The Duel Above the Sea. Damian.

It was all wrong. Or it should have been. But it wasn't.

Damian could feel every corner of his gigantic aura body like it was his real flesh and blood. Through his big eyes, everything was red. There was unbridled rage in him. The bigger he became, the less control on his fury he had.

Damian knew he shouldn't be angry. The emotions were not his own.

If he were himself, Damian would have hesitated for a second before killing Sea Snake. But he did not. Every action he took was full of anger and driven by a bottomless thirst for violence. With Sea Snake gone, Damian moved towards the giant legendary sea creatures surrounding him. All of whom sensed the threat and launched massive attack after attack on his titanic dark aura body.

The surface of the sea surrounding the sealed dungeon had become a dangerous battlefield. The humanoid forms of legendary beasts had his friends in their hands were constantly shouting warnings.

But nothing mattered to him anymore other than sating his need to absorb the delicious mana these powerful creatures all around him had.

Only when an enormous wave of deep blue glowing water slammed into his black aura-demon body did he come to his senses. The deep blue water was burning all the dark aura it touched, as if it were made of paper.

The more aura was burned, the less clouded his mind was. Halfway through, Damian had gained control over his actions and pulled all the aura back inside him. Successfully dissolving the demon form in its entirety.

His half-naked body was still burned and bleeding in places by Sea Snake's flames and other attacks. Damian tried to land gracefully near Sam and others, but his mind was experiencing heavy withdrawals from the lack of mana in his body. He blacked out meters from the sealed dungeon platform and missed it entirely, drowning unconscious in the ocean.

**

When Damian's eyes opened again, his back was touching the dungeon platform. Sam and Vidalia were on either side. Landbreaker alone was standing, keeping a weary watch over the other Legendary beasts, which were eyeing them.

"Damian!" Sam called out.

Vidalia quickly handed him the many spatial storage rings. The mana inside him was still below 5%. So barely a few minutes had gone by since he blacked out. Damian brought out his sacrium mana cubes from the storage ring and channeled his black aura inside. The color brought back memories he wished to forget.

While absorbing liquid mana and healing his injuries, Damian turned towards the red-diluted patch of water.

"Is he.. gone?" He asked.

"Do you not remember?" Vidalia asked.

"I wasn't exactly in full control," Damian confessed. "The Sea God could have stopped me early; Thaddeus's life could have been spared."

The young sibling of the Sea Snake landed beside them, noticing Damian regain his consciousness.

"A duel to the death means to the death, boy. There is no stopping it." Even his slippery voice seemed slightly soft, feeling the loss of his sibling. Clearing his throat, he continued,

"Second Keeper of the Sanctuary, Runebreaker. This marks the end of the duel; you are victorious. No past grievances to Faerunia from Sanctuary will ever be avenged. However, the future remains uncertain. It will be up to the new king or queen. I suggest from here on you keep yourself out of the matters that do not concern you."

"Who will be the new king?" Sam asked.

"You will see when time comes," The younger snake replied.

Damian stood up. With 30% mana recovered, he did not need any more. Sparing one glance towards the monstrous sea deity resting deep beneath, he turned away.

"Then we will leave now," He said and gestured to Sam for activating the waygate.

"You have three days to decide which god you wish to submit to." The snake eyes man said behind his back.

Damian just nodded and entered the waygate with Vidalia. Sam and Landbreaker followed after.

Grace was not aware of all the things that had happened. She was lying down on a couch in a strange position, humming a song while scrolling through online shop items in the receiver window, when the blue portal appeared, and they all stepped out of it. It caught her by surprise, and she made a weird noise. Then her cheeks reddened, and she got up in a hurry.

'Looks like she has a lot of free time on her hands. I have to put her to some good use.'

Grace squinted at him as if she could read his mind. Damian's upper body was still not covered. Noticing the girl stare at the dark runic circles and chain patterns on his arms, Vidalia took off the gray robe covering her back and handed it to him.

**

A village somewhere in the empire. Steelweaver.

'Cough' 'Cough'

Steelweaver hated feeling so weak. His body was shivering in the slightest breeze. His clothes and hair still held the soaked salt water.

"What is happening?" He asked. "What have you done!? They will sense me!"

The boy before him, Damian, ignited several fire spells to provide warmth with an utmost carefree attitude. Then he pulled out some villager clothes and a pouch full of coins from the spatial storage, along with dozens of flasks that contained dark green and orange liquids, and handed them all to him.

The last thing Steelweaver remembered was reading a hidden message placed in the runic circle Damian had inscribed on his unique golem—

Silently do the spell that you invented to hide from the gods. Then keep your eyes closed and act dead until I pull you out of the sea.

Steelweaver did as he was told without question. Drowning was terrifying, but somehow, he could still breathe underwater through weird places on his body. He remained unmoving as the current pushed him away under the sea.

After some hours, Steelweaver felt a hand grab his clothes and pull him up through a blue wormhole.

Damian replied, "The poison I added to your drink was a mix of potions. A potion for breathing underwater. A potion that holds that spell of yours. And a potion to reduce your weight."

"We.. fooled a god?" Steelweaver whispered.

He could not believe that three gods could not see the simple trickery.

"We are not dead, so I guess it worked," Damian replied. "But just to be certain, roam around the mainland for a while. I will bring you to a safe place later."

"Enter civilization? How?" Steelweaver questioned.

Did Dwarves not go extinct on the mainland in the current age?

"The green potion holds your shielding spell; the orange one will transform your appearance to that of a short human. They both are extremely potent. A single sip and the effect should last for a day. Still always drink another sip every 12-15 hours, just to be safe."

Steelweaver felt his chest go heavy. Too much. The boy had done too much for him. The god was him; he should be the one doing things for his single follower. Instead, the follower was the reason he was still breathing.

The boy had so many mysteries, talents, and abilities that it was pure luck that he was the first god the boy became a follower of.

Steelweaver nodded, and the boy bid him farewell. Opening the blue wormhole once again, the boy walked inside.

The God of Metal Golems took one sip of each potion, warmed up his body, and changed his clothes. With an exhale full of determination, Steelweaver started walking towards the distant village.

**

Keeper's Office, Sanctum Building. Damian.

After taking care of all the chaos that followed behind Steelweaer's release, they finally had a moment to breathe. All seven heads of the Sanctum, the three Highswords, and Vidalia were present in the room.

"Did anyone refuse to go?" Damian asked while mindlessly staring at the runic design papers scattered on his desk.

"No," Lucian replied. "Everyone understood the weight of the situation. Their only request was for Sanctuary to look after their family."

The second ranker guards controlled by the gods were taken care of, at least that was settled.

"I should be with them!" Evrin gritted her teeth.

"No, your place is with me!" Einar replied with equal intensity.

"We are her direct descendants; you will not be harmed." Vidalia used a fact to reassure her.

It was nearly impossible to say how safe Evrin would be here. Astraea may not harm her, but others could. Entering a dungeon might have been the best choice. The secrets of fifth rankers and their real selves were precious to the gods.

But then again, who would believe them?

They could sway some people of Sanctuary, but most will refuse to believe anything wrong about their gods. Elves and Eldoris cannot be separated from their goddess. Similarly, Faerunia was out of the question. And the empire was already in a delicate balance; the Sun God faith in Dawnstar and even in the empire was the most influential of them all.

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