A Dance with Darkness and Light: Re-Origination

52: Bazuul vs Horlet

The grand arena was silent, as the crowd was too focused on the match below. There was shock on their faces, some displayed awe, while others worried.

At this moment, Elanar's elbow struck Nazela on the temple full force. The strike lifted her off her feet, and she flew back a couple of meters before she harshly landed on the floor.

Elanar breathed heavily, but her attention remained on her opponent. An opponent that had taken too much time to defeat. An adversary, that to the shock of Elanar, mostly due to her magic, actually had a chance of winning this match. The proof of it was seen on both competitors. Both were bruised up and covered in cuts. Elanar bled out of her ears and nose, her eyes bloodshot.

Nazela struggled to lift herself from the ground, eventually unable to. Tyr, therefore, announced Elanar Luminaire, the first princess of Lumin, the primary challenger of the grand finale. The crowds, of course, cheered her on and celebrated her win. Due to her injuries, Elanar had to be escorted out of the arena to receive treatment immediately. Seeing this, a tiny bit of killing intent erupted within Bazuul. Although he only let it slip outside for a second. It was enough to send an exhausted and injured Nazela unconscious.

After another short pause, the second match of the semi-finals was about to start. Horlet had recovered his reserves by now. The crowd had been theorizing incessantly who would win ever since the first match ended. The common consensus happened to favor Horlet because he was older, and Bazuul just had his weapon destroyed.

Bazuul stood on the stage with his eyes closed and a frown on his face. "One had to take responsibility for his acquaintances," he said. Horlet seemed not to catch his meaning, but before he could ask for the purpose, Tyr announced the start of the match.

Silence prevailed, Horlet naturally awaited an attack, but his opponent still had his eyes closed and stood there completely motionless.

Annoyed, Horlet made the first move and summoned four spectral swords out of the ether. Finally, it seemed, he revealed the full extent of his magic. At this moment, Bazuul activated the fifth chapter of his arcane codex, [Myriad Suns]. Slowly, he began spreading the particles of his sun as if spores in autumn. Meanwhile, Horlet had already closed the distance, and the blades around him lunged toward Bazuul. Suddenly Bazuul opened his eyes, which drowned the whole of the arena in his killing intent. This caused not only the viewers but also the elders up above to feel startled. Even the king moved to the edge of his seat to have a closer look. His expression at first was one of shock, until it turned into an intoxicated smile caused by this assault of famished bloodlust.

Horlet was young and inexperienced. His advance was therefore stopped by fear and hesitation, his body covered in cold sweat. Bazuul activated his lightning steps technique and appeared behind his opponent. With a little jump to the side, he now stood right next to the still horrified Horlet. Bazuul prepared to strike, covered his fist in darkness, and said: "What? You didn't really think you wouldn't have to take responsibility for your fellow Atlantean?" This sent another shockwave through Horlet as his eyes contracted. No one knew about their true identity. This shock washed away the fear, and Horlet instinctively looked towards Bazuul to affirm his ears did not play tricks on him.

Yet, before his brain could receive the images sent from his eyes, a fist landed on his lower jaw, breaking it. Horlet took to the air and flew for several meters before he crashed onto the ground blood flowing out of his mouth like rivers, along the rivers were several teeth. "No answer huh? So rude! Your parents should have taught you some manners!" Bazuul added.

To his surprise, this angered Horlet. This anger spurned Horlet's drive to fight; he manifested four more swords and mounted another attack. Bazuul managed to dodge most attacks, only bleeding on the surface. Still, it became increasingly difficult to evade the attacks of a seventh stage true qi realm cultivator and eight flying swords.

With no other choice left, Bazuul disregarded his defense and focused entirely on his offensive. He kept on smashing Horlet around the battle platform ruthlessly, all the while spreading the spores of the myriad suns. Eventually, Horlet mumbled something in a rage and lifted his arms. Apparently, he attempted to summon his final attack.

Everyone in the arena held their breaths. This fight had been one of the most intense so far, and yet, it seemed, the climax had yet to come.

"Well then, I shall also finish this up!" Bazuul concluded and lifted one arm. A slight smile formed on his face, and he casually snapped his fingers. Out of nothing, relatively similar to what Horlet attempted, a pillar of intense fire manifested itself on the platform and burst up into the sky engulfing both Bazuul and Horlet in it. With a fire so intense that even the viewers had to distance themselves, one could only imagine what those two within were going through. The pillar remained for a couple of minutes, and the screams of agony were clear for all to hear. After the fire finally extinguished half of the arena stood up and exclaimed in shock. Bazuul stood there relatively fine, even his clothes were only slightly burned, but the person he held by the collar was not recognizable anymore. His skin and clothes were so badly burned that they had melted together, where the skin still had color that wasn't coal black.

After the initial shock subsided, Tyr returned to the stage and announced Bazuul the winner of the semi-finals. The final candidate in the finals, where he would be matched up against Elanar Luminaire.