The sky above Nyramith Island had turned a deep navy, not because of the coming night but because of the sacred duel raging in the heavens.
Eldrigan Hanabas was barely clinging to consciousness. They were on minute three of fifteen of his trial. BY the third minute, he looked like he had survived the apocalypse twice. A cracked rib poked up beneath his bruised skin. His jaw was swollen, his left ankle might have been broken and his black blood was now streaming freely from above his forehead, blurring his vision. It mixed with the sweat pooling down his face. His morphing weapon flickered with each breath, cycling in and out of forms as if it couldn't decide whether it wanted to be a hammer or a shield.
Across from him hovered Sireth Marevas, the Seventh Hydrangea and pride of Nyramith Island. The man was in his Sixth Enlightenment, four levels higher than Eldrigan.
Sireth's harpoon moved with the speed of sound. Eldrigan had fought for barely three minutes and he wanted to curl up into a ball and sleep for a century. He another crimson barrier meant to split incoming divine attacks in two and another around his body to absorb the impact. His Dismemberment Divinity could literally divide all sorts of attacks by half but even so, Sireth's strikes were terrifying.
The harpoon came again, piercing a dozen layers of defense like they were wet paper. Eldrigan blocked with his morphing weapon, this time changing it into a dense hammer and parrying the blow with a screech of metal-on-metal.
His entire arm vibrated like a broken tuning fork. The body barrier around his body shattered.
In the spectator's area hovering just beyond the arena's misty boundary, Peroncerea stood stiff. Her hands clenched so hard her knuckles were white. Her normally aloof, mysterious calm was shattered. This was a slaughter on a timer. The longer he lasted, the more he bled.
"He's not going to last twelve more minutes like this."
"And yet he is," Natalis murmured with a hand against her chest. "The only reason he's not already dead is probably because Veneri has been training him nonstop every week. Remember that hell week where Veneri made him fight without his weapon?"
Narisva scoffed from where she sat upside down on a cloud construct, arms behind her head.
"He's still got his limbs. Darling went easy on him."
"Not helping."
"I know, succubus."
Eldrigan grunted in pain as he barely avoided another sweeping arc from Sireth's harpoon. A thin gash opened across his chest. His morphing weapon flickered again, transforming into dual blades. One broke on impact as he parried another strike. Sireth hadn't said a word since the battle began. Eldrigan gritted his teeth and twisted his broken blade, angling it against Sireth's shoulder, trying to push in but it was like stabbing reinforced metal. He was outmatched and still, he fought like a damn maniac. Eldrigan blocked a vertical slam from Sireth's harpoon and shouted.
"You hit like a retired sea cucumber!"
Then he got flung back like a ragdoll and crashed through several floating coral formations, his body skipping the air like a stone across a pond. Peroncerea took a sharp breath as Eldrigan, blood dripping from his chin, stabilized in midair. He floated a little lopsided, favoring his left leg, which refused to cooperate anymore. His gaze was fixed on Sireth.
And through the mist of agony, he smirked.
"You're boring. You swing that harpoon like it's compensating for something."
Sireth blinked. That was the first time he reacted. Maybe Eldrigan would survive minute four after all.
But the fourth minute should have been the last.
Eldrigan Hanabas knew it. He could feel it, screaming in the marrow of his shattered bones.
Sireth Marevas hadn't even broken a sweat. The harpoon in his grip spun lazily in his hand, leaving behind spectral cracks in the sky itself, like reality couldn't even handle its presence. Fifteen minutes. That was the Sacred Trial. He was on minute four.
"Move!"
The voice wasn't his own this time. It was Narisva's.
His body obeyed without thought. His Dismemberment flared and he twisted and flipped backward in the air. The harpoon sliced past the edge of his jaw by inches, tearing a few strands of his dark hair and clipping his cheek. It would have removed half his skull if Narisva hadn't screamed.
"Thanks, your highness!"
"Just don't die, dumbass!.I'm not dealing with Peroncerea's grief arc!"
Peroncerea was down below with the rest of Sentina Erideae, her eyes locked onto him, shaking. She was just watching.
'I can't die. Not while she's watching.'
Sireth's next strike was pure brutality. The harpoon extended into a chain, whipping across the clouds in a zigzagging nightmare of metal. Eldrigan used Dismemberment. The chain passed through him and he darted upward, taking the sky with him.
A scream ripped from Sireth's throat.
"Cowardice won't save you, Dismembered One."
Eldrigan spat back, flying backward through dense cloud cover.
"I'm not here to win. I'm here to outlive your interest."
Minute Five.
He didn't waste time. If Vastarael hadn't slipped him Paina Tes that let his flight last fifteen minutes, Eldrigan would have plummeted into lava on minute two. But now, with the burning surge of ethereal speed on his back, he ripped through the sky like a comet. They flew across Nyramith Island. The volcano below blurred and forested cliffs shattered under stray shockwaves. The ocean whipped with rising storms from Sireth's fury. Birds scattered. Clouds dispersed. To any outsider, it looked like two gods chasing each other in war but Eldrigan wasn't a god. He was a Second Enlightenment Split with a cracked ribcage and an overpowered Divinity and he was somehow still alive.
Sireth's next spear dive came from above. The harpoon screamed through the atmosphere. Eldrigan pivoted. Dismemberment split the attack's kinetic force into two directions. It exploded on either side of him, causing massive wind funnels but buying him another second.
Minute six.
Eldrigan snapped his fingers, forming hexagonal plates of barriers coated with his Divinity, thin but effective. They hovered behind him in clusters. Sireth's next two throws cracked them, but not shattered. It was enough.
Minute Seven.
He went low through caverns and waterfalls, weaving around volcanic peaks and forests. The sky dimmed as he darted into narrow passes. Sireth followed but now the space was tight. His harpoon kept clanking off trees and rock, causing less range.
"I just need to keep this bastard annoyed."
His morphing weapon transformed into a bow. He didn't even aim. He fired a barrage of arrows that dismembered in mid-air. Sireth dodged with casual annoyance but it bought another 20 seconds.
Minute Eight.
Sireth roared. He was done chasing. The harpoon disassembled into dozens of tiny needle-like spears. Eldrigan's eyes widened.
"Shit."
He dove straight down, firing a Dismemberment arrow beneath him, ripping the ground below so he could plunge into the magma caverns. The scattered harpoons followed. Eldrigan danced through the caves.
Minute Nine.
The pain was unbearable. Three harpoons had embedded into his thigh and one in his shoulder. His vision flickered but his mind was on fire. He understood now. If he forced Sireth into complex terrain, the range of his attacks would drop. Sireth's moves were wide, commanding, elegant and perfect for the open sky and sea, but useless in terrain.
So Eldrigan gave up the sky. He ducked into smaller and smaller tunnels, dragging Sireth into chase mode.
Minute Ten.
He activated Dismemberment again, cutting off the shockwaves in the area behind him by half, destabilizing Sireth's trajectory. The harpoons still flew. Two more grazed his arm and his left leg felt numb. He was running out of blood but he was still going. Above, they could feel the fight even though they were deep underground.
"He's almost there," Phaenora, who was looking at Vastarael's notification of passing the First Sacred Trial, said.
Peroncerea whispered, almost to herself in worry.
"Please. Just a little more..."