"Woo! We're finally finishing this journey!"
Shí Hóu loudly shouted in the bar.
He wore his usual golden dragon scale suit with a red cape and crimson boots. He probably couldn't be any more noticeable, even if he tried.
He was already three bottles in, and the beer just kept coming.
"You should probably cut on the beer a little. We still got a long day tomorrow."
Shu said. Like Shí Hóu, he had drunk quite a lot but not nearly as much as the stone monkey.
He wore his open black suit jacket as always, with his mask lightly lifted so he could drink but not too much, so no one would notice that his ears were not connected to the mask.
"What are ya' talkin' about?! This day's just startin'!"
Shí Hóu put his leg on the table and shouted at the top of his lungs.
"Come on. I know you wanna relax too. Yell it!"
Shí hóu encouraged Shu.
Shu seemed to be trying to resist, but the hype has swept him in as well.
"Fine! Of course, I just wanna relax! I'm immortal now! This tournament has no meaning to me anymore!"
Shu yelled what he truly wanted to say. And he felt more relaxed and happier than he ever was since the start of the tournament.
"That demon god got nothing on us! We are real people, not just some toys."
Shu added, and Shí Hóu nodded in agreement.
They were both pushed around because of debts they owed Danniel and so now, when they were under the effects of alcohol and weren't holding back, they had quite a lot to say.
"Damn that bastard!"
Shí Hóu said, and they both felt a rippling effect in the air.
"Hey, are you guys also here because of the meeting between the weather god and the evil god?"
A man wearing armor with Antony's symbol asked.
Sitting together with the man were fifteen people wearing the same armor.
"Sigh... Sorry, we are just insulting our boss for our enjoyment. We are not serious about this."
Shu, who was less drunk than Shí Hóu, and didn't want to get into trouble, said.
"And your boss is..."
The soldier said with the hope that they called him the demon god as an insult and weren't his enemies.
"Danniel, you probably never met him."
Shu answered.
The soldier had no clue of the demon god's real name, so he assumed that he had never heard of that, Danniel guy.
They all simply went back to their tables and drank their drinks until Shí Hóu opened his mouth.
"Hey! Shu! Why didn't you tell them our boss is a god?! I think it should earn him some merit!"
As soon as Shí Hóu said that, Shu and the soldier stood up and faced each other.
The soldier drew his sword and pointed it at Shu. All the while, Shu detached his brass knuckles from a magical rope that worked like a magnet and was connected to his belt.
He looked at the soldier as he wore the brass knuckles on his hands.
The soldier's sword was two and a half times as long as the average longsword.
They stood a long minute, staring each other in the eyes until the soldier thrust his sword at Shu.
Shu put his hand on the blunt side of the sword's blade and did a cartwheel in the soldier's direction.
The edge of Shu's foot hit the soldier in the head. All the while, the soldier was falling forward because of Shu's weight on the sword.
Shu put his foot on the soldier's head as he jumped off and pushed the soldier to the ground.
"Who else wants to fight me?!"
Shu shouted. He was still under the effects of alcohol and didn't consider the fifteen men waiting for his invitation sitting by the table.
The way he was standing wasn't well-balanced. He felt lightheaded and was constantly staggering.
The other soldiers drew their weapons.
One had a war hammer. Shu hit the hammer to the full extent of his strength, and the hammer shuttered. The shockwave from the force he used pushed the soldier, and he was shot through the wall and out of the bar.
After knocking a guy out of the bar, Shu looked at another one of the soldiers, who was walking in his direction, and the soldier shrieked in fear before falling to the ground and peeing himself. Shu sighed and then kicked the soldier in the head to knock him out.
Shí Hóu beat the soldiers with his stave, and eight were down in a few seconds after getting hit at critical points.
Shu took each of his enemies at their turn. All the while dodging the others' attacks.
By the time they finished, a pile of sixteen knocked-out people was raised outside the bar.
Shu and Shí hóu sat back at their table and drank some more.
********
"You want me to remove the temple rune you got?"
A person who could be best described as a medieval tattoo artist asked Alexander.
"Yes, don't ask questions. Just do it!"
Alexander responded, and the tattoo artist was annoyed by his commanding tone.
