Chapter 40: Doom’s Price For Wish

Time had passed, and night had already fallen. A beautiful crimson moon shone above the coliseum, twisting shadows into horrific creatures. This time, the coliseum was floating in the air above an endless abyss, suspended by ancient magic.

From all across the multiverse, spectators had been summoned—this time with their physical bodies rather than mere projections. They were genuinely excited to be present, their faces alight with anticipation.

"Thank you for this opportunity, Doom Master!" a warrior covered in enchanted armour shouted.

"Start already! Finally, I'm here in person!" screamed a beast-like creature, its glowing eyes brimming with battle lust.

Finally, the Doom Master appeared on his obsidian throne. In his piercing eyes, one could clearly see interest and expectations for an entertaining fight. He raised his hand toward the arena, his voice commanding and absolute.

"Summon the fighters," he ordered, his words reverberating through the coliseum.

Hanz, standing attentively behind him, walked toward the edge of the arena. He bowed deeply to the Doom Master before turning to address the eager crowd.

"Our lord has commanded, so let us meet our fighters!" he announced, his voice magically amplified. "First, the best team this season—Preston and Tildtetiles!!!"

The crowd erupted in cheers as spotlights illuminated one entrance.

"And their opponents," Hanz continued, a mischievous grin spreading across his face, "I don't fear to say this—imagining worse teamwork is nearly impossible—meet Xylais Siens and Manu!!!"

With these introductions, the massive gates on opposite sides of the arena opened, and the two teams walked onto the battlefield. Each team approached the center, standing face-to-face with their opponents, sizing each other up.

"Huh, so you will be my last opponent?!" Xylais smirked, patting Preston's head condescendingly. "You're too small to be here," he laughed, his voice echoing across the arena.

"Get your dirty hands off me!" Preston growled, pushing Xylais's palm away with surprising force.

"Look! The gnome is angry!!!" Xylais laughed mockingly, his eyes glinting with malice.

Tildtetiles stepped forward, towering over Xylais. The massive orc looked down at his opponent with contempt. "Hoh! Look who's talking!" He patted Xylais's head in return. "Stop being so annoying, gnomy."

Xylais's face contorted with rage, his eyes filling with blood-red fury. "How dare you touch me!" He turned sharply toward Hanz. "It's already time to start, no?"

Hanz grinned broadly, sensing the tension that promised an excellent spectacle. "Let's start the duel!!!" he shouted as a massive gong rang out and magical stars exploded overhead, mimicking spectacular fireworks.

The moment the signal sounded, Xylais lunged forward, catching Tildtetiles's hand. "So I am gnomy'?" he snarled, lifting the surprised orc and crashing him into the ground with supernatural strength. The impact was so powerful that both Preston and Manu were thrown backward by the shockwave.

Xylais stepped on Tildtetiles's head, grinding his boot down. "So who's the gnomy now?!" He laughed maniacally, eyes wild with sadistic pleasure.

Tildtetiles, despite the pain, summoned his power and pushed Xylais away with a concentrated air strike, freeing himself. He stood up, his massive frame radiating anger, and created a vacuum sphere around Xylais's head.

"Now you will die in agony!!!" Tildtetiles laughed, certain of his victory.

But Xylais stood unshaken, a sinister smile spreading across his face. "I am a ghost—I don't need air!!!" he declared before rushing toward Tildtetiles with renewed fury.

Meanwhile, when Manu and Preston had been pushed away by the initial impact, they had begun their own battle.

Manu attacked Preston with water spears, the liquid solidifying into deadly projectiles mid-air. Preston, however, summoned the spectral hand of Susanoo and blocked them with practiced precision

The moment Preston dismissed Susanoo, Manu closed the distance between them and struck with his war flail. "Take that!" he shouted as the weapon connected.

The war flail hit Preston's arm, forcing him back several steps. "Huh, good hit!" Preston acknowledged with a grim smile before firing a bolt from his crossbow. Manu dodged it by a hair's breadth.

At this moment, Preston noticed Xylais rushing toward Tildtetiles. He immediately sprinted to protect his teammate, but Xylais had a head start.

To increase his speed, Preston summoned Susanoo's hands, grabbed the ground, and launched himself like an arrow from a crossbow. He struck Xylais with Susanoo's massive fist, driving him deep into the arena floor

"Quickly, Tild—attack!" Preston shouted to his teammate.

Tildtetiles, responding instantly, used his air magic to form powerful gloves around his hands and attacked the fallen Xylais. Manu, attempting to help from a distance, fired water spears, but his accuracy was terrible. Instead of hitting the enemy, he struck Tildtetiles's air gloves. Though Tildtetiles didn't receive damage, he was momentarily surprised, giving Xylais the opportunity to escape.

"You should have killed him!" Xylais shouted furiously as he rejoined Manu.

