Chapter 84

The crimson lightning that cascaded down from the sky hit all around the kingdom with loud and painful sounding cracks and booms. The thick smell of smoke filled the air as I turned around, and saw a stand erupt in frames, before quickly spreading around the entire marketplace, turning it into a burning, bright hell.

"There's not much we can do."

The woman suddenly dropped her gun and closed her eyes, a small yet serene smile forming on her face.

"May death take thee with open arms."

She whispered as she looked up at the sky. I looked up with her and saw red, cascading energy formulate above the clouds, before crashing down just millimeters from her body.

"Is this a coincidence, or is there…"

I instinctively looked up at Maxwell, and saw that his hood was now removed. One half of his face was still Aaron, and it looked contorted in pain and effort, as if he purposely directed the lighting bolt away from her.

"Aaron, you bastard."

I smiled at him briefly before hurriedly looking back towards Carter, who was on the street with me, holding Lorin's large and limp body in his arms.

"I'll help evacuate people, you deal with him with the others!"

He shouted, running in the opposite direction with Lorin's body. I nodded at him as he left and glared back towards Maxwell, who was ready to conjure another spear of light.

"Move!"

I shouted to Brinod, who seemed too engulfed with anger and rage to notice that his friend was taken away by Carter, and was too focused on killing Maxwell.

I leapt into Brinod, sending him to the ground just in time to dodge the attack. Brinod as I leaped into him and knocked him over just in time for the radiant spear of light to collide with the carriage behind them instead. The young man looked towards me with wide eyes, almost unable to speak.

"...T-thank you."

He said softly as he stood up slowly and reloaded his gun, ready to keep fighting Maxwell.

"That lightning bolt missed her by a few millimeters. Maxwell would have one hundred percent hit her. That could mean that Aaron is currently inside him and fighting his will from completely taking over his body and gaining all of his authority."

Another spear of light hit the ground a meter and a half from us, but the energy it radiated was enough to still pose a serious threat to us. Brinod leapt to his left and fired 3 more bullets, which whipped past Maxwell and hit the water pipes nearby.

The subtle collision made the pipes suddenly explode, sending a large amount of water towards Maxwell, who created a shield composed of red and yellow energy to shield himself from the oncoming assault.

I expected the water to extinguish the flames, but the second the water made contact; the flames only grew, as if the water deemed the opposite effect that it usually would.

"Does the fire have divine nullification properties?"

I studied the flames for a few seconds, noticing how they turned from fiery orange to a hot, crimson red that engulfed more of the market. The color was extremely reminiscent of the Nullifying bullets I was given in the Dark Market. 

"Isaac!"

I heard Cattleya yell from the window as she jumped out and landed onto the ground, rolling through the raging fire and approaching me quickly. She brushed off her dark blue outfit and coughed.

"I'll help Carter evacuate, you and the others deal with Aaron!"

She ran over and took a elderly couple who was trapped behind an array of fallen debris and led them out of the fire and away from the danger. I could easily tell I was in the middle of the fire. Smoke was quickly filling my nose and mouth, making me immediately become submerged with the potent smell. 

"Where are you?"

I heard a voice call out from somewhere within the smoke and flames. I heard heavy footsteps heading my way, and suddenly a large punch took me right in the face! I stumbled back and held my nose which was already leaking fresh and warm blood. The cloaked Maxwell glared at me and the corners of his lips curled up.

"Apocalypse…"

I was taken aback by the nickname. I thought only Raymond, Crodio, the cult leader and The Umbridge knew of my honorific name. 

"You know me? I figured you did since you're a True God."

Maxwell chuckled lightly, brushing aside Aarons silver hair to reveal his beaming yellow eyes, which were boring into me with malice.

"I am a True God, but my power is greatly diminished since I'm in a host body. If it was really "me" I'd be able to end the battle in a snap of my finger. So consider yourself lucky."

He said in a slithery tone. Crimson lighting continued to cascade from the sky and hit my surroundings. I looked up at the sky, which was starting to be revealed under the thick blanket of smoke, and noticed no bolts were headed in my direction. I smirked softly and looked back towards Maxwell. 

"It looks like Aaron's fighting you right now. No bolts have hit my location because you know he doesn't want to hurt me. If you can let an Order 3 continue to damage your physical body like this, it really makes me think if godhood is really all it seems to be, huh."

Maxwell let out a low and loud hiss, causing illusory tendrils to manifest and form around his body. The tendrils quickly shot in my direction, and I immediately took a leap back to avoid the sudden attack. He growled again and attacked me like a violent predator, clawing and teething like an animal rather than a god-like being.

I took notice of this and raised my eyebrow.

"You fight like a dog rather than a god, why?"

I asked proudly as I kicked the ladder in the chest, before reaching for my handgun and planting 2 bullets into his chest. The bullets collided with his skin, but instead of completely lodging themselves in and delivering the desired effect, they merely slipped out and fell to the ground with quiet clanks.

"Where are you?"

The voice called again. The voice sounded desperate and tiny, like a child. I paused for a brief second and I felt a massive wave of dread wash over my body; it was Damien. I immediately rushed over to the source of the sound and saw the young boy huddled in the corner, in a ball attempting to avoid the rampant and violent flames. 

"Isaac!"

He looked at me with wide and terrified eyes. His lip was quivering and I could see the tears formatting in his eyes.

"What happened to Mr. Aaron?"

He asked in puzzlement, fear and confusion. I didn't know how to explain such a thing to a young child, so I remained silent and reached my hand out for the boy to take. Damien reached his hand out but suddenly paused.

