- Underworld -
Chronos landed inside the building and pointed his scythe at Elijah. ["YOU!"]
Elijah felt a deep fear in his stomach as he heard Chronos shout. He didn't know what had been said, but he could tell through the context. His legs wouldn't move. This was different than all the other life-threatening encounters he had experienced. How could he fight this being in front of him? He couldn't even hear Heinrich shouting his name.
Lao landed behind Chronos.
["STAY OUT OF IT!"] Chronos shouted as he swung his scythe at Lao.
Lao ducked under the swing and gripped his hands around Chronos's leg. He pulled as he kept moving, sweeping the leg and bringing Chronos to the ground. He twisted the ankle, snapping Chronos's femur before being blasted back by blue fire. He landed close to Yvere.
"Swap with me," Lao whispered to Yvere. "Not much time, need to reduce enemies."
"Ok," Yvere agreed.
Yvere turned around, healed Lao, and sprinted at Chronos. She took Chronos's unstable attempts to stand as her window of opportunity. She wrapped her arms under his, opened her mouth, and clamped down onto his shoulder, digging deep into the flesh.
Chronos's eyes stayed on Elijah as he moved. He conjured a blue flame in his hand, ready to burn the vampire that had latched onto him. He blasted her with flames, expecting her to release him. His eyes shifted, wide with surprise that the woman hadn't released him. He chuckled.
["You chose the wrong god to do this with."]
"RELEASE HIM, YVERE!" Lao shouted.
Yvere let go of Chronos the moment she heard Lao's voice. She didn't know why she should until she saw what Chronos did next.
Chronos self-immolated his body with a flash of blue fire. His skin was covered in burns. His scythe's blade ignited.
["TO THE VOID WITH YOU ALL!"]
Yvere grabbed Elijah and turned to Heinrich. "Stay behind me," she turned her head slightly behind her. "LAO, SABU, LARGE ATTACK!"
Elijah wasn't going to just sit by and let Yvere absorb flames for him. He fired multiple bolts in a circular pattern around the three as quickly as he could manage. The floor gave in where they were standing. The three dropped to the floor beneath them as flames consumed the room.
Artemis and Apollo ran to retreat. Apollo made sure to sandwich Lao and Sabu between magics by creating his own blast of fire. Sabu moved in front of Lao and created a sphere of wind around the two.
"Move with me!" Sabu said to Lao.
The two chased Artemis and Apollo as the two gods jumped out of the broken window. Sabu threw Lao at Artemis with a blast of wind. Lao's hand was firmly gripped around Artemis's face as the two rotated in midair.
Apollo had his bow ready to fire but couldn't find a safe way to shoot Lao without hitting his sister. In his desperate attempts to find the opening, he didn't notice Sabu hurling towards him.
Sabu was a whirling sphere of metal as he slammed into Apollo. The daggers he held tore into Apollo's Torso. The splattering of blood shot behind Sabu, hitting Artemis and Lao.
'Brother!' Artemis shouted in her mind before losing consciousness.
Lao used his palm to smash Artemis's head into the side of the building with a blast of martial energy. The whites of Artemis's eyes could be seen for a moment before Lao reapplied pressure, carving the side of the building using Artemis's face.
Apollo blasted Sabu off of him before crashing into the shallow water on the ground. He watched in horror as Lao landed on top of Artemis's limp body. He held his hand against his stomach in an attempt to hold his organs in.
"Sist-..." Apollo stammered.
Apollo looked up at Sabu. His eyes fixated on the glow of Sabu's irises.
'Why do you insist on helping their kind?' His inner monologue spoke in a bitter tone. 'Why help these invaders? WHY?!'
Sabu threw a wind-assisted dagger between Apollo's eyes. There was so much force behind the throw that the dagger nearly exited the back of the god's skull.
Sabu and Lao looked at each other before looking up at the building. Yvere, Elijah, and Heinrich jumped through a broken window. Sabu caught the three with a small blast of wind before canceling his contract.
"How much time?" he panted.
"Six, maybe five," Lao answered.
"You lost count?" Sabu questioned.
There wasn't much time for the two to speak. Chronos caused a large splash of water as he landed.
"How did he heal?" Lao mumbled. "HE-"
Lao's questioning was interrupted by the need for him to meet Chronos's rush. Elijah was still Chronos's target.
Peter and Dimitri sprinted around the corner right as Lao was dodging a swipe. Dimitri didn't hesitate to shoot bullets of water at Chronos. The bullets stopped before they could hit their target.
With every swipe of Chronos's scythe, water would stop in the air. Every swing created more and more of these watery scars, obscuring the other's vision of the fight. The others wanted to help Lao but couldn't find the chance to.
Lao wasn't winning, at best he was weakening Chronos. Lao was doing everything he could to minimize damage while keeping track of his contract's timer. As the battle continued, Lucifer fell from the sky next to Yvere.
The water from the splash hanged in the air as Yvere picked Lucifer off the ground.
"Ready?" Yvere asked.
Lucifer's voice was barely audible, "Go."
Yvere sunk her fangs into Lucifer's neck and started to rapidly heal his body. She was draining his mana as she healed him, she had to, given the sheer amount of damage she had to restore.
Despite the speed at which Lucifer was being healed, it wasn't fast enough to stop what happened next.
Lao's contract was up sooner than what he had accounted for. His body lost most of its strength as Chronos knocked his arms upward with a swing. His legs gave out; Chronos's blade was pointed down at him.
The sound of Peter's footsteps sloshing in the water didn't stop Chronos, who was determined to get his kill. Everybody started moving, even Lucifer who had wrenched himself from Yvere's fangs, leaving behind spurts of floating blood as he ran.
Chronos's scythe came down like a hammer. Its blade ripped through the air and pierced partway into Lao's chest before stopping. Death's scythe was cupped underneath Chronos's.
["You...Will not..."] Death's voice sounded weak.
Chronos lifted his scythe off of Death's and swung horizontally. Death blocked but was still knocked back slightly.
["Is that weakness, hunter?"] Chronos mocked.