Bleak Void

"I knew you were a monster, but I didn't think it was literal." Fayden commented, studying Alexander's new form.

A sickly green aura covered Tempestarii, merging with the statis around it. One look at it and Fayden knew it was no mere poison.

[You cannot let yourself be hit by that.]

'Yeah, I kn-'

Faydens mind blanked, void stepping away instictively, just in time to avoid Tempestarii from skewering him.

"A bit rude, no?" Fayden snarked, noticing how the very fabric of space decayed around that slash. "Huh, you're poisoning reality itself. You really are a freak of nature."

Fayden dispelled solaris, spreading the latent energy on it all over his body. That would serve as defence for the moment, but he couldn't keep it up very long. So he moved before he ran out.

To anyone else it would seem as if they were standing still, but the distorting space between them told otherwise. Every once in a while a stray bolt of plasma or toxic ice would miss and head towards the continent, worsening its already half molten condition.

"Is this the fastest you can go?" Alexander mocked, cutting deep into Faydens bicep.

"Not even close."

Fayden blitzed back, focusing all his heat to his hand, burning off the poison, albeit slower than he would have liked.

Alexander appeared in front of him once again, his sword ready to pierce through. Fayden brought Solaris up in time to parry the blow, but he underestimated how strong the poison was. Solaris shattered, the pristine white blade exploding to fragments, successfully stopping Alexanders attempt. He shot back.

Faydens fire aura spread back, having dealt with the poison. He stared at the broken sword in surprise. He sighed, "Should have made it stronger."

"Poor little wolf pup, weaponless in a world not of his own." Alexanders mocking voice came from somewhere.

"Would you look at that, you can actually form coherent sentences." Fayden sounded genuinely surprised as he held up the broken hilt. "Now what was that about being weaponless?" Alexander watched in annoyance as the blade he just shattered repaired itself without much effort.

"Devour all, ouroboros." Alexander whispered, a dark aura radially spreading around him.

[Be careful of that thing Fayden. It's bad news.]

'No shit sherlock.'

Fayden got as far as he possibly could, watching as whatever the black mist like aura touched withered away in seconds.

"Two wills at the same time, not bad Alexander." Fayden commended, he knew no spells would work in that, all Alexander needed to do was to get near enough to him and it would be game over.

[He may be able to decay any material spells, but what about this. Gravity x 1000.]

Alexander showed no discomfort, he grinned challengingly.

[Gravity x 10,000]

He refused to give them the satisfaction, he stood unaffected, or so it seemed.

[Screw it, Gravity x 1,000,000.]

Thats when he snapped, giving in to the primordial force of gravity. Dropping right into what was left of Dicathen, carving a wide hole in it as he fell further in.

Fayden sighed, dispelling his sun aura for one of vivum. The black flames wreathed his entire being as he dived after Alexander. The next few moments were pure hell for him, his body constantly disintegrating and remaking itself as he tried to reach Alexander.

Alexander laughed like a madman, "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! sToRMsoUL!"

The black aura of ouroboros whitened, and even though they were literally in the mantle, Fayden began feeling cold.

"What the-" Fayden couldn't believe what he saw, the mantle of the planet was cooling down. That shouldn't have been possible. "What the hell are you?!"

"..."

Alexander's dark hair looked more like snow now, his tips ending with blue. Runes of the same color adorned his body, the black green scales on his body simmered to an iridescent blue white. Another pair of Vritra horns grew downwards his jaw, while twin ice horns accompanied his upper Vritra horns.

Fayden steeled his face, warping behind Alexander, intending to grab his neck but Alexander reacted faster than he thought, and he came face to face with the cackling man.

Alexander grabbed Faydens face, freezing him in a layer of iridescent ice as they crossed the earths core, Faydens Gravity spell long dispelled.

Alacrya was a continent shaped like a laughing skull, only it had no eye sockets. Alexander and Fayden burst out of the ground, carving a hole right where the skulls eye would be.

"Now it looks more like a skull." Alexander commented off-handedly as he tossed Fayden away like a ragdoll.

The ice cracked midair, freeing the man inside it and he looked livid, "I'm going to make you regret that."

"Try me bitch." Alexander spat out coldly.

"With pleasure." Fayden grinned, moving faster than he hadever before. Alexander turned back, predicting he would appearbehind him, but Fayden chose to move above Alexander, and by the time Alexander realized, he was too late.

Shroud emitted black smoke as it cleaved Alexander in two equal parts. Below him the continent of Alacrya split in two, the air current cutting a deep gash into the very planet itself.

Fayden knew better than to think he was dead, something like this wouldn't kill someone like Alexander.

And he was right, for Alexander came back, as strong as ever.

Fayden sighed, "What does it even take to kill you?"

"You can't."

"We'll see about that." Fayden narrowed his eyes, misty blackness pulsed around his blade.

Tempestarii seemed to rip the fabric of reality as it moved, space ripped open like cloth as the blade passed through it. Fayden knew he could not block this attack, but his limbs wouldn't listen to him. He glanced down, time had been suspended around his joints, rendering him immobile, vulnerable to the Alexanders attack.

