The Broken Halo

”I cannot allow that.”

The God of War stared at the emerald light fading from his shield.

Then his gaze returned to Enigma.

”I have no time to waste on you.”

Aether tightened around his remaining hand.

”For once, treasure your life. A more dangerous opponent has appeared, someone worth killing. Take the opportunity to run before I change my mind.”

Enigma looked at the hand holding the shield.

”It stopped shaking.”

The god’s expression hardened.

”Should I congratulate you, or would looking toward the ruins of Velmora make it start shaking again?”

”You have no understanding of what appeared there.”

The reply was quiet enough to strip the humour from the exchange.

”Your ignorance is the only reason you can still make jokes.”

”Perhaps.”

Enigma spread his claws.

”But you still aren’t passing.”

The shield struck before he finished speaking.

Enigma crossed his forearms. Scales thickened beneath the impact, and the collision drove him backward through the air.

However, he twisted before the god could follow, dragging one claw along the shield’s rim.

Emerald light scraped iron-grey Aether.

The shield became a spear.

Enigma moved his head aside. The point passed his cheek, leaving a hot line beneath his eye.

He caught the shaft and pulled.

The God of War let it dissolve, stepped into the opening, and drove a knee toward Enigma’s wounded side.

Enigma blocked with his elbow.

BANG!

Both recoiled.

Neither had gained enough space to leave.

But the battle had changed.

No army of spears filled the sky. No enormous serpent rose over the shattered mountains.

The god formed only what he needed... a shield for a claw, a blade for an exposed joint, a spear whenever Enigma moved far enough away to leave an opening.

Each weapon disappeared as soon as its purpose ended.

He could not afford another wasteful exchange.

Their earlier battle had exhausted much of the power available through Darius. Even now, he was replenishing the Aether within the Chosen’s body, trying to restore more than these brief attacks consumed.

And what made it more difficult was the fact that he was in the demon realm, and replenishing his aether was far too difficult.

The fear brought by the violet eyes had done nothing to ease the stress of replenishing his energies.

And somewhere beyond Enigma, a Daemon was recovering.

Something that had survived HIM.

The God of War wanted what strength he had left for that creature.

Not this stubborn snake.

Enigma understood enough of his restraint to exploit it.

He gave ground beneath a hammer blow, then returned before the god could accelerate. His claws raked across a hastily raised guard, forcing another adjustment.

He did not try to tear through it.

He struck the god’s leg instead.

The God of War checked his movement and kicked him away.

A claw split the skin over Darius’s shin.

At the same moment, a narrow spear of Aether opened Enigma’s upper arm.

Blood scattered between them.

Enigma ignored it.

Killing the god within that body was no longer a sensible goal.

The World-Sovereign Physique had made that clear.

This was not an ordinary mortal vessel destined to break the moment its occupant drew too deeply upon his strength. An actual world existed inside the Chosen, giving the descended god room an ordinary body could not provide.

There were limits.

But Enigma did not know how close they were.

If cornered, the God of War could force more power into that world. The physique might endure enough of it to turn a killing attempt into Enigma’s own execution.

And Enigma was already wounded.

The ache beneath his ribs sharpened whenever he twisted. He could keep fighting, but summoning another World Devouring Serpent or one of his powerful attacks was a very different matter.

He did not need to win.

He needed the god to remain here.

’Whoever you are, don’t waste this opportunity I’ve given you.’

Whether it was Blackmoon or another Daemon. He just hoped that they were still alive or sensible enough to hide somewhere and recover.

Enigma met the next attack with a short sweep of emerald light, then stepped directly into the route toward Velmora.

The God of War’s jaw tightened.

”How long do you think you can do this?”

”Longer if you keep talking.”

The god thrust toward his throat.

Enigma leaned away, but a second point formed along the shaft and caught his shoulder.

Pain flashed through the joint.

He answered by striking the god’s wrist with the heel of his palm.

The spear tilted.

Enigma slid beneath it and drove his claws toward the dented breastplate.

An iron-grey disc appeared against the armour.

His claws struck it.

The god’s forehead crashed into his face.

BAM!

Enigma staggered, blood spilling from his nose, then he caught the god by the edge of his damaged armour before he could withdraw.

He pulled him into a knee.

The disc shattered between them.

Both dropped toward the broken ground.

Their landing split a slab of stone.

The God of War swept a short axe toward Enigma’s knee. Enigma stepped over it, planted a hand against the god’s shoulder, and vaulted past him.

However, the moment the god turned toward Velmora, an emerald-edged claw was waiting across his path.

He stopped and moved his head back as the tip of the claws narrowly cut his face, causing him to bleed.

The God of War growled in anger and annoyance.

Time passed in these bitter exchanges.

They fought across broken ridges, rose above them, and descended into the rubble once more. Blood dried against their skin, only for another strike to open the same wound.

Neither could establish a lasting advantage without committing power he wanted to preserve.

But every delay served Enigma.

The God of War could feel it.

Each block meant another breath for the unknown Daemon. Every failed escape gave that creature time to close a wound, recover strength, or leave the place where the god expected to find him.

His grip tightened until the weapon in his hand creaked.

Enigma saw the change.

He shortened his attacks further.

A slash toward the eyes. A feint at the wounded ribs. Nothing that held him in place long enough to receive the full force of a counterattack.

The god began a sudden ascent.

Enigma followed.

An iron-grey spear struck downward, forcing him to defend, while the god angled away.

For a moment, the route opened.

But Enigma released the spear instead of fighting it and cut across the god’s course. The weapon pierced his outer shoulder as he moved.

He accepted the wound.

His other hand reached the god’s face.

The God of War jerked back. Blood appeared across the God’s cheek.

Enigma settled before him again, breathing harder now.

”You could have avoided that,” the god said.

”So could you.”

His smile showed bloody teeth.

”You only had to stop trying to leave.”

The God of War stared at him.

Then the spear vanished.

Enigma’s smile faded.

Aether pressed outward from Darius’s body. Dust lifted from the stone below, hanging motionless around them.

”Enough.”

The god’s remaining hand closed.

An iron-grey hammer formed within it, denser than the weapons he had been using. Another outline appeared behind its head.

Then another.

Enigma recognised the gathering force.

The god had stopped caring what it would cost.

”I have had enough of this rubbish.”

Blood darkened the seams of Darius’s damaged breastplate as more power entered the body.

Enigma lowered his stance.

His scales thickened, and emerald light gathered along both arms.

The hammer rose.

”You guys are still fighting?”

The voice came from their flank.

Enigma turned before he could stop himself.

A narrow fold in the air was closing above a broken ridge. Wind cleared the dust beneath it, revealing a figure stepping onto the stone.

White hair fell past his waist.

Four pale horns framed his head, two swept backward and two rising above his temples. A loose shirt shifted against black skin, its open collar revealing the upper end of a pale scar.

There were no wings behind him.

Only a thin vertical mark upon his forehead, and crimson eyes watching them without haste.

Enigma recognised the demon, no Daemon, before the Daemon’s lips curved into a smile.

Blackmoon.

The Chaos Blade rested in Simon’s right hand, its point lowered beside his leg.

He looked from Enigma’s bleeding shoulder to the hammer raised in the God of War’s hand.

Then his smile widened.

”Lord Enigma.”

Simon lifted the black blade slightly.

”Leave the rest of him to me.”