Chapter 119: Awakened Tournament Crisis (25)

Elio wasn’t planning to win through attrition anymore.

He was going to concentrate everything he had into one overwhelming attack.

A single strike powerful enough to decide the battle.

Eden could respect that.

In fact, he found himself wondering why he hadn’t tried something similar before.

He had used Devour to create enormous dragons, but his usual approach was to send them forward and allow them to attack independently. It was effective, but he had never truly experimented with compressing the skill’s power into a single, concentrated attack.

He had always thought of Devour as something that consumed, overwhelmed, and spread.

But if he could manipulate its shape and behavior, then perhaps he could do more than simply send a dragon flying toward an enemy.

’Let’s find out.’

Eden raised his Aura Blade.

Crimson Essence poured over its surface.

The blade began to distort, its outline disappearing beneath the rapidly growing mass of crimson. Mouths opened along the weapon, their teeth snapping as the crimson energy expanded into the shape of a long dragon.

Its body emerged from Eden’s sword, coiling through the air with a vicious, almost unnatural grace.

The dragon’s head lowered toward the ground.

Its eyes opened.

And for the first time, Eden didn’t send it forward.

Instead, he held it close.

He gathered more Essence.

The crimson dragon began to grow.

Its body thickened, and the mouths covering its scales opened wider. Its teeth grew longer, while the red energy surrounding it became increasingly dense and turbulent.

The dragon circled Eden, its enormous body twisting around him like a living storm.

The audience watched in disbelief.

"ANOTHER ONE?!"

"WHAT THE HELL ARE THESE TWO?!"

The announcer had no words left.

All he could do was stare as the two monsters prepared to unleash their finishing attacks.

Across the arena, Elio’s purple serpent continued growing.

Eden’s crimson dragon answered it.

Their Essence collided in the air, sending ripples through the atmosphere.

For a moment, the two manifestations seemed to stare at one another.

Purple against crimson.

A serpent against a dragon.

Elio’s eyes narrowed.

Eden smiled.

"Come on, then."

His crimson dragon roared.

"Let’s see how far I can push this."

Elio crouched lower, his whipblade held close to his body as the enormous purple serpent coiled above him. His remaining Essence flowed into the creature, reinforcing its body and compressing its power into a single, devastating attack.

Across from him, Eden mirrored his stance.

His crimson dragon circled around him, its body growing more malicious with every passing second. The mouths covering its scales snapped at the air, while its head lowered toward Elio with an expression of pure predatory hunger.

Both fighters understood what was about to happen.

There would be no testing the waters.

No probing attacks.

No gradual escalation.

This would decide the match.

Elio took one final breath.

’I have to win here.’

For all his talent, all his power, and all the effort he had poured into reaching this point, he knew he couldn’t keep fighting Eden much longer.

If this attack failed, he would have little left to give.

But he had no intention of losing.

Not now.

Not after coming this far.

Eden’s thoughts were considerably simpler.

’This looks like it could be fun.’

He tightened his grip on the Aura Blade.

The crimson dragon coiled closer.

Then both men moved.

The ground beneath their feet shattered.

Elio launched forward, his purple serpent surging behind him with enough force to pulverize the remaining battlefield.

Eden charged at the same time, his crimson dragon sweeping through the air as the entire arena shook beneath their combined momentum.

The distance between them disappeared.

The purple serpent opened its jaws.

The crimson dragon roared.

Their weapons rose.

And just as the two attacks were about to collide Eden felt something.

A strange, ominous energy surged from beneath the battlefield.

His instincts reacted instantly.

’What—?!’

Elio felt it too.

His concentration immediately broke.

’Something is coming!’

Something enormous.

Something that had been waiting beneath them.

Both men instinctively abandoned their attacks and leaped away from each other.

The purple serpent destabilized.

The crimson dragon dissolved into a violent surge of Essence.

Their finishing moves collapsed before either could be released.

Then the ground erupted.

The center of the battlefield exploded upward.

Massive slabs of reinforced stone were hurled into the air as something enormous forced its way out from beneath the arena. The protective barrier flashed desperately, struggling to contain the sudden eruption.

A colossal black skull emerged from the ground.

Its surface was twisted and grotesque, covered in ridges and jagged protrusions that resembled the remains of countless fused bones. Two enormous crimson eyes burned within its empty sockets, illuminating the ruined battlefield with an eerie red glow.

It was not a normal Abyss Creature.

Its sheer size made that immediately obvious.

The skull was large enough to dwarf nearby buildings, and the force of its emergence had torn apart the arena as though the reinforced ground were little more than thin ice.

A wave of oppressive Abyss Creature Essence spread across the stadium.

The audience fell silent.

Then someone screamed.

"What IS THAT?!"

Before anyone could answer, the skull’s enormous jaws opened.

Black, spiked tentacles erupted from its body.

They rose into the air, growing longer and thicker as they spread outward in every direction. Some were as large as buildings, while others towered above the stadium like skyscrapers, their jagged spikes glinting beneath the lights.

They didn’t remain confined to the arena.

Tentacles burst through the ground surrounding the stadium, tearing apart roads and nearby structures. Others erupted inside the stadium itself, smashing through empty seating sections and sending enormous chunks of concrete crashing down among the spectators.

The protective barrier flickered violently before it eventually broke as a tentacle struck its surface.

The entire stadium shook.

Screams erupted throughout the audience as people scrambled away from the destruction.

Association personnel shouted orders, while what little remained of the silver wing team rushed toward the stands to protect the civilians.

Inside the ruined arena, Eden landed in a crouch.

Elio touched down several meters away, his whipblade raised defensively.

They were staring at the creature that had interrupted them.

Then Eden’s gaze shifted upward.

Someone was standing atop the enormous black skull.

A frail old man with a hunched posture and an unsettling smile.

His black eyes gleamed with delight as he surveyed the chaos spreading throughout the stadium. His ragged clothing fluttered in the turbulent air, and his thin fingers rested casually against a twisted staff.

’...!’

Eden recognized him.

’No...’

’That can’t be!’

’Why is that bastard here?!’

Aphelios.

The Mad Summoner.

The rogue S-Rank who had spent years conducting grotesque experiments and summoning monsters through sacrifices.

The old man tilted his head, studying the two the destruction below him.

Then he began to laugh.

It was a thin, rasping sound that carried across the ruined stadium.

"Ahahaha... wonderful."

His black eyes moved to Elio.

"Absolutely wonderful."

He spread his arms, as though welcoming them to a performance prepared exclusively for their entertainment.

"To think I’d reach it this easily."

The enormous skull beneath him released a guttural roar.

Across the stadium, the spiked tentacles began to move.

Aphelios’s smile widened.

"What are you waiting for?"

His voice carried an almost childlike excitement.

"I’ve created the perfect environment for you, Null."