"BANG!"
William said as the glowing droplet of boiling blood in front of his finger reached a critical point and suddenly—
BANG!
The ancient Flaxan king's chest plate suddenly erupted in a shower of sparks and blood before the force behind it sent the alien's kingly soul flying backward.
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
Before the ancient Flaxan king could even register the pain he was feeling, he was suddenly blasted from three different directions, slamming fiercely into the ground with a force that made the realm itself shake.
"You... You dare!" The ancient king with blood dripping from the corner of his lips stood to his feet, and as he did so, William observed the man's cuirass heal at a rate that impressed even him, and a wicked smile formed on his flaming facial features.
RUMBLE!
As William was lost in observing the chest plate heal at an impressive rate, he was caught off guard by a spike made of blood that shot up from the ground and impaled him several feet in the air as if he were some macabre display.
On the outside, the people watching from outside the barrier watched in horror as a massive hole opened up in his chest.
News stations blurred the broadcast, and the nearby heroes and GDA agents all cringed as they could see his organs turn into a slurry as if some jagged spike passed through him.
Kate's eyes were filled with tears, and seeing the bloody, gaping wound, she tried rushing to his aid, only to be stopped by War Woman, who looked at her with a stern glare and shook her head.
"What are you doing? We have to help him!" She muttered, barely holding in the urge to scream at the veteran hero.
"Trust him!" Two words were all that came out of War Woman's mouth, but these two words caused Kate to pause in her fury.
She then looked down, feeling slightly ashamed.
"Don't be too down, kiddo, love is a powerful thing!" She patted Kate's head with her remaining hand.
"Just don't let it get you killed, okay!" War Woman's eyes glazed over as she began reminiscing about her earlier days when she was still a passionate young woman, still beholden to her emotions and flights of whimsey.
PUCHI!
A sound broke the Amazon's train of thought and snapped her back to reality, and both she and Kate looked up to see new holes punctured inside William from multiple directions.
"What is going on?" War Woman thought, her and Immortal's eyes meeting before he too shook his head.
Inside the realm within the sword, William was being held aloft by multiple spikes, and the ancient Flaxan king was letting out a maddened laughter as if sure of his victory now that his opponent was immobilized.
STEP!
He stepped forward with confidence while dragging his sword on the ground, the tip of which, rather than scraping against the ground within the realm but somehow pierced it with the slightest touch as a red line formed in its wake.
CTCHHHH!
He swiftly raised the sword and in a flick of the ancient Flaxan king's wrist, an arc of red energy shoots towards William and sliced his right arm off, causing him to grit his teeth in pain.
"Tsk... Bastard!"
Digging his hands into the bloody spike, small cracks began to form in its surface, and in an act that shocked the ancient Flaxan king, the spike broke.
CATCHA!
With brute strength that defied the wounds present, William threw the upper portion of the bloody spike towards the king, who put up a translucent red barrier that absorbed the material; however, the force of it still sent the king flying backward.
CRACKA-THOOM!
The king's barrier shattered like glass, fragments of blood-forged energy hissing through the air as he tumbled end over end before slamming into a twisted spire of bone jutting from the realm's cracked earth.
The force of impact left a crater.
But he was laughing.
"You're... fun," the ancient Flaxan king rasped, lifting himself with a sickening pop of dislocated joints snapping back into place. "It's been eons since anyone broke my blood art."
William stood tall now, arm missing, blood pouring from the gaping hole in his chest like a leaking faucet, but his stance was calm, almost... relaxed.
The fires on his face reignited.
FWOOM!
His entire body began to glow from within, the raw heat of his internal energy surging through every nerve like magma. The very blood spurting from his wounds began to boil mid-air, forming glowing crimson droplets that hovered around him like a slow orbit of miniature suns.
"Fun?" William muttered. "Let's crank it up, then."
William raised his remaining hand to the side and gestured as if he were holding the handle of something not visible, but soon, the ancient Flaxan king became aware of what was occurring.
BRBRBRBRBR!
The miniature star-like droplets of blood orbiting around him suddenly surged into his hand and began taking the shape of a longsword.
The first thing that took shape was the dark, bone-like material that formed the center of the blade as well as the handle and guard, which were connected by a demonic skull.
Immediately after forming a skeleton of a sword, the star-like blood began to flood the surface of the blade like an unstoppable tide over an unsuspecting desert.
The blood began to solidify in the shape of a broad blade that ended in a point so fine it could cut diamonds.
The blade itself was translucent, seeming to be both solid and liquid at the same time; however, the ancient Flaxan king would not underestimate this man nor the weapon he used.
As if to acknowledge its existence, the eyes within the skull began to roar to life with the same color flames burning on William's face.
WHOOSH!
Suddenly, he lifted the sword and sent a burning orange arc towards the ancient Flaxan king, who attempted to guard with a shield, but the collision of forces he was expecting never occurred, and before he could react further, he was severed at the waist by the blazing energy blade.
"AAAAGGGGHHHH!"
The ancient Flaxan king roared in pain as his torso and legs fell separately to the ground.
SPLUTCH.
