Michaelis reverse-gripped his crystal-blood kirpan-scimitar in his right hand, before beginning to dash towards Rio, who continued to rise in the air on the pillar of gold beneath his sandals. Rio lifted his hands above himself, as if manipulating a puppet, with strands of gold erupting from the tower. The strands increased in mass, forming into serpents, slithering swiftly towards Michaelis, growing as they swam through the sky.

“Let’s hope this works-” Michaelis muttered to himself, flipping his sword within his hand into a regular grip, slashing into one of the oncoming snakes, the blade digging into its neck before completely cutting through the gold, Michaelis sliding along the ground as he avoided another anaconda, which flew past his head.

Michaelis licked his lips as a drop of blood leaked from his right palm onto the ground, his ruby eyes glimmering against his black sclera. He strafed from side to side as the various shining serpents flew right past his person, only for him to slash through them like bundles of vines, closing in on the golden pillar.

Rio quivered as he raised his hands farther upwards, slapping them together above his head. At the same time the clap echoed throughout the marketplace, would a shining liquid maw erupt around Michaelis from the golden ground below, attempting to engulf him with bladed fangs.

Michaelis’s right eye twitched, as he leapt forward towards the pillar, the golden fangs tearing into his pants leg, as he tumbled into the tower of rich before him, slamming his head against the metal column. Reeling back with his right hand as he recovered,  Michaelis dug into the pillar with his bloodied blade, dislodging his own dagger from its grasp, grabbing it by the chain and launching the blade to his left.

Rio’s face stretched from afraid to irritated, lowering his arms, before bringing them back into the air, all of the gold that had coated the ground being absorbed into the pillar, causing it to mould and form. Michaelis vanished, landing a fair distance away in a puff of purple particles, breathing softly.

Around the mercenary, a variety of wooden stalls with cloth overhangs stood, most of the goods of the marketplace hidden away in the owner’s homes to avoid thievery in the night. There was seemingly no life in the middle of the town, though it made sense to Mick considering it was as late as it was. Michaelis began clambering up onto the cloth roof of one of the stalls, as he thought it through; there was no one around right now, but it was definitely about to get noisy enough to alert someone.

“I know I wasn’t supposed to get help from the rest of the guild,” he grumbled, as he stood upon the bouncy footing beneath himself. “We’ll see how long this takes though. It might not be the worst thing to happen.” He held the chain blade pointing down diagonally in his right hand, the knife firm in grip as the chain dangled onto the cloth roofing below. In his left hand, he held his crystal Kirpan made of his own ruby blood, holding it diagonally as well as Rio seemingly finished his preparation.

The golden God held his arms in the air, like a puppeteer, as the massive mound of gold he had brought into one place took shape. Long appendages extended from the sides of the pillar, as it fell forward, in the direction of Michaelis. Over a dozen of the golden limbs stabbed into the earth, as the pillar sectioned into different parts, shrinking in between, a pair of golden antennae extending from the front of the creature, a pair extending from its rear.

Michaelis gagged to himself, as the immense golden Scolopendra had finished construction, with Rio riding on one of the middle sections, grinning with pride as he aimed his palm forward, the beast charging. Michaelis gripped his blades tight as he brought them both horizontal of himself, as the earth shook with each stomp the creature took. The golden blade-like legs dug into the ground with immense force, crushing the square-pattern cobblestone ground beneath each blade-like leg. Michaelis’s eyes widened as the behemoth dashed towards him with shocking speed, both of his eyes twitching as his right shoulder spasmed slightly, fear overtaking his person.

All he sensed was a threat, and a threat he couldn’t realistically combat. He threw his chain blade to the right, teleporting away as the monster crashed through the stall Michaelis stood on. It made a turn in the God Hunters direction, after crashing through another two market stalls, as a puff of purple particles played in the air where Mick was, before and after. The mercenary landed on another stall, hopping onto the ground, sprinting where the tower once stood, the monster chasing after him, its golden legs crashing into the earth with each monstrous stomp it took.

