After the semi-finals, where both Drakthar and Xander found themselves victorious over their opponents, Drakthar returns to the waiting area beneath the arena, finding it empty. Only a few minutes pass by before Xander comes in through the back set of doors.
“I was just threatening the same guards to bring Arua to that doctor they brought Kali to. Good, looks like you won. I guess this means we are the two strongest warriors in the world, kind of surreal if you ask me,” Xander notes, finding it odd to say out loud.
“I hope not. There must be others that weren’t drawn here by God’s invitation. We’re the two strongest of the ones here,” Drakthar states, not wanting to believe that there won’t be another opponent on his level in all of the world.
“Yeah, you’re probably right,” Xander agrees, knowing that he made the top two and wouldn’t have come here if not for a chance to find Drakthar and the others.
“You can drop out now. As much as I want you to fight me with all you have, I know it will never happen, so let’s skip the games and just let me face him,” Drakthar boldly declares, thinking, like Kali, Xander only entered the tournament to help him face God.
“About that… While initially, I might have done that… but after everything that’s happened, I want to be the one to defeat God myself,” Xander informs him. Drakthar notices the determination in Xander’s eyes and knows he will not be able to sway him.
“Fine, we will fight to see which of us deserves to face him. Good, this is what I’ve always wanted anyway,” Drakthar can’t suppress a grin, knowing that under different circumstances he would never be able to have a serious fight against his best friend.
Meanwhile, Lunette and Maximus head back to the doctor’s place at the edge of the city, eagerly discussing the results of the semi-finals that saw their two friends victorious. As they approach, they notice a troubling sight, four guards in the entryway to the doctor’s house.
“Do you think they figured out we were involved and tracked us here because of Kali?” Lunette asks as they duck behind a tree.
“I do not know… but it might not be safe to hide out here anymore,” Maximus concludes, not wanting to be associated with those who escaped and end up facing the repercussions as a result.
They watch as two more armored men exit the house, regrouping with the other four before leaving.
“And they’re just gone? What is going on here?” Lunette asks herself as she looks on from within the trees.
“Never mind that. Let’s figure out what happened,” Maximus decides, waiting a few minutes until God’s men are out of view before heading inside the doctor’s home.
“Ah, you kids are back. Looks like they delivered me another patient, this little tournament is proving to be more trouble than it’s worth,” the doctor complains at his situation, drawing attention to an incapacitated Arua now occupying the bed next to Kali’s.
“It’s the woman that Xander beat, what did the announcer say her name was again?” Lunette asks herself out loud.
“Arua, her name was Arua,” Maximus informs her, having written it down for later use in case she ever came up in one of his songs.
“Oh yeah! Cool, I guess Kali has a friend to recover with now,” Lunette notes rather loudly.
“What did you say?” Kali asks groggily, Lunette’s raised voice having roused her awake.
“You have a new friend, Xander hit her head pretty bad,” Lunette explains, pointing over to the bed where Arua is resting. The confused look on Kali’s face turns to a scowl, not fond one bit of her new bedfellow.
“Wait! If she’s here then the next round of the tournament is already over. Did Drakthar win? Did he move on to the finals?” She asks eagerly, forgetting about the situation with Arua.
“Yup, he beat that spear guy and Xander even beat this woman. Looks like our friends are the strongest,” Lunette breaks the news to her with a smile.
“Good, that’s good,” Kali calms herself down, worried that somehow Drakthar could have lost.
“You two have somewhere better to be? I have a new patient to look after so why don’t the two of you take your wolf and go on a walk. And don’t come back until sundown,” the doctor demands, wanting peace and quiet while he assesses the condition of his new patient.
“Sure, we can get out of your hair. Come on Maximus, Fore, let’s go,” Lunette agrees, bringing Maximus and Fore along with her as they leave the doctor’s place.
Lunette, Fore, and Maximus, not knowing what else to do, take a stroll through the city.
“Are you sure we should be seen with him? Didn’t someone say that God knows about Fore?” Maximus asks Lunette as they walk through the most populated part of the city.
“Nah, it’s fine. I’m sure…” Lunette pauses, noticing everyone who is out on the streets, loudly discussing an interesting change of plans.
“Did you hear? God moved up the final match to tomorrow,” a woman tells her friend who she’s walking along with.
“What? That’s so cruel, he isn’t giving them any time to rest. That scrawny guy didn’t even get hurt at all, this is so unfair,” her friend complains, seeing this as a disadvantage for Drakthar.
“It’s fine, do you really think that guy can hold a candle to Drakthar?” Her friend reassures her, making it clear they are huge Drakthar fans.
“Tomorrow? Why would he do that?” Maximus questions, unsure as to why God would move the match up.
