章節 26: City of Ravens (12)
In less than three hours my soul reached the limit, and I had to go back. Emily was looking at some files, not wanting to interrupt her I trained my control. Next evening, I reached the limit in all three aspects of control. The progress was not huge, but if it continues in the same pace, when I will reach ten cycles, it should be enough for it to be more useful.
Condensing the soul again took a while, and with this, I entered my fourth cycles, and in the next four days, I finished two more cycles.
It was the day of the fight; the sun was about to rise when Emily came to find me. "Hey, can you talk now? You seemed very busy lately."
"I can talk. Did you find anything about Novakovic?"
"I did. A lot."
When she started talking about him like she knew him from birth I was astonished. What interested me the most was his power. And he was an Arcane Artist with Water elemental essence. Water element wasn't considered the strongest, but in the right hands, it can be deadly.
As for his actual strength, it was hard to gauge. From the fact that he was in a mission to hunt a Vrykolakas, it would indicate that his power is substantial. From what Emily said, he was in a team when he was hunting them which means he shouldn't be strong enough to hunt them solo.
As for Vrykolakas, truly nasty creatures. It is stronger than an Orthrus, and with its smaller figure, are much faster. In strength, it is between a Sky Panther and an Orthrus. Looking like a humanoid wolf that feds on the blood of other creatures, it hunts only during the night while during the day it burrows into the ground.
If he Novakovic is strong enough to take part in a hunt of one of these things, it may be difficult. Or it would be difficult few days ago. Now… I can't be sure how strong I'm in this moment. If I can beat down Novakovic… soon I could go after a Leshy and a Sky Panther.
This will be a test. A test to see how strong I became.
"By the way, how did you get all of this?"
"I have my ways. But it doesn't matter, what matters is if you can beat him or not."
"We just have to wait and see."
"… There is something else that you should know…"
… So Nate is behind the challenge. It won't change anything, but to think that he would go so far… He is truly idiotic.
"Thank you for the help. What about the symbols? Any progress?"
"No. But now I know for sure that the tablet is the key to translate them. It was discovered recently, and there isn't a lot of pictures of it on the internet. To be exact, there is only one. The picture is good, and it is thanks to it I know that the tablet is the key. The only problem is that it only shows one side of the tablet."
"And I need to go and take a picture of the other side?"
"Correct. I would go myself… but it is a big risk."
"Right… I'm sorry for getting you into this. I shouldn't have asked you to translate the symbols."
"…"
"I will go now. The fight starts in a few hours, and I need to eat breakfast. I will see you later today."
I left in a hurry.
I went towards the MCA building and entered the restaurant right across it. It was one of the few restaurants that didn't ban me, and now I could call myself a regular here. Sitting beside a window, I had a good view of the entrance while I kept eating.
I still ate a lot, but since I started to absorb monster souls, the amount went slightly down. Thankfully.
There was still three hours before I had to show up there, so I wanted to see if I can recognize my opponent. I only saw his picture that was a few months old, but that was enough.
With brown hair and weak stature he appeared twenty minutes before the set hour, accompanied by an older man wearing a suit, they entered the building with confidence. I wasn't sure what to think now, the atmosphere around him didn't seem like anything special. Compared to Lydia it was non-existent.
I wasn't sure what I expected, but now it wasn't the time to think too much about it. After paying for the food I left and entered the MCA building. I was guided to a room further in than usual, and there Evelin was waiting for me.
"Are you ready?" She asked in her cold voice.
"Yup"
"If you want to delay the fight this is your last chance. In ten minutes, we will take an elevator that will take us ten stories down, then there will be no going back."
"I will fight. How about you? Did you find something?"
"I did. And if everything goes well, this will be the last challenge that will happen in the MCA."
"?!"
"Don't be shocked, I invited some people that I will try convincing to change this system. And with the evidence I have, it shouldn't be too much of a problem. If you don't mind, they will watch your fight."
"It's ok. As long as you can succeed I can even loose. This system really needs to change, so I will gladly help if there is something."
"No need for you to bother with my business, this fight is still official, so do whatever you would do. I assume you don't need to change."
"No, we can go."
"This way then."
We left the room and went even deeper into the building. In one of the corridors stood shinning doors of an elevator. Evelin had to scan her card and iris before the door opened. Going down I listened to the cringy elevator music coming from the speakers.
After a while, the elevator stopped, and the doors slid open. What I saw there looked like an underground colosseum. Huge circular arena with stands around them, there was a few people on the stands, but the most eye-catching was the VIP zone.
Men and Women in black and expensive suits talked amongst each other while waiting for the fight. One of them I was able to recognize, he entered the building with Novakovic.
"It's them?" I asked while looking at the VIP zone.
"Yes. Don't think about that. Follow the yellow line, it will lead you to the waiting area. There you will see a screen, it will tell you to follow the red line when it is two minutes before the fight. Red line will take you to the arena. After that, there will be a countdown, and the will begin."
"Sure. I will see you after the fight?"
"We'll see. Now go."
After I followed the yellow line, I got into a small waiting area with a screen, just like Evelin said.
There wasn't much form to do other than sit and relax. And so, I waited for the signal to go towards the arena.
"Contestant! Please follow the red line and head towards the arena! The fight begins in two minutes!"
The voice said while the screen lit up showing a map with the path. It was maybe twenty minutes since I got here, I starched my limbs and made my way towards the arena.
Entering it, I felt my heartbeat accelerate, while my mind cleared. There were no thoughts. No emotions. I became indifferent to all, my mind focused solely on the fight.
When I stood in front of my opponent I was already observing his movements, waiting for him to move.
The countdown started, and I prepared my soul essence ready to manifest my soul image.
'10'
'9'
'8'
'7'
'6
'5'
'4'
I took half a step back and lowered my body.
'3'
My soul essence was right behind my skin, close to leaking out
'2'
I looked my opponent in the eyes and looked on to him. He wasn't a person anymore, he was the enemy.
'1'
'Begin!'
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Haron
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