Unexpected Intruders

When I returned to Death's side, the creature was standing over a row of new corpses. The corpses in question were corpses belonging to a number of fallen Bisi's and her allies, not just one or two of each of them, but several of each of the priestesses and the warriors.

Death cackled as he readied himself for the next wave of attackers. I studied him for a moment and sighed.

"This is clearly helpless. And what's more, it's just a distraction." I told the physical embodiment of death itself, before placing a hand on his shoulder to protect him from what I was about to do. He didn't reply to my remark and kept his eyes trained on the powerful blue portal that we were facing. I rolled my eyes and rose my other hand.

"Goodbye Akamalians," I muttered, as my physical form momentarily faded, and as Death's physical form also faded with me. I wasn't leaving the temple so the apparent prohibition on leaving the temple didn't activate as my powers roared to life.

I wasn't just a god. I was also a demon-lord, among other things. A demon-lord of darkness. And as a demon-lord of darkness, I possessed one particularly nasty power that was perfect for dealing with situations like this one.

Where we once were was abruptly filled with the dark core of a black hole, its singularity. As my power flooded the hallway I created two powerful barriers at each end of the hallway, in the form of magically created white walls, that would prevent the black hole from doing any unintentional harm to the rest of the gravesite.

Death and I were incorporeal for a few moments and we had the chance to watch as the next versions of Bisi and her companions stepped through the portal and were immediately captured by the immense gravitational pull of the black hole I had just created. We watched as the priestesses and the warriors were pulled into the black hole and were incinerated so thoroughly they were reduced to ashes. I smiled at the sight, and then took Death's hand in mine.

I stepped to the side of and past the time portal from which Bisi and her minions stepped through and would perhaps eternally step through. On the other side of the portal, I created another wall of metal, one that would prevent anyone from following us even if I shut off the black hole. Then I resolidified Death and myself and released his hand.

"There. Now no more of those assholes will follow us." I muttered, even as I turned around and laid my eyes on the white barrier I had created to contain the intense gravitational pull of the black hole.

Death was silent for a few seconds, before suddenly closing his eyes and shivering in dark delight. At the same second that he did that, I received another notification alerting me that Bisi and her companions had died. Again. Death's dark shiver was due to the pleasure he received in the knowledge that he'd get to feel someone dying over and over again. I rolled my eyes again but kept my mouth shut. It was nice to not be tackling one of these places alone, even if my companion was the self-obsessed embodiment of death itself.

We quietly made our way to the glowing white barrier that kept the black hole from tearing apart this temple. When we reached it, I rose a hand and allowed us to see through it, while barring those on the other side from seeing us. My senses were sharp enough that even as I approached the exit of the hallway I heard distant noises, noises which came to a stop as I drew nearer and nearer to the way out of this strange hallway.

I gasped when I gazed through the portal and saw a single creature gazing at me, her entire body made of shimmering star-like light. She stared at me with something like familiarity, and after a few moments beckoned for me to approach her. Somehow, she could stare through the barrier I had created, and a small part of me wondered who she was. A larger part of me feared that I knew exactly who she was.

The part of me that feared that I knew who she was feared that she was the strange being I had come here, to this world, to oppose. Selena. I took a deep breath and stepped past the barrier I had created, and rose my sword, the Sword of Spring and Summer, to keep it between the two of us.

________________________________________________

The room beyond the hallway was a room that was familiar to Althos. It was a wide, circular chamber and the floor at his feet was made from the familiar black stone that the rest of the temple was made of.

On the floor itself, there were white lines, each of which was in a circle. The circles represented the different domains and subdomains that Akamal was most proud of his influence over. That said, though that would normally fascinate Althos, he paid them no mind at this particular moment. Instead, his eyes were firmly locked on the woman that was waiting for him.

The creature in the center of the room appeared to be some strange spiritual being made of stars. She had a roughly humanoid frame, outlined by twinkling, miniature stars that gave her form a luminosity that shouldn't have been possible. She was in the middle of an otherwise unlit chamber and yet she was so bright that the rest of the chamber was illuminated by her.

She didn't bother to approach the god. Instead, she merely gazed at him, appraising him. She was sizing him up the same way that a customer sized up different slabs of beef, mentally weighing and even pretending to taste them.

There was a hostility in her gaze, that Althos understood. It was why he knew that his choice to keep his sword between the two of them was the correct one. That said when Death itself stepped through the barrier she did something that Althos never foresaw. She moved to strike, but her target wasn't the god who foresaw her strike.

