The Achievement Junkie

The crowd of cosmicians was in awe of the rare battle they were able to witness. Everyone got excited, wondering who would come out on top and when the Sicabor twins would step in to steal the visitor's rewards.

But the Sicabor twins were nowhere to be found. This led most to believe they were secretly plotting to strike at the right moment, possibly to take on both draconic combatants to gain the most rewards possible. However, those thoughts would need to wait as the crowd grew more invested in the grand battle taking place before their eyes.

Skaryn's onslaught of attacks was horrifying for the many one-stars to watch. They trembled to imagine such attacks landing on themselves. Halmut's resilience and natural healing astounded them just as much, proving that Halmut could still fight against Skaryn though he struggled to hit Skaryn with his increased speed.

That was until Halmut roared in pain, nearly losing his eyes as they almost popped out of his skull in shock.

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHhhhh…" Halmut didn't look behind him, no longer willing to look away from the copy of Skaryn he believed was the real deal. He didn't need to look behind him to confirm the loss of his tail. The fact that his body was hurriedly trying to heal and repair his missing limb was enough to put him on edge.

"What's wrong?" Skaryn chuckled. "Afraid to attack first?"

As Halmut focused harder and refused to comment, Skaryn laughed harder, "Shall I keep playing with you, like you've done to me and the others? I think you'll make a great toy…"

A slash of dark, spatial, lightning, and fire energies rushed forward from Skaryn's greatsword, followed by a second slash with dark, spatial, earth, and water energies. He skillfully swapped between energies with each strike, forcing Halmut to pay the utmost attention to each attack and counter everything properly or face the consequences.

The Sun Dragon managed to counter both strikes but failed to anticipate the hand that gripped his head.

"Cerebral Collapse!"

Halmut twitched and darted away while spewing his hottest flames.

"Hmm… So that still doesn't work against you…" Skaryn clicked his tongue in disappointment. "What's in your head to stop that? I thought you refused to become someone else's tool, not to give up your mind and body just to defeat me? You've fallen that far?"

"You--"

Halmut didn't finish his shout, turning to attack the sneak attacking copy of Skaryn. He didn't dare let Skaryn get any closer without a proper fight.

Those around them were still either trembling from excitement of the spectacle or shock that Skaryn was able to use not only Moranti's but Eedaj's personal skills. They had greatly underestimated the power of the Dark God, forcing all Kartonian gods to wonder how Halmut ever managed to defeat Skaryn in the first place.

"Try again!" cackled Skaryn, sending more copies of himself at Halmut.

As Halmut guarded his mind more fervently than anything, Skaryn began to understand something. Based on what Jack had hinted from his past match against Skaryn and the desperation that Halmut showed now, Skaryn deduced that attacking Halmut mentally would be the most effective and entertaining strategy. Seeing Halmut, the man that was formerly Skaryn's greatest ally and now his most despised enemy, show gazes of true fear convinced Skaryn of that more than anything.

"Cerebral Collapse!" Skaryn shouted as one of his false selves grabbed Halmut in a ploy to scare him. The test confirmed just how jittery Halmut was under his tough facade.

But as Halmut become more and more anxious while Skaryn changed tactics, something came into view in Skaryn's peripherals. At the same time, Skaryn extreme sensitivity to energy was setting off alarms in his mind.

A sudden explosion of raw cosmic energy spread across their battlefield, encompassing Skaryn at point-blank along with his many copies.

While the vast chamber refused to tremble under the shockwave, Moranti, Lunara, and Kylon refused to standby inactive. They charged toward the dissipating energy, more specifically aiming for the retreating Halmut who was being carried by unknown cosmicians.

No one understood what was happening now. The crowd was stunned to see a cosmician charge into the battle and suddenly suicide as a means to stop the battle while other unknown cosmicians pulled Halmut aside. Nothing was making sense and everyone was anxious to see what Halmut was really up to.

"STAY OUT OF THIS!!!"

Skaryn's resounding voice stopped the charging gods of Kartonia, proving to them that Skaryn was still fine and shocking the spectators further.

But the moment Skaryn spoke was the same moment that another cosmician rushed forward to self-destruct. That explosion floored the other cosmicians further. Everyone knew, without question, that something suspicious was going on.

"I SAID STAY OUT OF THIS!" Skaryn shouted again, not letting anyone on his side join the battle.

"But--"

"Kyl, trust me! Let me handle this!"

From the midst of the explosion, Skaryn rocketed towards the fleeing Halmut. He scanned over the four-man team dragging Halmut away, searching for a means to identify them. But he was confronted with another cosmician going kamikaze.

As Skaryn blinked away in a flash of purple energy, everyone saw Skaryn appear in front of Halmut. "YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO FLEE!"

One of the four guarding Halmut charred forward but suddenly stopped moving. He then dropped to the ground, motionless and only able to breathe.

"How--"

Before Halmut could curse against Skaryn, he saw the heads of his two closest bodyguards rolling down through the air. A scythe then landed at his neck, threatening to decapitate the Sun Dragon without hesitation.

"I said--"

Before Skaryn could shout back at Moranti, another crowd member charged at the God of Space intending to self-destruct. As Moranti glanced back in preparation to defend himself, a spatial rift suddenly opened up directly in front of the suicidal cosmician. The cosmician was unready for such a tactic and fell into the rift. Coming out the other side while about to blow, that cosmician frowned heavily as he found himself far away from everyone and unable to take back his suicidal plan.