Chapter 62: Immortal-Cup Part 3: That uneasy taste of loss.
Sahra (God of Sand and Time) - Li Last (Rell):
The announcer says "Well that was... disturbing. But let’s move on.
Next up is the god of sand and time Sahra who will fight against a ... rell named Li Last?
Who is this guy? I heard that he is some tower master...
He is the reason why we can have gods so close to us today?! Well then let’s give a round of applause for the man who made it all happen!"
Sahra walks to the arena with little less extravagant clothes than he had when he was at the party. Li, on the other hand, looked the same as usual.
Sahra asked Li "So... How do you feel now that you get to fight a god in this world?"
Li answers "I don’t know. Maybe a bit... Excited? Is that the correct word to describe how I feel?"
Sahra laughs a bit and says "Well now. Don’t get too overly into godslayer mode after the match, okay?"
Li responds with a laugh of his own as he says "Sure sure. I’ll be careful not to go that far."
Then the two contestants were sent to a pocket dimension that looked something like a grassland.
Sahra immediately casted a spell on Li that made Li locked in time for a short while. Then Sahra used his magic to encase Li on a box made from stone and filled it with dense sand.
Sahra went through the process a couple of times, until he felt like it was enough to release his magic and pierce Li’s tough skin.
So Sahra released Li from the time prison and used his magic to make sharp pointy sand that would pierce Li.
Thinking it was over, Sahra swept the sweat off his face and collapsed all the walls. Once the walls collapsed, the sand piled up. But Sahra could still feel Li alive in there, so he raised the massive amount of sand to the air and slammed all those tons of sand on top of Li.
Li just broke through the sand column that was big enough to fill the Burj Khalifa.
Then, as Li was closing in from the air towards Sahra, Sahra, in the last ditch effort to be able to defeat the godslayer, started shooting sand bullets from the massive pile of sand he had summoned earlier.
Li dodged the sand bullet with prowess and even used some of them as platforms to close in on Sahra.
Li summoned guns of his own and started shooting at Sahra, who in turn blocked the bullets with a thick layer of sand between him and Li.
Eventually, Li got close enough to forcibly break through layers upon layers of Sahra’s defenses and sliced Sahra’s head off with the whip of his tail.
The winner of this match was Li.
Once back in the arena, Sahra said as he laughed heftily "You sure are something, godslayer. No mercy. I could have stopped time for you much, much longer, but even I can’t do anything to an object that is locked in time. Not unless I bend the rules a bit, but that wouldn’t be fun for anyone, now wouldn’t it."
Li nodded and said "I felt like you had more in you if you used your powers in a certain way, but this time, I’ll take the victory as is. It was great entertainment for the audience anyway. No need to go all out."
Sahra laughed heftily yet again and said "Indeed. Indeed. This is but a tournament for fun. No need to go all scorched earth. But in any case..."
Sahra offered his hand and said "It was a great match."
Li shook Sahra’s hand and answered with "It indeed was one."
.
Miekel (God of Swords) - Zolon Tokiko Eishi Ilumnos (Archon of the Abyss):
The announcer says "Well that was an... interesting match. I feel coarse all of a sudden, but let’s not let that slow down the tournament.
Next up is the god of swords, Miekel, who is up against the very archon of the abyss itself.
Well then... ahem... May the good guys win and all that... but honestly... Good luck Miekel."
Miekel stepped into the arena. He looked like a metal golem for the most part, but he had a head of an armoured knight with eyes glowing crimson.
Toki also stepped into the arena, and as soon as she was in his sight, Miekel shouted "I will show you the might of the gods! I will show you the vigour that we needed to have when we faced those abyssal beasts in those invasions! I will show you... My might."
Toki smiled at Miekel and said "Okay, just don’t overexert yourself too much."
Miekel shouts "How dare you act like that towards me, abyssal filth?! I will show you to go back where your kind belongs!"
Toki smiles nervously as she doesn’t know what to do.
Soon after, Miekel and Toki are sent to a barren wasteland. Before Toki could even open her eyes, Miekel had already attempted to slash through her body, only for the sword to shatter.
