Axus and Strom hurriedly dove behind a cluster of stone figures as two blazing arrows embedded into the ones that had been directly behind them. The impaled stone figures exploded in flames, causing stone debris to fly out in all directions. Axus used his spear to support himself as he stood up from behind the tumbling stone figures around him.
"And which bastard are you supposed to be?" The short legionnaire asked as he pointed the golden tip of his spear towards the new foe.
Strom used this time to gain his footing back as well. He coughed into his fist as a result from the dust and debris that was kicked up from the destroyed stone figures surrounding him.
The archer dressed in the sleeveless crimson robes laughed with excitement while pulling down his hood to reveal his bright, long, red hair. He grinned with a maniacal smile and flicked the tip of his bowstring. A large blazing arrow ignited on the bowstring between his fingers and took aim towards the legionnaire.
"I'm just the sorry bastard that gets to clean up this mess." He said while firing the arrow straight at the short legionnaire's head.
Axus snorted while gathering his white aura to completely cover his spear and body. The incoming arrow burned the air around it with its intense radiating heat and left a trail of fire beneath its flight path.
White electricity began to spark from the legionnaire's small body as he prepared the spear in his hand to intercept the blazing projectile. The attack and deflection happened in only a mere moment, barely affording any onlookers the time to realize what happened. However, for the opponents involved, it felt as if everything around them was moving in slow-motion.
Axus had hurled his spear to perfectly collide with the incoming arrow. When the two weapons collided, a loud thunderous boom clapped in the throne room and echoed down the gorge beneath them. Axus jumped and caught his spear before it hit the ground and pointed its bladed tip towards his opponent.
His perfectly white hair stood out with pointed tips and radiated his powerful white aura. White electricity crackled around him and bounced around in his glowing white eyes as he lunged the spear down at his enemy's head. But another fiery arrow was already notched and fired to greet his spear as he came crashing down on the god-like archer.
Another arrow collided with his spear before the elusive scarlet archer slid back from his reach. An arrow aimed at the legionnaire's neck was quickly drawn and fired. There was no margin for error in the battle between the two men, whos' appearances were more akin to enraged gods.
"I'll hold him off! … Strom, take care of those bastards that are still on the balcony!" Shouted Axus with a thunderous voice as he clashed against his elusive opponent.
Strom turned his gaze from the extremely intense battle unfolding in front of him and directed his attention to the balcony. Behind the short crumbling columns and banisters above the throne still remained many of their crimson robed adversaries. He charged up and prepared for a strike as blue electricity surged around him and his longsword.
If he could destroy some of the columns, then it would provide their soldiers with enough time to regroup and confront their sneaky assailants.
"Don't think I can let that one slip by…" Hummed the archer that was engaged with Axus.
He darted away from the legionnaire after releasing another arrow, and threw a short flaming dart that materialized in his free hand at Strom. The dart did not hit Strom but embedded itself into a stone figure directly behind him.
"You missed." Said Strom as he smirked and began to swing his charged sword towards the balcony.
The scarlet archer only answered him back with a sinister smile before the stone figure behind him immediately melted. A large molten circle spanned out from the destroyed figure with red runes glowing around its edges.
"Strom!" Yelled out Axus.
Strom's eyes widened as he finished his strike that immediately destroyed the crumbling pillars and brought the balcony down. But it wasn't the balcony's destruction that surprised him.
He felt the floor beneath his feet begin to heat up with an unbelievable rise in temperature. It felt as if he had wandered into a magma chamber deep within a raging volcano.
He charged up his feet with his blue lighting and jumped away from the red, smoldering area. He fled just in the knick of time as an inferno erupted from the glowing ring.
"Interesting…" Murmured the archer after inspecting Strom's lightning closer.
The tip of Strom's longsword, that had trailed behind him as he fled, was instantly turned to a glowing red paste that melted away. The rest of the sword had just barely managed to escape the flaming tornado as Strom collided into another group of stone figures with a crash.
Axus breathed a sigh of relief while returning his attention back to the snickering archer.
"Your opponent is me!" Shouted Axus as he rushed towards his robed opponent again.
"Calm down kid. You'll get your turn to be melted away eventually." Replied the archer to the short legionnaire as two more red darts appeared between his fingers.
One was hurled towards the legionnaire while the other flew into the dust cloud created by Strom's hurried escape.
Axus swung his spear and batted the dart away to the other side of the throne room to prevent a sudden explosion nearby them or their troops. Strom was prepared this time as he sliced through the incoming dart with a wave of his longsword that left an arching trail of blue electricity in its wake.
"Not bad… Not bad…" Commented the archer as he notched an arrow onto his bow.
Axus waved his spear to his side and rushed towards the archer with incredible speed.
