Chapter 59: Mortal-Cup part 4: Men and the abyss.
Faust Ilumnos (Demigod) - Synthia Altrenas (Deadman):
The announcer shouted in excitement "Well then, ladies, gentleman and gentlefolk! It is time to start the quarter-finals of the Mortal-Cup portion of today’ s tournament. First we have the king of Elysium and newfound demigod Faust Ilumnos and he is facing the child of the king of death Synthia Altrenas! There is no need for further introductions, so let’s get this thing rolling!"
Lud takes a deep breath in his prep room. He mutters to himself "Somehow, I feel like I’m about to go and be evaluated for something."
Li says to Lud "You are simply feeling the weight of how far you have grown. You defeated the most powerful human that still lives in fair combat. You just need to get used to the fact that you can take down most of the dangerous opponents yourself."
Lud says "But I still wish to just build some houses and hear what I have to do. Then I would only need to do that and when I get home, I could enjoy some social media, have snacks and go to bed."
Li says with a smile while tapping Lud on the shoulder "Things truly have changed, haven’t they."
Lud just nods.
The call to the arena is made on Lud’s end, he rises up and says to Li "I’ll be going now. Let’s hope things don’t go south."
Li just smiled gently and nodded as Lud left the room.
On the other corner of the arena, Thia is in her prep room all kiddy and excited. Thews is there as he tries to calm her down while also being excited to see how the battle will unfold.
Thews says "Now then. Go beat his ass to next week and if he wins, you have a future husband in tow."
Mira rubs her forehead and says "And this is why she never married. Because you insisted that her partner had to beat her in battle first before getting married."
Thews asks "And what’s so wrong with that? She seems to enjoy it."
Thia is jumping all over the prep room like she had zoomies, waiting for the call to the arena to be made.
Mira says to Thews "I mean sure, but it is because you gave her that idea in the first place. What if she is disappointed by Faust’s performance?"
Thews shrugs it off as he says "Well deal with that when we get to it."
Mira rubs her forehead again as she says "So it will be up to me again, huh."
Thews made a thumbs up and said "I knew I could count on you."
The call to the arena was made and like a cat who heard the raffling of their foodbag, she storms to the arena.
Mira just comments "I mean this is to be expected from your child."
Thews places out the fact "Our child."
When the two entered the arena, Thia’s sword was already at Lud’s throat and Mercy said "Contestant Synthia, wait until you are sent to the pocket dimension before you start the match."
Thia jumps away and says "Sorry. Sorry. I’m just... So excited."
Soon the two are sent to a beach during a full moon with clear skies.
As soon as Lud opened his eyes in the pocket dimension, Thia was already nearing with her sword at hand.
Lud manages to deflect Thia’s first attack, but the next dozen he barely is able to avoid.
Thia is smiling ear to ear as she says "Yes. YES! This is it! A true battle between two swordsmen! Show me. Show me more!"
Lud is barely able to keep up with Thia and he has to heavily rely on the sloth ability and the ability to see possible paths. This, of course, makes it so that Lud has to make it very close to when Thia is about to land a hit, which isn’t sustainable.
But as the fight goes on, Lud starts to more and more get used to using his abilities in tandem.
As the battle rages on, Lud’s hair starts to grow ever so slightly longer each passing moment.
It is as if the time he is spending finding the correct path to victory, the older he is getting, and hence, the hair growing longer.
But that would mean that his nails would grow longer, which isn’t happening.
Nevertheless, Lud’s hair grows longer and longer and his golden eyes begin to blacken ever so slightly with each passing moment.
Eventually, Lud’s hair touches the very ground, to which both Lud and Thia pay no mind at all it seems.
But eventually, even with his improved state, Lud’s stamina begins to take its toll on him, and he begins to make more and more mistakes as the time passes.
This has been the longest match so far, but for the audience, the time contestants spent on the pocket dimension won’t ever last more than ten minutes. If even that.
How does it affect the watching experience? Someone we know is taking care of compiling the most exciting parts and showing them on the screen while still not cutting a single moment for those who understand how the battle is going.
There are those in the audience that can tell that the footage is being "edited" in real time, but most of those who watch it are civilians, so they can’t tell the difference.
But back to the fight, Thia manages to cut off the arm that Lud is using to hold his sword
Lud, with a speed which he would have never even dreamed of achieving back in his construction days, manages to take a hold of the sword with his other hand, but unfortunately for him, that left him open enough to let Thia cut off the second hand.
