“Shit!” Jonathan cursed as they impacted him.

There was a moment of darkness, and then of searing pain as the lava scorched him to the bone. As he fell backwards, his regeneration had already kicked in, but it was fighting against the molten rock that was stubbornly clinging to his body. Jonathan pulsed the Void, but all of the Hegemon’s focus seemed to be upon making sure that the cocoon of molten rock remained in place. It was dissolving, but at a glacial rate, at least compared to the pain it was causing.

Jonathan exploded out of the cocoon a few moments later, pulsing his Divinity. Smite coursed through his body, reinforcing his bones and skin as he pumped more Divinity into the skill. He really had to find out how to do more than simply slamming his power into his body. Divinity was an incredibly powerful substance, and there had to be more to it than just brute force empowerment and runic enhancement.

However, now was not the time to experiment with highly volatile substances. Instead, Jonathan focused his rage on the Hegemon, staring it down as he fell. The monster almost seemed to grin, and then lumbered towards him, eating up hundreds of feet with every stride. Jonathan hit the ground a few seconds later, pulsing Void Slipstream to cancel out the air resistance. He landed with the clang of metal on stone, and slowly rose, gathering crackling Divinity to his hands. He started to weave runes together on the stone before him at lightning speed, the sigils emanating profound power as he did so. Runes of Hatred and Consumption made up the bulk of the runes, but there were a few Runes of Physicality as well.

Jonathan slowly backed away as he drew the runes, drawing the Hegemon towards them. With its massive size, the monster likely didn’t even notice the runes, let alone know what they were. This was shown by its complete ignorance of the obstacle in its path when it stepped onto the runic conglomeration.

There was a detonation of multi hued light, and a pillar of energy rose into the sky, with a variety of different effects. Tendrils of mana were leeched out of the monster’s leg as blasts of energy rocked its body. These effects were only heightened by the presence of Jonathan’s newest rune, which empowered them beyond their norm. Still, it was far too little to make any actual impact, but it did give him a bit of time to think. The massive golem was incredibly tough and strong, but its speed was lacking, and it seemed reluctant to use any sort of elemental abilities that extended beyond its own body. It was almost as if it lacked an actual level of mastery over the element, and instead it drew upon some internal store of power to use its skills with.

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If that store of energy existed, Jonathan would only have to find it. As the golem struggled with the runes, Jonathan began to gather up energy like he never had before. With his unique element, he was able to draw upon a near limitless font of power. It was like having access to a lake, but only a hose through which to channel it. Rather than running out of energy, his body ran out of power to control it.That hose was being stretched to its limits, and Jonathan fought to corral a nebulous cloud of energy into his hands. The intense burns across his entire body stung as he moved, but he fought through the pain to fully draw upon his element.

The burning power of the Void came into being as a ball of concentrated energy, and he wrestled it down into a single point. The weakest spot on monsters like this was generally their head, and there was no reason why this one would be any different.

Channeling the energy through his hands, Jonathan made the most powerful version of his Void Cannon skill that he had ever created. A beam of purple, surrounded by the purest power of the Void, shot towards the Hegemon’s head. It was far too large to dodge, and instead, the attack struck it in the eye. There was a moment of silence, where Jonathan feared that the attack had failed, and then noise returned to the world as the attack detonated. A dome of nothingness swept out through the monster’s head, erasing the top half in the blink of an eye. The Volcanic Hegemon was far from dead, but something far more important had happened. Jonathan caught a glimpse of a massive gem in the center of the creature’s head, glistening with magical light. It was a bright red color, shot through with streaks of orange and yellow. The gem was over fifty feet wide, and quite the imposing sight. That was undoubtedly the core that he would need to destroy in order to finish off the monster once and for all.

The Hegemon seemed to know this as well, and it roared its displeasure across the wasteland, before charging recklessly. Its core pulsed as it drew upon its elemental energy, sending a beam of molten rock out of one hand. The ground underneath it began to heat up as its rage was recognized, turning into a morass of lava. The gem continued to blaze with fiery light as the monster approached. As the ground liquified, Jonathan charged, flitting across the lava like a wraith. This lava was unempowered by the golem, and it was simply a byproduct of the immense heat that it was giving off. As such, Jonathan was more than capable of running across it, towards his main target. It was hot, but not hot enough to burn him.

The golem raised one foot and stomped with all of its might, sending a plume of lava in all directions. It rocketed outwards like a tidal wave of heat and rock, threatening to swamp Jonathan. At this point, he had recovered from the titanic emanation of Void energy, and he summoned more, sending another pulse of nothingness forwards. It ate through the lava with ease, clearing a path for him. Using both his stamina and his speed, he rocketed out through the gap, appearing by the Hegemon’s leg.