208 Gods And Monsters (6): The Harbinger Of Tempests

Perdition was unleashed mercilessly. Pandemonium shifted the world's gears into motion... and God's fury was let loose upon the land.

In Thor's eyes, he could only see numerous balls of fire heading in his direction, and at the same time, nowhere. It was easy to classify it as an area attack—one that spanned half the length of the island they were currently in. It meant that almost half a hundred kilometers worth of nature would either sink into the ocean floor or get littered with holes.

Could he flee? Naturally. Would he do so? Now that was an easy question to answer. The true way of a warrior was simple: You could dodge, but never retreat. Crush whatever your opponent throws at you to demonstrate your own might. And finally, surpass everything with your own two fists.

If he simply escaped the zone, it'd mean that he was afraid, and that was something he would not stand for. After all, he was having so much fun. Why would he ruin it by acting in a way unbefitting of him? Didn't he ask his opponent to fight seriously against him before? He would be like a clown if he retreated now that his foe was starting to show his strength.

That was why he would face it head-on with no hesitation whatsoever. In response to his resolve, Mjölnir started charging up with lightning thicker than a human's torso.

Fearlessly, he swung his hammer with such power that the veins of his arm bulged, releasing a torrent of discharges not at the incoming rocks burning in flames, but directly at Seth. His intention was clear, he would 'open a path' amidst the onslaught by attacking the invisible path that connected them.

In the process, there was the possibility of stopping the hail of meteorites that were continuously falling if he damaged the caster, so it was a good gamble with a decent chance of succeeding. 'Though he seems to get stronger the more I break his armor. It somehow makes sense since it's a conceptual prison. Still, it works in my favor all the same.'

What he failed to take into account, however, was that Seth wouldn't simply stand there doing nothing.

With just a thought, both Trident and spear appeared levitating at his side. The two polearms then began rotating around him, gathering the power of wind and water in the form of a tornado. As if that weren't enough, the lightning rampaging in the clouds also converged to reinforce his defense.

It was just in time as, compared to the 'painfully slow' falling rocks, Thor's attack reached its destination barely a few seconds after its release. Everything on its path was thoroughly obliterated without any kind of trouble. So much so that Thor had the fleeting thought of 'What's the point?'

Like a river meeting an obstacle halfway through its trajectory down a mountain, the lightning bolt separated in two and continued beyond the horizon, yet it did not seem strong enough to penetrate his defenses. It was something understandable since, despite being made on the spot, it was still a 'barrier' created through the power of three Authorities.

However, much to Thor's surprise, before the attack could dissipate, Seth abruptly stopped defending himself, allowing the remaining of his lightning to strike him like an unchained beast now that nothing was on its path. Even so, the redhead did not have the leeway to observe the outcome as, all of a sudden, the remaining meteorites changed their course and headed straight for him.

'...!' That action spoke more than many words could. Doing something like that would require going against the Laws of the World, and the only things capable of doing that were Authorities, which also meant that those rocks were infused with Divinity, and lastly, that meant they embodied a Concept since they were something physical and not mystical like fire, water, wind, lightning or storms could be.

As for which Concept a meteorite shower could have... It didn't take a genius to figure it out. What came after him was nothing more and nothing less than the "Extinction of primitive lifeforms". While he didn't like to use such a term to refer to himself, he couldn't deny the accuracy.

They took their time, but they finally arrived. Thankfully, the alteration occurred a bit late, so they didn't deviate too much from their original destination, or at least it was so for the quickest 'batch'. The first ones hit whatever was left standing on the island of Rhodes.

The blasts arrived shortly after the impact, creating tremors and sending fire, lava, and dark smoke into the air. It was as if they were a box of destruction that only opened and revealed its contents once it crashed into the earth.

More of those that were still in the air collided with themselves after changing their trajectory, throwing a pool of lava in his direction. Even so, that wasn't what 'worried' him. No, that could be solved. The problem came with all the ashes nulling his visibility. Despite dodging from one place to another, there didn't seem to be an end to it, and the situation was getting dangerous.

