Adonis's pupils flickered a blue, and he covered his body with fire.
The fire quickly turned from orange to lavender to blue. He formed a thin blade of blue flames in his right hand; many small balls of fire appeared all over his body. He used them to rotate and move at high speeds in an instant.
Adonis instantly made a dome of blue slashes that struck the Aura swords. They canceled each other out; Adonis exploded his blue flames and immediately appeared above Diego.
Diego couldn't react to anything that happened until Adonis disappeared in a blast of blue fire. He looked up and saw Adonis's yellow eyes with glowing blue pupils; he became terrified and immediately formed an Aura shield.
Adonis exploded his flames again, stabbed through Diego's shield, and sent them both into the ground. Debris flew, covering them both; after a second, Diego ran out of the dust with a terrified expression.
Rightfully so, since the dust was cleared out by the blue fire, showing Adonis's focused and apathetic face with the blue flames covering his back.
For younger people, this scene amazed them. For older people, this made them sweat' As the blue fire had only belonged to one person, feared by many.
Marvella Lock, also known as The Destroyer of the Battlefield.
She attained this nickname from her actions in war; whenever she joined a battle, that entire battlefield turned into nothing but ash and dirt. She didn't care who her enemies were, whether commoners or people from the 7 Great Families; she'd eliminate them all. If necessary, she would point her sword at the Imperial Family.
Someone who didn't care for status or order, who would wreak havoc to end a battle, this was Marvella. Now here we are, another person had blue flames with the same focused and apathetic expression as her. People knew it could only mean one thing; Adonis was related to Marvella, and another Destroyer may have been created.
Commoners roared with excitement, minor families thought about how they could connect with Adonis, major families had already thought of a plan, The 7 Great Families watched with focus, and the first princess, Elizabeth Stallard, smiled.
The fourth sister panicked as memories from her past surged at the sight of blue fire; she started sweating and closed her eyes, hoping it would disappear. The third siblings were shocked, and their fear grew. However, Byron was mortified; all of his actions lead to Adonis accessing the blue flames, making him stronger than ever.
Back to the fight, Adonis shot a fireball at Diego. Diego wrapped Aura around his sword and blocked the attack. He then saw Adonis fly toward him; he leaped back to avoid Adonis's leap, but Adonis used his mini fireballs to adjust his speed and position and exploded toward Diego again. Diego's fear grew while he constantly backed away from Adonis.
No matter what Diego did, Adonis was always chasing him. It didn't matter how fast he ran or how tricky his movements were; Adonis would immediately adjust to it and leap at him again. At this point, it was a game of cat and mouse, and the cat would eventually win.
Not only that, Aura was constantly running rampant in his body. The more he used it, the more injured and tired he'd get. Diego knew if he kept running, he'd fall victim to the ever-increasing injuries. He was bleeding from every hole in his face when a voice in his head said, 'Why not surrender?'
Diego suddenly remembered that surrendering was an option; he felt a sense of hope.
"I SURRE-!!"
However, before Diego could say it, Adonis was already in front of him. Diego had no choice- but to lift his sword and block Adonis's Sapphire Blade. Diego looked into Adonis's eyes and was told something by him.
"Don't you dare surrender"
Diego looked at Adonis in fear at his words; Diego burst Aura out his sword and knocked back Adonis. Diego was about to yell it again when he realized couldn't bring himself to say those words. He didn't know why until he saw something- it was as if he could look into the future.
He saw him surrendering and the Green Valley sect winning. He was kicked out of the Heaven Sword Sect; he tried to join other sects, but no huge sect would take him. He knew he couldn't revert to a normal life after his years in Heaven Sword, even if he tried to, he would become displeased with such a life; he soon became a wandering mercenary, taking any job so he could have a shred of happiness he felt in the past.
When Diego came out of the vision, no time had passed; he knew things would only worsen. He would have nothing if he surrendered, so what would be the point of doing it? Why would he let himself have such a miserable life? If he was going down, it would at least be in battle. He gripped his sword tighter and pointed it at Adonis; he let his Aura surge and prepared for the fight of his life.
It was at that point, that Diego underwent an Evolution. Not one of Mana or Ki, but an Evolution in Aura.
That was when Diego felt his Aura echo across his body, everything felt slow as his resolve hardened. His sclera became black, and the circuit lines around his body grew; the entire colosseum felt a sudden pressure press down on them. Adonis's Sapphire Flames weakened, making him surprised. He looked at Diego, and he looked different.
The circuit lines traveled under his eyes, and his hair changed from black to purple and levitated in the air. He stood with a simple sword stance and let his Aura loose.
