He climbed into the ring where Lord Blentus was already waiting for him. Vidian lifted his arms and held them up to defend himself. Lord Blentus had his arms down and chuckled, "You are motivated this time," He appeared behind Vidian, "But you can't fight what you can't see," Vidian spun around and got kicked from behind, knocking him to the floor. He got up and Lord Blentus wrapped his arms around him and launched him over his head. Vidian landed on his back and got up once more, trying to stay on his feet. He moved to the side which ended up being a half dodge as a punch clipped his chin instead of landing on his nose, but the small tap was enough to make his head turn. He staggered back and used the ropes to regain his balance as Lord Blentus appeared in front of him and hit him, sending him over the ropes. He landed on his feet and was able to keep his balance. Lord Blentus ran up the rope holders on the pillar and he threw himself in the air towards a still active Vidian. Vidian quickly reacted and he rammed his shoulder into Lord Blentus's body and slammed him to the ground. Lord Blentus flung him off and he rolled on the floor as Lord Blentus stood up, barely affected by the tackle. Vidian stood up and tried to attack Lord Blentus, swinging a punch that was grabbed by Lord Blentus, who pulled him into taking a massive blow to the stomach, folding him in half before hoisting him onto his shoulder and tossing him through the ropes before pulling himself onto the side of the ring and flinging himself over the ropes and tackling Vidian as he got up, bringing both of them to the floor. Lord Blentus rose and stood above Vidian as he slowly got up, "Quitting yet?"
"Are you kidding?" He lunged forwards only to be blocked by Lord Blentus then countered with a kick to the thigh, knocking him over. He kicked Vidian in the ribs as he tried to get up, knocking him to the floor once more. Vidian winced as he got up, his ribs feeling shattered. He blocked another kick from Lord Blentus but the back of his other foot hit him across the face knocking him down, stunning him. He hit the ground and then his eyes opened like the day before, he rose quickly and stood in front of Lord Blentus, it seemed like Lord Blentus was trying to get him there. He blocked several quick jabs thrown at him before turning, nearly predicting Lord Blentus. He landed a kick above his knee, slowing him. His eyes darted around as he seemed to be boosted by the pain. He ducked under a sweep kick from Lord Blentus. He caught him with his arms wrapped around his waist and lifted him up from the ground and turned slightly bringing his entire body and Lord Blentus's weight down on his shoulders and neck. He kept his grip around his waist and repeated the lift and brought him down on his stomach. Lord Blentus appeared above him out of his grip and Vidian rolled to dodge a stomp. Lord Blentus laughed as Vidian got up, "You are improving," Vidian saw no change in his pace or style even after the attacks that Vidian had landed, nothing affected him, "But I can still turn it up a notch," He appeared in front of Vidian before appearing just outside of his reach, dodging his swing while landing his own, tagging Vidian. He seemed faster and the simple blow had busted his nose, making it bleed. He blocked the second attempt but then he appeared with his knee aimed at Vidian's head, it landed as Vidian turned to anticipate the blow, it landed on his nose, making it spit blood and Vidian's body fell to the floor limp, knocked out, "Well, that was better than yesterday, Kaylyi!" She walked into the ring, "Same thing as yesterday."
"Of course, Lord Blentus," She said, placing his limp body on her shoulder, easily lifting his body from the floor, "How did he do?"
"Interested in him?"
"No, of course not."
"Well, he did fine, he nearly made me use my third technique."
"Really?!"
"Yeah, no mortal has even pushed me to two."
"And the legends?"
"No, he became immune, he never beat me, this guy has potential, I like it, he takes a pounding and somehow, he is then able to counter me, I am amused by his tenacity."
"Essentially, he nearly kicked your ass."
"If you want," Lord Blentus laughed, "He will have to pass Insantiuny after mine, that he is not ready for."
"Can anyone prepare for your tasks?"
"I don't believe so."
"Then no one can, but he will certainly pass then, right?" She said stopping in the doorway, "Or will he just fail?"
"He is on the good route, don't give him my compliments."
"I will give him mine, Lord Blentus."
"A mortal human, and a half-demon, what a couple that would be."
"Please don't try to mock me, Lord Blentus."
"Well, go then, get him ready for tomorrow, I believe I broke his ribs."
"They shall be fixed."
"Good."
He woke up and looked around the room, seeing Kaylyi near him, "What happened?"
"You got knocked out."
"Oh, well, I failed then, he was completely different from yesterday's fight."
"He has an oppressive style, doesn't he?"
"Yeah, god, my ribs hurt," He said, lifting his hand to place it on his ribs.
"They are broken, don't touch them."
"How will I fight tomorrow if they are broken?"
