New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

Constantine extirpated herself from the half-shattered stone and looked at Alex with rage.

"You think you can get your way?! Do you think I'll die to a weak kid like you?! You little punk! I'm the champion of Gaius, the strongest god in existence! I'll crush you into the finest powder the universe has ever seen!" Constantine howled.

She shot up into the sky, her body glowing golden, as armour appeared over her branded clothes. A glowing mace also materialized in her right hand as a shield coated in gold appeared in her left hand.

Alex watched her, waiting for her little show to be over.

Constantine's eyes turned completely black, as her skin kept glowing golden, and her gaze snapped to Alex.

"You done yet?" Alex mocked.

The woman looked at him, finding his confident smile irking.

She howled in anger and dashed from the sky to the ground, her mace swinging in an arc at his head.

"Die, you arrogant prick!"

Alex didn't even bother blocking the block with his hand, as a thick layer of mana appeared between the weapon and his head. With a resounding *Ding!* her mace impacted the sturdy barrier and ricocheted off it like hitting a metal wall.

Constantine could already feel her hand going numb from the vibration going up her weapon's shaft, but that wasn't the worst of it.

Alex was still grinning at her.

"That's it? All that mighty speech, and you can't hit my body? Lame," he mocked before lashing out with a punch.

Constantine was quick enough to block the attack with her shield, but it felt like a semi-truck had slammed into it. She was sent skidding back for many meters before coming to a halt, her shield hand numb, and the shield dented ever so slightly.

'He dented the World Shield?!' her mind reeled.

This was a shield Gaius had made by compressing an entire planet into a single plate. Or so he had said.

And even if that was only flavour, to explain its solidity, a human still shouldn't be able to damage it.

In truth, Alex wouldn't have been able to, if he hadn't coated his hand in pure mana, at the cusp of compressing in Aether.

Even if the shield was one made by a god, and held the Mythic rank, at a bare minimum, it was heavily weakened by the lack of mana in the air. After all, everything a god created relied on mana to continue to exist.

Constantine summoning her armour in this world was bad for it, as the lack of mana damaged it, without her knowing. If she had known, she might have poured mana into it constantly to keep it from weakening.

Then, Alex wouldn't have been able to damage it, even with Aether.

Her lack of knowledge and judgment would be her downfall.

Alex didn't let her find her footing, and sprinted after her.

He knew she could match his speed, even if he used the power of his demon legs. But he could tell she lacked in raw power.

As he reached her, Alex launched into a flurry of blows, his fists tinting red as he used more of the demon's power.

Every time his fist hit the shield, or was deflected by her mace, he could feel his skin tingle.

'So divinity really hurts the demons. I wonder why if Gaius was the one who created them. Shouldn't they be immune to at least his power?' he wondered, as he kept striking like a gatling gun.

Constantine struggled to deflect and block every attack, feeling the weight behind them. She knew a direct hit to her body would be excruciatingly painful, even with the armour on.

But she miscalculated something.

A cracking sound echoed in her ear, coming from the right, and she noticed with horror that the shaft of her mace was cracking.

And she wasn't the only one to notice.

With a wicked grin, Alex spun his body, raising his leg in a roundhouse kick, and snapped it into her mace's shaft, aiming for the crack.

Even if Constantine wanted to spare her weapon, she was either blocking with it, and risking a break, or taking the blow with her body.

And she wasn't ready to risk that.

With a resounding bang, the leg smacked into the mace, which Constantine had angled slightly upward, trying to deflect the blow, and pushed into it like a wrecking ball.

There was no contest of strength to be had as Constantine's mace snapped like a twig before the leg continued its path into her shoulder, sending her barrelling away like a rag doll shot out of a cannon.

She rolled her body into a fetal position before hitting the ground, knowing full well she was going too fast to stop her motion yet.

And as she struck the cold, hard ground, she bounced off like a basketball off a court, and spun upward, her stomach holding its contents for dear life, as she turned into a spinning top.

She hit the ground a second and then a third time before she had lost enough speed to try to stop herself. But it was easier said than done.

Even as she twisted her body to get her legs on the ground first, all that did was send her flying backward, and she had to roll herself back again before smashing into another stone outcropping.

The air blew out of her lungs, accompanied by blood, as her vision blurred from hitting the stone behind her.

Constantine dropped to her knees, her breath ragged, as she couldn't get her lungs to expand fully, and her vision shaky, blood trickling down her nape from the back of her head.

"He's not human. This is the devil Gaius warned me about. The one that brings an end to humanity…" she muttered, lifting her head to look at her enemy.

Alex was already near her, sauntering his way to her with a devilish grin.

"Is that what Gaius told you? That a devil would threaten our world? Well, he wasn't entirely lying. But let me ask you, Constantine," Alex said, crouching near her.

She didn't have the strength to attack him, so she just glared at him with her eyes half out of focus.

"Did Gaius tell you how it comes to pass? How the demons come into our world?"

Constantine huffed, spitting blood in his face.

"He told me what I had to know. The rest was for me to figure out," she spat.

Alex smeared the blood across from his face, grinning wider.

"So he kept you in the dark. That's because you would have never followed him if you knew. You haven't been able to reach him lately, have you? Your precious Gaius?"

Her eyes wavered as she realized he knew more than she thought.

"I'll tell you why," Alex said, grabbing the back of her head and forcing her to gaze into his eyes.

"Because your oh so precious Gaius killed another god, who was trying to help the world of New Eden, and ours by extension. Because Gaius doesn't want our world to survive. He wants it to burn. So he can bask in the flames and enjoy himself," he said, his gaze hardening.

Constantine's eyes widened.

"No. That can't be… Why would he make me his champion? Why would he ask me to struggle for humanity's sake? You are lying!"

Alex chuckled.

"You keep rambling about how you are smarter, stronger, and wiser than everyone. But, in truth, you are the dumbest, weakest, most naïve piece of human trash among us. To think some people look up to you makes me sick," he said, leering at her.

"Shut up! Shut up! You're lying! Shut up!" Constantine howled, trying to hit Alex.

Alex slammed her head into the stone behind her again, grabbing her by the face.

As he pulled his hand back, her gaze almost clouded over, and her mouth hung open a bit.

She was almost done for.

"If I'm the liar here, then why did you try pinning the servers shutting down on a hacker you knew nothing about? Haven't you already been lying to everyone by not telling them what New Eden really was? How much of a hypocrite are you?" Alex asked, seething with anger.

"I… Did… It… For… Them," she muttered, her vision slowly going dark.

'Is this how I die? Killed by the very devil who will bring doom to humanity? I'm sorry I failed you, your grace…' she thought, still not accepting Alexander's words.

Alex watched as she fainted and clicked his tongue in annoyance.

"So much bravado, and yet you fall to this much power. The Raijū would have torn you to shreds… But don't think you can get off the hook so easily. You are not dying today, you dumb bitch. You still have to atone for what you put the world through."

Alex reverted back to a human before his eyes glowed golden. He had no intention of killing her.

Alex was hoping that knocking the fear of death into her would open her eyes to who Gaius really was. But it seemed she was much more brainwashed than he had first thought.

'This'll be a long road until she understands the truth…'