Hero of Evil's Bane 16

Hero of Evil’s Bane

CHAPTER 16


Phoenix stood there, his godly presence putting a bit of fear in Joel’s heart. Joel knew that this was different from any of his past opponents. Phoenix was the last son of Zeus and was also the Ghod of Fire and Wind. Phoenix stood there with the flames of the two armies of glass he shattered behind him. Joel thought about what this Ghod had done, to have destroyed not only the armies of the Olympians, and Wolfos, but also his own Light Runner army… Phoenix must not fear anything! Joel stood there with the Great Pyramid of Giza behind him while in awe of this Ghod’s power.

“Well?” asked Phoenix once again. “Are you prepared for battle boy?”
Joel tightened his grip on his sword in response. He realized his hood was no longer over his head so he pulled it back up, Joel felt a shiver down his spine as he awaited to do battle with this Ghod. He knew that even though Phoenix was a part of the alien race called the Ghods that he was still viewed as a god, not just that but he was supposed to be the next King of Olympus and ruler of all the other gods.

Phoenix took notice of Joel’s reaction. He smiled underneath his helmet; he had heard rumors that this boy was a warrior with great potential. He even considered turning Joel to their side, if the rumors were true though.
He decided to test Joel through this battle.

They stood 15 feet from each other each with their weapons held in their gauntlets. Joel stood in his battle stance holding his rapier in front of him. Joel decided to wait for his opponent’s first move. He knew little of his opponent besides the myths and legends. He knew nothing of Phoenix’s tactics and fighting styles. Phoenix casually took one step forward and swung his phoenix spear. Suddenly a mighty whirlwind lifted both of the as well as the sand off the ground at rapid speeds. They were soon over the Pyramids of Giza on swaying sand to act as a platform. They were at least 500 feet high from their previous location.

Joel watched the sand as it rose up and lowered like water in the ocean. When the sand beneath him rose Joel jumped up, using the sand to increase the height of his jump. Phoenix watched as Joel began to descend. Joel was diving straight down. Suddenly Joel started spinning as he reached Phoenix. He increased his grip on his rapier and slammed it down. Phoenix casually rose his spear up sideways in a defensive position then pushed Joel back. Joel then ran towards Phoenix and swung his sword towards Phoenix again and again. He tried to strike any opening that appeared in hopes of defeating this goliath, but to no avail. Joel did a spin and swung his sword diagonally at his opponent. The god blocked once more then grabbed his spear and swung with the blunt end downward at Joel. Joel dodged to the right hoping to dodge when suddenly Phoenix swept his spear at Joel’s feet. Joel fell over and caught himself with his hands. He then rose himself in a position where he was standing on his arms then pushed upwards back into a standing position. As soon as he landed he stabbed forward at Phoenix with his rapier. The god jumped back then with one arm slammed his spear down on Joel’s rapier, knocking it out of his grasp. Joel quickly pulled out an Olympian knife as a secondary weapon. He held it in a defensive position in hopes of blocking any attacks from Phoenix. The god used his wind manipulating abilities to lift Joel’s rapier out of the sand. He grabbed it with his free hand and examined it.

“An impressive blade…” said the god “but not one fit for a knight like you.”
Joel tightened his grip on his knife as the god spoke while walking around him.
“I am curious as to why my brothers and sister have so much interest in a boy who can’t even keep a hold of his own weapons.” He tossed the rapier back to Joel who caught it.
Phoenix continued speaking “As I battle you I wonder to myself whether they have become so desperate to stop me that they just chose the first person they saw, or if they have simply gone mad with fear.”

Phoenix stopped back at where he first began fighting with Joel and said
“Whatever the reason is, I hope you start putting up a fight, I didn’t create this battlefield and abandon a far greater battle to waste my time playing around with a wimp like you so keep it interesting for me, will you.” He then stood in a stance that looked more like an actual fighting style when he said this last remark. “Come show me what you can really do.”

