The fact that we had been fighting against Rose directly was shocking, but not as shocking as her suddenly siding with Kala, and the other shards looked stronger somehow.

Then Rose said something shocking.

“Cora, do you see any openings?”

“No, Whis, any weaknesses?”

“Many.”

Each one was named. Each one was independent, yet they all fought to defend Kala.

“Why? Why defend her?”

“Because I learnt something important, and she doesn’t want to hurt anyone anymore.”

“You realize she is the god of lies? She clearly tricked you.”

Rose simply shook her head.

“I saw for myself how true it was.”

She was manipulated, that was clear to all of us.

“Well, I’m sorry, Rose, but we need to stop her, so she never has the chance to hurt someone again.”

“Then I’m sorry.”

She drew the blade that Thalia made for her, that withstood even Celios’s assault several times.

“But I’m going to have to stop you from doing that.”

_

They thought I was tricked. They didn’t see what I had, so they thought I was tricked.

Even the gods couldn’t see that they were the fools.

“I guess you couldn’t be trusted after all.”

Celios snapped.

“After all, you are just a piece of the monster.”

He struck quickly, but I blocked. He was shocked.

“You are right, I am a piece, but this piece is stronger than all of you.”

Elves tried stopping Kala, but Freya and Prim guarded her. No one died, as none of us wanted more blood.

Dallel stepped forward.

“Me versus you. Like it was during the tournament. If I win, you tell us what happened to make you trust her, and if you win, then I’ll let you leave.”

I smiled sadly.

“Very well.”

Autumn made a ring.

Me and Dallel stood opposite.

Nala stood as referee, and then she started.

“Ready…. Fight.”

Me and Dallel flew at each other.

His blade went for my neck, but I blocked it with my own.

I slashed for his side, but he jumped off of my blade.

Me and him were equals in strength.

“You’ve grown… Pointy.”

“As have you… Kitten.”

We called each other by the play names we gave each other when we first met. That let us smile for a moment, back when I was just worried about getting exposed as a dragon. But now, we were enemies, fighting because of ignorance and hate.

Dallel launched at me, causing me to gain a cut on my cheek, but I struck his stomach, launching him back.

He fought faster, so I countered faster.

Our power began to escalate, his power an equal. We both launched back and recognized one another. Not as friend or foe but equals.

He struck quickly, but I blocked and returned a blow, which he caught.

Dallel battled with a ferocity that I only saw once before. Our strength coiled and we cast magic which clashed.

Suddenly, my mind rushed through all the memories I had with him, Jalad, and Royce. We were a powerhouse. Friends till the bitter end, now we were enemies.

I struck at his stomach, and he struck for my head, both our attack connected, causing both of us to spit out blood.

I had disabled my regeneration, so we could truly fight.

I stood up, and he noticed that my stomach wasn’t healing, then he seemed to smile, as though he remembered that I loved equal battles.

Then he enabled his strongest magic, and I enabled mine.

Both of our mana was running low, so whoever won this clash would win the battle. Everyone understood this.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“I suppose that like Saliad, I finally met my match.”

Dallel laughed, a pure sound I hadn’t heard in so long.

“I suppose we both have.”

Then our magic collided, and the world shook.

Purity against Nature; a god against the blessed. Both of our powers interlocked in death. We struck with such a pure power that even the other shards could barely remain standing.

Then the smoke cleared. And both of us were standing.

I smiled at my friend.

“A draw? We didn’t plan for that.”

“I suppose we didn’t.”

A tear rolled down my face, but I kept smiling.

“I hope that the next time we meet, we can still be friends.”

Both me and Dallel collapsed as Kala called us back into her body.

_

“Dallel, wake up man.”

“Darsen?”

“Yeah, now get up, half of everyone thought you were dead.”

“Is Rose…”

“Kala called them back to the body, and now we can’t track them. They aren’t even in Wrath’s castle.”

“Why would she follow her?”

“I don’t know man, but somethings odd about this. Come on.”

I got up, but I could feel pain.

“Was I not healed?”

“You were, but those wounds were full of the divine attribute.”

“Crap.”

“Eh, I think we’re all a lot more impressed that you had a draw with Rose.”

“I remember that. I wish I reached her power level in more peaceful times.”

“I think all of us do. I can still barely wrap my head around it. Why would Rose side with Kala?”

“I suppose we could ask the same question about why we are siding with Celios, especially since he told us that he was never under any control.”

“I guess.”

I entered a room that held a lot of people. The entire pantheon was having a meeting.

“Ah, Dallel is awake, sit near me.”

Celios gestured to the one empty seat in the room, so I sat, albeit a little nervously, as the entire pantheon looked at me.

“This is the elf that battled Purity?”

Nala nodded.

“He fought with such power that I would’ve assumed him one of ours if I hadn’t blessed him only a few minutes prior.”

Thalia spoke from the side of the room.

“I think we have a bigger issue that hasn’t been addressed yet.”

“What is it, dragon.”

“Each shard now has a name.”

“And?”

“Rose, or Purity, was independent because of her name. It also granted her power that would counter each shard. That means that each shard is not only independent, but probably on par with a god.”

“But she’s forsaken. Kala can’t be that strong.”

I spoke then.

