Combat Test

Arriving on the other side of the door, Kai noticed they were now in a small arena. Tiered stone seating lined it's way down the circular room. At the bottom was an empty arena, about 100 feet long and 50 feet across.

Kai turned towards the Goddess with a questioning look on his face, eyebrow raised.

"You will now commence the combat portion of your trial. Though you do like to brawl," She said with a sly grin on her face, "Fighting in the towers is much different than cheap-shotting some thugs."

'Towers, is it?' Kai thought as he caught her turn of phrase, 'I don't think a Goddess would accidentally mention multiple towers, so is she hinting at something more here as if she wants me to know there are multiple towers, or did she actually let that slip?'

"Sounds good, so what am I fighting,?" Kai replied with nonchalance as they descended the steps to the arena.

"We'll start with basics and see how it goes," the Goddess replied as they arrived at the ground floor.

"There's a weapon rack here, so choose something if you wish, it'll upgrade as your enemies do if you survive the first one."

Kai didn't know what weapon rack she was talking about as the place was completely empty, but as he looked back to her to say as much, he saw a weapon rack directly between them.

"Holy hell, didn't see that there, let me just nab a couple of these," he said in surprise, reaching for two rusty daggers on the rack.

All the weapons seemed extremely poor quality, so he assumed that this first fight wouldn't be much of a challenge. She'd said my weapons would upgrade with my opponents after all.

Kai walked into the arena and as he reached a circle that had appeared near the center, he faced the Goddess and waited for her to give him more instructions.

The Goddess pointed towards the other side of the arena and as Kai turned he saw a fierce looking boar that was as tall as he was standing about 40 feet away, near the opposite end.

'I'm not even surprised at this point,' Kai sighed as he saw the magically generated boar. 'But, what the hell am I supposed to do with these rusty toothpicks against that beast?!'

Kai was annoyed that he'd been played so thoroughly be the Goddess. He actually expected to have a basic fight to start off with since he was given such shitty equipment. There was literally more rust than blade on these daggers.

"Ah, starting with the easy stuff first, thank you my Goddess," Kai shouted out condescendingly as the boar began to charge towards him.

The boar was around 5 foot 8 inches tall (173cm), about 2 inches taller than Kai himself. The boar had two gleaming tusks that shone in the light hanging mid air above the arena. The tusks looked like they could each carry a grown man with no issue.

As the boar charged ahead, it seemed to be gaining more speed, so Kai reacted by charging ahead himself. He didn't want the boar to get too much momentum as he wouldn't be able to do anything against that type of force.

The boar met Kai halfway and tried to gore him with the tusk on the left, but Kai rolled to his left and sliced at the boar's front right leg. The rusty blade met the boar's hide and left only a shallow mark, barely able to cut into it.

'Well, I hoped I would at least be able to whittle it down with damage to it's legs, but I'm gonna have to get much more force to even cut through it's skin,' Kai mused as he backed away from the boar, readying himself for it's next charge.

The boar didn't disappoint him as it gave an unpleasant guttural grunt and moved in a slow turn to continue it's charge and not lose much momentum.

'It can't turn quickly without stopping first. It looks like it wants to keep it's momentum, so I'll have to use that against it...'

The boar was approaching quickly, so Kai ran forward to meet it. The boar aimed it's tusk once more and Kai followed the same maneuver to dodge and cut towards the same spot. Lady luck was shining on him as he hit the same spot and finally drew blood.

It was only a shallow wound, but Kai didn't back off this time. He stayed close to the boar, following it's path and slicing and dicing with both rusty daggers at the same spot until the boar began to slow.

It had been able to respond due to it keeping it's momentum, it could only try goring him from the side, but Kai was fleet of foot and was able to keep up with the boar and dodge every hit and get a slice on it in return. As the boar slowed, he stabbed his right handed dagger directly into the boar's eye as it tried once more to gore him with it's tusk; the eye exploded with white fluid and blood gushing from the socket.

The boar was finally enraged enough to stop itself fully and stand it's ground. One eye was bleeding in a long stream down the side of the boar's head, while the other eye gleamed with an intense fury that was palpable.

Having felt the Goddess' pressure previously, Kai shrugged off the boar's intimidating aura and ran directly at it.

