Minor Conflict

"Quick! Do something!" The voice was distorted, and he couldn't hear what was said or who it was that was talking. His eyes felt like they were shut tight, and he felt his whole body aching.

"What do you want me to do?! And stop touching him!" He still couldn't hear what the two individuals were saying, and he wouldn't know that anyone was touching him since he couldn't feel anything. Shiva pushed Freya away as she clung to Velios' unmoving body.

"What are you doing, you pervert goddess?!" He still couldn't hear, see, or feel what was happening. "Damn you, Shiva... Let me touch him!" Freya was as relentless as usual, and her mission was to take full advantage of the situation.

"You stupid woman! He's barely breathing; revive him!" Shiva and Freya were fighting and screaming among themselves, but Velios's body was still unmoving.

"What do you want me to do?! Healing doesn't even work on him; I've tried six times already!" Shiva was getting impatient.

"Huh?! You're a goddess, and you can't even heal him? What are we supposed to do?!" Shiva was amazed at how useless Freya was, but it's not like he could do anything himself.

"Quick! We have to do mouth-to-mouth...!" Shiva didn't know what he was saying anymore. He was left speechless at his own words, but he realized that he shouldn't have said that for other reasons either.

"If you say so..." Freya was moving her lips ever so closely. Even as Shiva came in and tried to stop her, she continued moving forward. "How are you so goddamn strong when it comes to kissing men?!" Shiva was trying to stop her, and she eventually couldn't advance further. Freya had a flustered look on her face but didn't try to stop either. "S-shut up!"

Velios put his hands in their faces, completely covering them before pushing both of them away. "I'm still alive!" Velios couldn't move anything more than his arms, but it was enough to push both of them away. "Wait... did the two of you survive?" Velios was confused at what had happened. He had finally remembered what had happened but found himself at the bottom of the giant pit.

"What are you talking about? You killed literally everyone. I don't think a single dragon survived." Shiva said so confidently over the fact that his own statement was true but also without a single bit of shock, knowing what kind of person Velios was.

"So what are you guys doing out here? I didn't even summon you." Velios tried to raise his body but found instead that it was way too consuming for his body. He had essentially used way too much of his mana, healing, and all of his other abilities. Velios wasn't the kind of person to rely on his skills, but he probably wouldn't be alive without them.

"Emmerge..." The damage eventually caught up to him, and he barely had the strength to continue. Yet, there were two more monsters that he summoned. As Velios continued lying down, he realized that he couldn't stay unconscious much longer.

"Hey... Vadh, Ragaja... Take care of me; I'll be going to sleep for a bit..." Velios eventually closed his eyes. Vadh and Ragaja looked confusedly at each other before hearing snoring noises behind them.

"What?" The two of them spoke in unison before looking around them. The two of them, equally confused, found themselves in a massive pit, and despite being there in the tournament, none of them expected the amount of destruction before them. The two of them turned their heads to look at Velios but found that he was sound asleep.

Vadh was looking at things from a completely different perspective. Despite having had to train and fight with Velios, with all the times Velios had killed him, it had made him even more eager to hurt Velios back, but with the four individuals that were all under Velios' direct control, only two of them wanted him dead. If Vadh and Shiva fought against Ragaja and Freya, the outcome would not be certain. With the fact that Freya is Shiva's direct counter and arguably stronger than him, they would not be able to even touch Velios with both Freya and Ragaja defending him.

"What did he say again?" Vadh was still too shocked about the surroundings to concentrate on what Velios was saying.

"He said... he wanted me to take care of him..." Freya was awfully and unnecessarily trying to sound seductive when she slowly walked towards the sleeping Velios. "Should we really rely on her? Did Velios actually keep her?" Vadh sighed as he didn't care what she did about Velios' body.

Ragaja was the first to pick up Velios' body, leaving Freya devastated as she realized she was a single second too late. "We should probably get out of here quickly. We wouldn't want any person or monster coming while master is unconscious." Ragaja was continuing to speak as he walked around but realized that the hole they were in was multiple hundreds of meters deep.

"As if I'd care about some weak human..." Vadh was trying to sound nonchalant, but the truth was that he actually cared about Velios to some degree. "Haven't you lost to that same human thousands of times? I heard that Velios stopped counting after his 13,168th win in a row." Ragaja wasn't afraid to be brutally honest, but he didn't want to rub too much salt into Vadh's wounds. The only reason he said that was because Vadh was being disrespectful to Velios, and he got tired of it.