The creature was staring at Death, her strange eyes filled to the brim with rage. Her rage was so powerful that she couldn't stay still. Something about her hatred of Death was so intense it made her vibrate, for just a split second.

________________________________________________

The split second before the creature in front of me made a move, I saw bright red lines jut from her "body" and collide with where Death was about to step. The instant I saw them, I recognized them for what they were and dashed faster than she could.

I stepped between the creature and Death itself and thrust my sword at her. My blade sang through the air and began to shine as I utilized it in combat. The creature wasn't put off by my attack and instead dodged it, all while moving to redirect her own attack, a full-bodied tackle, from Death, to me. The sudden ferocity of her attack stunned Death, who looked at her and began to shake his head in confusion.

"Althos!" She roared her voice the sound of fury itself, the sound of hatred. When she spoke, a mouth of sorts appeared roughly where it should have been. It was beneath two miniature red stars she used for something like eyes, and when she spoke large gouts of solar fire were suddenly revealed in the middle of her "head", before vanishing when she "closed" her "mouth".

I rose my shadow shield and it took the brunt of her attack, while I absorbed the kinetic power of her blow and redirected it back at her. The creature roared and was sent flying, spinning in the air before abruptly coming to a halt in mid-air, on all fours.

She looked vaguely catlike while she moved on all fours. There was a fury radiating out of her eyes, cruelty, pride, and power radiating out of her star-eyes. After a few seconds, she stopped staring at me and roared while moving her gaze to Death, again. Death for his part in all of this was stunned by what was going on.

"You!" She roared, her voice filled with the fury of a dying star. She hurled herself at us again, staying on all fours and pouncing as if she were an enormous, star-covered tiger. Death snapped out of his stunned state when she drew near him, and when I began to approach him he calmly rose his hand to stop me. I froze, cautiously, and waited to watch what would happen.

The creature was a blur, even faster than I was at my maximum speed. That said, that didn't mean that Death was unable to respond to her. He chuckled, coldly, and for a second I was reminded of the true disparity in power between myself and him, even though I was powerful I was nowhere near as powerful. As the star-tiger-creature moved towards him he remained calm and reared back his fist.

The instant that the star-creature appeared in front of Death, it felt like time slowed to a crawl. She appeared just meters from him and lunged at him with her hands outstretched like fierce claws. Death just chuckled and threw a simple punch at her.

His fist collided with her face, hard, and I watched as she was knocked back. She was lifted into the air due to the force of the blow and Death began to laugh. The air around him began to chill as he followed her flying body.

"Selena... That was a mistake." He said, freezing cold air escaping his lips as a visible mist. His words confirmed my fear, that this strange being was the very being I had come to this world to find and to slay.

Selena flew high into the air, this particular chamber being an unusually tall one and thus giving her lots of room. She managed to right herself again after a few seconds, and when she was back on her feet and no longer moving she was floating high above us. She gazed down at the two of us and I watched as an array of emotions filled her eyes.

I watched her cycle through grief, wrath, envy, and a sort of maddening loss. Her eyes were filled with emotion, despite their unusual form.

"Is she... in mourning?" I asked, aloud, even as she began to vibrate again. I tightened my grip on my sword, but I didn't sense another attack coming. Instead, beneath where she floated, the ground began to change and Selena began to radiate a powerful sort of magic that I recognized: conjuration magic, which seeped onto the floor beneath me.

I reacted to it by unleashing a wave of anti-magic energy. The wave did nothing, and I hissed in annoyance at my inability to prevent her magic from working. She locked eyes with me for a moment, before beginning to speak.

"Althos! You are not the only one with a diverse set of abilities. I know why you're here, you would-be god killer! If you can end me... I welcome your attempts!" She said, practically spitting as she uttered my name. She got up off of her hands and stood on two feet. She turned her gaze at Death once more.

"And as for you... I won't allow your meddling, anymore, Death." She said, her eyes filling with rage, the sort of rage one might feel when they felt they were personally betrayed by someone they trusted. A wave of deeply personal anger. She pointed a single hand at Death, and now I sensed an attack coming.

A thin red line jutted from her fingertip to Death's head. And I watched as Selena's star-outlined hand twitched, as she released a powerful burst of energy at my ally. Death moved at a speed that was beyond my ability to comprehend and motioned for me to accept what was to come, which somehow I knew I only sensed because he allowed me to. I bit my inner lip in frustration and anger but did as he requested, standing back and waiting to see whatever was about to happen.

