God Fist

"Solar Beam." a large ball of fire shot out toward me and Ariel and met with an incredibly thick beam of red light. My ears rang with the sound of explosions as the blast flung us high into the air where we were exposed, not just to the heat and fury of Gaius, but the natural forces of the environment. Wind blew relentlessly against me.

My hair fluttered wildly in its violent rush, threatening to cover my vision completely. "ARCHEAN COMET STREAM." suddenly two pillars of stone rose up from the ground beside him before morphing and creating hundreds of rock spears that began to hover above us, moving at incredible speed.

He has excellent control over his mana, how the hell can I win this!?

As the spears were barraging my barrier began to crack, breaking into millions of little fragments of shattered mana.

Then with no warning, my vision went red. There was no pain or sense of discomfort at first, rather a rush of energy coursed through my veins. Everything went mute, sound ceased, leaving only silence to replace the symphony that accompanied battle, the air thinned, creating an acute pressure upon every nerve. Everything around me turned to crimson. The ground, the buildings, the people who had taken shelter indoors. Blood poured across my line sight. All I could do was shield Ariel from these spears, but Gaius was making no effort whatsoever to defend himself, just standing there watching while smirking. His arms were crossed, head tilted to one side, his eyes intently locked onto mine. He didn't look pleased. Rather his expression held a mix of annoyance and anger, mixed in with a hint of hatred towards me.

My body was impaled with spears all over as blood poured down to the ground from the wounds they had opened up. I slumped down on the ground as my hands trembled while clutching Ariel. He looked smug now.

A cold sweat beaded upon my forehead as my breathing became labored, struggling desperately to fight through the pain and stay alive. Slowly, very slowly, things started fading. Red gave way to gray, color disappeared entirely until I was surrounded by shadow. Everything blurred, merged into one seamless swirl. Colors lost their vibrancy, sounds died out entirely and were replaced by ringing, then nothing. Black took over and I slipped into unconsciousness.

Ariel's Perspective:

As soon as his arcane comet stream reached me, my heart dropped into my chest. Fear paralyzed me, fear of death. I was terrified out of my wits. All rational thought was obliterated and my whole body shook uncontrollably. Noises penetrated my eardrums. Every second that passed felt like hours, eternity, no more time was passing than now and forever. Each moment lasted far longer than it should have. Every second stretched out forever. As the comets rained down upon us, one final thought ran through my head, Cyrus, you saved me... again, despite not having strength in the fight to beat Gaius.

Cyrus stood up.

As his body tensed, a surge of power pulsed through him. With his muscles bulging, sweat forming upon his brow, and his hands balled into fists, the aether in his blood began flowing wildly.

I couldn't help myself, and I lifted myself and threw my arms around his neck, holding tight in the embrace.

The world around us had gone silent and darkness had begun setting over the landscape, causing everything else to turn black. Yet this didn't phase Cyrus at all, as he remained standing tall.

"Even after death, your soul still persists. The Aether in your body refuses for you to die. This is truly magnificent, truly magnificent!" His voice was filled with wonder and reverence, as if the words spoken were uttered only by one witnessing a miracle. "You have been chosen by the very god that watches over you."

Before Gaius could even react, Cyrus was in front of him, charging up a strike. "God Fist." At this point, he had surpassed Gaius's strength by several levels, and the attacks became slow to him. Everything else fell away and a burst of light flashed. As quickly as it had come, it disappeared, and Gaius was on the ground, bleeding profusely after being sent crashing into a building. His body was crushed. His bones shattered. His eyes empty. "I didn't... realize you possessed this much strength as a mere child... it seems I underestimated your strength"

His eyes were wide open in shock, surprise written plainly on his face, a trickle of saliva dripping from his mouth. I could practically hear the thoughts rushing through his head. He lay there, frozen stiff in place, unmoving.

Cyrus walked up to him one last time and charged up another attack. "God... Fist." Before Gaius could even recover, he launched a new attack on him. "Die." I watched as the massive hole on his chest, gaped, trying to cling to its original shape despite the tremendous weight of its owner having gone through it. Blood gurgled down from it, and pooled on the floor below. Gaius gasped violently for air, trying to breathe through the mass amount of blood that was currently running out. He let out a small wheeze, coughing up small droplets of the substance and attempting to pull himself back onto his feet again, despite how clearly futile that attempt was.

Gaius' eyes were dull and unfocused, completely unseeing, glazed and dull. The pained breaths came out less frequently now, each of them shorter, weaker, not lasting as long. My hands began shaking from sheer fear. Cyrus collapsed, it seems that he couldn't stay awake for any longer. His hands and legs twitched uncontrollably before they too were overcome by trembling. I sat there in disbelief as I saw Cyrus' father sprinting towards us. "ARIEL, WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?!" Rafael yelled out. The sound reverberated from wall to wall, shaking the foundations of the structure we stood in. His fists tightened as his rage boiled.

He quickly picked up Cyrus and inspected the wounds and sighed. "The doctor will have his hands full fixing him up, it's not easy to heal the host body while maintaining the life of the host," His face was stern and he shook his head sadly. I nodded slowly. "Will he survive, will he wake up," My voice was hoarse and scratchy, barely managing to reach any volume whatsoever, causing my words to come out breathless and low. "Let us pray,"

I swallowed thickly, struggling to choke back my sobs as tears prickled at the edges of my eyes.

When Gaius was defeated he fell down and turned to ash. "Tis better to reign in Hell, then serve in Heaven." That man was truly horrible... the least he deserved was an end as quick and painless as possible, one that didn't require suffering, agony, pain, anguish and torture. Cyrus gave him a torturous ending to his life, he was a horrible man who deserved everything that came to him. He made the choice to hurt and torment innocent lives, the results are on him. The screams he let out were haunting and sent chills down my spine.

Cyrus began to fade in and out of consciousness, with him nearly being close to dying multiple times. As time passed, the injuries kept multiplying, each worse than the last. His heart rate had slowed down significantly, almost stopping altogether, his lungs heaved heavily, working hard to provide oxygen throughout every inch of the battered body, struggling with every pump of blood it sent out. It had finally stabilized.

I cried softly as I gently pressed my forehead against his, hugging him as I broke down.