Chapter 38: Fight
As the words faded, Zeus raised his hand and waved. A golden flash erupted, and a towering, unfamiliar god, over five meters tall, materialized before him.
The god was powerfully built, his face stern and cold. He wore ancient jade-like stone armor, his hands raised in a circular gesture toward the sky, his back slightly hunched as if supporting an immense weight. A suffocating gravity field radiated from his body.
Luka was moving too fast to brake, colliding head-on with the god.
But the tremendous force seemed to vanish like mud thrown into the sea the moment it made contact. Although the deity appeared to be knocked back by Luka's waist tackle, his entire body remained as steady as a shifting mountain.
In contrast, Luka was left numb all over from the impact.
The god slowly lowered his gaze. His hands, which had been raised in a gesture of supporting the heavens, gradually clenched into a massive stone fist. With a suffocating gravity field surrounding it, the fist slammed down on Luka's back.
With every cell in his body still operating at maximum speed, Luka couldn't maneuver to dodge. Moreover, the god had already suppressed his movements with an inexplicable gravity field. He could only watch helplessly as the terrifyingly heavy fist crashed into his back.
BOOM!
A cataclysmic explosion reverberated throughout the God Realm. Luka, like a meteor struck by an asteroid, crashed hundreds of meters deep into the divine earth, creating a massive hemispherical crater. Debris and towering plumes of dust erupted from the pit.
Agonizing pain surged through his body. Countless fissures spiderwebbed across his spine, and most of his internal organs were shattered. Blood gushed from his mouth, staining the ground crimson.
With immense effort, he lifted his head and gazed at the towering figure standing outside the crater.
Atlas, the Titan God who bore the weight of Earth.
Atlas stared indifferently at Luka in the deep pit. His deep, resonant voice carried a note of warning.
"Little one, you should give up. I am unlike Ares. My divine power is not affected by other factors. Since ancient times, it has been bound directly to the Earth itself."
The implication was clear: without the power to shake the very foundations of Earth, there was no hope of challenging this Titan God.
"Pah!"
Luka spat out a mouthful of blood mixed with fragments of internal organs. He slowly pushed himself to his feet, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth.
Standing motionless for two seconds, Luka suddenly looked up and smiled, his voice slurred by the blood gushing from his mouth.
"I'm fine. Just a minor injury."
Atlas's expression darkened.
"Why persist in this charade? You've witnessed my divine power. Isn't that enough?"
Before Luka could reply, Wonder Woman's anxious voice came from afar.
"Give up, Luka! Atlas's strength isn't much weaker than Superman's!"
Luka didn't answer immediately. Instead, he slowly flew out of the crater, stopping only when he was face-to-face with Atlas.
He swallowed the fresh surge of blood climbing his throat, turned his head toward Diana, and gave a small shake.
"How can a teacher actively advise her student to give up? He's merely comparable to Superman in strength."
Luka turned back to face Atlas, who stood patiently waiting.
"Such a gentleman."
He raised his hand and beckoned with a finger.
Atlas sighed, the massive titan uttering words no one expected.
"Reckless brute..."
A colossal fist, carrying a weight that could no longer be described as a mountain, swung toward Luka's side. At the same time, an inexplicable gravitational field materialized, attempting to lock Luka firmly in place.
The terrifying force of the punch surged forward like a tempest, but just before the gravitational field took hold, Luka instantly retreated a short distance.
The enormous fist skimmed past his face.
Understanding dawned across Luka's features. He casually swatted away the horizontal hurricane generated by the blow.
"You really are slow, huh."
Seeing his weakness exposed, Atlas showed no anger. He merely slowly retracted his fist.
He said in a deep voice, "But you cannot shake me either. Once we make physical contact, my gravity lock will be several times faster than the one I conjured just now. Can you withstand another punch from me?"
"We'll have to find out. I've never fought a foe with such immense strength and such sluggish speed before..."
Before the words left his lips, Luka's body blurred into an afterimage as he lunged forward, throwing a sharp jab at Atlas's massive eyeball.
Atlas's pupils constricted slightly. He hastily raised his stone-armored arm to block, simultaneously channeling all his power into the gravitational field to slow Luka's advance.
Luka's assault was too swift. With a flicker and a sway, he evaded the gravity field, his fist tearing through the air with a sharp crack as it slammed into Atlas's forearm armor.
Dong!
A heavy, muffled impact rang out. Cracks spider-webbed across the armor. Atlas's deep, resonant voice rumbled from behind his forearm:
"If you continue like this, your injuries will only worsen."
Ignoring the warning, Luka vanished again, blinking low to the ground and circling Atlas relentlessly. His fists rained down in alternating strikes, each blow channeling the force of an island's sinking, precisely targeting the armor's joints and weak points.
