Sam stood, unclipping his seatbelt, and watched as a hatch opened in the bottom of the ship. With a single nod to the others, he teleported out, and onto the platform. Granthar sat on a seat of pure diamond, receiving pleas from a pair of nobles, both of whom were prostrated before him.
Sam teleported again, appearing before the king. “Granthar!” He shouted. “I have come to challenge you!”
For a moment, it appeared that time had stopped, and all of the conversations around him stopped. Even Granthar peered down at him without speaking, for once, lost for words.
“What did you say?” The man hissed.
“You heard me. Or are your ears as craven as you, refusing to even hear a challenge?” Sam replied, pointing his hammer straight at the man. He had gone past the point of no return. “Face me in the arena. I want to see the true extent of your power, as meager as it is.”
The king’s face twisted. “Why shouldn’t I simply have you killed, here and now?”
“Have me killed?” Sam said, laughing. “You and I both know that your pathetic servants are no match for me. Only you are, and I am beginning to doubt even that.”
A formless aura began to press down upon the gathered crowds, and Granthar stood, his eyes blazing with power. Within the span of a moment, he transformed from a somewhat nondescript human to a demigod. Wings of ethereal purple extended from his back, and a crown of fire formed above his head.
“You shall have your wish, Sam Atlas.” The king rose into the sky, and with a single flap of his wings, he exploded into motion, appearing above the arena. Sam followed him, trying not to register that the man’s mere movements were almost faster that he could track.
Both of them touched down on the sands of the colosseum a few seconds later, glaring at one another. Granthar moved first, pointing his finger at Sam. A beam of pure darkness sliced out, seemingly occupying all points in the space it occupied at the same time. The world seemed to slow as Sam saw death approaching. Luckily, his reflexes had already kicked in before Granthar had even fired the bolt. The D Ranker, while much more powerful than him, was understandably cocky, and not putting his full effort into the fight, if it could even be called so.
Sam teleported a few miles away, taunting the D Ranker with his withdrawal. He gathered power into himself, enhancing not his weapons, but his armor. He would no doubt be taking a hit within the next few seconds, and if he wasn’t prepared, it was over.
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A spectral suit of red and blue formed over his physical armor, his Domain coming into effect. A moment later, Granthar blasted in, moving as fast as Sam could teleport through sheer might alone. His fist hammered into Sam’s chest, too quickly to react. Sam’s mind lagged behind his body for a moment, and when he came to his senses a split second later, he was miles in the sky, a fine mist of blood surrounding him. His torso was crushed against the back of his armor, the entire thing dented in. Nearly a third of his health was gone, just from one punch.
Sam coughed up more blood, reeling from the blow. He teleported on pure instinct, just as Granthar appeared next to him, his fist hammering down. Sam could see a huge crater in the center of the arena from the previous blow. The scariest part was, Granthar’s attack had been pointed in the opposite direction.
He heard a titanic boom from above, and the sky split apart, the clouds turned into wisps of smoke as a shockwave hurtled through the heavens. Granthar clenched his fist, another boom erupting, and flew down.
“I have to admit, you are surprisingly tough for a mere Low E Ranker,” the king mused. “Still, that had to have hurt. Rest assured, that is only the beginning of the pain you are about to experience for challenging me.”
Sam couldn’t respond, the pain rippling through him at a level beyond the norm. Instead, he used Dao Juggernaut, calling upon its fullest potential to fuel his power. A new wave of strength entered him, and his wounds started to repair, his armor pushed out as his body forced it back into shape. His stats soared, and with a sonic boom, he kicked off the air itself, Granthar speeding past him a few meters away.
“I could use a spatial lock on you,” Granthar crooned, “but I won’t bother. There’s no escape for you.”
Sam ignored the man, teleporting a dozen miles away, only to find his foe standing there, already cocking back his fist. The man, other than his opening attack, seemed resolved to end the battle with his fists alone. Sam lashed out with his hammer, only to have it slammed into his head, nearly snapping his head off his shoulders. He flipped backwards, his weapon dragging him on an uneven flight path. Even though it struck him square on his face, the damage was less than before, because as an E Ranker, all that really mattered was the amount of flesh targeted, and not its location.
Granthar teleported, and savagely kicked Sam in the small of his back, shooting him up into the air. His arms and legs nearly touched behind his body, as he was fired upwards like a bloody comet. Sam let out a cry of pain, funneling the agony into his Dao. The armor surrounding his form grew brighter and brighter as its conceptual nature intensified, the strikes of a D Ranker catalyzing the ideal of Revenge like nothing else Sam had ever experienced. Sam turned to his foe, and loosed an almighty bolt of energy at the man, Rage of a World Unbound being used at its fullest capacity. A spear of mingled energy the size of a river slammed into the D Ranker, breaking on his form like a wave.
Sam watched, a slight glimmer of hope returning as the king’s flesh seared slightly, reddening around the edges. Granthar seemed surprised at this, and ran a finger along his face. “Pain? It has been so long since I have felt that. You are truly something unique, Sam Atlas, even if you are so incredibly outmatched.”
