A barrage of bullets formed by the existential power of war came crashing against Der’s shield, hammering onto the oddly powerful essence he wielded in an attempt to pierce through, and riddle his body with holes. Each felt like a punch, and knocked the wind out of his already empty lungs as he struggled to remain standing over the mushy mixture of dirt and blood. His legs were spread out, one bent in front of him while the other was stretched backwards in an attempt to lower his center of gravity and stabilize himself.

The sound of thousands of guns firing roared deafeningly, catching the attention of both Roley and Daniel who immediately tried to help. Before either of the two could even come close to the third battlefield, however, their opponents had increased the rate of their attacks, forcing them back into the stalemate they had been stuck in for the last several minutes.

Each bullet that struck Der’s shield went out in an explosion of reddish existential power against a transparent wall, forcing him back bit by bit.

“If you were hoping that I would run out of power, think again, mortal.” Said the deep and stern voice of the man in black and red attire. His arms rose up above his shoulders, dragging several thousand more guns out of the puddles of blood, and up to the sky to join the rest. “I can keep going forever.” He then added, as the roar of gunfire intensified even further.

With the addition of the second arsenal Der found himself unable to hold on any longer. His left leg, the one he kept bent underneath him, was now joining the other, forced back by the pressure of his opponent’s attacks. The upper body that so far had been leaning forward was now standing straight, struggling to prevent his shoulders from moving back and losing his footing. At some point his spine had begun to crack, as his mind focused on a single task-To push the shield, now pressed tightly against his chest, forward. “Come on.. come on! Gods damn it!” He growled a curse to the deities of a religion he had grown into, now long forgotten.

“You should have accepted my offer.” War muttered to himself when, suddenly, Der’s body stopped its retreat. Through the glares of red light he saw the scale-shaped shield move lower, and the man’s short black hair hid behind it. His feet once again planted against the mud, but this time, they did not remain still.

Daniel’s head snapped to the side as a fear of sort crept into his spine. Order’s greatsword came down heavy against his spear with a loud clunk, managing to knock it off his hands, but he did not care. His focus was the mortal that had accompanied him, and the power that now fueled his slow advance. The same power of unknown origin he had felt before, that had allowed the warrior to face the aspect of existence on even ground and that had now struggled to keep up with the latter’s full might. A power that now was changing.

Foreign in nature, this power had come from the depths of Der’s being. Not innate like the essences of the body, mind and spirit, nor created or acquired like the powers of existence. It was a flame that had set Der’s entire being ablaze, granting him the ability to create his own path to victory-And now, under the constant pressure of War’s attacks, it was being tempered.

Each bullet came down onto Der’s shield like a blacksmith’s hammer onto a red-hot blade, stripping it of its imperfections and hardening it, preparing it to be wielded. And so Der did. Every blow seemed to lessen the pressure of the barrage of attacks, allowing him to take minuscule steps towards his opponent.

As Order noticed Daniel’s distraction, he turned towards his companions, hoping to coordinate an attack that would put an end to his existence once and for all. Yet, as his eyes shifted from the new aspect of existence to his old companions, he found them staring in the same direction. Their eyes wide open, far more than Daniel’s were, for they could feel, as the aspects of Instinct and Sentience, that what they were looking at was a creature beyond their comprehension. A dangerous one.

Now confused, Order turned to look at the fight between War and the mortal as well, then he fell silent. His mind numbed by the trembling of his nature, threatened by an entity whose sheer existence created far more chaotic energy than Daniel and Roley had combined.

His large hands, now tightly wrapped around his greatsword’s handle, moved on their own, as if controlled by a secondary consciousness of sheer order to smite the creature of chaos. He dashed ahead in a daze right before a hand hooked onto the collar of his white armor and dragged him back a few feet. Furious by the sudden interruption, Order started to spew a few curses, but then, a golden spear pierced the air in front of him, right where his head would have been had Instinct not pulled him back.

“I won’t let you interfere now that things are getting interesting.” Daniel said as a pair of curved knives of pure karmic power appeared in his hands. His golden existential power, which had eventually stopped growing the moment he had become able to fight the three opponents on equal ground, had now grown once again.

Seeing this growth, Order, Sentience and Instinct realized that Daniel had not used the full extent of his power, but that he had been rationing it, trying to reach the point where he would gain the advantage without having to waste any of it. Why he would do such a thing was simple to guess. Nobody assured Daniel that, in case he won this fight and killed the entirety of the tribunal, there wouldn’t be more aspects to wait for him back in Sacrifice’s domain. For all he knew, this entire trial might have been a ruse, with the simple goal of draining him of his stored power before killing him once and for all.

