Chapter 590: A Final Measure
I was hard to maintain a clear head. The blood dripping from his mouth was a clear sign at the injuries that racked his body, but he still kept to his feet. Facing off against the bear, the moment he let his guard down, he was dead. And no matter how many times he hit the damn thing, it just kept coming.
Not that he thought it would be otherwise.
Even still, his body felt like stone, his breath was like lava in his chest and the edges of his vision blurred, ever so slightly. He knew the thing was playing with him, but that didn’t matter.
He was playing with it too.
Another barrage, another barely missed attack that broke the very ground on which he stood. Laz was down on his knees, but managed to roll to the side anyway, the armor barely even felt in this moment.
Laz stabbed his knife at the outstretched arm, but like a flint on steel, it only caused sparks and couldn’t penetrate the surface. It didn’t take long for even the well made blade to shattered from the beasts hide.
But again, it didn’t notice the small sparks of energy wrapped black flame that was let loose inside of it.
Even before the one arm had been retracted, another came. And again, Laz jumped to the side, barely avoiding the incoming disaster.
Only this time, the attack wasn’t meant to hit head on.
The bear quickly swung back, causing it’s massive fist to fly back at almost the same speed it had been throw at, far faster than Laz could recover in time. Despite diving out of the way, the massive paw made contact with Laz’s torso and sent him spinning around like an out of control ceiling fan before his body hit the ground and rolled several times, only to come to a stop when flesh met the hard stone of the Arena walls.
"WHAAAAA"
The crowd screamed at this sudden development, not having expected it. What was more, everyone had been amazed by the performance Laz had been putting on so seeing this was enough to shatter their hopes that maybe he had a chance.
Even Aphrodite and Artemis were struck with the change, obviously having expected more.
"Heh... In the end, he is only human. While that thing might not be much to me or even any of you, it’s more than enough to kill that kid," the Emperor said, picking up another goblet and drinking down it’s contents.
The only one who was calm about things was Hera who had been sitting back in her own seat as drinks and snacks were being provided to her. She felt something off from the boy, but not off in a bad way. It was more like a feeling in the back of her mind, one that she couldn’t shake. She just didn’t know what that feeling was and it began to annoy her.
A sudden gasp from the crowd brought everyone’s thoughts to a stop as they saw Laz again rise up, standing on unsteady feet as he faced the monster in front of him.
"Laz... LAZ? Darling?" Kat’s voice echoed out from within the suit, but she got no response. As for the man in question, Laz vision had gone black with that last impact and he felt like he was floating, the darkness of the night spread out before him.
But he wasn’t swimming in this darkness, instead, his eyes were shut as his mind went blank.
Outside, the beast was again lunging at Laz, but he barely took a step and the blow glanced by without causing harm. Taking a step forward, Laz’s armored body began it’s slow walk towards the beast, step after step. As soon as the return blow came, Laz just casually hopped to the side, avoiding the attack.
Just as the beast reared forward, Laz had made it to it’s chest. Taking one step back, Laz planted his feet firmly before raising his fist. Drawing upon energy that shouldn’t have been in there, Laz let the energy rage through him and swing forth, drawing everything into a straight punch forward, slamming into the beast with a boom that rocked the crowd. Injected within was everything he had left, including almost all of the black flame energy within.
’Dragon Punch."
The horned shadow bear was sent flying, just as it swung it’s massive arm and hit Laz’s stationary body, sending him flying in the other direction.
The sound of them hitting the Arena walls at the same instant caused silence within the crowd as they waited on.
Sure enough, the bear recovered first, it’s body still mostly unharmed except for a red patch where the skin had broken after contact with Laz’s fist. The beast then charged towards the other side of the Arena where Laz had yet to get up. As the rumbling of it’s labored charge echoed out, Laz picked himself up from the rubble of the broken wall and stood, his body broken and bleeding all over.
He didn’t stand straight, one arm hung loosely at his side while his left leg seemed to be supporting all of his weight. Still, his vision was focused at the charging beast, at least, his mask was facing that way.
Just as the beast hit the halfway mark of the distance between the two of them, Laz started raising his hand into the air. The crowd watched on, breath caught in their throats as silence rang out. Even up in the Emperor’s private box, they watched on without saying a word, no one daring to move.
Just as the beast was a couple steps away, it’s massive arms raised above it’s head as if it had decided to crush Laz once and for all, Laz snapped his fingers and lowered his hand, now also hanging limply at his other side.
KABOOM!
The unsightly and grotesque bear erupted in black flames as it roared out, more of a guttural scream than an intimidating roar. A massive wave of energy rushed out from it while it’s body ignited from within, causing both the shadow and it’s skin to melt away in equal measure as it slowly broke apart, piece by piece.
As it’s body became nothing more than a pile of blood and bones on the ground, a glowing figure appeared for a moment, the same horned bear but many times smaller, simply cub sized. It roar slightly in Laz’s directed before shaking it’s body and bobbing it’s head before it turned away and disappeared, like fireflies scattering in the night.
The shadow controlled horned bear was dead.
Laz took a stumbling step forward, followed by another. Then another.
Once he was next to what remained of the body, Laz looked directly towards the Emperor’s box, something that the slaves were instructed never to do.
He stared there for only a moment, the mask on his face unable to cover the glowing gold of his eyes underneath it before Laz’s entire body gave out, falling like a puppet with it’s strings cut and hitting the ground hard.
Stunned silence filled the Arena as the onlookers were too shocked to speak and no one wanted to be the first to break this moment.
"Defense mode deactivated. Survival chance rate, 12%. Backup power, 2.1%. Switching to offline mode. Recharging...."
Had Laz been awake, he would have heard Kat’s voice as it started to fade.
"Sorry baby. I didn’t want you to think you had this option since the chance of survival was so low with your bodies condition, but at least it’s better than zero. I know you can’t hear me, but maybe you can forgive me if we meet again... one day... good night... my sexy boy..."
Laz’s body went limp as the armor shut off entirely.
Up in the Emperor’s box...
"What? What just happened? Can someone please tell me what I just saw?" Artemis said, looking at everyone around her who were still staring at Laz’s fallen form.
"I uh... I...." Aphrodite had no words, neither did the Emperor himself, his face a dark mask as his expression was blank, knowing that for the first time, in a long time... he had been wrong.
’The boy survived!’ Was the thought going through his head.
’It’s not possible. And what was that black flame? The armor? Maybe?"
"Guards. I want that armor brought to me as soon as possible. If even a piece of it is missing from my inspection, I will use your heads to replace it," the Emperor said, standing up. He quickly turned around and left, eager to examine it.
The announcer stood, the Emperor’s words breaking the spell on everyone close to him.
"The Demon has conquered the Beast! Let’s hear it for our champion!" He shouted loudly as the entire place erupted into cheers and shouting, the crowd showing it’s appreciation for a match the likes of which they had never dreamed would have happened.
"I want that boy’s life preserved, no matter what. Do you understand me?" Hera said, grabbing one of her attendants before the woman quickly departed, calling out to others as she made her way down to the slave block.
The medical team was already on the field, but their ability to heal could only affect minor wounds and injuries and right now, Laz’s body was so broken and busted, if he didn’t get full treatment, the Empress worried he would be dead before the dawn of the next day. ]
Hera was tapping her fingers on the arm rest of her chair, lost in thought and worry. Perhaps her husband didn’t know the origin of that flame, but she did as she specialized in medicine among other things.
’It can’t be... and Asura... here? If there are more... no... I can’t think like that... right now... this boy is the key to saving out lives. But first... he must be saved....’
Hera arose to her feet and quickly headed off...
She would visit the boy herself.
