Beginnings (pt.3)

What am I doing?

'Stand up, my Champion.'

Fighting within a ring, against an opponent who's taller and bigger than me by almost two folds. A foolish choice to even attempt, yet here I am inside the same ring as that behemoth.

Should I give up?

There was no sane reason for me to even be up here. There was absolutely nothing to be earned here even, meaning I don't earn money or even medical attention even if I win this.

'Go forth Hero, prove your valor and prestige. Vanquish him and gain glory to your name!'

A voice resounded within my head. A voice that, even now, I still have no idea why I even followed. Yet for some reason, I can't get rid of the feeling that if I defy the voice, my life would be in mortal peril. It was a chilling sensation running down my spine, my eyes trembling greatly and my feet grew cold like they were submerged in ice. A dreaded feeling, one that I somehow experienced before?

But anyway, I stood and wobbled slightly on my stance. My opponent laughed with his face raised.

"Hahaha! You really are pushing yourself, but that's fine by me. Come! Show me what you got."

My opponent is a large and tough-looking middle-aged man with well defined muscles that are hard as steel, trust me, I've punched them before and not even a little bruise can be seen on any of the places I punched. The scene would bring just about anyone to the brink of despair, seeing as your hits deal nothing but hurt yourself.

'Kuh…'

But even then, I wasn't one to give up. Just for some reason, I just never decide to surrender. For some odd, yet familiar reason that I do not know, I chose not to just forfeit this hopeless match and throw in the towel.

As I stood up, I could feel something boiling within my heart, no, deeper than that. Within my Soul, I could feel that my determination was fueling my resolve to fulfill the order I was given. I strengthen myself, push the pains away from my head and stabilize my breath for what's to come.

'Fight!'

I rush in, with the man also doing the same. We engage in a brawl, exchanging fists to each other's bodies and faces, yet he didn't receive much of the damage. However, something changed from before. It was because now, I was able to make a bruise on his left cheek, and blood dripped down from his nose.

"Uhm? I'm… bleeding.This is, certainly something!"

His thumb wiped away the blood drip and we engaged each other again. Right hook from him, ducked, then an attempt straight to the face by me. It misses surprisingly as he tilts his head just enough so that my punch just grazes his cheek. He was already nearing my right abdomen with his retaliation, but I just ignored it as it was too late to do anything about it. I grit my teeth as I aim my own punch to his right temple in an effort to at least trade blows.

Our punches landed, with his obviously first. But, it didn't pain me all that much and I landed my own on his temple. The force was considerable it seems as it made him almost lose balance and fall down. He swung his other arm towards my stomach but I kneed him in the face before it could successfully hit.

I press onward with this positive momentum I've gotten for myself, thinking that I've finally gotten something, an illusory light of some sort and that I'm knocked out right now, this is just dreams.

'This can't be real, but even if it isn't. I'll do my darndest to make it one!'

I press on, still thinking this to be just a dream, a bullshit dream where I'm the Hero who defies all odds and expectations. Defy my ass, I'm just a country boy who has no parents or relatives. I don't even remember where I came from. All that I have, was the village's chief, my father figure, the one who saved me, I think. That's what he told me, and I have nothing to comment on it so I just take it as a fact.

'I'm no Hero, but I won't be beaten to a pulp so easily!'

A burning, fiery desire bursted within my imagination. I power through this illusion of mine with a smile now plastered on my face, I can tell since I forced it so.

With one good square straight towards the face, I knocked out an impossible foe that I have just met, like Heroes of the tales the village's chief tells me way back when I was but a young lad.

Silence.

Nothing more, nothing less. My breath was the only thing I could hear and anything other than that was either too quiet for me to pick up or didn't sound clear enough. I collapsed to the floor on my knees and my eyes dimmed. I let out a sigh as I fell forward, consciousness faded.

.....

Farnim Gubert was the name of a nameless blonde boy who was found in an adventure. A middle-aged man who works as a Mercenary stumbles upon a young boy in one of his adventures. He took him under his sheltering care and raised him after he retired. He didn't particularly have a reason to, he could've just let him get killed back at where he found him, but he still took the responsibility of a parent figure and raised the boy.

