The god of conflict discovered something interesting about Helios when he tried to lockdown his runes. He kept a straight face while muttering to himself, 'Interesting, very Interesting.'
He announced to everyone. "I proclaim these two ready for the battle to the death."
The two fighters were escorted to the fighting ring amidst cheering and praises. People began to bet, even the gods. While the people were betting on wealth, the gods were betting on what really mattered, which is entertainment and luxury.
"I bet my prized golden talon fish-bird that the sky god wins."
"I bet by golden Apple that can give any mortal eternal life as long as they don't eat any type of apple in their life"
"I bet my prized tree of power that produces power fruit on that Tyke fellow. He has a good character. I believe his character will allow him to win."
"I bet the Godhood of a low god on the demigod of the sky god. Your divine lords can become official gods with it."
They are all betting that Tyke would win. Some of them don't want to offend the sun god so they cooked up some reason like Tyke's character for why they are betting on him. The sun god doesn't mind anyway. He isn't willing to bet. He had tricked the sky god into making this happen but it is only to even the playing field. He still doesn't have full faith in Helios. He can't help it, Helios is just too lazy.
The absence of the Rune weapons means Tyke won't be able to use his thunder hammer. Which means he won't be able to break Helios's strong body. Tyke will still have his speed advantage so anything can happen. The fight could go both ways so Stelios isn't willing to bet, but things rarely go your way.
The angel of the sky god that was talking earlier shouted his bet out as if to let everyone know.
"The sky god is betting 3 cores that once belonged to the demigods of the sun god."
The mortals didn't hear what the angel said. They continued betting amongst themselves as if they heard nothing, which of course is true. If they had heard that statement, then they might become collateral damage as a result of the clash of the sun and the sky god. The angel had the good sense to leave the mortals out of this issue.
Even Staniel became worried when he heard what the angel said.
'This isn't going to end well.' he said to himself.
The three cores that the sky god is betting might be worth a lot to mortals but they aren't worth much financial value to gods. The problem is that they used to belong to demigods of the sun god and one doesn't just offer their mana core to another person for safekeeping no matter how much you trust that person.
The only way a person will give up their mana core is if it is dug out of them forcefully or if you kill them, then dig it out of their corpse. So while it is worth a pittance financially, it is worth a lot of bragging rights to a god and a lot of trouble to a mortal. It is proof that the demigods of the sky god beat those of the sun god three times over. It is an honorable achievement to the sky god but a disgrace to the sun god.
Now the sun god can raise his nose and refuse to be bothered by the obvious taunting. Or he can take the bait and bet something so that he can recover the three cores if Helios wins. Or maybe, he should escalate the matter by betting with something that is sure to embarrass the sky god. The third option will give him pleasure regardless of the outcome of Helios' fight.
"Fine. I offer the head of one stupid demigod of the sky god that suddenly found its way to my doorstep."
The sun god took the bait and he offered something really tantalizing. He even showed the head in question to prove the authenticity of his bet. He displayed the preserved head of a giant with blue skin and a painful grimace. Now, no one can say he is making it up.
Now the gods in attendance became worried. The sun god has practically dug up a buried hatchet and is sharpening it for battle. He dug up the corpse of a previous war and his flaunting it figuratively and literally.
At the height of a particularly nasty time in the history of the conflict between the two grand gods, a very shining demigod of the sky god rose to glory. He had a lot of heroic feats and for his twelfth feat that will guarantee him Godhood, he decided to draw the blood of the sun god.
He challenged the sun god in a duel under the rites of heroic passage. The sun god was to battle him while suppressing his strength. That demigod only needs to draw blood to win and acquire his twelfth heroic feat.
Unfortunately, he lost to the sun god and he paid for the failure with his life. The sun god didn't need to kill him. In fact, killing a demigod that challenges a god is frowned upon because it will deter other demigods from doing stupid shit like that. The sun god killed the pompous but entertaining fool and robbed the other gods of his entertainment value.
It caused a huge rift between the two gods considering that the demigod only needed one more heroic feat to attain Godhood. Odds are he will be granted one anyway since he was such an entertaining fellow. Even worse is that the sun god refused to give up the body. It lead to a divine war that ended when the sun god gave up the core and the body of the demigod while receiving a lot of benefits.
