by Eric Vall
The grand hall was larger than I remembered, seeming to stretch on for one-hundred yards or more. The room was bathed in a warm, white light that illuminated the grand portraits covering all the walls and domed ceiling. Round columns lined the room, and the floor shined so brightly I could almost see my reflection in it. At the end of the hall were three raised platforms, almost made to look like stairs. At the top of the last marble stairs were three statues carved from stone. Most of the facial features of the three seated men had worn away with time, but minuscule details still remained.
It looked exactly the same as it did in my memories, but that’s not what caught my attention. Gods stood all around me, creating a massive wall of faces, and right in the middle of them, loomed my father. Chirus turned, his laughter ringing out all around the room as he settled his amber-colored eyes on my form. Despite the joy in his voice, deep in his eyes, I saw the boiling rage. Even in front of his council members, he was hiding the fact that he was too afraid to face me head-on.
“Ah, Kazama,” Chirus breathed as he grinned down at me. “Good of you to join us.”
There were only eight of us, and hundreds of gods stood before us, but we didn’t let that daunt us. We just had to keep them distracted for a moment before the real fighting started. I raised my head toward my father, and he seemed to grin even wider.
Chirus looked the same as the day I’d been thrown from the heavens. His auburn locks flowed down to his shoulders and were tied back with a length of crème colored cord. My father’s emerald eyes shone under bushy brows, and as he brought up his hands almost to welcome me, I saw the sigils burned into his palms. Chirus wide chest and thick arms were covered in dark armor, the surface porous and discolored with age. My father was wall-like, his muscles bulging underneath the fabric
As I took a step closer, a few of the gods in the crowd made faces of disgust as if I were vermin. In the distance, I heard the flapping of wings and turned my eyes toward my father, knowing I needed to distract him for a bit longer. I wanted this to be a big surprise for him, seeing the creatures he’d killed off, and the single one that survived.
“Do you really think you can take on all of us at once?” Chirus laughed as his thick hands clutched his belly. “You can’t defeat us even with the aid of your immortal women and the misfits behind them. It’s pitiful that you even came here, my boy, look at our masses. Your strength will never compare to ours.”
“Isn’t it always the loser that acts as if they’ve already won before the game even starts?” I scoffed as I squared my shoulders and stood a little higher. “There will only be one god left here today, and it’ll be me. How do I know such a thing? Because you’re the only one laughing.”
A vicious grin spread across my face as the ceiling of the great hall cracked as something big smashed into it. The paintings cracked as the entire ceiling caved in with an earsplitting crash. Thunderous roars rang in our ears as cerulean and scarlet dragons poured in. Screams and cries filled the room as gods fell out of formation and scrambled away. The smug smile fell from my father’s face as the largest of dragons landed before him. Anteng’s massive maw opened and closed menacingly as black smoke curled in between his pointed teeth.
I threw back my head and laughed as I spread my arms wide toward all the dragons landing among the gods. I kept my eyes on my father’s as all the Akalongs and Qianlongs snatched his followers and tore them into shreds. My minions fanned out around me, and I took a single step toward my father, my arms outstretched.
I held the holy weapon out to the side of me, and the blade thrummed heatedly under my hand. The lines of attack appeared clearly before my eyes as I focused in on him, but it didn’t matter which direction I came from, it only took one blow from Allagis to kill him. Chirus grunted and slammed out his right hand as a gilt sword appeared. The blade of the weapon glowed a deep amber and shifted in the light as he strode closer.
Chirus, the only god who deserved one hundred percent of my power. He’d tasted it back at the Holy order’s fortress, and now he would experience it in person. I wouldn’t hold back, and I wouldn’t give in, only one god would walk away from this.
“Do you remember the one time you trained me, father?” I asked with a tilt of the head. “I was just a boy, and you taught me how to fight with a sword?”
“What of it?” Chirus roared back.
“I asked you what level of training I needed to reach a point where I could fight against you, and you laughed, saying that I would never be able to fight against you no matter how much I trained.”
