Fractured God

The seven of them gathered together to get a better look at the boy.

“I thought he had blonde hair,” Ruby asked.

“Do you remember that time me and Ezekiel nearly got wiped out by that bald cultist?” Elizabeth responded.

“So he has that stuff. Seems kinda underwhelming compared to what you described.”

“Well based on what Ezekiel said, that seemed to be an exception. And we're currently looking at the norm.”

Ruby could only sigh. “So this is the best-case scenario?” She defeatedly asked.

“Given how long that bastard survived, I believe if he did undergo that transformation, he would have killed us and died of a heart attack long before any of you arrived. So whether this is the best case or not depends on how many of us he manages to kill.”

Ruby began chuckling.

“Well, ain't that just grim. If only you and me end up dying then it'd end up being the best case, right?”

“Could you two not so casually speak of death?” Nora asked, clearly unnerved.

She, like the rest of them, was eyeing down Daniel.

“There must be something we can do. If he can't use his hands then there's no better time than-”

For general inconvenience and in a bid to disrupt their communication, the priest would without warning, use his magic to stop whoever was talking.

“What a cunt!” Tina loudly stated.

He shrugged his shoulders and looked on.

“Watch your mouth girl,” Ruby stated.

She clicked her tongue and turned her attention to Elizabeth.

“Liz, are you sure that guy is the type to run away? He could have done so as soon as he got to the entrance.”

Elizabeth sighed. “Take a step forward.”

“?”

She raised an eyebrow but did as she was told.

She was frozen immediately and the priest took a step back.

“Doesn't anyone here at least have a magic they can use?” Nora pleadingly asked.

“Why don't you use yours?” Ruby quickly responded. She walked over and placed a hand over her shoulder.

“Get off me, you're all hot and sticky.”

“You're not much better either but getting some skin-to-skin contact is reminding me of better times.” She said in an alluring voice.

Nora scoffed after thinking why hot and sweaty skin-to-skin contact reminded her of better times.

“Can't you think of anything other sex!?”

The priest looked in their direction with a disapproving glance and Nora quieted down with a blushed face.

“I can but since we're moments away from dealing with that monster again, can't you excuse me just this once for wanting something pleasant on the mind?” She gently asked while hugging Nora increasingly tighter.

“Besides, I wish I could use my magic but the stone tiles here make it impossible.” She turned to the two others there. “Can you guys do anything?”

“Nope, our magic is only good at short range. I don't think he'll just let himself get hit if we fire off any projectiles, especially at this distance.” The man matter of factly responded.

“We can only hope he becomes arrogant when he heals himself,” Elizabeth added. (“It seems the damage I've taken isn't something that can be healed within a few minutes. Sigh, the more this goes on, the more it seems like the answer to this situation is to kill myself. It's a gamble and I can't imagine Gabriel would have kind words for such a deliberate act, but if she shows me mercy I might have what it takes to kill him.”)

But there were no methods to do so in a timely manner without the others stopping her. Biting her tongue wouldn't work as her own natural healing would likely stop the bleeding before she died of blood loss. But she didn't want to do anything too obvious. Not only would the others interfere but that bastard up front would likely see it as an opportune time to strike.

She didn't know how long it would take to convince her Goddess to revive her but she couldn't imagine it taking less than five minutes.

(“I could tell them but even then, I don't have a method to kill myself without the priest seeing.”)

She sat in silent contemplation on the dungeon floor, trying to think of a way out of this.

“Hmm, this should be good enough.” The priest stated to himself.

The hand wasn't fully healed but it was more than healthy enough to grab his weapon.

“Phew, I can finally end this. I think I might seal this place off. With my magic in its current state, I can't imagine that white-haired boy having the strength to break through the stones, swords and whatever other hard materials I can get my hands on.” He calmly stated as he watched them.

He began walking and the entire seven of them backed away at this action.

(“No, even if I tried to explain, they might think I'm going mad from the blood loss.”)

Tina lifted Elizabeth off the floor.

“Spread your yourselves as far as poss-”

After the first step, the priest stopped. He looked to be extending his chain out like a scythe. He extended and extended until it was a bit too close for comfort.

And the group kept backing away, wary of such a long weapon. He soon ran out of chain but continued walking.

A member of the group would try to sneak off and out of his vision but he'd keep them in check with such a long weapon.

They eventually backed themselves all the way to the other end of the canteen.

“This is stupid,” Tina stated before walking up to it.

“Be ready to react,” Elizabeth said.

“Yeah, whatev-”

The chain was suddenly lunged forward and Tina quickly placed her hand in front of her face.

