Jonathan opened the Third Eye of Exal’drin, plotting the most optimal course of action. Spotting a slight seam in the center of the Circle Lords’ combination attack, he grinned. Twin jets of Void fired out from the soles of his feet, propelling him down at supersonic speeds. In the brief moment before impact, Jonathan took in the sight before him. A twinkling spear of diamond, its glassy surface reflecting the green fire of the spectral army beside it. It was an attack that could have scoured a large city to the ground.

  Just before it struck, Jonathan punched, and for the briefest of moments, it was like reality punched with him. A titanic fist, ghostly and ephemeral, formed around his entire body. Then it condensed down, sinking into his attack. The purple fist fully solidified into reality, as if it were his own fist. Then, with a grand tearing of existence, Jonathan slammed it into the center of the Circle Lords’ technique.

  Pure force mixed with the all consuming Void, and a blade of destruction carved through the center of the beams. Faster than anyone could react, the twin elemental spears were split down the middle, continuing harmlessly up into the sky.

  Jonathan’s guillotine of the Void reached the ground in the blink of an eye, and for a dozen miles along a single axis, the world was carved to its very bones. The violet fist left his own, and flew down after the blade, far smaller, but far more potent. Like a bowling ball being dropped onto a trampoline, reality bent as the attack descended from on high.

  The Circle Lords, reeling from the previous strike, had nowhere to run. The fist struck the ground in between them. A plume of earth shot up into the sky as the ground shattered in every direction. The plains sunk into the bowels of the earth, Ashokan and the Stillborn Hegemon with them.

  Jonathan fell down, gravity accelerating him in tandem with his element. He hadn’t received any essence yet, which meant that the battle wasn’t over. He was hard pressed to understand how it wasn’t, but it seemed that his foes had depths of power that had gone unexpected so far.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  As the dust cleared, a mountain was revealed, melted and scarred from the assault. Its entire peak was gone, and a crack within it revealed the cowering forms of the Circle Lords beneath. Ashokan’s club was pressed against the stone, presumably with him being the source of the mountain.

  Jonathan raised an eyebrow. “I thought you Circle Lords were supposed to be superior beings? I have to say, I’ve never had one hide from me before.”

  “What have you done?” Ashokan bellow. “This power is beyond the natural order!”

  “What natural order? The one that keeps you bastards on top?” Jonathan replied. “Fuck that!”

  He gathered more of his Void energy, preparing to finish the battle. Ashokan let out a frustrated roar, and shattered the mountain with his club. The stone vanished into thin air, revealing the monsters beneath. The Hegemon fired off a beam of enervating necrotic energy at Jonathan, clearly realizing that he was outclassed here. Jonathan could have beaten him even before his Divinity upgrade. Now, it was a foregone conclusion.

  He reached the ground, and exploded into motion, barreling towards Ashokan. His fists blazed with light, and he could feel a greater connection to his Pathway skill. There were a host of notifications waiting for him, but now was not the time to check them.

  Ashokan roared, swinging his club at Jonathan. A drift of dust rose up beneath it, and waves of wind slammed into him. Jonathan cut through, his fist like the prow of a boat. A cone of force shielded him from the wind. His fist struck the front of the obsidian club, flesh meeting stone. By all normal accounts, his hand should have shattered, but his level of Resilience made it more difficult to break than a diamond.

  The two strikes canceled out. Jonathan and Ashokan strained against one another, until Jonathan’s wrist gave slightly. The Circle Lord saw his chance and pushed forwards, leveraging his far greater weight to snap Jonathan’s wrist in two. The bone broke, and Jonathan was pushed back. He grimaced at the pain, even as he ducked under the incoming blow.

  Ashokan let go of his club with one hand and snapped it out towards Jonathan’s neck. The massive stony appendage tightened around it, an evil glint in the monster’s eye.

  Jonathan laughed. “That was the biggest mistake you’ve made this fight.”