“And?” Chirus bellowed.
“Well, Father,” I snarled as I flipped Allagis through the air and caught it, gripping the hilt tighter. “We’re about to see if all that training paid off.”
Chapter Twenty
Fire blazed all around me, blasting out from every direction as I kept my eyes locked on my father. Chirus held the golden sword loosely in his hands as pandemonium broke out, gods left their formations and ran scattered throughout the burning room to escape the dragons. Anteng loomed over Chirus, the Qianlong’s pointed teeth gleaming in the flickering light.
The fear in my father’s eyes was apparent, this was one fight he couldn’t run away from or place someone in as a proxy. The god of victory had to fight me or face the open maw of the Qianlong if he turned to flee. Death loomed on either side of him, he just had to choose which one he preferred, dying at the hands of the son he hated or dying by the creatures he’d destroyed hundreds of years ago.
“This ends now, Chirus,” I boomed as I took a step forward and slashed Allagis through the air.
The blade sang out for him to hear, and my father’s golden eyes rested on the weapon that would surely take his life. Chirus nodded once, his expression hardening as he lifted his own weapon. He’d made the decision, and for the first time, the childhood wish of fighting against my father was coming true, but now, the situation was very different.
As a boy, I’d wanted to fight against my father as an equal, wanted him so badly to look down upon me with respect and pride, but that never came. The only time he had trained me, and I asked him that question, he’d squashed that dream. He had always made me feel as if I were lower than him, but no more, I was the superior god here.
I’d trained all this time, even while in my dungeon, I’d picked up the God Slayer and sparred with my shadow slaves. I’d defeated countless dungeons and taken the powers of other gods just for this moment, to stand across from my father and feel as if I were equal. No, I wasn’t equal to him, I had surpassed him long ago. The man that stood in front of me was merely a shadow. The image of him in my mind shattered and changed into the fearful bastard that cowered at the sight of me.
I was no longer afraid of him as I was as a child, he was nothing more than a tired, old man. His powers were weak even as they pulsed from his hands and surrounded his sword. Chirus couldn’t compare to me anymore, I was stronger than he had ever been. I knew he could feel it too, the looming feeling of defeat over his shoulders. It was a heavy feeling as the screams of gods rang out all around us. He’d lost more than half of his army in a manner of minutes, not only to the dragons but my women too.
Rana phased completely out of view as she raced through the groups of deities, the only telltale signs that she was there was the minuscule flash of her claymore and cries of pain from her victims.
Annalise flew through the air, her snow-white wings swirling black smoke all around her form. The high queen looked like an angel, her smooth face bathed in yellow light as she brought down both swords and skewered two gods at once. The swordswoman pulled the blades free as her wings flapped once and then tucked into her back as she dropped back down toward the fighting.
Morrigan and Carmedy rode on the back of Heijing as the Qianlong batted her thick wings and rose into the sky. Fire bloomed from the dragon’s wide mouth and incinerated a group of deities scampering away. Explosions popped up through the crowds of wailing gods as Carm
edy pulled back her slingshot and let six bundles go at once.
Earsplitting booms rang out from the other side of the room as Haruhi lifted both of her revolvers and pulled the triggers. The bullets whizzed forward, twisting through the air as they sought out their intended targets and then slammed into the foreheads of two gods. The sage didn’t rejoice at her success but instead examined the room for her next target as she adjusted her grip on the pistols.
I was so proud of them, none of them were afraid of this battle, and their hearts beat calmly in their chests. Now, it was my turn to prove to them that I was worthy of having the title Master and Lord. When I was born in the heavens, I was nothing more than an abomination to my parents, but now with Qyris dead and Chirus shaking in front of me, I was the most powerful god on earth and in the gods' realm.
No words were shared between my father and me as I raised Allagis and clearly saw the lines of attack leading from the blade to the middle of his round belly. The god of victory bowed his head to me once, and he gripped his sword with both hands. We came together at once, the blades of both our weapons raking against each other. Spark flew through the air as his face was inches from mine, and I pulled back my lips in a low growl.
