Arcane Era-Chapter 45: Final Contestants

Theo flicked his wrist, spinning his blade as he stared hard at his opponent.

Then—

WHOOSH!

—He charged forward, pushing his body to its very limits while flames danced behind him in swirling torrents.

Arlet witnessed this, and was once again taken aback by the immense speed that his opponent displayed. Unable to rid himself of the apprehension he felt, he fired lightning blasts in multiple directions, hoping one would hit Theo.

However, the shattered buckshot of electricity did not meet their target.

Theo spun in the air, twisting his body to gather momentum as he reached Arlet and sent his weapon slashing towards him. The translucent clam appeared, displaying its hard shell to Theo, but he spun at that precise moment in the air, jumping into the air.

Once again, twisting his body very quickly, he turned into a flaming wheel—revolving in the air until not even his body could be seen.

All everyone witnessed was a dance of fire, and a sharp glint trapped inside.

’You can’t use your lightning while being trapped inside the shell, can you?’ Theo smiled within his storm of flames as he looked at Arlet’s stunned face.

The clam shell served as a defensive barrier, but also a sort of prison for its user. Any attack Arlet used would be insulated within the shell’s walls, which meant he couldn’t attack while using his defensive Armament.

All of this culminated into one thing—

Arlet was powerless at the moment, and Theo held all the cards.

BAM!

Theo struck the lips of the clam as hard as he could, his dagger’s edge slamming into the only weakness he could find. The strike sent a heavy recoil throughout his body, but he quickly acclimated to it, twisting in the air so he could deliver another powerful blow.

Once again, it struck with extreme precision.

’One more!’

This time, Theo let out a scream that had been boiling inside him for far too long, sweat spraying out of his skin only to evaporate in an instant due to the rising heat. Veins appeared on his face, and his muscles bulged to their limits.

Without hesitation or mercy, his body moved with unmatched grace and delivered the final blow.

BOOOM!

The fiery slash sent a massive crack criss-crossing across the clam’s shell, starting from its tightly shut lips—which had been chipped into pieces—down to its sturdy shell. The shell didn’t shatter, but the large crack was enough to show that it wasn’t invincible.

’Damn! Even that wasn’t enough?!’ Theo gritted his teeth, his eyes wide open in both shock and disappointment as he stared at the shell.

However, his worries were quelled soon after once the projected shield began to lose its luster and fade away. Accompanying it fading away, Arlet suddenly collapsed to one knee, tightly clutching his chest as he coughed.

"Ack!" A bit of blood oozed from his nostrils. "The backlash..."

Theo took this opportunity and charged down, now unobstructed by the barrier that surrounded Arlet. The latter was so concerned with the burning pain in his chest that he was too powerless to intercept Theo’s descent.

In a flash, a swirling deluge of flames had surrounded the two of them.

Theo stood right in front of him, a foot on one of his hands which he used for support—the one that loosely held the lightning Armament. His blade was pointed straight at Arlet’s face—a silent threat of what was to come if the boy made any sudden movements.

With the flames rising around the two, and Arlet suffering immense pain as a result of his Armament’s backlash, coupled with the fact that Theo now possessed the upper hand and was within striking distance, the result of the match seemed fairly obvious.

"I... concede..." Arlet muttered, his head hanging low in defeat. "It’s my loss."

Theo was a little stunned that the prideful boy before him could admit defeat so quickly, without displaying any measure of stubbornness or at least resistance. Of course, if he did that, Theo would not have hesitated to fire a shot to send him unconscious, but an effort would remain an effort.

’I guess he did the logical thing in the end.’ Theo deactivated his Armament, turning off the swirling flames, as he offered Arlet a hand.

"Don’t... do that."

Arlet glared at Theo, slowly rising to his feet as he used his hand to wipe off the blood that streamed down his nose. His body quivered, almost as though he could faint at any moment, but he still managed to walk off the stage on his own.

"Looks like our winner is Number 1... Theo!" Claudius rose to the stage, accompanied by a deafening round of applause by the audience.

Despite the pain and exhaustion that Theo felt, his heart raced in excitement as he witnessed so many people cheering for him. A light hue of pink spread across his face, and before realizing it, he began to make a broad smile. Slightly touching his chest, feeling just how fast his heart was beating, Theo wondered if he could have ever experienced such excitement anywhere else.

