"You... How did you even track me? No, forget that. How did you manage to reach me so fast?" Raymond spoke bleakly, waving his hand to clear the smoke.
"Oh? That? Haha, that'd be a long story. Will take around a minute, yeah? You get it?" Sam grinned, ome hand in his pockets as he took a step forward.
"Huh? Are you high? That won't take long at all..." Raymond frowned, tilting his head and buying time to recover the spirituality he'd need for what was coming.
"Huh? Are you deaf, corpse-fucker?" Sam narrowed his eyes from irritation, finger twitching as his expression twisted with displeasure. "When I say it's a long story, it is. I don't give a fuck about facts, whatever I say is truth, and whatever you say is naturally bullshit."
"You mad bastard..." Raymond smiled faintly, wiping blood from his forehead with a look of disbelief. "What about the curse? Who placed it on me? Was it that mongrel Maric?"
"Ahh, I think that one's on me." Sam tapped his forehead with a dark smile.
Raymond's eyes sharpened as his mind worked quickly. So he really did become an Unwinged Angel and had the ingredients prepared... No. The more reasonable conclusion is that he consumed the Beyonder Characteristics raw. That's why he's in a half-insane state.
He thought, his spirituality had recovered enough from the wagon that he could analyze the situation with a semblance of calm, though what he was analyzing wasn't reassuring.
"You really consumed characteristics without supplementary ingredients, huh?"
"Oh yeah!? I might have, or I might not. Who the fuck cares?" Sam licked his lips, pushing his hair back as he rested the sword he'd taken from Orion on his shoulder. "But oh well, I really did become an Unwinged Angel!"
He threw his head back, laughing with deranged glee, his golden eyes going wide and bloodshot as if he'd been set alight from the inside.
"Hahahaha! What the hell is this feeling!? This bliss, this ecstasy, it's ADDICTING! How MARVELOUS! Every restraint that society placed on my shoulders has simply vanished, leaving behind nothing but my truest self!"
That explains it... Raymond thought grimly. Such a transformation is impossible in this short a time through any normal means. Only consuming an Unwinged Angel's Characteristics could forcibly shatter every moral framework and principle at once, holding up a mirror to the Beyonder's own abyss, showing them the truest reflection of their heart.
"What about the curse, maggot?" Raymond cracked his neck and reached down, grabbing a piece of nearby flesh and eating it without hesitation, fresh blood and raw meat giving his body a moment of respite. He had never bothered hiding his nature anyway nor there was any point in it now.
"New spells I've gained, hahaha! One of them is called [Link]." Sam leaned forward abruptly, his tongue sliding from his mouth like a serpent's as his golden eyes shone with a reptilian, slit-pupiled gleam.
"Basically, I can form a mystical connection to a target using anything that ever belonged to them. Blood, possessions and even a child! That's why you feel like your body is slowly breaking apart!"
He grinned wider, his eyes gleaming with malice. "And by the way, you can't regenerate your arm even if you escape, not unless you remove the curse and heal your spirit body. Because I've destroyed the arm of your spirit body as well. That's why you'll end up dead today. That's the price of irritating me!"
He laughed, spreading his arms wide crazily. "Hahahaha! And honestly? That feels like the only reason I need to kill someone! Isn't that right, corpse-fucker!? HUUUUH!? THAT'S FUCKING RIGHT!"
This bastard... He's truly insane. Raymond thought, finally understanding why his body refused to recover properly. His missing arm still bled through the frost he'd packed into the wound. And beneath that... My spirit body... This brat is right. It's slow, but both my spirit and physical body are fracturing, like glass under sustained pressure, which is definitely the curse, placing more burden on them. If I don't remove this curse, I will die. But that's fine. I still have time.
"Why don't you join us?" Raymond spoke with a small smile, testing whether the boy had truly lost himself to his demonic aspects.
If he genuinely joined them, Raymond would be able to remove the curse, and a fine addition would be made to their ranks. By every indication, this devil was peculiar and unnaturally strong, not merely powerful but skilled and seasoned.
"You seem to have finally tasted the flavor of indulgence. Isn't that delightful? Worship the Great Mother Tree of Desire and you will be embraced by Her divinity, drowning in endless pleasure."
Sam blinked, snapping out of his ravings. He stared at Raymond with a bewildered look. "And why would I do that? That's not what I desire."
"And what would your desire be?" Raymond entertained the little devil, tilting his head curiously and still chewing human meat.
"Praising the name of the Almighty God!" Sam screamed out, raising his hands in air ss he gazed at the sky with a ecstatic smile.
"You bastard..." Raymond pursed his lips, grimacing from displeasure. "How dare you reject the Great Goddess..."
"Fuck your goddess, dude. she's nothing more than a filthy bitch." Sam grinned widely, pointing at him as he laughed wat him mockingly. "Hah, what is it now? Is she sucking your dick kr what? is that why you're so dead set on sucking her pussy? Hahahaha!"
"You brat-" Raymond's composure shattered, a look of genuine hatred flashing in his eyes. "How dare you!? How dare you address Her as though She were some insignificant mortal like you!?"
Sam remained motionless for a moment, smiling wildly as he watched Raymond rage. In his heart, something deeper and far older than anything else emerged, something that no Beyonder Characteristics could ever rewrite.
It was his genuine love for his Lord, and the pride of being the Chosen One of the God of Gods.
He wasn't doing this for any power, any promise of salvation, ritualistic magic or anything else.
But because even stripped of everything else, this had never left him. He knew exactly what he was. He made no claim to purity or goodness. This wasn't about that.
It was about returning the love and hope given by his Lord when everything else was taken away.
And Sam, given total freedom from restraint, chose...
TO PRAISE GOD!
"The Lord that Created Everything;
The Omnipotent and Omniscient; The Source of Everything Great; The Beginning and The End; The God of Gods;
Ruler of the vast Astral World!"
His voice rang out across the area with a clarity never heard before. For the first time, he proclaimed the name of his Lord aloud, his faith challenging Raymond's directly, staring down at him arrogantly, giving the impression that his God's might was impossible to challenge, no matter who stood before Him.
Like every ancient deity had fallen before Him in the Second Epoch!
Raymond gritted his teeth. And in answer, he drew himself up and screamed the name of his own Goddess with ferocious eyes.
"Mother Tree of Desire;
Perpetual Blatherer;
Heartless God!"
At this very moment, this was no longer merely a battle between two mortals. Above them, standing high in their own divine kingdoms, two beings observed the clash as the honorific names were proclaimed.
One burned with incandescent light, filled with a purity so complete it was unbearable to withstand.
And another stared from the depths of the cosmos, ancient and vast and utterly indifferent to the smallness of everything below, spitting profanities at the world.
Two champions of different deities readied their weapons. One, with black hair streaked with gold and glowing reptilian eyes, grinned maliciously. The other, with one hand and eyes burning with hatred, sneered at him, ice forming in his palm.
In less than a second, the clash of different faiths began.