The identity of Farnim's parent figure was the chief of Furmir. He was previously a Rumian from the Northern Kingdom, an unforgiving land where only the tough and hardened can survive and thrive. His name is Jeifam Gubert, the White Frost. Once a very active Merc, a fairly expensive blade for hire, now a retired old farmer and leader of a settlement.

Farnim was raised to be just another individual of society, obedient to orders and foolish. But, since young Jeifam always sees him off to play with sticks, specifically straightened and sometimes sharpened logs. It was then that he trained young Farnim in swordsmanship, learning that he had an incredible proficiency and some kind of familiarity to it.

Farnim was a young genius, learning the basic principles in the sword in only a matter of days, but due to Jeifam's original intention, he didn't pursue to grow Farnim's potential for swordsmanship further. It was because he feared that, one day, he might be enlisted to the Conquest, the massive project Humanity has been working on for decades. Jeifam was familiar with it, he heard stories of previous Conquests even in his own Kingdom, Rumia.

How they were slowly making progress, and even built a Great Wall with three Forts for future Conquests. The elves, Humanity's final hurdle in completely conquering the Middle Continent, were very stubborn in resigning their territory and submitting peacefully. But Jeifam gets it, nobody would want to submit to another party when they have seen just what they have done and could have done to them.

Jeifam, although could get executed if someone were ever to find out, was against the Conquest's purpose. Even though he was raised in an environment that toughens almost anyone, he was surprisingly softhearted.

He respects those who have their standards, he sympathizes with those who he doesn't even know, even animals are included, and helps those who cannot help themselves. He doesn't believe that everything should belong to Humanity, nor does he think that Humanity should be submissive to anyone. What he wanted was a version of collaborative peace. A sort of collective agreement to be peaceful to one another and advance through the generations.

But, he was just one man, and he didn't have a silver tongue to attract those of different views to his side. So, now he was just a farmer and leader of a settlement, looking out to his son figure who now has left his side to venture into the wide world. He could only look, and rest his days out until Death.

The scene where he sees off his son, the last time he'll ever be able to see Farnim again, he was curious of what got him to make such a decision. To suddenly up and leave without a reason was unfathomable. A wolf hunts because as a predator, to survive it must feast and replenish itself with meat, that's why it moves every day.

He wonders, curiosity overwhelming yet cannot quench it, must not quench it. He know he has done his part as a parent figure, Farnim isn't just a child anymore but a grown man, so he should respect whatever decision he makes, even if it's a stupid one.

...

'It was not an illusion…'

Inside a locker room within the Ring of Glory, the name for this building, sat me on a wooden bench. My wounds, bruises and pains, they all miraculously disappeared like they were a lie. Like I hadn't sustained them before. It was maddening not having an answer, but I wasn't looking for one in particular.

No, I was just staring into the air. Or more accurately, to me at least, I was staring at a screen that had words in it. Words that, upon first glance, no one would understand but I could, and perfectly even.

'What… is this?'

[You have earned your first Small Tale, The Ring's Miracle]

[Strength has been largely adjusted]

[Agility has been adjusted]

[Vitality has been slightly adjusted]

[The Ring's Miracle]

{Type: Small Tale}

[Triggering Effect: When you're in a duel against one person, Strength, Agility, Vitality is improved by 10 and the Luck Stat is unlocked for usage]

The writing was foreign, not of this world even, I think. It was a scribble of lines along with the basic numbers.

'Ni…hongo? Ja…panese?'

Some sort of formed word suddenly surfaces within my mind. It was as if I'm reliving a past that wasn't mine. Visions of a different World, of a different Me, suddenly overwhelmed my head as I tried to remember what these words were.

'Huh, this is pretty neat.'

'Holy shit, he's that powerful?'

'How… do I even beat such a monstrosity?'

