Worthy

A.N. Shoutout to my new patrons:

Brian Gz

Jorge _2602

You are legends!

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Lyze held up his new mystical weapons in the air as he stared at the mystical fire humming from deep within them, giving life to his new weapons as he felt the internal connection with the blades. Momentarily he was made to forget his entire situation and how he'd ended up here, floating in the sky while holding one of the most iconic weapon sets of all time.

Or some far-off replica of them. But the Primordial fire in them was more or less the same, and melded perfectly with the Origin Flame inside him as both fires flowed through his body with ease. And it was...euphoric. The surge of power that was steadily increasing in his body was soothing down to the marrow, and he felt his wounds closing up as for the first time in quite a minute, he was of calm mind which allowed him to focus on the regeneration part of his powers.

What he didn't realize however was a steady increase in his size that was so slow, one wouldn't be able to tell until the major differences had settled in. But surely, the length of his body was growing, and his limbs were becoming larger and firmly toned with muscles, like he was aging up very fast all of a sudden.

A roar from Typhon on the ground below snapped him out of his reverie and he looked down the cursed beast staring up at him as it clenched its fists. Plunging both arms into the ground, the monster ripped out a huge piece of the earth, bigger than Folkvangr by his estimations and with all the grace of thousand foot plus giant, hurled the object right towards him with surprising accuracy and power as the huge piece of earth all but blasted off like a rocket in his direction.

Instantly all the rage and the hate came flowing back as he was reminded of everything that had happened up to this point. This time he managed to maintain awareness as much as he struggled to do so what with the emotional turmoil that had sent him spiralling in the first place. The only thing really that was preventing him from going berserk again was the ghost of the pain he'd felt when the Flame of Olympus had augmented his blades.

And as another side-effect, gone was the need to focus on the shape of his blades to keep them from melting back into liquid metal. Now they held their own shape, and the blades let out low raspy moans as orange flame came to life from inside them.

Immediately Lyze threw one blade out to the side as it travelled towards the incoming projectile. Chains wove endlessly from around his arms like there were no limits to the length of the links as the blade shot through the air. When he assumed that both the blade and the mountain sized piece of earth were aligned, he flicked the chain in the opposite direction he'd thrown the blade, making the blade slice down in that direction as it glowed with divine fire.

This resulted in the giant rock being completely cleaved in two, the cut parts turned molten as the whole thing split apart though still coming in his direction. Lyze flew between the two pieces as he recalled his thrown blade to his hand, and as he passed through to the other side, he sent both his blades back so they lodged themselves in the two pieces and he harshly pulled on the chains.

The two rocks came swinging back in the direction they'd been thrown from towards Typhon's face as it was too surprised by this sudden comeback on Lyze's end to make a proper move to dodge or to attack. Its skull was crushed between the two rocks as they swung around to re-join with the abomination's head in the way. A flick of the chains sent knots of energy smashing into the boulders, creating an explosion of both silver and orange flames as the body swayed.

Lyze flew forwards and drop kicked it on the chest so it would land on its back while he flew down to walk on its belly. From out of the freak's skin burst out more lesser monsters like sebum popping out of a pimple. Considering the muck they brought with them when doing so, there was no better comparison to use.

Lyze brandished his blades before he let go of the handles and started swinging the blades around on their chains, leaving trails of orange fire in the air as he began mercilessly attacking the monster hordes, slashing and splitting bodies left right and centre as he tore into the beasts, his rage now being used as focus. As it was, the angrier he got, the more smoothly and deadly his blades swung and very soon around him was nothing more than a flurry of trailing fire.

As he hooked a blade into a barbarian and then swung it around to smash the monster into the side of a peluda, he saw the dragon heads try to come for him again as they worked their way around from under the body. Somewhere during the fall, it seemed like the necks got tangled or something. Only one managed to break free and begin making its descent towards him. It was one of the mist breathing heads, and he dragon had to work its way around the flailing giant arm waving about as the monster tried to get up.

