Chapter 18: The Danek Arena - The Finale.
The scene was truly ghastly.
Ellen's body was completely impaled by the poisonous spikes launched by the Kalvin Beast, embedded in his flesh like black branches forced to grow from within. Within moments, he staggered and collapsed, drenched in a viscous green venom.
Leeward watched it clearly… and felt nothing.
A second later, Ellen's body began to rot before his eyes. The flesh shriveled, the skin blackened and dried like a dead tree trunk, until he turned into a stiff, lifeless black mass.
Leeward leaped back quickly using the **Arrows Ether Piece**, blinking between the arrows he manifested in the air. He realized that his remaining spiritual field density was less than a quarter.
*I must end this quickly… the Kalvin Beast is severely damaged, and I doubt it has any more tricks… but I don't even have a weapon left to fight with… I'll just have to do it like this.* He settled the matter internally.
On the other side, the Kalvin Beast had become like a rabid animal. It shrieked in hysterical pain, its green blood splattering across the ground, emitting a sharp, pungent odor reminiscent of volatile chemical reagents. It fixed its gaze on Leeward and lunged with its single remaining limb, flailing violently with erratic strikes.
Leeward blinked between the arrows with calculated difficulty. However, as he began to reinforce his right hand with dense spiritual energy, the efficiency of the Ether Piece dropped; his blinks became relatively slower… yet still sufficient to face a wounded beast.
Leeward closed his eyes.
He felt the beat of his heart with unprecedented clarity… the flow of blood in his veins… the friction of energy within his cells…
Then, he felt it.
**The Stenmai.**
A wild energy, resembling electricity but simultaneously calmer and warmer—a living current pulsing from within. He drew it from his blood and heart, channeling it toward his right hand. There, the Stenmai merged perfectly with his spiritual energy.
It was as if the two energies were extensions of one another, yet the Stenmai carried a distinct superiority—a primal, savage nature that asserted its presence within his muscles. Golden sparks danced around his hand, a byproduct of the friction between the two energies within his tissues. His hand appeared to be the center of a silent storm.
Leeward opened his eyes. *Now is the time.*
In the stands, Kante watched from afar, instantly sensing Leeward's unique energy. His eyes widened in shock. Amidst the noise and chaos of the crowd, he narrowed his gaze, focusing intently on the spectacle.
*That is no ordinary Stenmai… it's **Sublime Stenmai**… how can someone like him possess such a thing?.
At that moment, Leeward leaped from the arrow he was perched upon, launching himself like a projectile toward the Kalvin Beast, his fist primed with power.
He whispered under his breath: **"Soul Break… Risipt Dush."**
Then, he delivered a devastating punch to the beast's face.
The Soul Break strike—known among Ascendants as **Risipt Dush**—was a Second-Rank technique that focused on crushing the soul before the body. The beast's face instantly buckled under the impact; its eyes exploded as its soul sustained massive damage.
In the next instant, the beast's body was sent flying through the air with terrifying force, crashing into the stands directly below the gate where the Ascendants entered—the very same gate Leeward, Night, and Ellen had used.
Chaos erupted in the stands immediately.
"My God, run!"
"This cursed beast is going to kill us!"
"Of all the stands, it had to land here!"
Screams and panic filled the area as people scrambled to escape in every direction. But the Kalvin Beast… was not yet dead. It was on the brink of death, which only made it more frenzied.
It rose staggering and began to attack everything around it randomly, howling from the depths of its chest like a cry from hell. Its brain was nearly shattered, and it had completely lost its sight, causing it to view every nearby being as an enemy.
The only instinct left was: survival… and the eradication of threats.
At the entrance gate, two guards moved immediately to intercept it and protect the crowd.
"Damn it, hurry! We have to stop it before it's too late!" one shouted while sprinting.
"The Boss is going to be furious about this…" the other replied, knowing that Haigi would never be satisfied with how today's events unfolded.
From his vantage point, Kante could have intervened and killed the Kalvin Beast with ease… but he chose not to. He chose to observe. His interest was entirely consumed by Leeward.
*I must follow him… this man is undoubtedly involved in the theft… someone with such Sublime Stenmai must hold high standing within a criminal organization.* Kante rose from his stone seat, preparing to leave the arena and wait outside to monitor Leeward's movements. His gaze was dark… sharp… filled with suspicion.