As Lud leaped away, Thia’s was hot on his tail with her next attack that was about to hit Lud’s throat. At that moment, Lud couldn’t find any paths that would lead him to his victory.
In his mind, Lud thinks "So this is as far as I can go. Well I lasted more than I initially thought. It’s okay. That is okay."
But then a voice in Lud’s head says "But isn’t it this mindset that made you lose Adam?"
Lud thinks to himself "No... No, I did everything I could to help Adam live a happy life. I am proud of what I..."
But the voice in Lud’s head says "But if you studied harder, if you studied and somehow found a cure for his illness... then you would have been able to save him. You would have been able to save your brother."
Lud thinks "That is impossible. In that short of a time... someone like me... to succeed where others couldn’t... that is impossible."
The voice keeps yapping "It is because of that mindset that you lost your brother. It is your weakness and willingness to let others do the heavy lifting that made you lose him. Lose your whole family."
Lud thinks "I did what I..."
The voice says "What you could? Don’t fool around. You... Ludwig Freigner... gave up."
Lud asks in his head "What?"
The voice says "You gave up... You let Adam rot and accepted a fate that was layed out for you. And you are doing it again."
Lud thinks to himself "But this is just some tournament I’m in. How does this gotta to with me giving up on..."
Lud’s mind went silent. He realized that he just admitted to giving up on Adam. Just like, how he is willing to just lose the match when he could try everything in his arsenal to win.
The voice says "This time, you have a choice."
Lud asks in his head "A choice?"
The voice says "You can go back and fix him."
A dark shadow starts to form on the ground that comes from Lud.
Lud’s mind is growing numb as he thinks "I can... save... save Adam."
The voice says "Yes. You’ve seen what Maumar can do. We both have seen it. We all have."
The shadow that comes from Lud’s back grows bigger and bigger. It shakes like a caged animal.
Lud thinks to himself while barely being able to do so "We... all? Who... who is ’we’?"
The voice says "Me... You... We... We are all the same. We are you... We are what convergence makes us... We are the yous who ask ’Could we have done better?’... We ask... and so far... you have ignored us."
Eyes start to pop open from the shadows that keep. On. Growing.
Lud thinks "Ig... nored..."
The voice says "Yes. You know where you need to look. You know where to go. You know what to do. You know what to envision. You know... Exactly..."
Then Lud says in real time "What... To do."
The energy pouring from Lud pushes Thia aside, and from the shadows unfurls a ghostly, willowing scream.
Thia smiles from ear to ear and says "I knew you had something else. Now then... Show me... And defeat me!"
In the audience, Perkele has a huge smile on his face. He begins to laugh. Laugh hysterically.
Freya, who is right next to him, smiles also and asks Perkele "Care to tell me what is so funny so I can laugh also?"
Perkele’s laughs subsides and he asks Freya "Say, do you remember the time when Maumar made the core of the abyss?"
Freya shrugs and answers "Not sure. There are so many memories to go through that it is hard to pinpoint."
Perkele smiles and says "Well then, how would you feel if you witnessed one’s creation now?"
Freya laughs and says "That is impossible. Only Maumar could ever..."
But then Freya catches on why Perkele was laughing so hard earlier. They get uncharasterictically serious and start to think carefully about what to do.
Freya mutters to themselves "Too soon. Too soon."
Then Freya shouts "It is too soon! And two cannot exist at once! If one appears, then..."
Freya doesn’t finish their sentence and goes to Mercy and tells what is happening. Mercy, seeing how dangerous the situation is, summons both Thia and Lud back to the arena and stops Lud from going any further.
The audience is talking to themselves why the match ended, when Perkele goes to the announcer’s booth and you can hear the announcer talking back at Perkele "Hey, you can’t be in here."
But Perkele says to the microphone "Behold. We almost bore witness to the creation that only someone like Maumar could do."
The audience talks among themselves on what Perkele means and Mercy and Freya are too busy stopping Lud that they just let it happen. Mercy shouts "Someone go stop Perkele!"
Perkele finishes his sermon and says "Yes. What only Maumar could create, is the very core of the abyss itself. A birth to a new abyss."
People start to panic and Atkoosa appears floating in the middle of the arena, glowing like a gentle sun.
Atkoosa says to the audience to soothe the situation "Calm yourselves people. What Perkele is saying is pure nonsense. Only Maumar, that... fiend, is able to create something as destructive as an abyss core. Do not trust the words of the savage god Perkele, for he aims to hurt you all."
