Last Man Standing

"The winner of the Truthseeker Ranking tournament is, Peerless Dao Master!"

Hercules spoke with an unusually animated expression of amusement. Will could not help but stop when his hand was held high by the muscular Olympian. Hercules had brought himself down to human size, but he was still a behemoth of a man. The fact that his free hand was still lifting a weight bothered Will even more. It was also moving a bit faster than usual.

'Does that mean he is like a dog that wags his tail when he is happy?' Will was creeped out by the mass of flesh holding his arm and couldn't help but focus on it.

'Ew, it's like the brother has biceps on his triceps. Why would you do this to yourself.'

The crowd's reaction was delayed, but Hercules' enthusiasm and the superb martial display they had seen was enough to cause the crowd to explode.

"Ha!"

A gush of cheers gushed out like a volcanic eruption. Chants of 'Peerless!' were circulating all over the crowd. Will paused a moment because he had never experienced such a reception. He had never won anything impressive in front of others and was rarely the center of attention. He disliked crowds and thus tried to avoid such situations as much as possible, but he was starting to believe that he had made a slight mistake in judgement.

'This isn't so bad once in a while.'

In response to the crowd, Will lifted Gungnir to the sky and roared, "I! Am! Peerless!"

The crowd stood up and started to clap their hands while chanting his name.

"Peerless! Peerless! Peerless! Peerless!"

Too much mystery and too many surprises had come from Will. His unusual talents, his application of battle tactics, his weak background and feats and grabbed the attention of the crowd.

'This must be what being a wrestler is like. Am I like the space John Cena?'

Hercules wanted to speak some more but something caught his attention. He looked at Will and smiled wryly. He let go of Will's hand, and the crowd watched the arm slump to Will's side lifelessly.

This was odd, because Will's upper body was still erect while the hand holding Gungnir was still upright, as if Will was awake. The wax like Frozen Asgard Mask started to flow downward, leaving a mess.

"It seems our winner is now unconscious." Said Hercules with a smile. He approved of Will's tenacity. Will had refused to fall since he was the victor. He was not the strongest and many circumstances had gone his way, but he was still the victor of this tournament.

Despite the messy physical damage he had wrought on himself, his soul and mind were only slightly overdrafted. Compared to the damage he had caused to himself against Gianluigi, this could be considered a light injury.

Adelda and Odin looked on in satisfaction. Will had met their requirements and more.

'He managed to finish it one second early. Sigh, it looks like I have to keep my word.'

Despite the thoughts Adelda had, her face showed a slight trace of a smile. She was more than happy with the outcome of the match. The person who had insulted her benefactor had thoroughly been trashed, hence the appropriate punishment had been dealt. For the first time since she met Will, Adelda felt that his figure was somewhat dependable…

"Peerless defeated a disciple of Everlasting Willow in 59 seconds, its not a surprise that he is unconscious."

Hercules was no fool, and he had purposefully spoken those words in suc h a manner to remind the observers of a crucial fact. The fight lasted less than a minute!

…

Far away in a distant land within the immortal real, four higher beings watched the proceedings and discussed the way forward.

"Superb work All-Father, you only met the mortal for a short time, but you have already brought out so much potential, I am truly in awe of your teaching methods." Hou Yi praised in a humble tone. Odin's beak pointed upwards in a display of arrogance as he intentionally ruffled his dark black feathers, "Go ahead bald one, praise me more."

Odin's cheeky tone annoyed Jingsung Ha to no end but he had to admit, this was truly an impressive show. Not only was this battle a trial to show these deities Will's potential, but it was also a display of the All-Father's famed teaching skills.

'Maybe he should be called the All Teacher?' thought Modus as he grinned cheekily.

Odin coughed and said in an oddly serious tone, "Jokes aside, this was only possible due to Modus, set up. He laid the boy's foundations well."

This sentence made Jingsung Ha and Hou Yi cringe somewhat. Modus did not have may students, but his methods of teaching were infamously feared. Many had died or gone insane under his tutelage.

Modus believed in reconstruction of vessels. Breaking them down and reconstructing them, over and over again, until one's potential was tapped out. This type of training often resulted in negative side effects such as a loss of lifespan, memory or mental illness. Will had already experienced the lifespan loss and he had only been under Modus' care for 5 years.

Odin could only teach according to Modus' base requirements, as the latter was the one who was Will's true master. What frightened the others was that Odin could still teach using Modus' extreme methods. It was obvious that the duo were similar in how they operated.

'It's no wonder Loki and Thor are so overpowered, how can they not with a nutcase dad like Odin.'

'Anyone similar to Modus is dangerous. Peerless will end up a weirdo.'

Jingsung Ha and Hou Yi had different thoughts but their line of thinking was the same.

Modus took the opportunity to stand in front of the others and said, "Gentlemen, you have all seen what the fuss is about. This is my candidate for the Heralds, we will raise him to be a Judge, Executioner and a Priest. Three roles for a single mortal is extremely difficult. To help him share this enormous burden, we need to strengthen those around him as well. Which is why that Hou Yi has already taken steps in that direction.

No matter how good Will's display was, a talented ant was still just a talented ant. Will still had to survive the upcoming ordeals to warrant the full attention of these beings. But he had passed the first hurdle with flying colors.

Odin's ability to teach The Realms of Perspective was what truly brought Jingsung Ha and Hou Yi a pleasant surprise. Loki and Thor becoming practioners of Perspective was key in Asgard maintaining it's slight advantage over their Greek counterparts. Most had assumed the All-Father had a role in this in some way, but seeing him actually achieve the feat on a mortal was stunning. They observed every step, but still did not even see how he did it.

Hou Yi prided himself in his observational abilities, but even he was stumped. But Will was not the only person of interest to the group.

Hou Yi nodded, "Yes, I didn't get a chance to talk about this, but the mortal called Duke who works with Peerless is quite the talent. It's honestly a coincidence that he is related to Peerless."

Jingsung Ha was curious and said, "You didn't get a chance to explain how you even found the mortal."

Hou Yi laughed and went on explaining what he had experienced. Many dungeons across the system were connected to immortals and deities. Within this Olympus Branded Dungeon, Hou Yi had left an inheritance site for talented yang type archers.

Duke and many other archers had chanced on it during the wars between villages. In fact, the war was still going on as the powerhouses spoke…