The highly anticipated Divine tournament had commenced, and the demigods eagerly awaited the chance to showcase their newly acquired powers and abilities. Despite the somewhat rigorous regulations of the tournament, the excitement among the participants was palpable as XVII announced the first battle.

"Lance Knight vs Ash Brimstone."

The names of the contenders, Lance Knight and Ash Brimstone, elicited a gasp of recognition and awe from the gathered demigods, who were well aware of the prowess of these two titans among their ranks.

"Oh, wow," Quinn commented as all the demigods looked at each other.

The anticipation was so great that even the typically composed Quinn could not contain her excitement, and all attention was fixed on the idea of the battle, which promised to be a thrilling encounter in the tournament.

Lance rose from his seat and strode into the arena, causing whispers to fill the spectator's room as everyone waited for the battle to begin.

"I can't believe we're starting with such a heated battle," Rose whispered to Klaus.

Suddenly, XVII closed his eyes for a few seconds, indicating that he was receiving information from the Gods. When he opened his eyes, XVII walked ahead of the demigods and announced something to them.

"Apologies, it seems that Ash Brimstone is unavailable at the moment."

The demigods were confused about why Ash Brimstone was absent.

"I assumed that this tournament was mandatory for all the demigods, is it not?" Quinn asked.

"Affirmative," XVII replied. "However, it seems that Ash Brimstone has duties in the Underworld alongside his father, Nekro. Therefore, he will not be able to participate."

The idea that Ash Brimstone had more important duties to attend to elevated his status in the eyes of the other demigods. It was a testament to his power and prestige.

"What does this mean for our battle?" Lance asked XVII.

"Due to the unfortunate absence, it would appear that Ash Brimstone will have to be disqualified from the event. So you may proceed to the next round," XVII said to Lance.

Lance's expression dimmed, and he appeared disappointed that he wouldn't get to battle Ash.

"There is no elegance in such victory," Lance commented with a sigh. "But it seems I have no choice." With that, he left the arena.

The news of Ash's absence was disappointing to almost all the demigods. The anticipated battle was expected to set the pace for the rest of the tournament, but now they would have to wait for the next battle.

Lance returned to his seat, and everyone awaited XVII's next announcement. And after communicating with the Gods, XVII walked ahead of the demigods once again to announce the next battle.

"I will now announce the next battle," XVII said, and the demigods paid close attention.

"The next battle is... Quinn Atlas vs Shade Walker."

Klaus heard his brother's name as his interest slightly grew. "Shade?" he questioned under his breath. Quinn also seemed to be interested in the battle as a smile filled her face upon hearing her opponent. She then got up and walked into the arena.

After a few seconds, Klaus turned his head left and right, searching the entire area for his brother's presence, but he didn't seem to find it.

"Is Shade not here yet?" Rose whispered to Klaus.

"I'm not sure," Klaus responded in a worrisome tone about his brother.

Everyone felt slightly frustrated once more as they realized that the current battle had the potential to be canceled once more.

"Oh no," Quinn muttered under her breath.

Once again, XVII then closed his eyes, relaying information to the Gods about the current situation. The demigods waited patiently on what would happen next as XVII finally opened his eyes.

"It would seem that Shade had just arrived at Higher World a few minutes ago and had to stop by the apartment building to prepare for the event," XVII explained. "He will be here shortly."

Klaus was concerned that Shade would not be able to appear for the event, or that an even worse fate had fallen upon his brother, so hearing Shade's whereabouts after a full month caused him to let out a sigh of relief.

The rest of the demigods in the arena patiently awaited Shade's arrival, and after a few more minutes, he finally showed up.

"Sorry I'm late," a voice muttered at the back of the arena where the entrance was.

All the demigods turned their attention to the location as their eyes stopped at Shade's presence. Klaus turned to see his brother after such a long time but was taken aback by Shade's appearance.

