"Tear it apart, Basilisk!"
The sight familiar to the spectators formed once again; the snake form with a massive head shot out of the sword. While the blood energy pointing its giant front fangs at the enemy glided through the air, a wall of fire appeared in front of the Holy Fire Disciple.
The two energies clashed; two different shades of red were fighting to establish dominance over each other. When the visual feast lasting ten breaths ended with the victory of fire red, Ralf's face fell.
"Two left!"
The disciple in red was cheerful as she made the two sign with her fingers; her facial expression and tone of voice said she wasn't having much trouble.
"We got it!"
Ralf grumbled and let the weapon advance up to the wrists of both his hands. From the whips digging into the flesh, it was possible to watch the blood being drawn.
"So you didn't like the blood of the others, let's go back to your usual meal!"
The Basilisk began to tremble; the blood it sucked belonged to the Holy Ice Disciples, but it was sensitive to its owner's blood.
"Try this on for size!"
Ralf made two consecutive slashing motions; the energies practically spurting from the sword merged in the air and locked onto the target. The Basilisk made of blood energy changed; its fangs were larger, and the scales on its head were discernible.
The Holy Fire Disciple must have sensed the change too, as she increased the thickness of the fire wall she set up. The two energies clashed again, and this time, it looked like it wasn't going to be over so quickly. Ten, twenty, thirty, forty breaths passed, but the clash of the reds didn't end.
While the Basilisk's developing fangs strained the enemy's defense, the scales on it increased its defense and prevented it from being destroyed. The Holy Fire Disciple was feeding the wall she created with her energy, and the sweat forming on her face said she was in a tight spot.
Finally, when fifty breaths passed, the fire wall emerged victorious, but both disciples were in terrible shape. While the defending side's clothes were soaked with sweat, Ralf was trembling from head to toe.
Leaning on his sword he stuck in the ground, barely able to stand, the bearded youth looked like he wouldn't be able to use it even though he had one last chance. Nafız started advancing to pull him back, but someone who had been silent for a long time had an objection to this.
"If you want to use the weapon I made, you will go all the way. Even if death is at the end of it!"
Abarran didn't shout, he roared. The fires surrounding the fighting area curled inward and needed an energy boost from the outside so as not to be destroyed.
"Who said I gave up?"
When Ralf let out a sound halfway between a growl and a mumble, Abarran spoke once again.
"Don't try to feed the sword! The sword is yours, and you are the sword's!"
The Four Representatives had dropped everything and were watching Abarran; the words that would come out of the Supreme Artisan's mouth were like gold dust.
Taking the advice to heart, Ralf straightened up and pulled his sword out from where he stuck it; gripping it tightly with both hands, he raised it to eye level.
"The sword is mine, and I am the sword's!"
The four words coming out of his mouth echoed in his brain; he closed his eyes and stood watching the images forming.
He found himself in front of a creature with one end on the ground and the other in the sky, its sky-blue scales shining in the sunlight. Even though he tilted his head back enough to break his neck, he couldn't see the height it reached; his eyebrows furrowed.
"I've never felt this pathetic!"
"You stupid human, you are pathetic anyway!"
When the voice resembling thunder reached his ears, Ralf was forced to drop to his knees, covering his ears with both hands.
"Open your eyes!"
The bearded youth had to do as told; when he opened his eyes, the eyes with a thin line running through the middle had blocked his entire vision.
"So you are the owner of that feeble energy filling my body. How fragile, how weak!"
When it pulled back, Ralf was able to fully see the massive body of the Basilisk for the first time. The creature, coiled with its body overlapping, was so huge that its head alone would be enough to destroy a city.
"How funny that my manifestation stolen by that bastard fell into your hands!"
The Basilisk continued to speak in a high-handed tone, but there was something it didn't notice. The young man across from it had stood up and was looking right into its eyes.
"If I am weak, you are weak too!"
Ralf spoke in one breath, and a moment later he felt cold bone fangs all over his body.
"What did you say? Say it again!"
"If I am weak, you are weak too. I am you, and you are me!"
Pulling its head back, the giant Basilisk let out its hisses that shook the earth and sky; nearby mountains collapsed, rivers overflowed and dried up.
"You speak the truth, puny human. What you say is true because you have a piece of me that I almost forgot!"
"I need your power, I want your power to defeat the enemy!"
Ralf attacked as soon as he found the opportunity. The Basilisk's gaze was on him.
"So be it! Let's see how much of it you can handle?"
Dark green energy wrapped his body, and Ralf opened his eyes. The enemy forming the Fire Wall was waiting for him; he returned to the Royal Palace once again.
"Crush and Overcome, Basilisk!"
He neither moved nor swung the sword, he just spoke. The shoots of the sword that had advanced up to the young man's shoulders retracted and returned to the hilt. Now there was only a sword and the man holding it.
A shrill hiss echoed across the battlefield; right after, the Basilisk appearing out of nowhere headed for its target. It wasn't majestic like the previous ones, it was the size of a normal human, but this time its appearance was completely different.
Its color, its scales, its fangs, and down to the forked tongue spilling from its mouth, everything was very real. This wasn't made of energy, it was a living, breathing Basilisk.
When they clashed with the fire wall, it didn't stop; vibrating its body, it advanced. Even though the Holy Fire Disciple pumped energy like crazy to close the hole starting to form, the Basilisk wasn't stopping.
The fire wall changed and turned into a fire vortex. It evolved into a sort of trap that surrounded the Basilisk entering it from all four sides, trying to burn it as it advanced. The attacking side didn't stop, it dove into the fire trap, and it looked like it coming out the other side was only a matter of time.
The expected happened a few breaths later; the Basilisk's head appeared from the other side of the flames.
"No way, no way!"
When the Holy Fire Disciple started shouting, half of its body had passed. At that moment something unexpected happened; the flames on one side of the fire wall surrounding the battlefield vanished.
"Drop dead, drop dead, drop dead!"
The Holy Fire Disciple was shouting, and the split fire wall began to reform. The Basilisk was trapped inside; no matter how much it struggled, it was no use.
"I cannot be defeated, I cannot be defeated!"
Ralf was engulfed in flames; even though he was very far from the fire wall, his energy was burning. The Basilisk's skin was scorched, but it wasn't stopping either; putting everything it had on the line, it was marching on the enemy.
Ten breaths passed like this; by the time Nafız, stepping forward, reached him, Ralf reached the point of losing consciousness, and the Basilisk in flames turned to dust and disappeared. The young man collapsed; his eyes, which had turned into thin slits, were slowly closing.
"I like you, human! I'm looking forward to your next visit!"
Ralf smiled; he smiled not caring about the smell of burning radiating from his body.
When Nafız reached his side, she covered her friend with a cloth she pulled from her interspatial ring and sliced the air with her two daggers. The fire energy surrounding them dissipated at that moment. Curiously enough, they returned to the curtain of fire surrounding the arena, not to the Holy Fire Disciple.
"We concede defeat; our next fighter is Alis!"
You could hear a pin drop; anyone with eyes could figure out what was going down, but judging by the silence, what happened was par for the course.
When the source of the Holy Fire Sect's confidence became clear, the others expected the Holy Blood Warriors to back down, but that didn't happen. While Nafız was bringing back her heavily wounded friend, another warrior had already taken his place.
"My name is Alis, I am here on behalf of the Holy Blood Sect. Now tell me, which one of you is going to die?"