Chapter 75 - Another Crowned

My hand raised the wooden sword, pointing it towards the man.

My eyes widened while my pupils constricted.

A deafening bang reverberated throughout the city.

The man had exploded into pieces while only the hilt remained from the wooden sword.

However, the crowd could hardly care about those things.

After all, massive fissures appeared across the entire colosseum. They snaked their way up to the spectator's seats.

Some people ended up getting their limbs stuck in these fissures, causing panic to rise in the crowd.

Everett was shocked. He looked at me in disbelief, pointing a shaky finger at me.

"You..."

A sigh escaped me.

"Let's leave this place."

Before Everett could respond, the announcer spoke up.

He was mad.

"It seems our crowned participant has interfered with the butchering."

Initially, the crowd was silent. They were in shock after witnessing the carnage from my attack.

However, once they heard the announcer's words, voices of dissent appeared.

"Who does he think he is?"

"This was my favorite part..."

"Why is he even here if he's too stupid to play by the rules?"

The announcer spoke up, causing the crowd to fall silent.

"While our crowned participant has won his battle, he has interfered when he was not supposed to. As such..."

The announcer yelled.

"HE IS DISQUALIFIED."

The crowd roared in anger.

"Get out of here!"

"Stop ruining things for others!"

"He's an outsider, isn't he?"

Tears were falling down Everett's face.

"Why... why did you do that?"

My eyebrow raised.

"Do what?"

Everett bit his lip.

"You could've won... If you didn't get disqualified, you would've been the champion of The Peak!"

My head shook.

"If this is what The Peak is, I do not want to be its champion."

Everett trembled.

He tried to say something, but couldn't gather the words.

A small smile appeared on my face.

"Come on. Let's get out of here."

Everett looked at me for a few seconds with teary eyes.

"Ok..."

My hand patted his back and the two of us walked towards the exit of the colosseum.

However, things never seemed to be that forgiving in this city.

The announcer's voice boomed with a mocking tone.

"Hahaha, it seems our crowned participant believes that he can simply walk away scot free after disrupting the competition!"

My eyebrow raised as my head turned towards the source of the voice.

The announcer continued.

"As per regulation in this competition, only one person gets to walk out of the colosseum alive!"

The crowd got rowdy.

They let out disdainful jeers.

"Hahaha, I can't wait to see him die!"

"This hasn't happened in so long! I'm so lucky I got tickets!"

"We will finally see him again?"

My brows furrowed.

What was going on?

The announcer let out a derisive chuckle.

"Now, ladies and gentlemen! Although we have gotten off to a rough start, don't forget what a disqualification means! One of the lords within this city will personally descend!"

The announcer's voice became solemn.

"Get ready to watch this scoundrel die!"

The crowd roared with excitement.

Everett looked at me with trepidation in his eyes.

"What are they talking about?"

A frown emerged on my face.

"I don't know..."

Suddenly, the colosseum shook.

"Who dares defile the laws in the city of Evermore?"

A man with a long brown robe landed explosively on the top of the colosseum. The spectators below him immediately turned around to catch a glimpse of him.

The man had a grey beard along with short grey hair. Although he was clearly old, there were no wrinkles on his skin.

In fact, he was incomparably burly.

He had sharp purple eyes, looking down on the world. It was like he was implying everything was below him, and rightfully so.

However, the most notable fact about him was the dark brown crown placed on top of his head.

The crown wasn't like mine, forcefully pierced into my head.

Instead, it laid there quietly, like a sleeping beast.

Although it was quite far away, my eyes could catch some of the details. It was very intricately carved with the pattern of ox faces. 

The bottom of the crown was flat, that was what let it lay there comfortably. As for the top, there were only two spikes that protruded upwards. The spikes were curled, making them look similar to horns.

The man looked at me. A disdainful smile broke out on his face.

"So it is a person with a crown that dares to cause trouble? No wonder..."