This was different from the cheers that could be found in underground fighting centers, and it was certainly different from street brawls.

Here... he felt truly alive.

At the corner of his eyes, he noticed Arlet leaving the hall to go into the medical ward for treatment. Despite being offered assistance by the professionals in waiting, he politely rejected them and limped to his destination.

’What a prideful guy...’ He shook his head, getting off the stage.

He, too, needed a bit of medical attention, so he chose to take advantage of the system and head to the medical unit. Before doing so, however, he exchanged glances with Liyah and nodded—both of them smiling at each other.

’Do your best!’ He silently told her, clenching his fist.

It would be quite exciting to fight against her in the finals, so Theo focused on those thoughts and distracted himself from the pain as he left the hall.

The walls beyond the entrance to the medical ward were pure white, and despite this being his first ever time visiting the place, he felt at ease in the environment. His muscles relaxed, and he began to truly feel a wave of exhaustion settle over him.

Two professionals in white hurried towards him and began to examine him, placing him in a cheer and wheeling him to an unoccupied room beyond one of the many doors that decorated the vast corridor.

Once inside the room, the medical experts stripped him naked and looked at his bruised body.

For some strange reason, Theo didn’t feel an ounce of embarrassment. Instead, he smiled, giggling and hiccuping as he felt the ticklish touch of the experts on his now sensitive skin. They treated his wounds with a cool liquid—one that created a stinging sensation upon touch—and also wrapped his serious injuries in bandages.

He was then given a pill and a glass of warm water, which he consumed without any fuss.

After waiting a few more minutes, now wearing the standard wear of a patient, he felt most of the pain subside—almost like he was in optimal condition. He noticed the medical experts staring at his body and whispering among each other, but he was too distracted to properly understand them.

He knew they were something along the lines of: "He’s impressive... what a nice specimen... recovery rate so high... the first I’ve ever seen..."

Before he could focus to hear them more clearly, he noticed a sudden commotion in the corridor beyond his room. Even the giggling medical experts—both women—stopped talking so excitedly and rushed to the corridor with worried expressions on their faces.

Theo felt something was off, so he slowly rose to his feet, still feeling mildly nauseated.

As quickly as he could move, he made his way to the corridor.

That was where he saw it—

"A-ahh.... ahhh..." The drowsiness that assailed him instantly vanished, his eyes wide open as they were greeted with the sight of a brutalized girl being wheeled in a gurney.

She was barely awake, groaning and moaning in pain as medical experts surrounded her as they checked for various things while transporting her to her designated room. Her body was barely recognizable from what he remembered, covered in what appeared to be smoking flesh, with signs of trauma on her head, and various lacerations all over what used to be clear, untainted skin.

"Liyah..." Theo mumbled, completely stunned by the sight. "Liyah! LIYAH!"

He rushed towards her, easily slipping past the medical experts that tried to stop him, or those who were in his way. His vision was a little blurry, and he didn’t know why, but he marched on and found his way to her side.

"Liyah... can you hear me? It’s Theo! You’re going to be fine... you’ll be fine, Liyah, okay?"

The medical experts frowned at Theo, clearly disapproving of his actions. They signalled others to take Theo away while they continued to attend to their patient, but before anyone could interfere, Liyah slowly opened her eyes and moved her lips.

"Theo... Theo... he’s here..."

"Yes! I’m here!" Theo moved closer, a smile on his face. "I’m not going anywhere, so—"

"No... he is here... the King..."

Upon hearing that, Theo froze, his heart palpitating rapidly as flashes of his encounter with the Mercenary King appeared in his mind. His body shuddered a little as he looked at Liyah’s brutalized body.

"Was he the one who did that to you?"

Liyah nodded slowly.

"Theo..." With moist eyes and trembling lips, she uttered words barely in audible whispers.

"... Stop him, please."

Silence wafted in the air as gentle sobs echoed in the corridor. Even the men and women in white went speechless at the sight before them.

Theo touched her face, his fingers trailing over her rough skin as he wiped away the tears that slowly flowed down. A small, sad smile formed on his face as he nodded very slowly and looked at her with compassion he never knew was possible.

"I will." Holding back his own tears, he said. "I promise you, I will."