Chapter 60: Immortal-Cup Part 1: What gods?
Perkele (God of Debauchery, Depravity and Defilement) - Jyqbolos (God of War):
The announcer shouts "Welcome! Back from the break, we are now starting the Immortal-Cup for today’s tournament! We will see a lot of god-like entities during this section, of which, most are gods, but there are few that don’t qualify as such.
This is such a marvelous event that no one, not even the gods themselves, could have imagined to be able to take shape ever in this world we call Lutah! Now buckle up and let’s get this show started!
First we have Perkele and Jyqbolos! Perkele is the one that no one roots for, him being the DDD of savagery after all. He is facing the god of war Jyqbolos, who I wouldn’t normally root for, but in this turn of events, I root for him with such speed that you’d call me hasty."
Once the call to the arena was made, Perkele appeared out of nowhere, twisting and turning his knife as he waited for the battle to start.
With the call came Jyqbolos, someone with no body, but someone in a very menacing set of armour. He didn’t have a helmet, so he remained headless. His gauntlets floated on their own but still tethered to the non-existent body of his.
All of Jyqbolos’ armour was made from dark metal, adorned with spikes that mesh with the armour in a stylish, yet threatening way.
Jyqbolos says to Perkele in a very bassy voice as he summons his massive sword "What a time it is to have a fight with you once more, Perkele. Let us go to the pocket dimension and give our all"
Perkele smiles and summons another knife "Yes. Let’s twist that pretty armour of yours."
And thus, the two were sent to a war torn hellscape, perfectly fitting for the two contestants.
Jyqbolos charged towards Perkele and Perkele ever so slightly dodged the attack.
Jyqbolos was not deterred and continued a series of attacks. Some Perkele dodged, some of them he blocked, and with some he even did a sneaky little counterattack as he jabbed his knife to the armour and damaged it.
Jyqbolos’ invisible body began to bleed and the battle raged on. Jyqbolos even made multiple war cries as he attacked Perkele relentlessly.
Eventually, Jyqbolos had bled too much and as he was forced to kneel, Perkele spun his knife, said "Nice workout. Let’s do this some other time as well." and jabbed the knife where Jyqbolos’ head should be.
The battle ended in Perkele’s victory, and after the two were back in the arena, Jyqbolos says "I figured that it’d go something like this. You always have that air of superiority in you."
Perkele bows a little and says "Thank you. It was a nice warm up."
Jyqbolos sighs and says as Perkele is leaving the arena "Though that nasty personality of yours is what I can’t stand. Mark my words, I one day will beat you in single combat."
Perkele waved the back of his hand that was still holding the knife.
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Avarumedel (God of Terror) - Godfreya Omen Dog (Transcended God of Chaos and Madness):
The announcer says "Well the. Next up is the god of terror themselves, Avarumedel. They are facing the, and let me make sure I’m not reading this wrong, a god of chaos who fell to the abyss and came back as a transcended god of some kind? Oh! And their name is Godfreya Omen Dog. At least, in this form that’s their name, they say.
Well then, let’s not dilly dally any longer and let’s welcome those two terrifying things to the arena!"
As Freya popped up on the arena, they sent kisses among the crowd as if they had any fans out there rooting for them.
From the corner walked a hooded figure whose face was obscured.
Freya says to the little fellow "Hey buddy! Long time no see! How has it been terrifying those kids every now and then and calling it a day?"
Avarumedel makes some incomprehensible sound, but Freya understands them perfectly, as do the rest of the gods.
Freya taps Ava on the "back" and says "Let’s go and get this show started, partner!"
Soon the two were sent to a foggy town and Freya just made a hand sign to look for their opponent, until they heard screams and plenty of them.
Of those voices were their own screams. Those that they felt when they were still in the abyss.
Some jabbering "Why. Why. Why. Me. Me. Me. Time is tangled. Jewelry here and there. Outside. Inside. Everywhere. Maumar. Trix. Epit. Delir. Lee of Roy. Marcus. Jannabell. Hot. Cold. Moist. Dry. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. All the noise. All the babbling. Jimmy jammy hoodle woodle. Dippy dappy sloogus ploogus. Pip pop, tipity top. Up, down, upside down."
Many familiar voices. Their voices. Tales of the past. Their past. All tangled up. The headache. Ahh the headache.
Freya smiled and said "Is that all, little Ava? OH right! You can’t do much but scare people. You are only powerful as long as there is fear. But since I... who have faced so... SO MUCH PAIN... I won’t fear any tricks of yours. So..."
Freya snaps their fingers and Ava begins to screech incomprehensibly.
