Gor growled, and his massive body flattened on the solid ground. Arad, who just threw him, stood back up and looked at the mess he had made with a smile. That massive body of his wasn’t just for show, those twisted and toned muscles held enough power to crush the very ground, and when looking at him again, everyone in the crowd was reminded of an image they once saw in the highest sanctum of the world tree.

In that image, three individuals could be seen resting beneath the great and enduring trunk of the world tree.

One was a titanic dragon of ashen scales, which was so huge that even while lying down, his back was as high as the tree’s lowest branches, far above the clouds. That was Asgorath, the God Father of Dragons, Yggdrasil’s brother.

Coming down from the sky with magnificent pale wings that engulfed the entire world was a fair, blond, and monstrously built beautiful man engulfed in eternal divinity. That was Lucifer, the first angel and the one who ruled the heavens.

Then there was the man that the crowd saw in Arad, a tall, sixty-arms-tall man, a pure man of olive skin, golden eyes, and luscious black hair and beard. He rested with his back on the trunk, and his eyes looked straight forward, as if looking back at the people watching the mural in the future.

Adam, the father of humanity. To the people of this world, they saw him as the progenitor of all that is humanoid, their forefather, and the first Revered Elder of them all. And now that Arad stood in the arena and the people gave him a closer look, they started to notice the similarities.

The massive size, even though it might’ve just been exaggerated in the mural, considering how impossibly rare a three-meter-tall man is, it was possible that the one who made the mural just did it for art. But, the facial features, the build, the stance, the warm gaze that could be mistaken for a cold glare, and the heavy presence that made everyone unable to even imagine themselves facing him.

"Wait, doesn’t he look like the Ancestral Elder Adam?" One of the spectators gasped, and immediately after that, everyone roared. "Wait! Right, they look similar!"

"Don’t tell me! The Ancestral bloodline still stands!?"

"Is there a clan somewhere that managed to maintain the purity of the Ancestral Father’s bloodline, or was he just lucky to be born like this?"

"A Genetic Jackpot!"

While the crowd cheered, Kali smiled. It wasn’t that Arad looked like Adam; it was Adam who looked like Arad. In reality, Arad, AO, had made Adam in his image, since at the time, he didn’t have much of a better model than himself.

Pig God rolled back up, stared at Arad for a second, and then sighed. "It seems I’m far weaker than you physically."

Arad smiled. "True, but you won’t ask how come I’m heavier than you?"

"You called it fatter last time. Well, it isn’t my business to ask anyway." He took a deep, strained breath, and then his eyes flashed with golden light. "I wanted to save this for the final match, but it seems I won’t be getting past you without it."

"I can see that burning soul of yours." Arad opened both of his arms. "Come, show me what you can do."

"Don’t regret it when you lose." Pig God chuckled, and immediately after, his body started steaming and shrinking. All of that fat he stored over the years was getting burned and turned into pure energy that got funnelled straight into his muscles and soul.

As the fat all burned away, and the steam cleared, what walked out made everyone in the crowd gasp. A muscular, two-meter-tall, fair-skinned, blond, and blue-eyed man who held enough divine beauty to shatter all the women watching. It didn’t help that he was basically naked if not for the pair of thongs that did all the heavy lifting.

Arad slowly approached, and so did Gor. "You don’t look surprised at all." Gor said with a smile, and Arad returned the grin. "I could already see the toned body hiding beneath all of that fat." Arad then lifted his right fist up, and brought it down at Gor’s face like a hammer from god, hitting him hard enough to shatter the entire arena and crack Liana’s barrier.

But Gor remained standing and didn’t move a single step. As he spat the blood aside, his left arm bolted toward Arad’s face with a thunderclap, returning the punch he had just received.

The Punch hit Arad’s lower jaw with a loud shockwave, shattering the already cracked barrier around the arena, and the entire crowd jumped to their feet.

This wasn’t any regular fight, and they immediately knew that when they saw Arad’s arm move again, and hit Gor with the same shattering force. It wasn’t a fight between two immortals or cultivators, but just two men exchanging fists.

Gor took the second punch directly and immediately rushed forward, wrapping his arms around Arad’s torso and putting his entire back into it. He lifted and threw him to the ground. Even Arad was surprised, as before, Gor couldn’t even move him. But it makes sense now that he got rid of all that heavy fat and converted it into energy; his strength must have increased.

The moment Arad hit the ground, Gor jumped on top of him and started throwing fists at his head. Each punch held enough power to crack the arena’s floor, yet Arad was fast enough to evade them all just by moving his head from one side to another.

"Trying to wrestle me down, that’s a bad idea." With a single twist from his massive torso, Arad pushed Gor away and charged at him like a bull, tackling him to the wall, and then grabbed him by the hair. "I’m stronger and faster." Then with one arm, Arad swung Gor in the air, and smacked him to the ground at full force.

The hit was so hard that Gor’s body bounced back like a ball and flew into the air with a splash of blood, causing the entire crowd to gasp.

Gor could feel all of his organs contorting from the hit, and it was clear that he couldn’t match Arad’s raw strength. He has to beat him with something else, and he has several tricks that might work. He twisted his torso mid-air and swung his feet as fast as he could.

CRACK! CRACK! Like whips, the soles of his feet hit the empty air, and the sheer impact of them cracking the sound barrier lifted him up. In front of Arad and the crowd, Gor was moving his legs so fast that he was running on air, with just sheer speed. Seeing him made many almost pull their hair out, and even Arad had to smile. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

"Wouldn’t it have been easier to learn flight magic?"

Gor’s eyes flashed golden as he blasted toward Arad, shattering the sound barrier several times over in the blink of an eye. Arad also moved at a blinding speed, almost leaving his shadow in place as he dodged Gor’s charge, and the two of them flew all around the arena, throwing punches and kicks at each other, and each of their attack caused the entire underground arena to tremble.

"Those two..." Liana growled, and Eris laughed by her side. "Well, isn’t that man amazing. Arad might not be going all out, but it is rare for someone to fight him for this long."

"Gor’s lineage is ancient, and his clan has been practicing martial arts and cultivation for over forty thousand years. I thought he wanted to practice a new style, but it seems I was wrong." Liana leaned on the window. "He doesn’t have any magical or mystical arts; all of his cultivation seems to have gone to enchant his body and allow him to use his martial techniques at an inhuman level."

Kali joined them and giggled. "Most rebellious kids abandon the tradition they hate, but Gor took that tradition and pushed it to a new level, just to prove to the old heads in his clan that their stubbornness doesn’t matter."

She jumped on the window and crossed her arms. "ARAD! GOR! Forget about the arena, this place is too confined. Take this fight somewhere else!" As Kali shouted, all the people watching looked toward her. Even with how loud the fight was, her voice was heard clearly, and the people started wondering who this brat was.

Arad dodged a kick from Gor and grabbed him by the knee. "She is right! The sky is wide enough!" And then, with a single violent throw, Arad sent Gor flying across the ceiling and into the open sky.