Miekel shouts "Impossible!" and summons another one. That too, with a force that could slice mountains, the sword breaks on impact.
Miekel doesn’t stop and continues the barrage of swords that would be able to cut even the very suns of the sky. But Toki just took it and the blast from the attacks makes the video footage tremble a bit.
It was like a rapid firing gun was attacking Toki as Miekel summoned swords and attempted to slice through Toki’s defence, but nothing even scratched Toki.
This continued for a while, until Miekel began to feel exhausted. He shouted with his remaining strength "I... will not... yield!"
Toki felt bad for the guy and smacked Miekel once, which in turn sent Miekel flying and tattering his being to shreds.
It was Toki’s victory.
Once back in the arena, Miekel shouted at Toki "Don’t you think that I’ll let this matter end like this, foul abyssal beast! Even if it costs the rest of my life to do so, I’ll make a sword that is able to cut you down!"
Toki tries to shake hands as she says "Yeah. That’s the spirit. I’ll eagerly wait for that day."
Miekel slams Toki’s hand away in protest and begins to leave in a huff. But before he fully left the arena, he turned around and shook Toki’s hand while saying "It was a good workout."
.
Mathews Witsur (King of Death) - Trixtitkitus (God of Dragons):
The announcer says "Well that was a depressing fight. But let’s not let that slow us down and go for the next match!
Next up is the king of death, Mathews Witsur. He was the one that could terrify even our beloved god of death Mors. Legends say that he has never been defeated in a single match.
Mathews is up against our beloved god of dragons, Trixtitkitus. She is a powerhouse herself, so I can’t wait to see how this match turns out."
Thews walks to the arena, as does Trix.
Trix has a smile on her face for a moment, until she sees the unyielding look on Thews’ face.
Trix asks "You seem quite motivated. Doesn’t really fit the image that Mors tried to depict."
Thews says "Unfortunately, I cannot afford to lose any matches. I must win for the sake of certain people."
Trix asks "And who are those people."
Thews answers "I cannot say."
Trix ponders for a moment and says "Well. I heard that you used to mess around during tournaments such as this, but given the look you are giving... I think I have to brace myself."
Thews replies "You do that."
Then the two contestants were sent to a mountainous region, and Trix didn’t waste a single second and attacked Thews with a kick.
Before the kick could land, Thews said "Come to me, The Fallen."
Thews had a regular looking sword on his hand that was still in its sheathe. Though it looked like a regular old sheathe, it emanated a power that made Trix falter for a moment and miss her kick.
Nervous of what Thews’ sword could do, Trix released a massive amount of energy towards Thews, who casually dodged it with little to no effort.
Thews drew his blade that was dark and damaged. Then he said "Fall."
With those words, the area was decimated and once the camera could pick anything again, All that remained was Thews standing on a single column of rock. The rest of the pocket dimension was gone.
Thews had won.
Once back at the arena, Trix had her hands at the back of her head all stretched as she said "Well damn. No mercy huh."
Thews says "Once again, I must apologise for not being in a mood to humour anyone."
Trix taps Thews’ back and says "No worries. No worries. We all have our reasons to do things sometimes, and while I’m interested as hell to know what exactly is going on, I’m not going to pry any further for Mors’ sake."
Thews asks "For hers? Why’s that?"
Trix looks at Thews all confused and says "What? Isn’t she something akin to a stepmom for you or something."
This makes the serious look from Thews’ face drop as he begins to laugh hysterically "She?! My stepmom?! HAHHAHHA! You really have some weird ideas."
Trix smiles back and says "Atta boy. Now you look much more like I heard you were like."
Thews wipes the tears of his face as he says "Sure. Sure. But I’ll still need to win all the matches for the sake of those people who are suffering."
Trix nods, hums and says "You’ll do that. Just don’t lose yourself along the way."
.
Ao (God of Stars and Space) - Song Bai (Transcended Automaton):
The announcer said "Well then. Next up is the god of space and stars Ao herself and an automaton Song Bai who is the best of her series!
