The ball of chaotic sand swayed around Veril’s hand as if it were some kind of snake coiling around a branch. The way it moved and the sound it made was eerie and terrifying, as if sharp shards of glass were smashing into one another endlessly.
Slowly, the sand moved up Veril’s arm till it reached his shoulder where it stopped rising. The man’s cold grin widened.
“Try to deal with this, bastard! HAAAAAH!”
Then, Veril smashed his hand into the ground violently using all his power. The punch was strong, creating a loud noise that reverberated across the entire arena. Then, for a second, everything went completely quiet.
“Huh?”
People blinked in confusion. They were ready for some kind of explosion, but for a moment, nothing really happened.
“Veril had just punched the ground. But… Nothing ha-” Before the commentator could even finish his sentence, the entire arena started shaking violently as the crowd gasped in shock.
“What is happening?!”
“The ground is shaking!”
“Woah!! I’m about to fall!”
“Hold on to your seats!”
Everyone instinctively panicked, thinking they were about to be hit. But, what they saw next made their mouths hang down in shock.
Genji watched the scene with a cold expression. Then, out of nowhere, he felt his senses stimulated as his eyes quickly moved down to his feet. Then, without thinking twice, he jumped back, at the same time as something exploded from the ground.
*BOOOOM*
Piercing through the hard ground was a large sand pillar. Debris and rocks flew everywhere, getting displaced by the rising structure. Sand dripped from its sides as it reached a dozen meters in height before it stopped.
‘An underground attack. This is a little unexpected.’ Ginjo thought to himself.
“WHAT IS HAPPENING?! Some kind of sand pillar had appeared out of nowhere almost catching Ginjo! This is dangerous! What is he going to do?”
“Is that all you’ve got?” Ginjo looked at the man coldly. The attack was nowhere near being dangerous enough to catch him by surprise. His reaction speed was simply far more superior than anything that man can do.
“Hahahahaha!”
However, much to his surprise, Veril laughed loudly as if he was unbothered by the fact his attack didn’t hit its target.
“Don’t be too excited, bastard!”
‘Hm?’ Ginjo squinted his eyes before he realized. The pillar wasn’t completely still.
*Swish*
The pillar twisted around before it launched toward him at a rapid pace. Its movement appeared like that of a snake, slithering through the air with immense swiftness.
Ginjo was taken by surprise as he quickly sprung into motion, trying to dodge the attack. But, due to the surprise factor and the very close distance between him and the sand pillar, he was a little late.
*BANG*
The sand pillar hit him square in the chest, dragging him back along with it. The crushing force of the pillar concentrated on his ribs, trying to break them.
‘Tsk!’ The Monkey Warrior clenched his teeth as he put his arms on the pillar, trying to push it off of him. However, the pillar was simply made out of sand so his fingers sunk in very quickly, unable to give him any actual grip.
*BANG*
The long structure threw him on the ground with a powerful push. It was so strong, the ground beneath him cracked slightly as breath got knocked out of Ginjo’s mouth.
“Hahahaha! Stay there, bastard!” Veril laughed as he lifted his hand up and rushed toward Ginjo with his sword ready to attack. “I will finish you off!”
“Oh no! Ginjo is in huge trouble! He cannot get the sand off of him! In fact, he is drowning in it!”
As the commentator said, the pillar of sand was slowly crumbling right on top of Ginjo’s body, slowly covering his face and body, drowning him in the sand. He couldn’t push all those piles of it at a fast enough speed.
A second later, Veril was near his head with a sadistic grin on his face.
“That’s what the Sand can do to you when you don’t take it seriously! That’s the pride of my region where a small mistake can end your life. An arrogant bastard like you can never understand what true power is! Hah, undefeated warrior my ass! Now die!”
Without any time wasted, Veril lifted his sword in the air and then swung it down, aiming at Ginjo’s neck.
*Swish*
“Hah!”
The crowds gasped with shocked looks on their faces. They could not believe that Ginjo… had just lost. It all happened in less than a minute and ended very quickly.
They saw the Monkey Warrior’s head fly off to the side, rolling on the ground before it stopped, looking completely lifeless.
Nobody spoke for a few seconds, even the commentator. Nobody could simply believe what they just witnessed.
“… Ginjo… Ginjo The Monkey Warrior had been decapitated! I can’t believe it! The invincible warrior had lost and what a loss it is!!”
The crowd didn’t react at all to those words. They didn’t even cheer as everyone simply looked at the scene in shock.
“HAHAHAHAHAHA! This is your ‘Undefeated Warrior’? He is just a beast brought from some rural place to entertain the masses! He isn’t worthy of fighting me! Bring me someone stronger! Someone who is truly a chal- huh?”
As Veril was yelling his winning speech, basking in the glory of what he had just done, he suddenly felt something off in his body. Looking down, he saw some kind of metallic object protruding out of his chest, coated in red liquid.
His mind didn’t register what had just happened before he felt a strong feeling of coldness wash over his body and then his mind.
*Cough*
Coughing slightly, he saw a large amount of blood drip down from his mouth.
‘Blood… From where?’
“You are truly a pathetic excuse of an opponent. Rule one of battles, never let your guard down till you leave the battlefield. You never know what tricks your enemy is holding up their sleeve.”
“What?!”
The crowd saw someone appear behind Veril. It was none other than Ginjo himself. His sword was now lodged into Veril’s chest.
“In what world?! What am I seeing?! Ginjo is alive?! What is happening?! What about the-”
Everyone instinctively looked at the dead corpse of the Monkey Warrior. But, shockingly, it was nowhere to be seen. No trace of it was left as if it was never there in the first place. Read the latest on empire
Arthur and Isla blinked in surprise. “… Illusion.” The two muttered at the same time. They didn’t even need a second to realize what just happened as they had seen something very similar not so long ago.
“Wait, if that’s not him but instead a clone of him… When did the real one vanish from sight?” Arthur muttered. He was watching the battle attentively, there was not a single moment during the battle where Ginjo did something eye-catching.
Isla squinted her eyes as if she was contemplating something. She had a small suspicion but she couldn’t confirm it at all. “Could it be…”
“How… can… this be…”
Down at the arena, Veril held the blade of the sword penetrating his chest with disbelief. He was feeling the life slowly seep out of him as he fell to his knees. “This… can’t be… it… I’m destined… for greatness…”
“No, you are destined for a gruesome death… Just like everyone sitting here watching you.” Ginjo replied before he pulled the bloody sword out, letting the man fall to the ground.
For Veril, everything went completely black and the last thing he saw was the cold glare of the Monkey Warrior.
A//N: Don’t forget to give the book some golden tickets for good luck! :3