Arthur knew that facing that fragment of the Sovereign's soul would be hard.
"So, you are my last opponent?" Arthur said, assuming a fighting stance. He had 35 points left over from the levels he had gained up to that moment. Arthur decided to distribute his points, with the majority going into Strength and Agility. In the end, he put 20 points into Agility and 10 into Strength, and 5 into Endurance. The attributes he was benefiting the most from were Strength and Agility, but he also needed a bit of Endurance to withstand the blows, giving him more HP, resistance, and regeneration.
"You really didn't imagine I would be your last opponent?" the old man said, "it was kinda obvious, wasn't it?"
Arthur hadn't even thought about that possibility, but he didn't want to look stupid in front of the fragment of the Sovereign's soul.
"Of course I knew," Arthur said.
The old man laughed in his face. "Tell me another one, kid. Well, since we've reached the final part of the test, there is no need to keep all these people here."
At that moment, something incredible happened. Everything around them disappeared, becoming completely dark, like a void. The only thing that remained was the stone arena they were using.
"Where is everyone? Were they fakes?" Arthur asked.
"No, they were real. All these people were devoured by the serpent, and those who survived continued their families, and lived here. This is basically a world of its own."
"What!?"
"Impressive, right? But relax, while they can't leave, you can, after all, you are going to link with the serpent. Well, enough stalling, let's start the fight."
The old man had a very powerful aura. Arthur had an absolute certainty: he wouldn't be able to win that fight. But the Sovereign who left that soul fragment also knew that the current Sovereign wouldn't be able to win so easily. While Arthur was level 10, that soul fragment had an unknown level, meaning it was much stronger than him.
"Maybe I just need to show skill and determination," Arthur thought, "because it doesn't make sense for me to have to win this fight."
The old man didn't move. He stood there waiting for Arthur to make the first move. Both were unarmed. The fight would be hand-to-hand.
Arthur knew he couldn't wait forever, so he went for it, running towards the old man. He was even faster than before due to his increase of 20 points in Agility. But, even with that, the old man didn't seem surprised by his movements.
Arthur got close and threw a punch toward the old man. The Sovereign blocked the punch by catching it as if it were nothing.
"Not bad," he said.
Of course, Arthur didn't stop with just that blow. He decided to land another one, this time, a knee to the old man's stomach. It was a quick and precise movement, aiming right for the solar plexus. To his surprise, the old man didn't defend against the attack! He was hit directly in the solar plexus and remained firm.
"What the hell?" thought Arthur, "he feels nothing?"
Even after having gotten much stronger, it seemed it was far from enough to face that old man.
The Sovereign then decided to launch an attack as well. He used his palm to strike Arthur's chest. That blow was powerful. As soon as the palm touched Arthur's chest, he felt immense pain in his chest. It was as if his torso had split in half. He went flying to the other side of the ring, falling to the ground. He only managed to get up after about 20 seconds, coughing blood on the ground.
The Sovereign got excited. "That's what I'm talking about. You need to know how to take a beating," the old man said, "one of the best abilities of the primordial serpent is the fact that it can recover from damage with relative ease."
He wanted to take advantage of the test to teach Arthur. "Are you going to give up, or are you going to endure the beating and keep trying to hurt me?" the old man said.
Right there, Arthur knew, or at least had a strong hunch, that the test was more about endurance than actually hurting the old man in any way. Even though he was hurt, he stood up, and tried again to land a hit on the Sovereign.
The old man caught one of his punches with one hand. Arthur threw another punch, the old man caught it again.
"Is that all you have?" he said, mocking him.
Arthur then went with his head straight into the old man's face! His hard skull hurt the Sovereign's nose, making it bleed a little. With his hands free for a brief moment, Arthur threw several punches at the Sovereign's face, trying to seize the moment to land as many blows as possible. He landed several, but unfortunately, the damage the old man suffered was very low.
He then spun his body and delivered a spinning kick to Arthur's face. It was so strong his neck almost snapped. A lot of blood came out of his nose, and his face was swollen. It looked pretty ugly. Once again, Arthur was on the ground, with little strength to continue. The old man seemed fine, with just a few drops of blood coming from his nose.
"Those were good blows, I must admit," he said, "I didn't think you'd use your head to attack me."
Arthur was in such bad shape that he couldn't even process the compliment the Sovereign gave him. His face was completely messed up, and he could barely stay on his feet. It was with sheer force of will that he finally stood up, staring down the old man.
At that moment, the old man was surprised again.
"This is impressive. When I took the test with the other Sovereign, I only withstood 2 of his blows. You also withstood two, so theoretically, you've already passed the test."
"W-What? I passed?" Arthur couldn't believe it. He even thought the old man was messing with him, but apparently, that wasn't the case.
"But I'll tell you, if you withstand one more blow, I can give you more benefits, but there is a chance you will die. What do you think? Do you want to risk it?" the old man said.
A difficult choice was in Arthur's hands.