Kaia and Shin split instantly, Kaia dashing right, Shin diving left, both narrowly avoiding the explosive blast that ripped through the ground where they stood.
Before the smoke even cleared, Kaia leaped forward, twin blades gleaming with pulsing Chaos essence. Her eyes flashed."Phantom Slash, Double Edge."
She vanished into a streak of motion, slashing down with both blades in an X-pattern that carved the air apart.
The massive fighter chuckled, his metallic grin widening."You think that can break my Diamond Pattern Shield?"
His left arm twisted and opened, forming a round, glowing barrier, a disk of condensed energy lined with rotating rings. Kaia's blades struck it, sending sparks and shockwaves outward. The impact echoed, but the shield didn't even flinch. It absorbed the attack completely.
He roared, transforming his right arm into a huge axe. The swing came down like thunder.
Kara raised her blades just in time to block, but the force blasted her into the air.
"Got you."
The brute's arm morphed again, the axe folding back into a cannon. He aimed up, but before he could fire, Shin dropped in like a meteor.
"Not happening!"
His greatsword crashed down, clashing against the cannon and forcing it to misfire. The redirected blast ripped across the arena, obliterating several fighters in a blinding explosion.
The commentator's voice thundered through the speakers: "Deflection kill! Profit transfer initiated!"
Above, glowing numbers flickered. The brute's total shot up from four million to five million drakons. Kaia and Shin's scores climbed to four million each, their kills and efficiency recognized instantly.
Shin steadied his stance, but the brute was already moving again. His arms shifted, one morphing into a twin-bladed axe, the other forming a jagged dagger. The air whistled as he swung.
Each strike was heavy, violent, but predictable. Shin's blade caught most of the blows, the metal screaming on impact. Tiny cracks spidered across the edge of his sword, and he grimaced as the brute's assault grew faster, sharper.
"Damn, this thing doesn't stop!"
The brute smirked, stepping in close. "Then just drop dead!"
He feinted low with the dagger, then twisted, both arms slamming downward. Shin barely escaped as the blow crushed into the wall behind him, caving in a massive section of the arena. The ground trembled.
Debris rained. Dust filled the air.
Shin skidded back, panting but smiling."He's strong... and heavy. Too heavy."
He glanced upward. "Kaia, now."
The brute froze. His sensors blinked."What, how could she have gotten here quickly? With my previous attack, I sent her flying away."
From behind him, a blade pierced through his back, deep and clean.
His eyes widened. "Impossible! How"
Kaia's whisper came from behind his ear."Quick Step."
The faint shimmer of Chaos essence flickered under her feet; she was literally standing mid-air. Her twin blades flashed again, one slashing upward, the other spinning down into his core plating.
Sparks exploded. Metal cracked.
The brute staggered back, howling in rage. He slammed a palm over his chest as smoke hissed from the impact.
"Lucky for me," he growled, "this body's ninety percent metal!"
He tore the broken plate off his chest, revealing reinforced alloy beneath it, thick, dark, and humming with power.
Kaia landed beside Shin, but still like 30 steps away. Shin smirked, resting his cracked sword on his shoulder."Guess ninety percent means ten percent weakness left."
The brute roared, his chainsaw arms reigniting, and the entire arena started to shake.
The brute roared, his eyes glowing crimson. Rage boiled through his veins. How could these weaklings, mere flesh compared to his metal, inflict this kind of damage?
His massive frame expanded, metal plates shifting and locking into place. The floor cracked beneath his feet as his systems overloaded with energy. Blue steam hissed from his joints.
"Let's see you dodge this!"
He raised his right arm, energy surged through it, forming a compressed sonic core, and he released it in a devastating blast.
BOOM!
The shockwave tore through the arena, scattering debris and shattering the ground. Kaia and Shin both dove separately, barely avoiding the main impact, but the echoing sonic vibration hit them regardless. Their ears rang. Their bodies trembled.
Shin gritted his teeth. Unheard of... for something that big to move that fast.
Before they could recover, the brute lunged again. Kaia and Shin vanished from their spots, reappearing behind him in a synchronized flash of motion.
Shin swung his greatsword, aiming for the spine, but the brute turned faster than expected, his arm already transforming.
A metallic fist shot out, nearly colliding with Shin's chest. Shin barely managed to retreat, his boots screeching against the steel floor.
He steadied himself, flipped his blade backward, and channeled everything he had left into one final technique."Whirlwind Drive."
He spun the greatsword, chaos essence swirling like a storm, and hurled it. The sword ignited into a sonic streak, BOOOOM! Shin's throw is almost broken, great long sword.d
The weapon pierced straight through the brute's arm, shattered the sonic core, and punched a hole through his chest. The crowd gasped. The Dwarf commentator screamed: "Direct hit! A clean penetration strike, he's bleeding credits, people!"
Shin dropped to one knee, panting. He had poured everything into that one attack.
Before the brute could recover, Kaia's eyes flashed. Her body blurred, Chaos essence radiating from her blades.
"Phantom Slash, Hundred Blade Slash"
Her twin swords became streams of light.
The brute swung his cannon arm toward her, but she was already gone.
Two quick flashes, slash, slash!, and his right leg nearly flew off. His footing failed. He fell hard, shaking the ground.
Then the storm began.
Kara moved around him in a perfect circular motion, slashing relentlessly, arms, chest, neck, leg, face; her movements were a blur of steel and light, and some of his body parts started falling off. Death was knocking at the door.
"GHHHAAAAA!"
"Wow, the famous phantom slash." The Dwarf commentator: "Things are looking bad for the musclehead."
"damn it, even if I'm going to die, I'll take you along," the brute thought.ht
The brute unleashed a final emergency blast from his chest core, his trump card, his backup weapon; it was an area sonic attack, but Kaia's blade tore straight through it. The detonation went wide, obliterating space as her twin blades crossed once more.
Ninety-nine cuts.
She leaped high into the air. Her final strike came down like judgment. The twin blades twisted midair, forming a spiral slash that cleaved the brute's neck clean off.
THUD.
His head hit the floor, bouncing once before rolling to a stop. Black liquid hissed from the stump, pooling beneath him as his systems shut down.
Kaaa landed silently, blades dripping with synthetic oil.
Her display updated instantly, 9.8 million drakons. Shin, now drinking a liquid chaos capsule, felt his strength returning. The energy rushed through his veins, restoring the empty core's stability.
He grinned weakly. "You... never miss, do you?"
Kaia smirked. "Only when I want to."
They stood back to back, guarding each other as chaos continued around them.
The arena was a war zone. Fifty had fallen. Fifty remained.
Explosions. Screams. Metal clashing against energy. Weapons transformed, guns emerged from hidden walls, and floors split open as new terrain appeared. The battle had entered its true stage.
From above, the Dwarf commentator shouted, "Now it gets fun! Fifty down, fifty to go, welcome to hell, my friends!"
The surviving fighters roared.
Meanwhile, Kurogami still hadn't moved. His value of a hundred thousand drakons made him the lowest target one even bothered looking his way.
He just stood there, silent, watching everything unfold.