The audience, while still taken aback, calm themselves and talk amongst themselves how what Perkele said couldn’t be true.
Li gets to the booth and says to Perkele "You better stop here."
Perkele lets go of the mic and as he walks past Li, he says "Too bad the worst didn’t happen, but in the end, I got what I wanted."
Li tries to ask "What do you..." But Perkele disappears before he could finish.
The match ends in Thia’s victory as Lud gets "disqualified".
Thia throws a casket and shouts "What do you mean disqualified?! Things were just about to get interesting!"
Before Thia could shout more, Thews grabbed her by the shoulder and said "In this case, being disqualified means that it isn’t safe for anyone to fight him currently."
Thia tries to fight against it by saying "But I..."
Thews a sharp look on his face as he says to Thia "He almost destroyed the whole world in that moment. He far surpasses you."
Thia gets a little sad look on her face and says "Okay" And together with Thews, they leave the arena.
Still, inside Thia wished that the match should have ended more properly. But going against her father... Thia doesn’t want to think about it.
.
Re’ût Ekt Ömmash (Transcended Abyssan) - Peretasha Xitolrta (Dragon Matriarch):
Once the situation is under control, the announcer says "Well then. Now that that hiccup is out of the way, let’s continue with today’s tournament!
Next up is the Abyssan Re’ût and the dragon matriarch Peretasha.
Neither needs introductions, so let’s call them now and find out who is better!"
Re’ût, in his prep room, thinks to himself "That man... No wonder the corpse father himself has an eye out for him. In that form, even I..."
Re’ût doesn’t want to delve any further to it and focuses on the next match as the call to the arena is made.
On the other hand, Pere thinks to herself in her prep room "’Pure nonsense’ he says. What is nonsense is the things you tell the audience.
But I get it, telling them the truth would only make the situation worse than it was. That was Perkele’s aim with that stunt."
Pere sighs and says to herself "I suppose... He does have what it takes to be my mating partner. I wonder..."
Pere looks to the ceiling and says "I wonder if the other Faust was similar in a way."
The call to the arena is made and Pere leaves the prep room.
When Pere and Re’ût were in the arena, after the wows, both were sent underground filled with bioluminescent light surrounding them.
Pere said "Well this couldn’t have been a worse place for me to fight." To which Re’ût asked "So are you giving up?"
Pere firmly said "No" and then attacked with a beam of concentrated energy of unknown origin.
Re’ût stood still and was not affected by whatever Pere was using.
Re’ût asked Pere "Is that all?" To which Pere responded with a heavy strike with her fist.
Re’ût in turn, was unmoved by Pere’s attack, and stood still. He asked "So... Is this your all? Dragon matriarch?"
Pere got furious for a moment and made an explosive attack that would have buried both her and Re’ût where they stood. However, Re’ût stood firmly still as he didn’t need to breathe as an abyssan.
Pere, being submerged in rubble, eventually died due to the absence of air, lost the battle, and thus, Re’ût won.
When both of them got back to the arena, Pere said "If it had been somewhere less crowded, I would have defeated you."
To which Re’ût Re’ût said, "If so, I would have welcomed it."
And so, the match ended in Re’ût’s victory.
.
Lockman (Human) - Brutus Lidweg (Ancient Dragon):
Lockman sat still in the prep room, waiting for the next match to begin. Arthur said to him "Do not falter. The next opponent, at least according to my calculations, should be formidable."
Lockman said "We’ll see when I meet the guy."
And in the prep room that Brutus sat in, Angie tapped at his head and said "You gonna beat that man and show we strong."
Brutus said "Yes. I’ll do my best."
Angie smacked Brutus lightly and said "That not enough. If you not careful, he gonna do his little trick and make you weak. That time happen, and you are gonna fail."
Brutus says "Got it. Beat him before he gets the upper hand."
Angie smacks Brutus lightly again and says "Tyran mode from the get go. Otherwise you’ll fail."
Brutus thinks aloud "I see. So you think he is that formidable. Got it. I won’t let you down."
The call to the arena is made and soon Brutus meets Lockman on the arena.
Soon later, they are sent to a pocket dimension that resembles a bunch of icebergs cluttered together. Not in one mass, mind you, they are all separate platforms during the battle.
Brutus says "Sorry bud. I promised my wife I would go all out from the get go." Then he begins his transformation to his tyrant form.
Lockman says as an answer "No worries. I’m not taking this match lightly either."
