Chapter 563 - Day MMCXXXV, Part I

With Bori's incredible victories from the previous day and the aftermath they brought along, people seemed quite joyful.

I watched from the early morning as he woke up, and started his routine before the fight, constantly being patted on the back by people. Everybody seemed to be happy with him just simply around. His accomplishments in the span of a single day made him the most popular and respected person around. It was all well deserved considering that he did such a giant leap towards ending this madness.

After he was done with the preparations, he went straight to me for obvious reasons. He wanted me to use my magic to make him stronger and tougher.

- Morning Peter. Does the simple follower of yours, o messiah, can receive a blessing before a deadly match? - he said with a giant smile on his face, not even trying to hide the irony in his words. 

For a second I just wanted to say 'fuck you', and bless him anyway, but then I decided that I'm actually going to go with it.

- Did you repent for your sins against me?

- No.

- Did you give for the church?

- Nope.

- Well done son. Let me bless you in the name of awesome me - I said and showed him the middle finger, as well as dumped both 'Blessing of Vitality' and 'Blessing of Power' with quite a bit of mana.

As soon as he felt the magic surging through his body he nodded.

- Thank you, o messiah. Let your name be praised.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah, just go, peasant.

He snorted and left. I reflected on myself thinking that maybe I got too much into my role, but Boris actually seemed to find that funny. He went straight to the armory to equip his armor back. Nil followed him to help.

It took them some time since the whole thing was quite tough to put on because it wasn't leaving any places not covered by sturdy, heavy plates.

Sanders appeared back in the waiting room after a couple of minutes still in a good mood and went to grab something to drink while observing the holoprojection with the corner of his eye.

Boris appeared there and repeated what he did yesterday. His greeting to Ashal Kal Anur, who seemed quite amused by this gesture, and nodded with a slight smile. Zor'xal, on the other hand, seemed to be quite focused, and on the edge, as he was looking at the entrance to the underground complex on the opposite side.

His fingers were tightly squeezing the arm support of his floating chair, to the point that the coloration on the knuckles got a bit lighter. He was so absorbed by this simple action, that it spread also on me, as I started staring into the darkness behind the large entrance, but nobody was coming out.

One minute turned into two, and we were just waiting. The process gave me anxiety as I started feeling pressure in my stomach. It didn't leave even when from the shadows emerged an alien.

It had a strange-looking head that seemed to have multiple clustered tumor-like formations which were slowly pulsating. His skin was a mix of grey and green, and he had two pairs of eyes which were quite big, sky blue with black pupils surrounded by the golden iris.

The mouth was small, with puffy lips, and a rudimentary nose, barely visible in a form of two small holes.

The creature wasn't very tall, around my size, and was wearing a long robe. The colors were iron blue, mixed with a little bit of silver here and there with golden, intricate patterns on the edges as a decoration.

The alien kept his hands on the torso, hidden in the long sleeves. I also couldn't see the feet, since the robe was going all the way to the ground. Even the way he moved seemed strange. It was single motion like he wasn't walking, but instead was drifting slightly above the ground.

He didn't look at Zor'xal nor at Ashal Kal Anur, but his appearance changed the facial expression of the imperial official. He seemed to be just pleased by Boris's behavior and patiently waiting, but right then he looked more concerned and focused like this alien was some kind of big deal.

The emperor, on the other hand, was suddenly very pleased, and even smiling to himself.

The worry in me grew, and the unpleasant feeling in my stomach got stronger. I was not the only one who noticed the change in Ashal Kal Anur's attitude. Will and Sanders also did, and they both looked at me like I had the answers to their questions, but I didn't. I was just as clueless as they were.

- Whatever that thing is, it's not good - I suddenly heard a familiar voice of Gavriil Semenov, who sneaked upon me.

Probably just because I was so focused on observing the holoprojection.

- You have a bad feeling too? - I asked.

- It was obvious that Zor'xal will react somehow since we cornered him, so I predicted him bringing out some big shot, but this one even got the official feeling surprised. It's a bad sign. Boris should poke that thing and give up shortly after, just so we can see what it can do.

I nodded to his words. He was right, we needed some intel. With the knowledge, we could choose the person with the most suitable skillset to counter that alien, and then, hopefully, this whole thing would get stopped by Ashal Kal Anur.

We were not the only ones discussing what was happening in the arena. Other hunters were also talking among themselves, quite eagerly actually, since nothing like that happened before.

My thoughts and the whole conversation were put on hold, not only ours but also everybody else's, with the sound of the gong announcing the beginning of the fight. The whole waiting room went silent, and you could feel the tension in the air.. The invisible pressure.