Novus steps to the wall behind him and places his hand on the wall, and the entire side of the building shakes violently before it fractures and splits into hundreds of boulders. The room brightens as sunlight enters from the missing wall. Novus shouts as he thrusts his hand forward, launching the rocks.

  “If the four of you just give up here, we can return to how things were!”

  While his foe prepares this attack, Hunter kneels to the ground and quickly channels a substantial amount of earth element into it. A thick, three-metre tall wall of stone shoots up and everyone runs behind it. Novus' attack flies overhead and the debris slams against the wall, causing even more shaking, but Hunter’s defensive move keeps the party, and the Worldgorger, safe from the impact.

  Nobody acts for a full minute until Vis steps out and speaks, staring at his enemy.

  “Why’d you control us?”

  He receives a derisive snort.

  “I don't see the problem. The strong control the weak, and the weak follow the strong.”

  The warrior shakes his head and looks to the people at his side with a sombre expression before saying, “If anyone's weak, it's you for abusing your power. My father taught me that true strength comes from helping those in need. Didn't you set us up to do that several times? Was that all an act?”

  Novus chuckles.

  “I have never once lied to you. I truly want the best for all of you.”

  ?elare joins Vis’ side. Clenching his fist, the boy asks, “And what's that ‘best’ for us?”

  Novus raises his right arm toward the ceiling and speaks.

  “Simple. I'm making you strong enough to overcome the being that put these horrible restrictions on me.”

  The room falls silent, then seconds later the Worldgorger's voice enters the mind of all present.

  “You are filled with utter lunacy. One cannot even think about besting the deities as their power is dimensions beyond us; even more so for these regular humans.”

  “Ah, but that's where you're ignorant. I have read the past, present and future. There are none with the potential of these four heroes. Consider how little I have trained them, yet they are already strong enough to face me.”

  Astraea speaks up.

  “Let me lay to rest any delusions of co-operation you might have, as your foresight is clearly lacking. Our sole objective is to kill you, and this trivial chatter is simply delaying the inevitable.”

  As the girl begins walking toward him, he says a few more words.

  “Fine. I shall demonstrate my full power to you all. Observe.”

  He snaps his fingers and the room darkens, even despite the sunlight entering from behind him. A moment later, light returns and they are at the outdoor stone platform. Hunter, Vis, and ?elare are trapped in a large, hollow cube seemingly made of glass while Novus and Astraea are at the centre of the arena. The Worldgorger is nowhere to be seen.

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  He speaks with a loud, grandiose voice.

  “You've already figured out that my soul is modified to let me learn multiple magics. Well done, but do you think you know how many? If any of you can guess, I'll release you all from the cage.”

  Hunter shouts defiantly, “We won't play your games!” and he shoots an arrow at their container. It flies towards the transparent wall, but slows down before colliding, eventually clattering harmlessly against the rock ground.

  The brown-haired man chuckles and shakes his head.

  “Guess now or I'll retract my offer.”

  Astraea grunts, looking at her trapped friends and says, “Space, Earth, Mind, Time, Life and soul. I think there are six.”

  Those in the cage look on silently, tension evident in their expressions.

  “Let's see if you're right!”

  Novus disappears, and Astraea feels a sudden force on her back. She is sent stumbling forward with a cough, and he reappears in front of her, now wearing a caestus on each hand. He throws his fist into her face, and she falls to the ground after a loud cracking sound.

  “Space. That's one!”

  Three voices called out with anger as Astraea scrambles to her feet. Her face is deformed and blood pours out of her nose, but it is actively reforming and she dashes at her enemy.

  Novus crosses his arms as she approaches, and taps his foot. When she is close to him, a great spike of earth erupts and pierces her stomach and raises her two metres from the ground in less than a second. He shatters the bottom of it and she falls. Another earthen construct, this time a flat wall, shoots up and launches her vertically. As her body collides with the ground, he speaks again.

  “Earth. That's two.”

  The healer remains down, her eyes closed. Novus grunts and walks over, kicking her.

  “Get up.”

  Her body is rolled over, leaving a thin trail of blood, but she does not move. He raises a metal-covered fist and crouches down to shatter more of her bones, but at the last moment she reaches out and touches his face. He quickly reacts by lunging back, but in that short moment Astraea manages to drain enough life energy to fully recover herself. She stands back up and wipes the pooling blood off her face, leaving crimson stains. With a low growl, she says, “I am not defenceless.”

  Novus’ eyebrow twitches and his smile fades for a second. He clears his throat.

  “That's fine. It wouldn't be helpful if there wasn't anything you could do, right?”

  He shakes his head and continues, “I'll give you one free try to hit me.”

  The girl doesn't humour him with a response as she runs in again. Novus steps back to dodge her extended hand, and she tries again and again, but he evades every time. After a while, he sighs and raises a caestus. Before she tries to dodge to the side, ?elare's voice calls out.

  “Left!”

  She instantly ducks down and sweeps her leg out, colliding with something she cannot see. She hears Novus grunt and hit the ground, even though he is still preparing to strike in front of her. Sprinting to the place the sound came from, she thrusts her hand downward and drains life from an invisible enemy.

  Only a second later, she hears a snap and she is suddenly in the exact position of when Novus offered a free strike. The man is missing a large portion of his right arm. His metal glove hits the ground with a clang, and he has a furious expression as he speaks.

  “I despise interferers most of all. Still, Mind and Time. That's four.”

  He briefly shuts his eyes and his forearm regenerates.

  “Life; five.”

  Astraea stares at him with her mouth agape, causing him to laugh.

  “What, you think that's unfair? Don't worry, it comes with a cost,” he says through heavy breaths. Then, he stops and coughs into his right hand. He shows her his palm, which is now covered in blood.

  “To be honest, I'm planning to follow through with my promise then flee to recover. With the help of that serpent, you've been more than I had expected. Not to mention your cowardly surprise attack,” he laments. “Fortunately, I'm rid of that thing for now. I sent it far away from here!”

  Astraea grunts and asks, “Where did you teleport it to?”

  “Right into the Crucible. It might even have been melted alive, but I should never expect to be so lucky,” he says with a smile. “Now, let us find out if you were right!”

  The girl suddenly points behind Novus.

  “Look behind you.”

  The man looks utterly bewildered and says, “Do you think I'm stupid?”

  He removes the gauntlet from his left hand and drops it. As it falls, both noise and light vanish. Astraea notices a look of worry on her foe’s face as he turns around.

  A second later, everything returns to normal. A scream permeates the surroundings, and she sees the Worldgorger’s serpentine body wrapped around Novus, and its jaw is in both sides of his chest.