Saber cracked his fist, preparing himself to battle the War God. The War God remained calm. He wanted Saber to make his first move. Just as he expected, Saber did make his first move. He dashed at the War God with speed beyond any Fusion Stage cultivators. The Cosmic energy, coupled with the Dark Lord's potion, enhanced his speed to the point the War God himself was surprised by his speed. Saber even left some afterimages on his trail. Although Belanor was surprised by his speed, it was not enough to catch him off guard. The War God simply snapped his finger as a golden crescent wave blasted off Saber. As Saber was flying in the air backward, a small glimmer of light enveloped Saber's body.
Each War God had their own unique way of fighting and armor. Only a few had seen a War God's battle armor and lived to tell tales about it. Luckily Saber received a rare opportunity to see the armor. It was a set of armor with a squared helm and a squared, t-shaped opening, leaving the eyes, nose, and mouth exposed. Attached to the top was a sun-shaped metal ornament piece. The shoulders were oval, quite short, and small in size. They were decorated with a row of metal feathers, all pointing upwards. The row reached from side to side.
The upper arms were protected by squared, half-covering rerebraces, which sat well under the shoulder plates. While the lower arms were covered by vambraces which had many small metal spikes covering the vambraces all over. The real beauty of the armor was its chest plate. It was made from a couple of metal layers, mimicking dragon scales. It covered everything from the neck down and ended at the groin. Following the upper body, the armor slowly covered his lower body. The upper legs were covered by squared, fully covering cuisses as greaves protected the lower legs with several arrowheads attached on the outer sides as if arrows had pierced the legs.
Belanor glowed like a sun in the night sky. He cracked his neck as Saber finally steadied himself.
"That's nice armor," Saber commented about Belanor's armor.
"Enjoy the sight while you still can," said Belanor. The armor glimmered brighter and brighter to the point Saber's eyes had to adjust for its light. The War God wasted no time as he dashed at Saber. He was almost as fast as Saber, or even faster. Saber instinctively cast a spell. In a blink of an eye, a torrent made of blood appeared around Saber. The blood shield protected Saber from the War God's punch. Belanor punched the blood shield with enough force to send Saber flying. Blood splashed across the sky. But this time, Saber didn't go flying as before. Instead, he steadied himself quickly and dashed at the War God faster than before. This time, Saber punched the War God right in the chest. The War God raised his arms to protect himself. His hands went numb when he blocked Saber's punch. The sheer force pushed back Belanor. Saber did not stop as he punched the War God again and again. Their battle produced thunderous explosions that echoed through the night sky. Countless trees were got uprooted by their battle. The aftershock decimated the forest below them. For them, they were just punching each other. But in reality, they were two powerful Fusion stage warriors. The energy produced by their battle was enough to cause more damage than a natural disaster.
They didn't give a damn about the environment. Instead, they fought like beasts. Saber raised his hand as a vulture made of blood materialized above them. It was gigantic. Compared to the blood vulture, Saber and Belanor looked small. The bird cast a large shadow in the clouds when lightning flashed across the sky. As soon as the blood vulture appeared in the sky, the air started to reek of blood. It glared at Belanor with its hollow eyes.
The blood vulture tried to peck Belanor with its long gigantic beak. Belanor clapped his hands together as a powerful shock wave shot out of his hands. As though it was a living bird, the blood vulture screeched. Blood scattered in all directions as the vulture faded away from existence. However, before it completely disappeared from sight, it managed to scratch Belanor.
An ear-piercing screech resonated from the armor. Fortunately for Belanor, the armor saved his skin. Except for a small chunk of armor, he lost nothing. Saber didn't wait for the War God to retaliate. Instead, he pressed his attack. Saber's fist glowed in crimson red. Every punch Saber threw had enough force to scatter a boulder to pieces.
Belanor's armor glowed brighter and brighter until it exploded, creating a powerful shock wave. Saber went flying as the armor lost its glow. Belanor raised his hand as a golden fist appeared behind Saber.
Sensing a threat, Saber immediately cast the blood shield again. Upon the fist striking the shield, it created a thunderous explosion. The shield and fist exploded at the same time, creating a mist of red and gold. Both of them completely ignored the mist and dashed at each other once again. Their eyes glimmered with battle lust. In mid-sky, they went all in. Neither of them held back.