Eventually Ava’s screeches mellow to the whining of a slug-like creature.
Ava tries to escape, but when Freya snatches them, they are put on a plate that Freya manifested into being, alongside with a table, chair and silverware.
Freya rubbed their hands in anticipation and said "Can’t say I have had slug made from god as a snack in a while. Oh well. Bon appétit."
As Ava was screeching, Freya took hold of a silver knife and a silver fork. They jabbed the fork at the slug-like Ava and began to cut them. Slowly.
Screeching and screeching.
Freya managed to cut off Slug Ava’s "tail" and then proceeded to eat it. They dropped their silverware as they had a sudden urge to hug themselves.
Freya said "This... is... it. I get how Perkele always enjoyed eating things to... join with them. Uuh. This is a whole sensation and a half!"
Then Freya used some magic to lift the silverware back to their hands and said "Well then. Let’s not waste a worthy meal!"
Nom. Nom. Nom. Nom.
Freya won the match. Not many enjoyed it.
There were some in the audience that wished they would be eaten by beauty like Freya, and there were also some who voiced their tastes to others. Some found kinship, but most didn’t.
As for why the officials let the whole thing go so long, let’s just say there was a connoisseur of vore among the staff.
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Mätuk (Familiar of Maumar) - Atkoosa (God of Suns):
The announcer says "Well then. After such a spectacle, what will come next? Well, we have Mätuk, a familiar of Maumar who once served Mors. He is a raven or something? And he is facing Atkoosa, the sun god.
Well I already have the person I expect to win. How about you?
Nevertheless, let’s get this started!"
Mätuk and Atkoosa appear in the arena. Mätuk seems much too tiny for the audience to feel even a little intimidated by him. Some even whisper "Is that supposed to be familiar to THE Maumar?" "I know right! He is only a white bird."
Mätuk shouts "I’m no mere bird! I am Mätuk and I appear to people as a white raven!"
The whispers in the audience keep jabbing things that hurt Mätuk’s ego. So in retaliation, Mätuk decides to use his magic and make him a giant raven that is bigger than even Atkoosa.
Atkoosa says to Mätuk "Don’t let those words get to your head, familiar of Maumar. Let us go and have a bout now, shall we?"
Mätuk nods "Sure. Let’s get this farce over and done with."
The two contestants were sent to a flaming hellscape. Mätuk made a sigh and said "Of course it is to your advantage."
Atkoosa says "Just letting you know that I didn’t do anything personally."
Mätuk says "So someone might have done it for you. Merrera.
Atkoosa chuckles a bit and says "Don’t take it wrong. If people want to see abyssal creatures disappear, they’ll take every advantage. This time, it is them giving me the advantage."
Mätuk says "And that is by rigging a competition? Merrera."
Atkoosa asks "What does that last part mean? You’ve said it twice."
Mätuk answers "It means something like, ’only in this age’ though it is quite tangible."
Atkoosa laughs a bit and says "Of course. Well then, let’s stop the chatter here as we should have already."
Mätuk says "Of course."
As Atkoosa summons a sun flare at Mätuk, Mätuk manages to summon a miniature black hole that sends the flare to the abyss.
Atkoosa continues to send more sun flares, but Mätuk manages to summon as many miniature black holes as needed to counter Atkoosa’s attacks.
Granted, the radiation that both sun flare and black black hole produces is making Mätuk a bit weaker each passing moment. Hence, Mätuk changes tactics and summons one right where Atkoosa is.
Fortunately or unfortunately, Atkoosa sensed the black hole being summoned, so he dodged it just before he was swallowed by it. He had to move much farther away, since the influence of the black hole was making Atkoosa not think straight as he summoned black holes all willy nilly.
Mätuk tried to pin Atkoosa down by increasing the gravity on Atkoosa on a level that would slow Atkoosa down, but Atkoosa managed to move away just in time each time.
Atkoosa said "If you think... ugh... that you can best someone who is a veteran on handling abyssans, then you have another thing coming."
Mätuk realized that relying on abyssal powers was going nowhere, so he used his inherent death powers and summoned wraiths of varying strengths that charged towards Atkoosa.
Of course, Atkoosa could destroy those wraiths with a flick of a finger, so it wasn’t a problem for him to deal with them while continuing to dodge all of Mätuk’s attacks.
Mätuk tried to corner Atkoosa a couple of times, but that didn’t slow Atkoosa enough for Mätuk to properly execute a final blow.
Eventually, the hellscape was filled with flames and black holes. Mätuk started to pass out from exerting himself too much but also due to the radiation born from meeting between sun flares and the black holes.
