Chapter 51: Sparring

[George POV]

     Everyone was getting pretty anxious and were always on their toes, but I just wanted to get a sandwich. Vicente had gotten into many fights with Thor while his grandfather, Dante, decided to make Odin look like some small child when they fought. Vicente and I are at the same level of power, I can feel this kind of thing. We've both been steadily becoming stronger from everything that we've been through. My Dragon Gauntlets formed from combining my Lion Gauntlets with the gauntlets Dad used to use made them. I could feel a lot of animosity from Thor and Odin towards Vicente and Dante because of some beef they had with Dante. I know Dante had killed every god and that Vicente was somewhere around his strength so that meant that I was actually there too. I'm not being overconfident or anything, Vicente and I had both been testing each other after each one of us had grown. Our latest battle was the day before we went here which was also the day when my Dragon Gauntlets were fully fused. We were just short of killing each other and now that I had a stronger weapon along with Vicente having another sword, we were definitely getting strong. I'm pretty sure that everyone else is only a bit weaker than us, but still none of us can slack off just yet. Although there is a way to calm everyone down even if the battle is just 3 days from now.

     "How about we have a little bit of a spar? It can be a sort of competition." Vicente already pulled out his swords as if he was just waiting for someone to say these words. Thor and Odin just looked at each other before nodding while Dante laughed for a bit. Chloe, Dean, Shiro, Sophia, Hailey, Cruz, Percy, and Leo were all just relaxing, but when this happened they all almost fell to the ground. I had to stifle a laugh to avoid the looks Odin and Thor would have given me. Sun was sleeping since she just wanted to fight against the actual enemies.

     "I suppose that a friendly spar may alleviate some of the worries the soldiers have." Odin said. Way too formal for his own good. I had to fight cringing at what he said. You would think he would get with the times and not say stuff like this, I mean I guess when you're a god those types of things become irrelevant, but still. Odin and Thor took out their weapons and took us to the sparring arena while telling the fighters training to get out since we would be occupying the arena for quite a while. Odin and Dante went up and I could feel a strange atmosphere which was I guess due to the fact they hated each other quite a bit. Dante had a sword that looked like the one Vicente had, but in an instant he beat Odin. Dante had a few cuts, but aside from that he was completely fine. Their fight was pretty quick, but I could follow along with it as Vicente looked excited. 

     "I don't know how we'll show that up, but let's do this." Vicente jumped down as I thought if I should take the stairs, but in the end I jumped from the stands. Vicente was already warming up as I looked towards Thor, who was refereeing for these matches.

     "Ready....Begin!" We flew into battle and got multiple hits on each other.

     "Use skill: Hell Laser. Use skill: Devil's Limiter Release. Use skill: Aura. Use skill: Devil's Fist Version 5. Use skill: Devil's Backflow." His Conqueror Style, Lucky Dice, New Mode, Aura, along with other power-up skills blew up. I unleashed the rest of my power to counteract this as soon our pure energy brought us into the air and made us climb even higher as my gauntlets and his swords made contact. Our attacks kept coming as my adrenaline kept me from feeling as pain as we kept attacking each other with everything we had. 

[Vicente & George's POV]

     I feel like I'm close to something! I can't lose just yet! Not ever!

[George's POV]

     I felt different and suddenly I felt like my hits were hitting harder and that I was being hit harder than before as we countered each other. We were blown back with a sound that destroyed some of the surrounding buildings and Odin had to put up a barrier to stop the whole place from coming down. Chloe and Shiro fought against each other as the same phenomenon happened with them, but with Chloe being the clear victor in the end. The other fights happened with the same occurence of the hits or skills becoming stronger when the fight was reaching its climax. Thor, Odin, and Dante all stepped into the middle of the ring with a very mixed atmosphere as Dante looked really happy while Odin and Thor looked deep in thought.

     "Welcome to the doorway of Godhood!" Dante went towards us while Thor and Odin just left. What does Dante mean by, "Doorway of Godhood"? 

     "People/mortals can only become so strong before entering Godhood. You've all needed just a little push to reach that domain and although you haven't gotten immortality or your own title. Those two things are earned through achievements/growing in strength." So that's what this was about. Godhood! Holy shit! I wonder what title I'll get from my achievements, maybe even immortality. I do feel a slight change, but that was just about it. Is there some sort of indication aside from the power increase and the new energy coursing through my body. I suddenly felt my eyes become heavy as we all fell before I became completely unconscious.

     "Yeah, the same thing happened to me too." That was the last thing I heard before I became completely unconscious and regained my conscience with a piece of steak in front of me.