No one under the Fusion stage could see their moves but only a blur. A few moments later, they stopped attacking each other. When they stopped, each had blood flowing down from the corner of their mouths. Belanor wiped off the blood from his mouth and smiled, looking at his own blood.
"It had been a long time since I've seen my blood," said Belanor. He was not gloating but telling the truth. The War Gods usually lived a peaceful life since no one had dared to attack Gondolin or an elven nation for the past ten years. So Belanor was excited to fight a worthy foe after such a long time. Moreover, the one whom the elves thought was weakling, pathetic human scum had actually made Belanor bleed.
"There is more where that came from," Saber snickered.
"Is that so?" Belanor tilted his head before taking a deep breath. His skin glowed as all cuts and bruises healed up automatically. Saber and Belnoar readied for the second round. In a blink of an eye, they flew toward each other. To Saber's surprise, an ethereal lion head materialized behind Belanor. It was just as big as the blood vulture cast by Saber. The head roared as ripples appeared in the sky. All the storm clouds faded out of existence because of the roar. As a result, the heavy rain stopped. Saber's ears rang. Even his vision turned blurry for a moment. The trees that escaped their previous attack got completely decimated by the roar. Below them, there was a large crater filled with broken trees. But they couldn't care less. On the contrary, they focused on the battle. Their minds and eyes were filled with battle lust. It had been a long time since they both fought a worthy opponent. Usually, they would kill their foe within a minute or minute top. But this battle went on for almost five minutes without a victor.
They both fought on equal terms, and Belanor wanted to change that. The lion finally stopped roaring. It felt like a storm had passed them. Without the heavy rain, silence returned to the area. Saber closed his eyes for a second as the blood vulture appeared in the sky again. The vulture locked its gaze on the lion. On the other hand, the lion growled at the vulture as though they were both alive and had emotions. Soon, they lunged at each other, just as Belanor and Saber did.
Their battle intensified. The vulture and lion head tried to bite each other. While they were battling it out, Saber and Belanor exchanged blows. They dived down, attacking each other. In the moment of heat, they forgot there was a crate down. They hit the ground with enough force to form a mini crater within the large crater. The force split them apart as they crashed in opposite directions. Their clothes became completely drenched with mud. They immediately jumped back to their feet to go all out again.
Unlike before, they didn't dash at each other, at least Belanor didn't. He stayed still and punched the ground below. Several cracks formed in the ground and spread throughout like spider webs. Saber leaped into the air to avoid being knocked down. He wondered what Belanor was trying to accomplish. But he soon got his answer when he picked up a large boulder and threw it at him. The boulder was easily twice the size of an elephant. Yet Belanor threw it like it was nothing. Saber didn't fly away but punched the boulder with his bare hand. The boulder exploded. But before the debris could hit the ground, Belanor shot through the debris, hitting Saber in the face at speed beyond Saber's expectation. The War God's punch and speed put a smile on Saber's face. He realized the War God was unleashing his full potential. His entire body glowed like a mini sun. The heat radiating from Belanor's body turned the debris into ashes. Saber quickly covered himself with a blood shield to protect himself from burning. Saber fought back with blood punches. Belanor glowed in golden radiance while Saber radiated a crimson red light due to the blood shield around him.
As they were fighting, a golden light materialized in Belanor's hand. It was a golden spear with a red cloth wrapped around its top. Belanor stabbed Saber at lightning speed. The blade cut his rib cage, barely missing Saber's heart.
"Cheeky bastard," Saber snickered. He didn't expect Belanor to take out his weapon suddenly. Now that Belanor had taken out his weapon, Saber conjured his blood sword. The sword produced an evil aura with red smoke. Both these weapons belonged to the Legendary Class. Hence, they created an aftershock upon clashing. They fought on the same level. As much as they liked to gain an advantage over another, they simply couldn't.
Unknown to them, the Dark Queen watched the battle from a distance. She trusted Saber, but she also couldn't afford to lose the armor piece.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from f(r)eeweb(n)ovel.𝒄𝒐𝙢