Arthur felt his exhausted muscles tear under the invisible weight pressing down from the ruined sky above. Moving his heavy sword resembled dragging a massive iron boulder across a completely dry riverbed. The physical exertion burned his lungs and clouded his vision. Mercyros appeared silently and instantaneously directly behind his armored back. The deity bypassed the physical distance without displacing a single drop of air. Arthur forced his heavy neck to rotate. The painful slowness of his drained nervous system completely refused to accelerate his movements. He watched the towering Monolith raise a dark, glowing hand toward his face.
Suddenly, a small, frail girl leapt directly into his blurred field of vision. She threw her thin arms out wide. She pleaded openly with the silent deity. Her voice cracked with absolute terror. Arthur could not process her specific identity. He did not understand her sudden arrival on this shattered battlefield. He felt entirely distant from his own physical body. The edges of his consciousness darkened rapidly into gray static. He heard distant cries of pure fear echoing across the broken masonry. Desperate, high-pitched pleas begged for mercy from an unyielding god. The awful sounds washed over his mind and slowly faded into absolute nothingness.
This exact situation presented complete, undeniable hopelessness.
Arthur attempted to summon his silver vestige one final time. He reached deep into his internal reservoir of magic. He searched for the familiar spark of power. He found only absolute emptiness.
'Your pool of Fate essence is currently depleted,' a detached, mechanical voice whispered directly into his ears.
Arthur planted his heavy metal boots firmly against the cracked stone floor. He forced his spine to straighten. He looked Mercyros dead in his glowing golden eyes. The deity possessed absolute control over this entire dimension, but Arthur maintained absolute control over his own dignity.
"You actually think I will bend to your will," Arthur stated. His tone carried a genuine, friendly warmth, yet it remained anchored by an unyielding, authoritative steel. "You are completely mistaken."
Mercyros lowered his glowing hand a fraction of an inch. The deity tilted his head slightly, observing the broken paladin with cold, analytical curiosity.
"Curse you, Mercyros," Arthur declared loudly. "Curse you and curse your divine mother."
The empty chamber absorbed the absolute blasphemy. The words hung heavily in the stagnant air.
"That is exactly right," Arthur continued, offering a reckless, bloodstained smile. "I am a complete nonbeliever. I reject your commerce entirely."
Mercyros did not immediately strike the human down. The towering deity simply observed the mortal defiance with a blank expression.
"Then you will have to pay your debts," Mercyros concluded flatly. "You will pay in total atonement."
Arthur coughed hard. He tasted heavy copper on his tongue. He wiped a thick smear of dark blood from his bruised chin.
"Why are you so obsessed with her legacy then," Arthur challenged, refusing to drop his authoritative posture. "You strictly enforce her rules, yet you hide down here in the dark."
Mercyros remained silent for a long moment. The glowing runes etched across his dark skin pulsed with steady, rhythmic light.
"I guess your specific price will have to be exacted right now," Mercyros announced.
A brief lapse in divine judgment occurred. Mercyros shifted his focus toward the pleading girl for a single fraction of a second. Arthur capitalized on the minor distraction immediately. He broke loose from the oppressive gravity. He reached downward to grab the hilt of his dropped energy blade. His thick fingers brushed the cold metal surface.
The crushing weight of chrono stasis slammed into his body again.
The temporal magic locked Arthur and Ayame completely in place. The ambient temperature plummeted instantly. The air around them crystallized into invisible glass. Mercyros took a single, heavy step forward. The deity towered over Arthur. The golden light radiating from the divine flesh illuminated the surrounding dust particles.
"You do not seem to understand your current reality," Mercyros spoke. The deep voice vibrated intensely through the stone floor beneath their feet. "I can kill you in any given second. I can make you completely cease to exist right here. You only survive because binding contracts and heavy curses currently affect my full capacity."
Mercyros leaned closer. The smell of burnt ozone radiated from his robes.
"The absolute truth is that you would have been dead the very second you stepped into my domain," Mercyros explained.
Arthur could not move his locked jaw, but he managed to curl his lips slightly. He formed a wide, knowing grin.
