Children Of A Lesser God

"Such a weak little thing. And yet so proud..." A'ruya taunted walking towards Cormac.

"THIS... This is all because of you. You damn pieces of wood that thought you could do so much better than here. Your leaving is what brought..." Cormac's words were cut off by a finger pointed to his head. A'ruya had vanished from the spot she was standing on and appeared right in front of him.

"Enough of that now. Some things are better meant to be unsaid. And you should have kept sleeping for a while longer. But sadly your greed got the better of you and here we are. Normally, I wouldn't meddle in my little one's affairs, but since you broke the rules anyway, I won't be suffering any sort of retribution as a price." A'ruya said to Cormac, just as a small surge of energy was drawn forth to the end of her finger. The light shrunk until it was the size of a pea and just when she was about to shoot it into Cormac's head, a hand landed on her shoulder, causing her to stop.

Laz had walked forward at some point, his body having healed thanks to the infusion of energy from his master. Although it wasn't fully there yet, he had recovered most of his energy and healed about 80% of the way. The palace within him was also growing from his foundation, reaching almost seventy percent completion. Laz could feel a huge amount of energy rush out of it even as the final bits were being formed. This surplus of energy was thanks to the cores A'ruya had sent into his body, filling him beyond full. As such, and with the strength of the palace strengthening and healing his damaged body, Laz's strength had reached a level he had never know himself, but had felt only once when he had received the memory's of his teacher.

He was no where near where his teacher once was, but he could now understand the path he was travelling. This new realm, this Void Palace realm, referred to the drawing in of energy as one started to create a world within themselves. From the void of nothing, one builds a home. From the absence of life, one builds a world. The palace itself was nothing more than a visualization of the core of the person and it didn't matter what it looked like. What did matter was not only the size, but the strength of the core. For a core such as his, so well defined and massive, it would have made even an ancient Asura proud.

This was the reason for A'ruya's smile. The purplish gold base of the castle inside Laz was considered one of the best inner cores one could make, something the A'ruya could find no fault with. Having the knowledge of the universe as she did, she understood the implications of this better than Laz ever could.

Not that she would tell him that. There were a lot of things she couldn't tell him yet, as was part of the limits imposed by those who ruled her society.

"What?" A'ruya asked, bȧrėly turning her head to look at Laz.

"He's mine..." Laz growled, a low guttural growl that seemed more beast than human.

"He's already beaten you once and I was forced to save you," A'ruya pointed out, her face as emotionless as a stone.

"I know," Laz's voice, still low and harsh responded back, completely aware of the situation. Laz knew that he would be dead if not for her, but he also felt that he now had the power to fight.

"You've yet to actually reach the next great realm, at most you are on your way into it. But if you fight right now, that transformation could be halted if you are injured. If that happens, even I won't be able to fix you. Are you willing to risk that? Risk everything for revenge?" She asked, her voice monotone.

"It has to be this way. I will never back down from a fight, even if it kills me." Perhaps this was Laz speaking the depths of his heart. Or perhaps it was the Asura blood coursing through his veins, as thin as it was. But Laz felt that he would fight now, then again, and again if needed. Even if it killed him, he would not back down.

Seeing the stone cold face and wild eyes Laz projected, A'ruya couldn't help but nod in approval and backed off several tens of feet, allowing Laz room to fight Cormac again. Cormac hadn't suffered any injury as the result of coming face to face with A'ruya, so in terms of condition, he was still in top shape. Seeing the blood covered Laz get A'ruya to back off, Cormac couldn't help but smile. If he could take this valuable piece to her hostage, he would still be able to get out of here in once piece.

At least that's what he thought.

What he didn't expect was the battle ŀust within Laz's golden pupils or the explosion of energy that came out of his body as the black flames projected off of him traveling almost a dozen feet in the air.

Although Cormac wasn't injured, he had already spent out the earth energy that he could gather anywhere near him. Because of that, he bȧrėly had any with which to channel. As such, he would be facing Laz with just his strength alone.

And that was going to be a problem.

Watching on in the distance, Agent Wallace, Tommy and the commander had seen all of this come about, even though they hadn't noticed when A'ruya had gotten there. Seeing the half dead Laz rise to his feet yet again, none of them could even find it within themselves to criticize him for not knowing his own strength.

They couldn't help but respect him for standing up no matter what while at the same time thinking that it was a good thing that both Laz and the bronze god would be killed soon. This was the only way to ensure they wouldn't have to fight them later.

"You can stand?" Cormac asked, wondering just how injured Laz still was. .

Laz didn't respond, instead, he took a step forward and shot out at Cormac, his fist making the connection into Cormac's stomach before sending him flying.

While Laz stood there, experiencing the change in his body, Cormac came running back, moving so fast that it was hard to catch sight of him. When his fist met Laz's face, Laz was the one sent flying.

"Still too..." Cormac didn't have a chance to finish before Laz was back in his face. This time, both the small man and the bronze god stood there and exchanged blow for blow, neither backing down nor stepping back. The flames that had escaped Laz's body had been brough back inside, allowing his stamina to keep up with his new strength while his center was still in the middle of evolving.

