The Hollows quaked and the ancient bone of Godgrave splintered into pieces. Each tiny fragment of bone was the size of a tall building, and each was dwarfed by a tendril of blood. A monstrosity of dark bone, grey flesh, and black tentacles writhed as a vortex of blood swirled around it.
The uncanny black stone that acted as the creatures face twitched as splinters of bone became the tips of giant spears of blood. The collosal weapons rained down causing an array of destruction to quickly make its way through the large area.
Despite the devastation and malevolent energy weldied by the creature, it was in fact far more human than what it sought to kill.
The Dreamspawn, Asterion, flipped through the air, a polite smile on his face. Occasionally he would use the weapons that were launched at him as stepping stones, throwing himself higher into the air to meet the creature who assaulted him.
The inhuman Transformation ability of Gehrman snapped off as an ethereal scythe finished forming from purple sparks. He brought the iridescent blade down swiftly as he successfully pulled Asterion into his trap.
The blade cleaved clean through the Sovereign, of course. In its current state, the [Burial Blade] was purely a soul rending weapon. Something that would even cause a Cursed abomination to twitch.
However, Asterion had no such reaction. His easy smile remained plastered on face as he brought his hand forward. With a sharp movement, he twisted, like how one would open a jar. Reality twisted around his striking, wrenching an egregious hole in Gehrman's body. A grotesque chest cavity formed, and Asterion moved to slice downward before he was suddenly tossed to the side.
After a moment of flying through the air of Godgrave, Asterion used his Will to stop himself mid air. Standing on nothing, he returned to a neutral position with hands clasped behind his back. The golden eyes of the Dreamspawn eerily observed Gehrman. Willing themselves to "know" him.
What he learned was not very pleasing.
"You are really quite an unsettling thing, aren't you?"
An average human had a stream of thoughts going on at any given time. The actions taken by a body, conscious monologue, and subconscious musings all flowed together in a convoluted stream that Asterion had become an expert at sifting through.
What met him in Gehrman's mind, however, was a cacophony.
Facts of sciences, battle tactics, and random information stormed into him as his Aspect picked up on more information that he knew what to do with.
Still, behind all that he could sense the truth.
Though Asterion currently lacked the methods to reach Gehrman's thoughts, he knew that was because of the man's own internal defenses.
It was already a bit tedious, even for a Supreme like him, to gather some of Gehrman's thoughts. However what made it more fruitless was the fact that the "Cacophany" was a brain in and of itself. There were several brains in that head of his, and at any given time the operations of the individual known as "Gehrman" were being managed by those other "minds". The cacophony that assaulted Asterion was not Gehrman's natural state, but simply one of his minds brought to the forefront in order to block out his telepathy.
Still…
"How can you move like that? So many little voices in your head, I'd be impressed if it wasn't so concerning."
Asterion raised his hand out, as if grasping something, and he activated another part of his Aspect.
With his power, the voices of the Cacophny that were supposed to protect Gerhman got louder.
It was Asterion's belief that these voices were already pushing him to his limit, and with this single move "The Red Judge" would be brought low.
…Instead, his head got blown off.
In a single instant, from the settling debris and smoke, a shot was fired from the Supreme Memory, [Slothful Evelyn]. After having stayed in place for a short while as Asterion observed his thoughts, the Enchantment of the gun multiplied its already harrowing power. Taking a large chunk out of his Essence pool, the skull of Asterion was pierced and his brain became utterly obliterated.
Gehrman frowned as the giant, twisted hole in his chest healed. Walking out from the dust, he took in the sight of Asterion standing perfectly fine as if nothing happened.
There wasn't a hair out of place on his head.
Though he did look a tad bit surprised, the Sovereign was otherwise unhurt.
"You fight with fists?" Gehrman asked. He was already pretty steeped in Madness, so for whatever reason that was the first thought that came to mind.
"You know, having a powerful weapon can do wonders. I imagine that you got at least something up on the moon, yet you still come at me like an animal."
There was – somehow – a twinkle in Asterion's eyes and he replied with a laugh.
"There are a few weapons in my collection, of course. However, they are unnecessary and not to my taste."
Asterion brought his open palm forward and gazed at it.
"There is something beautiful about it, no? The purity of ripping apart bodies with one's own hands. It feels more personal, so I'm much better suited towards it."
"Do Lineages stack multiplicatively?"
The question caused Asterion to frown. He wasn't used to having a conversation that he wasn't in complete control of, so a random question like this threw him for a loop.
"I'm not sure what you mean," the Sovereign said.
"You know of Divine Aspects, right? Of course you do, you practically raised Mordy from what I heard. Well with each new Soul Core we get a flat boost to our power. Which is to say, the amount of strength we gain from the forming of our 7th and 2nd Soul Core is the same. For Divine Lineages though…well, no one is supposed to even have multiple. So, little gremlin man, I was wondering if the enhancements in strength one might get from the Beast God's Lineage are the same, or more than what you received from War? If it's more, then that indicates that the new base from a Lineage is being measured, and then enhanced. If this happened, what was it? 5 times? Then you're true strength should be roughly 10 times greater than the average Supreme human rather than just 5."