Mercyros noticed the specific expression immediately. The deity analyzed the subtle movement of the facial muscles. This smile did not represent a dying man seeking false comfort. It did not resemble empty bravado for a final, useless stand. It was the absolute certainty of a man who knew a massive disaster was about to unfold against his enemy.
Mercyros suddenly felt a devastating pressure bubble up directly behind his own back.
The deity turned his head sharply. He calculated the specific energy signature invading his secure domain. This new presence could not possibly belong to a human person. The raw density of the approaching aura felt like an absolute monster had violently breached the perimeter. It felt exactly like death itself walking into the room. A deep, unfamiliar bubble of genuine concern rose up in the stomach of the Monolith.
The temporal stasis holding Ayame and Arthur shattered instantly. The ambient magic simply collapsed under the new, overwhelming atmospheric pressure.
Even the yellow-haired executive lying unconscious on the distant platforms stirred. Pilt twitched violently as the sheer intensity of the new arrival disrupted his deep coma.
A thick, oppressive red light covered the golden ambiance of the domain. The artificial clouds above turned the dark color of dried blood. The pristine marble pillars reflected the harsh crimson glow. The entire world became coated in an eternal, ambient shade of deep red.
A physical pressure unlike any other phenomenon immediately filled the ruined chamber. The heavy weight did not just occupy the room. It replaced the very air itself. Breathing became an active, desperate struggle against the dense atmosphere. The oxygen felt thick and entirely toxic.
Violent lightning strikes tore through the red mist. The heavy thunder did not originate from the sky above. The deafening cracks came directly from a specific, localized spot of gravity near the edge of the shattered platform.
Arthur fell to his knees as the stasis released him. He looked up and immediately saw a figure.
The newcomer was entirely coated in a violent red aura. Thick, swirling red mist concealed the exact details of his physical form. Two piercing red eyes shone brightly beneath the dark vapor. The entity wore a simple, ruined life vest over a battered shirt. The rest of his body was completely obscured by the aggressive red energy bleeding outward into the environment.
The figure stood bent forward at an unnatural, broken angle. He walked awkwardly across the broken stones. Every single step appeared painfully slow and heavily labored. He dragged himself forcefully out of the dark dimensional rift.
His heavy footsteps echoed loudly against the cold, cracked surface of the floor. The terrifying sound resembled a massive steel hammer striking an iron anvil.
Mercyros stared closely at the approaching anomaly. Then, the supreme deity did something entirely unexpected. Mercyros laughed.
For the very first time since their violent encounter began, the indifferent, stoic character of the Monolith broke completely. Golden tears leaked rapidly from his glowing eyes as he let out a booming, joyful laugh. The sound echoed strangely against the booming thunder.
"You survived even that trap," Mercyros shouted loudly over the roaring lightning. "You survived the absolute void."
The red figure did not respond to the divine greeting. He simply continued his agonizingly slow walk toward the exact center of the platform.
"Very well," Mercyros announced. The deity spread his dark arms wide to welcome the impossible challenge.
The red figure did not look right. His limbs moved with a sickening, disjointed rhythm. He finally stopped walking. He stood up completely straight, towering slightly above the scattered debris. The thick red mist pulsated rapidly around his broad shoulders.
"Do your absolute worst," Mercyros demanded.
For a brief, agonizing instant, the red figure only stood there in complete silence. He observed the glowing deity with dead, crimson eyes.
Then, he slowly raised his right hand.
Mercyros instantly manifested a massive, divine barrier. The thick, golden shield of pure stasis energy formed directly between the deity and the approaching monster. Mercyros felt entirely confident that the physical strike would not penetrate his absolute magical defense. Recent actions from these mere awakened mortals had proven slightly troublesome, but a domain ruler possessed ultimate authority over all local spatial physics.
Even if the attack somehow broke the shield, Mercyros heavily welcomed the physical release of true death. He stood firm and resolute behind his golden wall.
Torrents of red lightning and concentrated atmospheric pressure roamed wildly around the single, clenched fist of the red figure. The chaotic energy condensed rapidly into a terrifying singularity of pure, destructive force.