Arthur grinned.
"Not bad."
"Then why don't you try this?"
"Flame Storm."
The moment the words left his mouth—
Arthur suddenly appeared directly in front of Thanatos and thrust his sword straight through the god's abdomen.
This time, Arthur had not used Apparition.
Instead, he employed a skill known as Bloodhound's Step.
The Ash of War that Hewg had once embedded into Arthur's yew wand had long since been mastered through Arthur's extraordinary physical abilities.
Now, he could perform it freely without relying on the wand at all.
Although Bloodhound's Step looked similar to short-range teleportation—
it was actually a combat technique that relied on explosive movement speed rather than spatial displacement.
There were no spatial fluctuations.
As a result, Thanatos completely failed to react.
Arthur's blade pierced straight through his abdomen.
(Voldemort: THAT'S MY BODY!)
And that wasn't all.
Scarlet Rot coated the Dark Moon Greatsword.
The moment the blade pierced through Thanatos, Scarlet Rot bloomed inside his body.
(Voldemort: SAY IT AGAIN. THAT'S MY BODY!)
Thanatos instantly transformed into black mist and retreated from Arthur's sword.
Reappearing a short distance away, he hurriedly suppressed the Scarlet Rot spreading through his body before roaring in fury,
"You despicable mortal!"
"You called that Flame Storm?!"
"You actually dared deceive me!"
Arthur laughed.
"I'm teaching you something."
"Remember it well."
"This technique is called warfare."
"And all warfare is based on deception."
Then he raised his sword again.
"Come on."
"This next attack is also Flame Storm."
Thanatos immediately sneered.
"Hmph!"
"You won't fool me again."
"This time, I won't fall for your tricks."
As he spoke, Thanatos quickly erected numerous defensive barriers around himself to prevent Arthur from approaching.
Unfortunately—
this was exactly what Arthur wanted.
Arthur began drawing upon the various flames within his body.
The Phoenix's Flame of Rebirth.
The Golden Crow's Solar Flame.
And Fiendfyre—
the cursed flame capable of consuming everything.
The three fires merged together.
A colossal tornado of fire rapidly formed before Arthur.
Then it surged directly toward Thanatos.
Meanwhile, Thanatos had already completed his defenses.
To prevent Arthur from suddenly appearing beside him again, he even locked down the surrounding space itself.
This prevented short-range spatial movement.
Unfortunately—
it also prevented Thanatos from moving through space.
In other words—
he had just turned himself into a giant stationary target.
The Flame Storm crashed directly into him.
The spatial lock managed to delay the attack for barely an instant—
before the entire storm engulfed him.
Arthur didn't even know whether Thanatos could hear him inside the inferno.
He shouted anyway.
"I told you it was Flame Storm!"
"Why didn't you believe me?"
Inside the storm, surrounded by endless roaring flames and shrieking winds, Thanatos still heard every word.
He nearly coughed up blood from pure rage.
Unfortunately, he had no time to argue.
His entire focus was devoted to surviving the storm.
At that moment, Thanatos deeply resented Voldemort.
Why couldn't this soul be stronger?
If Voldemort could simply withstand a greater portion of his power—
he wouldn't be suffering such humiliation.
(Voldemort: You're using my body and still insulting me?!)
Very quickly, the Flame Storm shattered through Thanatos's defensive barriers and hurled him into the sky.
Thanatos poured enormous amounts of death power into protecting himself, barely preventing the flames from consuming him outright.
Truthfully, even Arthur hadn't expected Flame Storm to be this effective.
The Flame of Rebirth represented life itself.
As the opposite of death, it naturally neutralized a significant portion of Thanatos's death power.
Meanwhile, Fiendfyre had long since been modified by Arthur.
It could devour nearly anything as fuel and grow endlessly stronger.
As a result, the remaining death power was continuously being consumed.
Finally—
the Solar Flame.
Its effect on Thanatos was equally devastating.
After all, Thanatos was currently possessing Voldemort's soul.
And Voldemort himself existed in a soul-like state.
Ordinary ghosts could survive sunlight.
But Solar Flame was not sunlight.
It burned with temperatures comparable to the surface of the sun.
An ordinary soul touching it would be reduced to ashes almost instantly.
If Thanatos hadn't continuously reinforced Voldemort's soul with death power—
Voldemort would already have ceased to exist.
Eventually, the storm dissipated.
And with it—
Thanatos vanished.
Arthur immediately extended his spiritual perception, searching for the god's location.
Then—
something unexpected happened.
Through methods unknown, Thanatos completely evaded Arthur's detection.
The next instant, he appeared beside Arthur.
His scythe flashed.
The Dark Moon Greatsword was knocked from Arthur's grasp.
Thanatos vanished again.
Moments later, he appeared where the sword was about to land.
His appearance was miserable.
His clothing had been nearly destroyed.
Burn marks covered his body.
Yet despite his pitiful state—
his face radiated triumph.
Thanatos grabbed the Dark Moon Greatsword and burst into laughter.
"Hah!"
"Didn't expect that, did you?"
"Without your weapon, let's see how you fight me now!"
Arthur stared at him.
Then slowly revealed a completely speechless expression.
Truthfully, Thanatos's sudden appearance beside him had genuinely startled him.
For a moment, Arthur thought the god was about to launch a devastating sneak attack.
Instead—
the idiot had targeted his sword.
Not only Arthur—
even Voldemort was dumbfounded.
He desperately wanted to ask Thanatos a question.
Brother.
If you had the ability to approach Arthur undetected—
why not stab him?!
Why go after the sword?!
"Cripple ten fingers rather than remove one arm."
Wasn't that basic common sense?
And more importantly—
who exactly told you Arthur only had one weapon?
Had you not been watching any of their previous fights?
Arthur looked at Thanatos the same way one might look at a complete idiot.
Then he casually waved his hand.
A moment later, the Death Staff appeared in his grasp.
Thanatos's triumphant smile instantly froze.
"You seem to have forgotten something."
Arthur smirked.
"I'm a wizard."
"Since when does a wizard not carry a wand?"
"Do you think I'm like you?"
"The kind of idiot who uses a scythe as a wand?"
Then Arthur tilted his head.
"And another thing."
"You don't actually think you stole my sword, do you?"
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