Chapter 346: Total Knockout (2/2)

The follower's enthusiasm seemed to have spurred Zambrotta's determination and confidence. Even he himself was pleasantly surprised by the amount of power came out of his coup de grace. This would be a perfect ending to mark the beginning of a new era, in which the War Drum Hall would finally rise to power!

As the deadly waves of energy loomed around Mr. Wannabe, distorting his view, he saw shadows lurking in the waves and battle cries that turned into heart-wrenching howls. Mr. Wannabe remembered: he had been there with those shadows, and he had left something important behind. A wave of overwhelming grief and regret came over Mr. Wannabe. Whatever he had lost, he had lost it for good.

Suddenly, at the corner of Mr. Wannabe's eyes, he registered an incoming attack that pierced through the shadows, and the lurking shadows disappeared immediately, breaking the only connection between him and his past. Losing his memory the second time, Mr. Wannabe threw his head back, opened his mouth, and howled a heart-wrenching cry.

”WHY?”

The words formed an overbearing force that meant death. Zambrotta's face turned pale and staggered back to get out of harm's way. The energy waves that he had been weaving the last ten minutes were washed away by Mr. Wannabe's cry.

The followers of the War Drum Hall froze in the face of such a catastrophic turn of event. Some of the senior followers had seen with their own eyes that even an Einherjar had trouble defending against Zambrotta's coup de grace. What happened then was beyond their comprehension.

Einherjar Wannabe straightened his head, and he saw his opponent's legendary weapon—Thunder Drum. Suddenly, the drum appeared in Einherjar Wannabe's hand as if by magic.

By then, Mr. Wannabe had already forgotten about Zambrotta; he was not a worthy opponent. However, while staring at the drum in his hand, he could sense a wisp of the old memories that he saw in the shadows still linger inside of him.

Suddenly, Einherjar Wannabe hit the drum.

With a forceful drumbeat, a tsunami of energy gushed out from the impact. The energy spill into Zambrotta's sea of consciousness and ripped it apart.

Zambrotta's mind went blank as he collapsed to the ground.

Einherjar Wannabe then hit the drum again, this time with both hands. His movement was slow. However, the audience was surprised to see that Einherjar Wannabe's two hands became four, and then eight.

When the first pair of hands landed on the drum, nothing had come out except for a tiny din, but with each extra pair of hands hitting the drum and merging its outline with the one before it, the moderate din quickly became an ear-deafening blare.

Blood spilled out of Zambrotta's mouth, nose, eyes, and eyes, as his face contorted into a painful knot. All the while, he held onto the pair of drumsticks as if that was the only thing between him and death. One more attack, and Zambrotta's mind might shatter.

Everyone watched as Einherjar Wannabe slowly raised his hand, on which his opponent's life rested. Einherjar Wannabe was no longer a seventeen years old boy, but a deadly hell-bound monster.

While struggling to retain his remaining sanity, Zambrotta suddenly came to a moment of epiphany: to release the most power from the Thunder Drum, he would have to relent the drumstick as his opponent did. But, it was too late. When Einherjar Wannabe's hand fell on the drum once again, his sea of consciousness would be shattered beyond recovery.

As Mr. Wannabe was about to hit the drum again, a dark presence loomed ahead of him and then charged at his sea of consciousness. Mr. Wannabe faltered and then slowly moved his hand away from the drum. The dark presence also dissipated as he did so.

Without giving anyone a heads up, Einherjar Wannabe signed off, leaving the audiences in shock and bewilderment.

”What had just happened? Why did he stop?”

Zambrotta face was planted to the ground. He had met many tough opponents, but no one was as deadly as Einherjar Wannabe. He conceded that if the fight had taken place in real life, he had already been dead many times over.

Zambrotta staggered back to his feet and then walked to the Thunder Drum. He folded his hands as he prayed to the long-dead founder of the Tactics of the Thunder Drum before he signed off.

Although no one knew for certain what had happened, they all registered that Einherjar Wannabe had held back his power at the very last moment, and thereby spared Zambrotta's life.

After five minutes of silence, the official results finally came out—Winner: Einherjar Wannabe!

An explosion of cheers, shouts, and curses erupted from the audiences. No one signed off, as there were simply too many unanswered questions.

A seventeen years old boy defeated a Martian grandmaster? Even an Einherjar might not be able to boast such an achievement.

Who would dare accept his challenge next?