"I'm going all out, Master," Lucian's god form declared, his voice like distant thunder.
He raised his sword upright before him,vits glowing purple edge shimmering like a rift in the fabric of reality. His god form pulsed with celestial power, muscles forged from pure Origin energy, eyes flaring with golden fire. The moment he merged fully, the ground beneath him cracked under the sheer weight of his aura.
"Then come!" the Martial God bellowed.
With that one word, the dome roared.
Lucian exploded forward.
A sonic boom shattered the silence. His body was a streak of light, the wind parting before him as space itself seemed to ripple from his speed. His blade arced high as he rotated mid-air, spinning with flawless momentum, and brought his sword down in a thunderous cleave.
The Martial God moved only a hair's breadth before impact. With one hand, he parried the strike, the collision of blade and iron releasing a shockwave that blasted across the dome, turning clouds to vapor.
But Lucian wasn't done.
He disengaged instantly pivoting, flipping backwards, then shot forward again like lightning, delivering a series of fluid, consecutive strikes. Each slash was a symphony of power, refined precision, and raw battle instinct. His god form mirrored every move, striking alongside him, each echo more brutal than the last.
The Martial God ducked low, evaded left, spun high, blocking with his gauntleted arm, then retaliated.
A blazing punch shot out, straight toward Lucian's face. A blow that could shatter mountains.
Lucian barely avoided it dropping his blade mid-swing and flipping backward with a wind-assisted somersault, his foot launching upward to stomp his master mid-air. It was clever, sudden, and caught the Martial God off-guard.
But the god was faster.
He caught Lucian's foot mid-stomp.
"You've improved... but not enough," the Martial God muttered with a grin and flung him.
Lucian's body became a meteor, crashing into the dome's floor with god-breaking force. The divine marble cracked like glass, then shattered into a crater so deep it echoed through the very bones of Heaven.
"Ghhk…!" Lucian gasped as he struggled to his feet, blood trailing from his lips.
The Martial God wasn't finished.
In one seamless motion, he leapt, grabbed Lucian again, and launched him skyward, then reappeared above him mid-air with a teleporting burst of red light, slamming Lucian back to the ground like a comet.
The heavens trembled.
"Sharing your pain with your god form lets you take more punishment," Zeus said outside the dome, eyes sharp, "but it also slows your reactions."
"No doubt," the Wine God added, sipping calmly. "But look at that speed. That ferocity. He's become quite the monster…" The wine god then wondered why Lucian ran Everytime he caused mischief. No one knew he was this strong
---
Meanwhile, among the goddesses…
"My hubby will crush that arrogant Otaenian!" Aphrodite squealed, miming a boxer's uppercut with starry eyes.
"That's not his lips he's looking for, darling," Inanna muttered, smirking, her jab stinging sharper than steel.
"Just wait till my Lucian merges with his god form!" Aphrodite fired back.
"You mean he hasn't merged yet?" Xochiquetzal asked with fake innocence.
Aphrodite smirked. "He's just getting started." her confidence so high it could top the heavens
---
Back inside the dome…
Lucian, bruised but smiling, rose from the wreckage.
"You know I can merge with my god form, Master. I just wanted to fight you raw first."
"And I've already merged with mine," the Martial God reminded him. "It's time you stopped holding back."
Lucian inhaled deeply.
The air around him thickened. Purple lightning crackled across his body. His god form pulsed brighter, then merged with him fully, vanishing into his flesh as his eyes began to glow like twin stars.
When he opened them, the heavens stilled. He was now a titan, he has successfully merged with his god form
"I am no longer your student, Master," Lucian said softly. "I am stronger than you think."
The very air shook with that declaration. Origin knows he had always wanted to say that.
Lucian dashed forward, blade flickering between realms of space and time. He vanished, then reappeared behind the Martial God, slicing with uncanny grace. The Martial God barely blocked, sparks erupting like fireworks. Then Lucian vanished again this time striking from above, then below, then left all within seconds.
Finally, he feinted a thrust, pulled back, and spun with a sweeping arc...
SLASH!
A clean strike tore across the Martial God's chest. Divine ichor spilled into the air, vaporizing before it touched the ground.
"You're faster…" the Martial God admitted, grinning. "Much faster…"
Lucian didn't answer.
He raised one hand and unleashed a gale-force wind blade that pushed his master back, then followed it with an inferno of sacred flames.
As the Martial God blocked the fire, Lucian whispered: "Sorry, Master."
He reappeared behind him and struck.
His sword sliced clean through the god's neck.
Silence fell.
The Martial God's god form shuddered, then collapsed, headless. His head burst into divine light, dissolving into the sky like a sun setting on war.
