Chapter 11: The Death Match

In a theocratic society, secular power is no match for the Church, as evidenced by the kings who were toyed with and brought to ruin by the Popes.

Thus, clever nobles came forward and argued that since God protects the innocent and punishes the guilty, there is reason to believe that between two people prepared for a fight to the death, the survivor is the innocent one.

The logic held up, leaving the Church with nothing to say.

Consequently, dueling began to flourish, and gradually, kings began to hold the power to convict criminals; this was the hallmark of the shift from theocracy to monarchy in European history.

In this current era, where everything has been destroyed by that self-righteous god, a duel of such symbolic significance is undoubtedly the most authoritative way to resolve disputes among the people of this apocalypse.

The stands of the Colosseum rested on three levels of concrete barrel vaults, with eighty arches per level, forming three rings of circular corridors at different heights, topped by a fifty-meter-high solid wall.

The stands receded level by level, forming a stepped slope.

The eighty arches on each level formed eighty openings, while the top two levels had eighty window bays.

Li Ruoyi and the Human King facing him, stepping into the center of the Colosseum, were undoubtedly the focus of this feast.

Under the scorching gazes of the crowd, Li Ruoyi unbuttoned his collar, trying to use the gesture to evade the gradually heating atmosphere.

The man across from him removed his breastplate and greaves, revealing a firm and healthy chest.

A winding, jagged crack-like pattern ran from his lower abdomen all the way to his heart, flickering with a jade-green light as he breathed.

With his majestic pauldrons, sturdy gaiters, and the greatsword on his back, he easily brought to mind the legendary dragon-slaying heroes so beloved in the Middle Ages.

The man was far too heroic; simply by standing there, anyone who gazed into his calm, emerald-green eyes would easily be won over by his heroic spirit.

Because he had always followed behind Amber wearing heavy armor, this heroic aura had been imperceptibly hidden away.

In contrast, Li Ruoyi standing opposite him looked more like a dandy, lacking the kingly aura that would shock the crowd.

His suit was improperly left open at the chest, and combined with his nonchalant gaze, the guests silently worried for him in their hearts.

Finally, Li Ruoyi’s wandering eyes settled on Rhein in the VIP box; she was engaged in an interested discussion with Haidai beside her.

“It seems our Saintess doesn’t care whether I live or die.”

Exposed to the boisterous atmosphere, Li Ruoyi, standing alone in the center of the arena, shrugged helplessly, looking somewhat lonely.

Suddenly, a crisp clap echoed from above the Colosseum, and every torch in the arena was extinguished.

The noisy magicians grew quiet as a single beam of moonlight projected down onto the feet of the two duelists.

“Ladies and gentlemen! Do you wish to see the strongest warrior!”

a high-pitched shout, originating from an unknown source, rang clearly in everyone’s ears.

“I ask, do you want to see the strongest warrior! To witness the most brilliant battle of myth!”

“Everything you want to see is right here!”

Like a phantom, Dracula dropped between the two duelists, appearing as naturally as if he had been standing there all along.

Li Ruoyi was startled; until the moment the man appeared, he hadn’t sensed his presence at all.

Even without activating his eyes, he maintained absolute control over the space within a five-meter radius.

If the man shouting high above were to launch a sneak attack, Li Ruoyi might not even know how he had been hit.

The magician before him was different from anyone he had ever met; it wasn’t so much that his magic was strong, but rather that it was high-level—a mystery equivalent to his own Human King rank.

Li Ruoyi became even more wary of Dracula.

Following Dracula’s words, a thunderous roar of cheering erupted from all sides of the Colosseum.

The torches surrounding the arena were relit, and the scene reached an unprecedented climax.

“Now, let the slaughter begin.”

“My name is Li Ruoyi. May I ask your name, sir?”

Li Ruoyi extended one palm forward while shielding his back with the other—the starting stance of Chinese martial arts.

“I am of the Netherlands royalty, descendant of the great hero Siegfried. Zigris.”

The noisy atmosphere of the Colosseum suddenly fell silent.

The name of Siegfried alone was enough to astonish many modern magicians, for he was the legendary hero recorded in the Nibelungenlied who wielded Balmung to slay the evil dragon.

Li Ruoyi manifested his image as a Human King, wearing noble attire woven from magic power that seemed as though it could blend into the night at any moment.

His face appeared slightly pale under the moonlight, and his hair became like silk, cascading behind him.

Overflowing magic power fluttered around him like strands of black hair.

The King in Black took a deep breath.

A single explosive stomp made the entire Colosseum tremble.

With a sound that broke the sound barrier and made ears ring, Li Ruoyi arrived before the swordsman.

He transformed his palm into a punch aimed at his opponent’s face.

