He lunged forward, his entire body becoming a spear of blinding white light. He was a comet, a meteor, a god descending from the heavens.

He drove himself straight into Rex’s chest, the collision creating a massive explosion of light and sound.

BOOOOOOOOM!

The cavern was filled with a blinding glare. For a moment, there was nothing but the sound of the aftershock, a low rumbling thrum that vibrated in the very bones of the world.

As the light began to fade, Apollo stood there, breathing heavily, his arms outstretched. He was waiting for Rex’s body to fall, for the man to collapse in defeat.

But the body didn’t fall. It stood there, rigid and unmoving.

Apollo blinked, his vision clearing. He looked at the figure in front of him.

It was Rex; well, technically he was Tremor for Apollo and Kaelira. But it wasn’t flesh and blood.

It was a statue. A lifeless, grey stone statue of Tremor, frozen in a moment of defiance. The impact of the attack hadn’t killed him; it had turned him into stone.

"What...?" Apollo whispered, his voice trembling. "How?"

Suddenly, a voice drifted down from the ceiling, echoing from the shadows above. It was a laugh, a deep, mocking laugh that sounded nothing like the man in the pit.

"You always were a bit too predictable, Apollo," the voice said, dripping with arrogance.

Apollo looked up. High above, perched on a ledge of jagged rock, sat the real Rex.

He was unscathed, his skin unmarked, his eyes shining with a malicious glee. He was watching the scene below with the amusement of a man watching a child’s play.

"A decoy," Apollo realized, his heart sinking. "The entire fight... was a decoy."

Rex leaned forward, his grin widening. "You fought well, Apollo."

"But you were fighting a shadow..."

"The real Tremor... is always one step ahead."

The realization hit Apollo like a physical blow. The "Tremor" he had just spent all his energy pulverizing was nothing more than a hollow construct of compressed gravity-infused stone.

As the real Rex’s laughter echoed from the rafters, Apollo tried to lunge upward, but his body was spent, his mana reserves depleted from the massive finisher.

"You’ve been playing a one-sided game, Apollo," Rex’s voice drifted down, cold and predatory. "Now, it’s time for the real-world physics to set in."

In a blur of motion that defied the eye, Rex descended. He didn’t fall; he plummeted like a meteor.

BOOM!

He landed right in front of Apollo, the impact creating a shockwave that sent a cloud of dust and grit into the air. Before Apollo could even raise his arms to defend, Rex’s hand, harder than any diamond-forged steel, clamped around Apollo’s throat.

"Let’s see how much ’life’ is left in you when the earth decides to reclaim you!" Rex roared, his eyes gleaming with sadistic delight.

Rex didn’t just punch; he used his Earthen Authority to manipulate the very ground beneath Apollo’s feet. As Apollo tried to summon a burst of light to push him back, Rex slammed a fist into the ground.

CRACK THOOM!

The floor erupted into jagged spikes of obsidian-sharp stone, lashing out like serpents to wrap around Apollo’s limbs, pinning him in place.

"Gah! Argh!" Apollo groaned, his voice strained as the stone spikes dug into his flesh.

"Look at you! The great Apostle of Life, pinned like a butterfly in a display case!" Rex laughed, a boisterous, manic sound.

He reached out with his massive, calloused hands and grabbed Apollo’s left arm. With a sickening CRUNCH, he began to squeeze.

K RACK!

The sound of bone splintering echoed through the cavern.

"Stop! AHHH!" Apollo screamed, his voice cracking.

He tried to channel a pulse of light to blast Rex away, but the man was too fast. Rex simply squeezed harder, the sound of Apollo’s ulna and radius snapping like dry twigs filling the air.

SNAP! CRUNCH!

"Too slow! Too weak!" Rex taunted, his face inches from Apollo’s. "You fight like a god, but you bleed like a man!"

Rex then shifted his focus. He grabbed Apollo’s right leg, his fingers digging into the muscle like iron claws.

With a violent twist, he forced the limb into an unnatural angle.

POP!

The sound of a dislocated hip echoed like a gunshot. Apollo’s scream was a raw, guttural sound that tore through the cavern.

"Now, let’s see how you handle the weight of the world!" Rex bellowed.

He slammed both his gauntlets down onto Apollo’s chest.

THUD!

The impact was so heavy it forced the air out of Apollo’s lungs in a bloody spray.

"HACK!" Apollo coughed, a spray of crimson blood coating his lips.

Rex began a relentless assault. He wasn’t just attacking; he was torturing.

He used his gravity manipulation to press down on Apollo’s ribcage, making every breath a struggle for survival.

CREAK... SNAP...

The ribs groaned under the pressure. Then, Rex would lift him up by the chin, laughing at the agony in Apollo’s eyes, before slamming him back into the stone floor.

