Chapter 58: Mortal-Cup part 3: One step closer.

Chapter 58: Mortal-Cup part 3: One step closer.

Faust Ilumnos (Demigod) - Tiara Culling (Transcended Human):

The announcer builds up the hype by saying "Ladies, gentleman and gentlefolk. We have now entered the Mortal-Cup’s 2nd stage! First on our list are two rulers, Faust Ilumnos and Tiara Culling. One has friends he can count on and the other is a powerhouse of her own right. Who will win? Who will lose. Place your bets! Will a human beat a newborn demigod or will the demigod’s nature win the race? Stay tuned!"

Lud is in the prep room, taking deep breaths. He knows that someone who has just learned how to fight is about to fight the undisputed human champion. A hero. An amateur vs. master.

Toki came there to cheer him up, but the anxiety is increasing ever so slightly.

But then, someone Lud didn’t suspect came to visit him. Roman.

Roman said to Lud "How are you holding up?"

Lud asks "Roman? What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be encouraging your wife?"

Roman chuckles a little and says "That I should, but I felt like I had to give you some advice."

Toki says "Advice? Are you about to tell your wife’s secret weakness?"

Roman chuckles nervously again and says "No. The answer would be to take me hostage, but since this is a fair fight, we can’t have that."

Lud asks "Then why did you come here?"

Roman answers "To tell you that... *deep breath* That don’t hold back whatever you’ve got."

Lud says in an awkward tone "Well I was going to even if you didn’t tell me."

Roman reiterates "Listen... Don’t. Hold. Back."

Lud is confused and says nothing. Instead, Toki asks "Are you... hoping another man beats your wife?"

Lud and Roman say in unison "Wording" then are surprised that the other one said the same thing.

Roman continues "I... I just want you to not hold back on my account."

Lud asks "Why would I done that? In my honest opinion, I don’t expect to last even ten seconds."

Roman says in realization "So I thought more about our friendship than you did. That’s okay. I’m fine with this. I barely have friends in the first place, but that is... okay."

Lud asks Toki "Did... did I step on a landmine?"

Toki says "I don’t know what those are, but I have a feeling that the answer would be yeah."

Roman continues after a slight pause "Anyways. Do your best, and..."

Roman is about to leave and Lud asks "And?"

Roman finishes with "Humble my wife. Please. I’m not joking here. If her ego grows any larger, I’ll have few other children coming via her will alone. As a devil, I ask of you, please... Humble my wife a tad bit. As my dear friend."

Roman leaves before Lud could give an answer, and Lud mutters to Toki "And how am I supposed to do that to a super human?"

Tiara on the other hand is staying in her prep room with Crown, stewing why her husband isn’t there to cheer her on.

Crown says "I think daddy is in the audience ready to see you rise up."

To this, Tiara gets up and says "Well let’s not keep him waiting."

Tiara leaves the prep room before even the call for the arena is made, and the announcer is surprised after they see that Tiara is on the arena that fast.

As the two stand in the arena, Tiara says "You better not disappoint me. A ruler must have guts that are measurable by their wealth."

Lud says "I’ve been through plenty of life threatening experiences by now, so I think I’ve got plenty of guts by now."

The two are then sent to a regular forest, to which Tiara reacts by immediately raising to the skies and bombarding the surrounding area in order to defeat Lud.

Lud is barely holding on as the bombardment surrounds him, but somehow, his vision gets slower every time he gets closer to death like in the last match.

He still doesn’t know what is going on, but then, in a moment that froze time, a familiar voice that sounded like Altair’s echoed through his head.

The person in Lud’s head says "I thought that it was too easy of a search for Nemesis when I sensed similar power, but it turned out to be you."

Lud thinks carefully who it might be and guesses she is Riatla. He cannot confirm this as he can’t move, but only thinks and listens.

Riatla says "But since you have some semblance of Nemesis’ power in you right now, I might as well give you a few pointers while I’m here. I already went through what happened to you between Nemesis’ defeat and now, so I know you have achieved quite a title for yourself. But listen, and listen well.

I don’t know what exactly gives you the smell of Nemesis, and hence, his powers creeping in, but I have a few theories.

But I don’t want to spend too much time on you, so I will give you an explanation of the current phenomena that you are experiencing.

This time dilation is due to the power of sloth. The power that I had back then and kinda have now.

