Klein raised his head and let out a roar that shook the entire arena.
It wasn't the normal bellow of his lion; it was sothing more primitive, more visceral. His features began to change even more, becoming more feline. His eyes acquired an unnatural verticality, and the characteristic gold of his beast darkened to an amber hue that bordered on purple.
Most surprising was that the wound on his chest began to visibly close, replaced by lion fur. The blood stopped flowing, and the edges of the cuts began to fill in, golden hair sprouting where there had been torn flesh monts before.
Klein slowly stood up, his gaze fixed on the ground, an unsettling energy emanating from his figure. The air around him seed to waver, as if distorted by intense heat.
Ren observed him with growing concern. His mushrooms pulsed frantically as he detected the subtle but unmistakable abyssal energy manifesting again. The mana pattern in Klein's body was transforming, adopting configurations that contradicted the natural laws of the world's energy flow.
From his seat in the upper stands, Kassian Goldcrest leaned forward, his expression showing amazent and alarm. He couldn't feel the abyssal energy, but the power increase he was witnessing far exceeded the 10% that a simple initial adaptation potion should provide. It was approaching 50%, a level he hadn't remotely anticipated.
Understanding struck Ren like lightning. Thanks to his enhanced perception and the knowledge accumulated in his World Mushroom about mana patterns, he could glimpse what would happen if that anomalous flow continued to expand.
Without thinking twice, he began running toward Klein.
"Stop!" he shouted, quickly approaching. "Don't be an idiot! If you continue like this, you're going to alter your beast into sothing it doesn't want to beco!"
Klein responded with another roar, more powerful than the previous one. His lips moved, forming words that Ren couldn't hear clearly due to the plugs he had placed in his ears before combat.
Ren quickly removed them, trying to better understand what Klein was trying to say.
The action seed to further enrage Klein upon seeing the earplugs. His mana visibly darkened, black spots appearing in the gold of his aura.
"Nobody listens to !" complained Klein, his voice full of rage and a deep sadness that surprised Ren. "They only hear what they expect to hear. Goldcrest this, Goldcrest that..."
He raised his gaze, his eyes now completely feline, but with a painful humanity still visible in them.
"They lied to , nobody cares about my renown, neither Luna nor your damn luck and ridiculous power. I'm alone... My real needs... nobody, not my friends, not my brother, not my father really listens to them... It's all about pretending for a sliver of recognition!"
The mana around Klein darkened even more, acquiring an almost purple tone at certain points. The transformation of internal mana was progressing at an alarming rate.
"The problem," responded Ren, maintaining his close distance without retreating, "is that I've only heard you say nonsense until now!"
The words seed to hit Klein like a physical whiplash. He roared again, this ti consciously channeling the dark power to amplify the attack. The sound wave hit Ren directly, whose now unprotected ears began to bleed from the intensity.
The world beca silent for Ren, the roar leaving a persistent buzz that drowned out all other sounds and caused partial paralysis in his body. But despite the pain and effect, he remained firm in his place, his eyes fixed on Klein's face.
"But what you just said, though I hadn't got it first... What you said just now wasn't nonsense!" shouted Ren, not sure how loudly he was speaking due to the damage to his ears. "I did hear you, though not with my ears! But I read your lips and your expression."
Klein seed montarily disconcerted, the flow of dark mana faltering briefly.
"'It hurts so much, I never wanted this, you traitor brother...'," quoted Ren, repeating the words that Klein had initially muttered, when he believed no one had heard him.
A flash of vulnerability crossed Klein's transford face.
But then, the pain of the transformation returned with renewed intensity extending not only in his body but in his mana core and his 'soul' the tar's connection, the black mana began to emanate from him like visible mist.
Ren understood there was no ti for subtleties. Channeling his own energy, he intensified the glow of his veins retracting the light claws, creating a luminous counterpoint to the darkness that enveloped Klein.
"I don't like you," he declared with brutal frankness. "You're a pretentious rich kid who thinks the world owes him sothing."
The dark mana undulated, responding to the provocation.
"But," continued Ren, his voice acquiring a softer tone, "I can't refuse to listen to the first 'non-half-witted' thing you've said." He extended his hands. "So I'll do everything in my power and free you from this."
His eyes shone with maximum intensity as Ren deeply analyzed the corrupt mana pattern flowing through Klein. There was a structure in that chaos, a twisted but recognizable design for soone with his special perception.
Klein, feeling the pain intensify, roared involuntarily, but Ren resisted, gritting his teeth.
Identifying the nodal point where the corruption originated, Ren gathered his energy. It wasn't the devastating beam he had used on desperate occasions; it was a more controlled version, specifically calibrated for this purpose.
Ren released the beam, directing it precisely toward the core of the corrupt energy in Klein's body.
The impact was imdiate and spectacular. The golden light of the beam seed to absorb the darkness, neutralizing it as it expanded through Klein's mana system. For a mont, the Goldcrest stood with his expression frozen in a mixture of surprise and, perhaps, relief.
Then, the light faded, and Klein collapsed, unconscious but free from the corrupting influence.
Absolute silence fell over the arena as everyone processed what they had just witnessed. The powerful light had been sothing more than a genius's technique.
Lin cautiously advanced, first checking Klein's condition before approaching Ren. "What just happened?" she asked quietly, with concern.
Ren, still affected by the damage to his ears, could barely distinguish her words. But the question in her eyes was clear.
"His beast was getting out of control," he responded simply, with exhaustion but also satisfaction at having intervened in ti. "I managed to counteract it."
Lin studied Ren with an indecipherable expression as healers quickly entered the arena. Part of her wanted to press for more explanations, but the condition of both combatants made it evident that those questions should wait.
Ren was about to faint, so first...
"Victory for Ren Patinder!" she finally announced, her voice resonating throughout the stadium.
The applause was enthusiastic but tinged with confusion. The spectators hadn't fully understood what they had just witnessed, only that it had been extraordinary and completely unexpected.
Ren staggered but Lin caught him with her body, keeping him upright with a bit of 'cheating' to preserve the 'winner's honor'.
User Comments
0 comments from readers