'When was the last time I felt pain?'
The gigantic staff pressed on the golden shield exerting unbelievable pressure that made the ground under his feet shatter from the impact.
'When was the last time I was injured?'
A searing pain spread through his arm as he kept the shield above his body. However, due to the weight that was pressing down on him, his body crouched down a bit to support the golden shield that was preventing him from getting a fatal injury.
'When was the last time I fought seriously?'
Blood started to trickle down the side of the man's lips as he endured the attack that had almost brought him down to his knees.
'When was the last time… that I felt alive?'
While he was thinking these thoughts, a loud shout descended from the heavens.
"Quick Shot War Art, Fourth Form! Grand Bazooka!"
The man chuckled as he braced himself for the inevitable.
'This kid sure got me good.'
A world-shaking explosion made the man's ears bleed because his eardrums had been ruptured by the Grand Bazooka that had been fired at him at point blank range.
The man gritted his teeth as he used his willpower to envelop his entire body in a golden aura to lessen the injury that he was about to sustain. He knew that he wouldn't be able to escape this attack, so the least he could do was prevent himself from getting completely obliterated by the attack that came from the fusion of a mortal with an immortal.
A fiery blaze extended up to the heavens, destroying everything in its wake. Even in his current form, the man felt his skin tearing apart due to the intense heat of the flames. He didn't know how long this pain lasted, because every passing second felt like years.
If his ears were still working, he would have heard the cracking sounds coming from the arm that was propping the shield up. Unfortunately, he couldn't hear and the inevitable had happened.
The arm that supported the shield bent in an unnatural angle and it came crashing down on the man's face. His entire body was pinned to the ground as the force of the blast devastated his surroundings.
When the attack finally ended, the man opened his eyes. He then pushed the shield, that covered his face, aside with his bloody left arm because he wasn't able to move his other arm.
His blurred vision locked on a tiny black speck in the sky, and he knew, more than anything else, who that small and frail visage belonged to.
The man's body was hurting all over, but he didn't care. He forcefully propped himself up, but he wasn't able to stand.
The reason?
His legs had also been broken due to the power of the blast that battered his entire body.
The man chuckled internally, as he looked up at the boy that hovered in the sky, while standing on top of a cloud.
Even though they were thousands of meters apart, he could see the expression on his face. The boy was sweating buckets and his breathing was ragged. Clearly, the last attack had taken its toll on him.
The man looked past the boy and stared at the burning sun behind him. It was currently midnight inside the Heavenly Domain, but due to his ability, the sun was shining unimpeded in the sky. It pushed away the darkness of the night and illuminated everything in the world.
The man's gaze lingered at the sun for a minute before shifting his attention back to the boy that was looking down at him from the heavens. Lugh remembered when he was born in the Temple of the Ten Thousand Gods.
The faith of his believers had poured into his body, filing it with unsurpassed strength. He was born intelligent and wise, for it was what the people had portrayed him to be.
-----
He was Lugh.
He was born a Trickster
He was born a Craftsman.
He was born a Judge.
He was born a Warrior
He was born a King
He was born a God
-----
'Assal, your brood never ceases to cause trouble for me.' Lugh chuckled internally as he thought of a distant past, where an idiotic, red-haired, man built his statue in a Plane that had long ceased to exist.
Lugh shook his head as he locked this memory deep inside his heart and focused his attention on the boy that carried that man's bloodline in his veins.
"Do you know what Sun Knights, Champions of the Sun, and Scions of Solaris have in common?" Lugh asked. Although he was injured, his voice was firm and steady. It didn't sound like the words he spoke came from a defeated person.
"I don't know," William replied. He continued to gaze down at the man lying on the ground, riddled with injuries and open wounds that blood trickled out of, staining the earth with a crimson hue.
"As long as the sun shines down from the heavens, they are practically invincible." Lugh smiled.
As if waiting for that moment, several popping sounds were heard in his broken arm--the one that had held the golden shield. His legs, that were bent at unnatural angles, straightened themselves. All the wounds on his body closed up and recovered completely.
Lugh stood up from the ground and patted the dust, that had accumulated in his body, off as if he just woken up from his nap.
The blood on the ground turned into golden flames until no traces of it were left. If not for the fact that everyone had witnessed what had happened a while ago, they would think that everything they saw was just an illusion.
"As long as the sun is at its zenith, I, am, invincible!" Lugh declared. His statement carried a hint of pride. It was the pride of a God that had been born out of the beliefs of millions of people. A pride that wouldn't lose to a mortal child. A pride that wouldn't lose to an immortal Monkey King.
A pride that would endure the test of time.
Lugh raised his hand and a flaming spear appeared in his hand. He then grinned as he looked at the boy whose expression had turned serious.
"Come, boy," Lugh said in a teasing tone. He then pointed the tip of the spear in William's direction as he prepared himself to fight once again. "Time for round two."
Lugh laughed. He laughed wholeheartedly.
"Lightning God War Art Final Form…," Lugh raised his hand and the flaming spear disappeared. It was replaced by the very first spear that William had held in his second lifetime. The spear that was called the Ainsworth family's heirloom.
Lightning bolts poured down from the sky and congregated at the tip of the Divine Spear in Lugh's hands. If William thought that the time when he used the skill Thunder God's Wrath was already heaven defying then the scale of Lugh's attack far surpassed everything that he could think of.
"Make the world tremble in your presence," Lugh stated. "Annihilate all opposition, Assal!"