Hello, I'm back. So sorry for the long wait. I still have two more exams to sit, but they are scheduled for next week. I finally had some down time to do some editing and continue with my story.

Here it is, Knuckles' boss battle. Since this is the first time I have written this kind of battle (long and tiring), I don't know whether it's good or not. Therefore, please read and tell me how I can improve on the next boss battles. Thank you. Also, please read the notes at the end of the chapter.

Now then, without further delay, here's the battle. Enjoy. :)

Ancient Graveyard – Act 3: Belphur of the Immovable Soils

After overcoming all of the obstacles and sending the animated skeletons back to their tombs, Knuckles finally arrived at Belphur's castle.

The echidna looked at the giant construct in awe. It was very old, possibly as old as or even older than the graveyard he had just passed. However, Knuckles wasn't here to admire the ancient architecture of marvel nor was he here looking for buried treasures of the ancient, he was here to stop one of the raging gods from wiping the worlds out of existence.

"Alright, bull head," yelled Knuckles as he made his way toward the gate, "Here I come." The echidna then threw a powerful punch and sent the giant gates blocking his path flying into the castle's hall.

…

The inside of the ancient place wasn't much better than its exterior, if not even worse. To put it simply, it looked like it hadn't been cleaned for millennia, 'which is probably the case' thought Knuckles in disgust as he slowly walked past the various webs and dusty antiques to the middle of the spacious chamber.

"Now where am I supposed to find Belphur?" muttered the echidna quietly as he darted his eyes around and scanned the room. There was nothing in sight, no door, no window, no staircase, nothing except for some furniture and worn pictures decorating the lonely space.

Knuckles was about to yell out for Belphur to appear and face him directly, but before he could manage that, a problem occurred. All of the sudden, the entire ground beneath Knuckles' feet began to crack, much to the echidna's surprise and utter dismay.

To make matter worse, the gate that he had just knocked open magically flew back in their original position and shut the lone echidna in the room. Soon, the entire place began to shake more and more violently. After a few seconds had passed, the floor beneath the guardian's feet collapsed, taking him down with it.

"Another trap, huh?" said Knuckles with an exasperated tone, clearly having grown tired of the deity's annoying and truthfully futile attempts at his life. He looked down at the pit was currently falling down and saw nothing but impending darkness. Despite his infamous reputation of being extremely strong and resilient, falling from that height could very well spell end for him, and Knuckles wasn't about to test that theory.

"This is starting to get on my nerves" said Knuckles as he hopped on top of a falling boulder nearby and balanced himself. After that, the echidna began to make his way down by jumping on and off the other falling boulders and slowly but steadily made his way down the pit.

The ordeal was rather long, too long for the guardian's limited patience. It took about fifteen minutes of nonstop hopping before Knuckles could see the rocky surface below again. When he was close to the ground, the echidna jumped off the boulder he was on and began to glide down with ease.

Right after landing safe and sound, the echidna quickly and immediately dashed forward and rolled out of the way to avoid being crushed by the rain of falling boulders.

…

Once that was done, Knuckles looked around to survey the new area and realized that he was inside a stone cave of some sort. The only sources of light inside the darkness-filled place came from the occasional torches hung along the rocky walls. Also, there was only one way to advance, and the amethyst-eyed guardian knew exactly what that meant.

"An invitation, huh?" Knuckles muttered to himself as he grabbed a torch and continued on with the last part of his treacherous journey.

The walk inside the cave was rather easy compared to the various nasty surprises on the surface that he had had to endure. All Knuckles had to do was watch his head and his footing to make sure he didn't get hit by some rocks and fall down occasional trap holes that undoubtedly had spikes at the bottom.

The walk went on for a reasonably long time before the echidna finally arrived at a giant, elaborately-carved rock gate with strange carvings and writings on it. There was also a place to hang his torch, so the echidna put the light source there and prepared to open the seemingly heavy entrance.

He soon found out that his preparation for a demolition was not necessary, much to his annoyance, for as soon as the torch landed on its intended position, the entire cave began to shake and the obstacle obstructing his advance opened on its own, inviting the guardian in for his confrontation with the lord of the dimension.

"Alright then, time to finish what I started," thought Knuckles as he cracked his fingers and warmed up before heading through the newly opened path before him. The echidna was physically and mentally prepared to face and take on the giant god of this domain.

…

After walking for a little while longer, Knuckles found himself at a spacious battle arena specifically prepared for him. In the middle of the arena, the mighty and sturdy deity Belphur stood still, with his hands crossed and eyes closed, patiently waiting for his guest's arrival.

As soon as the sound Knuckles' footsteps stopped in front of him, the deity opened his eyes and looked at the echidna with a satisfied grin splitting his huge face.

