Destined To Die

Chapter 24 - Godblood

-24-

-Godblood-

Chernobog moved with surprising speed for his size, vaulting over the table in the blink of an eye and crossing the distance between them in a few short steps. Even to Akane's sharpened senses, the speed was near blinding. He barely had time to bring his blades up before the god's fist slammed into him with a mighty crack. While he'd avoided any potentially fatal blow to his chest, the force of the impact threw Akane back with the force of a cannonball into the wooden side of the chamber. The heavy timbers splintered under the impact as he went straight through, back slamming into the stone just beyond, logs tumbling down on top of him.

"Thought you were smarter than this, boy," Chernobog growled, cracking his knuckles and looking at the hole that Akane had been thrown through, a chorus of laughter and applause rising from the table. Dust settling over the chamber in the dim glow of the braziers in each corner, the creaking of wood fading. "Guess I was mistaken. Disappointing, really."

Akane pushed himself up from underneath the fallen logs across his back, smiling through bloodied teeth as he stepped back through the hole, spitting onto the floor. "That all you got, old man?"

Chernobog's eyes narrowed even further, the dull laughter from the table fading into silence once again. Akane could see a few figures edging away out of the corner of his eye, trying to put distance between the two, though most of the figures seemed keen enough to wait and watch the fight unfold. It was strange. It still hurt like hell, but a blow like that should have killed him. Akane knew that he'd been changed somehow by all that had happened, but the true extent was shocking. A rush of exhilaration filled him as he looked up into the god's eyes, seeing a flicker of uncertainty there.

"I'm going to beat that smug look off your face, you fuckin maggot," Chernobog said, his voice low as Akane advanced, "You used stolen souls to kill a sneaky little schemer, don't think that makes you a real fucking Godslayer."

Akane could feel his heard pounding in his ears as he dashed forward, sliding low to barely dodge under Chernobog's next swing and sinking a blade into the god's calf. It was little more than a pinprick to the huge being, but Akane still felt a great satisfaction in the sensation of fresh god's blood running hot down along his hand.

He shifted into smoke just in time to avoid Chernobog's other massive foot coming down, curling through the smoke and sending deep cracks into the solid stone below, reforming almost instantaneously and raking both blades across the god's back with an upward leap. Both blades dug into flesh, carving up the god's flank, but each blow Akane inflicted that wasn't fatal only served to piss the giant off.

A hand reached out in a blur of speed, grabbing hold of Akane's leg and wrenching him through the air, slamming him down on his back against the cracked stones with thunderous force. The god had taken advantage of Akane's arrogance, a gigantic fist beating like a battering ram down on Akane's head, blood spilling all over the floor. In that moment he realised how much he'd underestimated Chernobog, how wide the gap between mortal and god still was.

"You Little Shit!" Chernobog roared, punctuating each word with another blow, dazing Akane and cracking the floor of the chamber even further.

With each blow, with each spike of pain, Akane could feel the force in the back of his mind growing more and more prominent. It was a fervour, a low hum that rose to fever pitch, breaking against the door as the monster awoke, the brand on his chest flaring up with a burning pain.

Akane roared out, the pain splitting his head open as he reached forward with one hand to meet Chernobog's coming fist, seeing the wickedly long black blade of the monster from the ziggurat. Chernobog's fist continued forward, skewering itself through the knuckle and out through the back of his palm on the monstrous blade of black metal, eyes widening as Akane's form shifted beneath him. With a ripple of smoke the form of the entity took hold again, a gout of black godblood splashing over its chest as it stared up at The Black God with its cold, white eyes.