Chapter 241: Adrian’s Wrath [6]
"SWITCH! SWITCH! SWITCH!" Adrian roared while holding Fafnir’s head with a fist of steel.
With the second arm, he punched Fafnir’s face over and over.
Fafnir’s neck suddenly exploded on its own, giving Fafnir the opportunity to escape.
Adrian immediately followed him with a barrage of punches, fire spells, and stone attacks.
The arena was filled with lava and molten projectiles scattering everywhere like missiles, shattering the arena even more.
"Ah..."
And among all that, Michael was still there.
As he was standing in the air, not daring to touch the ground that was now a lake of lava, Fafnir was thrown and passed right next to him, the wind that followed him hit Michael and caused his hat to almost fall.
The next moment, Adrian passed with a strong burst of wind, which made Michael almost lose balance and fall.
After that small interaction, they continued their fight.
"..."
Michael was ignored completely. They treated him as if he didn’t exist in the arena with them.
A few attacks landed on him, but they were all accidents. They didn’t care whether he got hit or not. Their conflict was more important than a random clown.
"I..." Michael raised a finger to say something, but then he stopped and rubbed his chin instead.
’Do I have to interfere?’
For Michael, the answer was simple.
No.
He didn’t have a reason to fight now.
It was true that he wanted to fight Fafnir fairly, but now, he couldn’t do it. Seeing how Adrian was acting, Michael’s guts told him that he would steal aim to finish Fafnir even if they teamed up against him.
By the end of the fight, Fafnir would still be drained. There was no fair fight going to happen now. It wasn’t just a normal free-for-all anymore.
And helping Adrian was basically out of consideration. Michael would rather help an ant during this time... which he already did. There was an ant hiding in his clothes now.
’Everything is ruined...’
Michael crossed his arms and sighed, steam rising continuously from his outfit.
That steam was just a layer of water covering him. The heat in the arena was unbearable despite him standing far above it.
Feeling bored, he used telekinesis on something near to him.
A small ant came flying from his pocket, covered with a barrier of water. It was bigger than most ants on Earth.
Next, he started patting the ant with his finger, ensuring that many people would see that and increase his strength.
"Our lovely clown, Michael, had apparently saved an ant!"
And as he expected, the narrator already caught this small detail and talked about it.
The observers began to love him more, talking about his kindness and his heroic action of prioritizing the life of a small insect in such a dangerous situation.
The feedback was everything Michael needed. He turned around and waved to everyone watching them, his second hand holding one of the ant’s legs to make it wave too.
¢¢¢
’Something is wrong.’
Meanwhile, Adrian was holding Fafnir with a stone chain covered in flames, spinning like a tornado and slamming Fafnir into the walls continuously.
He laughed crazily and roared with every attack like a lunatic, but inside, he was already assessing the situation.
Adrian was anything but stupid. He had quickly noticed the drain in his strength. In fact, he allowed Fafnir to touch him several times just to confirm his doubts.
’Where is his core?’
He never attacked randomly without thinking. His attacks never focused on the same spot.
’His arm. His head. His stomach. His legs. His chest. What else is left?!’
Adrian’s anger only increased every time Fafnir survived his attacks and stood up casually.
He never showed a reaction to pain.
He never felt exhausted.
He didn’t sweat from the heat.
He never hesitated to cut his own body to escape.
And most importantly, his actions never showed the existence of a core or a weakness.
’Every awakener has a Core of Existence. There is no way he doesn’t have one. Maybe he can move it across his body? Where is it hiding!’
Adrian immediately pulled the chain. Fafnir flew toward him at a blurring speed. Instantly, Adrian charged a punch for more than usual and smashed Fafnir’s upper half mid-flight.
The entire upper half of Fafnir shattered into burning pieces that faded instantly. The lower half wasn’t affected as it immediately kicked Adrian between his legs.
"Ugh–!’
The kick wasn’t normal. When the lower half escaped, Adrian saw a shadow blade attached to the knee of the leg that kicked him, and it had some blood at the edges, which was boiling like oil on the blade.
"Bastard, bastard, BASTARD!"
Adrian looked at the ground with blazing eyes and punched it repeatedly like a mad gorilla.
’The only solution... is to reveal everything... but I can’t do this in front of them.’
The only thing he could think about was to erase Fafnir’s whole body. That would kill the possibility of meeting Dante again. Unfortunately, he could do nothing about a person who would rather die than switch.
But without revealing everything, he would need more than one attack to finish the job. That was the problem.
Fafnir was more slippery than a fish!
Adrian would have finished the job long ago if he could catch Fafnir for a few seconds.
Adrian subconsciously glanced at the duchess and the man standing next to her.
They both were clearly entertained by the show, which seemed to have surpassed their expectations by miles.
Anas specifically held a soft smile while looking at Fafnir.
’Should I take the risk?’
At that exact moment, an excited voice tore through his head.
"YES, YES, YES! Do it, kid! That’s the best opponent you ever had! It’s your chance to push yourself and break your limits!!"
Adrian frowned immediately: ’Silence, old man!’
"Tsk, tsk. Truly, no respect for you elders. Regardless, do it and tear him apart!"
Adrian’s eyes sharpened under the mask. He glared at Fafnir with intense fury.
After a second, he stood straight and extended his arm to him, his gauntlets gleaming unnaturally as if they were about to explode. At the same time, even his mask began to glow orange for the first time.
"Fafnir, I invite you to my hell."
Fafnir squinted his eyes suspiciously... and before he could react... he simply disappeared.
"Wha—!"
Everyone’s eyes widened immediately. Not only Fafnir, but even Adrian disappeared right in front of them!
Not flashy lights or anything. They were there in one moment and not there in the second.
The people looked around in fear and confusion.
"Where did they go?!"
"I swear I only blinked and they weren’t there anymore!"
"...Is it the Space Aspect?"
"I don’t know, but if he used such a thing, doesn’t that mean they’re now outside the arena?"
"How is this not against the rules?!"
Anas was the most shocked among them. He jumped to the sky for a few seconds and landed back next to the duchess, his face sweating.
"They... they aren’t in the city."
The only two living beings that were left in the arena were Michael and his ant.