"Why are you running, Hur'zhun?" the monster asked, vanishing out of existence only to appear right before his eyes. "You seemed to have taken a lot of effort to see me."

Hur'zhun had never been that scared before. His legs trembled, and he sat heavily, letting out a terrified moo. That, however, did not even amuse that thing.

"I'm here, Hur'zhun, right in front of you. I'm Theon Avalon. Let's just skip the titles." His voice lost any previous friendly tones as he leaned for a moment above him.

Then he Blinked again and reappeared a few steps away. He sat on a majestic throne made of simple wood, pulling one of his legs over the other.

"What are you planning to do?" Hur'zhun stood up and tried to regain his cool.

"To be honest, I will probably sentence you to a few centuries of field labour. You are a bull, after all, so you can pull a plough or something."

"I'm a God!" Hur'zhun protested.

"No. You are a war criminal with a long list of war and regular crimes committed and documented." He shook his head slightly, and Hur'zhun realised that he was serious.

"I'M A GOD!" The bull repeated with anger. "I'm above the Mortal's laws."

"Then you will be thrilled to learn that I am not a Mortal." Chills ran down Hur'zhun's spine as he continued. "For all of your crimes, I won't let you go."

"What about Jukk'nala?" The bull asked angrily.

"He is dead. I killed him." Another emotionless statement that was like a painful slap to Hur'zhun's face.

"D-don't be ridiculous." He tried to laugh at such a preposterous statement, but it somehow made sense after seeing how his old friend had behaved after leaving Avalon. "Jukk'nala is leading the forces... The forces..."

"You really believed that? Seriously?" The man-shaped monster gave him an incredulous look and sighed. "That's just my familiar who somehow assumed Jukk'nala's appearance. I stopped questioning such coincidences long ago since, most likely, it's my patron who is cheating."

"Only a God can kill a God," Hur'zhun declared with anger. The conversation had slipped away from his control.

"You see, this is a fundamentally wrong statement." Theon Avalon rested his cheek in his hand and looked at him with a neutral gaze. "I actually considered that problem for a very long time. If only a god could kill a god, then the entire summoning of the people from Earth was pointless. I could also give the benefit of the doubt to a theory that only summoned champions can kill a god, but that is also not true. Recently, a brave man from this world named Re'kari was able to kill the lesser deity, a mad god. So if all major entities of the Void and Chaos are gods, then even skilled people of this world can kill a god."

Hur'zhun opened and closed his mouth but couldn't find an argument to deny it. He was silent as he tried to find a way out of this. But the monster in front of him wouldn't just let him be. He was going to humiliate him.

"I am Hur'zhun. The God of Berna. The lawgiver and the judge. The flame of retribution and sun that shines upon the world." He transformed into a towering human with long brown hair, wearing a long white robe. He rested his weight on his massive double-edged battleaxe and sighed. "I won't surrender to your whims, monster."

"Are you sure? Compliance would work in your favour during my judgement."

"If you could simply kill me, you would have done that already," Hur'zhun smirked. "There is an awful lot of talking from you and no action at all. I came here to slay you, no matter if you are a dungeon. I will simply have to kill you repeatedly until your mana runs dry. Then I will punish everyone who followed you, all your women..."

Hur'zhun couldn't even tell from where the first strike came that marked his body with a painful wound. His blood gushed from the wide cut, but the blood started steaming momentarily. The wound shined with an orange line and disappeared completely. Theon Avalon was sitting on his throne, giving him a death stare. But he was now resting both hands on his unsheathed sword covered in blood. His blood... Hur'zhun's eyes widened in fear and shock as he watched the monster stand up. The King of Arcadia unleashed his power, killing intent and all of the auras he typically masked to pass for a human.

"God Slaying Blade: Excalibur." The sword in Theon's hand started crackling with golden lightning bolts, changing its shape slightly. "You have made a mistake... A terrible mistake."

"Don't get full of yourself!" Hur'zhun roared in fury and slashed the air with his battleaxe.

The monster simply ignored his attack, but most importantly, the skill had not even connected. He gritted his teeth and unleashed a relentless series of cuts and crushing blows. However, the enemy simply blocked every single one of his attacks.

"How?" Hur'zhun yelled after unleashing his power and engulfing his axe with flames. He reached towards the monster and, using his divine authority, tried to read his statistics. "What are you?"

"Your demise." A cold chill ran down his spine upon hearing Theon's voice.

Then, the details about the man were displayed before his eyes. He gasped in disbelief, seeing a simple yet menacing word floating above anything else.

"Calamity." Hur'zhun backed off, gaining distance from the enemy. "Beloved of Gods..."

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Hur'zhun took a deep breath and tried to calm down. What he saw couldn't be true. The Chosen of Archangel? The Champion of Eriar? The Husband of Hestia? The Best Friend of Zephyr? The Starchaser of Hera? The Brother to Zeus? The Prophet of Tisiphone?! The Wrath of Vali?! The Herald of Verka?! So, so much power... All these were not just meaningless boasts but true titles connected with the actual and powerful deities.

"Time to get serious..." Hur'zhun veiled himself in darkness and flames, but the monster before him simply shrugged off his attack attempts. Yet he knew a way to win this fight; it was as simple as admitting that he wasn't fighting a mere mortal or a monster but a fledgling God. He smiled at the silent World's Words and allowed his full power to manifest. The stones cracked under his feet, and the barrier surrounding them cracked. The six most beautiful women, surrounded by thousands of undead warriors, sat behind another barrier. He swallowed, seeing their insane statistics, but fortunately for him, they vanished from the room along with their guardians.

"Congratulations on breaking through Hestia's and Luna's illusion." Hur'zhun barely blocked the cut aimed at his throat.

