Concentric rings of purple Divinity cinched tight around him as he channeled the ability to the utmost. His physical strength skyrocketed, and when he stepped, the ground beneath him shattered like glass. With the Fear Icon approaching at a country-striding pace, he had little time to prepare.
A massive gauntlet of the Void’s flames formed around his right hand, and he cocked back his fist, gathering Stamina to his arm. Spikes protruded from the knuckles of the gauntlet, giving it a brutal, dangerous look. With how much Strength he now possessed, he had so much Stamina that his entire arm glowed with a ruddy red light.
He held off on his runes for now, not sure if he was going to need them or not. Instead, once the Fear Icon was a mile away, he leaped. The stone beneath him buckled, and cracks spread out for a mile in every direction. With the sharp retort of a sonic boom, he flew through the air, his fist already heading for the monster’s head.
Slipping past the creature’s scythe with a quick application of his element, slaloming off a plate of condensed Void, Jonathan punched, striking the monster in the center of its head. A cone of air pressure blasted out behind Jonathan as his attack struck home, clouds forming from the strength of his punch. The glowing purple eyes of the Fear Icon glared at him for the split second before impact. Then, with a rattling boom, he struck. The monster was torn off its feet, its lower body flying up as its head whipped nearly a mile backwards in an instant.
Jonathan smiled grimly, and punched again, summoning the same enlarged Void gauntlet to his left hand. Using Void Piercer, he elongated the spikes. Now that the Fear Icon’s head had been weakened, he could go for the kill. The spikes thinned out and grew until they were almost fifty feet long. Five glowing orbs of Voidlight formed on their ends, each representing a good portion of Jonathan’s elemental reserves. At least, they would have been a good portion barely a month ago. With his Divine attunement to the Void, his reserves were practically limitless, as his body was so adept at channeling his chosen element. He couldn’t really be harmed by the Void anymore. The only thing that posed a challenge was drawing upon a sufficient amount of the element at one time.
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However, as the tiny stars of purple light grew to the brightness of the sun, Jonathan realized that he simply hadn’t tried to reach his limit yet. With a surge of strength, he punched. The monster tried to fight back, a nova of darkness detonating around its body. As winds of the night swept over Jonathan, peeling away his armor like eggshells, his flesh beneath remained obdurate. With his upgraded Smite skill, he had the raw durability of a mountain. He could have probably taken a direct nuclear strike at this point, at least a small one.
The light in his eyes burned brighter and brighter until it was blinding. To the Fear Icon, that was. As his fist reached the monster’s already battered head, Jonathan could feel the end of the battle approaching.
The ensuing blast knocked him backwards, flipping through the air at supersonic speeds. Whereas the Fear Icon had gone flying at the last punch, this one atomized its entire upper body. The Tier 6 monstrosity died in that instant. Jonathan came to his senses a mere moment later as he landed, shocked at what he had just done. Shit. I think I might have underestimated myself.
With that sort of power, he knew that he was stronger than the Stillborn Hegemon. Perhaps even a match for the Circle Lord beyond that. It was time to stop fooling around. He was ready.
When Eliza awoke, it was to a scene of utter devastation. The ground around her looked like a warzone, and the titanic corpse of the Fear Icon was clearly visible in the distance, like a tiny mountain. Had Jonathan not made an effort to drive the monster away from Eliza, she would probably be dead by now.