Lockman charged at Brutus and tried to attack him while he was still transforming, but the flames that surrounded Brutus made the attack somehow more impossible than Imus’ heat did.
Lockman had no other choice but to wait until Brutus transformed to his final stage.
As soon as Brutus was done, he flew to the air and began to spew very concentrated beam of flames at Lockman’s direction.
Lockman, since he had time to do so, adjusted to Brutus’ magic and dodged his attack with little trouble.
As soon as Lockman gained another foothold, he jumped towards Brutus and when he was closer to him, he shot a thread that would help him climb on top of Brutus.
Brutus, not letting Lockman get on top of him so easily, made flames burst all around him in hopes of deterring Lockman’s pursuit.
Alas, Lockman could now endure the flames Brutus emitted and soon climbed on top of Brutus’ head.
Once on top of Brutus’ head Lockman jabbed his finger to Brutus’ head and somehow, this immobilized Brutus.
Brutus was now falling to the ocean below, and Lockman jumped away from what was to come.
Even though Brutus struggled as he sank to the ocean, emitting a huge amount of heat in the process, he could not control his body in a way that would have kept him afloat.
Then again, his body was massive and heavy, so it sank pretty fast with sheer physics alone.
Eventually, Brutus drowned and the victory belonged to Lockman.
Once back in the arena, Brutus asked Lockman "What did you do exactly?"
To which Lockman answered "Like many creatures in Northolth, once you disorient their mobility functions, they become easy prey. Having an ocean below was great help, otherwise I would have to make a few cuts to end you."
Brutus was stunned for a moment, then he rubbed his chin and said "Well, I oughta learn how to counter such a technique in the future so I won’t disappoint the boss."
Lockman says as he turns his back "Good luck with that. Find out how to do so, and you’ll become much more troublesome than those creatures in Northolth."
.
Lamba (Beast Folk) - Macabra (Chimera):
Lamba was careless as he stood on the bench that was in the prep room. Jamos said to him "Next one will be on another level. We don’t know much about her in general, so you should prepare for a formidable confrontation."
Lamba said "Relax, old man. Like any other opponent, I’d defeat her in a jiffy.
Jamos said "This opponent shouldn’t be underestimated. She defeated all her opponents so far with a single attack. Make your move first, and you may be the victor of this battle."
Lamba said "I’ll be the victor in any case. I doubt none of the contestants that are left will cause me any trouble as the ’tournament’ goes on."
Jamos tries to warn Lamba "But you shouldn’t underestimate your opponents even if your victory seems reassured. Be cautious. Be vary."
Lamba says "Right, right. I do what I do. Don’t worry about it too much, old man."
Macabra in her prep room was sitting in silence. She hoped that she could go home soon so that she didn’t come in contact with Perkele anymore. Yet she hoped that she didn’t disappoint Mercy’s expectations of her as a kindred spirit, so she pushed on.
The call to the arena was made and soon the two contestants found themselves on the arena.
Soon later, they were sent to a ruined ancient city that didn’t have your modern tall buildings around.
Lamba asks Macabra "So, what is your schtick? Are you going to try to blow me away or something with your tail?"
Macabra answers "I could end this battle in mere moments, but I feel like you deserve to stew for a while longer after what disrespect you showed towards your opponents."
Lamba shrugged and said "When did I do that? I was just being honest. Let’s end this already."
Lamba attacked with his sword and Macabra blocked it with her tail.
Lamba said in fake astonishment "Eeh? You actually blocked that? Didn’t think your tail could move that fast."
Macabra says to Lamba "You move at such a speed that it is honestly quite a bore. And least of all, you don’t have the guts that I should show mercy to."
Lamba, getting a bit annoyed, said before continuing his barrage of attacks "Bold words from a labrat."
Macabra continued to block Lamba’s attacks with her tail. Even though Lamba wasn’t doing his all, it started to irk him that he had some trouble in handling his opponent.
Lamba tried to jab at Macabra "So tell me... Who do you call your parents? Those that gave birth to your soul, those whose body parts you got, or those who made you whole in that way?"
Macabra answered "I feel alien to my own body often, but I long since have abandoned the perception that a child has for their parents. Or a perception that creation has for their creator. I am me. I see dreams of the people whose body parts I now own, but nevertheless... I am me.
And I am so much stronger than you that I almost yawned for a second."
This irked Lambar, who in turn said in maleficent tone "You watch your trap, you monster."
Lamba’s attacks intensified drastically as he was putting more effort than he had ever put on anything.
