Lara, with the fuel angering her strength, took flight and then plunged down towards the bound-armed Prisoner.

She kicked down, and Prisoner moved his right shoulder to avoid the hit, and she plunged her foot into the ground.

The kick was inches away from hitting him, but that simple move of a shoulder helped him to dodge the kick.

"Heh~"

Prisoner smirked.

"WHAT ARE YOU LAUGHING AT?"

Lara screamed in rage, and she moved her hands at him—it looked like she was trying to poke at him—yet, any of those pokes could easily end up killing him if they happened to land.

Prisoner used his swift footwork and weaved through the pokes with nonchalant agility as if he wasn't even trying.

"My turn!"

Prisoner lifted his left leg and just made a casual scythe kick—Lara ducked under the kick—the kick missed, but somehow, the wall behind Lara crumbled into pieces.

The wall was about twenty meters behind Lara, and was made of very durable material that mortals couldn't replicate.

It was even stronger than Korkosh Steel, and yet, it was destroyed just like that with a casual kick by Prisoner.

"Ah…"

Lara's eyes widened, and another emotion beside anger flashed across her face—it was fear—and this time around, this emotion gave a different kind of reaction.

She started turning transparent as if she was becoming invisible, and that fear kept growing until she was entirely gone.

Even though she was invisible, gods and goddesses of the feast hall could still see her. Something like that couldn't trick their godly senses.

"Invisible?"

Prisoner looked intrigued.

In that moment, his ears perked up, and he started weaving his body like a possessed demon, and other mortal champions looked confused.

"…What the hell is he doing?"

"…It kind of looks like he is trying to dodge something? A fly, perhaps?"

Meanwhile, Kiernan could also see something that others couldn't with his near-godlike physique that he had.

'Lara is currently attacking this prisoner guy, but even though she is invisible, his senses are honed enough for him to barely see her.'

Kiernan thought.

Lara was going on full attack, and she was using all her four limbs in the fight, and she used her wings to create gusts of wind to disorient him.

Yet, even with all that, Prisoner managed to effortlessly dodge all the attacks that were thrown at him.

Occasionally, he used his legs to block the strikes, and so far, it really didn't look like he needed his arms for the fight.

Death watched with half-boredom and half-nonchalance at the fight, as he thought it was pretty much a waste of time.

He knew that Prisoner could end this fight whenever he wanted, but he was trying to make the fight more interesting for himself.

"Yawn~ So boring~"

Prisoner danced around Lara's attacks, yawning.

He was even trying to make Lara even angrier so she could become stronger for the fight to be more interesting.

However.

Her anger wasn't increasing anymore, as the fear had become a much stronger emotion within her, and her anger was subsiding.

She started to realize that she wasn't close to being Prisoner's match and that she would lose.

In that moment, another emotion rose within her.

It was despair, and with that emotion, her flesh turned cold, and the air around the stage started to become freezing.

'Cold?'

Prisoner frowned.

"DIE!"

Lara shouted, and with that scream, the ground beneath her feet cracked open and molten lava spewed forth.

Prisoner danced around the lava geysers, but few lava splashes landed on his straitjacket and immediately burned right through.

It touched his skin, and most would already be screaming in pain, but it was nothing to him.

He had suffered much worse.

"Damn… I can't let you destroy my jacket, now can I?"

Prisoner said with a click of a tongue.

In that moment, he front-kicked, felt it land at Lara's chest, and she flew backwards like a speeding comet.

BANG!

She crashed into a wall, and the invisibility faded off, and when she was back in view, she was lying unconscious on the ground.

"It's been a long time since I've seen a woman, so I would've preferred to take you out on a date, but duty calls!"

Prisoner grinned.

"The match is over!"

The winged angel announced.

"…Hmph."

Death turned back to the table where Kiernan was sitting, walked over there, and sat back down on his seat.

Prisoner took out the straitjacket for a moment, tossed it to the seat beside him, and sat back down to enjoy his food.

"With that, the first round matches are concluded. Let's start with the second round right now!"

Big God announced.

They weren't going to wait any longer, as this Battle of the Champions was a continuous event that had no breaks.

…

Martial Arts World, Elf Kingdom.

"…Where is daddy?"

Ellie asked with a pout.

"He is currently with the Fair One. Your dad will be busy for a while, but he'll be back soon. Don't worry."

Lucky said with a smile.

"…You said something about this Battle of the Champions. How dangerous is that really?"

Aoi asked with a frown.

"It can be quite dangerous, I can't lie. However, Kiernan is really strong, and I think he will do just fine."

Lucky said.

"…I just think it is a rather good coincidence that you just happened to invite Kiernan to Elf Kingdom even though there was no cure for his shattered soul situation.

"I think you knew that there was no cure, but you invited him here so he could become that champion of the Elf Goddess."

Aoi said.

She sounded quite pissed off, as she felt like they were played, and because of him, Kiernan had to leave them again.

They were separated for ten years, and the last thing she wanted was for him to have to leave again.

Because of Lucky, he had to leave them once again.

"…Yes, you're right. Goddess of Elves has been trying to find a worthy champion for a long while now.

"It started to look like she wasn't going to find someone in time, but then Kiernan came back from Dead World.

"Goddess of elves herself asked for me to go fetch Kiernan for her so he could become her champion.

"So, I actually knew there was a cure. It just wasn't something that the elves had, but the Goddess did."

Lucky said.

"If something happens to him over there. I'll blame you. And I won't stop hunting you down until you are dead."

Aoi said coldly.

A chill ran down Lucky's spine, as he knew that she wasn't lying, and he awkwardly chuckled.

"H-He'll be fine…"

Aoi then grabbed Ellie's hand and walked out of the small elven hut, as she had promised to take her daughter for some sightseeing in the Elf Kingdom.

'Please be fine.'

Lucky prayed for himself.

…

The fights went on, and since it was already the second round, the matches had become much closer than before.

"There is A-Block and B-Block in the tournament bracket. You are with my champion in the same block—B-Block—so if both of you keep winning, you'll eventually meet at the finals of the B-Block."

Death said with a cold tone.

"…"

Kiernan glanced at him, and Death turned to look straight at him, and they just stared at each other without saying another word.

There was a hidden meaning behind his words.

It was obvious that Death's champion—Prisoner—was going to try his best to kill him during the fight.

"What if I'll never die? Will you just keep stalking me like a jealous ex-girlfriend or what? Why don't you already move on?"

Kiernan asked.

"Everyone will die. There is no such thing as never dying."

Death said.

"…Does that mean you will also die?"

Kiernan asked.

"…"

Death narrowed his eyes.

"Everyone will die… including Death himself… However, the universe has a way to balance itself out, and when Death dies, there will be someone else to take his place."

The Fair One said.

"That means that I only have to outlive you and hope that the second Death doesn't care about me."

Kiernan said with a smile.

"…Hah."

Death just laughed.

"I will die. Of course, I will. However, I will take the river of the reincarnation, just like you did, and I will reincarnate as New Death.

"I won't have my memories… But I will harbor this hate and make sure that even my reincarnated self will feel it!"

Death screamed.

"Wow…"

Kiernan scoffed at him and crossed his arms.

"What happens if I kill you? You can't take the river of the reincarnation then."

"Kill me? You cannot kill me. Men who are mortal cannot kill Death. Just because you managed to trick me once, don't think that works twice."

Death spat coldly.

"…We will see."

Kiernan turned his gaze back to the matches, and the intense tension between the two of them was felt by every god and goddess.

Even the Fair One felt chills.

'This mortal is crazy!'

'How does he have the balls to talk to Death like that?'

'Is he insane, brave, or just stupid?'

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