A Battle Between Gods

Luke transformed into his shark hybrid form. Dr. Blood shot a bright green orb of **** energy in response to Luke’s transformation. It missed Luke by a hair before continuing to the sea floor to destroy a boulder.

“Fuck,” Luke thought at the destruction.

“Enough,” Dr. Blood cried.

The Lich proceeded to throw dozens of colorful spells. Luke could only dodge attacks as he tried to formulate a solution. The young life wizard was at a loss. He didn’t know any powerful offensive spells to kill an Arch-Lich turned demi-god.

Dr. Blood started to fill the battlefield in large ‘Area of Effect’ spells. Quickly thereafter, avoiding damage became impossible.

Zip!

Crack!

Boom!

Sizzle!

Shark flesh melted away as dead energy connected with Luke’s hybrid form. The insidious spells destroyed living flesh but magically maintain the feeling of pain. Fortunately, Luke’s pain tolerance was up to the task. Just as quickly as flesh was magically cut, ripped, scorched, melted, and disintegrated; Luke’s ‘Alteration’ ability kept up with healing the damage.

“Shit, shit, shit,” Luke thought swimming through gallons of his own blood.

“I don’t have anything that I can … I was just meant to stall him,” Luke said before a laser shot through his left calf, thigh, and hip.

Luke floundered as his movement was stunted.

“We should help him. He has never fought a Warlock before,” Keyleth yelled seeing the carnage.

“Don’t! We can’t survive fighting Dr. Blood, even together. You can feel it. The Lich is past level 20. His aura and spells are supercharged with ‘**** Energy’. Only Luke as the raw mana necessary to resist the Liches fear and withstand his attacks,” Samantha shouted.

“Look!” Sabrina cried in alarm.

The three Life Witches watched as Luke was gripped by an arcane rope of purple energy.

Luke was suddenly pulled to the sea floor in a ‘**** Grip’ spell.

“No more running. No more wasting my power trying to burn through your life reserves,” Dr. Blood said winded despite being undead.

“What? Had enough?” Luke said shifting back into his human form.

“Hardly,” Dr. Blood said as he began to float closer to Luke.

“I can kill you. You are new to magical dueling and pose no threat to me. But I would hate to spend the mana necessary to kill a demi-god chock full of life energy. Therefore, I propose an alternative,” Dr. Blood said stopping a few yards away from Luke.

“Alternative? … didn’t you claim you were going to enjoy killing everyone I love,” Luke said floating up off the sea floor.

“My anger has somewhat dulled since I started butchering you,” Dr. Blood said looking up to the growing cloud of Luke’s blood drifting away.

Luke didn’t reply. He was scanning his surroundings. He could see Nurse Bones and his Magical Tutors all watching from a distance.

Dr. Blood noticed Luke’s gaze and smiled.

“Sorry, your Telepathy won’t work. I saw to that,” Dr. Blood said tapping a ring on his bony hand.

“Besides, your allies won’t bother us. All they could do is waste some of our time before I killed them. You and I are higher powers now … demigods new to this world,” Dr. Bloods said before giving a chuckle.

“Consider yourself lucky. Countless ‘Soul Casters’ have tried and failed to grow past level 20. Gaining a ‘Soul Pool’ and reaching Godhood is more of an art than a science. Some of the greatest failed at the attempt,” Dr. Blood said amused.

Luke’s mind raced as his enemy monologued. But no solutions to the fight were forthcoming.

“I would have never sacrificed my army if it wasn’t because of you. You ... a newb life wizard turned demi-god pushing me to … spend my life savings (Decades of gathering ‘Soul Energy’) … on a chance of developing a ‘Soul Pool’ to face your raw power,” Dr. Blood said sadly as he scanned his dead army.

“Back to my proposal. Instead of continuing a battle of mana attrition between gods … let us have a competition. The winner gets to “enjoy” Atlantis and the other leaves,” Dr. Blood said spreading his arms out.

Luke frowned at the suggestion.

“What type of competition?” Luke asked curiously.

“Don’t you know your mythology? Gods settle their differences through the use of champions.

• One of us recommends a popular 1v1 game.
• The other can add one stipulation to the game or change one of the official rules.
• The first God picks a representative to champion their cause.
• The other picks a representative with the knowledge of the enemy champion’s identity.

“Easy, no loss of mana, and no mess. What do you say?” Dr. Blood asked happily.

“Am I able to consult with my companions?” Luke asked looking to his tutors.

“No … that would be against the spirit of a competition between two Gods,” Dr. Blood said calmly.

“How long do I get to consider your offer? And who gets to pick the game?” Luke asked concerned.

“I will give you 60 seconds to accept or deny my offer. As for the game … I will let you decide the game or be the one to choose the rule change/stipulation,” Dr. Blood said smugly.