Chapter 19: A Sinner's Requiem

Every human and god in the stands felt the air of the arena change. No one knows how to make upon Robert Johnson with his guitar in hand. Even Hermes is left speechless as he barely comprehends what he is seeing.

In the booth, Nike's hands tremble, and beads of sweat come down from her face.

"W-what is this? M- My hands are trembling. Lady Athena, what's going on?!"

Athena has a grimace on her face as she senses such darkness and malice from Robert.

"I can't say I know, but I do know this. Whatever evil Robert made a deal with is immense and profane in nature."

Zeus and Hades watch the match with a stern expression on their faces, while Anansi looks on with shame and guilt.

'I'm sorry, Rasputin. I wish you weren't Robert's opponent. And I pity you as well, Robert. For being forced into my failure's whims,' Anansi thoughts laments.

"R-Rasputin," Aphrodite said nervously.

In the graveyard of the arena, Rasputin gulped while fighting the urge to run and forfeit the match.

"Eh-heh! So, Y-you brought your little lute? What now, going to play me a lullaby," Rasputin boldly claimed, trying to maintain his bravado.

"You know, holy man. I can feel the fear in your heart, right," Robert said with an empty, unearthly tone.

'Damn it! He knows I'm bluffing! Is it possible that he's been holding back?' Rasputin's mind races with doubt.

'Нет! НЕТ! Even if that's the case, I still did enough damage. He must have at least some broken ribs at best. I need to finish him with one clean hit.'

Rasputin exhaled as he charged at his foe, preparing for another Red Hammer.

Hermes sees this and begins to call the action.

"R-Rasputin is going in for another attack against Robert Johnson! Is that even a good idea?"

 But before Rasputin could reach Robert with the move, Robert strung a tone from his guitar, and Rasputin's right arm cracked and twisted. The bones break, the skin splits open, and the muscle is torn from its tendons.

"AUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGH!"

Rasputin screamed and dropped to his knees, clutching his damaged arm. Aphrodite gasped in horror while everyone else was shocked.

"O-oh shit! Rasputin's arm just got mangled," Hermes yelled.

Rasputin grunts in agony as he tries to go for a quick uppercut to Robert's chin. Robert plays a simple tune, and Rasputin's left hand explodes into mush. Rasputin let out another scream, quickly losing his voice. Rasputin tried to go for a headbutt, but his eyes, mouth, nose, and ears began to bleed. As Robert plays his tune on his guitar, Rasputin's body begins to be lacerated by an invisible force. Finally, the monk drops to his knees with many gashes and bleeding all over. 

"NO!" Aphrodite yelled, not wanting to see her champion die like this.

Amaterasu looks away from this tragedy befalling before her. Odin grimaces as he folds his arms.

Meanwhile, Rasputin tries desperately to use his Invocation to heal his damaged arms to no effect.

"W-what?"

"Wondering why you can't use your power?" Robert said

Rasputin looked up to see Johnson looming over with the same deadpan expression.

"Simply that, my power not to be confused with Divine Invocation allows me to hinder it by turning the sins you embody against you. And since your sins are pride and lust, your immortality is gone. Call it Blues of the Sin Eater."

Rasputin realized that he was no longer the predator but the prey, facing death personified in the form of a guitar-wielding figure.

"P-please.... Please, have mercy on me," Rasputin whimpered, groveling before Robert.

"I-I-I get it now. I should've been better. I wasn't thinking straight. So please, let me live!" Rasputin pleaded with tears in his eyes.

And for a moment, Robert's cold expression softened as he pitied this man begging for his life. After all, he never hated him, even after Rasputin beat him down. But Kalfou's callous voice makes itself known for Robert to do what comes next.

"Oh, Robbie. I hope you're not pitying this trash. Don't forget that he got into heaven, indulging in vices in paradise while you suffer. And after how he treated you, do you think he would show the same pity?"

"No," Robert said quietly.

"Then kindly finish it and make it bloody for the viewers back home."

Robert started playing a song on his guitar without uttering a single word. This song was quite familiar to Robert as the red smoke flowed from the guitar. 

"If I were you, Rasputin, I keep moving," Robert said as a low growl was heard from the red fog.

In the audience, a blue musician gasped as he recognized the song.

"Wait a minute! That's Hellhound On My Trail! That would mean..."

Rasputin crawled back as a monstrous hound with crimson red fur, sharp black spines on its back, razor-sharp claws and fangs, a scorpion's tail, and flaming yellow eyes. The creature was none other than the vile hellhound.

Hellbound leer at the wounded monk as Rasputin got up and ran for his life and licked its maw with a black, swollen tongue. The unholy beast looks to his summoner for the okay to ravage Rasputin.

With a regretful sigh, Robert nodded.

The beast let out a ghastly howl and lunged towards Rasputin with its claws and fangs bared.

Rasputin screamed as the hellhound began to rip the sinful monk apart.

As the hellhound tears the very being from Rasputin, the monk reflects on the life that led him to this moment. Like when he was a child, he stole some of the neighbors' crops for his siblings in Pokrovskoe. How he left the village after stealing horses led to him going on a pilgrimage. From swooning every woman in Russia to worming his way into the graces of the royal family, Rasputin sees these memories slowly fade into the abyss. Before nothingness takes hold, Rasputin has one last thought in his mind.

'I...I should've been better.'

Silence fell in the arena as the hellhound gnawed on a bone with the burnt remains of Rasputin's body. Every person watched in disbelief, say for Kalfou, to which he applauded Robert.

Robert looked down at the remains with a somber expression. 

Hermes clears his throat to declare the winner of the fourth battle.

"Uhh, ladies and gentlemen, the...the fourth match of Historiamachy has ended. Here is your winner, representing Anansi, Robert Johnson..."

Fourth Bout

Robert Johnson (Winner)

V.S.

Grigori Rasputin (Departed)

Winning Attack: Hellhound On My Trail

Match Length: 4:00

Robert did not receive either cheers or scornful remarks. He's met with the weeping of the women who loved Rasputin during their times with him, and the rest is silence. Robert sighed as he walked to put his guitar in his case. Meanwhile, the dog disappeared while Rasputin's remains faded into stardust. As Johnson prepared to leave, Kalfou's words praised Robert, much to the musician's gloom.

"Haha! I knew you could do it, my boy! That's why you're my headliner!"

Robert sneers as he leaves the arena. In the sky booth, Aphrodite was inconsolable as she crumpled up on her throne.

"It's not fair! It's not fair! IT'S NOT FAIR!"

Amaterasu and Persephone go to try their best to comfort her.

"This is quite strange," Zeus said, stroking his beard.

Odin nodded in agreement, "Yes, the fact Robert Johnson could use an ability like that and not being a Divine Invocation is suspicious."

"Perhaps it's an enchantment of some kind," Hera suggested.

Zeus strokes his beard with a slight nod.

"I see. Perhaps that's the case."

As the discussion continued, Anansi got up with a negligibly nervous expression.

"Anansi, where are you going?" Loki questioned

Anansi clears his throat as he says with a hint of irritation, "Oh, I'm simply going to check on my champion if you don't mind?"

Anansi left the booth quickly, leaving Loki perplexed. Loki drifts to Hades.

"Jeez, what's gotten into him? He's jumpy like his descendants."

Hades looked at the monitor of Robert leaving the arena and eyes Robert's warped shadow with suspension.

"Yes, I quite agree, Loki."

The Battle of Sin has Ended...!

Next Time, The Murderer and The Samurai Goes To War...!