BAM!
The massive stone hand slammed into the ground with a force that shook the entire battlefield. The impact was so powerful that the earth itself seemed to scream in protest, fissures spider-webbing out from the point of contact.
Debris and dust erupted into the air, and the very ground beneath the stone man's fist bore deep gouges as if it had been sliced through by an invisible blade.
Blue flames suddenly burst forth from the cracks in the ground. The intense heat forced Niveus to leap with power skyward, narrowly avoiding being engulfed in the azure inferno.
But the stone man wasn't finished.
Without giving him breathing space, the towering stone creature drove its massive hand into the earth once more, this time digging and grabbing a colossal chuck of rock from beneath the surface.
With a single, smooth motion, it hurled the boulder at Niveus, who was still mid-air.
["Be careful. It will use its blue flames to implode the boulder, scattering smaller rocks to barrage you."]
Nono's voice warned in his mind.
"Thanks, Nono," Niveus muttered under his breath, his eyes narrowing as he braced himself for the attack.
Just as Nono predicted, the boulder imploded in mid-air, shattering into hundreds of smaller fragments.
The chunk of rock, now glowing with the same azure flames as the stone man's burning eyes, shot toward Niveus like a bullet.
What made it worse was that the shards seemed to lock onto him, twisting and curving in the air as if they had a mind of their own.
"It can do that?!" Niveus exclaimed, his voice filled with both surprise and frustration.
He had been prepared for the barrage, thanks to Nono's warning, but the homing aspect of the attack was unexpected.
Gritting his teeth, Niveus had no choice but to pour a large amount of divine energy into his body and weapons.
The golden aura flared up around him, enveloping him in a radiant light that contrasted sharply with the dark, alien landscape.
He could feel the familiar burn of overexertion as the divinity surged through him, his muscles straining under the intense pressure.
But there was no time to worry about the side effects.
As the meteor-like shards closed in on him, Niveus took a deep breath, centering himself.
With a powerful motion, he swung his sword, pouring every ounce of his strength and divine energy into the strike.
The blade, now glowing with a fierce golden light, seemed to double or triple in weight, becoming as heavy as if not a broadsword in his hands.
That was no ordinary enhancement. The divinity didn't just make the sword sharper or stronger—it transformed it into something far more powerful yet flexible.
As Niveus completed the swing, the golden energy that wrapped around the blade surged outward, extending and solidifying into a vast, shimmering arc.
The energy didn't dissipate; instead, it exploded outward, forming a vortex of raging light around him.
The force of the swing was so intense that it distorted the air, creating an illusion of countless blades slashing and tearing through everything in their path.
The vortex of energy tore through the barrage of fragments like a hurricane, obliterating the flaming shards before they could reach Niveus. The air around him crackled as the divine energy lashed out in all directions, carving deep gouges into the ground and sending shockwaves rippling across the battlefield.
For a moment, it looked as if Niveus was standing in the center of a storm—a storm of blades, where every movement he made unleashed a gush of destructive force.
When the energy finally dissipated, the battlefield was left in ruins.
The ground was scarred with deep cuts as if thousands of invisible swords had torn through it. The remnants of the stone shards lay scattered, reduced to rubble. The azure flames had been extinguished, snuffed out by the gush of Niveus's attack.
Dropping to the ground like an angel's descent, Niveus lowered his sword as the divine glow around him flickered as he tried to catch his breath.
The exhaustion was beginning to set in, the toll of using so much divinity weighing heavily on his body. But he had survived the stone man's onslaught—at least for now, and that was what mattered.
Niveus glanced at the stone creature, which had momentarily paused after its attack.
The stone man's azure eyes still burned with fury, and even as Niveus watched, the part of its body that had been blown apart by his attack began to pull itself back together.
"Fuck that thing..."
Niveus cursed under his breath.
The stone man's resilience was unlike anything he had ever faced. He wanted to take back his words, which said that the creature was squishy.
Straightening up, Niveus tightened his grip on his sword, his golden eyes narrowing as he prepared for the next round.
At that moment, Nono's voice echoed in his mind, ["I think that's enough, Niveus."]
"No. Just a little more. I haven't gotten any important intel besides the colossal portal," Niveus replied, his voice edged with stubborn resolve.
Nono hesitated for a moment before speaking again, her tone more serious.
["But that's already—"] She paused, then continued, her voice firmer. ["I'll force you out of here if your life is in danger, whether you like it or not."]
Niveus couldn't help but chuckle at her protective tone. "That's fair. Thanks, Nono."
He knew she was right, of course. Pushing himself too far could cost him his life, and Nono had every intention of preventing that. But Niveus wasn't done yet. He still had a few tricks up his sleeve.
With a quick motion, Niveus threw his barely usable sword, the once-sturdy weapon now chipped and battered after his last attack.
Then, he shoved his hand into the bag slung across his body, which was a wonder how it could survive and look untouched.
Dashing forward, Niveus followed closely behind the sword he had thrown, swiftly pulling and slotting two brown-colored stones into the sockets on the back of his gauntlets.
The moment the stones clicked into a place, a surge of energy coursed through the gauntlets.
"Let's start round 2, bastard!"
Leaping into the air, Niveus brought his fist down in a powerful arc.
BOOM!