Leon and Samael faced one another amidst the ruins of the shattered domain, both breathing heavily.
Leon's grip tightened around Ascalon, yet fractures had already spread across the sacred blade.
Across from him, Samael's obsidian fist was no better, cracked and crumbling from the sheer force of their collision.
Their battle had lasted mere minutes.
Yet within those minutes, they had unleashed everything.
Divinity against Demonic Divinity.
God against Demon.
And neither side had prevailed.
Both had only recently ascended. Neither had fully mastered the overwhelming authority flowing through their new divine bodies. That lack of control played a part in the stalemate.
But Leon knew the greatest reason he could not finish Samael off was not that the Apostle of Chaos was too strong.
It was because something within Ascalon itself was rejecting him.
