Chapter 116: The Game's End
Chapter 116: The Game's End
The onlookers watched with eagerness as they saw how everything changed in an instant, never had a pair of rookies been able to push these two seasoned veterans so far.
Bera and Ryo were stuck in a deadlock as Ryo crazily fired many arrows towards her, forcing her to counter with her invisible arms that blurred and send back each arrow. Her hair was dancing up and down due to her rising energies as she played her flute.
Other than this, the final struggle was also occurring between Nero and Jack, causing everyone to shout with excitement.
"Go go go, don't lose kid!"
"Bera, how can you struggle against a kid? Hurry and take him down!"
"Jack, you better not lose face to us senior members!"
The senior members shouted as some pumped their fists to root from the newbies, while others gnashed their teeth and cursed at their fellow comrades; they didn't want others to succeed at what they had failed at in their past recruitment.
Ghostshade watched with curious eyes while Felick and Yullia observed with sharp glints, it seemed that they had not anticipated such a tough game.
Currently, Nero had already stopped fleeing from Jack; his figure dashed towards the direction of the sprite the moment Ryo had blasted it away, forcing it towards their foe's Devil Statue.
Jack was alarmed at this sight as he never anticipated that Ryo could so easily hold up and counter Bera; he frowned while thinking, "Eight Stage Battle Power, darn, that little brat is so cunning, for him to hide such a thing. I can't even borrow her energy as she's now forced to focus on that boy's relentless arrows. It looks like I'll need to kick it in high gear.'
After wrapping up his thoughts, Jack's eyes shone with a sharp ray as his body emanated a dense amount of magic power; he then adapted the posture of a runner about to start a race, bringing the rattling chain underneath his feet to complete stillness.
Instantly, his body darted forward like a shell shot from a cannon, swoosh by at such high speeds he seemed no different from a distorted shade.
'He's coming...' Nero thought as he heard the sound of something passing through the wind at alarming speeds from behind him, he knew that so long as they arrive at the intersection point, he wouldn't be able to survive a direct conflict with Jack.
Yet, Nero only smirked as if he didn't care; he rushed towards the point of intersection with the full power of his Digitize Bit as he shouted, "You won't take me down easily."
The instant Nero arrived at the points where chains crossed, Jack's blurry figure had appeared beside him, his face serious and stern as he no longer carried a playful look.
Not even wasting any time, Jack struck his fist towards Nero's face, preparing to knock him out and quickly make his way towards the sprite. However, right when Jack's fist had contacted Nero's head, his eyes widened when he saw a familiar scene.
As if Nero's body was illusory, he split apart into three clones once more, each which had positioned themselves around Jack's body. Before Jack could even recover his attacking stance, their eyes shone in reddish ray as she each revolved with their scythes and vanished.
Instantly, the three clones left behind a myriad of silvery lights that danced towards Jack's body from all angles, curving and moving in complex ways as they sped up with each passing second.
"Oh, such advance sycthework, you cheeky brat, even if skilled you're far too young to fight me in direct combat!" Jack said as he saw the current change. Before Nero's attacks could even reach him, he had pulled back his arm used to strike a fist adopting a martial stance with his palms held forward.
Suddenly, his manner changed as his eyes shifted from left to right as if the blinding fast silver lights that attacked him from all sides were clearly observable.
With a swoosh, his arms them blurred as he used his finger to firmly grip the lines as if a pair of plyers were used to clamp metal. A metallic sound resounded as two of Nero's clones had appeared with their scythes blade firmly held by Jack.
However, rather than being surprised, the two Nero's had cold looks as the final silvery blade light struck towards Jack's back. Nero smirked upon seeing this, but Jack merely snorted as he jumped and did a backflip, using the tip of his shoe to now balance the third Nero's scythe, forcing him to appear.
At this point, Nero was greatly surprised by Jack's skills as he thought, 'Such incredible skill, he certainly is well above my class."
"You think? He's called an Expert for a reason," Adult Nero said as he observed with interest.
"I know, I'm not stupid," Nero inwardly said as he no longer pays his older self any mind.
