SHUNK!

  Tatatatatat!

  Adam and Gusto both used powerful sonic blasts to restrict the potential moves Sequence could make as he backpedaled away from Hellig and Hrime’s onslaught of attacks. The demigod had three cuts on his otherwise featureless head, one from Hellig, one from Hrime and one from Juhend. Each blow should have been a killing strike, but the sequence of events was altered to prevent such injury.

  Dodging between the halberd swipes of the twins, Sequence flicked out a piece of thin paper from his pocket that grew moist and soon soiled. At the same time, Juhend, who was closing in for a strike, melted down into ooze and blood, pooling in flesh on the ground. A puff of smoke dissipated as the illusory Juhend discorporated.

  Adam moved to close in, but a vast shockwave passed by their position. A superheated plume of plasma shot past, taking Sequence by surprise and singing a piece of the demigod’s clothing. As soon as it came, it doubled back on itself, kicking up vast plumes of snow and dirt as it shot towards its origin point.

  Shielding his eyes from the light and heat, Adam used the chance to condense a lasso of light in his hands.

  If He manipulates the sequence of events, then I’ll just have to make an environment where anything goes our way!

  As the shockwave rolled out, Adam struck. Snaking the lasso around Sequence’s ankle and tugging.

  Sequence was unaffected.

  Instead, Gusto was yanked forwards, directly in the path of Hellig, who collided with him. The movement saw both fall to the ground momentarily. Hrime, manifesting her inheritance, managed to land another shallow cut on Sequence instead of the clean skewer she was hoping for.

  Without warning, a massive spiritual presence emanated from Juhend. The cane in his hands elongated and soon enveloped his body like a cloak, mercurial stars twinkling within its seemingly boundless expanse. Juhend’s eyes grew more and more silvery, and the ethereal howl of a wolf emanated from his form. His eyes glowed a bright purple light with uncountable swirling constellations of stars present within. The sheer presence alone was enough to drop Gusto to his knees once again and give Adam a nosebleed and headache, despite it not being directed at either of them.

  It was the form of a Partial Divinity!

  The chief exorcist of the Accepted Pantheon stood proud, a divine being made manifest through will and fate.

  Across the field, Sequence underwent a similar transformation. The gloves on his body stretched out into cartoonish caricatures of their usual form, turning into grossly large, thin hands. His back sprouted a series of white tendrils that floated through the air under their own gravity. An almost ooze-like substance filling the area where they bled through, leaving milky, watery afterimages behind. Sequence’s head split into three, leaving large bloody canyons of flesh with a large stalk of strangely warping air emanating from each. Each stalk had no color, but instead seemed to glitch in place, at some points manifesting large eyes, while at others transitioning into a kaleidoscope of colors or even invisible fibers. A great silver eye was situated on the left most stalk, the middle stalk had a blind eye, while the right most stalk had an eye filled with inky darkness.

  The presence was enough to cause Gusto to pass out on the ground and send Adam into a fit of dizziness. Even Hellig and Hrime felt physically unwell at the sight.

  It was the form of a Partial Divinity!

  The Scion of the Outside stood hunched, a divine being made manifest through fate and will.

  …

  Amid the cascade of bones from above, Vendos Aurelius deftly dodged a series of beams of inky dark energy. At his side, the Red Oni shot upwards towards the Composer. Burnt tendrils of flesh lashed out, stinking the air with the sickening smell of rotten and burnt flesh and pus. Where the Red Oni advanced, bursts of red blood spewed from the Composer’s appendages.

  Vendos wasn’t focused on the battle. Instead, he was focused on plain survival. His abilities were focused on authority, and authority needed time to manifest. Dodging a large tendril, Vendos kept his mind clear of external thoughts, choosing to remain in a state of meditation.

  Bruenor, meanwhile, was still conscious, if barely. Through sheer force of will, he persevered through the pain of the third degree burns across his body. Slowly, his hand moved once more back towards his uniform pocket.

  In front of him, the Red Oni was forced to block a heavy blow from one of the Composer’s tendrils. Flying backwards from the inertia, the Cherubim skidded to a halt and kneeled down. It grew white and silver hair on its head, forming a long flowing beard. It raised itself into the air, large and puffy white clouds billowing down from its back like a cape. These clouds blurred into its surroundings, as if an extension of itself. Its horns grew larger, as did its katana. Soon, the Red Oni assumed its Partial Divine Form.

  “My master does not stand the sight of abominations, demigod.”

  Like a pouncing tiger, the Cherubim shot out towards the Composer, making mincemeat out of the tendrils of the demigod that tried to stop it. Suddenly, without warning, the Realm transformed.

  …

  Hannah hit a wall. Her destination, obscured by an oily dark substance, was out of reach. She directed her spirit, attempting to probe at it to find weak points, but was unable to do so. It had been a number of minutes since she had started her Shift, a process which was supposed to be instant. Suddenly, without warning, the bubble cracked.

