Elyon twisted to look in the direction from which the spear had come. He had barely turned his head when suddenly it felt like his skull was being assaulted by a gush of blood, his eyes, ears, and nostrils bleeding profusely. His head throbbed as if struck by a giant hammer, disorientation and dizziness overwhelming him.
Shaking his head to regain some semblance of clarity, he wiped the blood splattered across his eyes. Beneath the new moon in the east, Corfloated midair, his hair standing on end, and above his head shone a bright sigil, recognizable to Elyon as the emblem of the Underworld God. Cor's face was devoid of expression, his eyes dull and lifeless, like a puppet suspended by strings.
Corextended his right hand, and the blood-red spear flew into his grip. Despite the spear being several times his height, it didn't seem out of place. It was as if it were his weapon of destiny.
"Human, you pique my curiosity. You've looked upon my avatar and yet did not die on the spot."
Cor's mouth remained closed, the androgynous voice emanating directly from the sigil. It seemed the Underworld God was not present but remotely controlling Cor.
"Kneel. I offer you a chance. If you agree to become my Chosen, I will spare you and the boy. As my Chosen, I will grant you the power of a demigod."
Elyon felt an invisible force pressing down from the air, his knees creaking under the pressure. With a thud, they hit the ground.
"Respected Lord of the Underworld, how much monthly salary do you propose?" Elyon asked, stalling for time while he considered his options.
"Salary? With the power of a demigod, you worry about money? My followers are harbingers of death and terror. Have you confused me with some deity who only seeks pleasure?" The Underworld God, possessing Cor, seemed somewhat irate.
"Well, Lord of the Underworld, I need to eat, drink, and the capital's housing is expensive. You give me power, but I'll be hunted. What do I do without money?"
With only five bullets left, and while they likely wouldn't affect the divine avatar, Elyon wondered if they could impact the controlling sigil.
"Submit or die."
The Underworld God was losing patience. This mortal was peculiar, but the body and the power offered by the recent sacrifices were insufficient to sustain him much longer.
"Go to hell, Clyde Putto. I, a mere police officer, still have a weekly wage of five pounds. You want to poach without offering anything in return?" Elyon struggled to his feet and pulled out a flash grenade he had acquired from Comms, tossing it into the air after pulling the pin.
"Foolish. Do you think mortal weapons can harm me?" Controlled Corraised his left hand, pointing to the sky.
"Annihilate." Accompanying the command, a scarlet beam shot from his fingertip, as if stealing the brilliance from the world itself.
The flash grenade's casing was instantly corroded away. Unfortunately for the deity, the magnesium powder and ammonium nitrate within the grenade detonated on the delayed fuse.
"Bang!" A blinding white light flashed, and the deafening noise and brightness surely drew attention. The crushing pressure that felt like being underwater vanished in an instant.
Elyon leaped, not bothering to see if he could hit Cor. He wasn't willing to risk challenging a deity. His goal was clear: to destroy the magic circle carved into the stage.
"Heh, you're quite clever, but this is where it ends. Blood Ignite." Corextended his left hand into the air, grasping something, and then black-flamed blood materialized in his hand.
The flame, devoid of heat, danced atop the blood, and then Corflung the blood towards Elyon.
Elyon rolled forward hastily, the black-flamed blood splattering behind him, instantly creating a hole as if hot water was poured onto snow.
The blood that touched the ground caused the grass to rapidly wither, yellow, and rot away. Elyon felt lucky to have avoided it; otherwise, he might have been reduced to bones.
"That's quite interesting. Are you a Chosen of another deity?"
Elyon didn't respond, focusing on the last ten yards to the magic circle. Danger, his intuition warned him again, his body hair standing on end. Without time to think, he instinctively took a step back as the magic circle suddenly revealed the handle of the spear that had been aimed at him. Up close, it looked incredibly sharp, even possessing a sense of divinity.
The spear did not halt its advance, and behind it, Cormaterialized out of thin air, much closer than Elyon had anticipated.
The sharpness of the spear surprised Elyon as it grazed past his right chest, not damaging his lung but taking a large chunk of flesh with it. Pain radiated from his chest. Seeing that the blow didn't kill Elyon instantly, Corwithdrew the spear, preparing to strike again.
Elyon used the brief respite to jump back from the stage, increasing the distance between them. The intense pain almost caused him to drop his pistol.
"I'm curious. That weapon you call a gun—it can attack from a distance, can't it? Why don't you try shooting this flesh of mine? Or is it that you can't bear to harm a child? Humans always love their false sense of nobility," the Underworld God, through Cor's body, spoke.
