What was Expected?

Rising Annihilation had reached its maximum. Just above 400 more points in Strength and Agility was enough to bridge the gap in the latter between John and the uniter of these islands. In Strength, the Hawaiian native remained superior, a fact that the Gamer more than counteracted with his arcane might.

John shot another Blast Ray at Kamehameha. The man dodged to the side, beginning a series of rapid thrusting attacks that drove the Gamer backwards. Step by step, he retreated towards the unspoken boundary of their duel, the point at which the stone walls ended and the surrounding battlefield began.

Three Possessed rocks behind the unifier offered the Gamer plenty of angles to play with to bounce the Blast Ray around, strengthening it, while he dodged. Plenty of angles, though that changed little about the complicated matter of hitting the correct ones to not only turn it around but also aim it at Kamehameha’s back. It was an operation that required space and time.

Time that John had. He was dodging the spear strikes, deflecting the few he could not. Kamehameha’s spear shattered part of the wall on impact, the raw weight of the enchanted object carrying with it a momentum that would break bones with ease.

John had very little interest in getting hit, even if his Mana could take it.

There was no law about stepping past the edge of the corridor, but John’s pride drove him to behave as if there was. To avoid that fate, he suddenly lunged into an attack. Claws tickled the cheek of the enormous man. Magus Step carried John out of the way before the unifier’s fist could crash into his stomach. Kamehameha whirled around just in time to see the Blast Ray heading for his centre mass. He extended his hand, blocking the attack with his Great Mana.

The Blast Ray vibrated in place, like a drill trying to penetrate a layer too dense for its design, before suddenly going wide.

John knew exactly what that meant. Kamehameha knew that he knew exactly what that meant. In a last ditch effort, the uniter of these islands charged right at the emperor. Doing so only played into the Gamer’s hands.

Three Mana Chains appeared, one from John, two from different Possessed rocks. Ethereal rattling echoed in the confined space as they flew forwards. Kamehameha shattered the first with his spear, dodged the second, then stumbled to narrowly avoid the third. He had no more power left to keep up his area control.

Kamehameha had avoided the series of spells. Everyone knew the Gamer’s punches were comparatively weak.

Well, that was true most of the time.

The rest of the time, he had Remnant Strike.

One minute cooldown, empowered depending on how much mana he had spent within the last minute on spells of the Arcane school and delivered with a simple punch – or kick if he used the alternative version.

John was not in the habit of using his Techniques. They just didn’t work at a range he usually operated in. That made them all the more valuable to have. A summoner that was an easy target would only get cut down.

Kamehameha flexed his muscles in preparation for the impact. Purgatory’s knuckles sunk into the padding layer on top of the hard core. Silver light sparked. Had there been much expenditure? No. Enough to make this a respectable impact? Yes.

The unifier’s eyes bulged in his head as the combined physical and arcane impact drove the hand deeper into his midriff and then launched him into the stone wall. It cracked, but did not break. Kamehameha stopped against it, starting to push himself off. John fired a Blast Ray next to his head.

“You are out of mana, outclassed and…” John paused for a moment, to let Gnome lower the walls. Beyond the space they had fought their duel in lay scattered the exhausted and defeated members of the Night Marchers. Salamander was covered in small wounds, flames licking at the air around their edges. Gnome and Sylph looked no worse for wear, having been either too hard or too fast to sustain meaningful injury. “…outnumbered.”

“Still…!” Kamehameha declared and took a step towards the Gamer.

Both of them froze when a living sphere of water bounced towards them. “The one known as Nathalia has passed the trial of Kaho’olaw, I have named her Tūtū Pele.”

John knew enough about the local mythology to understand that was a big deal instinctively. Pele was the goddess that created the Hawaiian Islands. She was a goddess of fertility and destruction, her primary aspect being that of volcanoes. Just in the rough of it, it mapped on quite well… the details would not. To the best of John’s knowledge, Nathalia had neither numerous siblings nor was she the child of a sky father.

A title and its origin did not need perfect overlap. It was enough that this declaration of honour was made. Kamehameha lowered his spear with a satisfied and yet worn-out sigh. “Then it is done.”

A Swirling Point opened by them swiftly, allowing them to return to the main barrier. They linked up with everyone else there – everyone besides Nathalia, Layla and Veridion. Kanaloa continued to be present only as that bouncing ball of water.

John only spared Kael one glance. The Black Ice told him enough, Aclysia’s shared memories the rest. He approved of her approach, he was proud that she had attempted diplomacy at all. Nahoa’s flood of memories was minorly troubling, though he couldn’t say he was surprised that she chose to kill them all. Fianna’s shared intel… was very interesting, but he would have to unpack that later.

The entirety of them moved to the battlefield where Veridion and Kanaloa had fought Nathalia. The Illusion Barrier was a wreck. Salty mist was hanging in the air, rapidly returning to water under the moonlight. Craters and black stones pockmarked the land, melted in several places. All of that, however, was secondary to seeing Nathalia and Layla injured.

He descended the ruined cliffside and ran up to them. They noticed him and everyone else a moment later. Their eyes had been set on a glowing body pile a few metres away. “You need healing,” he stated.

“Not yet,” Nathalia responded. “First, we must settle this matter.”

John’s jaw was clenched, but he was going to get the two of them to Undine quicker if he obliged. Layla wasn’t even verbal. She was between growling and grinning, her eyes emitting traces of pink light as they dashed between him and the glowing mess of threads.

Which John, only because of the Passive Observe, now realized was Veridion.

The god of oaths looked more like a spool of yarn that had come undone than anything else. Something that resembled a hand reached forwards. On his elbow, he dragged himself forwards, leaving a trail of silver god’s blood behind him. “You… wouldn’t… dare…”

There was a part of John that was still uncertain. It was tiny now, his vengeful side reinforced by the state his dragoness and stalker were in. Annoyingly, even in this state, his logos managed to wrestle down his pathos for one final consideration session.

