If you want to read up to 20 chapters ahead go to https://www.patreón.com/cornbringer
Discord invite: https://discord.gg/XHduApz
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Reinhard POV]
How curious.
Thor's power was increasing exponentially as an unknown beam of light engulfed him in a blinding display.
He was becoming stronger, just like those before him.
It seemed that perhaps that was the purpose of this tournament, helping them grow.
I wonder.
Did our creator ever truly wanted us to win?
"Father…" Thor mumbled, as the light cleared out.
So the one behind that light was his father.
I scoffed, that seemed hardly fair.
Getting a power up in the middle of a fight that by all means was already mine.
"You are stronger," I sighed, taking a step forward. Perhaps our God, our father, our creator intended us to die right here, right now, but if I was allowed to wish, I wanted to win.
"Yes," Thor nodded, a somber look on his face.
"Then let us resume our fight." No matter how strong he had become, no one was immune to the fear in their hearts, if it lives, it knows fear.
"Let's," Thor nodded, getting into position. His wounds bleeding into the ground beneath us, it seemed his power up had not healed his broken body.
Good.
"I will win, for I fear what awaits me beyond the mortal veil," I muttered, extending my shadows around him.
However.
As my shadows reached and tangled around the God of Thunder, the God in question disappeared out of sight, blurring in a single motion of unimaginable speeds, appearing right in front me, hammer already ready to strike me.
I didn't even see it coming.
No, that wasn't accurate.
I saw it coming.
I just couldn't move or dematerialize my body in time.
His attack was swift, and powerful, and it brought me down with the might of a thousand suns creating a crater of massive proportions as my body violently crashed with the unforgiving soil I once stood above firmly.
However, as strong as he was, I was an idea, a concept, a primordial thing within everyone's heart, "Fear can't be broken," I spoke, forcibly regenerating my body.
"I suppose not," Thor nodded.
He was agreeing with me?
How peculiar.
"Then why try?" I asked, tilting my head.
"Why?" Thor sighed, looking at his friends with a longing look as a wide smile spread on his face, "Because I fear disappointing my brother, as his big brother, I must protect him, it's my duty," he grinned.
He wasn't looking at them, I see, he was looking at Alex.
"You defy fear, because of a friend?" That concept felt foreign to me. Then again, I had been alive for less than a few months, much of this wonderful universe was foreign to me, unknown.
Still, to fight a natural phenomenon, fear, for the sake of a friend, I didn't have to understand to know it was stupid.
"You think of me as a stupid man because of that, because even in death I would swing my hammer for my brother," Thor spoke, drawing my attention, "And perhaps I am, but know that this stupid man pities you, really, I see that look in your face… you can't comprehend what it means to be ready to die for others, what it means to value someone beyond your own life, because in reality you are alone, and that's your fear, isn't it?"
My fear?
Was that my fear?
Being alone?
"You truly are an interesting individual," I laughed, perhaps he was right, perhaps I was afraid of the inevitable truth. Of the crushing reality of my loneliness.
Even if I won.
Would that man reward me?
Even if I won… would my destiny have any light?
Would winning ensure my life?
No, no matter what the result was, my life had an expiration date.
just like Dorothy's.
I just didn't want to admit it before.
We were created for a purpose, and beyond that our creator had no use for us.
We were toys, ready to be broken once we stopped being entertaining.
"I am, after all, I am mighty!" Thor beamed at me with a smile.
Fight, win, lose, life and death.
What did I want?
Did I truly wanted to fight?
Did I actually wanted to win?
No…
I didn't want that.
What I truly wanted was a choice.
The freedom to choose, at the very least how to end it all.
"I give up," I announced with a smile.
"You can't," The Beyonder stated, appearing above of me.
"You can't!" Thor shouted, agreeing with the Beyonder.
"I refuse to indulge your sadistic desire to see us dance," I replied, after all, if I was to die, I would die on my own terms, because what I feared the most, was being a puppet.
"I see," The Beyonder laughed, "To think you of all, would evolve,"
I sighed, turning to look at Thor.
"Tell your friend to be careful, for Morpheus still stands above you all," Morpheus was the embodiment of one of the strongest forces in all of creation, the imagination.
"Hey, don't you fucking dare! We still haven't finished our battle," Thor roared in indignation.