Still, being a genius he is, Lamba couldn’t properly control his actions as precisely as he would have wanted, causing many openings to emerge for Macabra.
Macabra took the opportunities and used her tail to sting poison to Lamba’s body. The sting hit right on Lamba’s left shoulder, which made him even more furious.
Lamba tried to attack after falling back a little, but the poison was fast acting and his body could move less and less each passing moment.
"My venom works on nearly every species," Macabra said, her voice low and deliberate. "With each passing second, the paralysis spreads deeper, as if it were alive. First the limbs stiffen, then the chest... until the victim can no longer draw breath. Without air, the heart falters, and soon after, the brain starves of oxygen. Most creatures never even reach that last stage — they die the moment their lungs fail."
Lamba could barely listen to the rest as he was slowly defeated "There is... venom...but... listen now..."
Lamba eventually was defeated and the victory was Macabra’s
When the two were brought back to the arena, Macabra was about to give Lamba a vial as she said "You should take thi..."
But Lamba slammed the vial from Macabra’s hand and shouted "You think I’ll take anything from you?! You think I’ll accept any charity from you?! You cheating bastards should just go down and die. In fact..."
Lamba drew his blade and was about to jam it right on Macabra’s chest, but Perkele appeared between them, grabbed Lamba’s blade with only two fingers.
Lamba shouted "Why? Why did you stop me?!"
Perkele said "Now now, boy. I am as fond of mayhem as you, but we shouldn’t kill each other out of bitterness."
Lamba tried to remove his sword from Perkele’s grip with no success, and Perkele said "Now that would make me a hypocrite if I said that, now wouldn’t it. So here is the deal..."
Perkele moved Lamba’s sword closer, then took hold of Lamba’s throat and said "I will make the rest of your eternity a living hell if you continue with this, but if you go kill your mentor and your fellow disciples after this week ends, I’ll give you the coordinates to her residence and let you go through your little pity of an attempt. What do you say?"
Mercy jumped to the arena and said "Perkele. Didn’t I tell you not to cause trouble during this week?"
Perkele answers "And that is what I’m upholding right now."
Mercy says "You are taking advantage of this young boy’s temptation and trying to cause more suffering. Isn’t that what you’d call causing trouble?"
Perkele says "Then we have very different views of ’causing trouble during the week’. I’m only giving him an offer that starts after the week ends and gives him an opportunity to... reduce the punishment I was about to give him."
Mercy says "You... You can’t just make deals like that when you promised not to cause trouble. You threatened him just now."
Perkele says "All of which will take effect when the week ends. You honestly don’t expect the consequences of the actions of the people in front of me to not matter afterwards, do you?"
Mercy says "You are already on thin ice after the incident yesterday. Don’t push your luck."
Perkele says "I am... well aware that... wills are... bent during this banquet, but this is strictly business between my child and this boy."
Mercy says "Then can you stop choking said boy?"
Perkele looks at Lamba, who he had been choking while talking to Mercy. Perkele stops choking Lamba and says "Nevertheless. My offer still stands. But only AFTER the week ends."
Perkele promptly leaves along with Macabra. Lamba is seething, but knows he isn’t able to go against so many people, so he also leaves.
.
Synthia Altrenas (Deadman) - Re’ût Ekt Ömmash (Transcended Abyssan):
The announcer shouts "And now, the Quarter-Finals of the Mortal-Cup portion of the banquet tournament ends, so now, we move to the Semi-Finals of Mortal-Cup’s portion of today’s tournament!
First we have the child of the Death king, Synthia Altrenas who will be facing the abyssal warrior, Re’ût Ekt Ömmash!
Who will win? Who will lose? Let’s find out!"
Thia, in her prep room, is tapping her feet repeatedly to the ground in frustration. She says to Thews "Why? This pisses me the hell off!"
Thews says "You can always just dip."
Mira says to Thews "No she can’t. What about the honour we still, although barely, still have?"
Thews says "I mean that Re’ût seems quite a mighty opponent that I’d like to face, but if Thia isn’t up for it, then why fight at all?"
Thia sighs and says "If papa says he’d have a bout with the guy, then I suppose I should get excited too."
The call to the arena is made and Thia raises from the bench and says quite unenthusiastically "Let’s goo."
Soon, the two fighters enter the arena and find themselves on a road that stands between two farming fields.
Thia says "Let’s get it over with."
Re’ût says to Thia with his left dragon head Thia "I see that you are quite enthusiastic. Should I offer you something in return to take this match seriously?"
