Chương 63: GOD SLAYER

The God Slayer Sword was heavy in Cannon's hands, even for a man equipped to lift an elephant on his shoulders. It was large and radiating the light of the angels. As soon as Monan saw it, his eyes twinkled with that lustful thirst. Monan stared him down, flanked by Sam as Cannon and Ellie sought to hold their ground with a weapon that both of them could hardly understand. He remembered the big deal when they found it. Three men had died trying to take down the creature possessing it.

It wracked Cannon with guilt, even holding it, but it was one of T'balt's obsessions.

"It's a strong weapon," T'balt said, giving it to him.

"Monan went out of his way to get it once. But we got it first. I want you to hold on to it. You'll be our finisher, Cannon. I need your strength." It was one of the pieces of this great plan of his, and for some reason that he couldn't understand, it was entrusted to Cannon. So despite his guilt, he had no choice but to wield it with pride.

"I'm at your back," Ellie reassured.

"Right." Cannon gripped tight, and Monan charged. He hefted the sword just in time and went to meet Monan in the middle, who instinctively changed direction. The wrestler transformed the sword into light beams that would follow Monan's light form around the room. Even still, he couldn't take his mind off of Sam, who had a wave of holy water storming towards him. Ellie, thinking quick on her feet, blasted several arrows through it. Having to focus on dodging, the holy water fell, and Sam repositioned.

Cannon flung the light around, hoping to catch Monan where he appeared, but Ellie was the forethought while he was the afterthought. She could see where he was moving, while Cannon could only see once he had arrived at his destination. She blasted an arrow at the outline of his body, a second too late. But Cannon was able to react to the trajectory of his next appearance and launched himself there.

The fractured light nearly connected with Monan's flowing dark hair, but he ducked it in his physical form and counterattacked it with a punch to his attacker's cheek. Cannon Valkyr would not be thrown by a single punch. He forced his neck back into place, acting as if he barely felt the burning fist on his face.

"I thought you'd be stronger," he said with a mighty swing. Monan teleported away.

"Cannon, behind you!" shouted Ellie. Just then, he jumped high off the ground, avoiding the burning of holy water. Sam then formed it into tentacle-like whips that he attempted to whip at Cannon mid-leap. But Cannon wasn't worried about a little acid water. He ignored the pain of it touching his skin and flew straight to the ground, slamming the sword. The impact sent light through the very ground where they stood, cracking the foundation of the building.

Monan sparked his light above them, but as he appeared, he had to dodge two more arrows. He retreated, sucking his teeth.

"You're going to have to keep an eye out for that woman. Looks like she's following your movements pretty well," Sam said to him.

"Uh-huh… so she got some prediction loot or she just sensitive?"

"Well, I can't follow your moves, but she's looking dead at you the whole time. Hypersensitivity is my guess."

"Then deal with her."

"You never ask nicely for things. No wonder you can't get a girl to stick around."

"Sam, you really need to get your priorities straight." The battle continued on in front of the dead eyes of the Seraph. Cannon and Ellie fought with all their hearts, putting their souls and bodies on the line. But they were fighting light and water. Two very unconventional forms of attack. One fluid and the other omnipresent. They had to act completely on reflex and foresight as their opponents didn't exactly look to be taking the fight too seriously.

Monan would just flash around them, sending beams from his light-glistening fingers to do his dirty work. Cannon could block them with the sword as Ellie healed any that snuck through. But they were at a loss as their dynamic was never planned. Cannon wasn't equipped to protect both of them, so Ellie couldn't properly think without Acelin or T'balt to take their attention off of her.

"If only I could land one clean shot," she thought. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. But she peered over at the other man, Sam, his eyes analyzing something. He peered directly into her eyes, and Ellie felt like her very mind was being read.

"Watch out." Cannon bumped her out of the way of a beam of focused light, blocking it with his sword.

"No time to zone out."

"I'm not. It's just we're at a severe disadvantage here."

"Tell me something I don't know. I'm sick of this keep-away game they keep playing," he said, deflecting more errant light projectiles. He would try to use the sword to send focused light back, but it would just seem to cancel out against Monan's own power. Then they'd have to watch the floors for holy water so as not to get caught in the trap. When they did, they would have to heal the damage.

"We just need to stall until the others get back." Monan landed in front of them, hands in his pockets.

"I can't stand how frustrating it is to see you using that weapon so poorly. I mean, it's a god weapon, and you're not a god. I bet T'balt made a hasty decision, thinking the weapon was some all-powerful tool when he saw me using it. But a tool in the hands of a joke becomes a joke too."