'I don't have a choice, for those ruled by me, I must keep them safe. It is my duty as-'

'This feeble one answers to-'

'Oh, Elizabeth, is this… truly my chil-'

'You're all my light, and I hope it'll be so for many years to come.'

'Noo! Please, please don't! Take me! But don't take my-'

'Why… this is all, my fault.'

'I can… meet her? Truly? Y-Yes, lord Sau-'

'Is that… truly you, my sunshine? You're… really alive? Healthy even?'

'You stand in the way of my God? How dare you, heretic! Execution for your insolence!'

'For them, I will burn even my own Kingdom to the ground.'

'Hahh… I don't have much time now, do I? This life was, although tough, more fulfilling than the last. I'm glad you were with me to the end, my System.'

'Of course, Host Zep-'

"Gah…''

I snapped out of my sudden reminiscence. My head was painful with more thoughts, but those sounded more powerful than the others so I paid more attention to them in particular. My head was painful, but it wasn't anything unmanageable.

I calm my rampaging mind from further recollecting and focus my sights and thoughts on the present now.

'That representative or whatever girl said that she'll be here to talk with me. Where is she?'

In truth, I was waiting for about 10 minutes now, I think?

But my waiting wasn't much longer as the door to my right opened. The room was built pretty curved, in fact, this whole entire building is built as a round-shaped building. There's the fighting ring situated in the middle of the building which can be accessed through a metal gate in each locker room, there's one right in front of me right now. The spectator's area's on the floor above which spans the entire building's rim, and above the locker rooms as well so I could hear the many footsteps before I went to fight.

Then, there was a middle door which can be accessed in the Main Lobby. I was unclear as to where it leads to since even inside the ring, there was one spot missing, making it 29 metal gates in total, which I implied as the wall to the middle door's room.

Anyway, the girl walked up to me and spoke in a crass voice.

''Alright, we got quite a number of fees from the specs, but only this is your amount. The fee's been separated 70-30, which is yours and our establishment respectively.''

She handed me a small bag which I suspect contained coins within. Along with that, she also had my sword within a scabbard and my own pouch of coins tied to the blade. She notices my gaze apparently and puts my sword next to me on the bench.

"Welp, that's all. You can ask for the medical treatment if you're feeling somewhat uncomfortable anywhere but it'll cost ya some coins. Toddles!" She walked away and said, arm raised up and waving.

"...Hey, can I get a name?''

A beautiful female with blonde lustrous hair and faint blue-colored eyes. A wavy, curvy figure but somewhat of a rough voice. Besides all that, I could feel something good from her, and not just that I fell in love with her upon first glance.

"Celia Cross, but you'll probably forget it since I don't usually do these things much."

"Celia Cross…''

She got out of the room and left me on my own. It was, quite a peaceful minute as I just stared single-mindedly at the door that she left out of.

'Hero? Are you done being heart struck?'

"Ah? Oh, right. Yeah, I'm— wait, what?''

'You should go and find a place to stay before dusk. It won't be wise to just casually hang out in the streets in this place, right?'

''Yeah, I'm going I'm going.''

I got up from the bench, gathered my stuff, dumped the amount of coins I earned from today's fight into my own pouch, and headed out while discarding the empty one in the room.

...…..

'Oho? So this is his setting…?'

Out somewhere, a mysterious man in a dark cloak spoke while sitting on the shoulder of a green-fleshed behemoth. His eyes gleamed a white hue as his mouth formed a slight smile. It was very unpleasant to look at, creepy even with the moonlight shining to his pale face.

''So, it seems like in the end, a pawn is still a pawn.''

....

I wandered the streets of Fort Alfar for some time now and stumbled upon a quiet inn. I avoided the other crowded ones since I'm not one for opened environments. The inn I arrived at was situated inside an alleyway, quite a way down the path. I stumbled upon it through a painted message that was easy to miss unless one was looking everywhere, like I did.

Anyway, the inn's name is Sleepy Bed. Odd name but whatever. I knocked on the door out of courtesy and after three seconds, the golden rule the village chief taught me, I opened the door to the establishment.

