"..."
Van stared at Apollo's headless body floating aimlessly in space. But even though the bits and pieces of his head were already hanging through the darkness, the fiery vines that were throbbing across his body were still vigorously bounding-- alive.
And soon, Van finds out that was really the case, as slowly; no, in just a short of a minute, Apollo's head was now once again renewed, with even all the hair completely attached to the top of his head-- the perfect teeth as well, were complete as Apollo slowly let out a small smile towards Van.
And soon, he opened his mouth, "How dare you interrup--"
But once again, before he could finish his words, his head was gone-- this time along with half of his torso; seemingly bitten by a herbivore's jaw as the edges of Van's round shield almost perfectly lined up to the bloody edges of his dismembered body.
"..." Van furrowed his eyebrows as Apollo's flesh once again wriggled; like worms slowly puking their offspring, and their offspring retching out another of their kin-- until once again, Apollo's body is… complete.
And soon, he once again opened his mouth, "You--"
But once again, half of his body was gone-- mowed down by an almost invisible enemy.
"Wa--"
"H--"
"St--"
Van did not stop mowing Apollo's body; destroying a larger part of it each time he revived. But finally, after a few more attempts like this-- when only a nail was left from his perfect body, a golden orb emerged from where he was previously floating.
"This… dead… me?" And soon, like with what happened with Artemis and the others, the golden soul turned into the shape of its previous shell, "You--"
But unlike with Artemis, Van did not even give Apollo a chance to know what was happening to him and absorbed him.
"Kh…" Van could feel a slight prick tingling all over his body as Apollo's soul was seemingly absorbed through his veins; but since he no longer had any System to assist or guide him in whatever it was that he got from absorbing Apollo's body, Van was now slightly at a loss.
He felt himself slightly getting stronger, but as for the skill-- as for the ability he received, there was nothing.
"..." Van then tried to do the same gesture as Apollo, stretching and bending his arms as if he was holding a bow. He was slightly excited as the veins in his arms started to light up into a fiery red; but sadly, even after a few seconds, no arrow of fire was coming out of them.
...How? Van then furrowed his eyebrows as his arms once again gestured to draw a bow; he could feel a sort of energy building around his arms-- but as to how to release them, he was completely at a loss.
In truth, he was very excited to receive Apollo's fiery arrows. As combined with the almost never missing accuracy he got from Artemis, he imagined himself flying at superspeed while letting out arrows like some sort of… battleship himself.
"It's the Solar Fist."
"Oh, you awake?"
Van then slowly dropped his arms as his thoughts were suddenly disrupted by the voice that whispered into his ear. He turned to the voice, only to see Apollo floating in space completely naked.
"How… How am I alive?" Apollo then breathed out as his eyes wandered across his body, checking every corner of it,
"Why… why do I feel so weak?" He then whispered, before looking towards Van and summoning another bout of fiery arrows-- but this time, a candle compared to what it was before, "What did you do to me!?"
"I absorbed your God Soul," Van casually muttered before checking on his own fist, "You said this is called the Solar Fist?"
Van then rolled his left hand into a fist as he instinctively injected more energy into it; and as soon as he did so, his fist lit up; almost like microscopic stars were exploding around it.
"...So I just punch things with it and--"
"Answer my question, Seraph!"
Van blinked a couple of times as the fiery arrow was pointed directly in front of his eyebrows, "Or face the wrath of the Sun!"
"..." Van looked at the arrow of fire, before turning his attention back to Apollo, "You couldn't defeat me before, what made you think you could even scratch me now?"
"Your arrogance is--"
And before Apollo could finish his words, his body suddenly spun a couple of times as he was flung away from his original position.
"Oh," Van, who had his finger gently pointing towards where Apollo's forehead was previously at, could not help but let out a small hum as he checked on his stretched finger. "I barely even grazed your head and it exploded."
"..."
"..."
