He froze like a deer in headlights at the provocative gaze that the large man approached with. Citro stirred from his little nap and turned to look at Konnor. Emery could feel the hair on the mongoose rise the longer the stare lasted.
Finally, Konnor looked away and returned his gaze to the large bear-like creature.
Its paw still hung in the air, just almost about to drop it down.
"Go on, do it," Konnor said. His voice reminded Emery of a deep, soothing horn, but common sense told him that he should stay as far from this man as possible.
The Rot Beast snorted and slammed its palm against the ground. The floor rapidly gained a dark colour and began turning into dust. The Awakened standing on the ground yelped for help as the corrosion reached their legs.
A faint black-brown aura appeared around its body as it slammed its thick paw forward once more.
This time, the corrosive aura spread out everywhere. The Awakened that had gotten away before with only their legs being decayed, found every part of their body flaking away and disappearing into bits.
Even from where he knelt, Emery could feel a vague itching, biting away at his skin cells. He shuddered. It could even affect them from where they stood.
But Konnor was still unaffected. The large man was still in perfect shape and stared at the brown bear with an unamused expression.
"Very disappointing," he said.
The rot beast growled and all the aura that had been building up around it coalesced rapidly. Its brown scales grew a large and tough armour-like exoskeleton that covered its entire body quickly.
Dark horns protruded from the head of its armour and it instantly got two times larger than it already was. The beast towered over Konnor, who was already a giant amongst men.
Emery stared in awe at the sudden transformation, but something snapped him out of his thoughts. The itching. It had gotten much, much worse.
He quickly tapped Elyn's shoulder and gestured for them to step back. She nodded and quickly moved several metres back along with him. Oddly enough, she didn't look as bothered as he was by it.
Either way, the itching had gotten a lot more bearable than before.
"What do you think is going to happen?" she whispered, although there wasn't much need for it at this point.
Emery himself wasn't sure, so he just shrugged and continued to watch the fight.
"Much better, much, much better," Konnor growled.
He flicked his spear, and a large gust of wind picked up in the surroundings. Just one simple spear flick did that.
The rot beast bared both teeth as it stared at Konnor, but evidently, it wouldn't stand the earlier embarrassment. It opened its maw wide and a ball of the dark brown rot aura began to gather at the center.
When it had fully gathered, there was a strange orb of energy in its mouth.
"AAOOOO!"
The orb flew out and everything that it passed corroded at a much faster speed than that mere aura effect. Those Awakened who might have been grasping onto life felt the last hold they had to vanish in that instant.
But Konnor grinned and sliced down with his spear.
BOOOM~!
A massive explosion occurred with the two attacks at the centre of it. Smoke and dust clouded Konnor's large physique, but it dispersed mere seconds later with the man still standing unharmed.
"AOOOOOO!!!" the rot beast flew into a rage and gathered its aura once more.
Massive spheres made of the rot aura gathered in the air and shot straight toward Konnor.
BOOM! BOOM BOOM!
Explosion after explosion rang out as the attacks crashed down onto the battlefield. Cries followed soon after as the first missile struck the line of Class Tens that were waiting for their 'chance to strike'.
It was only the first of many bombardments that struck them while trying to get to Konnor.
Their bodies didn't even have time to die properly. The built-up rot aura discharged onto them, turning them into particles less than ashes a second later.
Emery couldn't help but wipe his face as he realized what had happened. If he hadn't made that call to go back a few moments before, then they would have died without a doubt.
But what about Konnor?
The giant of a man could still be seen amidst the smoke and the death. His large spear was raised in the air in a provocative pose.
"Very impressive, but still not enough!"
Then the man struck for the first time since the match started. His spear cut through the air as it sliced down in a clean arc.
No flashy energy, nothing. A largely invisible blade split the earth as soon as the spear reached the ground. It headed straight for the rot beast, decimating everything in its path.
"We're not done yet!" the man laughed.
He cut through the air a second time, a third time, then a fourth time. All the strikes came to form an intricate red energy crest that resembled a cross.
The cross moved forward in the blink of an eye and landed on the beast's large physique.
"AOOOOOOOOO~!"
It was the creatures turn to cry for help. It flew back hundreds of metres when the cross-shaped incision branded its entire body. Emery wasn't an idiot. This beast was dead, without a doubt.
His eyes landed on Konnor's proud body, then on the crown of bones atop his head. He truly was a king in his own right.
Konnor laid his spear to rest and placed it above his shoulder, then walked all the way to where he had sent the rot beast flying. He didn't rush or move hastily, he merely walked at his own pace. After all, it wasn't as if there was any idiot who would try taking the corpse away from him.
Then he picked up the beast's corpse and walked away as slowly and powerfully as he had always done.
Emery didn't realize how long he'd been watching, but he only snapped out a few minutes after the man was gone.
He realized something very important at that time.
"Elyn, that is the strength I want to have. No, the strength I need to have!"