DEATH OF GIOVANNI

Giovanni stared at Kojo, then began to laugh, pulling his hair.

"You think this is some joke? No, it's my fault. I should have torn you limb from limb. Of course, a simple stab to the head wasn't going to kill you. After all, it's what you deserve for killing my brother!"

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Kojo said.

He suddenly remembered Gaston.

"Oh, that guy. So you're doing this 'cause of revenge? If you had a beef with me, you could have just walked up to me, and we'd settle it instead of rigging the tournament."

"I didn't rig the tournament," Giovanni said, scratching his head.

"I dunno, man, 'cause this death dome kinda giving a different vibe," Kojo said, waving his hand.

"What if I was involved in it, so what? I did anything to pay back the one who killed my brother. Sure, he was crude, but he'd never do anything to warrant such a response."

"Yeah, assaulting people is just the kind of thing an innocent person would do."

"Oh, please, even if I slugged anyone who deserved it. Even if it was the king!"

"(Quite the family.)"

"Tell me about it."

Sasha watched their exchange in confusion. She was, however, shocked by the amount of arcana Kojo was giving off. She was even more surprised when she realized he was limiting the amount of arcana he had.

"Well, you may have survived my first attack, but I didn't, but you'll be able to endure the horrors I have planned for you. Within this barrier, I am essentially god. Not even that sacred sword's going to save you. I'll make you suffer so much that—"

Kojo yawned.

"At this rate, the only thing you can actually do to me is bore me to death," Kojo said.

"How dare you—" Giovanni yelled, but the gravity around him increased, and he was pulled into the ground with so much force it sent dust into the air. Kojo walked to him, unaffected by the anti-gravity field he cast. He squatted and pulled Giovanni's head up by the hair.

"I don't think you understand your predicament. The one who's gonna suffer here is you," Kojo said, his eyes glowing. Kojo then punched Giovanni in the air and began unleashing a barrage of punches and kicks, throwing in elemental attacks and ensuring that he felt every bit of it.

"What's going on?" Sharone asked with concern.

"Beats me, I'm right here with you," Koniko responded.

"I hope Kojo's doing alright," Adriana said.

Yukio jumped down into the stadium. She touched the barrier, then punched it, the force of her blow shaking the arena. She withdrew her hand and stared at the black dome.

Eye of Horus!

Her blue eyes glowed. Using her ability, she saw an overwhelming purple aura raging within. Cracks started appearing on the barrier, and loud screams could be heard from within. She flew back to the VIP stand.

"Kojo's fine. Though I can't say the same for the other guy," she said. She heard a mechanical sound like gears turning and turned. Magic circles appeared on the dome and began to turn like gears. Humanoid constructs crawled out of them. Their limbs morphed into blades, and they began to attack the audience. The mages reinforcing the barrier tried to hold them off by erecting another barrier.

Within the barrier, Kojo stepped back after beating the living hell out of Giovanni.

Poison King!

Kojo impaled Giovanni with spikes of frozen poison, turning him into a human pin cushion. He then wrapped his threads around him and began to pull him apart.

Spatial Compression!

Kojo lifted Giovanni into the air with gravity, then caused his body to slowly implode. There were disgusting crunching sounds as his bones broke over each other.

"You see, it's annoying pieces of shit like you who make it their sole purpose to piss off people like me. Why'd you try to fight me if you knew you didn't have the power to back it up? If this was another story, the MC would have tried to reason with you, then knock you out and hand you over to the authorities, but screw that, I'm roasting your ass," Kojo said, raising his hands. A magic circle appeared under Giovanni. Ten huge magic circles appeared above the arena, stacked above one another.

A huge ball of concentrated light charged up above the magic circles.

"Is this your doing, Lady Yukio?" Leo asked.

"No. It's Kojo," she replied.

Kojo extended his thumb and index fingers, crossing them over each other.

"Well, it was nice knowing ya. At least you found purpose by being a test for how effective my new spell is. Now, what to call it? Ah, yes,

(Solar Extinction!)"

At that moment, there was a bright flash as the ball released a beam of energy that passed through all ten magic circles, going through Giovanni's anti-magic circle before hitting the barrier. Giovanni reinforced it by making dozens of other barriers above it, but they all broke one by one before it hit the main dome. Not giving up, Giovanni focused all his arcana into the barrier around them, but it began to crack.

Magic circles appeared around him, and lightning shot out of them, electrocuting him.

The beam then broke through the dome, engulfing him with brilliant white light. The beam died down, and the magic circles disappeared.

Kojo lowered his hands and walked forward. He stopped in front of a crater where Giovanni was and looked down into a bottomless pit.

"Yeah, I think that was too strong."

("Why'd you use such a high-level spell when he was gonna die anyway?")

"Uh, I dunno, for kicks, I guess," he said, scratching his hair.

("You idiot.") He heard someone moving towards him and turned.

Sasha walked up to him, dragging her sword. Kojo braced himself for a fight, but Sasha bowed with her head to the ground.

"I surrender."

The whole arena was silent. Then there was a loud roar as the crowd cheered.

"I don't know what's going on right now. I'm sure I saw our organizer Giovanni jumped into the arena. And what was that power just now? Well, folks, for the first time since the Dio'ri was started, Opal has won the tournament. The winner is Atari Kojo!" Zang yelled.

The crowd roared again.

"Guess I won," Kojo said, waving at the spectators. Sasha lunged at him, giving him a deep kiss. There was a loud "Uuuuuuh" from the crowd. She detached herself, licking her lips.

She turned and went through a portal.

"What was that about?" Kojo said, touching his lips.

("Don't act like you didn't enjoy that.")

"Oh, yes. Very much."

He felt a strong pressure pushing down on him but didn't dare turn to look at the source.

"Crap."

("Yeah, you're in deep shit now.")

"So Giovanni died," Cyranius said, looking down as Sharone and the others questioned Kojo in a kiss.

"Guess I'll need to take care of it myself."