Chapter 544: Where It All Began (XXII) [The Sweet Taste of Revenge I]

Crrkk!

"Took you long enough, Aestrea."

Without any further warning, he attacked first.

The God of Time raised his scepter, the clock face at its head glowing brightly. Time itself warped around Aestrea in an instant.

The air thickened, movements slowed, and the world seemed to drag like molasses.

Chronos blurred forward at normal speed while Aestrea’s body felt like it was moving through syrup.

Vwoom!

A concentrated beam of distorted time shot from the scepter, aimed straight at Aestrea’s chest.

The beam carried the weight of centuries, capable of aging anything it touched into dust.

Aestrea forced his body to move, pushing against the slowed time with raw willpower. He twisted sideways just enough for the beam to graze his shoulder.

The fabric of his coat disintegrated instantly, and the skin beneath withered and cracked, golden-black blood welling up from the wound.

He ignored the pain and countered immediately, summoning the Heaven Swallowing Sword and Midnight Sword into his hands.

He lunged forward, slashing with both blades in a wide arc.

Shing, fwip!

Chronos spun his scepter, creating a spinning shield of reversed time that deflected the strikes. Sparks flew as the swords met the temporal barrier.

Claaang!

"You’re slower than I expected," Chronos taunted.

"All that power, and you still let me land the first hit. Pathetic."

Aestrea didn’t bother to waste words on him and pressed the attack, slashing low with the Midnight Sword while thrusting the Heaven Swallowing Sword toward Chronos’s throat.

Chronos leaned back, the thrust missing by inches. He countered with a swing of his scepter, aiming for Aestrea’s ribs.

Thud!

The blow connected hard. Aestrea felt his ribs crack, pain flaring through his side.

He staggered back a step, coughing once, but used the momentum to spin and deliver a brutal kick to Chronos’s midsection.

Crunch!

Chronos was thrown backward, crashing into one of the crystal walls.

The wall cracked on impact, and golden blood sprayed from his mouth. He laughed, wiping it away with the back of his hand.

"Is that all? I expected more from the one who devoured Nyarlathotep."

Crrk...!

Chronos suddenly accelerated time around himself and vanished in a blur. He reappeared behind Aestrea, swinging his scepter at the back of his head.

Aestrea sensed it at the last moment and ducked.

The scepter whistled past his ear, grazing his hair. He spun and drove the Heaven Swallowing Sword into Chronos’s side.

Squelch!

The blade sank deep, devouring flesh and time energy on contact.

Chronos grunted in pain, golden blood pouring from the wound. He grabbed the sword with his bare hand and yanked it out, the wound already beginning to close.

He pointed his scepter and unleashed a barrage of time-distorted beams.

Each one aged everything it touched, metal rusted, crystal cracked and crumbled, and the air itself seemed to decay.

Aestrea weaved through the beams, using short bursts of chaos energy to blink from spot to spot.

One beam grazed his arm, causing the skin to wither and peel, exposing raw muscle beneath

Drip...

Blood dripped heavily.

He ignored the pain and closed the distance again, slashing with both swords at what could be Chrono’s weak points.

Shing... CLANG!

Chronos blocked most, but one slash from the Midnight Sword cut deep across his chest, opening a long gash that sprayed golden blood across the floor.

Another thrust from the Heaven Swallowing Sword pierced his shoulder, devouring more of his essence.

"HAAAAAAAGH!"

Chronos roared and retaliated by reversing time around Aestrea’s wounds, forcing them to reopen and bleed more.

"Tsk..." Aestrea grunted, the sting flaring through his body, but he kept attacking without pause.

He swung the Midnight Sword in a low arc, aiming to cut Chronos’s legs out from under him. Chronos spun his scepter, accelerating time around his own body to dodge the slash at blinding speed.

Clank!

He countered instantly, thrusting the head of the scepter toward Aestrea’s chest.

The clock face on the scepter glowed, and a pulse of reversed time shot out, trying to age Aestrea’s heart backward into weakness.

Aestrea twisted his torso at the last moment.

The pulse grazed his ribs instead, causing the skin there to wither and crack, black blood bubbling up.

He ignored the burning pain and drove the Heaven Swallowing Sword forward in a straight thrust.

Shing!

The blade sank into Chronos’s left shoulder, the devouring edge immediately starting to eat away at his divine flesh.

Golden blood sprayed out in a hot arc, splattering across Aestrea’s face.

"Haagh!" Chronos hissed in pain and yanked himself back, tearing the sword free.

The wound smoked as the devoured flesh tried to regenerate.

