The Grand Duelist

The three Elders left as swiftly as they arrived. 

Joseph stared at his avatar, and likewise. His avatar also stared at him.

"Are you really me?" 

The avatar asked.

What? My avatar is asking if he is me? What does he mean by that? Joseph knitted his eyebrows, but he suppressed his curiosity as he said.

"Yes, you are me. You are my avatar to be exact."

The avatar revealed a meaningful smile.

"Heh, so I am you, and you are me... But I refuse to accept such arrangements. I refuse to be you! I refuse to be someone as weak as you!" The avatar suddenly roared in anger and rushed at Joseph's direction.

What the fuck?! 

Joseph inwardly cursed, but his trained reflexes reacted and he managed to withdraw his Rapier of Grandeur and Beauty in time.

"Parry!"

Bang!

A fierce explosion rang out.

The avatar's attack didn't even manage to reach Joseph for it was stopped by an invisible wall.

"What the hell is wrong with you? Why are you attacking me? You refuse to accept that you are me, and I am you... Just what is your identity then?" Joseph said in irritation.

He was annoyed for he didn't expect that his avatar would turn rogue and turn against him.

But he was thankful for the Elder's decisiveness.

Joseph was grateful that the City Chief and the other elders ran as fast as they could far away from this place before his avatar turned against him. After all, who knows what would happen if Joseph's avatar fought him while he was acting like a tough charlatan.

As for how he should dispose of this clone of his?

Well, he didn't have to do that...

The skill, [Divine Authority Summoning] granted to him by the title, [Mythical Authority] only lasted for half a minute.

Although it scaled depending on his Divinity Stat and his level...

With how low his level was, that particular scaling wasn't really doing anything significant apart from adding a single second to the duration of the skill.

In other words, in a few moments. This rogue avatar of his would disappear.

But...

"I didn't expect you to be so unruly. Take this as your punishment!" Joseph shoved his avatar back and slashed forwards with his Rapier.

"Discharge!"

He cried out and the damage that he suffered from the avatar's attack became the strength that fueled his slash.

"Guah!" The avatar coughed a mouthful of blood and staggered backwards.

Joseph felt somewhat strange about attacking his own avatar since it looked too similar to him.

A strange thought appeared in his mind at this moment for no particular reason. What would happen if I had a female version of me as my avatar and we had sex? Would that be considered as masturbation or could I say that I had lost my virginity?

Wait, what the fuck am I thinking? Joseph furiously shook his head.

"I..."

"I refuse to be you..."

"You are not me..."

"And I am not you..."

The avatar left these words as it shattered into innumerable light crystals that soon disappeared into nothingness.

What was the deal with that avatar? Was that the side effect of summoning an avatar that has the Divinity of the Grand Duelist? Although he's not really that powerful since his stats are basically half of my own stats.

The only thing that's good about him, for now, is the fact that he can serve as a good deterrent against the people here due to that Divinity... Sigh, if I don't have to then I will never summon him again the future.

Joseph decided.

He swept his gaze around and after finding out that there was no one in the area anymore...

He retreated and returned to the underground cave where Alice and Julie were patiently, and anxiously waiting for his return.

"It's done."

"It's done?"

Joseph stood in front of Alice and revealed a cheeky smile. 

"Yes, of course, it's done. Who do you think I am? I'm the capable man who saved you from the hands of the Kingdom!"

"Yeah, keep flattering yourself. You're such a narcissist." Alice rolled her eyes and didn't bother about Joseph anymore.

"Hey, Julie... Do you know about any other place that we can use to hide apart from this underground cave? Even though this big brother here pushed those people away..."

"I am pretty sure that they will return once again. That is why we even though we avoided danger this time, we cannot be complacent and think that we are already safe..."

"Is that right, big brother Joseph?" Alice revealed a meaningful smile at Joseph.

Joseph was taken aback by what she said. 

They will still return? Wasn't what I did not enough to serve as a deterrent for them?

