ZIP! ZIP!

Two arcs of lightning dashed towards each other, ripping the land as they made their way towards each.

TING! TING! SHING! CLANG!

Spear and sword collided with each other as countless arcs of electricity rippled out into the surroundings.

WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

Forced to separate, two figures stood across each over a large crater, breathing heavily.

BA-DUM! BA-DUM! BA-DUM!

Locking their eyes, both figure’s bodies slightly shifted to the side.

“Tempest, Volt - !”

ZIP!

“Lyn, Shift!”

ZIP!

CHING! TING! WHISH!

Gripping his spear tightly, Lancelot swung it upwards, barely snipping a few strands of Elaine’s blonde hair.

Seeing this, a smirk appeared on Elaine’s face as she reversed gripped her longsword, bringing it upward.

Mimicking Elaine, a smirk, also appeared on Lancelot’s face. “– Switch.”

ZIP!

In a flash of yellow light, Lancelot reappeared in his original position.

Looking at Lancelot from afar, Elaine couldn’t help but sigh. “You are quite annoying to fight, you know.”

“Back at ya.”

…

…

BBRRRRR!

Spikes of ice ripped through the earth, rushing towards Ision. Gritting his teeth, Ision tightened his grip on his greatsword, plunging it into the earth.

CRACK! CHK! CHK!

As meeting an immovable wall, the cascading rush of ice spikes came to an abrupt stop as they shattered into pieces.

WHOOSH!

A large gale of icy wind suddenly washed passed Ision as Grimrr raised his gladius high into the air, forcing the surrounding frost to blast away from him. “Frost Giant’s Descent!”

WHOOSH!

The escaping frosty wind immediately began to rush back as the Grimrr’s gladius began to descend.

Seeing this, Ision frowned as he pulled his sword out of the ground. “Tch! Iedus, Cietoksnis!”

BOOOM!!

The land shook and tore, as Grimrr’s gladius struck.

BRRRR! TUSHK! TUSHK!

Chunks of stone and ice flew the air as the surrounding became filled with an icy mist.

Watching the fight with interest from afar, Gawain’s eyebrows raised. ‘What a tough fellow.’

As the icy mist settled, a devastated battlefield came into view. With boulders and earth strewn everything, the once flat battlefield had sunk by a few meters leaving only two positions still intact, Gawain’s and Ision’s.

With the translucent diamond-shaped shield floating before him, Ision’s armored figure came into view.

Casting a look in Gawain’s direction, Ision released a breath. “If you aren’t going to take this seriously, let’s just end this trial.”

Hearing this, Gawain nodded. “Yea, this is a bit one-sided.”

…

…

In Lancelot’s trial, locking eyes with Elaine once more. “Let’s end this, shall we.”

Hearing this, Elaine flashed a beautiful smile. “Read my mind.”

“Tempest.”

RUMBLE! RUMBLE!

Rampage!”

ZIP! SSHKKK!

“Lyn.”

VZZZZ!!

Obliterate!”

ZWOOOM

A gigantic pillar of lightning descended from the skies as a giant beam of electricity blasted out of a sword.

BOOOOM!

…

…

On Gawain’s side of things, Grimrr raised a hand above his head as a large amount of energy began to gather.

Ision, on the other hand, stabbed his greatsword into the ground as he gathered the surrounding energy around himself.

Finished charging, Grimrr clenched his fist just as Ision released his hands of his sword.

“Snow Fall!”

“Iedus, Užšalęs Pasaulis!”

WHOOSH! SHK! SHK!

The land began to freeze courtesy of Užšalęs Pasaulis, while the bits of snow in the air turned into ice spears.

WHOOOSH! CHK! CHK!

Everything disappeared in a thick cloud of mist.

-Congratulations on Passing the Trial of Champions-

…

…

-Congratulations on Passing the Trial of Champions-

Two congratulatory messages sounded out in tandem in the two different pockets of space.

Laying within their own individual craters, Elaine and Lancelot could only stare blankly at the dark skies, with a similar thought running both of their minds. ‘That was intense.’

Above the dark clouds of lighting were actually a few figures who had been watching the display below with interest.

And currently, they were discussing who would become Lancelot’s Diety.

“Such potential, I Teshub, will claim this Adherent as my own. Does anyone disagree?”

“No shit, we disagree, “roared Shango’s avatar, causing the skies to thunder once more.

However, just as the gods were about to burst into another round of disagreements, they noticed some movement below.

Standing up, Lancelot began to make his way over to the now sitting up Elaine.

Watching Lancelot’s figure approach her, she flashed a smile. “Congrats.”

“Thank you. I must say you have a very beautiful smile. Are you by any chance single?”

“Huh?”

In the skies above, seeing this scene play out before them, all the gods turned to Zeus’ avatar.

“All yours, Zeus.”

“I second that, birds of a feather should flock together.”

“Mhmm, I also believe you will be best to bring out his full potential.”

…

…

In Gawain’s pocket of space, the gods that had been looking over the space came to a decision of Gawain’s Diety rather quickly and unanimously.

As for Gawain’s Diety, it was Varuna.