The close calls were becoming more frequent with each passing minute. With dark ashes covering the sky, he was not able to perceive with clarity where the attacks were coming from, and since they didn't have intent, he couldn't rely too much on his instincts. No, more than no intent, it was as if it were everywhere, hence pinpointing it out was proving to be difficult.

He had stopped counting the times where he had dodged only to almost end up being hit by another meteorite right in the face. That wasn't the most pressing matter, though. With so many already having crashed against the earth, the residual energy was acting like a sort of radioactive component.

Even after commanding his lightning to strike relentlessly everywhere, there did not seem to be an improvement in his circumstances. To make matters worse, that poisonous Divinity was slipping through his wounds almost unnoticed. For now, things weren't enough to worry him, but that didn't mean they would keep being like that if he let it be.

'I don't have many choices here. Better resolve this quick.' After coming to a decision, Thor disappeared in a flash of lightning only to reappear on a falling meteorite above him. The process kept repeating as he escalated more and more to the general location he thought his enemy was.

His flesh felt the discomfort of touching those things directly, but he ignored it in favor of getting his predicament over with. Unfortunately, the option of going straight at his foe was not the best since that would only make him an easy target so he had to bear with it.

Jump by jump, he left the island which by now should have less than half its original territory left. In turn, he started charging Mjölnir to prepare in case he was running into an ambush. And even if he wasn't, he would still do it to hit Seth in the face.

Fortunately, the opportunity seemed to be getting closer as he was beginning to see an end to the sky of darkness. The all-encompassing night was slowly but surely being replaced by the light of day.

'Wait... Light...?' His thoughts couldn't match his actions, because if they did, he would have stopped immediately. Sadly, the delay between his realization and his body's response proved to be crucial for the worse.

The moment he got out of the cloud of volcanic ashes, the first thing he saw was the clear sky, something impossible considering his Authority was still working just fine. A millisecond of focusing on his peripherical vision provided him with the answer he was looking for. It was not that the lightning tempest was gone; he was just in the eye of the storm. But that meant...

His gaze moved up to where a crushing presence was hovering some hundred meters above him. There was no doubt about it, things were definitely on a different level now.

Once again, a change occurred in Seth's appearance. Though this one was less shocking, it didn't mean it was less imposing. It seemed that the previous armor had burned his clothes since the only thing he had right now was a ragged black battle skirt that flapped silently with the wind same as his long hair. Additionally, his bare torso was filled with markings with the shapes of animals and monsters. However, the most attention-catching thing of all was his snake-like green eyes that gave the impression of a hunter observing its prey.

Before, he had addressed him in a certain way thanks to his mannerisms, but now he could safely say that it wouldn't be wrong to call him like that, and in fact, not doing so would just blind him to the capabilities of his opponent.

"Heh..." Both his hands and weapon became coated in blue lightning that soon gained a purple hue, clearly symbolizing the added power. After all, he didn't want to end things early due to his negligence. "Now that you have fully assimilated that scrap of metal, are you going to start making calculations of your chances of victory?"

Whatever it was that he was planning, at least he had stopped throwing rocks at him. The black-haired man probably sensed him coming and stopped the bombardment for reasons unknown. Unfortunately, the almost calcination of his body parts still remained.

"..."

"...No." His voice had returned to how it was before, except that it now had a calmer undertone. That didn't make it less threatening, though. It was quite the opposite. "Why would I ever do something so pointless if the outcome is already decided?"

Thor immediately narrowed his eyes while he also kept strengthening himself in the meantime. "You can't seriously think that just because you completely absorbed Typhon it suddenly means have already won. If you really do, let me tell you that I have heard funnier jokes."

Seth didn't reply to that. He merely pointed at him and uttered the word that would mark his descent, literally. "Fall."

The Æsir God's brows shot up in alert, yet before he could think of counterattacking with the energy he had gathered up, an enormous pressure assaulted his whole being, pushing him down with the strength of a mountain.