The power of sloth makes the user perceive time in a much slower manner the closer you are to death. That means, the instant you have no chance of survival, you will exist in eternal time. Watching as the thing that is about to kill you creeps closer and closer, but never reaches.

This power is only activated through imminent danger, so if you are ill or something and slowly dying, the power won’t activate. Same thing with poison. Venoms might depend on the way it is administered.

Now, the images of you doing things are yous from other timelines that want to exist, but won’t due to the timeline you are in. This would work on other timelines as well, but that isn’t important to you anymore, since you are stuck there for the time being.

The ability to slow time and see possibilities that could lead you to victory is kind of a cheat power, but it isn’t something that you can just let it do its work without you lifting your finger even once.

That is the end of the explanation for the power of sloth and your convergence power. Now let’s get to the rest of the seven sins.

You already saw how Siew’s power, pride, worked, but here is the gist. By swinging, you can cut through anything you want if you use that power. The other way is to pierce through anything by thrusting something. Nemesis used to joke about using his dick to make this happen, which he later did make happen, but that is old news.

The power of greed is basically, the more ’wealth’ you have, the more power you get. You haven’t been able to manifest this power, since the world probably would give you immense strength in your last fight, but you are only starting, so there is no surprise it hasn’t activated yet.

That brings me to the way you activate these powers. You need a certain mindset to activate these powers. Which, in turn, can activate at inconvenient times, and not activate when you really need it to.

Siew, for example, had to always have a full confidence that she can cut through anything, or her power wouldn’t work. This also brings out the theory that she couldn’t cut through Mathews’ ’death’ because she hesitated, but that is something you shouldn’t concern yourself with.

Which brings me to the inconvenient times when powers can activate, which in turn bring me to the power of envy.

Basically, the more you envy someone, the more you gain that person’s power. This can work on fictional characters, but let’s get to why this can be bad.

In terms of this world’s people, do not, under any circumstances, envy Maumar or what he can do. I have seen plenty of holders of the power of envy to be envious of Maumar’s absolute power, only to disappear into nothingness.

Honestly, we are lucky that we didn’t lose the sin mark any of those times, but trust me, if you envy something you cannot comprehend, you can simply just vanish.

Envying an aspect of something can be achieved, but this requires a lot of focus for some people.

Then there is part of the power of envy that can also backfire. If they believe they are superior with the power granted, they can lose that power just like that. Again, the powers of the sins are tied to mental states.

Let’s go to the other powers now. Gluttony is just what it says. You eat, you absorb power, you grow stronger. The more aether the thing you eat has, the more power gained.

Lust, well it doesn’t have to be the sexdrive kind of deal, it can just mean that if you lust for something, you gain knowledge of the thing and can hence grow by this knowledge. Raets were all hyper focused on Faust Ilumnos, so personally I think that their power was kind of wasted.

Wrath is self explanatory almost. The more wrath you have for something, the more powerful you get. In theory this can be an infinite amount of strength, but Ill, or his predecessors, never achieved such a state of being. Granted, they would have become near mindless creatures by that point, making their command near impossibility, but hey, you win some, you lose some.

I think that was all, but let me give you some advice.

While I don’t know what you and Nemesis went through back then, never lose yourself like he once did. You and him were the same being at one point in time, and history has a habit of repeating themselves.

Okay, as the fireball that you have been staring at for a while now, I think it is the high time you figure out your next move.

I hope this is our last meeting, but then again, because of what people are hoping of you becoming, that might not be a possibility."

Riatla’s voice disappeared and now it was only Lud and the fireball about to explode in Lud’s face.

What should Lud do? He can see many paths coming to focus, but none of them survive. Not the ones that he has seen so far at least.

That only means that he has to get to work and figure it out.

.

.

.

After some time, Lud figured a way out. By his power, Lud manages to use the power of greed to get through the blast by sheer endurance.

Tiara noticed she hit a person, so she was sure that she had won by now.

But then Lud threw his sword at Tiara, who in turn managed to just barely dodge it with only a scratch on her.

Lud then used one of Xu’s techniques and switched places with his sword and with all his pride, he jabbed his hand at Tiara, causing a hole to appear where Tiara’s stomach used to be.

The shock that went through her body was on the scale that it would have made a normal person pass out, but Tiara managed to stay focused. She teleported away and healed herself with powerful magic.