"...Shit, is he dead?" Van's eyes then widened as he stared at Apollo's lifeless body once again aimlessly floating through the darkness. He forgot that he didn't have a God Soul anymore, and that hit might have just killed him for good.
"..." Van then rushed towards Apollo, only to see his head still being rejuvenated; his skull slowly being sculpted. His eyes, however, were already loosely floating… horrifyingly staring at Van. The previous recovery took shorter than a minute, but now, it seemed that his body needed double that to recover his head.
...Could this be what Athena was trying to say to him before they got cut off? That Apollo was basically… immortal?
"You…" And finally, after a few more seconds, his voice once again whispered to Van's ears, "You absorbed my power and yet I am still alive?"
"I told you I am Hermes's son."
"That--"
"But I am also the son of a Seraph."
"...What!?"
"..." Van furrowed his eyebrows-- he probably shouldn't have said that since the World Eaters were probably listening in on their conversation. But speaking of which… why haven't they done anything else?
Apollo was basically already defeated. Shouldn't they--
And before Van could finish his words, a red beam suddenly appeared suddenly shot out from the two ships-- threatening to erase him… no.
Van then squinted his eyes as he watched as the very thin light made its way towards… Apollo.
"Hm…" Van then placed his hand on his chin as the beam of light was only a few meters away from penetrating Apollo's body. Was it possible… that Apollo would be killed by this?
"..." No, he couldn't risk it. He still had a lot of questions for him regarding the World Eaters.
And so, with that decision, Van flew behind Apollo, very gently pushing him away as the beam passed between them.
"What!?" Apollo then slightly tumbled in space; he quickly looked back, only for his eyes to slightly reflect the fading red beam that threatened to eradicate him.
"You… you saved me?" Apollo muttered.
"Well, yeah," Van shrugged as he looked at the two ships, trying to check if they had any more plans of shooting out those laser beams… but even after a few seconds, they once again remained stagnant.
"..." They really were checking to see what he could do, weren't they? Is that why the main ship still wasn't stepping through the Portal?
"W… Why?"
"Athena might have some questions for you."
"Athena… Athena is really with you!?"
"She'll be here in a day or so," Van shrugged, "Are there any more like you in that ship? What can you tell me about them?"
"That's…" Apollo's furrowing eyebrows showed that he was still wary of Van, his eyes looking at the ship where he emerged from.
"Are you being held hostage? Or did you join the World Eaters of your own volition?"
"World Eaters? You mean the Systellions?"
"Systellions? What kind of stupid…" Van shook his head, "Is that what they are called?"
"..." Apollo's eyebrows furrowed even further as he looked at Van from head to toe. But after a few seconds, he let out a small sigh and opened his mouth, "I am--"
"Let's talk later."
And before Apollo could even finish his words, he felt his vision suddenly shift. His body, almost felt like it lost another soul. And even though the view of space was still all basically the same, he knew he was in a completely different area now.
"It would seem these Systellion guys want to kill you now."
"Where… where are the ships!?"
"On the other side of the Portal," Van muttered as he looked at Portal, "There are still gaps on the sides of the Portal, we should be safe here since they can't fit that abnormally sized ship in the gaps without hitting the Barriers."
"..." Apollo tried to breathe in to compose himself. He had been carried by Hermes a couple of times in the past, but seeing as the last time was more than a hundred thousand years ago, he truly was not used to it anymore-- even more so now that he has been severely weakened.
But…
"...Why would they want to try and kill me?" Apollo then muttered.
"Because they're World Eaters?" Van breathed out, "Athena thought you were all dead since they came to your universe."
"...What? Why… would she think that?" Apollo whispered, "Sure, the Systellions could be a bit overbearing… but they saved us."
"...No," Van also furrowed his eyebrows upon hearing Apollo's words, "The very reason the Seraph escaped to your universe is that the Systellions destroyed their own."
"That can't be… The Systellions came to our universe to save us from the Seraphs but were too late… They rescued us and brought us to their ship... They...
...are our saviors."