Lyze hooked his blade into one of the several newly formed bone protrusions on that arm and yanked it so the arm would make a fist and punch the lights out of the dragon head with impeccable timing. Swinging his other blade around in a wide fiery arc, he sliced off that head cleaner than scissors through paper. As the other dragon head came for him too, he pressed the blades together after pulling them back to himself and channelled power into them as the blades lit up with orange fire, and the began to grow hotter.

Slicing the blades across one another created a slash made out of fire which decapitated all the heads in one go, leaving burning neck stumps behind as he stabbed the two blades into Typhon's abdomen and began to fill the Desecration's body with fire, burning the monster from the inside out as the orange fire began to spill out of every hole in the monster's body. Typhon began shrieking as streams of orange fire started to shoot out of its eyes as the area around the two started to melt from the intensity of the heat being produced.

Lyze looked up to the heavens as he summoned more power from Olympus, and a bolt of divine lightning struck the monster, detonating the Olympian fire Lyze had filled Typhon's body with. What followed could only be described as something like a nuclear explosion as a giant black mushroom formed in the sky as a shockwave tore across the land, uprooting trees and blowing out rivers as the whole planet seemed to rock with the explosion. Then came the actual sound of the explosion which sounded like the sky had cracked in two, and Orario was hit with a violent gust of wind that threatened to blow people over where they stood.

And then silence.

---

(??? Mountain Village - Some time earlier)

"Grandpa?" The pale-haired boy said in drowsy confusion as he rubbed his eyes, having been awoken by his grandfather suddenly standing up out of his rocking chair. "What's wrong? Did I fall asleep reading stories again?"

"Yes Bell." The old man said gently with a warm smile on his face that he only ever reserved for the boy. "I'm going to have to go out and run a quick errand. Let me put you to bed okay?"

"Hm." Young Bell said as his eyes drifted closed again as he already began to go back to sleep.

The old man chuckled as he picked the little boy up in his beefy arms and carried him to the bedroom. Hearing the light snores already coming out of the boy's mouth, he fondly brushed away loose strands of hair from the boy's face and tucked him in under the covers. He then reached over to the shutters and pulled them closed, letting the room become dim to help the boy sleep better.

He then quietly walked over to the door and stood there for a few moments, looking back at Bell as a deep, thoughtful expression came over his face. He had been this boy's guardian ever since the child came into his world, when the boy's troubled and estranged aunt had turned up at his doorstep and had just left him there.

The old man may have been chased away by Freya and Loki into exile, but he still knew how to take care of a child. It also turned out to be a double win for him since the woman had no idea of who she had just delivered into his hands. But regardless, he'd come to love Bell very much and had very high hopes for what the boy could accomplish in the future. The retired god was assured that this boy was a child of greatness, of prophecy, of glory reborn and a figure which would bring about a new age.

But now, it seemed that that was no longer the change. Not with the surprising revelation he'd received not long ago.

There was another boy out there...older and far far stronger than anything he'd ever envisioned for Bell. Strong enough that even Olympus had welcomed him into its halls as a mortal. The weight of the boy's god sphere slammed down upon his own as the old man felt the world change around him, as he felt the forces governing their reality shift to accommodate this so-called Lastborne.

Ouranos would most definitely want to make the most of this as much as possible. But not before he performed his own test first.

The old man gave his grandson one more warm smile before closing the door to the bedroom and walking over in front of the fire to pick up the books. Setting them on the table, he grabbed a coat from a peg and a large walking staff before promptly walking out of the door. Pausing as he breathed in the fresh air, he turned his gaze right up the mountain on whose range this village he was living in was situated. The rest of the villagers were most likely packing up from the day's work on the farm, and the irregular weather phenomena most likely encouraged them to hurry home a little faster, which gave him not as large a window as he hoped before the evening campfire feasts.

But he'd be able to squeeze it hopefully.

Slipping on the coat, he began his trek up to the mountain, using the staff to knock away branches, bushes, stones and small pests as he tried to make his way to the ice peak.

...