As Lud was falling, he launched a few bolts of lightning at Tiara, who blocked all of them without effort.

But as she was blocking them with her magic, Tiara lost sight of Lud for a moment.

Before Tiara could focus her senses on finding where Lud was, she sensed eight pillars embedded to the ground in an octagonal formation.

Tiara was baffled for a moment thinking how Lud managed to do that in such a short time, but she didn’t have time to wait as she sensed that she was in danger if she didn’t leave the octagon.

But as Tiara tried to teleport, she threw up as she suddenly started feeling nauseous. She couldn’t manage to concentrate enough to make any magical formulas in her mind.

The pillars started to shine and extend their light to the sky, and soon Tiara was pulled to the ground with gravity that wasn’t there before.

On the ground, Tiara was being crushed and she had trouble maintaining proper blood flow to her brain and she was about to pass out.

In a last ditch effort to win, Tiara unleashed all of her mana. It decimated the surrounding area like it was nothing. But in the process, she was defeated as well.

It was a victory for Lud.

As the two were sent back to the arena, Tiara had an insane look in her eyes and asked Lud with a terrifying smile "What was that?"

Lud answered "I simply... borrowed some of my friends’ skills and summoned technology that our best counter mage had ever made."

Tiara looked at Lud in astonishment for a while, then she began to laugh. Laugh like some sort of burden had been lifted.

Then Tiara smiled at Lud and said "Good fight, fellow ruler! May the alliance between our nations never tire!"

Tiara left the arena with her head held high. "First defeat in a while. I almost forgot how it felt."

Roman was waiting for Tiara at the exit together with Crown. Tiara smiled and jumped to Roman while whining "That guy was so mean! He made me throw up during the match. Can you believe that?!"

Roman patted Tiara’s head and comforted her. Crown also patted Tiara’s back and said "There there." But for all three, this was a happy moment, and all three could sense it.

.

Synthia Altrenas (Deadman) - Algol (Transcended Star Elf):

The announcer shouted "And now for a match that has been anticipated for ages! Synthia Altrenas, the daughter of the King of Death Mathews Witsur, will face the hero of all heroes, Algol! Will the blood that carries the deadman pull her through, or will she fall under the might of hero of heroes? Let’s find out!"

Algol was in his prep room, waiting patiently for his dear mother to come cheer him on once more. Alas, Altair had already left since she wanted to browse some food stalls that were taking the prime opportunity to sell food to those watching the matches in public places.

Thia was childishly swinging her legs as she sat for the call to the arena to come. Mira came to say "Now remember Synthia, the next opponent is the famed hero of heroes Algol. Do not underestimate him."

Thia just says nonchalantly "I mean papa isn’t here, so that title probably doesn’t mean jack shit."

Mira says "Language! And didn’t you see how he decimated that poor man? If you are not careful, he will..."

Thia just brushes her mother off by saying "Yeah yeah. I’ve dealt with plenty of people trying to take me, the child of the king of death, as their bride."

Mira says "I mean that is true, but..."

Thia doesn’t stop and says "I mean there were all kinds of people. Swordsmen, martial artists, just regular artists, mages, men, women, other, both..."

Mira stops Thia by saying "I get it. You’ve been asked out a lot and each time that happened, you challenged them to a duel and won. But Algol... He reminds me of... your aunt Lucy."

Thia gets alert after what she just heard and asks "Aunty Lucy huh..."

Then a call to the arena comes and Thia begins to leave. She says before she leaves the room "I suppose I need to get a little serious then."

As Algol is looking for Altair amongst the audience, Thia seems strangely locked in on winning the next match and Thews looked surprised.

Soon both of them end up on a moon-like surface. Rocky and desolate.

Algol looks disappointed and sighs "Mother dearest wasn’t there to cheer me on. Then what am I here for?"

Thia says as she is about to slice Algol in half "How about you die."

Algol manages to dodge and looks behind him "My my. Someone’s overly enthusiastic. Let’s end this so I can go find Mother dearest."

Algol swings his right arm inward like he was grabbing the air and this force almost sweeps Thia off her feet.

As Algol was about to swing his hand outwards, Thia went for another swing.

As Thia was about to slice Algol’s shoulder, he swung his arm outward and launched Thia to the air, making her completely defenseless for Algol’s next attack.

Algol shot beams of mana at Thia, who in turn used some technique to get right back behind Algol, making him miss.

