CHAPTER 117: CHAPTER 117: NO HOLDING BACK.

The Holy Coliseum appeared in the void between realms, forming itself from layers of ancient light and forgotten matter. The vast arena hovered in an endless black, its colossal ring of star-forged glass glowing powerfully like the first breath of an active supervolcano.

Twelve pale moons circled it in slow, solemn orbits, each one carving a perfect curve through the quiet darkness. The gods seated upon their floating crystal thrones watched the space with unreadable expressions.

Their seats were lined up against the wall of the dome covering the colossal ring.

Truth was, the holy coliseum had never been used in a long, long time since the last war. This was because before a battle would be worthy to be fought in the coliseum, the true god must have approved of it himself.

The last battle fought in the coliseum was between the angel Uriel and the prince of Persia.

Exactly. That long ago.

Calithar and Zeres occupied opposite ends of the arena floor. The ground of the coliseum was bare, devoid of anything related to the gods except cleanliness.

The coliseum was located in the middle of space with black holes dancing on either sides of it. Who cared though? They were gods.

Zeres rotated his shoulders once and the motion sent sparks scattering around him. Six mighty wings unfurled behind his back, each feather a blade of living solar fire. When he spread them fully, the temperature of the void rose sharply, and the nearest black hole cracked as if suddenly given more power.

Rivers of molten gold rippled through the cracks of his armor, the plates flowing like liquid heat.

This was a "no-holding-back" fight and the almighty god Zeres had already unleashed all six of his powerful wings.

His right hand held the Spear of Dawn, a weapon so holy it swallowed the thickest darkness.

Across the coliseum, Calithar placed his palms on his knees for a moment as if gathering his center. When he began to rise, roots of black diamond broke through the stony ground and curled tightly around his legs, then climbed up his waist, shoulders and arms.

Vibrant shades of green and brown burst from his skin, weaving into plates of dense, living armor onto his previous armor.

As if strengthening it.

Even his eyes glowed with a dark emerald radiance.

No one announced the beginning of the duel. The gods were too old for theatrics.

The duel began the instant Zeres moved sharper than the wind to take on his opponent by surprise.

He moved with speed that did not belong to this reality. His body transformed into a streaming tail of white-hot fire, streaking across the arena like a comet thrown by the hand of a giant. The Spear of Dawn swung forward with devastating precision and the fire trailing it curled into a scorching spiral.

He struck with purpose, not aiming for Calithar’s chest alone but Calithar lifted his left hand calmly. He knew this trick. It was the oldest one in the book!

The ground split open with a deafening roar. An entire landmass rose from the fissure, a living island pulled upward by Calithar’s will. Rocky ridges, cracked valleys, fossilized rivers and the half-formed stumps of cosmic world-trees erupted from the stone.

Being the earth god, he had the ultimate power to form illusions relating to earth matters.

But Zeres couldn’t be fooled. He crashed into it with the Spear of Dawn.

Light exploded outward in a violent flash. The shield continent tore apart into billions of blazing shards. Each fragment became a falling star streaking into the void.

Before the fragments even began to fall, Zeres had already closed the final distance.

He appeared in front of Calithar with the ferocity of a young star bursting open. His fist burned brighter than the Spear. The punch connected cleanly with Calithar’s jaw.

The force sent the god of Earth flying backward, hurling through the air as though he weighed nothing at all. He smashed directly on the side of the ring so hard, if it weren’t made by god himself, it would have broken into one of the black holes.

Seraphine gasped from where she sat which was on a floating throne far above the ones of the gods. She worked her nails into her palms nervously. That had always been her stress reliever.

Luckily, Aden, the true god, didn’t see her.

You better win this you ugly softie of a god.

Immediately the thought passed her mind again, Calithar slammed into the coliseum floor again, carving a deep, smoking trench that cut across half the arena.

The gathered audience scoffed in ridiculous astonishment.

"Calithar has grown quite rusty hasn’t he?" Aden asked his daughter in a voice only she could hear.

"Uh...of course, my lord." Seraphine replied absentmindedly.

Aden hummed and returned his face back to the fight.

Thick liquid jade ran down the corner of Calithar’s mouth and be licked it.

Zeres was harder than a tough nut to crack. He knew quite well it was useless going up against his worst enemy with silly tricks but he was preparing for something.

The hits he had taken so far, he had collected every burst of energy used by Zeres in hurling it.

"That is better," he said, his voice vibrating through the coliseum pillars. "You are no longer holding back. But you still move too slowly." Calithar teased.

Zeres smiles sarcastically. "The thing is..." he said, walking over to the half-bent Calithar in slow steps. "...I was never holding back with you."

Zeres charged up his spear once again, and hurled it right at Calithar.

But Calithar clapped his hands together once and before it could even hit him, the spear shattered.

It broke in two clean half like the slit rock of Brother Moses.