"Ha, you're pretty fast… But not fast enough!" The archer said as he released the arrow from his bow and summoned another dart into his hand that he tossed directly beneath his feet.
Axus deflected the arrow and swung at the archer but felt nothing come into contact with his spear. The robed man had vanished from in front of him and reappeared on top of the throne to the side.
Another arrow was notched on his bow and ready to fire at any given moment.
"Let's see if you can keep up!" Said the archer as he smirked before vanishing again.
Axus wildly searched around him for the location where the archer would suddenly reappear. However, he was unable to locate him. But the sound of flames whistling through the air suddenly alerted him. Axus turned and cut the arrow flying towards his back in half with his spear. He found the new position of the archer after following the projectile's path but the archer vanished again in a cloak of flames.
"You'll have to do better than that!" Shouted Axus as he flicked his spearhead and solely focused on where the next arrow would come from.
"Wow, it really was worth coming here." Exclaimed the archer as he repeatedly fired arrows at the legionnaire from all kinds of directions before vanishing again. But the legionnaire was able to deflect all of the sneaky attacks.
Strom began to run over to the legionnaire to provide support but was ordered off during his approach.
"Strom! Go help the others! I'll keep this one busy!" Said Axus as he destroyed another arrow flying towards the side of his chin.
Strom nodded his head and ran off towards Kellen, who had now regrouped the rest of the surviving soldiers at the base of the spiraling staircase. Marcus and Ceric were with him supporting the group against the arrows that rained down on them still, from above.
"Captain!" Shouted Marcus towards Strom as he approached them.
"We need to get rid of those archers quickly while Axus holds that one off." Ordered Strom as he pointed over to the battle between the legionnaire and scarlet archer that was still taking place.
"Who is that?" Asked Kellen in amazement as he watched Axus's opponent manage to hold the powerful legionnaire off.
"I'm not sure, but he's incredibly skilled… These Order bastards sure got some heavy hitters." Replied Strom.
Marcus brandished the two shortswords in his hands and pointed one up towards the balcony.
"I think your attack gave them some panic, captain. Now is the best time for us to push up!" Eagerly shouted the warrior.
"I'll give you guys some cover fire to hold off the ones still focused on the stairs." Added Ceric as he notched an arrow onto his bow.
Strom nodded and gripped Kellen's shoulders with his free hand before saying, "We've got this side covered, but I'm worried about Tommy. Axus is busy with that guy over there so there's no one left to lead that group."
"Don't worry, I get it…I can head over and help him out." Responded Kellen.
"Good, when we rush them on this side that should draw away some of their attention. I need you guys to push from the other side as well so we can choke the bastards out." Instructed Strom.
"I'll let them know!" Said Kellen as he ran off towards the other staircase.
"And watch out for that bastard in the middle! He's a sneaky one!" Shouted Strom towards Kellen's departing back.
Kellen weaved through the partially collapsed stone figures while carefully studying the movements of Axus's opponent. The scarlet archer was a madman. His ridiculous speed was something Kellen had never deemed humanly possible. But he supposed that it was reasonable since he was in this crazy world after all.
He paused behind a knocked over group of stone figures to better assess how he would manage to get through to the other side. The scarlet archer was capable of holding off Axus, who Kellen believed to be practically unbeatable, so he was obviously on another level compared to himself.
If he was caught or attacked by him, Kellen was not confident he could manage to defend himself, let alone survive. He would need to be extremely cautious here if he wanted to keep his life.
'What's all the fuss about now?' Asked Nergal.
'Perfect timing as always I see…' Murmured Kellen to himself at the sudden entrance of his demonic sun god.
'Hey! Osiris! Take a look at this kid over there!' Exclaimed Nergal while ignoring Kellen's sarcastic remark.
'Huh? What's going on? I was just about to take a nice nap!' Angrily replied Osiris before gasping in surprise.
"What? No way! Didn't he die back in your little scuffle between the celestial factions?" Said Osiris in shock after seeing the scarlet archer's flames.
"No you fool! It isn't him! It's a descendant to be exact." Replied Nergal while reprimanding him.
'What are you guys going on about right now?' Questioned Kellen in confusion. He knew that the scarlet archer was quite the shocking existence right now for the Romans, but he didn't know what it had to do with these two old demons.
'Ah, the descendant of Apollo… I thought his line was going to be extinct after you obliterated them.' Said Osiris to Nergal in shock.
'Well my line was supposed to be over as well, but here we are.' Retorted Nergal back.
'Can both of you shut up and just tell me what the hell is going on right now! What is this descendent thing you guys keep going on about? And who the fuck is this archer!' Angrily shouted Kellen over the two conversing demons.