Just as Thia was about to cut Algol, Algol made a small shield to block Thia’s attack.

Thia wasn’t petered out and continued a flurry of attacks.

Algol continued to summon small shields to block Thia’s attacks. Thia was beginning to get frustrated and Thews wondered why she just didn’t cut through Algol’s magic shields like she usually would.

Then it hit Thews. Thia wasn’t focusing in a way that he taught her. Thia was trying to skip a few steps but in turn, she failed to use her skills properly.

Algol seemed bored almost after just defending for a while, and so he chose to punch Thia as hard as he could.

This punch made Thia fly far away, breaking some bones.

After Thia got back up, Algol commented "Impressive. Normally that would completely shatter high grade magic steel, but you only seem to have minor injuries."

Thia took a breather as she noticed how she wasn’t doing as good as she could. She took a proper stand and waited for that feeling to come back to her.

Algol looked at Thia, confused. Then he sighed and said "Let’s get this over and done with."

Algol casted a huge magic circle that would undoubtedly destroy a fortress or two, but as he unleashed it, nothing spectacular happened. It was as if the magic circle failed to activate properly and brought out nothing.

Algol was confused, but then he heard manic laughter all around him as if there were now multiple people in that battle.

Sensing an attack, Algol dodged Thia’s first attack since he didn’t think his shield would have withstood it.

But as soon as he moved to dodge, he felt his legs being cut off from a blind spot.

Before Algol could even scream or fall to the ground, a sword pierced his head from behind. Right in the middle.

This ended the match between Algol and Thia, making it clear that Thia could have ended the match much earlier if she just would have been herself.

Thia was victorious.

After both of the contestants returned to the arena, Algol said to Thia "Well, I clearly underestimated you. You’d make a fine hero in my guild."

Thia turned around and said "Save it. I wouldn’t be caught dead following your lead."

Algol, who had already extended his hand for a handshake, got disappointed for a moment before going to find out where Altair had gone.

.

Etiri Yuinli (God Chosen Human) - Re’ût Ekt Ömmash (Transcended Abyssan):

The announcer says "Well then, ladies, gentlemen and gentlefolk, we have some truly interesting stuff next. We have a champion of Jyqbolos facing an abyssal warrior known for his skills where he comes from. Which one will win? Chosen of Gods or Abyssal Warrior?!"

Etiri is preparing her blade as Takeru comes to greet her. Etiri asks "Where is Yukimi?"

Takeru says "She said that she will hang out with her new friends she found during that last match. Some of your last opponent’s comrades I hear."

Etiri smiles and says "Well now. If they are as heartfelt as Yi, then I’m sure they will do no harm to her."

Takeru reassures Etiri "Don’t worry, Yi herself was there and I even left few guards there just in case."

Etiri laughs a little and says "If you are talking about that bunch, then I doubt they could deal with the likes of Yi, let alone her with her comrades there."

Takeru ponders for a moment and asks "Should... Should I be worried now?"

Etiri laughs and says "Relax. No one would dare to harm our dear snowflake."

Takeru ponders and says "You are right."

And as Takeru finished, the call to the arena was made.

Etiri and Takeru shared a kiss before Etiri left for the arena.

In the arena, Etiri asks Re’ût "So will you use that sword this time, or is it just for show?"

Re’ût responds from the locust head "If you are referring to the sword that is on my back, then I’ll say no."

Etiri scoffs and says "Not confident enough?"

Re’ût responds from the left dragon head "No. I’m too confident with it. So much so that I only use it when I mean to erase someone from this world."

Etiri asks "Then why not use some other sword?"

Re’ût answers from the locust head "This sword doesn’t have any special magic behind it. It is my skills that I worry will activate, should I use some form of a sword in my hands."

Etiri says in disappointment "Well that is a shame. I would have loved to have a proper sword fight with abyssan."

Re’ût responds from the orc head "You have my most sincere apologies."

Then the two are sent to their battle ground, and this time it is an island that is covered in hardened obsidian.

Etiri takes a breath to focus on her attack while Re’ût stands there with his arms crossed.

Then, in a blink of an eye, Etiri attacks Re’ût with her blade. Unfortunately, Re’ût took a hold of her blade with his left hand.

Etiri lets go of her sword and takes out a smaller one to attack from behind.

