The Labyrinth of Daedalus (3)

'God damn it.'

I woke up from my brief moment of unconsciousness and took the time to notice the condition my body was in. My ears were ringing, my body was battered and bloody, and my eyes were stinging from the smoke in the air. Other than that thought, surprisingly, I was completely... fine...

I tried standing up but was thrown off balance as I came to the sudden realization... my right leg... was gone. I took in a deep breath as I stared at the charred nub that was now my leg. And as I took in the fact that my leg was blown off in the explosion, my pain receptors began doing their job, 'That hurts like a bitch.'

As I slowly got over the pain, I stood up on my one remaining leg and observed the new environment I found myself in. It was still the middle layer, that part was obvious by the stone floor, but the strange thing was how all of the stone walls from before were missing, being replaced with black smoke. And thanks to that blinding smoke, I was unable to figure out more than that. But, as a voice called out to me, I understood that I had bigger problems at hand.

As though it were a vengeful spirit, with bitterness and hatred in her voice, she spoke, "How... dare you? You, you hurt my friends... You made them bleed! I swear on all that is crimson and blood-soaked within the Underworld, and all that is hallowed and reverend in Olympus, I will rain bombs until not a morsel of you is remaining!!"

With that oath of revenge, her image became clear to me. Soot and cinders of the explosion decorated her stained blonde hair, her blue eyes held visages of enmity and necrosis, and her posture made me requestion who the crazy one out of the five was, 'What the hell? This was the "weak-willed and passive" Paxium? Yea right! And what was with her Branch? The file Medisma gave me said she was just another Wood Branch cultivator... damn it! That hag tricked me! But why?! There was no motive... unless she wanted to test me? For what though? To make sure I'm truly fit to teach or something like that? This was going too far though! If I knew there was an Explosive Branch maniac on the other side, I'd be much more cautious about my actions! And then maybe I'd still have a leg to walk on!'

Although I complained in my mind, cursing Medisma for tricking me into a bad situation, my body sent another signal, a signal of anticipation of the incoming battle. My chest drummed with excitement, and I fixed my hump-backed posture as the pain of losing my leg became obsolete. I gave a crooked grin as drive took over my beaten body, 'The odds are stacked against me... More likely than not this will end with my head being blown off... I would probably die in the fiery heat of an explosion... But isn't that what made fighting so fun in the first place? The thrill that your next move might be your last, the pain that awakens your inner demon, the smell of death that lingers in the air, and the feeling of glory as you overcome the insurmountable odds. It was bliss.'

I opened my sinuous mouth and replied to this madwoman's declaration, "Well how about this. I swear on the unholiness of Hades himself: I will beat you."

With this finalizing statement, I took the initiative and jumped at her using my one leg. She responded to my attack by getting into a stance of her own, and we clashed.

I threw my fist into her gut, but she just dodged out of the way and kicked my leaning body. I was able to use my leg to hop out of the kick and then twisted my leg around before rushing at her new position. I fully sent a dropkick at her, expecting her to dodge out of the way. Just as I hit the ground and scraped my body, I used my Crossbow Bolt Fruit, and a bolt went flying into the air at her while she was in the middle of freefall. Just as my bolt was about to collide, I saw a familiar red tube of explosives appear in the air. The bolt hit the cylinder and then the loud sound of a boom echoed through the flattened labyrinth. The explosion blocked my vision of her, and by the time I was back on my foot, I lost her.

The smoke made it difficult to locate her, and trying to sense her Genesis Essence would be useless because, by the time I sensed her, she would already be attacking. I just had to rely on my instincts to guide me. As I heightened my six senses to ensure no peculiarity went unnoticed, a dark green, small, and spiky-looking ovular ball came rolling at me. It didn't take a genius to understand this was something bad.

To get away as fast as I could, I sent a bolt opposite of the suspicious object before grabbing onto it and escaping. By the time the arrow took me only 20 meters away, a loud explosion came from behind me. Just as this explosion occurred, pieces of what I assumed were shrapnel ravaged my body.

By the end of the rainfall, I was cut and punctured more than before, hopelessly bleeding. This was when it occurred to me the danger of my situation. If she is able to do that over and over again, I'll have no chance of survival. I could run away, but I would have to fight her eventually. And this was my best opportunity. Right now I was hurt and missing a leg, but she was also battered. If I let her heal I would only be at a greater disadvantage. So what should I do?...!

A battle strategy began to form in my mind, and as it reached a conclusion in my mind, so did any doubt of loss that I had before. I gave a small smirk as victory was in my grasp. A plan was only a plan, so I needed to actually execute it to get anything done. My first step was getting rid of this smoke. It only brought me disadvantages. So how do I do that? Well, obviously, I would use Gust.