BAM! SLAM! CRASH!

"Please... stop..." Apollo wheezed, his vision blurring. His light was flickering, dimming like a dying candle.

"Stop!? We’ve only just begun!" Rex laughed, his voice a thunderous rumble.

He grabbed Apollo’s arm again, this time with both hands, and began to twist it with a slow, deliberate force.

GRRRRRRRT!

The sound of grinding bone was sickening. Apollo’s voice was a stifled whimper.

Rex was a force of nature, a beast of the earth. Every time Apollo tried to summon a spark of light, Rex would crush the hope out of him with a heavy blow or a crushing grip.

The cavern was filled with the sounds of violence: the wet thud of flesh, the sharp crack of bone, and the manic, joyful laughter of a man who had found his true purpose in the destruction of a god.

"You’re nothing but a flickering spark, Apollo!" Rex shouted, his eyes burning with a dark triumph. "And the earth... the earth always puts out the fire!"

CRUNCH!

He delivered a final, brutal blow to Apollo’s sternum, leaving the Apostle gasping, broken, and bleeding on the blood-stained stone.

"Look at you!" Rex roared, his voice echoing off the soot-stained walls. "Where is your heavenly light now?! And where is your divine grace?!"

With a vicious grunt, Rex brought a heavy, stone-encrusted fist down onto Apollo’s stomach.

THWACK!

The sound was wet and heavy, like a hammer hitting a sack of ripening fruit. Apollo’s body arched violently, a choking gasp escaping his lips as he vomited a spray of bright crimson blood.

"Guh... hhh--ack!"

"Don’t die yet!" Rex laughed, his eyes wild with frenzy. "We aren’t finished!"

Rex grabbed Apollo’s left arm, the one that was already mangled, and began to twist it slowly, deliberately.

Creeeeak... SNAP!

The sound of the tendons stretching and the bone grinding was a torturous melody. Apollo let out a high-pitched wail that shattered the silence, a sound of pure agony that made the very walls tremble.

From the entrance of the cavern, Kaelira stood frozen. Her hands were pressed against her mouth, her eyes wide with a terror that was unbearable.

"APOLLO!" she screamed, her voice breaking. "STOP, YOU BASTAAARDDDD!!!!"

"YOU’RE KILLING HIM!"

She tried to run forward, but her legs felt like lead. She watched in horror as Rex lifted Apollo’s head by the hair, forcing him to look at the ceiling.

"Listen to her, Apollo!" Rex mocked, his face twisted in a manic grin. "She’s crying for a god who can’t even hold his own limbs together!"

Rex then slammed his gauntlets together right above Apollo’s face.

BOOM!

The shockwave sent a cloud of dust and blood spray into the air. Apollo’s vision was a blur of red and grey.

He tried to lift a hand to defend himself, but his fingers only trembled feebly.

CRUNCH!

Rex’s boot slammed into Apollo’s ribs.

CRACK CRACK CRACK!

The sound of breaking bone was like dry wood snapping in a fire. It felt as if a mountain was crushing Apollo’s lungs.

Every breath was a struggle, a jagged, shallow gasp that sounded like a dying animal.

"Is this the limit of the Apostle of Life?" Rex taunted, his voice dripping with disdain.

He grabbed Apollo’s jaw, his fingers digging into the flesh. "You thought you could tame the earth? You thought you could rule the very foundation of the world?"

Rex delivered a brutal, short-range punch directly into Apollo’s solar plexus.

OOF!

The impact shook Apollo’s entire body, making his bones rattle in his flesh.

"Look at him, Kaelira!" Rex shouted, glancing back at the woman with a manic glance. "Look at your hero! He’s nothing but a broken toy!"

Kaelira let out a sob, her tears flowing freely.

"Please... stop... please..." she whispered, her voice lost in the echoes of the cavern.

She watched as Rex began to use his gravity manipulation to press down on Apollo’s chest, literally crushing the man’s ribs inward with the weight of a thousand stones.

GRRRRRR CRUNCH!

The sound of the bone grinding was sickening. Apollo’s eyes rolled back in his head, his body twitching in a rhythmic dance of pain.

He was no longer a man; he was a victim, a piece of meat being tenderized by the unrelenting force of the earth.

Rex laughed again, a loud, boisterous sound that echoed like thunder. "This is the truth of the world, Apollo!"

"The earth doesn’t bow to the light! The light eventually burns out, but the earth... the earth remains!"

He raised his fist one last time, the shadow of it looming over the broken man like a dark cloud.

WHAM!

The finality of the blow sent a spray of blood across the floor, leaving Apollo silent, broken, and barely breathing in the dust.

"Now... let’s see what my golems are doing out there!"