He laughed, but it was clear he didn't find anything funny.

"It appears he doesn't understand that there is a hierarchy even among those with a crown."

The crowd cheered.

"Haha, of course!"

"Naturally, who could possibly beat you, your lordship?"

"Ekkk! I'm so lucky!"

There was a smug smile on the man's face.

"Say your last wishes now. That's the only chance you will get."

A smirk appeared on my face.

...I think I will have plenty of chances to say my last wishes.

Everett was trembling like a hummingbird.

"J-Jay? What is happening?"

My hand gently pushed against Everett's back.

"Just go home, I will take it from here."

Everett hesitated, but nodded in the end.

"Ok!"

He proceeded to run off towards the exit.

The man caught this. The moment he realized what was happening, a frown appeared on his face.

"You think you can leave now?"

A sonic boom reverberated from where the man was standing.

My eyes narrowed.

"Stop!"

The man shot out towards Everett, but my eyes could hardly follow him.

The necklace behind me trembled.

"I will try to stop him!"

A large cloud of dark mist seeped out of the necklace, forming a barrier between Everett and the man.

However, the man did not slow down.

Once he entered the black mist, both his clothes and body rapidly turned grey.

...But his momentum did not change.

He slammed into Everett, killing him instantly.

My eyes averted from the bloody scene, while a faint pain ached in my heart.

My hand was raised.

I had the intention to teleport, but before I could even begin to activate it, Everett was dead.

The pale blue light began crying loudly.

At least the man that killed him was now a statue.

...Wait.

There are cracks on the statue.

Suddenly, the man burst out of the decay.

He laughed.

"Haha, that was a little scary. If only it had some potency behind it."

The necklace trembled.

"You..."

A frown appeared on my face.

I realized what happened. The decay was effective, causing the man to decay. However, this was only the case for a very thin layer across the surface of his body.

It was simply unable to penetrate further.

My tongue clicked against the roof of my mouth.

My intention was to attack with the use of my teleporting ability. The only problem was, I had the hilt of a wooden sword instead of a stake.

My confidence in pulling off an attack with a hilt was low.

The man smirked, throwing a punch towards me. His movements were incomparably fast, but my mind sent a command the moment it registered his shoulder moving.

As such, my strike came out in time, colliding with his fist.

A snap resounded throughout the colosseum.

It was the snap of my bones.

My body was violently thrown back, stopping only when it collided with the wall. The air was knocked out of my lungs.

My vision was blurry and my arm was mangled. My mind tried its best to ignore the pain, however, a broken bone made that nearly impossible.

The man was simply out of my league. I couldn't stand up to him even with my newfound strength.

...I recalled what Leon told me.

That he wasn't strong enough to spread peace to the entire world.

In all honesty, somewhere in my heart, I didn't believe him.

Yet, if people like the man in front of me were a common occurrence, then Leon was probably right.

A soft cry came from my left.

My cracked bones rapidly healed and moved back into place.

The man was leisurely walking towards me with a mocking smile on his face.

"Are you afraid?"

A sigh escaped me.

"Maybe?"

I stood up.

Suddenly, the man bolted towards me.

My arm raised, blocking his strike just in time.

Like last time, a nasty crack rang out.

My consciousness threatened to leave me, but my mind reined it in. Albeit, just barely.

Right after I was struck, a wail came from my left. A small tendril of energy came, mending my arm once again.

Another fist came soon after.

I doubted I could win against this guy, but I was at least going to try.

My eyes widened and my pupils constricted.

My figure disappeared, letting the man's fist hit the wall.

The colosseum shook once more as even more cracks formed in it.

My figure reappeared behind him while my fist was already swinging towards him.

However, to my dismay, my fist was caught.

He twisted it, snapping my wrist.

As my face turned into a grimace, the man sent a fist towards my chest.

My rib cage directly caved in, then everything was black.

...

"Um, why are you here?"