THEOS

All five of them were flying in the sky, in a loose circle when Luke cut down his three-hundred and sixty-eighth monster of the day.

It was a vulture type thing. A ugly bird with a long neck and black scruffy feathers and a handful of bald spots along its wings. Judging by the paltry amount of mana he felt Maximus feeding him at its death, it was a mortal tier monster too. Which was par for the course, and the lack of the challenge was both disappointing and relieving, but not surprising.

The attacks always started the same, with the first few waves being weak mortal tier creatures, but slowly over the course of the day stronger, more dangerous, things would emerge.

Which was why they were fighting in a fairly reserved manner. High enough off the ground so that the land bound creatures had some difficulty getting to them, but not so high that they were easily visible by opportunistic contestants. Each of them using only their weapons and their wits in an effort to conserve energy. Every once in a while Theseus would lash out with an arc of water that thinned the herd and gave them a few minutes of reprieve. Or Ella would summon constructs of rainbow light and rain death, but such instances were few and far between.

But… Luke turned to Arya, and with a quick nod, retreated within their formation. Immediately after, the rest closed ranks, and the circle tightened around him. Insulating Luke from most of the monsters, and allowing him to take a bit of a breather and think.

Seeing as how he planned to be by himself in the near future, Luke contemplated taking advantage of the fact that he had allies at the moment to do something a little reckless.

Investigate, and if possible, advance the First Truth of Death.

Watching both Arya and Spiros fight after so long had been enlightening. Every time he had witnessed his own technique used by the two in a way that he didn’t think of, or didn’t fit with his own style… It resulted in small bursts of inspiration. Inspiration that he had intentionally shelved, lest it trigger a reaction that he wasn’t ready for and put him in a precarious position.

If past experiences were anything to go by, progressing his understanding of reality’s truths wasn’t without cost. It would drain his mana. How much mana remained to be seen, but his gut told him that it would be a lot. Which up until now, had been unacceptable to him.

So much so, that he had held off on exploring his newfound insights even when conserving his resources wasn’t necessary anymore. Convincing himself that doing so would reveal who he really was.

It was a good excuse, but that’s all it was– an excuse.

The real reason he had resisted was because the stupid and stubborn part of him was stuck holding onto the delusion that his identity hadn’t already been exposed. Because if Arya and Spiros found out that he was their Luke, then that would mean explaining things. Which, putting it lightly, was the bane of his existence. Nothing could ruin his life faster than answering the most innocent of questions, and the type they would ask… Well, they wouldn’t be innocent.

So, he buckled down and went the opposite direction. Doing his best not to use his technique unless he absolutely had to and keeping talking at a minimum. Especially now that he didn’t have Rex and Blinky as lightning rods for attention.

Now though, there’s no real need to keep up appearances. Theseus couldn’t care less, and Ella doesn’t have a stake in my life either. Well, not one that sees her digging into my past at least. Arya, if I’m reading the cues right, and I’m pretty sure I am, already knows. Spiros may not, but if Arya knows chances are he does as well. Even if he doesn’t know yet, he will soon, so, it's a moot point.

Both of them are probably curious as fuck though, not that I can blame them.

I kind of swaggered up to them while wearing a fake face, and what is in hindsight, a razor thin attempt at a new identity. Not my best work, but I blame the Seed. What did it even expect to happen when it gave me the quest? We’re already near the top sixteen, and he hasn’t needed my help once.

Which…

A figurative lightbulb flickered to life inside Luke’s head.

I was never meant to help him win, was I? When the time comes, I’m just supposed to lose. Then again, the quest said ‘ensure’ Spiros wins, but it also said take second place. If my gut is right, then the next round is going to be one-on-one matches.

It has to be, right?

Why do top sixteen if not to set up some basic brackets. So really, I just have to throw the last fight. Considering that the whole world and multiple gods are going to be watching though, that’s not going to be as simple as it seems. I doubt I’ll be let off scot-free for disrespecting an event hosted by a god, so however I do it, I’ll need to make it look real.

Assuming of course Spiros doesn’t kick my ass organically. Minus the Seed, he has every advantage I have, if not more.

Either way, it’s pretty cool of them not to bring my false face up in here.

Besides, stalling my progress wasn’t a complete waste of time. Luke consoled himself, even as he slid a few feet to the left and cut vertically in two an over enthusiastic snake that had launched itself like a spring right towards him.

He hadn’t lost anything by shelving his insights, and he was free to pursue them whenever he wanted. It’s not like they were a now or never deal. Moreover, It was a good opportunity to shore up his basics in actual life and death struggles and without the safety of knowing what his opponent was about to do before he did it.

Luke’s technique removed the need for a lot of the technicalities of swordplay and combat in general. Things like proper positioning, feints, and even the best way to swing his blade were all small things that when improved, meant that his technique worked better. Being a better fighter straight up reduced the cost in mana. Mostly by decreasing the steps it took him to land the killing blow, but faster was faster and less mana was less mana.

Not to mention that just the act of killing without any fancy tricks seemed to offer its own brand of inspiration. Not anything as concrete as observing a fellow user of the First Stances, but not dismissable. Not when the Truth the techniques were built upon relied so heavily on death.