Atkoosa saw an opening, flew to the air and once he opened his arms, behind him appeared something akin to a sun.
With the "sun" behind his back, Atkoosa said "This will be my final attack, familiar of Maumar. ’Sun fall’!"
Mätuk tried to summon the biggest black hole he could muster, but his powers weren’t on that kind of level, so he just accepted his fate and was crushed by the mass, heat, radiation and gravity of the miniature sun.
Atkoosa won.
When the two went back to the arena, people were cheering on Atkoosa’s victory and smacktalking Mätuk a fair bit.
Atkoosa replied "Settle down. Settle down. It was a worthwhile battle with a worthwhile opponent."
Atkoosa took a hold of Mätuk, who was now in his normal size, held him in his hands and raised him "This one is a worthy abyssan that once served Mors! Do not mock his name!"
With that, Atkoosa left the arena with Mätuk in his hands.
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Otzal (God of Ice and Stillness) - Werluum (God of Flames):
The announcer said "Well that was an interesting match. I think we jumped a bit too far ahead of ourselves when we wished only good fortune for Atkoosa, so let’s keep all this in mind for the following matches, okay? Okay.
Next up is the god of ice and stillness Otzal versus god of flames Werluum. To be honest, I’m wishing for Werluum to win since I want to see a battle where the god of flames is against the god of suns. But whoever wins, whoever loses, let’s welcome our contestants with a warm welcome!"
Someone who looked like pale skin and bones stepped into the arena, and with him came a creeping cold that sank into every breath. It was Otzal.
He wore only pants, his chest bare and hollow, his stomach sunken as though he had starved for centuries. His skin was frostbitten, drained of all warmth, as if it had never once felt the sun. His face was drawn and skeletal, a pale white ponytail hanging behind his head, a thin beard on his chin. Strands of both had frozen stiff, brittle as threads of ice.
His eyes were carved from ice themselves. He was not blind, though he never blinked; when his gaze shifted, faint cracks spidered across their frozen surfaces.
He had earholes but no ears, dark cavities where a nose should be but no nose. From his body poured a stillness colder than the grave. Those who felt it found themselves unwilling to move, hoarding what little warmth their bodies could cling to. A heavy drowsiness followed, as if the air itself urged them toward sleep. Towards the eternal stillness.
On the opposite side walked the opposite of Otzal. His stride was steady, his expression confident, his very presence radiating a warm, welcoming aura. It was Werluum.
Most of Werluum’s skin was dark like charcoal, split with glowing cracks that pulsed like veins of flame. From within, a molten light shone, alive and restless. His hair blazed red, strands glowing with a searing yellow heat that threatened to erupt into fire with every movement.
Like Otzal, he wore no shirt, though his pants were shorter, cut for freedom rather than modesty. His irises burned crimson, and with every glance, tongues of flame licked outward from the corners of his eyes.
As Werluum entered the arena, heat rolled off him in waves. The cold that had crept into the crowd began to lift, as if his presence alone dared to challenge Otzal’s eternal stillness.
The two were then sent to a forest without further delay, and Otzal immediately froze everything in his vicinity.
Werluum countered by exuding immense heat that set the trees around them ablaze.
Both stood there without saying a word for a while, until Werluum said "Time to get things moving." And charged towards Otzal.
As Werluum was about to punch Otzal, Otzal raised his hand to summon a huge mass of ice between him and Werluum.
On contact, Werluum shattered most of the ice and melted the rest.
The next attack Otzal took head on, but he did not move from his place. He slowly turned his head to stare at Werluum and muttered "Perish".
With that the immense heat that Werluum was exuding previously got extinguished by the immense coldness of Otzal.
There was no escape from Otzal’s coldness once it got their grasp on you, and with it, Werluum began to be able to move less and less.
Werluum tried to keep his flames up, but Otzal’s immense cold only made the flames weaker and weaker.
Otzal said to struggling Werluum "This... is the difference between an old god... and a newer one."
Eventually, Werluum’s flames were extinguished and he eventually turned into solid ice statue.
Otzal won.
When the two went back to the arena, Werluum smiled and said "That was an exiting match! Thanks for the opportunity, senior Otzal."
Otzal waved as he started to walk away, not wanting to be in the spotlight more than necessary.
Werluum said "Let’s have more bouts like this again sometimes. I can feel that if I do, my flames will learn to be hotter each time."
Otzal did not respond any other way than giving a thumbs up as he was walking away.
Thus concluded the battle between Otzal and Werluum.