"You should feel lucky that your world died by my presence. Other races would beg for it."
Eventually, Asher snapped.
... haha. Phoenix?
Divine Being?
No, no, this woman... she's the devil!
Asher's body trembled. All his reverence. All his respect and hope. It all vanished. The sadness and sorrow that he had repressed within him, and even the denial and despair that made his mind blank, all turned into anger.
Everything was gone. Why? It's because of this devil!
The anger turned into an overwhelming fury!
It was her fault! She came down to this world, killing everything and everyone, and SHE DOES NOT GIVE A SINGLE FUCK ABOUT IT!!
Asher knows he stood no chance against a Divine Being. But it doesn't matter. Rationality was gone.
If he dies, he dies then!
Who would care?
Haha, everything is gone!
.
.
.
Seeing the man turned silent, the Phoenix took a step back. Right now, she has no power to deal with this man. She shouldn't provoke him too much.
Tsk.
Whatever. It's his fault for asking too much from me. Why would I give a second of my time to revive his world? He doesn't know his place.
"Enough of this! Remove yourself from my sight and I might spare your life!"
She waved her and turned her back around. She still has her own problem to solve. Good thing that there's still a single mortal here to become a punching bag for her, letting her release a lot of anger and frustration stemming from the situation.
Now, now. Where the hell am I and what was that thing---
Her thoughts were disrupted by a killing intent. If she had her original power, she had long sensed it but could only dodge now by a hair.
Seeing that the man had attempted to attack her made her mood turn for the worse.
The cat-and-mouse chase began.
Returning to the present, the inevitable happened. Fatigue was catching up to the Phoenix and made one mistake in her footsteps.
That was just one mistake but that alone was grave enough.
This is bad!
The crazy man swung his fist towards her. Although she instinctively bent her spine to dodge, she was too slow and the fist hit her on the cheeks, shaking her head.
The difference in physical strength was wide in the first place. Once Asher connected a strike, the Phoenix was thrown meters away.
Finally!
Asher looked at his fist. It was trembling as his knuckles cracked.
It was as if he hit something tougher than a diamond. If the woman wasn't light, he would have his whole fist in a mess.
The Phoenix stood up and felt her cheeks. It was fine. It did not bruise nor did it bleed.
But it hurts!
A human had hurt me, a Phoenix!
"You dare hit me, you really dared! Just you wait-!" she couldn't form coherent words from sheer anger, "Just you wait and once my power returns, I'll revive this world, kill everyone you love, and repeat until you break!"
How insufferable.
However, Asher had a moment of calm. He expected to be killed. Hitting a Divine Being was outside his imagination.
"Why..." he asked, "why don't you kill me?"
There is a large contrast from how the Phoenix has acted until now. It is very obvious that she has pride, and shamelessness, that exceeds human limits so why would she let herself get hit?
The situation was so strange that it momentarily cooled Asher off to ask.
But the Phoenix didn't reply and only glared daggers at him.
Ahhh, that glare... how he want to pluck those beautiful eyes out of her eye sockets so he can step on it?
Feeling his fury rise again, he turned faster and stronger!
Thinking back, maybe her fall that night made this devil lose her powers. That thought gave Asher hope. A different hope. A hope that maybe he could give her head a satisfying bash to the ground and remove that annoying look from her face or maybe, squeeze her neck until this Divine Bullshit begs him to stop!
Asher charged and the Phoenix became more careful than before.
However, it was evident that she was getting slower and slower. Her face slowly contorts to frustration.
Until...
"Ahk!"
He caught her long skirt.
Asher unhesitantly and violently pulled her light body and pinned her wrist to the ground. Without a break, Asher dropped onto her stomach.
Asher squeezed her wrist as he wanted to break it but couldn't. Her skin is like an unbreakable armor while her bones seem to be made of the strongest metal.
Being pinned down, the Phoenix turned desperate and slapped with her free hand.
Pak*
"Huh..."
The Phoenix already knew but it still made her eyes wide.
"Your body is tough, but you're so weak!"
"...!"
Thinking that they were at a stalemate, the Phoenix finally replied.
"That's right! I don't have any energy in me right now."
"Is that the reason you can't-"
The Phoenix, unfitting to her divine image, spat to Asher's face.
"No! You lowly mortal! Even if I have all my power, I still wouldn't give a damn to your race or your world!"
She turned hysterical.
"While I can't fight back, you can't harm me! I have the body of a Phoenix! You'll get tired while I gain my energy back soon enough. By then, I'll show you true hell! I'll revive your world and enslave them! Whenever they ask why, I'll say it's all because of you!"
The Phoenix laughed like a villain.
Asher's face turned dark. The universe is unfair. How come such a devil be a Phoenix?
Slowly, he placed his hands around her neck.
The Phoenix gulped at what he was about to do.
"Wait...!"
Asher then squeezed her neck tightly. Even though her skin is unbreakable, it's still flexible. She doesn't have any powers right now.
Once a being reaches a certain level of strength, they are able to compensate energy for oxygen. They can hold their breath for days.
Does she need to breathe? He saw her huffing from fatigue so it must be. Since she has no energy right now...
Asher squeezed as tight as he could.
Die!
Soon, the Phoenix's face turned red as she struggled. She raised her knees, attempting to strike his back. Her nails scratch at his skin and poke his eyes to no avail.
Die! Die! Die!
He squeezed harder.
The Phoenix's face turned from red to purple. She had never felt this kind of fear because she had never experienced it.
The fear of asphyxiation is universal. It is the most basic form of living. Even those who cannot feel fear from birth feel fear when they are deprived of oxygen.
Fear stemmed from the thought of death and now, death is approaching. The Phoenix trembled and felt the terror.
Even when the mysterious being banished her from the [Great Void] and landed in this world, she felt fear, but not terror.
In the face of a real death, even as a Phoenix, her face softened as she wanted to beg.
Stop. You're going to kill me... she looked at the mortal who was about to kill her before her eyes rolled back.
Her struggle stopped-
Gasp*
When the pressure was released from her neck, she desperately gasped for air even if she would suck a ton of ashes from it.
She coughed and coughed as she kicked the ground, desperately trying to create distance from her assailant.
The air! How precious was it!
The Phoenix greedily breathed in and out. It took her some time but once her breathing returned to normal, she looked at the man who almost killed her.
Her look, this time, no longer carried the same condescension or annoyance, but fear.
However, the man who almost killed a Divine Being just blankly stared at his hands.
He looked at her with a blank stare before turning around and walking out without a single word.