However, those small gains he had made were nothing when compared to what his Technique could be. Luke was sure of that now.

Which brought him back to the advancements Spiros and Arya had made since their time in the tomb.

Spiros– Spiros had done something. Luke was confident in that.What that thing was, Luke didn’t have the slightest clue.

At the very least, it didn’t manifest visibly. Just like the apparitions of the future Luke saw were visible only to him, maybe Spiros too saw something only he could perceive.

But Luke couldn’t dismiss the idea that Spiros just hadn’t used whatever technique he had stumbled onto. Perhaps because it was too mana intensive, or maybe out of a desire to keep it up his sleeve. Or, because the spear wielder just hadn’t been pushed far enough that he felt he needed it. Which was fairly likely.

With the sole exception of their fight with Theseus, the current round of the games was cerebral in nature. Their wins had come with strategic thinking and plotting rather than pushing themselves to the limits of their physical abilities. What combat there was, wasn’t a challenge for them. Not when they were together at least.

The nature of the technique shared by the three of them and the substantial power of Theseus and Ella who were both the children of gods, meant that as a group, either they couldkill something or they couldn't. The stuff they could kill tended to die quickly and easily, and thus far, their cabal hadn’t come across anything that they couldn’t unalive.

Setting aside Spiros though, what fascinated Luke was Arya’s progression of the technique.

In his own head, the First Truth of Death was the natural progression of the First Stances. Functionally speaking, the two techniques were pretty similar and the difference between them was subtle. Outside of the whole seeing ghosts of the future thing, that is.

Instead of reacting to physical cues to find an opening, based on what his opponent was doing, Luke could act on what they would do. A small change that propelled the technique from dead useful to something that Luke honestly thought was broken. That was true, at least until the situations in which it didn’t work started piling up fast. Whether it was because his opponent was invisible, not alive, or simply couldn’t be killed with Luke’s current abilities like Theseus had been, the technique he had thought was undefeatable became not enough. Still useful for dodging attacks in some cases, or telling him when to abort a fight and run, but not nearly as useful.

What was it again…

Death is inevitable, and killing is easy.

That’s the core of the Truth my technique is built on– and it’s too narrow.

Killing is easy. That’s true, but it's only easy when I have the ability to kill something. The second I don’t, the technique is only good for dodging hits and waiting for my opponent to run out of mana.

Arya isn’t limited by that though. Her advancement of the First Stance kills. It infects, festers, and rots. Her precognitive abilities are limited to what's possible with the First Stance, but her killing ability isn’t. She lands a blow, and that thing is dead. Maybe not right away, and if it's big enough, not any time soon, but it's dead.

Where my advancement was linear, hers went sideways. The stances gave her the same ability I have, but her warrior tier version gave her the ability to make death final.

At the end of the day, I just react to the information, but my actual kill comes from damage that I do with my weapon. Nothing fancy about it.

… And that’s what I need to change, Luke realized. It still won’t be exactly what I want but–

It’ll be enough.

Mind resolute, Luke glanced once at his allies, and then forgoing any attempt to fight strategically, dropped into the forest below.

Immediately he was inundated with the attacks of countless beasts. Rabicorns tried to spear him on their lone horns. Jungle cats pounced from high branches with claws spread. Wolves snapped at his heels.

Uncaring of the cost in mana, for he had plenty, and not caring about what he might reveal to the competition, Luke activated the First Truth of Death and started killing.

Luke ducked and weaved in and out of the path of the attacking beasts with inhuman agility. His every move ended with a creature impaled on his blade. A mountain of corpses soon surrounded him.

It’s not enough though, Luke realized.

Killing things with the technique was what he already did, what he had been doing. If that alone was all it took to advance his understanding of the Truth to higher levels, he would have advanced it when he killed the Rebel Hero, or cut down armies of the giants.

There had to be a deeper secret. Some sort of revelation that he was missing. So he pressed on. Replaying over and over every instance of Spiros and Arya using the technique in his mind. Trying desperately to hear the song, the rhythm that would carry him to the next step.

Soon, he became so engrossed in the task that he didn’t even notice the monsters becoming stronger and stronger, to the point he was surrounded by more warrior tier creatures than mortal.

He didn’t even notice the monsters at all, only that they died at his blade.

He didn’t notice that he was seeing their apparitions of their future movements earlier and longer. Or that his mana was beginning to decrease faster and faster. In step with a percentage rising in the Skill tab of his Status Page.

He did notice however, when he seemingly stumbled into a mistake, and accidentally stabbed Maximus into a monster's ghost and his mana, both what was in his body and what he had stored away in his sword, dwindled away to nothing. And that in spite of not touching the creature, a gash appeared on its muscled throat where he had struck its ghost before the edges of his vision darkened.

The last things he saw before consciousness left him were a rainbow barrier separating him from the salivating jaws of countless monsters and their wicked claws. A wave of water washing those same monsters away. A figure weiding a golden spear shooting through the air towards him, catching him as he fell.

And most importantly– A prompt from the God Seed.

Fuck yeah.