Putting your Foot Down

....

Bastian was ripped. First the baldy and his companion had finished all of the available prey. Now the white haired freak had killed the giant's companion. This was bad.

It was quite clear that the giant and his partner were at a higher tier than the rest; therefore Bastian figured he could replace quantity with quality. The giant was big and strong, while his companion was fast, accurate and agile. They complimented each other and covered up the other's weakness

Bastian was positive that facing both of them would be quite the challenge, after seeing the massacre they had just done. Yet now one was dead, which significantly lowered the difficulty.

At first Bastian was intimidated by the giant, but after seeing him in action those thoughts faded.

Bastian knew he could easily defeat such a slow target, so his anger toward the white haired boy got serious.

After pounding him into the ground and declaring his stance, Bastian looked at the white haired boy's face, to see his work. The gauntlets he was wearing were incredibly hard, and they had virtually deformed the white haired boy's face.

Bastian couldn't care less about whether or not they were partners, so he felt no pity for the freak.

That is what happens when you attack me first.

In fact, Bastian was surprised that he didn't do more damage. He had expected that to at least turn the freak's head into mush.

"Hhmm?"

Upon closer inspection of the freak's head, Bastian noticed something.

His head is repairing itself!

The white haired boy's head was repairing itself at a speed visible to the naked eye. Such a thing should not have been possible, considering that everyone's cultivation had been sealed.

Not to mention spells, techniques or objects that could repair someone so quickly were not cheap.

"What the heck are you!" shouted Bastian as he kicked the white haired boy's body.

"Wait, young warrior stop! Don't touch him!" shouted the giant but it was too late. As soon as Bastian's foot made contact with the freak's head, a strange soul like energy rushed into Bastian's body. The energy was composed of many parts, each part sharp and deadly like a needle.

Bastian panicked. These shackles completely of restricting Soul Force, preventing you from using it, so Bastian had no means of defending himself, or so he thought.

Somehow the moment the needle like energy entered his body, the effect the shackles had on Bastian's body disappeared. By reflex, Bastian's Soul Force attacked the needle like energy.

The energy was like a swarm of a thousand needles, each rotating fiercely. Usually a person's Soul force would be like a rock. Easily penetrated by the thousands of needles and destroyed.

Unfortunately, this swarm of needles was not facing a rock, it was now facing a mountain!

Bastian's Soul Force immediately crushed the invaders, without leaving a single trace of energy.

This may have taken time to describe, but it took less than a second to occur.

As soon as Bastian retracted his foot, he looked at the white haired boy and frowned. After thinking for a few seconds he kicked the boy again, only to have the same thing occur. The energy would rush into Bastian's body and Bastian's Soul Force would crush it.

Bastian repeatedly kicked the boy on the ground, eventually stepping on him. At some point he stopped lifting his foot up.

Bastian discovered that as long as he was in contact with the white haired boy's body, as long as he allowed the needle like energy to enter his body, he would be able to smoothly operate his Soul Force.

Interesting, just what kind of energy is this? It can't be Soul Force, its too vicious in nature.

Bastian activated his e-vision, trying to see what exactly was in the boy. Whether it was World Energy, mana or qi, they all followed the normal colors of blue, yellow, brown, grey or red. There by representing the five elements. Yet the energy inside the boy was Black!

Not only that, the energy had permeated throughout the boy's entire body. It was painful and corrosive, Bastian had felt that, and yet it was all over this boy's body.

He must be in agony. No wonder he is crazy, how can he survive like this.

Bastian then shifted his attention to the boy's head, only to be shocked. The needle like energy had concentrated there, and where ever it went, flesh would regenerate.

It corrodes and repairs at the same time?

Bastian was astonished by what he saw. The energy seemed endless, and it continuously repaired the boy's body, and corroded it at the same time, whenever the energy seemed to get used up, it would instantly get replenished, and very quickly at that.

This meant that this boy's body was in a constant state of destruction and repair.

Even if he wanted to kill himself, I doubt he could.

