The Achievement Junkie

"STERFEN!"

Roars echoed throughout Olympic Chateau. Halmut's fury and rage filled the conference room with flames. The Sun God nearly smashed the viewing table in anger.

"Where are you?! Sterfen?!" Halmut shouted at the table. He had carefully watched as the challenge took place and an all-out fight between the gods broke out.

When Perchet and Oosam backed away, Halmut was furious. Acting in such a way wasn't against their contracts nor was it even bad per se, but it left a bad taste in Halmut's mouth until he realized that those two were now stalling six gods. That thought made Halmut feel better about their decision and let him focus on other matchups.

Seeing Moranti against Grixor, Lyrun, and Tralbok, Moranti was confident they would hold out against Moranti, if not claim victory. The same went for Sillo and Sybin, though Halmut was curious to see how Duorda would face the Twin Gods three levels higher than him.

Halmut was elated to see Alcahain and Tyres rush to finish off the strongest mortals below, forcing Jin and Hadurt to die before ascension. He also wanted to see them crush that mystery man in the roxite helmet, but that mystery man had made himself scarce the moment more monsters flooded the battlefield.

Watching Kori and Bowzer fight the three new Quake Dragon gods was what Halmut liked least. His confidence in Kori's strength hadn't vanished, now becoming woe as Kori was Halmut's full-fledged opponent and had once again ascended to lv. 91. Though Karronteel was busy with the massive spatial rift at the moment, soon he would be free to join the fight and would leave Kori to overwhelm a lone Quake Dragon with ease. And there was also no telling how strong Karronteel would be after having evolved for his fourth and final time. If he was anything like Moranti, then Karronteel along would be able to deal with those three Quake Dragons.

Only one fight seemed like it could go either way. Halmut would pay close attention to Jack in his fight with Torian. Torian was the fastest of all gods, even arguably faster than Halmut now that he was lv. 98. His reflexes and agile body would make it incredibly difficult for Jack to properly execute Cerebral Collapse, taking away Jack's cheat.

But one thought made itself glaringly obvious. Where was Sterfen?

After realizing that the Leisure Gods were effectively holding their own without Sterfen's appearance wasn't a good sign. And that could mean two things. Either Sterfen was waiting for the right moment to strike and assassinate one of the gods or he was busy with something else.

Being busy didn't seem probable with such an impactful event taking place. But that logic felt weaker with each passing second.

In the past, Sterfen had proven his abilities to fight on the battlefield. His addition to any of these fights could end them immediately. Yet why wasn't he there fighting? Shouldn't he have attacked by now? Wouldn't Sterfen target Tralbok or Grixor to free Moranti and overwhelm the other legendary gods?

The more Halmut thought about it, the worse he felt. This resulted in Halmut's explosive anger torching the entire conference room.

"STERFEN!" Halmut roared again, covering every inch of the conference room in his multicolored flames. The Sun God even took out items to burn throughout the room, making sure that entering and doing anything in that conference room would be impossible for Sterfen without making himself known.

"Right… I need to calm down…" Abruptly, Halmut stopped breathing fire and took out another handful of mutlicolored crystals. He began absorbing their energies gradually, letting the rushing feeling calm him down and bring him ever closer to ascension. "Almost… I'm almost there… You're right…"

The golden dragon slowed his breathing and focused on the many fights at hand. He liked to zoom out across the giant table and watch as many fights as would fit on the screen.

*****

Fighting his first real dragon, Bowzer was as emotional as ever. His rage fueled his black flames to the utmost. The towering flame body outgrew the Quake Dragon and bit into the dragon's hide.

Roaring in pain and fury, the Quake Dragon bit back and tore into Bowzer's weakened defenses.

"Bowzer!"

Suddenly, the Quake Dragon was kicked and forced aside, freeing it from Bowzer's jaws and free Bowzer from the Quake Dragon's attacks. Kori, in his hybrid form, resoundingly slapped Bowzer across the face. "Wake up! Victory means nothing if you're destroyed in the process! Do you want to lose an arm like me?!"

"No!" shouted Bowzer, shrinking to his hybrid form.

"Then think! Use your rage and anger properly!" Kori reprimanded his son, leaping back into his fight against the other two Quake Dragons. Rather than seek an immediate end, the father proudly watched his son and hope for Bowzer to claim his first victory as a god, ready to protect him should things get worse.

Bowzer blinked and focused briefly on the pain he felt in his cheek, then on the bleeding bit wound on his shoulder. Taking his father's words to heart, Bowzer charged into his opponent again. This time he kept his hybrid form and tried to mimic his father's fighting style, being flexible and agile to evade while punishing his opponent with every open opportunity.

The Quake Dragon snarled as it reinforced its hide with more earth energy to create armor. Spikes emerged as it tackled toward Bowzer mercilessly, eager to exchange blows with its more powerful defenses.

Keeping the bitemark in mind, Bowzer sidestepped the charge and clawed into the Quake Dragon's side. It wasn't as powerful as the bite attack from earlier but Bowzer couldn't deny it being more efficient. The same exchange happened one more time as the Quake Dragon tested Bowzer's temperament.

Noting that Bowzer was fighting calmer than ever, the Quake Dragon took a deep breath and reverted to his own hybrid form. Though its defenses weren't as perfect as his full dragon form, now the Quake Dragon's balance of attack, defense, and speed was to be more feared, forcing the battle to change completely.