Chapter 1270 (2/2)

Without panicking, Hank drew his revolver and used the ivory handle to catch the knife of the assailant. The two strained there for a second before Hank threw the shadow backward.

Hank bared his teeth. “Ya really switched sides, eh Decklan?”

Decklan Hyde didn’t answer, simply using his spare hand to whip up his crimson robe to hit Hank’s face. Hank rolled backward, unleashing another dozen shots to incapacitate the surrounding bloodbeasts as he hopped to his feet. But when he looked around, Hank frowned.

Decklan had disappeared once more.

BOOOOOOOOM!

The stadium shook as the largest clash of the fights on the field occurred. While the Nemesai and heroes of Earth had been carefully selecting their foes, the Obsidian Duke and the Jade Prince ran directly across the turf at each other. The Obsidian Duke’s image was heavy and persistent, while the Jade Prince was pure and radiant. Those two images seemed to physically pummel each other as the owner’s bodies hurried to recover from the collision.

The Obsidian Duke’s body morphed into strangely shaped weapons as he fought more like a wild animal than a human. Meanwhile, the Jade Prince countered every wild strike of his foe with a sharp stab that hit the weakness of the other’s attack. In terms of image power, the Jade Prince began to forcefully press the Obsidian Duke back with only a few blows.

The terrible overseer of blood, Straud, laughed as he watched the fights develop. “Let’s not let things get out of hand… Beam of Lost Life!”

Straud raised his hand and unleashed a powerful crimson blast that shot outward at the Jade Prince. The Champion tried to dodge sniping shot, but the Obsidian Duke accepted a powerful blow to his chest in order to keep the Jade Prince immobile. So when the beam from Straud arrived, the Jade Prince had to throw every bit of his image into deflecting the Skill rather than avoiding it.

Ignoring the wound inflicted on his chest, the Obsidian Duke pressed both arms together and created a giant ax that he smashed into the distracted Jade Prince’s waist. The Jade Prince was smashed backward, ripping up a long strip of turf as he skidded across the ground. He quickly got back to his feet, but his face was pale as the Obsidian Duke rushed forward to meet him for a second round.

Above them all, the stone wheel of the Winged Serpent continued to spin. The scent of blood in the air grew stronger.

Alana and Thea crossed blows violently and they were not even; although the Dragon Broodmother and the undead bear appeared to possess equal strength, Alana’s image smashed Thea’s to pieces. Thea was knocked off of her mount’s back and Alana was about to leap off her own to follow up when Straud turned quickly and unleashed a beam at Alana.

Snorting, Alana raised her spear and an almost holy radiance suffused her body. The wings on her helmet grew and became as sparkling and pure as pearls. She burned like the sun with all the righteous fury of an angel. Her spear stabbed forward and impacted Straud’s Beam of Lost Life directly.

Alana shook and rocked backward on top of Wivanya, but she endured the blow. For the first time since the fights started, Straud frowned. “You…”

“Spread the Brilliant Word,” Alana said simply. Golden light blasted outward from her body and touched everyone in the stadium. Some of the struggling guards of the Order Valorem were bolstered with strength and began to push back the bloodbeasts in the stands. The wounded Jade Prince seemed to find his footing after being touched by that light, even as the Obsidian Duke released a bestial series of attacks. With the assistance, the Jade Prince’s defense slowly came together.

The man with the large iron ball finally stopped being pushed back by the Bandit King with the support of that light. His image grew even denser. But the flickering movements of the serrated blade continued to suppress the man.

When the light of Alana’s Skill hit him, Hank Howard finally drew his revolver and pointed it out through the dozen or so bloodbeasts that rushed toward him. A sneering voice could be heard from amongst there midst, seeming to come from nowhere. “Do you really think you can hit me with that?”

“No.”

Bang!

A golden bullet zipped across the battlefield, slamming into the crimson barrier around the Winged Serpent. The barrier wavered then shattered to a thousand pieces. Even Straud seemed shocked and he was forced to immediately jump right in front of the bullet and smashed the golden projectile with his fist.

At the same time, the stone wheel above the Winged Serpent seemed to activate. Derek noticed that the blood around him that was dripping down the stadium stairs seemed to twitch.

With the target exposed, the man with the iron ball exploded into motion, his image suddenly smashing past the Bandit King. Alana’s eyes sparked as she ignored Thea and did the same. Most everyone had the same thought: stop the Winged Serpent.