TIT Chapter 7: Ritual Combat!
“Get the 2 combatants ready!” The elder bellowed.
2 young teenagers immediately bowed to the elder and rushed off to prepare. Elderly woman of the tribe then went to them and brushed onto their bodies a sticky black paste in the shape of random symbols. The 2 were then separated and blessed by the prayers of what seemed to be 2 factions of people within the tribe.
Based on Jie Jun’s observation, the tribe was split into various factions, 7 to be exact. They could be characterised by their different symbols which were namely in the shape of the Spear, Helmet, Dog, Chariot, Boar, Vulture and the Flaming Torch (These are the symbols of Ares). The 2 teenagers in question were of the Spear and Vulture faction. The tribal chief and elder were of the Dog faction, which was the strongest faction in the entire tribe.
Just as Jie Jun stared at the symbols on the 2 teenagers, they seemed to bend and twist, mysteriously forming blood-red shapes of a Spear and Vulture on their bodies. Although he was sceptical of the existence of gods, he could not deny that there was something mystical about the practices of the Tribe that seemed to allow them to borrow power from somewhere…
Jie Jun stared at the Tribal Chief who had the Dog tattoos on his arm. The tattoo was clearly that of a Tibetan Mastiff, conveying a sense of great power. Despite being spit on, Jie Jun still felt much fear towards the Tribal Chief who seemed to be much stronger than what he initially seemed to be. Just as he reversed his impression of the Tribal Chief to that of a force to be reckoned with, the Tribal Chief turned around to the golden pavilion and solemnly said: “Thank you for granting us with this opportunity, Great God Ares.”
Jie Jun felt a tinge of awkwardness and was considering whether he should communicate with the tribe to clear up the misunderstanding. Just as he was about to talk, the Tribal Chief gathered his spit with all his strength and spat on the golden pavilion, clearly a sign of respect within the tribe.
Watching the spit slowly slide down his golden walls, Jie Jun decided to withdraw his intent to communicate and hoped to watch them continue their misunderstanding. “Spitting on me for so many times, I’ll make sure you lot have ritual combat to the point where you guys are sick of it!” Jie Jun thought to himself.
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The 2 teenagers gathered back in front of the golden pavilion and bowed towards it before brandishing their weapons towards each other. The teenager from the Spear faction wielded a long spear crafted from wood and bone whereas the teenager from the Vulture faction equipped a fan made of feathers and a bone claw in both of her hands.
“Ode, One with the Spear, Weapon of Ares.”
“Imani, One with the Vulture, Huntress of Ares.”
Both paid a short salute towards each other before rushing to attack one another. Ode gathered his strength and swung the spear towards Imani’s waist as he winded himself up while moving forward. Imani lightly jumped over him, swinging her bone claw towards his face, to which he responded by ducking through the use of the momentum from his swinging spear.
Slightly exerting himself, Ode reversed the spear and thrusted it towards Imani who then warded it off with a brush of her fan. The clash of weapons surprisingly created a metallic screech and even pushed both the combatants away from each other.
“It seems the people in this world are also not normal? Or could it be that the people in my original world are abnormal?” Jie Jun thought to himself as he observed their battle.
--
It seemed that even their superhuman feats from before were merely means for them to test each other as both teens began to chant inaudibly.
Reddish auras began emitting from their bodies as they clashed with each other more and more. The symbols painted on their bodies began burning up as if responding to their call for power.
With a thrust, Ode managed to make his spear pierce through a tree 5 meters away.
With a slash, Imani managed to slice a boulder behind Ode in half with her fan.
Their powers seemed to only increase more and more as time passed.
Then in the midst of their sparring, Imani threw her bone claws towards Ode in what seemed like an attempt to break the stalemate. Ode calmly responded by dodging slightly, suffering a long scratch on his back, all to ensure a more stable position to attack Imani from.
At the same time, Imani grasped her fan with both hands and slashed downwards towards Ode with all her might. In response, Ode aimed his spear at her and struck.
With a crushing sound, Ode smashed his spear into Imani’s fan and destroyed it, stopping his spear perfectly on Imani’s neck, causing her blood to flow from her neck’s wound to her chest.
“If this were real combat, you would have died.” Ode remarked.
“As if you would dare kill me if we fought for real. Besides, you owe me a weapon now~” Sticking out her tongue, Imani replied cheekily, totally different from the battle-crazed girl she seemed like before.
“Sigh… I knew you were up to no good…” Ode replied as he rubbed the temples on his head, feeling slightly sluggish and weak somehow.
The two then separated and walked to their individual factions, awaiting the orders of their Tribe Chief.
The Tribe Chief then announced: “Ode has won this round of ritual combat! Any objections to our combatants on ritual duty for this period of time?” Looking around, he saw everyone nodding their heads in satisfaction. Then he turned towards the pavilion and asked: “Our Great God Ares, has the ritual combat been satisfactory? If so, please bestow a sign from above to bless our tribe for the year to come!”
At first, the Tribe Chief had only asked this out of ceremony due to the teachings of the Tribal Elder, but soon he saw the pavilion light up as if in response to his prayers.
Delighted, he looked at the pavilion excitedly. However, nothing happened. Could it be that the fight from before was not good enough? As if to answer his queries, a solemn voice boomed into the surroundings.
“Fret not young ones, Lord Ares is not dissatisfied with your battles. But he craves to see more of your abilities to assess if you are truly worthy of reward!”
Bowing down instinctively due to a great pressure, the Tribal Chief looked upwards in reverence and asked: “My Great God Ares watches us! For real!? Please! Tell us how to fight back against Zeus in his conquest to suppress our powers! Tell us whether we can war once again with the rest of the world!”
--
“Oh man. The great senior act doesn’t seem like it’s working in this scenario. I even used the 3 x Gravitational Field Strength Formation. How do I answer his questions… HMMMMM” Jie Jun thought as he paced around in his soul form within the golden pavilion.
“Maybe I can just muddle through this with vague answers? Like those religious folks! Errr, let’s see what would be most appropriate in this situation…?”
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“Yes! Tis for real! Carry on your battles! (*errrr*) SEEK AND YE SHALL FIND!”
Looking down expectantly, Jie Jun hoped that they would ignore his vague answers and continue battling, for he had discovered that the battles they conducted were of benefit to him surprisingly…
--
“Why won’t it answer my questions? Could it be that the Great God Ares has forsaken the revival of our tribe? But it does sound quite legitimate, and it does possess the God’s presence…” the Tribal Chief worriedly thought to himself. He was not a fool, he could tell that the pavilion was ignoring his questions. But the pavilion also did seem like a God Artifact which might have been sent down from the gods, which would be either a heavenly opportunity or a hellish calamity for his tribe if handled wrongly.
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Unbeknownst to both men, they were both anxious and expecting something from the other at the same time.
Author’s Note: I know that some readers might not be particularly pleased with all the misunderstandings and clearly left out details in the chapters up to date. But the world I strive to create will be far bigger than what it seems so I need time to build it up properly. Please continue to read on and do tell me which mythology you would like to see next!
Done Done Note: Yeah this gets kinda big in scale. But not so fast. Hope y’all had a great day! Enjoy the chapter!
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