“Maybe he wants this tournament over with so he can focus on finding the others. Think about it, he hasn’t even shown up to his own tournament so clearly, this isn’t a priority for him anymore,” Lunette theorizes, that being the only reason she can think of.
The next morning, Xander and Drakthar awaken, still within God’s mansion and unaware that their face-off has been moved to today. Their perfectly fine morning is ruined when they find God is sitting at the table eating breakfast within the lavish dining room.
“Welcome finalists. I must say it is impressive that the two of you are the ones that made it here. I will take much joy watching as the best of friends tear each other apart over the chance to face me,” God greets them with his usual pompous bravado.
“What do you mean? You’ve been absent the last two rounds, why should we expect you to actually show up this time when you're too busy trying to recapture our friends,” Xander points out mockingly.
“Ah, I would try to hide it but unfortunately that seems to be the case. Luckily for the two of you, a clash between friends is something too tempting for even me to pass up. I will be present to watch the battle between the two of you. Oh, I forgot to mention this fated battle will occur today,” God finally informs them.
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Drakthar and Xander share a look, this being unexpected but not changing anything for either of them.
“Oh yes, today we will see who wants it more. The two of you are both fighting for compelling reasons, one seeks to prove himself a mighty warrior and the other wants revenge for what I have done to his wife. I wonder what will be the more powerful motivator, ambition or love,” God monologues, laying out his storyline of why this match intrigues him so much.
“That has nothing to do with it. The stronger one will win, that’s all that matters,” Drakthar disagrees, finding God’s thoughts not pertinent at all.
“I would disagree, motivation makes quite the difference. Without the proper motivation, people would not do the things they do. Take your friend Xander here, if I had not offered to pleasure his wife and never punished her upon her refusal, he would have never joined my tournament. The only reason he is willing to fight you today is because he is motivated to kill me. So yes, I think motivation has everything to do with it,” God quickly proves his point, grinning as he can tell Xander agrees with him.
“As much as I would love to continue this stimulating debate, I am afraid the two of you must return to your rooms and prepare yourselves, your match starts in a few hours, we need to head off towards the arena,” God gets up, wiping his face with a napkin before leaving the room himself.
The walk to the arena is a silent one, at least for the two finalists, they don’t utter a word as they are surrounded by people cheering, trying to get their attention. The outside noises are cut off as the two of them find themselves once again below the arena within the waiting room.
“Just so you know, I plan on making this quick,” Xander warns Drakthar, wanting to get this out of the way as soon as possible.
“That means you’ll be coming at me with all you have from the beginning, good,” Drakthar declares, glad to hear that he’ll be able to defeat Xander when he’s giving his all.
These are the last words either of them say to each other before they walk outside, the sunlight hitting their faces as they hear a cacophony of cheers and boos from the audience. As they reach the center, they hear the voice of God, not the announcer, welcome the crowd to this final match.
“Welcome all of my loyal followers and those who have journeyed far and wide to make your way here to witness the conclusion of my tournament. Today two men, who have distinguished themselves as the elite over the many who have fallen before them, will square off to earn the honor of challenging me, God. Now that you understand the stakes let me introduce you to the men who will be fighting for that glory. The first is a man whose tenacity and strength has won you over, proving again and again that he is the strongest among the rabble, its Drakthar. Opposing him is a cunning fighter whose devious and deceptive ways have won him no favor with any of you. The villain of this tournament, Xander,” God gives his introductions of the two of them, not afraid to push the narrative he wants the audience to blindly believe.
Now I’m the villain, Xander thinks to himself as he hears the many boos and watches as more rotten vegetables are thrown his way. Drakthar doesn’t react to the favorable words towards him, more annoyed than anything that useless blather is being used to color this battle as anything more than a clash between warriors.
With a single word from God, the fight begins, loud yelling erupting for the crowd as they call for Drakthar to remove Xander’s head. Xander finds that kind of extreme but doesn’t let that distract him from his plan. He starts to move backward, putting as much space in between him and Drakthar as possible.
At first, Drakthar doesn’t follow, stopping down to take a stym before walking confidently towards his friend, ready for whatever it is Xander will try to throw at him. Xander waits, biding his time as Drakthar comes closer, preparing himself to act once Drakthar is in range.
As soon as Drakthar is mere feet away from him, he stops time. Acting quickly, Xander wrenches Drakthar’s axe free of his hands, hitting him over the head with it as hard as he can, his go-to strategy to defeat people without killing them.
However, knowing this will likely not be enough to take down Drakthar, he frantically stuffs the axe inside a bag of holding and throws the much lighter bag through the doorway to the waiting room where they entered the arena from, that being the reason why he moved to this side of the arena in the first place.