Shade wore a black T-shirt and a pair of black pants at the moment. Unlike his usual curly hair, Shade had grown it long and straight, almost reaching his shoulders. Shade's eyes also had a darker appearance around them, as if he had not been getting enough sleep. But despite these changes, Shade looked more handsome than ever, leaving Rose in awe as she, and the other demigods, stared at him.

"Oh my," Rose mumbled as she continued to stare at Shade who was walking closer to the rest of the demigods.

"Damn, he does look hotter," Siren whispered.

"I know, right," Link responded. "He's like one of those 'You vs The Guy She Tells You Not To Worry About' dudes."

As Shade walked closer to the battlefield, he noticed Klaus at his left and decided to see his brother before commencing with any other thing.

"Sorry I'm late," Shade muttered.

"It's good to see you again," Klaus responded, still taken aback by his brother's appearance.

After a few seconds of staring at each other, Klaus walked forward and hugged Shade, a gesture that came as a surprise to both Shade and the other demigods. Klaus had never been one to show his emotions so openly, especially in front of others, which made his actions stranger than they were supposed to be.

"I guess missing you wasn't one-sided," Shade said to Klaus with a smile, happy to see his brother again after such a long time.

Although Klaus had a lot of questions and things he wanted to talk about, Shade knew he had to cut things short since his presence was needed in the arena.

"Please excuse me, as it appears that my presence is required on the battlefield," Shade said to Klaus as he headed toward the entrance of the arena's battleground.

Klaus was surprised by Shade's tone, which was not something he was used to hearing from him. Klaus watched Shade walk into the battlefield slightly worried, but curious as well about the kind of training his brother went through.

Shade walked into the arena as he made his way toward Quinn.

"I see you've been busy," Quinn said, flashing a smile at Shade.

"I presume the same can be said for everyone here," Shade replied.

"True," Quinn responded. "You look good, by the way. The emo style suits you."

"I didn't have any intention in mind about my appearance, but I'm glad I look okay," Shade continued with a smile on his face.

As XVII drew closer, he continued to announce the process of the battle.

"The battle will commence once the sound of the alarm is queued, so fighters, please get ready."

Quinn and Shade both nodded their heads in confirmation before turning their focus back to each other. After a few moments, the sound of the alarm filled the arena, and the battle began.

Shade and Quinn readied themselves as they proceeded to size each other up. They both walked sideways to their right, possibly awaiting the other to attack first. A few seconds went by and this continued slightly before Quinn finally stopped and placed a smile on her face.

Shade, upon seeing this, then stopped as well as they both stared at each other. Eventually, a smile suddenly lit up from Shade as well as they both stood, staring at each other with smiles.

"Uhh... What's going on?" Rose asked.

A few more seconds passed before Klaus decided to analyze what was happening and came up with a deduction.

"I'm guessing she's talking to him telepathically," Klaus then said to Rose as the rest of the demigods turned to him.

"I forgot about that," Mia mentioned as she understood that this was the case.

Shade and Quinn stood in psychic conversation for almost, if not over, a minute more before Shade's smile slightly increased once more, proceeding with Quinn closing her eyes and turning to XVII who was at the front of the other spectators.

"I forfeit."

Everyone's eyes widened as they heard these words come out of Quinn's mouth.

"What?" Tyler commented. "But nothing even happened."

"Is that even allowed with such rules?" Rose asked as XVII walked forward, locking eyes with Quinn.

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"Are you sure?" XVII asked.

"And the way to win your opponent is to kill them. This was what Sonar said. However, it was never stated that this was the ONLY way and was instead addressed to be the ideal one, am I correct?." Quinn then asked XVII.

"You are correct," XVII confirmed.

The demigods were in complete surprise. Quinn had just found a loophole in the brutality that was supposed to be portrayed in each battle.

"Is there any penalty except losing that game after forfeiting?" Quinn then asked XVII.

"There is not," XVII answered.

"Then I forfeit," Quinn concluded as she proceeded to walk towards the exit of the stage.

This entire situation felt extremely strange to the rest of the demigods. Some of them felt the situation was worth it since they had just come across the knowledge that a forfeit was possible. But a few of the others still felt that the lack of a battle to refer to meant that they had yet to witness a genuine fight and that there was still a possibility that they would be the next fighter.

