( The arena of the god's, Thor's locker room )
Thor did not wish to be in the immortal arena of gods today, he did not wish to kill Shakuni over nothing, but the latter had left him no other option.
In Thor's mind there was no fear of facing Shakuni in a fair one-on-one battle, he was a tier8 monarch, the hammer he wielded was forged from the densest alloy in the universe and was so heavy that god's with over 300,000 strength stat still struggled to wield it properly.
In Thor's mind, Shakuni was a benefactor of the thunder nation, without him Thor would have never found out about the traitors hiding in his own kingdom and would have never understood the plight of his own kingdom which was the only reason he was regretful for this fight.
Thor felt that Shakuni's attitude was unreasonable, he had even offered countless treasures to settle the matter of Karna's death even though he did not need to but the stubborn Shakuni was hell-bent on wanting vengeance.
In Thor's mind, this behaviour was not befitting of a god!
Thor also loved Mavi, the man was like a brother to him and was the pillar of his empire, yet he let-go of the grudge of Mavi's death, when Rudra came to his council to talk reason.
Mavi was a tier 7 god! Karna was a tier5 mortal. Even so, Thor was ready to apologise and even offer compensation for his death but Rudra would not take it.
As Thor put his armour on, he steeled his mind into believing that Rudra deserved what was coming his way today.
He had done everything possible to avoid this conflict, but since it could not be avoided then he was for sure not going to shy away from it either.
Since Shakuni wanted a fight, Shakuni was going to get a fight!
Since he was the challenged party, he got to set the terms of victory in this battle and since he wanted nothing from Shakuni post his defeat, he decided to keep the stakes as 100 gold coins.
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( Meanwhile Rudra, in his locker room )
Rudra had his eyes shut calmly as he listened to the roaring arena outside.
15,000 light faction god's, 7 monarchs, 12,000 dark faction god's, Lucifer and Satan were all present outside in the sitting arena waiting for Rudra to face Thor.
It was the first time in history that a monarch had been challenged to fight in the immortal arena, as nobody outside believed that Rudra could walk out of this fight the winner.
Rudra too understood full well that the decision to fight Thor today was a wrong one, he understood that the fight today was uncertain and he was the weaker party going into the fight.
However, he also knew that he had to do it.
If he did not fight Thor to the death over killing Karna then he would not be able to live with himself for centuries to come knowing that he let his brother's death go unavenged.
He did not plan to die here today, but he was not afraid to risk his life either as he knew full well that his body had two treasures that would allow him to reincarnate even when he died.
From the day he challenged Thor, many people tried to dissuade him from this fight.
People that he trusted and respected all told him that this was foolish, and Rudra knew they were not wrong.
But when he saw the perils of his elites, the pain and sadness in their eyes, he knew that as the patriarch of the elite family he needed to avenge this death.
It was not until Jhonny returned and the elder meeting was called that Rudra finally got the confidence that his path was the right path.
Every individual in that room that day were ready to fight Thor knowing full well that they would not last a second against him in a fight.
As if making Thor pay was not enough, the elites wanted to take over the entire thunder nation for revenge and that was exactly what they were going to do.
Sir Jhonny with his red-hand group and the new guildmaster of the true elites guild Neatwit were both going to announce a joint attack against the thunder nation irrespective of the outcome of today's battle.
It was for this reason, that Rudra knew that he needed to fight and for this reason that he knew he had to win, because whether or not his entire guild got closure over their Guildmasters death and whether or not they became rulers of an entire monarchy depended on whether or not Rudra was capable of slaying Thor here today.
Rudra was at his most dangerous when he was fighting for the elites and today was one such fight.
As he put his armour on he envisioned the battle that was going to come ahead.
His biggest advantage over Thor today was that despite him being over 400 levels below Thor at 1775 vs the monarch's 2175, his stats were slightly superior to those of Thor.
His biggest weakness against Thor today was that the other party had access to tier8 attacks that he was incapable of and a better understanding of the laws of the universe.
Since potions were not allowed while fighting in the immortal arena, Rudra had to tread carefully with his HP as once those points were lost they would be very difficult to recover.
Since the inception of the guild, Rudra had one motto for his organisation -
' One For All, All For One '
It was the motto he lived by and the motto that binded his guild into one family.
Since one of his family members had been killed, today he had to retaliate.
Hence even though there was nobody around him to chant alongside him today, Rudra clutched his two swords the Grim Reaper and the Excalibur and shouted loudly
" ONE FOR ALL, ALL FOR ONE, GO ELITES GO! ".
Before running onto the arena, in front of friends and foes alike.
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/// A/N - Chapter 7/10 for new year's bonus, enjoy! ///