BXBX NOVEL Chapter 165: Clash.
"She's on a whole other level!" Dina exclaimed on the edge of her seat while the masses began roaring again as Dr'ul's glow continued to brighten while she emitted so much crimson light the very dark of space was being washed away by it.
Right before her Sol was staring shocked, this was beyond anything he had ever seen or dealt with before.
"This..." Ikaris also had a shocked expression as she could clearly feel the goddess of war's power multiply upon itself as if it had no end.
"This is simply astonishing, she has amassed power comparable to at least a full 40% of mine overall, even if the means is clear I still find this both remarkable and impossible, my current self as I am would lose to her, in this space only Sol is her opponent." Ikaris mumbled to herself keeping this truth from the others as she caressed her chin with a fake beard attached to it.
"What kind of evolution is this, how's it possible?"
"Currently everyone, the goddess of war has achieved her claims with staggering success, aside from myself she has become the most powerful deity overall, the power she currently wields is enough to end existences at leisure." Ikaris announced. "Whether or not Sol can overcome this kind of power depends on his state of-"
*boom
Sol began laughing, while Dr'ul's appearance had for the most part become intangible and made of of light and fire aside from her remaining armour everything was energy, he saw this and was absolutely stunned by it.
"She broke out of a black hole by literally eating it from the inside, are you sure you're only the goddess of war?" He laughed while the roots of his hair began turning gold, and his irises became golden as well, and the pounding of his heartbeat rippled again across the surrounding galaxies extending through the entirety of the universe with a loud *boom* once more.
"This is it." Sol stared down at his hands, at the very atoms that made his physical self and how they all morphed into entirely different entities, the gene inside of him, his DNA, everything slowly morphed.
"Look, at, you..." Dr'ul stared at him, she would have smiled but with her vessel inverted she had nothing but bright white eyes and an otherwise energy based dark crimson body with cosmic flames for hair.
"Godslayer, have I qualified to challenge you now?" She asked in a shrill tripled voice causing all who observed her to feel chills, she raised her hand and swiping it across the expanse captured billions of stars in her palm and swallowed them.
"I have delivered on my promise I have become strong, I have proven myself, now it is time you do the same, do you not agree?"
"I don't have a choice do I?" Sol asked, their voices rang in everyone's heads, and their appearances were at the forefront of their visions as they felt every bit of mana within them tramble as two powerhouses faced each other.
"This will be the first time I have seen the Godslayer fight with my naked eyes." Ikaris admitted. "Even before when he eradicated the demons, I was occupied and unable to see him fight in this form, and now he will do so against what is essentially the eighth strongest being to ever exist, far stronger than anyone he had to fight one on one." She took her seat again.
"Now you will all understand why this power is better earned than inherited, why he chooses to withhold it unless one is qualified; what comes next is the power which granted us all the freedom to live in peace." She stared at Sol, dried of her previous humour and with her index tapping the throne.
Not just her, but Dina as well, and Arla, their sigils shone in resonance, Hers in gold, Dina's in azure, and Arla's in crimson, and the gods who had been rescued all went quiet and clasped their hands into fists beneath their chins breathing silent prayers, causing the Arkadian pantheon to exchange glances at each other since from their perspective, Dr'ul was the most powerful thing they had ever conceived.
Nevermind the mundane and other lesser species, even with Ikaris's explanation they were still confused, and were simply enjoying the show.
"Come on then, Dr'ul, Goddess Of War." Sol raised one hand and inclined himself sideways as he stared up at her. "The strongest god of Arkadia, and the eighth strongest ever, my powers moved without my consent in reaction to yours, so don't let up, come at me with everything you've got, let's finish this fight in a grand manner." He gestured she attack with his fingers.
"Everything...?" Dr'ul narrowed her eyes, arching forward and hunching as she began digging even deeper. "Of course, it is said that he swallowed the largest cosmic anomaly as little more than a sweet, he can handle everything I throw at him, at this point I know from his composure I have already lost this fight, the power I sense within him is immeasurable; bottomless."
The cosmos began to thunder and trumpet as soon as Dr'ul raised her right hand above her head, and then those horrifying sounds coming from the dead of space doubled and tripled when she raised her left. "Everything I have... Then I will raise my power to the absolute limits and risk death, he can handle it."
"Show me, Sol vestic, from the very first day of your arrival to even today you have never seen me as equal, show me where my limits lie that I may one day overcome them again and challenge you once more!" She formed a hammer out of her own hair and Sol watched amazed as the object in her grasp burned like the surface of a nova, singing the space it touched and causing spacial bubbles and ripples around her.
In response Sol only relaxed his muscles and gave her his full attention.
[Taboo Divine technique, Divine Judgement]
The hammer grew several times larger with loud bursts of fire, visibly sucking the light out of her form until she was normal in appearance once more while it shone formless in her grasp, burning her hands.
"Amazing..." Sol stared at her. "You're amazing Dr'ul." He smiled huffing gold mana from his nostrils and summoning his plain hammer and coating it with his golden aura and then taking it a step further as his entire body ignited into golden flames as hers had before and then transferred to the hammer while his form also went to his original state.
"Are you mocking me?" Dr'ul stared at him with a small smirk.
"Of course not, from one warrior to another, this is a gesture of respect." Ikaris answered in Sol's stead, though he nor Dr'ul could hear her since she was narrating the details of their actions to the others who lapsed understanding.
"This reminds me of the day we first met." Sol admitted, seeing that same stare of indifference on her face.
"The moment of absolution." Ikaris gestured with a single hand raised. "I do not have the power to protect anyone if this goes wrong, this is currently beyond my capabilities while here in Arkadian territory."
Dr'ul took several steps backwards in the emptyness, and Sol did the same, holding his hammer low while she turned herself to get the maximum momentum from her next attack.
"It has been a pleasure and an honour." Sol admitted to which the goddess smiled before leaping at him.
Instead of answering, Dr'ul roared descending like a comet while he ascended like golden bolt in the black.
Their weapons collided silently, leaving not even sparks as they met in perfect synchrony with each other, by then further out, from entire galaxies away one could see the ripples of power tearing their current location apart, the stars around them exploded outward, the cosmic clouds which held the secrets of their universe's creation were scattered like smoke, and the large entity which slowly pulled their dimension groaned and trembled befor the first spark appeared, and with it came white.
From the connection their hammers had made the darkness completely vanished, Dr'ul's hammer emitting crimson and his releasing gold everywhere while she continued to exert herself and roar.
Great white cracks appeared around them, and reality itself stopped functioning as time was distorted and space was broken apart, tearing the black away and revealing a clear white which spread outward like a flood of ink.
"Oh goodness, she actually went ahead and used all of her power..." Ikaris relaxed in her throne and stared into the rapidly approaching white matter.