It was quite a shabby sight inside, lit up by small candles at tables and overhead, cobwebs at the corners if you squint enough, and a sleeping receptionist.

''Hello? Are you receiving rooms?"

"Huh? What? Who's… oh, oh! H-Hello ther— oof!''

The receptionist was a rather young woman, younger than me I think so that makes her a teen. Her sleepy but still glimmering eyes and dark circles underneath tells me that she had quite a rough time and couldn't catch some quality sleep. Then, from the back I could hear the voice of a man. Rough and rude, he spoke up loudly.

"Oi! You keepin' an eye properly out there you useless runt?!''

"Yes! We have a customer!"

The two's exchange was brief. The teen ran up to me, her height only reaching the base of my neck, and spoke brightly with enthusiasm.

"What do you need, mister?''

"A place to stay the night in, how much is this place charging?"

"4 coppers and a room is yours! Meals are bread and soup, cheese bread and Yoria milk with baked cookies, each being 5, 7 and 9 coins respectively."

''I'm good with the meals, I'll take one room, please."

"Alright!"

"Oi, brat. Oh, there really is…"

Then, from the back's curtains, an old man with a beard that hasn't been kept in a while came out. In his right hand I could see a bottle of something, most likely alcohol by his actions and speech.

"What you want, stranger?"

"A room and no food needed, I'll escort him to one."

"Payment? Gotta be up front."

"I'll get it later, and besides he's staying the night so I could even-"

"Ahh, enough of your yapping. Go get him to his room quickly."

"Alright!"

She quickly took my hand out of nowhere and dragged me with her. The man got out of the way and stood to the side of the way, his head tilted down and a snicker came out of his mouth. I could already find that I won't be liking this old man much, it seems.

Passing the curtains, a small corridor with five rooms to the left side. Now, the interesting thing I could see was that there was a lock on the outside. There was no holder, so it was meant to slide over and be blocked by the frame of the doorway. I got the first room.

"Here! There's a bed, nightstand to the side and a closet for extended stays. Though to be honest, that hasn't been cleaned much since we don't usually have any of those ones that want an extended stay."

"Alright, thank you."

"Payment please, if not he's gonna scold me again."

"Here."

I grabbed my pouch which was tied to the centerpoint of the guard on my sword. I gave the amount she said, 4 coppers, and she nodded with a smile. Such a bright and cheerful girl. I also wryly smiled back and tilted my head for some reason. She left without another word and closed the door behind her. I moved to put my sword leaning to the nightstand, got on bed and as soon as the sheet and my back made contact, a slightly soft feeling was felt.

'Oh, quite unexpected.'

I was surprised by the softness, and it helped me to fall asleep faster. I hadn't slept on a bed since I was young, always on the cold floor with stolen hay as a bedding if possible.

'Ahhh… sweet sweet sleep.'

As I was about to fall completely dead log, a sound reverberated at the door I think and a voice resounded faintly from outside.

"Goddammit, bend over you little runt."

"Please, there's a customer here. I also need to sleep too, you fucking beast."

"Tch, don't act like you don't like it."

The conversation disturbed my concentration to fall asleep. Soon enough though, it quieted down back to silence again. I smiled at the newly acquired peace, and fell asleep just as soon as another, sweeter voice resounded. But, I didn't care about it anymore as I fell unconscious.

....

The Black Castle was having a bit of a problem, or at least going to have a problem. The Stage Guardian of the 3rd and 4th floors were up against each other's faces, the former having a frown while the latter had a mysterious smile on her face.

"Oh? The Rebel Beast is here? How typical."

"And you? Showing up here when you don't even have permission from Him. You're just like me, Sadist Bitch Bug."

"..."

A vein popped on the beautiful face of the mysterious white haired beauty. The smoke that exuded from the crystal dangling from the staff's tip became even more thick and were quickly covering her surroundings. The Rebel Beast didn't step back even though the smoke has a disintegrating property, able to disintegrate even Adamantium and Uranium, which in WSO's setting is a very absorbent metal able to store all damage to a ridiculous amount with just a gram.

