Marduk's voice boomed across the warped battlefield as he gathered power for another reality-altering strike. "Your champion grows weaker by the moment, old serpent. Soon you will watch him die as you watched your precious Apsu fall to my blade."
The words struck Adam like physical blows. Not because they hurt him, but because he saw what they did to Tiamat. Her massive head turned toward him for just a heartbeat, and in her ancient eyes he saw something that made his blood run cold. Not fear for herself—never that—but the terrible possibility that she might watch another champion fall before her vengeance could be claimed.
That look decided everything.
Adam's plasma blades flared to their full intensity as he launched himself forward. Not at Marduk—the god was too well-defended, too surrounded by layers of divine protection. Instead, Adam struck at the golden ground beneath the god's feet, his weapons carving deep furrows through the blessed stones.
