Zephyr was locked in a duel with a seemingly formidable enemy. Even though right now Zephyr was weak and had just barely started regaining his powers, his enemy was not much stronger. The Void Touched Tank was visibly struggling, but Zephyr was cautious about this fight, since he couldn't rule out the possibility that Kneht was simply trying to lower his guard. Zephyr's slashes slowly drained the blood from his enemy, making him slower with each hit. The Void Touched was unexpectedly silent, not trying to engage in pointless banter or even more pointless demands about his rights and wishes with Zephyr. The general silence was intermittently broken by the clangs of metal on metal when the two clashed with each other and exchanged blows. Whatever skills they used, and they used a lot of them, remained a mystery, since even those were silently cast to not allow the enemy to prepare for what was coming.

However, the more this battle dragged on, the more Zephyr was certain that this Void Touched was weak. This could have meant a few things. One of the ideas that crossed Zephyr's mind was the option that the Void Touched in this era were weak for some reason. Another plausible option was that he was far stronger than he had thought. But the most possible option was that the Void Touched were no longer connected to their dark masters, and they no longer received the foul blessings of Void and Chaos. It happened before, so it could be happening again this time, especially if he considered the fact that the adventurers' party, with the help of Hestia, had managed to save Verka. Killing the lesser Mad God could play a significant role in the weakening of Void servants, but it was doubtful that the Lesser God was their patron. All in all, Zephyr prepared himself to finish this fight as fast as possible when the mad laughter of Verka made Kneht lose his focus and stagger back.

"You died!" Kneht screamed as he looked around, terrified.

"No. I am very much alive, Kneht. You are so useless you can't even properly kill anyone. Hahahahaha." Verka's voice resonated from somewhere behind Zephyr.

Kneht's eyes went wide in fear as he looked somewhere behind and above Zephyr, losing his focus. His heavy armour was audibly rattling from the fearful trembling of the owner, and Zephyr coldly smiled. With such an opportunity, the God of Wind utilised his legendary speed and dealt a series of heavy blows with his daggers. Kneht began bleeding heavily from a deep wound in his neck that almost reached his windpipe and his carotid, leaving him close to death. Zephyr then pushed the void knight with a burst of heavy air current, rapidly followed by volcanic-hot and icy-cold winds that squeezed the air out of Kneht's lungs, shattering his armour. With the barrage of slashes and stabs, Zephyr overwhelmed Kneht, who finally fell to the ground, dead. With one swift motion, Zephyr cut off Kneht's head and stored the body in the ring of holding he received from Verni for helping Opal become an amazing Herbalist.

"Oh... I hoped you could have made him suffer a bit longer, Uncle." Verka's voice was a bit disappointed.

"We must kill them, not play with them." He sighed loudly, turning to see her lying on his cloud. She merely laughed in response before disappearing.

•••

"To think I will be fighting with the mighty Zeus..." Jilai giggled. "You should have visited me earlier. We could have talked and maybe you could have joined us? I had so many nice girls, some even unused! You would have loved that."

"You are sick, slaver." Zeus sent another lightning towards the Void Touched, who managed to cover himself with his dark shield.

"Ohhhh... Thank you!" The Orc mocked Zeus.

The slaver's reflexes and strength were extraordinary, but even with them, he was not an enemy that should be so bold. Zeus was keeping his distance, probing the capabilities of his enemy, but when he decided to attack, Jilai started screaming in immense pain.

"How do you like it, Jilai?"

"Aaaaa! It hurts!" The Orc screamed and dropped his weapon and shield.

Zeus was taken aback when he saw that the Void Born was trying to hold on to a large stake that had impaled him from below. Verka was standing behind the Orc with a very vicious smile on her face.

"I was so worried, Jilai, that Uncle Zeus killed you already!" She circled the slaver so he could see her. "I was so worried that I mistakenly went to Kneht, who was already killed by Uncle Zephyr."

"Verka! Ughhh..." Jilai coughed the blood on his chest and glared at Verka with fear. "Uncle? What the... Fuck... Are you talking about?"

"Oh, hahahahaha! What a funny story. You see, I didn’t tell you the entire truth back when we met eleven years ago!" Verka was laughing, but in her eyes danced the flames of wrath. "I, indeed, was the Oracle of the Goddess Tisiphone. What I didn’t tell you, you piece of shit, was the fact that she is..." The wrath in her eyes burned even harder, fueled by her sadness. "...was, my mother. I am the daughter of Tisiphone and Vali!"

