Trials - Chapter 4

Team Diablo 5th Round Tournament Roster

Opponents - Osiris’s Team

Map - Woodlands

Modifiers - Clear Weather

Number of Participants - Eighteen (Nine from Team Diablo; Nine from Osiris’s Team)

Win Condition - Eliminate all members of the other team

Good luck and have fun,

Kasmine.

The forest was absolutely gorgeous.

Tall trees in full bloom decorated the area for miles, with beautiful flowers decorating the grass around them. There were small woodland creatures running around happily and freely in the woods, seemingly unafraid of the humans in their homes.

“Is it me or do these arenas keep getting more and more amazing?” Ajax asked.

The match will begin in five minutes, the announcer said. Please use this time wisely.

“You can admire it later. Eric, what’s our plan?”

Eric pulled up the map of the arena and surveyed the field with Laila and Evony either side of him.

“The entire playfield is just woodland, except for this lake in the middle of the map. If Osiris has any water Gods, then that’s where they’ll head first.”

“There aren’t any inclines, hills or rivers,” Evony noted. “If it’s completely flatland, then the only high ground available is the treetops but we don’t have many people who can move effectively through the branches.”

“There’s also no key areas which we can control to help direct the flow of the battle either,” Laila added.

“So, the only thing of note on the entire map is the lake then?”

“Should we make a B-line for it then?” Evony asked.

“No, that would be too obvious of a move,” Eric said. “Honestly, without any landmarks or strategic areas to hold, we have no idea where the enemy team could move.”

“Split up then?”

“We’ve got no choice. Alright, listen up guys!” The others gathered around Eric and looked at him, fully focused on him. “Because we don’t have any real way of figuring out our opponent’s moves, we’ve got no choice but to split up and try to find and engage the enemy that way.”

“Wouldn’t that be quite risky?” Jasmine asked. “I mean, isn’t there a risk that one of us could run into their entire team and get destroyed?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Why?”

“My Armour and Connor’s are very powerful and can absolutely destroy everything and everyone around them, meaning that there’s a good chance that Osiris’s team can too. As we’ll have to break up into smaller teams to avoid friendly fire, I imagine that Osiris’s team will have to do the same thing.

“We’ll break into groups of two or three and move along the left, middle and right of the map. Connor and I will charge straight up the middle; Evony, Laila and Jasmine will head along the right side of the forest, and Ajax, Kiara and Elthia will go along the left side.”

“What about me?” Kaida asked.

“I need you to head to the forest and evaporate that water,” Eric ordered. “If Osiris’s team has a water God on their side, that’s where they’ll head straight away and, if they can hold that area, they’ll win. Once you get rid of the water, head towards Connor and I and we’ll continue moving together.”

“Okay, I’ll try and get it done as soon as possible.”

“Unfortunately, we don’t know how they’ll divide their teams or what they’re capable of, so after you’ve defeated one or two Gods, head towards the middle of the map and link up with my team,” Eric instructed.

“I wish we knew what they were capable of,” Kiara moaned as she started to float slightly above the ground.

“We were either in a fight or watching another fight when Osiris’s lot were,” Evony replied. “So, any other questions for our leader?”

Everyone shook their heads or said no.

Five minutes have passed. The match has begun.

“Alright, let’s do this!” Eric yelled.

***

Laila was the first to engage the enemy.

Before she knew what was happening, wooden branches and vines had swarmed around her, sealing her in an arena made of wood. Then, a large muscular man dropped from the sky towards her. Laila dropped into her own shadow to avoid the attack and the muscular man destroyed the ground where she had once been standing, leaving a broken crater engraved into the grass.

Laila appeared in a tree’s shadow across from him, her knife in her hand, and the man charged at her, his fist raised. Laila dropped beneath the attack and dug her blade into his arm and sliced it open. The man grunted and threw his other fist at Laila, but Laila disappeared into his shadow and appeared behind him, slicing across his lower back. The muscular man roared and slammed his feet into the ground, cracking it and causing Laila to lose her balance. The man pivoted and launched his fists at her once more, but Laila blocked the blow with her blade, causing his knuckles to grind against it. The blast, though, sent Laila flying through the air and into the wooden barricade.