The Flaxan king's upper body hit the ground with a wet thud, yet his expression twisted not in fear, but satisfaction.
"You think… this is the end?" he growled, red steam hissing from the split between his waist and legs. "This… is only phase one."
BWOOM!!
Blood erupted like geysers from both halves of the king's sundered form, congealing in midair with unnatural speed. The crimson streams spiraled and slammed together, dragging his torso and legs back into place with a nauseating squelch. A heartbeat passed, then—
CRACK!
CRACK!
CRACK!
Six new arms exploded from his back, thick and clawed, each one throbbing with lines of red energy. His original pair twisted grotesquely, doubling in length. His armor cracked apart and fell off, replaced by pulsing sinew, raw muscle, and calcified veins of obsidian-colored bone.
His mouth split sideways. A second row of jagged teeth unfolded like a nightmare.
"I AM THE BLOOD ASCENDANT KING."
The very realm shuddered with this announcement.
Similar swords appeared in the newly formed hands of the ascended ancient Flaxan king, and he took a battle stance that seemed as offensive as it was defensive, and in a show of force that defied common sense, the king leaped into the air and began spinning diagonally as he approached William's location.
William, trusting his strength and the explosive amount of power he put into the sword itself, swung the sword in the opposite diagonal position.
CATCHA!
The blades the ancient Flaxan king used were sliced cleanly through as they came into contact with William's blade, only stopping once he reached the last blade, which now had spiderweb cracks up and down its surface.
Shattered blades flew in all directions but began to stall in the middle of the air around William, and as they locked blades, the ancient Flaxan king projected his will into the floating blades and caused them to shoot towards William and penetrate his body from multiple angles.
Three in his back, two penetrated his gut, and the final one went straight through his neck.
HYAK!
William spat out a large glob of blood that sizzled as if it were molten lava against a cold surface of the realm before swinging his blade towards the king and bisecting him diagonally, much to the king's shock.
"WHO IS THIS MAN?" The ancient Flaxan king was shocked to once again find himself bisected, and amid his frustration, fear began to take root.
He once again connected his severed pieces together and began winging his blades in a rapid dance of death that would have left anyone other than William a lump of twitching meat.
SWING
SWING
SWING
SWING
With each swing of his blades being dodged, the ancient Flaxan king let out a bloodthirsty roar.
"DIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEE!" Dozens of large bone-like arms sprang from the ground and attempted to grab onto William and pin him down.
SHING
A sharp sound rang out, and the massive arms turned into shards as if they were struck by a million blows, and soon the two disappeared in a flicker of blood red light.
BOOM
BOOM
BOOM
BOOM
BOOM
In the air, explosions of force rang out, and arcs of blade-like light ripped through the realm as the two clashed repeatedly.
They continually flickered from place to place, each time clashing in a different but equally brutal way.
Sometimes, William cleaved the king in two, and other times, the ancient Flaxan king pierced William's chest.
Within the realm, droplets of glowing and dark blood fell like rain, and ponds formed in the previously formed craters.
SHING!
With all six arms swinging at once, the ancient Flaxan king met William's blade in the air, and the two beings stalled in the air for a moment before pushing each other apart forcibly.
William's flaming orange eyes met the ancient Flaxan king's own, and almost in sync, the two yelled out the names of their attacks.
"SANGUIS DIRGE!" The ancient Flaxan king's voice rang out, and his blades began to hiss with corrupting dark red light that threatened to devour all life nearby.
"BLOOD AURORA!" William's calm voice echoed through the realm like a church bell, and his blade began to burn a blazing orange, and the energy within began to extend outward, enhancing the length and width of the blade to a great degree.
The two combatants seemingly ran in the air towards each other, and in an act that would become legendary if others were to observe, when the blades met, an eruption of force similar to an atomic bomb swept through the realm.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
Thick cracks began to form as the wave of force erupted outward and it seemed as if the entire realm was collapsing in on itself, within the heart of the explosion William held the ancient Flaxan king by his neck with a single arm, the rest of his limbs having been blown off completely as the two floated within the superhot center of the blast.
William's face seemed immune to the heat from the blast due to the blaze that covered it, and he watched with a demonic grin as the ancient Flaxan king's body disintegrated in place, the light having already left his eyes due to his defeated state.
As the blast died down, William was able to see his surroundings and was slightly astonished.
The energy released from his blade had sent an arc of energy shooting through the realm and carved a deep trench in the center where a massive amount of molten blood coagulated.
William's body began to heal with haste, and the cracks in the realm continued to splinter outward before shooting upwards. Soon, the collapse would be imminent.
In a shocking event that shocked the people watching from the outside, the sword that was in William's hand began to change form, going from a dense and dark red to a translucent and clear heart-shaped object, and when the heart finally finished forming, William suddenly awoke on the outside.
"GASP!"
Sucking in a large amount of air after having stood there breathless for so long, he only remained standing due to the sheer magnitude of his strength.
Naturally, the first thing he noticed was the translucent crystalline heart in his hands, but soon he heard someone yelling his name and turned around.
"WILLIAM!!!!"
A Kate-shaped missile crashed into William and caused him to slide backward, almost dropping the heart.