*The Risipt Dush punch… since he masters such a difficult technique to learn… it only deepens the suspicions against him.*
Leeward landed gracefully on the ground, closing his spiritual field and halting the flow of Stenmai. He had less than a quarter of his spiritual density remaining.
*I need to leave quickly… I have to distract that man… and the only way is the megaphone Ether Piece.*
He was almost certain of his conclusion. The person he had seen inside the **Spirit Drinker's Kohl**—Kante—was the same one tracking him. He also sensed, to an extent, that Kante was using a spiritual tool called **Echo of Earth and Air** to follow him undetected.
*That's a spiritual tool… I don't fully understand its mechanics, but from the name—Echo of Earth and Air—it must manipulate spiritual particles, emitting echoes or emissions that can be tracked.*
He wasn't entirely sure of his analysis, but the only way to disrupt the tracking was to create a dense spiritual noise, and that could be achieved through the megaphone Ether Piece.
Leeward moved toward Ellen's rotting corpse, spotting the artifact lying nearby. He stooped to retrieve it instantly, then took the spear that had belonged to Ellen. He slid the **Arrows Ether Piece** into his pocket and sprinted toward the Ascendants' gate—the same path he had entered earlier.
It was time to execute the plan etched in his mind.
*Everything has gone as I envisioned… except for one detail… that man. If he is capable of tracking me even after I use the megaphone, he will become a complex problem for me.*
There were no guards near the entrance to the registration and preparation hall. Leeward stepped inside directly, his single eye harboring a dark, unwavering gaze.
Behind the registration desk stood a female guard. She looked up as he entered and began to speak: "Sir, Ascendants are prohibited from entering until the match has conclu—"
The spear pierced her head.
The weapon struck with such lethal velocity that her body was pinned to the wall behind her; she died instantly. The attack was so sudden and precise that it left no room for a scream or resistance.
*I want no witnesses,* he whispered to himself as he advanced toward the bags of silver.
Blood erupted from the guard's head, and her body slowly began to slump against the wall in a grim, brutal display. It wasn't an act of cruelty or sadism. To him, keeping her alive—even unconscious—meant she would eventually wake, remember his features, and testify that he was the one who stole the silver. That would create a new problem atop his already complicated ones.
In his world, what he did was a necessity. Liquidating a problem before it magnified.
*The best way to solve a problem is to crush it… not to settle it, nor to run from it.*
He grabbed two bags of silver, each weighing approximately five kilograms. Shouldering them, he headed toward a back exit.
Outside, the atmosphere was utter chaos.
Spectators were surging out of the Danek Arena through the main gates, a deafening clamor filling the air. Some ran aimlessly through the nearby streets, which were now choked with fleeing crowds. Inside the stands, the guards were struggling desperately to kill the Kalvin Beast.
But the beast—now half-crazed—attacked them with mindless fury. Several guards fell, not due to lack of skill, but because the beast's remaining limb was still bristling with poisonous spikes. The venom of a Fifth-Level beast was impossible for anyone below the Fifth Rank to endure.
Suddenly, the beast leaped out of the stands. Completely blinded by the **Risipt Dush** strike that had mangled its face, it stood atop the outer wall of the arena. It let out a shriek from the mouth in its chest—a sound more akin to a hellish howl—and then plummeted to the outside.
It landed in the middle of a nearby street… right where a large number of spectators were attempting to escape.
"My God… it followed us!"
"Run! This thing isn't done yet!"
The crowd began to surge violently. People fell and were trampled under the feet of others, dying of suffocation and crushing force.
Kante watched all of this… and did not intervene. His focus was not on the beast, but on Leeward. He scanned the chaos for him, but found no trace.
*Perhaps he is still inside the arena… I will wait for him to emerge.*
Kante stood watching the absolute pandemonium before him. He saw humans killing one another… unintentionally… driven solely by the instinct of survival. That scene stirred no sympathy in him. Instead, it confirmed his conviction.
Humans… are nothing but selfish creatures. When conditions grow dire, they reach the point of killing each other just to save themselves from death.
Even though death is an ultimate certainty…
There is no escape… even if a man lives a thousand years.
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