Every commander shot from their seats simultaneously—as if their bodies had moved before their minds could process what had just happened.
A sword tore at Bell's right while twin daggers screeched from his left, and a barrage of thrown weapons closed in on his blind spot.
That wasn't all. Two commanders raced straight toward Goddess Astraea with ruthless intent.
Ryuu moved instantly. She scooped Goddess Astraea into her arms and leapt back.
A shockwave obliterated the elevated platform, launching wooden splinters in all directions.
Air sheared in two as a line of intersecting black and red tore hundreds of meters behind Ares' camp. Earth quaked without pause, hundreds of trees violently uprooting as the shockwave crushed every rock in its path to fine powder and sank the soil as if a giant had stomped it flat.
Ares and Bell became visible when that line came to a halt. Ares lay on the ground, his crimson armor broken and tattered, barely holding together, having protected the god's life.
Bell finally released his face and pulled his arm back. The cracks across his hand stretched further, reaching his elbow, radiating even more abyssal darkness.
Ares' eyes refocused just as a cracked fist enlarged in his vision.
His smirk finally faded, replaced by an impassive expression. An arm shot up, redirecting Bell's fist with pinpoint precision, making it collide with the ground beside his face.
BOOM!
The wheel above Bell started to shake, its spokes trembling once more.
Refusing to pause, Ares jerked his leg up in a vicious arc toward Bell's skull—only for Bell's forearm to slam into the path of his kick. The moment they collided, Bell twisted his wrist, his fingers closing around the god's ankle.
Hefting Ares by the leg, Bell spun and hurled the god like a ragdoll. Ares twisted mid-air, somehow dissipating the momentum to land feet-first against a distant tree trunk. Without pausing, his legs coiled, launching him back.
Bell didn't retreat. Instead, he dropped his weight, sliding beneath the airborne god to drive a brutal uppercut toward his abdomen. A fraction of a second before impact, Ares tensed his abs, redistributing the force throughout his body.
He was blasted up nonetheless, bones cracking under the strain.
Bell straightened, fingers curling around empty air. In a flash of light, a chakram blazed to life against his palm, and with a flick of his wrist, he sent it screaming skyward.
It reached Ares an instant later. Reacting on pure instinct, Ares tore his own breastplate free, sliding the heavy metal down to act as a shield between his heels and the incoming projectile.
Breastplate and chakram collided, catapulting Ares even further up.
Bell glanced back.
Ryuu had retreated halfway to Orario's city wall. Half the distance remained.
She carried Goddess Astraea, casting magic after magic to blast away any desperate soldiers trying to block their path, leaving a green trail in her wake.
He snapped back to focus.
Two commanders had closed in on him by now. A man with battle scars on his face. A woman with dual daggers.
Both attacked from his sides. Bell tilted his body parallel to the ground, fist moving toward the man, boot screeching toward the Amazon.
A sword headed for his crown. Two daggers targeted his thigh.
Bell adjusted his head slightly, and the sword heading for his scalp slipped between the handles of his wheel.
That was the moment...
Clunk
The commander's eyes constricted as Bell's wheel spun, making the sword between its spokes rotate alongside it, missing him entirely.
A moment later, Bell's fist rocketed straight into the man's chest, his heel already finding the Amazon before her daggers could find him.
BOOM! BOOM!
Both flew away as if they'd crashed against a battering ram, their ribs cracking and blood bursting from their orifices.
A moment hadn't passed when Ares shrieked at him from above, armored foot already aimed at his spine.
Bell turned on his heel and kicked.
Shin met shin.
Ground shattered. Along with it shattered Ares' leg. The god flew away like a kite with severed strings, crashing through tree after tree, coming to a stop with his back against a rock.
Bell vanished from his position, reappearing in front of the man with a scarred face. The man felt his surroundings darken as Bell put a foot on his crushed chest and pushed down.
The soil beneath him transformed into abyssal darkness in a blink. He sank into that darkness, countless blood-red eyes opening from above, below, left, right—everywhere.
Each eye looked at him with greed. Each wanted only one thing from him. Everything.
Another step and Bell reached the Amazon trying to drag herself away, leaving a bloody trail. She looked back up at him, teeth chattering and terror plain in her trembling eyes.
Bell brought his sole up.
"S-spare—"
She didn't get to finish. Bell's expression didn't so much as flicker, his foot came down with the indifference of someone crushing an insect. The wet crunch of bone soon resounded, followed by a heavy splatter of blood.
He then turned and walked toward Ares, steps steady and measured.
Bell stood over him in moments, looking down at the god.
Ares looked back up. Face still calm.
They regarded each other with identical expressions. Ares broke the silence first.
"Is that all?"
A beat.
"Should it be all?" Bell's voice was eerily flat.
Silence fell between them. It didn't last long.
Bell's leg came up to rest right beside Ares' head on the rock. He spoke, voice still.
"Tell me... did that black haired man who laughed in your face rattle your bones the way he wanted to?"
Ares looked up into Bell's eyes.
"Rattle my bones? Please. His laughter was the only thing that reached me—and even that barely registered."
Bell didn't reply. Instead, the cracks running across his arm expanded to reach his shoulder.
Ares watched as the skin on Bell's arm started to flake away, revealing an abyssal black arm beneath.
Ares.
A voice resonated directly within his skull.
Old man Ouranos? Is that you? Ares thought, keeping his gaze locked on Bell.
Yes. Ouranos replied.
Are you here to see me get booted back to heaven, you old fossil? Ares' voice was flat.
No. I'm allowing you to unseal your Arcanum. Only partially.
Ares went silent.
How long? He questioned without asking for details.
Ten minutes. Then you'll be sent back to heaven. Only use it on yourself, don't use it on anyone else or your surroundings, otherwise you'll be ejected to heaven instantly. Ouranos said.
Why are you going so far, Old man?
Bell Cranel might be connected to the dungeon. As it is the only being proficient in the domain of souls except us gods. Ouranos answered.
Bell's hand reached down.
It was an inch away from Ares' neck when...
BOOOOOOOOM!
Arcanum awakened. Primordial. Partial. Weakened.
A divinity nonetheless.
Bell's pupils widened. His surroundings shattered into dust.
The wheel above him jerked.
Clunk
The next adaptation... was coming.
...
..
.
***
[300 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter]
[8 chapters ahead on P@tr3on = [email protected]/Not_Aaryan]
...
[Authors Thoughts]
Adaptation to any ***********.