In the Duelling Grounds of the Prison of Aslahan,

"Stand at your spots!" shouted Mary as she raised her hand, ready to start the duel between Zorick and Abel.

Then Mary swung her hand down signifying the start of the duel but neither Zorick nor Abel moved.

While Zorick was gauging down Abel, Abel was just standing with his eyes closed, without a sense of worry.

"Huh? Why are they not moving?" asked a soldier to the comrade next to him.

"I don't know. It seems like Major General is hesitating." replied the soldier while correcting his helmet.

Zorick could hear all of this and he wanted to lunge at Abel. But he couldn't find an opening in Abel's stance even though he was standing still with his eyes closed and his arms crossed under his chest.

'What kind of monster is he? No way every single ranker in Detective Agency is like this..' Zorick thought to himself before he took a deep breath and resolved his mind and body. He was ready to hit and be hit.

Then he stepped forward and attempted to land a punch on Abel's face, but Abel dodged it easily, like paper, before slowly opening his eyes and landing a kick on Zorick's abdomen, sending him flying back a few meters.

"Wait what?!"

"How?!"

"What happened?"

The soldiers watching the duel were confused at seeing Zorick kneeling on the ground after one kick. The man, who can easily beat tens of trained soldiers in hand-to-hand combat was hurt.

"Oh, Major General, Get up. I know you have more than that in you." Abel mocked Zorick, making no attempt to get at him while he was down.

'This fucker.' Zorick thought as he slowly stood back up. He was ready to be hit yet it hurt so badly. 'What kind of monster is he... I can judge that his physical stats shouldn't be too far off mine then why is there such a huge gap between us?'

Then Zorick lunged at Abel again. Again, Abel dodged the punch and countered with a right jab.

Zorick expected this and blocked the attack, only to be pushed back a few metres anyways.

'Fuck, this is bad.' He thought to himself as the fight seems to be one-sided. Abel wasn't even trying to actually fight him yet he was still struggling. It wasn't as if he was fighting a detective, it felt more like a war machine that has perfected the 'Art of War' and harmonized with it.

For a few bouts, they had this constant exchange of blows where Zorick tried his best to land a punch on Abel but his efforts remained fruitless.

"You are a strong lad, I'll give you that." Zorick complimented Abel before he took a deep breath.

"You too, Major General. But it'll be best if you don't hold back. And if you want to waste time then don't, just surrender. The penalties on you aren't worth my time." Abel spoke calmly, though he was still cursing at Zorick, remembering those notes he read where Zorick mentioned wanting to rape the female prisoners of Aslahan, including all the 12 disguises that Eluya had when she was caught.

Zorick could feel Abel looking at him with disgust and some level of hate, but he couldn't pinpoint the exact reason of his hate for him.

To Zorick's knowledge, he has never met or harmed Abel or his team. Then why was he so hostile towards him? Why was he not ending this duel when he could do it at a moment's notice?

Zorick didn't know but at this point, he didn't want to know.

Zorick smiled as the conditions had finally been met. His body started glowing red as the sweat vaporized from his body, leaving his body steaming.

Seeing this, the soldiers who had been closely watching the duel took a step back and so did Mary. After all, they all know this about Zorick and if it's anything like usual, then according to them, Abel is ending up in a hospital.

Zorick smiled as he could feel his body relaxing and his strength rising. Not just this, all of the pain due to Abel's hits also vanished as if it was never there.

"Oooh, It's been a while since I was so pumped up." Zorick said as his muscles twitch and recover, while he cracks his knuckles.

"Since I'm a good person, I'll allow you to surrender if you want, lad." Zorick said with a mocking smile. His face showed that he thought of his victory.

"No, I'm good." Abel replied with a smile, cracking his knuckles and smiling a bit.

"Is he serious? Major General Zorick is in his berserker state.." whispered one soldier to his comrade.

"I don't know but the Major General hasn't been able to land a blow yet." replied the soldier to the first soldier.

Mary, who was overseeing the duel, now had a concerned expression. It isn't often that Zorick taps into the blessing given to him by Obrax, The God of War. So what did he see in Abel, who was merely a detective?

Though Zorick was unable to land a single hit, it wasn't enough to provoke him to use his blessing.

