Chapter 76 - 76 VS. Apollo and a slice of heaven

"I don't know how you got here so fast but at least now I can kill you with my own hands." Apollo says as he pulls back the bowstring without nocking an arrow.

An arrow made of pure, solid solar energy forms out of thin air.

As he's aiming for the center of my c.h.e.s.t, I move to the side in anticipation of his shot. But the moment he lets go of the bowstring, the arrow disappears from my sight and I feel a slight burning sensation on my shoulder.

My left shoulder is slightly singed by what was apparently an actual miniature sun, shaped like an arrow.

Completely unfazed, I refocus on Apollo.

He has already pulled back the bowstring again, this time creating three arrows at once.

I close my eyes for a fraction of a second, focusing on all my senses. As I open my eyes, I perceive everything in slowmotion.

I notice, even from four hundred meters away, how Apollo releases his grip on the bowstring and the arrows start flying in my direction almost as fast as I can now see.

I move my head to the side, avoiding the first arrow as it grazes my cheek.

I then lower my body and get down on all fours, avoiding the other two arrows passing over my head.

I turn into a wolf and start running in Apollo's direction.

He starts firing arrows at me as I keep evading them just barely.

When I cover the first hundred meters, he lets go of his bow and raises his right arm.

I feel an enormous amount of magic gathering at his fingertips. Far more magic than I've ever felt in one place. It keeps gathering in a huge ball of pure magic until it condenses to half its size and becomes hotter as the pressure builds, forming a sun with a sixty meter diameter.

I suddenly feel a gravitational pull towards the sun he just created.

I use this to my advantage and speed up my approach.

As I get closer, the sun's gravity keeps increasing until I get within one hundred meters and Apollo hurls the miniature sun towards me.

"Supernova!" Apollo yells out as the sun's gravity suddenly increases by several magnitudes, causing its core to condense from the size of a skippyball to the size of a grain of sand.

The increased gravity pulls in the sun's outer layers of gas in an almost instantaneous implosion.

All the pent up energy releases in an incredibly powerful explosion right in front of me.

I create a thick shield of solid aura that is so condensed I can't see through it. It's dark, navy blue instead of the usual bright, sky blue.

In an instant, a massively powerful shockwave reaching up to three billion degrees celsius melts the outer layer of my aura shield and launches me back to the other side of the room, through the wall.

I land in a large open meadow a few kilometers away from Apollo's temple. I get up and look around. And for the first time I notice the true splendor of this heaven.

I take a deep breath as I notice the air itself is filled with magic and divine energy.

There is beautiful nature all around, or at least there was.

I jump up into the air and turn into a large eagle. I fly up and as I look down, I see a large circle of destruction. At its epicenter I see a light shining brightly.

Apollo's hair turned into golden fire as he's become taller and more muscular. His eyes are radiating that same fire.

'He used the energy from that supernova, not just to attack me but also to strengthen himself.'

I dive down as fast as I can and glide just above the ground until I'm close to Apollo.

With just two hundred meters between us, I turn into my werewolf form in mid-air, land and run straight at Apollo.

I fill my claws with aura as he raises both hands to the sky and creates about a dozen more miniature suns.

As he hurls the first one straight at me, I swing my claws through the air, creating a massive wave of aura that cuts through the sun.

"AAAAAH! DIE! SOLAR BARRAGE!"

He keeps hurling suns towards me as he's lost himself in a fit of rage.

I keep getting closer as I cut through everything he throws at me.

When I'm within reach, he holds out his hand and a sword handle without a blade appears.

The blade is so dense, gravity comes crashing into it. The sword heats up as its temperature goes far past the limits of a normal sun.

It settles around one million degrees celsius as it radiates a brilliant white light.

'A neutron star in the form of a sword. That's insane.'

He swings the sword towards me as I parry it with my claws.

The sword is insanely heavy and the impact actually manages to stop me.

Apollo takes a step towards me and thrusts the sword towards my c.h.e.s.t.

I reposition myself a little as I allow the sword to penetrate my shoulder.

I step forward and as we stand face to face, I bury my claws into his c.h.e.s.t. I shove my hand inside and wrap my fist around his heart.

Apollo looks shocked and terrified as blood drips from his mouth.

Instead of devouring everything, I only take what I want. All his divinities as the God of music, poetry, arts, oracles, archery, herds and flocks, healing, light, sun, knowledge and finally, protection of the young, which suits me particularly well.

As I do this, my body changes. My scars fade away, my fur and my eyes burn in blue flames and my aura turns into a darker shade of blue as small specks of gold appear inside, making it look like a beautiful night sky.

Apollo looks at the changes to my body. And as he feels what's happened, tears start rolling down his cheeks.

As he's now mortal, I rip his heart from his c.h.e.s.t as he drops to the ground, completely lifeless.

The Neutron star sword that's still stuck in my shoulder stops burning as the blade dissipates and the handle falls to the ground.

The wound heals pretty much instantly as I bend down to pick up the sword handle.

I examine it as I go over Apollo's memories to learn more about it.

'Pft, the dumbass made it himself. Granted, the end result was quite powerful, but I'm certain Hephaestus and I can come up with something better.'

I put the handle in my storage space for now as I turn back into my human form.

I then focus on my surroundings and notice there's not much left of Apollo's little slice of heaven. Everything is burned and destroyed.

I close my eyes and spread my aura through what is now my own domain.

I disintegrate everything around, leaving nothing but a vast, dark blue space adorned with stars.

Using my new divinity, I create a small sun.

I then make a large, flat plot of land (think Asgard MCU) about the size of Australia, surrounded by a vast ocean.

I then start shaping the surface, creating a desert, a forest, grassland and every other biome on earth and fill it with plant life.

As I'm finished creating the foundations for complex life, I do the same to the other side of my flat planet.

One side will have animals whereas the other side will have monsters, satisfying all my current divinities.

Noticing I lost track of time, I decide to actually create life later. I open a portal and return back to the exact place I left.

As I step through the portal, I exit right in front of the Tower of Babel.

I notice people working on remaking the street that was melted by Apollo's attack. 'They're almost finished. How long was I gone?'

I look around as I see everyone is on their knees. 'Oh, right, Arcanum.'

I seal my Arcanum again as my hair and eyes stop burning and I shrink back down to 2,2 meters tall and lose almost half my muscle mass.

I hear the flutter of bat wings approaching me as a small swarm of bats join together in front of me, turning into Alice.

"WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU?! YOU'VE BEEN GONE A MONTH!" She screams as she hugs me.

'Oh shit.'