With a flick of his hand, Gladwin summoned a chain wall.
The monster's fist collided with it, sending a huge shockwave, blowing everything away.
And suddenly, in the dust and debris, the trio could only hear the clangs of chains and fists.
"FIGHT!!" shouted Gladwin, who clashed with Zerxes among the dust.
The clashes were heard all around them.
The only thing they could see was the golden aura the chains emitted.
The trio backed together, looking around them.
"S–so fast," Autumn muttered.
"FIGHT, DAMMIT!!" Gladwin shouted, while getting slammed away, but he recovered quickly.
He caught Zerxes' follow-up punch by wrapping chains around his hands.
Gladwin then used the chains to throw the monster.
And soon, the dust appeared again.
"You know what?" Leo shouted. "Fuck it!!"
He jumped into the haze.
"Leo!" Autumn shouted.
Suddenly, Thomas' hands blazed up.
He then jumped into the smoke too.
Their battle went to the opposite end of the village, making the smoke and dust go away temporarily.
When the dust cleared, Autumn saw Frederic staring her down.
"So this is it?" he said. "You side with that fake?"
"No… Zerxes is the one who should be stopped," Autumn said.
"Kashrun is a coward…" His fist clenched.
"He took my family from me, just because he's scared one of us would be a seal."
"Zerxes told me everything," he added.
"No, Zerxes is gonna destroy the world," she replied.
Just then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw something coming at full speed.
She barely maneuvered out of the way.
What she saw was Leo, who crashed into a pile of rubble.
Slowly, he got up.
Soon, the dust appeared again.
When she turned to look, Frederic was gone.
She then decided to help her friends.
She saw a long, sharp rod and took it up.
She then flew towards the monster.
THOMAS'S POV
He had just barely dodged a giant hand, nearly crushing him.
He rolled to the side and gave two flame-enhanced punches to its guts.
The monster staggered, but it barely did anything.
It then tried to backhand Thomas.
But instantly, chains wrapped around its hand.
Thomas, who had tensed, realized he didn't get the blow.
He started charging energy in his right hand.
He felt as if his arm was gonna explode.
The unstable pressure building up in his hand started to get worse.
He released it point-blank at the monster.
A wave of flame shot out of his hands with deadly force.
The monster shielded itself, but got blown away by the impact.
Thomas did too, crashing among the debris and dirt.
An immense pain took over his arm.
Suddenly, Autumn appeared.
"Are you alright?" she asked, putting down a metal rod.
"Y-yeah, I'm fine," he said, clutching his arm.
Before they could even rest, they saw Zerxes charging towards them.
He dodged chains that were being shot at him from above with great force.
Autumn got up on instinct, the rod tight in her hands.
Before Zerxes got close, he was body-slammed by Leo.
He flipped and recovered quickly.
But Leo was already there, his hand cocked back wide.
Before Zerxes could react, he was slammed a few feet, rolling on the ground.
He then saw Gladwin moving quickly towards him.
Gladwin then kicked Zerxes while he was still rolling, which sent him flying.
Before he could get far, chains wrapped around him and pulled him back toward the ground.
He crashed into the earth, causing a crater.
…
A few coughs were heard among the smoke and dust.
"I can't see shit," Thomas said, rubbing his eyes.
Autumn coughed again.
"We might win this after all."
Gladwin side-eyed her with a judging look.
They cautiously made their way to the crater.
"It's not over yet," Kashrun said.
They looked and saw Zerxes on his knees in the middle of the crater.
"That's it," he said. "No more games."
Suddenly, his folded wings spread wide.
His vertical mouth opened, and it started to drool like it was hungry.
He slowly raised his head, looking at them one by one, before resting his gaze on Kashrun.
He then charged and punched Kashrun.
It was blocked, but it sent him skidding about twenty feet away.
The trio didn't even know when Zerxes got this close to them.
On instinct, they tried to fall back.
Leo and Thomas dashed away from him, while Autumn flew off.
It was as if the trio were moving in slow motion, from Zerxes' perspective.
"Eeeny…" he said as he looked at Leo.
"Meeny," he looked at Thomas.
"Miny," he looked at Autumn.
"Mo." He grinned when it landed on Leo.
In seconds, he closed in on Leo.
Grabbing his face, he slammed it into the ground.
Suddenly, a chain came whipping toward him.
He dodged it, and the chain slashed into the ground, cracking it open.
Thomas then charged in.