"Sorry, but we don't have time for this!" Manu replied, keeping his eyes on their opponents

"How dare you talk to me like this?!" Xylais, enraged by his partner's insolence, struck Manu in the face. The orc fell to the ground, stunned by the betrayal.

Xylais turned back to their opponents, a cruel smirk on his face. "This was quite an interesting fight, but I don't want to drag it out anymore!" he shouted. Suddenly, countless copies of himself materialized around the arena. In perfect unison, they declared, "Let's finish this!"

Seeing the overwhelming threat, Tildtetiles shouted, "Preston, get down!" As Preston dropped to the ground, air from all around the coliseum gathered around Tildtetiles. It took mere seconds for him to concentrate the swirling vortex, forming it into a perfect sphere around himself. Then, with a mighty roar, he released the air as razor-sharp blades in all directions.

Every clone of Xylais was destroyed instantly, dissolving into mist. Xylais himself received a deep gash across his chest, while Manu lost an arm entirely, severed clean by the air blades.

The injury was fatal for Manu. Preston appeared before him as he struggled to rise. Manu tried to shout "You—!" but Preston's fist crashed into his mouth, silencing him.

With his hand still in Manu's mouth, Preston lifted him into the air. "Bye bye!" he grinned savagely before triggering an explosion inside Manu's head. The head shattered into pieces, blood and machine oil spraying across Preston's face and chest. The lifeless body fell to the ground as Preston slicked back his hair, now drenched in blood. "That's better!"

Preston turned his attention to Xylais. "You're next…" he began, but the words died in his throat as he saw the lifeless body of Tildtetiles dangling from Xylais's hand.

In the moment when Preston had killed Manu, Xylais had pierced Tildtetiles's chest. Exhausted from his powerful air attack, Tildtetiles had fallen without resistance.

Xylais, holding Tildtetiles's still-beating heart in his hand, smiled cruelly as crimson droplets fell between his fingers. The organ pulsed once, twice, then began to slow as the spectators gasped in horror. "What? You didn't expect your beloved teammate to die?" He relished the rage that transformed Preston's face—eyes widening in disbelief before narrowing into slits of pure hatred. "Oh, don't look at me like that—I'm so afraid!" he mocked, his voice dripping with sarcasm. With a contemptuous flick, he threw Tildtetiles's body at Preston while simultaneously charging forward, his ghostly form leaving a trail of cold mist behind him.

Preston caught his teammate's broken body, arms trembling as he felt the warmth rapidly fading from Tildtetiles's skin. Blood soaked through his clothes, and in that vulnerable moment of grief, he received a devastating uppercut from Xylais that connected with a sickening crack. The impact launched him skyward, copper-tasting blood filling his mouth as he spiraled through the air. Yet even as his body reeled, his mind focused. He channeled his fury and immediately summoned the full Susanoo around himself—an enormous spectral warrior glowing with ethereal blue light that encased him in its protective embrace.

"You bastard!" he screamed, his voice distorted by grief and rage, echoing from within the massive entity. The coliseum trembled as the Susanoo's eyes flared with matching anger. The massive spectral warrior began crashing its fists into the ground with earth-shattering force, creating craters and fissures in the arena floor, trying to crush Xylais beneath them. Each impact sent shockwaves through the floating structure, making spectators grip their seats in fear.

Xylais, laughing maniacally, dodged all the punches with supernatural speed, his body blurring as he weaved between the attacks. Dust and debris filled the air with each near miss. "Come on, you can do better than that!" he taunted, jumping impossibly high and delivering a powerful kick to Susanoo's face. The impact resonated with a thunderous boom. The giant guardian stumbled backward, its massive form crashing to the arena floor with such force that several spectators were thrown from their seats. Xylais's freezing laughter echoed across the coliseum, chilling the air around him as frost formed where his feet touched the ground.

But Preston wasn't finished. His eyes gleamed with deadly purpose from within Susanoo as he changed tactics. From Susanoo's palm came an unexpected explosion—a concentrated blast of energy that spiraled through the air. Xylais, overconfident in his superior speed, dodged a fraction too late. The blast barely grazed his arm—yet it was enough. The limb tore off at the shoulder in a spray of dark, viscous blood and spectral energy, disintegrating as it fell.

"You bastard! How dare you!" Xylais screamed, bloody tears streaming from his eyes, leaving crimson trails down his pale face. The wound smoked and hissed, refusing to heal as would be normal for his kind. Maddened by pain and rage, he abandoned all strategy and rushed toward Preston without any protection. His remaining hand began to glow with a sickly purple light as he focused all his remaining strength on the spot where Preston controlled Susanoo, the center of the spectral warrior's chest.

