Victory came with mounds of sweat. The elastic man huffed, puffed, and dropped to one knee. Just like that, exhaustion from that short battle stripped him of associations that would count towards him being Deific by any stretch. He could have been mistaken for a mortal with a queer humanoid body.
The feeling of accomplishment was but his alone, however. No one echoed his joy. No one was meant to. A solitary victory was all it was. The journey was just beginning.
"Sickening, isn't it?" said Antioch with thinly veiled disgust. "He'll be awarded a new Vessel and tutelage from a Grand General of his choice because of trickery."
"What trick? He was just smarter," argued Skullius, praising the candidate. "A shrewd opponent is better than a stronger one in my view. You're looking for a challenge, but you can't appreciate that?"
