Chapter 173: Dead
High above the shattered cityscape of the arena, the large spatial Warrior, Gerald, stood triumphantly on the Blue Flag Pole. He didn’t waste a single millisecond gloating. With a sharp, practiced tug, Gerald instantly tore the blue flag free from its mounting and swiftly pulled out another short rock from his pocket.
Hide, standing in the ruined lobby of the skyscraper far below, narrowed his glowing blue eyes. His True Sight flared, mapping the older man’s muscular contractions. ’He’s going to pass this place and the street entirely,’ Hide realized instantly.
Exactly as Hide suspected, Gerald wound his arm back and hurled the small rock in a high, sprawling arc toward the roof of another building closer to the center. Before the rock even reached the apex of its flight, Gerald smirked.
Snap.
The spatial distortion rippled across the artificial sky, and Gerald disappeared into thin air, instantly swapping places with the airborne projectile.
"Incredible!" the male commentator’s voice boomed through the stadium’s colossal amplifiers, trembling with absolute hype. "Gerald has completely outmaneuvered the rookie! He’s secured the blue flag and is already leapfrogging across the map using his spatial rocks!"
"But wait, look at the center!" the female commentator interjected, her voice pitching up in excitement. "Volter’s lizard summon already has the red flag! It’s moving like a shadow across the debris, heading straight for the central Altar! It’s a dead sprint to the finish!"
Hide didn’t hesitate. Leaving the skyscraper behind, he completely changed his direction, his boots cracking the debris as he launched himself toward the central Altar. His Agility stat pushed to its absolute limits, his body blurring into a streak of silver and dark mana. He vaulted over a collapsed concrete wall and down the building.
As Hide jumped out from the other side of a crumbling residential building, he saw Gerald. The large man was simultaneously bounding out from a nearby building, his massive legs eating up the distance as he ran relentlessly toward the main Altar.
Hide’s eyes flashed with a lethal violet light. He couldn’t let Gerald reach the steps first.
Thick, corrupted dark mana violently escaped Hide’s body. It shot across the open air like a guided missile, spiraling directly over Gerald’s head. The darkness rapidly condensed, and just above the large man, the towering, heavily armored form of Aegis materialized out of thin air.
"What is that?!" the male commentator screamed, completely losing his professional composure. "Volter just manifested another summon right above Gerald! It’s an absolute behemoth in heavy armor!"
"It’s dropping right on top of him!" the female anchor added.
Aegis fell like a building, its massive, dark-iron gauntlets reaching out to crush Gerald into the dirt. But the veteran didn’t even flinch. Gerald’s eyes darted upward, and a confident smirk spread across his face.
Snap.
The air violently warped again. Aegis crashed into the earth with a deafening boom, cratering the street and kicking up a massive cloud of dust. But when the dust cleared, the massive tank phantom was holding nothing but a grey rock in its crushing grip. Gerald had vanished mid-air.
"He swapped again!" the commentator yelled. "Gerald swapped places with a decoy rock mid-strike! A flawless evasion!"
A split second later, the air rippled at the very base of the Altar. Gerald appeared, boots hitting the ground with a heavy thud. He immediately looked up. Hide’s pitch-black lizard phantom was already halfway up the pyramid-like steps to the main mounting place, the red flag clamped tightly in its jaws.
Gerald patted his pockets, his smirk faltering for a fraction of a second. There was no rock on the Altar. He couldn’t just switch his way up to the top; he had to physically climb. And in a pure footrace up those steep steps, the low-profile, agile lizard phantom was already several paces ahead!
"Gerald has to climb!" the female anchor reported frantically. "The spatial jumps are useless without a beacon! Volter’s lizard summon is pulling ahead! It’s almost at the peak!"
But instead of panicking, Gerald stopped running. He looked up at the slithering beast, grinned beneath his mustache. He raised his right hand.
Snap.
Hide, who was just reaching the edge of the Altar’s perimeter, felt his heart skip a beat. His glowing blue eyes widened in pure disbelief.
Gerald hadn’t swapped himself. The space directly around the lizard phantom violently distorted. In the blink of an eye, the pitch-black beast vanished from the upper steps, replaced instantly by a heavy, useless chunk of grey rock that clattered harmlessly down the stairs along with the Red flag!
Down at the very bottom of the Altar, right next to Gerald’s boots, the lizard phantom suddenly materialized, looking completely disoriented.
"HE SWAPPED THE SUMMON!" the male commentator roared, practically leaping out of his seat. "Ladies and gentlemen, Gerald didn’t swap himself—he forcibly relocated Volter’s lizard summon back to the bottom of the Altar! What a horrifyingly versatile spatial talent!"
"Gerald is now completely uncontested on the stairs!" the female anchor shrieked. "He’s making his way up! Fifty seconds have passed! If he mounts that flag before the one-minute mark, he secures the win and the maximum bonus!"
Hide was going to lose. At this rate, there was absolutely no physical way for him or his phantoms to cover the distance and stop the large man from reaching the pinnacle.
The entire stadium fell into a suffocating, breathless silence. Three hundred thousand people watched as Gerald bounded up the final few steps, the blue flag in his grip ready to be slammed into the Altar’s slot.
Hide gritted his teeth, his jaw locking tight. The violet ring around his pupils flared with a terrifying, apocalyptic intensity. He had no choice but to use it.
