Reincarnated as a Phoenix

Chapter 239 – Final Hurdle

---Sorry for the delay, had a viral all week so wasn't feeling up for posting. Might only be 1 chapter next week as well, have to wait and see...

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(Temporary Perspective Change)

(Zeki) “Erk, what the fuck is going on!? These morons are getting back up!”

In the courtyard where the rest of us fight supporting Ikarus and Petra’s assault, Zeki has to shout when some of the creatures get back up after being cut down. The blackened tortured souls that originate from the Underworld but now guard the palace just keep getting back up, even after limbs are being cut off.

(Nathan) “Lotte, behind you!”

(Charlotte) “Gotcha Nat!”

Charlotte ducks as Apollo’s bow fires where she was just standing, an arrow flying true right into the head of another creature that was trying to get back up.

And then, to back him up, the huge summoned blade she uses, swipes a denizen in half that had just grabbed his shoulder. It’s unfortunate because give it a moment of so, it’s body will regenerate and fix itself. The process is really gross.

(Nyx) “Have patience younglings and we will prevail. Their lifeforce is directly connected to Zeus’s so once those two are finished, things will be okay”

(Kellearzar) <Ah, so that’s what this is>

All Nyx has to do is poke a creature and they turn to dust while Kellearzar spews a load of fire and it has the same effect. They still regenerate even without a head though, in particular the one charging at me has completely lost his mind.

“Uh… these guys are scary”

“I keep telling you brother, stay back! You’re crap at this type of fighting”

“I can help, Zeki! I know my flame heals but there must be something I can do!”

As for what me and Zeki are doing, I’m having to forcibly mind control one at a time so he can defend me and destroy the tortured souls one by one. I can’t control the ones who are headless though so he has to keep lending me a hand.

But of course, he has to keep moaning and scoffing all the while everyone keeps fighting until they become exhausted. That’s until his stupid head seems to light up when he thinks of something. I guess all the blood he’s soaked in gives him inspiration?

“Erk, is there an easier way of doing this? Why the fuck can’t we just round them up and do it in one big swoop!?”

…

I wouldn’t say I believe in miracles but this might be one, everyone pauses and actually agrees with him!

‘I always knew there was hope for him yet!

[<I wouldn’t count on it, Ariza. We still don’t know what he plans to do next>]

Even though Laura sounds doubtful on this, all of us get close together by the door and group up the creatures. Then, us that can fly get out of way while the couple of brown birds get a lift from Ikarus’s mother. Wouldn’t Nathan and Charlotte look adorable as phoenixes though? Ikarus occasionally calling me bluebird has given me that thought now.

“Ya’ll are idiots, watch and learn how the professionals do things. These fiends are about to experience the true power of Murica!”

Already into his bird form, now I’m worrying because that grin is never good. It reminds me of the time he drugged Ikarus and Petra with the aphrodisiac and then run off laughing. He’s about to do something evil…

[<You worry too much, Ariza. You can just read his mind if it’s too troublesome>]

‘I know, Laura, it’s just that I promised him I wouldn’t. Zeki would drive even the sanest of minds to question anything and everything’

“Uh, Zeki… I don’t think that’s a good…”

Wings fully retracted and quickly reaching an unimaginable speed, Zeki prepares himself to charge beak first into the crowd of denizens. This is really how he plans on dealing with them!?

“…Idea”

“Hahahaha! No wonder the dead dragon enjoyed this so much! Round them up and let’s go again!”

“Zeki! You can’t just say that!”

Presumably breaking every bone in his body and the tortured abominations, Zeki crashes into them like a bowling ball knocking down a row of pins. He doesn’t seem to care in the slightest at the red bump forming on his head from hitting the golden palace afterwards…

__________

Bang, crash! Just as Zeus’s trident is about to pierce my chest, the palace shakes giving both me and the wife an opportunity to retreat and pace ourselves to recover.

“Heh, don’t look so panicked Ikarus. Had him right where I wanted him”

‘As if that’s freaking true! If she thinks I’m letting her sacrifice herself for me, she’s got another thing coming. That’s what this feels like now’

Both the wife and the God who rules all are injured by this point, Petra’s chest slowly trickling blood while Zeus’s cut off hand gushes blood like some Hollywood action flick.

