Chapter 35: Diablos! God of Dragons
"I do not know how to answer such a question," Renia held on to Sol's arm and stared at him again. "However, do not be under the impression that this means I am fleeing your presence, I simply do not wish to..." She paused when she realised that Sol was merely provoking her into acting out of character, and he had succeeded in doing so.
"Mister Vestic, please release me this instant," She calmly spoke, and Sol smiled and let go of her hand. "You are an odd human,"
"Sara," Sol turned to the maid, and immediately she woke up and stood with a small bow. "Do you mind tending to Renia for a while?" He asked, and she looked at the red haired woman with a raised brow.
"Someone had the impudence to name their child after the goddess of chaos?" She asked, and Renia smiled after being assured that her name still held the respect it did a hundred years ago.
"Sara," Sol called to her again.
"I will serve her to the best of my capabilities, Sir," Sara smiled at Sol, and then at Ikaris as he took the goddess by the hand and started walking. "If you would please take my hand, milady," Sara approached Renia cautiously and extended her hand gently.
"I want to go with Sol," Renia looked pass her shoulder, but the maid shook her head in dismissal.
"I do not know where he goes, but it should be his usual act of disappearance, he will return within an hour or so," Sara extended her hand a bit more. "Please take my hand, I will escort you to the capital where it is safe until he calls for me again, this is simply a measure to protect you," She smiled.
"Hm," Renia conceded; she already knew that Sol was going to accept a challenge, what she was unaware of was who that challenger would be.
Had she thought of it she would have probably approached him after the fight, because now she was being forced to play the part of a damsel when she was an all-powerful god. "Very well, lead me to safety," She took Sara's hand, and a fraction of a second later the Goddess was standing in Sol's room.
"A bed," Renia stared at the bed and smiled.
"May I?" She asked.
Sara gestured to the bed with a smile and watched as this woman of clear nobility gently ran her fingers across the sheets, sat with a sigh and then fell backwards and spread her arms. "It has been Eons."
"Milady," Sara called to her. "Is there anything you require of me?" She asked, and Renia barely raised her head and then fell back again.
"I will be resting my eyes for a moment, please do not allow my body to be disturbed." She answered sleepily, and although Sara found the "my body" bit a tad suspicious, she still nodded without a protest and went to the other side and picked up an unfinished book.
"I swear it," Sara answered, but smiled when she realised that this strange woman was already fast asleep.
[The goddess of chaos is watching you intently]
Sol saw the message and scoffed.
"Be more careful this time Master, the one you will face is stronger than Psiko," Ikaris warned Sol, and he nodded and caressed her cheek with a smile as her eyes slowly closed. "My beautiful Sun," She whispered before falling unconscious.
[True Goddess Ikaris smiles warmly at you]
"Alright then." Sol closed his eyes and summoned a large broadsword as tall as his shoulders and opened his eyes anew, utilizing [divinity] to stare at the system window in front of him.
[Diablos, the god of dragons has issued a challenge, all other challenges have been rejected, will you accept or reject the challenge?]
"Diablos hm?" Sol closed his eyes with a smirk.
[Accept]
The system window let off a low humming sound.
[Challenge has been accepted!]
[The stage has been set!]
Sol looked at the ground while a teleportation circle appeared beneath his feet, and a moment later he vanished in a flash of light, leaving Ikaris's unconscious self in her tent alone.
"Well now," Sol whistled as soon as he opened his eyes again, unlike the first cave, this time he was transported into a great canyon with cliffs on both side as tall as mountains that overshadowed a three-mile wide crack, from his understanding, this was supposed to be on the other side of Arkadia, far West and close to deserts and oceans, there were a few grass patches and even fewer trees, but the radiant yellow light from one of the three great moons lit it perfectly.
[Tarnished]
He heard the voice of his challenger from behind, and turned slowly with a grin.
Sol was expecting a massive creature, after all, it was supposed to be the god of dragons, but despite the booming voice that addressed him, he was disappointed to find a humanoid just barely taller than himself.
"Oh." He leaned his head with a frown. "Your presence is a bit disappointing." He admitted with a sigh, but while he spoke Diablos continued to slowly approach him.
