Abandonment And Humiliation

As the two of us collided, giant shockwaves emerged. My right hand became numb, and a fist landed on my cheek.

I spat blood before backing off. Caressing my cheek in pain, I noticed several of my teeth had broken with a single impact.

My eyes widened, and my gaze fell upon Memnon.

He was smiling. Frustration built up inside me, and I had the sudden urge to unleash my full power without a plan.

But that was what he wanted, wasn't it? Wouldn't blindly following my emotions be falling into his trap?

Wasn't that why I unlocked [Void Mind]?

I didn't use it yet, since that would be considered revealing my biggest card. For now, I simply circled around him, searching for an opening or flaw to strike.

"It's a pity," said Memnon, letting out a soft chuckle. His expression was mostly calm, and a smile tugged on his lips.

That's what alarmed me. Was he that confident in being able to defeat me?

He hadn't even used any moves. Neither had I, but I wasn't the one who'd landed a blow.

It seemed Kronos's judgement was correct. He was a powerful, peak demigod. Although he hadn't advanced in two million years, his fighting power was tremendous.

I wondered if he could match up against an initial Lowest-Ranked God. No, that'd be a stretch. However, it was safe to say that Memnon was invincible in the demigod realm.

"It's a pity his majesty put you against me," continued Memnon. "Perseus and Orpheus have already become Gods… had you been fighting Aeneas, you might have had a chance at winning. You wouldn't have been subject to abandonment."

I furrowed my brows at his words.

"Abandonment. Is that the consequence of loss?"

Memnon simply smiled, refusing to respond. He then appeared before me, digging his knee in my sternum.

I pulled back but attempted to strike his obliques in the process. Unfortunately, his elbow disrupted my trajectory.

I felt a sharp sensation in my upper back, and everything went blank for a second.

My vision returned, and I was a few feet away from Memnon, gasping for breath while on my knees.

"Lightning… mana manipulation," Memnon stroked his chin, shaking his hand violently as he attempted to dispel my mana.

It seemed I'd used lightning magic unconsciously.

His hand wrist was bound by a circlet of lightning, while his fingers had sparks emerging from them.

"It's too early for you to unlock divinity abilities," said Memnon. "Is that why you've resorted to mana?"

"One of the reasons," I responded cockily. "It seems you aren't strong enough to resist my mana."

"Oh, this?" Memnon asked, displaying the circlet of lightning on his wrist. "I was simply inspecting it."

Suddenly, the circlet disintegrated. My eyes widened, and I wondered how he'd dispelled my mana so easily.

"Did you really think you got me?" Memnon asked incredulously. "It was barely a rookie level spell."

I didn't respond. I gritted my teeth and appeared before him in an instant. However, it felt like shackles appeared on my wrist.

My movements became slower, and my body didn't move to my will. I stood before Memnon, struggling.

He extended his arm before stroking my chin.

"Child," he said. "You are six million years too early to try to fight me. You have only arrived at the Divine Realm six months ago."

A realization struck me. Would I truly have to train for millions of years? Wouldn't I forget everything?

Also, a demigod was half human… wouldn't they perish in millions of years?

Suppressing the thought in the back of my mind, I attempted to escape his shackles. But it wasn't so easy.

I coated my entire body in mana and ignited it using the attribute of lightning. However, the shackles didn't budge.

"Why don't you give up?" asked Memnon. His expressions was darker than when the battle first began. "Abandonment isn't as bad as humiliation, is it?"

Abandonment. The word held a special place in my mind.

Mother… she had abandoned us. My dad and I… we searched for any trace of her for years, but to no avail.

Now that I was fifteen, I thought I'd forgotten about her.

Unfortunately, Memnon had other plans in mind. It wasn't direct, and he was probably unbeknownst to it… but he was truly a dick.

A flurry of emotions rose up.

Abandoned… my dad and I were abandoned by my mom. But then I found out my mom was Chaos. Then who was my real mom?

But if my real mom was the one on Earth, how did receive these divinities?

Humiliation, another word Memnon had said. Humiliation wasn't that bad… it didn't affect a person in the slightest.

In the Divine Realm, if one was powerful, could they be humiliated in the first place?

"You don't know what abandonment is," I said, channeling a tremendous amount of mana across my body. "Humiliation is nothing compared to abandonment."

Suddenly, several spears of lightning formed in the air, and my eyes turned emotionless.

Memnon flinched, and one of the spears immediately broke my shackles. I retreated, while my spears shot at the demigod continuously.

I had activated [Void Mind].

It was time for the tables to turn.

I heard the faint noises of Prometheus's claps, and my mind went blank.

My mind was clear. It was empty. It was cold and hot at the same time. No, it was neither. It was the perfect temperature.

It was light and darkness combined.

I shot towards Memnon, who was struggling maintaining his ground against my spears. My fist struck his nose, and he went flying back.

I suddenly appeared behind him before digging my knee in the back of his neck. A pained groan escaped his lips.

At that moment, my lightning spears struck his arms, pinning him to the ground.

Sadly, my spears disappeared after pinning them to the ground, leaving him free to move around.

He retreated immediately. I chuckled, noticing the blood on his nose and the unusual shape of his neck.

His arms had holes, symbolizing my lightning spears.

Blood trickled from his forearms and onto the ground, staining it forever in a demigod's blood.

Memnon's breath was ragged. It was funny to see how much could change in a few seconds. I now possessed the advantage in the battle.

It was only a matter of minutes before the battle ended.

"Do you surrender?" I asked, tilting my head innocently. I was gloating.

Anger practically exuded from his body, spilling onto the ground. He gritted his teeth. He'd long abandoned his sword to engage with me in a fair battle.

However, he now extended his arm, and a silver sword appeared in his hand.

"Cheating?" I inquired, raising an eyebrow.

"No. This was part of the battle from the beginning. I was simply going easy on you."

Listening to his third-rate villain comments, I couldn't help but let out a chuckle. Oh, how quickly things could change.

From dying to suddenly appearing in the Divine Realm.

From almost dying to watching Prometheus battle Astaroth.

From losing to turning the tables in a few seconds using my trump card.

It was ironic.

Although I was calm externally, I was shitting my pants on the inside. Memnon was plenty powerful without his sword.

Using his sword, couldn't he slash me to bits? I would be minced meat by the end of this.

I summoned several more spears of lightning, suspending them in the air above me. Then, I augmented my body in mana.

Memnon shot towards me. Light emerged from his sword, and he swung it in a grandiose motion, encasing the area in blinding light.

I felt my clothes ripping. It was like thousands of needles were piercing my body, drawing blood and threatening to pierce my organs.

It was scary.

However, I endured through sheer willpower and the use of [Void Mind].

Once the light began to diminish, I charged at Memnon. However, before I could close the gap, he swung his sword vertically.

It was like divine retribution.

A fault line appeared beneath my feet, and I augmented my feet to jump out of the way. The line continued for over a kilometer.

My eyes were wide. How could such a display of power be possible?

However, I had no time to admire my enemy's power. I shot several spears of lightning towards Memnon, and formed a tangible sword of lightning to wield.

Swords gave extra range. Although I was a rookie, I could still wave it around, since it was formed using my mana.

Blood trickled down my body endlessly, eating away at my sanity and energy. I knew I would soon faint.

However, I kept running, uncaring of the consequences.

I had to win.

My vision blurred, and it felt like the world was spinning. Memnon was gasping for air in front of me. Both of us were drained.

My vision began becoming dark. The last thing I saw was…

My sword pierced Memnon's chest.