Agent047
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789 - Return To Sender
🕑 Added 2024-11-22 09:31:21 +0000 UTC{Now that he's completed coordinate mapping, the entire area around here can be considered his domain. Anywhere you stop becomes a point where he can launch an attack almost instantaneously. You must keep moving,} Nova informed Aron, her tone urgent. Aron, still on the move, absorbed her words while enduring the fading pain from the backlash caused by his forcibly broken rune.
Unlike the damage that healed seamlessly when the spatial hole vanished, the destruction caused by the spatial lightning lingered.
Aron commanded, quickly tethering the flight runes to Nova through the rune computer interface embedded in his armor. This delegation was possible due to the system's design, allowing him to offload control of pre-existing runes while retaining the crucial role of mana provider.
With Nova now in control of the flight runes and fully synchronized with Aron's intentions, she immediately maneuvered away from the Trinarian fighter. Her primary objective was to determine the extent of the domain’s reach, testing whether the spatial manipulation covered the entirety of the Colosseum or had defined boundaries.
After covering a kilometer in mere seconds, Nova was forced to execute a sharp evasive maneuver, altering their trajectory as a spatial hole materialized directly in their path, threatening to send them into the vacuum of space if they continued forward.
What stood out this time, however, was the rapidity with which the hole formed. Nova had noticed a disturbing shift—the discrepancy in the surrounding mana, which had previously fluctuated at a relatively slow pace, was now increasing exponentially.
The holes were no longer forming at a gradual pace; they were nearing the speed of instant materialization. This change hinted at the Trinarian fighter’s growing mastery over the area, making it more dangerous and unpredictable with every passing second.
This hole didn’t last long. The moment Nova adjusted Aron’s trajectory, it collapsed, releasing a shockwave that rippled through the surrounding space like a triggered proximity mine.
Thankfully, Nova was in control of the flight rune. Had Aron been directly managing it, his flight might have faltered under the strain. The shockwave had literally rippled through the surrounding fabric of space itself. Despite being enclosed within a shield, Aron felt the full brunt of the shockwave. The shield, designed to intercept external forces, was powerless against a phenomenon that impacted the very plane of existence it shared.
It was akin to drawing a protective circle around a stick figure on a sheet of paper and expecting that circle to shield the figure from the paper folding in on itself—a futile effort against the intrinsic nature of their shared medium.
Aron, shaken by the shockwave and momentarily losing focus, saw his prepared spells dissipate, forcing him to restart their creation. However, he remained unfazed, knowing this was only the beginning and that the situation would worsen. Without hesitation, he crafted an explosion rune but left it devoid of mana, shrouding it with a stealth rune. He then sent it toward the Trinarian fighter’s previous location, now vacant as the opponent had disappeared shortly after the fight began.
Aron infused it with half a percent of his mana reserves and immediately triggered its detonation. This time, he encased the explosive rune in a shield rune shaped like a beaker, with its narrow exit aimed directly at the Trinarian fighter’s previous location. The setup effectively transformed the explosion into a focused cannon blast, concentrating its force in a single, devastating direction.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
The explosion erupted with immense force, shaking the entire arena and sending shockwaves rippling through the air. The blast left a blinding light and a deafening roar, demanding the attention of everyone watching.
Not only that, Aron, the orchestrator of the explosion, was now being propelled across kilometers of distance, carried by the immense shockwave generated by the blast. Nova, now fully in control of the flight rune, used it primarily to stabilize and direct his trajectory. In a matter of moments, Aron found himself over fifty kilometers away from the detonation site, his speed reminiscent of the manhole covers famously launched into space by underground nuclear explosions—an unintended but spectacular consequence of the focused energy release.
Once Aron came to a full stop, he turned to look back at the site of the explosion, expecting to witness a massive mushroom cloud rising into the sky or perhaps even a gaping hole left in the Colosseum. However, what greeted him was far more astonishing—the explosion, along with all its destructive aftermath, had vanished entirely, leaving no trace that it had ever occurred.
But Aron had no time to register his surprise as a massive hole materialized just a few meters behind him. The explosion he had triggered moments earlier appeared to have been redirected, returning to him with full force. Due to the mana disturbance throughout the Colosseum caused by the detonation, the creation of the hole had gone undetected until it was too late. Flames, still retaining their original directional velocity, instantly engulfed Aron, leaving him no room to maneuver.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
The audience, captivated by the unfolding chaos, stood frozen, their mouths agape in disbelief. Reactions were starkly divided, with those loyal to the Emperor feeling their hearts sink, dreading the consequences of his apparent defeat. On the other hand, those supporting the Conclave felt their hope rekindled, like a flame reigniting after being drowned by an ocean. Yet, even with this surge of optimism, they dared not fully embrace it, haunted by the memory of the unpredictable twists that had occurred earlier. What was undeniable, however, was that no one—regardless of allegiance—could tear their eyes away from the screens. The spectacle unfolding was beyond anything they had expected, and no one wanted to miss a single moment of it.
Is this the end of the emperor, or merely an obstacle larger than any before? The spectators were left pondering this question, their eyes fixed on the chaotic scene unfolding before them. The flames, now returned to their origin with an unstoppable force, ravaged the Colosseum, showing no signs of halting. The very air seemed to crackle with the heat and destruction they wrought.
The Trinairian fighter seemed to be contemplating the same question. His next moves made it clear that he intended to eliminate all doubt.
He responded by unleashing a series of spatial attacks, some visible to the audience, others hidden within the flames themselves. These attacks worked in unison, targeting everything consumed by the fire with the sole intent of erasing it all. His goal was clear: the only outcome he wanted to emerge from the inferno was the AI referee's announcement signaling the end of the fight, and nothing else.
