> Hiding, lurking, waiting. The one we missed, and the one we resist.

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The storm of prior combat began to calm as the battle between Toxic and Biz had ended, with the prime of the symbiotic species now looking away from his opponent. Jmlehvu were now on the Field, treating a downed Biz.

Dgiag teleported into the Field in close vicinity to him. "Lord Toxic?"

Toxic turned towards him, disappointment written across his face. "I was enamoured by his attention to evasive tactics, and focus on the typical Viosi weaknesses. But then…”

“The way of ease is a poor one. How disheartening to know that many will still tread it…"

"Hmm. Yes, it would appear so,” responded an equally disheartened Dgiag.

"Regardless…there is still hope yet for many of them, is there not?" He inquired, drawing an uninspired sigh.

"Hmm-hmm. We shall see, yet."

This mildly irritated Dgiag much as Toxic was taken away from the Field, and immediately into the allocated space for the next stage.

"Grandmasterials and Pillars and all their ambiguous and vague talk…" He mumbled under the sound of his voice, adjusting his hat whilst returning his attention to his audience that lied beyond him.

"Beings of the omniverse! Without any delay, we shall continue on into our third battle of this round!!"

The cheers grew even louder, reverberating well across the Coliseum’s span in a way that amazed even the masses themselves.

Hmph. The intensity of this sound could easily break barriers…, thought Dgiag with a smile.

He slammed onto the ground the base of his can with an empathic note, bringing about an imminent silence from the people. "Now! Without further ado…"

He signalled to Tōmii, who acted as always, acting both in wonder, and knowledge, of those next to come forth to bring joy to the people..

The wheels took miniscule duration, but to the many who endured in anticipation, a lifetime it was likened to.

They reached the end of their cycles, with the next two combatants teleporting onto the platform.

"BEINGS OF THE OMNIVERSE! THE NEXT BATTLE HAS BEEN DECIDED!!!,” announced Dgiag, amidst the ringing of cheers through the Coliseum.

"In the first corner; once again, a man, whom for millenia even the Grandmaster Deity has and keeps watch over faithfully. The Father of Heroes, Adam Am-Irul!"

The crowds cheered, as a brown-skinned man appearing to be in his mid-thirties, wearing a sandy shawl, with a red buttoned tunic shirt with its upper buttons unbuttoned, and blue pants with black footwear, carrying a strap bag with him. He had almond eyes with dichromatic irides, one green and one white, and a light brown shade of medium-length hair, which was in a short side fringe, a stubble of facial hair on a triangular face. "Damn…" He sighed in great displeasure, his voice a coarse and deep one.

《Adam Am-Irul. Revered Hero. Age 14076.》

"And in the other…Nite!,” said Dgiag, with far less enthusiasm.

Many jeers and boos of great disposition would rise from within the Coliseum.

"What? The feeble-minded cannot handle a little blood and death?,” questioned Nite in a slightly high tone as he looked to the projection. A mutant Criofiend, sporting their normal physical traits, bar being in a purple body suit with red shoulder guards, blue patches on his sides, square-faced and with red irides, two diagonal leather straps crossed across his torso, and horns protruding from his crown with three centrally aligned and one one either side, and a tail which was a rare find amongst his species.

《Nite. Evolution Embodied. Age 33.》

Dgiag sighed with a heavy heart. His actions have been reproachable…

First, he gravely injures one opponent…

Then, he brutally murders the other...

"Now…show your respects,” said Dgiag, receiving reluctant obedience from the brace.

Dgiag teleported away from the Field, immediately signalling for the battle to begin.

In a great instance, Nite struck Adam in the abdomen, bringing both signs of pain and bewilderment to the latter’s face.

That fast!?

In an instant, he was hit with a blast of ki from the same hand that had struck him.

For klicks he spiralled away, while his adversary continued his assault via blasts of ki and assorted energies.

It perpetuated a large explosion which had been prepared for, where the sixtieth percentile of a stellular standing was blown away completely.

"Oh, yeah. He's also an All-Meridian…,” said Wok with an unenthusiastic glare. "True. Add that with being possibly one of the worst characters within this tournament.” Umbra added in disdain.

"Wait…shouldn't he be a suspect?” “Or at least, be looked into?,” asked Probacon and Watch in consecutive fashion, gaining some agreeing nods.

Yurupt was quick to respond with his analysis. "Simple. Someone like him acts on wants.”

“What we're dealing with is well-thought-out, well-prepared, well-executed. If he were in charge, it'd be London Bridge all over.”

A wave of realisation hit many, drawing stunned reactions from the likes of Probacon, Wok, Kuroko, Purogu, and Pika. But surprisingly, Yurupt himself was perplexed by the delay in insight some of his allies had. "You're just noticing this?”

"But even then…I don’t think he’s completely off the radar,” stated Umbra, followed by eyes falling upon him.

"You can never tell precisely the enemy’s true plans, you can only really counterplan."

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Amidst that, Nite looked ahead towards the destruction as he wondered the state of the man he battled.

"Oh, dearie. I hope you're not dead. It'd be such a shame for such a great man to go out like that.” He said, mockingly and sarcastically.

Suddenly, emitted from the area affected was a vast burst of unnatural energy. It cleared away the dust and debris with a sweeping gale, and revealed Adam on one knee, protected by a strong forcefield.

A sight cheered towards by onlookers and the like.

While Nite scoffed in annoyance. "I forgot he is an All-Meridian as well…"

Adam arose from his prior kneeling, glaring at his opponent from the far distance.

He formulated a longsword of aureate and red scarlet portions in his right.