“She removed herself from that system.”

The gods looked at me confused.

“What do you mean?”

“If you haven’t realized it yet, Kala made this world, meaning she also made the system that limits the gods. She entered it for fun but removed it during the battle. After doing that, she was able to counter each one of us, and I hate to say it, but Purity alone could likely beat both Ausar and Silith.”

“BLASPHOMEY!!!”

“You think you could beat both of them?!”

I nodded.

“With all due respect, yes, I could likely beat both of them at this point.”

Ausar was enraged but Silith nodded.

“As much as I hate to admit it, out of all of the fighters there, he was the only one that managed to severely hurt Kala. Dallel has surpassed us. Do you know why, Dallel?”

I nodded again.

“Yes, it’s because of something Kala actually said that I realized.”

“What?”

“You rely on your power too much, none of you have learnt how to actually fight. You all just expect your experience as gods and your followers to make you win.”

Some of the gods were getting angry. Then Celios realized something.

“He’s right.”

“What do you mean?!”

“When I battled Rose the first time, despite being far stronger, she still managed to hurt me. Then, when I battled her in the battle that awakened Kala, she fought on par to me while the shards were separate. Then when she merged, I assumed I would win as the good magic and evil magic was destroying each other, but she still, despite the immense loss of power, managed to beat me, and that was before she got enraged.”

“Okay?”

“It was because Rose had bothered learning how to fight. All of us expected our raw power to carry us through, but Rose showed in that fight that raw power will only get us so far. We need to train, both body and mind.”

The gods considered what Celios was saying.

“But who would train us?”

Celios smiled.

“How about the one warrior more skilled than our elf friend.”

I smiled.

“He’ll kill me for agreeing.”

Jalad was about to have to teach an entire pantheon combat.

_

“Rose, are you awake?”

“Kala?”

“Yes, the other shards fell back asleep because it was still too early for them to wake up.”

“Yes, but why am I still awake.”

“You are my core, remember. As long as I’m awake, you can’t go dormant.”

“That makes sense. Where are we?”

“A merchants camp. I disguised us as a human merchant.”

“What do we sell?”

“Mid-level products that I created.”

“Smart.”

“Draconic shift is so useful, only Celios was able to recognize us.”

“And that was because we relaxed and let our guard down.”

“Yep.”

“Where are we headed?”

“Selethon.”

“Really?”

“Yes, we are going to become an adventurer again, but this time, we will play weak from the beginning.”

“Smart.”

“Yeah, there are way too many adventurers for us to stand out.”

“Yep, but what if more gods go there.”

“Even better, as long as you or I keep focus on the aura blocking, then it will nearly confirm that we aren’t us.”

“Why not get an aura blocking relic?”

“That can’t fool a god’s perception.”

“I see, here I got one better.”

I ducked in and took the process of aura blocking and placed it in the sleeping shards.

“There, now we have 9 subconsciousness’s executing that task.”

“Brilliant, now we can focus our power using both of our minds.”

“Yeah.”

The carriage we were on reached Selethon and we made it to the gate.

“Name and business.”

“Amanda and I want to become an adventurer.”

“Alright, the adventurer’s guild is the building with one unique wall.”

“Why is that wall unique?”

“Because powerful beings keep launching through it.”

“I see…”

“Yep, alright. NEXT.”

We entered the city with no problems whatsoever.

We went to the guild as we already knew the way, and when we entered the guild, I walked over to the bar.

“Excuse me sir, but where could I apply?”

“Right over there, mam, but I’ll warn you now, this guild keeps getting involved in world changing events.”

“Interesting. Thank you.”

We signed up and passed the physical test. We barely passed like most people, so no one thought we stuck out.

I sat at a table and drank wine and a steak with salad. A typical meal here. I listened to the adventurers I knew.

“Did you hear? Apparently, Rose has allied with Kala.”

“I thought they were enemies?”

“Not anymore, apparently Rose took on Dallel and they had a draw.”

“A draw?! Dallel has definitely gotten way stronger.”

“I’m still trying to wrap my head around this. Why would Rose side with Kala?”

Then Mammon walked up.

“Isn’t it obvious? Kala is the god of lies. Rose loves to trust people. Kala must have tricked her somehow.”

‘Unless you made an alternative world and saved a fake friend you made, also making fake memories and modified your whole mind to make it seem real… I think you were honest.’

‘Yeah, they are really acting like you are an idiot.’

“What if they always were in kahoots?”

“No, because the whole reason Kala targeted me and Dallel was to try to get Rose to agree to help her.”

“You are right.”

“Until I’m proven otherwise, I’m sticking with this, Rose was tricked.”

‘Also, your reaction to Amy would cement it if somehow the other things didn’t.’

‘I guess.’

Jalad walked in.

“Mammon, I have good news and bad news.”

Mammon sighed,

“The bad news is always ridiculous, so start with the good news.”

“They are here for me to train them.”

“Who are ‘they’?”

“That’s the bad news. Dallel brought the entire pantheon to train their combat skills under me.”

“Goodness gracious, even siding with the enemy Rose accidents us into a world level disaster.”

Jalad sighed.

“I wish I could disagree.”

‘How often did you do that?’

‘More than I care to admit.’

‘Understood.’