She cursed under her breath, landed on her feet and swallowed whatever blood was in her mouth. She glared at the muscular man as he stood there, beckoning her towards him, his arm and back gushing out blood.

The man was not wearing any clothing, say for a thin piece of cloth that covered his private parts; his entire body was ripped with impressive muscles, causing his veins to twitch with each movement, no matter how tiny they may be. He had blackened eyes fuelled by anger, fear and raw power.

Laila dropped into her shadow and appeared before the man. The man chucked a right hook at Laila, however the petite girl slid beneath his legs, stabbing the entirety of her blade into his left leg and she ripped it wide open. The man growled furiously and swung his fist under his legs. Laila couldn’t dislodge her blade in time, so she simply vanished into her own shadow and appeared a few metres behind him. The man tried to pursue her, but he collapsed onto one knee, his left leg paralysed with pain and pouring blood out at a tremendous rate.

“Heh, you’re pretty good,” he mused. He ripped the blade out of his leg, biting his lip, and hid it into his curled fist. “But you won’t get far without your weapon.”

“Correct,” Laila answered honestly. “However, with those wounds, you cannot attack either.”

“I don’t know about that.” The veins across his body stood up and, seconds later, the wounds had sealed themselves completely. “That’s the beauty of the Ogmios Armour. It’s nowhere near the strongest, but its healing effect is one of a kind.”

“I see. The armour is designed so that the user has to go on the offensive, providing them raw power and a strong healing ability, but offering no defence abilities at all.”

“Yeah. You can’t damage it!”

He ran at her, his leg’s impairment removed, and he drew his fist behind his head. Once close enough, he launched his attack however, at the same time, Laila launched her counter. She threw her left hand in front of her, dragging a thin shadow with it, and severed his hand from the rest of his arm. The fist dropped onto the ground and its fingers uncurled, revealing Laila’s blade which she quickly retrieved.

She then stabbed the blade into Ogmios’s left wrist, before running along his arm with the blade, tearing it wide open. Ogmios screamed madly in agony, his mind blank from the immense pain that had just suddenly spawned in his arm. He tried to grab at Laila with his right hand, but stopped himself after realising that he no longer had a way of fighting her. Laila swept her blade across his throat and blood sprayed over her.

The girl jumped off of the gigantic man and landed perfectly in a crouched position, her arm, blade and body dyed red. Ogmios fell onto his knees, unable to muster enough strength to stand on his own two feet, and Laila stabbed her blade into his head.

A second later, Ogmios shattered into glass.

Team Osiris; eight members remaining.

***

Jasmine rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding Damona’s branches. She fired her machine guns at the God, but a green shield appeared before her, blocking all of the bullets before they could hit Damona. Jasmine clicked her tongue and took cover behind a nearby tree, reloading her weapons as quickly as she could. Evony launched an explosive arrow at Damona’s back, but the shield appeared to defend her once more.

The two Gods who the girls were fighting, Damona and Grannus, worked perfectly with one another.

Damona was a petite girl dressed in a casual blue shirt and navy jeans, a long wooden sword with a blade two metres long in her hand. Grannus was donned in a long brown cloak, hiding the majority of his body say for his face, with no visible weapon on his person.

Jasmine jumped out from behind her cover, unleashing a hail of bullets upon Damona, however Grannus’s seemingly invincible green shield appeared to block her attempts once more. Evony ran around the pair, firing arrow after arrow, but Grannus simply moved his shield in time with her movements, deflecting her arrows.

Jasmine took that chance and struck.

She fired all of her remaining bullets at the vulnerable Damona, but she raised a barricade made of branches to defend herself.

