Chapter 11: Death Match Part 1

Agemo and the Hyperion were forced back by the impact of their fists. The Hyperion was surprised; the human was both strong and had a strange technique that rendered almost all material attacks useless. Agemo decided to go all out, and wisps of dark spirit energy emanated from his body. He was using the Phantasmal Sky technique, a movement-based dark spirit technique he had acquired from the vault.

He became a blur of trailing shadows as he burst forward. The Hyperion's eyes widened for a second before it recovered and drew a giant golden sword. The moment Rain Slayer and that sword collided, Agemo's left arm went numb, and he used his right arm to push the Hyperion back.

The Hyperion grinned and spun backward. Its wings began to cleave like swords, even managing to crack the scales on Agemo’s right arm. Agemo stepped back and then leapt forward as the Hyperion continued its spin, leaving its side vulnerable. Agemo punched the bottom of the Hyperion’s wings as it spun and slashed at the Hyperion with Rain Slayer, creating a long gash on its side.

"You’ll have to do better than that, Agemo. I AM A GOD! You cannot kill me!" the Hyperion roared as its giant sword flashed, and the gash healed in seconds.

Agemo narrowed his eyes as the Hyperion leapt forward. Metal clanged against metal as they became embroiled in a storm of swords. As the Hyperion swung downward, Agemo took advantage of the katana blade of Rain Slayer and used his right arm to support the block by pushing on the blunt side of the katana. The Hyperion spun again, but Agemo jumped instead. It seemed that its wings were able to cut through the white energy.

The Hyperion laughed and did a somersault, folding its wings to cover its body. With a shout, it spread its wings, and dozens of feathers shot out like spears toward Agemo. Agemo blocked and deflected the feathers that shot in his direction, taking advantage of his movement technique to move his arm faster as he focused all the dark spirit energy into his left arm. Then, he concentrated his spirit energy into his blade and slashed at the Hyperion. The Hyperion snarled and used the side of its two-handed sword as a shield to block the blow, forcing Agemo back ten steps.

Agemo landed on the ground while the Hyperion glared at him. The Hyperion’s left hand became covered in flames as it threw several fireballs at Agemo. Agemo cut through the fireballs, causing them to explode and block his vision. Knowing what was going to happen, Agemo immediately bent his knees and fell to the ground. The Hyperion appeared from the explosion, but its great sword only slashed empty air as Agemo had foreseen the attack. Agemo pushed off the ground with his right arm as his left arm stretched out to pierce the Hyperion.

The Hyperion cried out in pain as Rain Slayer pierced its ribs. Agemo quickly drew out the sword and bashed the open wound with the short, two-inch cross guard. The Hyperion was stunned by the pain, and Agemo grabbed one of its wings with his right hand. He leapt up and pushed off the Hyperion with his feet, wrenching the wing out of its socket.

The Hyperion rolled on the ground in pain, its blood spewing like a fountain from its back. Agemo panted and took the opportunity to catch his breath. The Hyperion stared at him, its eyes blazing with hate and rage, as it picked up its golden sword.

"You think you can defeat my Retribution Sword? I am a Hyperion, an angel on the road to godhood! You have ripped the wing off a god! You will pay with your life!" the Hyperion roared.

Agemo laughed and focused his spirit energy into his sword as the Hyperion did the same. It was as if time slowed for Agemo as water congealed around the sword, and he prepared his Radiant Howl technique. The Hyperion’s Retribution Sword flashed gold as all the light seemed to swirl into the sword. Agemo yelled at the top of his lungs as he slashed his sword at the Hyperion, and the Hyperion did the same. It was their finishing move: blades of water against a large energy beam of light.

The Hyperion’s attack was like an unstoppable cannon and blasted against Agemo, sending him through five trees. Rain Slayer flew from his hands and landed in the ground nearby as he crashed into the last tree and was knocked out for a few seconds. Agemo’s own attack was more like a tidal wave, with the cannon only making a small hole before it closed as it approached the Hyperion. The Hyperion screamed as the living spirit technique was both a material and soul attack. Its body trembled as each blade pierced into it.

Agemo’s vision was blurry. He was lucky that the Hyperion was enraged. If he hadn’t ripped out its wing, the Hyperion would have remembered to use its flying, dual-moon blades and wings, which were able to harm his body. Agemo groaned as he pushed off the branches and bark that were on top of him. His arm had returned to normal, and he took out a barrel of lion wine, drank some to restore his spiritual energy, and refilled the gourd as well as some others. He put the spare gourds and the wine barrel into his storage bag, retrieved Rain Slayer, and walked over to the defeated Hyperion.

"You...pathetic human. You will be punished for killing a god..." the Hyperion rasped as it spat out blood and was unable to move.

"My Spirit Pulse is actually red, and you’re only a false god," Agemo mocked. His hand became shrouded in purple energy as he grabbed all the spirit energy in the Hyperion with his hand.

He laughed like a maniac as he devoured the spirit energy in the Hyperion’s face. The Hyperion paled as it could not feel the spirit energy in its body. It felt weak—so weak. It had very little feeling in its body and was akin to a cripple.

"Your Retribution Sword," Agemo began as he made the Hyperion lean forward, exposing its neck. "It will make a nice meal for Rain Slayer. I must thank you. I realize how dangerous Hyperion are. I also learned that I cannot depend on my Eclipse Indestructible Body technique for soul attacks or to block appendages and items that are imbued with similar properties. I truly realize how weak I am now. Thanks to you, I will never be so arrogant and recklessly risk my life. Go to hell and stay there."

"NOOO!" the Hyperion cried as Agemo beheaded it. He kicked the head away in disgust and walked over to the Retribution Sword. It was not as golden as it had been before, now that its master was dead. He grabbed the Retribution Sword and laid it against Rain Slayer, watching as the sword disappeared into it.

He took the flying blades and would have experimented with them, but he was too tired. He stored them in his storage bag and took everything from the Hyperion’s storage bag, putting it in his own. He stored the wing he had ripped out to study its material. He needed to discover the weakness of his technique and improve upon it. He also took the demonic cores inside all of the dead Hyperion and stored them as well.

He sat down and began to meditate, occasionally drinking lion wine to recover his spirit energy faster. The lion wine helped him stabilize his spirit energy. He felt a little stronger but was still in the first stage. He walked over to the entrance of the tunnel and laid back to rest. He ordered his white tiger magical beast to protect him as he slowly lost consciousness.

As day turned into night, the tunnel burst open. Jiro had used his earth magic to clear the tunnel, and the seven recruits appeared, observing their surroundings. They paled as they saw all the dead Hyperion bodies and horses. Frankie roared with joy as he saw the humanoid Hyperion with its wing and head missing. They all looked to their left and saw a large white tiger with a golden horn standing in front of Agemo.

Agemo’s white robe was ruined, with several areas ripped. The robe over his right arm was completely destroyed, and blood was all over his body. They would have gone closer, but the white tiger did not let them. Clearly, it did not trust them, as they had left the battle with their tails between their legs while its master had to fend for himself. Even though the white tiger could never die a permanent death as it wore the collar, it would die if its master died. Its master’s life was more precious than its own, as it could be summoned to life again after two days or so.

"Ugh," Agemo groaned as he shook his head. He looked up and saw that the seven recruits had returned.