doing a backflip in the air to avoid a punch from his free hand, I flung both Castor and Pollux out in a vicious slashing motion that would have split him into three if he didn't block them with his scythe. The ground underneath him shattered from the impact of my forceful assault, but Hades stood firm, completely unscathed from the clash.
I didn't stop there, however. Twisting in midair, I delivered a couple of strikes, thrusting my swords from different angles before my momentum carried me past my opponent. I hit the ground and rolled, then jumped back to my feet before turning around to face him again.
The silver pauldron that decorated his right shoulder cracked slowly before shattering into pieces and harmlessly falling onto the ground. The huge black cape that was previously chained to it billowed and was swept away by the wind, now loose from its wearer. The cape gone, Hades' prominent red tattoos and black skin stood out further in the silvery moonlight, causing me to grimace from the hideous sight.
Someone should tell Selina to bring this poor guy to a better tattoo parlor.
"Ha ha ha! Excellent, boy!" The aforementioned mistress in question was laughing gaily. In front of me, Hades' scythe began smoking as purplish black mana flowed into it and began changing its shape. Selina continued to chuckle. "It seems that you have impressed Hades. He intends to fight you seriously from now on."
"Wait, what?" I demanded, caught off guard. "Are you telling me that he hasn't been fighting me seriously this entire time?!"
Hades grunted in place of his mistress and brought his scythe up.
No…it was no longer a scythe.
The sickle had transformed from horizontal to vertical, resembling a gigantic spearhead rather than a scythe. The skull was still present, but this time a thick blade was protruding from its jaws in what seemed like a painful manner. The weapon was currently closer to a halberd or spear than a scythe. Scratch that, it was now a halberd with an oversized blade.
Refusing to be cowed by the sudden transformation of Hades' weapon, I gritted my teeth and launched another attack. However, Hades effortlessly blocked all of my attempts with his newly altered weapon. Fortunately, it seemed that I was at least succeeding in pressuring him with my barrage because before long, he forced me back with a single, massive strike that sent me flying across the air. I did a back-flip in midair before landing on my feet.
"What's with that new shape?" I growled, gnashing my teeth in frustration. My hands were still trembling from attempting to parry the powerful attack from earlier. "His weapon has become much more powerful!"
Hades charged at me recklessly with an enraged roar, brandishing his new weapon.
"Not bad! Not bad at all!" Selina was chuckling, impressed, as she parried a dagger from Anastasia. She then spun around and delivered a roundhouse kick that Ana blocked before delivering a riposte with her sword. She then kicked at Ana's face, but the green-haired former Assassin did a cartwheel that brought her out of her opponent's range. A silver streak shot past Selina's own cheek, but the dark-haired Assassin merely twisted her head out of the trajectory of the projectile, avoiding even a tiny graze. Despite being under siege, she was still enjoying herself. "You've actually gotten Hades to willingly transform his weapon from Pluto into Annihilation! That means he has personally recognized you! He only uses this weapon against opponents he deems as worthy!"
So the name of his newly transformed weapon is Annihilation, huh? My eyes narrowed. A fitting name for a monster like him.
Hades lunged at me and began bombarding me with a merciless hail of attacks that…er, annihilated the ground beneath us. I was forced to dodge all of them, occasionally deflecting one or two stray strikes that I couldn't evade.
Those blocks cost my Gemini twin swords dear, chipping the blade or outright obliterating them, but I managed to conjure up new ones to replace the broken ones every time. Fortunately, I was focusing on evading rather than parrying, or I would be pulverized long ago.
However, I couldn't evade forever.
Hades finally swung his Annihilation in a single, forceful and desperate swing that obliterated the ground I was standing on less than a second ago. However, I had managed to jump away in time, just narrowly avoiding a messy death.
The bottom of my black jacket was ripped just from being in such close proximity with the strike. I narrowed my eyes in frustration as a bead of perspiration dripped down my face.
I can't let this go on forever, I realized as a chill ran down my spine. I have to attack him as well, otherwise he'll overwhelm me with his extremely strong strikes.
I launched myself high into the air before diving toward Hades, wielding Gemini in an all or nothing attack. Black and white mana began to coalesce around them as I descended upon the wrathful spirit.
Hades, however, merely turned around and swung his Annihilation. My instincts screamed at me to evade the strike. I managed to alter my trajectory in midair, but his vicious counter knocked both Gemini twin swords out of my hands and completely shattered them.
I landed behind Hades and fell to a knee, winded from the impact. Blood spurted from my shoulder.
"Cheh!" I spat angrily. "So this is what happens even after I completely dodged the attack?"
Hades turned around to face me, growling in anticipation. Some distance away, as Selina and Anastasia traded kicks, the former couldn't resist throwing out a taunt in my direction after springing apart from her own opponent.
"Damn…and I was so sure Hades could cleave you into two."
I ignored her mocking tone and stood up to face Hades. Concentrating, I summoned Gemini again. The black and white twin swords materialized in my hands again.
"Hah!" Selina laughed, even as she parried Anastasia's dagger. "It doesn't matter how many times you summon those pitiful weapons. My Hades will just crush them again!"
As if responding to his mistress's will, Hades lunged at me. I dodged his attacks, weaving in and out of his strikes and slashes.
I thrust my body backward to avoid a swing, only to jump away as another slash smashed the ground into debris. I jumped again to avoid another slash, hopping up and stepping back to avoid every single strike from the furious assault Hades was throwing at me. Unfortunately, I was unable to evade one final attack that was directed straight at my face. Not having enough time to dodge it, I was forced to block Annihilation by crossing Gemini in front of me.
The giant halberd struck both my swords. I managed to hold my ground for a while, resisting the immense pressure that Hades was putting into his blow.
Unfortunately, I didn't last very long.
In just a second, both Gemini shattered and I was flung back, hurtling across the city and into a building behind me. I smashed through the wall and continued going through the room behind it before finally crashing into abandoned furniture and vanishing in a cloud of debris and splinters.
"Argh…argh…" I groaned.
"How weak."
On the other side, Selina kicked Anastasia back, causing the latter to double over. Anastasia managed to flip back and did a cartwheel to withdraw to a safe distance, grimacing as she placed a hand over her gut. Not placing her opponent in her eyes, Selina ignored the retreating Anastasia to turn a disdainful stare in my direction.
"Your weapons broke before you could show them off?"
Anastasia was giving me a perplexed stare as well. She was probably wondering why I hadn't summoned any of my Constellation spirits yet, despite facing such an overwhelming opponent.
The answer was simple. They wouldn't be of any use.
I mean, I could summon them, but what would be the point? My normal, weaker Constellation spirits would be obliterated instantly by Hades' Annihilation. Never mind his fearsome weapon, he was perfectly capable of tearing a Constellation spirit of Taurus's level with his bare hands in under a second. I would just be wasting mana and casting time throwing my Constellation spirits at him just for them to die. They were MY Constellation spirits. Like hell I would be comfortable with the idea of sending them out like lambs to the slaughter.
No. I would rather save the casting time for my big guns, my most powerful Constellation spirits. I was focusing on casting them as quickly as possible, but obviously the most powerful Constellation spirits required more casting time than my usual ones.
Until I could summon them into existence, I had no choice but to buy as much time as possible with what I had on hand.
"Trying to take on Hades with such pathetic spirit swords…Hades!"
At her command, the gigantic spirit stood before me, raising his Annihilation to deliver the finishing blow.
"You're an interesting person with curious spells," Selina acknowledged, but she then shook her head and sighed in disappointment. "But I guess it all ends here."
Hades' scythe came whistling down to annihilate me from existence.