His face suddenly lost all semblance of emotion, and his eyes flashed over into dark pools of water. 

"I know what happened, kid."

I immediately recognized the voice. It was Raymond, who could have suddenly controlled Damien like this. 

"What did you do to him?!"

I asked Raymond, who calmly walked out of the smoke and stared down at the young "boy".

"Nothing, it's not even Damien."

He suddenly waved his hand, and Damien's physical form began to compress and expand, before transforming into an illusory black shadow with essence leaking out of it.

"I replicated the boys characteristics to fool you and Maxwell, now I have you exactly where I need you."

"Exactly where you need me?"

I asked, folding my arms while looking directly at Damien's shadowy form with curiosity. Raymond chuckled and nodded.

"I won't kill you, but we do need to kill Maxwell."

He suddenly leaned his body to the left a little, effortlessly dodging the crimson bolt heading down from the sky.

"I know the situation. Aaron's attempting to hold him back. I know he doesn't think very fond of me, so that's why the bolt came in my direction."

I nodded slowly. Suddenly, Maxwell hurled out of the fog, carrying his spear made of pure light. With a powerful swing, he dealt a devastating blow to Raymond, slicing him in half with a quick strike.

I watched in horror as Raymond's upper half fell down onto the ground, crimson blood gushing forth. But his body suddenly began to dissipate and ebb away.

I looked back to Maxwell with terrified and confused eyes. I didn't take the time to think about Raymond's death, as I immediately reached for the spear in his hands, taking a hold of it tightly.

"Isaac will be able to hold the spear of light without any repercussions."

Raymond's voice suddenly called in my mind. I instinctively looked up and saw him descend from

above. He had his rule book beside him, and I noticed a pair of large black wings on his back, flapping gently as he descended.

"I'm an angel, did you really think killing me with that weapon would really destroy my existence?"

He chuckled lightly, before calmly swiping his hand to his left. The spear of light suddenly left Maxwell's arms, and it seemed to be forged into my grip tightly. The second I made direct contact with the weapon, I immediately felt a massive surge of power overwhelm my body, but it was quickly nullified by Raymond's book.

"Apocalypse, do what just be done."

Raymond said in a solemn tone as he looked down at me, flapping his wings gently. A sinister smirk formed on Maxwell's face as he extended his right arm, transforming it into a large tendril formulated from corrupted characteristics of the Patience path.

"He's using Aaron's characteristics? If he continues Aaron will certainly lose control or die."

Raymond said. I noticed that there wasn't much emotion or desperation inside Raymond's tone, as if he didn't mind Aaron's proposed demise.

"You don't seem all that worried. Is this part of a plan or something?"

I asked in confusion, looking towards Raymond who was still hovering in the air. Raymond looked back at me and smiled.

"I've planned a lot, maybe I even planned all this."

He didn't say anything more, giving over talk a mysterious and unexpected edge. The tendrils that formatted on Maxwell's right arm began to wrap around his own body, as if they had a life of their own.

"Save me…save me…"

Aaron's voice suddenly shot out of the tendrils, before being instantly shut out by one of the illusory, slippery appendages covering Maxwell's mouth.

"He's being corrupted right now!"

I swung the light spear around in my hand, before jabbing it deep into Maxwell's stomach. He let out a pained roar as he attempted to grab the spear and tear it out of his abdomen.

"The fire, Raymond!"

I signaled towards the roaring crimson flames, Raymond stunted his head and caught sight of the chaos and grinned.

"Nice thinking, Apocalypse."

He suddenly wrote down another rule in his book, one I couldn't read due to my current situation. He suddenly raised his hand and snapped his fingers. All of the sudden, the crimson flames turned a bright green hue, and they all started to gravitate and move towards Raymond.

"The True God characteristics in the fire are still potent, I recommend using Concealment to hide them away!" 

I shouted, jabbing the spear deeper into Maxwell's gut. I could feel him writhing on the end of the tip, crimson blood gushed forth, coating the spear in a painting of red.

Sigils started to appear around Raymond as he raised his left hand and clenched it into a fist. All of the sudden, the flames intensity began to dwindle and falter quickly, before the once raging fire was nothing more than a composite entity in Raymond's hands.

The authority of concealment began to appear within the fire, as the flames jumped and danced as they took form of the symbol within its own embers.

Raymond suddenly threw the embers in Maxwell's direction, and they hit him right in the head. The authorities laced within the fire began to tear and eat away at Maxwell's shadowy and illusory new form.

The sigils around Raymond suddenly disappeared as Maxwell thrusted his body outwards, sending a massive shockwave filled with a True God's essence within the entire market.

The powerful attack sent me back, but Raymond used his angelic precognition to become aware of the attack seconds before it came, disappearing and reappearing in just moments.

"Why didn't you do that to dodge Maxwell's first attack? You wouldn't have died!"

The spear of light fell from my hand and disappeared before my eyes, transforming back into tiny fibers of essence and light fragments that flew back up into nothing.

Raymond sighed and shook his head with a sly smile.

"I'll always just resurrect, Apocalypse. It's a speciality of mine, that's why one lives so dangerously like I am now. Believe it or not; If I didn't have an ability at Order 2 I would be in my house sipping tea with a book on my lap. So consider yourself lucky for my help."

He said solemnly, turning back towards his book to implement a new rule. But his eyes widened and he stumbled back upon seeing that the book was changed.

"Maxwell Hammers gains all authority over these laws for the next hour."