As soon as he finished saying this he jumped up and slammed his spear down upon Joel who parried the attack off with his rapier. Phoenix spun and swung his spear upwards at Joel. Joel blocked, but couldn’t stop the force of the attack which sent him flying up. Phoenix reached his hand out towards Joel and closed it. As soon as he did this Joel stopped flying. The god turned and swung his hand down towards the platform causing the air to swing Joel onto the sand with great force. As Joel fell he absorbed the kinetic energy from the impact with the kinetic drawing softening his collision. Joel landed on his back with a ball of kinetic energy in his right hand and his rapier in the left. Phoenix began to charge at Joel who rolled over onto his stomach and reached out his hand. Joel released the kinetic energy of Phoenix’s own attack and fired it at him. The kinetic bolt went flying at Phoenix faster than he could react and hit him knocking the god back. This didn’t really damage his armor but did heat it up. Phoenix looked down and saw a red spot on his armor from the heat of the kinetic bolt. He looked up at Joel and said “Not bad kid,”
He then swung his spear upward again sending the platform of sand and wind beneath Joel flying up then jumped up and said
“But you will have to do better than that!”

Joel balanced himself as the platform rose and began absorbing the energy of the moving platform into the kinetic bolt. As soon as Phoenix came into the vicinity of the drawing Joel began gaining energy from him as well increasing the bolt’s power even more so. Once Phoenix arrived to the platform Joel fired another bolt which sent Phoenix crashing back down to the desert below. Joel fell at the force of the attack landing on the platform and took a couple of deep breaths panting. He laughed a little because he actually hurt or at least surprised a god twice in a row. Suddenly the sand that was holding him up fell apart because of the lack of there being a god of wind to keep it afloat. Joel began falling once this happened.
“CRAPCRAPCRAPCRAP!!!!!!” Joel yelled as he began falling over 500 feet to the ground. He turned himself over so he could face the ground bellow him. He saw Phoenix about 30 feet below him still falling. Joel laughed to himself as he noticed that the red mark on Phoenix’s armor grow brighter. “It must have gotten hotter.” Joel said to himself.
Phoenix noticed Joel too and reached out with his spear and used his power over wind to pull Joel down towards him. Joel immediately felt the wind above him begin to push him down closer to the god. He knew that if he didn’t do something quick he would get his ass handed to him. Joel began another kinetic drawing and decided to use a different tactic.

As soon as Joel got close enough to Phoenix, Phoenix slammed his gauntlet into Joel’s face. Joel began flipping from the blow and suddenly crashed into another hardened platform of floating sand facedown. Joel began to get back up when the god crash landed on Joel’s back with the force of a falling 3 story apartment building from the force of all the wind being used to increase Phoenix’s force. He stepped off of Joel’s body then rose up the dented platform of sand with his abilities. He pointed his spear at Joel and flipped him over onto his backside. Joel’s mask was cracked and his face was partially exposed and the scarf that covered his mouth was still on his face but this time had a few rips on it.

Phoenix looked down at his breast plate and saw that it was much hotter than before because of Joel’s previous attack. “That little punk, he nearly melted through my breast plate.” Suddenly Joel’s hand rose up and another kinetic bolt was fired except this one was stronger than the ones before. It sent Phoenix back into the air except this time Joel had a plan ready. He quickly stood up and reached his hand out towards Phoenix. He could sense that the kinetic energy had finally punctured the god’s armor and was now inside the suit. Joel smirked under the hood and said “My turn,”
Joel close his hand as his mind grasped onto the energy put into Phoenix’s armor and began expanding it outwards in order to make it pop open even further. Joel decided to also throw Phoenix around a bit with his control over kinetic energy.

He swung his hand down towards the sand platform in the same manner that Phoenix had done and began repeating the process of slamming him into the platform like a ragdoll while ripping through Phoenix’s suit. Finally an explosion of green energy came out from the back of Phoenix’s suit, sending shrapnel and kinetic energy through his cape making holes and rips in it. This weakened Joel's grip on Phoenix who used his power over both wind and fire to gain control over his body and fly straight towards Joel. Joel braced himself for the attack and pulled out Kleita from the back of his suit’s utility belt except now, Kleita was a small crystal the size of a handle. He used a mental command and awoke Kleita into his new form. Suddenly Joel’s entire left arm was covered by Kleita who had become into a shield of cosmic energies.
Joel tightened his grip on Kleita, his old friend, and braced for impact with the god.

