A True Hero (93)

Judah fainted in Kawa's arms. She looked around to find somewhere to lay him down.

Judah grabbed her sleeve. "Take me to where Akasan is."

Kawa looked at him. Judah's eyes were barely half open, and his body was beyond fatigued. He was in no condition to fight.

But after watching what Judah did, Kawa couldn't just ignore the strength of his will. She nodded. Step by step Kawa supported Judah as they started walking to Arbok City's entrance.

Narumi and Mayumi walked out of the palace looking down.

They both noticed a beaten-up Judah walking with Kawa. They ran over to check up on them. "What happened?!" Narumi asked.

They kept walking. "We ran into someone strong that worked for Freedom. He really did a number on Judah." Kawa said.

Judah wasn't talking. He was focused on looking ahead.

Kawa looked back at the princess. "We're going to find Akasan."

Mayumi started walking with them. "I'm going too then."

Narumi looked around inside of the city. It seemed like Judah did a good job of cleaning up the majority of the Freedom members. She went with Kawa as well.

When they got to the entrance, Annya was at the gateway holding back an angry mob of Freedom followers with a magic forcefield. She didn't even see Kawa and the others coming.

Kawa held up her free hand. "Magic Art: Bind." Green magic rope formed around the mob and tied them all together in separate bunches like wheat. They squirmed on the ground yelling at them to release the bindings.

Annya was shocked to find Judah so beaten up. They told her what happened. "So we're all going to find Akasan?"

Mayumi and Kawa nodded.

Annya sighed. "Well you won't get anywhere by walking."

She took out her wand. "Magic Art: Giant Hawk."

Everyone levitated in the air. Red mana swirled around underneath them until it formed into a red bird. It flew into the sky taking everyone with it.

Annya looked back at Judah while they were flying. "How are you going to help Akasan in the situation you're in?"

Judah was laying on his stomach, resting. "If I'm still alive, then I can still help the friends that I still have." He managed a small smile. "You guys are my first real ones. I won't let any of you go."

Narumi smiled too. "You're the first friend that Akasan had that's the same age as him. I know it would mean a lot to him."

They flew through the air for several minutes, scouting the area.

Mayumi pointed. "There! That big hole!"

Annya looked into the distance. "What kind of monsters are those two?"

They flew over the hole.

"Do you see anything?" Annya asked.

Mayumi shook her head. "It's pitch black."

Judah could only see on one side because he was laying down. He frowned. "Annya. Turn left. There's some nasty energy that way."

Soon Jack came into view. He had a sky blue glow around him, and a black aura encasing his body. He glanced at the bird.

Narumi inhaled sharply. "Down there."

Everyone looked where she was pointing.

Akasan's body sat in a pool of blood with a heap of rocks next to him.

Mayumi screamed out in tears.

Narumi held her back as she tried to jump off.

"LET ME GO!! I NEED TO BE THERE FOR HIM!! GET, OFF!!!"

Narumi held back tears as she looked away. "It wasn't enough. My plan failed." she said darkly.

Tears streamed down Annya's face. "What do we do now?"

Judah frowned. He couldn't see Akasan from his position, but he knew what happened. He closed his eyes and let himself roll off the magic hawk. He fell through the sky and landed on the ground with a crash.

Kawa screamed. "Judah!! What are you doing?!!"

Jack smiled. "Did another contestant just enter the ring?"

After the dust cleared Judah was on his hands and knees, struggling to get up.

Jack tilted his head to the side. "Aw, you're barely alive, that's no fun."

Judah stood up. He was breathing heavily. He looked at Akasan's body. He frowned slightly. He looked back at Jack. "Akasan. I won't let your effort go to waste."

Judah's yellow eyes returned, as his body swelled with power. The Lunar Eye reawakened in his right eye.

Kawa had her hands over her mouth, crying silently. "Judah I'm sorry... I should've studied healing magic more..."

Jack smirked. "You can barely move. Is this an insult? I've obtained power far beyond what I previously had."

Judah held his hand in the air. "My name is Judah. I call upon the heavens to bless me with the power of Iglesia."

A bright light formed on Judah's hand, and formed into the Holy Sword Iglesia. The weapon was completely golden now, instead of red with silver blades.

Judah's golden glow thickened.

Kawa stopped crying. "He's... so that's what he's doing!"

Annya looked at her. "What? What's going on?"

"The Holy Sword Iglesia has distinct properties from normal weapons."

Judah grasped the weapon with both hands. "Iglesia. Heal me."

*fwoom!!*

 A burst of golden aura emitted from Judah. All of his bruises were gone, including his cuts and wounds. His body was perfect.

Kawa and Annya were enchanted by Judah's appearance.

"He's like a god..." Annya said.

Judah let Iglesia dissipate into thin air.

Jack held his hands up. "What? No weapon? You sure about this?"

Judah took a step forward. His every step left a golden footprint in the ground. He started walking closer.

Mayumi stopped her crying to look at Judah. "What's that?" she asked weakly.

Kawa answered. "Body of God. A technique that makes the user a living weapon of Holy Blaze. It's strength depends on the user's conviction."

Jack chuckled. "No answer? You must be really mad with me. Let's start then."

Jack disappeared and came out of a portal next to Judah with his leg aimed at his face.

Judah reacted seamlessly, grabbing his leg and throwing him into the ground in front of him at blinding speed.

Jack landed with his hands and pushed off, flipping back onto his feet. He threw a straight right punch at Judah's face. The hit connected, breaking the ground beneath them.

Judah didn't flinch. He suddenly ducked under Jack's arm, punching him in the stomach.

A golden trail followed Jack as he was flung through the air.

The wind pressure cause by the attack made a stout tornado for a few seconds as the ground caved in even deeper.

