The God of Demise’s head rolled along the white dunes. His source, cursed with decapitation, most definitely perished before me. I observed it happen with my Eyes as I drew a magic circle around my burned legs. The light of Ei Chael gathered at the cross section, but it faced a strange resistance. It wasn’t healing. The regeneration magic had no effect.
From seemingly nowhere, a voice spoke in an echo. “These are the dunes of demise. Whatever meets its end in the Withered Desert cannot be returned to normal.”
The white sand in front of me shaped itself into the vague shape of a person, quickly refining into the God of Demise himself, with his white turban and cape.
“Hmm. I see it’s exactly as Dilfred warned. To revive after receiving the curse of decapitation is quite the immortal feat,” I said, hovering above the ground using Fless. “But what will you do now? Without my feet, your sand hell cannot swallow me.”
“Fool.”
The God of Demise stepped down hard on the sand. The next moment, he leaped, appearing right in front of me.
“Vebzud.”
I thrust my jet-black fingers at Anahem’s neck. He caught my hand in his left one and moved even closer towards me.
“Hraaagh!”
He punched me with his right fist, a mighty blow that forced my body back several meters. Even when using Beno Ievun around my left hand to block him, the blow left my hand numb.
“Oh? I didn’t think you were holding back earlier—no, that’s not it.” I stared into his abyss and laughed. “Your magic and physical strength increased after you revived.”
I drew a magic circle on the white desert. Chains of hellfire appeared from four directions, entwining themselves around Anahem. They attempted to lift his divine body upwards, but he grabbed on to the chains.
“Graaah!”
Using all of his muscles, the God of Demise yanked the fiery chains as hard as he could. His strength and order made the chains of hellfire creak in protest before they were ripped to shreds.
“Every time the God of Demise perishes, he gains power. Am I correct?”
“The despair that approaches you from behind is the true demise.” He held his fists before him in a fighting stance, and white sand swirled around him. “No matter how much you struggle, there is no escaping one’s own demise, and thus all life crumbles to specks of sand at my feet.”
He lowered his center of gravity, ready to leap at any moment.
“On the day life is born, their demise is similarly decided. From the beginning of the world until now, no one has escaped.”
Below me Anahem started to run, hands outstretched. I caught both of his fists in my palms, and we started to grapple.
“Sink,” he said in a solemn voice.
The sand at my feet shifted, forming the shape of a hand to grab at me.
“I saw through the identity of your sand hell long ago,” I replied.
The Jio Graze I had scattered in the area when I burned my legs had actually formed the magic circle for Aviasten Ziara. I activated it to wrap my missing legs in glittering black flames, allowing me to easily kick away the sand hand. I then proceeded to slam my Aviasten Ziara foot into his solar plexus.
“Urk...”
“Did you think just because I didn’t have any feet that I couldn’t kick you?”
I used the momentum of Fless to sink my black-flamed foot further into Anahem’s divine body. Our hands separated, and the God of Demise was firmly pushed back. His footprints dragged through the sand, his abdomen crumbling to ash before my eyes. Yet he appeared unaffected by the wound, instead grabbing my foot with both hands.
“You can flee, but know demise will always be beside you.”
He used my momentum to spin on the spot, accelerating to his maximum speed in three turns before throwing me at the sand with all his might. I set a black-flamed foot on the white sand to control my fall. I watched him as he went over to pick up his blade from where he’d dropped it after I beheaded him.
“Struggle all you want; everything you have is built upon sand,” his eerie voice echoed in my head. It was the voice of the Withered Blade, Guzelami.
The sound reverberated, a sandstorm swirling around me in response. In no time at all, several towers of sand were constructed and eventually I was surrounded by a wall of countless sand towers, completing the shape of a giant sand palace.
“Guzelami’s one cry will cause everything to collapse and wither.”
When Anahem swung the Withered Blade to the side, the scimitar let out an eerie cry. Grains of sand flew into the air from my arm—my body had transformed into sand.
“Jirasd.”
I fired black lightning at Anahem. Sand rose from the palace, forming a shield that blocked Jirasd.
“Eleonore.”
I deployed a barrier made of the light from artificial sources to cut off Guzelami’s cries. And though my body’s transformation into sand was paused, the barrier shattered immediately.
“I won’t let you,” Anahem said.
He closed the distance between us in a single leap, slashing at the artificial source barrier. My mauve-dyed eyes glared at his order as I took a step even closer to him.
“Are you trying to kill yourself, misfit? The space around me is death and demise itself.”
“Don’t you know? I’ve overcome countless deaths and demises already.”
At point-blank range, my Magic Eyes crossed gazes with his Divine Eyes.
“Aviasten Ziara.”
My arms started glowing with the same black flames as my feet. But the God of Demise continued thrusting the Withered Blade forward without a care. The scorching blade that could destroy a source in a single strike touched my chest. But then, Guzelami froze.
The moment his attention focused on my black-flamed hands, I used Zola e Dypt to bind his body, chains winding around his throat in an ever-tightening stranglehold. His Divine Eyes turned to glare at me.
“The same trick won’t work on me twice. Do you still not get it?” he asked.
Zola e Dypt creaked under the strain. Anahem ripped away the hellfire chains with brute force as though they hadn’t restrained him at all.
“Did you think I’d try the same trick thrice?” I replied.
The black flames of my hands around his neck dimmed, revealing the black collar of Nedneliaz. The flames on my hands had been used to conceal it.