Chapter 516 – Treachery.

"Have you lost your mind?!?" Gale yelled as he and Reflia's weapons clashed at high speed, the impact of their back and forth having long since leveled anything within Reflia's domain and leaving it as little more than a flat expanse filled with a small rubble amongst the swirling white background. "You intend to undo everything we ever worked for, and for what?!?"

*BOOM* *BAM* *BANG*

"Everything we worked for?" Reflia scoffed as she spun Labrys in her hand, forming thousands of magic circles in the air behind her. "And what would that be?!?" She said as the circles fired out an extraordinary amount of blue magic blasts focused on Gale. "Betraying everything we ever stood for?!? Betraying everyone we ever claimed to care about?!? Betraying the world we claimed to protect?!?"

*KABOOM*

"Why are you hung up on this all of a sudden?" Gale said as he swatted his spear to blow away her attack as well as the dust kicked up from the bombardment, unfazed by her attack. "Did you not agree with my plans to sacrifice the Spirits? Were you not accepting of a sacrifice?"

"I only went along with that because the goal was to save Enoris!" Reflia roared as she flashed toward Gale, locking weapons with him, the God of Order visibly struggling to keep her back as they rocketed around the empty space at high speed; their weapons letting off huge blasts of energy each time they met.

*CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG*

Under normal circumstances, a fight between Reflia and Gale shouldn't have been anywhere near this close. While not weak by any means, Reflia was nowhere near as powerful as the Order God who stood at the top of the proverbial pecking order. What made the difference here, though, was Labrys. The Demon Axe held a great deal of power, enough that not only did Gale need to be wary of damage dealt by it specifically since it was highly corrosive and potentially lethal, but Reflia was more than capable of drawing out Labrys' energy and putting it to use. This essentially gave her a boost and put the two dangerously close to parity, something that made Gale nervous since one wrong move could lead to his annihilation.

{Cursed thing! We should've disposed of you ages ago!} (Gale)

"It won't take much, Glae! You and I both know this weapon can kill our kind." Reflia said as the two disengaged, a thunderous burst of energy letting loose as they split apart. "Ironic that Vike's weapon will end up fulfilling his purpose in his place. But I suppose its quite poetic in a way, wouldn't you agree?" She smirked.

"Are you mad? Where is all this anger coming from?" Gale hissed as he wiped a bit of golden blood from the wound she'd made on his face. "Don't tell me that you've suddenly grown a conscience? Or do you have some stupid regrets like that fool Elariel?"

"You want to know where this is coming from? Gale, you lied to me!" Reflia replied, venom dripping from her words. "And in doing so made me a liar! You told us that sacrificing the Spirits was required to stabilize and preserve Enoris! I only went along with such a scheme because I believed that their sacrifice was for a greater good!"

"And it is!" Gale yelled. "I'll admit that things have deviated a bit from their original meaning but there is no greater good than our preservation! The mortal lives of this world are nothing compared to those of the Gods! If we allow ourselves to be destroyed alongside this world when we have a chance at escape, that would be the ultimate example of folly! Gods like us have a higher purpose, and we cannot afford for our existences here to end when such a simple solution exists! The mortals are doomed anyway so why not take advantage of their existence to preserve our own?"

{Dammit! Why can I not contact anyone else? Did she seal her domain? But how could she do that so completely?} (Gale)

"You've always been like this. You always believed yourself to be above everyone and everything." Reflia spat a bit of golden blood from her mouth. "To you, the mortal population of Enoris has been nothing short of expendable pawns in your games. You never seriously considered them anything more than slightly more intelligent animals, and now here we are at the conclusion of that way of thinking. You'll lead them all to the slaughter while whispering salvation in their ears as if your some kind of kindhearted Shepard!" She roared before slashing Labrys vertically, creating a massive slash of dark energy that caused Gale to panic as he struggled to hold it back with his weapon.

*WOOSH*

"Urgh!" Gale groaned as he used the tip of her spear to halt Reflia's attack, only finally getting it to break after using enough power to pierce it and split it in twain.

*KABOOM*

Splitting like a wave crashing into a the prow of a ship, Reflia's attack crashed over and around Gale before slamming into the 'ground' and exploding with such force that it could've easily destroyed an entire planet.

"That's not the end of it! Don't let your guard down so easily!" Reflia said, taking advantage of Gale's momentarily paralyzed state to slash him across the back with Labrys. Normally, Gale would've been able to entirely avoid such a straightforward attack, however, as Reflia was the Goddess of Space her abilities included the shortening and lengthening of distance. She could literaly compress or expand space, and thus where Gale would've otherwise moved himself safely out of her way her ability turned the near miss into a glancing blow. Against any other opponent such an ability would guarantee a swift victory, though when fighting other Gods Reflia, and the other members of the Pantheon, most often found their innate abilities, especially those that directly impacted their kin, to be either less useful or overly taxing.

