James clenched his dagger and spear tightly, trying to read any openings on the monster. It seems that Hades was trying to do the same, as it possessed intelligence beyond that of regular monsters. James drew out the flame within his heart and made it burst forth from the tip of his spear, hitting the armor of Hades.
"Wow, a human who can produce fire! Amazing! Too bad you're going to die, you would've made a great right hand man!"
Hades rushed in with commendable speed and tried to gut punch James, but he instead punched thin air, as James appeared behind him.
"Hey, why are you punching the air? I'm over here!"
Hades turned around with a kick but James was yet again out of sight…
James then had an idea - he had the skill "Fire Manipulation" and he could produce fire from his fingertips… what if he could shape the flames?
Hades suddenly felt an extraordinary heat from above him, and saw a pillar of fire rushing at him, which was made by James who was hanging onto the ceiling!
The flames touched and scorched Hades, making him howl with pain. Even his bones were revealed. His skin was so charred that it was falling off him. James was disgusted by the scene, but concluded that a victory was a victory. He jumped down from the ceiling and started walking towards a chest in the room when he heard something…
"Hold on, where are you going? You know it's rude to ignore people."
Hades was standing there, completely unscathed… perhaps he had reversed time on his body a moment after James had concluded his flame pillar?
"Oh, I didn't realize you were still standing. I guess I'll have to finish you again."
James was a bit terrified as Hades was a charred mess mere moments ago, while he was now the exact same as earlier.
Hades revealed a sword with a sneer.
"This'll even out the playing field. Now, let's try that again!"
Hades rushes at James even faster now. James is unfazed by Hades' new speed, as he simply penetrates his skull with his spear. Now, he shouldn't be able to reverse time.
James removed his spear from Hades' head, but he heard an odd gurgling sound. When he looked, he saw the wound being filled with brain matter and closing up.
"Still here. Now come, try again!"
Hades' sneer was even larger, as he knew that James was getting frustrated.
"Looks like I can't leave anything of you. Well, maybe there's something else I can do."
James lights an ember in his hand and turns it into chains using his Fire Manipulation skill, and wraps them around Hades.
"Oh god! That burns! Dammit! I'm still alive though! Come on! Ahhhh!! Just kill me! AHHHHHH!!! THIS HURTS SO MUCH! I JUST KEEP ON REGENERATING AND BEING BURNT! PLEASE! KILL MEEEEE!"
"No."
"W-what? No! Please! Just end me! My skin is turning to nothing! My flesh is becoming soup! Please, have mercy!"
"No."
"Please… this hurts so much… just kill me… so much suffering…"
James watches Hades' pitiful state, but decides to free him of the chains, and puts him in a suit that completely covers his body.
"AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!! WHYYYY!!!! KILL MEEEEE!!! THIS IS A THOUSAND TIMES WORSE!!! MY EYES ARE MELTING!!!!"
"I'll kill you, but only if you tell me how to do it permanently."
"NEVER!"
"Then I guess you'll be staying like this."
"YOUR MANA WILL EVENTUALLY RUN OUT! IT HAS TO!"
"Oh, did I forget to mention this consumes nearly no stamina?"
"Oh no… please! I can't take this! Fine! To kill me, you must disintegrate me to nothing! Now please! BE QUICK!!!"
It seemed that James's bluff had worked, as the suit was actually rapidly consuming his stamina. He decided that the best method to annihilate Hades would be through "Infernal Fist", assuming it would be enough.
"I shall try and grant you a swift demise. But if it turns out you've lied to me, I will make you feel so much pain that books about torture would be moved to the heartwarming section in a library!"
James took his stance and retracted his fist, preparing to release immense strength. He pushed his fist forward with such tremendous force that the air he blew away extinguished his flames!
When his fist made contact With Hades' body, Hades was blown to smithereens, simply a stain on one of the walls. The armor on his body was also smashed to bits, which saddened James, but there was something that brightened his mood.
[Congratulations for killing The Overlord Of Tartarus, Hades! You have obtained the artifact "Covenant Of The Old Gods". It is able to absorb the power of any monster you have slain. If you have received assistance in slaying a monster, you can only absorb a small amount of its power. It also does not work on monsters stronger than you.]
James was surprised by this, as he had wanted the armor but had gotten something possibly much stronger. The "Covenant Of The Old Gods" was a glove, and it had some golden patterns on it. He decided to test it on Hades, even if he had become literal dust.
"Okay, how do I use this?"
[You must utter the phrase "Old gods, hear my call and give me the power of this corpse!". After using it enough, you can simply hold out your hand to use it.]
"Okay, that's helpful. I just hope it'll work on Hades though. Old gods, hear my call and give me the power of this corpse!"
A dark turquoise smoke appeared from the fingertips of the glove and split into thousands of little streams of smoke, going to the bits and pieces of Hades and absorbing their power.
"Oh, so it doesn't matter how many pieces the monster has become!"
About 5 minutes later, the streams of smoke returned to one and entered the glove. At that moment, James felt a surge of power from his body, only to look at his stats panel and see that his physique had increased to Platinum VII and his soul had increased to Gold V!
"Wow, Hades was actually pretty strong to be able to make me come to this level. Anyways, I should count my points."
James had obtained an impressive 630 Evolution Points! He decided to return home to see how he could spend these points.