The Rebel Beast spat out onto the floor, making the big golden man in the background wince and groan. Her eyes then brightly shone a red hue and changed to a yellow colored iris. Her muscles bulged, ready to have a confrontation at this moment. Her pair of curved greatswords were placed at the corner still, as she thought that fighting an Alchemist with weapons is cowardly.

"So, you can leave willingly, before I break this deceptive form of yours and let you make another."

"Ohoho, you must surely be jesting, Guesha. You should know that violence without authorization would attract Her, right?"

"So what? She won't be able to come here immediately. And it will just be enough time for me to pummel you to the soon to be crater underneath your feet."

"Everyone should calm down, there's still a test going on-"

"Shut up!"

Both of the women lash out at the mediator, who flinched back from their terrifying voices. He was scared senseless right now, it's just that the helmet hides it from view. He was sweating buckets, while looking at the now stabilized Beast. Her eyes were confused as she looked at the two who just suddenly interrupted her emotional outburst, and her brain couldn't process that act so she just stood there.

'Well, looks like this entire thing is ruined for me.'

He looks once again to his Boss Chamber. One body in a pool of blood, and three dazed Challengers. It was a very rare sight, only one death and not multiple, at least 18 to 23 dead bodies lying around. One could say that this was an impossibility as the only times there's no deaths are in 1v1 situations.

In groups, he's a wrecking ball that can quite literally destroy half of a 40-member team or totally decimate them if they underestimate him.

But right now, even if he has that amount of power that could challenge even High Rankers, he is no match for the two that's about to blow in front of him. Because, quite frankly, his style of combat is just merely a test, a combination of what the others after him can do. Wide area damage capable of denting the earth outside dozens of meters downward, expert combatants that can solo or take on multiple at a time, or just straight up annihilation if come unprepared.

He was the inferior, and he could never face one of the Stage Guardians in one-on-one combat and win. It was his limitation, one that he fearfully denies for all his life and tries desperately to overcome. To be better, to escape the shadows of his brothers and sisters. To be like his other half, to be like a fraction of his Father.

"So, you wanna do this shit?"

"Yeah, lets fucking go you hairy bit-"

"Enough!"

Then, the unthinkable happened, or rather, something that was bound to happen sooner or later. The Inferior Half spoke up to defend his hurt pride, and this made the Rebel Beast look over while the mysterious woman shifted one of her eyes to his side, leaving the other to still watch the latter.

"This is my floor, you two shouldn't be permitted to even come here. That is against the rule Father made. Leave, there is still a test ongoing right now."

"..."

"..."

His declaration made everything silent, and this silence was broken shortly after by a laughter that was sadistic and bone-chilling.

"Oh, look at who grew a pair. You really think being an insignificant fraction of Father makes you special or something? You think you're better than us and you're bossing us around? Wake up to reality you little shit. You think you're powerful and hot shit?"

It was the Sadist who spoke out crude words as she jumped up into the air, staff positioned overhead. The smoke that accumulated around the crystal then hardened and created a bigger rock than just a few seconds ago. She slams the rock, now the size of a boulder, down at his position.

He countered, surprisingly, with another wrecking ball. The Grand Sunset, a giant ball mace weapon that has a golden sheen and brightly shining hue similar to the sun back in Earth that spew radiating rays of death down onto the surface.

[Grand Sunset]

[Item Rank: SS]

[Item Effect:

+3,000 Physical Damage

+80% Armor Crush

-30% Attack Speed

+Passive [Glorious Sun]

+The Skill [Sunset] can be used

[Item History: A grand mace that's the sunset for those who get hit by it. Made to resemble the bright star that illuminates the stars, it can crush almost everything into oblivion with ease. Crafted by love from a secluded blacksmith within a cave, it doesn't get much attention in action from its current owner though]

[Item Durability: 94,475/95,000]

He swung it again at his aggressor but missed because of the now Agility difference. However, it wasn't much of a problem for him. He advances since he knows the capability of her Build, both its strong and weak points.