"Hahahaha, fuck me..." Jilai laughed and screamed in pain when the stake raised him a bit higher.

"Of course, you sick monster. What do you think is in your ass?" Verka laughed while Jilai started screaming and tried once again to break free, only to impale himself harder. His blood dripped down the stake and onto the ground below.

Zeus blinked a few times in disbelief and summoned a dark cloud that coalesced over the dying Jilai. Verka looked at him dangerously, but Zeus just shrugged. "I will leave you here with that monster. I know the extent of vengeance that Vali and Tisiphone inflicted, so I am not going to interfere with you. But that man must die, so if he even makes a half-step, the lightning is going to end him."

"Oh, ok." She smiled warmly at Zeus. "Are you going to see the demise of Korkas?"

"I'm afraid that Theon will kill him before..." The loud crack-like thunder rolled over Avalon and Zeus's eyes widened.

•••

"YOU?!" Korka's voice was full of hatred. "He has chosen you?!"

"Indeed." I swung my sword at him, which crumbled into pieces in the air that flew straight at Korkas, wounding him deeply. "*tsk*... Scene of massacre. Act three: Merciless Blizzard."

A freezing cold aura filled the area under the barrier. The next sword that circled around us disappeared to show in my hand when I charged towards Korkas. With a precise slash, I cut his arm, which made him scream and stagger back. He conjured a black fire and cast it at me, and for the first time since this battle started, I was forced to break a sweat in defence. When I finally managed to extinguish his attack, he had already regained his stance. A mutated, purple and green tentacle-like appendage grew in the place of his arm.

"Change," Korkas almost whispered, full of hatred and disdain.

The simple statement created deep tremors in the ground, making everything tremble. It wasn't a simple fear, but more like my body started resonating with the shaking ground and air around us very unpleasantly. If it was some kind of attack, I was in deep trouble. So far, Korkas had somehow passively copied the effect of my skills, but never before had he used a skill or technique of his own. But this was different. The air became heavy and dense as if it tried to crush me, while the ground rumbled and shifted so much I couldn't make a step without tripping. The increasing pain inside of my body and the speed with which the healing rune drained my mana made me realise that my internal organs were taking damage. The skill ignored all my shields and protection runes, making me fear that if he had more of such skills, I would be in trouble. Korka's skill eventually ended, however, and I managed to recover slowly from the initial shock.

The entity that stood in front of me was no longer a human. It was another wound in reality, like the previous necromancer I fought, but the power was far superior to what I faced last time. It glitched and flickered, trying to force my eyes to look away and make my mind erase its very existence. Its movements were unnatural and while they seemed deceptively slow, I quickly realised that Korkas had surpassed the limits of the human body. He roared like a monster, but I resisted the Fear imbued into his scream. When he tried to approach me, he screamed in pain and jumped away. The parts of him that got too close to me were covered in solid ice or frosted over. My breath froze in the air as my aura grew in power.

"You...are...not...controlling...this..." Korka's words were like a whisper and came from all directions.

"Indeed. Each of these techniques requires a control of a few magnitudes higher than I am capable of at this moment. The technique grows with each second and my body needs to resist a far greater strain than I can counter." I smirked as I walked towards him. His surroundings started to freeze, but his body was steaming.

"Why...do...you...tell...me...this?"

"Because you already know it. I saw your Copy skill, and I even noticed you managed to temper down the power levels." With each moment, the freezing air around us started to be unbearable. "But you are a persistent one..."

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"It's...futile...you...can't...freeze...me..." Despite what he just said, he stepped back.

"Freeze you? Oh no... I am just testing this skill, so don't mind me..." I laughed, making him snarl angrily.

His movement slowed down, and from the cracks in his body, a bright orange ichor came out. Korkas conjured the dark flames again, but this time, they were put down instantly by my freezing aura.

"I...see..." He panted heavily.

"Oh no. You know nothing. Scene of massacre. Act four: Blazing Inferno." Korkas was right that I wasn't able to freeze him, but I could freeze the air, stopping it at the molecular level around him. All the particles solidified or liquified and as they fell on him, slowly but surely, his body temperature dropped. As a bonus, I tested if he even had to breathe, but it turned out he did not need to anymore. I pointed my finger at Korkas, who barely could move. "Pillar of Fire."

