Both V and L had been warned multiple times about the Champion of the Mad God. However, the short blue bearded man had apparently never encountered the rumors. To be honest, V would have written off a warning given to him by another participant in the game, however nearly every champion they had spoken to had expressed deep concern over The Mad Champion's very existence. In light of that, V was willing to take the threat he or she might pose quite seriously. Unfortunately, at the moment, the walls of the alley were trying to crush him. Various dark shapes and configurations of the "walls," if they could even be called that anymore, were constantly flying toward him or closing around him. So far, he had been able to dodge them all. "Eika, see if you can find a way out of here, I doubt running backwards or forwards will work, try searching for a hidden exit among the walls or something." Eika nodded and scampered off, searching the alleyway. L was, at the moment, having trouble defending adequately against the man and his dagger. The first problem was that he moved oddly. A single step and he would move the length of several, a leaping strike would have him only travailing half the distance L would have expected him to. His unusual movements made it difficult to anticipate the man's strikes. On top of that, the man also paid little attention to his own safety. L had struck him more than once, each time resulting in her sword leaving only a small red line that also quickly dissipated.

"Look, you’re just drawing out the inevitable, just stop resisting and I’ll make sure to end you quickly!" The man struck out at L again, inflicting another small wound. "Death by a thousand cuts is not a pleasant way to go, and your uh... companion? Back there will soon find out that getting only part of your body crushed hurts way way more than just having your head crushed in one easy go..." V breathed heavily as he responded from behind L. "Look, if you just let us go we can part ways. We will not even hold a grudge." The man looked at L as he fought "Even if I was, for some reason, inclined to let you out of my trap, I doubt this woman would be as forgiving as you, I can see it in her eyes!" V made a small gesture of acceptance with his head, that was actually probably true. V doubted that L had an advances sense of forgiveness based off his observations of her. As V struggled on, he noticed that the strikes made by the various shapes of the walls and floors of the alleyway were getting more refined and accurate. He felt stupid when the thought "The alleyway is learning" crossed his mind, but nonetheless, it appeared true. For L's part, she had also noticed something about her foe. The man had made a course correction to avoid a blow to the head once. Perhaps whatever regeneration he had, would not work if she stabbed his brain, or against some other form of instant death.

Eika, for her part, was searching the alley frantically. She had felt an ever-increasing sense of danger that made her want nothing more than to escape this alleyway. Her eyes sharpened and her ears strained, but she could find no way out. Running up and down the alley accomplished nothing. It appeared as if she never made any progress. Whenever she turned around, she was just as close to the fight as she was when she started running. V was right! She had to search for another way out... Eika looked upward, trying to figure out how high she could jump, and if there was anything to jump onto. Useless! The walls around here were smooth and black, like the darkest sheet of obsidian. "Do you...? Alley... sacrifice?" A barely audible whisper caused Eika's head to whip around, looking for the source of the voice, however it was clear that no one was speaking to her. "Eika might be going crazy... maybe I am supposed to still be dead?" Eika began to panic. Between her instincts as a prey animal who was trapped, her recent apparent death, and now hearing things, Eika's composure was starting to fall apart.

A large hexagon shaped piece of the wall smashed into V's back, sending him forward toward L. "Gah! watch out!" V called as he tried to avoid smashing into her. The blow was hard enough to send him sprawling, but it did not seem to break any bones. This time. V quickly rolled out of the way of a sphere that had dropped toward him. He swiftly stood up, jumping forward to avoid a small hole that had suddenly opened and slammed shut. In between dodging the hole, and whatever was coming next, V happened to look toward the clash between the man and L. At that moment, he realized that there was a young boy standing near the two of them. Was... was he always here? It seemed as if the man and L also noticed the boy at the same time V did. Both of them jumped back, away from both each other and the boy. "You should have stayed home, it’s a nightmare out here!" As L warned the boy, something deep within her awoke like a firework. Panic, revulsion, a sick feeling deep within L was urging her to flee, to escape. Struggling with the sudden feeling, L tried her best to assess the situation. "Thanks lady! But it’s not that bad. This short man is sort of boring though." The man seemed unsteady and confused, "When...did you get here? I should have felt anyone enter this space... I must have been distracted..." The boy rolled his eyes, "See? He is boring, oohhh shapes and daggers! What an exciting use of the powers given to him!" The boy waved his arms around in a mocking manner. The man growled "Boy, you should learn to respect your elders!" A large diamond shaped part of the alley fired toward the boy, L tried to move quickly enough to push the child out of the way, but the diamond rocketed toward him faster than L could reach him.

The alley piece slammed into the child and exploded. Pieces of smooth black obsidian like material scattered everywhere. "Ohhh noo! He got me! The boring alley man got me!" The child fell to the ground and writhed around as if in pain. A look of concentration crossed the man’s face, the alleyway roiled as a massive black sphere appeared over the boy’s body, and slammed down onto him. For a moment, silence reigned. L looked at V, who shook his head and shrugged. The man examined the side of the sphere for a moment. "You know. I was acting out a scene for your benefit. I was going to cry and pretend I was dying and everything. But you interrupted it! And now that I'm thinking about it, aren't you supposed to be a Divine Champion? Not a child murderer. You don't deserve the blessings you have been given!" Suddenly the alley way returned to normal. The smooth black walls melding back into grimy stonework. "Eh? Eika can hear the city again?!?" Relief flooded Eika's voice. As V stared at the middle-aged woman standing in the alley between L and the man, he struggled to cope. Did the woman just nullify the man’s blessing? Wait... V furrowed his brow. Was there always a woman here? Something about that did not sound right to him.

