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The void always had a different look to it, a new location, a new weather pattern. But it always smelled the same way, it smelled fake. Artificial. Maybe there was a reason for that.

This seemed to be the simplest of all the battlegrounds, the base of the tree.

The tree of life itself was enormous, and at its base was a small garden of sorts, just hanging in thin air over oblivion.

It was on the tip of that garden that Maximos stood. He wore a navy blue pinstripe vest with a black formal shirt beneath it, and a black glove on his right hand. His dark blue hair was caught up in the wind, making its already spikey nature seem even more pronounced.

He stepped forward rolling up his sleeves to his elbows, a smile on his pale face.

Hello, you must be my opponent.

He adjusted his blue faded sunglasses, and pulled his left hand from his pocket checking the time, before sliding it back.

Shall we begin?

Sure.

Maximos said. He didnt run, or charge, he walked. Until he was about 5ft away from his opponent at which point he arched his right arm back and delivered a nice clean punch, for the face. It wasnt charged with anything, and it was even super fast. He wasnt holding back, or being kind the man was old. In this world age and appearance mean nothing, for Maximos this was actually a pretty standard starting move. For the Shadow, opening moves are hardly ever made to hit.

Maximos wasnt really surprised. He made no assumption based on looks, it was just a foolish practice in this world. And he never expected his opening attack was going to hit. Opening hits were made for solely one purpose, judging your opponents capability. If this mans "old age" was supposed to be his trump card, it had just been exposed.

Very impressive, you keep in good shape for your age.

His punching hand pulled back rubbing the side of his face and then sliding around the back of his head to scratch an itch.

I figure someone your age could probably teach me a thing or two.

Now, the man had just back flipped, which meant he was a good distance back. Maximos slid his right foot forward, his left back, and then slid his left hand behind his back. This left his right hand extended with an open palm. He waved his opponent on.

C'mon, show me what you can do.

He wasnt being being prideful, but honest. The best way to learn from someone old and experienced was to see it first hand. And so he honestly wanted to see the old man in action, it was a chance he just could not miss!

That was good. A wise defense. He could have performed a complex slash and obliterated the rock, but that would have misdirected his focus. He would have been completely open to another attack.

That was particularly fortunate because another attack was currently on its way. In the trail of the rock Maximos had sent, swung his massive claw at Damrius. The large appendage scrapping against the side of the room as it moved for a wide sweep, hoping to blindside Damrius from his right, the hand itself easily about half his side and packing quite a wallop.

But there was something off, something the Shadow had left open...

Maximos just sort of moved to scratch the back of his head again. It was obvious this man was trying to do...something. What with the ground cracking and his staff turning metal, the only question was...what?

Surely someone like that had something more...useful? Maximos wanted to be impressed he really did. But he was less impressed with the mans move and more impressed with the fact that at his apparent age he could even move...or crack the earth...or gather energy...or brea--no that was rude.

The Shadow, just sort of waited. For...something...to happen.

This was obviously a deep and complex process what with ripping open the earth and converting its power into a tangible form. At the same time though, it was obviously quite a long process to produce a very large weapon.

Well um...take your time there...dont rush...

He said with a nervous smile on his face. He was honestly trying to be kind and give the man the chance to perform this maneuver of which he was obviously quite proud. But it was sort of taking a while...

Correct.

While Damrius could not assume anything about Maximos' skill or his endurance their were certain constants that the two of them had to bend to no matter the differences that divided them.

In other words, Damrius had no way of knowing how fast or strong, or even tough that arm could be. He could not assume how strong Maximos' grip was or even how strong of a hold he had on the pillar.

However, he could assume the constants. Such as the fact that the arm, had wieght, which means even if Maximos had the strength to move it fast, it was still heavy. Secondly, there was a pillar, and pillars no matter who was on them, are only so strong.

Which meant, quite simply, that the lightning was beautifully successful.

The arm was bearing down on Damrius his legs were carrying him and yet it seemed to be gaining. And then the bolt hit, with the massive weight of the arm already on it, it was horribly unbalanced, and down it went. Just 5ft or so from reaching Damrius the arm bent curving inwards, the clawed digits scraping a huge chunked out of the surface Damrius was walking on but leaving him otherwise unscathed as the massive palm smashed into the ground, flattening a few of the uprisen tiles.

This gave Maximos a grip, something he needed, because he was falling. A startled look across his features, his concentration was entirely broken for a moment expelling the massive shadow he had absorbed causing it to explode out in something of a giant tuft of black as Maximos fell, and was pulled, again much like a tether to the point where the palm had landed. The black quickly swirling and zooming back behind the pillar from whence it came.

Leaving Maximos looking a bit loopy in the middle of a giant hand print. His right arm shrunken back to normal size and a yet seemingly covered in some sort of black gauntlet.

Maximos hadnt been concentrating on another fight, or a puzzle, or preparing an attack. He had been standing right there and watching. Simply put, stranger things have happened. He wasnt startled at all, he just watched and smiled. And then forward came the cyclops.

The cyclops was 10ft tall, Maximos was 6ft tall. The creature was rushing him, bull rushing him. Which meant despite the giant hammer in its hands, it was going to rush him in the same style as a bull...it was going to run directly into him, likely with a shoulder.

Maximos waited for that moment when it was about to impact. As the giant came bearing down on him, he ducked low, his left hand digging into the grass as he pushed off the balls of his feet into action. He shoved forward, directly between the monsters legs and came up safely behind it.

Hephesteus, God of The Forge?