Chapter 25: Xion CH25: Beating Drums

Drums pounded and elves sang in the stands of a theatre lovingly named the dueling grounds. On a circular platform high in the massive tree that housed the forest elf village, preparations for the duel were underway. Elves of all ages waited in the stands while the most promising warriors beat upon drums surrounded by lit torches and burning incense sticks. The twin suns gazed down like two great eyes bathing the dueling arena with their powerful sweat inducing rays. Now that the even I've waited for arrived and two of my objectives were complete, and all I had left to do was defeat Samael.

She wore a simple leather bra and loincloth, exposing her pale glowing skin. While her hair was normally held in a single braid, she let it down for this battle, a testament to her confidence. Her face was painted, and charcoal was used to make her beautiful blue eyes stand out even further. Samael looked like an angel or a goddess standing a little over seven feet tall, baring her skin and glow like armor. Even to me, they worked. I didn't want to mar it, even knowing her personality. Even if the owner was a horrible shrew, no one wanted to defile the Monalisa.

So I raised my phone and took some pictures. Samael had seen my device before, smiled, and did a twirl, and the crowd cheered. Wolf whistles echoed through the audience, each enjoying the show. Clearly, the crowd had already chosen their favorite.

I only wore my tight blue body glove instead of my weighted armor or the stones I later stacked. Thanks to the weights and my healing factor, I abused my regeneration to its fullest conquering years of hard training and muscle building in a matter of days. I was as fit as could be expected, even if my muscles hadn't developed to their greatest extent yet. My diet of almost all meat and some foraged vegetable with numerous carb loads like wild sweet potatoes and the occasional avocado helped immensely. I had bulked up in a very short time, giving me the strength and speed I needed to fight someone like Samael.

Given another week or a month, I would have abused my healing factor even more and truly built myself into a real weapons platform. My spear work would have been sharpened along with tightening my footwork. I had only started expanding my new sense, and with a month, I might have been able to start light god techniques. My weight training was due to increase again, which would only raise my physical conditioning further. Really I needed the time to put myself in the position I wanted to be in. That wasn't an option if I wanted to save Elorael.

My black beauty stared at me with puffy eyes and drooping ears. She hasn't changed, and I don't think Samael broke her yet. Once again, she was worried about me. If I fucked up, then she would pay for it. So, I couldn't let that happen. Her hair was braided up, and she looked healthy at least. If Samael really wanted to breed her, starving or beating her wasn't an option. I guess killing me with a spear worked well enough as a control.

"It's not too late. I will let you back down if you publicly apologize and suck my cock. Some would even call that last part a reward." Samael said.

I glanced over at Glorael, who presided over the competition, to see a familiar look in her eyes. They were blank as if she wasn't paying attention to anything. But then, one of her ministers approached the elf and gripped her hand. I understood then that the chances of this being a clean fight were nonexistent.

I snapped some pictures of the scene in front of me, making sure to get each minister in my gallery. These weren't for SP farming; I needed to find out who was poisoning elves and where that poison came from. Off to the side, I saw a strange elf wearing more bone than usual. She was too far away to sense, so I used my glasses to check her qi.

That was even higher than Samael when we first met. I scanned Samael, and she peaked at 13, just 1 above my own. Fortunately, qi wasn't the only factor used to determine power. So long as I closed the distance quickly, Samael was unlikely to employ any light god techniques. That was how I planned to win by mitigating her advantages and stacking mine until victory was inevitable. If her speed was anything close to Mekael going all out, then I had a chance up close.

I turned my attention back to a now seething Samael. "There are more important matters than this fight. Once I'm finished with you, I can move on to other matters." I said.

Samael's eyes widened, and for a second, I felt her qi spike, and her body glowed brighter than ever. I thought she used the god light technique flash for a second, but that wasn't the case. Her qi had become agitated by her anger, and she unleashed some of her power prematurely. That was my advantage. Agitating qi taxed stamina in exchange for more power. Constant slowly raised the body's overall qi and activated a small percentage of that qi. That's why it's so valuable; constant can make any cultivator stronger so long as they continue to live. Training and eating right helped expedite that process, but sheer time in cultivation had an advantage.