"KABOOM"
A powerful shockwave rippled through the water as a droning sound rang throughout the battle stage. Zeras slammed his feet on the ground, creating deep lines as he came to a stop around ten meters away.
Looking back at Dyvan, he could see the man retreated about seven metres away instead revealing him to have won in that exchange.
"You can withstand 30% of my strength. Nice, then what about 50%."
A maniac smile appeared on Zera's face, as he pressed off the ground with horrifying speed, appearing in front of Dyvan in the next second, he slammed forward with apocalyptic power as after-images of his trident appeared in the water.
"BOOOOOOOOOOOOM."
Another powerful shockwave rippled through the battle stages, as both figures retreated backwards with speed.
Zeras retreated by five meters as he saw Dyvan also retreating by five meters.
A smile appeared on his face as he looked at the result of the second exchange. They were equally matched.
Dark gas suddenly flared powerfully from Dyvan's armor and trident as he exploded forward toward Zeras, his trident piercing forward with speed.
"BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG BANG! BANG! BANG!."
Dyvan was like a raging tornado as he brutalized Zeras with his trident his eyes gaining an abyssal dark color while Zeras responded extremely fast, blocking most of his attacks while also sending out his own.
Both figures suddenly separated, as a small bloody line could be seen across Zera's face which soon closed up in the next second.
But the crowd gasped looking at Dyvan as black blood oozed out from his mouth, nose, and ears.
Zera's eyes narrowed wondering what was the cause of Dyvan's anomaly when the system's voice suddenly rang out in his ears.
[Host Opponent is being aided by an external power engraved in his weapon but his physical body is too weak to contain the power and is therefore slowly breaking down, with his life force being sucked away too.]
Zeras looked at Dyvan strangely as he saw his eyes being completely overtaken by that dark color. He even wondered just how Dyvan laid his hand on an artifact that could lend him such power, but the cost of that power is too great and it's the user's life force.
"I'll...Devo..ur...you..." A hoarse voice as if five old men were speaking at the same time rang out of Dyvan's mouth as he suddenly saw him disappear from his line of sight.
"RUUUUUUUSSSSSSTLE"
The sound echoed behind him as his head suddenly moved sideways, a trident's throngs passed by his ears in the next split second as Dyvan once again appeared.
Dyvan seemed to have lost his mind as he repeatedly attacked him like a mad beast but he didn't fight back, instead going on the defensive.
He could see although Dyvan's strength was spiking, he also noticed his life-essence getting weaker and weaker, showing he would soon collapse.
Placing his trident vertically in front of him, power surged through his arms from a collision as Zeras disappeared from where he stood and was sent flying into the battle stage wall like a rag doll.
Dyvan immediately followed after his opponent, but his body suddenly paused in the air as his dark trident dropped down from his hands.
His knees slammed on his ground, as dark blood oozed out from his eyes, nose, and ears quickly forming a small pool within.
With a plop sound, his body fell to the ground face-flat as he went motionless, dark blood dripping out of his body.
Zeras went towards the fallen figure as he grabbed hold of his helmet raising his head but what he saw made his heart turn cold.
Dyvan's face was sunken with absolutely no skin at all on his face. His eyes were reduced to holes while only a dark skeleton was what was left of his formerly handsome face.
He was like an emaciated corpse completely drained of every ounce of energy.
Zeras laid down his trident as he knelt before the figure of Dyvan clasping his palms together and closing his eyes.
The crowd gasped seeing his action as they just couldn't believe what was happening.
After 10 seconds of kneeling, he stood up from his position and raised his trident.
The cheers of more than six thousand Athlantheans rang out in the Colosseum as he didn't even know who the first person to scream his name out was.
"ZERAS! ZERAS! ZERAS! ZERAS! ZERAS! ZERAS! ZERAS! ZERAS! ZERAS!."
He looked at the thousands of people chanting out his name, and a smile appeared on his face. This colosseum had taught him an important lesson.
The Athlantheans cared not of who was who. They only cared about the winner. If the winner turns into a loser, then they'll simply abandon him and cheer for the new winner instead.
In Atlantis, there was no place for the weak and only the strong are worth cheering for.
He moved out for the battle stage amidst the roar of the thousand Athlantheans.
-- -- --
Right at the back of the audience cheering for Zeras, an old man stood there with a broom in hand as he looked at the battle stage and at the back of Zeras who was walking away as he muttered to himself
"He won. Perhaps he might just be the one I've been looking for "