[God of Games] 5 – A Battle between Gods

After leaving my tiny apartment, I started making my way to the nearest arena, which, from what I found, was owned by a Pantheon called the Six Warriors, a Pantheon of War Gods who lived for one reason, and that one reason? To have a good fight. Their Pantheon started wars, committed atrocities, started crusades, and so much for one reason: to have a good fight. The Six Warriors were all Gods of different races as well. 

An Orc, a Dark Elf, a Beastman, a Vampire, a Gnome, and a High Elf. Indeed, they were a diverse group of Gods, but they likely settled with their fists if there were any disagreements. How the Pantheon continued to function, I did not know. What information I had about them was small and all from the pamphlet.

With the comprehensive map included in the pamphlet, I had little trouble finding my way to the arena. It reminded me more of the Colosseum in Rome, only smaller. There was no line, but a strange worm waited at the gate. Upon coming closer, the humanoid worm stopped me.

"Stop. For what reason do you seek entry?" It hissed.

"I wanted to watch a fight?" I asked, confused by how it could have seen me, let alone speak.

"Alright, step through, take the stairs to the left, and take a seat. If you wish to bet on any of the matches or duels today, look for Vladorian, the God of Gambling. If you wish to participate yourself in the daily free-for-all or if you want to organize a match, take the stairs to the right and look for Bronze Knight, God of Honor," the Worm informed me before gesturing to head on in as he proceeded to ignore me from then on, or so I thought, hard to know really seeing as it had no eyes or facial features of any kind besides a giant maw for a mouth.

After making my way past the God and down the tunnel, I took a left, headed up the flight of stairs, and found myself in a spectator stand overlooking the surprisingly large arena. 

As I sat down in an isolated spot in the stand, I heard someone begin shouting, quelling all the chatter of the dozen or so Gods in the stands.

"The next match will be commencing soon! This match is the God of Blacksmithing, Gero, vs the God of Forests, Alpine. These two rivaling Gods are here to settle their long feud over their two religions in the realm where they have established their religions. For the loser, God must dismantle the religion in the Realm, as for Victor. They shall receive all the resources of the loser's religion. Failure to obey these conditions will enforce a heavy penalty on either God. I shall enforce these conditions, the Bronze Knight, God of Honor, fighters, are you ready?" The Bronze Statue of a God spoke from the podium on the opposite stands before focusing on the two Gods standing before each other in the arena.

Following his gaze, I looked at the two strange Gods in the arena. One was a moving humanoid shape of gears, cogs, and clockwork pieces, while on the other was a walking tree that stood at ten feet and had a wicked crown of thorns that stabbed into the head of the tree, causing what looked to be amber sap to be constantly bleeding from the bark where the thorns stabbed into. 

Abruptly, the Arena changed as reality broke apart and changed around the two gods.

"It seems the two Gods have already decided to use their Domains!" The announcer shouted in excitement as the arena around the two changed.

On one side of the arena, dozens of trees burst into life as the sky turned a peaceful blue. Around the walking tree, animals and flowers bloomed as they charged toward the other God. Yet on the side of the God of Blacksmithing, a clockwork city began to manifest, forming towering spires of clockwork machines, and by the Blacksmith's side, an army of mechanical creatures and creations came to be as they rushed toward the other God, slamming directly into the tide of animals, ripping and tearing everything apart.

With a wave of his hand, Alpine summoned countless vines and roots that snaked around the metallic creations, enveloping them and crushing them under their overwhelming numbers. Yet Gero was not done yet. With a flick of his hand, his machines began to turn vibrant red, and the vines and roots burned to ash, releasing the mechanical creatures. 

For the first time in the fight, the God of Forrests made a noise, a noise so loud that it sounded like metal on a chalkboard. With its hand, monsters and beasts rivaling cars in size charged out of the forest into the mechanical beasts and automatons, crushing all that was in their sight.

The domain behind Gero flickered before re-manifesting even brighter than before. Before my eyes, a grand city of clockwork and machines grew, forming walls, traps, and so much more between the two sides before men in metal armor wielding strange crossbows with steam coming out of them began to launch volleys of bolts down at the beasts.

Letting out a screech, titanic birds, bats, and countless other animals formed in the sky above the Forest before they dived down to the wall, picking off the defenders.

That's when bark began to rapidly grow over Alpine's form before he charged forward right through the wall and towards Gero. A tide of beasts and monsters stormed through the opening, tearing and ripping apart the city around them, making Gero's domain flicker and struggle to stay materialized.

Gero was on the defense as he kept his distance from Alpine, who chased after him. Roots and vines continuously tried to keep Gero slowed down enough for Alpine to catch him. 

That's when a root managed to grab hold of Gero's leg and make him fall; in a flash, Alpine was on him, sharp bark pose to strike before the announcer called it.

"And that's it! Alpine is the victor of this match!" 

Abruptly, Alpine pulled back and moved away from Gero, whose domain began to flicker before collapsing, while Alpine's domain continued going strong before fading away like dust, the only evidence the two Gods had even done anything being the marks on the ground from their brief clash. Marks that were fading by the moment and gone not even ten seconds later, leaving no evidence of what happened.

The Domains intrigued me, but I'm not going to lie. How did they work? What were the benefits of using them over standard physical violence? Did they all look unique, or were Domains determined by one's divinity? Could they all summon entities to fight? Why did Gero, the Blacksmithing God, struggle so much in that fight? Was it a difference in Divine Energy? Domain? Or was it skill?

There were so many questions, questions I wanted answers to, and to my luck, there was someone who could give them to me.

My eyes drifted to the moving statue on the other side of the Arena.

Bronze Knight, God of Honor.