Upon reaching there, he paused to look out over his horizon. Looking to his south, he saw the ruins of what was once a great city of legend, now nothing more than a crumbling haunt as the great stories surrounding said city were now no more than hearsay and fantasy on the lips of children like his Bell. He turned his gaze West where he could feel disturbances coming from the other side of the continent, and he soaked in the chaos he could feel brewing over there as the new godling of his pantheon battled it out with some opposing force.

The old man chuckled as he stuck his staff in the ground and rubbed his hand together as his breath frosted a little.

"If only Hera were here to see this moment." He said to himself. No doubt his old lover had sensed this boy's emergence just as he did but he would have loved to see her reaction.

If they had still been in Orario, his Familia and hers would no doubt be at each other's throats right about now, ready to kill one another for the right to claim the boy from whatever Familia he belonged to. The child was a prospective Olympian, so it would have been fitting that he be taken under an Olympian's wing. But Olympians were no longer the overlords of the great game, those positions having been lost not a decade earlier to two Yggdrasil goddesses.

Still...an Olympian had to earn his spurs in order to be recognised, and given the little upstart's fascination with lightning, the old man had the perfect thing in mind. He lifted his hands to the heavens as he released a small amount of his Arcanum and made a summons to Olympus. Unlike the untrained godling whose intentions were being broadcasted and shouted aloud to all Olympians, his call was subtle yet authoritative, like a whisper into the ear.

The clouds in the sky swirled around where he was standing before divine lightning came down, slowly being funnelled into his palm. But unlike the one that Lyze was summoning, the constant stream of lightning began to solidify as a construct started to form in the old man's hand. After a few moments of this, there was a large solid blue lightning bolt which the old man brandished like a stick.

It was some sort of crystallised construct in the shape of a generic lightning bolt, only this radiated an otherworldly power as the old man gripped it with a light of nostalgia in his eyes.

"Good to see you, old friend." He muttered before he held it above his head like a spear, angling it to the west in the direction of the thrumming powerhouse who was broadcasting his power across the world. "Now let us see if this little upstart can prove himself worthy."

He took a few moments more to line up his throw as he had not done something like this in a very, very long time. With a deep breath, he ran forward a little and threw the lightning bolt off the mountain. Instead of falling to gravity though, the bolt started to crackle with electricity before it shot off across the sky and into the distance like a missile.

The old man rolled his shoulder around in his socket as he observed his handiwork.

"Damn it, pulled a shoulder!" He cursed. In his glorious days, he was able to throw around lightning bolts like that without even thinking about it. He could have been lying down and he still would have made a better shot than what he just did now. "Confound this lesser form."

But regardless of his own shortcomings, the deed was done. He'd tried to pass on the torch...could the boy pick it up?

---

As the mushroom cloud began to dissipate, Lyze got up and shook the soot out of his hair. The explosion had been powerful enough to even knock him out in this semi-divine form he'd taken. Brushing himself down, he found himself embedded in the top of the split mountain once more. It was like his body was just a magnet to the damaged landmark at this point. Glancing at his arms, he saw chains extending from them and stretching all the way down the mountain.

Looking further, he saw them ending at the blades which were still embedded in the monster as it lay weakly on the ground, groaning as its body looked to be absolutely ruined. Its hard exoskeleton was shattered and the dragon heads were completely gone, and this time it looked like they would not regenerate. It was like the Hydra of mythology. All he'd needed to do to stop the dragon heads growing back was set them on fire, though a special fire at that.

His blades were no longer glowing orange anymore, like they'd gone quiet and were simply waiting for him to use them again...just like the original pair...

Lyze shook his head and grabbed the chains, more occupied with the mission at hand. With his sacred vision, he could still see the souls of his comrades swirling inside the monster's, though dangerously close to being devoured. It puzzled him why the monster couldn't seem to do it, and yet Lyze could even though the monster clearly seemed to be better adept at wielding the Flame than he did. It had used the abundant life-force to create monsters from its flesh, which had indeed been a drain on the reserves it had stolen from the boy.

