He closed the distance between himself and the ailing clone in the blink of an eye, drawing his hammer back with his right hand. Smashing the monkey into the dirt with his shield, Sam banished it for a second to grip Mjolnir with both hands. With the small but noticeable boost to his Strength from his recent level up making itself known, Sam slammed it down on the creature beneath him. The monkey tried to shapeshift, and Sam grimaced as he realized that it was about to get away. His aura involuntarily exploded out of him, and the monkey froze. Sam had no idea what he had just done, but what he was was an opportunity.
With one final heave, the hammer made contact with the monkey, tearing through it in an instant. The clone dissolved into mist, and his hammer made contact with the ground, cratering it. Sam withdrew his hammer as soon as it made contact, bringing it up to block as the Sage sent a bolt of crackling energy his way. Sam had not expected the attack, so part of it got through his defenses and shocked him.
He gritted his teeth as his muscles clenched violently, and then he broke free of the effect, barreling towards his targets. As he neared, Johannes and the Sage paused in their fight, and faced Sam. They knew that if they continued blindly fighting each other, Sam would just pick them off one by one. The only way that either would come out alive was to make this a three way battle. Luckily for Sam, they were both flagging, and were heavily injured. In comparison, he was as fresh as if he had never fought a day in his life. Sam squared off, his hammer at the ready, and waited for someone to make the first more. He was the slowest here, meaning that it would be in his interest to defend.
“Well, you certainly are stronger than we gave you credit for, Sam Atlas.” Johannes said, with a faint hint of distaste in his voice. The man shifted from foot to foot, as if he had not prepared for this.
The Sage interjected a moment later.
“It seems that you are worthy of fighting my true self after all. It is a pity that this brute must be involved, but I cannot help it. May the best man win.”
Before anyone could respond, the Sage whipped his staff around in a tight arc, making it expand to its full size as he did so. A pillar of iron swiped through the area, and Sam caught it on his hammer, grunting as he did so. The weight of the iron, as well as the innate power of the staff, made it incredibly difficult to hold off. He was managing it thanks to his monstrous Strength score, but the Sage was barely behind him in that regard. It all boiled down to a question of leverage, which the Sage had in spades.
Sam’s back leg went first, and then his arms, and he was sent tumbling backwards as he weapon crashed into his chest. All of the air was driven out of his lungs, and his armor dented slightly from the impact. Some of his ribs had been broken, and as he tried to recover, the air rushing into his lungs felt like a dozen knives stabbing him in the chest. Sam hissed in anger as his ribs slowly pieced themselves back into a more stable shape, and he expedited the process with Girdings of the Arbiter. Doing so burnt through a fair amount of his remaining energy, but it was a worthwhile pursuit.
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In the background, Johannes and the Sage were flashing around, trying to get a hit off on each other. Sam pushed himself up to his feet, and then ran towards the pair of fighters. As he approached, the two broke off, and Sam grimaced. It seemed that as long as there was a third party in play, the other two, even though they were enemies, would band together to fight him.
Sam ignored the sense of dread that he felt upon staring down the two powerful beings, and imbued his hammer with as much power as he could. Even his vast reserves were starting to diminish rapidly, and he didn’t have too much left in the tank. Still, he had enough to finish this.
Sam leaped into the air, feigning a strike at the Sage, before altering his trajectory with Girdings of the Arbiter, flying straight at Johannes instead. The lumbering hulk planted his feet, and readied his sword for impact. As Sam landed, he brought his hammer down on Johannes’ weapon, and sent a shockwave of Dao energy through it and down the blade. Because of the high quality of the other man’s blade, it conducted the energy perfectly, sending it into his body. The armor around his arms and shoulder buckled as a wave of red light raced down them, and Sam heard the crackling pop of multiple bones snapping in unison.
Johannes dropped his blade with a pained snarl, and then roared. The man’s body started to writhe and expand, and the armor melted away into his flesh. Sam wasn't sure what was happening, but he backed away regardless. This did not look like something he wished to interfere with. The Sage on the other hand was not as cautious, and the monkey sprinted forwards, his staff expanding to the size of a telephone pole as he did so. The end of it caught Johannes directly in the chest, and sunk deep into it. However, there was no blood. The Legion commander thrust out his hand, and grabbed the staff, his massive palm fitting all the way around it. His body had expanded to a height of fifteen feet, and it was made up of a strange malleable gray substance.
"You fools. You should have pressed your advantage,” Johannes gloated. “With my gift from the Supreme General, I shall devour both of your corpses, and claim the Seals for the Legion!”
Sam spotted a tiny black gemstone in the hollow of the gargantuan man’s throat, and Sam closed his eyes, relying on his aura senses instead. Despite its pitch black surface, the gem burned like a bonfire to Sam’s aura senses. That had to be the gift that Johannes had been speaking about. Even worse were the implications. If the Supreme General, which Sam was assuming was Hugo Mar, was powerful enough to create something like that, then how could anyone hope to defeat him?