And in an instant, raced past Nite, dissecting his upper and lower halves in that split-second process.

Nite could only stutter in bewilderment, and the watchers fared no differently in response to the sudden shift.

But Adam’s focus did not shift, sensing that which was to come..

With swift occurrence, his opposition's lower body instantly regrew from the dissection.

And once again he made a rush at Adam, which was simple to defend against with the sword in hand.

But the clash was strong and vigorous, and released outward a shockwave of amazing destructiveness..

"My, my. You are quite something,” uttered an impressed Nite, gaining no reply in any form whatsoever.

"I just appreciated your skill, you rat. No words for me in that regard?"

"I don't chat so casually with your kind. You should know that much about me.” Adam retorted in a low voice.

Nite chuckled, and his amusement and intrigue grew.

The two's battle then truly began, proceeding with a contest of armed versus unarmed. Adam utilised his sword, Nite used his arms and legs, and the two exchanged attacks. A long-winded exchange of attacks and parries commenced, from cuts and jabs faster than could be naturally perceived as the contest treaded its walk.

But elsewhere, the hardhearted interrogation carried on within the walls of Noot’s quarters, which echoed with the sounds of pained muffled grunts and cracking bones.

David had looked away, disillusioned from watching an act he deemed deeply wanton.

Noot himself put his eyes upon the act itself, wary, but not completely adverse to the methods used, primarily irked by the idea of having to do it by his own hand.

Fighter dislocated another of Gai’s fingers, giving a look of only contempt and discare upon hearing the latter’s muffled grunts.

And upon doing so, looked upon the gagged and previously battered face that the latter carried with heavy breaths, truly showing the sheer fierceness of this questioning.

“I’ll ask one more time…,” stated Fighter as he grabbed Gai’s collar once more, lifting his now cracked frame close to himself, and dropping the gag cloth. “Just what do I need to do to gain this information from you?”

Gai’s wheezing did not cease, but he would just manage to speak. “I..I already told…I-I…I know nothin’ of…of it…beyond…the basics…”

Fighter sighed. “Is that so?”

He prepared to deliver yet another strike to the face of the man.

But his hand was held fervently by another, one of a light brown complexion and a band of gold circling its wrist. “That’s enough!”

Fighter turned his head with slight, catching David’s full frame at his rear. “He has spoken. And I sense it utterly true. And besides…”

“Is this not a bit too much?” Fighter would not entertain this interruption on the other hand. “Let’s be frank here. On the off-chance he’d keep something covered up...”

“Is no reason to torture a man mercilessly!” “Focus here, prince! This isn’t the dreamland you deeply envision. It’s reality.”

“And once we clear that up, the smoother and swifter this inquisition goes…”

David clenched his fists, with his patience growing greatly thin. “Good to know. Now you listen…”

He closed the gap between himself and Fighter hastily, though it did little to deter the willful Sarhun. “It matters not now my dream or perception of my environs. What does…is how this is approached.”

“And these methods, though questionable, I do not completely oppose. What I do oppose is enacting them in such bravado.”

“I dont think working with the hell should get you any sympathy.” Fighter retorted.

But David’s remark was swift and sharp. “Whether or not that may be, a person is still a person.”

Fighter stared at him for a moment, simply gathering his approach in his headspace.

“I was just about to end, and didn’t really intend on landing that punch…” He stated with closed eyes.

“Noot. You can heal him, right?” “Sure can.” “Wait. That’s it?” “What more did you want, Your Highness?”

“Who knows? I may be right, you may be right, we both may be right. But that matters little now. The mission at hand is of the utmost focus.”

“So we keep at it. And just maybe…”

“Maybe it does matter?” David interjected. “And why is that?” “Because…”

“The paradoxical energy I’ve been feeling in minute amounts ever since I walked into that space…has only grown in mass and fervour.”

Fighter and Noot turned to him, perplexed but intrigued and understanding of those words, which could all but play a role in solving this mystery.

But meanwhile, the ongoing joust was still on its way, as Adam deflected a variety of energy projectiles from Nite from his area of reach with swings of his blade.

Then, he constructed a powerful missile, filling it to the brim with compacted attacks from various other abilities.

Nite, upon seeing this, anticipated his defensives in any manner he could.

And the missile was then launched at supernatural rates.

The platform lengthened to an extramundane extent, for the aftermath of the missile was enough to utterly eviscerate a good chunk of it.

The dust from the attack cleared, revealing Adam and Nite to be casually floating in the destroyed region, much to the shock of many.

"That's...possible?,” asked a dumbfounded Probacon. "Yes. Completely. Not only are they All-Meridians, but seemingly also great experts of its uses. Such should be of relative ease for them,” answered Umbra.

"Huh. Then why didn't you do so, Wok?” Probacon asked, turning to Wok who froze after hearing the question.

"'Cause that's no fun for me, and I forget about doing it sometimes.” Wok responded with an aggressive scowl with eyes still upon the projection. "Uhhh…."

Adam and Nite kept glaring at each other, with their eyes only filled with animosity.

"Well, you're certainly impressive, o great hero.” Nite commended.

"Would say the same about you.” Adam remarked. "Then again…"

"Still disturbed with the murder thing? Please, we all have such differences. No need to be sour about them at this moment.”

Adam did not reply, looking away and remaining in silence and thought for a brief moment.

Then that moment ended, and he looked back to his opposer in all seriousness. "Then…what's your next move?”

A question to which Nite smirked in delight.

Soon enough, he began to strain himself greatly, much to the hero’s initial confusion.

But Adam was quick to foresee and perceive the oncoming storm, for which he widened his eyes in grand realisation…

《What happens here is…》

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