Lyze focused particularly on the bright gold soul that was centremost of all in his eyes. If no one else's then that soul was the one he had to reclaim. But he couldn't just rip her out of Typhon, lest he risked damaging her in any way. So that left one option.

Activating what he named 'The Claws of Hades', the chains began to glow with ethereal silver as the blades began to glow with silver fire, allowing the sharp edges to now not only grasp flesh but also the monster's soul. Lyze began walking backwards as he began to tug harshly, and slowly but surely the astral form of the monster started to be ripped out of Typhon's body as the body itself reached out helplessly, trying to grab its own soul back.

Inside that astral form swirled the souls of his comrades, like a container holding valuable goods. The soul that reached out to him most was the golden one which he kept his eyes peeled on as he dragged the monster's soul further and further out of its body. Seeing as the monster was over 2000 feet long from head to tail, it was quite the chore. With shaky legs and laboured breath, Lyze flew into the sky as he ascended higher and to his delight, Typhon's soul came out faster and faster, the only connecting bit left being the tails of both the physical body and the astral body.

Just as he was about to commit to the final tug, he heard a strange sound from behind him that sounded both like a sharp whistle and the popping of firecrackers. A moment later, his new senses went haywire as he detected a very large amount of divine energy headed his way. Looking back just in time, he saw a bright blue lightning bolt of Arcanum heading straight towards him. But something was different about this particular bolt. It wasn't like the forks of divine power he'd summoned from the sky. It was more potent...more complete in a way, as if it were actually the piece from which all the other bolts of lightning came from.

Who was attacking him now? Who was interfering in his fight?

Keeping both chains in one hand, he grasped Excalibur with the free hand and held it up, ready to intercept this projectile.

"{Full Coun-}" Was as far as he got.

It was like the greater lightning bolt just ignored his counter and moved on right past it like it didn't exist. It crossed the area of effect aiming for his body. But Lyze was of quick enough thought that he instantly brought Excalibur into a guard position to protect himself.

The lightning bolt collided with the holy sword and absorbed itself into the blade itself. But not before absolutely frying Lyze with rivers of electricity that made him grit his teeth in numb pain as the currents just threatened to vaporise his new nigh-invulnerable body. The electricity from the master bolt travelled down the chains and also impacted the monster who perked up as a rush of divine energy just surged into its body. Immediately it absorbed the Arcanum like it was designed to as the lightning bolt had not been intended to attack it specifically like it had with Lyze.

Lyze couldn't let go of the Holy Sword even if he wanted to. Deep within the blade, he heard the souls of the ancient heroes cry out in agony as a new power suddenly filled in the space with them, and a new force of power began to overtake Excalibur, dampening their own influence over the sword.

Typhon, now regenerated took its chance as it grabbed onto the chain and yanked the stunned boy out of the sky. It opened its mouth as the boy's body came falling back to earth and just at the right moment, caught him in its mouth. Without hesitation, it gulped Lyze down its gullet though the chains were still sticking out of its mouth. Though given the monster's size, the chains were no more significant than pieces of of strong stretching down its mouth.

Immediately it began to work right away, making good on the mission that the Dungeon had given Typhon when she created it...to drain the boy of the mysterious Primordial power inside him, and deliver it to the Dungeon once he'd extracted it from the boy. Instantly the monster felt an absolute waterfall of divine energy flood its body as it started to grown even taller, its head becoming lost in the lowest clouds as it felt itself draining the boy of so much more power than all the mortals in the world put together.

Just as Typhon felt that it was coming to the crunch, where it would absorb the boy fully, everything stopped, like a tap that had just been suddenly turned off. A moment's silence ensued before a violent force just smashed against the inside of its stomach. The blow from within was so strong that the Desecration's body actually shifted completely with the strike and cracked the ground beneath its body as it felt like the whole mountain range shook with whatever Lyze had done.

Then came hot, hot pain as it felt a sharp object just suddenly pierce its body from within, and Typhon looked down to see a giant blade sticking out of its belly. 

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