Evony stopped running around the pair and whipped out another arrow, knocking it against her bow. She loosed it at them but, before it could even get close to impact them, it exploded into a bright ball of light, destroying their vision.

“Shit!” Damona screamed.

Evony took out a second arrow and fired it up into the air. Just as the arrow began its descent towards the ground, dozens of small bombs were released from the arrow’s head, creating a small minefield over them. Grannus fell onto his back, raising his shield above his body to protect it. Damona, still blinded from Evony’s flare, staggered around on the field, resting against her sword to steady herself.

“Damona!”

Grannus leapt onto his feet, pushed the girl onto her back and raised the shield above her body. The arrow and bombs landed, blowing the ground and the God to pieces. Once the dust settled, Damona was left alive, unscathed from Evony’s attack.

Grannus, however, was gone.

Team Osiris; seven members remaining.

Damona stood up and she planted her sword firmly into the ground. It glowed green and the ground around her began to shift. Branches, some as thick as a cannon and as tall as a tree, emerged from the ground and they wrapped themselves around Damona’s body, completely covering her from head to toe. The branches shifted, adjusting themselves to Damona’s body and a suit of armour made entirely out of magical branches was left on her, with violent green eyes glaring maliciously from the helmet.

“Didn’t expect that,” Evony mused.

Damona roared and hundreds of vines shot out from the ground, charging at impossible speeds. Jasmine wasn’t fast enough to dodge this time and a vine stabbed through her chest and turning her into glass.

Team Diablo; eight members remaining.

Evony barely moved out of the way, only just weaving between the vines. She fired two explosive arrows at Damona which burst into flames against her Armour.

They did not, however, damage it.

She bit her lip and stopped running. Evony knocked three arrows against her bow, aimed towards the sky and fired them. They curved back around in perfect unison and hundreds of mines dropped towards the battlefield.

Damona was prepared for her this time.

She stabbed her sword into the ground and the branches weaved around her over and over, encasing her in a solid sphere. The explosives smacked into the wood and it shattered, pieces of burning kindling went flying in all directions. The air calmed and the branches slumped lifelessly onto the ground, burnt to a crisp and dead.

Damona, surprisingly, was still standing, panting heavily.

“Looks like that did some damage,” Evony whispered.

Damona spat at Evony and ran at her, her sword drawn back behind her. She swiped at Evony’s chest, but she dodged beneath it, kicking Damona in the shin. Before the God could recover, she kicked her in the stomach, sending her stumbling backwards. Laila appeared in Damona’s shadow, stabbing her knife against the wooden armour, but it uselessly bounced back.

Laila retreated into Evony’s shadow and the two girls stood side by side, ready to face the God together. Damona steadied herself, her body physically drained, and she was wheezing. Damona threw her arm towards the two girls; an army of branches flew at them which they were easily able to avoid. Laila jumped out of the God’s shadow and sliced several times at her back, barely even scratching the armour.

Evony drew two explosive arrows and launched them at Damona, encasing her in an inferno. The flames dispersed, but Damona was still alive and moving, if barely.

“Maintaining that form must take a lot of energy,” Evony called to Laila. “I wonder how much more she can take before it breaks.”

Laila and Evony relentlessly continued their assault.

Damona cut at Laila, but the girl was always fast enough to drop into the shadows. She tried to charge Evony, but the girl simply retreated to another location and kept loosing arrows as she moved. Knowing that there was no way that she would remain alive at the end of the fight regardless of which side won, Damona decided to make a drastic decision.

She stopped swinging at Laila and drove her sword as deep as she could into the ground, leaving only the hilt above the dirt, and screamed as loudly as she could.

Thousands of branches jumped out of the ground, zooming wildly all over the place. Laila returned to the shadows, appearing behind a tree outside of the branches’ attack range.

Evony was not able to avoid them.

Three of them smashed through her and she turned to glass.

Team Diablo; seven members remaining.

