Chapter 8

The vibe of the battle had changed immensely. Sikandar could no longer just fool around. The being in front of him was no joke.

A frowned Sikandar who was equally shocked was left with little time to adapt such a drastic change in battle.

Jumping around and dodging the lightening and then parrying the dagger this being usually attacked made Sikandar recall something.

This being was fighting in a familiar pattern. While thinking a small cut appeared on the back of Mathew’s body. A painful scream came out of Mathew’s while he was still observing from within his mind.

“Tch… He’s fast and would not let me think much” Sikandar calculated

This time Sikandar strategized a flashy fire ball exploding and catching attention from the being. Magic arrow launched from its blind spot and with a foot hitting hard on the ground launched few spears made of roots up towards the being.

A three way attack was dodged as if they were child’s play.

Sikandar now grimaced and brought forward a little grin. He inwardly spoke “interesting”

AS if he had seen a new milestone. As if he had found a being he had yet to surpass. Or maybe it was just the beings good luck.

Still Sikandar now brought his complete attention. He chose a new stance as if he was meditating.

Standing on one foot and another on his knees. Left hand on his waist and right hand forming a sign. A sign that looked like numerical digit one.

Sikandar brought forward his screen and took a look at all spells and boons that were available right now.

Name: Mathews Foster (Sikandar Azam)

Class: foot soldier

Level: 3

Attributes:

STR: 13 (+200), INT: 02(+200), WIS: 09(+200), DEX: 10(+200), VIT: 12 (+200)

Skills of host: Sword Mastery (lvl 4), Archery (lvl 1), Woodcutting (lvl 8), Shield Mastery (lvl 3)

Spells Known by host: None

Boon on host: Possessed by banished soul [indefinite]

Rolling his eyes as Sikandar frowned how the system was punishing him. Limiting his base stats to only 200 while his real stats were over 900. He now looked at available skills from his arsenal.

Skills of the banished soul:

Active - Spear of Andrieh (lvl 51), Magic Arrows (lvl 102), Light Blade (lvl 93), Raise Undead (lvl 29), Teleport (max), Summon Automated weapons (lvl 34), Summon Golem (lvl 9), Summon demon (lvl 48), Soul Capture (lvl 1), fast forward (lvl 58), appraisal (max), Iron Flesh (lvl 96), Microscopic vision (lvl 25), Weakness spotter (lvl 36), Healing Palm (lvl 196), Meditation (max)

Passive: Empower (max), Stealth (lvl 1), Regeneration (lvl 98), and Recovery (lvl 50)

Spells known by Soul: Lightning Storm (lvl 98), Incinerating Bolt (lvl 104), Javelin of Light (lvl 239), Fireball (lvl 201)

Boon on Soul: Blessing of the Mage, Blessing of the Lady, Blessing of the Lord [indefinite]

Sikandar frowned as this was too less. He had not touched these in his NG+6 life but still he remembered he had tons of many more spells. In defeat he could only conclude the system limited his abilities to suit the trial.

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He could only hope that he would get them back once he is finally born in NG+7.

“Are you done?” The being who just landed in front of Sikandar spoke in a confused state.

“Why didn’t you attack me when you had chance?” Sikandar asked him in an awkward tone.

The being plainly smiled as they resumed their battle. Lucas could only frown at this. How the god he worshipped was actually enjoying the battle.

But the man he called heretic had far surpassed all his expectations. Every move he would calculate, would be ruined as the foreseeing became pointless. Holding his head tight as he could no longer follow the combat. Lucas sat as he rested his back on the rock. Wondering who would be victorious. He was witnessing a battle he had never seen before.

He witnessed a battle beyond his league.

“You’re pretty good for a foot soldier” The figure said as they exchanged blows.

“Sikandar chose to remain silent” To him this was just a job. The target was to survive and pass the trial. He wouldn’t pay no attention to whatever mind games this being wanted to play with him.

“Which level of a trial is this anyway?” The being asked with a smile on his face. The sheer confidence in the eyes of this being as he said made Sikandar grimace.

Even though Sikandar wanted to hide the turmoil of emotions, he was simply read by the mysterious figure he was battling.

The changes in expression further widened the smile on the person who was calling himself a deity.

The emotions and the shock disappeared shortly. Of all things, Sikandar had experiences of six lives and as an ex monarch, he knew how to come out of such turns of events.

“Ah, so you don’t even know what the trial is for? Haha you truly are clueless aren’t you?” The figure asked.

Until now, Sikandar had a theory. The system wanted him dead and fail in trial, while he attempted to remove the banished title.

Now that he thought again, why would system even give him a chance?

What was the upper goal? He was just another soul who did wrong things, got banished and died. System could have revoked access to transcendence altogether.

“Yes, I know that look. It appears you are getting there.” The figure mocked again.

With a grimace and furrowed eye brows, Sikandar tackled the being. Exchanging blows after blows. All while calculating and thinking the real reasons.

The being also went silent and started to wonder how high this mortal being has his endurance leveled.

At this point, the strange entity had planned to tire his opponent out. With enough confidence in going toe to toe for elongated periods of time, the being never fought anyone who lasted this long.

There was chaos hidden behind the cold and calm face of this worshipped being.

Suddenly, he broke the ice that was formed between the two. Smashing his staff on his knee, he created a giant shockwave that separated the two. Being thrown far away, Sikandar stood as soon as he could only to notice, the being was floating in the air. He had positioned himself far beyond his [Light Javelin]’s reach.

Understanding the intention even Sikandar stopped.

“I give up; yes you heard it right mortal. I concede. You are too powerful to not fight seriously and I am planning to reserve some power. We can settle this some other day” The being said in an extremely calm tone yet his body posture where clearly ready to engage again.

“Okay?” the confused Sikandar responded in an asking tone.

Hearing this, the being responded “To go toe to toe with a Qeorst, you deserve to know my name human. I am called Oklarth Murik”

He disappeared into mist as he completed his sentence.

Down on his knees, Sikandar started to show signs of toll Mathew’s body had taken. Both Sikandar and Mathews were on their limit.

Even to Sikandar, he was a worthy opponent. He in a way respected the being for his wisdom and the choice of stopping their futile war and giving priority to what was important.

He respected the being by remembering his name. “Oklarth Murik, I shall remember the name” he mumbled as he entered a note in his [Soul Cellphone].