Michaelis’s feet slammed on the rocky streets beneath his shoes, as all he could hear behind himself was chaos and crashing, the massive centipede of gold chasing after him, the smashing of the earth growing louder and louder in the mercenary’s ears as he sprinted as fast as possible.

The black-eyed bandit turned on his heels, dust being brought up as he skidded to a halt, before running towards the monster, sliding under it and bringing both his blades to his right, digging through its front golden leg. The blades sliced about halfway through the leg before Michaelis found the attempt futile. The Godhunter pulled his blades from where they were lodged, before throwing his chain blade to the left, as the monster’s limbs went horizontal in the air, swiftly falling down on the ground with an immense crash, belly-flopping onto the rock below.

In a cloud of purple Michaelis fell to his hands and knees, blades stuck to his palms as he gasped for air for just a moment, as he seemingly pointlessly wasted more stamina. Rio cackled as the golden wound inflicted on the creatures leg was restored with a wave of his hand, the beast standing back up, before dashing towards the mercenary once again.

Michaelis stood up, crossing and stretching his arms forward before snapping them to either side of his person, gripping both of his blades tight as he grit his teeth.

“Come on assassin! I expected more from all that bravado!” Rio bellowed, thrusting both of his palms forward as his centipede increased in speed, barreling towards Michaelis who began to reel both of his arms back.

“Alright then bitch, I’ll give you all I got,” Mick muttered to himself, as the monster closed the gap, the God hunter thrusting both of his daggers into the head of the giant. The blades dug into the deep gold of the Scolopendra’s head, as the appendages of the beast slammed against the ground, pushing Michaelis back. Dust was lifted behind the warrior’s feet, as he yelled, his arms straining as he barely slowed the beast down in its assault. A black smoke flowed around Michaelis’s hands as he continued to roar, his ruby eyes glimmering as the beast was slowed further, yet still overpowering the mercenary.

Sweat beaded down the warriors face as the pair of short swords dug into the dense wealth that roared against him, with the only sound that rang through his ear being the howling laughter of the God who overpowered him. His right eye twitched as the onyx gas flowed from around his hands, too full of adrenaline to register what was happening, simply pushing for dear life. Amidst his battle for pressure, pushing through all instinct that told him to flee, yet through the ringing of laughter, a noise reverberated suddenly through his ears.

Even Rio turned his head, as Michaelis looked to his right midst struggle, only to spot an orc covered head to toe in blood, Ilgar, panting for dear life, his arm raised in the air as he collapsed on the ground. It took a couple of seconds, but Mick finally registered the sound as an explosion, as he looked up into the air, two balls of light flying just above his location. 

He bit down on his lip, blood being drawn as he pulled the chain blade from its embedding in the golden behemoth, before throwing it in the sky, the chain chasing after it, as the measly Kirpan was nowhere near enough to hold off the push of the centipede of riches.

As he was pushed back, holding onto his scimitar for dear life, he gripped the bare end of the chain, vanishing into the air right as the orbs were coming into range. Among his puff of purple particles, Michaelis released both of his blades from his grip, the golden Scolopendra continuing to charge forward under him, yet to react to Michaelis’s teleportation.

Michaelis thrust both of his arms forward, gripping the bundle of energy, the two orbs tied together with what looked like some cloth scraps from Ilgar’s leather armour. The two orbs spoke to Michaelis, one dark and malicious, with evil intent, one that Michaelis felt he could relate to, the red orb that looked like gore and wounds. The other orb, however, spoke a different language, it spoke one of understanding, learning, overcoming, Michaelis didn’t understand it, but he welcomed it just as well as the evil one, the orb looking like that of knowledge and growth. The young man with the ruby eyes gripped the balls of light, slamming them into his chest, as he let out a blood wrenching scream, red and white beams of energy flying around the warrior, enthralling him in a burst of light, before digging into his chest, the mercenary falling downwards towards the behemoth and God below him. The Godhunter’s eyes flashed white for a moment, as the black smoke around his palms flowed back into his body, his eyes returning to their typical shade of black with bloody pupils.