But all in all, the second battle had just concluded, and it seemed that Shade would proceed to the next round.

"Then it means that Shade Walker proceeds to the next round," XVII then stated, proving this point.

Quinn and Shade walked out of the arena as Quinn walked by Klaus and the others to take her seat. Shade also walked to his brother to continue their reunion. Klaus was still very baffled by the outcome of the match and wondered why Quinn decided to forfeit, so eventually, he decided to ask the question everyone else seemed to have.

"What exactly did she tell you in there?"

Shade knew that Klaus was going to ask the question since he knew that people would be curious, but he seemed to already have an answer in mind so he immediately replied.

"I'm sorry, but for now, I don't think I can disclose that information," Shade said to Klaus.

"She made you promise not to say, right?" Klaus then asked Shade. "I'm assuming as well as the information of where you were this past month."

"Nothing gets past you, huh," Shade said with a slight smile, confirming Klaus' statement. "But yeah. At least for now, if you don't mind."

Klaus then sighed as he decided to ignore all the questions he had per Shade's request.

A few murmurs flew around the spectator's location as everyone awaited XVII's statement regarding the matter of the tournament. Even though the availability of a forfeit was beneficial to them, a few other demigods eventually realized that this would also slightly reduce the intensity of the entire tournament.

Finally, XVII walked ahead of the demigods before announcing the information he had.

"I will now announce the next battle."

This meant that there was nothing to be said about the situation and it confirmed any doubts either of the demigods had about what the Gods thought about it. All the demigods then disregarded it as they awaited the announcement of the next battle.

"The next battle is... Arthur Knight vs Trent."

The demigods waited for Trent and Arthur proceeded into the arena's stage. The enthusiasm for the battle was not as high as expected due to the two previously failed battles that occurred, so the demigods decided to wait for the battle to commence before they would gain any more interest.

Trent walked into the arena with a smile on his face as he seemed to be excited about the match. Arthur, on the other hand, had a straight look on his face as he did not plan to enjoy the fight, but rather give it his all to progress, unlike the other battles.

"Fighters, get ready," XVII said to the battle members.

"Good luck," Trent said to Arthur as they awaited the alarm.

Arthur's silence was enough to show everyone that he was going to take the battle more seriously than they had expected, so they all decided to wait for the bell as well.

And after the alarm rang, both fighters rushed at each other.

The battle between Trent and Arthur commenced as the two fighters clashed punches with each other. Trent managed to swing a few hits at his opponent, but Arthur easily evaded the attacks, throwing his punches back at Trent.

The battle seemed to grab the interest of the other demigods as they continued to swing at each other while defending the other's attacks.

"It's dead even," Rose whispered to Klaus. "Arthur's quite impressive."

"I don't think it's as close as you think," Klaus then responded to Rose, making her focus more on what was happening.

Upon focusing, as well as the information she had before the battle, Rose realized that something was off about Arthur.

"Wait, he's not using his strengthening thing," Rose said in awareness.

Even though they seemed to be even, Arthur was clearly not using his ability to harden his punches and attacks. Eventually, Trent managed to get an opening on Arthur as he swung his right fist directly toward Arthur's face.

Suddenly, Arthur instantly crouched, evading the attack that Trent had expected to land before he then clenched his right fist and launched his punch at Trent.

Arthur's attack was too fast for Trent to react to, but he managed to place his palm at the attack's trajectory, softening the blow on his chest. However, the power that Arthur placed in that single punch was so devastating that it launched Trent off his feet and back a significant distance.

A few spectators sighed in surprise as Trent fell to the ground. It didn't feel like someone could get up from such a tremendous blow.

"I can tell you're not a weak person," Arthur then stated as he walked towards Trent.

Trent held on to his chest as he struggled, but managed to get up on his feet.

"So I'm told, haha," Trent managed to say as he closed his eyes slightly in pain while managing to stay standing.