He felt as if gravity had increased tremendously all of a sudden, preventing him from remaining stable in the air.

Rather unsurprisingly, after some initial struggle on his part, Thor began his unwilling drop from the sky. At least, if there was something to be thankful for, then that would be the disappearance of the poisonous ashes thanks to the pressurized air current pushing him down.

The speed at which he was falling was high, but since the distance to the ocean below was big to begin with, he had enough time to stabilize himself—even if his attempts on doing so were meeting with little to no success. Fortunately, the more he distanced himself from the perpetrator, the more the pressure eased.

Eventually, Thor managed to regain control of his body just in time to crash land on the ocean surface, creating waves of considerable height that traveled outward with him as the center.

He still felt the pressure raining down on him, but at least now it wasn't as crushing as before. Yet, before he could celebrate, Seth appeared above him once again. The only sign of warning the redhead got was the widening of his opponent's eyes before the weight reappeared at full force. No, it was even worse than what he had experienced previously.

The air began to distort all around him, and the surrounding water also began to cave in as if a hand was pushing it down. Were it not for his own strength and resistance, he would be suffering a similar fate by now.

Strangely, his defiance caused an odd sight to manifest itself. Little by little, the area encircling him disappeared into the abyss, leaving him all alone. If someone were to watch things from above, they would see a hole in the ocean spanning several kilometers with a small pillar of water still afloat at its center that coincided with the eye of the Typhoon above.

"Finally..." It was barely a mutter; something the air pressure had definitely muted, yet Seth was able to hear it as clear as day. "I can finally fight without holding back."

A blink.

It only took a blink...

...For the world experienced disaster once more.

The Earth seemed to still for a fraction of a second before a shower of red bolts of lightning with way too unnatural thickness started hammering it.

Seth observed Thor getting up slowly but surely despite the heavy stress his Wind Authority was forcing upon him. And that red lightning... It was the full strength he was capable of displaying with that limited vessel no doubt. That didn't mean he could take it lightly, though.

Mjölnir started gathering the chaotic thunderbolts onto itself while Thor's Mana levels were going up and up with no end in sight. It was easy to figure out that he was planning to release a powerful attack capable of breaking this Reality Marble to pieces. In fact, the only reason why it hadn't collapsed yet was that Seth's Magical Energy was constantly supplying it to prevent such a case. Although he called Asterios' actions unnecessary, a field where he could use heavy attacks disregarding the consequences was convenient.

"Don't go dying now. At least not yet." Though his words were mocking in nature, at the core of it all there was a plea. He didn't want things to end. He wanted to keep fighting until both his spirit and vessel became dust.

"I do not plan to. It's too early for that." Seth extended his right hand into the air. However, different from before, he didn't shoot anything out. Instead, he started converging red and black lightning on it, and as if that weren't enough, he also absorbed part of Thor's thunderbolts that were thrashing next to him.

His action certainly shook Thor. If it was from amazement or from stupefaction, only he knew. Even so, thanks to that he began to piece things that had previously confused him. A grin soon broke out on his face.

It was clear now. When he stopped defending himself it was for a simple reason. He first lowered the power of the attack enough to prevent any lasting damage before simply taking the hit to break his prison and fully absorb Typhon. Nonetheless, that wasn't the only thing he did back then.

"Ehahaha! You hollow shithead! You took advantage of your new powers to steal my lightning?! It seems you greediness knows no bounds!" Despite his declaration, he didn't sound annoyed or resentful. His tone even conveyed eagerness. It was obvious that he desired to test his mettle against his own power.

"Fine by me. Let's see if the thief can win against the original!" Thor brought Mjölnir to his back as the muscles in his whole body came to life to give him more strength to tear down his opponent. Meanwhile, Seth just closed his eyes before adopting a throwing form.

'Please.../Please...'

'Don't die.../Survive...'

"Go beyond the twilight!/Shatter the stars."

"Mjölnir: Ragnarök!/Æsir: Nega-Keraunos!"

In the next moment, the world became filled with light.