"Are they all dead?' Ion asked, frowning.
"They are. According to the rules, they're all disqualified," the assistant answered. "What should we do? Should we distribute the money equally amongst them as we promised?" The assistant asked Ion.
"No need for that. Do one thing. Tell them since their performance was so bad and the audience is demanding more, we are giving them another chance. Send them in again but switch the missions this time. Give someone else's mission to someone else," Ion told the assistant.
"Yes sir," the assistant nodded her head as she left.
Ion got back to the footage he was seeing, which was more important to him than anything else. He wanted to know why Ryder and Itsuki were going against Julien.
"If only I could hear what they were saying, it would have been so good," he said as he smacked the table in frustration.
…
Back in Germany, Itsuki had already killed one of the two subordinates, and he was attacking the second one, who was also seemingly overwhelmed with so many attacks.
He couldn't see which one was real as attacks came from different directions, mixed won't hundreds of fake attacks. He couldn't know which one was real and which one was fake.
"Enough of your games!" The man yelled as he stomped his door on the ground, bringing an earthquake. He wanted to make Itsuki lose his balance and fall.
Unfortunately, not a single of the hundred of Itsuki's fell down.
"Childish trick." Someone whispered in his ears before a knife plunged through his throat.
"Argh!"
The man tried to speak, but no words came out as he dropped to his knees before falling face first.
All the Itsuki disappeared, leaving only one who was standing behind the man with a bloody knife in his hand.
All the Itsuki that these men saw were fake. As for the real Itsuki, he was always invisible. This was his way of not getting hit even once. All he did was toy with these two for a bit.
"This is my personal knife. Even the strength that Julien gave you can't save you. No amount of Divinity is enough to escape its attack," Julien said as he looked towards the dead bodies.
" Let alone you; even Julien would be a mortal before this knife just like I'll be before his sword. That's why we god-sons avoid fighting each other as much as possible," he further said as the knife disappeared in his hand.
He calmly walked back to the car that was blocking the road. Opening the door, he stepped inside the car before he started it and started driving it towards the place where he was supposed to meet with Ryder.
…
Ryder had already forgotten about Itsuki as he stopped delaying. He was giving it his all. In the first clash, he seemed to be victorious as he gave the first wound to Julien.
Julien flew back, creating distance from Ryder before he looked at him in surprise.
"Intriguing. That Divine Weapon? Isn't this the Scythe of Death? Where did you get it from?" Julien asked Ryder in surprise as he glanced at his shoulder. The wound that was on his shoulder wasn't healing.
"When you made the weapons of water, I thought you had no proper Divine Weapon but to see it? How did you even get it? Even I only heard about it in books. Didn't it disappear when the Lord of Death died last time? It was only after that when the Goddess of Life and Death came to power."
" How did that scythe end up with you?" Julien asked.
'It's the weapon of a god? I thought it was the weapon of Salem. And he certainly couldn't be a god. Divinity isn't heaven, I'm sure of it. Could it be that after the Lord of Death died, this weapon ended up in the world of Divinity? It was picked up by a Demon who became the first Demon King?' Ryder thought, frowning.
' Because from what I know, the Moon Scythe had been in the Demon Realm from the time of the first king.' Ryder thought, as this revelation also stunned him. He was using the weapon of God of Death?
"It seems I'll have to be careful of you now. That weapon can actually kill me," Julien said, frowning.
"I guess I should thank you for that?" Ryder said, smiling. Thank you for telling me that. Now I can go all out without worrying. That makes things simpler."
Ryder once again flew towards Julien, even more excited than before since he had a godly weapon in his hand. He didn't care about anything else now.
He didn't need to worry about their healing. He didn't need to worry about finding tricks to take away their Divinity. He could fight properly
"Fine! If it's a fight to the death, then be it," Julien said, laughing. He also started running towards Ryder.
Ryder had changed the Moon Scythe to a sword from a knife.
His sword clashed with the golden sword of Julien when Ryder again used the same trick again.
The sword changed to a knife to bypass the sword of Julien as it advanced towards his neck this time. Julien didn't seem phased this time as if he was prepared for it.
He moved his body to the side, dodging the knife before he used a spinning kick which connected perfectly.
The spinning kick of Julien landed on the ribs of Ryder, not only breaking them but also tossing him so far away.
Ryder crashed with multiple trees as he flew past them before he landed on the ground.
"Gosh, that hurts. Even after all this Defence, he hurt me so easily," Ryder cursed as he rubbed his stomach. Fortunately, it had healed by now with his nature of healing.
As Ryder stood up to attack again, he noticed that a car had stopped in the distance.
"Itsuki is here," Ryder muttered softly.
The door of the car opened as a woman stepped out.
"Now, who might you be?"Julien asked, frowning. He didn't recognize Itsuki as no one had seen his real look on earth.
"God, Julien. You always had problems recognizing auras, didn't you? You can't even recognize me when I'm this close?" Itsuki replied, laughing.
"Stop with the games and tell me straight. Who are you?" Julien asked again.
"Alright. I'll tell you," Itsuki said as a hundred more of him appeared all around him.
"Ah, Itsuki. That's you? What are you doing here? Are you with him?" Julien asked, frowning.
"It's not that I wanted to. But it seems like I need to if I want to save the future," Itsuki answered.
"What future? What do you mean?" Julian asked, frowning.
"You don't need to know," Ryder said strongly as he flew towards Julien, reigniting the fight.
Unlike before, he didn't attack straight. He changed the Moon Scythe to a spear which he tossed towards Julien.
"Stupid choice," Itsuki said as he moved to the side.
"I know, but treat it as a small sacrifice for a payback," Ryder said as he appeared near Julien, also using the same spinning kick.
Julien was so immersed in the weapon that even without the scythe, Ryder was a strong being.
Ryder's kick also connected just as perfectly, hitting the ribs of Julien, making him fly.
Julien dropped his sword though, as he flew back.
Ryder tried picking up Julien's sword, only to feel a shock running through his body. It seemed like he couldn't pick this weapon. He dropped the plans.
Standing in the back, Itsuki was frowning as he noticed something strange.
'He is the son of a god. Shouldn't he know the rules? We can't pick up the weapons of other gods as long as they are alive? He still tried to do it? Did he really not know? How could it be?' Itsuki thought, frowning.
'Or could it be that it's different in the future? I'll have to ask him later.'
Ryder wasn't sure how a single question of his had managed to bring the suspicion of Itsuki on him. Fortunately, this suspicion wasn't as bad since Itsuki also came up with a reason. All he needed was confirmation from Ryder.
Without wasting even a second as he went to his spear. He picked it up before he flew after Julien.
Julien didn't have as bad of a crash this time as he controlled his momentum. He stood up on his own two feet.
He stomped his foot on the ground as he saw Ryder advance towards them. Two formations opened up—one under sword while the other came up near Julien. While the former formation swallowed the golden sword, the latter formation brought it out.
Before Ryder could've reached Julien to take advantage of a weaponless enemy, the weapon was back in his hands.
Julien held the sword in his right hand as he rubbed the left side of his chest.
"I must say, that really hurt," Julien said.
