Chapter 118: Awakened Tournament Crisis (24)

The Arena had become a complete mess.

The reinforced ground had fractured into enormous plates, with deep trenches cutting across the battlefield. Entire sections had collapsed beneath the repeated impacts of the two fighters’ attacks, while shattered stone and fragments of ice from the previous match were scattered across the ruined surface.

The protective barrier flickered constantly.

Every collision between the crimson and purple manifestations sent shockwaves through the stadium, forcing the barrier to absorb more destructive force than it had been designed to withstand during an ordinary tournament match.

The restoration systems had effectively given up trying to repair the battlefield in real time.

There was simply too much damage.

The audience watched in stunned silence, interrupted only by occasional screams of disbelief.

"THE ARENA CAN’T TAKE MUCH MORE OF THIS!"

"THEY’RE DESTROYING EVERYTHING!"

"ARE THEY REALLY BOTH A-RANK?!"

Even the experienced Awakened among the spectators were struggling to comprehend the scale of the battle.

Their movements were already difficult to follow, but the serpents made everything worse. Every time Eden and Elio exchanged blows, their manifestations attacked from different directions, turning the battlefield into a chaotic storm of fangs, blades, and explosive Essence.

And neither fighter was backing down.

Eden’s Devour grew more creative with every exchange.

He stopped relying exclusively on large crimson dragons and began dividing his Essence into smaller, faster manifestations. Vicious serpents emerged from the ground beneath Elio’s feet, forcing him to leap away from their snapping jaws. Long tendrils wrapped around the purple creatures and pulled them into the waiting mouths of larger crimson beasts.

At one point, Eden even formed a massive crimson maw directly in the path of Elio’s whipblade, forcing the weapon to tear through the construct before it could reach him.

The moment Elio’s attention shifted toward the obstacle, Eden used Burst-Step to close the distance and strike.

Their blades collided.

Elio twisted away, barely avoiding a slash across his chest.

A crimson serpent emerged behind him.

He turned and destroyed it with a sweeping strike, only for two more to appear from either side.

The battlefield exploded.

Elio retreated through the smoke, his purple Essence surging around him as he struggled to keep the growing number of crimson manifestations at bay.

’He’s getting better at controlling it.’

That realization was more troubling than the raw destructive power.

Every exchange revealed another way to use Devour, and Eden adapted almost immediately. The longer the fight continued, the more dangerous his crimson Essence became.

Elio had been forced to go all out simply to maintain their current balance.

And even now, he could feel the difference.

His Essence reserves were steadily declining.

The serpents required enormous amounts of energy to maintain, especially when Eden’s Devour was constantly consuming them. Every destroyed manifestation represented a loss he couldn’t easily ignore, and replacing them demanded more Essence than he wanted to spend.

Meanwhile, Eden’s crimson aura continued to churn around him.

He had sustained Corrupted Surge throughout the battle, and its enhanced regeneration was helping him maintain the output for devour.

Their current situation may have been balanced.

But it wasn’t sustainable for Elio.

He knew it.

And he suspected Eden knew it too.

’If he goes all out...’

Elio’s eyes narrowed as he parried another strike.

’I’ll lose.’

He could keep fighting like this. He could continue using his serpents, his whipblade, and his strange purple Essence to maintain the battle for a little longer.

But if Eden decided to abandon restraint and unleash everything he possessed, Elio wasn’t confident he could survive the result.

He needed to finish the fight before that happened.

The problem was that Eden didn’t appear to be in any hurry.

The bastard was still smiling.

Eden ducked beneath a sweeping strike and slammed his shoulder into Elio’s chest, forcing him backward.

Before Elio could recover, Eden’s crimson Essence erupted around his opponent.

Several enormous mouths formed simultaneously, their jaws closing from different directions.

Elio’s purple serpents intercepted them, but the collision produced another series of explosions that swallowed both fighters in a storm of light and debris.

Eden emerged first.

He raised his right hand, urging the crimson Essence to gather around it.

Unlike the previous attacks, this one wasn’t meant to defend him or create an opening.

He wanted to see how much destructive force he could concentrate into a single strike.

Devour responded.

The crimson mass swelled into an enormous dragon, its elongated body twisting through the air. Its head was formed from countless interlocking mouths, and its jagged teeth snapped continuously as it grew larger.

Elio’s expression changed.

’Damn it...’

He immediately commanded his remaining serpents to converge.

Purple and crimson collided.

The explosion was catastrophic.

The dragon’s jaws closed around the nearest serpent, consuming its head before tearing through its body. Two more serpents wrapped around the dragon’s neck, attempting to crush it, but crimson mouths erupted across the dragon’s body and began devouring them in return.

The entire construct became a writhing mass of purple and red.

Then Eden clenched his fist.

The dragon’s body contracted.

Its jaws snapped shut.

Boom!

The resulting explosion tore through the battlefield.

The shockwave slammed into the protective barrier, causing its surface to flare brilliant white. For a moment, the entire stadium seemed to vanish behind a curtain of crimson light and pulverized stone.

The barrier groaned.

Cracks of light spread across its surface before the reinforcement system desperately stabilized it.

Several spectators stumbled backward.

Even the announcer fell silent.

The protective barrier had been designed to withstand attacks from powerful Awakened.

But the force of Eden’s latest attack had come dangerously close to overwhelming it.

When the dust finally began to settle, the arena was barely standing.

Entire sections of the ground had been obliterated, leaving behind a vast crater surrounded by broken slabs of reinforced stone.

And at the far end of the battlefield, Elio stood with one knee close to the ground.

Blood trickled from his forehead.

His breathing had grown heavier, and the purple Essence surrounding his body flickered unevenly. Several of his serpents had disappeared entirely, while the remaining manifestations looked smaller and less stable than before.

He had managed to survive the attack.

Barely.

Eden stood at the opposite end of the crater, his crimson aura still writhing around him.

The two men stared at each other across the ruined arena.

Neither spoke for several seconds.

Then Elio exhaled.

"...Ridiculous."

Eden grinned.

He straightened slowly.

His arms ached. His Essence reserves were running low, and the effort of maintaining so many serpents had begun to catch up with him.

He couldn’t continue this way.

Not for much longer.

If he wanted to win, he needed to end the battle with a single decisive attack.

His expression hardened.

"Alright, Eden."

He lowered his body into a stance, holding his whipblade close to his side.

"Let’s settle this."

The purple serpents surrounding him suddenly stopped moving.

One by one, their bodies dissolved into streams of Essence, flowing back toward Elio.

The enormous creatures that had filled the arena moments earlier vanished, leaving the battlefield strangely quiet.

Eden watched carefully.

He’s gathering everything.

The purple Essence around Elio grew denser.

It coiled around his body, flowing down his arms and gathering along the length of his whipblade. The air vibrated as the energy compressed, creating a low, resonant hum that seemed to come from deep beneath the earth.

Then something enormous emerged above him.

A serpent.

Not one of the smaller manifestations Elio had used throughout the battle, but a colossal creature whose head alone was larger than a building.

Its body stretched upward into the air, coiling behind Elio like a living mountain of purple Essence. Its scales shimmered with violet light, and its eyes burned with an intensity that made the surrounding air distort.

The serpent opened its jaws.

The sound that emerged was not quite a roar.

It was a deep, resonant hiss that vibrated through the entire stadium.

Elio continued pouring Essence into it.

The serpent grew larger.

Its body thickened, its fangs lengthened, and its presence became increasingly oppressive.

Eden’s expression grew serious.

’So that’s your finishing move.’