This was without a doubt a poison, and a very high ranking one at that. Only a high ranking alchemist can make a poison this effective. And if Bastian was correct, then this poison would not be easy to deal with.

Bastian's expression darkened. Such a cruel method of torture on such a young boy had enraged Bastian to the limits.

After seeing the concentration of the energy inside the boy, Bastian had no doubt that it was endless.

No wonder he is always shivering. Let me help him out.

The giant had been silently observing Bastian the whole time.

Normally if someone touched the blind disaster, they would convulse and scream, dying in a matter of seconds. Eventually their flesh would fall apart as if it had rotten, and they would turn into dust, leaving only bones.

Yet Bastian was perfectly fine. The giant was at a loss.

*Swoosh*

Suddenly from nowhere, Bastian kicked the freak's body upward. The freak's body reached its highest point at Bastian's eye level, as it was about to fall, Bastian's leg quickly got into position above the freak's body.

"Hah!"

Then with a shout, Bastian lowered his foot with all his might.

*Boom!*

Another shockwave was created, this time with more intensity than the last.

The moment Bastian had touched the freak during his fall, using the fact that the restriction on his Soul Force had temporarily been lifted; Bastian flooded his Soul Force into the White haired boy's body.

His target was the black energy. As soon as the body hit the ground, Bastian poured in as much of his Soul Force as he could into the boy, destroying any of the black energy he came into contact with.

Bastian could not do this carefully, since he did not fully understand the boy's body, so it was inevitable that damage would be done. But this was alright. Bastian had no doubt that the black energy inside the boy's body had been taken care of temporarily.

Whether it would help or not only time will tell.

Bastian observed the boy's body, and saw that the huge injury he had caused to the boy's chest was not healing at a visible speed. This showed that his conjecture had been right.

Although the flesh could be repaired instantly, the energy was not the same. Bastian knew that high level poisons that could replenish themselves like this often had spiritual awareness.

Their spirits could be attacked by Soul Force. If one damaged their spirit, then they could not repair themselves quickly.

Bastian's goal this time was simple. The black energy was everywhere in the boy's body. So all he had to do was flood the boy's body with his Soul Force. Although the shockwave from before made the attack Bastian had made seem powerful, it was actually not that strong.

Bastian's Soul Force was just so potent that it was nearly tangible. Although Soul Force was an energy, it was also a force.

Momentum increased its effects, which is why Bastian had kicked the boy's body up, only to kick it down. He had hoped to use the force of two impacts to spread his Soul Force in the white haired boy's body as much as possible.

That way he would be able to damage as much of the poison's spirit as possible. Although his e-vision had levelled up to the point where it could see the energy inside beings, it was still far from locating spirits. Thus Bastian had to resort to such means.

If Bastian had enough time, he could carefully sit down and examine the boy, taking care to remove the black energy and destroying the spirit of this incredibly vicious poison. Unfortunately, Bastian was in a match right now.

He had not forgotten. In fact one could have said that, be it amongst the observers or the combatants, Bastian was the only person who had not forgotten that this was a death match. And that this match would not finish until the giant was dead.

Just what did you do to anger someone this much?

Bastian was wondering just what the boy had done to incite such cruelty upon himself.

Although Bastian was no saint, he did not like the idea of holding grudges, especially against children. Bastian still had the soul of an adult man, so he regarded the freak as a boy.

After looking at the white haired boy one more time to make sure the black energy had calmed down, Bastian sighed in relief. The boy was unconscious again, except that this time he was not shivering. Although his face was still partially deformed, overall he was better in Bastian's opinion.

After his confirmation, Bastian turned around and looked at his remaining foe, the only thing blocking him from leaving this arena and getting some answers, in regards to where he was, and how he got here.

Bastian's expression was cold. Seeing what was happening to the white haired boy had put a very bad taste in his mouth.

"Your name is Tate, right?"

Bastian's words snapped the giant out of his stupor. After coming back to reality, the giant nodded with a blank expression on his face.

Bastian smiled.

"Do not worry Tate, I did not forget about the fact that you also took my stuff."