The Conspiracy of the Elites

As the atmosphere grew tenser, and speculations rose higher, the gladiators finally moved.

Clark moved first; as soon as he gathered some strength, he used his spear as a support to lift himself from his opponent’s sword.

Spurt!! Spurt!! He closed his eyes while gritting his teeth in pain. More blood flowed out of him, as the sword was yanked out of him. His opponent also flinched in pain, as the spear stirred in his abdomen.

Thud!! He dropped down to the ground, as he quickly summoned the strength to roll further away from his opponent.

He already grew accustomed to pain, after so many years of being a soldier. He could not directly say that he liked pain, but at least he could bear a lot of pain. But the pain he was currently feeling drove deeper into his inner self.

He felt like his body was no longer his own, he felt like it was just a cage where he was receiving torture. He could not help it, as tears flowed down slowly from his eyes.

Despite the feeling of weakness he felt, he turned to look at his opponent. He wanted to see his opponent’s reaction, so he could know how to act when the battle resumes.

Unlike his opponent, the World dominator felt a feeling that he had never felt since he was born, “regret”. Since his birth, this was the first time that he was ever regretting a decision he made.

If he had allowed his opponent to choose without any manipulations. Perhaps, he would have decided to join the Seafarers alliance. But he stubbornly decided to interfere, and force his opponent to fight him. This was the first time it dawned on him, that he was probably too arrogant and self-confident.

Despite this, he forcibly canceled any negative feelings from his mind. He was shocked by the speed at which his opponent improved, but he was not ready to compromise.

Ahh!! He whimpered from the pain a little, as he shakingly stood up with the support of his sword. He took deep breaths to recover his internal body regulation, as he finally felt some strength returning to his bones.

On seeing his opponent, Clark could only grit his teeth, as he also stood up to end this battle. Despite them both receiving terrible injuries, their armor did a good job in restraining the outward blood flow a little. So, their homeostatic level was still normal.

He tightened his grip on his spear, as his gaze grew firm again. “Bring it on, I’m ready for you,” he thought as he wiped the bloody tear away from his eyes with his left hand.

Thud!! Thud!! Thud!! World dominator’s footwear collided with the floor, echoing behind him as he jogged forward to meet his opponent. His speed gradually increased, as he held his sword in a backhanded manner.

Boom!! Clark attacked first, as he didn’t want to give his opponent any form of early advantage. His opponent dodged, as they quickly exchanged positions.

He turned again to strike back, but his opponent added technique this time, as he attacked in a squatted position. His spear streaked forward harmlessly, as his opponent’s sword slashed at his leggings again, giving him a fresh injury.

He quickly recollected himself, as he retaliated fiercely at a faster pace. Both gladiators slowly recovered their full strength, as the battle went back to its former pace.

Despite them feeling tired, they still persevered, attacking each other, as their injuries continued stacking up. As the fight slowly became a battle of attrition, the World dominator’s advantage started being shown.

He finally gathered the strength to start executing his self-created technique, as his sword became a blur.

Bam!! Bam!! Bam!! Clark could only get pushed back, as he tried without any good result to off-set his opponent’s advantage. He received another slash, to his helmet as he sustained another injury in his head.

As he staggered backward, his opponent’s leg followed in pursuit, kicking him on his abdomen. The kick was aimed at where he was stabbed previously. He felt unimaginable pain, as he leaped backward to get more distance between them.

Boom!! He also finally executed his self-created technique, as his figure blurred, appearing before his opponent in an instant.

World dominator already took a lot of counter-measures to fight this technique. But when it finally came, he still fell victim to its abruptness and lethality.

Clang!! Boom!! He dodged hastily to the side while crossing his sword to block, as he could not dodge its range completely. He paid for it, as his sword directly broke into pieces from the force of impact.

He coughed out blood, as his ribs were cut through ruthlessly. He was already feeling despair, but his eyes sharpened as he saw his opponent’s exhausted look.

He grabbed at his opponent’s spear, as they both started contending for who to hold it. He landed a kick on his opponent’s head, while his opponent retaliated by punching at his abdomen.

These maneuvers succeeded in flinging the spear away from their grasp, as they both became weaponless.

As they were already this close to each other, losing their weapons did not hinder them much, as they quickly got engaged in a barbarian hand-to-hand melee battle.

Their armor continued deforming from the impact of their kicks and punches, as neither of them refused to relent. It was already an hour since the brawl started, but the spectators were not bored as the physical and emotional intensity of the battle remained strong.

Some of the spectators were shocked speechless, especially the supporters of the World dominator. No one expected the fight to be this fierce and that it would take this route.

Everyone predicted the battle to be an easy win for the World dominator, but the reality differed so much from people’s expectations. The rate at which the Stranded dragon improved, sent a chill down their hearts.

As expectations were running high, a clear outcome finally emerged as Clark fell backward from the blow of his opponent.

