From another angle, Erebus' allies were watching as everything unfolded…
"How is this mortal so strong?"
"Still not nearly enough to defeat the One Eyed Black Dragon."
"True, but even so, this is ridiculous. How dare a mortal challenge a god, the audacity of it all. It's… I can't tolerate it! I'm going to get a good shot in myself."
"So annoying, I just want to get back to work, guiding the dead's souls through the cycle."
"It's a shame, his body is so good, I'd like to take him down, even if it's just once."
"Opening the box again, huh?"
"Oh shut up. That wasn't my fault and you know it."
"Sure…"
"Ke ke ke, I like this werewolf quite a bit. A shame he's begun his hunt against a god. Truly a terrible shame."
"Yeah, I lost some children when I went to recruit him several years ago. He has a fierce power bubbling from deep within. A true monster capable of killing a lot of people. It's such a shame…"
"Your priorities always stun me beyond words. You know good and well that souls can just be made without any issues. Why kill them instead?"
"They'll grow stronger through the tempering of reincarnation. I see it all the time. I love my work, so I know…"
"Ahahaha!" A god held his sides as he cackled away. "Hey look at this, Erebus is starting to even out the fight a bit! He's died 107842 times now. Must be a hell of an experience."
"Every time he dies, he gets access to more power. And… Now, the temple is coming back. Seems like there's more people scared about what'll happen if he loses."
"Excellent… This is the perfect time to act."
Alecto, Apate, Ikelos, Rudra, and Thanatos, prepared themselves. Each managing to form an imperfect version of their divine armaments from Tenkai. They then sat and waited. When another god approached.
"Well, this looks like fun."
"Dionysus? What're you doing here?"
"I just thought it best to see things up close."
"And? You're doing that here?"
"Yeah, I had my children side with you in secret. It's regrettable that they've all been killed now. But the mission still remains. This werewolf must die today, his death will bring about the orgia! HAHAHA! I can't wait to see them all in despair."
"Well suit up then. We're waiting for the chance to present itself. He'll get tired enough soon. Even if we only get one shot off each it should be enough to give Erebus the chance to really kill him."
"Ah! Excellent!"
…
"Origin Wolf's been fighting for a while. To think he's killed Erebus 150387… 150388… times now. It's impressive he was able to last this long, but he is slowing down more rapidly, and Erebus only grows stronger with every death."
"It's not looking good."
"No, it's not. Get him a high stamina potion!" An adventurer called out, as if he was willing to deliver it himself.
"Don't bother, at the level he's fighting at, that's basically no better than a simple cup of tea." Magni interjected, preventing his idiotic level 2 from doing something stupid.
Al had a curious look crawl on his face.
"Why wouldn't it work, they're supposed to restore someone to full stamina, right?"
"Well, do you think those things are perfect? It probably wouldn't even do much for Bokhoir over there, and he's a level 7."
"But-"
"If there were still more of the Stamina Elixirs left over, that might have been helpful. But we had to use them like candy over in the East."
Shakti's comment came with a heavy regret.
"I personally drank 13 of them."
"That fight must have been rough. I saw Hashana when going to your familia… He looked like he'd been through a meat grinder…" Alise sighed…
"It might as well have been. And we would have all died dozens of times over if not for Bokhoir, and Nernatti… If we exclude Origin Wolf from the list, I'd say those two are definitely the strongest in the whole city."
"What about the world?" Al asked without thinking…
"Huh? You can't be serious? Alfia the silence, and Zald the Glutton, are without a doubt above those two. Then there's the Knight of Knights, who at level 8, is probably somewhere around the same strength as those two, but I doubt he's their true equal. Him being serious is like a warm up for them."
"Wow. So many strong people."
Shakti leaned over to Astraea and whispered a question. Astraea sighed, and answered it honestly. To which Shakti nearly lost her mind trying to wrap her head around it.
"Huh?"
"Oh, don't mind it. Just a secret amongst the two of us."
"He just hit 200,000 kills! Woo hoo! Keep it up Origin Wolf!"
The praise and cheer was uplifting, and it halted Erebus' temple once more. Making the fight a little bit easier to handle. Shurry was currently using everything he had but some didn't realize this…
"Why doesn't he use the abilities that equipment has?"
"He is."
Hephaestus' cold and concise response was not the answer they'd expected to get.
"If he's this tired, how can he do another…?"
It had been an incredibly long fight… And, Shurry's stamina was finally starting to falter. His beastification started to fail, and then it failed entirely, losing him a substantial advantage. Yet, still he kept fighting. Only now, the exchanges were always in Erebus's favor.
"AHAHAHAHAHA! You're stamina's run out it seems?"
"No, I can still keep fighting." Shurry said with a defiant expression.
Erebus sneered, and delivered a powerful blow to Shurry's stomach.
"Enough of your shit. You're done. And all you've proven is that heroes are nothing in the presence of a god!"
"Heh, I've killed you 200,000 times, and still you say that?" Shurry chuckled, spitting up the blood filling his mouth, then healed the injury.
"You're nothing more than a pathetic fool!"
Erebus delivered another, significantly more powerful blow, punching right through Shurry's body…
The other gods of Evilus, seeing their chance to make an appearance, made their move. And in quick succession… Shurry's body, riddled with holes, cuts, and bashes, fell to the ground. Face down, back up to the sky… The moon flickered, before vanishing from the sky altogether…
The horror of what just happened… finally set in, and…
"AHAHAHA! My temple, it's here! AHAHAHA! You're all dead now! Your strongest, your hero has fallen, he's dead, gone! Never to rise again!"
"Shurry…" Ardee started whimpering…
Hathor grabbed her quickly, and held her close, doing her best to comfort her.
The silent fear turned into screams of terror, a symphony for all of the gods of Evilus to enjoy… And did so with glee.
…