"Argh!" Gale screamed in pain before spinning around and driving his heel into Reflia's temple, sending the Goddess flying into the ground at high speed. "That dammed axe." He winced as he applied divine power to heal his wounds, a process hampered by the fact that he'd been struck by a Demon Lord's weapon which was heavily corrosive when it came to wounding the Divine.

{I need to separate her from Labrys, but that will be easier said than done. I can tell that she bonded herself to that dammed thing so it may not be possible to separate the two without killing her first, though perhaps I could make an opening...} (Gale)

"Did that hurt?" Reflia laughed as she slowly teleported up to meet him, a bit of golden blood trickling from her lip. "Your kick was good, but that slash must've burned quite good. Too bad you were able to move far enough still. I thought I actually had you there for a second." She said.

"Don't get cocky." Gale replied, his words laced with contempt and anger. "I haven't even begun to get serious yet, and we both know that I'm on an entirely different level than you. Even with Labrys boosting your power, this battle can only end with my victory. So I'll give you one chance. Surrender Labrys to me and stop this suicidal and foolish battle. Do that, and we can forget about your treachery."

"Oooo, you must be nervous if you're negotiating." Reflia laughed at what she presumed was desperation. "Not confident in a duel? I suppose that makes sense. After all, it's been a long time since you fought an equal, as you tend to send others to do your dirty work rather than handle it yourself. Too bad for you though, that the others won't be coming. Nobody is getting in or out of my domain as long as I live, I've made sure of that. "

{As I suspected, she's sealed it off entirely by creating a separate space. Blast.} (Gale)

"I'll commend you for setting up such a good trap." Gale replied. "You had me completely fooled all this time. I never would've expected you to harbor such hatred. I won't make the mistake of trusting someone so completely again, I can assure you that."

"There won't be any next times Gale." Reflia replied as she held her weapon out toward him. "You and every one of us dies today. This will be the end of Enoris and its Gods."

"Even suppose you do kill me, that won't stop the ritual." Gale said, trying to buy time by talking to her so that he could figure out a strategy. "It's already been set in motion. Reheal has likely engaged the Spirits on Earth and is preparing for our transfer. If you were going to act, then I'd say that you missed your chance."

"Hah! And that just proves how your arrogance is truly your worst trait." Reflia said as she rested Labrys against her shoulder. "Missed my chance? You fool, I wanted Reheal to start the ritual! I needed her to do just that to ensure you all died!"

"What?!?" Gale's eyes went wide in shock. "Then... Why fight me? Why do all of this if you're going to allow it to-" He paused, understanding washing over him like a tidal wave. "The Reactors!"

"Ah! It seems you figured me out." Reflia grinned. “Took you long enough.”

"I knew there was something suspicious about your actions on the surface! No wonder the number we ended up finding was lower than my original expectations! You let me foolishly believe that they were either destroyed or rendered inoperable! Argh!" Gale cursed himself for not paying more attention. "That's why you were so against coming back here despite the risk to your existence from the Demon Lord! You plan on detonating them!"

"Congratulations, you figured it out." Reflia slowly clapped as she swung Labrys, reorienting her Domain to be little more than a swirling background of blue and white energy that looked something akin to the primordial soup of energy that existed right after a universe was created. "If not for the fact that Enoris was already unstable, I wouldn't be able to take you all out. Your little plan here has given me the perfect opportunity to ensure you all die."

"If you detonate those reactors, then not only will you kill the Gods, but ALL of Enoris will collapse!" Gale yelled, the stress of the situation obvious in his strained voice. "Aren't you fighting to save the mortal population?!? Your plan here will see them die alongside us!"

"True." Reflia said as she formed an uncountable number of magic circles that cracked with Demon Lord energy mixed with her own. "But I figure that if they're all going to die no matter what I do, then it's best if you all go along with it."

"You've truly gone mad." Gale retorted as he finished healing. "But fine." He said as he sprouted a pair of wings and a halo to match Reflia's, signaling that he was finally going to take this battle seriously. "If this is the path you've chosen, then I will just have to meet you head on and crush you as I've done to everyone else that's gotten in my way!"

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<Zephiria POV>

“Whooo boy... That's a lot of Angels...” Zephiria said as she watched thousands upon thousands of Angels pour out of a hole in the sky as she floated above the Dumetor Base. “But...” She smirked as dozens of Grimoires appeared around her. “I think they'll make great target practice.”