Protectors- Wrath of The Stranger

Chapter Five: The Final Showdown Begins

Noctum's animal cry was cut short, his anger stopped by a punch from Apis. His whole body lurched with the agony of the attack, despite The Stranger pulling his punch, it was still the same level of force as getting hit by a train. Noctum rose, his smile from before completely gone, in favour of a determined frown. It was a sad reality, that all of this fighting would have to happen, but Noctum loved the rush of adrenaline that battle brought. He rolled aside, avoiding Apis' Aura blast by a hair, spinning to his feet as he avoided a second one. The Stranger was messing around, barely even thinking about the attacks, and yet each one was closer and closer to reducing Noctum to dust,

"You know, Noctum," Apis explained, "Zavant died in one of the only ways it is possible to kill a God, or someone with the Aura of one,"

"So that's how I kill you, then?" Noctum asked, dodging another attack, "good to know,"

"You misunderstood me. The only way to kill a God is to dispose of the corpse, which is immensely difficult," Apis chuckled, ceasing his attacks, "we both died in that explosion, Adam. You had more Aura and less wounds, so your body healed faster than mine. I would have taken many years more if it wasn't for Samantha's assistance. She was my pawn for many a year, her mind powerful enough to communicate with me from across the stars,"

Noctum ran towards Apis, catching the god by surprise. He twisted with a punch, his fist making not so much as a noise as it was caught in Apis' palm. Apis tossed Noctum into the air with ease, his unholy halo vibrating as he charged a beam that would fry the vigilante, before he thought of a better idea. He merely turned around as Noctum thudded to the ground, having fallen almost a hundred meters,

"You don't have any powers," Apis smirked, "so that was a lot easier than I expected,"

"Fuck you,"

Apis spun, shock on his bull face. Standing, clutching at his bleeding right arm which had shattered from the fall, was Adam Oughton. That was when Apis realised it, saw it, dreaded it. A very faint red glow surrounded Noctum as he glared at The Stranger,

"This can not be," Apis boomed, "you have no powers anymore,"

"There's something I just realised, Apis," Noctum spat, blood from his partially broken jaw spilling out, "I've always had powers. I would have died without them. My will, my durability, my dedication. These are my best powers, because they weren't brought about by some fucking orb, they were made through my own blood sweat and tears,"

His Aura grew very slightly, still barely more than a wisp around the vigilante, but there nonetheless. Noctum ran towards Apis again, his resolve to go down swinging pressing him further into his battle-lust as he pummelled The Stranger, his fists failing to do any more damage than before, but the absolute determination scaring Apis. The Stranger backhanded Noctum, the slap breaking the sound barrier as it knocked Noctum to his knees,

"You are like an insolent little brat to me," Apis growled, his halo flaring with the power of Zavant's final beam, "I wanted to smack you around to show you the futility of your struggle, but I'm going to have to put an end to you now,"

His halo sent a blast of freezing fire at Noctum, the sheer contrast of the blast threatening to shred the vigilante. Noctum stood tall, however, knowing that he was going to have to meet his end eventually, so why not right then and there. Then Simon flung himself in front of the blast. Noctum was confused for a moment, hadn't Simon just died?

"Not done yet," The man's voice sounded from beside Noctum, "I can be in two places at the same time,"

Despite being caught in The Stranger's powerful blast, Simon was there, pulling Noctum out of the way. His power was to multiply, Noctum found that to be obvious, but how that was going to help against someone like The Stranger was another matter entirely. Either way, Adam was grateful for the assistance. All that time he had spent fighting and being possessed had taken its toll, and he could have gone for a long rest, if it wasn't for the ultimately powerful Egyptian God that floated before them, his unholy halo prepared to rain hellfire upon them,