“You’re not better than me!” That’s what I heard when my consciousness returned to my body. I looked down—my blood was everywhere. He’d dragged me through the arena, pushing and punching me, never letting me hit the ground.

  I tried to open my eyes, but another punch landed.

  The blade! Use the blade! I need to taste it! The voice spoke again, and I saw in Max’s face that he’d heard it—and knew I’d heard it too.

  Are you going to die like this, kiddo? Lose to this weakling? Lyrathos’s masculine voice screamed in my ear.

  Please, be merciful, the other voice said, though she was speaking to her companion, not me. He needs strength right now, not this.

  This was a mistake! the masculine voice roared as I locked eyes with Max—at least with my right eye and his left, the only ones still open.

  “Who are you?! Stop talking in my head! I can’t take this anymore!” Max shouted, his hand raised to strike again—but this time, I wasn’t letting him beat me.

  The few seconds of distraction had been enough to regain some of my senses, and with my Strength through the roof, I managed to raise my left arm and intercept his attack.

  I held it tight—so tight I could feel the fibers of his skin twisting. He stared at it in shock.

  But he didn’t see my punch coming.

  The blade! his god kept calling.

  Max stumbled back, staring at me but looking at nothing.

  “I’m sick of you!” he roared, never taking his eyes off me—but I knew he was talking to the deity, not to me.

  I moved forward slowly, both hands up guarding my face—not that there was much left to guard. I’d lost a few teeth as he beat me down without any chance to retaliate, and my face was probably as swollen and bloody as his.

  We circled each other, watching every move.

  “You’re not better than me…” Max kept muttering over and over, blood pouring from his mouth and dripping onto the ground.

  I said nothing with my mouth—but I did with my fist. It was quick and unexpected. I hit him right in the nose and expected him to fall, but instead, his hands gripped my arms, pulling himself toward me with a mad grin on his face.

  He slammed his forehead into mine again.

  “You’re not better than me!” he screamed as I stumbled back and he closed the distance, swinging straight at my chin.

  I tried to dodge, but with my vision doubled from the daze, his punch caught me clean on the chin.

  I bit my tongue as gravity abandoned me, his blow sending me flying a few inches.

  I hit the ground on my back but pushed myself up, rage starting to take hold.

  “Why don’t you speak to me? Say something!” Max pleaded, arms out to the side as I crouched on all fours, staring at him.

  I grinned—a bloody, broken grin—and that was all it took to push Max over the edge. In a fraction of a second, I saw the grimace of pain on his face twist into madness—the look of someone who’d lost everything and was ready to make me lose what little I had left.

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  And as that expression burned itself into my brain—I let go.

  Any rationality. Any desire to prove him wrong. Any thought of doing the greater good by eliminating him.

  I could hear each of his steps—the ones splashing through blood pools and the ones stomping against the rocky ground. The world became one again, just as our minds had moments ago.

  I wasn’t hearing his god anymore. Or mine. Or anything.

  Complete silence fell as I let him kick me in the belly—while I summoned my blade and pierced his free foot with my dagger.

  I rolled back as he crouched to remove the serrated blade. I hauled myself up before he could finish.

  “I’m not better than you,” I said, rushing forward and punching him right in the nose, like he’d done to me before. “You’re nothing!”

  He stumbled back, my blade still lodged in his torn foot. He tried to stay upright but collapsed when his wounded foot touched the ground.

  “How could I be better than vermin? You’re the lowest of the low—a waste. And I’ve met plenty of those. You’re not better than the lowest piece of shit I’ve ever known,” I roared, closing the distance once more.

  I summoned my blade and struck him in the shoulder. It pushed through the armpit wound and out the other side.

  He tried to roll away, but I grabbed his shirt, soaked in blood, and hurled him to the side.

  He summoned his blade with me on top of him, but as soon as it appeared in his hands, I kicked it.

  His fingers snapped in the process as the blade skittered far away.

  The sound of each bone breaking made me laugh. A toothless, wheezing laugh that came out funny.

  A gurgled sound erupted from my throat as I loomed over him.

  “He made me do it!” Max cried as I grabbed him by the shirt, near his shoulders. “The god made me do it! I didn’t want to kill her!”

  I had no idea what he was talking about.

  “And before? When you tried to kill me? When you killed the healer during the boss fight? Was he there too?”

  Max locked eyes with me, his good eye filled with tears.

  “Yes!” he screamed. “He was!”

  The man was completely gone. He was mad, coping with his psychosis by blaming it on the existence of deities.

  He was lost.

  In that small moment, I realized the fucker was still human.

  Just not the kind that deserved to breathe.

  “You did it!” I punched him, and he spilled blood again. “You liked doing it!” I heard his jaw crack with the next punch.

  He tried to speak, but couldn’t.

  “You’re only regretful because we caught you! Because we know who you truly are. A real monster—worse than any of the creatures we’ve killed before!” I roared, right in his face, my mouth wide open, exposing my torn cheek. I probably looked like the devil himself at that moment, and I couldn’t be more pleased.

  I’d bring him retribution—justice, if you see it that way.

  He tried to speak again, but I didn’t care to understand. I grabbed him by the shirt and heaved him up, only to slam him back down.

  I didn’t know how much time had passed, but it was enough for my Strength to be through the roof.

  The moment his skull hit the ground, I heard it crack. He looked into my eyes—there was nothing there. No plea for mercy. No plea for a quick death.

  Just an empty shell pretending to be a man. He must’ve mistaken himself for human before, tried to rationalize his urges, but now, facing death, his one eye showed me the truth.

  His eye showed me what he truly was.

  Nothing.

  I heaved him up one more time until we were both standing, staring at each other. His jaw didn’t move—but I heard a voice.

  The god’s voice.

  He was weak all along, Zachary. You and me, though? We could be a good pair. You can dismiss Lyrathos, they’re weak like Max… then you can have me. I can give you what you’re missing.

  The god spoke inside my mind, his voice seductive and alluring—but I knew better.

  “You’d better find someone stronger next time,” I told the god, “because I’ll kill anyone you put in my way. And if I ever get the chance to bring pain to you—I’ll take it.”

  The god didn’t reply. It recoiled into the darkness inside Max’s head, and I dropped him to the ground. I didn’t even throw him with much force, but when he hit the ground a second time, he was already dead before his eye closed.

  There was no hostess screaming my name, no crowd applauding—nothing. It was just me and Max’s corpse on the ground. I scanned my surroundings, looking for something, someone. But as unceremoniously as my foe’s death, new messages popped into my vision.

  Congratulations!

  You’re now the owner of this city stone!

  You acquired rewards for yourself and the other city members, as well as for the ones you want to gift back on your planet.

  City menu available.

  How do you want to name your town?