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Chapter 100

As he neared the armored form of his opponent, Sam began to pump energy into his mace, it began to grow slightly warm in his hand, and Sam began to contemplate the power of Righteous Anger. If anyone would be a target for such an emotion, it would be Rodney Kane.

His face contorted into a rage filled grimace as he remembered everything that the man had done to him, and the fire in his soul blazed into life, becoming a raging inferno of white hot Dao energy. A small fraction of his new technique would be on display now. Time would tell if anyone was clever enough to recognize it for what it was.

Transitioning into an angled front flip, hoping to distract the audience from what he was about to do, Sam began to channel a mixture of elemental energy and Dao energy into his right arm. The two powers, yellow and red, mingled like sparks of fiery lightning and sank into his bones. A surge of energy entered his limb, and the mace accelerated by almost double, causing Rodney Kane to fumble with his sword, trying to get it up in time to block. He failed, too arrogant and sure of himself, and the mace struck home. There was a resounding crash, and Rodney Kane was blasted sideways by the attack.

His body hit the arena walls and a chunk of stone fell from it, prompting the nearest audience members to scramble upwards. That was just as well, as the entire row of seats for 20 feet in both directions collapsed into the sands. Rodney got up with a bellowed roar, and raced across the arena towards Sam. He was enraged now, and each breath he took sounded like it was the product of a bellows. The entire right side of his armor was cracked and pitted, and a piece was missing, allowing Sam to see a gaping wound that ran up the side of the man’s chest. A small piece of rib was visible, but as he watched, it began to heal over rapidly. The other man must have passed his Constitution threshold by now.

He stopped in front of Sam and screamed in his face, a wordless cry of rage. Sam smiled, which made the other man even more angry. Beneath the veneer, Sam was also in a roiling pit of anger, one that allowed his Dao to be used to its fullest potential. The battle was heating up, and it was time for him to match its furious pace.

The burning power of Fiery Justice filled his limbs and Sam laughed, feeling his muscles and bones gain power. Rodney Kane came in like a thunderbolt, his form a blur as the armor raced across the sands.

Sam pulled back his right hand and as the other man came in, gripped the end of the mace with the other and swung. The greatsword and mace slammed together, creating a small shockwave of displaced air around them. Both fighters strained against each other, until Sam let go of his weapon suddenly, causing Rodney to stumble. Leaving his mace on the ground, Sam jumped into the air and brought both fists down in a hammerfist attack. They were surrounded with the energy of his mana, Dao energy and elemental energy, loosely contained within a bubble of will. They did not want to coexist, but that was the whole point.

As his fists landed, the mixture exploded, slamming Rodney into the dirt and tossing Sam into the air. He grabbed his mace on the way out and landed gracefully. All that pugilism training that he had done was really paying off now. The top layer of the skin on his hands was gone, but he had suffered worse pain by now, and it was not that distracting. They started to scab over almost immediately, and he was left with two scarred appendages that looked like some horror movie prop.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

As Rodney got to his feet, tottering, a chunk of armor fell off of his helmet. There was a crack running down the piece of armor, and as Sam watched it crumbled away. The other man’s face was a tortured picture of utter wrath, and a small stream of blood ran down it. A spark of Dao energy shot out from the man and landed on the sands, invisible to almost everyone in the audience, Another one followed and then another. Sam’s eyes widened and he began to run towards Rodney, but a blast wave of red light shot out from the man, tossing him backwards. When Sam landed, he looked at Rodney. His hair was floating above his head, and both of his eyes were glowing a deep red. Sam recognized the feeling that he was getting off the man, as it was one that he had felt before. Rodney Kane had just awakened the Dao Mote of Anger.

The red energy began to sink into his body, and Sam also recognized this. He was using some variant of Fiery Rage. With a scream of incandescent anger, the man dashed towards Sam, his movements like a blur. Sam tried to dodge, but the man’s greatsword caught him full in the stomach, cutting deep into his abdomen. He was pushed off the end of the blade by the centripetal force of the move, and he crashed into the wall, now in the same situation as Rodney had been a few minutes earlier.

A strange feeling came from his legs, and Sam looked down to see a ropy stream of entrails spilling out from his body. He groaned, and the pain hit him. It was like the world’s worst stomach ache, one mingled with severe heartburn. His life force was slowly leaving him, and his sense of purpose was diminishing. His Dao energy started to dissipate, and he collapsed to the ground. Closing his eyes, Sam waited for himself to be teleported away to be healed.

Then something blossomed in the darkness of his soul. A small speck of purest white light, a monument of purpose and resolve. It pulled him in like a black hole, and as he touched it, his eyes shot open. Ignoring the pain, he got to his feet. He would not lose here. He could not lose. There was too much at stake here, and for his journey to have meaning, he would have to win. He would become the strongest person in existence, if that would be what it took to fill the dearth of meaning in his life. He would become God. A bright light shone from behind his eyes, and in front of Rodney’s eyes, he transformed. A towering presence descended to the arena, his Dao blazing to life again.

“Rodney Kane! I will not lose to the likes of you!” Sam screamed, projecting his power forwards in a cone of sound and energy. Rodney took a step back, and his face twisted in fear, his own Dao faltering. Sam was rapidly hemorrhaging blood and energy, but he had enough left for this. He took one shaky step forwards, and then another.

Step by step, he increased his speed and momentum until he was flying across the arena towards his opponent. Every trace of his remaining energy was forced into a tiny ball of condensed power, which he slammed into the head of his mace. The mace heated up, until it burned his hands, but still Sam held it. When his hands were nothing more than sticks of charred meat, he was ready. One final attack. One final attack to end this all. Rodney Kane recognized this, and Sam watched as the man poured all of his power into his next attack. His greatsword lengthened, until it was over ten feet long, and it began to hum with barely contained power.

With primal screams, the two men attacked with all of their might. Sam’s entire being was boiled down to this one attack, and he smiled as he saw Rodney falter. Taking one cataclysmic attack to his torso, Sam gritted his teeth as his mace came down. When it landed, Rodney’s body detonated around the impact zone, looking as if a meteor had struck it. He was instantly teleported away, and Sam was left in the arena, his body almost cut in half. Falling backwards, he heard a whoosh as he was sent to the hospital ward.