Nate's eyes widened in shock, and a split second later, a sharp pain, like an electric shock, shot through every cell of his body.
Poison began spreading through his arm at an alarming rate.
Leeward saw it all and uttered a word that might help:
"Use the Steinemak and reverse the blood flow; it will slow its spread."
In a split second, Nate shot him a single look, and Leeward understood instantly what those eyes were saying.
He didn't know how to use the Steinemak
Knight raised his sword straight up.
And cut.
He severed his arm at the shoulder, and blood gushed forth like a waterfall from an unstoppable spring. His face reddened, and he became so unwell that he cried out in excruciating pain that pierced his body from head to toe.
The very instant his severed hand hit the ground, it began to rot before their eyes; it had turned into a black, cracked, dry, revolting branch.
"Did he manage to stop him?"
Ellen asked directly, his eyes fixed on the scene with unmistakable sorrow
Spreads further. 11
He tried to reassure him.
But at that moment, Leeward saw what completely silenced him: thick green veins creeping over his shoulder and filling his neck with a merciless slowness.
"No... it didn't work."
He realized at once that Knight no longer stood a chance of survival, for the poison had taken hold.
Resist with your spirit energy. Try to keep your body's cells alive as long as you can. This will give you extra time, if only to say your last will and testament.
Nate, are you all right? Don't worry, the poison must not have spread yet."
He tried to reassure him.
But at that moment, Leeward saw what completely silenced him: thick green veins creeping over his shoulder and filling his neck with a slow, merciless slumber.
"No... it didn't work."
He realized at once that Knight no longer had a chance of survival, for the poison had taken hold.
"Resist with your spirit energy. Try to keep your body's cells alive as long as you can. This will give you some extra time, if only to say your last will and testament."
This was the only harsh reality left. And Knight realized it instantly.
He fell back, writhing on the floor, his jaw clenched so tightly that the grinding of his teeth was a painful sound that spoke volumes about the turmoil within him.
I haven't given everything yet... and I don't care about that as much as I care about my son. There's no one to care for him right now.
Explanation: (This is a character talking to themselves; this is a character talking to another character.)
He raised his head to the sky, preparing to die with the serene calm of one who has resigned himself to the inevitable.
At that very moment, the commentator's scream erupted with deafening force, and the arms of Calvin's monster trembled and recoiled with panicked speed, as if something unseen had pierced them.
His body and made him tremble from within.
Ellen noticed all of this. Despite the sorrow that weighed on his chest for Knight, his focus immediately shifted to finding a weakness in this damned beast.
"Ascendant Number One, didn't you see that? Calvin's beast seems to be suffering from the loud noise."
He realized it instantly.
"Yes, I saw it. Go and get the piece of ether the commentator uses; we'll need it in our fight with this damned beast."
Leeward understood the idea at the same time.
But he wanted to stand with Knight one last moment, not out of friendship, but because he expected him to ask him for something
"Of course, but before that, I'll use it to kill this monster and then give it to your son. And please, tell me its power."
Leeward was asking for instructions from a dying man before him, his features as rigid as a rock, showing no interest in anything but the yellow object.
"I don't mind. It's a piece of arrow ether. And the truth is, I was foolish not to use it sooner to act in time."
Knight closed his eyes, and his body began to rot gradually.
Leeward took the piece of ether from Knight's hand, and then that hand went limp and fell to the ground with the weight of things that finally give up.
Knight was dead
He died regretting that he hadn't cared enough for his son, hadn't pushed him and lifted him higher than he could.
And a moment later, his whole body had rotted away and was like the trunk of a burnt tree: black, charred, silent, as if he had never been there.
Ellen reached the commentator sitting on his wooden platform. Those strange eyes were following him with a mixture of interest and suspicion.
"I need this piece."
And without warning, he punched him straight in the face.
He grabbed the amplifier's ether piece, which was shaped like a human ear, but made entirely of diamond, gray in color and reflecting light from every angle.
He jumped up immediately and sprinted back.
Meanwhile, the crowd was divided; some were silently affected by Knight's death, others were excited enough to continue watching the fight without batting an eye. Above all, screams filled the entire space as if Knight's painful demise had no weight or value amidst this thrilling, nonstop show.
Ellen stood near Leeward, with Knight's rotting corpse behind them.
He's dead, unfortunately. That's his fate. We have to concentrate, because winning and surviving is what matters now.
"Yes."
Leeward removed his iron armor, becoming bare-chested
His sculpted body, free of any excess fat, was revealed. Numerous gashes clearly etched its surface, a testament to countless battles, lending his appearance an aura forged in pain.
"This armor wasn't just holding me back. You use the magnified ether piece to unsettle Calvin's beast, and I'll attack with this piece and the sword, unleashing a full-blown burst of spiritual energy."
"Good plan. Then let's begin."
They charged together.
Ellen leaped, dodging each of the beast's outstretched arms with swift movements, then pressed the ether piece and supported it with his spiritual field until it began to greedily absorb his energy.