An Alchemist/Commander Build, Sorcery being her second source of damage output with the gem being her main. Her combos are transmutation processes with various effects.

"Tch, getting ahead of yourself now, aren't you?!"

She stops, jumps above a swing and grabs her gemstone. Her hand dug through the hard stone and plucked a chunk of it into her palm. She lands behind him, smashing the chunk hard into the ground and embedding it. She then swung the rest of the gemstone, now fully restored from the damage, at Saurosh.

Saurosh dodges forward and then re-engage with a spin strike. The attack naturally misses, and he even moved to the trap just how Kokio expected him to.

"Transmutation: Life!"

The ground that Saurosh stood upon suddenly sprouted two arms, holding his legs tightly and squeezing his armor a little. The gemstone that was embedded sunk into the ground and then from it, a golem emerged pulling Saurosh out of balance. Its body filled with cracks emanating purple mist. The golem's height being two heads taller than Saurosh who's considerably tall.

"Vuuurrrrrr."

The golem, with Saurosh held in both hands, swung him around the floor like a ragdoll. Its movements were surprisingly agile and fluid, not rigid and stiff like normal stone constructs should be. Like a playful child, it continues the rampage, causing massive floor destruction that will absolutely pain the ones that'll have to take care of it later on.

'Kuh… this isn't good.'

He lost grip of his Grand Sunset, lying on the floor far away from reach. So, he resorted to his Magic, since brute force isn't gonna do much especially with his other two slash weapons. First, he cast Arcane Shield, a basic Block Spell that scales with Mana.

A faint blue coating envelopes Saurosh and protects him from further damage, at least until it reaches its limits. After a few more pounding against the ground, he got another Spell up.

"Magic Amplification, Overload Mana, High Explosive!"

He uses a very destructive Spell, igniting the oxygen around him and then a faint flicker of spark suddenly appeared in front of his palm. Then, white exploded forward and envelopes the pair, then a loud booming sound knocked away all the air outward creating a vacuum pocket.

Arcane Shield broke and Saurosh sustained some damage, his armor now scuffed and tattered. But fortunately, it was enough firepower to completely destroy the golem. He rises up from the ground, assesses the situation around and, with wide eyes, sees what happened in the background.

While he was doing his thing with the golem, Kokio in the back was making her strong point. As an Alchemist, she has no offensive capability. What she does have, however, is flexibility.

What an Alchemist Build focuses on is the making of Constructs, be it from an elemental source or a scientific one. Basically a scientist of the modern era. They transform and change a compound or resource through the usage of Mana to their needs and can have practically endless possibilities to utilize.

As stated above, Constructs are the Alchemists main damage. They can create one or many quickly with relatively weak or strong Stats depending on the material it's made out of, or spend time catering to one specific Construct and improve its Stats massively.

A Construct made from one material, be it strong or weak, both has its limits that's very noticeable. A Construct made from different materials on the other hand, has its limits improved with said materials being applied in specific places.

What Kokio did was do the latter option, with another add-on being Grand Sunset as a weapon and replacing its left hand entirely.

The Construct was made out of the stone from Saurosh's Boss Chamber, Refined Gratoe, denser and tougher than Earth's regular stone by 5 times, empowered and given life by the purple gemstone evident from the similar leakage but from its mouth part, with some sort of lubricant dripping out slightly from its knee joints, elbow joints, and pelvis area. In its left hand, instead of its hand was the Grand Sunset's ball part and it was also where the most cracks could be seen.

From afar, its height is a staggering 4 meters high. Combine that with a sculpted face that has no significant features aside from the fact that purple steam blows out from its mouth, hollow eyes that glow a subtle purple dot in the middle, and no intentions being transmitted to its expressions, some wise crackheads would say that staring at it for a prolonged period of time would make their skin crawl.

Slightly slender body proportions, even sculpted abs as well for some strange reason, it was a product from an Alchemist with over 10,000 Levels.

"So, talk shit now, huh?''

"...Bitch."

"Wha?! Why you little?!"

