The god looked back to the cold eyes of Rowan who had cocked his head to the side as if he was looking at a particularly interesting specimen, there was no bloodlust in those eyes or rage, or fear or malice, just a sense of curiosity like that of a boy pulling out the wings of a butterfly.
'Was all my resistance, my godly Ascension, was it all a game to this creature?'
Dao Ma looked away, "It is said that we the gods are cruel and merciless, and our arrogance knows no bounds. There is no slight we would not avenge, or no feats we can not achieve, we are the true children of the universe. Yes, we are all those things and more, but you… whatever you are, it is an abomination, a perversion of the natural order, do you even know what you are? Something like you should not exist! Every single moment you walk the earth, our mother bleeds, I can feel it, your nature shall bring our end…"
Rowan's chuckle interrupted him, "All I hear is the chittering of the fly before the spider, trying to riddle his way through its web," Rowan licked his lips, "But all the spider sees, all it hears, is the sound of the feast approaching."
Rowan stretched his hand to touch the energy barrier over the Eternal Flower, "Will you let me in… little fly."
Dao Ma straightened his back, his reptilian features and his broad shoulders carried a grace only a god could have, "I have never lived my life as a coward. I don't intend to start at the end of it. Come at me, monster."
He swiped his hand and the shield covering him opened for a bit, "You can steal my essence like a thief. But let us see if you are worthy enough to step on the Eternal Flower. I have opened a path, and if you are able step through this barrier."
Dao Ma stepped back and gestured, "If you are worthy, step inside and battle this god."
Rowan grinned, "Don't mind if I do." He pushed both of his hands through the gap and seized the edges, this action made Dao Ma's eyes shrink.
Rowan's body became covered with golden flames that were far more violent than he had ever summoned before, and when the flames vanished he was gone.
The shield that covered the internal flower began to crack, spider webbing the surrounding space making it resemble shattered glass, before it exploded with a dull bang, sprinkling multicolored lights into the atmosphere, the barrier covering the Eternal Flower had been crushed.
Dao Ma's reptilian eyes shrank to a tiny slit as Rowan's back touched his own, the back of both their heads touched and Rowan brought his hands and wrapped Dao Ma's own, interlocking their fingers like lovers.
"Oh, this feels so familiar, like the memory of a melody that just stays at the tip of your tongue," Rowan whispered. "Dao Ma know this with certainty, you will not leave this flower alive. You will die here, your Divine Kingdom shall be plundered and your Divine Spark shall be put out. These actions are happening not because of any fault from you, it is happening because I deem it so. As a god you should be familiar with such things, you have condemned billions to death before. But your station warrants honor and your death would be noble, this I can promise you. I task you with only one thing Dao Ma; I want you to shine bright, bring out your brilliance, prove your might before me, and be honored that for this short moment, you became my teacher, not everyone under creation would be worthy of this honor."
Dao Ma's shoulders loosened and the tension that knotted his muscles relaxed and he began to laugh, he could not believe at the edge of his despair a light was shown, he would not go silent into the dark, he would be screaming all the way.
He savagely yanked at Rowan's hands, and with a wet pop, he tore them clean from his shoulders.
There was no blood on either end and before Dao Ma could complete his action of turning around, Rowan had already finished healing. The hand that Dao Ma was holding unexpectedly turned into two massive golden chains that wrapped itself around the body of Dao Ma, before exploding or rather imploding.
Since the source of the explosion came from his body, Rowan could perfectly control the energy it released, a technique he learned from both Erohim and Fury.
Dao Ma was blasted to pieces, but with an angry roar, he remade his flesh.
Rowan frowned, "Do not disappoint me, for I will not be holding back."
Dao Ma growled and his body turned red, his tail transformed into a whip that separated into two parts, and he held a whip in his right hand, and a short spear in his left.
Rowan recalled the rest of the Ouroboros Serpent and they shrunk down to about fifty feet and surrounded him, and suddenly twenty-three eyes were looking at Dao Ma.
At first, there were various emotions across all these eyes but they soon copied the eyes of Rowan whose own only held an equal amount of focus and excitement.
Dao Ma laughed again, "You are Oblivion, you are the end of everything, and it would be my honor to battle you with everything I have. Every god shall battle you, and no matter how deep your darkness goes, our light shall penetrate through it, for darkness shall ultimately be defeated by light."
In his heart, he thought, 'Perhaps this might not be such a bad way to go.'
Rowan smiled in his heart, 'I control the very Host of the Highest Heavens, which light can shine brighter than my own?'
With a roar that held all the rage and pride in Dao Ma's heart, he gathered all the skills he had accumulated over the long years and attacked.
The battle that followed was not flashy and did not destroy the world for endless miles, instead, it went in the opposite direction, and it became incredibly intricate, like a dance.
