Chapter 576 - Day MMCXXXVIII, Part V

Will didn't wait too long for his opponent. The alien came out shortly after his grand display of power.

It was a creature quite similar Ashal Kal Anur, with few differences. First of all the skin was completely white, and there were blue stones shimmering with power stuck, even embedded, into it. One on each shoulder. One on each forearm. One on the forehead, between completely white eyes. Few at the back, and some on the legs and torso. Also, the ears were more prominent.

The imperial official was shocked by what he saw. He jumped on his feet and looked at the similar alien walking across the sand with mouth and eyes wide open. Then he looked at Zor'xal who had a nasty smile on his face, and clearly was enjoying the shock on Ashal Kal Anur's face.

The official collapsed on his throne with fury painted all over his face. It was obvious that whatever just happened was a slap to the face for him.

- What the fuck is going on? - asked Nil.

- I wish I could answer - replied Adam. - It seems like some politics is being done here.

- I hope it won't influence us - said Tai.

- I believe it's too late for that - said the fire mage. - It already did.

Will's opponent reached his position in the middle of his half of the field, and shortly after the sound of the gong started the fight.

Alien immediately looked to one of the sides, looked to his left where the sound came from, which confirmed for me, that his eyes weren't really working. Then he spread his arms and the stones detached from his body. He also started levitating above the ground.

The human, not wasting any time send the thirteen swords to attack.

Unfortunately for him, his opponent was already prepared to defend himself. Twelve crystals formed two hexagonal shields with a shimmering field between them, and that was enough to deflect the blades dent in a straight line.

There was almost no impact like they all froze in space upon reaching the defenses, so Will split them apart to attack from different angles. The alien called back the shields, adding a few more stones flying around, and forming a shell around himself to block everything.

Then the only stone that didn't leave his body, toe one on his forehead, shined brightly, and a shimmering field in front of his face vanished, to make space for a ray of energy that was emitted straight at the human.

Will pointed out his claymore, and blocked the energy, making it split on the edge of his sword. Both parts hit the ground, creating lines of sand melted into glass.  Alien reacted by immediately closing his shell back, and flying to the side to try a different angle, and creating more space between them.

The human sent the swords flying after him, but his opponent expected such a move and detached a few stones of his defenses to meet with the blades before they reached him. Crystals surrounded the weapons and formed the same shell he used for defense around them, and then the inside of it was filled with energy. He didn't get all of them, only seven, but that was more than a half, which wasn't bad.

When the gems split again, melted metal poured down from between them on the sand.

Meanwhile, the remaining six blades reached the target, trying to pierce him. He formed smaller, triangular shields around himself and blocked them all sending another ray of energy at Will, but this time it was blocked by one of the shields, the that moved upwards a bit, and completely blocked the straight pathline to the human.

I focused on my friend. His face was showcasing how calm he was, despite some of his weapons getting destroyed, and his attacks failing. He barely scratched the mountain of tricks he had now in his sleeves.

He slowly turned to face the alien, who managed to already trap the remaining six blades, and immediately melted them, then detached all the stones forming a circle with two of them one in the middle. One slightly behind, and one slightly in front. The beam shot from the crystals still embedded in his forehead and hit the one behind the circle. From it, multiple beams shot to every single gem that was creating the figure. From those stones, it went focusing on the one in front, which shot a blast of energy at William.

It was blinding, but I somehow endured squinting my eyes to not lose sight of the fight. My friend was completely enveloped by the angry light, and I had no idea what was going on with him, but then a giant, above hundred meters long claymore fell from the sky with incredible speed straight at the defenseless alien, pinning him to the ground, and piercing arena itself, reaching deep into the depths of hidden machinery underneath the surface.

We felt the impact, but the blade was so sharp, that it was well less than one could expect. The beam was cut short immediately revealing William hidden behind two shields, kneeling on one knee with the sword in his hands jammed into the sand.

Ashal Kal Anur jumped on his feet, to look. Zor'xal also was taken by surprise. The nasty grin on his face disappeared, leaving space for astonishment.

- What the fuck - said somebody.

- That's Will for ya! - shouted Sanders.

Then the imperial official smiled and started clapping looking at the human warrior, who slowly raised from his knee, looking straight at the emperor whose face now was expressing anger. He slammed his hand into the arm support, but this time with less force. He had to learn his lesson by destroying so many of them already.

Ashal Kal Anur spoke looking straight at Zor'xal, not even trying to hide how triumphant he was feeling.

The AI popped above the holoprojection.

- Participant William archived a flawless victory. Imperial official Ashal Kal Anur congratulates him for such an achievement and looks forward to humanity joining the mighty Ixan empire.

Then it disappeared.. All we could do was to look at one another while the emperor was trying very hard to contain his fury.