Trent then turned his face to the location of the pain before placing both his palms on the location. Eventually, a small amount of water appeared at the location and it seemed to ease the pain he had at that location. But before he could continue his rejuvenation process, Arthur rushed back at Trent, not giving him a chance to heal completely.

Trent continued his battle with Arthur, managing to clash a few punches with his opponent. But this time, Arthur was using his Hardening ability, meaning that his body and punches were way stronger than they were, making Trent's attacks and blocks much more difficult to perform without taking significant damage.

"I guess Arthur's winning now," Shade said.

"I guess," Klaus replied as he continued to watch the battle.

It didn't make sense to him. He remembered that Trent was claimed to be stronger than Arthur during the Cosmic League event since Trent was a captain and Arthur wasn't. XVII also mentioned that this decision was made by the Gods with the certainty that they were above the other demigods who were not assigned as captains.

"Does that mean Arthur was able to close the gap between them within a month of training?" Klaus thought to himself as he continued to watch the battle unfold.

It was clear that Arthur was superior in the fight as most of the landed attacks were his. But Trent was still doing a very good job maintaining his defenses, even though that seemed to be his best option at that moment.

Soon enough, Trent realized something that might make things easier for him as after a few more clashes and punches, he managed to create a small distance between them.

"Switching to ranged attacks..." Lance then stated at the spectator's section. "...great idea."

It was clear that Arthur had the advantage in close combat, so switching the battle to range was the best option for Trent, especially since he was also stronger with range than not.

Trent placed his left hand forward as he pointed his index and middle finger together at Arthur as he normally does when using his water bullets. Water proceeded to shoot out of his fingers in rapid succession as they darted at Arthur.

As all the shots of water reached Arthur, he instantly placed the palm of his left hand in each of the shots of water's path, blocking every one of them. He blocked them so effortlessly as he walked forward gradually while still using his palm to block all the drops of water as if they weren't there. A few drops managed to hit Arthur in the chest, but all they did was create holes in his shirt as he continued his walk forward unfazed by the attack.

Realizing the forward movement, Trent then jumped back twice, creating more space between them, before placing both palms together. He then placed both the index and middle fingers of each hand forward, creating a bigger and more concentrated amount of water at his fingertips. With this, he continued to fire his water bullets in their stronger state as they appeared to be even faster.

Arthur instantly realized the attacks heading his way and he instantly stopped in place. He then opened both his palms wide for a brief moment before clenching both fists. and as each shot of water reached him, Arthur used his fists to punch everyone away from him in rapid succession.

Trent continued to fire the water bullets, but Arthur continued to punch every shot away as well. The benefit of range did not seem to have that much effect on the battle since Arthur's defense was still beyond impressive.

Realizing this factor, Trent decided that instead of firing multiple shots of water, he would instead create an even more concentrated bullet of water, similar to what he had done in the Capture the Flag event against Riley and Shade. With this idea, Trent stopped his rapid shots as he concentrated the attack, with the water on his fingertips growing with every passing second.

Arthur realized this, knowing that he had to do something before the large attack was shot, so he immediately unclenched his left arm and stretched his right to the side of his chest, mimicking the same stance he had when he fought Siren in the Capture the Flag game mode. Arthur stayed in the stance for a few seconds before finally launching his fists from a distance at Trent, who was about done charging his attack.

Suddenly, a mighty gushing wind launched at Trent in full force, breaking through the attack and going through it before hitting Trent's hands. The force caused Trent to move back a few distances, injuring his arm as well upon contact. The attack that Trent was charging also got destroyed, causing it to pour to the ground.

After this, Arthur continued to send a barrage of multiple windbreaking attacks once more. Trent managed to dodge them barely as he realized that Arthur was just as strong in range as he was in close combat.

Things were not looking good for Trent.

"He's getting overpowered," Klaus mumbled.

"Yeah," Shade replied. "Looks like he can't hold on for much longer."

Arthur continued to launch the attacks at Trent, with Trent managing to evade them. But as this continued, one of the launched attacks managed to hit Trent's left arm. This attack was so devastating that it completely ripped Trent's left arm from below his elbow.