"You think your little swords can hurt me?" Chronos snarled, his clock-eyes spinning wildly.

"I am Time! I can undo every wound you give me!"

He slammed the butt of his scepter into the ground.

The giant clock face beneath their feet activated, its hands spinning backward.

Time reversed in a localized bubble around Aestrea, his recent wounds reopened wider, blood flowing faster, and even his stance faltered for a split second as his body was forced to relive the damage.

Aestrea clicked his tongue and activated Authority of Karma.

The black glow around him balanced the scales, reversing the reversal. His wounds closed again, the blood flow stopped, and he lunged forward with renewed speed.

He slashed with both swords in a cross pattern.

Splat!

The Midnight Sword cut a deep diagonal gash across Chronos’s chest, golden blood erupting like a fountain.

The Heaven Swallowing Sword followed, slicing across his stomach, devouring a chunk of divine flesh that crumbled into black dust mid-air.

Chronos roared and pointed his scepter at Aestrea’s head.

Time slowed around Aestrea’s upper body, making his head movements sluggish. Chronos took advantage and drove the scepter into Aestrea’s stomach like a spear.

Thud!

The impact cracked Aestrea’s ribs and sent him skidding backward across the clock floor. Blood sprayed from his mouth.

"Hugh... fuck," he coughed once, then used Authority of Ruin to decay the temporal slow around him.

The effect shattered like glass, and he charged again.

He closed the distance in a blink and delivered a brutal elbow strike to Chronos’s jaw.

Crunch!

Chronos’s head snapped back, golden blood and a few teeth flying from his mouth.

Aestrea followed with a knee to the gut, then a downward slash with the Midnight Sword that cut deep into Chronos’s collarbone.

Squelch!

More golden blood poured out, splattering the floor.

Chronos staggered but retaliated by accelerating time around his scepter and swinging it at Aestrea’s head at impossible speed.

Whoosh!

Aestrea barely raised the Heaven Swallowing Sword in time.

The clash sent a shockwave that cracked the walls. He used Authority of the Abyss to open a small void portal behind Chronos, trying to suck him in.

Chronos twisted and reversed the portal’s pull with his own time authority, turning it into a burst of forward time that slammed into Aestrea’s chest.

Boom!

Aestrea was thrown backward again, crashing into a pillar.

The stone shattered on impact. He pushed himself up, black blood dripping from his mouth, but his eyes were still cold and focused.

The two gods circled each other in the ruined chamber, both bleeding, both breathing harder, but neither willing to back down.

Chronos laughed, blood dripping from his split lip.

"You’re strong, I’ll give you that. But I control time, and I can easily make this fight last forever, or end it in a second. You can’t win against eternity."

Aestrea didn’t reply to the provocation.

He simply attacked again, his two swords flashing in a deadly dance.

He used Authority of Ice to create black ice spikes that shot up from the floor, impaling Chronos’s legs.

Golden blood sprayed as the spikes pierced through flesh and bone.

Chronos roared and reversed the time on the spikes, making them crumble to dust.

He then accelerated his own healing and charged at Aestrea, scepter swinging in wide, time-warped arcs.

CLAAAANG!

SPLURTT!

Their weapons met repeatedly, sparks and blood flying with every collision.

Aestrea used Authority of Ruin to decay Chronos’s scepter mid-swing, causing the clock face to crack and rust.

Chronos countered by reversing the decay and slamming the scepter into Aestrea’s shoulder.

Crack!

Aestrea’s collarbone broke, but he quickly used Authority of Karma to balance and heal it instantly.

He retaliated with a headbutt, smashing his forehead into Chronos’s nose.

Crunch!

More golden blood exploded outward. Chronos staggered, but Aestrea grabbed him by the robe and drove his knee into his stomach repeatedly.

Thump...

BANG!

Each impact made Chronos cough up blood.

He finally broke free by accelerating time around himself and vanishing in a blur, reappearing behind Aestrea and striking his back with the scepter.

Thump!

Aestrea was driven forward, but he spun mid-fall and slashed upward with both swords, cutting deep gashes across Chronos’s chest and face.

Splat!

Golden blood rained down as they continued their brutal exchange.

The chamber was in ruins, with the walls collapsing, the floor completely shattered, and the giant clock face completely destroyed. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

The two gods were covered in each other’s blood, wounds healing and reopening in a constant cycle.

Chronos laughed through the pain.

"You really fight like a damn animal. Unfortunately for you... I’ve watched countless timelines in the future... and you lose in every single one of them!"

At those words, a vein actually popped in Aestrea’s forehead.

"Shut your fucking mouth already..."