Chapter 847: Jordan's Gauntlet II: [Labyrinth of the goddess]
As Jordan looked back, he found himself surrounded by hordes of deformed demons all cackling with hungry growls. Eris, Merida, Aella, Betty, and Merlin stood on the hands of the giant minotaurus, glaring down at him.
He looked to the side and saw Lydia approaching him with her body burning with both curse and holy magic.
"For this many powers to gather in one place...it's not normal." Jordan growled as he looked at the eclipse. "Aria, it's playing with me in the background." He ground his teeth, "Korah was right, that vile archon loves to mess with us."
"Demi-god..." Lydia said as she approached him; the grass around her withering from the rotting curse and burning from the heat of her divine magic. "I've healed Selica from her wounds, those were nasty." She growled.
"Do you really think a paladin can defeat a demi-god? We're the seedling of the beings giving you power." He smiled and clenched a fist, "There isn't a god out there insane enough to lend one of his paladins enough power to face a demi-god. Unless they want to get killed and eaten by the overgod, you better put your sword down before you get your goddess Amaterasu in trouble."
Lydia took a stance with a voice ringing in her head. [The overgod is my husband so go all out.]
"You dare encroach on Amaterasu's domain, seduce her worshippers, deceive the people, harm our dear friend and now you're violating the gods' law and attacking more of my friends." She pointed her sword at him. "By my oath of protection, I shall shield them with my body. By my oath of vengeance, I shall split your body in half with my blade. By my oath of balance, I shall deliver judgment for breaking the cosmic laws."
Jordan lunged at her with rage burning in his eyes; a clenched fist flew at her face faster than anyone could see.
Lydia's sword flashed with black flames and exploded forth, sending a beam of cursed light that ripped the ground apart and left it rotten. She looked around, trying to find if Jordan survived the blast.
From the ashes, he lunged forth, his fist inches away from her face. She swung her sword and smacked his side, sending him flying away like a baseball.
Abel and Jack landed beside the carriage and looked at the fight. "Now she's scary, did she just fling a demi-god away like he was nothing?"
"Her power gets boosted under Amaterasu's eclipse. But she won't be able to move after it ends, she must finish the fight within about two minutes." Jack replied and looked up, "What are they doing up there?"
"From the magic, I can sense...they are trying to charge Eris's magic and divine power. They might be right, only a demi-god could finish another one." Abel nodded.
"You asked Arad to fight him knowing that?" Jack growled.
"Arad is special, I can imagine all of us dying here but I can't imagine Arad losing to Jordan." Abel looked inside the carriage, "Are you ladies all right in there?"
"We're fine. What's that thing?" Isdis replied.
BAM! With a massive blast, Jordan kicked Lydia in the chest and sent her rolling on the ground, digging a whole trench with her body in a second. She immediately stood up and took a stance, only to get punched with an uppercut to the chin that sent her flying into the sky.
"You're only a paladin. Demi-gods are one rank higher than you in every way, foolish woman." Jordan laughed as he jumped after her, ready to kick her back to the ground. "Return to the dirt which belongs to." He clenched a fist and swung at her face.
Lydia's eyes flashed with divine magic, they were far away from everyone else. [Cursed Solar Wind] With a single swing of her sword she shifted her divine magic into the rotting curse and blasted him into pieces with a flash that blinded everyone on the ground.
Jordan's body fell to the ground, burned and rotten with all of his limbs missing as he used them to protect his torso.
She landed beside him with a passive face, "Arad is tougher. He would've at least ripped my arm off." If she had tried to pull such a large move on Arad he would've taken it, but not without countering at the same time.
"Arad this...Arad that..." Jordan growled as he healed, "Even Korah...what are you all afraid of about him?" He glared at her with rage in his eyes.
"If he was here, this fight would've ended long ago." Lydia lifted her sword as she looked around; she needed to keep her attacks in check to not harm Merida's demons, the carriage with Isdis and Mira, or Meryem's ants beneath the ground.
CRACK! CRACK! The two heard heavy steps approaching and they looked to the side, seeing Meryem walking toward them with black magic seeping from her skin.
"What are..." Lydia gasped, she was certain Jack had sent them a signal to not get in the way. She can't fully control her cursed smites normally, let alone under the eclipse. GRROAAAAAAAAA0000000000! Meryem roared as her eyes turned red and the veins on her body bulged as her skin turned dark brown. The ground beneath them shook; Jordan immediately figured it out.
"Barbarian's rage?" He gasped, but the next thing he saw was Meryem's fist bashing his skull into his torso with a downward punch. Since her fighting style was brutish and relied on her strength, she was taught by Nina how to use it best.
Jordan teleported away with a golden mist and tried to regain his footing but Meryem kept chasing him everywhere like a raging bull, smacking him left and right as if he was a doll.
As Meryem charged with a flying kick, Jordan dodged her attack and grabbed her by the arm, spinning her around and flung her toward Lydia. When Lydia tried to catch Meryem, Jordan teleported behind them, knocked Lydia with a heavy liver punch, and jolted Meryem with a bolt of divine magic; he was done playing around with them.
[Elemental Expansion]
A voice came from behind him and he could a titanic amount of magic shifting around, for a moment he panicked and rapidly spun around, "Is this the Arad you've been all crying about." What he was wasn't Arad, but Merlin putting her hands together. [Labyrinth of the goddess] "Shit..." Jordan gasped as he got sucked into Merlin's magic. On that day, a labyrinth tower reaching the clouds appeared out of nowhere, and it didn't last long.
When Jordan opened his eyes, he was standing in the middle of a large open field. To the north, Aella floated in the sky surrounded by an army of fairies as the crown of the queen flashed green above her head. Eris was to the east, sitting upon a rising sun bleeding a river of magic to the ground. In the dark west, Merida marched forth with an army of demons, trampling the living and dead alike. And from the south, the rumbling of the ant army shook the ground; their endless numbers bloated the horizon. And from above, Betty stood upside down on the blue ceiling and stared down at Jordan.
Merlin was sitting on a golden throne in a separate room, operating the labyrinth with
hundreds of glowing magic circles.
"This labyrinth is my world...as the goddess of this space I decree, all magic shall flow into the five of them." She shouted at the top of her lungs.