Fast as sound, we both draw our weapons and lunge forward with impossible ferocity. Seems I won’t be able to end this fight quickly like I have in the past. Luckily, my taint physiology makes me likely as strong and fast as Tetrax based on that attack. Our weapons clash midair over and over. His blade locks against my Primal Cutter’s handle and I use the opening to kick him in the chest, sending him flying backwards. He lifts up his hand as if to cast a spell, but after a moment puts it back on his weapon.
"What’s wrong, can’t cast your spells? Hah. The flux in the atmosphere here makes it almost impossible to draw vis to anything without my gauntlet." He growls in anger and throws his sword at me; in retaliation I throw the Primal Cutter. The two clash midair as we run back and grab hold of our weapons, now face to face.
"Us gods are chosen by God himself to rule over filthy mortals like you! It’s against his will that you defy us!" Tetrax shouts this with extreme anger and a tinge of annoyance.
"I bow to no one but the true God." I head-butt Tetrax and he stumbles back. I grab his helmet with both hands and squeeze as hard as I can. The helmet cracks, but before I can break through it he goes for a stabbing strike to my stomach. My runic shielding deflects it, but cracks. I can probably only take one more hit like that for a while. I’m not sure if the armor itself can withstand one of his strikes.
I backpedal and decide it’s time I try one of the soul techniques I’ve been working on. I reach deep into my psyche and draw out all the negative energy I can, forming it into a tangible attack. A blast of hot pink energy shoots out of my hand and hits Tetrax square in the chest. "Yeaagh!" He cries in agony and clutches his chest.
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"Hurts, doesn’t it? I call it a Doombolt. It does direct damage to your soul. I’m guessing you can only take about seven more of those before your soul becomes so damaged it dissipates and reforms past the Veil." He breathes heavily for a moment as I take the opportunity to cast another Doombolt. This time, however, he moves out of the way and starts running at me full speed again. I am shocked by his bravery and tenacity and am caught off guard by his sword as it connects with my armor and my runic shielding shatters. Fuck…
I call my guardian golem to put itself between us while my runic shielding recharges itself. They battle for a while before Tetrax cleaves it cleanly in half. Not enough time… He runs for me again before I pull out my spear and block his strike. It seems I’ll have to handle him the old fashioned way. We trade blows for what feels like hours; his swing isn’t strong enough to cut cleanly through my fortress armor, but the benign souls I infused it with aren’t enough to keep taking damage forever. Our weapons clash again, and he knocks me down with a kick to my knee. I fall backwards and he rears himself for the finishing blow, but at the last second I roll out of the way and plunge my Primal Cutter into his hip.
Tetrax lets out a loud cry of pain before pulling the primal cutter out of his body and kicking me in the stomach. My taint physiology makes me effectively immune to attacks like that, but I see him rearing himself a second time to plunge his sword straight through my head. As his sword is coming down, I socket a spell focus and release a scorching blast of fire from my gauntlet. He is flung backwards into a patch of taint. He tries to get up, but finds that he’s stuck in it. I slowly get up and walk over to his helpless person as he writhes in a futile struggle to free himself from the dark purple substance.
"I hope you lived a righteous life, because the afterlife you designed for your people doesn’t await you; the judgement of God does. No safety nets to catch you here." I slowly push my primal cutter through Tetrax’s skull and his struggling subsides as he lets out a final strained breath.