Chapter 48 - Defeating Juggernaut

POV: Baldur 

Korean War, 1951 

Juggernaut comes running towards me as I try to heal my wounds, but I know I won't have time to fully recover before he reaches me. I just need him to stand still for a second to defeat him. So I have to create this chance for it to happen. 

With no other choice but to prolong the fight before fully healing, I drop Sigel and go towards Cain unarmed. A physical combat may seem more dangerous due to Cain's strength, but with my skill and agility, I should be fine. 

I dodge his first blow by ducking, then I hook his chin. With my strength increased by the runes, even Juggernaut takes a few steps back. My runes are magical and are fueling my body, so I can ignore the force field that protects him. I land a series of blows on Cain's abdomen and head as he tries unsuccessfully to hit me. Since my spine is not fully healed yet, I can't jump and kick him, so my fighting style now resembles boxing. 

Juggernaut tries to kick me, which I use as support to jump, leaving me above his head. I use my elbow, hitting right on top of his skull. Any normal person would have a fractured skull and would die, he didn't even feel it. With every movement I make, I hear my bones puncturing my organs, further delaying my healing. 

(I have to make Juggernaut stand still for a few seconds so I can fully heal.) 

"HAAAAAAAAAAAA!" 

"Brother!" 

Xavier, the idiot, finally reaches us. I dodge Juggernaut's blow and go straight to him. Xavier is shocked by my speed and doesn't have time to create any other tricks before I hit him squarely in the nose, breaking it. Then I give him another punch, knocking him unconscious. 

"We're even now." 

I feel something behind me and duck, avoiding another blow from Cain. I grab his arm and, with a judo move, throw him over my shoulder, making him fall backward on the ground. I stomp with all my force on his face, cracking the ground. Cain doesn't care about it and grabs my foot, throwing me against a tree trunk. When I hit the trunk, the tree topples over, and my shoulder dislocates. 

"CRACK!" 

I pull my arm and put my shoulder back in place. I pick up the fallen tree trunk and hit him squarely in the face, making it explode. This seems to have given him an idea, and Cain starts picking up trees around him and throwing them at me. Due to their size, it was easy to dodge all of them. 

With my wounds almost healed, I summon Sigel back into my hand. Then a golden circle over twenty meters wide appears above Juggernaut. In the same second, like a waterfall, a gigantic beam of concentrated light falls on Juggernaut, covering all twenty meters wide with golden light. The heat causes the nearby trees to catch fire, turning this forest into a vision of hell. 

I maintain the light beam for as long as I can, and meanwhile, I create several golden spears around me. These golden spears have over four meters from the handle to the blade tip, resembling a trident. They were created not to kill but to contain, the spear tips ignite with golden and purple flames and wait for the right moment. 

(This move is the fusion of the light and heat aspects of my powers. It's the first time I've used something like this.) 

With a mental command, the spears fly and surround the light beam, which is about to disappear. When the beam vanishes, the twenty meters that were hit by the attack are transformed into a pool of lava, with a red skeleton right in the center, with the magma at waist height. The skeleton begins to move towards me, it starts to heal, and flesh begins to cover the skeleton. 

(Now!) 

The golden spears explode at an incredible speed and pierce the little recovered flesh, piercing through the entire skeleton, pinning Juggernaut to the ground, transforming him into a porcupine. The flames at the spear tips burn the flesh attempting to regenerate, trapping Juggernaut. 

Due to the limited power of the light constructs, I had to leave Juggernaut in the weakest state possible. Otherwise, the spears would easily break, as his muscles haven't fully regenerated yet, he can't demonstrate his full strength. But that's temporary. I also can't use my injured trump card like this. 

I sit on a nearby rock and focus all my attention on healing my wounds. Bones were the easy part, just need to put them back in place. The problem was the damaged organs. It took two minutes, but I was in an acceptable state to continue the fight. 

The spears piercing Juggernaut start to crack and break, freeing him. His skeleton, covered by little flesh, is now completely enveloped in a red mist. Cain's current state can't even be called human. 

"Let's finish this!" 

I activate the propulsion boots and go as fast as I can, hitting Juggernaut right in the middle of the stomach with Segil. I lift his body upwards and activate the boots, taking Juggernaut high into the air. We were gaining altitude at an insane speed, within seconds, we were a hundred meters high and increasing. 

Juggernaut keeps trying to grab me in the air as we go higher, but the handle of my spear is longer than his arms, making his action useless. Then, after we pass through the clouds, I see the endless darkness of space above. My boots stop working shortly after, starting our descent. 

I had the same problem as Iron Man's second suit, ice. I turn Juggernaut's body downwards as we fall, gaining insane speed. The more we fall, the faster we get. I release flames from my entire body, increasing our speed even more like a meteor heading towards the earth. When I saw the ground approaching, I realized I wasn't in Korea anymore but on a small island, hopefully uninhabited. I throw my spear and start trying to thaw my boots using my power. 

