Chapter 411: Victory

The words he spoke were rather soft, yet it left the crowd utterly without words, understandably so. Nothing but a small whisper exited the mouths of very few as they watched with anticipation upon the grounds ahead. 

"Ah—" 

Even the supreme general himself could not help but stand up from his seat absolutely shook at what he had heard uttered from his grandson's mouth. Yet not even he could say a single word as he was immediately silenced by a slight glare that set him back down where he stood, his hands dejectedly grasping his head and many thoughts on his mind. 

'He's being serious… What the hell… Kai Fatebringer, him of all people can't be this strong!! He's even weaker than his little brother and lost so many matches in school… So how!! Even if he was truly this strong, how can a brat like him have the patience to hide his power for so long!!'

"You alright sir?" He heard a gentle voice from his side. 

"Oh, apologies miss Orbec, I'm okay. I just never expected this match to be like this…"

"Hehe," She chuckled. "Neither did I, I thought that it would have been over long ago. But I think this match is already decided…"

"Yes, I think so too…" He took a deep breath to calm his mind, leaning back on his seat with a wide grin from ear to ear. 

The ground below began to tremble, the bright, vivid colours that once encompassed the space slowly began to fade away, turning into something akin to a muted gray. The light that shined down became dimmer, and darkness began to consume all that was contained within the boundaries to the point that people started to have issues peering upon what was going on.

"Arrrghhh!! News update folks! I'm in the middle of this hellish landscape and I can't see a single thing too from this darkness!!" The announcer grimaced. "I think… I think Adam Walker is transforming! I never thought I would be saying this so early on in the tournament let alone my entire life!! I promise we will try our best to get the cameras back and—"

"No need for that, announcer guy!" A voice encroached from the endless darkness, and as soon as those words were uttered an eruption of unspeakable magnitude exploded within the space like a supernova.

The dome that was once completely consumed by darkness was suddenly lit up, almost as though an entire star had abruptly ignited from within. 

And at the heart of that star was the source of all this fiery light. His aura crackled like magma, his entire mass was drenched from head to toe in flames, even the clothes upon his back were set ablaze and the eyes sat within his sockets were hellish in nature. Two fox-like ears emerged from his head along with several whiskers of aura grown upon his face. Yet, what was most visibly noticeable and stunning about his appearance were the orange tails that sprouted from his back, crackling and sporadically waving in the air like an extension of his body, all nine of them over the size of his entire being.

The power displayed from Kai Fatebringer's spirit mode was so powerful that the darkness began to shed allowing his opponent's face to once again meet the light of day, yet it was not at all as it was before… 

Similar to his opponent's fire, Adam was himself covered in inky shadows, yet these shadows that engulfed him were not a flowing mass of aura. It was more like a suit of armour, no, such a description would be inaccurate, it was more akin to skin, scale-like in nature and as dark as night, hugging his body tightly emphasizing his physique.

He appeared nothing like he was before, his eyes were like two pearls shining red through the endless darkness behind him, his teeth were white as snow, human-like in nature despite his now inhuman appearance and spanned his entire face in an all too uncanny manor. 

His head was clad in the same black scales as the rest of his body, shaped like a triangle that separated into two on its ends like spikey ears and two holes at its center representing his nose. Similar spikes found their way on his neck, gradually following his spine and were even present upon his elbows and the claws on his hands.

The bright red from his eyes seemed to droop down his neck and on his chest like glowing water, flowing upon his skin like a river in an almost tribal-like pattern that were clear to see even amidst the chaos. Yet what was very evident even to the unperceptive were the two wide wings connected to his back spanning the length of his entire body… Its shell was akin to that same-scale-like darkness of his skin and it was almost bat or even dragon-like in nature.

The arena was split in half… The darkness now had a light, and the two opposing ends began to fight for supremacy at its center without one taking any edge over the other, like a perfect balance of yin and yang.

"Ooo… Kai Fatebringer… You still have power to spare even as I transform… Impressive… Impressive indeed…" The winged figure of darkness opened his gaping mouth of teeth, yet it sounded nothing like the Adam he once knew. It was a mixture between his speech and that of the spirit he had fused with, his voice was heavy, slurred, and cold, like he was no longer human. 

"Well, of course! What kind of man would I be if I couldn't?" He chuckled. "But it seems like you fused with that thing you had. What are you even? A dragon? A lizard? Maybe a vampire or something? Wouldn't fusing just make you weaker since you don't have a double team?"