But before the gods could even gasp, a new head grew from his shoulders.
"I WON, Master," Lucian said, panting, standing tall in the rising smoke.
The Martial God stood, blinking.
Then he roared with laughter.
"This is what it means for a student to surpass his master. You've made your master proud."
Above the shattered dome, golden mist shimmered with residual essence energy. The echoes of battle still lingered like thunder on the horizon.
Aphrodite was the first to move.
"My hubby won!" she gasped with glee, her voice ringing like silver bells. In an instant, she launched herself into the sky, her divine aura flaring like a blooming rose.
Lucian had barely wiped the blood from his lips when she collided into him mid-air. He froze. Every god and goddess watching turned silent.
"Hubby!" she cried again, arms flung wide, hair dancing with stardust.
Lucian's instincts screamed run, but the weight of all the gazes around him, his father, the gods, the pantheons froze his feet. He gave a small, defeated chuckle, opened his arms, and caught her gracefully.
"Come here, troublemaker…" he whispered, spinning her once, then planting a soft kiss on her cheek.
Aphrodite's divinity surged like a star flaring to life.
The heavens themselves responded her aura brightened, flowers bloomed in her wake, and even the goddesses sharing her domain felt it.
"She's glowing again," Freyja said under her breath. She clenched her fists, frustration prickling. "That's the second time today. Her divinity just keeps rising…"
"She should've fallen," another goddess whispered. "Lucian hasn't even accepted her properly…"
"That's the problem," Freyja replied. "Her faith in him is love and the divine responds to belief, not logic."
Irene, Lucian's red knight watched from the edge of the gathering, arms folded, jaw tight. Her crimson armor caught the sunlight, gleaming like war forged ruby.
"She thinks that means he chose her," Irene said quietly, but her voice was laced with steel. "She's wrong."
A few of the goddesses turned to look at her, lips twitching in anticipation.
"Lucian didn't plan to stay in Olympus," Irene continued, eyes locked on the couple above. "He was heading to the Eastern Heavens. He came here for mischief and stayed because he got distracted."
"Distracted by love?" Xochiquetzal laughed mockingly.
"Distracted by glitter," Irene shot back.
"You mean you?" Aphrodite landed nearby, still glowing with delight. She had heard everything.
"I mean fools who mistake heat for flame," Irene answered coolly. "He stayed because it was fun. But we both know Lucian doesn't stay where he doesn't want to be."
Aphrodite's smile faltered for the first time, but she recovered fast. "And yet, here he is. Holding me. Kissing me." She leaned forward with a smirk. "He didn't run from me… he ran from temptation."
A sudden flare of power rippled through the circle of goddesses.
Aphrodite's divine status her very essence, had risen again. So tangible, so absolute, that the others could feel it. It burned like sunlight on their skin.
"Her love is being answered…" Freyja muttered. "She's syncing with him."
"No!" Irene snapped, stomping the marble floor so hard it cracked beneath her feet. "That doesn't mean anything. If Lucian doesn't marry her, her divinity will crash hard."
A hush fell.
Irene's meaning was clear: this love is still unsealed. And she had a claim of her own. She was the one who would accompany him into the Primordial Realm.
"Remember your words, Aphrodite," Irene said coldly as she turned to walk away. "You staked your divinity on his love. If he chooses otherwise…" she looked over her shoulder, her eyes burning like embers, "…you fall."
But Aphrodite didn't tremble.
Instead, she raised her chin, still smiling, genuine this time. Her voice was soft, but it echoed like a sacred vow.
"He will choose me. Not because I demand it. But because love doesn't need a sword."
And the gods watching from the sky… said nothing.
But in that moment, even time itself seemed to pause caught between the fire of rivalry and the chill of belief.
...
"You've truly grown," the Martial God said, rubbing his regrown neck with a proud, painful grin. "You cut off my head… and gave me joy."
Lucian helped him up while thinking his master was weird. "I told you I was just getting started." He wasn't satisfied if he wasn't cocky.
The Martial God slapped his back with such force that Lucian almost fell forward.
"Hah! Then go to the Primordial Realm and shake the stars, boy. Let the void beings know… the Heavens have released a dragon."
From above, Aphrodite clapped her hands.
"Did you see that? My hubby is invincible!"
Lucian turned, startled. His cheeks flushed again.
"A-Aphrodite"
"I told you not to run, didn't I?" she grinned.
Lucian sighed… then smiled back.
"Fine. Just don't call me hubby in front of Zeus again."
"Then say it first."
"…Not happening."
Meanwhile, Ray, who had been silently observing, sighed.
"Well… that was disappointing," he muttered. "The Martial God lost his head, literally."