The hangar trembled as Varkos moved. His warhammer tore through the air with a sonic *crack*, striking Paragon so fast the Draathari soldiers saw only the aftermath-a shockwave of splintered metal and Paragon's body hurtling backward like a comet. He smashed through three layered bulkheads, each explosion of steel and sparks punctuated by Varkos's laughter. Paragon's bones snapped-ribs, collarbone, femur-before he even hit the far wall.
Varkos was on him before the debris settled. He grabbed Paragon by the ankle and swung him in a brutal arc, slamming him into the deck hard enough to buckle the alloy plating. Paragon's skull cratered the floor, blood pooling beneath him. Varkos leaned down, his breath hot and rancid. "Your *legend* dies here."
Paragon spat blood, his vision swimming. "Not… yet."
Varkos kicked him through the hangar doors, sending him skidding across the flagship's outer hull. Paragon's fingers clawed for purchase, but Varkos leapt, warhammer raised high. The blow hit Paragon's spine with the force of a crashing starship, launching him into the void. He tumbled, disoriented, until his back struck a Draathari frigate's hull. The impact shattered the ship's shield generator, sending arcs of blue energy cascading into space.
Varkos followed, a black-and-gold streak against the stars. He grabbed Paragon's face and drove him through the frigate's bridge. Consoles exploded, officers vaporized in the blast. Paragon's body punched out the other side, trailing fire, only to be caught again by Varkos and hurled into a cruiser's engine array. The engines detonated, tearing the cruiser in half. Paragon rocketed through the debris, bones snapping like kindling.
Varkos was a blur of annihilation. He slammed Paragon through ship after ship, each collision a cataclysm:
1. **Ship 3**: A supply vessel. Paragon's body tore through its cargo hold, igniting antimatter pods. The blast vaporized 200 soldiers.
2. **Ship 4**: A troop carrier. Paragon cratered the drill yard, scattering armored Draathari like insects. Varkos landed on his chest, crushing him into the molten floor.
3. **Ship 5**: A battleship. Varkos hurled Paragon through its missile silos. Warheads detonated in sequence, shredding the hull.
Paragon's body was a ruin. His left arm hung by tendons, his jaw unhinged, one eye reduced to pulp. Yet he *adapted*. Nerve endings deadened. Muscles reknit. Bones fused with a sickening *crunch*. He forced himself upright as Varkos descended again, warhammer glowing with stolen reactor energy.
"Pathetic," Varkos snarled. He swung, and Paragon *moved*-not fast enough to dodge, but enough to turn a killing blow into a mangling one. The warhammer shattered his right shoulder, but Paragon retaliated, driving his forehead into Varkos's nose. The champion staggered, blood streaming down his face.
"You dare-?"
Paragon hit him again, a wild haymaker that cracked Varkos's breastplate. The Draathari roared, grabbed Paragon's throat, and *squeezed*. Paragon's trachea collapsed, but he clawed at Varkos's eyes, forcing him back. They crashed through the battleship's hull, spinning into open space.
Varkos recovered first. He dragged Paragon toward a dying star, its corona lashing space with tongues of plasma. "Let's see you adapt to *this*." He slammed Paragon into the star's photosphere.
Paragon screamed. His skin vaporized, muscles carbonized, eyes boiled to jelly. The star's gravity crushed him, but his power fought back. Cells regenerated faster than they burned. He *adapted*-skin reflecting radiation, lungs filtering molten hydrogen. He grabbed Varkos's wrist, his voice a guttural rasp. "Not… enough."
Varkos snarled and hurled him deeper into the star. Paragon plunged through layers of superheated gas, his body a comet of agony. At the core, pressure and heat reached critical levels. Paragon's skeleton compressed, his organs liquefied-but still, he *adapted*. His bones became neutron-dense, his blood plasma. He shot upward, a burning spear, and tackled Varkos out of the star.
They crashed onto a derelict space station, its skeletal frame disintegrating on impact. Paragon pinned Varkos, pummeling him with fists like asteroid strikes. Varkos's armor cracked. His left eye swelled shut. But he laughed, bloodied and exhilarated. "Finally!" He headbutted Paragon, then flipped him onto his back. "But not enough!"
Varkos tore a support beam from the station and impaled Paragon through the gut, pinning him to the wreckage. "Stay down, dead man."
