858 T.D.o.N.B: Idiot
Since she wasn’t even listening to me, I focused again on the Tv screen, where Sung-Jin jammed his cane in the and. He then spreads his arms wide, and the lion’s head bursts into flames. One by one, at the same height, a similar first of fire appeared, following along the walls of the arena, creating this chain.
Since he was so hard concentrating on the attack, I immediately knew it was some strong, at least for him, magic. John noticed it too.
He didn’t hesitate at all, briefly focusing to bring the red spirit to its full power again. It expanded around his body as he was already rushing forward to reach the mage before he finished the attack.
He was going faster and faster with every step, but because of the distance he had to cover, he needed could of seconds. The first one passed, then the second one did the same, and the third one followed along, before he leaped forward, about to throw his weapon at the mage.
Unfortunately, nothing like that happened.
The flames linked together briefly, creating this instantaneous ring, which then burst into a raging, massive pillar of pure fire, which reached the top of the dome-shaped barrier protecting the audience, and spreading alongside its walls.
It lasted a few seconds in such a way, before disappearing.
Sung-Jin was panting heavily after such a powerful attack because there was not much oxygen in the air, so he had to take deep breaths. He almost collapsed, barely stopping himself thanks to grabbing the cane jammed into the ground, which gave him the additional support he needed.
Meanwhile, John was lying on the ground. The little of his shin which was visible from under his clothes was completely red.
Tihana stood up with the pillow dangling from her mouth when she saw that. Her eyes were wide, but she couldn’t squeeze any sound out. Celestine joined her, putting her arm around her shoulders to provide support, I didn’t do any of that, instead focused again on the arena.
The audience was holding their breaths. Even the commentators couldn’t say a thing. It was more than obvious that all of them thought he was dead, but John moved. He slowly picked himself off the ground, fighting with every single muscle to pull this off.
People observed for a few seconds, as he was picking himself off the ground, with his head still on the sand, fighting with his arms to rise his torso.
– Stand! Come on, you can do this! – somebody shouted from the audience.
– Where the hell is the medical team?! – Tihana yelled at the TV screen.
– Calm down! – Celestine tried to comfort her.
I just watched as the audience picked up on the guy. They slowly started chanting:
– Stand! Stand! Stand!
It spread further among the people. Meanwhile, the commentators couldn’t squeeze out a word. I knew quite well what was going on, but they clearly didn’t.
Then John’s transformation ended, and he jumped straight on his legs, turning to Sung-Jin. He had completely black eyes, like two marbles, and red skin, with two tiny horns on his forehead.
When Tihana saw that, her jaw dropped to the ground. I, on the other hand, chuckled shortly. After all her boyfriend got that class thanks to me. A little preparation before the tournament sponsored by daddy Peter.
The price shot a fireball at him, but John backhanded it sending it straight at the wall protected by the barrier. The flames smashed into it, licking quite a bit of surface when the projectile exploded.
This attack made it quite obvious that the fire mage was at his limits because of the mana he had to pump into the powerful spell. His opponent, after the transformation, looked perfectly fine. He even bent to pick up his weapon off the ground before slowly starting to move toward him.
Sung-Jin showed his white teeth as he made an angry face, jamming the cane once again in the sand. He extended both hands straight at John, then closed his eyes concentrating.
– What an idiot – left my mouth.
John didn’t seem to care, as he didn’t increase his speed beyond the casual walk. A pillar of ice burst out from under his feet spreading in a few directions as it rapidly grew.
I facepalmed.
– He was doing so great, but he had to fuck up! – I said.
– I thought you were talking about that mage – Celestine said.
– No. I was talking about John. People like this Sung-Jin always have a different type of move prepared. He knew that fire magic wasn’t working. He confirmed it with that fireball. Then from the time of casting it was obvious he brought out a heavy gun, which meant it just couldn’t be another fire-based spell – I explained turning towards her.
– He is fine! – Tihana yelled.
This brought my attention once again to the TV screen. The piler of ice was shattered, with fragments sprayed around the glass covering the ground. Among them was John surrounded by his red dragon spirit, and the flames enveloping his body.
– Now go for the victory, you idiot! – I nagged him through the TV screen. – Don’t try to play it cool. Just run and punch that guy in the face!
To my surprise, he did just that, but Sung-Jin didn’t just wait, despite his visibly bad condition. He was sweating, and his gallant pose was long gone. He clearly had trouble with even standing, and yet he pulled more magic out of his body.
Ice started to burst from under John’s feet as he was moving forward, forcing him to dodge. He landed on all fours. Well, all threes, since in one hand he was still holding the halberd above his head.
His demonic powers influenced his balance too, as he was almost as quick moving in such a way, dodging, and jumping, as he was on just his legs. The distance was inevitably closing. The match was about to conclude.
Everybody, once again, held their breaths anticipating the last clash.