"You will be ready for tomorrow," She said as she bandaged his legs, "Well, I guess you will be in pain for a little bit, until the sap affects you."
"What is the thing you had to prepare for today?"
"Oh, nothing, nothing, tomorrow you will have a little audience against Lord Blentus," She said as she sat down at the table and grabbed feather to start writing on a book.
"What are you doing?"
"You are curious."
"I am human."
"Rewriting the books of punishment."
"What is that?"
"Lord Boros's book, legends, ideas, ways of being, stuff like that, Vidian."
"Are you the only one who works here?"
"Yes."
"Does it get boring?"
"Everything can get boring."
"I assume," He said getting up, "Is there something to drink?"
"Water, there," She pointed at a flowing source going into a bowl then flowing out of it and out of the room, "It is a cold source."
"Thank you."
He ducked under a swing from Lord Blentus, before tackling him, and taking his legs from under him. The room had Celentials and Darkkins, cheering every time they hit. Vidian landed two strikes on Lord Blentus's jaw before getting kicked off. He got up as Lord Blentus began moving faster once more, appearing in positions to strike, tagging Vidian several times before Vidian grabbed hold of one of his strikes and kept him from blinking around. He grabbed him around the waist and flipped him over his head, causing him to land hard on his shoulders. Lord Blentus took the time to attack Vidian again, blinking around him. Vidian ducked under his falling knee strike before hitting his shin in the back of Lord Blentus's head as he tried to recover. Lord Blentus took the blow then got up once more, ignoring it. Vidian blocked a high-kick from Lord Blentus and closed the distance, before striking his head with a forearm across his face. Lord Blentus seemed to speed up more, even leaving afterimages of himself as he blinked around. A strike landed the back of Vidian's head, knocking him down, stunning him. Lord Blentus grabbed his neck and his left arm and hurled him across the ring, towards a corner of the ring. He ran and leapt over Vidian and landed with both his feet on the ropes, with his arms spread out as Vidian tried to recover. He launched himself into the air, into a back flip and then landed on Vidian's back, crashing him to the floor as the crowd cheered. They must have been 100 in the crowd, but the with echo of the room, it seemed as if they were fighting in front of a crowd of thousands. Lord Blentus climbed onto the second rope of the ring and began taunting Vidian with by making the crowd cheer for him. Vidian saw that and charged at Lord Blentus, slamming his forearm into his back and knocking him over the ropes. He decided to fight him at his own game and pulled himself onto the pillar and spread his arms, making the crowd cheer. He smiled and threw himself at Lord Blentus as he got up, tackling him and sending both crashing to the ground. He was tossed aside by Lord Blentus. They got up and squared off in the crowd. Lord Blentus didn't blink around and instead allowed Vidian to try to match him, except, it was more of a match between a nail and a hammer. Every blow Vidian landed lead to a strike hitting him twice as hard, Lord Blentus was even making him back up and fight on his back foot, not letting him close in. Lord Blentus blinked behind Vidian and pulled him back and swung him into the arena once more before blinking to the top of the pillar that was closest to Vidian. Vidian saw this and rolled away from the pillar and stood up as Lord Blentus hopped off of the pillar. Vidian smirked and charged at Lord Blentus, before rolling away from a blinking attack and using all of his power into an uppercut that took Lord Blentus off of his feet, only for him to recover nearly instantly and feel his jaw before spitting and glaring at Vidian. His body gained red markings and his muscles became veiny, he smiled back at Vidian and blinked in front of him before landing a blow right to his guts, folding him in half. Vidian staggered to his feet and Lord Blentus launched another kick towards his head, spinning to hit him harder. Vidian lifted his right arm only for the kick to land on his body, putting him to the ground. He couldn't fight a god, he wasn't made for that, "Come on, do you quit?" Vidian go up, hiding his pain with his left eye trying to see pain in Lord Blentus, but there was nothing, not even a small pain. Lord Blentus appeared behind him and forearmed his head before appearing above him and using his knee to crush him and then appeared in front of him and under hooked his arms and lifted him up and turned him, slamming him down to the floor on his back. Vidian up-kicked him as Lord Blentus tried to strike him once more, stopping him clean. Vidian rolled back and used his legs to bring him down, spiking his head into the ring and then rolling to gain some distance with him. Lord Blentus cracked his neck and snarled at Vidian with his markings glowing brightly. He lunged forwards and tried to grab Vidian, but missed as he ducked out of the way. He kicked him in the leg as he dodged, trying to avoid actually fighting him. Lord Blentus roared at him, seeming more like a creature than a god. Vidian taunted him making the crowd cheer. Lord Blentus lunged forwards and tried to grab him but Vidian blocked his arms with his and had markings of his own, countering Lord Blentus. They were at a deadlock until Vidian moved forwards and kicked Lord Blentus's legs out from under him. He then threw his body at Lord Blentus and tackled him while he was off balance, putting him on the floor. He readied his arm to strike Lord Blentus but he blinked away and appeared on one of the pillars of the arena, without his markings. He hopped down, chuckling, "Vidian, Vidian," Vidian got up and put his arms up defensively, "I won't fight you again, you impressed me, I didn't know a man could achieve so much against a god," Vidian's markings vanished, "You are strong, and I think that I can gladly tell you that you passed my work," He took Vidian by the wrist and lifted his arm in the air as he pointed at him with his right hand and the crowd cheered loudly, "You will have a day of rest, you will need it," Lord Blentus turned his back on Vidian and climbed out of the ring, "I will tell Lord Boros that you have my passed my work," His cloak appeared on him and his hammer floated to place itself on his back, "Kaylyi, get the people out of here and patch him up," She nodded and the people began leaving, still cheering Vidian as he was on one knee, clutching his right side where the kick had landed, wincing in pain after his adrenaline had worn off. He fell on his side and then rolled onto his back as Kaylyi walked into the ring.
