w

C1258

Emery could hear his name being called in the arena, it was time for him to finally make a decision, but he was still undecided.

When the screen displayed his name and the magus began to shout introducing his name to the audience, his friends came to approach him.

In particular, Julian stopped right in front of him, staring with a solemn gaze,

"Emery… I know how important your master is to you, and I also know how much he has helped us. Honestly, I hate to say this…"

Taking a deep breath, he continued his words. "You must think this through, Emery. Not only do we not know for sure if they really have your master, it's a certain fact that killing Eeshoo would be disastrous for us and our planet."

That was, of course, what kept bogging down and stuck round in Emery's mind. Julian's words only served to further add weight to it. He then gripped Emery's shoulder tightly as he added his words.

"Emery, You can't kill Eeshoo!" He said firmly.

Thrax, who was standing right beside, promptly gave the Roman a nudge. "Let him decide for himself." said the Thracian, earning him a glare from the latter.

While the two were once again arguing with each other, Klea walked up to Emery and touched his arm gently.

"I want to tell you to follow your heart… I really do." She said with a regretful look. "But I have to agree with Julian on this one…"

She let out a sigh before continuing, "Aside from the trouble we will have with the Nephilim, killing Eeshoo means you will be deemed to be conspiring with the culprits in their nefarious deeds. What I fear is that your actions will likely further damage the already dire relationship between humans and half-bloods."

Emery looked like he wanted to say something, but he stopped himself when he heard his name being called to the arena again. With the advice from Julian and Klea flashing through his head, he made his way to the arena with much better resolve not to go through with the killing.

However, once he arrived and saw the golden-haired Nephilim standing on the opposite side of the arena, he couldn't help but think of his master once again.

Amidst the chaos and distress that was going on in his mind, the magus referee announced the match.

"Emery Ambrose versus Eeshoo Nephilim"

Their names were said aloud and with that the match finally began.

It seemed the Nephilim genius had no plans to warm up against Emery. as he immediately used his strongest buff [Angelic Descent - stage 4], and floated in the air from the get-go.

As brilliant glints appeared all over his body, four majestic wings of light began to form on his back.

Emery instantly snapped out of his troubled state when he saw such a sight.

In response, he quickly used both of his [Immortal Gate - stage 6] and [Fey Transformation] at once, hoping they would be enough to match Eeshoo's power.

Silver furs began to appear on his limbs as the transformation took effect, sending waves of power through his body. In the meantime, Eeshoo didn't stay still as he swiftly readied his new spirit reader weapon.

[Heaven's Will Shuttle]

In an instant, 16 unique-looking flying blades flew rapidly all over Eeshoo's body like a whirlwind. Under the Nephilim's control, each and every one of them was ready to be sent to attack at any moment. Having seen their power against Atlas, Emery quickly took out his Savage Sword.

The moment the two of them revealed their weapons, the audience in the seats cheered with excitement.

"Fly!"

A faint smile on his face, Eesho waved his hand slightly, a gesture that sent all sixteen blades rushing towards Emery from multiple directions. The spectacular display awed the onlookers, inviting countless gasps.

Not wanting to be overwhelmed by his opponent, Emery swiftly took his stance and performed his swordsmanship.

[36 Dao Divine Sword Technique]

A flurry of bright black intersected and overlapped one another in midair as the sword in Emery's hands danced against the omnidirectional storm of attacks. Sparks flew in the air as the weapons clashed against each other.

With his swordsmanship and movement technique, Emery managed to parry and block the flying blades one by one, and when it became too much, he cast [Blink] to get away and earn some respite.

Swissh! Swishhh!

But of course, things weren't going to go his way just like that, as those sixteen shuttles quickly changed their course and chased after him. It didn't take long for the storm of attacks to rain down on him again.

While his arms and legs kept moving to deal with the Nephilim's relentless attacks, Emery fell into thought about his opponent. More precisely, about the weapon he used.

Even though those flying blades weren't even a third of his [Savage Sword], each one of them shot out with such incredible speed and power that his hands couldn't help but throb every time he blocked them.

Once again, multiple sharp blades came charging at him with speed, and to deal with them, Emery cast his [Slipstream]. Combined with his [Blink] spell and the agility [Fey Transformation] gave, all boost his mobility, but still he barely managed to dodge it all.

Sharp sounds rang through the air in succession as he continued to thwart Eeshoo's attacks.

Clank! Clank! Clank! Clank!

When one finally managed to slip past his defenses and grazed his shoulder, the other blades quickly came fiercely towards the same spot as if they were a group of predators smelling their prey.

Facing the storm of attacks that precisely targeted the gap in his defenses, Emery quickly found himself cornered. He swiftly raised his arm to cast one of his newly mastered spells.

[Repulsion]

The air around him seemed to ripple as the spell sent out an invisible domain that contained gravity force, pushing away everything in his surroundings. The part of the arena around which he stood caved in slightly.

Alas, the spell wasn't enough to stop Eeshoo's weapons since they were so powerful, but it was able to affect the speed of the flying shuttles and gave him the necessary time to find his way out and [Blink] to safety.

Emery's action finally made Eeshoo frown. The always calm Nephilim genius finally said a sentence.

"Why are you running!?"

The words etched deep into his mind, as the truth was Emery had not yet decided what to do with Eeshoo, this made him reluctant to make any attempt to counter any of Eeshoo's attacks.

"You are way over your head if you think you can defeat me!"

Moments later, the 16 flying blades suddenly converged into each other and formed one huge blade before charging toward him in a circular fashion.

[Heaven Drill Blades]

The blade shot through the air at an extremely high speed, much faster than his movement, and couldn't be stopped by his gravity spells. The only thing that worked was him [Blink] away to distance himself.

Emery was blinking away all around the arena being chased by the drill-formed artifacts and, once again, the Nephilim genius was disappointed.

In a moment like this, Eeshoo took out a new item. It was a palm-size silver bell which he tightened on his wrist before channeling his spirit energy toward the bell.

Riingggg!!!

It was not a loud ring, but it was strangely able to echo throughout the half a mile long arena. The sound waves shook the space, causing Emery to find out he was no longer able to cast his most dependable spatial spell.

The drill formed artifact came right at him, this time without him able to dodge.

Knowing his sword would not be able to stop it, Emery decided to cast [Void of Aegis]. A translucent dome appeared around him as it separated the space between.

Cracckkk!

Seeing his best defensive spell unable to hold out for long, Emery knew he had to finally fight with his full power. Otherwise, he would lose this match.

[Twilight Transformation]

Upon activation of the innate ability, the silver fur covering his limbs quickly turned pitch black, while all of his hair turned white. It not only drastically changed his appearance, but also brought about a tremendous enhancement.

First, the transformation significantly increased his spirit power, giving an extra depth to his void spell. It also gave more innate resistance to physical and magic attack, which could prove to be crucial for stopping the drill blades.

Howwlllll!!!

The transformation was followed by a deafening roar that reverberated throughout the arena.

With his physique fully transformed, utilizing the increased battle power, Emery tightened his muscles and used both of his arms to hold the rotating artifact with all his might.

Seconds later, Emery managed to fully stop its rotation, forcing the blades to break apart and returned to its owner.

The crowd looked even more excited when they saw this. They knew they were finally going to see some real action in this match.

To be continued