I had never seen so many slack jaws at once. Even my jaw dropped open at Lord Solomon’s accusation. The AI version of him next to me merely grinned and folded his arms, as if he enjoyed reminiscing in the scene before us.
But not everybody seemed shocked.
A select few gods, like Dhismir, studied Solomon with narrowed eyes and tight lips. It was as if… they already knew about Lady Euridice’s deceit. But why would they allow her to do such a thing if they knew?
I dared ten steps forward to catch a glimpse of the real Lord Solomon’s face. He stared down Lord Dhismir with the hint of an amused smile on his lips. Like he knew that Lord Dhismir knew…. There was a lot of “knowing” going on.
I turned suspicious eyes toward the AI, but he only stared back. He knew what was going on, too. Obviously. But would he ever explain it to me? I had no idea.
Lady Euridice’s angelic round face had gone red at the accusation, and the silence was agonizing as the room chewed on Lord Solomon’s words.
Lord Dhismir broke the silence. “If any of what you say is true, Lord Solomon, that would make the domains and godhood placed upon Euridice to have been done in error. She shouldn’t be the Goddess of Knowledge, for that would belong to you.”
The god’s statement furthered my confusion. Why would he have allowed such an error if he had known Lady Euridice was a liar? Maybe Lord Dhismir and the other gods were actually in the dark. Maybe I had read into the shared expression between Dhismir and Solomon incorrectly.
Lord Dhismir’s once warm face grew dark with serious shadows. “Do you wish to retract your accusation, Lord Solomon, or do you wish to carry on with it?”
“What I said is true. Many of Lady Euridice’s Skills allow her to easily deceive those around her, and claiming a false godhood title goes right along with what she can do. Her Celestial Tier 2 Skill, for instance, gives her extra statistics in her might, vitality, and intelligence for every person she misguides.”
Solomon raised his hands to his shoulders. “I swear to all of you that what I say is true. Imagine the extra power she would gain for lying to all of you and to the trillions of people who reside in the universes she reigns over."
Hurried whispers and wary glances at Euridice came through before another response.
“What say you to that, Lady Euridice?” Dhismir said. “Do you deny his accusations?”
“Of course I deny them!” She was standing now and had seemed to grow another foot in size. Her shadow stretched over the rows of seats in front of her and continued to Lord Solomon’s feet.
I recoiled at the sight of her anger, not ready to witness the wrath of the goddess I’d been worshiping my entire life.
“Lord Solomon just reached the god Tiers, and you will believe him over me–your friend and colleague of many millennia?”
Euridice’s eyes shot daggers at Solomon. “You have questioned my honor, Lord Solomon,” she spat. “And I will kill you for it.”
The great hall disappeared and was replaced with a vast, sandy desert. Nothing but sand existed as far as the eye could see, save for the gods from earlier, all clad in their pristine colorful robes. They made a wide circle that extended miles long, and many of the gods I couldn’t see due to their distance. Each god leaned forward in anticipation. I was standing in the center of the ground before them, so it looked as if they all stared at me. Instinctively, though I knew they couldn’t see me, I drew back to the edge of the circle. The Lord Solomon AI tailed me.
“You are about to see one of the greatest fights in all of history,” the AI said.
“Oh? Who’s fighting?”
As if in answer to my question, two figures emerged from either side of the crowd and entered the center of the circle: Lord Solomon and Lady Euridice.
“Oh, of course,” I said.
Both of the gods looked more than ready for battle.
The golden armor on Lord Solomon’s large body, identical to the armor his AI self wore, moved flexibly with his strong steps. He looked out into the crowd through his mighty helm. I saw no nerves in his expression. He looked almost… at peace. Solomon’s hands sat poised atop the matching gold hilt of a sword strapped to his side, identical to the weapon the AI Solomon had on his person.
Lady Euridice’s white armor was perfectly polished and matched the platinum blond hair she had twisted on top of her head. The armor hugged her slender form but covered every part of her body except for her face. Four blood-red daggers circled around her waistline. The bold red color of the blades stood out starkly against her white armor.
“Is this going to be, like, a duel?” I breathed.
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Duels in Edrona were rare, but they did happen. Usually when someone offended another, like the time Drayek had said something extremely crass about Priestess Rowena Hale (Drayek still wouldn’t tell me what he had said), and she challenged him to a fight to the death. The other Priests and Elders of the city wouldn’t allow a “fight to death,” but they did allow the two to battle until one conceded. Drayek won, of course, but he’d still been holding back…. I just knew it.
“Sort of like a duel,” the AI agreed. “But the only difference is, this is a god-Tiered fight. It can quickly get out of hand. That’s why they chose to fight here.” He waved his hands around the barren land. “This is an uninhabited planet. Gods have destroyed cities, planets, and sometimes entire universes when engaging in battle.”
I completely forgot that my body wasn’t physically there for a moment and nervously glanced at the two gods circling one another with sneers on their faces.
