With a wide-open uppercut, I got launched into the air as I tried to counterattack due to how open Tchort seemed. A single exchange reminded me of how I used to fight previously when I was strong.
I would always fight while leaving myself open to getting counter-attacked, because it was no fun to fight against opponents that couldn't even land a hit on me. It had become a bad habit that was making me get baited into the fakes of my enemies now.
Even now, I have yet to completely accept myself as the weaker one.
BAM-!
"Weak!" Tchort said as he appeared in front of me, mid-air, as he punched me higher into the sky again. The fight will easily end if I ask Isha to kill him, but before that, I thought I should at least punish myself for my ignorance and arrogance.
BAM-!
Abdomen.
BAM-!
Right cheek.
BAM-!
On top of my head.
BAM-!
A kick on my right ribcage that shattered from the impact.
BAM-!
And a kick at my chest.
"Cough!!" I coughed out several mouthfuls of blood as I shot back. I involuntarily glanced down and noticed that I was off of the floating island, as three beautiful moons shone brilliantly above my head, which I could see as my head leaned back, extremely.
"Beau....tiful...." I mumbled, and my lips quivered before unconsciously forming a small smile on my face. Though my vision was half dyed in blood, the world still seemed beautiful, and for a split second, my heart felt warm as I felt happy.
And that was when I remembered my indifference, which seemed to be breaking apart gradually as I fought in a death battle.
"What is?" Tchort's inverted face came into my blood-dyed sight, and before I spoke, I felt a sharp pain on my chin that made my mind blank out for a second. Tchort, who had punched at my chin, which was wide open, grinned savagely.
"Ukch...." An unconscious groan escaped my mouth as my consciousness snapped back.
WHOOOOSH-!!
The strong breeze cruised, engulfing my whole body as I began to fall to the ground at bottleneck speed. After healing entirely in a split second, except for my blood-dyed vision, everything about my body remained as it was at the beginning of our fight.
"That's enough for the punishment." I mumbled and extended my right arm to my side.
"Heed my call...." I mumbled as clouds began to gather above me, crackling exuberantly.
"Trishul." I commanded, and the clouds above me swirled as a bright golden trident shot out from the middle, leaving a golden trail behind, and it was in my hand in the instant that I clenched my hand to hold it.
I spun vertically using the force behind the trident and stood strong, up straight, as I gazed at Tchort, who was gazing back at me with an amused look on his face as he tried to hold in the escaping chuckles with his palm that was covering his mouth.
"It was not an extravagant way of calling; it was just a way of giving respect to his entry." I mumbled, glancing at the exuberant trident in my hand.
Extending the Trishul towards my right shoulder, I spun it in a clockwise manner, drawing a perfect golden ring mid-air in the middle of which I was.
"Heed my call, elemental rulers, fire, wind, wate...." I called out as the elemental rulers manifested on the ring in blinks, and my mind blanked that instance because I was too weak to really initiate that attack; you could even say that it was my ultimate move.
'I'm already at my limit? Dammit, I guess I'll have to rely on Isha for this....' I thought as my vision blurred entirely.
*
"Omniscience..." A hollow voice resounded throughout the world, and Eshwar, who had lost consciousness, continued to stand still as Tchort, who was unable to move from the moment he heard Eshwar mumble, "Heed my call, elemental rulers," gazed at Eshwar's unconscious body that continued to stand strong as he floated mid-air with the Trishul in his right hand, fearfully.
The ring in front of him, which should have dematerialized after Eshwar lost consciousness, continued to shine brightly. The fire, wind, and water elemental rulers shone brightly, as if trying to outshine the thin golden ring that was drawn mid-air.
".... land, darkness, light, and space." Eshwar's unconscious body muttered, and all the elemental rulers manifested around the ring as they shone brilliantly, so brightly that they could even outshine the beautiful moons.
"If it still hadn't crossed your mind," Eshwar's unconscious body said in a mocking tone that reverberated throughout the clouds that had gathered above him, making Tchort and those that were still alive flinch in fear, including Isha.
She had only heard this voice once, which was also a memory that her mind had pushed to the back of her mind in attempts to forget that, she only remembered that now because a sense of Deja Vu swept past her consciousness.
His angered tone was the same angered tone that reverberated throughout the entire city that had mocked and framed Isha before it was razed to the ground. It was also a time when he was the strongest without stepping into the domain of the gods.
(AN: Mentioned in ch 88: Isha Walker (2))
"You are out of your domain." Eshwar's unconscious body said, making Tchort shudder violently.
"F**k-" Tchort cursed as he zoomed back towards his domain, but his words were cut short by Eshwar's.
"Authority of the Black Ink: Dark Devourer" Eshwar's mumble resounded as the bright golden Trishul was devoured by the black ink in an instant. As Eshwar pulled back the black ink dyed Trishul, a black, translucent sphere enveloped him entirely, and his body inside the sphere seemed to be dyed in inverted black and white colours.
"Elemental Soul Devourer" Eshwar's voice reverberated throughout the clouds, and his trident-held hand flickered, together with the golden coloured ring and the elemental rulers before a "stab" was done with none of the eyes of those present following his actions.