Thia whines "I mean... Papa said he’d like a match with you, but somehow, that doesn’t get my groove on, you know."
Re’ût nods and says with his orc head "I understand. Like intercourse, there is a certain mood you sometimes need to have when fighting your opponent. Should you lack the motivation, the battle will be dull for both ends."
Thia says "I’m glad you understand. And while I’d like to skip this, let’s just do this."
Re’ût nods and says with his left dragon head "If you say so. I will not take this battle seriously at all to match the mood."
Thia attacks Re’ût and Re’ût blocks the attack with his top right hand. Thia continues to make attacks at Re’ût unenthusiastically for a while and even the audience can feel the lack of motivation on both ends.
Eventually, Re’ût slices Thia’s hand off and Thia just says "I give up" to which no one feels the need to criticize.
The match ended in Re’ût’s victory, though no one felt it was satisfactory.
Sometimes, things just need to be done. Even though there is no motivation between anyone.
.
Lockman (Human) - Macabra (Chimera):
The announcer tries to bring the mood back up by shouting "Well... Next up is between the mysterious Lockman and the beautiful Macabra! Who will win? Who will lose? Honestly, I can’t really tell, but my vote goes for that beautiful Macabra! Let’s get this thing started!"
Nothing of interest happened in the prep room, so soon the two combatants found themselves in the arena.
Not soon after, they were sent to a pocket dimension that looked like a modern harbour of some sort.
Lockman didn’t hesitate and immediately started analysing Macabra. Seeing that it would take far too long, he switched to attack mode instead.
Macabra began to summon her void sword, which took much too long and Lockman managed to make a near fatal attack towards Macabra during that time.
Macabra, still recovering from the near death experience, tried to cast another spell, but when Lockman attacked once more, she managed to block it with her tail.
That didn’t help long, since she soon had to switch focus purely to her tail’s movements to make sure Lockman didn’t land any attacks.
Macabra did try to multitask and casted minor void holes near Lockman, but Lockman just avoided those areas as they were manifesting.
The harbour soon was filled with holes that Macabra had summoned and Lockman and Macabra seemed evenly matched, but eventually Macabra grew unable to use her tricks against Lockman and the battle turned towards that of endurance.
Eventually, Lockman managed to disable one of Macabra’s arms from working properly, which in turn caused a chain reaction of attacks.
Macabra managed to sting Lockman with her tail a little, but the timing was too late, as Lockman defeated Macabra.
When the two met in the arena once more, Macabra said to Lockman "I suppose you have some sort of resistance against venoms and such."
Lockman answered "In Northolth, I do meet some creatures that evolved to use venom, so my body was modified to withstand them to some degree."
Macabra says "I suppose that means that my venom is among those you can withstand."
Lockman says "While that is true, I can withstand them, but not nullify them. If you managed to sting me much earlier during the match, I would have been defeated in the end according to my calculations."
Macabra says "Well then. I suppose we call this a worthwhile battle."
Lockman answers "Indeed."
Macabra handed Lockman a vial of antivenom for the venom that might take effect after the match, but Macabra wasn’t sure.
And thus, the match ended in Lockman’s victory.
.
Re’ût Ekt Ömmash (Transcended Abyssan) - Lockman (Human):
The announcer shouted "Ladies, gentleman and gentlefolk! We are now going to witness the final battle in today’s Mortal-Cup Tournament!
On one side, we have Re’ût Ekt Ommash! A transcended abyssan who has beat many of their opponents with relative ease!
On the other side, we have a man named Lockman! A mysterious man who has fought the monsters of the Northolth region for most of his life!
Who will win? The warrior, or the peacekeeper?! Let’s... Find out!"
Soon, the two contestants were in the arena. The final battle was set to be in a pocket dimension that mirrored the real arena.
Both the audience and contestants could see one another, though they weren’t in the same dimension anymore.
Lockman says to Re’ût "We got a lot of eyes watching this bout."
Re’ût replies from the orc head "Indeed. Let’s not disappoint their expectations."
Lockman stared at Re’ût for a while as Re’ût did nothing to antagonise him.
Lockman asked "Are you just gonna stand there? I thought you caught on to my trick by now."
Re’ût says from the locust head "I sense worry in your eyes, so I’m not worried."
Lockman then closes his eyes and says "I can’t get a read on you. And I thought that chimera woman was troubling, but you are on a whole other level. Even the creatures of Northolth wouldn’t stand a chance against you."
