PREVIOUSLY
"Got you!" Ameth squealed with the voice of an old woman, and the enthusiasm of a child. It disgusted Elm even more, the blood inside her boiling to extinguish this disgusting amalgamation of a creature.
"Quite the slippery one, aren't you?" Ameth tutted at her. The Celestial Hero really looked nothing like her name now, with all the blood pouring out of her skin. "But, what will you do now? I've caught you in my grasp, and like all the other incarnations before you, you're quite literally stuck between me and a hard place."
"Powers sealed, your connection to the light gone, is there really anything you can offer me so I won't, oh I don't know, peel your skin from your body?"
A hand formed from one of it's tentacles, and it snapped it's one too many fingers. "Ah, why don't we review what I've said before, and take out your sword?"
The grip on Elm got even tighter.
"I'm not asking."
Elm felt like she would pop soon, as her Holy Sword was now demanding that it be let out.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"I can quite literally feel how fervent your little Sword has gotten," Ameth said. "So, why don't you listen to her and let her out, eh? It must be itching to slice off my little head."
It closed its eyes and then the torso and top part of the millipede dove into the wall. Elm felt the mountain of bones shuddering around her. As it moved through the bones its serpentine body created a tectonic shift in the skeletons. The bones rattled and rumbled around them. Pieces of bones fell from the ceiling and motes of dust and decay filled the air.
It held Elm closer to its face and a tongue slipped out of its mouth and licked her face. The action filled Elm with so much disgust, she was tempted to just take out her Sword and vanquish the foul being, but she held herself back. It wasn't time for that yet.
Just a little bit more.
"Mm, you taste of the god I killed and devoured before my ascension. I've fought and killed your incarnations before, but I've never really had the opportunity of eating one."
Another lick. "Before I begin swallowing you whole, might I remind you again while I may not be able to get you to take out your sword now, I can get it from your future incarnations."
Another lick. "I just tend to be a little impatient."
Ameth opened its mouth, its glowing teeth lighting up the darkness as it was about to bite into the middle of the Celestial Hero like she was a piece of fried cod.
Now!
Immediately, Elm channeled what little of the chi she had accumulated throughout the fight, and broke free from Ameth's grasp before pouncing forward onto it's big, yellow eye.
"Impossible?!" Ameth growled, shaking it's big head around, trying to get the little Hero off. "It shouldn't be possible to call upon the other energies in this realm! No, no! This is my domain, mine!"
Elm was quick to act, digging her chi-empowered fist into Ameth's right eye, and held onto it as the big chimeric lord roared in pain. But, she did whatever she could to not let go of Ameth, even if it's black, coppery blood disgusted her to no end.
"Get off! Get off me, I said!" Ameth summoned forth tentacles from it's head, to get rid of the Hero but Elm simply called upon her powers of light, and created a barrier where anything that approached it would be sliced at the speed of light. "How are you doing this?!"
Elm didn't bother responding. With that little barrier she had put out, that was the end of her prana reserves, and her chi pool was also beginning to dampen. She had prepared the entire time they had fought, building it up slowly by slowly and yet, this was all she, the freaking Celestial Hero, could amass.
She glanced down at the rowdy beast. She needed to kill it here and now, before it could grow any stronger.
Elm took one last look at the chimera's blood-shot, good eye, and stared it down. "You wanted the Sword?" In her right hand, something resembling a sword of gold and light started to materialize with the shape of the stars.
"NO!" Ameth roared, summoning forth a giant coalescence of tentacles that had formed into a fist as big as it's head. It dashed forward, aiming to squash her to death, not caring about the pain Ameth would receive from it's own attack.
"Not like this!"
Elm took one last glance at the chimeric beast, and sneered. "Here's your fucking sword." With a mighty heave, the Holy Sword in her right hand grew exponentially into one befitting a giant's craft, before she stabbed it straight down the Chimeric Lord's head.
"Gukgh!"
And the job was done. The Chimeric Lord couldn't even mutter a word, before it felt it's connection to the material plane disappear as it's soul, body and mind was plundered by the reapers of the underground.
Elm leaped off the big bug, and landed gracefully onto the stone-cold floor, as she looked straight at the disappearing body of a god. With her eyes, she could sense how Ameth's soul tried to fight off the Reapers, trying to devour them but it was an inevitable fight since only the Top 10 Strongest Of the World could win such a hopeless battle.
She heard the last hiss of Ameth, before one of the reapers plunged their scythe into Ameth's soul, killing it, and taking it to eternal damnation for it's crimes.
Then, Ameth's body disappeared with a poof, and now, there was only a tired, beaten Celestial Hero, a napping little snake, and the core of a god, gleaming silently in the darkness.
Even if the battle was dangerously close, and her plan nearly failed, it was worth it since now she would be able to finally take the next step and wander into the territories of a god. There were only two ways to be a god;
1. You work tirelessly to gain devout believers, and appeal to the Heavenly Court to be appointed a dominion of a god.
2. Or, You simply kill a god and take their divinity.
Elm held the black core of Ameth, and just from touching it, she felt all of her powers return to her since it acknowledged her as the victor, and as the old saying goes, to the victor, the spoils of war goes. She couldn't believe that in such a small condensed core, was the divinity and dominion of a god, and that by simply consuming this little ball, she would be able to become a god.
Becoming a god usually meant a lot of responsibilities, since it meant you would have to take care of your followers, follow the Heavenly Codes, etc but that was only if you followed the first step. Yes, the second method wasn't really impervious to responsibilities but then Ameth was a god who had devoured it's predecessor and chose to live in seclusion which meant that if Elm consumed the core, she wouldn't be burdened with any of the responsibilities that would typically be left over by the predecessor.
Being a god had a lot of benefits but it didn't mean you were invincible. But of course, having complete immunity to the domain of a equal-leveled god or being, was something she really liked after the previous fight with Ameth.
Oh, even Elm had to admit that she got lucky Ameth was so talkative. Although now, she wondered why all of her enemies always liked to brag and talk instead of simply killing her and finishing the job.
Oh well.