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  …

  A massive purple beam of starlight shot out of Juhend’s mouth, streaking across the air and towards Sequence’s chest. Hundreds of butterflies made out of purple light fluttered out just as the beam was about to land, spreading across the nearby area. Lashes of invisible energy, marked only by the glitching colors in the air, swiftly dismantled each butterfly. As each insect exploded into tiny motes of purple light, they swirled together, blending into a hurricane of light. The force, not even directed at Adam, was enough to make him feel like his brain would explode. Knowledge poured into his brain at a painful rate- mathematical proofs, astronomical charts, architectural designs, music scores, recipes, even entire languages. It was a whirlwind of knowledge made manifest. Hellig and Hrime were similarly affected, halting in their places, being forced to clutch their heads. The Diell Instrument became fully solid, clattering to the ground.

  Sequence was in the midst of this storm of knowledge. Without a truly physical attack to redirect, the demigod was forced to suffer the full force of the onslaught.

  Juhend’s newfound cape billowed out behind him. Each pinprick of mercurial starlight within slowly shifted and moved its placement, becoming a dizzying pattern of animals, people, items and words. Solidifying itself into a constellation resembling that of a wolf, the cape stilled and spread out, soon covering the ground of the area.

  A loud BOOM reverberated through the area as the storm of knowledge was forcefully dispersed. Sequence stood with a dozen new wounds on his once unmarked head. A deep crimson light blanketed the air, emanating from the blind eye on the middle stalk. The two colors clashed, the black cape surging upwards towards Sequence, only for the crimson air to solidify and negate the approach.

  So this is a battle between Divinities… I have to do something to shift the tides!

  Adam was still reeling from the effects of the storm of knowledge but could see Hellig and Hrime recovering near him. Steeling his mind, he attempted to replicate the storm of knowledge he had just witnessed.

  A dim purple light emanated from his eyes as they bled, his capillaries rupturing and coating his vision with blood. Collapsing down to the ground once more, a single tiny purple butterfly floated towards Sequence, swiftly dissipating in the clash between divine forces.

  Shit, I guess that was a bit much to hope for…

  Hellig made a move to praise the sun as Hrime dashed forwards, but soon, a wave of energy sent them both flying backwards.

  Juhend stepped forwards after waving back the two Chosen.

  The voice of the exorcist boomed out as if from a thousand angles and every possible direction. It overlapped, echoing back in on itself both before and after each word was spoken.

  “(Laisse) Laisse (ta) Laisse ta ta (mere) mere ta (se) mere se (reposer) reposer se (Sangar) Sangar reposer Sangar.”

  These words, overlapping and disharmonious, struck at the psyches of those nearby, as if the weight of the age of time and knowledge would shake the foundations of the cosmos. It forced Adam, Hellig and Hrime to kneel down on the ground once again, their bodies innately venerating the speech older than their history. It brought with it a distinct feeling of impossible understanding, similar, yet somewhat different, to the speech that their bodies spoke autonomously during a Shift.

  Juhend’s mouth, eyes and ears bled after such a decree.

  Sequence laughed. Clenching his fist tightly, he gripped an insubstantial form of energy, pulsing and reverberating as if attempting to escape the confines of the demigod’s divinity.

  “So short sighted father. It is in the nature of speech, that its intended audience may be changed. Would you like to see?”

  He unclenched his hand, and Juhend fell to the ground, coughing up blood.

  “You made one single mistake in this encounter.”

  Sequence stepped forwards. Juhend was powerless to step backwards.

  “You thought that my abilities only extended to physical events.”

  Sequence stepped forwards. Juhend was powerless to step backwards.

  “I had to take a couple hits, granted. But I know your divination abilities well, seeing as they are equal to my own. It was simple once I misled the sequence of sensory data in your mind to make you think I was running out of energy. Heh, I suppose I've taken after you in that way.”

  Sequence stepped forwards, now directly in front of Juhend.

  Adam tried to stand but found that he was incapable of moving any part of his body.

  Hellig and Hrime both struggled, but neither could move a foot forwards. It was as if the sequence of events in their nervous systems failed to fire.

  Sequence glanced towards the twins momentarily.

  “Hm. Yes, I suppose I’ll win now.”

  Outstretching His hand, He materialized a familiar item. It was somewhat bronze in color, as if made of two intertwining golden and dark black forces. The Diell Instrument!

  “I never really understood why those fools thought I wouldn’t kill Her, you know. It was for the best. But I was the only one of us who listened to Her and the Moon back then.

  Tsk.

  Well, no matter. Now that I have your little Instrument, I can ascend. And then, I and the Maiden will kill that thrice damned Instrument in Our way. Mother shall be reborn!!!”

  Stretching out His hands to mark His triumph, a wave of energy cascaded outwards.

  Sequence stole the harmonization of Hellig and Hrime Diell with their Instrument.

  In doing so, Sequence gained a new pair of honorific lines. And a new Angel was born.

  …