The Achievement Junkie

'Rikko, are you ready?'

'Rikko always ready!' Rikko eagerly replied, not wanting to ait a second longer than needed.

'On my signal then. It could be any moment,' Rydel stated, ending their conversation temporarily.

The Assassin God kept a close eye on the battle above, never truly focusing on his own fight. He was too caught up by his wife's sudden advantage to do anything more than avoid direct conflict with Oosam or Sillo.

Naparn wore an ugly frown. The sudden change of weather was bad enough for his magic but Lunara was also boosted. And should he attempt to counter it, it would leave Lunara a chance to do the same. Cursing Sterfen and his mysterious casting of water magic, Naparn knew that their fight could no longer be a battle of attrition.

Dousing his entire body in bubbling magma, Naparn roared. His charge evaporated all rain that got near him as he charged at Lunara.

Not shirking back, Lunara took aim and led with her spear to meet Naparn face-to-face. With her boost in speed and the many buffs, Lunara was confident that she wouldn't come out as the loser of their imminent exchange. Her frosty spear froze all nearby water in preparation to challenge Naparn's attack.

Dragas readied more spells, renewing her many debuffs and buffs. She refused to make an error in such a pivotal moment.

'Now!'

Just as Sterfen shouted telepathically to Rikko, he ducked under a rain of holy swords and snapped his finger.

Naparn and Lunara were less than a meter away from collision yet he felt an abrupt pain in his forearm. Glancing at his sword-wielding arm, Naparn's heated gaze was chilled momentarily. He had made a crucial mistake.

The small, insignificant scratch on Naparn's sword-wielding arm no longer there. In its place was a deep gash across Naparn's forearm. He had failed to anticipate Sterfen's use of the strange skill, Mark of the Reaper, for something apart from assassination. Naparn never imagined Sterfen using such a skill for a simple gash.

But it was too late to stop the clash of attacks. Lunara's spear drilled into Naparn's weakened attack, knocking the Molten God back. At the same time, his grip on the hilt only got weaker.

And, out of nowhere, Naparn heard a familiar yet uncomfortable chuckle. Before he knew what was going on, Naparn felt the sword in his hands being ripped from his strained grip. All the while, a knife was suddenly aimed for his throat. Worst of all, due to the direction of the attack, Naparn could either receive the attack or let go of his sword and evade. And seeing Sterfen at the other end of the knife was enough reason to evade.

With the sword torn from his hand, Naparn roared, "RIKKO!!!"

Not too far away, Rikko became visible but only for a moment. The Goblin God stuck his tongue out as he replaced Sterfen's ring of invisibility with a spell scroll. In a single moment, Rikko had taken advantage of the situation to snatch Naparn's sword directly from Naparn's hand and teleport away.

Left with only Sterfen as a target for his rage, Naparn hurled magma at the Assassin God but in vain. The image of Sterfen faded, proving to be a ruse all to help Rikko steal the sword.

"HOW DARE YOU!?!?"

Oosam and Sillo were startled by Naparn's roars. Only then had they noticed the gash in Naparn's arm and the missing sword.

"I'LL--"

"Time to withdraw."

Hearing Halmut's voice, Naparn's unquenchable fury heated even more. Lava was pouring out of him, creating a small lake in the sand below.

"Naparn, NOW!"

The same voice went off in Oosam's and Sillo's minds. They weren't as rebellious against leaving so suddenly, but Sillo felt a deep pain in his heart. He rushed to the world below as quickly as possible while Oosam teleported away with the amulet he had received recently.

Sterfen didn't stop the Mage God. He already knew it would be unnecessary.

Sillo reached the ground but felt his broken heart shatter further when Sybin's corpse was nowhere to be found.

"She's with Rikko, now!" Sterfen shouted, chuckling as he did.

While Naparn was still struggling to calmly react to Halmut's summons, a voice blared within Sterfen's mind.

'They've taken Jin! We need to get him back, now!'

Eedaj's cry was enough to turn Sterfen serious in an instant. He didn't reply immediately, however. Stefen instead made a beeline for the furious Naparn.

"NAPARN! RETURN NOW!" Halmut ordered yet again.

It rang out loud and clear for Naparn, but the Molten God spotted Sterfen rushing him from below. Lunara did the same form above. He was caught in the middle of both husband and wife, the same that loathed Naparn to their cores.

Reluctant, Naparn roared and activated his amulet, abandoning his precious weapon and the battle.

The pillar of light fell from the heavens and consumed Naparn. But it didn't stop the dagger thrown into Naparn's side upon his departure.

Sillo left also, seeing no reason to remain there alone. Even if it meant leaving his sister's corpse behind, staying would only result in him joining her in death.

'They're back at Olympic Chateau!' Sterfen shouted, finally replying to Eedaj. 'Moranti, we need you!'

*****

Spatial energy was everyone within sight. Moranti's fiendish grin was also everywhere as he teleported within that space freely and with little to no consequence.

Torian and Tralbok were forced to regroup with Lyrun and focus entirely on defense against Moranti's sudden, forever-shifting attacks.

One moment, Moranti was beside Torian and swinging his scythe. The next moment, his scythe enters a tiny rift and threatens Tralbok's life. Spatial rifts were opened up freely with that space inundated with spatial energy, making Moranti's unpredictable fighting style all the more dangerous.

Each holy god used their abilities to counter the onslaught. Torian's spectacular reflexes allowed his agile body to avoid serious injury. Tralbok was nimble yet still needed time magic to aid in healing his more grievous injuries. Lyrun remained in his barrier, focusing solely on his own survival in order to withstand the storm of attacks.

Toying with his opponents, Moranti laughed. His chuckles seemed to echo as his body was constantly reappearing in separated spaces.

But all of a sudden, Lyrun pulled out his amulet and allowed the other two into his barrier. The next moment, they were carried away in a pillar of light, running away in the blink of an eye.

Moranti was a bit confused, but Eedaj's sudden shout made sense of the situation.

'They've taken Jin! We need to get him back, now!'