Previously
A swig of Ivanka's wine and my taste buds nearly exploded. Just as she'd said, the wine was perfect for the roasted meat since it enhanced the smokiness of the honey-glazed roast, leaving a popping aftertaste in your mouth before washing your palate with it's somewhat sweet and bitter aftertaste. Oh how absolutely divine.
By the time I was on my third rod and Ivanka on her tenth, the stars had aligned perfectly in the curtain of darkness above and since there was no light pollution in this world, one could even see the ocean of colors stretching across the night sky. The silence of the night, coupled with the sizzling of the meat and roaring of the flames only added to the feeling of serenity I felt at the moment.
It was times like these that made me glad that I was reborn into the world. Times like these that made me forget all about the future, inevitable challenges I would have to overcome.
A gasp of satisfaction from biting onto the juicy meat and a godly glass of wine in one hand, I felt like tonight would be a night that I wouldn't ever forget.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"Martial Arts?" I asked.
Currently, it was just me and Ivanka standing on top of the training grounds which looked oddly futuristic than fantastical, what with the technical obsidian-like floor and the four monoliths standing on the four corners with ritualistic symbols —blood-red in color, etched on them. When I first walked into here, I felt like I had just passed through a bubble which Ivanka later told me, was the automatic barrier of the training grounds. I finally knew why her house and it's surroundings weren't destroyed after her 'training' against a two storey wyrmling.
Ivanka was dressed differently today but I wasn't complaining. Her outfit for the day consisted of an all black, long-sleeved tunic crop top that exposed her ripped abs and what could only be described as a thong, along with some sexy tights that only made her toned legs look even juicier like primed meat after a thousand days. Of course, she still wore some form of armor around her like shin guards, arm guards and the like but it was still bikini armor, and she didn't know this but her throbbing tattoos around her body only made it sexier.
"Isn't that a little unsafe?" I asked.
Ivanka put a hand on her hip. "What is?"
"Your. . .clothes?" I circled a finger around her extremely provocative training wear.
"What are you talking about?" Ivanka looked down at her training outfit. "This is ordinary light armor that will help with today's training. I don't see anything wrong with it. Oh, are you perhaps offended by my curse?"
I quickly shook my head. Ivanka looked like she was smiling for a second there. "Then, there's no problem?"
"Nope," I said, despite wondering where I should really place my eyes on. It was times like these that the game's genre as an R18 erotic mmorpg really stands out. I didn't think I'd be able to see the stoic Ivanka show off her toned, smoking hot body in bikini armor. Not like I was complaining.
"Anyway, you said something about martial arts?" I changed the topic.
"Right," Ivanka snapped her fingers and her chalikars were summoned to her grasp. She held them towards me and I felt the need to move my head out of the way. "You just sensed that you were in danger."
"Yeah, so?" I said. "And, can you please stop pointing that sharp-looking thing at me?"
"Focus," Ivanka chastised but she did put her weapons down. "You didn't use any of your abilities, prana nor the system of the god you live under. So, why was it that you were able to sense the danger you were just in?"
"Well, that's obviously because you were pointing your weapon at me," I replied. What was she trying to get at?
Ivanka shook her head. "No, it was because you sensed my hostility."
"Sensed your hostility?"
"Exactly."
Ivanka then raised up five fingers. "When the first mortals were born through the world's breath of life, they were gifted with five senses. The sense of smell," She pointed to her nose. "The sense of hearing," She pointed to her ears. "The sense of sight," She pointed to her eyes. "The sense of taste," She pointed to her tongue. "And finally, the sense of touch." She closed her fingers into a fist.
"A millennium later after the second breath and the Age Of Gods began," Ivanka closed her eyes. "The mortals were dragged into a never-ending celestial war over the procession of heaven's throne and in return, were given unnatural powers by their gods. Power that turned stone into gold, water into wine and fish into bread. Some of the gifted were even talented enough to use it to become gods themselves."
Then, she shook her head, opening her eyes. You could see the amount of sadness they contained. "Of course, only a handful actually did manage to ascend to the divine." She stopped herself.
"After the current GodKing finally took heaven's throne and order returned to the heavens, the age of Spirits began," Ivanka said. "Inventions and innovation worthy enough to challenge the gods started to exist as they built towers tall enough to pierce the heavens. The training grounds we stand on are one of their relics. But of course, none of the towers were able to be built until completion."
"What? Why? What happened?" I asked. The history she was recounting sounded completely different from the game's lore. In the game, the spirits completed building the towers and were dominant enough to strike a deal with the gods and the world spirit before moving out of the mortal realm and settling in their own created realm, swearing an oath that they wouldn't interfere with the mortal realms unless in retaliation.
They were essentially hermits and geezers. So, why was Ivanka saying the towers weren't built?
"Well the Demon God killed them all," Ivanka said, matter of factly. She might as well have dropped a bomb on my head. My jaws hung open in shock. "How do you think she gained her providence and divinity?"
"She killed. . .all of the spirits?" I asked.
"No," Ivanka said. "She devoured them all. She raped, killed, stole and comitted every sin known to the heavenly principles, officially bearing the title of 'The One Who Bears All Sin'." Ivanka let a small smirk form on her lips. "She was evil enough an existence that the world spirit rejected her existence, creating a realm just to trap her in."
That made sense. Thinking carefully, there were some parts in the Demon God or Nyx's lore that either just didn't make sense or were completely ignored in the game. One of which was explaining how she even got that strong, strong enough to be considered an existence equal to all of heaven and the other realms. Her true form was on the same level as the GodKing and the World Spirit, combined.
"She's. . .that strong?" I asked, sounding rather defeated. I wasn't acting completely. I said that I wanted to get some form of revenge on the Demon God. I knew from the game that she was the final boss but never really thought much on her difficulty since they never revealed her origins too much. Also, the game was a lot easier once you went the pay-to-win strat and bought yourself a god-slaying sword and god-slaying armor.
"And more," Ivanka said. "She is strong enough that if your emblem was any other crest, I would tell you to give up on your revenge. But no matter how strong she is, she isn't omnipotent."