This time, the boar backstepped at Kai's approach to dodge his incoming attack, instead of charging ahead like usual. Kai was already close to the boar and as it backstepped, he knew it was going to try to hit him in return.

The boar swung a tusk from the side but Kai leaped backwards then dove forward with both daggers extended, stealing the boar's own move from him. His dagger were sailing through the air, landing directly at his target.

There was a squelching sound as the boar's other eye was dug into with the dagger and both of Kai's arms entered the eye socket to his elbows.

Blood and brain fluid leaked from the sockets, completely drenching Kai from his shoulders down, staining his neck and chin red along with his tattered clothes and cloak.

The boar let out a primal roar and rocked it's head side to side, but Kai was dug in deep, directly to the boar's brain, slicing back and forth like a blender. The piteous sounds the boar made next would almost make you sorry for the thing.

Kai didn't care about any of that, he removed his arms from the boar's skull and leapt off, heading towards the Goddess on the side of the arena.

"Did I pass?" Kai asked condescendingly.

"For the first test, you definitely passed. I underestimated how prepared you would be from your meager street brawls. Impressive." The Goddess complimented Kai as she waved her hand towards him, instantly changing his being into a brand new state.

His clothes and boots were completely cleaned, but also completely repaired. They looked brand new. Kai was also completely healed and refreshed once more, 'I could definitely get used to this, maybe I'll use my wish on getting her clean spell.'

"Well, what's next? Did I earn an upgrade?" Kai asked as he blinked at the Goddess news lady's face. He couldn't quit staring at that news lady's face, wondering why the Goddess chose that lady out of everyone to morph into.

Kai's attention was pulled back to the present when he saw a light flashing below him and the Goddess pointing down.

His daggers had become gleaming white, like ivory. They looked like miniature versions of the tusks, they were slightly curved but unlike the boar's tusks, they were serrated on both sides of the blade and looked razor sharp.

'Damn, those rusty daggers sure clean up nicely,' He thought peering at his upgrades.

The Goddess pointed him back to the arena next and so he returned, wondering how many fights were ahead of him. He was kind of excited now, this new life was off to a great start it seemed.

What he saw appear from nothingness across the arena from him wiped the smile from his face. His smile had morphed into a frown of confusion.

The thing in front of him was a giant squirrel. Like a regular squirrel... But it was over 6 feet tall (~2meters). It chittered towards Kai with a squeaky voice. It sounded very pissed.

It had a soft brown coat, with three black stripes along it's back starting from it's head. As it cursed him out in squirrel, it's buck teeth were gleaming menacingly, they were crystalline and seemed unbreakable. The worst part was they were sharpened on the bottom as well, it'd probably tear clean through his body.

The power of this squirrel could not be understated, the teeth were as big as Kai's hand, so they even had some reach. The squirrel's claws were sharp and screeched across the white flooring of the arena as it got ready to charge him.

Kai didn't wait for the squirrel to come at him, he raced forward and sent a testing strike with his dagger.

The squirrel instantly swiped the dagger away with one hand and sliced across Kai's arm with it's other claws. It lunged forward to bite him, but he blocked the teeth with his other dagger.

The squirrel was strong and the contact sent Kai flying back. He landed on his feet and cradled his cut arm. The cuts luckily weren't deep, they were only bleeding a little and he still had full mobility with his arm.

'Luckily it's claws aren't as long as it's teeth; though if it bites me, I'm done for.'

"Hey, Goddess, uhh... Do I have to keep fighting to be able to enter your wonderful awesome Tower? Or would we be able to skip this fight and move on out there?" Kai asked before the squirrel got to him.

"You may end this trial at any time, though your performance in this trial weighs heavily on your entrance to my Tower. There are many dangers in the Tower and if you cannot fight... You will die." The Goddess replied, with her serious tone returning.

Kai didn't glance over at her but he assumed she had regained her serious mode face. Kai didn't plan on quitting anyway, he just wanted to make sure he had a life line. If he got these daggers as an upgrade for killing the boar, he wondered if he'd get crystal buck teeth for killing this squirrel.

The squirrel was tired of waiting for Kai to approach and had begun running at him. The distance was closed quickly and Kai tried diving to the side to avoid the squirrel's attack.

The crystal teeth clamped down right beside his head. The clicking sound of those teeth chomping down right beside him sent shivers down his spine.

