’..here it comes!..’ Severin thought as he watched.
Anansi’s body changed rapidly. His monkey-man body disappeared, replaced by a body that was lean and fit, tall and covered in leather armor.
The wave slammed into him, melting the ground beneath Anansi and sinking him into a pit of lava, but he was still standing there, staring at Xaen.
Xaen blinked in surprise. "Eh? You are now a human? Is this the power you talk about?"
Anansi didn’t reply. His hand tightened as he raised it, seemingly gripping something heavy out of the air.
His hand trembled as he pulled a box out of thin air. The box was shaped like a standing coffin. The front was a hollowed darkness that was filled with countless small stars.
Severin sucked in a sharp breath. "The Pandora Box!"
Anansi reached into the void and pulled out a weapon. He smiled and raised it. "This is called Venom."
Xaen snorted. "A cup? You’ve fallen too low, Anansi."
The weapon that he pulled out was indeed a cup. A golden one.
Anansi smiled. "Then let’s match our strengths. This is a weapon that once killed a god! Do you want to give it a try!"
Xaen didn’t give a reply. Not with her mouth at least.
The lava around her surged upward.
A wave that seemed to bloat out everything around them. It grew taller and taller and then crashed down!
Time seemed to slow down.
Severin gritted his teeth. His whole body was dry and hot, his skin red and eyes like desert sand. If that wave crashed to the ground, then he was sure he would be caught in it!
He turned around. The melting pit had just passed the ground beneath the throne by inches. He did a rough calculation.
He would have to leave his hiding place or else he had better have the ability to swim in lava.
He didn’t.
So he leapt past the expanding pit and began to run.
Veyron and Shadow Lord were still fighting above, but he ignored them as he made his way over to the crumbled wall. But then he stopped and turned in surprise.
Something was happening.
The lava wave that was supposed to crash down and drown the whole room didn’t crash.
Severin turned.
The lava wave indeed crashed down, but it was quickly absorbed by the cup.
Anansi laughed as all the lava was absorbed. "As expected of the weapon against the gods! Venom has the ability. It can absorb all attacks that are directed its way....."
Suddenly, the cup lit up, and Anansi pointed it at Xaen and the bird.
There was a brief instance where Xaen’s eyes widened, where Severin raised his brows, and everything seemed to pause.
But then a faint whining sound emitted from the ground, and then a beam of green energy, condensed so thin it appeared almost liquid-like, blasted from the cup.
"Fuck!" Xaen shouted.
The lava around her swept forward in an attempt to shield her, but it was futile. The beam of green light shredded through the lava. The straight line it created was accompanied by the wrecking of what remained of the tattered ground.
Bam!
The green beam punched through the bird’s chest as if it was made of paper, and then straight through, creating a large crater in its chest.
The bird flapped its chest, droplets of lava falling like cannonballs. It screeched so loud that the air vibrated.
Severin sucked in a sharp breath. The green light didn’t just burst through the bird—the wound was spreading as if it was made of acid, corroding and eating.
The bird flapped its wings angrily, but nothing it did changed its situation.
Xaen didn’t look so worried as she jumped down from the bird, her body enveloped in a shimmer of heat. Her eyes filled with anger. "You... you’ll pay for that!"
She stretched out her hand as if she was pressing down on a bug. A force of rippling, shimmering shockwave blasted out of her hand.
Dry heat that scorched the air and sucked it all in.
Anansi once again raised his cup to absorb the power, but even then the heat melted his leather and made his skin glow as if he was made of metal.
Severin frowned. "Is he taking the form of a mortal that slew a god? A mortal is this powerful? Interesting!"
Severin was much calmer now, and he wasn’t in that much of a hurry to leave. He stood where he was and watched the battle with narrowed eyes.
Again, the cup in Anansi’s hand spat out what it had absorbed in a flash of green beam of light that pierced the air like a spear. But this time, it didn’t have the desired effect.
A blurry image appeared above Xaen. It was an insect even larger than the bird, but this one appeared to be a projection.
The insect was like a housefly, but what made it most different was the wings that were made of glossy light. Its body was a fusion of lava and flesh.
As the green light made its way to Xaen, wings burst out from her back, insect wings twice her body size made of glossy light.
The wings then folded in front of her like a shield, covering her body from view.
Bam!
The green light struck the wings but couldn’t punch through, as they were deflected with ease.
Xaen smiled. Her body was charging. Two limbs grew out of her body, and her body became thinner. Her eyes turned into different black segments. "You have your cup, and I have my summons. You say you can absorb attacks into that cup, right? Then what about physical attacks?
"Can you handle them?"
Then she spread her wings.
Bam!
She shot forward, practically disappearing as she threw herself forward like a rocket.
Anansi cursed and held the cup as if he was holding a hammer. The cup grew stronger and lengthened, just like a real hammer, and then his own figure flickered as he leapt to meet the incoming attack.