"Poison Rain!"

Ding

Ding

The boy with a skeletal appearance was walking toward the two, accompanied by a slightly shorter girl with long black hair. Their eyes were focused on the battle ahead, but the most dangerous thing was what was behind them—a new green cloud.

"Too bad I had to use that cloud on the other two. With you, we'll have to use another method." Pollux rested his chin on one of his hands. The boy seemed to be thinking as he walked close to his new opponents.

Oliver looked at Taser; their battle couldn't continue. Otherwise, both would be at a disadvantage. Each took a few steps back to focus on the new opponents.

"I've got it! How about this?" Pollux said with a wide smile. At the tips of his hands, purple droplets began to appear, like sweat constantly being expelled. But the moment a few drops started to gather, the boy moved his arms, firing them all around.

Oliver and Taser took a few more leaps back to avoid being hit by the barrage. When the droplets hit the ground, the liquid began to bubble and gradually erode the sand.

"As if being disgusting wasn't enough, this is acid," Oliver said, his body shuddering in disgust at the 'sweat.'

"Do you prefer to face the boy or the girl?" Taser asked.

"The girl, no doubt," Oliver replied without thinking twice.

"Great! Then you take the boy." Taser didn't wait for Oliver's response, charging against the two new opponents.

"Great! Great?!" Oliver said, still surprised. But with no time to contemplate what had happened, he started running the other way, distancing himself from Taser and circling the twins.

"You know we've been attacked in pairs from the start, right? Strategies like that won't work," Pollux shouted as he continued shooting acid at the two.

Oliver and Taser advanced at the same moment. While Oliver sought to attack Pollux with his spear, Taser wanted to strike Helena.

"Damn," Oliver complained. His spear came close, but he was almost hit by the acid droplets.

As for Taser, she managed to get past Pollux and approach Helena, but before she could attack with her daggers, she was hit by an explosion of wind, pushing her away.

"I told you," Pollux shouted, mocking the opponents.

‘A direct attack won't work. The acid is also corroding the spear,’ Oliver thought, trying to find an alternative for the attack. Simply circling and isolating each opponent wouldn't be enough. To make matters worse, holes were gradually forming where the droplets hit the spear; soon, he would be without a weapon.

Ping

| [NicoY] Bet 20 Credits - Message: It's time, kid. Use it and secure the victory.

Oliver nodded. He knew what Nico was thinking. It wouldn't be his first time using it, but the technique his teacher had taught was complex. He had only managed to execute it once, in an empty room, without any battle going on around him.

‘Will it work?’ Oliver thought. The boy turned the spear downward and stuck it into the sand.

With each breath, he tried to feel and extract the energy from the Z Crystal. Oliver could feel golden threads of energy expelled from his gauntlet; now it was his turn to control this energy and weave it between his arms and legs.

‘Almost there,’ Oliver thought.

"Looks like your partner gave up attacking," Pollux shouted at Taser.

The girl didn't quite know why Oliver had stuck his spear. But she didn't have time to think about it; she still had to face Helena's attacks.

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"Pollux! Pay attention to him," Helena commented. Her voice was low but serious, to the point of making her brother refocus on the opponent.

'I think that's it,' Oliver thought. The boy still didn't know exactly how, but he felt it was the maximum energy he could extract from the crystal.

Oliver felt the crystal's energy flowing and pulsating through his hands and legs. To any outsider, it was almost impossible to understand what was happening. Small golden and translucent flames seemed to envelop his arms and legs.

With determination in his eyes, Oliver raised both hands, fixing his gaze on Pollux. He slightly bent his knees, preparing to execute the technique.

"[Prometheus]" shouted Oliver. Where before there had been small flames, now intense golden blazes burned in the palms of his hands, illuminating the scene with an almost celestial glow.

Pollux couldn't keep up with the speed of events. To him, Oliver seemed to have taken only a single step; however, after a blinding flash, he realized he was looking at just the residual image of his opponent.

He tried blinking to clear his vision, but it was too late. Oliver was already at his side. In one last, desperate attempt to protect himself, Pollux raised his arms to fire his corrosive acid. However, the blow was already sealed.

Oliver bent his knees and delivered a fast punch followed by an energy blast to the opponent's ribs. At the moment of impact, the flames seemed to enter Pollux's body and pass through it. The boy was thrown like a rag doll, hitting the sand on the arena floor. Upon stopping, the boy's mouth was full of blood; the impact had clearly ruptured some organs.

Ding

"Another opponent out of the battle. Who would have thought Oliver still had an ace up his sleeve," Mike commented.

"Looks like we know who will advance to the next floor. But we still have to find out who the winner will be, and Helena doesn't seem willing to give up the victory," John added, seeking to intensify the competition among the three.

"Pollux!" Helena shouted. Her voice expressed all the surprise and fury within her. She knew her brother was careless, but never in her wildest dreams did she expect he would be defeated in this way.

She couldn't keep up with Oliver's speed, but they had trained for similar scenarios. The girl moved both hands to point at Oliver and Taser, focusing all her energy on them. She fired two concentrated air shots with enough power to pierce an iron plate.

Oliver managed to dodge using a bit more of the energy he had absorbed. But Taser was advancing to attack; without time to dodge, she was hit squarely in the abdomen.

The shot was so concentrated that Taser wasn't even thrown back. It resembled the blast of a firearm, and the girl's body was pierced through. Where her abdomen once was, there was now a gaping hole.

She instinctively brought her hands to her stomach, but there was no saving her anymore.

"Shit," was the last thing Oliver could hear from Taser.

Ding

Helena returned all her attention to Oliver. With both hands aimed at him, the girl began a barrage of shots.

‘She should already be out of Energy,’ Oliver thought, wondering how she could still keep fighting.

The boy was using all his concentration to keep running around the arena and dodging the shots. Especially after using the Prometheus Strike; the move had cost him dearly.

Nico had given a brief explanation of how the technique worked. It used the energy from the crystal as a form of steroid, blending with the body to remove its natural limits.

Depending on how it was applied, it could enhance different physical traits. In Oliver’s case, it boosted his strength and speed. But now, the cost was starting to show.

His arms and legs weren’t conditioned to withstand the impact of such powerful techniques, to the point where his muscles and bones were damaged. The arm he had used to strike Pollux was broken in multiple places. Moreover, by channeling Energy directly into his body, Oliver felt his arms and legs burning both inside and out.

‘I just need to use it one more time. Maybe I can finish this using the other arm?’ Oliver pondered. Running with one shattered arm was already hurting a lot; having to consider breaking the other was surreal to think about. But maybe it would be enough to finish the match.

"[Prometheus]"

Helena was nervous, trying to anticipate where he would appear. In her two hands, she had prepared two powerful shots. She wanted to wait for him to finish the technique, lose mobility, and then be able to hit him.

‘Let's see if it works,’ Helena thought, hoping she was right.

Meanwhile, Oliver was prepared to use the rest of the energy to leap in front of the girl and sacrifice his left arm to attack her.

Everything was decided in the blink of an eye. Helena could barely see the flash of Oliver appearing in front of her and the golden flame around his fist. However, she could feel the impact on her body, causing her to be thrown against the arena wall. Still conscious, she forced herself to open both her hands aimed at her opponent, from which her two last shots were fired.

"Good... hit," Oliver tried to say, but he was frozen in place like the last battles.

On one side, Helena was leaning against the wall, her mouth full of blood. The girl wanted to respond; it was the first time she felt cornered by an opponent. On the other, Oliver had two holes in his abdomen from the shots fired.

Ding

Ding

"What an ending that was!" Mike exclaimed.

"Were both eliminated together? Who’s the winner?" John responded.