Chapter 54: Stoking Fury

Zay didn’t run, though at this point Jaxir felt that she definitely should have. She had watched the other two die, watched him figure out exactly what the Demi-Goddesses had done to their bodies, and there wasn’t much reason to believe the same thing wouldn’t happen to her.

Still, she planted her tower shield in the center of the hall, right where the last motes of Telik’s body were disappearing, then tipped her head back to look at Jaxir standing upside down on the ceiling. The light in her eyes hadn’t dimmed at all, and when she spoke, that same layered voice rolled out of her throat.

"You should be afraid. The Minor God of Gravity does not forget, and those who stoke His fury do not last."

Jaxir nodded along as though he was taking the warning seriously, his staff hanging loosely from one hand. "I’m working on it, I swear I’m trying to shake in my boots. But you see, the other two died a bit too easily. How’s that my fault?"

"They are found, they are hunted, and every servant of every temple within His territory will know your face." Zay tightened her grip around the shield as divine light began swelling beneath her skin. "No amount of running will save you from His fury."

"Quick question." Jaxir raised his free hand like a student who had been waiting patiently to be called on. "What exactly is your relationship with this guy? This is a whole lot of fanaticism for an asshole I’ve never even met."

The tower shield tilted forward, and the rage in Zay’s expression finally became entirely her own.

"You will die screaming."

"I guess we’re not answering questions, then." Jaxir clicked his tongue, raised his staff and felt the last seconds of Twinkle Step ticking away beneath his feet. "Byebye."

"Chi."

Crimson lightning fell through the hall in a swirl of dry, shattered leaves, Wither sinking straight through Zay’s armor and into the unstable mana buried beneath it. Her shield did nothing to stop what was already happening inside her, and the first bubble of divine light rose beneath the skin around her throat before spreading across her shoulders.

Zay managed two steps only before it bubbled over.

[-221]

[-307]

[-394]

The tower shield struck the floor first, then the power trapped inside her lost what little control remained and ripped outward. Her body disappeared in a violent burst of white-gold light, the last of it breaking apart into motes before the shockwave finished rolling across the hall.

Twinkle Step released Jaxir from the ceiling half a second later.

Proper gravity caught him, but rather than let himself fall awkwardly, Jaxir pushed away from the stone and turned through the air. His feathered armor opened around him as he rotated, slowing the last part of the descent enough that he landed neatly on the balls of his feet.

Then he immediately folded over and planted both hands on his knees.

"Okay..." Jaxir dragged in a breath that didn’t seem to reach nearly far enough, his heart still beating with that ugly uneven rhythm from before. "That was cool for about two seconds."

The hall became silent around him.

Jaxir straightened slowly, still breathing harder than he would have liked, and looked toward the statues at the far end of the chamber. The light filling the eyes of all three Demi-Goddesses flickered at once, their gazes losing that strange awareness before the glow guttered out completely.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then something immense descended.

Jaxir’s knees nearly buckled as a weight settled across his shoulders, so sudden and absolute that the stone beneath his boots groaned. A roar followed it, not sound exactly, but an expression of fury that rolled through the temple from every direction at once and made the mana filling the room shudder.

―

[The fury of the Minor God of Gravity has reached new heights]

―

[Your Rare Mark of Ire has been upgraded to an Epic Mark of Ire]

―

[You have been cursed with an Epic Mark of Ire]

[Servants of the Minor God of Gravity will receive a +50% boost in strength when battling you and will be able to sense your exact location within 10 kilometers]

―

Jaxir stared at the notifications until the last line faded, then slowly sneered. The Minor God of Gravity sure was a petty bastard.

"Sore loser. God my ass."

Jaxir raised his middle finger toward the ceiling and held it there for several seconds, making absolutely certain that there could be no confusion about who it was meant for. The weight pressing against him didn’t disappear, but the temple gave a faint shudder beneath his feet, which was good enough for him.

"Fifty percent next time?" He scoffed and lowered his hand. "Send more people too, while you’re at it."

Light suddenly bloomed at the far end of the chamber.

Three portals opened at the feet of the Demi-Goddesses, each one taking shape beneath a different statue as pale-gold energy spun into slow circles. One sat beneath the goddess with the crown of feathers, another beneath the one wearing the simple glittering band, while the third appeared below the eight-sided star.

Jaxir assumed those were the rewards. Then his eyes moved past them.

There was another portal farther back, almost hidden where the columns ended and the temple gave way to darkness, and the instant Jaxir saw it, the other three might as well have disappeared. It was smaller, softer, and lacked the dramatic spiraling energy of the others, looking less like a doorway and more like a pool of warm light suspended upright in the air.

Jaxir took a step toward it seemingly without deciding to, and then another just as unconsciously.

He stopped himself before the third, his brows drawing together as he stared into the warm glow. There wasn’t any Skill tugging at his body, no notification demanding he approach and no foreign mana wrapped around his limbs, yet something about it felt familiar enough that his legs had simply decided where they wanted to go.

That wasn’t a feeling Jaxir particularly liked.

Another person’s memories in his head were one thing, but occasionally having their instincts bleed into his own was another entirely. It felt like living through two sets of eyes and never being entirely sure which one had noticed something first.

A pitiful groan came from behind him.

Jaxir looked over his shoulder and found Nick still lying at the base of the pillar where Telik had launched him, one arm thrown over his face while the other rested limp beside him. His HP remained fixed at one, though at least it hadn’t started moving in the wrong direction.

"Can you heal yourself?"

Nick moved his arm just enough to look at him. "I’m dying."

Jaxir rolled his eyes. "It’s a video game, get your shit together."

"I have one HP." Nick lifted a finger toward his health bar as though Jaxir might somehow have missed the glowing number above him. "One. I’m pretty sure a strong breeze could finish me right now."

"Then don’t stand somewhere windy."

Nick stared at him for several seconds before dropping his head against the stone again. "You know, you’re really not a very kind person."

"Didn’t I just kill all three of them for you?"

"You did not kill all three of them." Nick tried to sit up, winced, then decided the floor was perfectly comfortable after all. "I helped. A great deal in fact. Don’t let my current state fool you. I saved your ass."

Jaxir laughed and turned back toward the portals. "Sure, sure."

Nick watched him for another moment, then his expression shifted as some of the joking faded away. "Are you ever going to tell me the truth about where you came from? You don’t fight like someone who started Divinity a few weeks ago, and whatever the hell you just did definitely wasn’t beginner shit."

Jaxir looked back at him, then smiled in a way that answered absolutely nothing.

"Tell you what, as payment for killing all three of them, I’m taking the fourth door." He pointed his staff toward the three portals beneath the statues. "You can have whichever one of those you want."

Nick’s eyes widened. "There’s a fourth door?"

Jaxir was already walking.

"Hey, wait, what fourth door?" Nick finally managed to get himself onto one elbow as Jaxir approached the warm portal. "Jaxir!"

Jaxir waved over his shoulder without looking back.

He wasn’t particularly worried about Nick. The shameless melee class clearly had methods of his own, and anyone capable of surviving at one HP after being used as a toy by a God-possessed archer probably didn’t need Jaxir standing around to hold his hand.

The warm light washed over him as he stepped through the fourth portal.