Chirus and I parted with the clanging of swords and circled each other like wild animals, and finally, the god opened his mouth to speak.
“What will you get out of all of this, Kazama?” Chirus spat out as he looked me directly in the eyes. “Your family will be dead, all the gods gone. You will have nothing but the satisfaction of killing off beings superior to the mortals you adore so much.”
“You still call yourself part of my family?” I snarked as I held Allagis in my right hand and brought up my left in a fist. “You were never my family, merely the man that created me. The only true family I’ve known are those women, fighting alongside me. I didn’t know what a family was until I met them, and once you are dead, our family will remain on until the end of eternity.”
A black fire burned around my curled fist, and Chirus’s eyes widened as my power overtook him. The god of victory was lifted into the air, and a mighty roar sounded up from directly behind him. My father’s body hung suspended for a second before Anteng’s enormous, tree-like tail swung down at him. The meaty appendage hit my father from behind, and the sound of cracking bones lifted into the air.
Chirus tumbled down to the marble floor and lay there for a few seconds, his sword dropped from his hands a few feet away. The man I once knew struggled to stand as Anteng loomed closer, the light-colored eyes on mine as if asking for approval. This wasn’t just my fight, as much as I wanted revenge for what happened to me, I wanted it for the dragons and all those he’d murdered too.
I shook my head at Anteng and stepped forward. We would do this together, as a team against the gods. Chirus had wronged both of us, and we would destroy him as one. I brought up both hands in front of me as black magic surrounded my father’s struggling form. The power beat around him and slowly lifted him from the ground. His voice lifted into the air as blood dripped from the corner of his mouth.
“I am not as weak as you think I am, boy!” Chirus screamed as he slammed his palms together and a thin layer of golden light appeared around him in my cloud of black.
I chuckled deep in the back of my throat and tensed my hands in the air. Chirus could struggle and fight against me as much as he wanted, but he couldn’t stop the inevitable. The yellow power pulsed and flashed for a moment and then exploded outward, dissipating mine in a second. My eyes connected with Anteng’s as my father made his descent, and the grand beast threw back his head with a mighty roar.
The dragon was a blur through the air as his yellow teeth gnashed forward and closed in on my father’s legs below the knee. Chirus screamed, his hands pawing at the Qianlong’s snout, but the dragon didn’t let go. Anteng clenched his teeth and shook his head like a massive dog. Blood dripped in between his dagger-like teeth, and finally, Anteng let the god drop to the ground.
I strode forward, Allagis held firmly in my hands but stopped as Chirus screamed, surrounded by a warm, ethereal glow. His broken bones snapped into place underneath him as they repaired themselves and slowly, he stood back up. Blood dripped from his mouth onto his metal breastplate and from the healed wounds on his legs. The smile returned to his face as he strode toward me, swinging his golden sword.
“Have you forgotten who I am, son?” Chirus cackled as he lowered his knees and held his sword out in front of him in his right hand in a defensive position. “I am the highest god in the heavens, it’s going to take more than a few broken bones to defeat me.”
“Very well,” I grinned as Allagis shifted in my hands, and I gripped the heavy weapon harder in my hands. “I’ll just have to break your soul instead.”
Chirus’s hands were a blur through the air as he strode toward me and right as he reached me, I whipped out of the way. My blade crashed into his as he changed direction, and we stared evenly at each other for a passing second. I gritted my teeth and advanced on him, each time my attacks becoming stronger and more aggressive than the ones before.
Chirus grunted and breathed heavily as his strength dwindled. I could tell from his reactions, he hadn’t physically fought against someone in a long time, and it only spurred me on harder. My left hand jabbed out as black smoke covered all of his body, and I lifted him into the air for the second time. I didn’t give him any room for reaction as I brought my hand down, and Chirus slammed face-first into the floor. The loud crunch of his nose breaking reached my ears, but I wasn’t finished with him yet.
