Three masters for his slavery. Where should he bow?

Sun God was the original patron god of Damian Sunblade. But if there was one religion, the followers of which had done unspeakable deeds, then it was the Sun God faith.

The Goddess of light and nature, Astraea? Or accept the enslavement of the Sea?

Neither Sun God nor Astaea had the power to protect the Sanctuary. Any help they can send would ever be enough if Sea God was after him and Sanctuary. The perfect person to bow down to in this situation would have been the Sea God himself—the most powerful and somewhat true to his code. But the man already had an army bigger than he knew what to do with; he did not need another soldier.

"Answer child, or it will be answered for you." The oily voice of the snake came again.

Damian looked at the disgusted and terrified faces of Sam and Vidalia. Landbreaker was about to step forward when Damian spoke up,

"My victory was invalid? What is a valid victory to you all then?"

"Not one where a man lets others do the battle for him, then reaps the benefits of someone else's achievements." The snake-eyed man said.

Damian looked towards the bearded Faerunian king, staying still in the air at a distance. How many times must he prove himself to the likes of people like him?

"I just need to defeat him, then?" Damian asked.

"With the Luminous brat? Hellstorm?" The man narrowed his eyes, confused.

Damian eyed the man and then raised his hand and pointed at Thaddeus Seablaze.

"Him," he said.

The pupils of the snake-sibling dilated. Then he broke into hysterical laughter.

"Not a decade-old transcedent wishes to fight a centuries-old Legendary? If no one has told you, then let me educate you, child. A beast does not gain levels in a dungeon; only the battles for survival in a pure bloodthirsty environment strengthens a beast. A pathfinder is no match for the same rank divine beast, let alone a higher rank one."

"Will it be settled once I beat him or not?" Damian asked again.

Suddenly, a deep hum made the surface of the ocean vibrate violently. It was booming, omnidirectional, ancient sound. Only one creature could have such an effect.

The Sea God had spoken.

All children of the sea god lowered their heads in submission.

"You are to fight Thaddeus without using any of your trickets. Not even that mana cube of yours that feeds you mana. If you somehow manage to win, your victory shall be true, and we will have no bad blood towards Sanctuary because of the past."

The man with snake eyes said it with as much an official tone as he could bring to his voice.

"He is a runesmith!" Landbreaker interrupted.

"He should have all that he could make in real battle!" Sam followed.

The Legendary snake raised his hand to stop them.

"The will of Depth Protector is supreme. Those are the rules. If you accept, you fight him. If you don't, you will face all of us at once."

"I accept," Damian said.

The Legendary snake nodded and left the steel cube, going back to his mid-air humanoid siblings.

"This is too risky. What's to say it isn't just a ploy to remove all your runic tools?" Landbreaker said.

"You don't have to do this. We can fight them.. Maybe with some plan, we can win like we did in the dungeon world." Sam said, his voice laden with untold emotions.

"Maybe it's a scheme or maybe it isn't. If we refuse, the war is certain. If I win, there is a chance, even if a little, that they honor their words." Damian replied.

"You are doing it again! Why won't you let us help? Do we truly hold that low a value in your eyes?" Sam lashed out in a storm of emotions.

Anger, fear, horror, disgust, guilt.. too many to register.

"It's just a fight Sam, nothing more. I can bet my life that you, too, can win it. They just wish to test me, trying to understand why I have no faith and how that makes me different. They won't stop till they are satisfied. A simple thing of momentary amusement in their eternal lives of constant boredom. Do you also think I will lose?" Damian asked back.

Sam shook his head, "You can never lose."

Damian smiled. Then, ignoring the beasts surrounding them, he started taking off his black robe. He had six sacrium bracelets on him. He removed each and handed them to Sam.

Once it was done, he summoned his soulbound spear and exhaled.

Ignoring the dark black runic circles drawn on his naked upper body Vidalia exhaled.

"You don't have to do it, you know." A familiar, enchanting voice from behind said.

Sam and Landbreaker had stepped back a little. Giving Vidalia space to approach.

"Abandon my duties as a Keeper?" Damian replied, without looking back.

He knew if he turned back, he would see in her eyes something that might give birth to.. an inconvenience.

"Just a title," She whispered. "You are not responsible for their fate."

Damian smiled, "I used to think knights and heroes were stupid. Fight for something other than oneself? Proposterous! A propaganda to give hope to the miserable. I despised the fools who believed in notions of blind loyalty and worthless pride. That was.. before I met someone.

She marched to her death even though she didn't need to. A queen of her people, even if she never wore a crown, she fulfilled every duty of being one.

What were those words? Ah.. Yes. I am the sword that protects the land of our ancestors. And that is why I can not retreat. If death is written in my fate, then so be it."

Damian did not put his robe back on. With a spear in hand and naked from the waist up, he flew towards the one empty side. Away from any nearby presence.

Seconds later, Thaddeus moved to his opposite. Still in royal attire, with a sarium trident in hand. The younger sibling was beside him as well.

"Brat, even with your trinkets, I gave you a hundred years. Without all that, you can't possibly hope to stand before me for even a full minute." The Sea Snake said with the coldness of a predator.

"A duel to the death." The younger snake informed, "It will not stop till one of you stops breathing."

"With water in my veins and the fury of the tempest in my soul, ready to clash like storm-driven waves against an unyielding shore." Thaddeus muttered the Faerunian phrase for the initiation of a duel.

"Let's just be done with it," Damian replied, ignoring the duel customs of all kingdoms.

He could tell it wasn't received very warmly by the two snakes. The younger snake moved back and finally gestured to start.

Before Damian could blink, his vision caught a blur of movement, and a trident was inches away from his head. He raised his hands, holding the spear in a hurry. The attack was blocked, but the force behind it sent him flying back. It took more effort than it should have for him to stop in mid-air.

This time, he saw Thaddeus flying towards him. Damian spun his spear into position, releasing his aura to strengthen himself. Even increased physical stats as a transcedent were not enough before the full might of an ancient legendary.

Dark flames covered his body, but a flash of blue ignited in Sea Snake as well before the trident connected with the spear.

Once again, he was sent flying. The numbness in his hands doubled, receiving this blow. Just before his feet touched the ocean, Damian forced himself to stop. But before he had a second to regain his form, a dark blue, solid aura-covered fist connected with his face. Sending him into the depths of the blue water beneath.

The water numbed his senses slightly. But he still had his eyes wide open. The hit to the face held real pain. Pain unlike he had felt in some very long time.

From the filter of water Damian saw the man turning into a beast and opening its ferocious maw wide open, coming straight for him.

He had used a waygate spell once. The mana in his after recoving was barely half.

'Should have used the mana cube before this shit.'

Mana flowed from his veins to the palm sized runic circle on his back. The dark aura fire intensified. He could release aura and could even shape it, but to make bigger, stronger, sturdier shapes—the use of aura enhanching spell was a neccessity.

Damian pushed the gravity with full force, forcing his way out of the dark water and flying to the side from the open maw. Going higher circling around the giant snake Damian gathered all the aura hanched strength he had in his body and pushed his spear in the blue scaly back of the Sea Snake.

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