Chapter 18 Swift Finals

-Before the surprise change to rules

Inside a special room was a meeting going on, this meeting was between Yuna and the headmaster who had yet to make an appearance in the tournament.

"It's a pleasure to meet you." Yuna bowed before taking a seat in front of the headmaster's desk.

"Don't play coy with me, I know what you are. Don't try to play games with me, you homeless fallen god." The headmaster slammed his foot on the ground which made a bubble around the room.

"Smart, you don't seem to be an idiot like the rulers of this world are." Yuna nodded her head.

"When I came to Aevis I was disappointed, but there are some things you can't change." He shook his head miserably.

"Enough about me, why are you here, fallen god." The headmaster was no idiot, he had been around the entire universe so he knew what he was looking at.

"Oh? No wonder you scare even Lucifer." Yuna just clapped, not even slightly perturbed.

"I'm sure you know that kid down there has corruption in his body."

"I do."

"So why is he still alive? I refuse to believe you would let him stay alive knowing this curves situation."

"It's not my business, I'm merely a headmaster."

"Oh please, I know who you're. You aren't fooling me, Prometheus." Yuna began to get angry over him trying to act stupid.

"Just leave me to my own devices, I'm close to figuring out where their secret base is on this continent." Prometheus waved off Yuna.

"You mean the one I just came back from clearing out? Great headmaster." Yuna waved and began to leave the room.

Yuna had met only incapable people so far on Aevis, clearly the headmaster was in the same league.

"Wait! There's no way, I've been searching for months now." Prometheus couldn't believe his planning was foiled by a woman who randomly showed up.

"You might be powerful, but you clearly lack intelligence." Yuna opened the door but before she closed it she had parting words.

"I'd recommend you fix the final round, that child will die now or later." Yuna slammed the door before making her way to the medical area where Ariel was being treated.

"Aaron." Prometheus called.

"Yes sir." Aaron opened the door that Yuna recently stepped out of.

"Modify the rules, I believe her son will kill that parasite." Prometheus waved at Aaron and spun his chair around and began to think.

"It will be done." Aaron instantly vanished from his spot.

-Medical Bay

"Where is the elven girl?" Yuna asked a nurse.

"Bay two, but she's unconscious." The nurse replied.

"Thank you." Slowly Yuna made her way until she reached the bay that Ariel was, the sight that welcomed her was gruesome.

She had bruises covering her body but the worst ones were her eyes, one socket looked as if it had completely collapsed from the onslaught of punches. One eye was on the verge of falling out, both cheekbones were completely crushed which gave Ariel's face a sunken look. Because of the dark magic Carter used, healing her was a tough endeavor so they waited until all traces of dark magic vacated her system.

"You must be in so much pain.." Yuna brushed Ariel's hair back to see her entire face.

Slowly Ariel's hand raised and attempted to grasp Yuna's hand.

"Hold on, I'll make you feel better." Yuna placed both hands on the girl's temples before casting a Silver ranked healing spell that was exclusive to nature, Greater Rejuvenation. This spell gave a flat heal with the added effect of cleansing her of dark magic and also a much faster recovery time.

Ariel could immediately feel the difference but since her jaw was completely smashed she couldn't speak.

"Be strong, there's corruption inside your body that even I can't purify. When my son comes here I'll have him finish your treatment, in the meantime enjoy the show." Yuna waved to the nurse and she brought in an artifact that would show the finals match between Dante and Carter.

"Maybe this match will bring you some closure." Yuna began caressing Ariel's head slowly infusing more nature mana inside of her to heal her faster.

—Arena

"Begin."

"Come on you filthy fuc-" before Carter could finish his sentence a fast collided to his face sending him flying into the barrier of the arena.

Dante had immediately used his mana core to the max which was Blue ranked now, this resulted in him moving faster than even Carter who had a yellow core could even perceive. For this match Dante wouldn't even use a weapon, his body was enough.