The energy that escaped Selena's fingertip was colorless, but visible to me as a thin line of personal power. When it hit Death, he gazed at her and smiled, hauntingly. She began to scowl and snarl at him, even as he waved at me and bid me farewell, at least physically. I heard his voice in my head, or rather I heard his laughter in my head. I wasn't sure how, at least not right away, but I knew from the sound of joy in his voice, that he had won in his exchange with Selena.

As if to confirm that, Selena proceeded to fall to her knees and breathe raggedly. She sounded as if she were in tremendous pain. She took a few deep, gasping breaths, and slowly rose her head to look at me. I watched her struggle to get up for a few moments, before giving up and instead opting to speak from her current, ragged-looking position.

"You! I have a... present for you. It's one I'm sure you'll enjoy, you little freak. An equally odd little playmate. One you could have dealt with, but didn't bother to handle when you had a chance." She said, her words coming out slowly, painfully. As she spoke I felt her power wash over me, and I knew that even now I'd not be able to take her out, but I also knew that she was exhausted.

Death's triumphant laughter must have been because of the blow he landed on her. It must have been to sap her energy and to keep her from dealing with me now. I chuckled, upon coming to my own conclusion regarding Death's joy even in defeat, as something massive began to claw its way through the magic-covered floor of the temple.

A massive black-scale-covered clawed limb broke through the magic coating the floor. It was still, for a moment, before it went and landed on the floor, giving the beast Selena was summoning a chance to come through the portal. I immediately recognized the beast and hissed in anger, before pointing my sword at the limb and firing a burst of death-empowered energy at it.

A burst of black energy exploded out of my sword and flew through the air between myself and the limb of Qoirre, the ancient black dragon responsible for cursing the fields of Comillas. A dragon I had never dealt with and left for dead on the ruined remains of Torus. A dragon that had never died, even while living in a post-apocalyptic hellscape for years. I knew that last bit because I'd have gotten the notification if he had died and I hadn't gotten it.

When the blast of energy collided with the dragon's clawed limb, I heard an explosively loud roar, but I didn't feel the beast die. I received no notification alerting me of his death either. Instead of him dying, I saw Selena begin to laugh, the sound heavy and painful for her to make.

"Come on Althos... You didn't think I'd make it that easy for you, did you?" She asked, grinning at me, her eyes filled with malice, shortly after she stopped laughing.

"Dragons... Normally they wouldn't be a problem for a god, but if a strong enough god or even a vestige sufficiently blesses one, well... You'll see." She said, a cruel glimmer of hope in her gaze. I also sensed something else there, a powerful undercurrent of fear. Selena was afraid, though somehow I doubted it was me that she was afraid of. My powers couldn't quite work on vestiges, annoyingly enough, even that particular power.

Qoirre began to pull the rest of his enormous, muscular form through the floor-portal that Selena had created for him. I grunted in annoyance as the chamber shook due to his sudden appearance. The tip of his snout began to appear through the floor, and when I fired another beam of energy at him, this time a wave of fire, Selena interfered directly.

She rose her hand in his direction and covered him in a purple barrier. My attack washed off of him harmlessly, and she began to laugh at me again, before beginning to painfully cough. I sighed in annoyance and turned to look at her, only to see her vanish.

"Althos... If I see you again, I'll be less friendly than I was today. I won't let you take me down, brat." She said, her voice resounding throughout my head as I grit my teeth. Qoirre's head began to peek through the portal, and he and I locked eyes for the first time ever.

His eyes were large, violet orbs. They were filled with rage, and before the dragon could lash out at me I pointed my sword at it and attempted to curse the beast. I roared in anger when a notification filled my mind's eye that Qoirre was being blessed so powerfully by Selena that he was immune to my curse. Qoirre, as if sensing my failure, began to laugh, his voice low and earthly.

His laughter was the sound of a landslide rushing towards a village. His eyes were filled with the intense power of an earthquake. His claws were the size of boulders. His maw was filled with stalactite-like teeth. He was a true dragon, one I knew I couldn't control or kill instantly, one even more powerful than Ygaynth, thanks to the blessings he was receiving.

I silently pointed my sword at him and almost laughed when I saw red lines begin to jut from his form and extend towards and around me. He was going on the attack. How cute.