Chapter 312 - 312 On The Edge
{Monsters defending humans with the finesse of C-Rank Blessed. Blessed fighting to the verge of collapse without fear. This is something we would never be able to see outside games like Valorwatch. But here, it is all REAL!}
As the new narrators" voices echoes around the venue, an unspoken consensus was decided by an exchange of looks.
"Imps, stick close and only defend for now. Do not attack them anymore," a loud order was given by the leader of the Khan family, as he looked up to the the screen and saw how much time was left. Only a minute and a half. His blessed were exhausted, many injured. Their healer was all but drained and he himself was out of arrows. The other side was faring much worse. From the fifteen people who started the fight by the Khan Family, only three had died, and five had been removed as injured. On the Hyu family side... it was much worse, though the numbers were nearly the same. Eight people had straight up died, and a single person had been removed as injured. Considering two people were inside the fiery dome, this meant only four were still able to fight outside, but just barely. Michael fell to the ground, near the bearded warrior, the healer, the scout, whose arm was twisted in a weird direction and a mage, who was bleeding from a cut in the arm. From the imps, only a few remained, three to be precise, one of which was the one set to protect the healer, Noah"s friend. Most were maulled by the shield bearing Blessed before he left to fight Noah, including the ones with special habilites but the one with flame claws, though it too was all out of energy at this point, very injured.
"Haah... To think this would get fight would be so absurd... Had I known this I would"ve never joined the arena," Michael blurted out as he sat on the ground.
"Is it really okay for us to do this?" the healer said sheepishly, looking down.
"If we were to continue, it would just be pointless bloodshed. None of us can really fight anymore," Michael cursed under his breath as he answered. "If this was a normal fight, the other side would"ve conceded long ago, but since their leader and second in command are inside that dome..." he stared at the fiery circle that only encompa.s.sed a small part of the arena, "they were fighting to the bitter end. We better end it here, to avoid weakening the Hyu Family too much. If the two of theirs come out of that dome without Noah, we lose. If they all come out when the time ends, it"s a draw, but we win because of the death count."
"So, in the end, it all comes down to what he can do," the bearded warrior took off his helmet, seing the blessed on the other side of the arena were doing exactly the same as them. "To think an arena battle would ever come down to this..." he mulled, biting his lip.
"For the other families, won"t this look like disrespect to the venue?" the only mage still remaining said, tense.
"Nah, did you not feel that shockwave? That"s a Rank-B Peak Blessed clash. Waiting for their result is the utmost form of respect from us. To think we"d see that kind of absurd power around... Even their fighting spirit was destroyed," the scout aswered while forcing his arm back into its socket with Michael"s help. "If Noah hadn"t taken care of their healer and one of their strongest blessed at the very beginning, I fear we would"ve faced a bitter defeat." His words, although offensive, carried the weight of his experience as a blessed. He was, above all, frustrated at his own weakness, after having seen how weak he was compared to the blessed wielding a shield. "No, I shouldn"t feel down. I, a C-Rank Blessed managed to hold my own against a B-Rank Peak Blessed in a fight. That alone is enough achievement. To think I even survived his blow..." He brushed his frustrations aside, focusing on the reality of what just happened. Something that should never have happened in this Arena.
"It"s about time," Michael said while checking the screen, seing seconds remaining. "I hope he"s taken care of at least one of them."
"Taking care?! I hope he"s walking out of this one without a missing limb! He"s fighting two blessed stronger than you and I, Michael. How the f.u.c.k did we even get our hands on that kind of monster?!" the bearded warrior complained as he looked at his tattered plate armor.
"And he"s probably holding back..." Michael blurted out something outrageous, that made everyone"s eyes widen. "What? He"s not even called the monsters he"s tamed. That guy has somehow reached the level of a Peak B-Rank Blessed without even realizing it... Are the G.o.ds just toying with us at this point..." His voice slowly disappeared into a mutter, while staring at the flaming inferno.
