Blade clashed against blade, flickers of flame littered the battlefield, blood soaked the ground, yet still the hideous Goddess was still standing. Everything Arkay and Kairos had thrown at Kinisis, she had managed to simply soak up. Sure, she was injured, bleeding, but she wasn’t slowing down. Then again, Arkay hadn’t slowed down either. The Whenvern hadn’t seen this sort of fury in a long time, not since their universe was last in peril, and, in all honesty, Kairos was starting to get concerned.
“Kairos?” Arkay asked nonchalantly as a spear pierced through his arm. There was a small cackle from Kinisis, only for Arkay to respond with a dagger through her hand, causing her to recoil.
“What is it?” Kairos had taken to the air, avoiding the majority of Kinisis’s attacks. In order to keep the universe safe from Kinisis’s corruption, he had erected a time sphere around the skeletal structure they were fighting in. A tiny barrier where time ran at one tenth of its normal speed was enough to stop Kinisis from influencing the rest of the universe.
“Can you move a little to the left, please?”
Kairos grunted, then did as he was told. Arkay brought down a large chunk of ceiling on top of Kinisis. It didn’t hit her directly, but her tail did get caught, long enough for the Thantophor to force a blade into Kinisis’s side. Try as he might though, he was unable to strike her through the heart, which was how he needed to kill her.
With a snarl, Kinisis managed to free herself and slapped Arkay across the face, leaving a bloody claw mark. She leaped into the air, taking the battle to the top of what was technically her own skull. Arkay and Kairos both swiftly followed, almost glad to have more space to manoeuvrer.
As the battle above raged on, the four mortals slowly came to their senses. Kayel was the first to stand up, spitting blood.
“They’re struggling…”
“Actually kinda looks like the death god is kinda enjoying himself…” Tenuk rubbed his legs as he sat upright, patiently waiting for his circulation to return. “On the plus side, we’re not dead either. Nyssi, Retvik, are you alright?”
Nyssi brushed rotting vines off her body, but there were still red marks on her skin. “I’m alright. Alive, I think. Kinda didn’t think we’d be… facing so may goddesses lately.”
Retvik however, hadn’t moved. Tenuk got up and wandered over to him, to see if the Rethan was alright.
“Retvik?”
A whimper. Not a noise Tenuk expected from a seasoned gladiator.
“It’s not your fault, you know…” Kayel frowned as he also approached, While Retvik remained silent, they could all telepathically see how he was feeling. “You weren’t to know.”
“It is literally my fault. If I had not killed that Spast, there would not be a godly war above us right now. I would also not have four broken ribs and would be able to feel my arms.”
“Do you need some help?” Nyssi asked, offering her hand. Retvik remained where he was, sighing.
“I guess healing bones takes a bit longer than healing anything else. I think my skull may also be somewhat fractured.”
The Rethan slowly moved his right arm, then eventually accepted Nyssi’s hand. With a bit of effort, Nyssi managed to get Retvik sitting upright, then started removing his armour, much to Retvik’s dismay.
“What are you doing?”
“Making you feel better.”
“I do not want to feel better.”
Retvik tutted then laid back down again, pushing Nyssi away. He was quite clearly in a lot of pain. They all were. Everyone else took the opportunity to sit down as well, listening to the chaos above them.
“I have to do something…” Retvik eventually muttered. “I made a very large mistake.”
“You mean, WE have to do something!” Tenuk growled, something Spasts didn’t normally do. “Because, if you hadn’t killed that robed bitch, I would have instead. One of us would have. But we’re not dead, we’re still alive and we are going to do something together. Even if it’s something as stupid as waiting for an opportunity for us all to stab that stupid Kinisis thing with our death-given weapons.”
“I… guess you are right, Tenuk… I am sorry.”
“Save your apologies until later!” Tenuk demanded, climbing back to his feet and reaching for his trident. “We have a universe to save!”
Up above, the battle wasn’t going as Arkay had planned. While he had bled Kinisis plenty, she wasn’t giving up. Everything Arkay had done to Kinisis, she had done back to him. It didn’t help that Kairos had been keeping his distance, not really doing much to assist the Thantophor.