A Dome of Aura formed in the middle of the Arena, taking over the entire middle part of it. In the middle of the dome, a black visage of Diego stood, staring intently at Adonis. They stared at each other, and only one word was said.
"Come"
Diego's voice echoed throughout the Colosseum, and Adonis's face grew a twisted smile. He blasts toward the dome at speeds that break the sound barrier, and his Sapphire Flames grew in brightness and power.
Once Adonis entered the dome, he immediately had a slash of Aura in front of him. Adonis reacted quickly and used the mini-fireballs around his body to dodge to the right; however, another two strikes came from above and under him. He launched himself forward, only to be met with three attacks.
Every time Adonis dodged the slashes, more would come his way, leaving no chance to rest.
Four slashes from all directions.
Burst forward.
Five stabs coming from the front.
Burst upward and launch forward.
Six slashes coming from all sides.
Rotate the body to where all slashes miss.
Adonis continued this with only his sense and reaction speed.
On the outside of the barrier, people saw more and more Aura slashes come out of the dome, hitting the Arena barrier. Although Diego might be in his Evolution of Aura, the barrier can handle attacks from a Heaven Stage Cultivator, so Diego's attacks did nothing.
However, Diego's attacks were relentless. As they accumulated, the barrier started to take to damage. When the audience saw the cracks forming, they started running away. Elizabeth Stallard ordered the fight to be stopped. Several Ascent Stage guards came out and entered the barrier to put an end to the bout.
They weren't prepared for what came at them; as soon as they dodged some slashes, several more came at them. For the ones who weren't fast, they died almost immediately; soon after, even the speedy ones died to the Aura. The only ones that were able to reach the dome were the ones who had Aura as well.
As soon as they entered the dome, they saw what Adonis was facing. Countless amount of attacks came at them from all directions, but none of them had the reaction speed or power to overcome this. They all turned into nothing but blood.
This was when all the heads of the Great Families intervened. They all put their hands forward and supplied the barrier with their mana. The barrier's cracks were immediately sealed. It transformed into a thick white sphere with multi-colored spots around it. No matter how many Aura slashes hit it, it would never come down.
Within the dome, a streak of blue kept piercing further into it, rushing toward the black visage in the center. Despite the countless attacks and their complex shapes, Adonis could dodge most of them; some of the slashes and stabs hit Adonis. However, Adonis was able to lessen the damage by rotating his body to let them make shallow cuts.
Finally, Adonis had closed the distance and was in front of Diego with his left hand reaching for him. Diego sent one final attack; he slashed a horizontal slash to split Adonis in half. Adonis saw this and kicked the ground; he leaped up and narrowly dodged the attack.
Adonis formed two fireballs under his feet and exploded them; with this, he flipped and used his legs to break Diego's shoulders. Diego's shoulder bones broke, and Adonis pointed his Sapphire blade at Diego's head. Adonis constantly condensed his fire into his sword to prepare his sister's signature move.
"Sapphire! Litura!!"
The condensed blue blade unleashed its fury.
Outside the barrier, the heads of the Great Families felt a stop to the countless strikes and were about to withdraw their mana. Then a sudden explosive force hit the barrier, constantly rising in pressure, the heads had to unleash the pressure, or else it would find another way to get out.
They opened the top of the barrier, and a massive pillar of Sapphire fire shot toward the sky. It went into the thick clouds and changed them from gray to blue, creating a spectacle for the entire city to see.
Eventually, the Sapphire Pillar diminished and the heads withdrew their mana from the barrier. The barrier fully crumbled down and the only thing that could be seen in the arena was smoke and dust cloud. The cloud slowly dissipated, letting everyone see the last person standing.
Adonis was in the center of the Arena, looking at the sky. The crowd was about to erupt in cheers until they saw his condition.
Adonis had severe burns all over his body, it was to the point that his skin was ashen black. There were many dents and holes in his body, it also contained dark-red cuts from the slashes that Diego dealt. His eyes were in a dazed state, some thought he died standing.
Adonis's body wavered and fell forward, but didn't hit the ground. Instead, he hit someone's chest, and they were holding the back of his head to make sure he didn't fall.
The warmth Adonis felt from the hug reminded him of only one person. Tears started to fall from his eyes.
"...Dad..." Adonis closed his eyes and fell unconscious.
Balthazar looked down at Adonis with a relieved and joyous smile. He looked at the arena and saw nothing but ash.
"You've done well, Adonis."
I will be placing 'Ascension of the Worthless" on hold; this doesn't mean I am dropping it. I have lost a lot of motivation for it and wanted to take a break from it. I'll possibly create another story in the meantime or relax; it depends. I hope you enjoy what I've put out for now, and I'll see you later!