Her eyes, which were gleaming with pride and arrogance, changed immediately to anger with a single provocation. The Construct lowers its stance quicker than one can blink and blitzed forward, its left hand weapon wind up and ready for a devastating punch.

"Sword Art: Forward Pierce!"

But, Saurosh wasn't gonna take shit and lie down. Not again. He doesn't have many destructive Spells like High Explosive to use and his Mana isn't large enough for him to spam that same Combination Spell willy nilly. At max, he can do 6 of them. But after that, he'll experience a Debuff from reaching low Mana.

'I must weaken the Construct enough so that I can detonate High Explosive using Kingslayer's blade as the catalyst.'

But, saying it is easier than doing it. Saurosh's blade pierces through the chest of the Construct, but it wasn't until some kind of electricity rushed out in retaliation. It shocked Saurosh's entire body and made his form within the armor somewhat unstable. He pulled it out fortunately and backed away to create distance.

'Shit… shit, I don't have much to combat her Construct. Refined Gratoe is hard to slash cleanly, especially with Kingslayer. I don't have much Skills in terms of increasing Penetration, so I'm at a disadvantage.'

He wasn't able to combat against Kokio's Construct effectively. He battles regardless though, as his pride was on the line and he must prove a point to Kokio. He must do something to regain his footing as not just a 'dog' in her eyes anymore.

"Fufufu~, you dumb little fuck, you think you can match my prowess? You're just a lackey, someone whose sole purpose is to be a limit test for us! You're nothing but a fucking stepping-stone for the worthy, so act like one!"

"Kuh… fucking…"

He was struck with Grand Sunset to the side. Blood spurted out from his mouth and nose as every muscle along with bone at his side turned into mush. He also flung quite a distance away, landing and rolling across the ground. It was a fatal mistake.

"Determination… kuh."

A red aura envelopes him, and his injuries recover slightly to normal. His eyes underneath the helmet were bloodshot and his hands trembled from the massive pain. Determination offsets some of it and recovered his lost health to a certain extent, so his mental load didn't go over the edge and crack him.

"So, has enough sense been blown into your body yet? Or do you want to have some more? Please say more, I would love to give you more. It'll be a pleasure even."

"..."

On the side, Guesha was watching with a neutral expression. It didn't shift even slightly from the scenery she was witnessing. A one-sided beat down, a betrayal of what she believes in. Her outward appearance right now is a far cry from her inner thoughts.

'Stand up, idiot.'

'Show me your skills, you got this.'

'Dammit, you never make that kind of mistake. What's gotten into you?'

'Get up, Saurosh. What would Father think if he saw you like this?'

'C'mon, c'mon, c'mon.'

Her eyes calm, while her thoughts raged on in anger. She was pulling back her slashes back when they spared, but even so she adjusted it so that it wouldn't be too weak for Saurosh to handle. She also knows that what Kokio said is true, False King Saurosh, a sort of mascot for this place for his incredible Mechanics to the Newbies, while a total breeze for veteran High Rankers.

Sora does improve him overtime so that he doesn't become a total pushover. He made multiple variant Builds from Mage to Warrior, now settling at the Knight Build with all of the Skills and Spells from previous alterations. But throughout all of those alterations Sora didn't change Saurosh's fundamental identity, a Skill Checker.

'Please, show me a miracle. You are Father, even if only a small fraction.'

The Stage Guardians looked up to Saurosh as an idol figure, some even take it a step further by calling him Father, like Guesha and Saurosh. It was because of the sole fact that, even if they teamed up to defeat him, they would lose in the end. They tried before, when they were young and Uriel was still present.

'A crushing defeat with no chances of victory.'

Sora Kuroka has reached the limit of becoming a World Boss himself, no, at this point reaching 12,545 in Levels should make one a World Boss. He was able to even unlock the God System, reserved to those who are revered as deities, and Sora was certainly one.

'So, you should be able to match that fraction of power, shouldn't you? C'mon.'

Her right foot began moving, thumping non-stop as she looked on at the progressing battle. Her eyes were trembling ever so slightly, as her worries continued to pester her.