[Your opponent is stronger than you are, all debuffs have been nullified, you are in imminent danger]
The system warned him, but Sol couldn't remove the grin from his face, back on Ikaris's world, by the time he had finished fighting the demon god, he was only barely tired because he had received a massive boost of power halfway through the fight, in the end the demon god simply couldn't keep up with his growth, but there was something he loved about fighting stronger opponents that he himself chased did not understand.
[I will make this a merciless death, for disrespecting the gods, and killing my friend, you will suffer!] Diablos stepped into the light of the moon.
His eyes burned like coal, and he had long spiky hair that grew like quills from a porcupine stopping at his mid back, he had no wings, but instead a large crocodilian tail that dragged on the ground behind him.
He had no portion of exposed skin, instead it was all a brilliant red armour of scales that glistened with magic, and his face was slightly elongated leaving room for sharp teeth and a protruding nose with a nasty-looking underbite, two horns boldly stuck out from his forehead growing forward and curving upwards, but with all the magnificence of his appearance he was at most a twelve-foot tall being.
"Don't you just look like a lizard man?" Sol leaned his head with a smile as he too began walking toward Diablos, but he was not rewarded with a reaction for his taunt, instead they both stopped directly before each other.
Diablos looking down at Sol, and Sol starring back up at him in defiance.
[The pantheon is in silence]
[The goddess of war is on the edge of her seat]
[True Goddess Ikaris is staring in anticipation]
"Then," Sol broke the face-off with a lazy swing of his sword, calculating his next set of moves carefully, but Diablos shocked him when he caught the blade instead of dodging or parrying it away.
[I will utterly crush that damnable pride of yours, and send you into the arms of death] Diablos raised his other hand and swung at Sol.
"So, this is a fight to the death then?" Sol grinned reaching out and catching the god's hand as a grin slowly crept across his face again. "That changes everything, doesn't it!?" His smile continued growing when he realised he was being overpowered by Diablos already.
[It was always my intention to remove you from the land of the living!]
The dragon's surprisingly flexible tail wrapped around Sol's leg and dragged him to the ground where he was suddenly subjected to a barrage of fast punches that he barely managed to block while trying to right himself, it felt like he was being hit with a thousand tonne boulder with every punch, his vision blurred several times, and the ground beneath him had already exploded outward a few times sending cracks all across the canyon and hardening the soil like stone because of the amount of pressure that he was tanking per hit.
[A lesser being should know its place, I dare you to try and show off your power before me, you insect!] Diablos laughed as he continued to speed up his punches until the mountains around them began having tremors and avalanches all over the place.
"I accept that challenge, geko!" Sol dodged the last punch, arching his body around Diablos's four-fingered hand and thrusting both of his feet into the dragon's jaw, snapping his mouth shut and sending his head upward in a snap.
Diablos was caught off guard by Sol's sudden increase in strength, but he still grabbed Sol by one of his legs and spun with him, smashing him into the ground like a ragdoll.
"I figured a sword was a waste of time against you, you're nothing but raw power!" Sol grinned, spinning out of Diablos's grasp and kicking him in his chest to separate the two of them. "Were just getting started!" Sol landed on his feet while Diablos staggered backward and righted himself with a loud growl that caused the land beneath them to rumble.
[The pantheon cheers]
[The goddess of war nods in agreement at your analysis]
[The god of goats cowers in a corner but watches intently]
[The god of bets is biting his nails]
"Interesting, Sol," Renia mumbled in her sleep causing Sara to look up from her book with aconfused smile, who exactly was this woman supposed to be?
"Master is having fun again," Ikaris chuckled in her sleep while her goddess avatar watched the fight unfold.
[Interesting] Diablos wiped his chin as he observed Sol, even though he had punched him with enough power to easily kill any creature on Arkadia, Sol was unscathed, and he had tanked hundreds of those hits, the only thing that showed he was pinned on the ground at all was the dirt he was brushing off his arms.
"Get ready you ugly reptile bastard," Sol laughed, then cancelled his black armour and bumped his fists together, causing his shirt to get shredded as his skin glistened with a thin coat of magic.
[Activated magic mimicry]
In truth, this was an interesting fight for him, Ikaris's homeworld had no dragons, and the lizardmen there were wiped out long before he arrived, even if he was trying to play it off he was utterly fascinated by a creature that he had never seen before. "We're taking this up a notch!"