BATTLE FOR STARS

Berg’s halberd had already thrust toward Gias, but Gias did not retreat at all. Instead, he charged even faster toward the retreating Berg.

“Bang!” “Puff!” “Puff!”

Three consecutive sounds echoed through the arena.

What followed was something no one expected. From thigh to chest, Berg had been slashed open by a massive wound. It was clear that Gias’s blade had cut fiercely upward across Berg’s body.

Berg collapsed outside the stone platform. Not only was the wound on his thigh deep, but his abdomen had been split open, and some of his intestines had spilled out. He glanced at Gias lying not far away, trying to move, but the injury to his leg made it impossible for him to stand. Looking down at his thigh, he realized the artery had likely been severed—blood was gushing out. Moving now would only make him die faster.

Gias’s condition was no better. In order to land that strike, he had not retreated to defend, but instead extended his body and struck with full force during Berg’s attack. Although he had delivered a heavy blow, that posture left him unable to block Berg’s full-powered strike. After a violent clash between halberd and shield, the weapon drove forward and pierced into Gias’s exposed body.

Though it had not struck his heart, the halberd had still pierced deep into his abdomen. Now Gias lay on the ground with the weapon embedded in him, blood spurting out of his stomach like a fountain.

Gias could no longer attack. Even if he could move, he couldn’t possibly chase Berg with a massive halberd lodged inside his body. Nor did he dare pull it out—that would only make the bleeding worse.

The two lay several meters apart, staring at each other. Their eyes were filled with both the savage urge to strike the other down and a deep sense of despair.

Two emergency medical robots quickly flew above them and began scanning.

“Why aren’t they treating them? What are those robots doing?” Ding Yufei asked anxiously as he watched the robots repeatedly scanning without taking further action.

“The match isn’t over yet. Once a winner is decided, they’ll be treated,” Hogan the Great answered, his tone carrying a hint of surprise.

“How is the winner decided?” Ding Yufei asked, turning to Belina.

“Treatment can only happen in two situations,” Belina sighed softly. “One is when this round ends. The other is when the match has a winner. There’s still some time before the round ends… so to decide the winner… it depends on who dies first.”

Ding Yufei felt as if his mind had exploded. Never had he imagined such a thing—everyone simply waiting, doing nothing, watching to see who would die first.

Gias and Berg—whoever bled out first would lose. Only then would the medical robots save the other. It was absurd, yet it was unfolding right before his eyes. Ding Yufei swallowed, wanting to say something, but in the end said nothing. He simply turned his head slightly, trying not to look at what was happening below.

The two men lying in the arena understood their situation clearly. If either could stand up and deliver a finishing blow, the match would end instantly. But those few meters between them were now an impossible distance.

Gias’s blade had fallen away when he tumbled off the platform. Berg’s massive halberd was still embedded in Gias’s body. Even if one of them could crawl over, how could they decide victory with bare hands? A careless move might even lead to being killed instead. Both abandoned the attempt.

Berg used his hand to push some of his exposed intestines back in, but quickly realized his biggest problem was the artery in his thigh—his blood was flowing too fast. He tried to find something to slow the bleeding, but there was nothing like cloth nearby. He could only press hard against the base of his thigh, trying to reduce the flow.

Gias was in equally dire condition. Though his blood was flowing more slowly, he knew his body was smaller than Berg’s, and his total blood volume was less. Even with slower bleeding, Berg might last longer.

And with the massive halberd lodged in his abdomen, he had no idea what organs had been damaged—whether his liver had ruptured. Blood kept pouring out. He had no way to stop it, not even like Berg pressing a wound, because that might worsen the internal damage and cause even faster bleeding.

Time passed second by second. Soon, pools of blood surrounded both of them.

Gias lay there, staring at Berg. Berg, gripping his thigh, stared back at Gias.

If looks could kill, they would have slain each other countless times already. But now, all they could do was pray—their own blood to flow slower, the other’s faster.

Gias’s mind began to dull. Soon his vision blurred. He knew it was from blood loss, but there was nothing he could do.

“Is this how it ends?” he asked himself, though no sound came out.

In his fading awareness, he thought he saw Berg move slightly… and then he could no longer hold on. Darkness took him.

“Pupil dilation: 0.4 millimeters.”

“Pupil dilation: 0.5 millimeters.”

“Pupil dilation: 0.6 millimeters.”

…

“No response to light. No detectable brainwaves. Death confirmed.”

The voice of the emergency robot echoed through the empty gladiator center. Before the final echo faded, the robot had already rushed toward one of the fallen men and began emergency treatment.

At the same time, cleaning robots entered the arena and began clearing the field, preparing for the next match.

Inside the private box, everyone fell silent. No one had expected such an ending.

After a while, a report was projected before them, followed by the appearance of a man’s face.

He glanced at the people in the room, then turned to Hogan the Great Emperor.

“Report, Your Majesty. After emergency treatment, Jass has been revived. However, due to severe blood loss, we could only preserve his brain and spinal neural system for now. Other organs have begun to fail. Should we proceed with organ transplantation, or convert him into a neural composite?”

“Neural composite?” Ding Yufei murmured, encountering a new term.

“In your planet’s novels, it’s called a cyborg,” Belina explained softly. “A body compose