Carter crashed into the wall but before he could even fall to the ground he was caught by the throat by Dante.

"Feels like shit doesn't it?" Dante began to squeeze which made Carter's eyes go red. He tried to infuse dark magic into Dante to inflict weakness on him but it did nothing, it was as if a wall was preventing it from entering Dante.

"I finally figured out why you're so disgusting to me." Dante slowly leaned in while still choking Carter.

"You inflated your power by corrupting yourself." Dante leaned back out and slapped Carter with his other hand.

"You. Are. Pathetic." Dante slapped Carter harder with every passing word.

"I bet you were a weak runt before you came across corruption, I bet it made you feel all powerful didn't it? The power to trample people who were stronger than you? Enticing, too bad it's worthless in front of me." Dante was just mocking Carter, he wanted to emotionally break him before he dealt his final blow.

"How's it feel to be back on the receiving end? Feels like shit doesn't it? I bet Ariel would love to see this, you're a sorry excuse for a human." Dante threw Carter to the other side of the arena like a rag doll.

"Scratch that, are you even human anymore?" Dante with each step towards Carter left an imprint of his foot on the arena floor.

"You wouldn't understand what I went through!" Carter mustered what strength he had left and shot out a beam of darkness infused with corruption at Dante.

Dante took the hit head on and kept walking through it as if it didn't affect him. Because of the book that fused with his soul, corruption had little to no effect on him, he was able to drive away corruption like it was a toddler trying to fight a dragon.

Carter, who saw that his attack had no effect, began to break down.

"I SURRENDER!" Carter looked at the judge with hopeful eyes but what he saw deflated that hope.

The judge wasn't even paying attention, he was talking to another judge and laughing.

"Could you be any more pathetic?" Carter quickly realized he was in the middle of a match, but before he could react he was punched in the gut.

He threw up everything he ate that day immediately and collapsed.

"Coward." Dante kicked Carter's head and made him fall backwards, and soon after he climbed on top of Carter like he did to Ariel.

"Let's see how you like it." Dante stopped using mana and began to viciously beat Carter who could do nothing but cry and scream.

Screams filled the stadium but this time everyone felt jubilant, even Ryota had a slight smirk on his face.

"Squeal for me." Dante whispered in Carter's ear before he continued beating him.

This continued for multiple minutes until Carter finally lost consciousness.

"Wake up." Dante began to smack Carter viciously and after a few smacks he finally woke up.

"We aren't done." Dante smiled before grabbing Carter's fingers.

"I hear your fingertips are one of the most sensitive parts of your body, let's find out." Dante reached down and began slowly peeling Carter's fingernails up one by one.

All anyone could hear was Carter screaming hysterically until finally he lost his voice, this saddened Dante a little bit.

"It's fine, everyone can see how pathetic you're." Dante stood up and began to take a few steps back from Carter, seeing this Carter immediately thought it was over.

"Before we finish this, I wanna make sure of one thing." Dante pulled his left leg back and began stomping on Carter's family jewels.

Every man in the crowd flinched instinctively seeing this, not a single one was spared.

"Is this not too far…?" Duke Reinhardt whispered to Ryota.

"Would you not do the same for a loved one or family member?" Ryota questioned.

"Of course I would, but I would've never expected that calm child to be this violent…" Everyone thought they had an accurate feel for Dante but clearly this even went past Duke Reinhardts head.

"Love makes you do crazy things." Ryota spoke from experience.

"Indeed it does." Both men seemed to have similar experiences but didn't share.

Back in the arena Dante had moved on to stomping both of Carter's legs, Carter could on squirm in response to this vicious beating.

"I'm sick of this." Dante walked away and picked up his war glaive he dropped at the start of the match.

"Any last words?" Dante asked Carter, but clearly the man had no voice.

"Just kidding, rot in hell." Dante swiftly decapitated Carter, ending his miserable life.

"Winner, exit the arena." The judge said.