Asterion tilted his head.
"I'm confused."
Gehrman spat on the ground.
"Fuck you."
"Wh–"
"Go to hell, Lineage man. You don't need to understand my genius, I just need to understand yours. And I understand plenty."
Asterion stared at Gehrman with a slightly open mouth for a few seconds. Then he let out a sigh and shrugged.
"It's funny, I have 4 Lineages. However, seeing as Song would have told you that I only need 2 more to be complete, it makes me wonder if you accidentally included the Dream God in the number of lineages I need to collect?"
Gehrman's eye twitched.
"...fuckin…maybe."
"Talking with you is quite interesting," Asterion brought both hands together and let out a clap. The single sound was far too loud for the casual movement, and it echoed for an entire kilometer.
"However, I believe we both have better things to do. I have my own business to attend to, and you need to start your first revival. I'm sure it will take a few to get rid of you completely, so we best make haste."
Gehrman stood utterly still for a little while, then, an entirely mad grin split his face. His eyes exploded with a yellowish orange light and he let out a deranged cackle.
In less than a second, Gehrman was upon him, launching a devastating blow. Asterion met it in kind, and the raw kinetic energy exploded outward, causing even more destruction.
In a haze of delirium, Gehrman sent out a flurry of attacks, all of them expertly parried by Asterion. The golden eyes of the Dreamspawn worked fast, his pupils never in one place for too long as he kept taking in new information about Gehrman's fighting style.
Asterion had not expected hand-to-hand combat, but he wasn't against it. He had decades of fighting experience and the War God's Lineage. There was no one with a higher battle IQ than him in either of the two realms,of that he was confident.
The longer their fight went on, the more assured of victory he became.
Gehrman was ferocious and deadly. In fact Asterion was fairly confident he was the most skilled human fighter than he had ever encountered.
Asterion decided to start launching some counters, and soon, he had Gehrman on the backfoot. Smiling genially he allowed Gehrman the reprieve of summoning a Memory.
Pushing him back with an open palm, the "hunter" stumbled and the purple sparks of his unique Memories started to manifest.
"I understand that you are a qualified fighter, perhaps you are even the best human alive. However, you are not fighting a human, are you, boy?
A large amount of odd purple sparks appeared as a massive weapon was summoned.
Of course, the courtesy was just for show. Asterion really did want to end this as quick as possible. So the millisecond before what looked like a giant anchor appeared, he moved to snatch the man's throat and pull it from his body.
…then he couldn't see anything.
…What?
Asterion was on the air, then on his back, then there was an enormous roaring sound that he was already familiar with. His entire physical form was shattered as Will and Madness tore into him. For the first time since he fought Broken Sword, Asterion let out a grunt of pain.
In the fiery pits of a newly formed crater the golden eyes of Asterion reformed, and then so too did the rest of his body. Only this time, he wasn't smiling.
To his chagrin, he was forced to look up at the man flying above him…no, he wasn't flying. He wasn't even using the blood in his body to hold him up.
Gehrman was using the same trick that Anvil and he used to use. Using the Will as a platform to stand on.
"Brat," Asterion mumbled. He did not enjoy one bit being looked down on. It was something he thought he had done away with after his 4th Nightmare.
At the same time, he replayed what had just happened in his head.
Gehrman had summoned a massive Memory, but it had not been completely formed. There were still sparks…
Ah, he summoned two Memories. One was just to cover the form of the other. How clever, using the cute sparks of Weaver's Sorcery to his advantage.
Before that anchor-weapon formed, two thin curved blades had manifested and been slammed into his eyes, blinding him. Following that Asterion had his feet swept, and then and explosion of bloodflame, the fission of a few atoms, Madness, and Will were all brought together to incinerate his entire being.
"Brat? You're one to talk. I was a bit wary of you, but I think I got the gist of it now. You think your life has been hard and that you've gone through so many trials and tribulations. What, did being born in the Dream Realm make you feel different and left out? No one treated you like a human so you abandoned all humanity, is that it?"
"Not quite," Asterion did not put up a fake smile anymore. However, he also did not appear greatly disturbed. "I was never human to begin with. That other Dreamspawn you know, Changing Star? She is the one who is pretending. I am what our kind always has been and will be. I never once abandoned my nature."
"Really, maybe you should try it some time? It seems to me that no one, not even your own cohort liked your 'true nature'."
"Why would they? It is not a meal's place to enjoy the eaters company. They recognize me for what I am– the one whole will consume them all. Sure, they may have delayed me, but in the end I will feast just the same."
"Oh yeah?"
Gehrman partially deployed an extra hundred tentacles. They curled into a position of attack, but instead of launching at Asterion, they rippled and were consumed. Instantly, 200 Blood Fragments were imbibed and the Madness within him exploded to such an extent it caused physical tears in the bone of Godgrave.
"I don't think you're up for it, little Asterion."