41 Chapter 18.5: Struggle For Survival, Friend or Foe? (1/2)
Most of the time needed to finish the tournament had passed.
Only several hours remained…
Geo still struggled to fight Bleiz not knowing what he could do it was best to keep his distance for now. Moments later, the others started pouring into the arena. Cordelia's group came in the south, while Alessia came in from the east entrance.
The battle was going strong as small explosions erupted on uncountable occasions.
The battleground damaged beyond repair… Geo backed away creating space between him and the reanimated corpse of the brother of his respected opponent.
Wanting to preserve the body and to bring this back after everything might end Geo found himself in a somewhat impossible situation. Geo caught wind of the others throwing in roots to protect them from the blind rage of Bleiz.
Roots sprouted out of the ground only to be burned to ash shortly after.
”Damn it!! I can't keep going on like this!!”
Geo quickly turned to the others.
”Are you alright? I don't have much time to explain the situation, long story short. Gideon has gone insane reanimating one of the finalists and has been using him to hold me back ever since.”
Ereth quickly moved away hiding her presence in the shadows.
The others, Cordelia, Leonardo, and Alessia thanked Geo for the quick protection.
”My energy is being drained rapidly, please… even if this might sound selfish during a tournament. I Geo Birchwood wants to ask all of you favor to bundle our strength and work together defeating this opponent.”
”What if we all are drained of energy when Gideon returns? I simply can't just agree to this… Aren't we all in this to win it?”
Alessia struggled to acknowledge the words of a man, a handsome and prideful man at that.
Geo turned towards Alessia slapping her across the face with a flattened hand.
Making her fall to the ground.
”Are you a fool?! What is more important than our own lives?! If we fail this tournament there is always another chance. But, we can all forget that when we die, right?”
Shocked Alessia looked at Geo, the burning pain in her cheek began to throb as she held her hand gently across it, allowing tears to the south the pain as they fell on the ground.
Geo used up most of his energy to make a small dome of roots around Bleiz.
Enraged by anger Bleiz began shouting out.
”Raaaaaggghhh!! You can't keep me in here forever, Geo!!
Don't ever think you're helping me, or maybe you are, just in a different way!
I Bleiz of Hidden Flame hereby swear to you that I will defeat you even if I have to completely succumb to this accursed prowess!”
Deciding to let the curse speak his mind, Geo grabbed this opportunity to talk to the others.
Allowing him to persuade others. Stretching out his arm, he offered Alessia his hand.
”Can you stand? I had to snap you out of it because this is all a matter of life or death for us.
I hope you understand…”
Alessia looked away as warmth came over her, she was too embarrassed to look at Geo.
Quickly she grabbed his hand and stood up.
”So I have all of your consent, that we will work together to defeat this enemy?
Everyone nodded in unison replying with a quick and resounding;
”YES!”
”Then let me quickly lay down a battle plan, having seen all of your strengths and weaknesses I think I might have a good grasp of everyone their talents and qualities.”
While telling the battleplan Geo sat down and began slowly cultivating, drawing in energy to recover as much as possible.
”Leonardo, with your suit you might be able to put out explosions of equal strength, allowing you to cancel out his. I want you to do this to defend the others and to create an opening for Cordelia to lock Bleiz in place with hardened ice. Yes… I am fully aware that this will only create a small window, but that will be good enough as it allows me to drain his energy enough for me to join the battle.
As for Alessia, I want you to prepare a circle of beast blood around the edges of the arena.”
”What will we do with this?”
”I have a feeling that the hidden talent might be able to release Bleiz's soul.
If possible I too want him to be able to pass on without cursing his existence…
This technique truly… is inhumane…”
Pained by this Geo sat down.
”This is the best we can do, so we better make the best of it! Everyone get ready!
Bleiz can break out at any moment now!”
Everyone nodded and took their positions. Alessia quickly began drawing the circles around the arena, gathering blood from the beasts in the rocky area.
Small flames began seeping out of the rooted dome creating cracks, which weakened the foundation. Geo quickly started fully cultivation, drawing in as much energy as possible.