‘Guess you gotta expect that from the disciple of a pillar,’ I smirked, looking down at the severely injured Renardo. A normal person of his power would have had their skull cracked from the force of my punch, but this guy just had a swelling and was already standing up for another beating.
Pillars are what people at the top of the War Council are called. They are the main fighting force of the council, with each person earning the title of a pillar holding great power, prestige, and might, enough to look down on billions. They normally arise from the 12 apostles, indicating towards the 12 pillars.
The 12 apostles are the title given to the best supreme monstrous geniuses of the matching generations. Only people below the age of 25 can earn this title, and it takes a lot of power, prestige, and might to earn it. It is normally held by people at the age of 20, having achieved all the necessary marks to hold this title high.
As I was lost in my thoughts, my entire surrounding became covered in a dark atmosphere, and the bright light within the battle arena turned into darkness. When I say arena, it’s a modest wording as the whole battle area we were in was a sub-world compressed into a small sphere with a humongous area. We were in such a space with the rest looking ‘down’ at our match, a testament to the power control at play.
“You are done for!” Renardo suddenly screamed at me. His confidence is now sky-high as the environment now turned to look the best for him. Just standing within it, I could feel an oppressive might staining down at me, a slimy power trying to corrupt my mana and mind.
‘This is enough to even deal with an Origin level 6,’ I thought.
Just this domain itself is a special power blessed upon him, allowing the person in front of me to change the entire situation to match his aptitude, a special innate ability of his that matches well with the tactic of the pillar of Darkness, making him a force to be reckoned with.
“Disappear!” Renardo shouted as the entire black domain around me listened to his will, its might crashing down on me, trying to strip me of all my senses and power. Meanwhile, within Renardo’s hands appeared a black spear, its edge shining with a dangerous sheen. The moment I blinked, his spear was reaching toward my head.
It wasn’t just him but three different dark creations of him that attacked me from all sides, each clone carrying a part of his power. It was a perfect trap to keep anyone in check, but sadly for him, he was dealing with me.
“Burn…” I muttered, and just as I did, everything burned away.
The mana that was around here trembled in delight. A flame of a man long forgotten in history riled up from within me, the flame of a crazy man that lived to just burn the world, a single flame that he grew enough to burn everything in the world.
And now it responded to my command, its power rippling as a dark crimson fire burned from within me, bursting out. The darkness, the spell, the domain, everything burned away from a single mutter from me, without any reaction time or anything, everything just burned away.
Leaving behind a severely charred Renardo, breathing but close to dying. Even the referee, a peak origin level 10, wasn’t able to react to the burning of my flame, a flame of anger and revenge.
“Guess you gotta expect that from the disciple of a pillar,” I repeated but this time out loud, smirking as a stunning silence filled the entire place. Everyone looked down with shock, probably unable to believe that their genius was taken down by me.
“So, whose next?”
I asked in a calm tone.
….
Third Person POV:
The entire audience had turned silent. They could only gaze at Renardo being taken away for treatment. The simple entertainment game that should have been to humiliate the DarkNight now turned into something much more serious, with the entire reputation of the War Council on the line.
Winning meant the best, but losing in the Holy duel, especially in their holy ground, is something that the War Council won’t be able to handle at all. It’s a humiliation on another level.
High into the sky, at the topmost position, several powerful organizations gathered around to gaze at the battle that was supposed to end in fun. Austin was right when he thought that everything was planned. The War Council even arranged for all the gathered powers to gaze at the scene of the DarkNight being humiliated.
But this time they ended up shooting themselves in their own foot as the challenge went completely different from how everyone thought it would. No one ever expected the option of Renardo losing. He was, after all, very famous and made quite the commotion when he was taken in as the disciple of the pillar of Darkness. He was among the best of his age, yet here he was beaten up and fallen down like a third-rate thug, that too done by a boy hiding his identity, which no one, no matter how hard they tried, could see through. Suddenly, the meeting turned into a more interesting display.
“Pufff… hahaha…that’s my boy!” Ralph laughed with complete freedom, his happiness let lose fully, not at all minding the ugly expression of all that was around him. He was a free-spirited man, and right now, he was letting lose the pressure that he had always felt in his heart, the disdain from others his organization had to deal with just cause they were from the ‘dirty’ side of things.
“Bring out the apostles…” Austin suddenly demanded, his voice ringing into everyone’s hearts and minds. Hearing this, the smile on Ralph’s face only got wider. He turned to the woman beside him as he spoke, pointing down at Austin.
“Didn’t you hear? He’s waiting…”
“They might not be able to hold back…..” The woman spoke in a suppressed, angered tone, her eyes shining with a dangerous glint.
“It will be fine…” Ralph said, waving his hands around. Austin himself is a bundle of secrets that he himself has yet to fully uncover, but after spending these little years with him, Ralph has come to understand that Austin won’t do something unless he has a 100% chance of succeeding.
Thinking until here, his mood improved for the better. Leaning himself against the chair, becoming comfortable for the show ahead, the only thing he was missing was some snacks to fill his enjoyment.
“Then so be it…” she said before disappearing from where she was. Back at the arena, Austin stood with his back straight, his calm eyes waiting for the next challenge. The referee next to him kept looking at him with narrowed eyes.
It was then that another figure appeared in front of him, a handsome man with light blond hair and red twinkling eyes that seemed to burn everything around him. His presence felt heavy, his mana suppressing everything around him. Austin could feel the flame within him dancing around.
“Zon, the disciple of the Pillar of Flame, ranked 7th in the apostles’ ranking and called the Burner of Worlds,” the man spoke with a calm yet commanding tone, the place around where he appeared getting hotter.
“Rex, I’m more handsome than you,” I replied, causing Zon’s lips to twitch, his red eyes narrowing at me after which he turned towards the referee, giving a nod.
“Then let the match begin,” saying so, the referee departed, leaving the two of us to be. Sensing the mana out of Zon, he was at Origin level 6, an amazing achievement at his age. With a quick push, I distanced myself from where I stood as that area had now completely melted, looking like flowing lava.
“Not bad,” Zon muttered as if he didn’t passively command the mana of fire to destroy me.
‘Passive control over the entire element of fire, along with two great flames, a body that heats up original flames along with a warrior body.’ All these qualities in a single man were surely creating a monster of epic proportions. Two gauntlets filled with two different flames were now burning within Zon’s hands. His battle instincts and power rippled out, creating a terrifying heat, enough to simply burn an Origin level 3 to liquid.
“Burn,” he muttered, and everything did burn, except for me.