Unable to dodge, Zigris was forced to cross his arms, using his gauntlets to shield his head and parry the blow.

What followed was only a biting wind from the punch—nothing more.

Using an extremely subtle footwork, Li Ruoyi slid right up to Zigris’s chest.

Facing a fully guarded enemy, the King in Black did not dodge; he crashed directly into Zigris’s embrace.

After a flurry of short-range strikes, he delivered a sharp elbow strike aimed directly at the heart.

A rune manifested on Zigris’s chest, shattering into fragments accompanied by a brilliant light.

The massive impact sent Zigris staggering backward, and he spat out a mixture of saliva and blood.

Zigris felt the power gathered in his body scattered in an instant, and his meridians were beaten into disarray.

Had it not been for the rune Amber had placed on his chest, he might have lost all mobility right then.

At this moment, he realized that this King in Black relied not on raw strength, but on strange techniques he had never seen before.

“What kind of ability is that? It’s just a physical collision, yet it has so much power!”

Haidai, standing beside Rhein, couldn’t help but exclaim in surprise.

Unlike the grappling and wrestling she had studied, that unparalleled technique piqued her intense interest.

“That is a fusion of ancient Chinese martial arts and modern Bajiquan,” Galena said with a smile.

“When I used to wander the world, I met a grandmaster of martial arts in the East.”

“If we’re talking strictly about hand-to-hand combat, I was once given quite a drubbing by that old gentleman.”

“Galena would actually be at a disadvantage in close quarters?”

Rhein felt a bit surprised; she knew the strength of her maid-guardian all too well.

Even the Sun King they encountered before wouldn’t have put her at a disadvantage, yet she had been beaten by a mere martial artist.

In the span of a few sentences, those two ravaging storms had already exchanged hundreds of blows.

The once-magnificent dueling stage was beaten into fragments, and even the stands protected by sorcery had become unstable.

After throwing a punch, Li Ruoyi used the momentum to drift back dozens of meters, creating distance.

Then, in practically the same instant, he lunged forward, lifting the massive statue of Emperor Vespasian from outside the arena and hoisting it above his opponent.

The giant marble statue, over ten meters tall, did not hinder Li Ruoyi’s speed at all.

Such gargantuan strength made one think of the world-bearing god, Atlas, prompting the entire crowd to burst into screams.

Zigris slowly lowered into a crouch and drew the greatsword from his back, intending to cleave both the man and the object.

Unexpectedly, Li Ruoyi slammed his right fist into the statue.

With a loud bang, the statue instantly disintegrated into thousands of shards.

The stone fragments were incredibly sharp, and pushed by Li Ruoyi’s fierce and immense strength, they acted like thousands of blades.

Three shards struck Zigris’s face, leaving three bright red lines across his determined features.

The stone shards that missed smashed dozens of craters of various sizes into the surroundings.

Shouts, screams, and warnings became a chaotic mess in the stands.

Through the scattering stones, a brilliant green light charged forward.

The large-scale magical flash left the mid-air Li Ruoyi with no way to dodge; in the next second, he was submerged by a flood of magic power.

The torrent of mana surged into the sky, and the dazzling green light illuminated the entire arena and the night sky, momentarily blinding everyone present.

“Ruoyi!”

Rhein shouted while covering her eyes.

No one had expected that Zigris, seemingly enduring humiliation and heavy burdens, would use a near-suicidal method to seize the moment and decisively end the close-quarters combat that was unfavorable to him.

Beside her, Amber laughed out loud.

Having long since prepared herself, she stared directly at the glowing green dueling field, unable to stop grinning at the victory she imagined would come in a few seconds.

Accompanied by a heavy breath, Zigris stood tall.

He plunged the greatsword into the ground; the excessive release of mana caused sweat to trickle from his handsome brow.

The wounds left on his face by the stone shards had already healed.

Clearly, the swordsman believed without a doubt that he had won.

The soaring green light, like an unstoppable greatsword, blasted a massive hole in the northwestern side of the stands.

Fortunately, the magic barrier had bought the spectating mages some time to evacuate.

In the dust rising from the center of the arena, strands of black hair began to seep out.

To use an improper metaphor, it looked like the dense, viscous hair of a vengeful spirit.

A pitch-black, cold sensation felt like pairs of small hands gently stroking the hearts of everyone present.

The heat from that magnificent strike just now cooled instantly, like molten iron poured into a mold.

The smoke cleared, and the King in Black, his clothes in tatters, reappeared before the crowd.

Half of his face and body were severely burned by the powerful magic.

The overflowing black threads were like an invisible tailor, re-sewing his clothes and his body.

Li Ruoyi’s gaze shifted as his pupils turned gold.

Black lines extended from his pupils like waves, reaching the corners of his eyes.

“Now, let’s begin.”