"System of Dueling, Second Part" (022)

- Enrokonai City (Dueling Stadium), Monday, 3:05 pm -

Our Heroes met with Tim only a few minutes ago, who had been acting strangely for the past two weeks, so in order to improve things, Tim challenged each of them to a one-on-one duel, with a fortune lineup for our Heroes.

But the most unusual occurrence looked to be folks who appeared to be part of some sort of support organization who were always cheering Tim on as if he were a Dueling champion.

Boys, females, and even children saw him as a celebrity, and within minutes, a swarm of his followers had gathered around the stadium, putting our Heroes on the verge of misunderstanding.

"What the hell is going on here?! I thought you said there would be no one in this stadium!" And, as a result of their covert tactics, it appeared that a large number of individuals was a burden to them using it.

"Do you have any idea what that means? Because there are so many people... Ayuka is unable to" Codey, on the other hand, had already figured it out before she told him.

"I know!"

"Did you think I'd fall for your secret plan? I'm well aware that if you employ that secret plan, I'll have no chance of winning, which is why I publicized the Dueling System I devised on the Dueling Network website. We're now on an equal footing."

"This isn't going to happen, Ayuka. If we stick to our initial plan, they'll find out who you are." Kylin spoke quietly, seeing Ayuka's indecisiveness in this position.

"I guess we'll have to rely on merely winning without any benefits other than the fact that we have the advantage in numbers."

"We're still going to continue and fight him? Come on, Ayuka, you should know better." Codey tried everything he could to persuade her to change her mind, but she refused.

"Let's just hope we don't lose. We'll be alright as long as only one of us wins."

Finally, without a good plan, their only option was to win a duel against Tim.

"So, I hear you have no additional complaints, which means the Dueling System will begin!" Tim was alone while waiting for his first rival, Elliot, to move forward, so others backed away to clear the Dueling field.

"I'll tell you the truth. Elliot isn't going to win this."

Tim kept his rucksack on his shoulder as previously when he eventually smiled and hurled his backpack high into the air, spinning it and summoning his blade, all while keeping his arm raised and releasing Phantasm, which hooked itself to the blade.

He drew the sword down and caught its hilt with a smaller pulse of blue energy by the end. "You're strutting your stuff, right off the bat? That's ridiculous." Elliot, on the other hand, flung his arm to the side and discharged a yellow current of electricity before catching the blade in his hand and pointing it to the side while sparking the voltage.

Their Zero Watches instantly sparkled and connected with one another, producing a holographic 10-minute clock and lineups.

From that moment on, their Zero Watches produced an invisible shield that continued to protect their bodies, and there was no way they could damage each other unless something overpowered the blockade.

And when the clock reached zero, their Duel began, and Tim sped over the ground, twisting the blade behind his back and preparing to fight.

When Tim got extremely close, he swung the sword with passion and energy, raising Elliot to stop it with his own blade, causing a whirlwind to start.

Tim began their close fight by stepping forward with his sole, supporting it with his balance, and then twisting and dragging his blade back before smashing it forward.

Because Elliot relies on his mobility the most, he dodged and quickly observed Tim had bent his left leg, ensuring that it would strike.

But that wasn't the case; instead, Elliot gathered voltage in both palms and slammed them on the grass, generating enough strength to send himself high into the air, evading in a matter of seconds, and eventually riding the air.

Elliot swung circularly after that, releasing a ring of lightning that began to spiral down, targeting Tim, who swiftly turned his back sole and dashed for the sides, sensing the enormous explosion behind his back, then realizing Elliot had launched the second ring.

Tim leaped forward and flipped into a roll on the ground, then swiftly followed up with another roll, this time using his shoulders and turning his body to face Elliot's direction, as he had done before.

Tim straightened his posture and swung upward circularly without hesitation, releasing a blue wave of Phantasm that Elliot needed to redirect.

So, turning to face the wave, Elliot immediately sliced through the air, opening an extending wormhole of electricity that clashed with Phantasm, mixing them up and bursting out dark electricity.

Finally, Elliot collapsed to the ground after noticing that Tim had arrived ahead of him, ready to stab. Elliot moved away, intending to remain in the stabbing position, but Tim jumped on the spot and, after a quick rotation, kicked Elliot in the face, sending him to the side and left him wide exposed.

Tim directed his second stab with success, piercing Elliot's shield and immediately blasting forth a black beam through the very tip of his own blade, effortlessly propelling Elliot through the air just as Elliot would have stopped the attack.

Tim appeared in the darkness, grinning, and prepared the blade, followed by a slash that Elliot couldn't prevent, thus his shield was struck instead, instantly stunning Elliot.

Elliot slashed the sword obliquely behind Tim's back after attempting to move his body, but Tim simply slashed back and clashed with his blade. Elliot then vanished in a warm current of electricity and with a quick step rose behind Tim and punched his very fragile fist into his back, knocking Tim away.

However, Tim recovered from the hit and pulled his torso back, stopping him from falling, and stomped his sole into the ground, causing the blue energy to pour out, surprising Elliot and causing him to act indifferently towards Tim.

When Tim unleashed his aura, he raised his right arm high in the air, smashed his palm in the ground, shattering the grass floor, and easily summoned black whips that rose from the earth surrounding Elliot, making him even more stressed.

The whips swung after Tim's arm movement, like a command, and Elliot quickly twisted his blade in the opposite way and swung across his own face to his left, pushing the black whip back, and then ducked by kneeling over the next and swinging backward, cutting the third whip in half.