My hand loosened around the hilt of Allagis as I compressed all of my dark power around my father. The holy weapon was an aid but, in a way, I wanted to finish Chirus off myself. I slammed the weapon down into the marble of the floor and stalked forward. I threw out both of my hands over the god I’d once known and felt each cell in his body come alive with agony.
Chirus slowly rose to his feet, blood spilling from his mouth as he coughed and held his side where a broken bone stuck out of his armor. My power built within me as I threw out my left hand and tensed my fingers. An amethyst orb formed in the palm of my hand as I glared down at the single god that was worthy of receiving one hundred percent of my power.
The powers I’d taken from other gods combined with each other in my chest as I pushed my own abilities into it. I could feel the strength beat from the sphere like a strong heartbeat, and Anteng drew back in fear as he felt it. My feet moved slowly as I calmed myself, and without even noticing, I broke into a run.
Chirus was slumped, his head lolling back and forth between his shoulders as he struggled to stand. I grinned as I healed his wounds with my regeneration power, I wanted him to suffer longer each time I reopened them. I’d spent most of my life looking up to him and cowering in fear at his presence but no more, I was no longer that child anymore.
My mouth fell open into a piercing roar as I brought my right hand farther back behind me. Black smoke billowed all around me and brushed my hair back off my bare shoulders. Chirus lifted his head for the last time, his golden eyes wide and filled to the brim with fear. The god’s hands feebly came up in front of him as yellow light pulsed from their palms, but it was futile.
My left hand moved back, cupped the ball of power, and I shouted even louder. My hands shot forward as I slammed my left leg down in front of me. I bent at the knees and slammed the orb of power directly in the middle of my father’s chest.
The explosion that came after deafened me for a few seconds and ringing silence filled my ears as Chirus was blown backward. All color left his body as he connected with the floor and rolled like a lifeless doll over the marble.
I gripped the hilt of Allagis and pulled it free as I approached.
It was time to end this.
I loomed over my father as I looked down into his face, and his honey-colored eyes were pale, the life in them slowly fading as he struggled to focus on my face. His left arm was blown awa
y at the elbow along with his legs, but that wasn’t the worst of the damage. Chirus’s chest was nothing more than a bloody hole showing the crimson streaked marble underneath him. His thick hands lifted into the air as I knelt down beside him, but I batted him away.
“In a split second,” Chirus whispered as he glared up at me with hate-filled eyes. “It only took a split second.”
“You see now, don’t you, Father?” I murmured as I placed a hand over his chest. “You were wrong all along to do this, to stand and fight against me. Look all around us, your people are either dead or dying, and there is nothing you can do to save them. This is the end, Chirus, the last goodbye, is there anything else you’d like to say before I rip your powers from your body and send you into the void?”
“What do you want me to say, Kazama?” Chirus growled through bloody teeth as he clung to his remaining strength. “That I’m sorry? That all of this was a test and that we’re all here to open our arms to you and finally accept you as our own? Is that you want me to say, son? That I loved you all this time and accepted you as my one true heir? You and I both know if I breathed those words, they would be nothing but lies. I will never love--”
My father stopped short as I clenched the hand hovering over his bloodied body, and a golden orb rose from his chest. We stared at it together, father and son as I reached out for it with the hand that held Allagis. I glanced down at Chirus and saw that the golden light that always appeared in his eyes was finally gone as I ripped his powers from him. Chirus breathed in deeply, more blood flowing from the corners of his lips, and he moved them, but no sound came out.
I brought the undulating orb closer to my chest and glared down at it for a second. My father’s power, the abilities I’d coveted since birth were now in my possession. I pressed the sphere to the middle of my chest and felt it absorbed into my godly form. I leaned my head back as my entire holy body emitted sparks of gilt light. My mouth fell open as roaring laughter spilled up my throat, and I stood, Allagis in hand.