Theon was getting serious as well. Their auras collided, crackling and breaking the magic circles that they were building around them. The raw, uncontrolled magic ran wild across the entire room, tearing sections of walls and ceiling, but that wasn't even remotely enough to collapse this place. The two stood frozen for a moment, locked in an invisible duel, clashing their pure, shapeless magic against each other. Hur'zhun felt the cracks in his enemy's defence for a moment, but soon he realised he was fighting a losing battle. With a low, guttural growl, he grabbed a piece of debris and threw it towards Theon. He was already running, holding his axe in both hands, with his body twisted at his side, ready to unleash a decisive blow. The piece of junk he threw vapourised instantly, but he managed to surprise the enemy.

Theon managed to block his cut at the last moment but lost his balance and was sent flying. Hur'zhun leapt forward and raised his axe to smash his enemy not to lose this advantage. Theon, however, gently landed on the ground and blocked his powerful uppercut with his sword, pushing Hur'zhun backward. Another sword appeared in Theon's hands as the previous one crumbled into dust. Hur'zhun smiled, realising that his opponent's weapon was unstable or perhaps it was just a very dangerous skill. Without breaking his momentum, Hur'zhun hurled three fireballs and leaped forward once again. His strength would have normally worn out any other enemy, but Theon Avalon wasn't an ordinary enemy. The Dungeon Core, like him, was extremely rare to the point where they could have been called unique. During the long millennia of his life, he heard about one but never expected to fight another.

They were locked in the exchange of blows for a moment, with their magic clashing around them in a shapeless and primal form, a testament to the sheer focus the both of them had put into their blade work. Each cut was met with a block, and each thrust was deflected, but both sustained damage. Their skills carried forward despite the block, an awry magic that hit them both. The slightest of mistakes were instantly exploited by one or the other. However, Hur'zhun knew that he couldn't fight like this much longer. His magic wasn't infinite, and he couldn't determine how much mana his opponent had. He jumped backward, shifting his focus momentarily to reshape his auras and use self-buffs in the hope of finally overwhelming his enemy. But Theon was relentless; he instantly was in front of him, directing the terrifying blade right into Hur'zhun's heart.

He couldn't block it...

With sheer luck, Hur'zhun managed to change his position slightly and felt the piercing pain in his biceps. The muscle burned with explosive pain that made him yell. However, he realised that he could reach his opponent's belly in time. With effort marked with a loud guttural grunt, he swiped with his axe, deeply wounding his opponent. Theon's blood gushed from the deep wound, and Hur'zhun grinned in triumph that died not a second later.

"NO!"

•••

I fucked up.

I realised as I felt my body torn and scorched by the unbearable heat. But the pain disappeared momentarily, deafened by a golden light: Irene's healing spell.

"You cheater!" Hur'zhun yelled at me and slammed the back of his battleaxe on the ground. "You can't heal during a duel!"

"Excuse me, what?!" I was caught so off guard by that absurd statement that I almost tripped over. "Are you fucking serious?"

"That's dishonourable!"

"You are insane..." Anger finally kicked in, deciding that any further attempt at understanding the bull was futile. "You invaded my country, attacked my city, threatened to harm my wives, and now you dare to say that I'm dishonourable? Unbelievable..."

"You..." I gave him no chance to finish and threw Excalibur straight at him.

"Silence! No more talking..."

Hur'zhun barely deflected my sword, which shattered upon impact. I summoned another two swords and, after reactivating Excalibur, raised an unenchanted sword towards the bull godling. "Blade of Doom: Gram."

I Blinked toward the insane Eternal and slashed with Excalibur, only to thrust Gram forward a moment later. I moved faster and applied more pressure to my attacks. Hur'zhun, however, wasn't going to just give up. He conjured more flames around him that formed phantom blades of fire and tried to use them to block my swords. He was an excellent and experienced fighter, far better than I was, but I was slightly stronger and faster. He was also alone while my wives supported me. A powerful deity like him, worshipped by hundreds of thousands of people, maybe even millions around the entire continent, wasn't an enemy I could afford to underestimate. Luna, Hestia, and Lavender were using their buffs to give me an edge in this battle. Irene was making sure that no injuries would slow me down or knock me out. Amber and Aoi were shielding them all. Lastly, the entire Praetorian battalion was standing guard to make sure that nothing could sneak by them.

I saw Hur'zhun's frustration each time I blocked his skills and disrupted his magic. His movements started being sloppy, and he slowed down considerably. But he wasn't tired; he simply became cautious. His attacks were more focused and sparse but harder to read. His endurance was astonishing. However, I expected nothing less from a being who called themself a god. None of us could use complicated techniques, so this battle would be decided with blades. However, I shouldn't let him dictate the speed of our battle, so I began to press him. I blurred in Blade Dashes and abrupt Blinks, forcing him to go fully defensive. The Phantom Blades made of fire he used to block his blind spot were good but not good enough. I marked him with various bruises and cuts, but no wound seemed to truly affect him. He was calm, so I suspected he simply ignored the damage or it wasn't a problem for him in the first place.

I should have developed a gun for such occasions...

•••

Ban looked down in shock at the Bernans, who regrouped and actually forced Legio Aegis to fall back. The enemy had the gate section of the Lower Castle in their hands. The Bernans paid dearly for that small victory; now, they were trying to heal their wounded.

"It seems that The Fog of Avalon had to retreat." Drake sighed heavily. "In the worst possible moment, at that..."

"No plan survives contact with the enemy..." Ban finally shrugged. "What is left of Aegis is going to regroup and hold them from the left, while Lady Morrigan is going to attack them with the Praetorians from the right."

"Soooo..." Drake grinned, seeing the smirk on Ban's face. "We attack their flank, which right now is in front, just after they discover how fucked they are, fighting the Praetorians of his Majesty?"

"Yup..."