Hide stopped completely in his tracks. He firmly planted his boots into the ruined earth and raised his right hand high into the air. The atmosphere violently inverted. The agonizing scent of ozone flooded the arena. Hide didn’t summon a weapon. He activated the lightening skill of the dragon, and brought his hand violently down.
KRA-KOOOOOOM!
A catastrophic, ear-shattering thunderclap resounded through the entire stadium. The sound was so unimaginably loud it vibrated the fillings in the spectators’ teeth. Simultaneously, a blinding, apocalyptic bolt of dark-violet lightning struck the very center of the arena.
The sheer concussive force of the blast ripped the bedrock apart, completely filling the entire battleground with a massive, impenetrable cloud of grey dust and vaporized debris.
"WHAT WAS THAT?!" the male commentator screamed, his voice barely audible over the ringing in the stadium. "A massive explosion has just leveled the center of the arena! We have zero visibility! The cameras can’t pierce this dust cloud!"
Suddenly, a sharp, electronic sound pierced the chaos.
BZZZZZZ!
"The buzzer!" the female anchor yelled. "The buzzer just went off! The flag has been mounted! Someone has won the match!"
But they didn’t know who. The stadium was trapped in agonizing suspense.
Slowly, the artificial winds of the arena began to disperse the thick dust cloud. The silhouette of the towering Altar became visible first. Half of the ancient stone structure had been completely obliterated, reduced to a jagged, smoldering crater.
But there, standing at the very peak of the surviving half, a flag was proudly mounted in the slot. It wasn’t blue.
It was Red.
And standing just beside the flag, its dark-plated gauntlets, was Zenith.
"RED FLAG! RED FLAG SECURED!" the male commentator absolutely lost his mind, screaming into the mic. "HIDE VOLTER HAS WON! He used that massive blast not to destroy the Altar, but to mask the entrance of his ultimate executioner summon who was waiting in the shadows!"
The stadium exploded into a deafening roar. Hide let out a slow, exhausted breath, slipping his hands back into his pockets as the holographic timer materialized above the arena.
Match Complete: 00:56.
Hide had won the match within fifty-six seconds, flawlessly securing the elusive 500-point bonus.
The subsequent matches of the first round continued as usual, filling the afternoon with displays of extraordinary elemental destruction and tactical brilliance. But for Compartment 9, the tension had finally morphed into overwhelming relief.
Hours later, after the final matches concluded, the Varisus team was gathered in their luxurious, private hall. The plush leather sofas were filled, and every single pair of eyes in the room was fixed firmly on Hide.
"Where the hell did you go?" Claire demanded, her arms crossed tightly over her chest. Despite the victory, her red aura flickered dangerously at the edges of her skin. She had been pacing the room for hours.
"Yeah, kid," Rol chimed in, leaning against the smart-glass window with a scowl. "You ghost us for an entire day, make us think we’re going into the World Tournament down a member, and then just waltz in exactly four seconds before you’re disqualified? Start talking."
"I didn’t ghost you," Hide replied, his voice completely deadpan as he picked up a grape from the fruit platter on the table and popped it into his mouth. "I went for a walk. I lost track of time. It’s a big city."
"A walk?!" Claire’s voice jumped an octave. "You know none of the cameras even captured you!"
"I’m just glad you’re okay, Hide," Sora interrupted, letting out a bright, warm laugh as she nudged his shoulder. "We really thought you had been kidnapped by a rival syndicate or something."
"Kidnapped? Him?" Gideon snorted loudly, his massive frame shaking with mirth. He leaned over and slapped Hide heavily on the back, nearly making the silver-haired boy choke on his grape. "Please! If anyone tried to kidnap this monster, I’d feel bad for the kidnappers! You saw what he did out there today! That lightning strike was beautiful!"
"It really was incredible," Evelyn agreed. "Though, mathematically speaking, the thermal output of that blast should have vaporized the flag entirely. You have terrifying control, Hide."
Kai, sitting quietly near the edge of the room in his formal suit, simply smiled. The profound relief on his face spoke volumes. He didn’t need to ask questions. Hide was here, and he had won. That was all that mattered.
"Fine. Keep your secrets," Claire sighed, the dangerous edge finally leaving her voice. She walked over and stood in front of him. "But did you at least see Maddox while you were on your... walk?"
Hide’s expression remained perfectly neutral. He looked up at her and shook his head. "No. I have absolutely no idea where the old man is."
Claire stared at him for a long moment, searching his blue eyes for a lie. Finding none, she let out a long, exhausted breath. She reached out and gently patted him on the head, her touch surprisingly warm. "Whatever. Thank you for coming on time, Hide. You did good today."
Late that night, after the celebrations had settled and the team had retired to their quarters, Hide slipped away. He navigated the quiet, carpeted halls of the compound and made his way up to the secluded rooftop of the cafeteria building.
The hot desert wind of Ufrifa brushed against his face. Hide sat on the edge of the parapet, dangling his legs over the drop as he quietly sipped from a warm cup of milk.
The silence was absolute.
Suddenly, a thick puff of corrupted dark mana expelled from his chest. The black smoke swirled and condensed onto the metal table beside him. Slowly, it took the shape of a small, ethereal feline with majestic ribbon-antlers. It was the shrunken, localized manifestation of the Doom Overseer.
The tiny phantom cat respectfully bowed its head toward Hide.
"I have searched everywhere, my Liege," the ancient, telepathic voice vibrated directly into Hide’s mind, devoid of any emotion. "There is no doubt. He is dead."