The sequence wasn't perfect. If I had more time to master this technique, perhaps I would be able to change the order of my last skills. Right now, the thermal shock was devastating, but not as bad as it would have been if I could have first used flames and then had frozen him. Anyway, to Korkas, who vomited his now orange blood, the damage must have been significant enough. In turn, he tried to attack me with his swords, which I was able to parry. The battle turned back to exchanging blows between the two swordsmen, even if he was no longer exactly human-like. The swift cuts and precise thrusts were parried or redirected in a mesmerising dance of death. Korkas's body healed slowly, but far slower than my rune could heal me. My shields flashed suddenly, making me realise that he had become faster.

"You are dangerous. But you are no match for me, Fencer Hero," he gloated.

"You are right." I jumped backwards to disengage, and the flames of hell around us disappeared.

"As I thought. You can keep each of these Scenes of Massacre going for about ten minutes." He coughed his blood and wiped his face on his forearm, constantly watching me.

"Scene of massacre. Act five: Sword of Emperor." I called the skill I was far more comfortable to control and then I called the first of my Doom Blade class skills, which were more powerful. "Blade of Doom: Gram."

The sword in my hand transformed. From its utilitarian base, the crossguard changed into a decorative, almost ceremonial form that shined of gold and precious gemstones. Its handle became softer and a bit more comfortable, but I wasn't sure if that was significantly influencing the weapon's performance. However, the blade itself changed; it became a bit lighter and far more balanced. Even if Ragnar was a master blacksmith and I thought that his last pieces were perfectly balanced, it turned out I was wrong. Gram started shining with a blue hue and Korkas looked at it warily.

"You are insane. That blade is devouring your health points." Korkas rushed towards me, but as I glanced at him, he swiftly jumped back and stumbled as he almost tripped.

"What's wrong, Korkas?" I looked at the creature of Void with my eyes and brain aching from the sheer effort of observing something that should not exist.

"I see..." Korkas barely managed to block my swing that sent him a few metres back, with two lines carved into the ground where his feet had touched it. "Anchor!" The ground was covered with a strange magic power that blocked my blink skill. I smirked as I looked at Korkas. "Now you can't use your Blink."

I dashed so swiftly that Korkas had no time to react. While my movement was far slower than Blink, it was still in the realm of supersonic speeds. The sonic boom and the moment I attacked Korkas became one. His speed couldn't match mine and most of my attacks reached his body. He roared each time Gram left a wound, but each time I hit him, the unbelievable backlash of pain was like an electric current crossing my arm. Korkas was visibly distressed that his spell seemingly had no effect. The exchange of blows was taxing and soon enough, both of us were heavily panting.

"To think that a mere human..." His eyes went wide as I flashed and buried Gram deep into his chest. "Fuck... Anchor wore out..."

"Bane Blade..." I twisted my sword in his chest, which shattered into dozens of small shards. "Tsk..."

With Gram shattered, I had no choice but to disengage. I was so sure that with the help of one of the legendary swords, I would be able to slay him, but the Void Born prevailed. Even with my skill; Sword of Emperor, which burned my mana quickly, granting me most of the basic effects of the previous skills, Korkas had managed to shatter part of my armour, cutting deeply into my stomach. I had to step back to catch my breath. A cold shiver crossed my body, but soon the warmth of a healing effect calmed me down. I was exhausted, but that was true as well for Korkas.

"Time to end this battle, Hero. I commend you for fighting for so long, but your mana should be exhausted by now. Mine is not." Korkas laughed, and I looked at him with a flat stare, blinking ostentatiously a few times.

"That was your plan? To lower my mana?" I asked, confused.

"To burn you away and then kill you bit by bit. Muahahaha! Maybe even sacrifice you as a new offering to my Gods." Korkas laughed, but it was short-lived laughter as he started coughing with his blood.

"Uhum..." I shrugged and looked at him like he was an idiot. "Do as you see fit, I guess..."

"You fucking smug bastard! I will rip you into pieces!"

He jumped towards me, so I channelled my mana and activated the Rune of Ultimate Protection. It was my most potent barrier, however, it has two huge drawbacks; namely, its active nature and the amount of mana it needed to operate. The Void form of Korkas hit the hard mana surface of my shield and bounced off while screaming a stream of profanities. While he couldn't hope to burn away my mana, my stamina was a different story. With him stacking exhaustion debuffs that limited my max stamina, I would sooner than later collapse, anyway. That was why I had to act quickly. Using my Doom Blade class abilities to buff my attack power and agility stat, along with my Arcane Blade Master self buffs, I increased them even higher.

