Slothari’s skin burnt away, even her peerless physical might in the Nephilim form nothing before the Void. Then she forced her aura on Jonathan, expressing her rage through it rather than her featureless face. Jonathan almost lost his will there and then as a superior existence stared down at him, but he kept his resolve, and continued to use his body as a conduit to the Void. When Slothari tried to pull free, there was nothing left of her arm, from the elbow down.
Tendrils of deep purple wound their way up her alabaster skin, and the arm continued to dissolve, hastening the unraveling of her flesh. Jonathan tried to move, but his strength had left him. Half of his organs had been obliterated, something that would take days to heal fully at the very least. Had it not been for his immense Constitution and Resilience, there would have been a good chance of them never healing again.
He collapsed on his slab of purple energy, watching as Slothari’s sword descended. Then there was a chime like a tiny bell, and a flash of radiance. Slothari’s remaining arm faltered, and cracks spread across her flesh. The vast wings keeping her in the air came apart, feathers falling to the lava far below like pieces of ash. Jonathan grinned, even that movement intensely painful.
Arkanon came crashing in from the side, the remnants of his power blazing around his right fist in one final spark of glory. As Slothari began to shift to another form, his fist took her straight in the face, pulverizing the smooth skin of her Nephilim form. Her sword flickered out, slicing through Arkanon’s flesh. He was forced to alter the trajectory of his punch, avoiding having both legs severed. Still, it slammed home regardless.
A wave of energy blasted the top of her face apart, and Slothari fell from the sky. Her body shifted fully to another form, one of a vast slime, easily twenty feet in diameter. It was unable to stay in the air, but Jonathan was able to detect its real purpose well enough. None of Slothari’s wounds were visible in that form, and the gelatinous flesh was beginning to condense, no doubt healing his nemesis.
He gritted his teeth, watching as victory slipped from his hands. Even with Arkanon here, the battle was too close to call. While the Uthraki warlord had contributed to the fight, the majority of the damage dealt to Slothari had come from Jonathan. With a groan, he pushed himself to his feet, commanding his elemental construct to plummet from the air. One hand was raised, an orb of pure darkness forming before it. Jonathan then tried something new. He removed the Rune of Consumption from the skill matrix of his black hole technique, and slotted in his upgraded Rune of Attraction. Immediately, the conceptual gravity of his skill fully transitioned to the physical world, and with a howling rush, the air around it was sucked into its infinite depths.
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Jonathan thrust it down, and it sped through the air. For Slothari’s soft new body, this skill was her bane. Ropy strands of slime were torn from her form and into the black hole as it neared, forcing her to transform back into a more conventional body. With a grin, Jonathan mustered his strength, and swooped in. Arkanon followed him, wreathed in ethereal fire.
“We need to strike as one!” Jonathan called out. “Otherwise we’ve lost.”
Before he could do anything though, Slothari gave him a rictus grin, her face battered to oblivion. Only the mouth of her humanoid body was left intact, and the rest of her body was in shambles. Four wings, patterned after the ethereal design of a butterfly’s, extended from her back.
“This… farce has gone on for long enough,” she said falteringly. “I hate to admit it, but you two are a dire threat to my life. How lucky I am that I do not have to accept this.” Then the smile widened. “I challenge you, Jonathan Harlowe, Hellbreaker Aspirant, to sacred combat. By the Universal Laws of the Hells, you must fight me alone.”
The air shuddered as her words were delivered, and between the span of one moment and the next, Arkanon disappeared. Only Jonathan and Slothari remained.
“What the hell was that?” Jonathan shouted, not really expecting a response.
“You really should brush up on your System laws. Just as there are ones that limit the power of circle lords, like how they cannot challenge those far below them, there are also ones that protect them. You triggered one of those by dealing more than half of my health in damage.”
“I see,” Jonathan said bitterly. “This really was a quest never meant to be completed.”
All he received in reply was a smile. Then Slothari shot forth, her seemingly pathetic wings blurring. Jonathan raised his fists weakly, taking a punch that sent him dozens of meters backwards. He caught himself with his elemental manipulation, and tried to summon more of the Void. His elemental abilities were strained to the point of near uselessness, and when he tried to use Maw of the Void, he felt his body beginning to come apart. With a snarl, he stopped.
Divinity sparked across his body as he revitalized his Smite skill once more, providing a boost to his failing power. The battle would be over within the next minute, whether because of his victory, or the reaching of his limits.