In that instant, they felt as if the world had lost its colour, and soon the world regained colour while Eshwar's body began to free fall with his blood oozing out of the holes in his face, dyeing his almost naked body in his own blood as the veins in his right arm popped up before bursting.
"Eshwar!" Isha yelled and zoomed towards his unconscious body, and before a second passed, Isha had appeared beneath him to catch him. Soon, she floated up towards the remains of the academy, princess carrying Eshwar.
The wounds on his body healed before she reached the academic premises, and since the blood wasn't wiped off of his body, his blood-dyed body remained blooded, making the scars on his body look far more terrifying than they already were.
Grace, Neal, Reynolds, Hannah, and Charlie subconsciously gazed at Isha with a pleading gaze. Charlie's limbs apart from his head were bent at an unnatural angle, while the needles piercing Grace's, Neal's, Reynolds', and Hannah's bodies began to turn slimy. It was only then that Isha glanced back at Tchort and saw a huge hole form out of nowhere.
The upper half of his face, a pair of forearms, and a pair of legs just below his ankles remained, as everything in the middle was stabbed out of existence. It was only seconds later that they began to fall towards the ground, as if some kind of strong force continued to hold them still in mid-air.
"Angel's Embrace." Isha casted as she gazed at the injured five in front of her, who were gazing at her as if they wanted her to have mercy on them and grant them their deaths. Though she was tempted to gain a few more stronger shadow soldiers, since she already had more than enough and because they seemed useful for her and Eshwar to use, she healed them instead of killing them.
Glowing, translucent golden angels manifested behind the five and embraced them from behind and healed them entirely, and soon after they were healed, they sat hollowly, gazing at nothingness as the domain that covered the entire island began to crack apart.
Hannah's cry resounded first, followed up by three more as Charlie's consciousness became clearer as he jolted back to reality and glanced around in confusion. With an enlightened look on his face, hollowness shrouded him before tears streamed out of his eyes that seemed dead.
They calmed down a few minutes later and thanked Isha for her grace.
"Are you guys demi-gods?" Neal asked after he gradually accepted reality, though he was the only one who was really able to.
"Hmm?" Isha hummed in bewilderment because she hadn't heard the question properly because her concentration was fixated on Eshwar's unconscious body, which lay on top of her lap.
"Demi-gods? Are you guys demi-gods?" Neal asked again, respectfully.
"Huh? Those weaklings? Do we look that weak to you?" Isha asked with a frown, irritated that they even dared to compare them to those bugs.
"W-we-weaklings?" Grace stuttered, dumbfounded. They were the strongest "people" that existed in their world, and Isha was calling them weaklings without batting an eye.
"Hmph." Isha snorted and turned her focus towards Eshwar as she caressed his face gently.
"We, no, I am a God." Isha declared as if it wasn't that big of a deal, which left the five gaping.
"A-a-a, a God!!!?" They exclaimed in unison, but Isha just gave a nod without even glancing at them.
"Wait! Eshwar is not a god?" Reynolds, who was the first to snap back to reality from his daze, asked.
"No." Isha answered without even batting an eye at them, with a sweet smile that crept up on her face as she watched Eshwar's face twitch subtly.
"W-we-we have to fight you when the time comes?" Surprisingly, Charlie was the one questioned this time.
"There won't be a need if you behave properly and don't anger him." Isha said as she indicated Eshwar with a nudge of her face.
"Hahaha." Isha giggled at Eshwar's snort when she nudged his nose playfully.
"Ummm...." With a lazy hum, Eshwar turned towards Isha's stomach and hugged her, pushing her against his face. Turning back and forth for a few seconds, Eshwar woke up, and his first instinct was to find Isha. Noticing she was right next to him, he smiled brightly with his blood-dyed face and sat down before hugging her.
Inhaling a deep breath of her scent, he leaned back and stopped himself right before he kissed her. A frown appeared on his face that vanished as soon as it appeared as his face brightened.
BOOOMMM-!!!!
With a loud, ear-deafening boom, the remains of the academy exploded as a few strong ripples in the atmosphere, whose control was being handed over to the strong, and a presence of the strong descended upon the island, forcing Charlie's, Grace's, Neal's, Reynolds', and Hannah's heads to the ground.
"You're back!" Isha said that because she could feel all of Eshwar's strength return to him, she could now tell that Eshwar was back as the apex predator that ruled the fastigium.
"I'm back." Eshwar said this and leaned in for a kiss, but Isha backed away after giving him a peck and pointed at the five that were kowtowing.
"Oh, I apologise." Eshwar apologised and concealed his presence, and no one could feel his presence anymore, not even Isha.
"Haaa.... and as always, he has become stronger than before." Isha said with a sigh, and a series of fear-filled audible gulps sounded.
"Hm?" Eshwar frowned as he glanced in a certain direction, and Isha guessed what it was because she had also felt the grieving screams of nature.
"You felt it?" Isha asked.
"Yes, and...." Eshwar mumbled and glanced down at his body, which was glimmering neon green.
"Pyre is...."
"Crying."
New novel chapt𝒆rs are published on free(w)ebnovel(.)com