But even if he was successful, Tim pressed forward, returning to close combat after exchanging many strikes with Elliot. Tim finally managed to land a successful hit on Elliot, but he remained unmoved. In fact, after trading punches, Elliot was able to generate enormous electricity, which detonated when it came into touch with a large area.

And as a result of him blocking the major damage, Tim was sent flying into the middle of the explosion cross-armed, and after smashing his back on the grass floor and sliding back, Tim came dangerously close to being thrown out of the line.

But luck was on his side, and he devised a scheme.

Tim pointed both of his hands on the ground at the last second (before being pushed out of the line) and unleashed a huge force of his Phantasm Ability that bounced him high in the air, and while he was aware that his sword was in the air due to the force, everyone became happy.

"That concludes our discussion. Elliot had him caught off guard and disarmed him! We were victorious!" But it was very unlikely. Instead, Tim laughed and directed his right arm at the sword, releasing black strings that wrapped themselves around the blade's hilt, and with luck (after bringing the sword back), Tim spun, covering his body in black strings that dissipated into particles after the spin.

Tim landed on the floor, sword in hand, in an instant. "How did he learn to do that?" Elliot, astonished and unsettled by the circumstances, was questioned.

But then Tim smiled, and after stowing the sword in its sheath and extended his right arm, there appeared to be another item in his grasp, with a symbol of a Phantom's roar emblazoned on it.

Four scythe-like energies erupted from it, all blue in color, surprising others. "I'm not sure what that is supposed to be. Is that some sort of boomerang?" While everyone else was perplexed, Tim was ecstatic, and he seized the new type of weapon with both hands the moment he saw it.

After stepping forward and swinging both arms forward, he threw the scythe-like boomerang (made entirely of energy) and sent it flying over the grassy floor with full force.

Elliot didn't feel safe coming into contact with the weapon because he didn't know what it did, so he swiftly jumped to the side, and just as the weapon passed him by, he felt a terrifying and tremendously strong Spirituality emanating from it.

The weapon changed its path and flew back into Tim's hand just as it flew past him, ensuring that he snagged it before losing it.

Everyone was perplexed while Elliot was kneeling on the floor, holding his heart and sweating.

"This is the weapon. I'm lucky I didn't get hit by it since one hit would have converted me to ash. It has a spiritual quality about it... It was horrifying, and not only because of that... It was so powerful that if it collided with something, it would send it into annihilation in a matter of seconds." Elliot felt like he was at a huge disadvantage after gulping and standing up again.

"Oh, that's right... My apologies! I almost forgot about my Richochet Projectile. I found this object in my room and combined my Spirituality with it to make a projectile out of it. Doesn't that seem intimidating? You're not entirely wrong. It can lock you into death with just one hit, and it's powerful enough to shatter the Dueling System's, Spiritual Shield."

Tim swiftly slid the object onto his belt as it began to dangle around his waist, reaching down to his bottom back and drawing his sword once more.

Tim smiled and raised his arm high in the air before becoming serious.

Elliot braced himself and was taken aback.

Tim's entire arm was coated in black energy that continued to pour out at full strength, connecting all the way to his sword's blade and exploding out enormous, flaming Phantasm energy, which seemed to have been enough to cast a shadow over the region.

The energy, however, appeared to have turned completely dark and red, and a black tattoo began to spread across Tim's torso and arms, making his eyes crimson, and the black energy continued to spiral around him, casting a gigantic weather break.

And, while his arm was engulfed in a black aura and his blade was raised far over his head, a gigantic wave erupted into the air, breaking the stadium's walls, withering the grass, turning it to ash, and forming a massive cyclone that blew everyone out of their seats.

"Elliot! Hurry! Get out of there as soon as possible! You won't be able to stop it!!!" Codey screamed, barely holding on to his power. "I won't be able to dash away if I move! I'm going to die because the wind is too powerful!" Elliot screamed, his garments flapping and even disarming his blade, which flew behind the line, slamming into the wall and spitting a powerful blast of electricity.

"Concluding..."

"Tim! You must come to a halt; you have gone too far!" However, as a result of his transformation, he never listened to any of his pals. "It's pointless, Ayuka! In such a situation, he'll never listen to us!" Kylin yelled as she clutched the final railing.

"... Torment ..."

Finally, Tim sliced the blade forward, unleashing a gigantic black crescent moon and longwave that became higher as it went further away.

While the onslaught continued to rip the floor to shreds, Elliot became terrified as the reflecting attack in his eyes closed in on him, and he felt a great pressure pushing down on his body.

He screamed, his eyes, head, arms, and body shaking and flinching, and blood spurted from his body, quickly breaking his stance, and then the attack completely terminated through his body, pulling him and the attack right through the middle of the stadium's wall, splitting it into two pieces while completely vaporizing the pieces.

Not only that, but the long wave continued down the main city street, obliterating building walls, destroying cars, and even catching and hurting several people.

And after flying over 5000 meters and landing in the main city's passageway, the city's destruction came to an end.

And after effective penetration, the attack dissipated, leaving Elliot bleeding, with his flesh entirely shredded and one of his limbs fully severed. Elliot was on the verge of death, and even though he was hardly breathing, he was still in pain and unconscious.

When Elliot's score sank to zero, the holographic screen turned his emblem grey, and the shattered shield that had been penetrated by the strike dispersed after resting on the grass.

Finally, everyone became paralyzed, frozen, and unable to comprehend...

Their eyes were filled with fear.

To be continued...