(T/N: I'm not really that smart, but shouldn't the flames be enough to thaw(defrost) the boot?) 

"BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!" 

Juggernaut and my spear collide with the island in an explosion of golden light that also hits me, throwing me towards the ocean. Before taking a dive, I manage to make the boots work again, saving me from the impact. 

"BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!" 

The second explosion surprises me, it wasn't an explosion but a volcanic eruption that spewed lava into the air along with a curtain of volcanic ash covering the sky, hiding the sun. 

I wait for everything to calm down and head towards the island. The whole small island is now covered in lava. If I didn't feel the connection with my spear, I would never find Cain here. Right in the center of the island, I see the handle of my weapon still stuck in Juggernaut's chest, the red mist covering him disappeared. All that was left was a skeleton trapped under giant rocks on top of his limbs, leaving only his torso exposed. 

"CRUMBLE!" 

"What do I have to do to kill this bastard!" 

The noise comes from the rocks, which are shaking under Juggernaut's force trying to escape. Knowing I'm running out of time, I land right on top of him, put my hand on his heart, now raw flesh, and activate my trump card. My hand glows, and when I remove it, Juggernaut now has a rune tattoo on his chest. 

The tattoo resembles an ancient chalice turned sideways, empty. After my transformation on the sovereign ship and the knowledge I managed to gain, it didn't take long for me to adapt two more runes to help me in this battle. Perthro, now tattooed on Cain's chest, is the first of them. Unlike the others, I didn't tattoo it on my body, instead, I found a way to engrave it on my enemies' bodies. 

"BOOM!" 

The stones crack, and Juggernaut breaks free. I step back a few meters, waiting for him to get up. Shortly after, he is fully healed, with his eyes emitting a red light. 

"It was a good exercise, but let's finish this!" 

As Cain was about to resume his mad attack, I activate the rune on his chest, glowing in golden light. 

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" 

It's the first time I hear him scream in pain. I don't find it strange. 

"How does it feel having your soul ripped from your body?" 

Perthro literally means empty chalice. And whoever controls it has power over the body and soul. Unfortunately, the soul is very complex. If I had just ten percent knowledge about it, I could simply destroy his soul without needing to get close, but just separating it from Cain's body will be enough. 

Cain kneels, and then a small blue ball emerges from the rune on his chest and comes into my hand. Juggernaut's body falls to the ground dead. It's true that Juggernaut is almost indestructible. His regeneration and shield as an avatar of Cyttorak guarantee that. But to be an avatar, the being must possess a soul and body, and even for Cyttorak, healing or creating a soul is impossible. 

"This was the way I found to win." 

Looking at Cain's soul in my hand, it's a strange sensation. I can see all his memories like a movie, all his mistakes and crimes. Like how he killed several innocents during his time as a mercenary, for example. I take a small golden cube and place his soul inside, the cube was precisely made for this purpose. I keep the cube with the intention of studying Cain's soul later. 

"Now, why don't we start the main part?" I say to myself. 

I knew our fight was being observed by them. The small diamond in the center of my spear begins to glow, and from it emerges a purple mist with black spheres, the mist lingering in front of me without physical form. Even after so many years, I can feel its power, making the entire island tremble. 

"A few years, Balthakk, how have you been?" 

According to our agreement, it's time to know who will devour whom. 

"The bet has been fulfilled. Now I, Balthakk, am considered the most powerful entity of the Octessence, and as a reward, I have also gained the right to turn this small planet into my domain!" 

Balthakk ignores me as if I don't deserve his attention. Beside me, his body made of pure energy begins to expand, covering the sky and the island. If this continues, the entire planet will be covered by him. 

I strike the ground with Segil and counterattack, a golden light clashes with Balthakk's energy, forcing him back until half of the island is covered in golden light and the other half in purple and black, maintaining the standoff between us. 

"I initially thought of taking possession of your physical body when this entire planet became my domain, but since you can't wait, let's start now!" 

"So I finally caught your attention." 

"As you've found a way to heal from my energy that was taking over your body, I can only do this in a more brute force way." 

Balthakk creates a gigantic claw with three fingers over forty meters tall above the island and hurls it towards me. If this claw hits the island, it will be destroyed. Above the gigantic claw appears a golden disk that shoots a concentrated beam of light, causing the sky to explode. 

The beam of light destroys the claw, but the energy transforms into drops of light that fall onto the island, destroying everything. 

"Unfortunately for you, Balthakk, I have no intention of being possessed by an entity today. My wife wants to visit Portugal next week, and I'm more afraid of her than of you." 

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