Strolling through the empty streets of the claustrophobic buildings, Janus can't help but admire how an entire city could act as a flying vessel, to the point where he starts questioning whether this is actually reality itself or some sort of illusion that is affecting his vision.
Then again, the dreamlands are filled with wonders and mystery, where logic and contradiction don't even apply. This entire world is the manifestation of dreams, where nothing is impossible and anything can be a reality, with imagination and conceptualization being the greatest powers of all.
While everyone is inside, sleeping or doing something else in private, Janus is left standing still, contemplating his own path in the grand scheme of things. With a sigh, he rubbed the side of his neck, wondering if he should continue exploring the place or take a warm rest.
But what is it to say he needs rest at all? He is a god, a living and breathing primordial deity in which biological sustenance isn't a requirement for him to stay alive. Although sleep is nonetheless a pleasant thing to do whenever he feels mentally exhausted with what he has,.
Gripping his spear, he continued onward without much clue of where or what he was going to do in order to pass the time. It's not like he is lost or anything; he can simply teleport elsewhere. At the same time, he does not wish to do so for no apparent reason; after all, there has to be something for him to do.
He wished for something—anything—to take his mind off. And truth be told, after praying for something to happen, Janus noticed a familiar figure approaching him from afar, promptly stopping him as the presence was beginning to take shape.
"Wait a minute, something is off here." He quietly said under his breath as his eyes squinted towards the silhouette figure getting closer and closer, "You seem..." It all makes sense now that the moonlight finally reveals the entity coming toward him.
"It is I, child—"
Janus didn't waste any more time listening to this dangerous rival as he lifted his feet off the ground, heading towards him at impossible speeds. With a massive sonic boom from the aftermath of his act, the entire airship shook harshly like a tree being swayed by the violent wind, causing everyone to awaken from their deep slumber or even fall out of bed in bewildered confusion.
Pushing the monster farther away in hopes of preventing his loved ones from getting seriously hurt, they went high above the heavens in several kilometers until Cthulhu whispered his ear, resulting in a in a vibrating explosion pushing away the god of time a couple of meters away.
Gathering his bearings, Janus grabbed his spear and held it tightly. "You have some nerve showing up," he said, preparing to lunge it toward him if need be. "How did you survive? I thought I killed you," he said coldly, having not forgotten their previous fight.
Seeing their resurrected opponent, all of his voices tune in this time, seeing that the situation is indeed dire enough to warrant a cooperative effort. Quirinus laughed from seeing him again, "I can't believe it!" He declared joyously, "He's alive and kicking!" He was unable to contain the excitement bubbling within him.
However, Saturn had the worst reaction to all of this: "No, no, no, no, no!" Panicking at seeing him, he repeatedly continued saying this word over and over while his frail, elderly voice reached its breaking point: "What's he doing here?!"
Vesta and Narrator kept quiet but were nonetheless expecting this to happen as the duo were more open-minded compared to the rest. Although they were horrified to know how right they were after seeing him again,.
Culsans chuckled softly at this situation they had gotten themselves into: "Yikes, someone's in trouble," gleefully awaiting round two. "Are we going to win again?" Being deeply invested in the fight despite having no clue who is going to win this time.
"Hmm," Cthulhu, with his weapon in hand, stood still while he examined the Roman god inquisitively: "This is the first time you were eager to protect something." From this single action of display, he asked, "Is there a reason you brought me here away from people?" Grasping the intent of what Janus had done, "the person of your caliber wouldn't hesitate fighting me where there are people around."
Out of nowhere, concern washed over him. Janus doesn't like where this is going or where this conversation is heading, as this felt more personal than it should. "What do you want?" Cold, harsh, and straight to the point, he spoke with a clear, monotonous, dispassionate voice while keeping his eyes focused on the Great Old One.
Feeling a perpendicular emotion emitting from the god, Cthulhu suddenly grasped the reason why: "You interest me." Spreading his arms like an angel, he said, "At our first encounter, I saw you nothing more than an empty husk with little understanding of his own humanity and purpose," speaking as if he had known everything there is to know about the person in front of him, "to see such a change in a short amount of time is... refreshing to see."
"What are you getting at?" Growing more worried and angry than before, he says, "Just answer my question," gritting his imaginary teeth from irritation. He can't fathom how long this person has to monologue until he gets to the damn point.
Understanding God's impatience rising, Cthulhu let out an amused chuckle. "Calm now, child," he said soothingly, trying to ease his temperament. "I have come to check on your progress, and suffice to say," he paused, giving him a smug grin, "it's satisfactory."
Unsure why he's calling him 'child' after having the last memory of fighting him to death, "I'm no child, and I am neither your ally." Bringing up his weapon, he pointed his spear towards his opponent, "You got ten seconds before I use lethal force," declaring his intentions of killing him, "I recommend leaving, before you end up in a coffin."