“Bah… are you two finally willing to grovel at my feet yet? I’m feeling awfully merciful right now”

I can’t help but roll my eyes while Petra chuckles from that question. Just one look at the beefy guy holding that bleeding stump of his says it all really. We’ve got him within our grasp…

“Bah, this won’t work, you invisible fiend!”

I teleport behind him, trying to land another sneak attack only to find a fist, or more specifically that stump punching me in the face. I guess teleporting within combat isn’t as useful as it’s made out to be, there’s always a second or two delay before arrival.

Despite being a hand down, Zeus’s power cannot be understated so he tries to power up another kind of electricity-water hybrid wave to push us back. But Petra is having none of it…

Her swings are as graceful as a swan yet as suicidal as a kamikaze pilot, constantly leaving openings but stopping Zeus from powering up anything. Petra’s able to stand her own much easier now considering her enemy is now wielding a long trident with just the one hand.

Since he’s distracted and completely on the defensive, my time is now! My vampiric blade slips through a crack and aims directly for his neck… but then, bang! The palace shakes again.

‘Just what the fuck is causing that? It feels like it’s coming from outside or something’

Zeus tries to take full advantage of my stumble, swiping the trident at my head.

I just about managed to duck and dodge, in turn causing the stolen weapon to hit the wall and get wedged in a crack of the palace wall.

“BAHHHHH!!! Will you two just lay down and die!?!”

[<Aesa would like to inform Ikarus that MP can now be used again>]

‘Oh right, he stopped our spark earlier on‘

Electricity sparks from the enraged Zeus, but Petra stands strong taking his full anger again. In a move I didn’t expect, he completely abandons Poseidon’s weapon and a scaled down lightning bolt appears within his grasp.

“Heh… fuck”

Zeus’s entire body becomes as bright as a lightbulb and the second he allows Petra to strike him with her blade, she becomes trapped.

Emotion brewing but not sensing the full gravity of the situation, Excalibur plunges deep into his back and I’m also caught in his trap. Zeus might as well be a pylon with how much power is flowing though him, now into us.

‘Fuck fuck fuck!’

Both of us experience pain unimaginable as the electricity pinches and burns everywhere, muscles tensing and cramping as we’re unable to get away from his power.

Thankfully in this state we’re in, he seems unable to move just as much as us. That doesn’t help the dreaded agony though.

“Bah-hahaha! That won’t work, little fuckers! Keep attacking me all you want; you’re coming with me”

Even as me and the wife respond with our hellfire flowing from every part of our bodies, Zeus’s electricity still continues to fry us like some sort of freaky electric chair.

‘Fuckkk… status’

[Name: Ikarus   |   Species: Phoenix (Demon Lord)   |   Level: 1000]

[Health    133,404/166,666]

[Stamina 160,191/166,666]

[Magicka 122,274/166,666]

[You currently have 1 unassigned point]

[<Does Ikarus and wife need Aesa’s intervention?>]

‘Not just yet, Aesa… just let me think’

If anyone else turns up, it’s inevitable he’ll flee. Just what can I use to try and break the current? Anything that falls from the sky is already out of question. It’s easy enough to mix some other abilities together, but will that get him off us? Maybe there’s an idea somewhere…

Without even getting the chance to launch the orb, the electricity seems to spark as the fire implodes and smothers us all. Zeus sinks into the once marbled floor, now filled with lava and loses grip on both of us. Combine that with the fact my form change has pushed him away, we’re finally free!

“Bah, a constant reminder of my failure, creating that accursed species like so. You all shouldn’t exist!”

<Enough talking motherfucker, Petra!>

“BAHHH!!! LET GO OF ME!”

Biting down and clenching as hard as I can, I snap at Zeus, holding his entire person within my jaw not allowing him to wiggle an inch.

My mouth is already starting to spasm with how much electricity is flowing inside, but none of that matters as Petra now can do what she wants. Using her sword art, she can ignore the shocking and can strike at him with as much power as she can conjure up.

Hit after hit, slash after slash, stabbing after stabbing, flames flowing into him from the both of us, Petra doesn’t stop cutting him for a second while I experience the pain that is this fucker’s wrath. It’s do or die now, I’ll fucking bring the both of us down if that’s what it takes!

‘Urgh… feel as if I’m about to pass out’

[Name: Ikarus   |   Species: Phoenix (Demon Lord)   |   Level: 1000]

[Health    54,183/166,666]

[Stamina 158,410/166,666]

[Magicka 122,278/166,666]

---

[Name: Zeus   |   Species: Olympian   |   Level: 2500]

[Health  62,419/250,000]

[Stamina 30,165/150,000]

[Magicka 62,104/100,000]

My HP may be draining quicker than his but none of this matter it just a moment.

