Meanwhile, Umbra, Gara, and their mother Philomena enjoyed an unnecessarily large feast fit for twenty people.
Despite Gara losing quite early into the tournament, she seemed quite proud of her brother, and their mother was over the moon that her boy had won the tournament after countless days of training. Yet, for some reason, Umbra always felt like it wasn't good enough - like he could've done much better. And in that aspect, there was some truth to it. As the gods themselves said, there were so many wasted movements that Umbra could've avoided and much more room for improvement. Nonetheless, it was hard not to appreciate the glory, fame, and gold that was to come of this, no less the blessing just as well.
"I cannot believe it. My boy wins the annual Tournament of the Gods?! I've never been prouder, Umbra." Philomena beamed with the love of a proud mother, kissing Umbra's head. "And you, Gara, you were so much of a threat that your opponents needed to take you down together. That is a feat in and of itself."
She shook her head in admiration, holding the hands of her children at the feasting table.
"You two… if only your father was here to see this. He would be over the moon."
"Speaking of which… where is he?" Umbra asked.
"Yeah, I thought he'd be here! And the Valkyries too! But I noticed their seats were empty…" Gara spoke through a mouthful of food.
"Oh, you know how your father gets, children. The god of strength has much to attend to." Philomena answered, yet it didn't satisfy her kids' curiosity. She continued, "Come, let's go catch the gods fighting before we miss it."
And just like that, Umbra and Gara followed their mother out back into the Colosseum to witness divine entertainment.
-
The battle between the gods had already taken place by the time Umbra and his family arrived to spectate. It was enough to force anyone to stand up from their seats and scream all the air out of their bodies. The blow from each god against another was felt through shockwaves that landed on your skin. It was as if you were part of the fight as much as they were.
The arena showcased Iradin against Laevitia at first. With the goddess of speed's bratty, mischievous energy and the god of war's passionate lust for battle, it was sure to be an interesting fight. Laevitia stretched beforehand and then became a blur, speeding around the arena grounds as if she were exercising. Moving so fast that it was hard to keep track of her, it was even a little difficult for Iradin.
"Done showing off?!" Iradin taunted with a smile on his face, keeping his greatsword ready.
"Missed me!" Laevitia promptly replied, shoving into Iradin with great speed that it tumbled him back a step.
With a grunt, Iradin stood his ground, gripping his two-handed greatsword with determination. Laevitia was running laps around him over and over, and picking up speed at that. Within a few seconds, it was clear what she was trying to accomplish: to pick up the wind and cause a tornado, with Iradin being right in harm's way. And this was quickly happening. To counteract, Iradin swung his greatsword towards the ground with such strength that it split it open, cracking the earth and halving the Colosseum into two. It took Zanara herself to use her powers in order to save people from falling into them.
The crack that formed was enough to break Laevitia's focus, as she was seen tripping on it and rolling forward. Covered in dust and irritation, Laevitia wiped the corner of her mouth before initiating a frontal onslaught of attacks. Her fists were moving so fast at Iradin's body that it was picking up enough air and dust to cause a small cloud of it. But Iradin was prepared to retaliate, dropping his greatsword to meet her hand-to-hand, catching her fist, and evading just in time to deliver a blow to her cheek.
And this would go on until the god of time Tempus stepped in, appearing out of nowhere. Then, followed by Zanara, Morus, Ygros, and finally, Deianira. Together, all seven gods demonstrated a powerful show of abilities that would shake the Colosseum to its core.
The gods fought and laughed as the Colosseum was halved again, split into four different quarters with all of them floating in different altitudes due to Zanara's magic. Clouds started to roll in as Deianira commanded destruction and annihilation, and Tempus was seen zipping around the place as he stopped time to his will. Every time he appeared, something would have changed. It wasn't long until the entire piece of earth that the Colosseum stood on was picked up from the ground by the might of the gods and lifted up into the air.
The dead were summoned by Morus and only those who were willing to rise from the dead. Dead soldiers and fallen foes rose back from the grave to have one last fight and to assist the god of death in his fight against the gods. Finally, bringing out one of the biggest creatures in the Underworld he could find, a great big wolf was summoned on Morus's command to breathe dark flames onto the arena.
The audience had never been more riled up, and even more so when it seemed as if the Colosseum was lifted up all the way into the upper atmosphere of the Sapphire Realms - though, in reality, this would all be Ygros's work. A grand illusion in the effort of amusement and enjoyment. Two winged figures could also be seen soaring through the upper atmosphere, yet it was impossible to tell if it were an illusion by Ygros or the Valkyries themselves.
Moons were conjured by Zanara herself and hurled at her fellow brothers and sisters as she weaved and breathed creation into whatever she could imagine, yet all of them were destroyed with ease by her twin sister Deianira, projecting fire and destruction with such poetic elegance that it came off as beautiful in its own, twisted way. Despite being the goddess of destruction she was also the goddess of poetry and all written literature. The ground started to crumble with an earthquake that possessed a magnitude that could level the entire Sapphire Realm, which caused Zanara to start working against that by stabilizing the world.
What would naturally strike fear into the hearts of anyone, actually brought joy to the audiences. It was spectacular to see the gods unleash their full power on each other, demonstrating their strength and the sole reasons why they remain to be the gods. At the end of it all, however, while the Coloessum was still floating in the air in many broken segments, there was no winner. Should you look for a winner, the gods would have to be fighting for an eternity to see just who would emerge victorious.
And unluckily, or perhaps luckily, for Umbra, the winner of the Tournament of the Gods has the opportunity to fight with them, but the product of such was rather humbling, to say the least. There needs not to be a tale made of this to say that Umbra was defeated with incredible ease as if it were taking candy from a child. Laevitia evaded and ran circles around Umbra as he tried to do anything, Iradin out-maneuvred him in hand-to-hand combat with only one hand, and the other gods? It didn't take them long to defeat Umbra. You could blink slower than Umbra went down.
"Hah! Awww, did we go too hard on you?" Laevitia taunted, jogging in place as Umbra recovered on the ground. "Suck it up! You're the Champion!"
"Go easy on him, Leif! The boy put up a good fight, did he not?!" Iradin responded, trying to defend Umbra yet coming off as rather condescending. He continued, "But do not worry, my boy. As your uncles and aunts, we can guarantee you that there will be a rematch. Perhaps when you're older and stronger!"
"Pft. Yeah, right." Tempus scoffed, looking off to the side as if Umbra wasn't worth his attention.
And while the other gods were busy basking in the after-math of the Tournament, Zanara took it upon herself to heal any wounds that Umbra might have suffered before sending him on his way. The rest of the festival was celebrated with gods and mortals together, feasting, dancing, and singing together in a harmonious trance that would've hypnotized anyone that stepped foot into the realm of Estralyn. Umbra, Gara, and Philomena all went out of their way to try out every single thing the festival had to offer, and until the sun set and the moon was high in the sky, they did not return home to sleep. When they did, the training grounds behind House Oberon echoed the distinct sound of Umbra training tirelessly throughout the night with the persistence of a rolling boulder wanting to be its very best.
Umbra may think that no one was observing him, but he'd be mistaken.