Chapter 363: Wrath
Red clawed at his face, digging his fingers into his eyeball in an attempt to rip the insect from the jelly. His fingers scraped against her a few times, as there wasn’t much room for her to operate, but she kept digging her claws into the surrounding flesh to keep herself submerged.
The Demon stumbled, tripping over the vines that had lashed around his legs, and slammed against the wall. He didn’t care for the lava that was cascading down that wall, and oozing over his body. It barely warmed him, as he instead turned towards the wall and slammed his head into it.
Each slam shook the room, whilst the lava continued to pour onto his flesh, which started to glow after a few moments of contact with the magma. It was as if the lava was somehow seeping into him, and was rapidly starting to cause his veins to glow with their power.
Blue, who had been distracted by cringing in sympathetic pain, as he could almost feel what the other was going through, suddenly widened his eyes in panic.
He hefted his mighty greatsword high into the air, a chilled mist pouring from the blade, before he swung it down towards the portion of Red’s body that was resting in the lava. But it was a moment too late.
A column of pure searing heat struck Blue in the chest, drawing a black line across his fur covered torso and pushing him backwards. The sword swing that was supposed to cleave Red in two sailed well off course, and instead embedded itself in the floor as the sword slipped from Blue’s hands.
Red’s eye still glowed a fiery orange as the energy bowled in the orbs, even the half destroyed one. He threw his head back, letting out a hellish roar as he blasted a pair of those same fiery streams directly towards the ceiling, burning a hole into the crystals above him.
If that insect wanted to try go through his eye, then it could burn inside them.
Unfortunately for him, this particular insect was a little too crafty to fall victim to such a tactic.
Being inside of an eyeball that was turning into a miniature sun, Belladonna was smart enough to figure out what was happening before she was cooked alive. And while it had been incredibly close, thankfully all that glowing cast some very heavy shadows, not to mention her [Eternal Companion] was hard to disperse.
With Beads of sweat dripping down her forehead, Belladonna manifested from the shadows on the Giant’s shoulder before letting out a heavy sigh.
Red lowered his gaze, not knowing or caring whether or not the insect had been charred, boiled or blasted into the ceiling. Instead he fixed his gaze onto his Blue Brother as he flexed his muscles and pulled at the vines.
The vines wove themselves tighter together in response, entwining their roots into the stone at Figg’s command as he struggled to keep a hold of the colossal demon.
Although he was not physically holding the vines, and was simply standing with his hands in the air as he mimed the action of pulling on a robe, Figg’s feet were actually being dragged along the ground from how much the Giant was dragging the vines away from his grasp.
What finally cracked first was not the vines, nor was it the will power of the Druid. It was the ground.
Stone shattered as it lifted itself from the ground, being dragged into the air by the same vines that had taken root in them, as the Giant pulled the vines like weeds, right down to the root.
He swung the vines over his head, around and around, before swinging the stone covered, make-shift flail into the head of the recovering Blue. Stone cracked on contact with his skull, as the blue skinned frost giant was knocked straight into the wall again, as the vines rapidly died before Red could make a follow up move.
Lowering his gaze, more streams of flames burst from Red’s eyes, tearing through the vines ensnaring his body. Each blast reduced the glow within his veins significantly, but it also cleaved through the vines like a hot knife through butter no matter how thick Figg made the ropes.
Finally free of his bindings, Red swept a blazing beam towards where the party was standing, not caring about the accuracy, before he clenched his axe tight in his hands and lifted it high.
He didn’t waste time on dramatic speeches, or even lingering to see the look in his opponents eyes as they died. No he just lifted his axe and brought it down to Blue’s chest, all in one fluid and well practised executioners motion.
It was a move he had made countless times, and which had taken even more lives than that. So why... Why did he not hear the satisfying crunch of bones being crushed and cut through?! Why did he not see this bastards blood spill in front of him, and WHY was his axe not moving more than an inch - from his perspective - closer to Blue’s chest.
The why in question was all because of a tiny black speck. A woman, a Hellion of his own kin no less, was standing above the Blue skinned wretch on two small platforms of pure air.
Her hands were wrapped around the blade’s edge, which at the difference in size would simply crush the woman rather than cut her, as it practically looked blunt from their perspective.
Even still, this towering Hellion woman’s arms bulged with muscles and her face was twisted with excersion, as she held the Giant’s axe aloft with just her bare hands.
Her aura was fluctuating widly as she performed this act, causing it to whip around her body like it was caught in a whirlwind. The Aura, which was rapidly growing with every passing moment, lapped at her exposed muscles, pouring more energy into them.
But no matter how much strength she put into it, Lilith could only barely hold the axe aloft. Just it’s own weight should have crushed her.
When the Red Giant pressed down on his axe, leaning his body weight into it, Lilith was driven down to one knee.
The spell, which she had cast through Belladonna’s scroll, manifested a new air platform beneath her. But if she shifted again, pushing her feet off of the platform even so much as an inch, it would disappear and she would be dead alongside the giant she was protecting.
Lilith grit her teeth so tight they started to crack and threaten to shatter, all whilst her arms trembled from the struggle.
She truly understood how Atlas felt, holding the heavens upon his shoulders so that they wouldn’t crush the humans down below.
It was a burden he had carried for centuries, but after just a few seconds, Lilith’s arms were already starting to betray her.
Sweat dripped from her head and heavy, trembling breaths escaped her lips. Every part of her screamed to give up, yet she kept going. Holding aloft this Giant’s weapons from pure strength alone.
It was such a monumental task, one that she could hardly bear for much longer. So when the skull floated into her peripheral vision, she almost dropped it from how much she wanted to flinch and had to work doubly hard to maintain her grip and her already unsteady footing.