Re’ût asks from his left dragon head "Even the leqpiiu?"
Lockman responds with a surprise in his voice "So you have knowledge of Northolth. But no, I’d say that you could beat that damn hive if I ever was a good judge of character."
Re’ût says from his orc head "I suppose that you hold me in high regard. Don’t tell me you have lost hope in winning this?"
Lockman shrugs and says "To be honest, I’d like to quit and not get hurt. Even with that woman’s anti-venom, the venom she struck me with hasn’t fully worn off yet. So me having no confidence in general in beating you in a fair match plus the venom still affecting my body, I’d say that there isn’t really a match worthy of you in me at the moment.
But..."
Re’ût asks with his locust head "But what?"
Lockman takes a running stand and says "We have already made it this far, so I’d disappoint everyone if I just gave up the match. Am I right?"
Re’ût smiled with all his heads that could make such a face, opened his arms to ready himself for Lockman’s attack and said with all of his heads in unison "Then bring it on. Son of man. Lockman!"
And with that, Lockman charged at Re’ût with a speed that he hadn’t shown before in the fight. His eyes began to bleed, as well as his ears.
From the first attack of his fist, Lockman attacked Re’ût, who in turn took it head on, quite literally in this case in fact.
Re’ût stood still and said with the locust head that had been struck "That stinged a little. It made a little tingling sensation all over my body as well. You tried to use an attack that would have affected my organs from what I can tell. A marvelous move."
Lockman, who had his arm broken from that attack, said to Re’ût "But you and your faces keep on smiling like I did nothing."
Re’ût says with his right dragon head "I think that that technique usually requires you to understand the inner workings of the one you use it on, otherwise the attack is lacking.
In other words..."
Lockman jumped and flipped to make a downward kick on the right dragon head, causing his leg to be broken. He jumped away with his other leg and still stood with it, now with one leg and one arm broken.
Lockman said in pain "So I get that much praise from you."
Re’ût says with his orc head "I didn’t even get to finish what I was saying and you take it as a compliment? Fascinating."
Lockman says "You understood how it worked, so you probably think that if I knew your anatomy and perfected the technique specifically for you, even you couldn’t brush it off. Or was I assuming too much?"
With the words said, Lockman jumped and punched Re’ût’s left dragon head with his remaining arm, kicked Re’ût’s orc head with his remaining leg and lastly headbutted Re’ût’s middle dragon head with his last remaining weapon.
Alas, Lockman couldn’t defeat Re’ût with his current being. Re’ût smiled with all of his heads that could, put his left hand on the left side of his upper waist and then the right arms below the locust head where the abbs would be in normal body, one closer to the locust head and one lower.
Then Re’ût said with all of his heads "With all my hearts, I will promise you that one day you will reach my level. And when that day comes, I will face you once more, but this time with my sword and we will fight to our utmost death..." Re’ût breathes deeply with all of his heads and finishes with, "Son of man. Lockman."
And with that, the match was over and Re’ût was the final victor of the Mortal-Cup part of the banquet tournament.
When the two went back to the real arena, Re’ût asked Lockman with his left dragon head "Did you hear my promise, son of man?"
Lockman says "Loud and clear. Is what I would like to say, but I think I had a concussion, so I might have misheard bits and pieces. Something about us one day facing each other in last stand?"
Re’ût smiled with all of his heads that could and said "Good enough. I know that you’ll grow stronger in the future. When my final days in the abyss come, I’ll come and meet you in those final days and when you are at your peak, we will fight. So work hard until then."
Lockman smiled back and extended his fist for a fist bump.
Re’ût used his left hand to meet Lockman’s fist as a sign of a promise.
With that, a ceremony was held with the results.
1st place: Re’ût Ekt Ömmash (Transcended Abyssan)
2nd place: Lockman (Human)
3rd places: Synthia Altrenas (Deadman) & Macabra (Chimera)
Each one was given a medal that held a magic signature that held their name and position in this tournament as well as an imprint on the metal that showed the likeness of the one it belonged to.
With that, the Mortal-Cup portion of the Cruxbel Banquet Tournament, was thus concluded.
