"Defeat me in a duel, and I might tell you what I did to Jacobe," Michael snickered. Thilve and Tazkin froze when they felt the stillness in the air. Something was about to go down, and they felt it in every fiber of their being.

Michael swayed to the side and bent his back as he heard the twang of a bow string. An arrow flew above Michael's head and struck the tree behind him. Michael looked up to see the black panther on the tree branch. In a blink of an eye, the black panther managed to leap onto the branch, getting a higher ground to attack Michael with his bow. The black panther nimble jumped to another branch. Then he descended to a lower branch and swung himself to another tree. His movements were graceful. So Michael could tell he had years of training. Michael drew his sword and deflected the arrows without breaking a sweat. Seeing the arrows causing no harm to him, the black panther rolled down from the tree and dashed at Michael.

Michael jumped in the air before the black panther could cut his throat with the arrow he was about to fire. Then, the black panther took out a pair of jade daggers. He quickly changed course after his initial attack failed. With speed beyond anything or anyone Thilve and Tazkin witnessed, the black panther lunged at Michael. The serrated edge of the blade grazed Michael's shoulder. But the knife barely cut the skin for the blood to seep through. Then, it was Michael's turn.

Michael brought down the black sword toward the top of the black panther's head. He quickly raised his daggers in an X above his head to block the black sword. But the black panther knew how sharp and strong the black sword was. He quickly, almost at the speed of lightning, deflected the sword using the daggers. Then, Michael swung his left fist at the black panther's face. He had to bring down his hand to block his fist. As Michael expected, the black panther instinctively lowered his hand to block the fist. Before the panther could cut Michael's fist with his dagger, Michael swung the black sword, nicking the side of his face. Then, Michael lashed out and kicked the panther's knee.

"Ssshhhh," the panther hissed in pain. Without giving the panther time to retaliate, Michael dashed at the black panther, slamming him against the tree behind. The entire tree shuddered, shedding half of its sparkling leaves. Any weak man would have had his ribs crushed by sheer force. However, the beastmen were built differently. They were far stronger, faster, and more agile compared to humans.

Even when he was slammed against the tree, the black panther managed to flick his dagger, cutting Michael in the wrist. The sharp pain caused Michael to lose grip on the black sword. It flew away from Michael and landed on the ground with a thud. Michael hated losing his sword as he grabbed both the panther's wrists and slammed them against the tree once again. This time, the panther lost the daggers.

"Not as weak as you thought, isn't it?" Michael asked, holding the panther against the tree. Every muscle in Michael's body bulged. His ripped body stunned even Tazkin. Clearly, the black panther underestimated Michae; raw strength. He and Gaya trained their physical bodies every single day like clockwork. Since he was an alchemist, Michael supplemented his body with healthy foods and potions to reach the peak of his physical strength. So even without Celestial energy or arch energy, Michael was far stronger than any human at the same cultivation stage as him.

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The black panther groaned to muster every bit of his strength and head-butted Michael to escape his hold. Michael's nose cracked with a sickening crunch as the black panther leaped away from Michael. He needed to put some distance and reevaluate his strategies to win against such a powerful opponent.

Thilve and Tazkin looked at the battle with horrified looks in their eyes. They witnessed their god bleed. The words Michael spoke about powerful people and enemies rang inside their brains. They could only imagine how powerful these people would be to make even a god bleed. The panther heard Michael chuckling instead of groaning in pain. He slowly turned around and slapped the broken nose to align the cracked bones to their place. The blood stain on his front teeth and the villainous smile made Michael look evil. The panther slowly realized why the entire world was afraid of him. If he had no brother to avenge, he would have avoided clashing with such a terrifying being. Not that he was afraid of the Dark Lord, but unlike his brother, Jacobe, he avoided crossing paths with people like the Dark Lord, who would go to any lengths to seek revenge. It was too late for both of them. This feud could only be settled by blood.