Falling headfirst towards the monster below, Michaelis grabbed both of his blades mid-air, which he had dropped seconds ago, seconds that felt like minutes. He flipped himself forward before he landed on his feet, leaving a dent at the rear end of the golden goliath, which skid to a stop as Rio turned around, looking disgruntled.

Michaelis looked at his right hand, his bloody kirpan gripped tightly as blood continued to drip from his hand. From his wound, snaking up the body of the blade, more of Michaelis’s blood flowed into the tip of the kirpan as the knife extended into that of a long and curved blade, a shamshir. The mercenary smiled as he looked at his new blade, before looking to Rio with rage in his eyes, pointing his evolved sword towards his target.

Rio stood in the centre of the monster, before reeling his arms back at the same time Michaelis began his dash forward, both of the god hunters blades held behind his back and towards the ground, chain dangling in the wind behind him. The God thrust his arms into the air, as spikes of wealth erupted from the golden body of the beast, Michaelis strafing and dodging past each one, his ruby eyes glimmering as a soft smile appeared on his usually harsh face. He flicked his black hair out of his eyes as he spun in a circle, his crimson blade cutting through a golden spike at the same moment it rose from the ground. Glee painted on the young man’s face, as Ilgar struggled to look up to his ally, smiling as he saw him slowly overpower the God they had faced together.

Rio thrust both of his arms forward, as the front of the centipede sitting idle behind Rio was swiftly sucked into the seperate mass of gold upon which Rio stood. The section just in front of the God had the entire gold supply that made up the upper half of the beast rise from it, like a barrier between the God and Godhunter. Michaelis dashed straight towards the beasts front which now towered over him from above, the body curling down to face the Godhunter, before it was swiftly cut down by Michaelis with his bloody shamshir. His blade cut through the beast like butter, horizontally slashing from the left to the right, the upper half of the monster’s body falling the same direction it was slashed, crashing into the earth leaving a crater in the cobblestone they fought above. Michaelis hopped over what remained of the centipedes front, arriving on the same section as Rio, both of his blades in hand, sweat beading down his forehead.

“Wait we can come to an understanding here- I can give you money beyond your wildest-” He was cut off, alongside his left arm by Michaelis’s cherry scimitar, now painted with someone elses’ blood as well. The God of gold gasped, before breaking into a bloody scream, crimson flowing from what remained of his arm before Michaelis stabbed the red sword into the golden goliath below, which had begun to melt.

“Do I look like the kind of fella, who gives a shit about money?” Michaelis smiled to himself, before thrusting his chain blade engraved ‘Fionna’ into the Gods stomach, causing him to cough up blood, before retrieving his blade by pushing on the god with his foot, knocking Rio to the ground. “See you on the other side, shit bag.” Michaelis scoffed, drawing his bloody blade from the behemoth below, decapitating the God in front of him in a lightning-fast cut, tears flying through the air, chasing after Rio’s head as it hit the crushed cobble with a thud, Michaelis exhaling heavily as he falls to his rear on the back of the beast.

His bloody blade would melt into a puddle of ooze, mixing in with the mountain of gold that now covered the Baile marketplace. He looked over to his ally who was unconsciously covered in crimson tinted bodily fluids, which he hoped weren’t the orcs own. Michaelis grabbed the ankle of his kill, dragging it towards his KO’d comrade, his feet dipping into the liquid gold beneath himself, as he arrived next to his friend, falling onto his rear, smiling as he patted the orcs bald head. “Saved my ass green man,” Michaelis whispered softly, smiling, painted, meagerly compared to Ilgar, in blood.

An echoing clap reached the corners of the marketplace as Michaelis right eye began twitching furiously, as he covered it with his blood-soaked right palm, looking up to find Fola, clapping for the pair while slowly approaching.

His thin limbs stretched forward, fingers like blades being brought together, a sharp grin with no other features on the monsters face, Michaelis gritting his teeth, as the monster who had set them this mission had finally made his appearance.