Damona’s strength left her and the branches rescinded, returning to the ground where she had raised them from. She fell face first onto the ground, blood trickling out of her Armour, and she shattered.

Team Osiris, six members remaining.

Laila had nearly collapsed after escaping Damona’s final attack.

Her body felt heavy, a large bruise had formed on her hip and several cuts had been made along the back of her thighs, tiny amounts of blood dripping from her skin. Even though she had been able to avoid the majority of Damona’s attacks, she had still been hit by some, leaving her body battered and broken. It drained her Mana and stamina quickly when she used her powers normally, and she had pushed herself to teleport to a shadow over fifty metres away, using an entire fight’s worth of energy in a single escape.

That single teleport had almost made her pass out.

However, she continued to move forward, regardless of how much it hurt, using the trees to support her weight, and she slowly moved through the forest towards the lake.

***

Ajax, Elthia and Kiara had been walking for quite some time and had yet to run into the enemy, not knowing that they were being observed by two Gods, hidden in the tree tops.

“They don’t seem to be too strong, nor do they seem to be hiding anything,” Void whispered and Lazarus nodded.

Void was a boy of small stature, about five feet tall, with thick auburn hair and grey eyes, a plain black cloak sat over his body, making up the entirety of his God Armour. Lazarus, on the other hand, was of average height and his entire body was made up of a silver liquid, granting him his powers.

Lazarus’s Armour could shift into whatever shape or form he wanted and it had incredibly strong regenerative powers, meaning that no matter how much he was attacked, he wouldn’t take any damage. However, while Lazarus was in his Armour form, he couldn’t speak which made teamwork quite difficult.

“Let’s go.”

Lazarus jumped in front of Ajax, holding a silver scimitar in his hand, and he sliced at Ajax’s neck, narrowly missing him as Ajax jumped backwards out of the way. Lazarus pursued Ajax, not letting him get a moment to recover, and launched a series of strikes, slicing and stabbing at Ajax constantly. Ajax managed to deflect his attacks and parried his blade to one side, thrusting his spear into Lazarus’s chest.

It went through his skin like it was water and then the liquid armour sealed around the spear, locking it within his Armour. Lazarus leapt onto Ajax’s chest, his feet transformed into spikes, and they pierced through Ajax’s chest, and killed him.

Team Diablo, six players remaining.

“Ajax!”

She and Elthia had wanted to help in the fight but they weren’t able to.

Void had created a black hole behind them, making them use all of their strength to hold onto the ground and not get sucked into it. Kiara had dug her nails deep into the ground, channelling her magic into them to make them act as an anchor. Elthia was holding onto a nearby tree but her muscles were too weak and soon she was pulled into the black hole.

Team Diablo, five players remaining.

The blackhole collapsed and Kiara immediately took off into the forest, catching Void off guard. He opened one behind her, but she was soon outside of its reach. She ran as hard as she could into the forest, shooting black balls back at the two Gods and soon she lost them.

After finally losing them, Kiara stopped, rested against a tree and tried to catch her breath,

Anchoring herself into the ground had used a lot of her magic and strength to avoid being pulled into the blackhole.

Kiara was so exhausted that she struggled to keep her eyes open.

“What the hell were those two?”

She took deep breaths in and out, using what precious few moments she had to relax and regain her strength.

“Smoke?” She sniffed again and saw a large pillar of smoke rising from the heart of the forest.

***

The forest fire was thick.

Kaida could barely breathe, let alone keep her eyes open enough to see. The temperature of it was at a level that made even the tiniest of sparks lethal to anyone that they touched. Kaida raised her dragon around her, using it to keep the flames around her at bay and it relieved a lot of the pressure the fire put on her.

Even with her dragon protecting her, Kaida could barely breathe.

The lake had been dried out, leaving a gigantic hole of mud in the centre of the forest, a tower of fire raging from it. In the centre of that inferno stood a single figure, draped in steel armour designed to look like a succubus.