World dominator quickly took advantage of this opportunity, as he closed in to slam his opponent with his gauntlets. The seemingly useless gauntlets that were ignored previously now seemed to become the cornerstone. It was now the battle’s outcome decider.

Boom!! Clark was swiftly hit on both ears by the gauntlets, as his mind went completely blank. He staggered like a mad man, as his brain started projecting imaginary stars into his head.

He felt like his head was filled with lead and highly strong exotics, as his movements became disorderly.

Thud!! He finally dropped down to the floor, as he felt all strength leave his body again. “Is this the end? I’ve not even accomplished anything in life. Am I destined to die without making any impact on the world?”

On seeing his opponent’s half-dead state, the World dominator forced himself to move forward despite his extreme feeling of exhaustion. He went directly to get the spear that laid by the side.

For years now, he already saw death as something natural that his opponents and opposers must face. Even when he was small, his father killed his fellow young cadets for him, the ones that opposed him. So, death was a trivial matter to him.

But today, he was faced with another phase of reality entirely. “So, this is what it feels to almost experience death”.

He felt a strong feeling of fear in his heart, as he never came this close to death since he was born.

He was afraid that his opponent would make a comeback. So, he forced himself to scramble faster to get the spear. He did not want to experience the feeling of dying at all, the one he already experienced was traumatizing enough.

After picking up the spear, he turned and steadily walked forwards to meet his half-dead opponent.

In the spectator stands, Emily was already crying, as Aurora hugged her shrunk petite figure tightly to comfort her. Mark clenched his fists, as he sighed in resignation and regret.

Arthur’s eyes narrowed, as he felt a weird kind of pain assault his heart. “I’ve not defeated you yet, you have no right to die now. So, you better do something”.

As Clark’s spirit was drowning in the bottomless sea of hopelessness and regret, his brain suddenly flashed to a word. The flash was so brief, his brain could not comprehend it, as he quickly forgot it.

He felt a strange surge of urgency, it felt like that word was what he needed to survive. What was that word? Why is it trying to hide?

“God, help me”. He could not help it. On seeing the tip of the spear aimed at him, he finally resorted to God for help.

As soon as he muttered this, he suddenly experienced a flash of insight. A feeling of eureka overwhelmed his heart.

“There is no chance, no destiny, no fate, that can hinder the firm resolve of a determined soul. You need a determined soul to break your boundaries, you need a determined soul to explore your limits”.

As soon as this word emerged back into his head, he felt like his head was invaded by another being, as he started analyzing the word. His implant processed the word rapidly, as he finally concluded.

“Without a determined soul, I can’t break boundaries. I need a determined soul to make the impossible happen, to make abnormalities normal”. At this thought, he felt a shift in his entire being, as his eyes gradually regained focus.

He wanted to mutter to himself silently, but he didn’t know when he started screaming. “I’M A CHAMPION, I’M UNDEFEATABLE, I HAVE NO BOUNDARIES, I CANNOT DIE WITHOUT MY IMPACT BEING FELT IN THIS WORLD. ANYBODY WHO SAYS THAT I DON’T MATTER, YOU SHALL DIE TO MY SPEAR”.

World dominator was startled by his opponent’s sudden shout, but he quickly recovered as he stabbed the spear down, aiming at his throat.

Clark quickly entered a frenzied state, as he grabbed the spear with his hands while using his gauntlets to hinder its downward force through friction. It still stabbed on the chest, but he grabbed his opponent's leg and dragged him down also.

Boom!! His opponent wanted to retaliate but couldn’t. Somehow, he suddenly gained Herculean strength. The force of his punches grew so strong like that of boulders, while his bones hardened like lumps of steel.

Bam!! Bam!! Bam!! He unleashed all his pent-up force on his opponent, as everything became a blur. The battle became a situation of there being a puncher, and the punched.

All World dominator could see were fists and kicks, as his whole body became dyed with blood. All his attempts at retaliation were completely negated by his opponent, as blood poured down from all over his body.

Snap!! The highly anticipated sound suddenly reverberated, as one of the gladiator’s heads was turned to an impossible angle.

The expression on the World dominator’s face was one of anger, regret, and unwillingness, as his consciousness gradually faded from this world. His body fell with a thud sound, as the sound of cheers reverberated around the stadium.

After taking them through a series of roller coasters, the outcome of the battle was completely out of their expectations. The spectators liked such outcomes more, they didn’t care about the fallen gladiator as they cheered loudly.

After doing the deed, Clark finally felt weakness and pain overwhelm him on every side. This time, his consciousness could not take the load, as he directly dropped down exhaustedly.

“What, did he die after killing his opponent?” This thought crossed the brains of the spectators for a second before they immediately ignored it again.

The cheers shook the whole stadium, to better decorate the heralding of the winner of the gladiator tournament, the newborn legend, the Stranded dragon, Clark Pendragon.

[Thank you for reading this chapter, I really appreciate it. If you love this book, please leave your power stones behind to support it.]