“Uh…” I swallowed. “That’s interesting.” I didn’t know what else to say.
And then I remembered something the AI had said to me many memories ago.
“Wait, you said Lady Euridice killed Lord Solomon. Is this where it happened? Can gods really die?”
“Slow down, Number 52. You’ll see soon enough.”
I ignored his words–I had too many questions!
“If gods can destroy entire worlds in just one fight, and if gods can die, why are the others here?” I waved frantic hands over the massive audience. “Isn’t it dangerous?”
Before the AI could answer, Euridice threw herself at Solomon. Blood-red, crescent-shaped daggers glinted from the sunlight in each of her hands. Solomon deflected her blows with barely a flick of the finger, summoning a hovering shield of gold in front of his face. Her daggers met with the shield and sent the goddess flying onto her back. She must have put an insurmountable amount of strength into her strike to send her flying so far and on top of some of the distant gods in the audience.
Euridice threw herself back onto her feet so quickly, I almost didn’t see it. Then she moved so fast she turned completely invisible. I didn't even see the dagger fly until it again hit Solomon's shield. But, she had used the throw as a distraction. I watched in awe as she spun around herself, maneuvering behind Solomon before he could react. But instead of thrusting a dagger into his back, she snapped a finger, then disappeared into another invisible run.
Puffs of smoke appeared in about a hundred different places all around the fighting ground, including within the lines of spectators. As soon as the smoke clouds dissipated, Lady Euridice appeared in every spot, her white armor sparkling blindingly in every direction you looked. There were 100 Euridices surrounding Solomon on every side, and no way to tell which was the real goddess.
But Solomon, instead of searching for the true Euridice, he only smiled. He twirled his pure black blade in his right hand and laughed.
“Ah, your Illusory Doppelgangers. I’ve heard of this Skill.” He winked at the audience. “Two can play at that game.”
Solomon snapped his own fingers and sprinted away in his own invisible dash. Then, 100 versions of himself appeared, just like they had for Lady Euridice. I couldn’t tell which was the real Solomon, either.
“The Imitator–that’s what we call you, you know!” every single Euridice screeched in unison.
I clapped my hands on my ears to protect myself from the noise of a chorus of goddesses screaming at the top of their lungs.
“We know that you can replicate others’ spells, even change some of them for your own purposes,” the Euridices continued, all doppelgangers from both Euridice and Solomon circling one another with bared teeth. “But I am Tiers above you still. And I know you can’t copy spells too strong for your Soul to handle.”
Every Euridice grinned and licked their lips at once. It was beyond creepy.
“Try to copy this spell, Imitator!”
The Euridices fisted their daggers and slammed their knuckles together, a resounding crack transpiring as they did.
The ground split open beneath the doppelgangers’ feet. The earth began tearing apart into two separate sections, forcing the onlookers to retreat as quickly as they could. My impulse to run remained strong as the ground opened up near me, but the Lord Solomon AI raised a hand, indicating I should stay in place. As the sand began to spill into the depths below and crack open a chasm before me, I noticed that my body floated over the hole.
Not physically here, I reminded myself.
The Euridice doppelgangers darted away from any openings into the earth, but as the Solomon doppelgangers evaded their falls, the Euridices waved their hands and warped each of them back over the chasm and to their demise.
One Solomon after another fell, then disappeared in a whiff of smoke. But she had yet to find the real Solomon.
At about number 20 of Solomon's doppelganger demises, one materialized a golden bridge, similar to Solomon’s hovering shield but covering a greater area. The Solomon that had cast the spell landed on his feet.
"There you are," Euridice crooned, but just one Euridice spoke.
The Solomon on the bridge barrelled toward the Euridice that had spoken, putting all stake into attacking her in the hope that she was the real goddess.
The other Solomons disappeared in their individual puffs of smoke, and the real Solomon grew two sizes as he wielded his black blade in front of his body and let out a guttural cry. His shout made the earth shudder. The one Euridice he pursued paled as he approached with god-like speed. But she quickly shook herself out of her stunned daze, and she was quicker.
Faster than lightning carving through a stormy sky, Euridice dismissed her copies and waved a hand right in front of Solomon’s face, nearly touching his nose with the back of her palm.
It took me a moment to comprehend what had happened as Solomon disappeared, but then I found him–at least I could see a distant image of him about half a mile away from Euridice. For a split second, Solomon didn’t know what had happened either, which allowed ample time for Euridice.
Euridice propelled her body forward and streaked toward Solomon in a blur, kicking the sand up into clouds as she went. She collided with the other god, and what happened next, I couldn’t really tell you. The loudest boom I had ever heard resounded through the entire desert–no–planet. No, universe. It had to have been that loud.
A flash of brilliant light threatened to burn my eyes, and I watched in horror as the entire desert ripped into minuscule pieces. Many of the spectating gods had since left the fight once the chasm appeared, but others had to fly up and out of the way, and a few still got caught in the explosion.
Before I knew it, the entire planet was gone; all I could see was darkness.