With that in mind, I activated Gust over and over, bleeding through my mind's and soul's energy. After about 30 seconds of dodging explosions and creating wind, the smoke finally cleared up, exposing the scenery to me. I looked around but failed to find Paxium anywhere. Suddenly, I heard a loud boom from far out in the endless stone field. Coming at me like a rocket was Paxium with a wicked smile on her face, and two of the red pipes from earlier, each in one hand. I already had an idea of what she wanted to do.

"Oh... no you don't!" I activated the magic circle in my leg and right as she dropped the bombs, saddled her. I grabbed onto her body, causing the momentum to die down and for both of us to fall within the blast radius of the explosion. Of course, I made sure she was facing the explosion, not me. The explosion blew both of us away, but she was the one who caught the heat from the explosion. She screamed in agony as the clothes on her back melted and her flesh blew away into pieces of char.

I got up and leaped at her. She was in pain, which meant I had an opportunity. I'd already run out of Crossbow Bolt Fruits, so now all I had that I could rely on were my head, two arms, and one leg. She tried getting on her feet but was unable to when I straddled her. She fell to the hard and rough stone ground with her open back scraping against the concrete causing her to scream out loud again. I put another 500 Genesis Orbs into my fist and sent my fist down to her chest. But then I saw something strange flash in her eyes. Conviction. That wasn't good. I quickly activated my magic circles defensively before anything bad happened.

BOOM!!

Another explosion broke out, but this time with me and Paxium at the epicenter. I was sent flying backward and slammed against the cold hard ground. I groaned as I somehow managed to keep consciousness. My brain was pounding like it was my heart, the entire front of my body was scraped and burnt to all hell. Flesh dangled off of my body, blood became my new skin color, and my bones were cracking with each move I made. It didn't feel good in the least, but my blood was still pumping with excitement. I wasn't done yet.

Paxium got up, exposing her equally broken and panting body. I locked onto her and made to decision that this would be our last bout. I didn't do this before, because I knew it would soak up every Genesis orb I had on me, but now it was different. I was at the point where It was either I make a last-ditch effort, or I died trying.

I used up the remaining Genesis orbs in my body, numbering around ten thousand, and let every magic circle in my body suck it up. As I did this I felt an indomitable pain come from my nonexisting leg. I looked down and noticed that appearing there was a transparent, neon silver leg that I could control easily. That was convenient.

After every single magic circle in my body was activated to its maximum, I broke out into a sprint. My body felt refreshed and invincible as I cut through the air and crossed the distance between us in only a couple of seconds. She was in a stance to defend herself, but it was useless as I was too fast for her. I landed a strike to her open wound on her back, sending an impulse of pain in her, and she promptly fell over. But I wasn't done yet.

As she fell, I landed on top of her, and at lightning speeds, punched her repeatedly. She winced in pain as I dug into her already present wounds and gritted her teeth as I purposefully scraped her skinless back against the stone ground. I didn't do this out of pleasure, but because I needed her to understand that when she woke up and had to accept me as her teacher, she wouldn't have the stomach to defy me.

I made sure to put her through a painful hell, while also making sure she stayed awake. Of course, she could try to explode the both of us again, but it would only end in her downfall because of my body being under a good defensive system. But judging how she didn't do that, I guessed she was out of Genesis Liquid and wasn't willing to expend her Duranian's foundation for only an arena match. After minutes of pure unadulterated pain, she looked like she was about to go mad, so I just made her pass out with a hard chop to the nerve on the side of her neck. Once she passed out, the wave of exhaustion hit me as I fell to the floor and looked at the empty ceiling.

Soon the ceiling began to change, exposing that I was still in the coliseum. Fervent cheers entered my deafened ears and the sound of Cortritio yelling into whatever device amplified his voice found its way to me, "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!!! WE HAVE OURSELVES A WINNERRRR!!!! THE MAN WHO JUST TOOK ON FIVE OTHER COAL CLASS CULTIVATORS AND LIVED TO TELL THE TALE. THE MAN WHO OUTPLAYED ALL OF HIS ENEMIES' SKILLS. THE MAN WHO OUTWITTED ALL OF HIS OPPONENTS' STRATEGIES. THE MAN WHO TOOK A MASSIVE EXPLOSION TO THE HEAD AND LIVED. THE MAN WHO BEAT PAXIUM, THE 34TH BEST 1ST HALF COAL CLASS CULTIVATOR IN THE JUNGLE REGION WITH ONLY ONE LEG!... THE UNDENYABLE WINNER IS IGMOR PROEBEL!!!!!!

As my victory was assured, both the adrenalin and the magic circles which were the only things keeping me awake deactivated. My body grew heavy as my eyelids droopy. And with my survival confirmed for now...

I allowed myself to sleep.