“What the…?” Sirius muttered as he watched the abnormal occurrence.

The adventurers within the safe zone witnessed the inexplicable change coming from the guardian; a feeling of hopelessness oozed into the air like suffocating humidity.

Hands of skinless flesh lunged out from the discarded shell of stone, pulling from it the true form of the forgotten deity: a giant humanoid, devoid of skin, of abyssal muscle. Around the foreign entity’s shoulders, a cape of shadows manifested as it raised its hands, summoning orbs of absolute darkness.

A single grin stretched across its lips, its pearly-white teeth being the only thing untouched by its overwhelming appearance devoid of light. The spherical nodes of condensed darkness expanded, each one lenghenting and curving, before turning into weapons honed for murder: twin scythes.

“Hold on, so what we were fighting was…” Alcides realized.

Beowulf answered for the man, keeping his guard raised in the face of the newly-shapen guardian, “A shell. That armor around it was likely a restraint–a seal for its power.”

“I was thinking the same thing, but now that you said it…You have to be kidding me,” Jason sighed, “This one’s going to be a problem.”

Sirius looked up, sensing something as he yelled, “Look out–!”

From the ceiling of faded glass, reflecting only darkness, hands reached down, seeping from the shadows like an oozing liquid; the pale-skinned palms varied in size, some of which were devoid of skin entirely, only of muscle; red or black, fresh or rotten.

“Shit!” Beowulf yelled, launching a pillar of heat towards one of the hands that reached towards him, blowing it away.

It came from a single rise of the forgotten deity’s own hand, who seemed to take joy in the surprised reactions of the intruders. Even the spherical zone where the others waited wasn’t ignored; the creeping hands reached towards them as well.

“Eek–!” One of the mages shuddered.

“Get away–!” A swordsman held his blade up.

Stomping down and breathing in, one man took it upon himself to confront the swarm of repulsive palms, “Stand back! I’ll handle this!”

The man of a mighty, scarlet mane of hair spread his arms out as his golden tattoos shone with a brilliant radiance, looking up before he swung both of his hands towards one another.

“Cover your ears!” Sirius warned.

Jason laughed, placing his hands over his ears; Beowulf did the same, only realizing just a split-second before the impact what was about to happen.

Pointed upward, Alcides allowed his palms to clash as the uncanny limbs attempted to grab at him.

BOOOOOOOM.

A shock wave roared, rippling through the air and blowing away the countless hands without any resistance.

With a triumphant smile, the Invictus of Hercules was unaware of the presence that had appeared behind him.

Looming behind the warrior of pure strength was the deity of death itself, towering with its unnatural height and sickening body. Its arm bent unnaturally, as if its elbow snapped as its abyssal scythe was primed for the unaware man’s back.

“Alcides! Behind you!” Sirius warned, dashing over with electricity guiding his agility.

The muscular warrior turned around, only above to raise his arms as a guard as the deity swung its killing weapon.

‘…First Labour!’ Alcides called upon internally.

As if swelling from an inflation of air, the man’s arms doubled in size; his forearms became sturdy shields just as the edge of the scythe swept against him.

“Grrrh-!” Alcides winced.

The deathly edge cut into his flesh, slicing into Alcides’ forearms as the force of darkness knocked him back.

Sirius bolted in as his comrade was flung away, allowing lightning to coil around his fist, “Bastard—!”

A swing of his knuckles brought upon mighty thunder with it as he attempted to crush the toothy grin of the deity.

“Hnn—?!” Sirius reacted in surprise, finding his fist stopped.

The flat side of the abyssal scythe shielded the blackened fiend from the Invictus’ knuckles. What could only be described as a haunting laugh left the maw of the deity, taunting the futility of the man’s attack.

A noticeable anger took hold of Sirius, who yelled out, “Zeus!”

[Zeus System Awakened.]

From the position of the Dracon Alliance leader, a thunderclap pulsed with divine electricity, causing the blackened fiend to stumble back. The invocation from the lightning-wielder caused his hair to lighten, becoming lively as it took to a blueish-white glow, with tattoos of an azure light in the shape of jagged lightning bolts appearing on his skin.

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Amidst the electrifying awakening, the Invictus of Hercules had fallen to his knees, wincing as his inflicted forearms bled profusely.

“Jason!” Beowulf called out.

The swift man was already on it, quickly appearing by the side of the injured captain before tugging his arm over his shoulder.

“C’mon,” Jason urged.

Alcides protested, “I can still fight…!”

“Sure–not right now, though,” Jason said, not allowing for any resistance as he sped away with the man.

As the injured Invictus was brought back to the safe zone, the Invictus of Zeus faced the deity of death head-on. In a single snap of his fingers, a dozen lightning bolts were commanded to manifest, striking at the forgotten god.

“...He…He…He…”

The death deity quietly laughed as it twirled, its cloak swirling like an umbrella beneath the wind as it spun around the incoming bolts. Amidst the storm of erratic lightning, the silver-bearded leader of Sapphire attempted to pursue the guardian, though the unpredictable bolts intervened.