Though to be honest, I still question who gave her the go ahead to come to the Immortal-Cup, but I’m not the one calling the shots, so what do I know. Let’s hope that she will not face a complete and utter defeat."
Bai was in her prep room, waiting for the call to the arena to be made. She even had cut off the link between her and her sisters so that she could concentrate.
In Bai’s mind, she had to be absolutely flawless. She had to show the other fingers why she was at the top.
Eventually, the call was made, and as Bai was walking towards the arena, many of her sisters came to talk to her, wishing for her absolute victory.
Bai just responded "Whatever. I will do what is natural."
Eventually Bai managed to walk past her sisters and get to the arena. On the arena Ao asked Bai "Getting a little tardy, are we?"
Bai says "I’ll be as tardy as I want. It is not like I’ll put my all to this match anyways."
Ao says "Hooh? Then I hope you don’t cry to your leader about it when you lose."
Bai shrugs and says "While I have the capacity to cry, I’ve never once shed a tear. Honestly, waste of resources in my opinion."
The two were sent to the pocket dimension without further delay and this time, the match happened in some wide space in some cave.
Ao looked around and said "What a bore. To send the god of space to an enclosed space must be some sort of mockery."
Bai said "No kidding." And launched an attack at Ao.
Ao effortlessly stopped Bai’s sword on its track and said "You don’t think that I honestly can’t deal with your swords? Me? God of space?"
Ao stumped her cane to the ground and said "Have some respect towards your elders, little brat."
Bai says "Qian Jian 67th form. Lull."
Ao asks "I’m sorry, did you say something?"
Bai says "Nothing special, just said that you are already in my technique."
Ao laughs a little and asks "And what kind of technique am I supposedly in?"
Bai says "I’ll humour you. As a god of space, you must be very spatially aware, correct?"
Ao answered "Yes. I have the best spatial awareness right next to Maumar himself. What of it?"
Bai asks "Then... I’m sure you can ’feel’ someone walking towards you about now, right?"
Ao asks "What are you on ab..."
Then Ao realizes that she can sense someone walking towards her, but she can clearly see Bai standing still.
Ao says "What are you..." As she tries to move, but as she moves, she can feel a disorienting feeling. Like she is in two places at once, but can only move one of the bodies.
Ao shouts "What did you do?!"
Bai smiles as she polishes her nails "I don’t know. Since you clearly are superior, then clearly you should be able to figure something out."
Ao begins to panic. As she teleports in that space, she feels that some other version of her is still standing still somewhere, disorienting her more and more.
Bai asks "What’s wrong? Can’t figure out a way?"
Ao gets frustrated and tries to attack Bai with a concentrated star beam. She failed to hit for the first time in ages, and she grows increasingly furious as she shoots volley after volley of star beams that break the rocks around them.
Eventually, Ao manages to hit Bai, killing her in that ’space’, but soon after that, Ao gets sent to the place she was at the start of the match, only to feel something walking closer and closer towards her while Bai kept polishing her nail in the distance.
Ao begins to sweat as she thought "This isn’t happening. This isn’t happening. I’m being beaten by a machine? Impossible. Simply impossible. I have the authority over space that Maumar gave me plus star authority, I can’t lose. I simply can’t."
As Ao was thinking, she felt her head being detached from her body, while still watching Bai polish her nails in peace.
Ao could not understand. And as she thought about how to push through, her consciousness simply vanished and eventually she woke up in the arena, people telling how Bai was the one who won.
Ao asked "What... What happened? Did... Did I... lose?"
Bai says "It is a little technique that makes you trapped in a mindspace where the sword works as the catalyst. You, being so aware of all that is around you, but never having been in two places at once, made that an obvious choice of an attack."
Ao asks in astonishment "You... You mean to say that... I was beaten... from the very beginning?"
Bai pointed at the replay of the match and said "You figure that on your own, old hag. Imma go take a nap before my next match."
Ao looked at the screen where she seemingly just stood still as Bai walked towards her. Ao was so astonished from the defeat that she fell to her knees for a moment, dropping her cane in the process.
For the first time in ages, Ao felt so lost that she could not stand.
Bai won while destroying Ao’s confidence in herself.