It started silently, like the origins of a storm which would stay silent to all over the sea until it grew into something that threatened the existence of the nearest port.
There was a small side room in one corner of the stadium, which was given to stall owners in order to rest in during the day or to store stuff.
A normal man sat in the room, and beside him was a cage which had steel grates surrounded by a semi-translucent barrier that looked stronger than any that could be conjured by even a Warrior-level powerhouse.
The man kept looking at the mosquito apprehensively, as it was currently feeding on a piece of human flesh that had been obtained from G.o.d knows where.
This was actually the 10th such piece of flesh it was feeding on, and with each eating session, its size seemed to be growing bigger and bigger.
Originally just the width of his fingernail, it was now longer than his index finger and looked downright scary despite its s.h.i.+ny golden exterior.
Occasionally, it tried to pierce the barrier surrounding it, but it always failed, leading it to continue feeding it on the flesh.
The man had been a.s.sured that his family would be taken care of in Axelor, but he couldn"t help but move his hand to his pocket shakily in order to read a letter that was there.
It was from his family, who said that they were proud that he had gotten the opportunity to set up a stall on behalf of Axelor in this momentous event.
Till yesterday, he had been opening this letter with eagerness to get back to them.
However, now, he did so to remind himself why he was doing what he was doing.
The minister who had threatened to kill his family looked like he was very unwilling to do so, but the threat was very real.
Hence, given a choice between giving up his life or his families", he didn"t even have to think.
As the communication trinket in his pocket buzzed before bursting into flames to erase all traces of its existence, he knew that it was time.
Stretching out a hand, he tapped at a specific spot on the outside of the barrier, making it disappear.
It took barely a second for the mosquito to realize that it was free.
ZOOOOM
In a blur, it flew towards the man and buried its mandible in his chest, making him show the whites of his eyes before falling back onto the chair he had been sitting in.
Some sort of relaxant spread through his body, and the man actually smiled before his consciousness faded away.
In the room that was now silent, the mosquito continued to suck on his blood, while the man just lay back with that eerie smile, as if this was the happiest thing he had ever gotten to do since being born.
The sucking sound was the only thing that could be heard, but it kept being drowned out by the wild cheers from outside, as the final round was now underway.
...
"Luther, do you know where Daneel is? He isn"t responding to my messages."
"Come to Lanthanor"s booth, but make sure to step inside the barrier without letting anyone recognize you."
Hearing the grave tone in Luther"s voice, Faxul was puzzled for a bit, but he only followed the man"s instructions.
Apparently, the mages in the booth had been alerted that there would be a visitor, so they did nothing when he teleported inside and stepped into the opaque barrier without giving a chance to anyone to recognize him.
However, the moment he stepped inside, the sight reflected in his eyes shocked him so much that he stopped mid-step.
The King of Lanthanor was lying on the ground, tied up so tightly with coils of high-quality rope that it was clear that he couldn"t even move an inch.
Daneel"s eyes were closed, but the movements of his eyes under his eyelids made it seem as if he was having some kind of nightmare.
Of course, his face was still covered with blood, so it was also a gory sight.
"He"s in a Fighter Rage. Just ask the Protector Raven, it"ll tell you what it is."
Luther"s calm voice brought him back to his senses, making him acquiesce and ask his query to the Raven.
As he heard the explanation, his eyes widened more and more, surprised that something like this existed.
Fighters trained by using elementary particles to temper every part of their body in order to increase their overall strength.
No one knew the exact reason, but when a Fighter had an especially b.l.o.o.d.y battle against someone, their mind would be affected in such a way that they would be drawn to blood, making them want to continue killing and destroying everything they saw.
The weird thing was that this was only supposed to veteran Fighters who had seen a lot of such fights, as it required an acc.u.mulation of this bloodthirstiness to set off the enraged state. By that time, the Fighter would be mature enough in order to control themselves in some way or the other.
It was clearly not so in this case. This was only Daneel"s first such fight, so it was clear that he didn"t have the strength of mind necessary to handle it effectively.
After hearing the explanation from the Raven, Faxul asked, "Why is he affected by it already?"
"No idea. There might be other factors at play that we do not know about. Regardless, its fine, he just needs to be restrained for a period of time."
"But he said he wants to partic.i.p.ate in the match against Axelor-"
"It won"t take that long. He"s already lucid at times. Look."
Right as Luther said the last word, Daneel opened his eyes and looked around before seeing his friend.
He smiled sheepishly, but due to the blood on his face, it actually looked a little scary.
"Sit. Luther says this won"t take long. I even feel fine. It"s just that…something inside me keeps taking over for brief periods of times, during which my dear commander chops me on the head to knock me out. What did you come to talk about?"
Faxul sighed and looked away as this was mentioned, but he spoke anyway as he had to get this thought off of his chest.
"I made the decision to use my special strategy now. After all the trump cards that you and the others have revealed, this will not a.s.sure me a victory. But it will let my people watch a good show."
After finally saying it, Faxul bent his head, feeling drained.
His original plan was to use his strategy in order to ensure at least one victory, but by a.n.a.lyzing everything, it had become clear that that would not be possible.
Still, he was going to deploy it anyway.
After a few seconds during which he looked down with frustration, he realized that Daneel hadn"t said anything.
Looking up, he saw that both Luther and Daneel were staring at a specific spot in the stands with their jaws hanging open.
Following their line of sight, Faxul tried to understand why they were acting like so, but he wasn"t an Exalted Human like them.
Hence, he could only ask the Protector Raven, but even it took a few seconds to reply.
Fed up, he took out a zoom trinket from his pocket before using it to magnify his sight.
The first thing he saw was that people were running away in panic, but he had already noticed this before, although he didn"t know the reason.
Looking around, he finally focused on the sight of around 20 people standing with smiles on their faces while showing the whites of their eyes.
Something golden was on each of their bodies, and as he zoomed in, he reacted in the same way.
...
Meanwhile, Sister Xuan and Molan, who had seen this too, were just about to fly out in order to help the citizens.
However, when the trinket on her body which had been given by the Champion level Matron herself vibrated, Sister Xuan immediately froze in her spot in the private booth.
"Xuan! Are you still in the tournament? Get out! Now!"
"Matron, there are some sort of mosquitoes killing people! We have an obligation to help! They don"t look strong enough to hurt us, anyway!"
This response was actually met by a pause, after which Sister Xuan heard the Matron scream for the first time in her life.
"FOOL! WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?! THEY DON"T MATTER! THE CHURCH IS ATTACKING! WE ARE ON OUR WAY, BUT YOU. NEED. TO. GET. OUT!!!"