Chapter 42 - Heroes Are Pretty Tough [2]

A/N: I'm not sure if this chapter is that good because I didn't have much time to write it soo yeah. Might rewrite it if it's absolutely ass tbh.

Narrator POV:

The power released by his laser eyes was powerful enough to complete annihilate even a star. The Reaper was able to just barely avoid it. He then stopped using Aura to slow down his fall and began crashing down to earth. The Reaper's biggest advantage was that Astraeus so long as he was on the ground, Astraeus wouldn't be able to use any ranged attacks against him as they would destroy the city if they didn't hit their mark.

Astraeus chased after the boy and slammed his fist into him, a single attack from Astraeus was able to shake the tectonic plates on the other side of the planet, however due to Astraeus' control over his strength, only a shockwave that was able to part the skies was released. The Reaper tightly grabbed onto Astraeus' arm, he then used the momentum he was hit with to spin and throw Astraeus right into the center of city where thousands were located.

Astraeus slowed himself down by using his flight but even then, the force of the throw made him crash into a building. The building shattered on impact, the instant his body made contact with the building it collapsed. The people inside the building who were still trying to escape were killed in an instant.

Astraeus flew up into the air and saw the crushed arm of a child sticking out from the rubble. He frantically lifted the giant chunks of rubble of the child, but the only thing he found was the morbidly torn body of a child no older than five. Astraeus took a few deep breaths, and for the first time in this battle, he decided to use his own unique attribute.

Although he'd still have to hold back to make sure the city wasn't destroyed, he had decided that he would make sure that The Reaper given his proper sentence, but in all honesty, Astraeus had still not given up on saving the boy.

As soon as Astraeus began to use his Unique Attribute, the space around him began to distort from the sheer force of his power.

The Reaper smiled, it seemed like his opponent had finally started to take this fight slightly more serious. Astraeus' Unique Attribute had granted him his name, he had been named after The Titan Of The Stars.

***

"Unique Aura Attribute, Star. The higher ups had warned me of it's power, but I didn't expect it to be this overwhelmingly powerful."

The Reaper then dodged a flurry of attacks, it seemed like each blow from Astraeus bore the power of hundreds of stars going supernova. The Reaper wouldn't be able to take too many of his attacks. Although, he had several chances to kill Astraeus, his mission wasn't to kill Astraeus.

But to cripple him, be it mentally or physically.

The Reaper parried and reflected several hundred of Astraeus' attacks every second, however even when taking a hit from his own attack he wasn't slowed down in the slightest.

"I guess I'll have to start using my own Unique Attribute."

The Reaper reached for Astraeus' ribcage Astraeus dodged and was able to almost completely dodge his attack. Then, blood began to seep from Astraeus' body. The wound was a deep gash, the wound was so deep that even his bones were visible.

"Blood?"

The Reaper giggled, then that giggle slowly devolved into a maniacal and hysterical laugh. Astraeus' confidence filled face crumbled just like that. That was because for the first time in his life he had actually suffered a proper wound.

Throughout his entire life, he had effectively been invulnerable, this was the first time had suffered a noticeable wound. Most of the time, he'd only receive small cuts or bruises. However they would regenerate within zeptoseconds.

However the wound he had received from The Reaper...

"It's not healing is it? Wounds received from my body or a weapon I'm touching can't be regenerated from."

The Reaper dashed back and formed a spear like weapon from his Black Aura, his once his stagnant now seemed to be alive and roaring with power. He threw the spear of corruption at a nearby citizen, and in a near instant movement, Astraeus appeared infront of the citizen and made a cross with his arms, he tried to stop the corruption from reaching him by layering his arms with several layers of Aura however it was completely negated by the corruption and it ended up reaching him.

The corruption ignored all his defensive capabilities and durability and completely annihilated his arms. The flesh was decomposed and deatomised immediately. However, this time it began to heal and after a few seconds, his arms were whole once more. However the gash in his chest remained.

Even then, Astraeus couldn't help but feel terrified. A boy who was barely old enough to be called a teenager had actually managed to harm him. Astraeus was scared shitless, he had been compared to being something akin to a diety by millions. But if he was a diety, then what the fuck was that child?

'A Devil'

That was the only word apt for that child.

The first time he had been harmed, he sort of wanted believed that it had been a fluke. But with how both of his arms barely had any flesh as of this moment, he was forced to understand that these attacks were no flukes. These attacks were just that monstrous, they negated any form of durability, whether it was energy based or whether it was his genetically enhancer physique.

"Interesting... you can regenerate from that? That's never happened before, you're quite the tough cookie."

One of Astraeus' most powerful abilities was his healing factor, regenerating from severe brain damage wasn't impossible for him. Not that he'd actually had to regenerate his brain before considering he'd never been pushed into such a corner.

"Well, Mr Astraeus or whatever the fuck your name is, I think it's about time we both let loose"

Astraeus was confused, this made him let his guard for a single zeptosecond, it was a fluke. However, the Reaper used his chance to close the distance and send Astraeus flying into the sky.

Astraeus looked down at the ground, and in the time that he had been sent flying, the city had been corrupted. The building were collapsing, the ground has been completely destroyed.

Astraeus' body had been genetically modified, so he had enhanced senses. So even from all the way up there, he could hear the countless cries for help, the tears shed by the citizens who he had sworn to protect. His overwhelming Star Aura began to furiously course through his body.

Rage overtook his mind, and rationality almost completely left his mind. He focused energy into his eyes and let out a blast of highly concentrated energy from his eyes, the attack reached the Reaper in an instant. The Reaper hadn't thought that Astraeus would actually use a ranged attack, so he was forced to block.

As soon as the explosion made contact with him, it exploded. The explosion wasn't large, so it didn't hit any citizens however it did cause a fair amount of damage to the boy. Astraeus then slammed into the boy, however the boy dodged and sent a blow to Astraeus' solar plexus which sent him flying into another building.

The buildings foundations were destroyed and the entire thing toppled on top of him.