As the two angered gods lunged forward with a fury that seemed to shake the very foundations of the pocket realm, Zelos and Kratos stepped forward to meet their enemies head-on, while Atreus remained at the rear to provide a necessary long-range advantage with his bow.
Baldur followed closely behind his two brothers with a predatory smirk plastered on his face.
He felt entirely confident that he and his siblings would not suffer defeat this time. Unlike the first time Baldur had faced the combined strength of Zelos and Kratos, he now brought significant reinforcements with him.
Although he was not the type to admit such things out loud, Baldur knew that if the three of them worked together in perfect unison, they could easily bring down even a duo as formidable as Thor and Heimdall.
Vidar and Vali launched a direct and coordinated attack against Kratos, while Baldur focused his singular attention on Zelos.
This time, Baldur was not planning to hold back even a fraction of his strength.
He channeled the volatile energy of Bifrost magic to enhance his physical strikes, making every punch he threw exponentially heavier and stronger than before.
Each blow carried enough raw power to create a massive explosion upon impact, and the only reason the surrounding environment remained intact was the presence of the magical barrier that Zelos had expertly erected.
"Atreus, go and help Father! I will deal with Baldur alone," Zelos yelled over the sounds of clashing steel and magical discharge.
He could feel that Atreus was already preparing to release a tensioned string towards the Aesir god, but Zelos had other plans.
He not only wanted to fight against Baldur to test the effectiveness of his own high-level spells, but he was also driven by a scholarly curiosity.
He wanted to study the intricacies of Baldur's invulnerability up close. He sought to understand the exact structure of the spell and find a way to eventually replicate its benefits for himself and his family.
"Are you sure?" Atreus asked back, his voice tinged with a hint of doubt.
However, he received no verbal answer from Zelos. Instead, the older brother released a pulsing purple orb of concentrated energy that directly hit Baldur in the center of his torso.
The impact created a localized explosion that sent Baldur staggering backward from the sheer force.
Zelos followed up the attack immediately, firing off a series of Zoltraak beams towards Baldur as well as toward Vali and Vidar.
The twin gods of vengeance managed to block the incoming magical strikes, but this brief moment of inattention was exactly what Kratos needed.
The Spartan swung his heavy axe in a wide arc towards Vidar's torso, the sharp blade penetrating deep into the god's ribcage and cutting nearly through to his divine heart.
Kratos then delivered a powerful kick to Vidar's chest, following up with an earthquake-infused punch that sent the god flying across the battlefield once more.
Thinking that such catastrophic injuries would surely kill even a god, Kratos began to shift his focus toward Vali, who was currently targeting Atreus with his arrows.
But before he could fully turn his back, a powerful arm reached out and grabbed his shoulder with a grip like iron. A fist then collided directly with Kratos's head, sending a shockwave through his skull.
Kratos looked back to see Vidar standing tall once more, his eyes glowing with a terrifying, crimson light that signaled a deep, primal rage.
"RAAHHHH!" Vidar yelled like a true madman.
In that moment, he bore a striking resemblance to Kratos when he utilized his own Spartan Rage, but there was a fundamental difference in how the power manifested.
Kratos watched with a grim expression as the life-threatening injuries he had just inflicted upon Vidar began to heal right before his very eyes.
The skin knit back together, and the shattered bones fused until every trace of the wound had completely disappeared.
Vidar then launched into a flurry of punches, and Kratos was forced to fight back with the flat of his axe to parry the relentless assault.
Meanwhile, Zelos continued his duel with Baldur. He sent wave after wave of Zoltraak beams toward the invulnerable god, but he was met with a sudden and unexpected counter. Baldur did not dodge the magic; instead, he ran directly into the barrage.
He began to absorb the essence of the Zoltraak magic into his own being, his body glowing with a blinding intensity until he appeared to become a creature made of pure, lethal laser energy.
"I CANNOT FEEL ANY OF THIS!" Baldur yelled with a maniacal laugh.
He threw a series of punches against Zelos's barrier, trying desperately to break through the magical defenses, but he found no success. Zelos decided to escalate the struggle, directly summoning the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak.
Glowing red ribbons of irresistible force manifested in the air, wrapping tightly around every single limb of Baldur's body.
Zelos attempted to pull the bands in opposite directions, trying to literally rend the god's body apart, but Baldur struggled with a savage strength to free himself, his face contorted with a mixture of anger and glee.
