“I don’t believe it,” Sturge grumbled.
The avatar frowned. “I don’t particularly care if you believe it. That’s what’s happening.”
“No, no,” he grumbled again as he walked over to the wall and picked up a war hammer. “If they’re going to help, at least let me test them. That way we’re not all in the dark about their capabilities.”
The avatar rubbed his temples. “Okay, fine. Gur, go warm him up a bit.”
“Alright he said, then took a few steps forward. Where we doing this?”
“Right here,” Sturge replied. “Two rules, can’t hit anyone or anything else. And we’ll start slow and build-up.”
With that, Sturge swung his hammer horizontally at the speed of a strong mortal. Gur stepped back out of range, but Sturge just kept spinning and moved towards him still. Gur conjured a shield, then deflected the next swing up as he conjured a sword in his other hand and swung it down. Sturge dodged, and then came with an overhand strike.
As the two exchanged blows, they slowly started to speed up. Soon they were moving at national champion speeds as the rest of them looked on. Mack walked up beside the avatar where he stood and elbowed him a little to get his attention. The avatar looked back at him with a raised eyebrow. “How’d you manage to nudge an illusion?”
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“I am an illusionist sometimes.”
“Still,” he turned his head back to the fight, which was now taking place on a narrow ledge on one wall of the cavern. “What do you want?”
“Why is this spar happening? And can Gur really keep up with Sturge meaningfully?”
“Yes, he should be able to. Why the two of you have less power absolutely as the gods have historically measured it, you’re both far more effective in using it. The problem with peacetime for the gods is that they really haven’t developed their divine magic that much, and to the extent they have, it wasn’t stress tested up until now. In contrast, while you can also use divine magic, you can use mortal magic at the highest tier, which magic has been constantly tested and refined both by mortals generally and by you specifcally. Your mortal magic in turn has informed your divine magic. The two of you have killed more in the last few millenia then the gods by the hundred fold. And the gods have far less XP then you’d think they would accumulate over millenia. Immortality is not cheap for them and it’s consumed most of what they’ve earned by a long short. Finally, while it’s a very limited advantage, you two are a secret weapon and that shouldn’t be discounted too hard.”
“Still, I don’t see how that’s enough to bridge the gap against the Brute and the Sentinel.” By now, Sturge and Gur were dancing across the ceiling.
“It really isn’t. But team work does work. Strategy too, occasionally.”
“St0p,” Sturge called out as he landed back among the group with a huff. “I’ve burned through ten thousand experience. That’s more than enough to test you out, I’m satisfied.”
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