“No one shall deny me my vengeance. Your mother dishonored me and it is time for reckoning, boy. This is very personal.”

Dalang woke up. The voice was still echoing in his head.

The same echo was entering Persephone’s mind. She was fully immersed in Dalang’s mind. She could feel his anxiety, his eagerness, and his fear.

“Yo, you missed the brief, but then again, you wouldn’t listen to a word we say anyway. ”

Dalang did not respond. He got up, geared up, and walked out of the tent.

“Yo, you good? Still thinking about the shieldmaiden with her bouncing chest plate?”

“Piss off, I have no time to be horny. Someone on the other team really hates me. And also, I feel like I am being watched, it’s weird.”

“Drink some water to clear your mind, brother. Half of you is as mortal as me.” Yi handed Dalang his waterskin.

“You know,” Dalang took a large gulp. “You gotta admire the ones who made the rules of this arena. Everyone only has one life to use, but some of us are tough bastards that just charge into a barrage of arrows with their thick hide and absurd regeneration. So fair, right?”

“Quit bragging about your advantage, Dalang. To me, there is no difference. An arrow to the eye and say bye-bye.”

“Nah, I am worried about myself, bro. Whoever is coming for me is way more powerful than I am. I felt his rage, his anger, and his bloodthirst.”

“What are you talking about? Did any of the arrows damaged your head? You were saying the same shit when we were retreating.”Yi started to place his hands on Dalang’s head to check for injuries.

A deafening note from the war horn interrupted everything and flushed the soldiers out of their tents.

“Dalang, some Blemmyes is out there calling out your name and asking you for a duel.” A voice in the crowd shouted.

“Now do you believe me?” Dalang raised his eyebrow and looked at Yi.

“Blemmyes? Those headless immortals? What do you have to do with them? They are mostly bulky, easy-going people.”

“Not the one coming for me. If I am right, the legendary Sky-Punisher is coming for me.”

“Yo, you mean the dude your mom helped put down during the unification war?”

“Yep. That dude. Xing Tian. I am soooo fucked.”

“Well, I am not good at pep talks but I will walk you to the gates.” Yi picked up Dalang’s rattan gear and his trusty ax and patted him on the shoulder.

“Just give them one hell of a performance, brother. Win or lose, glory awaits.”

Dalang did not say a word. He was praying to his ancestors that his regeneration speed can keep up with Xing Tian’s attacks.

One hundred steps had never felt longer. The fighters formed two lines to send Dalang off. Some of the warriors were singing and chanting, some bashed their weapons against their shield, some applied warpaints on Dalang’s face and arms, all showing reverence to one of their shield brothers. A duel is as holy as it is deadly.

A duel request in a trial is undeniable and it was the best method to catch the gods above’s attention. The trial itself served as the altar to them. Each battle cry, each bloodshed, and each severed limb were the offering to subsist the gods. The catch was that no one can die from the trials to prevent complications. In other words, the Death gods were kicked out from the table. How convenient. A duel, on the other hand, may have caught some unwanted attention.

“Morimi, may I borrow some of that smoke and incendiary jars?”Dalang talked to one of the Yoruban warriors guarding the gate. She was the pyromancer of the bunch and it was her gadgets that covered Dalang and Yi’s prior retreat.

“Don’t say it as if you’ll ever return them to me. Anyway, good luck, man.” Morimi handed him her hide satchel. “May you emerge from the flames victorious.”

“I will try not to set myself on fire, but thank you, sista.” The two had an arm shake.

“This is my backup shield, you’ll need it. Just remember, we are going to sneak from the cliffside to reach their camp. Keep the duel as long as possible.” Randy handed Dalang her shield and gave him a nod. “I can hear them chanting your name up there. The spirits in Valhalla.”

“If that were true, I wish you are the one who’s going to drop me off up there.” Quipping until the end, that was the Dalang they all knew.

“If we win the trial and you die from your duel, yes, what you are indicating is possible.” She replied. “But they whispered to me that your time is not today, shield-brother.” She looked up to the cloudless sky, unsheathed her ax and sword, bashed them against each other as hard as she could.

“Skeggǫld, skálmǫld, skildir ro klofnir!” She cried from the bottom of her lungs. Axes and swords would clash, and shields would be splintered.

Glorious indeed.

There he stood, with his scutum and his giant stone ax by his side. Xing Tian stood twice as tall as Dalang and stared him down with the two glowing eyes on his chest. Skulls of his victims were hanging around his waist as trophies and Dalang felt like they were staring at him as well.

“Ah...There you are.” A slit on Xing Tian’s abdomen opened and talked. Just like the legends said. He was defeated and decapitated but refused to die. His nipples grew into eyes and his belly button turned into a mouth. Mind over matter.

“I can smell that treacherous witch’s blood flowing in you, halfbreed.” His voice was as intimidating as his looks.

“Before it gets gross, would you please tell me what she had done to you?” Dalang started stalling already.

“She never told you, hadn’t she? We found her in the wild, a foreign goddess. Her footsteps created frost, her whispers turned butterflies into specks of dust, and her gaze maddened the best of my men...”