“Oh, I’m surprised that you could make it through my blaze. A Pyromancer? No, a Dragon User. Well, it doesn’t matter.”

The girl flicked her wrists and they became encased in fire. She then thrust her palms at Kaida and two columns of fire zoomed towards Kaida, an attack which Kaida couldn’t defend against.

If she moved her dragon to intercept the attack, then she would be consumed by the flames around her. If she didn’t, then the pillars of fire would kill her.

No matter what Kaida did, she would die.

Still, Kaida swung her dragon wings in front of her, trying her best to endure the crushing heat. The columns of fire smashed through the wings with ease and incinerated Kaida in an instant.

Team Diablo, four members remaining.

***

Before they had even realised it, Osiris had unleashed his attack.

A lightning bolt soared into Connor’s chest, cracking against the metal and it sent the boy flying through the air. The bolt then bounced over to Eric, smashing into his chest and catapulting him backwards. Eric landed awkwardly on his feet but he was able to stay up, unlike Connor who had collapsed against a tree.

“Finally, we face one another on the battlefield,” Osiris said.

He leapt down from the tree branch that he had been standing on and landed perfectly on the grass, twirling his staff around his body.

Osiris’s God Armour was decorated in polished solid gold, gleaming brightly in the sun. An eagle helmet covered his face and in his right hand rested a golden staff which had an Ankh on the top.

“Nice God Armour,” Connor praised as he stood back up. “I hate to admit it, but it looks cooler than mine.”

“Thank you very much. However, flattery will not save you.”

He twirled his staff around the top of his head and then thrust it forward, unleashing another lightning bolt at Eric. Eric tried to dodge it, but he was too slow and it caught his arm. Then, like before, the bolt bounced off the first impact and flew at Connor who narrowly avoided it by ducking beneath it.

Eric leapt through the air towards Osiris, his wrist blades deployed and aimed at Osiris’s chest. Just before Eric could land the blow, he felt his body completely lock-up.

No matter how much he tried to move, he couldn’t.

Osiris let out a low chuckle and stepped to one side; Eric became free and he crashed hard into the ground, sending out a shockwave through the nearby land.

“What was that?”

Connor spawned his axe and chopped at Osiris, but Osiris blocked it with his staff and then countered it with a blow to his stomach.

Eric felt the punch of Osiris’s blow in his stomach and he doubled over.

That’s his trick!

“Connor, his staff can attack multiple people with a single strike!” Eric shouted.

“Yeah, kinda figured!” Connor shouted back as Osiris blocked his axe with his staff.

Connor pushed Osiris back and sliced at his feet, however Osiris flipped over it and landed to the side of Connor. He then bashed Connor around the back of the head and the boy flew forwards, smashing through several times before crumpling to the ground. Eric winced and fired a bolt of red energy at Osiris but it stopped mid-air.

“Again?!”

“I would have expected you to have figured it out by now,” Osiris mused.

“Don’t worry, I’ve figured out all your little tricks. Your staff can hit multiple people at once and you’ve got two of your friends nearby to help you out.”

“Well deduced. This.” He leant his staff towards Eric. “Is my God Weapon. I see that you have not yet unlocked yours, whereas your friend has to an extent, which is a shame.”

Damn! He knows.

“I was looking forward to seeing it,” Osiris said.

“Sorry to disappoint you!”

Eric charged at Osiris with both of his blades deployed and lunged at Osiris. Osiris swerved to the side, dodging Eric’s attack, and then kicked Eric in the lower part of his back. Eric stumbled forward a little, turned around and began slashing relentlessly at Osiris, putting him on the defence.

While Osiris was able to dodge and deflect Eric’s attacks, he wasn’t able to turn the situation around.

Connor ran at Osiris from behind, his axe wound back, and he sliced at Osiris’s back.

Just before he made contact, his body froze and he couldn’t move.

“Dammit!”