Before they were able to get out of the pit, Velios jumped out of Ragaja's arms. They all looked confused as he didn't even look tired anymore. "Thanks for carrying me, Ragaja. And I'm sorry..." Velios stood firmly, turning his head around to see the amount of destruction he caused. Ragaja had almost forgotten what had happened and immediately lost his smile as he thought about it. His expression was now a completely blank stare. He remained quiet, imagining the amount of pain and suffering Velios caused to everyone. He even broke the promise that he swore to hold. The promise to not attack nor kill any dragon as long as they didn't attack them first. It was an understatement to say that Ragaja was disappointed. His home, the city he had been living in for his whole life, had been brutally destroyed, and every single fellow dragon that he had ever known or met had met their end on the same day. Hundreds of years of history, reduced to nothingness in the span of a few days, since Velios initially arrived there.

Ragaja couldn't hold it in anymore, and he didn't care if he was punished for it. He started punching Velios in the face, over and over again. Velios just let it happen. Although it did not necessarily hurt him, it was powerful enough to bring his body to the ground. Velios let his body fall, knowing fully that what he did was unacceptable. As Ragaja continued unleashing his own anger in the form of punches, Velios couldn't help but have a sad look in his eyes.

Would past me do this? Let a monster continuously punch me? I don't think so... but I did deserve it. Fully deserve it. I not only broke the singular promise I made to Ragaja, but I basically destroyed and killed everything he held dear to him. It's almost scary how human these monsters are... What am I thinking? When did I start thinking about stuff like this and when did it start matter to me? I... I don't know...

Ragaja continued punching him on top of him, and Velios continued letting him. Freya tried to stop him, but Shiva put out his arm, warning her that she shouldn't. Despite her romantic urges, she managed to stop herself, but she couldn't bear to watch it. As it continued, small drops of blood flew to either side as Ragaja continued punching him in the face.

"You damn monster! You! You promised me a single thing! You killed everybody...! You destroyed everything...! If anything... You're the only fucking monster here!" Ragaja screamed louder with every sentence and hit harder with every punch. Eventually, he tried to calm down but as he looked at Velios, instead of finding him laughing, completely emotionless or happy like he usually was, Velios was genuinely sad and regretful at what he did. Tears were not required for Velios to show his true emotions. It was like Velios' expression itself was saying "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," over and over again.

Ragaja still possessed an immense amount of anger towards Velios, but he seemed to calm down after getting a look at his face. Velios could easily heal his face, but he intentionally decided not to do that. Ragaja stood up and continued watching Velios' expression. He gritted his own teeth before walking away. "Look at you, weak and helpless. Your fragility is almost pitiful; a feeble existence standing on the ruins of your former life." Vadh didn't care. He saw an opportunity and took it. A single sentence that temporarily spoke louder than any action could have. Ragaja stopped as he heard that. "Take that back..." Ragaja slowly turned around. Vadh was seen standing there with a cocky smile as it was obvious he looked down upon him, trying to get an even bigger reaction. "And what are you going to do about it?"

Vadh laughed maniacally, anticipating the upcoming battle. In their previous encounter, he had narrowly lost, and since then, he had significantly enhanced his strength. Moreover, having provoked Ragaja added an edge to his technique, giving him a slightly better chance of victory. However, what Vadh failed to consider was the substantial increase in mana that Ragaja could now proficiently wield as a dragon.

Vadh's grin widened as he observed Ragaja's mana growing rapidly with each passing moment, charging towards him. In his peripheral vision, Ragaja noticed a swiftly approaching object. Despite its incredible speed, he realized he couldn't evade it, and to his surprise, it wasn't targeting him but Vadh.

A solid, reinforced steel spear soared through the air, heading directly for Vadh. With no time to react, it pierced his body entirely. His entire form was propelled along with the spear, crashing into the wall. Despite his efforts, Vadh couldn't free himself as the spear embedded itself into the wall. The spear's remarkable speed and durability inflicted significant damage on him. Its unusually large size suggested it wasn't designed for hand-wielding. Vadh coughed up torrents of blood, and even his magic was disrupted by the spear still lodged in his body. Confused, Vadh realized Ragaja hadn't taken any action, leaving him wondering about the true cause of this ordeal.