The sound was like the grinding of iron on another metallic surface.

The entire arena fractured down the center as the shattering of the divine object, spread outward with violent force, splitting the coliseum floor into two massive halves.

It gathered dust for a while and when it cleared, a great abyss had been formed deep in the ground.

From this yawning abyss rose a colossal creature that had been imprisoned beneath the coliseum for ages. Its scales were grey and its eyes were cavernous pits of white fire. When it opened its jaws, rows of teeth made of pure diamond glowed like distant suns.

It was the World-Serpent of the Deep Crust. Zeres’ companion beast.

The serpent lunged directly at Calithar with the weight of a collapsing world but before it could reach it, a snaky rope wrapped around its mouth. The beast thrashed about restlessly as the rope squeezed itself into its back.

Yennae the Observer descended to the middle of the abyss. "The fight is between the two of you only to make the battle fair and equal. No spirit companions shall partake in this."

Yennae whipped at the tassle and the great beast vanished like it had never even been there.

The fight continued.

In an instant, the entire coliseum was engulfed in an immense, impossible forest. Towering trees with trunks of orichalcum grew out of the fractured floor. Their branches spread wide, carrying razor-sharp emerald leaves that refracted every glimmer of light.

The forest reached in every direction of the coliseum, swallowing the coliseum with wild ferocity. The air became cold, as though the trees drank all the warmth from Zeres’ flames.

Zeres stood in the middle of it all with his rod in his hand. Calithar was good at pulling illusions as it is an earth-based power but he was going to show him that even his best ability was a joke before him.

He spread his wings fully and they expanded until they filled the void, casting harsh white brilliance in every direction. The violent light from them withered the trees and leaves but just as all was about to be gone, Calithar emerged from above and slammed Zeres deeper into the ground.

He took him then by the wings and flew sharply into the sky then flung him to the side opposite where the gods sat so that their sides were visible to each other.

Calithar unleashed the energy he had swallowed from Zeres’ insensible release of energy.

He pummeled blow after blow into his armor with the speed of light. At the final blow, the almighty armor of the sun god cracked before breaking apart all around him.

Pieces of the mighty armor landed heavily on the ground. This was because nothing could pierce the armor of a god except the power of that very god.

It was at that moment that everyone realized what Calithar had done.

Seraphine smiled happily to herself, fisting her hands in her palms.

She looked over at the hourglass. "Only a few minutes left. You can win this Calithar!" she urged quietly in her mind. Seraphine was a thousand and one percent sure her father could read her mind but who cares? He had always been neutral from the start.

Zeres tumbled to the ground like a falling star crashing down onto earth. He rose up to his full length amid the haze, his eyes shining redder than the vild mixed with it.

With both arms folded by his side and his fists tightly squeezed together, he charged himself.

Even with his armor gone, Zeres still had his original one on.

His body began to transform till his golden perosna was long gone; he was now iron. Cold, hard, steely iron.

Grey lights expanded outward in a perfect sphere that consumed everything for a hundred light years. The explosion was quiet, clean and absolute.

When everything cleared Zeres had lunged at Calithar and taken him by the collar before punching him back in slow motion.

Calithar used his two palms to bounce himself off the coliseum wall he was crashing into, shooting towards Zeres in the same speed.

The two men exchanged blows in the air and although there was no air in the entire space, the intensity of each blow on the other could vaguely be measured if felt closely.

Calithar tried to avoid as may of his ounches as possible. They were feral, unrestrained and barbaric at the very least. Before one could land on him, he drew out his sword and clashed it with Zeres’ hand.

It was a dirty move but right now... anything goes.

This man really wants to whip me huh...

Calithar breathed heavily as he watched Zeres fall down to the ground for the second time.

Zeres’ armor had melted into slag along his right shoulder but that didn’t stop him...not even a bit. That was his original armor.

"I see you’ve gotten quite acquainted with using my powers against me. What? You know yours are too weak to take me on?" he mocked as he rose back up.

Defeating any god was never easy unless you had a master plan.

Zeres wiped the corner of his mouth with slow, deliberate motion.

"Again," he said. " We still have time. If it’s dirty you want..." Zeres pulled out his sword from his forehead, slashing it sideways as it shimmered brilliantly. "I’ll give you full on dirty."

Calithar lifted his chin. His eyes glowed more fiercely than before.

"Again."

Seraphine sat rigidly on her crystal throne. She held the carved arms so tightly that thin cracks appeared along the surface. Her expression remained carefully neutral, but the tension in her posture betrayed her concern.

She understood the truth of this duel better than anyone. If Calithar doesn’t win this, he might as well be regarded as a dead man because Zeres would take no consideration of him.

How can a god hate so deeply?

She looked over at the hourglass again. There were only fifteen minutes left and neither looked like they were giving up soon.