Chapter 239: Racing Towards Infinity (1/2)

As the shattered god charged his attack, so did I. Bolting towards him, I neared him as the sky darkened. As stars formed overhead and fell, I reached out my hand, creating a singularity over Lehesion's chest. The golden aura siphoned into the void, the unstoppable wake of destruction eating it. Once full, it ripped outwards.

The golden aura soaked most of the gravitational implosion, smothering the explosion like a wet blanket over fire. My attack served its purpose despite that. The falling stars dimmed, unable to unleash their full might.

And even when dimmed, the lights were blinding.

They shattered the horizons surrounding us, turning Astelle into a memory in seconds. Portions of the city evaporated, nothing remaining after the collisions. Several fell towards my own soldiers, but they flew away from the detonations. Those that couldn't react...they perished in a painless fire.

I saved who I could. Several of the recovery squadrons were near me. I blocked the comets from above by making enormous shells of chilled earth around the lights. They detonated preemptively, turning the dirt into liquid magma. I lifted water from the surrounding lake, freezing it at the same time. The magma gushed over the ice, solidifying and shattering all at once.

While not a perfect shield, it saved the gialgathens I covered. I did so with four different groups at once, my mind straining under pressure. My skin glowed and my blood boiled, the sheer volumes of energy coursing through me generating enough heat to melt steel. Staring Lehesion down, he turned towards me,

”Ah, little one, it would seem you rise against me once more? I quashed you once with many at your back. What will you do now when facing me alone?”

He laughed, a booming, noble voice,

”Perhaps you will crumble like the many that have come before you.”

He whipped his tail through the air. I anchored myself in the air, clenching my hands together and intercepting his strike. Parrying sideways, I knocked the tail sideways. A sonic boom erupted beside me, as I slapped the blow sideways, the echo alone causing the lake to rumble.

Lehesion's eyes widened,

”And so you rise instead? Interesting.”

He grinned, ”Then let us play in this venerable wood, each of us faint wisps when compared with the ancients.”

The skin on my hands healed, several bones crushed in my hand. I rolled my shoulders as I growled, ”Come on then.”

Lehesion's laugh created waves and bent trees with the wind off his breath. He lashed out with his tail, using only the physical might he was gifted with from birth. I snapped each attack sideways, regenerating minor wounds from the act. The practice with Althea's spears from long ago gave me this ability. If I blocked his tail swipes, the recoil into my frame would make the damage pile up.

Instead, I held firm under the storm Lehesion rained down.

After several minutes of tail swipes later, the pace of his attacks increased. I learned something about our previous fight from this - he wasn't even trying before. He toyed with us, and he was still toying with me now. I strained under the onslaught, his strikes growing in precision. He learned from each attack, the angles of his attacks becoming harder to predict. With each slicing strike, he injected feints, varying pressures, and different amounts of 'whip' in his attacks.

He glanced down at me with a grin,

”Not since Emagrotha have I been matched so equally...Perhaps I can show my true potential.”

I internally groaned as the dispersed aura around him coalesced into his frame. I overcharged the runes over my skin, mana saturating my metal blood. As he swiped, I reacted long before he crashed towards me. I released enormous gravity wells. I used the Rise of Eden right before he made contact, enhancing my stats. I generated momentum blockers, making his tail slam through stony blocks.

And I was nothing.

He amputated my arms while cleaving off my torso from my right collarbone down to my left hip. Despite the grievous wounds received, I held firm. His tail bounced back, and I held my ground. Air in this case, but that was irrelevant. Lehesion understood the significance of me still standing there, facing him down.

It was written all over his face.

”You...you've changed, haven't you little one? From ant to beetle to bird. I'm mesmerized by what you've achieved in so little time. How did you accomplish such a feat?”

I gurgled on my own blood, silver streams pouring out of my mouth. My body came back together over the next few seconds, aided by my regeneration. Lehesion gave me time to collect myself, not out of arrogance but out of respect. It kind of surprised me if I'm honest, but you won't hear me complain about it.

As I gained the ability to speak, I figured conversing was just as good a distraction as fighting, better even. One involved not getting my ass kicked.

”I...trained.”

It was the extra mass in all honesty. It was like slamming a sledgehammer on a rock. If the rock didn't break, the ricochet off the strike would rattle up your arms. I was that rock, and instead of breaking, I managed to stay together. To be honest, I couldn't guarantee I could do that again.

Lehesion scoffed, ”Training, truly? Here I imagined I faced one with a birth equal to my own.” He leaned back onto his hind legs, crags of earth rising from the pressure while he lifted his front paws. His claws glistened,

”I was given this frame when I came into this world. You earned your gifts from what I've seen. That is incredible, even if perhaps futile when faced with a being of my caliber.”

Eh, he was kind of an asshole, but whatever. This was as good of a chance as any to waste time.

”Eh, we'll see if it's futile later. It's already made a difference, hasn't it?”

Lehesion stared at me, his expression unreadable. A sadness spread over his face along with a small smile,

”You cannot understand the depths of my ability. I am the end and the beginning. I am the sun and the stars and the earth beneath them. From my breath, life overflows.” Lehesion stared up, trees expanding from beneath him without effort on his own part.

Two could play that game.

I rubbed my hands together, welling quintessence into my hands. Beneath me, I generated as much life as I could. An endless torrent of crabs filled the lake below. Crabs? Why was it always crabs? I closed my eyes in shame as I took a deep breath.

Lehesion raised a horned brow, ”It is only crustaceans, but you too can make life...perhaps you are a god in your own right. What is your name?”

”Daniel.”

”Daniel? A name without the same impact you carry. Perhaps you carry other names?”

”Eh, I do, but they're not the names I've chosen.”

Lehesion grinned at me as if looking at a student,

”Names define us. They act as the one denotation that embodies our character and what we are. When spoken, names create a vision, a surge of emotion. That sentiment is the truest expression of one's self.”