It sliced into her hand and she quickly grabbed the stiffened chain and pulled it forward.

“It's no use, he can lock it in- hmm?” Elizabeth was going to warn her that “he can likely lock the chain in the air like our own weapons” but-

“Tina?” Elizabeth asked.

It was as though she was frozen in place.

The sound of running was heard in the chain’s direction.

(“My chain transfers and conducts my magic right just like that girl's spear. So logic dictates not only can my magic affect my spear, it can affect the things it touches as well.”)

He had frozen Tina with what could be seen as a throwaway action and was increasingly gaining ground. That time he was given to rest seemed to have brought him closer to his original state.

Within the four seconds that had passed, he cleared the distance between himself and Elizabeth. The others wasted no time scattering but one flick of the chain was all that was needed to wrap it around a few of the would-be stragglers.

He swung the chain in their direction and caused it to go limp just before it contacted Nora. She didn't see the danger in having the blunt chain touch them, if even for a few moments. After all, his focus was on Elizabeth, who was right in front of him. From their perspective, it just looked like he had used that unusual technique that throws his magic.

The chain stopped Nora the instant it contacted her and it soon touched two of Ruby's plus ones. They had never seen the chain do that and weren't expecting it to go flaccid again.

He quickly pulled it in and Tina regained her movement. But not for long.

He used his magic to stop her once more and aimed for her neck.

Elizabeth stopped the blade with her three-fingered hand but all he had to do was trip Tina's legs to floor her. They both tumbled to the floor with Elizabeth causing more unnecessary damage to her hand by holding on to the blade.

(“Damn it, at this point the only use it has is as a bludgeon!”)

With essentially only one hand, trying to escape out of Tina's clutches with her weak hand was too much. Daniel moved his foot down to stomp her head as she tried to escape. There is no doubt, that her choice to let Tina carry her would have gotten her killed.

But Daniel jerked to the right and momentarily lost his focus. Elizabeth used the opportunity to sweep his leg with her hand and grabbed tightly onto his foot.

Daniel had had enough and moved his blade down with the swiftness of the snake and removed most of the only functioning hand she had left.

Before he could get back to his feet, he moved his face out of the way of an incoming boot. The noise of the stomp nearly left of his ear ringing and he quickly stopped the person responsible for the scare.

(“That blow felt exactly like the one she gave me earlier.”) He thought as he looked up to her.

As he moved his hand to slash her legs another pair of hands grabbed him. She twisted the skin on his arm and even ripped it open at parts.

He knew better than to stop this woman while she held the hand that kept his weapon.

But he quickly gave that idea up when he realised she wasn't holding Elizabeth anymore.

He stopped her and threw the blade into his next hand. He heard something behind him but he couldn't turn around as his focus was directed to the other three annoyances still standing.

He quickly stopped them all, but it wasn't fast enough to see the threat behind him.

Elizabeth wrapped her arm around his throat and began choking him.

He was not in the mood to play games and with Ruby so close he felt it was obvious what he must do before she regained her movement. As Elizabeth brought him closer to nap time, he moved his blade forward and slashed at her leg. He cut it from just above the ankle and the only reason she was still standing right now was thanks to his magic.

Elizabeth loosened her grip but this wasn't out of concern. Daniel managed to twist himself and slash Tina's arms. He didn't manage a clean cut and aimed for the head with the last remnants of his consciousness. Elizabeth broke the hold and batted the blade away with her arm.

He tried to swing his hand around to stab her but Ruby went for a kick the moment she regained her movement and sent him flying a few feet.

He released the magic on Tina's hands and it seemed the force of the kick was enough to release him from Tina.

He was instantly peppered with an array of magic when he left the surroundings of the three women.

He looked to see the others had made their move. With his chain left between Tina and Ruby, he stopped them once more before Elizabeth picked it up and threw it back at him.

“Those two…” He rubbed the areas he was hit but the damage seemed minimal.

“I can ignore them.”

He got back to his feet as they shot at him, hitting mostly his head until he felt an almost personal blow to his abdomen.

He stopped the assailant and saw it was the woman who used the claws.

As he got up, she placed her hands against his back and kneed him.

(“That's why they were hitting my face-”)

He quickly stopped her but another assailant came from outside his vision and currently had two feet on his head.

The other woman brought his head onto the floor but he stopped it before he could receive the full impact.

With one swift motion, he brought his blade up Agatha, leaving a gash that went from her knee to her shoulder at her side and slashed deep into Nora, leaving a gash that went through both sides of her stomach.

Elizabeth had crawled over and tried to reach her ally still in the air.