Re’ût drops the Etiri’s sword that he had on his hand and moves his left hand in such a speed, it causes the falling sword to scratch Etiri’s side.

Seeing a clear opening, Re’ût breathes from all of his heads and then with a swift motion from his lower right hand, he decapacitates Etiri with the sheer force of wind alone.

The winner is Re’ût.

Back in the arena, Re’ût says to Etiri from his middle dragon head "You face me honorably. Thank you for that."

Etiri laughs it off and says "You call that honorable? I tried to attack your back."

Re’ût says from his right dragon head "Being able to see that there was no opening and choosing to go for a blind spot isn’t an dishonourable act. You didn’t try to deceive, you took the most optimal path that could have landed you the win."

Etiri shrugs and says "I don’t know how it works down there in the abyss, but I’d call that act pretty dishonourable."

Re’ût says from the orc head "Nevertheless. You are a skilled fighter."

Etiri says "I mean I lost, but seeing how you handled that phoenix girl, I’d say that it is an acceptable praise. Before I lose my composure any further, I’ll see myself out."

Re’ût says from the locus head "Take care. Fellow warrior."

.

Peretasha Xitolrta (Dragon Matriarch) - Magnus (Magical Construct):

In the prep room, Elisia said to Magnus "Now listen here. You are about to face of against the dragon matriarch Peretasha herself. Now I haven’t fought her personally, but I can tell you that if I were to face her, if I didn’t take her seriously, I’d be in great trouble."

Magnus scoffed at Elisia and said "Oh please. Someone you are wary of is someone that is within my reach. As I said before, I will show you all that it is a high time I take your place as the best mage in Elysium."

Elisia says "Just... be tactful at least."

Magnus laughed as he left "Hah! There is no need, for glory shall be mine."

When the two contestants met for the first time in the arena, Magnus said to Pere "Witness me. I’ll show you the true power of Elysium as a sign of respect."

Pere responded with "Let’s see what kind of fireworks you people can pull."

The moment the two were sent to a mountainous region, Pere was immediately surrounded by many "high tier" spells.

Before Pere could even take a breath, the surrounding area was blasted into smithereens.

Sure of his victory, Magnus boasted "Ha! Some Matriarch of a dragon you are! I seemed to have overestimated you, Lady Peretasha."

Just as Magnus finished his boasting, Pere grabbed his "body" from behind with one hand and said "Oh? You were overestimating me, were you? Okay then, let me show you some proper fireworks."

With that, a pillar of light where Pere was holding Magnus was formed. Along with it, came world crackles.

That pillar of light was a very concentrated form of aether. A power that can make anything is a power that should be able to break anything.

With that, Pere won the match.

When the two were sent back to the arena, Magnus didn’t say a word and simply began to leave.

Pere said as Magnus went "The might of Elysium, he said."

Magnus swore that one day he would repay this humiliation to Pere tenfold.

.

Lockman (Human) - Imushphen Esshankemer (Transcended Phoenix):

The announcer shouts "Now how about that?! We just saw a dragon matriarch show us the glimpse of her authority, and now, we are about to see a match between mysterious Lockman and the transcended phoenix Imushphen Esshankemer! Will Lockman fall like a fly or will he show us something we haven’t seen before?! Keep watching to find out!"

Lockman just sighs in the prep room "It is too loud. And too warm. I want to go back home. It is nice and cold there."

Arthur says to Lockman "I have bad news for you."

Lockman hesitantly asks "Do I want to know?"

Arthur tells Lockman that "Your next opponent is someone who uses extreme heat to defeat his opponents."

The call to the arena is made and Lockman sighs "Guess I have to go for it then."

As Lockman is nearing the arena, he hears a man talk loudly "I saw your last match, Lockman! I can’t wait to see how it fares against me!"

Imus was stepped to the arena as soon as he heard the call at lightning speed. Something which confused the audience and the announcer.

Soon, Lockman and Imus are sent to an arid place, to which Lockman comments "Of course it had to be somewhere warm."

Imus asks "What’s wrong?! Aren’t you going to come at me?!"

Lockman opens his eyes and simply stands there. Imus keeps smiling and nothing seems to be happening.

Imus asks "Adversary, aren’t you going to attack?"

Lockman says "Negative. I’ll evade before taking out your defence first."

Imus smirks and says "Well, if that is how you are going to play..."

