The Black Necromancer

It had been a long time in Leon's mind, since the last time that he had faced such mental pressure. He knew what was at stake. If he could kill and absorb the essence of Argon, then he would be able to make the crossover to True God in one fell swoop.

Leon would have sighed deeply if he was not in the middle of a grueling fight. His act of absorbing the essence of all these Gods was not safe in the least. If not for the Nexus Being helping him to offset all the negative effects, then his condition would have been very bad after absorbing Darius and the rest.

Whoosh!

Leon got his head back in the fight as he began to struggle to dodge the flurry of slashes and stabs that were coming his way. Everything in the background blurred and all his attention was on Argon. The six armed enemy held a variety of weapons.

Leon guessed that each hand was for a different weapon, but at this time, Argon only used four of his arms to hold one machete each, while the remaining two arms held some sort of medallion in each palm.

"Feeling the pressure, Cromwell?" Argon asked as he saw that he had forced Leon on the defensive. However, he did not lose his caution. He knew that Leon was powerful enough to take on multiple Major and Minor Gods at once.

Argon made a swipe with all four weapons at once, creating an opening, but at that time, the two medallions he held suddenly flashed with light and two black beams of destructive light flashed out of them. Anything that got caught in their path was immediately erased, which included the Laws of the Universe.

The sudden attack had forced Leon to back off and left him with many openings which Argon eagerly sought to exploit. However, as he made his move, Leon's body suddenly split in two, the other launched directly at Argon.

"Did you think it was that easy?" The Leon that was filled with openings asked as the second one that was closer to Argon suddenly exploded, releasing powerful, destructive energies. Although they were not at the same level as that of Argon's earlier move, they were still equally powerful.

Taking advantage of the time that had been bought by that explosion, Leon regained his composure and also prepared to use what he had learnt from his short exchange with Argon.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

The sounds of bones cracking rang out as Leon grew out two more pairs of arms. The second pair held two swords, adding to the two that Leon already had, while the third pair held a couple of black skulls.

Leon's entire demeanor changed as he drew upon some of the techniques that the Nexus Being had been generous enough to impart upon him in the middle of the fight.

While the Nexus Being could not directly interfere, he could assist Leon in many different ways to deal with the coming trials.

The experience of a swordsman who had ascended to Godhood and lived for nearly two thousand years suddenly fused into Leon's mind, imparting on him all of that experience. It came with all the slight tips and combat tricks that the swordsman God had come up with in his long life. While he had ultimately fallen, all of his experience was still incredibly valuable.

'This is strange, but I do not feel estranged from my own body. I feel more powerful instead!' Leon thought to himself as he launched forward, throwing himself through the haze and smoke, to lock swords with Argon.

While Argon had expected Leon to come barreling through the smoke, he had not expected him to come with two extra pairs of arms!

Squelch!

Leon's two new bone swords stabbed into Argon's sides, while the eye sockets of the two skulls glowed and their jaws snapped open before blasting Argon with two beams of purple light.

All of these attacks overwhelmed Argon and sent him flying back a long distance, a trail of blood and smoke following him!

Because of the earlier pause, their movements were not blisteringly fast anymore and the others on the battlefield had been able to catch what had happened. The defending side became even more motivated when they saw Leon beating up the enemy's leader. Meanwhile, the invaders were dismayed when they saw Argon being flung away.

Several other Gods rushed up to attack Leon while Argon retained his wits. Argon saw this, and while normally, he would have told them to back off, he felt the push of Izeal's urgency at the back of his head and swallowed his words, letting the other Gods attack.

Bang!

A blinding light radiated from the site where the other Gods met Leon and their shadows vanished. In the next second, their bodies were all flung away, revealing Leon holding one of the Gods by his neck, his eye sockets shooting two beams of black light into that God's own skull.

Screams of pain and agony accompanied the disintegration of that one's body and Leon looked hungrily at the others. His body was covered in a shining white armor that was in sharp contrast with his aura that radiated darkness. The armor came from what he had absorbed from Darius.

It was not too strong, but it had some properties that amplified explosions and repulsion, which was what Leon had used to blow all those Gods away.

What ensued was a tense stand off between a bit over half a dozen Gods and one God with contrasting colors around him.

Leon was surrounded on multiple angles, with no space to escape, but he did not have any worries. It would be hard to prevail over these peak powerhouses, but he welcomed the challenge. With each fallen enemy, his strength would rise to a whole new level, and he would be better equipped for the inescapable fight against the Paragon of Undeath.