Chapter 572 - Day MMCXXXVIII, Part I

The whole relocation thing was kinda annoying at this point, but we ended up in the same place where we started. Apparently, the few days were enough to fix everything.

The day started in a kinda weird way. It was obvious that some people were feeling trapped in the waiting room at this point. Part of it was the 'imprisonment' since we couldn't really go out, and were all staying in one spot, except the relocations.

The other part was a vision of death, since if the few strongest people couldn't somehow win the whole thing, then the rest would be simply slaughtered, and not everybody was ready for such a sacrifice, but they also didn't really have where to run.

Especially the past two days enforced this feeling. The death of Boris, which still was hunting people from Arc, although we all tried very hard to not think about this, and somehow function. There was also a recent draw that almost cost Tai his life.

In the middle of this was Edward, preparing for his fight from early morning. He was sitting alone and was eating his breakfast. I tried to talk with him, and bring him something better, but people from his gate stopped me. He clearly wanted to be alone as much as it was possible.

In the end, since he was about to go out, people couldn't help but focus on the guy. But that wasn't the worst thing. The gossips were. Some just couldn't keep their mouths shut and whispered among themselves, which could easily be heard because of the lack of distance.

This created an even more nervous atmosphere.

I wanted to go to him, and use some magic on him to make him stronger since I regretted not doing that to Tai. There was just not a good opportunity for that. So I also watched him as he finished, went to wash up, and then head straight to the armory, around half an hour before the start of the match.

He was focused, expressionless, and clearly ready to die.

The next time I saw him was a bit later, as he entered the arena with a naked torso covered in a couple of tattoos. He had a cross on his back, some female face on his shoulders, and also a few words written here and there.

On his hands were simple brass knuckles. He was wearing military pants and sturdy boots. No armor or other protection.

He just marched across the sand with intent, stopped more or less in the middle of our half of the battleground, and turned to face the opponent, who was still not there like it was some kind of drill. You could easily see his background in the army with the way he moved.

The day was nice, and the local sun was high on the clear sky. It brought to my mind the duel scenes from some old cowboy movies, but they quickly left when the alien who Edward was gonna face flew to the arena. Yes, flew.

The man was quite similar to a human, but his skin was almost completely white. He had also white hair, staining completely straight. He was wearing a long coat with a high collar. It was blue with, vine-like patterns embroidered all over the whole piece of clothing. He was surrounded by black spheres slowly circling around like planets around the sun, although the orbits were all over the place.

He stopped more or less in the middle of his field in midair and looking at Edward waited for the gong to start the fight in silence.

Soon the loud sound announced the beginning, and both sides didn't wait even for a second. They ruched charging at one another. The human skin changed after a few steps, getting more red with each second until it became the same color as a new brick. Then he leaped into the air with incredible speed.

The alien send a ball to slam into him, but Edward punched it, as it got into the reach of his arms. It blasted through the air and hit the wall like a missile from a cannon.

Unfortunately, it also ruined his trajectory, and his opponent send more of them, to use this opportunity, but they all got kicked left and right, smashing into the arena, and sending bursts of sand into the air to rain down.

Then he landed and immediately resumed his run. The alien lost a few of his balls, so he decided to retreat for a moment, calling the ones sent flying back. All of them shot straight to him, but that was not fast enough. Edward closed the distance and in a blur appeared before him, ready to punch. In the last moment, the hand of the human was blocked by one of the remaining balls and blasted right next to the alien's head to collide with the wall again.

American kept on with the assault, landing on the ground, and quickly pushing forward to not lose the tempo, but the remaining spheres joined their master and immediately were sent straight at Hill, who dodged them with fancy footwork, as they were slamming into the ground, sending more dust in the air.

Altho he dodged everything his physical attack was put to stop, so he stomped heavily on the ground, and two walls of stone emerged from under the sand and clashed one with the another enveloping the alien completely, alongside the remaining balls.

For a second it looked like the fight was over, but then the rock shattered turning completely into rubble and we saw the alien, furious about the hit he just received with black veins popping out on the background made out of the white skin, and also the eyes, very similar to mine when I was using 'Eyes of The Void'.

He let out a battle cry filled with sheer fury and more of the spheres appeared all around him.. It looked like the reality was twisting itself just to become a black ball.