"I see that you've managed to make it this far," said the god as he uncrossed his hands and cracked his giant fingers, "You took longer than I thought you would, however, guardian."

"Yeah, sorry to disappoint you, Belphur," said Knuckles with a tone filled with sarcasm and contempt as he stepped closer to the giant being before him, "But I'm not here to seek your approval. I'm here to kick your butt…hard."

The god suddenly burst out laughing. Just his laughter was strong enough to make the entire cave shake violently and the earth rumble restlessly. However, Knuckles, having learned beforehand just how powerful the minotaur-like creature was from his test punch, stood still and tried to appear unimpressed at the minotaur's attempt to appear intimidating.

"Very well then, tiny mortal. If you think you can best me, Belphur of the Immovable Soils - the physically strongest among the seven gods, in strength… come and prove it."

With that, Belphur stomped the ground hard and got into his battle stance, ready to thoroughly slaughter his challenger. On the other side, Knuckles did the same, feeling himself more than ready to face the depraved being before him.

…

The battle between the two powerhouse members of two opposing teams ensued.

As soon as the last words of taunt left the deity's mouth, Knuckles lunged at him at an impressive speed. The echidna then delivered a rock-smashing jab into the giant creature's hardened abdomen, making Belphur crouch a little, but otherwise perfectly unharmed and unfazed by the guardian's brute force.

"Heh, a little better than the last ones you threw," said Belphur with an amused grin on his face, "but still not good enough, guardian."

In one swift motion, Belphur backhanded Knuckles and sent him flying toward the rock wall behind him with a loud thud. Despite his large frame, the deity was much faster than Knuckles had given him credit for. The attack completely took Knuckles by surprise and thus, he wasn't able to react quickly enough.

The wounded echidna got to his feet and massaged his shoulder briefly to somewhat ease the pain. That one hit had done a number on him, but he wasn't about to give up after that blow.

Once again, Knuckles lunged himself forward and unleashed a series of punches and jabs at the powerful opponent. The echidna attacked everywhere he could reach; the god's chest, arms, shoulders, legs, stomach in search f a weak point, only to find that his attacks didn't even manage to make the giant flinch in the slightest.

"And I thought you would provide me with a decent challenge," said Belphur with a shake of his head as he stood still and endured the echidna's furious rain of punches thrown at him. After a while, Knuckles jumped back and tried to catch his breath. Needless to say, the guardian was stunned that his attacks didn't even leave a mark on the being before him.

'Does this guy even have a weak point?' thought the guardian bitterly as e kept his eyes on his giant adversary, not wanting to get knocked out by a sudden attack.

However, Belphur, not allowing Knuckles a moment of rest, jumped at his opponent in an attempt to crush him with his huge frame, but the echidna managed to get away with relative ease.

Even though Knuckles managed to avoid instant doom by being crushed, he was not in the clear just yet. The force of Belphur's weight hitting the ground generated a huge shockwave powerful enough to sweep across the battle arena, making Knuckles lose balance for a little while.

Unfortunately for the trapped hero, 'losing balance for a while' in the presence of a monster like Belphur equaled 'letting your guard down', and the deity quickly used that to his advantage.

The giant menace slammed his fist on the ground and summoned a column of enormous earth spikes that headed straight for Knuckles.

Seeing the incoming objects, the echidna quickly rolled out of the way, but not before getting grazed by one of the conjured spikes due to not having reacted quickly enough.

Ignoring the minor pain on his shoulder, Knuckles once again lunged at Belphur for another attempt. Because of his previous attack, Belphur had to crouch down so that he could touch the earth with his bare fist, and thus he wasn't able to stand up fast enough, allowing Knuckles to get in for another series of attacks.

Using his incredible speed, Knuckles instantly got close to Belphur, avoided his other fist, and stepped on the minotaur's knee. Using the knee as a stepping stone to reach the deity's head, Knuckles tried attacking the places where he couldn't reach before.

When he was within range, he threw a mighty punch at the god's unguarded face. Unfortunately for Knuckles, Belphur managed to dodge the attack with no apparent difficulty by simply tilting his head to one side.

'What?' Knuckles thought as his punch was dodged.

The powerful creature then used his horns in an attempt to impale the echidna to death, but the latter quickly glided in the air and jumped back before the horns hit him.

…

After dodging Belphur's horn attack, Knuckles jumped back and created some distance between him and the menacing creature. Not one to rest, Belphur used his mystical powers over earth to summon gigantic boulders and sent them flying at the echidna at an incredible pace.

'That was strange' thought Knuckles curiously as he tried his best to dodge and destroy the barrage of incoming projectiles thrown his way. 'Since this battle began, Belphur hasn't even attempted to dodge any of my punches, but he did that just now…when I aimed at his face…'

With a devilish smirk slowly forming on his muzzle, Knuckles jumped on top of the incoming boulders in quick succession in order to reach the giant Minotaur once again.

