Saturn had already gotten a taste of what gunther could do; he was a powerful melee fighter that didn’t seem to use any weapons. He was fast, strong and fueled by ragee. He was practically a monster in his own right and what was stopping him from overwhelming saturn? Well saturn wasn’t intercepting any blows after that first one that had shattered the haft of sleeping dragon; having to rely on hopping away from blows else he’d just get launched again. Letting out a frustrated grumble as he was being driven back again he’d have to inspect the fighter more closely.

A slight limp in one leg, a difference in speed between both of his clawed hands. One wing was fluttering slightly every time he did a wide spin. It had a lot of fur and hair was covering many of its eyes. The eyes. The eyes were how he was keeping pace with everything. Saturn didn’t like the idea but with the reliquaries on the ground maybe…

Saturn would scoop up one of them, charging it with mana and with a little bit of a bleep it’d flash the both of them with a blinding light; clearly it didn’t like that and saturn dropped it. Rubbing one of his eyes, thankfully so did gunther but he had more eyes that needed attention and the demon huffed over and over again rubbing at the many different placed orbs.

”Rrr… cheap.”

”So is talk but will you listen?”

”...You killed silver…”

”He’s only unconscious.”

”...Not dead?”

”Not dead.”

The demonic werewolf’s shoulders slumped a bit and he could see the rage leaving it’s body as it seemed to look back at the brother. Saturn was dead certain he had to do the same thing to the demonic warhound in front of him but there was a gentle undertone and hopefulness to the ‘not dead’ that made him consider otherwise. He’d ponder for a moment before asking.

”Do we need to fight Gunther?”

”You aren’t brothers. Mother said I have to fight not brothers and not family.”

There was a hostility in that voice as it turned back, grateful that its brother wasn’t dead and it’d spread it’s claws. It’s lips breaking into a smile that would make even a demon jealous.

”Won’t kill you, will stop you. Mother can make you work with us. Then be brother and then we talk.”

Saturn didn’t have a rebuttal as gunther’s attacks began in earnest after that realization. Saturn didn’t like the idea of serving their mother and would have to sneak in strikes from time to time. Gunther was ripped, he was powerful, he was strong. There was much about him that sang of wrong to the demon. Not being able to block his attacks was problematic and the blows that did get through hurt a lot and made his head spin. Not poison but the concussive force was enough to where if saturn didn’t go flying he wished he had.

He managed to dance out of the way of one blow and landed one of his own, it felt like hitting an adamantine wall with a wooden mallet. He wasn’t going to get through that without breaking his own arms. It was insane how resilient that gunther was when they were focused. Did he have some sort of defensive ability to harden him? He figured as much when he saw that one attack that he wasn’t expecting made the wolf hop back a bit; grunting in pain.

”So you can use magic.”

”Lots. More than Regent and Silver.”

The demonic warhound seemed proud of that fact and sprang forward at the once demi-god. Catching him with a blow that sent him flying again, through more trees and crashing into the hill he had come down from. Practically burying him for a moment before saturn just lifted the whole hill up with both hands. Causing the demon to skid to a stop with what he was seeing. Saturn would heave and throw it forward; crashing the hill into the demon with a giant plume of dirt, rock and gravel. Grass went everywhere and saturn huffed as he called sleeping dragon back to his hand.

Didn’t know you could do that.

Didn’t know I could either.

[712/1,500]

Gunther wasted no time breaking out of the mound of dirt only to find that saturn had hurriedly ran towards the ritual site. It wasn’t hard for the demonic warhound to catch up, though saturn was expecting it and rolled as the punch that could take a lesser mans head off msised entirely. Coming up he’d grab the beast with one hand before slamming them down. The way that they hardened their body against blows made saturn wonder if they had other weaknesses that he wasn’t using. There was a click in his head and saturn would throw the beast away from him. Sleeping dragon following suit with a throw, then came the chunks of his crystalized arm.

He saw them dig into the flesh of the other and his eyes widened. He was capable of reducing the damage from melee weapons and likely feats of physical strength but he wasn’t able to do the same to magical damage at the same time. He’d have to switch between the two. Calling back both his arm and the dragon one after the other he watched gunther land and then noted that it took them a little longer to get up.

”Crafty.”

”I can be. But hear me out Gunther. Why don’t you take silver to Regent? He can heal others.”

”Need to stop you. Then can.”

Saturn paused and thought about it and then banished sleeping dragon to it’s realm, putting up his hands in the air. He wasn’t expecting this to work but hey… gunther didn’t seem as smart as the other two and maybe he would care enough about his brother that he’d go and bring silver to regent while leaving him unattended.

”I clearly can’t beat you Gunther, so just go ahead and take him there. I won’t do anything. I promise.”

”...Promise? If you do…”

”I’ll buy you lunch next time.”

Seeming as though he was okay with this decision and ultimatum gunther headed over to silver, leaving saturn standing there with his hands up before the demon flapped it’s wings carrying them up and away. Saturn stood there for a moment dumbfounded that gunther believed him. There was a level of innocence and trust that came from… just beating the tar out of one another it seemed.

He couldn’t believe it, but he also knew that anything that he said would likely come back to bite him in the ass. Saturn was startled a bit when he realized that the souls had stopped flowing into the ritual circle because there… wasn’t any more to be had. Turning around and he couldn’t help but curse as his eyes widened. He could feel it forming; it had already been summoned but it’s magical prowess would be unmatched if he didn’t do something fast. Cursing to himself that the fight took so long saturn hurried about, breaking many of the strange crystal plates that regent had shown him but to no avail. What was he to do?

He knew that messing with the ritual at this stage didn’t mean anything. He knew that he didn’t have much time, he knew that if he were to fight that the other would likely win in some capacity. He’d have to calm himself down, centering himself. Drawing out the sleeping dragon again and then wondering if it’d be enough. He’d grit his teeth, stepping up to the barrier of the ritual markers and the outside world. He could barely see in through all the throes of the magical energy the souls had given them…

He would need to weaken the barrier so he could enter, it was going to be rough and costly but there was no way he could do anything outside of it. Remembering that there was a point and the weakest spots were where the lines were thinnest he’d go around, searching, probing. Finding what he needed in three separate spots he’d draw his own circle, funneling his own magical essence into it to break into it. It was a strenuous process that he wasn’t entirely sure how he was going to do it.

This was something he never did before; something that he only thought about in passing when dealing with artifact laden tombs with weak barriers. Often more than not being able to smash them open with little effort. But here? It was taking alot and he groaned as he could feel it take more than he expected.

But he felt it give, he felt it shake, he felt it slowly let his circle open it up. The three points would make it waiver a bit and slowly but surely saturn stepped inside, letting his shoulders sag a bit as he was able to release his portion of the ritual. Now he was in the center point, now he would see what he had to contend with. His eyes searched, finding nothing or next to nothing…

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