Then it happened, faster than anyone in the audience could react to. Zorick's punch hit Abel in the face.

And for a second, everyone smiled.. except Zorick, who took a step back almost immediately.

'What.. What am I even fighting?' Due to the 'Physical and Sensory Enhancement' blessing of the War God, he was already much stronger and faster but his gut feeling was telling him one thing again and again and again.

TO RUN.

'Shit..' Zorick was annoyed at how unfazed Abel was despite taking a blow like that to his face. There were no changes in Abel's physical strength so he was considerably weaker than Zorick for now, despite that he remained unharmed.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"Is that it?" Abel spoke calmly, after all even though he was using the blessing of Obrax, he was still much much weaker than the training and fights Abel had gone through.

'If his perception was high enough, he'd have known when to give up.' Abel thought to himself before taking a step forward. This was the first time he took the initiative in the duel.

'Shit, fuck, fuck..' Zorick's body was begging for him to surrender as Abel got closer. But then he smirked, the rule of the duel was bare-handed.. so he could play a little dirty.

And just as Abel was walking closer, Zorick smiled before he tried to kick him in-between his legs. A dirty move, but not necessarily illegal in a duel either.

Everyone's eyes widened as they saw Zorick relying on such cheap tricks in a duel, but to everyone's surprise, Abel stopped the kick with his knees.

"What a cheap move." Abel spoke with a sigh before he grabbed Zorick and punched his face.

"Now you better start surrendering, Major General." Abel spoke calmly as he continued to pummel Zorick while dodging any punches that he was throwing.

"This is.. what am I even seeing?" whispered one of the soldiers who was standing a lot further in the crowd, his eyes wide as he was unable to understand what was happening.

"How could.. how could a mere human fight Major General who was using the blessing.. Just what kind of monsters dwell in Detective Agency if this guy is ranked 7." said another soldier with fear crawling down his spine.

"No.. This isn't happening. This is all just a prank, right? Those vampires escaping via Huding is another thing. But we have monsters like these too..." said another one of the soldiers as he recalled the vampires who escaped through the Huding River and were not found again.

The whispers in the crowd were many, each with their own fear, and a way to rationally understand that the man in front of them, was chosen by Supreme Judge Gerald for a reason.

This also cleared up any misconceptions that the Army might have had about the Investigation Department and the Detective Agency around the world.

Their High rankers were not to be taken lightly. The soldiers present in Aslahan at that very moment, who once thought that there were less than 3 people who could beat Zorick in a 1v1 Close Quarter Combat, now stood corrected.

The number was higher. A lot higher than they gave credit to.

Also, they understood. Blessings from a god, though it was a wonderful gift given to one in every million humans. It wasn't an insurmountable wall as Abel has just shown them that even blessings can be defeated.

As for Zorick, his face was pummeled for 15 minutes straight. And just as the last ounce of his strength left his body along with the Blessing, he raised his hand.

"I.. surrender." Zorick spoke as he stopped trying to throw punches at Abel, seeing that his blessing was now on cooldown, he could no longer fight.

Abel nodded as he let go of Zorick, letting him fall down on the floor.

"And the winner is... Mr. Abel." Mary declared before running to Zorick and helping him standup.

"Sir, Are you alright?" Mary spoke, worried about Zorick while the other soldiers were still in shock.

"Barely." Zorick said calmly as he stood up with Mary's help. He felt helpless as he saw Abel walking away from the Duelling Grounds since he won the rights to examine the Prison without any restrictions.

"Get me any and all information you can get of that guy and his companions." Zorick spoke before he fell unconscious. If it weren't for Mary holding him, he would have fallen on his face.

Zorick, who was blessed by Obrax, the War God, considered himself a strong person. If things go well for him, he is weaker than the Corps of Seven, The Crown Prince and around 3 people in the Empire's Army.

His blessing, provided him with an inhumane amount of physical strength and recovery while sharpening his senses. It's something meant for fights too.

'How did I lose?'

Zorick thought while he was half-conscious and being transported to his room to rest.

He was in no position to move nor could he question Abel as he was here as Supreme Judge Gerald's Representative.

