Adrean alucard's Arc

Chapter 9 of 28

Adrean lifted his hand, blue fire waking in his palm. Yahweh Christ stood in the doorway, white robe brushing the bone floor, flame licking his heels. Adrean's class only worked on touch. He needed one hand on the old god's skin. But Yahweh would never let him close. Shiva pressed his small blue back against the wall. "He knows what you want," the destroyer whispered. "He will burn the space between you." Yahweh raised one hand. A wall of white fire rolled across the room. Adrean leaped aside. The heat scorched his shoulder. He charged, arm outstretched, reaching for the god. Yahweh stepped back through the flame, always beyond his fingers. Adrean grabbed only smoke. He struck again. Again he missed. The old god drifted like a candle no wind could reach. "You cannot chase what does not run," Yahweh said. "I will stand here until your body forgets it is a god." Then the system spoke inside Adrean's skull. Gold letters burned across his sight. RIVAL GAZE UNLOCKED. He did not know the ability. He read the words as fire slid past his cheek. Bind one enemy in place through the eyes. Lasts one breath. He had never used it. He had one chance. Adrean stopped running. He locked his eyes on Yahweh's amber stare. "Look at me," he said. The ability took hold. Yahweh froze mid-step. His flame guttered. His feet stuck to the bone floor as if nailed. His eyes went wide, held by Adrean's gaze. The old god could not move. One breath. That was all. Adrean crossed the room. He drove his palm against Yahweh's chest, flat on bare skin. The drain began. Adrean felt it pour into him, a river with no far bank. Yahweh's warmth flowed up his arm. The old god's beard turned grey, then thin. His robe hung loose on shrinking shoulders. Adrean's veins glowed gold. His divinity climbed. Twelve points. Thirty. He lost the count. Yahweh's grip found Adrean's wrist. The rival gaze had broken. But the old god was already emptied, weak as a spent match. "You feast," he rasped. "I warned you." "You ran too long," Adrean said. He pulled the last of the power out. Yahweh's fire died. The god who had made him sagged to his knees, small and dim. Adrean stepped back. His body burned with stolen sky. Shiva stared at him, mouth open. Behind Adrean, the ancestral throne stirred. Gold light woke in every crack of the dark stone. But Yahweh was not dead. He lifted his grey head. His empty eyes fixed on Adrean with a hate no drain could take. "You took my strength," he breathed. "Now every god will feel what you are. They come now. All of them." Adrean felt it too. Far off, across creation, a hundred divine gazes turned toward the castle. He had won his one touch. He had made himself the prey of every god alive.