"Noah... I hope you are okay..." But someone was way more worried while looking at the fire, feeling guilty of only being protected by his power, without even being able to give anything in return. The healer put her hands over her heart, praying he would be okay, not knowing her actions were being relayed to him.
"Holy f.u.c.king s.h.i.t!" Lilith had almost used her power out of the sheer pressure behind that blow, yet Noah, who barely even knew how to use a sword, had done the unthinkable in the most outrageous way.
He straigth up blocked the blow with a sword.
"How!?" the shield blessed opened his eyes wide, his arms going numb from the ridiculous force and his ears still ringing from the blast. He"d poured all his remaining energy into one single blow, as he slwly felt his entire body blistering up underneath his heavy armor. He knew it was impossible to keep on fighting any longer. "Why couldn"t the time just run up..." he thought, as he saw Noah back off, before jumping at him.
"You"ll see now!" Noah grinned in a way that made the blessed face fear for the first time in years. There was something behind that smile, that made him remember why he"d come here in the first place.
"s.h.i.t! I can"t use the blessing anymore! I"m going to—"
He put his shield up, in the monster"s path, to stop the blade that came crashing down towards his head. But in the middle of the way, the sword lit up in a familiar golden light, one he knew all too well, and what had been just fear turned into terror.
"—die..." his cut off words completed with his last breath, as the sword cleanly sliced through his shield, arm, and armor. "I see... He knew I couldn"t block it anymore, that"s why he smiled so broadly... I could not avenge my master. I"ll avenge him in h.e.l.l!" His thoughts soured, as he stared at the eyes of the man who had now scythed his life, not knowing how bold of a claim he"d just made.
"You were strong, I"ll give you that," Noah said, as he saw the man"s eyes begin clouding, staring at them focus one last time and gaze into his very soul with hatred. "It"s a shame we were on opposite sides of the battlefield." As Noah"s words sounded in his ears, his mind fell into darkness, as his body fell to the ground in a ball of flames.
[This person has commited countless sins, it is possible to absorb their skill.]
[Absorbing large fragment of divinity.]
[Absorbing large fragment of divinity.]
"Good f.u.c.king lord! Finally!" Noah, exhausted, fell to the ground. His mana was about to run out. The battle outside had been settled as a draw, or so the Imps were telling him. "Haaah... f.u.c.k... I destroyed his shield," Noah bemoaned, as he looked at the blessed weapon, now probably impossible to repair. By his side, his flames burned brightly through the seams of the armor, burning the man inside to ashes. "Oh, so his armor is also a blessed weapon, good to know," he whispered, as he saw some divinity seep through the crack caused by his sword. "I better not absorb it... smells like that battle maniac"s G.o.d" he tought, feeling a familiar G.o.dhood from the armor.
"How did you know he couldn"t use his blessing anymore?" Lilith sounded happy and proud, but Noah"s answer would make her go pale.
"Oh, I didn"t. I just bet he couldn"t since he hadn"t used it even once anymore. Good thing it paid off, else I would"ve been dead in his place." Noah sighed, propping his body up with the tip of the sword he"d plundered. "The battle is about to end, we should emerge victorious for all others to see," Noah said, as he forced his body to straighten up despite his tiredness, his mana finally recovering from burning the man. "Such a shame... The imps couldn"t even eat their eyes this time..." Noah complained to himself as he got reminded of something. "Oh, right!"
A magic circle formed in the ground, as a single imp emerged, slightly confused. "Run and eat his eyes before they melt. You don"t have much time," Noah told the imp with healing habilities that was outside just a second ago, and for everyone outside, vanished into a magic circle with a burst of flames. It"s claws quickly pulled the eyes through the visor of the armor, though burning them and its hands in the process. Yet, the imp was unphased by the pain.. "I raised them well," Noah muttered, before staring forward, and dispelling the dome of fire.