"You want to die that badly, guardian? Or are simply testing how much luck you have left before it finally runs out?" asked Belphur gleefully as he threw another one of his notoriously deadly punches at Knuckles when the latter was within range. The echidna, however, managed to dodge the attack using his glide ability to stay afloat. With said ability, the echidna also avoided Belphur's other fist and came face-to-face with the god a moment later.

"Got you now, beast," yelled Knuckles as he sunk his spiked namesakes onto the deity's face, causing him to roar loudly in sheer agony. The force of the echidna's attack also made the giant lose his balance and forced him to take a few steps backward, roaring loudly all the while.

'I was right!' thought Knuckles with a gleeful smirk on his face, which was even bigger than the last. The echidna then attempted to capitalize the moment to launch another attack, but the god beat him to the punch, literally.

Belphur managed to recover himself from the initial shock and threw another punch at the still airborne echidna. Even though Knuckles was able to guard himself by crossing his arms in front of his chest, the force that single punch once again sent him flying toward the rock wall far away, this time smashing it to bits.

…

"How…" asked Belphur in surprise as he looked at the injured Knuckles, who was struggling to get to his feet once again, "How did you know…"

"Where to hit you?" asked Knuckles with a smirk, "When I attacked your body, you just stood still and took everything without so much as flinching. However, when I was about to hit your face a few minutes earlier, you dodged on purpose. That means you don't want to be hit in that spot, and that also means it could be your weakness. It was merely a speculation at first, but it seemed it was proven true after all."

"But you couldn't…"

"But I couldn't be sure, right? The echidna intentionally interrupted the deity once again, "That's why I threw a 'test punch' just now to see whether or not my discovery was spot on."

"STOP INTERUPPTING ME!" roared the irritated deity, clearly tired of being interrupted repeatedly by Knuckles, who seemed to enjoy the deity's sudden outburst.

"Now do you see how annoying you are, beast?" asked Knuckles with a chuckle, amused by the god's reaction to his own game.

Belphur stood still, thinking for a moment, but he then calmed down and laughed like a man who had forfeited his sanity in favor of madness.

"You are better than I thought, guardian. This is the first time I've ever been hurt in direct confrontation, and by the fist of a mortal no less…However, that doesn't mean you're going to win this battle."

Without saying anything else, Belphur raised his hands and summoned two giant earth hands next to Knuckles' position. Before the echidna could react, the deity clasped his palms together and made the newly-conjured earth hands do the same, smashing the trapped victim in the middle.

With million thanks to his legendary strength and resilience, Knuckles managed keep the two rock hands apart the moment they came together and narrowly avoided being turned into a pancake. However, he was completely vulnerable to the deity's next attacks in his current predicament.

Before Knuckles could think of a way out of his unfavorable situation, Belphur emerged right in front of him and attacked with an extraordinarily powerful uppercut, one that the deity seemed to have poured even more power into. The force of that uppercut destroyed the giant earth hands and sent the echidna flying upward.

Not wasting a second, the minotaur-like god leaped into the air as well, following the dazed echidna.

Knuckles groaned in pain and tried to force his eyes open, only to find that he was in mid-air. The force of Belphur's last attack had seriously done a number on his smaller frame. In fact, a normal being with average strength like Sonic or Tails would have had their insides instantly crushed by that strike.

Looking down, Knuckles saw that, to his absolute horror, Belphur's sharp horns were pointing right at him. Ignoring the excruciating and almost unbearable pain coming from his stomach, the echidna instantly glided back and dodged the deadly horns in the nick of time. Capitalizing the opportunity of being in mid-air, the guardian approached Belphur with his ability and then threw another series of punches directly at Belphur's face, inflicting a considerable amount of damage to him.

…

It was a reasonably long while after a ruthless and thunderous exchange of fists in mid-air between two beings that knew nothing about backing down that the echidna clasped his namesakes together and hammered the giant god on the back of his head with all his might and sent him flying toward the ground with a mighty collision that cracked the millennia-old rocky surface.

Before Belphur could recover from the attack, Knuckles capitalized and sent all of his strength into his spiked fists and let gravity take him down to increase the power of his next strike.

Due to being slightly dazed from the high fall he had endured as well as the sheer size of his structure, Belphur wasn't able to get up just yet. When he did manage to open his eyes to see, the sight that he saw was that of a crimson blur heading straight for him with his fists outstretched.

Unable to react quickly enough to the sudden maneuver, the grounded god was hit by the full force of the echidna's attack, which only helped to further the destruction of the battle arena.