Wait... I used the name of the God of Fighting Tryndamere to force them away and it worked since they obviously know about who the hell Tryndamere was, but in this place perpetually hidden from the sun and isolated from the world.

Just how did they know about the information of the other gods apart from their so-called Creator? 

Joseph furrowed his eyebrows. 

Wait, could it be that the residents here can contact the so-called God of Everything that Moves and Exists? After all, if someone with faith in a deity was placed in such a forsaken place like this, they would bound to lose faith towards that particular deity.

Yet, the people in here still piously believe at their god...

Could it be that...

They have the means to communicate with that god?!

Shit, if that is true then we're fucked! Those bastards will definitely return and with more numbers and stronger than ever before once they found out from their deity that I duped them!

Joseph's mind quickly spun.

Sweat continuously dripped down his forehead as he turned to look at Julie before saying.

"Hey, Julie... Is there any altar in this place that everyone in here can use to pray to the God of Everything that Moves and Exists?"

Julie frowned for a moment when he heard Joseph's words as she seemingly searched through her memories and after a moment of silence...

She nodded her head and answered, "Yes, Kuya Joseph. There is an altar that the City Chief visits every day, but that altar is not available to the general public..."

"It is only shown to us and paraded across the entire city every three years. As for the significance of that parade, I'm afraid, but I don't know too much about it..."

"All I know is that there's a lot of food for you if you participated in that parade, so even if the residents don't care about the parade itself, they would still attend for the sake of the food."

Joseph heard Julie's answer, but he didn't respond.

A serious light flashed within his eyes as he turned to look at Alice.

Alice responded with a nod before she turned to look at Julie and asked, "Hey Julie, you still didn't answer big sis's question earlier. Are there other places that we can use to hide from those bad people?"

Julie blushed upon hearing Alice's words. It seemed like she was embarrassed that she prioritized answering Joseph's question instead of Alice's even though she was the first one to ask.

Nevertheless, since she had just answered Joseph's question, she now turned her attention to Alice as she replied...

"No..." Julie shook her head, "This is the only place that I know that we can use to hide. I don't really frequently go out of the City since I'm afraid of the monsters..." Julie lifted a rueful smile when she reached the end of her sentence. She felt bad that she wasn't able to help with their problem.

Joseph detected this anomaly and he stretched his hand out, ruffling her hair as he said: "Why do you look so down? Are you blaming yourself again?"

Julie's figure visibly shook, but she didn't deny what Joseph had said.

Joseph sighed, he really couldn't place any blame onto Julie about the fact that she was so pessimistic.

After all, she had just experienced a betrayal that could break anyone's heart into pieces...

But if she wanted to keep on living, she couldn't act like this. She must be strong. Only when she's strong could she survive along with her sister.

But speaking of becoming strong... I feel like I am neglecting the fact that I must level myself up. Did I become too attached to the Underground Penitentiary that I forgot that I was also a player that could strengthen myself by leveling up?

Yeah, I must make myself stronger.

I must be strong enough to at least face those elders earlier...

"Then, how about this Julie?" Joseph smiled before he continued, "Do you know any places around here that have a lot of monsters? I am going to kill those monsters so I can become stronger."

Joseph directly stated his intentions so that Julie wouldn't need to needlessly worry about what he intended on doing about those monsters.

Julie thought for a moment before she replied, "Monsters? Hmm... Ah! There is a place like that! But I only heard about it from the others, I haven't really visited it, so I am not so sure about how strong the monsters in that place are and how many they are..." 

Joseph nodded his head in agreement. When talking about something amazing, people had a tendency to exaggerate. That was completely normal but in this case. That would mean that any information about those monsters coming from Julie's mouth could be somewhat inaccurate.

"I know that place, Kuya!!!" Hulie who was supposedly sleeping in Julie's bosom suddenly exclaimed.

"Ah!" Julie almost lost her grip on Hulie due to shock.

Joseph's figure visibly trembled, while Alice almost leaped out of her seat.

"Hulie! You almost scared us to death!" Joseph commented.