“So she did a number on you, right?” Dalang quipped.

A swing of ax answered him. If not for Randy’s shield, Dalang would be in halves. He was still standing but numbness had spread through his wrist, arm, and shoulder.

“DO NOT INTERRUPT ME!” Xing Tian swung his leg at Dalang’s side as he yelled.

Again, Dalang blocked with his shield. The sheer force still almost threw him off his feet.

Xing Tian’s stump followed. “We wanted her help with the rebellion, so we build her altars and created her effigies.”

Dalang rolled backward and kept his distance. He had never fought someone this large but this nimble. He had to deal with some fractures and torn muscles and there was not a scratch on Xing Tian.

“Stop dodging and trade swings with me, halfbreed!” Xingtian threw his giant ax in Dalang’s direction. The spinning ax hit the ground near him and exploded, sending out all the stone pieces like a bomb. Dalang managed to block all the fragments, but the shockwave still caused him internal bleeding. He spitted out some blood and accelerated his healing.

“Then, she changed her mind, burnt her effigies, and switched sides. Said she had enough of our slaughtering and ransacking and all she wanted to do was to bring life to the land, not death.” Xingtian raised his hand and all the flints and pulverized stones returned to him, forming a new giant ax.

“You're still alive there? My stories aren’t over yet.” Xing Tian taunted. “I was expecting more from her son. Where is your atmokinesis ability? Where is your Chlorokinesis sorcery, huh? Didn’t inherit them from mom?”

“You are just another obsessed follower of Morana, I see. Well, why don’t you bow to me, believer, I now walk the earth with her will and her words… as her priest.” Dalang sheathed his ax behind his shield and took out a straw effigy and wiped his blood off his chin with it.

“Oh, that just makes killing you more enjoyable. You are not just her blood, you are her mouthpiece, too. That satisfaction would make up for the head I lost, HAHAHAHA.”

“Damn it I hate myself.” Dalang thought. “I just cannot escape her.” He was lucky to be still alive, and he could not defeat Xing Tian on his own. He had to borrow some power, and that stung his young and impulsive ego.

The blooded effigy started to grant Dalang access to more divinity: dense divinity subsisted on strong emotion and real bloodshed. Morana’s blessing flew through his body with rapid deterioration and rapid restoration to enhance his strength. In other words, he overclocked his body in a way that was damaging and regenerating simultaneously.

Dalang took out two of Morimi’s jars and tossed them at Xing Tian’s direction. He stood there and let the jars hit the ground around him.

“They have told me about these gimmicks. Won’t work on me, halfbreed. Or are you dishonoring this duel and preparing to flee under the smokescreen….”

Through the smoke, more jars were tossed in Xing Tian’s direction. The fire started to cover the battlefield.

“She knew we were about to cause a flood upstream of the Yellow River, planning to wipe out our enemies’ defenses downstream. And she used the divinity we offered her to cause a draught—acres and acres of wrinkled earth, waiting for the extra water to quench their lifeless thirst. ” Xing Tian stood in the fire, waiting for Dalang’s attack confidently, and carried on with his storytelling. He felt the movement beneath his feet and anticipated Dalang to break out of the soil and attack him. Terrakinesis, an essential skill for most oriental immortals.

As Xing tian looked down at the ground, Randy’s round back-up shield came straight down from above, cracked his shoulder guard, and buried itself into his shoulder, and almost severed his left arm.

Meanwhile, Dalang broke out of the ground behind Xing Tian and tossed his ax at him. He was not confident enough to challenge Xing Tian point-blank, thus the safer attack would be ranged. Despite the dense smoke, the ax still found the back of Xing Tian’s thigh.

“Great diversion, not bad, not bad at all.” Xing Tian calmly ripped off the shield and the ax on his wounds and tossed them away. However, it was too late for all of Dalang’s attacks had been enhanced by his mother’s divinity. Necrosis caused by frostbites quickly spread across Xing Tian’s shoulder and leg.

“Now you have no weapon nor means to defend yourself, halfbreed.” Quickly, Xing Tian’s giant stone ax broke down into small pieces and covered his whole body. “Now I am untouchable. Rock and stones have become my bones.”

“Tsk, I knew it wouldn’t be this easy,” Dalang murmured. He had to come up with new plans of attack. Xing Tian practically transformed himself into a headless golem with a scutum at hand, making him immune to most of Dalang’s physical attacks. There was no way Dalang could punch through rocks with his bare knuckles, even with Morana’s blessing.

“The way you use her power, it’s innovative, halfbreed, but gimmicks can only last so long.” Xingtian charged at Dalang like a boulder leaving its trebuchet. “Let me show you that raw strength always triumphs!”

Dalang managed to dodge the impact and returned the favor with Morimi’s incendiary jar.

A flaming golem emerged out of the smoke unwavering and laughed with contempt. “Your frozen weapons and your firebomb are useless against my stone armor!”