"No, I promised his sister I'd bring him back. I'm not as noble as you think," Elyon relied on speech to distract.
"I see. I don't understand your promises, but I acknowledge you as a warrior. Only by defeating you head-on can I honor you." Corraised his spear, its trident tip flickering with light.
As if time had stopped, a black current swirled around the spear. The nearby flora touched by this current withered and died instantly. A bird flying overhead touched the current and instantly disintegrated into black mist, its skeletal remains falling from the sky.
Elyon smirked bitterly. Was such a grand display necessary against him, a mere novice? His usually sharp intuition had failed to predict this; it seemed he couldn't escape the spear's strike. Perhaps his time in this world was indeed short-lived.
"Bang, bang, bang, bang!" Four loud gunshots sounded from behind Elyon.
The large shotgun shells, each carrying dozens of lead pellets, were stopped about a yard from Corby an invisible barrier, the pellets disintegrating into dust.
"What the hell is this? Oh, right, I'll get back at you later for knocking me out."
Emma's voice came from behind, and before Elyon could tell her to run, Cor's lifeless voice echoed again.
"Retreat."
Emma and several potted plants around her were suddenly lifted into the air, and with cries of alarm, she crashed through a window into the small building. Fortunately, she fell into a room; had she hit the wall, the fate of the shattered flowerpots would have been hers.
After speaking, Corthrew the spear upward with his right hand, and it vanished into thin air, likely to reappear next in Elyon's chest.
Elyon knew he was outmatched, but he still had to try. Activating his ability, Eye of Weakness, he concentrated all his magic into his eyes, shattering the glasses given to him by the vampire otaku. The world turned monochrome, and if someone were to look closely into Elyon's eyes, they would see a golden clock symbol in the left and three perpendicular arrows emanating from a point in the right, all behind a silver magical array on his eyeballs.
Corwas a crimson figure in the sky, surrounded by a golden aura. Elyon scanned his surroundings and above him was the spear, invisible to the naked eye but as conspicuous as a disco ball in his current vision. Where was the weakness? The entirely crimson spear showed no flaws except for a thin black line flowing along its length—that was it.
Without a second thought, Elyon raised his pistol and fired five shots in rapid succession. Color returned to the world, and Corstill maintained his throwing stance, seemingly watching Elyon's futile struggle.
The delayed sound of the bullets hitting metal followed. It seemed the small momentum of the bullets wasn't enough to deflect the massive weapon above.
"The Flower of Death is about to bloom. Let me savor your final struggle."
Whoosh—the sound of metal cleaving the air. The spear, like a red-glowing meteor, was about to strike Elyon, a fate that seemed destined to end with his blood spilled on the spot.
Just as the spear's tip was an inch from Elyon, a ringing sound followed by the crackling of shattering. The blood spear, like a corroded iron weapon struck by a great force, fragmented.
The shattered pieces of the blood spear that touched the ground exploded like ignited dynamite.
"Boom!" A massive explosion sent Elyon flying onto the stage. A large crater, as if hit by a heavy artillery shell, was blown into the ground.
"Hmm? How could my blood spear, formed by the power of a demigod, be destroyed? This boy should've been skewered and strung upon the earth as I had written his fate. Could there be a force of equal or near-origin interfering with me?" The Underworld God gazed at the large pit with confusion.
Elyon spat out a mouthful of blood. Though he wasn't impaled, the shockwave felt like it would shatter his organs. It seemed the deity above had yet to exert full effort. He needed a plan—and fast.
A rough sensation came from his fingernails. There it was—a depression in the floor. Using his last ounce of strength, Elyon struggled to rise.
Upon closer inspection, the depression was where the magic circle had been. Although the offerings and candles had been washed away by the river of blood, the circle carved into the wood remained. Perhaps destroying it could sever Cor's connection.
With no other option, Elyon took a gamble. His pistol lost in the explosion, his only weapon now was his fist. Clenching his teeth, he pounded his right fist onto the floor. Thud—a gap appeared in the once intact magic circle.
The deity above noticed, "Stop!" But it was too late. The magic circle was disrupted, and a red light burst from Cor, soaring towards the larger moon.
"You've made your choice; you can't blame me now. This body, devoid of my power, will surely decay rapidly. Humans are indeed hypocrites."
With those words, the last of the red light was pulled from Cor, who fell from the sky. Elyon leaped, catching Corin his arms.