Phoenix crashed into them in an inferno. They both struggled to defeat the other through punches and stabs. Joel had figured to use the kinetic energy they were both making to empower himself in order to keep up with Phoenix’s own strength. Joel slashed at Phoenix once more only to have his arm grabbed by Phoenix’s free arm. Joel tried to get out of the god’s grasp but Phoenix was too strong. The god tried to stab Joel but he was constantly being blocked by Joel using Kleita’s shield form. Finally Phoenix decided to summon up as much energy as he could into his spear and the inferno began to blaze even more dangerously than before. Phoenix went in for another stab and fired his most powerful attack at the same time, creating a massive combustion of fire upon Kleita. The attack was deflected towards the ground below and more specifically towards one of the Great Pyramids. The effect of the following explosion completely destroyed the entire pyramid. Joel didn’t know that his kinetic aura he had created had intensified the power of the attack creating an even larger explosion.

Joel saw the explosion at the corner of his eye and felt anger rise up within himself. He turned the both of them over and began attacking more ferociously at the god. He was going to make him suffer for anyone he may have killed from that blast. He charged another kinetic bolt as they battled while crashing through the atmosphere at 263 MPH. As soon as they reached the desert ground Joel released another kinetic bolt upon the god ri9ght before they created a crater of glass.

Joel got up, dizzy from the huge fall. He was surprised that he even survived it, not knowing that his kinetic bolt helped him resist the impact. He looked around and saw that he was in a crater of sand and glass. He climbed out and panted once he was finished. He bent over, pulled off his scarf, and puked all over the sand/glass surface he was standing on. He wiped his face and put his scarf back on. He suddenly heard a sound from behind him. Joel looked and saw his opponent on the other side of the crater. Phoenix had just climbed out as well.

The god panted and took some deep breaths. He glared at Joel through his helmet visor. He did not expect such a strong opponent. He tightened his grip on his phoenix spear and said to Joel, “Impressive, you are the first in a long time to hurt me in combat.”
Joel didn’t say anything and held his ground. He wanted to just give up and get some rest but knew that he needed to defeat the God of Fire and Wind in order to end this war of the Olympians in hopes so that the Olympians can help the Starlight Knights defeat the Light Runners.

Phoenix raised his hand, pointed at Joel and said to him, “You are worthy and deserve a place among my armies; you will never progress if you stay with the Olympians and Starlight Knights.”
Joel spoke and said “Why would I ally myself with those who don’t wish to see the light? You are not one whom I can trust, now shut up so we can finish this fight.”
Phoenix smiled and chuckled to himself and said.
“Very well.” a red fiery aura appeared on his spear.
This flame began to envelope him as he continued speaking.
“Now Joel Borders, now you shall see the true power of the Ghods.”

Suddenly the fire went onto the god’s skin and armor, giving him a sort of glow then combusted in a massive explosion of fire, knocking Joel back. He covered his face with Kleita and waited as the ghod changed his form into that of a TRUE God of Fire and Wind. The flames settled which allowed Joel to put his shield down. What he saw was amazing. The battered armor of Phoenix was replaced by a shiny, polished, gold, and red armor that showed no signs of wear or tear. The breastplate was a dark gold and the gauntlets had a mix of red mixed in with 4 red knuckles. Phoenix’s cut up cape was now replaced by a black one. His armor on his shoulders was morphed into a much bigger design and was a gold color as well with red outline on each curve on it. The helmet now was in a T shape and now had spikes coming out of the top with the entirety of the helmet being gold except for two symbols on the sides that were a bright red.

The armor was not all that changed though. The Phoenix Spear was much bigger in size that it was before. The spear part of the weapon was now one and a half foot long and was now colored with a fiery orange mixed with gold. Joel could see that there was now what looked like half of a bird on it as well. The end of the spear had changed into a scythe with a wickedly sharp blade as well.

Joel looked in awe and noticed that Phoenix seemed a bit taller now and was around 9.5 feet in height. That was when Joel realized that Wolfos was a Ghod as well. The Werewolf like being was very well known on New Olympus and was said to have once lead the armies of the great mountain until The Great War. Joel could tell that something must have happened during that war that caused the rulers of Olympus to split.

Joel awoke from his thoughts and began thinking about how to approach this new form of this god. If he didn’t trek carefully in this battle it would surely mean his life. Phoenix reached out with his left hand and summoned a broadsword/ball and chain. The blade consisted of the colors purple and blue, while the ball and chain were a gray color.
The god then said “Now you shall die Starlight Knight.”
Joel gulped. This was to be his greatest battle yet.

TO BE CONTINUED