It takes a force more powerful than words can describe for him to explode and force his way of my mouth, throwing both me and the wife a distance away again. His electricity cannot be bested by anything…

‘Wait a second, Aesa! How much HP as a percentage does he have left?’

[<24.9676%, Ikarus. You’ve got him now>]

‘Muhahaha… it’s finally over’

<Petra… just one last hurrah. We can do this!>

Despite my health now being lower than Zeus’s, my confidence sky rocket’s when I notice his health is just low enough. It’s inevitable and all those motionless statues of titans that watch over us must know it as well. Zeus has finally met his maker…

Even the God who rules all seems to notice my wicked smile, immediately backing off trying to get through the sludge like magma. Except, that’s not going to work with how much the wife is keeping him occupied and the fact the magma is hardening by the second.

Her sword art immediately forces him to block with that bolt of lightning he carries, giving me the chance to get to get even closer.

“Fucking cursed spawn of those lizards! I will not lose to you!”

Trying to back off even more as my teeth get even closer, he tries to aim and throw electricity all around me and I don’t dare try to block it. All I need is one touch, just one inch of my scaly body against his. Maybe it’s finally time to learn a lesson from my father…

“BAHHHHHH!!!”

<Gotcha!>

Diving and crashing at Zeus, I’m immediately electrocuted again but that still doesn’t stop my smile. The second the ability activates, all pain is replaced with pleasure when the God who rules all ignites like a raging bonfire…

‘Welcome to the world of mortals, motherfucker. Status’

[Name: Zeus   |   Species: Olympian   |   Level: 1]

[Health  18/100]

[Stamina 10/50]

[Magicka 31/50]

“BAHHHHhhhhhhh…”

Still erupting in flames, Zeus’s goat like scream grows quiet while the golden hall shakes, power begins to rip all around us as the heavenly ruler now loses his way and his consciousness.

…

And so, the palace grows quiet. The fire from furnace leveller fades and all that’s left of Zeus is a still, albeit still breathing corpse. All that energy being sucked out of him has knocked him out cold.

As for us… there’s still one more important decision to make as we catch our breaths and allow the adrenaline to settle for a moment.

Both of us look at each other with a question in our hearts and minds, but none dare to say if we should do it or not. It just comes down to one thing really, how greedy are we for an endless pursuit of power?

…

‘Eh, guess you could say this adventure was ‘fun’, minus the part where both our fathers died. I think it’s best for us both if we call it a day’

And so, using Excalibur no less and not the blade given by the demonic creator, I plunge the blade into Zeus’s heart…

__________

“We’ve actually done it Petra. Like, for real, no jokes. We’ve won!”

“Heh… yes we have Ikarus. Does it feel like we’re missing something though?”

“Don’t tell me you actually wanted to use that blade?”

“Heh, of course not. It’s just something doesn’t feel right”

After tending to our wounds with a couple bottles of healent, personally wanted to ‘tend’ to Petra’s breast wound but she wasn’t allowing it, I can’t help but continue to prod and poke Zeus’s lifeless body to confirm.

The day has finally arrived where a lasting peace has been achieved. No more pointless paranoia and world ending creations, or related consequences like Asmodeus being responsible for the demonic invasion. We can finally have a long rest… and I mean actual rest. We’ve got the rest of our lives to hump like bunnies hooked on aphrodisiac so that can be saved for another day.

“You are definitely in agreement with me on that blade thing, right Petra? Do we even need his power anyways?”

Continuing to prod his body because I’m still stumped we managed to achieved this, the idea of losing ourselves in the pursuit of power is something I refuse to allow. If we take Zeus’s power, would it promote us to primordial beings or something in between? I’m not sure how we’d even take it considering how furnace leveller works, maybe that option is already gone?

“Heh, it would be nice to have, Ikarus, but we’re finished. This is enough… you are enough”

‘Damn, my one major weakness… compliments’

Just as I’m about to repay the favour and share a kiss, the world begins to shake and a portal forms from thin air. Coming out of the portal with a backdrop of fire and gold is someone I did not expect.

<Figures. The other’s told me this would end in disappointment but I refused to listen. Now, I’ll just have to do things my own way…>

To be continued…