But this was exactly what scared him. If Abel was human, then he was one of the fiercest alive and if he wasn't, then there was no way to question him either.

He cannot go against Supreme Judge Gerald's orders or his sense of justice. Gerald wasn't just the highest judge of the Empire of Garharia but also a religious figure to the Followers of Justifia, who worship him like a god's representative.

While Zorick was recovering, Abel roamed around the Prison, noting the conditions of the Prison and checking what conditions were provided to the prisoners.

A few soldiers were accompanying Abel at all times though they didn't interfere in his work. After all, they had just seen this guy just beat up Major General at his strongest without breaking a sweat.

The examination took 4 hours and at its conclusion, Abel closed the notebook in which he was noting down his observations and sighed. "I should report my findings to Judge Gerald." He spoke just loud enough for the soldiers to hear him.

Then he started walking towards the exit. Abel has just walked out of the basement and he hated every second he spent in that place.

The misery in that place, the smell of blood and rotting flesh was obvious to him who was a vampire. Zorick's team has tried their best to clean this place up and all of the Prison but their cruelties didn't go unnoticed.

Once Abel reached the entrance, he saw Zorick waiting for him there.

"Oh you are awake?" Abel asked calmly.

"Yeah.. I was asleep for three hours." Zorick replied with a skeptical look.

"I don't think you are here to bid me farewell, Major General.."

"No.. But it doesn't matter now. You can leave." Zorick said before walking away.

Abel raised an eyebrow at Zorick's reply but didn't think much of it and left Aslahan, walking towards the car he came in.

"Hey driver, you still there." Abel asked as he tapped the window of the car.

Gamma, who was curled up like a ball on the driver seat, got up and quickly exited the car to open the door for Abel.

"Oh sorry, sir. I took a nap. Please get in." Gamma spoke with a smile plastered on his face. He was still trembling a bit though not as much as on their drive here.

"Thank you very much." Abel spoke calmly as he stepped inside the car and sighed with relief.

While Gamma was driving, Abel put the notes and pen he used into a plastic bag, before putting it into a brown bag, sealing it shut and dropping it on the passenger's seat.

After that, there wasn't much noise made in the car other than the occasional bumps on the road, which caused the suspension of the car to squeak a little.

Once Gamma had driven to the entrance of the Northern District from the Eastern Entry post, which was the closest to Aslahan, Abel spoke. "Hey driver, I'll walk from here. You can go now."

"Y-yes, Sir." Gamma complied with Abel's request, watching him walk away from the car before driving away to Lumious Grand Hotel in the Southern District, where their base was for the time being.

......

Abel walked around the streets, greeting the Policemen who were on patrol, helping old grandmas cross the street. All in all, just living, observing and doing some good things while he walked back home.

There was still sometime left for Eluya's ritual and he needed to catch a breeze after exploring the basements of Aslahan.

That place.. 'A Vile Place' as Abel might describe because if Eluya were there, she wouldn't have cared a bit about the fact that they were hiding their identities as Vampire and burned the place down with every prisoner, guard and worker inside.

Then as Abel walked into an Alleyway, which was a shortcut to the agency, he heard constant meowing from a box near the dumpster.

A bit curious by the noises, he walked closer to the box which was taped shut and a constant meows escaped the box.

"What bastard leaves behind something like this?" Abel said with a spiteful face before he tore the tape and opened the box.

Inside a box, a small kitten was shivering and meowing. It was hungry and cold. Who knows what would've happened if Abel didn't walk by this random alley.

But he decided not to dwell on useless stuff as he picked up the kitten and rubbed its back.

Though the little kitten was malnourished, its fur was still soft and well kept, suggesting that it wasn't left here too long ago.

The little kitten purred as it curled up into Abel's arms while he rubbed its back. "I don't know if Iliana will allow me to keep a cat though.."

Abel got lost in his thoughts since he found the kitten rather cute and wanted to keep it. As far as his knowledge goes, Eluya and Iliana weren't allergic to cats and he wasn't against the idea of a pet either, in fact, Eluya did want a pet very, very badly.

"I'll bring you home.. Maybe Iliana and the finances will allow you to be there." Abel spoke with a sigh before he started walking faster with the cat in his arms.