Athran screamed something - most likely a curse, but through the clinking metal and roaring of the worm that couldn't be distinguished - and quickly pulled out the Black Sword, avoiding the huge jaws with a long step aside. Its blade glinted in the stray beams of sun, and flashed as he leaped into the air.
The marble somehow got into Ryuch's hands, and in a matter of a mere second, Athran was up in the air. With two clean, lightning-fast strikes, he cut off the two outer jaws of the worm, making a great turn in the air while avoiding the inner ones, and landed back on his feet. The worm roared, its murky blood dripping off the Black Sword, and its inner jaws, with the rows of sharp teeth, were aimed at Ryuch.
The death god, surprisingly, didn't do anything. He just stood there, staring at something in the distance, clutching the marble in his hands. His head disappeared in the worm's mouth, but when it attempted to bite the death god, its sharp teeth couldn't even pierce his skin. "Mortal creatures have funny ideas about death gods!" he shouted, but from the worm's intestines, it came out only as muffled mumbling. Athran screamed, and skewed the sword deep into the worm.
Ryuch bent his knees even more than before, and slipped from the worm's jaws, shaking the slippery saliva off his hair and face. The worm was shaking, but its body was slowly sinking against the Black Sword's blade, which created a bigger and bigger hole with every inch the worm went down. Eventually, it sled off the weapon, and collapsed onto the ground, dead.
The elf himself wiped the slime from his long hair, slicking it back. The winged circlet was lost somewhere behind, but he didn't seem to have even noticed. Ryuch, holding the black ball against the sun, stared at its shadowy surface. "What is this?" he whispered.
"I'd rather ask what is THIS." Athran replied, poking the corpse with the tip of his boot. "And if there's more... I've a bad feeling it's not done yet."