With his remaining hand, Xylais was still stronger than Susanoo's defenses. Each strike left cracks in the spiritual armor, spreading like spider webs across its surface. Slowly but relentlessly, he broke through, getting closer to Preston. The spectators fell silent, watching the desperate struggle. After what seemed like an eternity, with one final, devastating punch, Preston's guard finally fell. The Susanoo's chest shattered, exposing Preston within.

"You bastard—I'm here to kill you!" Xylais shouted triumphantly, his eyes wild with bloodlust. He raised his hand, to deliver the final blow.

"Too late!!!" Preston roared, and with his last remaining energy, released an explosion ray of unprecedented power.

The air around him distorted as a blinding white-hot beam erupted from his palms with a deafening shriek. The energy was so intense that the air itself ignited in its path, creating a tunnel of cascading explosions that raced toward Xylais.

When the beam struck, it didn't merely hit Xylais—it erased him. A blinding flash engulfed the arena, shaking the coliseum to its foundations. As the light faded and the echoing boom subsided, nothing remained of his opponent—not even dust. Only a perfect circular scorch mark on the far wall marked where the devastating energy had finally dissipated.

Preston sighed with relief and raised his fist in the air, signaling victory. The crowd erupted in thunderous ovations.

"Well done! I knew from the start that you would win!" they shouted, their voices so powerful that the entire coliseum shook with their enthusiasm.

The Doom Master raised his hand, and an immediate silence fell over the coliseum. He stood from his throne, fixing Preston with a cold smile.

"You have won, and I congratulate you with my full heart," he announced, his voice carrying a hint of reluctance. "But first, let's revive your teammate!"

With a snap of the master's fingers, Tildtetiles stood up, fully restored. For a moment, Preston couldn't move, frozen in disbelief as he watched the color return to his friend's ashen face. His heart hammered against his ribs as Tildtetiles took his first new breath.

"Tild…" Preston's voice broke, the single syllable carrying all the grief he'd felt moments before. He lunged forward and embraced his teammate tightly, his fingers digging into Tildtetiles's back as if to confirm he was truly solid, truly alive. His shoulders shook with silent, suppressed sobs—a warrior unwilling to show weakness before the Doom Master, yet unable to contain the storm of relief washing through him.

"Welcome back," he whispered, his voice rough with emotion. His forehead pressed against Tildtetiles's shoulder, hiding the moisture that had gathered in his eyes. After witnessing his friend's heart torn from his chest, feeling the warmth returning to Tildtetiles's body was like reclaiming a piece of his own soul.

Preston looked directly at the Doom Master, his gaze unwavering despite the exhaustion and pain that wracked his body. His eyes, still glistening with unshed tears for his fallen comrade, burned with determination and the weight of countless lost lives.

"I want you to revive my universe," he stated boldly, his voice cracking slightly with the enormity of his request. His hands trembled at his sides—not from fear, but from the overwhelming hope that suddenly filled his chest. The memories of his destroyed home, the faces of everyone he had lost, flashed through his mind as he held his breath.

The Doom Master's face darkened, clearly disliking this wish that would undo one of his previous acts of destruction. A muscle twitched in his jaw as he regarded Preston with cold calculation. But he was a being of his word, bound by the ancient laws of the coliseum.

"Your wish is granted!" he declared. With a snap of his fingers, reality itself seemed to bend. Preston felt it immediately—a rush of connection, millions upon millions of lives suddenly existing again, a wave of sensation so powerful that it brought him to his knees. He gasped, overcome by the knowledge that his people lived once more, unaware of their brush with oblivion. For a moment, his usually guarded expression broke into one of pure, unfiltered joy.

The Doom Master turned away from Preston's display of emotion with thinly veiled disgust. "Now you," he turned to Tildtetiles, his voice carrying an edge of impatience.

With equal emotion.

The Doom Master regarded them coldly. "Now, let's hear your wishes," he commanded.

"I want my daughter to be healed," Tildtetiles said, falling to his knees as tears appeared in his eyes. "She has a rare illness that can't be cured with our technologies. Please, Doom Master!"

The Doom Master smiled, seeming to enjoy Tildtetiles's desperation. He snapped his fingers. "Your wish is granted!"

"Thank you, Doom Master," Tildtetiles whispered, overcome with emotion.

The Doom Master vanished from sight, and the crowd erupted once more. "Great wishes! Hope everything will be good now! I almost cried!"

Hanz stepped forward to address the spectators. "With this, this season of duels comes to an end, and now it's time to say goodbye." He snapped his fingers, and everyone in the audience returned to their respective homes across the multiverse.

Later, Hanz entered the Doom Master's private chamber. "Everything is done, my lord. But I have one question—why weren't the winners returned to their homes?" he asked curiously.

The Doom Master raised an eyebrow. "Who said they would return home? They made their wishes, and none of them wished for returning!" A sinister laugh escaped his throat, echoing through the chamber.

"With this, we conclude this season. Until we meet again, dear readers."