Osiris backflipped over Connor and then smashed his staff into the boy’s back just before he was released from his prison. Connor flew into Eric and both boys ended up on the floor. Osiris twirled his staff around his body and fired a focused bolt of lightning at the boys before they could recover, electrocuting both of them, causing them to scream wildly in pain.

God team; five members remaining.

“What?” Osiris stopped his attack and looked behind him.

In that moment, as soon as he had lost his focus, Osiris had cost himself the fight against Eric and Connor.

Eric stabbed his blades at Osiris’s chest but he narrowly managed to avoid a fatal wound, but they still pierced his Armour. Osiris manoeuvred backwards and swung at Eric, but the boy slid beneath the blow, and fired from his palms a solid bolt of red energy. Osiris crossed his arms over his chest as the blast hit, sending him flying back twenty metres.

Osiris landed in a crouched position, his arms badly bruised and worn after taking a blow as powerful as that.

He stood up and swung his staff around in front of him.

“What happened?” Osiris mumbled.

***

Kala, the Goddess of Fate, ran through the forest as fast as she could, nearly falling over a dozen times and, each time, she was barely able to stay on her own feet.

Laila was right behind her and was getting closer with every passing second.

The assassin was naturally fast but, when mixed with her teleportation powers, she was unimaginably quick.

Kala threw her arms out to the sides, her bracelets on her wrists jingling madly as the crystals collided with one another, and the trees either side of her glowed pink. She snapped her fingers and the trees toppled over, landing behind her as she passed. Laila, though, had good enough reflexes to avoid every single attack Kala launched.

Her power was rather unique; she could move things to a point in the future that they would eventually reach. For instance, with the trees, she had sped up their lifespan dramatically so that they would fall over well before their time.

Essentially, she could age things to the point that she wanted, including humans.

Against God Armours it was useless but, against humans and most superhumans, it was extremely effective. If she could turn around and manage to focus her powers on Laila, then she could probably end the fight; but Laila was too quick to give Kala the chance.

It was a desperate attempt but Kala had no other choice.

She skidded to a stop, turned on her heel one hundred and eighty degrees and moved her hands in front of her body, covering all the trees around her in pink energy. She snapped her fingers and the trees collapsed over incredibly quickly. Laila ducked into one of their shadows and remained there until the trees stopped falling over. She then appeared in a shadow five metres in front of Kala and the girl snapped her attention to her.

Laila dove into the shadow and then appeared behind Kala, stabbing her through her back.

Kala let out a small whimper as the reality of the situation hit her and blood trickled from her lip. Laila swiftly removed her blade and then sliced open Kala’s neck, killing her and she shattered into glass.

God Team, four players remaining.

“Two more down,” Laila whispered, leaning against a tree for support.

She was exhausted and running on fumes.

But.

“Not yet.”

Laila steeled herself for one last, desperate push to help her team win the match.

***

I had expected Chronous and Kala to fall, but I did not expect that they would get taken down so easily and in such quick succession, Osiris thought.

There was only one member of Eric’s team capable of pulling off a feat like that and that was Laila, as the distance between them was too great for anyone else to travel and finish them both off in such quick succession.

Eric was relentlessly attacking Osiris, chasing him as he continued to retreat further into the heart of the forest. Connor was running along parallel to them on their left, keeping pacing with Osiris and ready to strike if a chance presented itself.

Osiris stopped, turned on his heel and blocked Eric’s thrust with his staff, catching the boy’s fist with the butt of his staff. Osiris then swung his staff in a vicious flurry of blows over Eric’s body, smashing his staff hard against his Armour. Connor charged at Osiris, but Osiris leapt over Eric and hit his staff into Eric’s back, sending him flying into Connor.

Connor side stepped Eric and his axe’s swing was caught by Osiris’s staff.

They began to swing their weapons as fast as they could, desperate to land a single clear blow on the other. Osiris bashed Connor’s axe to the side and then kicked him in the stomach, causing Connor to lurch forward. Osiris then followed up with a powerful jab with staff into Connor’s stomach, breaking a piece of his Armour beneath the weight of his attack.

