An ascension, the peak of one's power, has just awakened inside Yamikuro.
Sphairos' voice trembled.
"You're in control of the Darkness now, aren't you?!"
Yamikuro didn't answer.
His eyes were now glowing, and from them grew small lines downwards.
The energy of Yamikuro completely shifted.
The once weak Yamikuro was gone, replaced by a presence of a demon in Sphairos' eyes.
Sphairos felt an orb regenerate around his head.
He quickly grabbed it and threw it, hoping it would hit Yamikuro.
However, Yamikuro's ascension activated fast.
The orb disappeared.
The area around them turned dark.
Purple, shadowy arms in different sizes grew out of the ground, resembling trees and plants.
The moon turned purple, casting a purple light that made it hard to see into the distance.
The buildings, now covered in dead foliage, stood tilted.
Hunters were gone from the rooftops.
As Sphairos experienced the ascension, his body got shakier and shakier.
He couldn't get rid of this strange feeling, one he had never felt before.
Was this what humans called fear?
For the first time in Sphairos' existence, he felt like an underdog in a battle.
He wanted to run away from Yamikuro.
But his body was stuck.
The power of the ascension was too powerful.
No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't move.
He was forced to experience whatever was coming for him.
"Impossible..." He whispered, his voice shaky.
Yamikuro remained quiet and reached out his hand toward Sphairos.
Small purple hands appeared from the ground and flowed towards him like waves.
Trying to force himself to move, Sphairos felt a drop of sweat fall from his forehead.
He froze.
Yamikuro hadn't properly made a move on him, yet Sphairos was scared lifeless.
Something he hadn't experienced either.
With his widened eyes, he slowly raised his head towards Yamikuro, almost as if he had accepted defeat.
"Is this it for me?"
Before closing his eyes, ready to die, a memory came back to him.
It was a sunny day in the god world.
Sphairos sat on a porch in his poor village.
The streets were dirty, the houses were built out of clay, and he only had his little brother.
His goal was to get him and his little brother to the capital, where both of them could become higher-ranked gods.
The voice of his little brother called out.
"Hey... Big bro."
Sphairos forced a smile.
"What's up?"
"You haven't trained recently, have you?"
"I'm sorry...-"
Sphairos got cut off by his little brother.
His eyes were teary.
"Our promise wasn't just about going to the capital...! We can't die, knowing we couldn't do anything! If we're strong enough, we don't have to be afraid of death!"
Sphairos' eyes shot open.
"I can't die knowing I couldn't do anything...!"
Sudden strength grew within him, and he could feel himself move his legs, his hands, and his body.
Sphairos broke free and jumped high into the sky.
Yamikuro's eyes followed him.
Sphairos let out a gulp.
"What power. I almost forgot I was a god..."
"But even so, I need to think my moves through carefully."
Sphairos landed on the ground.
When he did, Yamikuro moved both of his arms to his head's level and spread them apart.
The ground rumbled.
Two shadowy hands burst out of the ground. Each on both sides of Sphairos.
Yamikuro's expression remained. That same lifeless look.
"Die."
Yamikuro lost control of his emotions, letting the deepest desire take control.
He wanted to kill Sphairos, he wasn't sure why- but it's not like he needed a reason.
Sphairos hurt Isabella and killed Yamikuro in cold blood.
And now was the time for revenge.
He clapped his hands together, and the big arms followed the movements.
Clash!
Sphairos had his arms spread apart.
He held the two shadowy hands away from himself, trying not to be crushed.
Sphairos let out a groan, pushing the hands further away.
"I can't die here!"
A sour expression appeared on Yamikuro's face.
He forced the hands together, using as much power as possible.
But that's when Yamikuro grabbed onto his chest, and fell to his knees
Blood spilled out of his mouth.
Pain shot through Yamikuro's entire body.
The immense power of the Darkness was too much for him.
The hands disappeared completely.
Sphairos noticed an opening, attacking Yamikuro when he was weakened.
"It seems that the side effects of using an ascension are catching up to you. Don't worry, I'll make your death painless; suffering from these effects can be everlasting." Sphairos smirked and sprinted towards Yamikuro.
Yamikuro struggled to breathe.
Still holding onto his chest, he raised his left arm and created a wall of shadowy arms in front of him.
"I... I can't let you-" Yamikuro started to cough up blood, the pain grew even stronger, but he forced himself to keep using the ascension, "I can't let you live... I'll kill you right here."
Sphairos felt something weird in his chest after hearing that.
"So you're set on killing me."
"Fine by me. My mission was to only take the Darkness, but I don't mind this ending with either of us dying." Sphairos sighed, but then his expression changed.
His eyebrows closed in, and he lost his temper.
"I'm not going back empty-handed!"
Those were the words Yamikuro wanted to hear.
Now it was set in stone. Either one of them was going to die.
Yamikuro raised both of his hands yet again.
Multiple arms grew out of the ground around Sphairos, ready to attack.
Moving his hands around, the shadowy arms followed.
Sphairos jumped, dodged, and ran, as the arms attacked from all sorts of directions.
Getting hit again and again, Sphairos' calm and collected personality changed.
He felt his blood boil, and the fear of death was gone.
"Damn it!" He yelled, "How am I losing to a human?! I'm a god! A GOD!"
After a couple of breathless seconds, Sphairos collected himself.
"I promised I'd come back. I won't let this human toy with me anymore." He said with a sigh.
Sphairos sprinted towards Yamikuro.
Yamikuro, who was in an unstable condition, got kicked down by Sphairos.
The area of the ascension started to slightly fade in and out of existence.
Sphairos towered over Yamikuro.
Yamikuro's eyes wanted to shut together.
But no way was Yamikuro going to lose here.
With every ounce of power, he forced the ascension to stay.
While the ascension was feeding off of Sphairos' power, it wasn't enough.
Possibly due to how weak Sphairos was compared to the Darkness.
Yamikuro raised his hand, and an arm burst out of the ground.
It punched Sphairos down to the ground.
He slid on the concrete ground. His skin was peeling off.
Sphairos was starting to feel exhausted, but he couldn't stop.
He let out a scream of anger and lunged at Yamikuro again.
Neither of them was in battle condition; their movements were slow and sloppy.
Both of them collapsed from exhaustion, but the area created by the ascension remained.
Instead of giving up again, Sphairos crawled towards Yamikuro.
He was set on getting the Darkness out of him.
Raising his head, Yamikuro saw Sphairos.
He pointed his shaky finger towards Sphairos.
One last move.
A deep and raspy voice guided him.
"Use this to kill him."
A purple sphere appeared in front of his index finger.
It shone in the darkness of the ascension.
Sphairos' energy was still being taken away from him. And he stopped.
This was an awakening for Sphairos.
Death, something he feared deep down, was approaching.
But Sphairos didn't fear it this time. He knew that dying like this was inevitable.
"Work hard to get to the capital, lil bro... Become a higher-ranked god, for both of us."
The sphere shot out.
Sphairos died with a smile, holding his ground against a Darkness wielder.
Only a few in history have managed to do so.
Sphairos' head blew off his neck. His body started crumbling, caused by the Darkness.
Yamikuro felt satisfied.
He killed Sphairos.
He won.
And with that, his eyes shut together, and he passed out.