Then Imus charged at Lockman and caused a huge explosion. Lockman could somehow block an attack that could vaporize high grade steel in a manner of moments. The audience was shocked to see that Lockman received no injuries.

Imus in turn grinned ear to ear and said "Well then, worthy adversary. Let’s get heated up!"

As Lockman dodged, he said "I respectfully decline."

Imus tried to attack Lockman multiple times, but Lockman sometimes dodged and sometimes blocked, and the fight lasted for a few minutes.

After a few minutes, Lockman says "Gotcha." and makes a counter attack on the back of Imus’ neck, making Imus pass out.

Lockman was the victor.

When the two went back to the arena, Imus laughed and said "Well then worthy adversary, I hope that the next time we meet, I’ll have become stronger."

Lockman responds "If you want to become strong, go to Northolth and try to survive in the wilds there. I guarantee, you’ll either die or improve."

Imus rubs his chin and says "I see. I’ll take that in high consideration. Farewell, worthy adversary!"

Lockman just leaves, a slight chuckle coming out of him just once after meeting Imus.

.

Brutus Lidweg (Ancient Dragon) - Melek (Abyssan):

The announcer shouted "Well then, what a worthwhile battle that was. Now then, the next fight will be between an ancient dragon from the other world and abyssan we all know went too far. How many of you are cheering for him here, I wonder. Those who wish for Melek to win are probably one of those Elysium haters. Oh well, go get them Brutus my dragon brother! Go beat that annoying fly!"

Meanwhile Melek smiles and says "Just as I hoped. Everyone hates me now. The negative energy I am absorbing now will be crucial to prove I am more than worthy of duke Pûrkäts’ blessings. Don’t you agree, Re’ût? The fact that our true nature is to be hated by these people.

Re’ût simply stand by as Melek is preparing for the next match.

Brutus in his prep room has Mätuk shout to his ear "Go beat that gahä’etit! That Thäpyshekk! That god licking Pörtäkot! Go and show that not all abyssans want to be known for their beastly desires! To thrax your mati’ima right in front of augh’tikte isn’t the zovä!"

Brutus is blocking his ears as Mätuk keeps shouting. He yells back "Okay! Okay! I got it! I beat that fly ass to the next era, so can you stop yelling in my ear?!"

Mätuk shouts "You better! duke Pûrkäts doesn’t vibe with the beastly abyssans for the hell of it!"

Lud, who is the one whose shoulder Mätuk is on, asks him "Who is this duke? I know you have taught me about the abyssan culture a bit, but you never mentioned that name before."

Mätuk shouts "That is..." then realizes he is shouting and quiets down a notch "That is because duke Pûrkäts is... an unique case amongst the abyss noblemen."

Lud asks "How so?"

Mätuk struggles to get a word out at first, but then says "Well, he has an... unique taste for even us abyssans."

Lud asks further, "Go on."

Mätuk struggles to find what to say and blurts out "He is... into puppetry and taxidermy. Mixing those two fields every now and then... taking other abyssans to use his craft on when they expire... maybe a bit of necrophilia is in there, but that last one is just a rumor, you hear!"

Lud asks "Who else should I know about?"

Then the call to the arena is made and Mätuk changes the subject "Oh well, now would you look at the time... Go Brutus. Go and show that papävum what’s what!"

Brutus leaves and says "Sure sure. Whatever the teacher of boss says."

Then as he is walking to the arena, he mutters to himself "That bird seriously makes my ears ring whenever I see him."

When Brutus and Melek step to the arena, all kinds of booing is heard when Melek walks in.

Melek is delighted by the reception and even murmurs to himself "That is the right response. Too bad Re’ût doesn’t try to see things from my point of view."

When the contestants enter the arena, they soon find themselves on a snowfield with mountains on the horizon.

Melek says "Well this isn’t as bad of a cold as in some debts of the abyss, but still, not my favorite place to ponder, let’s get this over with, dragon."

Brutus says "Same. I’m already annoyed. Let’s just end this and be done with it."

Melek sends out a barrage of ice spikes at Brutus, who in turn makes flames surround himself and turn to his dragon form.

Brutus asks "Was that all?" To which Melek gets an annoyed look and summons a field that heightens the gravity of the area Brutus is standing on.

Brutus just asks "That’s all? Oh please, even bossman before he became a demigod could do better."

Melek tries to intensify the gravity further, but he starts spewing out blood of his own.

