Chapter 738: Chaoskampf
He was a manifestation of the primordial chaos and as such, was one of the most fearsome monsters to ever draw breath.
Ra\'s ability to defeat it consistently, night after night, was one of the feats that kept the Egyptian pantheon towards the head of the pack.
Apophis\' showing was certainly... impactful.
But there were none that it left a greater impression on than the young man\'s parents.
And the battle was still very far from over.
Even though Apophis had drawn first blood in this fight, Apep refused to be put away quietly.
It\'s horrid hiss of agony was so loud that it nearly deafened Apophisand sent him reeling back.
Using the base of it\'s tail, Apep ripped the dreaded blade from it\'s eye and out came a horrific outpouring of dark blood.
It cast the weapon aside and lifted up it\'s tail like a large battering ram to crush Apophis underneath his titanic size.
Apophis hadn\'t fully recovered in time to react, but his wings of flame did it for him.
The flames burned more intensely than ever and grew completely out of control. Each wing formed a pair of giant hands that not only caught App\'s tail, but burned him.
Apophis\' power of order was the antithesis of everything that Apep embodied. Contact with it was like having one\'s skin doused in bleach and lit ablaze.
Though the experience was excruciating, it was not without it\'s merit.
A dark, cloudy miasma filled the air around Apophis like a dense smog.
It invaded the young prince\'s lungs and caused an immediate suffocating reaction. His eyes nearly burst from his skull as the veins along his body were forcefully pushed against his skin.
He felt like his very insides were being pulled apart as blood welled up in places it shouldn\'t have been in.
And yet, Apophis was smiling like an imp.
Perhaps he was a bit shaken at first. And considering the circumstances, it was understandable.
Apep\'s appearance was pretty daunting. It was designed to chill the bones and strip away a warrior\'s resolve.
It ratted him a bit at first, he would admit it.
But now he was being reminded that this was nothing worth expending energy to worry about.
He lived beside monsters everyday. His aunt, his grandfathers, his father, mothers, and even the older sister who\'s back he was chasing after.
Compared to them, was this enemy really even anything he should have been struggling with?
As far as he was concerned, struggling with this enemy would be the same as insulting everyone who had helped him to come this far.
Especially his father. Who had given him every tool to succeed at every opportunity and never asked for a single thing in return.
The only way that he knew to show him how appreciative he was, would be to display that all of their effort was not wasted.
Apophis vanished out of the blue and Apep\'s tail crushed nothingness.
The serpent looked above it\'s head and let out another of it\'s loud hisses.
Several small portals circled Apophis like reflections from a disco ball.
At that moment, Apep remembered one of the key differences between himself and Apophis.
Perhaps due to his mother\'s influence, Apophis was a magic god.
Small spores of energy left Apophis\' pores in unison and floated through the portals.
Apep let out another shriek as random explosions occurred all across the great seepent\'s body.
It had no way to predict when or where the next attack would come from, so it had no choice but to begin using it\'a own power.
At it\'s core, the power of chaos lies in probability manipulation.
Apep was able to fully overturn the likelihood of him being hit by another explosion from near-certain, to not really.
Apophis felt the sudden change in his magic and let out a genuine impressed whistle.
The large cobra thought that he was being mocked.
It\'s anger surged like a tidal wave; not only was his glorious body now covered in blast wounds, but now his enemy even had the nerve to
whistle
at him.
Even killing him ten million times wouldn\'t be enough to alleviate such disrespect!
So now, Apophis\' death would be as certain as the clouds in the sky!
Apep funneled power through his body and his scales healed instantly.
Not only that, but his body somehow started to get even bigger.
Before it just seemed like he could wrap around the entire earth, but now it was like seeing a creature big enough to spread himself throughout the whole
solar system.
It opened it\'s mouth once more, and Apophis\' vision was completely filled with black.
Even though the near future was quite literally as bleak as it could be, the young prince had yet to lose his hope or his smile.
In fact, it might\'ve been even wider.
"Oh man. You say you\'ve seen my memories, but you can\'t have taken the time to look over them very well. There\'s one important thing that every warrior in Tehom has beaten into their heads from day one."
Scales ran across Apophis\' body in a split second.
His body became golden colored; save for his face and hair which remained unchanged.
The teeth within his mouth elongated to a point where he began to have difficulty keeping his mouth closed.
His legs broke and readjusted themselves to become more beast-like, with clawed toes on the front, and one on the back of his heel.
His left arm became misshapen like gelatin. It ripped itself apart and rebuilt itself in a new form.
Apophis\' entire arm was transformed into the head of a roaring dragon that was every bit as powerful as him.
He raised his monstrous new arm and it\'s maw groaned open.
At the very back of it\'s throat, one could see a gradual buildup of rather nefarious energy.
"Being bigger than me will not make better than me."
Just as Apep attempted to close his mouth over Apophis, a beam of densely concentrated energy fired from the maw of his arm.
He fed the blast as much of his magic as he could pour into it, making it wider, more powerful, and most importantly, faster.
At the speed of light, an arc of energy punched through the roof of Apep\'s mouth and came soaring out the back of his head.
Apep\'s eyes seemed to crinkle with disbelief as he tried to heal himself before the situation became irreversible.
Apophis flew out of the newly created opening in Apep\'s head and emerged just behind it.
He held out his hand to recall his golden sword before he lost his current opportunity for good.
While the humongous creature was busy focused on healing, Apophis funneled the last of his magic into his weapon and forced it to grow once again.
But Apophis knew that it was still too small to close the distance; so he dug down deeper.
Unbeknownst to him, he tapped into a buried wellspring of energy that he was sure did not belong to him.
But he was so intimately familiar with it\'s signature that he never needed to question where it came from.
With his sword now roughly the size of Jupiter, Apophis held it with only his mental prowess and swung it with every ounce of strength he could muster.
Just as Apep was almost halfway done patching up the hole in his head, a giant blade came carving through his neck; separating it\'s hood from the rest of his body.
It could muster no words, but it\'s surprise and shock translated with his dissipation aura.
\'Last stretch..!\'
Even though Apophis was on his last legs, he still knew he hadn\'t quite finished the job just yet.
He broke out of his current form, and soon he became a golden cobra; more radiant and divine than Apep ever came close to being.
Once he grew to match Apep\'s size, he completely unhinged his jaw and consumed his fated adversary.
As he ate, a single exhausted tear fell from his eye.
…It was so gross!
Not even his signature bacon bit and scallion ranch dressing could have fixed this!
It was completely inedible! It was taking all of his willpower not to throw the whole thing back up as he ate it!
This was the worst part of the battle by far! He hated it here! If he knew things were going to be like this he may have conceded before they even began!
"Hulp..! Keep it down, keep it down.."
The giant snake doubled over as it struggled to adjust to the new lump in his stomach.
However, his circumstances only became worse when time and space suddenly distorted and he was right back to the starting grounds where he began at.
Yesh was floating above him, seemingly quite pleased with his momentous achievements.
\'Congratulations, son of Abaddon. You have proven that you are-\'
*Retching noises ensue.*
God\'s face paled as Apophis proceeded to throw up the contents of his stomach in full.
When he was done he used his tail to wipe the bile from around his mouth and looked up innocently.
"Sorry about that… What were you saying..?"