Descent of a God

Agrona

|Jude|

Sovereign Kiros ascended from his imposing throne, his overwhelming presence bearing down upon me from all directions. The weight of his power pressed upon me, but I stood firm, unyielding, embracing it effortlessly.

A sly smile formed on my lips as I provoked him, taunting his unease. "Oh, come now. Is a distinguished Vritra like yourself truly afraid of a mere Lesser?"

His countenance contorted with frustration, his resolve tested to the limits. In an instant, he propelled himself forward, halting directly in front of me.

Undeniably formidable.

Yes, he possessed immense strength.

But now, he paled in comparison to the force I had become.

In an instant, a deadly barrage of spikes materialized from all directions, aimed to impale me. It was a spell I recognized, similar to Uto's, but amplified to an unprecedented degree.

However, with unwavering focus, I activated [Infinity], weaving motes of spatium around me to form an impenetrable shield. The spikes collided with the protective barrier, their momentum reduced to a sluggish crawl.

Kiros's eyes widened in sheer disbelief as I utilized the swift technique of [Nine Celestial Steps], materializing before him in an instant. With a devastating strike empowered by the forces of Destruction, my fist surged forward.

His desperate attempt to summon a shield of asuran mana proved futile against my overwhelming power.

My blow pierced through his defenses, propelling him backward with great force, the impact leaving him visibly injured and reeling from the damage inflicted.

A victorious surge coursed through me as I stood firm, my resolve unshaken. The tides of the battle had shifted, and I stood as the dominant force in our clash.

"You are pathetic," I declared, channeling the essence of my power into a devastating surge of purple flames. The element of luck had granted me a decisive advantage, allowing me to unleash the full force of destruction upon him. His weakened state meant he stood no chance of withstanding my onslaught.

His agonized screams pierced the air as the ethereal flames consumed his body, tearing and annihilating him on a fundamental level. Every molecule, every fiber of his being was reduced to ashes.

Within moments, nothing remained of him but scattered embers. The onlookers, their faces etched with horror and disbelief, bore witness to the swift and resounding defeat of a being they had once revered as a god.

A pearlescent oval appeared on the arena floor, twenty feet in front of the high box. I glanced up to see two figures step through, one familiar and the other not.

The first, Agrona, was adorned with horns that spread out from his head like an elk's, embellished with chains and rings. His sharp, sturdy features were uncomfortably reminiscent of Sylvie's.

The second figure was Tessia, but something was off. She was dressed in form-fitting battle-robes, similar to Seris's, but with individual emerald green scales shaped like little leaves. Her arms were bare, revealing the glowing runes I had seen in my vision. Although she looked like Tessia, she was not the same person.

Tessia had been a princess, raised in the royal palace in Zestier, taught the manners and customs of elven, dwarven, and human nobility. She moved with a graceful poise that extended to every aspect of her being. But the person in front of me was different. This imposter moved with aggressive confidence, perhaps like Cecilia from Arthur's past life. The harm that experience had done to her must have carried through to this life, no doubt influenced by Agrona, just as Nico's misplaced rage had been.

However, I knew I had the power to defeat them both. Even Agrona was no match for me.

As the people in the stands fell to their knees to properly bow, their voices echoing in unison, "All hail High Sovereign Agrona Vritra!" I spoke out into the ensuing silence, "I guess I finally got your attention."

Agrona smirked as he rested a hand on the small of Cecilia's back. She gestured with her arms in a complicated motion, and suddenly I felt a pinprick of light burning in the middle of my core. Cecilia's hands widened, and the pinprick expanded into an orb of white light that surrounded me, pushing away dust and dirt. Little eddies of wind and bursts of flame manifested around the outside of the sphere, with moisture condensing against it to drip down like a dewy morning.

Clear crystal bars thrust up out of the ground in a square with me at the center. The crystal had a liquid smoothness to it, turning just above my head so the bars all ran together, forming a cage. It seemed like Cecilia's spell was trying to suck out the mana from my body and atmosphere, but my dominion over it was superior, rendering the mana nullification spell useless.

Agrona's smirk sharpened. "Was this all done just for me? I'm flattered, Jude. For a lesser, your over-inflated sense of self-importance is astounding. But you seem to have tried very hard to get my attention. And, well, now you have it."

Agrona's head cocked to the side, sending the tinkling of golden chains rustling through the deadly-silent coliseum. "I find myself quite eager to see how your new abilities function. I'll take great pleasure in dismantling you piece by piece to find out."

I let out a laugh, causing the crystal cage to shatter into shards.

[Nine Celestial Steps]

Aetheric pathways formed a path in front of me almost instantly, allowing me to traverse the distance faster than Agrona and Tess could keep up with. I appeared right by her side and placed my left hand on her shoulder before whispering, "I'm sorry for being so late, Tessia."

"Jude..." she muttered out, and I could swear that Tess had taken over her body at that moment.

My emerald eyes gleamed golden as I seized the moment to attack Cecilia's soul, wounding it and sending it into slumber. Tess's body went limp, and I allowed her to lean against my arm.

Agrona, fueled by soulfire and surrounded by a menacing array of black spikes, unleashed his attack upon me. While it may have appeared conventional at first glance, its sheer power exceeded anything I had faced before. In the past, such an assault would have posed a grave threat, but that was a different era.

With a flick of my hand, I commanded the very fabric of spatium.

[Infinity]

A cascade of motes surged forth, swiftly diverting and shielding Tess and me from Agrona's onslaught. As the dust settled, I regarded a dumbfounded Agrona with a confident smirk, my transformation leaving him awestruck.

Harnessing the might of my half-fusion core, a radiant energy pulsed through me, imposing an overwhelming pressure upon Agrona. Stumbling under the weight of my power, he mustered his own strength in a desperate attempt to counter. Yet, it was a futile endeavor, for my newfound might eclipsed his, leaving him at a distinct disadvantage.

Noticing the seismic surge of mana, the four sovereigns swiftly converged upon the scene. Their arrival only solidified my resolve.

'This is the moment for retribution,' I silently declared, as I unveiled the full extent of my unleashed power. It was time to put an end to Agrona once and for all, to bring about the inevitable reckoning that had been building for far too long.

[A/N: This concludes the Alacarya season of this ff. The next season will be final, and I am aiming for 18 chapters to finish the ff with 140 total chapters.]