"Ooo… Quite perceptive of you… Quite perceptive indeed… However… You… You are sadly mistaken… You stand no chance… Boy…" The darkness behind Adam began to shift and turn like dough, and out its seemingly endless expanses it spat out blobs, blobs that began to bubble and slowly move. 

And in droves, an army those blobs turned into that same monstrous spirit as before, laughing at him and clapping their hands like rabid beasts. 

"Oh wow! I didn't expect that!" Kai clapped. "But if you think you're the only one who can summon here, you've got another thing coming for ya!"

Immediately as he closed his mouth, his nine tails began to glow and shake even more violently, and as they hit the ground, shards of what they were began to shift and turn until they became their very own foxes of flaming orange and gold, growling and ready to fight as though they were alive. 

"Now we're even right?"

"Ah... I suppose so…" Adam shrugged. "You are an odd individual… I could sense it… But even still, victory is not possible for the likes of you… It is too late for that now…" Adam's body suddenly disappeared into the endless shade, and the army of red-eyed spirit blobs on the ground's clapping and sreeching exemplified as they charged head on like monkeys with seemingly no strategy in mind. 

"We'll see about that."

And reacting to his opponent's moves, Kai tightly clenched his flaming spear and disappeared, blitzing directly into the dark as he left his summons to deal with the shadows. 

Indeed, the darkness was oppressive. Yet, despite its presence, the sound of clanking soon after filled the air. 

Light began to twinkle within the darkness, and the blackness began to slowly dilute into gray, allowing all to gaze upon their bout. 

Adam made good use of illusions, his body was rock solid yet malleable and stretchy at the same time which even extended to his weapon. Yet once again, no matter how he tried, he could never seem to bypass his opponent's guard, almost like he knew what he planned before he even did. 

"Illusions don't work on you… Hahahaha…" He laughed in that eerie voice even as he received a merciless thrashing for his attempts.

"Incredible! Both fighters are once again evenly matched! Even their summons fighting on the ground are evenly matched!" How can this even be possible!?" The announcer's voice was quick and nervous as he tried his best to find the energy to speak, which was more than most of the audience could even do. 

The level of power they were showing had once again entered an entirely new realm from where they once were. This was but a preliminary match, but in their minds, it was as though they were witnessing the final match unfold before their very eyes, the eyes that for some could not even keep up with what they were beholding. 

But as the match went on, as though history was repeating itself, a victor began to show himself through the cracks… Yet the smile present on the faces of both contestants did not fade away. 

"Supreme General sir?" Ashley Orbec nudged her superior with a hint of worry that slowly turned into a subtle smile. 

"Oh, don't worry miss Orbec! He'll win! No! He's already winning! Haha! My little boy always liked to have fun even at times like this!" He laughed, suddenly clenching his left hand into a fist that began to tremble and strain his entire arm. 

"Sir? You okay? You that scared that your grandson finally met his match? I thought someone like that would finally be happy he found an equal."

"Ho ho! I'm sure he would, but sadly that match is not this one! Just you wait and see! I'm sorry to say, but this fire boy never stood a chance!" His laughter increased before settling down into a grin, his hands turning abnormally red from how tightly it was clenched.

"If you say so," She reciprocated his laughter, shaking her head and shrugging her shoulder with a smirk as she continued to inspect the battlefield with open hands.

As Adam flew out to keep his distance, he attempted to retreat to recover by masking himself within his shadows once again since that appeared to be the only illusion that seemed to work. He was heavily injured from all the bad exchanges, his scales were cracked, his red eyes bled the liquid it bore and his muscles ached.

Yet before he could even intake a single breath, he was met with a deep, cracking pain on the back of his head, and the next thing he knew, he found himself hurtling towards the dark ground, a smile on his face and so much yet so little on his mind. It was the face of a man who accepted defeat... His eyes slowly began to close and succumb to the darkness, until abruptly… they suddenly didn't...

"Huh… It's this feeling once again…"

*CRASH*

The sound of heavy collision filled the air, and as the noise of its impact faded away, so did the darkness of the space. The heavenly light of day began to return once again. From the darkness, there were two figures coming into view, one standing proudly upon two feet while the other laid motionless on the ground… The only sound that could be heard was the sound of the blowing wind accompanied by the beating hearts of the masses that collectively held their breaths with wide-open eyes eager to find who was the victor...