With that lick of additional power, Daniel and his opponents resumed their fight, leaving the aspect of War to deal with the unknown creature that approached him. And so he did.

Step by step, Der forced his way towards the man in the dark military attire, as the latter stared at him with a deep interest. “What a peculiar power.” War said as several hundred more guns fueled with the power of war itself joined the rest of the arsenal, increasing the pressure bit by bit. “Let us find your limits, shall we?” 

With the increased pressure Der was forced to slow his pace, but soon, his power began to adapt to the attack, allowing itself to be tempered by an even higher strength. Der’s initial speed was that of a crawl, and yet, the more time passed, the faster he moved.

As Der had reached the hundred feet mark, the aspect of War grinned. Few were the times he was allowed to bully inferior creatures. A habit that had been beaten out of him by Order just centuries after his birth. He smiled contentedly as several more weapons appeared, joining the others.

By the eighty feet mark the grin had morphed into a wicked smile that exploded into a maniacal laugh moments after it had appeared. Half of the weapons had evolved into more advanced machinery, with higher rate of fire and more powerful bullets. Their rate of fire hid their wielder’s laugh.

At fifty feet, the smirk was gone. A deep sense of unease had started to build in War’s mind. Deepened by the deafening sound each bullet made as they bounced off a shield whose power he could not even recognize the nature of. The arsenal had now tripled in size, and each individual weapon had turned to the most sophisticated piece of weaponry ever brought into a human battlefield.

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By now, the fluctuations of power had caught the attention of Daniel, Roley and all of their opponents, who had been staring at their confrontation in what appeared to be an unspoken truce. Roley’s opponents were particularly surprised by the sight of War, as well as by the magnitude of his attacks. Would I be able to survive that onslaught? They all asked themselves, aware of the answer.

“ENOUGH!” War roared in a mixture of panic and indignation. “I am WAR. Victory is mine as long as I will it!” Once deep and proud, War’s voice had now gotten higher, making his words sound as much as a complaint as a plea. Unbeknownst to him, his feet had started to move back. The fleeting thought of retreat appeared in his mind, then disappeared just as quickly. As War caught himself thinking of retreat, his sanity collapsed, and his fiery-red eyes went blank.

Large blades appeared on both of War’s hands as he prepared to meet Der’s arrival with every ounce of power left within his body-An attack he had often used in his youth to destroy each of the universes he had lost interest in. But that was not all. The hundreds of thousands of weapons that floated behind him and now turned into a red mist that plunged into skin, then driven into the edge of his blades. He wanted to destroy this mortal. He wanted to split him in half, and erase him from existence alongside the shame he was feeling, and the rest of the multiverse.

Once his opponent was only a few feet away, his hands joined and rose above his head. The blades glowed with impossible red light that caused the lower tier aspects of existence to feel the pressure of his nature. His teeth were gritted and his crazed eyes locked onto the part of the shield he wished to see destroyed.

But then, the shield was moved to the side, and three transparent beads were thrown in front of his eyes and next to each of his ears.

After noticing these beads, War could not help but grin. He knew of the threat these weapons posed, but that was only the case when he was within Sacrifice’s domain. At the height of his power, these bombs of primordial power would only manage to ruin his clothes. However, as one of the beads lingered in front of his yes, he noticed that something was different. He could not feel any elemental power from these beads, only the powers of.. “NO!” He yelped, too late. 

Der immediately moved the shield back in front of him, then plunged his fingers deep into his ears.

The beads cracked in front of War’s eyes and next to his ears, and then, nothing. The world of endless battle had abandoned his senses, replaced by endless darkness and eerie silence. His consciousness hung by a thread, only kept together by the hurt caused by his charred eyes, and the sharp pain that came from both of his pierced eardrums.

Infinite blinding lights and deafening sounds were the last thing on War’s mind as a more familiar sharp pain spread from the middle of his stomach. “But.. I will win, if I will it.” he lamented as Der’s sword slashed through his chest, throat and head, split his body in half.

The observing fighters, stunned by the same light and sounds that took away War’s senses, recovered just in time to see the latter’s body fall to the ground, lifeless. Order immediately turned to look at the aspect of Sentience, who, after noticing his gaze, shook his head slowly in confirmation that War had indeed perished.

While the idea that a mortal had been able to kill an aspect of existence was shocking enough to numb their minds, things were about to get much worse. Soon they realized that the existential power of war had not dissipated like it should have after the death of its aspect, but instead, was now moving towards the now powerless mortal.