He threw a punch, which got dodged.
Zerxes then backhanded Thomas.
Before he could even move again, Kashrun was there.
A punch landed clean on Zerxes' face.
A shockwave was caused, but Zerxes didn't flinch.
Kashrun, shocked, retreated when Zerxes grinned.
Zerxes' hands then started to stretch and twist at impossible angles, trying to catch Kashrun as he ran.
One of his hands came from the right.
But Kashrun jumped over it and kept running.
The other hand came from above, but he dodged to the right.
For a moment, he was dodging the relentless attacks of Zerxes' claws.
Until a third hand came from below.
Kashrun jumped, but the hand still caught him.
Just as Zerxes was about to grab him, Autumn got to him first.
Zerxes tried to catch them, frustrated, but Autumn dodged perfectly.
She then threw Kashrun toward Zerxes.
Kashrun cocked his arm back, ready to land a solid punch.
But Zerxes flapped his wings and got out of the way.
Kashrun punched the ground instead.
Zerxes then flew higher, reaching the same level as Autumn.
"You're annoying. It seems you'll die first," he said before charging.
Autumn flew off on instinct, but Zerxes was fast.
He caught her by the throat and watched as she started struggling to breathe.
"AUTUMN!" Thomas shouted.
He watched as she started to kick.
Suddenly, Kashrun summoned a chain and swung it, letting it wrap around Zerxes' neck.
A golden aura enveloped the chain, which started to burn Zerxes.
He released Autumn to tear the chain off, but instead got dragged toward the ground.
Autumn fell, but Thomas caught her.
Slowly, Zerxes rose and charged at Kashrun.
But Leo's punch sent him skidding back a few feet.
Zerxes stared them down.
The two stared back, anticipating his next move.
But suddenly, the dust rose again, and they couldn't see anything.
"Ah, shit," Leo said, looking around and clenching his teeth.
The dust cleared.
But Zerxes was gone.
Just then, to Leo's right, Zerxes appeared, grinning.
His fists were about to be planted in Leo's face.
But chains spawned around his hand and pulled it aside, making him miss.
Not missing a beat, Leo countered by sending a full-blown punch to his gut.
It sent Zerxes flying, but he caught himself midair by flapping his wings.
Leo then started to pant.
Zerxes started to grin again.
He swooped down toward them.
But Kashrun charged at him.
They raised their fists.
But just as they were about to collide.
Zerxes spun and dodged Kashrun
Heading straight for Leo.
Kashrun's eyes widened when he saw Leo get punched far away—
Maybe even outside of this so-called village.
"You're all alone now," Zerxes said.
Kashrun looked over and saw Thomas holding Autumn, completely bruised and battered.
He searched for signs of Leo, but he didn't return.
Kashrun looked down.
His golden eyes flickered slightly before he clenched his fists.
Chains materialized behind him.
Zerxes smirked.
"The last stand before chaos," Kashrun said, before walking closer.
They both began walking toward each other—then jogging, then running.
Before they even collided, Kashrun's chains struck from behind him.
But Zerxes dodged them and stretched his hands toward Kashrun.
Kashrun dodged to the right, then farther still.
But a second strike came, and he jumped, starting to run along it.
He cocked his hand back.
Zerxes detached his hand and regenerated it quickly.
He charged toward Kashrun, and their fists collided.
THOMAS' POV
While holding the now-conscious Autumn in his arms, he watched as the two clashed.
After that, a huge wave of pressure slammed into him.
Soon, everything went black.
ZERXES' POV
He stood there with a grin on his face, watching as Kashrun panted heavily while kneeling.
But while he grinned, he felt Kashrun's presence disappear.
That's when his grin faded.
He walked over and lifted the man by his hair.
Only to see the golden glow in his eyes was gone.
He only saw a weakened old man.
"So this is where faith ends," Gladwin said.
"Your god heard you. He just chose silence," Zerxes replied.
That was when Zerxes' vertical mouth tore open again.
"Maybe you would've stood more of a chance as yourself, Kashrun."
Slowly, he swallowed Gladwin whole.
Suddenly, his body regenerated.
He let out a deep sigh of satisfaction.
"Bring my family back."
The monster's face suddenly went straight.
"You're alive," he said, almost curious how.
…
"My battle isn't done. Kashrun resides at Lenon."
"I'll burn his city to the ground along with him," the creature said.
"Come now," he added, picking up Frederic.
End