Connor coughed blood and collapsed onto his knees. Osiris was about to land the fatal blow on Connor’s skull when Laila emerged from his shadow, stabbing Osiris in the back of the neck.

Had Osiris’s reflexes not kicked in, he would have died.

He bent his body forward, causing Laila to narrowly miss the nape of his neck and he rolled over Connor’s back. Osiris thrust his staff at Connor and the lightning smacked into his back, before darting towards Laila.

Laila dove into her shadow and appeared a few metres away, but the lightning bolt followed her and hit her shoulder. She winced as the pain burnt at her nerves but, given how badly wounded she already was, Laila wasn’t going to stop fighting because of a little bit more pain.

She teleported into Osiris’s shadow and began slicing at his legs and stabbing at his torso, trying desperately to find a weak point in his Armour.

Her blade pierced Osiris’s thigh and he grunted, collapsing onto one knee.

Laila attempted to remove the blade but it was firmly lodged within the boy’s leg. Osiris spun his staff into Laila’s face and she barely escaped with her life into her shadow, the staff clipping the top of her head.

She appeared in Connor’s shadow, crouched, as blood trickled into her eyes.

Lazarus jumped behind her and stabbed her in the back with both of his arms and Laila shattered.

Team Diablo; three players remaining.

“Bastard!” Eric screeched, charging at Lazarus.

He drew his fist back and lunged at him, but he was ripped off his feet backwards by a powerful force. Eric slammed onto the ground and it broke beneath the pressure. He looked behind him and saw a small black hole pulling him backwards.

With no other option, Eric stabbed both of his blades deep into the ground, trying desperately to stay alive.

“It’s no use, Lucifer,” Void taunted. “Not even you can escape from a blackhole.”

In that moment, a battle axe was thrown into Void’s back, killing him instantly and he shattered into pieces.

God Team, three players remaining.

“Win…this, Eric.”

A large wall of fire encircled Connor.

Eric’s Team; two players remaining.

“Damn demon!”

Lazarus spawned a claymore into his hands and slowly walked over to Eric. Osiris bit his lip as he removed Laila’s blade from his flesh, causing him to hiss through gritted teeth. He tossed the dagger to the side and tried to stand back up, using his staff to support himself.

Then, Osiris felt his back split open.

Kiara had emerged from the nearby bushes and, using her Vampire claws, she sliced along the God’s back, breaking through his Armour and cutting his skin. Osiris yelled out and, in anger, blindly swung at her. She easily avoided the attacks and sent a handful of black bolts at the God, stunning him and sending him backwards ten metres.

Lazarus jumped over to Kiara and swung his sword repeatedly at Kiara, his speed on par with hers. However, her natural instincts allowed her to keep ahead of his attacks, narrowly avoiding death multiple times and she back flipped up onto a nearby tree branch. She clung to it and Lazarus leapt after her. She pushed her palms together at him and fired a solid beam of black energy, knocking him out of the air and he turned into a puddle of silver.

Then, the tree she was on was engulfed in a tornado of flames.

Xantico cackled at the sight as the fire licked higher and higher into the sky, killing Kiara.

Team Diablo, one player remaining.

Xantico and Lazarus fell in behind their leader who was struggling to keep himself standing.

Osiris was breathing quite heavily and his body ached whenever he moved. Laila’s blade had cut deeper into his leg than he had expected and Kiara’s claws had carved a lot of skin off his back.

If they didn’t win within the next minute or so, he would be eliminated.

Eric was exhausted and couldn’t manage more than resting in a crouched position. He had used a lot of his magic fighting Osiris and whatever was left of it he had used struggling against Void’s blackhole.

Damn it! He screamed in his head, glaring at the Gods before him. Why can’t I win this? Why can’t I unlock my Armour’s weapon?