"Hey."
"Impressive," She said as she sat him up, "He has so much pride, he stopped because you were actually beating him."
"Was I now?" Vidian looked confused, "He didn't show any pain on his body."
"You were beating all of his techniques, that is beating him."
"Oh, well, thanks for the compliment."
"It was impressive, never seen a man do that, ever, and I have seen many fight Lord Blentus," She said, lifting him from the ground, "I'll patch you up, you are in a terrible shape."
"It feels worse than it looks."
"If you were to recover naturally, you would be covered in bruises."
"Yeah, I guess, but it was fun."
"Really?"
"I fought him and got stopped and then beat him, or at least, passed his work, and I am proud of that."
"Your next work will test you again."
"Insanity, what could that be?"
"I don't know, and if I did, I won't be allowed to tell you."
"Helpful."
"I know, right?"
He sat up after Kaylyi had bandaged his body, "I think I broke my arm in that fight."
"Yet you didn't say anything when I lifted your arm."
"I replaced the bone by mutating my arm."
"Okay, now how do you do that?"
"I have blessings," He said, getting up, "I can mutate my arms into essentially anything, that is Lord Eternum's blessing."
"So when you broke your arm, you just fixed it?"
"Yeah, more or less."
"What else can you do with your arms?"
"What do you want to see?"
"Can you make your arm look like mine?" He sat down at the table as well and place his right arm on the table and looked at her demonic arm and then his arm began to mutate, creating the same patterns and the same coloring like hers. He lifted his arm from the table and moved his fingers, she looked at her arm and then looked at his, seeing no difference, "How do you do that?"
"I don't, I just think of it and it does."
"That is amazing, absolutely amazing," She said as she felt his arm, "I have never seen that, ever, and I have seen many people pass here," Vidian stood up once and slowly paced around, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, just, a lot of pain, I can't believe that he was able to so easily break my bones," He looked at the bandages on his body, "He hit me so hard that it broke Lord Orn's blessing."
"Broke it?"
"Went through it, I still have the blessing."
"Oh, well, this is your last one, what will you do after?"
"Finish my quest."
"Which means you will?"
"Have you ever heard of the Death of the World?"
"Mhm, what about it?"
"Well, once I have all my blessings, the only thing that will be left for me to do will be to kill it, to do what 12 gods could not do."
"You will what?"
"Kill it, I know, hard to picture a mortal doing that, but that is what I have to do, and there is nothing else I have to do."
"What happens if you fail?"
"Everyone, and everything will die, and I will have failed myself, the people I knew, the people I didn't know and the gods of our world and the supreme gods."
"Do you have a choice?"
"I guess I don't."
"You could've turned down the task."
"You are funny, when a supreme god comes to you, well, you listen, and probably accept what they want, but now, if Lord Eternum, the god of gods comes to you, you can't turn something like that down," He paused, "And with this quest, I have been able to go to new places, meet many people that I truly think that I care for and I have an actual meaning to give to my life, not like before this, all I did was work to make it through the day to the next, nothing special."
"Oh, well, at that point, that is different."
"You see what I mean, I don't think that I could've done something else, like, without letting myself down."
"How old are you?"
"21, why?"
"You don't sound like it, I wouldn't even think like that."
"Well, yeah, I guess, I am still young and soon I will die."
"Die?"
"The Death of the World, to end it, I must die with it, I don't know how, but I have to," He sighed and headed to the door.
"Where are you going?"
"For a walk, I haven't left this temple in 3 days, I kinda want to walk."
"Tomorrow you have another work, you know."
"I know, I know."