The Black Necromancer



"Come here, little darling... I promise I won't hurt you too bad." Asteria's face scrunched up in disgust as she stared at the vile God of Greed that hovered some distance away from her.

"..." She remained silent.

"Scared? You should be. Your father and little lover are not here to protect you. You're all mine!" He cackled madly, his eyes shining with a green light.

"Thinking I am defenseless just because my father and Michael had occupied is the greatest and last mistake you will make. Just because I am the Goddess of Love does not mean I am weak. My love burns with passion. It is possessive and violent! Anyone who stands in my way, I will smite!" As Asteria made this declaration, her body grew in size until she had reached a whooping sixty meters in height.

A red fire that oozed a feeling of passion burned around her. Her fine and exquisite gown had turned into a finely sculpted armor. A giant golden heart that was burning with fire had been engraved on the chest of the armor. On her head of red hair was a large golden crown with red gems embedded into it. Her left hand held a round shield and her right hand held a sword.

"True love is never gotten for free. It is fought for!" She boomed and slashed downward with her sword. Contrary to her gigantic size, her speed was blistering!

The God of Greed was only barely able to dodge to the side, and even then, the scorching flames on the sword burnt his body badly, forcing him to retreat.

"Argh! How can she be so strong?!" He grunted under his breath and quickly gathered his Divine Power. The ability to increase in size was not an exclusive ability. Any God could do it through the condensation of their Divine Power. He quickly grew to a size that equaled Asteria, while donning his own armor. He held a large mace in his hands that he would use to bash his opponents aside whenever he fought.

"I will make you pay!" He swung the mace at Asteria and she blocked it with her flaming shield. When the mace connected with the shield, a powerful explosion occurred, blowing both sides back. Asteria regained her footing quickly and lunged forward, thrusting her sword at her opponent.

The God of Greed also recovered, but he was a step flower than Asteria and could only use the arm shields on his forearms to block the lunge, which caused another powerful explosion that blew him backwards.

He soon regained his balance and turned to look at Asteria, but was hit with a sudden dizzy spell that left him disoriented and dazed.

"What..?" Before he could regain clarity, he felt a sharp burst of pain in his chest as Asteria's burning sword sunk into him. A burst of Divine Power erupted within him, eroding his body and making him burn from the inside out.

"Argh!!!" A howl of pain escaped his lips as he was shocked back to reality. His hands let go of his mace and he pulled out the sword. Such a strike was not enough to kill him, but he was left badly injured by the combo of moves.

"YOU SNIVELLING BITCH!!!" He roared as his Divine power was expended in great amounts to flush out Asteria's. At the same time, he expended a lot more to heal the injuries he had just sustained. With eyes blazing with green light, he activated the ability that he knew best.

"STEAL!" His arm reached out and he made a pulling motion.

Asteria felt an uncontrollable force appear and take hold of her sword and shield. It was a skill that she could not resist no matter how hard she tried, so she had to let go of the equipment, or she would be drawn in with them.

"Hahaha!" The God of Greed cackled as he was about to grab hold of the weapons that he had just acquired from Asteria. However, the moment they touched his fingertips, a strange wave of Divine Power poured into his body. He tried to resist, but it seemed as if this was a skill that was similar to his Steal skill. It was a skill that he could not defend against so easily.

"NO!" He was able to squeeze out a final word of resistance before he was overwhelmed.

Meanwhile, in the distance, Asteria chuckled and gestured at the God of Greed's dazed figure with a hooked finger.

"Come here, love." She said, her eyes wide and seductive.

The skill Asteria had used was known as True Loves Knows No Bounds. It was a skill that was impossible to block by those on the same level. Perhaps a few could block it, but it was not something that the God of Greed could achieve.

However, the skill had a severe drawback.

Asteria also fell in love with the target.

The God of Greed moved like a puppet and soon arrived before Asteria. His eyes were black and void of all emotion as he adhered to Asteria's every will.

"Give me a kiss, love." Asteria held onto his chin and kissed him. At the same time, a burst of Divine Power rose from within her body and engulfed the God of Greed, covering his body in a storm of red flames. His body began to shrink little by little as it was burnt away and absorbed by Asteria. Her aura rose in an unstable manner as she devoured the God of Greed, turning his power into her power. The core of his Divinity, Greed, was eagerly absorbed by her own Divinity, turning it into another facet of her great power.

"Ah..." A tear rolled down her cheek. "Forgive me, love. The love I possess for this world surpasses that which I possess for you. It truly pains me, but do not worry, my true lover will be enough." She wiped the tear and turned away, stronger than ever, but with an aching heart.

The move had also affected her, and she would feel the heartache for a very long time. But it was just as she had said. The love she had for Datar and Michael far surpassed that which had developed for him in just the few moments where she had cast the skill.

In another part of the battlefield Atrox chased Michael around. He threw large spears covered in red flames at Michael, which the latter deftly dodged.

Michael, on the other hand, was passive in their fight. The major reason why he had trumped the battle in the mortal realm was because not only had he taken Atrox by surprise, but Atrox's strength was limited to a certain point in the mortal realm, which leveled the playing field for them.

However, this time, they were not limited by anything, which allowed Atrox to show his full strength. As a much older, powerful and established figure than Michael, Atrox naturally had a much greater repertoire of knowledge, skills and means to draw from. He also had a greater pool of Divine Power which fueled his extremely destructive moves.

"Die already!" The Chaos God growled as the latest spear to brush by Michael exploded and engulfed his location in a cloud of violent and corrosive flames.

Whoosh!!

Michael's figure dashed out from the cloud of flames, unscathed but with a pensive expression on his face. He was covered in a pale silver barrier formed from his Divine Power. It exploited the power of Fate to bend the odds of his defenses remaining strong in his favor. Because of this subtle power, his defenses that should have been full of holes after such a vicious attack was able to hold strong, if only barely.

He was able to hold on, for now at least. He already knew that he would not be able to defeat Atrox. His job was just to keep the Chaos God occupied until he was able to get help from someone else.

"Michael!" Michael turned around and spotted a trio of Minor Fate Gods. They had just finished pooling their powers together to cast one of the rare purely offensive spells that a Fate God could cast.

With his eyebrows jumping in surprise, Michael quickly cast a teleportation skill and vanished, leaping out of the area where the spell would affect.

In the next moment, the space in that area crumbled and collapsed at once, turning into a storm that engulfed Atrox without fail.