Chapter 76

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Ramesses stared at the rapidly reforming mindscape as he muttered, "This is not possible. Even if that had been an illusion, I should have destroyed everything."

Ethan stepped out from behind a tree, tilting his head, "What's happening? Scared?"

Ramesses only fired a golden ray of flames, incinerating Ethan with ease, but this only caused another to walk out from behind another tree several seconds later, this time asking, "Nice shot. Still failed to kill me. Pretty resilient for a mortal, aren't I?"

Ray after ray were fired, yet the result remained the same. Or almost, as Ethan started adapting to the attacks, and managed to dodge some of them. But one constant remained, he always came back.

This time, Ramesses was truly infuriated as he roared and leaped at Ethan. The flames on his body disappeared as he crushed Ethan between his arms, breaking his bones with sheer strength as he looked down into his eyes.

At first, Ramesses thought Ethan was not feeling the pain as his face did not go through any obvious change, but now that he was this close and staring directly in his eyes, he noticed the slightly clenched face muscles. Ethan was feeling the pain.

Pressing harder on his arms, Ramesses pondered aloud, "You do feel the pain, meaning this is not an illusion. And you take several seconds to come back each time."

He looked at the surrounding fog, before Ethan disappeared from within his arms. He had gone at it a little too strong, he realized, as Ethan had been crushed to death.

That was still not enough, as Ethan once again appeared. This time though, his face lacked the smile from earlier, as he looked at Ramesses with a serious face.

This made the ancient pharaoh grin as flames appeared on his legs as he launched himself at Ethan, appearing next to him in an instant. With a strong kick that was too fast for Ethan to follow, both of his legs were severed, but he was grabbed by the neck before he could hit the ground.

Ramesses grinned with a sadistic glint in his eyes as he asked, "You really do feel the pain, don't you? I wonder how long it will take to break you?"

Ethan only looked at him coldly in response, scratching at the arm holding him. His neck was broken before he could deal any real damage.

Following this was a brutal beat-down as Ramesses killed Ethan in a variety of painful deaths. The pharaoh was losing power with time, but Ethan was also finding it harder and harder to hide his pain.

One of his feet impaling Ethan into the ground, Ramesses looked down at Ethan with a titled head, asking, "I have to say, as flawed as your tactic is, coming back so many times from death is impressive. Tell me how you do it, and I will give you one promise."

"How about fucking off from my body?"

Ethan's voice was cold and laced with killing intent, but Ramesses shook his head, sighing, "You know this is not possible. But if you make a reasonable request, I will consider it. How about… I spare a member of your family? Or that pet of yours?"

"What about giving me a breather?"

Ramesses tilted his head, and as Ethan disappeared from under him he agreed, "Fine. You have thirty seconds. But you got to use them to tell me about this spell."

Ethan walked from behind yet another tree, and after a moment of silence he said, "Honestly, I was not expecting it to be this strong. At first, it was meant to be an attacking method, and this constant regeneration was a remote conjecture. But you kind of forced my hand."

"So it is regeneration. Is it infinite?"

Ethan looked up into the sky, where the moon still hung high. But he also spotted something else, a myriad of stars appearing one after another.

Despite the pain he was constantly put under, Ethan managed to smile, and he said, "Probably not, although it might as well be."

"How did you do it?"

Ethan's smile turned cocky. "You saw it already, actually. You said you could do better."

Ramesses looked up to the sky in alarm, his eyes settling on the moon as he exclaimed, "You didn't!"

His smile was now predatory, "Yes, I merged it into my spirit. You have actually been helping me by 'killing' me over and over, as all you were really doing was slow down the growth of the tumour."

Tsukuyomi was technique Ethan and Miyuki had created with cancer in mind. The idea was to create a sort of mental tumour within the brain of the opponent that would expand until it took over the mind. Unexpectedly, the attacking method had turned into a life-saving defence, although there would be consequences.

Ramesses looked at him angrily as he raged, "You think this will make any difference? Once I take over, I will erase this monstrosity easily."

"Well, I never intended on dying myself, so of course I made it so that even I could remove it. Besides, it served its purpose. You are tired, and I will win. There's only one step left."

Ramesses did not attack, despite how angry he felt, as he understood it would only help Ethan. Instead, he made a grabbing gesture, and a large part of the fog was dissipated through the sacrifice of dozens of souls.

The fog only returned just as fast however, so Ramesses snarled, "Fine, I'll just destroy the source then!"

He looked up at the moon, his arms slowly weaving around as he prepared to obliterate the moon, only to freeze as he finally noticed the starry sky.

As a master of Magical Runes, although Ramesses was limited by the only alphabet he knew, he still noticed that the stars that had appeared were not positioned randomly. They had purpose, and were set to form an enchantment.

He looked down at Ethan and spoke through clenched teeth, "How is this possible?! Manipulation of such magnitude should be impossible, especially for a child like you! Even I would have to sacrifice thousands of souls!"

"Well, you see, unlike you, I am not fighting alone."

The stars in the sky became brighter, and Ramesses roared as he resumed his earlier motions. At the end of it, he brought his hands together, and a thick beam of golden light was fired at the moon, while nearly a thousand souls were sacrificed.

It reached the moon in an instant, and there were no explosions this time. The moon just vanished out of the sky, causing the fog beneath to stop swirling.

The golden ray did not stop at the moon either, but went on into the sky, but it was stopped before it could reach the stars. An invisible barrier stopped the attack, easily containing it. If anything, the stars glowed even brighter, with faint lines now appearing between them, connecting them in a large construct.

A runic circle.

"My mom's pretty badass, you know."

Ramesses' rage could barely be contained as he turned to Ethan, decapitating him in an instant, but he reappeared from the fog. He attacked again, and again, and each time he did, the fog thinned, but Ethan was still utterly calm.

Finally, the stars reached their full capacity, and both Ethan and Ramesses were sent flying into the cave.