Melek mutters to himself "Not good. I have to use that thing after all."

Then Melek stops putting his energy on the gravity field and begins to chant something in abyssan language.

Brutus is intrigued by this and in turn says "Well, tyrant form it is."

Brutus’ body begins to crack as it gets bigger and bigger. Eventually his dragon form is set ablaze and his physical form is that of a charred rocky scales barely holding on together.

Melek sends a wave of dark energy at Brutus that is supposed to erode all that it comes in contact with. Brutus, feeling that it isn’t good if he lets that one hit him, excludes a beam of pure flames at it that melts even the mountains on the horizon.

Melek gets vaporized even before he realizes, and soon he finds himself back in the arena.

Melek asks "Who... who won?"

Then the announcer shouts "and the winner is Brutus Lidweg! Go suck it Melek the foul!"

Brutus just looks at the audience who are cheering for him and cursing Melek "I thought that the announcer shouldn’t pick sides, but whatever, you get what you were going for I think."

Melek gets to his knees in shock "This... this can’t be. I... I even used that technique that I defeated one of the Swarm spawns with..."

Brutus says "Look. I was just more powerful than you this time. If we ever meet again, at least be a bit more modest, you are ruining the vibe here."

Melek rises up and shouts "This isn’t over!"

Then dark energy begins to surround Melek and he is about to unleash something, but then Re’ût comes to the arena while holding his sword on his left hand. He says to Brutus "Leave this to me, fine dragon. This is why I’m here."

Brutus just says "Be my guest."

Then Re’ût, in speed that almost none could perceive, sliced through Melek’s body. The last words Melek said were "My... research..."

Re’ût puts his sword back to his back and begins to leave. He says as he passes Brutus "I hope that you show me the might of all dragons of your world if we ever face each other in battle."

.

Mercury (Star Elf) - Lamba (Beast Folk):

The announcer says "We- well then. Back to the matters at hand. Next up, Mercury, the star elf ambassador, or something along those lines, and Lamba the... Well, sword saint? I suppose that is right. Will Lamba avenge his mentor’s defeat or will he be beaten by the star elf sheriff?! Let’s find out, shall we."

In Lamba’s prep room, Jamos says to his pupil "Your next opponent is someone who has air superiority over you. Don’t let it get to you."

Lamba says "I got it old man. I got it. Man... I wonder if I should, you know, actually put in effort this time since that would make me win something that your old bones couldn’t. But then again, that would be a hassle. Man... Maybe I should just pretend to lose."

Jamos says "If you do, then people who look up to you will be disappointed."

Lamba asks "Are there seriously people who look up to me? ME?"

Jamos says "I mean, you have saved lives before, so surely there must be some of them who feel grateful and be as good as you."

Lamba laughs a bit and says "Yeah right. As if any of those pipsqueaks could ever match my genius."

The call to the arena is made and Lamba lazily gets up and says "Well... might as well do something to spend time on."

Jamos shakes his head as Lamba leaves "That boy. What will I do with him?"

The two contestants soon meet in the arena and are then sent to a former beach that has its water subsided.

Mercury jumps to the air and begins her strikes against Lamba, but lamba simply blocked those attacks with ease.

Lamba even muttered to himself "Old man made this look much harder than it actually is. Maybe he is going senile."

Mercury increased the intensity of her attacks after hearing Lamba diss out insults to his mentor, making Lamba react with little surprised "Eeh?"

As the two danced with their weapons, Lamba eventually said "I think this is a high time I end this."

With that said, Lamba put some effort and actually attacked Mercury. The slices of his sword made Mercury bleed heavily, but Mercury could still move. She even said "I can still fight."

Lamba responded with a snarky "Not for long" as he sliced Mercury’s legs of with a swift strike.

Mercury screamed, which annoyed Lamba. He said "Quiet down you little bitch. It was just your legs being cut off. You get them back once this ends."

Mercury pulled out a gun-like weapon and shot at Lamba. Unfortunately, her aim was off and it only scratched Lamba’s cheek.

Lamba had a murderous aura after the scratch and he even said with increasing intensity "You done it now you piece of shit!"

And with that, Lamba sliced Mercury’s neck clean off. Mercury tried to shoot few magic bullets at Lamba before he cut her neck, but it was all in vain.

Lamba won the match and the two were sent back to the arena.