He didn't escape unscathed though, the claws quickly followed the teeth and were able to score a hit on his back. He felt hot lines of fire were scorching his back continuously.

'This squirrel is too fast, it attacks multiple times each time. I'm not that great with daggers, I've only ever messed around with knives catching rats,' Kai thought sullenly as he tried analyzing his situation, 'if you brought a knife to a street brawl, someone was dying so I always avoiding taking the stakes that far. I lack too much experience with daggers...'

Kai backed off while sighing. This fight was truly unfair, this demon rat had to be from the 9th circle of hell, whereas he was a simple street urchin.

"Come on, you stinky old devil rat, is that all you've got?" Kai taunted the creature to relieve some of his stress, he knew the squirrel couldn't understand him but it made him feel better.

The squirrel's chittering intensified and it's squeaks became even more shrill. It's claws extended further and saliva dripped from it's mouth like a leaky faucet and pooled on the ground. It's bloodshot eyes seemed like they were going to catch fire, the pupils dilated to a pin point.

'Oh shit... Did he really understand me and get offended?' Kai felt like his bad luck was just getting worse the longer this day went on. 'Well, may as well send it.'

"Oh, come on. A little saliva? That's supposed to scare me? Go clip your nails as well, you hippy. I'm a lowly street urchin and even I've got decent nails!" Kai continued yelling stupid insults at the demon rat and prepared himself for the most intense fight.

The squirrel seemed to lose all reason at the latest insults, it shot forward like a rocket. The crystal teeth seemed to grow to the size of a house in his mind as the squirrel let out an intense primal pressure, trying to intimidate Kai as it attacked.

Kai focused on the incoming strikes and began to swing his daggers forward in a crossed position to meet the momentum head on. Kai was shot backwards 30 feet and rolled on the ground. He put all his focus into keeping his daggers held tight as he rolled and rolled, finally able to flip himself mid-roll onto his feet, his boots cutting a furrow in the ground as he slid back.

Kai was thankful he got out of the range of those claws by using the momentum to get sent far back. Kai suddenly coughed and blood leaked from the corner of his mouth as blood and spit covered the back of his hand that he held in front of his mouth.

'Damn it! I can't take another hit like that, all that force was sent right into me and I'm hurtin' bad now... I've gotta try to end this.' Kai thought as he tried getting his mind straight.

Kai wiped his mouth and began to jog towards the squirrel. His body began throbbing with pain, but it was dulled by the adrenaline flowing through his veins. Blood covered his arm and back from his sliced skin, staining his clothes once again a dark crimson.

Kai continued hurling insults, increasing the squirrel's ire further. The fiend was frothing at the mouth and shaking it's head wildly as if his words were crawling around in the squirrel's ear and he was trying to get them loose.

The squirrel continued twitching madly and hurled itself at Kai. Kai didn't understand why the squirrel reacted this way, but he used it to his advantage. The squirrel was not coordinating it's attacks anymore, it was in a deathly primal state now, every sense of reasoning completely erased and nothing but primal fury fueling it's attacks.

The squirrel had gained a ton of strength, but it's coordination and speed had fallen by a large margin. Kai deflected the teeth by sliding the the side and redirecting the blow this time. Once the squirrel's feet hit the ground, Kai was already on him.

He sliced his dagger forward like a whip, the serrated teeth of the dagger digging into the squirrel's hide and slicing right through it. There was no resistance. This creature was pure offense and it was not sturdy like the boar.

Kai followed up with another slice, this one hit the same area on the squirrel's should and the dagger ground against the squirrel's bones, emitting a high pitched scraping noise.

The squirrel's front leg collapsed under the pain and muscles being cut through and tried snapping at Kai with it's crystalline teeth as a shrill scream exited it's throat. Kai dodged back pushed back forward two steps to the squirrel's side. He used the time the squirrel was recovering from his strike to jump on the squirrel's back, planting both his daggers into the squirrel's neck with an overhead strike.

The spine was snapped under the pressure and the squirrel's body instantly buckled, causing the ground the shake with it's impact. Kai hopped off the squirrel and hobbled his way over to the bench next to the Goddess, the rack of weapons was nowhere to be seen.

His body was pounding with pain and more blood was coughed up shortly after. He turned to the Goddess and put on a stupid grin he hoped would annoy her, "What's next?"