Core’s final move wasn’t anything flashy or powerful. It wasn’t even complicated, a simple straight punch that raced toward Arad’s face at blinding speed and with a harrowing amount of physical might behind it.
Arad had trouble understanding what part of this move made it a final move, sothing to finish the fight with, especially with the musician angels going crazy above them as if Core’s punch would destroy the whole world.
But that was Arad’s biggest mistake; he had spent the whole fight predicting Core’s moves and actions based on the rhythm of the music they were dancing to, which worked, until now.
Core was about to give Arad an important lesson. Never take anything for granted; always expect the unexpected.
Core was a bard, and he had danced to the music this whole fight, all for the sake of this one final move. He didn’t follow the music’s rhythm, and that had thrown all of Arad’s defences out of order, causing him to get smacked right in the face.
As Arad flew back, leaving a straight line of blood, Core sat back in the middle of the stage and smiled. "My ti is over, and so, I shall bid you all farewell. Rember your own words, grandpa, never take anything for granted, make your own rules, and break them to subvert your opponent’s predictions."
Arad looked forward and saw that Core had already turned back into a wooden statue of thorns and vines.
"What was that?" He gasped, still recoiling from the punch, but Core couldn’t reply. Mathilde and Diana rushed to him, one checked on his wounds while the other held her spear forward, pointed at the motionless statue.
"The fight is over, I’ll heal your wounds." Mathilde started healing him as Diana stood guard. The angels who were playing music above looked at Arad and the two angels, bowed once, and disappeared into a mist of golden light.
"Was this necessary?" Arad sighed as he sat on the floor, hurting all over. He got to learn a new fighting style that worked well with his unard skill set, but it wasn’t sothing he expected to find here.
"I don’t know. But that doesn’t matter now, we’ve arrived at Sylph’s heaven." Mathilde pointed at the massive glowing golden gate on the other side of Core’s arena. "That’s the divine gate, behind it are a set of stairs that lead upward into Sylph heaven."
Arad waved his hand and let everyone else out. Cerilla looked around with wide eyes and took a step back.
Jasmine froze in place for a long mont. This was her first ti sensing such a massive amount of divine energy in one spot.
"That..." Arad pointed at Core’s statue, "That is Core Leon, the first elf. And, yes, he is alive."
"The two of them were just fighting." Mathilde pointed at Arad, "Your husband here held his own. They weren’t trying to kill each other, but I never expected him to display such power."
Jasmine looked at Mathilde, "Cerilla was supposed to fight him?"
"No, he was just in the way. All of the previous kings just gave him a bow of respect and moved on. Core never bothered to wake up for them, but when Arad showed up, he stood to throw hands." Mathilde flew past them and pointed at the gate. "We should go, we’ve arrived."
Cerilla and Jasmine stood in front of Core, gave him a gentle bow, and returned to Arad. Dalla and D did the sa; it would’ve been disrespectful to just walk past the father of their whole race without paying him any respect, and elves valued their elders the most.
After that, they headed toward the Golden Gate and disappeared, leaving Core alone, but not for long.
****
A tall man with oak skin, glowing honey eyes, a muscular build, and a thin beard on his chisled jaw appeared from the entrance.
"Boy, you’ve gone back to sleep, it seems." The man sat on the floor in front of Core’s statue and pulled a barrel of wine out of nowhere. "Here, I brought your favorite." He poured so for the statue.
The man was Chad, the human god, also known as Adam, the father of humanity and Core’s uncle, since Adam and Yggdrasil were considered siblings.
"One day, we’ll find a way to allow you to stay active for longer." Chad stood and turned around, disappearing into a rain of golden sparks.
****
Arad walked up the golden stairs and erged on the floor above, a vast land of golden trees, towering mountains, grey clouds, and everlasting divine Auroras.
"So this is the elvish heaven?" He looked back at Mathilde, and she nodded, "Yes, and no. What the elves call heaven is far ahead, where the souls of the dead rest. Only the dead can go there."
Mathilde pointed at one of the mountains, "That’s Sylph’s divine peak. Her palace is there, and it is the place we’re headed to."
"We have to walk? All over there?" Jasmine gasped. The mountain was absolutely massive, and it was far away from them that they might’ve just walked around the whole mortal world instead.
"You can walk if you want." Mathilde flapped her wings and ford another golden disk. "But it’ll be faster if I give you all a ride."
As everyone climbed up and the disk moved, Cerilla approached Arad and sat beside him. "I never thought I’d make it here in one piece."
"But we made it. There were a few things on the way..." He rembered the space shattering and the first ti he was attacked by a Rot Chick bird. "Nothing that we can’t handle."
Cerilla smiled and leaned on his side, watching as the golden land of Sylph flew by, turning into a blue as Mathilde accelerated her disk. "Nothing that you couldn’t handle. I saw rida fight one of the monsters, those aren’t things I should’ve been able to survive on my own, or with a full army."
"So kings managed to survive, and I’m sure you could’ve done the sa." Arad patted her on the back, and she giggled, "You say that, but we’ve just watched you solo the whole trip."
Arad smiled, "I’m your husband, so what did you expect? My power is yours as well. It is my job to protect you and everyone else, so Sylph would’ve been stupid if she thought I wouldn’t be coming up with you."
"What are you two talking about?" Jasmine approached them and sat on Arad’s other side.
Cerilla looked at her, "About how we wouldn’t have made it here without Arad."
"You’re right, Dendron would’ve kicked and D out ages ago. I doubt you and Dalla would’ve made it here without losing a few limbs at least." She leaned on Arad, "He is the only one who can punch Spirit Queens, Archons, and even the progenitor of the elves." She reached forward and grabbed Arad’s arm, "Look at this, it’s thicker than my thighs by a lot. Angels are supposed to be the gods’ strongest weapons, the people they send to punish whole worlds." She then turned around and called Mathilde.
"Say! Sylph asks you to purge a whole world, but Arad is protecting that world, what will you do?"
Mathilde looked back at her, "First, Sylph won’t order the purge of a world, none of the gods would do such a thing. But let’s say that was normal, and she asked to do that. I’ll be shoving my foot down her throat in the next second. For one, we angels serve the gods, but we aren’t machines. Second, I’m not fighting Arad again."
Mathilde then looked at Diana, "And what about you?"
"? You must be kidding. If Kali wanted a world destroyed, she’d just snap it out of existence. Arad is most likely to be the sole survivor, and he’ll co to Kali’s heaven to kill everyone." She sat down and looked at Arad, "Considering that mortal drakaina, Kussuth, had managed to invade hell and kill the first Tiamat and her whole divine army there, I’m pretty sure Kali might just fall to Arad if he really wanted to cause trouble."
"Kussuth?" Arad asked, and they looked at him.
"Kussuth, the current fire goddess, was a red drakaina before. And she killed the first Tiamat as a mortal, burned her to ash in hell. The current Tiamat is Kussuth’s descendant." Diana looked at Arad with a smile. "You know the funny part? She was known as a coward, pacifist, and submissive housewife before. The Chromatic dragon king at the ti wanted to kill her husband and take her as his mate, so she just went and bloodied his face to the floor. Tiamat didn’t like her rebellion against his rule, so she cursed her daughters. So the drakaina went on and killed the goddess."
"The power of a great wyrm that surpassed twilight can surpass many beings." Arad smiled, but Diana laughed. "She was just an ancient drakaina when she killed Tiamat. Who knew, the strongest dragon was just sitting around tending to her wyrmlings, cooking and playing with them until the world decided to force her hand."
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