Dense death law energy flooded the wound on Hermes’ back and began interfering with his healing factor, but before the hooded man could infuse more law energy into it, Hermes spun around and threw a full-powered punch that blasted the hooded man into the distance before immediately closing that distance and following up with a swing of his staff that cracked the man’s shoulder and sent him crashing straight into an asteroid belt.
His two serpents immediately sprang forward, their mouths opening wide as they lunged toward the hooded man with venom empowered by Hermes’ Authority of Poison.
Even so, the hooded man managed to raise his free hand in time, stellar winds erupting around him and hurling both serpents away before mountain-sized barriers manifested in front of him to block Hermes’ charge.
It was futile, however, as Hermes blasted straight through every barrier without slowing, his Viridian Fire Authority engulfing both his body and staff in brilliant poisonous green flames.
He swung his staff and unleashed an enormous crescent of green fire that stretched across kilometres, colliding with the rivers of grey, death law-infused water that the hooded man sent cascading toward him.
From the perspective of every planet around them, entire stars suddenly disappeared from the sky, while the deities who ruled this section of the galaxy could only watch in horror as the two fighters devastated their territories.
Dozens of gods shot out from their resident planets and surrounded them with enormous defensive barriers of divinity, but those barriers cracked and shattered from nothing more than the aftershocks of Hermes’ clash with the hooded man.
|This... Lord Hermes?!|
|Hermes, what is happening?!|
|What in the name of Olympus is...|
Hermes’ staff intercepted a massive grey war hammer, but the construct immediately dissolved into torrents of flames, forcing him to immediately retreat before the weapon exploded into thousands of burning fragments that shot across space in every direction.
|Don’t come any closer!| Hermes shouted towards the approaching gods, moving to evade another volley of stellar arrows from Apollo’s bow before continuing. |Get out of this region immediately!|
Several of the nearby gods didn’t hesitate, immediately turning around and fleeing, but many others couldn’t bring themselves to leave.
|Lord Hermes, there are over 40,000 inhabited planets in this region!|
|We can’t just abandon them!|
|You’ll die if you stay!| Hermes shouted, batting aside another construct spear before punching through the hooded man’s hastily raised barrier. |Move!|
The hooded man blocked Hermes’ punch with both arms crossed in front of his chest, not acknowledging the newcomers even once.
To him, every other deity present might as well not have existed.
Hermes noticed this and, clicking his tongue, turned and dashed away, heading toward the outer regions of the galaxy where there were fewer planets, and just as he’d expected, the hooded man immediately gave chase, ignoring everyone and everything else along the way.
The Messenger god used his flames to burn away the last traces of lingering death law energy within the wound on his back before spinning around and releasing every bit of divinity he could muster.
Green light erupted from his body as his body began to grow, his height increasing to nearly 4 metres, bulging muscles stretching beneath his armour, which was now covered in glowing runes.
Every one of the Twelve Olympians possessed the Titan Factor because of their shared ancestry. As such, when they entered their True god Forms, just as Hermes did, their bodies increased in size.
This increase wasn’t just for show, as every aspect of their power increased alongside it.
The downside was that they couldn’t maintain this state indefinitely.
Green flames coiled around Hermes’ arms and legs as he gripped his staff with both hands.
’I have to end this quickly.’
With that thought, he vanished, and for the first time since the battle began, the hooded man’s ability to predict Hermes’ movements was no longer enough.
He’d barely begun to turn before Hermes’ staff slammed into his jaw with enough force to send him hurtling across the galaxy.
Hermes was already waiting where he’d arrive, swinging his staff again and sending another blow crashing into his chest before he could recover.
The hooded man tried to conjure another weapon, but he was too slow for Hermes, who had temporarily regained the speed he’d possessed before being cursed.
Hermes’ fist smashed through the half-formed construct and crashed into his chest, and the punch that followed broke his shoulder.
Another punch fractured the man’s ribs, and the next one tore open a deep wound across his stomach.
Hermes’ staff spun through the vacuum, slashing across the hooded man’s injured shoulder before its flame-covered tip pierced straight through his side.
Pulling the weapon free in that same second, Hermes swung his staff downward, hammering the hooded man through a nearby rogue planet.
Fragments of the destroyed world scattered through space as the hooded man’s body continued downward until it crashed into a dense asteroid belt surrounding an enormous gas giant.
Hermes didn’t allow him even a moment, his left hand rising as green flames compressed above his palm into a blazing sphere radiating immense pressure.
|Viridian Fire Authority: Emerald Cataclysm.|
The hooded man immediately raised his unbroken right hand, conjuring barrier after barrier of divinity and reinforcing each one with the energies of every universal law he’d used so far in an attempt to block the descending sphere of flames.
However, Hermes flashed forward before the attack reached him, his armoured fist smashing through the hooded man’s barriers before his staff jabbed into his injured shoulder.
The hooded man raised his right hand to grab Hermes’ staff, and at that moment, the serpents lunged once more, sinking their fangs into his right hand and injecting him with paralysis poison.
His body froze for an instant, giving Hermes enough time to disappear as the sphere of flames crashed into him.
The asteroid belt vanished beneath an ocean of green fire, and the nearby giant planet exploded beneath the force of the impact. The blast launched the hooded man across space until his body slammed into the surface of another enormous planet far away.
Hermes landed on the surface of the giant planet a moment later, his winged boots carving long trenches across the scorched ground before he finally came to a halt.
The green divinity surrounding his body gradually faded as his True god Form was dismissed, his towering body shrinking back to its original height.
His armour dissolved into particles of green light, and he breathed heavily as he walked toward the distant crater where the hooded man had fallen.
Several moments later, the hooded man slowly got to his feet, staggering as blood dripped from the many wounds covering his body, making Hermes frown deeply.
"You just won’t die, will you, bastard?"
The hooded man didn’t respond, his body swaying slightly before he reached up toward his hood.
His tattered robes slipped from his body and fell to the ground, revealing even more torn clothes underneath, while the ruined hood fell back and exposed a cracked white mask covering his face.
He reached up, grabbed the broken mask, pulled it away, tossed the shattered pieces aside, then coughed out more grey blood.
The moment Hermes saw the face that had been hidden beneath the mask, his eyes widened.
"Impossible..."
He staggered back a step, slowly shaking his head in disbelief.
"Impossible... You’re supposed to be dead!"
The young-looking man in the torn clothes pressed a hand against his forehead, his expression contorted as though he were suffering from an unbearable headache.
After several moments, he slowly looked up toward Hermes, his eyes completely blank, devoid of pupils within their irises.
But Hermes was far too shocked by the face before him to notice that small detail.
"Zeus killed you!" Hermes shouted. "That’s the reason this whole war started! So how the hell are you alive, Arthur Vaughn?!"
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