Zelos maintained the pressure on the bands, closely observing the effects of the spell. He was trying to study the reaction of Baldur's invulnerability in real time before choosing to deactivate the binding.
He wanted to grasp the fundamental nature of the protection so he could improve upon it for his own defensive arts.
As the bands pulled with enough force to uproot mountains, Zelos could see the hidden layers of the spell as it worked to dispel any physical action that would cause harm, effectively keeping Baldur unhurt regardless of the pressure.
"Oh, have you not learned your lesson yet? I cannot be harmed, you arrogant little dumbass," Baldur said with a smug grin.
He began to absorb the magical energy from the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak themselves.
The red light began to integrate into his own golden aura, and with a sudden burst of power, he snapped the unbreakable bonds.
He lunged forward and punched the air in front of Zelos with the same scorching heat intensity that the bands had possessed.
"What a fascinating gift you have been given. You possess the capacity to absorb the very elements used against you, though it appears the effect is fleeting.
When coupled with your invulnerability and immortality, it makes for quite an enviable package.
You must truly cherish the one who bestowed such a blessing upon you. After all, she gave you a truly wonderful gift, did she not?" Zelos said calmly.
There was a distinct, mocking tone in his voice. He knew exactly how much Baldur loathed this condition, treating the lack of physical sensation as a torturous curse rather than a blessing.
His words hit home, and the smirking Baldur suddenly became dead serious. His eyes filled with a raw, cold fury as if he had just been reminded of the greatest pain he had ever endured.
He gathered every element he had absorbed from the battle into his right arm, channeling the fire, the ice, and the magic into a single, devastating punch.
The blow struck Zelos's outer barrier with such force that it shattered the magical shield instantly. However, Zelos was prepared.
He also possessed an internal Infinity barrier surrounding his body, a manipulation of space that ensured the attack of Baldur could never actually make physical contact with his skin.
"Hahahaha, it is a neat trick, isn't it?" Zelos said with a smirk.
He raised a single finger, and at the tip, he summoned a miniature, swirling black hole. He thrust his hand forward, placing the singularity face-to-face with Baldur, and then he caused it to explode.
The gravitational collapse caused Baldur's head to become visibly dented, the bone sinking inward, yet he was still not bleeding.
The indentation on his brow was massive, pushing his eye back toward his brain, but the magic of the curse immediately began working to pop the flesh and bone back into its original place.
This violent process allowed Zelos to directly observe the mechanical function of the invulnerability.
He watched how the reality of the body was maintained by the spell, completing the entire observation that Zelos had been trying to conduct since their first meeting.
While this was happening, Baldur, who was usually very cocky and talkative, fell into a chilling silence.
It was as if something deep inside him had finally snapped. His thoughts were now fully and purely focused on the goal of killing Zelos, and he no longer cared for taunts or grandstanding.
He prepared to use his main divinity, the essence of Light itself. He began to blink across the battlefield with sudden, stuttering movements that were too fast for the human eye to track. In a heartbeat, his fist was positioned directly above Zelos's head.
Simultaneously, he released countless light beams that were eerily similar to a barrage of glowing spears, raining down upon Zelos from every angle and showcasing the true extent of his divine powers.
The Infinity barrier around Zelos proceeded to protect him from the physical punch as well as the concentrated light beams.
Even though the light was traveling at its natural, maximum speed, it could not penetrate the infinite number of spatial distances that Zelos had folded around himself.
However, Zelos did not remain stationary this time. He directly summoned a sword using his partisan magic, but he made a critical adjustment to its composition.
He crafted the blade entirely out of mistletoe, mimicking the properties of the arrows that Atreus carried.
With a single, fluid motion, he stepped into Baldur's space and stabbed the sword deep into the god's torso.
All of this sequence of events occurred in just the blink of an eye. Baldur was caught completely off guard. He was surprised that someone was able to move at the same rate of speed as him, or perhaps even faster.
But then, a truly strange and terrifying sensation occurred. For the first time in centuries, he felt a sharp, stinging pain in his chest.
He looked down in wide-eyed shock and saw himself penetrated by the mistletoe blade. He saw bright, red blood beginning to soak into his clothes.
"What... what is this?" Baldur managed to gasp out.
He was paralyzed by the sensation of feeling something, anything, for the first time in his long life. Zelos did not give him time to recover, delivering a powerful kick to his stomach that carried enough force to knock the god back across the dirt.