"Well, I suppose since I made the trip here, I can at-least find something entertaining to do." The woman's eyes scanned the alley, her eyes settling on V. "Oh, hello. You could be worth my time." She gracefully slid over to V and touched his cheek with the back of her hand. "Want to have some fun? If your worried about your lady friend there being jealous, she can come too..." The overwhelming confusion had stunned everyone but Eika into silence. "Eh, hay woman! Did you talk to Eika a moment ago?" The woman looked behind her, toward Eika "No, why would I? Please be quiet girl, the adults are talking." L was attempting to figure out the correct course of action. She was unsure exactly where the woman had come from, but one thing was clear, she had at the least, freed them from the bearded man's trap. The bearded man, for his part, had suddenly gripped his dagger with both hands, and ran toward the woman, who had pushed her body against V and was trying to convince him to exit the alley with her. A look of pain and anger crossed her face as the man’s dagger entered her back. Turning around, the massive man grabbed the small, blue bearded champion. "How dare stab me while I was not looking!" V backed away; his thoughts were muddled. Why was he letting a man touch his face a moment ago? Was this man always here...? L's knuckles had turned white, she was gripping her sword so hard that the leather on the hilt was digging into her hand. Something inside of her was all but screaming in desperation to escape this place.

The giant man threw the blue bearded champion a few feet down the alley way, toward Eika. As the bearded man tumbled to a stop in front of Eika, she looked at the large man, who had begun to walk her direction. He was clearly intending to stomp the blue bearded champion. Eika felt like she was falling apart at the seams. She could have sworn that the large man was a woman a moment ago. "I... Hello. My name is Eika. Are you a woman?" She asked as the man approached her. "Hum? Oh. No not really." He bent down, instead of grabbing the blue bearded champion, he instead ruffled Eika's hair. "You should be careful. It’s dangerous for a young Rabbitkin out here." Eika nodded "Yes Eika knows. I am working to help V... uh... L win the Champion Game!" Eika had forgotten for a moment that V was mostly trying to pass as L's assistant. The little girl who was patting Eika's head nodded. "Ah, I understand! It’s hard to let people you care about go into dangerous situations while you stay at home safe." Eika tilted her head "Were... were you taller a moment ago?" The little girl shook her head "I don't think so..." As V and L watched the conversation, they also shook their heads, the girl was definitely always that size, Eika must have imagined it. She just had a ton of strength to throw the blue bearded champion that far. The small girl looked down at her feet, where the bearded man was trying to crawl away. "Hay! Don’t get muck on my shoes!" she kicked the man, who flopped over, a look of pain on his face.

V moved toward the wild scene before him, his head pounded and he felt confused, but he had to get that girl away from Eika, something about her presence was threatening. As he approached, the small girl turned around to face him "You should be more careful with small girls! Look, this man here could grab her and do something naughty!" the girl kicked the blue bearded man on the ground a second time. The man only groaned; the fight having left his body. V nodded "Well, she is an adult by her race's standards. So..." The small girl considered this for a moment "Hum... well. Some girls are fragile you know?" she looked around V toward L, who was still standing in the same spot. "Well, not her. She is some sort of iron maiden." V smiled; the little girl was amusing if nothing else. "Well, uh, we should get going. The city is not safe, we had been trying to get to a safe spot, so uh... we are going to get back to that." The little girl struck her fist into her open hand "AH! The city! Right! I knew I forgot something. I wanted to see the city!" As the small boy turned around and headed out of the alleyway deeper into the city, he called back "Have fun Mister! Don't be too boring. Life is about having fun!" As the boy waltzed down the alley and out of sight L, V, and Eika stood there for a moment, collecting themselves.  Their thoughts were slow and muddled.

"Oh... right..." V suddenly remembered that the blue bearded champion was trying to kill them. Now however, he was simply groaning at his feet. Well, not the most glorious way to level up, but as things stood, V needed every break he could get. He stabbed the groaning man directly in his face, ending his life instantly.

┌——————┐
Your level in "Divine Champion" has increased!
3 => 4
Skill Acquired:
Insight Lv 1

Congratulations! You have killed a rival champion!
Please Choose Your Reward!
1) I's Divine Class
2) I's Name, "I"
└——————┘

Well, the blessing seemed helpful, but was apparently not an option. V furrowed his brow. Did the person during their fight not simply nullify the bearded man's blessing, but remove it entirely? As unlikely as that seemed, V had no current explanation as to why he could not choose I's blessing. He also had no idea what I's class was, judging by the fact he was stabbing L with a dagger, V was unsure if the man's divine class was actually helpful. So, he supposed, his only real option was to take the letter again.

┌——————┐
Added to Item Storage "I"
└——————┘

L suddenly spoke up. Her voice was trembling. V had heard her voice waver before, but that was always due to battle damage and other forms of trauma. Now however, it sounded as if she had just been visited by the grim reaper himself. "We.. we... need to keep... We need to get out of here." L tried to sheath her sword, fumbling for a moment, as her hands where shaking. "Are you ok?" L nodded "I’m fine. Fine. Everything's fine." V raised his eyebrows and slowly moved toward L. She was clearly not fine. He tried to reach out and help her sheath her sword but she slapped him away. "Don't touch me!" She yelled, Eika flinched and an expression of worry showed on her face. V backed off "Right um, uh, well... let’s keep going." As he slowly started to continue their flight through the city, L spoke, her voice was improving, but she yet trembled. "I never thought. I never thought the Mad God would be so horrifying. Champion, I mean. Mad Champion." V nodded, oh, right. That probably was the Mad Champion that had saved them. He should have put that together sooner. He rubbed his temple; his head was pounding and he was still having trouble thinking. "Ya. right. We need to get out of here and recover. I can't think straight."