Korkas was now a hard-to-describe mass of afterimages, trying to create a silhouette made of oily-like shadows and strange bright lights that shone between the strings of darkness. He still was mostly human-shaped, with a tentacle arm that was a bit longer than his other arm. Where his face should have been was a pitch-black void that was not only creepy but also incredibly disturbing. He shifted his void-face towards me. "You lost, Hero..."

He raised his arms towards me, and a ring of black flames started burning around him. His voice was grim and full of spite and hatred as he started chanting an incantation. "I call upon the Ancient and Forgotten to grant me strength..."

The next two swords appeared in my hands, and I raised the first of them immediately. "Dragon Slaying Blade: Ascalon!" I could feel the otherworldly tide of power that tried to rip through reality and open the gate to the abyss as Korkas proceeded with his chant. "Deamon Slaying Blade: Galatine!" I raised the second sword. Their crackling power disrupted the flow of dark magic, but Korkas paid no attention to them, confident that dark flames would protect him from harm.

The Doom Blade was a class of huge potential, but for most of the people of the world, this class would be too hard to master. To unlock the full potential of Doom Blade, I had to unlock the legendary blades and know their names as well as the powers they wield. While the name and effects parts were easy, the unlock part was tricky. As far as I understood that class, to unlock a specific tier of legendary weapon, I had to meet specific but hidden criteria. Galatine, which I fully unlocked after slaying hordes of Demons and Devilkins during the battle for the Dragon Gate, was nicknamed the Sword of Sunlight. It was the sword to vanquish evil and smite Demons. While Galatine was in its true form, Ascalon was merely a 'replica'. That was because I killed only Lorak and Viccar Sars, who were Dragonkins, and as long as I didn't kill a full-fledged Dragon or enough Dragonkins, my Ascalon was going to stay as a replica. Killing Wyverns was not going to work. Anyway, my Ascalon has half the power of its true form. The power held by the legendary swords, however, was my best chance to vanquish my foes.

I deactivated my Blade of Emperor and quickly chugged an energy drink, which temporarily lifted my stamina debuffs. Korkas was focused on his chanting, but I was ready.

"Megiddo," I said slowly, releasing all the mana I had gathered, and a brilliant beam of yellow-white light shot from the tips of my legendary blades.

The black fire that shielded Korkas tried to protect him, thickening and rising in front of my spell, which hit with ferocity and might. The flames were pushed away and the protective layer surrounding the Void Born became thinner and thinner until it was blown away, allowing my spell to hit its mark. Korkas was cut in half by the sunbeam of Galatine, enhanced with the power of Ascalon.

"...End!" Korkas finished his incantation and started laughing. "Hahaha! Impressive! Very Impressive, Hero! But too late..."

The tentacle-like growths shot from both halves of Korka's body and pulled him back together before he hit the ground. With an unpleasant slurping sound emanating from his viscera, his body rebuilt itself. Behind the Void Born, a small vortex opened, from which Korkas pulled out another sword with a mad laugh. He started screaming as the sword started fusing with his body.

"You can't kill me now! I ascended, you fool!" His body started growing, and he was now a bloated, grotesque mockery of a human shape. The glitches and the pain I felt while observing him slightly subsided, but a new feeling emerged: a primal fear that I quelled in an instant. "I am the Champion of Okt'faaluzn, the vessel for his essence and the Apostle uplifted to the glory of the Gods of Void and Chaos!"

"Allow me to contest that claim," I smirked as I started blinking around him, slashing and thrusting my Legendary swords.

As expected, Ascalon had no effect, however, Galatine left deep painful wounds that barely healed. Korkas screamed like a monster and tried to flail his oversized hands, now wielding two tiny swords.

Oh? I smiled viciously and blinked away from Korkas, who was breathing heavily. After a while, his wounds started exuding a dark, irritating, brown smoke as they started closing very slowly. As the Void abomination started bellowing its apprehensive laughter, I released Ascalon, making the sword in my hand break. The next sword, from the many that were surrounding us, obediently materialised in my hand so I raised it and pointed at power-drunk Korkas. The blade changed with flashes of golden light, while bolts of lightning crackled as they hit the ground surrounding me.

"God Slaying Blade: Excalibur!"