The piece floated before his face, gray sparks swirling around it
The shard floated before his face, gray sparks flying around it like embers, and then he screamed at it with all his might.
Ellen's voice exploded into the shard, deafening the space around him.
All the beast's arms trembled and recoiled as if receiving an invisible blow, and Calvin's beast let out a hollow scream dripping with pain—for the poison that inhabited his body rendered most of him powerless against loud sounds, each vibration piercing him like a burning needle only amplifying his rage.
Meanwhile, Leeward lifted the shard and pressed it against his spiritual field, feeling it begin to absorb him with quiet voracity. He held it firmly, then unleashed its power.
Black arrows shot straight into the air
Leeward assumed they were offensive in nature, and with his complete spiritual control, he directed them at the beast. But the arrows did nothing. They didn't cut his skin or pierce his flesh; they merely passed through his body like wisps of smoke, strange, weightless, and inconsequential spiritual formations.
Damn it... So what was their true power?
But he quickly recalled what Knight had said just before his death: that he hadn't used them to move in time.
So that's it... I understand.
An arrow was floating behind the back of Calvin's beast. Leeward focused his spiritual emanation in its direction.
And suddenly, he found himself there, right where the arrow was, directly behind the beast's back.
He smiled with an enthusiasm that surprised even himself, and delivered a vertical blow toward the monster's neck.
But one of the arms attacked him with a single snatch, riddled with sharp thorns that gleamed like nails.
He deflected it with his sword, then released a piece of ether that floated above his head, surrounded by golden sparks that flew in every direction. Arrows began to multiply and increase until they encircled the monster on all sides like an inescapable ring.
Leeward focused his spirit emanation on an arrow directly in front of the monster, teleporting to it in a flash. He delivered a sword blow that pierced Calvin's belly deeply.
Then he instantly moved to the monster's side, dodging all its outstretched arms with swift, deft movements, and delivered a powerful vertical swing to the shoulder of one of the arms, severing it so deeply that it fell
One fell.
Leeward pulled back the arrows as Ellen's voice burst into barely contained glee.
Hahaha! It really works. Keep it up, Number One Ascender!
I can't believe this is only a Level 2 Aether... its power is truly immense.
Leeward felt the density of his spirit field decreasing at a faster rate than he had anticipated.
But it's draining me at a dangerously rapid pace.
The Calvin Beast let out a sharp cry from its depths and focused the rest of its arms on Leeward with ferocious intensity
But Ellen screamed into the ether again, and the monster's arms and body trembled simultaneously. In that split second, Leward moved behind him and pierced his waist with a deep thrust.
But the monster was tougher than it looked. It twisted with unexpected speed and aimed all five of its arms despite the trembling that shook its body.
This time, Leward leaped quickly. He didn't move but used the arrows to move freely through the air and severed another arm.
Then another.
Then another.
The arms began to fall one after another in a relentless succession, until only one arm remained of that terrifying body, clinging to existence
The coordination between Leeward and Ellen was precise, swift as if they were fighting with one mind.
At that moment, Leeward noticed that his sword was visibly corroding. The blood poison of the Calvin Beast was eating away at it from within, making it so brittle and cracked that it might not even withstand one more blow. The density of his spirit field had dropped to exactly half.
Before he could settle on a step, the Calvin Beast extended from its mouth a long, strangely shaped tongue, extending vertically from its chest—at the end of which was a long, black needle dripping with an indescribably dense poison.
It shot straight at Leeward.
Ellen screamed into the piece of ether, but the sound had little effect on the tongue.
Leeward spotted the tongue and realized that it was fast and slimy. Terrifying. He used the piece of ether and moved, the tongue following at the same speed, as if programmed to track him alone.
He began moving from place to place as fast as he could, the tongue clinging to his trail, never losing sight of it.
As he approached Calvin's body, Leeward noticed something: the arrows lost range as the distance between him and the monster decreased.
There, at that point, Leeward gathered what little energy remained in the sword, every atom yet unused, and moved close to the monster's mouth, delivering a decisive vertical blow.
It severed the tongue in half.
He held it in his hands, feeling the disgusting, sticky texture of its saliva. That's exactly what I wanted.
Leeward whispered, an unreadable, cold smile in his eyes. He took the tongue with him and moved on, the sword snapping in two behind him, crumbling from accumulated corrosion.
He threw the sword aside and lifted the tongue, studying the deep, black needle hidden at its tip.
I'll need this poison later.
He said it quietly to himself.
But before he could take a single breath, the body of Calvin's beast let out its final scream
Huge spikes appeared all over his body as if they had been hiding all along, just waiting for this moment. And in the last note of that scream, the spikes shot out with astonishing force and speed, heading towards Leeward and Ellen simultaneously.
Leeward immediately used the Ether and began to move from place to place without stopping, dodging each spike with perfect timing until the very end, unharmed. The distance from the monster's body gave him ample room to maneuver.
Then he looked towards Ellen.
His body was covered in spikes on all sides, even his face, pinned down, silent.
Leeward hadn't expected this.
It seems I'm all alone here