When Mercury tried to shake hands with Lamba, Lamba simply slapped her face and said "You get what you deserve, bitch."

With that, Lamba promptly left and the audience was stunned. Jamos was shaking his head as he watched things unfold.

.

Macabra (Chimera) - Ren Yiteck (Human):

The announcer shouted "Well then, time for the last match of the second stage of the Mortal-Cup portion of today’s tournament! We have the mysterious chimera Macabra on the other corner and a silent human adventurer. Which one will win folks? Let’s find out!"

Macabra was in the prep room waiting in peace, until an unwanted guest came to have few words with her.

Perkele said to Macabra "Well, well, well. Look who we have here. My dear child has finally shown her pretty face to the public after all this time. Say, what made you crawl out of your little hole you have dug for yourself to hide what you are? Do tell."

Macabra responds "I have no words I wish to exchange with you."

Perkele opens his arms and says "Come on now. Don’t be shy. Give your old daddy a hug."

Macabra responds "I’d rather die than do that."

Perkele laughs in enjoyment of what he hears and says "You truly haven’t changed. After the gifts that experiment gave you, you still harbour resentment to your dear old daddy. What wrong? Sad that you can’t die? Sad that you can’t meet your birth parents anymore? After my servants did all those things to you and them, you grew in a way dear old daddy like me should be proud of. What say you?"

Perkele grabs Macabra by her chin, after which she opens her eyes. They both stare at each other. Other with resentment, other with glee.

Perkele keeps on smiling as he says "You do know that I could have made things a lot more messy for you and your dear friends back then. You know that, right."

Macabra says "I do know that much. But that doesn’t mean I should feel thankful."

Perkele then grabs Macabra tightly by the neck and says "Why not? You are still a virgin after all. I could make a change in that fact."

Macabra mutters as she is being choked "Of course you would know that. You never let your toys out of your sight. Especially your most promising ones."

Perkele gets closer to Macabra’s face and says "I’ll let you think that is the case for now, but wait till the day I grow bored with you. Then... You’ll meet your dear old daddy’s embrace fully and wholeheartedly."

Both stare at each other, Perkele’s creepy smile never leaving him when he is with Macabra.

Then the call to the arena is made and both stay still for a moment.

Macabra asks "Are you going to cause trouble? I heard that you made a promise to not do that. And you do have a habit of keeping your promises."

Perkele stares at Macabra, smile never leaving his face.

Then Perkele lets Macabra go and says to her as Macabra is leaving the prep room "Do not think for a second the peace you have had until now is me showing mercy. It is..."

Macabra and Perkele say in unison "me making fuel to the fire yet to burn."

Macabra then fully leaves the room and Perkele chuckles a little. Then Perkele takes a sniff of the hand that he choked Macabra with and says in glee "I’m sure that would be an enjoyable day. But for you, it would be me showing you mercy. And I’m not the kind of person to let go of my play things."

In the arena, the audience is captivated by Macabra’s beauty once more, and even the announcer makes a joke "If you are free after today’s matches, why don’t we go out for dinner."

The audience booed at the announcer, to which they made a joke "Fair fair. Gotta take your shots when you can, but still."

The two contestants were soon sent to cornfield. Visibility was awful and the audience immediately protested this choice.

The announcer tries to smooth things over by saying "Now now. The place of the match is set at random from a selection of various places. And while I agree with you that cornfield is a bit hard to take since the audience can’t see very well, it is what it is. The selection that they have is based on the idea that you never know where you’ll fight your next opponent."

On the battle at hand, Ren used their magic to find where Macabra is located, and once they found her, they made a slice that cut through most of the corn stalks and now the visibility is much clearer.

As Ren charged at Macabra, Macabra simply summoned a sword that looked like some sort of dark energy and made a downward strike that annihilated Ren.

Macabra called the attack "Downward strike of voidsword".

The battle ended swiftly in Macabra’s victory.

.

The Second stage of the Moral-Cup was over.

The contestants for the Mortal-Cup Quarter Finals are as follows:

Faust Ilumnos (Demigod) - Synthia Altrenas (Deadman)

Re’ût Ekt Ömmash (Transcended Abyssan) - Peretasha Xitolrta (Dragon Matriarch)

Lockman (Human) - Brutus Lidweg (Ancient Dragon)

Lamba (Beast Folk) - Macabra (Chimera)