Because of this, Laz didn't have any energy to waste on excessive maneuvers, instead focusing on trading fists and kicks with his enemy. Despite the pain he was in, Laz could feel the pounding was molding his body as it grew stronger and stronger while being bashed.

Cormac didn't have the same feeling since every fist felt like it was made out of lead as it hit him over and over again, but he did not relent as they traded hundreds of blows in mere moments.

When the two finally backed off from each other they could only stand there in silence. Laz and Cormac were panting while blood seeped from their lips. Cormac's left arm hung limp from his body while Laz's right leg looked like a giant block of wood. Without saying anything, Laz grabbed two pieces of the incredibly hard wood he had in his pouch and started splinting his leg while Cormac walked over to a large, flat piece of rock sticking out of the ground and whacked his shoulder several times, knocking it back into place before wrapping a length of rope around himself and tying it to his body.

Neither of them spoke while they tended to their wounds, but after they finished, they once again stared at one another.

"You can no longer catch me," Cormac said, pointing out that Laz's injured leg wouldn't allow him to be fast enough to catch Cormac.

"And you can't no longer fight me," Laz responded back. It was obvious that his one arm wouldn't be able to protect himself from Laz's head on attack.

"So we are both here until what? We heal? Then what? We do this again?" Cormac asked, feeling unsure for some reason.

"Then what do you suggest?" Laz asked, noticing Cormac seeming to become fidgety.

"We walk away. Call it a draw. You go your way and I won't stop you while I leave as well. Done," Cormac's rough voice suggested while he looked up at the sky for the first time.

"You think it would be that easy?" Laz asked.

"What are you saying?"

"They are scared. Scared of us. And that means you. Look at them over there, looking on. They can see us from there as easy as if we were right next to them and far out from the range were they would be hurt by our attacks. And yet, they are still there. Do you know why?" Laz asked with a grin on his face. Perhaps Cormac didn't understand modern warfare, but Laz had a pretty good idea.

"Why?" Cormac's response was simple.

"Because they want to make sure we both die," Laz's cryptic words came as the sounds of jets zooming by broke in the air above them. Before any other words could be said, the area where Laz and Cormac had been standing was awash with flames and explosions as missile after missile pounded the ground on which they stood.

Laz had known this was coming and could have retreated long ago. The idea that they would resort to this had popped into his brain as soon as all the troops had pulled out, but he had chosen to stay anyway and keep Cormac occupied. His main goal was to kill Cormac before Cormac had a chance to regrow into his power. Compared to the average chosen, he would have truly been treated like a god.

Laz couldn't take that risk.

Nor could Laz rely upon A'ruya to end him. He knew that she would have the moment she went in for the kill, but there was something that felt wrong to Laz about letting her do that. He felt like the moment she interfered, it would have cast a shadow upon him and her that would haunt them until the end of their days.

That was something else he couldn't allow.

So Laz made a huge gamble, one that he really wasn't sure he would win. And that gamble was a game of chicken. Would he be able to survive this attack? Would Cormac? Or would they both perish here?

After having fought and injured him to the degree that he did, he knew Cormac wouldn't survive.

The only question was, would he?

As soon as the jets had finished their run, attack heli's finished up the bombardment, raining hell down upon the ground as though they wanted to blow a hole to the center of the planet. Laz's vision had gone dark before this ever happened.

YYYYEEEEEAAAAAHAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

Cheers went up among the troops and chosen looking on. Watching this display of man over god was enough to ignite the fire in the eyes of the troops as they watched regular human weapons destroy figures that were far stronger than they could imagine. The feeling was the same for the chosen who realized they weren't nearly as strong as those two. Watching the fireworks destroy the source of their anguish was enough to cause even them to cheer.

"What do you think?" Agent Wallace asked Tommy who was now out of his car and looking on in excitement.

"I don't think anything could survive that. I guess you were right about not needing to use a low grade nuke," Tommy laughed as he looked on.

The commander next to Agent Wallace and Tommy raised an eyebrow to look at them both as though wondering if they had actually considered that. And even if they did, it wasn't something he could have arranged even if he had wanted to. That request would have had to go much higher up. But seeing as how Agent Wallace didn't say anything in return, the commander couldn't help but swallow a breath of cold air having never before realized just how much pull these two had. Agent Wallace not saying anything was like saying everything all at once.

That had been a plan that was on the table still.

As the dust from the explosion died down, Tommy was still looking on for conformation before taking off.

Cormac's body was strewn all over the place while Laz's body couldn't even be seen.

Agent Wallace noticed this as well.

"Have everyone spread out and search. I want to see the body even if it's just some parts of it," Agent Wallace told his people while also looking at the commander. They soon set out and all arrived at the center of the blown out crater together.

Tommy leaned over and grabbed the largest part of Cormac's skull that was still still on one piece, brought it up to his face and gave a "V" Sign.

"Victory?" Tommy asked, already knowing the answer.