Chapter 575 - Day MMCXXXVIII, Part IV

Edward was pissed he slapped himself on the chest and then a few times on the face, and then screamed at the sky. It responded with lightning bolts jumping from cloud to cloud, and the crackling sound of thunder shook the arena.

The electrical discharges jumping all over Hill's body got even crazier. His eyes turned completely white from the energy inside his body. The long chains of electricity moved around his body, connecting him to the ground. It looked like he was tied to the very sand he was standing on.

- This idiot... - said some man from the American gate.

His name was Enrique, and he used to be on the same team as Edward during the tournament in Egypt.

- What is he doing? - asked Nil.

- He is overcharging himself, but I've never seen him go this far. I'm not sure if his body can even take it.

As he said that a bolt of lightning came down hitting the Skullcrasher and blinding us for a moment. When I opened my eyes I saw Edward appearing in midair in front of the alien, who didn't even notice. Human had his hands high in the air, with fingers tightly braided together. His body seemed beaming with power.

The swordsman noticed at the last second, but it was too late to dodge so he attempted to block the hit. Both fists slammed into his forearms and we felt a tremor when for a second lights and the whole holoprojection went off.

Lamps in the ceiling flickered, and we got the power back. the arena in the middle of the waiting room appeared a moment later showing a giant crater in the ground, covered by slowly disappearing clouds of sparkly crystals made out of fresh glass.

The dark clouds above the arena were halfway gone, and rays of light were coming down, illuminating everything, and even creating small rainbows here and there.

The alien, all charred, with skin on half of his face completely melted, emerged first. He seemed barely holding on. Each step was like a grand effort, but he was walking. Then we hear a scream from the cloud of sparkles, and Edward came running.

His hands were partially gone. He had only stumps ending a bit past the elbows with black sharp bones sticking out. His face was melted, and the skin was still boiling. He slammed into the alien and started piercing him with the bones until he just collapsed.

In the waiting room, nobody said a thing. We just watched the two corpses laying on the sand in complete silence. At least to a point when Ashal Kal Anur spoke something which we couldn't understand, and the AI popped above the holoprojection of the arena. 

- The match between participant Edward Hill and participant unknown was decided to be a drow. Both sides should now select new representatives and await the change of the battleground.

It immediately vanished after that. I looked at my friends, suspecting it was enough death, and it should be now my time to go out there and do as much as I possibly could, but Will was faster. He stood up and announced:

- I'll be going now.

He immediately looked at me, proving this was more for me than everybody else. I wanted to argue with him, but I just couldn't find it within me.

Some of the guys from American gate also jumped on their feet.

- We are going for the body - they announced, and left heading towards the armory to go out.

Meanwhile, both Ashal Kal Anur and Zor'xal were on the move, to the new location.

After a few minutes, the body was brought. I healed it, and after people said a few final words to their former leader, I put it in my vault, alongside Boris's corpse. I think they knew the moment Edward stepped into the arena it would end this way, so they were sad, but clearly prepared for such a result.

Katri Xel Avakadaisu showed herself a bit later to relocate us, and as we ended up in the new waiting room, Will immediately went to the armory, since there was no information of the rest of the event for the day was being canceled.

I wanted to stop him, but just one look at his face told me I wasn't going to, so I just put my hand on his shoulder and said to him:

- Surender if you can't win. Don't be stupid.

He didn't even answer, just smiled. Then I dumped my both blessings into him and allowed him to go.

We didn't have to wait for him to appear on the battleground for much longer. He clearly didn't even put anything on and went out in his regular clothes, but as he was slowly making it across the sand to his spot in the middle of our part of the field a shining white armor, with intricate golden decorations assembled out of thin air over his body.

When he stopped and faced the entrance to the underground complex where aliens were supposed to be located, he placed his hands in front of him, like he was grabbing an invisible sword, and in a flash of light, a shining claymore appeared in his hand. The blade had this strange boiling white aura all over.

That was not the end though. Two almost heart-shaped shields appeared on his both sides, levitating above the ground. They were the size of a grown-up man, golden, surrounded by the same light.

Then also thirteen swords appeared behind him, forming a slight arch, with blades pointing at the sky.

- I didn't know he could do that - said Nil.

- Me neither - said Nobuo.

The two of them looked at me. I just shrugged my shoulders. Although I probably dipped my fingers in the way he obtained that power from, it was his own skills he was now putting on display.

The performance even grabbed Ashal Kal Anur's attention. He then peaked at Zor'xal who didn't seem to be too happy about what he saw. His grand plan wasn't really working. Three out of the twelve aliens he brought were now dead.. The score was one win on our side, and two draws, which wasn't looking too good for him.