Because you haven’t truly desired it until this moment, a voice echoed through his entire being.

I haven’t desired it?

Indeed. You, wielder of Lucifer, have forgotten how you summoned this power in the beginning and thus have never considered it as a way of creating your weapon.

How I summoned it in the beginning?

Then, Eric remembered, that day when he had first come to Ferris and had first called the Armour to him.

He had desired it to appear.

This very same voice had asked him to call the Armour to him.

You have remembered then?

Yeah.

Eric shut his eyes and focused his being into his mind, ignoring the battle around him and the sounds of the Gods charging towards him.

Call me.

Eric focused his whole being on that voice and then, he felt it.

His aura exploded and sent shockwaves through the air, causing Xantico and Lazarus to halt their assault, both captivated by the sight of Eric’s aura.

Its energy concentrated itself before him and formed into a molten pillar of rock, glowing with red veins, a hilt in the shape of black rocks sticking from the top. Eric opened his eyes, grasped the handle with his right hand and let out a loud roar, his wings expanding from his back and flapping proudly, released from their shackles.

“Oblivion!” Eric shouted, tearing the sword from the rock and the shockwave sent Lazarus and Xantico into the air.

The sword was a black claymore with a red trim which looked like it had been made from obsidian and the edges of the blade was jagged and rock like in appearance.

Lazarus landed on his feet and, when he looked up, Eric was right in front of him, his sword aimed directly at his heart.

The sword pierced through Lazarus and the God collapsed into a silver puddle, before shattering into glass.

God Team, two players remaining.

“What?! How can you kill him when he’s immortal?!”

Osiris’s eyes widened beneath his helmet and his eyes widened realising the horrible truth of Eric’s weapon.

Lazarus’s God Weapon, his immortality, had been neutralised by Eric’s.

Xantico screeched and thrust her palms at Eric, launching an inferno directly at him and burning the forest behind him for hundreds of metres. Eric drew his sword behind his head and threw it with all of his might, using what was left of his magical energy to increase the power, and the blade landed right between Xantico’s eyes.

God Team, one player remaining.

Osiris couldn’t help but smile, even when he realised that his team had lost.

“Oblivion, huh?” He mused, dismissing his helmet to show Eric his smile. “It is just as impressive as I imagined it would be.”

Eric dismissed his helmet and smiled back, calling his sword to him and it flew into his hand. “Hey, you have an amazing weapon, too.” He slowly began to walk over to Osiris. “What’s it called?”

“Ikhernofret Stela. It’s a-”

“An Egyptian stela from the Middle Kingdom period, right?”

Osiris’s eyes widened in surprise and he nodded, his smile growing a little.

“I’d love to talk to you about it sometime.”

“I would like that, too.”

“Until then, Eric.”

The two of them shared a moment of peaceful silence, before Eric thrust his blade into Osiris’s chest, and he turned into glass.

God Team, no players remaining.

Team Diablo are the winners!

***

Sat alone in a dark room, Michael felt his body become consumed by rage when he saw Eric spawn that weapon on his television screen.

Oblivion, the very weapon which had killed his King and that had taken his own life.

Kavachin tapped gently at the door to the room and slowly poked his head through the door. “Michael, we’re-” He started to say, before a bolt of blue energy smashed through the wall right next to his head.

Had that beam hit him, Kavachin would have died.

Michael exhaled and glanced over at Kavachin. “Sorry about that. What do you have to report?”

“Um, well, we found a base to hit that meets your requirements and-”

“Good. I’ll come through to discuss it with you in just a second.”

Kavachin nodded and closed the door behind him. Michael rewound the tournament match back the moment Eric had used it to kill Lazarus and he walked up to the screen.

“Oblivion,” he growled, crushing the remote in his hand. “It’s as deadly as ever.”

Eric was in a place that Michael couldn’t reach yet and he was getting stronger with every passing moment.

Soon, Lucifer. Soon.