As time resumes, Drakthar quickly realizes what has transpired, a mild ringing in his head and his axe missing.
“Did you think you would defeat me the same way twice? I watched all of your previous matches, I’ve been preparing for this since I lost the first time,” Drakthar declares, showing Xander that even this will not be enough to defeat him.
“No, that’s why I got rid of your axe,” Xander quickly explains, his sword raised to emphasize his newfound advantage.
Meanwhile, Lunette and Maximus just show up to the match, realizing that it has already started when they finally find some empty seats towards the top of the stands.
“No, we missed the start of it, I will be unable to create a complete picture of what has transpired in this most certainly glorious battle between friends,” Maximus laments as he begins watching.
“Yeah, where is Drakthar’s axe?” Lunette asks, not having seen the part right before Xander got rid of it.
“No clue, it was there and then one second it was gone. It has to be because of that Xander guy,” someone next to them explains, filling them in on what has happened so far.
Down in the arena, Drakthar doesn’t let the absence of his axe stop him, raising both his fists in the air, preparing to punch Xander to win if that’s what it takes. He bullrushes Xander, attempting to knock him to the ground so his sword won’t be an advantage. Xander tries to step out of the way, successfully stopping Drakthar from grabbing a hold of him but allowing him to land a hit on his chest.
Xander feels some of his skin peel away as the sharp part of Drakthar’s gauntlet tears through Xander’s shirt into his flesh. Xander stops for a second to look into Drakthar eyes, finding a wild glare of someone desperate to win no matter the cost.
Regaining his stance, Xander holds out his sword towards Drakthar, preparing himself for the next onslaught. He doesn’t have to wait long, Drakthar not hesitating to lunge at Xander once again, still attempting to get him to the ground where he would gain the advantage.
This time Xander has something prepared for him, he warps himself behind the charging Drakthar. As soon as Drakthar notices Xander is gone, he reacts, bringing both of his arms up to defend the back of his neck.
Drakthar realizes he has made a mistake as he feels the force of Xander’s blade against the back of his knee. His survival instincts betrayed him, causing him to guard his vital area despite knowing that Xander would never try to kill him.
Drakthar looks down at his leg to assess its condition, noting that Xander has not only gotten through his power armor but also inflicted a deep cut, the blood coming from it the reason his right leg now feels like it is drenched.
Drakthar almost smiles, knowing this is no feat any ordinary man could accomplish, his scrawny timid friend is gone, replaced with a mighty warrior that exceeds all of his expectations.
“Impressive, but that is the weakest point of my power armor. You wouldn’t have any luck making it through anywhere else,” Drakthar warns him.
“I know, that’s why it was the only place I could attack you. It’s not like I’m as strong as you and can cut through the thickest parts of it,” Xander admits, knowing his limitations instead of ignoring them.
“So you used one of your abilities to injure my head and steal my axe and the next to cut my knee yet I’m still standing. You’re running out of options,” Drakthar almost brags.
Even Xander has to admit it is quite impressive, any other fighter would have gone down after even one of those injuries but not Drakthar, his willpower to become the strongest the only thing allowing him to even stay standing.
“Yeah, I am running out of options. I know you can stay standing but let’s see if you can get back up,” Xander moves on to his next plan, grabbing a bell from his pouch and throwing it up into the air as high as he can.
Once it is about five meters above the ground Xander switches Drakthar with it, the bell resting on the ground as Drakthar starts to fall. The crowd gasps as Drakthar’s body collides harshly with the ground, the sound of his armor hitting the hard dirt below ringing out across the arena.
Drakthar, flat on his back starts to cough, blood escaping his mouth as he feels the pain all across his body, knowing he is surely badly bruised if not worse.
“It’s over now, that’s all I have. I don’t think you will be able to stand anymore,” Xander declares, returning his sword to his sheath as he stands over Drakthar.
“Are you sure?” Xander hears Drakthar’s voice croak, watching in fear as Drakthar’s heavily damaged body starts to move before him.
The whole crowd watches in silence as Drakthar, one slow movement at a time, returns to his feet. The arena breaks out into cheers once he’s up.
“Holy shit, even I have to admit that’s pretty hardcore. But I watched you get up, you can’t move your left arm and all of your weight is being supported on one leg. We both know this is already over,” Xander points out, sadness present in his voice as he views what he has done to someone he loves.
“Then end it,” Drakthar demands, asking for Xander to finally prove himself to him. Xander approaches Drakthar slowly, never breaking eye contact, then suddenly, he drops low, sweeping both of Drakthar’s legs out from under him with a well-placed kick. Drakthar falls back, his head hitting the ground the last straw that finally makes him rest.