“I… am a… god… of the Concord…!” Veridion groaned.

That was the crux of the issue. Killing Veridion was the same as declaring war against the Concord of War. Certainly, he could claim that Veridion had left him with little other choice, but how true was that…

“During combat, he used an incantation to swear he would destroy me,” Nathalia spoke to his thoughts.

“Oh?” The last bit of hesitance died in an instant. His brown eyes turned hard. Veridion’s features did not truly exist, but the Gamer imagined he saw two spheres of light grow where widening eyes could have been. “Do you hear that, Kael? Your comrade, the god of oaths, swore he would destroy my beloved Nathalia.”

“That seems awfully convenient,” the god of vengeance hissed. “Is that true?”

“You wouldn’t have happened to have recorded it?” the Gamer asked Nathalia, who shook her head. It figured. She wasn’t the kind of woman to think about these things in the middle of combat. “So, Veridion, is it true?”

“…No,” the god lied and it had to be a lie. There was no dimension in which John would take his words over Nathalia’s.

“He lies,” Kanaloa provided the confirmation.

“…Seriously?” Kael hissed. Then pushed out a series of other angry words. “Though I will speak for the circumstances, Emperor of Fusion, I will not be able to stop the Concord if you do what you want to do. Neither will I stand against them. Though your action here may have justification, I cannot condone your slaying of one of our members.”

“Acknowledged,” John stated. “Considered. Dismissed.”

Kael let out a dry chuckle. “That’s fair.”

“W-what are you-?!” Veridion’s agitated question was stopped short by a bloody cough.

“Veridion, Veridion, Veridion,” the god of vengeance chanted. “You knocked out the teeth of one of his women, what did you expect to happen?”

John exchanged a long look with Layla. The brunette carefully detached from Nathalia, leaving the redhead to stand for herself. As bouncy as one covered in so many bruises could be, the adorable stalker closed the distance and raised up the Astrotium dagger. “Would you commit deicide for me?” The question was so innocently sweet that John did feel a bit of apprehension. Though she could be a bit creepy with her… oddities… the answer was the same.

The grip of the weapon was too small for him. It didn’t belong there and wouldn’t linger in his palm past the doing of the deed. Both he and the knife knew that.

“N-no…” Veridion stammered, hacking up blood. “M-er… mercy…!”

“Seriously,” John growled. “What did you think would happen?”

The weapon pierced whatever counted as this form’s ‘skull’. A final scream tore from Veridion’s lungs as the energy bound to his divine soul became unshackled. The **** of a god was a dramatic affair, filled with arcing lights. What began as silver turned into the prismatic spread of raw Faith. An aurora blossomed around the deicide.

Though most of the Faith seeped back into the surrounding world, some was pulled inwards, towards the dagger and the vampiric fang in its pommel. The weapon pulsed and stretched as it drank deeply and greedily from this dying well of power. The crystal around the fang shattered as the bone changed entirely into a rubbery, cord-like material.

Veridion came undone in a final flash of light. It faded swiftly, leaving behind only falling wires, casting a shadow where the god had been moments before.

Caution, greed and generosity wrestled inside John. The last won out, a balancing deed to the killing he had just committed. However justified he considered it, it was best to appease the world somewhat through gestures of good will. “You may claim his remains, Kael.”

“Appreciated.” As the god of vengeance did just that, the Black Ice fell off his chest. There was no need to keep that caution in place now. “May I stay in your territory for a few days? I have to sort out the aftermath and it would be easier from here…”

“You may, provided the Concord doesn’t make public open hostilities in those days,” John responded.

The condition was reasonable, Kael acknowledged that. Combing the sand with his claws, the beast-like god clawed the strings into a heap.

John walked to Layla, returning the weapon to its rightful owner. Gripping the handle, she pulled the stainless weapon to her chest. Its forging had been completed in the act of killing Veridion. Only one thing remained to be done. “What do you want to call it?”

The brunette traced the silvery-white line of the blended Mithril up the wavy spine of the weapon. “It’s the weapon you used to pay back the damage done to what is yours…” She tapped the cross guard. “…I like… Restitution.”

The weapon took to the name instantly, the cord wrapping around Layla’s wrist once, locking itself into an unassuming, bone-white bracelet. Everything else disappeared in a faint flash of magical light – just after John got an Observe on it.

An enchantment likely manifested from Hailey’s influence and a horrifyingly effective one. An outright ‘ignore’ was crazy as far as John was concerned.

Given Layla’s mind, this might as well have been a Physical Stats +25% permanently.

John was quite happy he had only ever experienced the first stage of that poison. As potent as it sounded, it would not work against inorganic targets, so it had its limitations.

Courtesy of Layla’s ability to mimic auras, she could max that out very fast.

This might as well have read as: this weapon causes Hellfire injuries.

And that was also likely to be active all the time.

It was an all around incredible weapon, custom-tailored to her. ‘A waste if she remains at her current level… but that’s the sunk-cost fallacy talking.’ The Gamer rolled his neck. ‘Now that this is over, I got to work out what she is to me. I’ll have a few days for tha-‘

“So, John, what am I to you?” Layla asked. Covered in bruises, a too sweet smile on her lips, she looked up at him with big, hazel eyes, and blinked flirtatiously. “I killed a god with you, so that counts for something… right?!” She came a half-step closer. The smile was unmoving. Her eyes widened. There was nothing distracting her obsessions now. Her breathing grew louder and louder.

Then she collapsed from exhaustion.

“Oh, thank God… I mean, oh God!” John exclaimed.