His opponent raised his rapier and screamed the name of his attack.
“Lightning of the Exorcist!” A bolt of light sprang out of the tip of his rapier and rose up into the air, forming into a thundercloud about Sam. It glowed with an ominous purple color before discharging a flurry of bolts down on Sam. He screamed in pain as his skin melted beneath the assault, but he held it together until it was over. He must have looked like a mess to the audience, his skin in tatters and his body covered in blood. He was still kicking however, and the Angel of Death was about to learn what happened when you messed with someone who had two Daos.
Sam smiled at the other man, his lips burnt away, and his opponent took a single step back. Sam closed his eyes and began to visualize his Daos growing inside him. Two specks of light began to grow out of the darkness, one of roiling fire and the other of a pure white energy. They were extremely small, but they both contained infinite potential. Sam saw that both of them were tapped of energy, as a result of his usage during the fight. He still had enough in the tank to finish this however. With an eruption of sound and power, both of his fists burst into flame. One of the flames was a blinding incandescent light and the other one looked more like conventional fire. Both of them were equally deadly. His skin burned away even more under the fire, but he ignored the pain and focused on condensing the power down.
The fires were crushed under the force of his will into gauntlets of light that coated his hands from the wrist down. He seized his mace and the fire began to course down its length, setting the weapon aflame. Sam growled as his skin peeled away, but he withstood it. With a grunt, he raised his mace over his head and brought it down on the ground in front of him. A thick wave of force swept across the arena, causing the remnants of his Dao energy to dissipate. Sam swayed, but did not fall. The Angel of Death scoffed and stepped to the side, but the wave followed him.
The force of judgment combined with rage would not allow its target to escape that easily. The dextrous man danced around the attack, but for every second that he dodged it, it sped up. Sam almost fell over as his body was suffused with exhaustion, but he forced himself to stay upright. If he fell now, then the fight would be over and his opponent would have won. The crowd was deathly still as they watched and none of them even blinked, such was their desire to catch every minute of the fight. Sam slapped his face to stay awake and watched as the wave finally caught up to the Angel of Death. It crashed into him with the force of a meteor, cracking his bones and sending him across the arena and into the wall. To Sam’s surprise, the man rose again, but then fell to the ground, utterly spent. Berrigious appeared and he grabbed Sam’s hand, raising it into the air.
“WE HAVE A VICTOR!” The rest of his words were drowned out by a tumultuous storm of cheering and clapping from the stands. Sam smiled weakly as he fell backwards and into the abyss of sleep.
Sam woke up on a bed in a white room. The room was lined with other beds, each with a person on them. Sam recognized some of them, such as Reaper and the Bear of the Motherland. Next to him was the prone form of his opponent. Sam quickly turned the other way, ashamed of his brutal assault on the other man suddenly, but a crackly voice beckoned him to stay put.
“Don’t be ashamed of your victory. It was a well fought battle. You are clearly my better. I thought that my skill might be able to bridge the gap, but apparently the System does not lie. You truly deserve your position on the leaderboards.” The Angel of Death’s voice was soft and raspy, very different from how he had sounded during the fight. “I can tell that you are a man of honor. I have decided to trust you with my name. I am Eduardo, hopefully that makes my name less of a mouthful in your mind.”
The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
Sam chuckled. The other man had no idea just how true that last bit was. A lot of the fighters had used long pseudonyms, forcing Sam to either abbreviate them as he thought about them, or just say it all out loud. He weighed the other man’s words, wondering if he was being truthful with what he said. Sam eventually decided that he was.
“Thank you. My name is Sam, and I give you this in hope that you will not betray me. You seem to be a good man as well, and God knows that the world needs those right now.”
Eduardo chuckled.
“It’s a difficult thing, being a man of God in the world of the System. Every day I wake up, wondering if my faith is truly placed. If the System is a god, then are we all creations of a machine? My goal is to find out the truth behind existence and see once and for all if there is a God. The arrival of the System has been both a curse and blessing for the devout.”
Sam gave that heavy statement the silence that it deserved, thinking on it himself. He had never been an especially religious man, but he still believed that there was something greater out there, something perhaps divine. Now he was only confused. Was the System truly a god, or was there something else out there, something that actually was the creator of existence? He had read about the Creator Kings in the System guide to the Multiverse, but they were only the gods of this Multiverse, not all of reality itself. Suddenly, a burning desire blossomed in his mind to uncover the truth as well. He was an eternity away from gaining the power to find such a truth, but he resolved himself to never give up. He turned towards Eduardo again, but the man had fallen asleep. Sam smiled weakly and lay back down, letting himself rest and recuperate.
A steady drip of some red fluid pumped into his arm from an I.V bag and he could feel a strange warmth emanating from where it was inserted. He focused on that warmth to distract himself from the pain that he was in. He had overtaxed his Daos and now he was paying the price. With the last vestiges of awareness left in him, he used his Eyes of Judgement on the man sleeping next to him, smiling when he saw the pure white light that limned his form. He had placed his trust well.
Then he slept a dark dreamless sleep, punctuated by flashes of brilliant light that intruded upon his slumber. Sam awoke back in his room, fully healed from his wounds. Everything was as he had left it, the robot still in its circle and the gentle bubbling of the hot tub in the background. He stretched his muscles, testing to see if there was any residual trauma. There was none. The medicine of the Multiverse truly was miraculous. He lay back on his couch for a few moments, recovering his mental fortitude. Even though he was healed, the effects of the pain were still with him and he needed a break. Then he mustered his resolve and got up. That fight could have gone either way and he realized that he was nowhere near as strong as he thought he was. The people above him on the leaderboard would probably be able to effortlessly deal with him, and he would probably have to face them sooner rather than later. It was time to avail of the training resources that he had been given.
Firstly, he warmed up with some weightlifting. His muscles were tired from inactivity in the hospital bed and he needed to get them working properly again. His goal was to beat the fourth setting of the training robot. He had no hopes of doing so, but he knew that his opponents were at that level. The Overlord was already within the level range of the robot and he had a Dao as well. If Sam’s plan worked out and he made it to the finals, then he would likely be up against the strongest man on Earth himself. It was a daunting task, but one that he was ready to undertake.
With a deep breath, he stepped into the circle with the robot, turning on the force field with his foot. Then he pressed the fourth button. Before Sam knew what had happened, he was on his ass, with a fist planted on his neck. The robot glared down at him with its bright eyes and prepared to cave in his head with its other fist. Sam struggled futilely and then turned off the robot.
“Stop!” The training robot froze in place and then withdrew its arms, letting Sam get up. He had not been physically hurt, but his ego had been severely bruised. That robot had been so fast and strong that he had not even seen its first move come in. Sam was far behind the levels curve of Earth, but there was no way for him to level up in this environment. He would have to make up for it with his Dao.