Crack! Crack!
The sound of shattering armor echoed continuously. Fragments burst away. The cuirass across Atlas' chest, his shoulder guards, even the greaves along his calves shattered piece by piece, revealing the bronze, iron-hard body beneath.
Though Atlas desperately swung his massive fists in counterattacks, his sluggish movements repeatedly missed their mark, leaving him helpless against Luka's relentless assault.
After dozens of consecutive strikes, Atlas's armor hung in ruins. On his exposed shoulders, back, waist, and thighs, a dozen crisscrossing bruises bloomed, each one deeply embedded in his flesh, revealing the ruptured blood vessels beneath the skin.
Luka rose again and flew back, preparing to gather his strength for another punch, when his expression suddenly changed.
Pain surged like a tide, hammering his nerves. A mouthful of blood burst free again, splashing across the shattered armor in deep crimson.
In that momentary lapse of focus, his speed plummeted.
He gritted his teeth, trying to accelerate again, but the instant his fist struck Atlas's chest and his fingertips brushed against the warm flesh, his entire body stiffened.
Seizing this single point of contact, Atlas unleashed his gravity field. Invisible shackles slammed down, pinning Luka immovably in place.
"Got you," Atlas said, his voice devoid of emotion. Since his warnings had been ignored, he would show no further mercy.
His right hand clenched into a massive fist, the surrounding air warping and collapsing under the immense pressure. With the terrifying force of a falling planet, he slammed his fist into Luka's abdomen.
The punch landed squarely, instantly caving in Luka's abdomen.
Luka's vision went black instantly. Experiencing such overwhelming power again, he didn't even register the pain before his brain slipped into a momentary state of unconsciousness.
The crisp snap of his ribs breaking echoed clearly as blood gushed from his mouth and nose. His blood-soaked body shot through the air like a projectile.
"Cough..."
Luka crashed through multiple small mountains in the God Realm before finally stopping, sending rubble cascading down. He collapsed to the ground, the searing pain in his spine making it difficult even to lift his head.
But his fingers still dug fiercely into the ground. Even as his nails broke and bled, he didn't loosen his grip. When he regained consciousness, the battle spirit in his eyes burned even brighter, fueled by the agony.
Atlas leaped forward, landing with earth-shattering force like a falling sky. Amidst the trembling ground, he watched Luka struggle to his feet, fragments of his shattered armor raining down around him.
"Still want to fight?"
Luka didn't answer, his eyes momentarily vacant. He exhaled sharply and vanished again.
Atlas stood motionless, his fists slowly rising as he remained vigilant, alert to any movement around him.
Luka changed his tactics again, feigning a temporary slowdown to allow Atlas to capture his afterimage.
Using the brief opening created by Atlas's punch, he forcefully accelerated, closing the distance and concentrating his remaining strength into his fist. He relentlessly targeted the bruises he had inflicted earlier.
With each strike, Atlas grunted, his body absorbing dozens, even hundreds, of blows as he struggled to block in time. The bruises gradually darkened into bloody welts, and the gravitational field around him began to fluctuate erratically.
But Atlas remained calm, his gaze tracking Luka's afterimages as he continued to swing his heavy fists in sweeping arcs. He didn't even need to land another direct hit; the sheer force of the wind generated by his punches made Luka's body tremble violently.
Several times, Luka's unsteady movements left him unable to dodge, and the close-range shockwaves from Atlas's punches tore open his shoulder and back wounds. Blood soaked his entire body, and his vision began to blur from blood loss.
Still, he relentlessly sought out Atlas's weaknesses.
Finally, in the moment Atlas's fist missed its mark, throwing him off balance, Luka surged forward, channeling all his remaining strength into his right fist. He slammed it viciously into the bruise on Atlas's neck.
It seemed Atlas never expected Luka, in such severely wounded condition, would still dare to engage in close-quarters, head-on combat. He didn't even have time to raise his arm to block.
Crack!
The crisp sound of bone breaking drowned out the rumbling of the earthquake. Atlas's neck snapped violently to the side, his massive body swayed, and the gravitational field surrounding him instantly destabilized and collapsed.
He looked up at the teetering Luka, a faint, unexpected smile tugging at the corner of his lips, before crashing to the ground with a thunderous roar, sending rubble and dust flying. His breath was gone completely.
Luka finally relaxed slightly, collapsing onto the scorching, hurricane-worn rubble. Blood gushed from his wounds, his spine cracked nearly all the way through, and even the slightest movement of a finger sent searing pain through his body.
Through his blurred vision, a muscular figure strode slowly toward him, stepping through the pools of blood.
A clear, confident voice rang in Luka's ears.
"I'm Hercules. The third god to challenge you."