The Achievement Junkie

"What did you do?"

Annoyed that he was pushed back, Jin sighed, "What do you think? Isn't it obvious?"

"You broke through my defenses… No…" Grixor examined his claws but failed to find a single scratch. "You phased through my defenses…"

"I've never faced a more sturdy physique," Jin commented. "Even your bones are so hard. Have you ever been injured before?"

"Never, at least, never anything worth noting. But you may change that… Now I'm riled up! You can make me feel alive!"

Wasting no time, Grixor charged again. Even more energy coated his claws as Grixor wanted to know how much it would take to defend against Jin's unique abilities.

In their next clash, Jin used six arms for each counterstrike. He followed the same tactic as before though, using one of the six katanas to attack and not defend. Jin was successful in attacking but only enough to break through the abundance of earth energy and cut the plate armor of Grixor's scales.

As the clash ended, Grixor chuckled, "Again! Make me feel again!"

Grixor pummeled into Jin, still forcing the samurai back a few steps with each exchange while he only took cuts on his knuckles and the backs of his hands. But that was more than anything that Grixor had felt in a long time, more than enough to reawaken his passion for battle.

"Come on! Show me more!" insisted Grixor.

"Very well…" Understanding how badly he was outmatched, Jin inhaled to calm his mind. He didn't allow his thoughts to grow negative and weaken his resolve. "Then allow me!"

Jin took the initiative and lunged toward Grixor. Not using a single joint attack, Jin timed his strikes to overlap while attacking from different angles. Twelve separate strikes rained down on the Earthen God, all of which aimed for a different part of the body.

"Wonderful!"

Forced to spread his energy, Grixor stopped focusing on his claws and allowed his entire body to become better guarded. His forearms kept the thickest coating as they covered Grixor's face, but that wasn't enough to stop Jin.

Each of the twelve strikes carved into Grixor's energy and natural plated armor. Cuts and scratches appeared all over the Earthen God's body. Some blood was drawn by half of the attacks, leaving Grixor with a satisfied grin on his face.

He inhaled deeply and sighed, "Ah… It feels good to be alive! Never have I bled so much from a single fight! Truly, you're a warrior deserving to rank above mere humans!"

Examining the damage he caused, Jin shook his head. "That got you excited? I barely gave you some papercuts and you're pumped up? I admire your excitement for battle but don't compliment me for doing so little."

"You deserve the praise! If it makes you feel better, know that even after leveling up Tyres was unable to leave a scratch on me while you've left half a dozen! You're far beyond Tyres!" stated Grixor.

"Hey! I heard that!" Tyres shouted.

"Then prove me wrong and kill the fat one!" Grixor exclaimed, refusing to retract his words.

"Fine! Then allow me!" Shifting his focus, Tyres altered his strikes. Rather than delay or keep Guuro back, the Sword God added killing intent to each strike.

"Hey! There's no need to prove anything!" Guuro whined. "You're better than Jin, so why--"

"If you finish that sentence then I'll kill you myself!"

Shutting up after remembering that Jin could hear them as well, Guuro hardened his defenses to the fullest extent. One arm with staff in hand focused on his barriers while the other was preparing a new spell.

"Holy Flame!"

Guuro's shout alarmed Tyres, who slashed the attack in half. "If you want to surprise me, then don't shout your attacks!"

Just then, a sharp, dark spike drove itself into Tyres.

Backing up, Tyres managed to avoid aunty critical damage and was only grazed. He nodded and sighed, "Right… You've got dark magic too…"

"Took you long enough," Guuro scoffed. His shadow retracted and returned to its usual, harmless form.

"Ha, ha, ha!"

Grixor was roaring with laughter. Seeing the Sword God get cut by a cleric before dealing any damage himself… It was comical to the powerful Quake Dragon.

"No, now I'm certain he's stronger than you, Tyres," added Grixor. "Who knows? Maybe he's right about you stealing his--"

"Shut up!"

Tyres unleashed more energy than ever as he sped up to a frightening degree.

Guuro returned his full focus to defense as that was the only way to stay the speeding swordsman. Otherwise, the God of Greed was certain to take more damage than he could comfortably deal with.

"Where were we?" Grixor scratched the side of his face, looking back to a chuckling Jin. "Right… You were giving my life purpose!"

Again, the Quake Dragon charged at Jin full-force. He held nothing back this time, knocking Jin back a few meters with each strike. Grixor received more and more scratches with each encounter but he was having too much fun to care. All he wanted was to enjoy the little pain he could after going millennia without it.

"Grixor, don't forget the plan."

A single sentence rang out in Grixor's head, reminding the Earthen God about the purpose of his appearance.

Sighing, Grixor took a moment to shake his head and drop his smile. "I'm sorry, Jin… I got carried away and nearly forgot my goal here."

"Oh? And what goal would that be?" questioned the samurai.

"You'll soon see…"

Jumping back into action, Grixor didn't let up. His attacks were just as strong as before, chipping away at Jin little-by-little. Then, Grixor's tail lashed out as well, using the ball of spikes at the end as a mace.

Jin quickly separated and coordinated his strikes. They went from six joint arms in two pairs to four joint arms in three pairs. This allowed him to defend himself, but Jin was thrown back a dozen meters with each trading blow. Also, Jin was no longer able to add any offense to his strikes. He was mercilessly getting pushed back further and further from the other gods with no ability to stop Grixor.