Receiving a reply of disdain and insults, it was all he had expected from seeing a rather rude enemy: "How disappointing, to think, after all these days of waiting." Sighing in disappointment, he was hoping to get a better response from him: "Well, no matter, it will come sooner or later." As he said those words, the clouds became thundering storms while heavy rain began to pour down onto the ocean.
"You are beginning to care for them, don't you?"
That was enough for him to rush towards him again, only to receive sudden lightning striking his entire body, causing Janus to violently spasm from the pain he felt. "GAHH!" His mind screamed from feeling the raw electricity running across his skin, causing the entirety of his muscles to become unresponsive, as if paralyzing him for good.
Even so, Cthulhu remained passive before waving his hand to stop the continuous attack from going any further. "This is sorcery, child," he said in pity, "based on the will, imagination, and belief in themselves. The stronger the conviction, the more powerful their wishful ability is as a result. The nature of this power makes it highly volatile and unpredictable, however, often manifesting in ways that even the caster did not intend." Smiling maliciously, he continued his explanation, "Sadly for any visitors of this realm, their incapable of using this power, having to draw their own from their homeworld."
The smoke began to clear, showing almost fried Janus kneeling in the air with a weakened expression plastered on his face: "I need to be more careful." Cursing himself quietly from charging at a powerful opponent head-on again, "At least I can keep them safe for a while," standing himself straight, the strong winds blew against his body, causing the wet water to drench his robe even further.
Cthulhu pitied once more seeing this sight: "Join me in my quest; both of us can defy what is impossible together." His voice spoke softly yet accommodatingly. As he stood there watching him carefully, he took a step forward and said, "Come and see the—"
"JUST SHUT UP!"
Appearing behind him, Janus used all of his strength to stab through his enemy's back, causing the great old one to immediately feel the pain wracked throughout the body. "Augh!?" Cthulhu cried out in surprise when his own green-colored blood began to ooze out from the large hole within his chest.
Wasting no time, he retreated his spear before raising it high in the air just to smack Cthulhu's head, forcing his entire body to fall down in the oceans at faster than light speeds, watching the biggest splash of water come splashing upward before coming down and crashing to the ground below, forming a massive wave that hit several rocks near the shore.
Looking down in anticipation, the tense air still remained around him, for he awaited what was coming for him next, including the growing lightning strikes appearing all of a sudden, "Come on..." Waiting for his next move, he continued firmly holding his spear, "Don't tell me you're done already," knowing fully well he hadn't badly wounded him.
"Is it over?" Saturn frightfully asked, concerned if the god had finally defeated the evil god, "We might've won; it means it's finished, right?" Trying desperately to sound positive in this bleak situation, he continues to watch down at the deep sea with his fellow voices in the background, silently hoping it's the end.
To their horror, untold, enormous tentacles rivaling in the thousandth rapidly went up in the sky, releasing a mighty roar so loud that the entire area shook heavily as its tentacles landed all across the area around them, as Janus expressed calmly, unfazed by this horrific turn of events.
"Were going to die!" Saturn continued repeating his sentence over and over with no stopping: "Oh god, we were seriously going to die. He's too much for us. He's just too much... And now, we are all going to die, and there's no escape because—" He stopped mid-sentence when he was grabbed by the throat of frustrated and clearly annoyed Quirinus.
"Stop yapping and be quiet!" Quirinus snarled, before giving the whimpering voice a good shake, "It's a good time to focus for once," commanding the weaker voice to try and think of a solution, thinking of why the hell he even bothers to care for these idiotic voices in the first place.
With no mercy of stopping, the tentacles begin to move towards him in hopes of crushing him alive, while at the same time, it is impossible to escape when there is no opening to be in hand for trying to dodge any one of them. Giving up on evading, he resorted to defense as he currently thinks of a way to deal with this problem.
Quickly cuddling himself into a ball with his treasured weapon floating beside him, a manifested shield comprised of space shielded him all around his body just when every tentacle tried to hold him like a hand made dough, with the only thing protecting him from critical attack being a force field preventing them from touching his body.
However, he knew it only temporarily after hearing the slow cracks beginning to form on the surface of his barrier. For anyone who is visible outside of this scene, the sight of so many large tentacles gripping a ball in tight grip would be a horrific and grotesque thing to witness.
But Janus was no coward, with no choice and knowing he was in a better place to prevent any possible collateral damage from happening, he poured all his mental energies into one form and attacked as the ball of barrier he manifested rapidly began to shrink slowly.
Everywhere the tentacles came into contact with the barrier, small sparks flew as unknown swirling waters made from the cosmos charged against the wet skin. It was enough to keep the tentacles away for the moment, but not forever.
For a brief moment, the tentacles paused their assault as every single one of them moved away, witnessing the once-small barrier being as small as an ant. From this sight alone, Cthulhu became curious, despite already knowing what he was getting himself into.
When one of them touched the nearly visible barrier, a massive supernova erupted as the tentacles screeched in pain before quickly burning away at every moment. He completely disintegrated them all around him as the force of the dangerous attack safely traveled through the unending skies without touching the surface.