Alexander was very agitated that not only did he have that 'damned' marking, but this person kept asking questions instead of doing his job. What is so difficult about removing a tattoo?
"Okay, how thoroughly do you want me to erase it?"
The tattoo artist said
"Cut my hand off if you need to. Just remove it!"
Alexander said.
'I originally came to this guy because I was unsure if I could control my power and heal myself in time while enduring the pain, but I may as well have him cut my hand if it means he will ask fewer questions.'
Alexander thought to himself.
The tattoo artist told Alexander to put his hand forward and placed the flat side of the knife horizontally to Alexander's hand, with the sharp edge just barely piercing Alexander's skin.
With a swift movement of his hand, the tattoo artist cut off several layers from Alexander's skin.
Alexander did his best to hold his voice in and control his power.
He used as much power as possible and created a new layer of skin where his hand was cut.
"Thank you for the help."
Alexander said. And while holding his hand, he stepped out of the shop.
As he walked in the street, he thought of what he went through all this pain for.
Scenes from the past flashed in his mind.
He was only four years old.
His family, once happy, was murdered brutally by Ephialtes, the head of the Oblivion branch, one of the branches of the dreamer god's temple. The man killed Alexander's family and tried to kill him, but Alexander's gift used its mightiest ability. To create fate, to save Alexander's life.
The vast amount of divinity it used was too immense, and the entire region became an unlivable wasteland, with him practically dead in the middle of the wasteland.
After four years in which he felt nothing but despair, someone found him. It was a temple knight from the dreamer god's temple, Morpheus, the greatest dreamer, the unbeatable.
Alexander remembered the scene of his eyes opening for the first time in four years and seeing that blond man with his red glowing eyes piercing into Alexander's soul. He was huge compared to the average human and was closer in size to a brown bear. He wore a black knight's armor and a cape with the dreamer god's rune sewn on it. His eyes were piercing, but his overall expression seemed uninterested.
In fear of abandonment, Alexander shouted at him that he should either save him or die. That no one who leaves a small child behind should stay alive.
"Child? Is this what they call WEAPONS of MASS DESTRUCTION these days?"
His words struck Alexander as awfully cruel. In Alexander's eyes, all the dreamer god's temple knights are scum that should either do their job or die, and back then was no different.
Morpheus saw the hatred in his eyes and chuckled.
"Surely, it's not me you hate, so what is it? Were you betrayed? Sold? Was your family killed in front of you?"
Morpheus saw a slight change in Alexander after the last guess.
"Guessed so, and you hate me... Which branch of the temple did this to you? If you want me to save you, you have to answer this question!"
Morpheus said, and his tone was more severe than before. He seemed genuinely interested in this matter.
"Oblivion."
Alexander said quietly, barely capable of uttering that name, and then passed out from malnourishment.
After that, Morpheus saved Alexander and took him under his wing.
They both rose in the temple's ranks as an independent two-men unit working separately from the branches.
Even through those many years, Alexander's hatred has not weakened much.
They reached high ranks, but three years before the tournament, there was a massive shift in the temple's leadership. The Oblivion branch took control over the temple, with Ephialtes as their leader.
When news reached Morpheus, he told Alexander he should leave the temple.
Not a month later, a rumor spread that Morpheus, his master, was killed.
He was betrayed and ambushed by the higher-ups of the temple.
After hearing that, his hatred toward the temple was reignited. Alexander went on a murder spree against the oblivion branch and all their supporters. With every kill he got, he understood how unbeatable his gift was and that he was different from others. He was a 'higher being,' a GOD.
But he could never beat them all, so he decided to do something else. He will become the strongest and take over the dreamer god's realm. Then, he trained to get into the tournament.
As he walked down the street, he saw a bar with soldiers piled up in front of it. He chuckled and walked into the bar.
He looked around for a few moments, and then his eye focused on his target.
"Just who I was looking for."
He walked slowly toward that person, taped him on the shoulder, and when Shu lifted his head to see who approached him, he said.
"I want a rematch."
He knew he wasn't a god, but he had to at least climb over this mountain before he could think of fixing HIS temple. He couldn't stay weak.