Next half, the Immortal-Cup, would be up next, and the lining of contestants was this:
Perkele (God of Debauchery, Depravity and Defilement) - Jyqbolos (God of War)
Avarumedel (God of Terror) - Godfreya Omen Dog (Transcended God of Chaos and Madness)
Mätuk (Familiar of Maumar) - Atkoosa (God of Suns)
Otzal (God of Ice and Stillness) - Werluum (God of Flames)
—
Cheesos (God of Tactics and Luck) - Ra’unt (God of Cooking)
Tonto (God of Dwarves, Handicraft and Mining) - Fates (Gods of Law)
Grey (God of Paintings) - Ferqu (God of Change)
Lemm (God of Elves and Spirits) - Taboo (Hex God)
—
Sahra (God of Sand and Time) - Li Last (Rell)
Miekel (God of Swords) - Zolon Tokiko Eishi Ilumnos (Archon of the Abyss)
Mathews Witsur (King of Death) - Trixtitkitus (God of Dragons)
Ao (God of Stars and Space) - Song Bai (Transcended Automaton)
—
Fein (God of Ruin) - Harlotte (God of Chaos)
Emer (God of Tyranny and Betrayal) - Me-Etis Cre Unuma (God of Magic)
Epithos (God of Remembrance and Reflection) - Delir (God of Falsehoods and Illusions)
Leeroy (God of Adventures, Journeys and Recklessness) - Karen (God of Persistence and Annoyance)
.
Perkele said to a strange shadowy figure in an unknown place "And that is how you ended up here? Are you listening, failed brother in arms?"
The "failed brother-in-arms" made ungodly noises and screams that weren’t even possible for regular people to produce.
Then something shadowy, similar to the one pinned on the ground, crashes down and attacks Perkele.
Perkele pins the other shadowy figure to the ground with the smoking hot and twisted metal pikes near the "failed brother-in-arms", who starts to make even more unsettling noises that no mortal being could produce.
Perkele says "And funny this, another version of you is here. But then you think ’there shouldn’t be more of mes anywhere’ to which I answer ’welcome to the ends of the world’, and then ladidada, you are basically in eternal hell that has its own sense of time, you can’t die no matter how teeny tiny pieces you become... was there something else?"
As Perkele ponders, more of these shadowy figures appear, as if they are attracted to Perkele for some reason, and attack him.
Perkele casually pins the barrage of shadowy figures like the other two with the smoking hot and twisted metal pikes that he can casually summon and use as a weapon.
Then Perkele says as he places one of those pikes to another shadowy figure "Oh yeah. Now I remember what I was going to say. Silly me."
Perkele twists a pike that was already pierced on one of the shadowy figures to cause pain and suffering.
The noises these shadowy figures make are out of mortal comprehension.
Perkele tells the shadowy figures "Just because that timeline doesn’t have any other timeline branching out of it doesn’t mean the timelines that want to become real aren’t realized. In those moments when you were about to create the second abyss core, those timelines that wanted to exist managed to get it done, only to make my little treat react and put you all here. The trigger is that the timeline has to have the capacity to end the world. And before they materialize... POOF... to the hell with you."
The failed brothers-in-arms keep making incomprehensible noises and Perkele just mumbles "Well not that any of you have any sanity left after you witnessed infinity times two in all of those, plus then some. But in all honesty, I don’t care to know the all that you now know since I like to keep it simple."
Some incomprehensible screeching later, Perkele sighs and says "Like I’m some janitor here. Cleaning all the mess that others don’t even know about. And I won’t give you the keys to your freedom, because if I do, you’ll cause a whole another set of troubles for me to fix and bring me back to square one. At least I have infinite number of mes to help me with this task, so there is something."
The failed brothers-in-arms screech and screech, struggling in pain to get out of that hell, but Perkele just watches their meaningless struggle.
Perkele laughs in manic lunacy and starts to spout "You know what? I was being nice with you all. Calling myself a lowly janitor. No. No no no no no. I’m the god damned jailor. The head of this hell. The all and powerful of these borderlands! As long as there is mes to exist, there will be this hell to exist. And as long as the world exists, mes exist. And as long as there is infinite number of worlds to end, they will end up here, creating more mes to manage this place."
"And on and on and on and on and on and... on and on... so forth and so south. Heck, why not north, east and west as well. It doesn’t really matter here. I’ll win in any case."
Perkele pauses for a moment of calm and says after taking a breath "Or I can always leave this place. Something that you all don’t have the luxury of doing."
Perkele stares and listens the incomprehensible screeching of the failed brothers-in-arms. Then he says "Yep. Jebe jebe jeppu. Have fun chatting with the outer gods that are still holding on when you go and roam. You then can also go to the stragglers who are also stuck with you. You might even find familiar faces in here. As you do that, I’ll have a fun little bout with... ugh... ’gods’."