Fire fists were filling the battlefield. Detaching from the giant's body, they were coming at Jashua from all directions. The Young Count didn't budge an inch from where he stood; he settled for parrying the attacks with his metallic staff.
"Do you see it too?"
The Representative in Golden Armor turned right and called out to his other three friends, but no answer came. Their eyes saw nothing but Jashua.
"The fire energy is dissipating. When he hits it with his weapon, it vanishes as if it never existed!"
Jashua was using the technique of the First Sheikh of the Holy Blood Sect; no matter how many or how fierce the fire energies breaking off from the fists were, he couldn't care less.
"Lava!"
His friend waiting in the back shouted; she was aware of what was happening. While her friend was draining his energy, his opponent was keeping up the fight without breaking a sweat.
While she was aware of this, how could Lava, who was melting moment by moment, not know? The young man, who had turned into a giant, was changing his attack style. Since the plan to weaken the enemy with ranged attacks backfired, he charged with his weapon, which had grown just like his body.
The blow was nothing like the previous fireballs; when Jashua wanted to meet it with his weapon and scatter it, the force of the strike sent him flying back dozens of steps.
"Don't wait, press the attack!"
The leader of the Holy Fire team raised her voice considerably; she didn't even need to say it because Lava had already crossed half the distance. As the machete, which had reached the size of two humans, came down on Jashua's pipe-shaped weapon, flames wreathed his body; even if he dissipated the fire energy, he was being overpowered in pure strength.
"Atractivo, the first victim is coming. When Lava is done with him, not you, not even the mother who gave birth to him will be able to recognize him!"
The Holy Fire Sect Sheikh Fuego was shouting at the top of her lungs, but the person she was spewing hatred at was very calm.
"You fool, you still haven't figured it out, have you?"
"Stop talking nonsense you drunk, it's all going to be over in a minute!"
Atractivo stood up; along with him, the sheikhs of the other five sects also sprang from their seats. The battle of the two disciples was ongoing, but outside the flame shield, things had gotten messy.
"Ha ha ha! Ha ha ha! Ha ha ha!"
"Shall I let you in on a little secret?"
The Holy Blood Sect Sheikh took a step or two and stopped; everyone had already gone for their weapons anyway.
"You all might have come with the top five disciples of your sects' new generation, but I did something completely different. I brought three gods with me.
What's wrong, surprised? You just had the honor of seeing the Wind God with your own eyes; he took down your disciple in the blink of an eye.
Now it's the God of Death's turn; sit back and watch him do what he does best!"
When Atractivo finished his words and sat back down, some of the held breaths were exhaled in a hurry; every move of the drunk man was enough to stretch the nerves in the room.
The magic of the words coming out of his mouth turned everyone's attention, without exception, back to the battlefield covered by the ring of fire, but things there weren't as expected at all. Lava, in the form of a Fire Giant, was ten steps away from the Young Count, and his machete was covered in blood.
"The God of Death! Another lie the weak made up to make themselves feel better!"
The proud-looking Lava covered the five-step distance by taking a stride befitting his giant size; judging by the position of his weapon, he was gearing up for the final blow.
"Jashua!"
As the giant pillar of fire came down on his head, the Young Count heard a voice; he knew exactly who it was. He gripped his weapon that fell to the ground and swung it with one hand.
His action, for those who didn't know him, couldn't go beyond the final struggle of a victim, but the Holy Blood Team was well aware of what was coming. The arm of Lava in his giant form, covered in roaring fire energy, was going back as fast as it came; it was his turn to be sent flying.
"Guadaña de la muerte"
Jashua whispered towards his weapon. The giant staff, adorned with notches, souvenirs of the blows it had taken, started changing shape right then.
Its bright metallic color first dulled, then practically rotted and turned black. The reliefs appearing all the way down overlapped and blended. The hand-span-sized sickle at its lower end was the same color as the weapon, it was black.
On the part facing the enemy, a massive scythe head was forming; there were red reliefs on the black. The reliefs looked like blood vessels wrapping around the scythe head, they were swelling and deflating as if they were alive.
"Come here!"
Gripping his weapon with one hand, Jashua extended his other hand forward towards the enemy and roared. No one understood why he shouted, but right after, the bloods on the machete covered in fire energy started moving.
A breath later, Jashua's weapon was surrounded by the same bloods; even the lava-like energy hadn't been able to burn his blood. The Young Count marched on the enemy who was trying to shake off his bewilderment; he wanted to seize the psychological upper hand.
Lava saw the challenge; he wasn't one to back down after being repelled just once. The weapons of the two youths clashed again, and he saw that this wouldn't be limited to just one time.
Even though his enemy didn't take serious damage, Jashua gained the upper hand. The eyes and the scythe of the youth dressed in black were burning blood red.
"Look at his weapon!"
Even though the star of the battlefield was Guadaña de la muerte, which appeared unexpectedly, the representative in diamond armor was pointing at Lava. A part of the energy wrapping the weapon of the youth who took on a giant form, which had reached the same size, was missing.
The fire red in the shape of a machete was cut right down the middle and couldn't regenerate. Jashua had inflicted visible damage; he was cutting off and discarding the enemy's energy.
"No way, impossible!"
"Look closely, the blood there!"
In the moments the people of the Hell Realm were tongue-tied, the Mercenaries were critiquing what was happening; the battlefield was their home.
"With his own blood, he's preventing the enemy from using their energy. Looting just went to a whole other level!"
The Representative in Golden Armor rubbed his hands together and leaned back; he was watching with delight as his scythe went up and down.
A hundred breaths passed since the Four Representatives figured out Jashua's technique, and there was no giant left anymore. Lava could only circulate the fire energy he channeled into his machete around the weapon, and his body was also surrounded by a thin red line.
Jashua pulled his scythe back; the cutting edge was facing the ground, the other end facing the sky. They sped towards each other; a moment later two red lines appeared, intersected, and headed for opposite ends of the battlefield.
Jashua had advanced towards where the Holy Blood was, and Lava towards the Holy Fire. The Holy Fire Sect Sheikh Fuego sprang from her seat and came right to the edge of the battlefield. You didn't need to be a psychic to understand she wanted to grab her disciple.
"Lava!"
The woman in red clothes could only utter a single word when she arrived in front of the fire wall because there were two Lavas in front of her eyes. The upper body where the arm gripping the machete tightly was located, and the lower body trembling involuntarily.
Shaking the blood off his scythe, Jashua cleaved the barrier surrounding the battlefield with his weapon; the wall of fire parted like paper.
"Death comes and goes suddenly."
Atractivo raised his glass towards the four sects lined up right across from him and the folks of the Hell Palace.
"Let the final battle begin!"
The handsome Sheikh, without waiting for anyone, started the fight that would determine the winner. Nafız, twirling her daggers around her hands, was walking towards the middle of the arena with large strides.