"No, I don't, even though I would have an advantage knowing it. I still need to present my strength," Leon somehow expected this answer from him; he knew Amon well. Amon wanted to prove that he was worthy of being called a guild master, and Leon would have been surprised if the answer had been yes.
"Good, your fight is in 20 minutes, so prepare yourself and don't you dare lose," Leon knew how powerful Amon was, but the thought of his best friend having to fight against a guy like Aracna still troubled him.
Amon stood in his black armor on the battlefield of the colosseum.
"This fighter, Amon Halon, with his surprising victory in the last round, shocked everyone. What are your thoughts on this fighter now, Lady Bruna?" The commentator was genuinely interested in Bruna's opinion, and the audience was too.
"Somehow, I expected him to win. He is the master of a powerful guild. There must be a reason why so many powerful mages respect this man, especially when you consider the personalities of a few members of his guild," she referred to the tenth coat of arms, a battle maniac only interested in fighting strong opponents.
"I see, but we'll see if he'll be able to beat his next enemy. This man is..." The commentator took a deep breath and screamed at the top of his lungs, "ARACNA!" His voice reached everyone in the colosseum, and soon a man stood in the battle area.
It was Aracna, 175 cm tall with black hair. But what stood out and disgusted Amon was the insect cocoons hanging from the man's arms. That was his blessing, Bug Master, the god who blessed him, Unknown.
The commentator wasted no time and gave the signal to start the fight.
A hundred red hornets burst out of their cocoons, immediately darting towards Amon with lethal intent. Amon swiftly evaded their attack, sprinting several meters away and positioning himself for a counterstrike. With a commanding gesture, he unleashed his power.
"Path of Fire: Flame Burst!" he shouted, conjuring a massive wall of flames that collided with the hornets. Some were incinerated, but the relentless swarm pressed on, undeterred. Surrounded by the buzzing adversaries, Amon skillfully wielded his staff, striking down the hornets one by one. Yet their sheer numbers overwhelmed him. Determined, Amon channeled his remaining strength into one final move.
With his staff now aglow with a fiery red aura, he slammed it forcefully into the ground.
FUSHHH!
A towering pillar of fire erupted from the spot where Amon stood, reducing the hornets to charred remains. However, the fiery bodies of the surviving hornets continued their assault, their flames intensifying. Amon found himself in dire peril.
"Goddamn it! If this keeps up, I'm done for. Time for something entirely different!" Amon exclaimed. Suddenly, his body crackled with electricity, and he leaped into the air, hurling his staff into the center of the hornet swarm. In a thunderous voice, he screamed out his next move.
"Path of Darkness: Shadow Bomb!"
A colossal black sphere materialized atop his staff and detonated with an earth-shattering blast.
BOOOM!
The resulting explosion engulfed the area, leaving behind a thick cloud of dust. Amidst the haze, Amon landed and immediately charged towards Aracna, now wielding a dagger forged with the path of the blacksmith.
"You think that was all I had?" he taunted his foe.
While only a solitary hornet remained, it managed to sting Amon's hand before succumbing. Acting swiftly, Amon encased his injured hand in a qi rope and, with a swift motion...
Shing!
He severed his own arm, an audacious act that shocked both Bruna and the spectators. They couldn't fathom the depths of Amon's madness, although they knew he would regenerate it later. Still, it was a reckless move.
"Is this guy insane? Yes, he'll recover, but cutting off his own arm is sheer lunacy," Bruna muttered in disbelief, a sentiment shared by the audience.
But amidst the astonishment, another spectacle unfolded. A colossal mantis materialized within the arena.
"Behold, my ultimate creation! Tear this man apart! I want to witness my beloved insects slowly devouring him!" Aracna bellowed with a maniacal laugh, revealing his true psychopathic nature.
Undeterred by his severed limb, Amon halted the bleeding with his qi and charged towards the menacing mantis. He deftly evaded its massive arms, but with only one arm remaining, he questioned his ability to defeat the beast. Yet there was no room for doubt.
Black stripes began to coat Amon's body.
Suddenly, the mantis stood headless, its lifeless form collapsing to the ground. Amon's voice echoed through the colosseum, tinged with triumph.
"Black-armored Devil," he declared, holding the mantis's decapitated head and pointing it menacingly at Aracna.
In a desperate attempt to defend himself, Aracna summoned a colossal rhino beetle, but it proved futile. Amon swiftly tore the beetle apart, discarding it as a mere obstacle. Aracna, trembling with fear, summoned swarms of bugs, but his efforts were in vain.
Without hesitation, Amon pierced Aracna's chest, extracting his beating heart in one swift motion.
"The winner is Amon Halon." The commentator couldn't believe how Amon was able to overpower Aracna in the end. The reason for it: Amon had a habit of not fighting seriously from the start. He would only reveal the power he wanted to his opponent, and that was the reason why he often suffered injuries during his fights. Nobody knew where this character trait came from, but it was a fact. In that moment, Bruna wanted to heal Amon.
A little girl ran into the battle arena. The girl had long black hair, green eyes, and wore a completely black dress. She looked around 9 years old. The girl was holding something wrapped in a cloth and was running straight in Amon's direction. This girl was the fourth coat of arms.
The girl opened the cloth, revealing what appeared to be a mixture of a heart and a dragon fruit.
"Here, Amon, eat the 'Heartfruit.' It may be a failure, but it should be enough to heal your arm."
"Wait, did that little girl just say 'Heartfruit'?" Bruna couldn't believe her own ears. But why was she so shocked? Better said, why was everyone shocked?
The Heartfruit is an extremely rare item that is said to be able to cure every disease, wound, or even physical and mental handicaps. People have been trying to reproduce this item for a long time, but nobody has succeeded.
"Thanks, Personia, but nothing you produce could be a failure. After all, they work every time," Amon said, appreciating the fruit. He knew the girl's creations were always reliable.
Amon ate the fruit, and soon his arm regenerated. He took the hand of the girl and walked to the exit of the battle area.
Bruna ran out of the
commentator's room and headed straight to where Amon was supposed to be, and she found him there too.
"Did you really just eat a Heartfruit? And who is this girl, and why did she give you a Heartfruit, and what...?" Bruna's words rushed out in a flurry.
"Slow down. Yes, I ate the fruit. This girl is the fourth coat of arms. She gave it to me because she likes me, and she is the one who created it," Amon replied in a dry tone, as if what he was saying was the most normal thing in the world. Bruna was really doubting her hearing right now. She hadn't dealt with Spellbinders much until now, but she had heard rumors about the twelve coats of arms. Each of them was said to be an extraordinary person with tremendous talents in many fields, and this little girl was supposed to be one of them. It seemed impossible. The girl was so cute that Bruna even wondered if she could be an angel.
"Yes, I created it. The fruit may be a failure, but I just have to correct some things, and it will work perfectly," Personia's cute little voice was full of excitement. She wanted to go back to the guild and refine the fruit properly.
"Are you sure it was a failure? In my opinion, his arm looks perfect. This fruit could never be lacking anything. It's a thousand times better than every other miserable attempt to create one," Bruna expressed her astonishment.
"I can't tell you why, but the fruit is shit!" Personia replied bluntly.
"Huh?"