Nacht pulsed through his body, and he warped away just as Tempestarii cleaved reality apart.

Faydens grabbed shroud with both hands as he overloaded the weapon with his inky blackness. "Void Cleaver." he whispered the name of his attack right before he flew up at Alexander, his sword leaking a starlit blackness as it moved. A part of the sky was now nothing but the darkness holding what seemed to be a galaxy, as if it was the entrance to a new universe.

Alexander's body had been wreathed in the same blackness, he could not easily heal from this.

Fayden tensed, bringing Shroud behind him just in time to block a blade from cutting through him.

"How-?" Fayden glanced between the two Alexanders.

[I think you halving him resulted in both halves healing separately, creating something akin to a clone.]

'...Remind me to destroy the halves completely next time.'

[If you don't focus on the battle there won't be a next time.]

Fayden shifted his concentration back to Alexander, instinctively raising his sword, parrying Tempestarii. The two jumped back and forth, a clash of steel and waves of bleak darkness cutting into the planet at every collision.

The gods themselves watched with interest as the two behemoths battled, their clash disrupting the flow of reality in that universe. They wouldn't need to use Fayden's Godrune to destroy the universe at this rate.

Fayden increased his speed further, casually parrying Alexander's blows now, although he couldn't deny the strength behind his blows.

He raised another one of his arms, Solaris materializing to block the other Alexander's blows.

[This is getting out of hand, now there's two of them!]

'Phanes, can you materialize?'

[What?]

'If I made a false body, can you inhabit it and fight?'

[If you can make a core for the body, sure.]

'...Too bad I suppose.'

Nacht swirled around Shroud as Fayden shot forward for another collision, his godrunes pulsed over his torso.

Alexander 1s blade impacted with Shroud, and he flew back from the explosion that ensued. On the other hand, Fayden dismissed Solaris allowing Alexander 2 to stab through his body, grazing his core.

A flash of fear came across him, but he dismissed it in favor of grabbing ahold of Alexander's face, silver runes angrily glowing over his forearm, "Disappear."

And Alexander disappeared indeed, leaving nothing behind to show he ever existed.

Alexander 1 sighed in relief, glad it wasn't him that disappeared. But now he knew just how dangerous this man was.

Fayden turned his face towards him, staring him dead in the eyes as he ripped Tempestarii out of his torso, absorbing the blade into his body, learning the attributes of his sword.

'I'll have to imbue Solaris and Shroud with them. But for now…'

Solaris flared with the heat of a million suns, Shroud resisted collapsing on itself as the full force of a supermassive blackhole made itself at home inside it. The twin forces of nature cracked and shattered, fusing to one single weapon as nacht held the fragments together.

The unbridled power of gravity, heat and darkness existing together in one blade, that itself could be fatal if let loose. Alexander eyed the weapon warily, one hit from it and even his eldritch regeneration wouldn't save him.

Below them the planet spewed lava from the two massive holes in it, it wouldn't stay for long.

________________________

Reynolds Leywin gaped at the canine in front of him, were his eyes playing tricks on him?

Ezekiel's body wreathed itself in nacht as he transformed into his human form, now older in his teens, "I need to get back."

"Wait, wait, wait what's happening?!" Reynolds came to his senses, why was Zeke there? How did he have a human form?

"Father sent me here, he's an idiot. He can't beat an asura by himself!"

Reynolds paled, "Fay…Fayden is fighting a deity?"

Zeke nodded vigorously, "I need to find a way out of here, he needs my help!"

"What about that teleportation spell you two use?"

Zeke shook his head, "It doesn't work between dimensions."

"Dimensions? We're in a different dimension? Is that why the atmosphere out there is so strange?"

He nodded, "Yeah, this is the home of the Marchosias, where Fayden and I trained."

Reynolds laughed, "I can see why you two came back so much stronger, it's a very mana rich place."

"Yeah…" Zeke trailed off, as if that was the only reason they improved.

He could feel the disturbance of Faydens mana, sense how close to death he was.

He began amassing nacht, desperate to get back to him, he could only try Void Stepping, although he knew all too well it wouldn't work.

"What is it, what's happening?!"

"He's dying!" Ezekiel exclaimed, tears streaming down his face.

"No, that can't be right." Reynolds was in denial, his son can't be dead.

Black and Silver runes began flowing over his skin and he grew taller, the nacht he had amassed was used up in this transformation, rather than warping him to Dicathen.

"No, stop, take me to Dicathen!" He commanded the nacht, but it wouldn't listen.

Reynolds eyes widened, he could do nothing but watch in his powerlessness, cursing himself for being so darned weak.

He idly wondered if this was a form of torture for him, to know his son was dying. Yet unable to do anything to help, not even be with him in his last moments.

Zeke stopped concentrating, a haunted look on his face.

"What…" Reynolds gulped down his parched throat, "What is it, Zeke?"

Ezekiel turned to face him, eyes watering, "He's dead…"