Judah chased him down mid air, hitting him back and forth all over the place. He must've hit Jack over a thousand times before finally kicking him in the face.

Jack smashed into the ground like a .50 cal sniper bullet, his head and upper body planted into the ground with his legs straight up in the air.

Jack's legs bent down until his feet touched the ground. He flung his body back up.

As soon as he did, he was hit with something he couldn't see.

Judah's expression the entire time was completely neutral. He waved his hands over and over again.

"Hand of God, Millionth Strike."

Judah's arm moved faster than the speed of light. Attacking hundreds of thousands of times a second. He continually hit Jack as he slowly walked towards him.

When he finally stopped, Judah was just inches away from Jack, who was paralyzed from the previous attacks.

Judah brung his right arm over to his left side. "Judgement Cross."

The cross that came out was twice its normal size. He swung it.

Jack vanished from sight.

Judah's cross disappeared afterwards. He looked around.

Jack walked back out of a portal and cracked his neck. "Woah there. You're much stronger than I thought you would be. That makes this easier. I can go all out!"

Jack balled his fists and roared. His aura grew by a hundred fold. "Hundred Thousand Ripper!!!"

Countless arms grew out of the aura. Judah flew through them at blinding speed, using Hand of God to cut through the ones he couldn't dodge. He reached Jack and the battle began.

They started trading blows at insanely fast speeds. Moving so fast that Kawa and the others couldn't keep up with their eyes alone.

But just because Judah and Jack were moving fast, didn't mean that they weren't taking damage.

Inside of the thousands of hits being traded between them, many of them were clean body hits that connected.

Judah was the first to jump back.

Jack placed his right hand on the ground. "Destruction Art: Red Bullet Barrage!"

Red aura emitted from Jack that formed into a multitude of red streams of energy that jet their way to Judah.

Judah clapped his hands together. "Magic Art: Kingdom Wall."

A majestic stone wall instantly came out of the ground with an engraving of a moon on the front. It took the blow of Jack's red bullets as it crumbled to pieces.

Judah jumped high into the air. He reeled back his hand. "Hand of God, Holy Fist." As he fell back to the ground, an asteroid-sized fist that was nearly invisible, if not for the faint white outlining, made its way towards Jack.

Jack's Kamigen glowed. "Creation Art: Great Lion's Paw!" He outstretched his hand, and a lion paw, equally as large as Judah's attack, formed to counter it.

Wind blew so strongly that the ground cracked over a wide area, and caused the ground to superheat, making steam rise from the earth.

Lightning crackled from the impact.

Both of the attacks crushed each other at the same time, blowing both Judah and Jack away.

Jack fell into one of his realm portals and reappeared near Judah. He started unleashing a barrage of his invisible claw slashes.

Judah held his arms up to counter but was hit nevertheless, as he was thrust into the ground at high force.

Jack grinned and held up a finger. "I learned this one from the gods themselves. World Destruction."

A massive red ball formed over Jack's hand.

Judah looked up at the giant mass of energy. He brought out his Judgement Cross.

Kawa screamed out. "Judah!! Run!! That won't work on it!!!"

Judah glanced over at her and smiled.

Jack pushed his attack towards the ground.

Judah guarded himself with his Judgement Cross as he was pushed deeper and deeper into the rock.

The attack exploded, resulting in a massive cloud of red energy.

Jack laughed as he witnessed the scope of his power. He crossed his arms, watching the show while Kawa cried, out of fear of Judah dying.

When the smoke cleared, Judah was out unconscious.

Jack laughed.

Kawa cried silently.

Jack slowly landed on the ground. He looked up at the girls, who shivered at his gaze. "That's right. Despair. There's no one left to stand up to me. This is perfect. I wonder what should be next."

A powerful beam of red light shot into the air.

Everyone was startled by it. They all looked as Akasan's body burned down and broke apart into nothingness.

The layer of rocks moved, turning into a stone golem. It slowly took shape.

Human features became visible like a nose and fingers and toes. It stood up.

Before everyone's eyes, it was like a miracle as the golem's stone outer turned into human flesh.

Mayumi cried out. "Is that you?! IS THAT REALLY YOU?!! AKASAN!!!"

The golem slowly became Akasan's body. His hair was red with crimson fire.

Jack couldn't believe his eyes. "This... isn't possible is it?! What's going on?! What am I seeing?!"

Judah coughed. He opened one eye.

"Judah!!" Kawa exclaimed. She jumped off of the hawk to get him. She lifted his arm around her shoulder.

Judah looked at Jack. "I noticed the moment I came down. Akasan sealed his soul inside of a golem. He used the Eye of Creation to make a new human body. All I had to do was buy time."

Jack grit his teeth. "Then that Eye of Creation I saw... he'd simply unlocked his second one out of the blue...?! This is... Ultimate Creation!"

Kawa brought Judah back to the others. They all watched as Akasan overflowed with crimson fire.

The red light subsided.

Akasan took a deep breath in, then out. He wore tight black shorts made from creation energy. He opened his eyes to reveal that he had two Eyes of Destruction.

Red beams swirled on his right shoulder and drew a circle with a crescent around it. The markings formed down his arm until they were once again glowing red.

Jack shook with anger. "You... cheated death!! You sealed your soul inside a golem so that you could sacrifice your body! You gained access to black magic without needing to sacrifice anything... impossible!! Only the insane would attempt that!"

Jack was clearly frustrated. *"Not to mention his spiritual essence is through the roof...!"* he thought.

Akasan stretched his arms and cracked his neck to both sides.

"Jack."

Jack looked up. "What?"

Akasan's Eyes of Destruction spun slowly. "Mom said hi."