Chapter 509 Sterfen vs Naparn
"You formed a pact with a mortal?! Are you insane?!" Naparn berated.
Sterfen laughed again, "You call this form crazy? Now's the time to finally test its strength, so don't die too quickly on me."
Neither Naparn nor Sterfen hed back any longer. The Magma Dragon roared as he rushed Sterfen with a death glare. The transformed Assassin God roared also, spraying his icy breath with no sense of mercy.
As Naparn spat lava to neutralize the attack, both deities mat in the middle. Lava flowed over Naparn's body as he collided with Sterfen but it couldn't quite break the frosty aura around Sterfen's hybrid form. Their blades met also, giving Naparn the edge in raw strength.
After parrying Naparn's strike and taking a step back, Sterfen found himself wide open to Naparn's blade.
Of course, Naparn wasn't going to leave an exposed opponent alone. He immediately hacked downward into Sterfen's shoulderblade.
Blood splattered everywhere, either freezing against Sterfen's body or evaporating against Naparn's body. However, Naparn wasn't satisfied at all.
Suddenly, Naparn covered his neck in an abundance of lava. The Molten God immediately dried the magma to create a hard shell. It was finished as a knick appeared where Naparn's neck was once exposed. Then, Naparn shed that hardened magma in order to remove any chance of that small knick being Sterfen's "Mark of the Reaper".
"Not bad… You're learning how I fight… You're the only one to ever survive so many of my killing attempts. Then again, you're also the one I've targeted the most so that may not be saying much," Sterfen commented with a shrug, allowing his true body to appear while the false image of his wounded self faded away.
"I can tell the difference in your flesh compared to your double's. It's not that difficult to figure out," stated Naparn.
"True, but doesn't that just take more credit from yourself too?" added Sterfen, still not letting Naparn have the last laugh. "If you want me to try harder, all you had to do was say so…"
Sterfen charged again, unleashing his icy breath to the fullest.
Naparn didn't back down, doing the same. The Molten God unleashed a powerful plume of lava from his gullet, clashing directly against the icy attack. And while the icy breath was powerful, Naparn's overwhelming lava made it past the ice without being entirely chilled or destroyed.
However, Sterfen was unfazed. He simply backed off to avoid taking any damage.
"See, you're new strength isn't much at all," Naparn stated. "If that's all you've got, then you may as well beg for mercy now."
"Why are all the holy gods such big talkers? You haven't even landed an attack on me and you already claim you can kill me? Over the years I could've killed you not once but twice. And the one time I hit you anywhere apart from the neck was when I targeted your arm to steal your sword," reasoned Sterfen. "Sadly, I had to return it for Jin's corpse, but that doesn't mean I can't steal it again. Or worse, threaten your life again."
"You've already given yourself away and you can't surprise me while I'm aware of you. Without your precious stealth, you have no chance against me, Sterfen. Admit it!"
"And why not?" Sterfen asked, smiling and covering his claws and knives in water energy.
Suddenly, the water below them began to shake. As the waves became erratic and unpredictable, some of the water was rising and taking a new form. A serpentine head was formed, followed by a long neck. Frost appeared around its body to create a solid, physical form, allowing the water to become a false Glacier Wyrm.
"If you struggled against Lunara before, then you've got no chance against me now, Naparn. I'll admit that time and time again," stated Sterfen, smiling confidently.
The false Glacier Wyrm darted at Naparn, not caring whether it survived or was destroyed.
Naparn was unimpressed, hurling lava into the gaping mouth of the false wyrm. But as the created beast's head was destroyed from the inside out, two heads sprouted in its place. When the Molten God repeated his defense, he discovered that the wyrm now had four heads.
"So you've got Lunara's bloodline and her spells… I see why you claim to be so annoying."
Looking back to the pestered Naparn, Sterfen charged with a smile. "If you think that's annoying, then you'll love this!"
The Assassin God barreled through the air without fear. His icy breath led the way as he allowed the false wyrm turned hydra to flank Naparn.
Naparn roared as he allowed an abundance of lava to fall from his body. As it fell down the magma took shape and came to life, forming a Magma Wyrm to keep the false hydra at bay. And without such a distraction at his rear, Naparn unleashed his breath once again to counter the charging Assassin God.
However, Sterfen didn't back away. Instead, Sterfen allowed the surviving remnants of lava to fall upon his body.
"I won't fall for that trick again!" Naparn shouted, turning to slice the invisible Sterfen apart. Smiling, the Molten God grinned from ear to ear as he watched blood spill from Sterfen's body.
Then, all of a sudden, Naparn felt both of his arms suddenly feel restricted. He could move them with a struggle, but not quick enough to stop Sterfen. The Molten God tried to cover himself in more magma but a frosty aura covered his arms and torso completely.
The Assassin God, not caring about his injury, drove two knives into Naparn's right arm, one in Naparn's elbow and one in his shoulder. Twisting and turning the blades, Sterfen felt Naparn's muscles and tendons shredding apart.
Naparn spewed lava from his mouth but Sterfen did the same with his icy breath, both at point-blank and not letting either side gain much of an advantage.
"I'll let you see them…" Sterfen mumbled through his heavy breathing.
Only then did Naparn notice two more hydra-like heads appear, each biting into one of his arms and covering his body in their icy breath.
Sterfen removed the two daggers from Naparn's now-broken arm and repeated the process in his other arm. At the same time, Sterfen released the broken arm and used his second head to better counter Naparn's molten breath attack with two streams of icy breath. Once the second arm was broken, Sterfen held Naparn with one hand while all three of his heads overwhelmed Naparn's weakened breath three-to-one.
At the same time, Sterfen lowered himself and Naparn further down toward the rampant waters below.
Naparn attempted to break free with his tail and legs but Sterfen's tail acted to counter. Also, Sterfen stabbed Naparn's pelvis next, forcibly shattering the pivotal bone and weakening the Molten God's legs.
Sterfen coldly glared at Naparn as they reached the water's surface. "Now… I'll teach you the true meaning of despair and torture…"
Gradually, Sterfen submerged himself and the captive Molten God underwater. He didn't care about the gaping wound across his chest. All Sterfen cared about was extracting as much pain as physically and mentally possible from the man that had tormented his family for so long.