Appearing before Gawain, he flashed a friendly smile. “Congratulations, young Hero. I am Varuna, your chosen Deity.”

The ever nonchalant, Gawain nodded. “Thank you.”

Continuing, a sphere of energy appeared in Varuna’s avatar’s hands. “Take this, it will absorb the faith power your admires generate. The more it absorbs, the more of its secrets will unlock. It will also track your contribution points to the Temples, which you will be able to trade for treasures and tools. As for how you gain, the contribution points? They will be gained by doing deeds beneficial to the Temples, such as defending the inhabitants of Pandora against those of Spiria and Deamonium.”

Nodding in understanding, Gawain received the orb, which immediately flowed into his body.

Feeling new knowledge appear in his mind, Gawain’s eyes widened. ‘So that’s it!”

Immediately a fourth ring appeared around his Lunar Celestial object.

…

…

In Lancelot’s space, after a clap of thunder, Zeus appeared before Lancelot, relaying the same information Varuna told Gawain.

And similar to Gawain, after receiving the orb of energy, a fourth ring also appeared around Lancelot’s Lunar Celestial object. It would seem that Lancelot and Gawain had received a fortuitous encounter between the time they appeared before the dungeon and now, to receive their third rings. And now in addition to that, it could be said that they have grown significantly in strength.

Regardless, there was a more pressing matter on Lancelot’s mind. “With the contribution points, can I use them to exchange for a date with her?”

Caught off guard by Lancelot’s question, Zeus couldn’t help but turn to quiet Elaine behind him, who was slightly glaring at Lancelot. Nonetheless, after a moment of thought, Zeus responded. “You can, after reaching a certain amount of points, you can place a specific request. Whether she will be cooperative during your data or not…That is out of my control.”

Lancelot nodded as he flashed a charismatic smile and a wink at Elaine. “See you soon, beautiful.”

Shaking her head in disbelief, a flash of lightning danced around Elaine as she flashed into the skies.

After Elaine left, Zeus and Lancelot exchanged a few more words before Lancelot’s figure dissipated from pocket space.

…

…

In Gawain’s space, after a few more questions, he began to bade Varuna goodbye when Ision’s voice traveled to his ears. “We will meet again.”

And with that, Gawaining too disappeared from the pocket space.

…

Appearing in tandem outside the floating golden doors. Gawain and Lancelot exchanged looks before turning to Hi’asfuk, who had been patiently waiting the entire time.

“Congratulations, young heroes on becoming Champions! Feel free to pay a visit every once a while.” Smiled, Hi’asfuk.

The duo nodded as they began to make their way out of the Temple.

As they reached the foot of the stairs, Gawain froze and looked at Lancelot. “We need to visit, mother.”

Not questioning Gawain, Lancelot nodded as he grabbed onto him, and with a zip, they disappeared into the clear skies.

…

Although Gawain and Lancelot are powerful and talented individuals, it should be known that the power they’d just displayed was not entirely theirs. It shouldn’t be known that withing Pandora, there are places known as Attribute Zones. Within these zones, as long as one’s ability’s attribute matches the zone’s, one will experience a drastic reduction in energy consumption and increase ability strength. After all, though Grimrr is strong, at best, Gawain could keep him active for a few minutes before collapsing from exhaustion. Regardless, the purpose of Attribute Zones is to aid those who find them in understanding and improving their abilities. After all, being in an Attribute Zone is virtually one experiencing their ability had simply evolved to its current Celestial Object’s peak, following the straight path of reducing energy consumption and increasing power.

.

.

[Tidbit 1: In Arthurian Legend, Elaine of Ascolat, is a lady from the castle of Astolat who dies of her unrequited love for Sir Lancelot. Interestingly she’d managed to trick Lancelot into sleeping with her, pretending that she was Guinevere. And that’s how, Galahad came into being, a pure and sinless knight.]

[Tibit 2: Iedus is Lithuanian for ice, while Užšalęs Pasaulis means the frozen world. Cietoksnis, on the other hand, is Latvian for Fortress.]

[Tidbit 3: Lyn is Norwegian for Lightening.]

[Tidbit 4: In Hurrian Polytheism, Teshub is the god of sky and storm. As for who the Hurrians were, also called Hari, Khurrites, Hourri, Churri, Hurri or Hurriter) were a people of the Bronze Age Near East. They spoke a Hurro-Urartian language called Hurrian and lived in Anatolia and Northern Mesopotamia.]

[Tidbit 5: Shango, also called Chango, is a major deity of the religion of the Yoruba of southwestern Nigeria. Shango was the fourth king of the ancient Oyo Empire, the West African center of culture and politics for the Yoruba people. He is a god of thunder and lightning. And is often depicted with a double ax on his head, the symbol of a thunderbolt, or depicted as a fierce ram.]

[Tidbit 6: Zeus is a god of the sky, lightning and the thunder in Ancient Greek religion and legends, and ruler of all the gods on Mount Olympus. He is also well known for his licentious behavior.]

[Tidbit 7: In the Hindu Puranas (Hindu Religious Texts), Varuna is the god of oceans.]