150 Buzz
When Serena saw her own ability being hurled in her direction, she picked up her sword from the ground and ran towards the huge lilac sphere. Just as she was about to collide against the sphere, she deactivated the <Stain of Estus>, which disappeared at that moment.
Still a bit out of breath, the half-wolf found himself targeted for an onslaught quickly. Luke picked up his axe and prepared to defend himself.
The <Stain of Estus> damage was visible on Luke’s body, which now had several torn parts in his light armor.
So once again, the Panspermia weapons collided; he didn’t let the woman try to get the advantage and kicked her legs deviously, causing her to lose the steadiness she had in her spine and consequently her arms. With this, Luke managed to overpower her strength and put her sword away. A clear line of the attack appeared in the half-wolf’s vision, indicating where he should cut.
However, Serena also saw this opening in her defense and to compensate, she used an ability. She left only her left hand holding the handle of the weapon, and in her right hand, she lowered her ring finger and little finger to make a sign.
Luke was startled when he saw her use the same <Vind> sign. Suddenly he was thrown away by a strong gust of wind. He fell into the sand and got up with a somersault.
‘If that’s how you’re going to play it, fine. I’ll spare no effort to beat you.’ Luke mentally spoke and started to run towards the woman.
However, when he got within a little over a meter of the woman and saw that Serena was ready to launch another gust of wind, an immense headache spread throughout his skull suddenly, causing his vision to blackout for a second.
To make matters worse, Luke was hit by a <Vind> so strong that it hurled him several feet upward. Since the half-beast’s mind was still confused and foggy, he just fell, and his thud on the sand made the audience roar out of sympathy for his pain.
Luke fell into the confines of the circle, and should one of his fingers cross the line that bounded the circle, he would be immediately disqualified.
The audience began to buzz, and their whispering sounded like buzzing inside the half-wolf’s brain. In quick flashes in his mind, Luke saw Alexis’ face three times, Meredith’s face once, Yoelona’s face once, and several times the sight of the beautiful open field.
He knew he was not passed out or asleep because he could still hear everything that was happening around him in the Municipal Arena.
‘Where the hell am I?’ he asked himself, trying to feel the ground. His hand touched the grains of sand and gripped them firmly. A few grains slipped out between his fingers.
During this time, the image of the green field fixed itself in his mind; however, as seconds passed, this panorama began to transform. The blue sky turned dark gray. The green grass became stained with blood. On the clear horizon, a figure appeared among the mist.
Bizarrely, this figure turned out to have the exact same appearance as Luke Lange. The same fluffy ears and the same bright yellow eyes.
But this figure had a more severe or even hollow expression. Although the half-wolf was very confused and still trying to endure the enormous headache, he still found the energy to attempt conversation.
“What the hell are you? My past? My future?”
The figure stared for a few seconds and then entered the dense mist. Luke closed his eyes to look ahead. He could neither see nor hear anything in the mist.
[Don’t go near that.] A voice resounded in his head.
Usually, people only used to hear this voice when they killed monsters, consumed cores, or their abilities evolved, so why was it advising Luke now?
Gradually the half-beast’s headache eased, and his consciousness returned to normal.
In the Municipal Arena, when everyone saw Luke fall backwards onto the ground, they thought that maybe the battle was already over, but Luke showed that he was still conscious when he grabbed some sand with his right hand.
Serena took a step to boost herself up when she saw that Luke was still conscious. ‘He’s near the border now. One push, and I’m going to the semifinal.’ Serena deduced, however, there was something different with Luke this time. She could sense it; for that reason, she did not run up to him immediately.
As soon as the ‘Half-Wolf’ began to stand up, albeit slowly, thousands of people shouted, causing the stadium to bursting into a new wave of excitement. People who never even considered exchanging words with any half-wolf now cheered for Luke Lange.
‘Holy shit… did I just black out for a few seconds? It feels like an eternity has passed.’
He stood up, looked straight into his opponent’s eyes, inexpressibly, and when he realized that she was not going to attack him, he began to stretch.
First, he cracked his spine, then he stretched his arms and pushed his spine to the limit.
The Miss Daren observed the whole thing, as did the other strong people watching the fight in the Municipal Arena. When he finished, he called out to her with his right hand and placed his left hand on his back.
‘I have to see a doctor urgently…’ That was the only thing he thought as he watched his opponent run towards him.
Since Serena brandished her sword again against Luke, who was unarmed, she was sure until the last second that he would not deflect, and he indeed did not. The half-beast put his left arm in front of the blade and stopped the blade with his own bone. The wound caused by the sword began to catch fire instantly, in dark blue flames.
‘If I want to be champion, I can’t be afraid to bleed for it.’ He concluded as he resisted the burning of the flames. ‘And if the headache and the buzzing come back, I’ll stay conscious with the pain if I have too.’
Luke took advantage of the woman’s completely open guard and punched her right in the region of the upper mediastinum. Nevertheless, this was not a usual punch because immediately after the blow, he turned his closed hand into a <Vind> sign and threw Serena Daren several meters away.
When he saw her sword fall on the ground, he picked it up to wield it.