Jack, who now had the advantage, smirked as he glanced at one of Nero's clones and spoke, "Kid, you've done well, but this..."
As Jack said this, he increased the gripping force of his fingers, causing the scythes in Nero's hand to crack apart before bursting into fragments. He then used his foot to kick the Nero below him into his face, causing the clone to vanish before he stretched his arms outwards and grasped the two final Nero's necks.
Following all of this, Jack then brought the two Nero's before him and continued to speak with a smile, "Is where our game ends."
After he said those words, Jack tossed Nero upwards before clenching both of his fists and smashing him into his gut; the two Nero's flew back due to the resulting force.
Jack looked at this with a smirk as he was expecting one of them to vanish, as the other collapsed in an unconscious state, but as if something changed, Jack's eyes winded in shock as he stared at the current scene.
With a loud puff, both Nero's vanished as if they were nothing both clones; Jack's mouth opened wide at this as he exclaimed, "This... how? They were all clones, then where the hell is?"
Jack wanted to say something, but as if he realized something, his eyes shifted towards the direction of their Devil Statue. There he noticed that a shadowy figure had slowly made an appearance from its corners. As if he had been waiting for a long time, calmly staring at the sprite that was hit directly in his path.
As if he sensed Jack's vision, Nero looked at him as he put away his scythe and prepared to receive the sprite while speaking, "Uncle, I'm sorry, but my cloning technique isn't limited to just three clones."
When Nero spoke to here, his body emanated his entire magic power as he jumped into the air and spun like a famous footballer. He then used the gathering force to kick the sprite that had only now arrived in his range, blasting it into the bucket in one go.
While airborne, Nero smirked as he once more glanced at the surprised Jack and spoke again, "This game is our win."
As if something agreed with Nero's words, the status's eyes shone in bright red lights as loud voice resounded.
"The Devil's Game is over, victory goes to the newbies!"
Nero's eyes twitched as he heard the familiar voice, his eyes flashed as he recalled Cubeman from the Blood Steel Temple.
While Nero was in his thoughts, Jack stared at this with his mouth opened wide, he raised his hand, wanting to say something, but as if something held him back, he couldn't say anything in the end. Soon, Jack lifted his head and closed his eyes before laughing, "Hahahaha!"
His laugher sounded across the entire arena, as even Ryo and Bera had ended their battles; noticing the result, Bera clicked her teeth as she complained, "To think we'd be the ones to make such a history, these darn brats.'
Ryo smiled and ignored her animosity, his eyes watching Nero as he thought, 'He's even more reliant than I thought, I shall pass this detail on to father."
Unlike those on the stage, those on the outside were alarmed as no one knew what to say. Who would have thought that two rookies would break an age-old custom?
"Truly an interesting bunch of brats... huhu, I look forward to their future," Ghostshade said as he stared at this before his body turned illusory and vanished from the shadows.
Felick looked at Nero and nodded as he stared at Yullia and spoke, "Miss Yullia, shall we go greet them?"
"Of course, that brat has some explaining to do," Yullia said as she stared at Nero.
At this time, Jack had already finished clearing his foul mood through his laugh, he calmed down and stared at Nero and Ryo before he shook his head before speaking, "Brats, you've done well, this game is our loss,"
Following those words, the arena began to shake, Nero, and the others jumped from the chains towards the surface. Moments after, the ground closed, and the scene returned to normal.
Nero looked at Ryo, who gave him a look before nodded; it seemed that he was satisfied with the current victory; Nero smiled while muttering, "Oh, I can tell he doesn't like to lose either, I guess we have our similarities."
At this time, Jack and Bera had already gathered, scratched the back of his head while Bera looked as if she were scolding him. After a short while, the duo stopped their conflict before they stared a Nero and Ryo.
"Kids, you've done what no one else could do since the beginning of our Blood Steel Society; as such, we can only gift you both a surprise, follow us and claim your rewards."
Nero was a bit surprised as he didn't think this compulsory event had such things. His eyes flickered as he couldn't help but wonder what they might get, he was about to follow along, but Nero's eyes shifted to the side as he noticed two parties' arrival.