Chapter 1474 Drawing Lightning Like in every moment where he did battle, Rowan was analytical, he could not become as precise as when he was in his immortal body, but he could get close enough with this mortal one. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂 The height of his enemy was a problem and he needed to cut him down to size, Rowan's first slash with the blade separated the Dark One into two from the knees, the blade was so sharp and cut through the bones so cleanly that the Earth god did not even seem aware of the cut and he did not topple over. Normally this would have been the time for Rowan to sweep his enemy off their feet with a wide kick, but that action would only crush his legs against the pillars of creation that were the bones of the Earth god, and so he took precisely that action knowing that the Dark One would not anticipate such a move and he succeeded. Rowan swept the Dark One off his feet with his a kick but his legs were wrapped with a large cushion of skulls, that reduced the impact and boosted his strength to boot, and instead of crushing his legs into a paste, he simply broke bones that were rapidly healing, but this kick sent the lower limbs of the Earth god flying into the distance. The body of the Dark One buckled and it was beginning to fall, and Rowan angled the blade towards his descending mass, and from the crotch up to his skull a red light from the passing blade shone bright. Rowan had exerted force on the blade as he shot up from the ground, and like a hot blade through a pile of snow, he bisected the Dark One in two with his blade. The two halves of the Dark One fell to their knees, the mouth of the god opened in surprise and even though he was separated in two, his will still burned bright as a red flame seemed to ignite in the center of the two empty eye sockets within his parted skull. Rowan's attack had taken him into the air for a few feet and as he descended, he swung the blade in a wide slash, leaving a trail of red behind that made it seem as if a half moon was painted in mid-air, this move tore through both halves of the Dark One neck, but Rowan feet did not touch the ground. Even as he made that swing, the left hand of the Dark One had shot forward, bereft of most of his strength, it had still been enough to impale Rowan through the chest, arresting his motion in a single savage move. All of these seemed to have taken place over an extended amount of time but not even a second had passed and their furious clash was over. A massive shockwave erupted from the site of the clash, and when it subsided an extremely strange sight was revealed. Despite being cut into six pieces, the body parts of the Dark One refused to fall to the ground, all parts of his body were floating in the air, his mad will was so powerful it defied death itself, both half of his grinning skull that had been blackened by flames and filled with cracks and pockmarks turned towards Rowan who was gasping for breathe impaled on the left hand of the Dark One, "What did you achieve by your struggles?" the Dark One said, "Nothing of relevance, my ascension comes regardless. Have you forgotten that I also defy death." Behind the Dark One, the last tethers binding him to mortality was severed, and the world seemed to go still before the storm above suddenly exploded in size, massive thunderstorms grew from nothing, growing and expanding as an immortal power descended from the heavens carried by a lightning bolt. Rowan had miscalculated the sheer will of the Dark One, technically only a single blow should have been enough to sever what was left of his life force, and Rowan had not made a single blow, he had dealt several lethal blows that should have killed this Earth god a hundred times over. Nothing was keeping this half-god alive, his consciousness and Will should have been so mangled by this blade that even if he was still alive, even the act of thinking should be impossible, and yet here he was, impaled on his arm, a moment from death and the victory of his enemy before him. At this moment, Rowan had a premonition about how his enemies must have regarded him. They must have seen him broken and beaten down, brought to a state where he was much more alive than dead, and he would still have the power to fight back. Was he not him who said that if anything could not kill him off in a single blow then that attack was useless for he would always recover? Now that he was seeing these words thrown in front of his face, he did not have the energy to even hate himself, he simply murmured, his lungs were too shredded to speak aloud, the Dark One regarded him for a moment and looked upwards, the red glow inside his skull gleaming as he opened himself to the decent of immortality carried by the lightning bolt when it hit, the Dark One would become immortal and Rowan would be ash. The lightning bolt descended, shining with such great light it could be seen all over the continent and the Dark One roared to receive it, and Rowan murmured again, but this time it was louder, he said, "One blow." In his perception, the world seemed to slow down, as his mind dragged out the last of the fading power of his thoughts as he called out to the skulls behind him in all their multitude, "Come." Like a red tide a mile high, billions of skulls poured down over Rowan and the Dark One, burying them under a blanket of red that extended for miles, but the lightning bolt descending from the sky tore through the skulls like nothing, descending towards its target and the Dark One shrieked in laughter, "It is useless, nothing can stop its descent. I shall arise!" Rowan's voice firmed, ringing strong, as he growled, "I was not trying to stop it." The lightning bolt slammed into their position and an explosion like a thousand nuclear warheads going off at once erupted, creating a mushroom cloud that extended for a thousand miles and scattering the storm for tens of thousands, it took a while for it to die down and when it did, only Rowan was left standing and the remnants of the Dark One was lying at his feet, crumbling to ash, in his right hand was the red blade of the Dark One covered by lightning.