"Eh?" Hulie was taken aback by the sudden scolding. Tears welled up in her tears as she said, "B-b-but... I just want to tell you, Kuya... that... that I know that place..." 

Joseph choked on his own saliva when he saw Hulie's teary-eyed expression.

He hurriedly moved, took her from Alice's embrace and caressed her on his own as he ruffled the young lass's hair.

"No, I'm not scolding you, all right? It's okay, it's okay... Don't cry, Hulie... If you cry, I won't tell you a story anymore!"

Joseph even warned the young lass.

But...

"Uwaaa! Kuya Joseph won't tell me a story anymore!"

... It had the opposite effect.

When Hulie heard that Joseph wouldn't tell her a story anymore.

She cried as loud as she could as tears started to fall from her eyes.

Ah, fuck! Joseph inwardly cursed. He felt like crying.

"Give her to me!" Alice gestured. An expression of light anger was evident on her face. It was obvious that she didn't like Joseph's way of handling a young lass who was about to cry.

"Give her to you? But if I do that, then..." Joseph was hesitant.

If she gave Hulie to Alice, then she will suffer the corrosive effects of the miasma.

"Just give her to me, all right? Or do you want her to keep on crying?" Alice's expression turned cold.

Julie stood in front of her sister and tried her best on comforting Hulie, but she was met with failure.

It seemed like Hulie was really heartbroken by the fact that Joseph said that he wouldn't tell her any story anymore.

Joseph revealed a bitter smile, and he decided to hand over the crying Hulie to Alice.

Alice winced in pain when she received Hulie. But her pained expression was immediately taken over by her cold facade as she patted the crying Hulie on her back before saying.

"Hulie... Don't cry anymore, all right?

"But... But Kuya Joseph said that he won't tell me any story anymore!" Hulie voiced her complaints.

"Oh, he said that? If he actually dares to do that then your big sis here will punish him!" Alice even gestured with her fist.

"Really? Big sis will punish Kuya Joseph if he doesn't tell me any story?" Hulie's crying momentarily stopped.

She stared at Alice with her wide eyes, expecting a positive answer from her.

Oy, do you really want me to be punished that much? Joseph inwardly commented. But he kept this thought to himself as he stared at Alice.

"Of course, of course! Look! Since he told you that he won't tell you a story anymore. I'll go and punish him right now."

Alice turned her head and revealed a light smile at Joseph's direction. 

Joseph's figure visibly trembled, "Uh..."

Alice maintained the smile on her lips as she whispered, "Of course, it's just a light smack. We just have to show Hulie that I indeed gave you a punishment so that she'll stop crying."

Joseph's eyes brightened in enlightenment, "Oh! That is actually a good idea, Alice! Okay, you can go and smack me now." He even pushed his left arm forward and assumed a pitiful and afraid expression for added effect.

"Okay, here I come!" Alice glanced at Hulie and exclaimed.

She raised her hand and sent a slap...

But not on the left arm that Joseph pushed forward.

Instead, her smack landed squarely on his left cheek as it sent him flying backwards towards the wall of the sealed room.

Pa!

"Guaah!" Joseph coughed a mouthful of blood, and he saw stars floating in his vision.

Amidst the stars were system notifications informing him of the sheer damage that he suffered.

[You suffered 32,532 damage!]

[You suffered tremendous damage in an instant and your body is in a state of shock! Due to the amount of damage that your body has suffered, you will be unconditionally Stiffened for three seconds.]

[This is a natural phenomenon and cannot be resisted!]

[You are an absolute existence. A shield equal to 100% of the damage that you suffered within the last ten seconds has been made.]

HOW THE FUCK WAS THAT A LIGHT SMACK?! Joseph angrily exclaimed. But when he that Hulie's cry had stopped and was already replaced with a beaming smile. He couldn't feel any anger anymore.

Instead, it became more like an annoyance that he redirected to Alice as he said.

"Why did you have to slap me on the face..." Joseph said, looking wronged.

Alice sweetly smiled, "Well, your face looked like it's the thickest part of your body."

"..."