Rather than wait like an idiot, Jonathan slammed his right fist against the ground, a wall of Void energy rippling out. Rather than evaporate the ichor, it stopped dead in its track, coming up against an invisible wall. A moment later, the rivers of blood touched the spike in the center of the room, and spiraled up its sides. A blinding light exploded into being above the nexus point, and a swirling portal snapped out around it, about twice the size of a human. Caught in between the two pillars, the portal grew until it just about touched the edges of the spikes. A shadowy foot stepped out of the portal, and a body emerged with it a moment later.
A man, surrounded by swirling clouds of pure darkness, stood before Jonathan, his eyes the only thing of a different shade, looking like stars twinkling in the firmament of his body. While his skin was a monochrome shade of black, his features were still clearly visible. An angular, almost regal face stared impossible at Jonathan, thin cheekbones framing a perfectly proportioned face. The ground beneath his feet burned with fires as dark as night, the blood that had summoned the being burning away before his presence.
The figure raised one hand, inspecting the flickering darkness of its form. “Well. It has been some time since I was summoned here. Are you my latest sacrifice?” Then he looked around, noticing the twelve corpses arrayed around the chamber. A slight look of consternation crossed his face. “Oh. You’ve come to challenge me. Did Georgescu send you? Is that why most of my power is sealed?”
Jonathan circled the man warily. “Who are you?”
The shadow-clad figure yawned. “This is tiring me. But I suppose, for your bravery, you may have my name. I am Jelth’Noor, He Who Crosses the Boundless.”
Jonathan grimaced. “Another outer god, huh? Why haven’t you already killed me?”
Jelth’Noor sighed. “As I already said, Jonathan Harlowe, I am in a weakened state. This is a shard of my true form.” He smiled, diamond bright teeth contrasting with his inky skin. “Still, it’s more than enough for you.” Reality tore and reformed as the weakened outer god appeared before Jonathan, no hint of overwhelming speed, or teleportation. Instead, it was as if space itself had moved, with Jelth’Noor remaining at its center. Jonathan’s eyes widened as he realized that his position, as well as the rest of the room, had shifted towards his foe.
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Raising one hand to block, Jonathan found his enemy’s fist disconnecting from his body, and flickering into existence behind him, before impacting the small of his back. Jonathan’s armor nearly shattered at the impact zone, and he was driven bodily forwards, straight into another punch. This time, though, he summoned the Void, and enveloped his enemy in a bear hug, sending loops of violet flame scorching through the coating of darkness surrounding Jelth’Noor.
The outer god raised an eyebrow. “The Void? Intriguing. You’ll have to do better than that, though. I make the Void my home.”
Jonathan snarled, and his flames vanished, becoming invisible as he used Maw of the Void. For the first time in the battle, surprise appeared on his enemy’s face. Before Jelth’Noor could do anything, Jonathan summoned so much of his element that his body turned purple, his armor starting to flake, even with his near immaculate control. Half of the outer god’s body vanished in an instant, before he teleported, escaping the blast radius. Jonathan burned his stamina as soon as he saw his foe move, and leaped after Jelth’Noor, his hands surrounded by the Void.
To his credit, the other man remained calm, and dodged the attack, even as his body started to repair itself. Shards of darkness appeared out of the ether, and clumped back together around his flesh, forming new limbs and skin. Jonathan grimaced, and held his hands out, using his newest skill, Void’s Hunger. A tiny black hole was born in the space between his palms, the gravitational force engulfing the entire room. Jelth’Noor was sucked off his feet, and towards the ominous sphere of dark energy.
“Enough!” The man roared, and a shockwave of astral night expldoed out of his falling body, banishing the black hole, and knocking Jonathan off his feet.
He hit the wall a moment later with enough force to shatter bones, a testament to how durable the bulwark really was. He could have shattered mountains on Earth with the resilience of his current form, but in this place, it was as if he were a mortal once more. Blood exploded from his mouth, escaping through the slits in his armor.
Jelth’Noor flickered through space a moment later, the plane of reality itself shifting to accommodate his desires. He shot his hand out, impaling Jonathan through the gut, the darkness coated fingers stabbing through his armor like it was nothing.
“I’ve crossed the void between universes,” the outer god hissed. “A mortal boy’s body is nothing. Did you really think you could actually fight me?”
“Guess what, asshole,” Jonathan hissed, as he clenched his right fist. “You’ve crossed the Void? So have I.” All of his runes burst into being before his fist, orbiting it like tiny planets. Threads of the Void connected them together, creating a rudimentary skill matrix. Jonathan’s mind raced as he parsed the connections between the runes, trying to find something, anything, that would allow him to defeat his foe.
