Chapter 585

Chapter 585

Ather, you absolute bitch! What the hell are you doing?

Reclaiming my honour! He yelled, throwing another spear and making it scream through the air as Ben did his best to dodge, but not well enough. He felt the bite of the blade slice through the side of his arm as it sailed past, just adding to the injuries that filled his body.

Honour my ass! Cant you see some slightly more pressing things going on right now? Ben yelled back as the demigod pulled another spear from what appeared to be a very well-made spatial bag, telling him there was likely plenty more in there to spare.

Fuck, and Im really not in the best condition to be handling this right now.

Ben had won fights before, but he always tried to make sure that things were heavily in his favour. When hed last fought Ather hed planned for days and when hed repeatedly beaten the man whod come looking to duel him in Stonewall a while ago, hed known he was strong enough to handle it with relative ease. Not now though.

Ben hadnt brought any weapons. Hed dropped the gun hed made to capture the soul of the outsider after using all of his bullets and he hadnt brought anything else with him since he was supposed to be on vacation, and that wasnt even considering his current condition.

The last time hed fought Ather, Bens attributes had been significantly lower and he hadnt had a single awakened skill to his name at the time, but he also hadnt been so beaten down. Everything hed just done to survive left his body aching as he once more wished for a notification telling him hed finally gained the pain resistance of his dreams and that wasnt even considering his thoughts. He was being pulled by the sight of the hells in a way it seemed the demigod wasnt and he was still feeling the after-effects of seeing both the outsider and the chaos. He hated the idea of having a fair fight but given his state, it wouldnt even be that. He was at a disadvantage.

The only thing he felt he really had at the moment was his unnatural thought speed, going at its limit as he examined everything around him.

Hes staying back, is that because he knows about my deep connection and is worried about the range or is it because hes being cautious of me? I did gut him before so that seems fairly possible but I wouldnt doubt it if his daddy gave him a heads-up about my skills at all seeing as how I havent kept them particularly secret from the gods since Ive been trying to use them to help. Absolutely regretting being so damn useful all the time, definitely going to have to up my prices. And besides that Wait, what? WHAT? I MADE THAT SPEAR! WHOS BEEN GIVING THIS FUCKER MY WORK?

Seeing the hallmarks of his own craftsmanship and enchanting on a weapon that was now being pointed at him very quickly made Ben resolve himself to find and murder the person who provided it to the demigod but did his best to hold back his anger as he instead focused on the subtle movements of the one before him, watching in slow motion to see both when the spear would be released and where it would end up, dodging out of the way by the skin of his teeth and only realizing a deeper problem the second he heard it hit something behind him.

As Ather reached to pull out another, Ben immediately jumped back, not to avoid an incoming strike but instead to see what the demigod had hit without making it obvious, with him just able to tell that the spear had sailed clean through one of the arms of a mage that was maintaining the ritual.

It wasnt severed, that was a small mercy, but things could have just gone very badly. Ben already knew that killing that one in particular would destabilize the portal in a big way and he didnt currently put it past Ather to start attacking them if Ben showed any hint of concern, so instead he didnt. He smirked at the demigod, taunting him as he did.

So, thats all the son of a god of spears and war can pull off, huh? He laughed. The blood must run pretty thin, doesnt it? Oh, who am I kidding, Ive met Eneth, calling him a god is honestly an insult to the rest of them up there.

Filthy brick worshiper! Eneth screamed, Bens small taunts getting under his skin in a way he hadnt expected and affecting the aim of the next spear, with Ben needing a lot less effort to dodge it than the last.

Brick? Excuse you, I get why you'd be jealous given your daddy's a lizard bitch, but that's no reason to badmouth his betters. My buddy is the ideal form of a cube, through and through. Not that youd understand anything about ideals. Before I started robbing your church blind it was honestly the tackiest thing Ive ever seen. Seriously, you guys owe me one for helping you get rid of that stuff, I really classed up the joint.

The statement was met with more screaming as Ben carefully led Ather around, ensuring that no more of his attacks could hit the ritualists while at the same time being close enough for Ben to look into their minds, examining each of their parts in the spell to try and figure out how to disarm it as more ghosts only ever broke free.

You know Ather, Ben said, sounding like he was beginning to truly suffer in a way that was music to the demigods ears. I think Ill keep one little fact about you to myself, as a little treat I can savour while youre dead.

So fears driven you delusional, He laughed while Ben went on.

Youre not curious? Oh well, Im going to tell you anyway. Its about how dumb you really are.

With those words, Ben sprung his counterattack.

He still wasnt sure to what extent Ather was aware of his abilities but there were three areas that he didn't seem on guard against during their entire fight so far.

One was Bens deep connection. Sure, he seemed to be avoiding getting too close to Ben himself but there were far more people in the room than just the two of them and deep connection let him do far more than just read minds. With every person that entered his range, Ben had stolen as much of their mana as he safely could without collapsing the ritual, slowly overfilling his soul.

That led to the second. Hed seen no signs that Ather was on guard against his magic. It was more than possible he was aware he had some but if he had any clue about the level of skill hed reached with it then there was no way he wouldnt have been on guard, nor would he have been willing to stand so close to him.

Finally, there was the disaster next to them that the demigod seemed practically blind to, the portal to the infinite hells, with Ben having guided him to one of the gaps in the ritualists that was being filled by something intangible. A ghost.

All at once Helori was in his head, having gone to check on him after realizing the other gods were too focused on trying to track swarms of ghosts, evaluating the devastation, or focusing on the various people affected by what had happened, all of them content to trust that he would say something if there was a problem and leaving her alone to discover what was happening.

Ather was trying to murder Ben. A large part of her was wondering if no one else up there had really seen it or if any that viewed Ben less favourably had just decided to ignore it, but she knew she needed to at least try and stop things before they got too far, only she was moments too late.

Ben ran the massive amount of mana hed accumulated through the ground, making the earth jut out beside Ather, throwing him towards the infinite hells as he tried to react, but again not fast enough. At the same time Ben attacked, hed used that same magic to move the earth beneath him and launch himself forward, bringing the demigod into the range of his connection before exposing every mind in his head and screaming with them.

The effect didnt kill him outright, no matter how awful he was, being a demigod did come with a certain level of strength, but it most certainly hurt him, breaking his mind and leaving him no way to react or protect himself as he continued to fall, passing through the boundary where every ghost was escaping and landing himself into the infinite hells, letting Ben collapse to the ground and catch his breath.

Oh, hey Helori, didnt notice you got here. Please tell me you witnessed enough of that to see what was happening.

Hey, it worked out. One less problem for me in the world, plus Wait.

Something had just gone very, horrifically wrong, at least as far as Ben was concerned as he noticed something missing. A notification, specifically one telling him he finally reached the third tier of his sacrilege as he rushed to process why.

Oh my god. I didnt actually kill him, did I? I tossed him into hell but I didnt deliver some finishing blow so my soul isnt being marked with the blood of a demigod. Fucking hell!

While that may have been a result of his own poor planning, he resolved to place the full blame on Ather as he cursed the demigod for not being remotely useful even in his final moments in that plane of reality.