"You play a fine heel," Cannon said.

"Your trash talk is decent, but your stage presence could use some work."

"My stage presence?" Monan sought confirmation from Sam over the terminology. Sam shrugged.

"He's saying you're an asshole but a mediocre asshole."

"What?" Ellie flickered her eyes around the hall. Focusing her enhanced senses on the building instead of the people in it. She saw the cracks and faulty foundation made by Vikram's explosions and the battle that was commencing. The weak points. Sam could see her planning and figured it was time to implement his own. He whistled, which screeched Monan's fun to a halt.

"Hey. Fresh idea," he said. Monan appeared to him, and he whispered his thoughts into the man's ear. Monan laughed.

"I've used that trick before. So long ago that I didn't even think about it."

"Ellie, let's go." Cannon moved, rushing at Monan with an overhead swing. Ellie jumped and launched several arrows into the pillar supports around them. It took several shots, but it was enough for the cracks to break fully through the beam. And then it began to topple over. Monan zipped out of there, leaving Sam to take the brunt of it. All he had to protect himself was armor, and that wasn't going to protect him from a several-ton pillar. Before he could even try to move, he felt the floor beneath him giving way.

Cannon had punched the floor with all his might, sending debris flying and breaking the foundation from where they stood. Sam tried to think of a way out, but he didn't have his footing and no movement loot. The two pillars fell on him, leaving him beneath the debris.

"It worked," Cannon said. They had gotten one but had to quickly turn their attention to the other, who didn't seem all too bothered with his friend being flattened by the building. Monan only rolled his eyes and got back to his objective. Now was their time to make a splash. They focused their attacks then on Monan, unafraid to use the building to their advantage. Hard surfaces were clean covers against light attacks.

Cannon would hide behind rubble and then use it as a javelin, forcing Monan to turn into his light form for that half second. This time, his trajectory was seen a mile before he had done it. Where he reformed, Ellie was already there, aimed and ready to fire, eyes shining, having been presented with her one good shot. Then a screech burned through her ears. A deafening, blood-curdling sound. Nails on a chalkboard, but fifty times more unbearable. She immediately collapsed, losing stability in her vision.

She couldn't take it. That deafening noise. She started screaming.

"Make it stop! Make it stop!"

"Ellie. What happened?" Cannon didn't understand. It was like she had completely shut down, grabbing her ears, her entire body cringing.

"What in the…" He heard the noise. Sam had survived the pillars collapsing. With time slowed down, he was able to pivot his body to a spot that would take the least amount of damage. He was dirty and a little busted up. But standing on top of the rubble, he had a rock and was dragging it across his breastplate, making that screeching noise. To Cannon, it was nothing more than an annoyance, but to Ellie, who had her hypersensitivity activated, the sound was hell on earth.

Cannon could see the burst of blood leaking through her ears.

"Ellie, deactivate your loot!" She could hardly hear him, but after a second, her wide eyes faded from red to their usual blue. But he could see that the damage had already been done. She looked like she could barely move, and she couldn't focus her eyes.

"You bastards." Monan flew in close, and he and Cannon entered a flurry of close combat, their reflex loots reacting to one another. But in these situations, when loot canceled each other out, whoever had the better base skill was the winner. And Monan's reflexes overpowered Cannon, allowing him to kick the man halfway across the room. He fell flat on his back, trying to recover in time, but when he looked up, "Ellie! Ellie! Get out of there!" But still she didn't move. Couldn't.

She couldn't come back to her senses. Her mind and body were in a state of shock, and she was trying to come to terms with reality. By the time she did, Monan already had her by the back of her collar.

"Bye-bye, little bird," he said. Then his whole body flashed with that undeniable light, consuming her fully. It blinded the room in an inescapable white light. When the vision returned, Ellie's body was burned all over, and her eyes had rolled to the back of her head as he held her unmoving body. He tsked and threw her aside, letting her steaming body land stiff on the ground.

"No!" Cannon's rage was sparked, and he came flying in to attack Monan. But his attack was wild and uncontrolled, a wide overhead swing that one didn't need loot to see coming. Monan used a hand cloaked in light to catch the hilt of the sword. Smiling, he drove his fist right into Cannon's solar plexus, and a beam of light shot through him. He couldn't feel where he'd been hit, but he could feel the blood rushing through his lungs and onto the floor. It was a light attack. A feint.

Any other and Cannon could've avoided it, but because the light extended the punch beyond his mental comprehension, it pierced his gut with no resistance. And then he, too, was tossed to the side, unmoving.