“Ngh–Sirius!” Beowulf roared in frustration at the aimless barrage of the Invictus.

As if the yell of the veteran adventurer fell upon deaf ears, the champion of Zeus flew across the abyssal chamber, curving around the deity as a strand of electricity. Sirius’ quick pursuit caught the twirling god by surprise as it was in the midst of evading the bolts, allowing Sirius to launch his fist forward.

“That’s–this is why I hate working with him,” Beowulf witnessed, feeling a sense of frustration again.

What came was a construct of divine lightning, taking the gigantified form of Sirius’ fist as the unstable element struck the floor guardian in its side. An immeasurable display of talent that either invoked a feeling of envy or hope in others; this was Sirius–the most hated and the most loved.

“Ruuu–” The deity of death stumbled back, its fingers twitching as the electricity stunned its rotten body.

As the guardian tried to retaliate, the boots of the electric Invictus swept across the stone tiles, coming to a screeching halt as Sirius rapidly struck the air with both fists.

“Try this one, bastard!” Sirius yelled.

The vision of the deity was consumed as the darkness that gripped the gloomy room was briefly dispelled; a glow of azure flashed brightly as dozens of constructs taking the shape of the Invictus’ fists were flung forth.

A relentless assault of lightning taken the form of ruthless punches kept the deity stunned, striking the grotesque figure repeatedly with sparked impacts.

The irises of the one who wielded Zeus’ strength were harbingers of the very element of lightning; within his azure mirrors, tiny strands of electricity wildly thrived. It felt like a clash impossible to intervene with as lightning sparked wildly in every direction.

“....End…”

A malediction left the mouth of the depraved entity as abyssal fumes left its pores. From its body, a pulsation of darkness howled, scattering the electricity before the deity wildly swung its limbs, casting pitch-black orbs towards the Invictus of Zeus.

Sirius leaned down, bending his knees as one of the spherical projectiles passed over him; he swiped his hand, manifesting spears of lightning that shot towards the deity.

“...Death’s Beginning…” The primordial guardian spewed breathless words from its absent lips, commanding the orbs to change as they surrounded the electric adventurer.

Sirius’ eyes darted side-to-side, finding himself cut off from any escape, “--Ah.”

An imposing stomp crashed down on the stone tile as the Invictus of Zeus found the silver-bearded veteran landing in front of him.

The orbs burst, protruding with shapes of blades, saws, and spikes; refined for killing.

Beowulf flexed his body, causing raw energy to push from his pores, “Stay still for once, you erratic bastard!”

Around them, heat swirled and solidified itself, conjuring a spherical barrier of heat that gave off the burning shine of a star. The supreme blaze cast away the deathly constructs, melting them as the stone began to bubble and liquify around them.

“Heh–sure thing!” Sirius agreed, tapping the fellow Invictus on the shoulder.

Beowulf allowed the protective heat to fade away as the darkness was repelled, glancing over as he instantly felt a sense of frustration at the sight beside him. The reckless adventurer had already begun to lift his boot for another step forward, ignoring the veteran’s suggestion completely.

“Would you stay put for just a second? The only way we’re going to win is by working together–not recklessly charging forward,” Beowulf input with frustration, grabbing onto the youthful adventurer’s shoulder to stop him from finishing his step.

“Blegh,” Sirius stuck his tongue out, “Can it, would ya? The agreement was I’d join this little alliance, so long as I didn’t have to follow any of your stupid orders. Or did you forget?”

“You…” Beowulf lowly said, growing more frustrated.

Amidst their unwelcome conversation, the forgotten deity spun around, tossing a set of its deathly orbs towards the two. As the harrowing projectiles soared forth, taking in the size of boulders, the Invictus of Hyperion thrust his hand forward, sending a beam of burning energy through a pair of the spherical weapons.

Another came, nearing the pair before another stream of scorching exuberance slicing through the middle of the abyssal orb, burning it away. However, it wasn’t Beowulf’s doing, bringing the man to look to the other beside him.

A smirk was present on Sirius’ lips as his irises took to a burning, orange hue with his vibrant hair adopting the same shade, allowing the lightning ink on his skin to follow suit.

“This one feels great–so, this is “Hyperion.” Sirius remarked, holding his hand up as strands of ginger electricity coiled around a sphere of burning energy.

As the very incarnation of hubris, the leader of the Dracon Alliance set forth as a bolt of searing-orange lightning, flickering and curving across the battlefield as relentless waves of reshaped darkness came his way.

“Ha-ha! I like this one!” Sirius’ excited voice echoed, quickly retaking his physical form as sparks of his enchanted lightning scattered off of his skin, flicking his fingers in the direction of the incoming attack.

The death deity had leaned back, lunging its entire upper-body as it conjured a massive, dense cube of malevolent force towards the cocky Invictus.

Sirius’ bolt manifested with the infusion of “Hyperion”--a destructive impact that erupted into a burning explosion.

As the killing cube was repelled, darkness scattered along with embers as Sirius brought his hands in front of his chest, caressing a swirl of unstable energy between his palms.

“Now, what will I call this one?...” He wondered, like a curious child given a new toy.