I laughed, "I was made to be the embodiment of fear, I'm afraid I'm not the best example of what a warrior should be,"
"Well, the winner is Thor!" My creator announced, meaning my end was near.
I guess I can die happy, knowing I made my own choice.
"Wait! We haven't-," As just like that Thor disappeared, back with his friends.
"And you," My creator turned to look at me, his usual smile still in place.
"I know, I made my peace with it." I wonder if this counts as dying for someone else, how curious, here I came to teach the God of Thunder about fear, and he ended up teaching me about hope and sacrifice, life sure is funny, and unpredictable, even for a monster like me.
—————————————————————-
[Alex Walker POV]
Thor was losing, and then in the blink of an eye, his power and level changed, he was now seventy levels higher, sporting a new title, [Thor The All-Father - Power Locked - Evolution in Progress = LV 421]
And then, in another fucking turn of events, his enemy surrendered!
"We still haven't finished our battle you fucker!" Thor roared, "This isn't a victory! I refuse to take it as one!"
The Beyonder laughed, pointing at Reinhard, "You truly changed, oh well, bye bye~" and with that said, he erased Reinhard from the map.
"You bastard! Bring him back, so that I can kill him!" Thor roared.
"Stupid," Bucky muttered.
"Well, Alex," The Beyonder appeared in front of me, "Are you ready to see where your limits lay?"
Not really, but what other choice did I have…
"I created Morpheus to push you beyond the breaking point, after all," The Beyonder grinned.
If you want to read up to 20 chapters ahead go to https://www.patreón.com/cornbringer
Discord invite: https://discord.gg/XHduApz
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Alex Walker POV]
Thor had won.
Unconventionally.
But had like everyone before him, earned our team a victory.
Now, it was my turn.
I wasn't sure what to expect.
But I knew it was nothing good.
Reinhard had been very clear, even with Thor's powerup, we were out of our league when it came to the last contestant.
And while Reinhard was an enemy, I couldn't bring myself not to believe him.
Which meant, if Morpheus was truly stronger than him than Reinhard, stronger than Thor.
I was in trouble.
Thor and his level had reached the four hundreds.
And even then, Reinhard considered Thor below Morpheus.
Meaning, one, he was severely overselling Morpheus, or two… Morpheus was above the four hundreds.
"Well, are you ready? Alex," The Beyonder asked with a wink.
Fucking monster, if I ever live long enough to surpass him, I will erase his ass.
"Not much of a choice," I sighed.
"Good," The Beyonder beamed at me with a smile, teleporting me to the arena as it changed to an urban setting to match my theme, the bastard didn't even let me say anything to my friends.
"Well, I suppose this is fitting, I do live in New York," I muttered with a sigh, cracking my neck.
"So, you are Alex," I heard someone chuckle behind me.
Startled by the sound, I turned around to see a red-haired man around five feet tall, looking at me with a faint smile, he almost looked bored, and dare I say, disappointed.
[Morpheus LV 499]
"Lamentably," I replied, looking at him, frowning at his level.
He was well above my power, well, well above.
I suppose I will have to rely on strategy alone if I want to survive.
"Are you two ready?" The Beyonder asked, getting a nod from Morpheus.
It's now or never Alex, do it like a bandaid.
"Yes," I nodded.
"Good," The Beyonder smiled, clapping his hands as a small giggle escaped his lips, overjoyed at what was about to erupt, a battle he seemed to be looking forward, "Then, let the battle begin!" he announced for everyone to hear, before vanishing into God knows where.
The moment the Beyonder vanished I jumped a few meters away from Morpheus, as he simply looked at me amused without moving a single muscle.
I frowned.
He was measuring me up.
Good.
I can work with that.
"Requiem: Ark," I muttered, creating a magic circle around him.
"Peculiar," Morpheus mused, touching the magic circle around him with child-like curiosity before it exploded on him, creating a big cloud of smoke and debris. "A vacuum of space? How creative mate!"
It had done nothing?
"I figured," I cursed under my breath, readying my next spell, and currently my strongest one, [Mana Reaver], a spell that consumes all of my mana to create the equivalent of a magical nuke that affected everyone but the green dots on the map.
"That feels powerful," Morpheus whistled, pointing at my spell as it charged and morphed, and yet, he didn't move.