“Well, why don’t you check your wounds beneath that stone hide of yours, fool.” Dalang Grinned. “Fire and frost create moisture, and life thrives from them.”

The fire was extinguished after all the chemicals from the jar had burnt off. Moss, ferns, and vines started to grow out of Xingtian’s injured leg and shoulder, draining his life force, restricting his movements.

“How fitting. A wannabe war god, a taker of lives turning into nature’s nutrient.” Dalang smiled proudly as his plan was perfectly carried out.

“You know, your mother said similar things.” Xing Tian stood there with greens slowly covering his stone armor. “She told me it was always better to perish in the embracement of nature. No one deserves to crow’ feast in a hill of corpses.”

“Tell me more about my mother, would you?” Dalang still kept his distance and made his request. Needless to say, stalling was a secondary objective.

“Hmm, what’s more, to say? You can kill me now, and I shall return in a couple of centuries and go visit your hometown of Dragon Well. You know, pay your village a visit and burn everything.”

“Why the animosity? Why the hate? Why don’t you use your immortality on something more meaningful, you know, other than vengeance.”

“WHY THE HATE?” Xing Tian cried out loud. “They took my boys and made them defend the Giant Walls; they took away my daughters and gifted them to the Sapiens. They banished my whole clan into uncharted lands, and they erased our history. All I did was follow my gods’ wills. The gods failed, and I had to pay the price. My people suffered for your mother’s defection.”

“Well, sky-punisher, we are immortals; we traded our good luck for cool powers, remember? We..”

“You are halfbreed, born higher and mightier. How would you understand?” Xing Tian interrupted him.

“Hey, who said that? Do you know I used to get beaten every day just to toughen up my skin and train my healing? Do you know I had to drink potions made out of toads and vipers to maintain immunity to venoms and poisons? All this is because I am her son, and I had to achieve what she could not.”

“Huh, I take that you hold a grudge against her as well?”

“No.” Dalang Sighed. “ Creation doesn't have the right to resent its creator, for it owes the creator its reality.”

“That is why you can fight with her power, but not with her style. All that divinity was not passed down through bloodline or love; it was bound by covenant and responsibility.” Xing Tian said. “You have my pity. In another lifetime...”

With a booming sound, Xing Tian freed himself from the greens and pushed out all the rocks that covered him like a Sapien hand grenade—doing so cost him an arm and a leg, turning him into a bloody mess.

Dalang was caught off guard and was knocked down by a fist-sized rock. The impact crushed his rattan chest plate and broke his ribs. Even worse, the broken pieces pierced one of his lungs and left him choking in his own blood.

With only one harm and one leg, Xing Tian jumped over with his fist made out of rocks and ready to finish Dalang off.

“At least you are killed by someone more powerful than you. My head was chopped by a fucking woodcutter, taking orders from that despicable man he called Emperor.” Xing Tian raised his fist.“Any last words?”

“Mo..ss..Pff..Spo...re.” Dalang coughed out those words with the blood in his lung.

“Wha…?” With the sound of broken ceramics, fire consumed them both.

Xing Tian quickly reattached the rocks back to him. However, the moss spores were covering his skin, the burning did not stop, and he was being cooked inside out. Dalang, on the other hand, buried himself under the earth to put out the fire and heal himself with the nutrients in the soil. After all, war and killing fuels Xing Tian’s divinity, nature, and opulence fuels Dalang’s.

Hours later, Dalang dug himself out of the earth and checked around.

The fighting and the shouting uphills caught Dalang’s attention. It looked and Sounded like the surprise attack was successful. The flags of the defenders were all gone.

“Looked like Nv Ba won again.” Xing Tian, a piece of talking rock, was half-stuck in the earth. “You are still walking, and I am stuck here for a couple of centuries.”

Dalang quickly grabbed his ax and shield, worried that Xing Tian would turn himself into a bomb again. “Aren’t you a tough son? Headless, limbless, yet still chatting. Where is your mouth this time?”

“Maybe the human part is what makes you special, not the godly part.” Xing Tian Said.

“Thank...You?” Dalang shielded himself and approached the piece of giant rock carefully.

“I cannot defeat gods, but maybe you can. My vengeance and power can be yours.” Xing Tian explained. “I can see this rebellious and ambitious warrior in you. Use your ax; take some pieces of me with you. I am the power you earned. Not the power you are given.”

“Intriguing proposal, sky-punisher. You want me to wield your power and fight in your name in return for your faster restoration, right?”

“Smart boy. All the kills you use with my rocks would make you stronger, and make me return faster. And there is more to that. An immortal with a shape of a talking rock will be worshiped by the tribes around here. And when they worship me, dances and prayers. That generated faith would fuel your divinity, too.”

“You mean we’ll start a cult on a rock?”

“Precisely, future partner. We could both be gods and decide from there. And on that day, you won’t be the son of some lesser goddess. You will be your own god, with believers and shrines.”

“Deal. If you were to backstab me, I will make every last one from your clan bleed for what you do.”

“Ha, scary, now you started to sound like a sky punisher.”