“Arkay, she doesn’t seem to be dying.”
“I fucking noticed!” the Thantophor hissed as a wave of diamond shards flew past his head. “I just need one good shot to the chest and-”
Arkay didn’t finish his sentence. Kinisis smiled as she rammed a spear through his stomach, pinning him to the ground.
“Why are you fighting me so hard, child? You know you deserve to die. You ARE a vicious little murderer, after all.”
“Oh and you’re not?” Arkay spat.
“I only murder the unworthy. You murder everything and everyone you touch. Face it, this universe will be better under my control and with you no longer present.”
Sighing, Arkay forced the spear out of his stomach, then disintegrated it, the metal rusting and turning to dust. He noticed that Kairos didn’t even seem to be around now. Kinisis didn’t care, she was focused on killing Arkay.
“Surely you’d be happier dead, right?” Kinisis taunted the Thantophor as he struggled to his feet. “No more killing. No more bleeding. And I can make this universe better.”
“This is our damn universe!” Arkay hissed. “Leave us alone!”
Kinisis paused for a moment. “Yours? Really?”
“Yes. We built it, together.”
The Allmaker laughed mockingly, then sighed. With a flick of her wrist, she sent the Thantophor flying off into the distance. Things were… different from what she had expected. The fact alone that the Whenvern had been somewhat assisting was enough to realize that Kinisis might have to kill more than just the pathetic and clearly inefficient death god.
Before she could put her plans into action though, something sharp and pointy erupted from Kinisis’s chest. It took slightly too much effort to remove the blade and push her attacker away.
“I thought I killed you four?” Kinisis frowned. The weapon she had been stabbed with looked familiar. A gunstaff, belonging to that stupid Rethavok.
“You did not double check that we were dead.” Retvik snarled, grabbing his gunstaff and thrusting it towards Kinisis again. The Allmaker would have leaped out of the way, but something had grabbed onto her legs, a pair of tendrils, coming from a Spast that clearly wasn’t loyal to her.
While the gunstaff didn’t connect, something else did. Teeth, deep into her neck. The Temthan was clearly pissed off as well, having forgone her weaponry and instead acting on instinct. Which was why Kinisis hadn’t detected her. Not that it mattered, as Kinisis twisted herself around, using the Temthan to whack the Spast away.
All of a sudden though, the floor disappeared. Kinisis felt weight on her back as Kayel had shadowjumped her through the ceiling and was stabbing her in the side with a pair of daggers. This new attack was a bit disorientating, made worse by the fact that the Spast and Rethan below were now firing at her with their weapons. Before Kinisis could hurt the Skyan though, it teleported away, allowing Kinisis to hover to the ground on her own.
“You mortals have no idea what you are doing.”
“No, but we know what we want!” Nyssi roared as she leaped at the Allmaker, slicing off a piece of her tail with a sword. “We want revenge!”
“Oh, come on now, little one!” Kinisis laughed. “They only killed, what, less than five hundred beings, to resurrect me? Your friend Arkay has killed trillions over the millennia he’s been alive. Trust me, I am the better option here.”
“If you are so good and pure, you wouldn’t NEED to kill so many!” Tenuk changed his shape into that of a Thraki, then breathed a blast of fire at Kinisis. “The first thing you did when you saw us was to try and kill us!”
“True, true… But that was a one-off!” The Allmaker continued to smile, even as Retvik managed to land several clumsy shots on her with the gun end of his gunstaff. She ripped the weapon from the Rethan, then immediately regretted it as Retvik resorted to his own teeth and claws, leaving multiple lacerations on her arm. Luckily, a telekinetic shield was enough to throw Retvik off of her and into the Spast-turned-Thraki, crashing them both into the remaining two mortals.
Suddenly though, a shadow loomed over Kinisis. A familiar, terrifying being.
“You should pick on someone your own size, mother.”
The Allmaker sighed, then summoned a large, golden blade. “Oh no, Sini. Not you too…”