[A/N: Slight gore warning]
Varian's arms exploded and a firm hand gripped his neck from behind. "Y-Your soul…" Immortal laughed, a supremely arrogant laugh that was rooted in his uniqueness. "Ever wondered why they call me Immortal?
I cannot be killed.
Born from the slivers of life and death, of course my soul is going to be special just like my affinity for life and death.
And the specialty…?"
Immortal tightened his grip and the power of death flooded Varian's body, causing him to twitch violently as a searing pain assaulted his senses.
Blood curling screams rang across the arena and Varian's strong aura was dwarfed by the power soaring out of Immortal.
"My soul is eternal. And as the child of the slivers, my affinity towards them is beyond anyone's imagination." "Arghhh!" Varian's vision distored as the power messed with his mind, showing him memories that he'd rather not watch.
The world in front blinked, fluctuated, split and shattered.
Immortal's smile remained steady as he poured even more power into his archenemy. "You are but a mere holder of the slivers. I am born from them. Did you really think you had a chance? Earlier, you seemed relieved that your strength closely surpassed mine.
Laughable, utterly laughable. 25%?
50%? What do those fools know? How can they estimate the strength of a being who is unique throughout all creation?
It's not 25, it's not 50. It is 90%." What unfolded later could only be described as a show of pure gore and brutality.
Varian could bear a lot of physical pain without complaint, not because he liked it but because he'd rather experience the pain than face the consequences of losing.
But the torture here exceed even his tolerance.
Due to the constant onslaught and flood of hostile powers, he wasn't allowed to use his life path to turn off his pain receptors.
The hell continued unabated.
"Arghh!" The power of death enveloped him in a deadly hug, heightening all his senses, particularly his reception toward physical pain, amplifying it beyond a million times.
In that state, just a needle prick would turn a person's mind mushy and drive him insane.
Under such cruel and extreme conditions, Immortal pulled Varian's tongue, burning it to cinders. The pain should've been terrible for a normal person but way within tolerable range for Varian. However, a million times amplification turned everything upside down.
Droplets of blood spilled out of Varian's eyes as his mouth burned and burned. "This tongue, this lowly tongue is the one that spoke against my mother!"
Immortal regenerated the burn tongue and then drove a sword straight into it. Shuaa!
The tongue was split into two and blood spilled out. Varian convulsed violently, the screams in his mouth coming out as nothing as the sword cut through his throat. "This tongue!" Immortal pulled out the tongue and sliced it into pieces.
"How is it? Do you regret it? Do you regret everything?" He asked with a blood stained face, the smile on his face was as devious as it was proud.
Varian's eyes, bright red with the blood flowing out, stared at Immortal with a defiant gaze.
"Ah, how can I forget?" Immortal shook his head and patted his forehead lightly. "These eyes!"
His fingers dug into Varian's eyesockets and pulled out the eyeballs. Then, like crushing grapes, Immortal crushed those eyes with a delighted smile.
"And it was this finger that pointed at my mother, right?" Varian, with no eyes, no tongue and in an unimaginable pain, shook his head. "Huh?" Immortal tilted his head. "Then which finger?"
Varian showed a finger. His middle finger.
"Aghh! You fucking…"
The torture turned more brutal, more gory and more painful. And there's no more anticipation in the audience regarding the duel's outcome.
They still stayed to gain a good understanding of Immortal. After all, he'd be the one leading the alliance one day.
Yami and Keman watched the duel with relish. Yami in particular chuckled whenever Varian screamed. And as time passed, she stopped chuckling and just smiled. It's extremely rare for anyone in the Mors to see their ruler smile but today, she had a big smile on her face, grinning like she had won the world.
Asherah was satisfied with Varian's ending and was happy such a wretch wouldn't be able to corrupt Aurora any longer. Almost everyone was happy with the outcome.
Almost.
'Please save him! I am the inheritor of Ares' legacy! I will reach the same stage as Keman and Yami sooner or later. I will protect Nexus with all my strength, take its glory to a great heights! I'll make you equal, no, better than them. Please, please, save him!'
Aphosis remained emotionless even as Sarah's crying, pleading voice sounded in his mind.
Since he used his domain to cover them for protection in case anyone acted rogue, no one else was able to sense Sarah using her divine power to communicate with him.
But looking at the way she lowered her head and clasped her hands together, it wouldn't be hard to guess her mental state.
'A fair duel is all I promised him. Nothing more, nothing less. If he wins, the entire alliance will bend for him. If he loses, then he'll lose everything. And he lost.' 'But you don't to have follow this game! Nexus can stand on its ow—'
'I don't have such feelings you're trying to instigate. We can run away and call ourselves an empire. What comes next? When God Emperor decides it's time, Nexus will fall just as fast as everyone.
Give up. Don't try to save him. Varian is done for. If you still swear alleigance, I'll try to take you under Nexus and keep you safe.
But if Immortal really wants you, I'll give you up. He is too important.'
Sarah's body trembled and she clenched her fists. Her sky blue eyes turned dark blue and a wave of anger rose in her chest. "Arghh!" The screams of Varian, who was now mutilated beyond measure, reached her mercilessly.
Tears were pouring out of her eyes and Sarah raised her head to look at the woman she considered a 'rival' sometimes.
'Isa, help…do something…please…'