Chapter 27: The Awaited Fight Part 2

Like an elegant ballerina, Erven spun around. Without any reason, he suddenly stopped and held the anomaly in his hand, pointing it at Barbados.

"Do you wish to see a disappearing act?" asked Erven. By this point, the crowd was uncontrollable as the pinnacle of the fight was slowly approaching. Erven raised the elegant hole in space, and with a swift flick of his wrist, he vanished as the small abyss engulfed him. "Hahaha!" A string of laughs could be heard erupting from thin air.

"Show yourself!" yelled Barbados as he slashed haphazardly.

"My friend, it's all a trick." Erven said as he reapered behind Barbados and tried to plunge his crescent blade into Barbados's muscular back. It shattered like fragile glass.

"Got you magic man." said the Sinborn as he dug his foot in the ground and twisted his upper body to face Erven, tensing his fist and striking Erven's body.

The human body flew, but disappeared in midair once again. The same voice spoke around him.

"It's time to end this routine, don't you agree?"

"Yeah," replied Barbados, "I'll show you something truly magical." Erven appeared back to where he left the black hole.

"Ready. Look at this." Erven clicked his fingers, and as if a barrier had been removed, the effects were instantaneous. The air was being devoured by the miniscule object. Erven mimicked the movement of hitting the ground with a flail that the disaster imitated. It ate away at the area of impact.

"How sinister human. Let me add some of my own flare." He dropped the dadao sword, which cracked the earth, and using his freed-up arm, he conjured a colourless substance.

"FOLKS I CAN'T BELIEVE IT. THE RESIDENT OLD GUY HAS SUCCESSFULLY USED A POWER THAT DIDN'T EXIST IN HIS ERA!" The most shocked reaction came from Adam and the rest of the staff. All but Grog stared in awe.

"Grog, I can sense a thin layer of mana being used…tell me what exactly he is doing."

"Just like you said sir. He is using mana. It is only a thin layer of mana, but keep sensing what he is about to do. I believe it will be an amazing action." The staff watched, completely forgetting about the presence of the Arcanists in a separate room.

"He…h,he is using mana," said Rathna while gasping for air, "Chief, did you know about this?"

"Hah," laughed Asher, "I hadn't even the smallest idea of this." Rathna clenched the bottle of liquid, deliberating if her previous plan would work at the revelations that were unfolding in front of her eyes.

"Hey Barbados. Nice mana disc, what will you do with it, play catch? Why ditch the sword? It looked cooler than that flaccid disappointment."

"Was," said Barbados, lost for words, "Was that a dick joke? In this situation, you dare go after my pristine body." Barbados growled at the thought of ridicule. "If you want to see something more grand, have at it" he thought. Barbados unleashed an enormous amount of pure white mana. He folded the disk into a rectangular shape and pulled on it, forming a long spear-like weapon. "Do you trust the phenomenon to resist this attack, or do you believe it will shatter?"

"I do not care. Attack already!" yelled Erven. Barbados prepared to launch the spear and threw it. All eyes were on the mana construct and all failed to see Barbados get close to Erven.

"Surprise."

"What, but you sent that spear flying?" asked the tutor, shocked.

"It was a distraction. I have you now." Barbados once again conjured mana, this time pouring out nearly all of the mana in his mana heart. He formed a warhammer by condensing the mana. "Stone." he mumbled to himself. He imagined all the ways stone could be sensed and was able to transmute the raw mana into pure rock with moss growing on it. There was a halo indent on one side and a pair of horns on the other.

"Have mercy?" asked Erven.

"Not today." replied Barbados as he knocked out his opponent, which also stopped the enlarging ball of doom. A huge wave of mana was released from the ball when it shattered, leaving the audience's hair stuck up.

"THE…THE WINNER," said the announcer as he hallucinated all that bet money turning to dust" THE WINNER IS BARBADOS!" A single tear fell from behind his sunglasses, which Barbados noticed.

"You bet on him??" questioned Barbados as he walked back to the changing rooms.

"No comment." replied Azer Norman, the beloved Recluse announcer.

"How did you know that I could use mana? I mean before the fight."

"When I asked them to shoot that concentrated ray of mana? You could say I have great eyes, and my great eyes want to warn you of something. You are the first non-human to ever use mana."

"I can presume that many other races will want my knowledge?"

"Exactly." answered the Recluse.

"The method I used could only be used by me, possibly the rest of my race too. I converted the mana from its liquid-like state to a solid crystal. I called it a mana heart."

"And where is this container housed?" asked Azer.

"Here." replied Barbados as he took off the pendant and reverted back to his original form. He dug his hand into his chest and pulled aside to reveal the place where one's heart would regularly be housed. "My heart is being kept away from me to keep me in this weakened condition."

"You are originally even stronger?" Azer was shocked, but noticed the presence of a person following them. He leaned over to Barbados and whispered to him.

"There is someone behind us. Play it off cool." Without skipping a beat, Barbados replied.

"No way, really? They are supposedly releasing a new season of that show?"

"Yep. It's going to be season 4."

"But season 3 only just finished. What can I say, it's a big hit." The two pretended to talk about a show that didn't exist, making a getaway from the depressing corridors. Rathna had tried to listen to their conversation, but wanted to know more. She couldn't be left on a cliffhanger like that. She went to the restroom and saw the librarian that worked at the 5 Star Academy. Without the druid lady knowing, Rathna stabbed into her a small needle that was invisible to the naked eye.

"I will get my answer." she said to herself.