“You’re facing off against me, and yet you still resort to petty insults like this?” For a moment, a blazing heat enveloped everything, and the Human God stared at the Northern Demigod. The earth underneath Demigod Hawking cracked from that single glaze, and the target of that gaze staggered slightly.

“That’s not going to be enough, if you want to defeat me in your state right now,” Demigod Hawking replied, a mocking smile on his lips. “After all, the Divine Ladder was destroyed by us. How does it feel, hm?”

At those words, the Human God stopped moving…as did everything else. Gaius couldn’t move…no one could move. The only thing that was moving in this frozen world was a single thread that connected the tiara on the descended Human God’s head, and the sky, pulsing as power coursed through it. Colour vanished from the world as the tiara hummed softly.

In that instant, as the tiara lit up with lethal force, the bindings that held down the whole world slipped off Gaius. A small globe of gentle heat, within his chest, channelled a soothing might through his veins — the remnants of the Divine Ladder that Gaius had absorbed.

Perhaps, if the Human God had not been lost in his rage, he might have noticed the unshackled Gaius. But the great god was indeed blinded by fury.

And so, Gaius struck, in accordance to his instinct. His gut told him that the great god in front of him was simultaneously at his strongest, and at his weakest. In a world where no one but him was should be able to move, the Human God had no need for caution, throwing it to the winds as he channelled enough power to wipe his now-mortal enemy, the Demigod Hawking, from the face of Orb.

His body vanished from the spot, the qi in his body surging madly as the little boy rocketed towards the furious Human God. The little boy’s eyes were fixated on his target, who was far too late to notice the blindingly fast assassin as he prepared to bring down his full might onto the defenceless Demigod in front of his eyes.

By the time the Human God noticed the little assassin bearing down on him, two arcs of light had sliced through his throat and severed the thread that connected the tiara and the heavens. Metal shards had been embedded into the body’s chest, as Gaius had seen fit to trigger the five Breaker artefacts he’d woven together to form a glove when he came slashing down.

The chains that had blanketed the sky withdrew as swiftly as they came, as the Human God’s presence faded from Centoria. Movement and colour returned to the world once more, while an ear-splitting roar came down from the heavens. The tiara, still glowing with power, tried to return to the sky, but Gaius grabbed it on instinct.

The Demigod of the Holy Temple staggered and lurched, his hands clutching at his throat the entire time. His eyes turned with an agonisingly sluggish pace to look at the assassin clutching the tiara. His mouth opened, but the only thing that came out from it was dribbles of blood. The familiar spirit of the Human God dropped to his knees.

Gaius, with the knife in his left hand, stabbed the dying Demigod in the heart.

The dying man broke into motes of light after a few seconds, which then swirled around the bloody figure of the assassin for a brief moment, before settling down on his lithe frame. Gaius stared at the tiara in his hands, and then at the robes that the Central Demigod had worn. Metal fragments dropped onto the ground with pathetic clinks, their ends stained with specks of blood.

“So, you’re the last piece that the Monarch of Shadows had planted,” Demigod Hawking said. He looked at the robes on the ground, which were stained with crimson, and then rubbed his own throat. “In accordance with our bargain, I now pass this to you.”

He tossed a ring over to Gaius, who caught it on instinct.

“What’s this?” asked Gaius.

“It’s an artefact that the Monarch prepared for me if you or another assassin didn’t strike.” The Demigod’s eyes lingered on Gaius’ face, which had been disguised by the Auspices of Concealment, and shuddered slightly. “Sorry, but your face is a bit disturbing.”

“Which is part of why the assassination was so successful,” replied Gaius, who was seriously talking out of his hat this time. The little boy was quite sure that the Human God had only seen this face by the time he’d slit the Central Demigod’s throat, but who was going to say that?

Gaius was also a bit chuffed at the fact that he might had created some mental trauma for the Human God now, as the last thing he saw before Gaius slit his throat was a face that had scared even the adult Gaius on Earth.

“Right,” replied Demigod Hawking. “Anyway, that’s an artefact that can apparently defend against any attack that’s weaker than one percent of a great god’s casual strike. Quite a mouthful, I know, but it’s the metric that the Monarch used when describing it. I haven’t tested it yet, for it’s a single use item, but that’s your problem now.”

The little boy stared at the Demigod, lost in thought.

“In other words,” said Gaius, “the Human God that just descended only had one percent of his full strength?”

“No. Originally, he would have descended with one-fifth of his true strength, and therefore I wouldn’t have appeared and the war would have gone slower.” The Demigod grinned. “But the Monarch had arranged it beforehand — when the Divine Ladder was destroyed, the North would push to Centoria. And when his agent contacted me, and when I sensed the presence of the Demon God, I would show up and lure the Human God into descending.”

Contact? It must be something that happened automatically…I’ll ask Nexus about it later. Gaius nodded slowly and said, “None of the gods can be underestimated, either way. You must be careful going forward.”

“Me?” The Demigod shook his head. “You should be careful instead. You just killed a great god’s host body, while the god was still inside. The Human God is going to be really pissed.”

“Or maybe he’s pissing his pants now.” Gaius pointed at his fake face. “After all, the last thing he saw before he was forced to cancel his Descent was my face.”

The Northern Demigod chuckled. “Good point, there. Now, I imagine that you don’t want your name and appearance to be known by the Northern forces and whatever observers that have shown up to watch the fall of Centoria, so you should make your move first.”

Gaius glanced at a certain point in the sky, which had seemed somewhat odd to him, and then shrugged. “I don’t think that’s much use in doing that now, but I’ll be making a move then.”

Holding on to the tiara that he’d robbed from the Human God, Gaius looked at the shadowy rings that had manifested around him, and felt like a rubber ball being pushed through a tube again.