Michael wiped off the blood before dashing at the panther once again. Fist met fist. Their fists clashed in the forest, and their feet danced beneath them. The black panther was quick, but so was Michael, despite removing the olympus. Michael landed more blows on the panther than the panther did. Each punch created a heavy thud upon hitting their bodies. Their clash decimated everything below them and created a circle of dead plants. Several trees had human and cat-shaped holes and fist-sized holes.

Although the panther provided some extent of challenge, he was nowhere near defeating Michael. Ever since someone from the vampire death squad called the Puma almost defeated Michael in close combat because he used counter serpent maga, Michael was altering and perfecting his fighting technique. Coupled with Michael's brute strength, agility, and cat-like reflex, only a few people in the world could fight him head-to-head and survive.

After a while, the panther started to breathe heavily as his movements became wobbly. Michael knocked him down to the dirt with a swift spinning wheel kick to the panther's head. When Michael approached the panther, the latter tried to stab Michael with a short blade he hid under his fur. But Michael kicked the blade and pinned his hand to the ground with his knees.

"It's over," said Michael. He then proceeded to punch the panther in the face. A couple of punches made the panther's sight blurry. Michael showed no mercy as he continued to punch the panther until his fist ached.

"Just because I cannot use cultivation energy, doesn't mean you can defeat me. Look at me!" Michael raised his voice. He grabbed the panther's face and turned it to look him in the eyes.

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"Now, tell me how you came here," Michael asked the panther.

"You first. What did you do to Jacobe?" Instead of answering Michael's question, the panther questioned Michael.

Michael drew the other black sword on his back and held it against the panther's throat.

"Don't make this harder on yourself, kitty cat. You've been dancing with the devil way too long, and it's your time you paid the due,"

"Go on, kill me. But I won't give you any answers until you tell me about what you did to Jacobe,"

"System, scan him," Michael ordered the system in his mind. He hated asking the system, considering he had already taken out a loan, and the more he asked, the more he would have to pay. Nonetheless, the panther gave Michael no choice. Rather, Michael didn't want to give the panther closure.

[Scanning initiated]

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Surprisingly, the system asked for no badass points. Instead, it began to scan the panther. A beam of light only Michael could see brushed past the panther's body from head to toe. Suddenly, Michael noticed a glow on the panther's chest. When the light disappeared, a chain with a couple of beads glistened around the panther's neck. Each bead was the size of a coin and engraved with the face of a cat.

The panther noticed something strange in Michael's eyes. It felt like his gaze was staring right through his soul. The panther squirmed, trying to escape. Michael grabbed the invisible necklace, and when he was about to rip it off the panther's neck, Michael felt a chill running down his spine. Every cell in his body screamed at him to dash away from the panther. And that's exactly what Michael did. He rolled away from the panther. Out of nowhere, a vortex appeared right where Michael was a second ago and pulled the panther right into it.

The space distortion Michael felt at that moment was nothing he had ever felt. In a blink of an eye, the panther and the vortex vanished into thin air.

"Damn it," Michael cursed the teleportation portal. But he felt something in his hand. When he looked down, he saw a single coin in his palm. The silver coin with a cat's face radiated a dim glow in his hand.

[That is your way home, host] said the system.

"What is this?" Michael asked the question. He almost forgot Thilve and Tazkin were watching him from above.

[The system level is too low to answer the question] The system's answer disappointed Michael.

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"How do I use-" Michael halted his question as he suddenly remembered the copper ring left behind by the past Dark Lord. He had a feeling that the copper ring might open a portal using the coin. But it was not the time for him to test the theory. There were so many unknowns in Itonys and the demons grave. For now, getting home safely took high priority. However, before he could leave, he had to visit the ash field and see what Skyhall was up to. With few things and many questions in his head, Michael strolled toward where he put the olympus, picked it up, and wore it around his wrist. The olympus was not the only thing he picked from the ground. He also picked up the arrows left behind by the panther, who was called 'The Cat' by his people.

"You can come down," Michael said to Thilve and Tazkin. After wearing the olympus, Michael just raised his hand as the black sword that slipped off his hand flew straight back to his hand.

"Now that was one of the many people I have to kill back on my world," Michael said to the wood elves with a calm smile.