The horrifying sight of Trent's left hand falling to the ground disturbed a lot of the demigods.

"Oh, my Gods!" Rose exclaimed after seeing the gory view.

Trent fell to his knees instantly as the pain only continued to grow. Arthur managed to stop his attack as he took a second before continuing to walk forward to his opponent.

Trent placed his right palm on the severed part of his body as he created a small body of water there to prevent his blood from spilling, turning the blood around the injury into water as well.

"It seems that this is where you fall," Arthur said to Trent as he proceeded closer.

The pain Trent felt was excruciating. His mind started to get hazy as he tried his best not to lose touch with reality.

"I expected better from one of the so-called strongest among the demigods," Arthur then proceeded as he stopped in front of Trent. "I guess the Gods were wrong after all."

Hearing these words made Trent feel more pain in his defeat. He felt that he had let the Gods down with his performance. Trent started to feel light-headed as Arthur stopped in front of him, raising his fist to the sky, awaiting his decision of a forfeit or not.

Then something just snapped.

"Do you yield," Arthur asked Trent as he awaited his response with his fist still in the sky.

But before Trent could answer, he took a deep audible breath. Suddenly, water proceeded to flow around him as instantly, the water arose everywhere in a circle beside him, blocking Arthur from him. Arthur jumped backward as he also noticed that the water continued to spawn in a wider range, almost reaching him.

"What is happening?" Shade asked as everyone stared at the battlefield.

Klaus took a second to analyze what was going on with Trent, but could not come up with any other idea than what he did.

"I guess even Trent can feel anger for being too weak," Klaus stated, still keeping his focus on the battle.

Arthur stared for a second before deciding to attempt another windbreaker attack, but the launched attack did nothing to the water that continued to vortex around Trent.

Eventually, the water finally slowed down before dropping to the floor, revealing Trent once again. But this time, as all the demigods locked eyes with Trent, they noticed that not a single scratch from the constant attacks remained on Trent. Not only that, but the severed arm had somehow reattached to Trent as his appearance looked almost exactly like the first time he entered the stage before the battle.

Trent's eyes remained shut as the water that soaked his clothes started to drip off, leaving his clothes dry. Arthur's confusion made sense since everyone present also wondered what was happening.

"I apologize that I was not able to give you the battle you desired," Trent then finally stated before he opened his eyes and stared directly at Arthur.

"But I promise that this changes now."

As Klaus looked at Trent from the spectator's area, his eyes lit up slightly in surprise. This was the first time that he had ever seen Trent with a straight face. Nobody had any words for what had happened or even an idea for what was to come, so they all kept quiet and stared.

"I will be the judge of that," Arthur then stated before he started moving at Trent.

Arthur got to Trent and proceeded to swing physical attacks at his opponent. Trent then continued to dodge the attacks which seemed to be easier than before. It was almost like he had not wasted his energy at all, but the same could not be said for Arthur.

"What the heck is going on?" Iris rightfully asked back at the spectator's area.

Everyone had the same question as they looked to see who had an idea of what was going on. Then almost choreographically, everyone turned their face to Quinn.

Quinn realized that they were awaiting any ideas she had so she sighed slightly before finally responding.

"Well, the only ideas I have right now are the same as what Klaus had previously mentioned. It's possible that the frustration of not living up to the expectations the Gods had for him caused him to enter an unfamiliar state of mind."

The explanation felt fair, even though it was only an assumption from Quinn. But she didn't seem to be finished with her statement.

"Although, I still don't understand how he was able to regain all his energy and severed his arm like that. Not sure how he did that."

This was true. Trent had regained all his strength in an instant which didn't seem possible for any of them so it made a few of them question him. But before any more sentences could be made, everyone's attention was gained by Shade.

"Wow, look," Shade said to the others as he pointed at the arena.

Everyone turned their attention as they witnessed something different from before they had turned away.

"Wow," Quinn stated as everyone saw Arthur on the floor.

"He actually landed a punch."