Using what was left of his strength, Knuckles forced his body to get up and landed on top of Belphur's torso. Once there, he unleashed another series of punches at the fallen giant's face, dishing out as much damage as he possibly could in his current condition.

Even when he was completely blinded by the guardian's restless assaults, Belphur still managed to get it together and knocked Knuckles off his broad chest by summoning a giant boulder with his magic and commanding it to ram squarely at the echidna's backside, making him yelp in pure agony when the rock hit and sent him flying a few feet away from his opponent.

…

Groggily standing up, Belphur and Knuckles got into their respective battle stances again, ready for each other's next attacks.

"You're still standing? Well done, guardian," said Belphur as he looked at Knuckles right in the eyes with an amused and delighted smirk on his face. It had been a while since he last had such a heated fight with someone that could take a lot of punishments from him and still manage to get up for more. Needless to say, the embodiment of earth and strength was ecstatic, not that he would admit it to the echidna anytime soon.

"I still have enough strength to finish you off, Belphur!"

The god snorted and laughed loudly, both amused and intrigued by the echidna's bold words for someone in his current situation.

"Alright then, I'll finish you off with my next attack, guardian."

"Oh yeah? Try me!"

With that, the two powerhouses charged at each other and launched a punch at each other. The shockwave created by the collision of the two fists sent the two fighters back. Also, the force created by the two connecting strikes was powerful enough to shake the entire place and made the battle arena collapse, much to Knuckles' dismay and Bephur's annoyance.

…

"Hmm, this entire place is going to come down soon," said Belphur as he inspected the current condition of the battle arena, which was starting to crack and shake violently after the last tremor created by both parties involved. The walls around the arena were starting to break apart.

"Who in their right mind would put a battle arena underground while knowing full well it could collapse at any given moment anyway?" yelled Knuckles in exasperation as he struggled to maintain his balance against the ensuing violent earthquake.

"This battle arena is capable of withstanding my strength, but I guess it's not strong enough to withstand both our strength at the same time. Though it's such a shame to leave things unfinished, I don't think our battle can reach a conclusion at the moment," replied the deity, completely ignoring the echidna's rude remark, "I'll say it's a draw."

"Not yet, I can still fight, Belphur. And I can still kick your butt right here, right now if I want to."

"Amusing! But like I said, this place is coming down as we speak, so I'll give you a choice, guardian. Either you stay here and continue your struggle against me, only to get crushed by the falling cave in the end, or we can get out of this place and finish our battle next time we encounter."

Knuckles stood still and contemplated his options for a moment. He didn't want to admit it out loud, but Belphur was right. It would do him no good to continue the fight and die as a result. He still had other duties to tend to back in his world, and he wasn't about to throw his life away so meaninglessly and needlessly like this.

"Fine," growled the irritated echidna, "We'll finish this battle later. Next time, I will defeat you without fail, Bull Head."

Belphur simply smirked in amusement at his opponent's remark and summoned two portals with his magic, one behind himself and the other behind Knuckles.

"That's your way out, guardian. Next time we meet, we will fight to our heart's content. And I will annihilate you completely."

With that the god disappeared through the portal and got out of the collapsing cave.

"Yeah, next time…" muttered Knuckles softly before jumping through his portal, teleporting himself out of the battle arena in the nick of time and got back to the Forbidden Island.

A second after the two combatants had left the scene, the entire cave collapsed completely, and so did Belphur's castle on the surface world.

…

At another place…

Belphur reappeared in a dark chamber somewhere on the Forbidden Island and sat down on one of the thrones around a round table. The god was lost in his own thoughts about Knuckles and his ability to match his strength in battle.

"Finally, a decent challenge…" muttered the deity, completely unaware of the presence of a cloaked figure behind him.

"It's ages since I last saw you acknowledged someone as your worthy opponent, Belphur."

"Arzazel…Well, that echidna managed to survive my tests, my punches and even me in battle. He may be the one I've been searching for all this time; an individual powerful enough to make me go all out and fight at full strength…"

"While I am pleased that you seem to be enjoying your game with the guardian from a different world, I must remind you that we have an objective to carry out."

"Of course I remember. I'll get back to that after I have had my fun with that echidna. After all these years, all these generations, my wish may come true after all."

Belphur then stood up and disappeared in the shadows, leaving the leader of the fallen gods behind to muse about the entire situation.

"These mortals are fascinating, yet dangerous to our…to my grand design."

A moment later, Arzazel opened a portal and stepped through it, teleporting himself out of the dark chamber.

Alright, since Knuckles' chapter is over, we can now enter Character Select Mode again. As usual, the first person, excluding ABCSonicKirbyWarriors (you already chose Knuckles already, so please let other people make their pick. Thank you for your support btw :)) Alright, that's all.

Once again, thank you everyone for reading my story and your time. Have a good day. :)