Protectors- Consequence

Chapter Thirty One: The Death of Noctum Pt2

Noctum shook with agony, his entire body convulsing as his skin hung loosely from his bones, his body burning everything he had left for energy. But on he continued, rain and snow keeping him from dehydration death as his body burned everything it had left to keep him moving. Shu was on his last legs, his head swimming with dehydration, as his more constant use of soul burner had left him without any way of replenishing his body fluids. Two weeks had passed, and neither of the two had died or yielded. Noctum flung himself into the fray, his fists colliding with Shu's as the two fought, but it had lost its tension, its heat. The battle had dragged on for so long that the world had gone back to normal, the superhuman fighting the god yesterday's news.

"How long before we can do something?" Wraith asked, walking through the back door of the house with a beer, sipping down the stronger than usual alcohol as Simon's stream broadcast the vigilante's fight with the god,

"It's been a fortnight and they're still going," Zachary sighed, "but I can feel it, Noctum's got something big for today, something he's going to use to win us the fight,"

Spirit conjured up another beer, sitting down on the couch that had been formed from nothing. Zachary hadn't moved during the two weeks, so Spirit had built up a makeshift house around him, setting it up to be indistinguishable from the environment on the outside so that NATO couldn't send more troops their way. The phone buzzed with a message and Wraith snapped it up, checking the text quickly. Sometimes broadcasts could be delayed, and Adam would definitely call the moment he defeated the gods,

"Calvin says that he's been enlisted to hunt us down as a private contractor from NATO," It spoke aloud, but was cut off by the television,

The sounds of the fighting had been intensifying ever since the beginning, but suddenly, the television was deadly silent.

Noctum punched harder and harder, and as his fists continued to collide with Shu, he felt his remaining stamina slipping away. He knew that all he had left was going to leave him within the hour, so that was his limit for beating Shu. He kicked the god aside and powered up. Full soul burner power, Aura blazing so hot that the dome surrounding him began to crack from the sheer magnitude of his strength, but once again, like always, Shu started copying his power, catching up from absolute force of will. The god rocketed forward, but Noctum was not holding anything back, and a vacuum wave pulled the Egyptian into the vigilante's fist hard enough for it to go right through him,

"Shit," Shu muttered, his voice hoarse as he slid off the fist,

Shu looked back at his long life, revelling in the beauties he had seen as part of the task force that searched for intelligent life. He remembered first arriving on Earth, remembered falling in love there, remembered how Apis had sworn to destroy humanity. He remembered being one of three remaining people of his race, watching in horror as Apis broke the few cities that were left, and how Anubis, Ra and he had faced down the beast in their last moments,

"I'll never lose to a villain like you!" Shu roared, but it was an empty threat, he was too damaged to continue the battle,

"You already have," Noctum shook from hunger, his vision blurry, but his conviction strong, "You lost to me the moment you let your emotions cloud your judgement,"

Noctum pulled on his past for anger, for strength, but he found nothing for once. The numb emptiness that was where his anger had once been was suffocating, and he felt his Aura falter, his hunger somehow growing beyond the aching acidy pain that ripped at his intestines. He wondered when the last time he had eaten was, ignoring the ramen that he had vomited out during the first hour of the fight,