Not dignifying that with a response I aimed the spell at him and allowed [Mana Reaver] its thing.
The explosion this time was massive, covering the entire arena, that according to my minimap was around 20 KM wide.
"That had to do something," I muttered, as my mana regenerated.
"Well, it kinda blinded me," Morpheus chuckled.
How the fuck had he tanked that?!
Focus Alex… questions for later, first.
Kill this guy.
"Do you realize how our strengths differ?" Morpheus inquired, cocking his head to the side with a wild grin.
"Fuck you," I cursed with a smile, after all, if my power alone wasn't enough to harm him, it was time to use the stones, after all, The Beyonder never said anything about not using them, his fault, not mine.
And fortunately for me, my level now allowed using two stones at the same time.
"Rude," Morpheus pouted, as I equipped the time stone and the power stone.
"I said," I muttered, accelerating time around me to move behind him in the blink of an eye, as I charged my fist with the power of the power stone punching the bastard with the strength to fuck a planet, "Fuck, you,"
The attack sent Morpheus flying across the arena, living nothing but blood behind his wake. Which alone was surprising, I had attacked him with enough power to destroy a planet, the energy I had channeled from the stone to my fist was enough to vaporize a planet around earth's size, and yet, he was still in one piece.
"The Infinity Stones," The Beyonder chuckled, "I was wondering when you were going to use those, pretty jewels, useless, but pretty,"
I frowned, the bastard was expecting me to use them, meaning, he made Morpheus strong enough to take some hits from them.
"Well mate, I'll be the first one to admit, that hurt like hell," Morpheus chuckled, teleporting in front of me. "My turn?" he added, tapping my chest.
"What-" I fell to the floor, vomiting blood.
He had exploded my heart and everything else inside my chest with a simple tap.
"How was that? Be honest," Morpheus asked with a smile, kneeling to my level. "Any feedback will do,"
Fuck this!
Growling, I punched Morpheus once again with the full might of the power stone, as I used the time stone to accelerate my already stupid healing factor.
"Note to self, don't let the little bastard touch you," I cough, regenerating organs was not a pleasant experience, even if all it took was half a second.
"Like this?" Behind me!?
Without a second thought, I moved using the time stone to accelerate my moves, creating some distance between Morpheus and me, sadly, I didn't manage to avoid his touch completely, he graced my arm, and the entire thing exploded.
"Fuck!" I cursed, using the time stone once again to accelerate my healing, regrowing the arm in less than a second.
"I see my error," Morpheus chuckled, "My first attempt should've been your head, don't worry though, I will remedy that," he added with a sadistic grin.
"Your second mistake was thinking I was about to give you a second… third chance to touch me," I shot back, if he wanted war, he would have it.
It was time to use the time stone and the power stone at max power.
"Oh," Morpheus smiled, clapping his hands. "I can't wait to see how you stop me," he grinned.
I sighed.
I didn't like using both stones at full power at the same time but seeing how the little bastard had me on a corner, I had no choice, but to buckle up, and try my best.
So, I took a deep breath, allowing both of the stones to fully integrate with my power.
[Future Vision Activated]
[Accelerated Aging/Healing]
[Accelerated Mana Aging/Healing]
[Time dilation shield activated]
[Power Stone Aura Activated]
[Power Stone Energy Absorbtion Activated]
"Well, here I go," I sighed, moving behind Morpheus in a blur of motion. Blasting him with a beam of pure destructive power from the power stone itself.
"That hurt!" Morpheus chuckled, trying to attack me.
However.
I was prepared, I had seen his attack coming, a few thousand times, from a few thousand different angles, meaning one thing, that attack could no longer reach me.
"Bye," I muttered, dodging his attack while blasting him away once again.
"You are a crazy guy," Morpheus laughed, "You are aging your body decades by the second," he chuckled, "You will die of old age before you kill me if you keep at it like that,"
I snorted, "I regenerate faster than I age,"
"Hmm, maybe," Morpheus shrugged.
This was going to be an annoying long fight, I just fucking knew it.
You may also Like
Paragraph comment
Paragraph comment feature is now on the Web! Move mouse over any paragraph and click the icon to add your comment.
Also, you can always turn it off/on in Settings.
GOT IT