Paragon's body bled molten gold, his adaptations flickering. Varkos turned to leave, but a hand gripped his ankle. Paragon rose, the beam still through his torso, his voice a furnace growl. "I'm just… warming up."
Varkos ripped the beam from Paragon's gut and swung it like a club. Paragon caught it, snapped it in half, and drove the jagged end into Varkos's thigh. The champion bellowed, backhanding Paragon through the station's reactor core. Radiation flooded the chamber, but Paragon absorbed it-his cells mutating, his veins glowing toxic green.
He emerged, radioactive and roaring, and tackled Varkos through the station's hull. They spun into the debris field, trading blows that shattered asteroids and disabled drones. Varkos headbutted Paragon into a frozen comet, then split it in half with his warhammer. Paragon retaliated by hurling a moonlet fragment at him. Varkos punched through it, but Paragon was already there, driving a knee into his ribs.
"You're learning," Varkos spat, grabbing Paragon's leg and slamming him into a derelict freighter. The ship's fuel tanks exploded, engulfing them in fire. Paragon crawled from the inferno, skin charred to ash, but his eyes burned brighter. Varkos emerged unscathed, armor smoldering. "But not fast enough."
Varkos dragged Paragon into the upper atmosphere of a gas giant, hurricanes of ammonia and methane tearing at them. Lightning arced across Paragon's body, but he channeled it, striking Varkos with a billion volts. The champion convulsed, armor melting, but he spun and kicked Paragon into the planet's core.
Pressure mounted-crushing, unimaginable. Paragon's organs burst, his skull fractured, but he *adapted*. His body compacted into a hyper-dense form, surviving the core's fury. He erupted upward, a projectile of flesh and rage, and speared Varkos into the storm. They grappled, tearing at each other with teeth and nails, until Varkos headbutted him into the planet's rings.
Paragon crashed through ice and rock, Varkos pursuing. He grabbed a moon fragment and smashed it over the champion's head. Varkos staggered, dazed, and Paragon seized his chance. He pummeled Varkos with meteoric blows, driving him back toward the gas giant.
"Enough!" Varkos roared. He headbutted Paragon again, shattering his reconstructed jaw, and hurled him into a black hole's accretion disk. Time dilated. Paragon's body stretched, twisted, but he *adapted*. His cells became timeless, immune to entropy. He clawed his way out, reborn, and charged Varkos with a scream that shook the stars.
Varkos barely blocked the strike. For the first time, fear flickered in his eyes. Paragon's fist had carved a dent in his warhammer. "What are you?"
Paragon smiled, teeth regrown, eyes blazing. "Your end."
Varkos, furious, grabbed Paragon and hurdles him through a planet. They emerged above a volcanic world, its surface a hellscape of lava and ash. Paragon hit the ground like a meteor, splitting a continent. Varkos descended, warhammer raised, and struck the fault line. The planet *cracked*, magma geysering into the sky.
Paragon rose from the inferno, his body sheathed in molten rock. He shrugged it off, skin diamond-hard, and charged. Their clash split mountains, boiled oceans, and filled the sky with debris. Varkos was faster, stronger, but Paragon *adapted* with every blow.
Varkos slammed him into a volcano. Paragon erupted from the crater, riding a tidal wave of lava. He tackled Varkos into the planet's core, their fists striking with tectonic force. The core destabilized. The planet began to implode.
They burst into space, the world exploding behind them. Varkos was battered, armor in tatters, one horn broken. Paragon hovered, unscathed, his power surging. "Your turn."
Paragon moved faster than light. He struck Varkos 10,000 times in a nanosecond-ribs, jaw, knees-each hit a supernova. Varkos's warhammer shattered. His armor disintegrated. He tumbled through the void, helpless, as Paragon dismantled him.
He grabbed Varkos's remaining horn and snapped it off. "This is for Halcyon."
He punched through Varkos's chest, gripping his spine. "This is for the dead."
He tore Varkos's arm from its socket. "This is for me."
The Draathari fleet watched in horror as their champion, a demigod reduced to a broken puppet, floated in the void. Paragon gripped his skull, fingers denting bone. "Beg."
Varkos spat blood. "Never."
Paragon's eyes glowed. "Good."
The final blow hung in the balance. Paragon's fist trembled, power crackling. Varkos, unable to move anymore said his final words. "Nothing but a no good butcher. I hope your people get hit by an astroid."
"Well, what's one more death..." Paragon added before gripping Varkos's neck, and strangling him to death.