When the order to begin was given, what followed after was not a loud explosion or an instantaneous exchange of skills but calmness instead.
The entire colosseum descended into a deep state of silence, as if the entire world was fading away.
To the two who stood at the centre of the arena, it was like the entire world had disappeared, and the only things that remained were the both of them as they eyed up each other.
Thaddeus's gaze held that of an abyssal confidence, accompanied by a small, amusing smirk.
His opponent might be a top 20 ranked genius, but Thaddeus knew well that he was far from being a worthy opponent. T
his stage was for him to dominate his adversary and make a name for himself.
'I'm not his match...' The thought echoed through the mind of Joki as he looked at Thaddeus, who was crackling with powerful dark lightning all over his sleeves.
A weird air wave slowly descended onto the battle stage, enough to his shirt and hair flying around him.
"Whatever happens, Joki, I hope you understand. You have no one to blame but your own weakness," Thaddeus's voice rang out in Joki's ears, incredibly curt and clear.
Joki stared at him for a while before sighing out loud.
"I understand. I won't chase revenge. But still, that won't stop me from giving it my all," Joki said.
In the next instant, he took a single step forward.
Immediately, as he did, the eyes of the crowd narrowed as they watched.
"Radiant Mirage..." Joki called out, and a figure suddenly appeared behind him.
It was none other than Joki himself, with no visible difference at all.
It was almost like Joki had split himself into two, but that was only the beginning.
As Joki took a second step forward, another clone of him appeared.
Slowly, Joki began speeding forward, with clones continuously appearing, following his movements.
In just three seconds, there were now a total of 11 figures in the arena—10 Jokis and 1 Thaddeus. Ten of the figures were securely sprinting toward the other, the crowd's heart beating in anticipation.
'A really interesting skill. Even I can't sense the difference at all,' Thaddeus thought with an amused smirk as lightning slowly began spilling out of his body.
The sound of lightning was incredibly deafening as Thaddeus floated into the air, rising about five meters while flashing a mocking smile.
"So what if you can clone yourself? I'll just eradicate them all..."
Suddenly, the light around the area seemed to get absorbed by the lightning surrounding Thaddeus as the entire arena darkened, becoming a world of pitch black.
Black lightning snaked around Thaddeus's body, the air itself trembling under the weight of his power.
With a sharp clench of his hand, dozens of condensed dark lightning bolts erupted from his fists. Thaddeus jerked his hands back and then punched forward.
Instantly, dozens of condensed dark lightning streaks surged forward through the arena with terrifying speed, seemingly appearing before every one of Joki's clones before they could blink.
Each bolt struck like a thunderous hammer, blasting through the images of Joki's clones and obliterating them to nothing. The residual power was still enough to carve massive craters onto the ground.
The surrounding area was instantly lit with bursts of purple and black energy.
The sheer force sent shockwaves rippling outward toward the gathered geniuses, but an invisible barrier appeared, absorbing the power of the attacks and blocking it from reaching the contestants.
Immediately, Thaddeus's arms became a blur as he began punching forward with horrifying speed, sending crackling thunderbolts through every arc of the arena.
Joki's clones got to work, flashing around the area in storms of golden light as they hurriedly avoided the attacks.
Yet, one by one, each clone fell prey to the onslaught, and soon, only three clones were left as Thaddeus finally paused his attack.
The sound of labored breathing could be heard ringing through the arena.
A total of three Joki clones stood 10 meters away from Thaddeus, crouched onto the ground and breathing heavily.
It took an incredible amount of mana just for Joki to keep his clones alive, and when destroyed abruptly, it consumed even more mana.
Right now, seven of his clones had fallen prey to Thaddeus's barrage, leaving him with only three left.
'Has he finally run out of power?' Joki wondered as he watched Thaddeus slowly float down to the ground.
But the next instant Thaddeu's foot touched the ground...
He instantly faded away into thin air as his image slowly disappeared with the wind.
Joki's face changed when he looked to the side and found Thaddeus right before one of his clones, whose feet were currently dangling in the air.
In the next moment, a loud noise was made as the head of Joki's clone exploded into bits, black lightning bursting out from its destroyed head.
The clone slowly faded away into nothing but golden light energy.
Instantly, Joki shot backward, retreating further away.
But before he could take his third step, a figure appeared before him, dark eyes crackling with lightning as they locked onto his own golden eyes.
"You didn't think I'm only a long-range fighter, did you?" Thaddeus asked, his hand crackling with dark lightning.
It instantly formed the image of a sharp blade around his fist which tore through the neck of the retreating Joki.
Once more it dissipated into golden energy once more.
Slowly, Thaddeus took his hands back and turned his neck behind him with an amused expression.
"Found you," he said, and in the next instant, he whispered...
"What the hell..." Joki wondered aloud as his eyes barely caught the image of Thaddeus flashing toward him with horrifying speed.
His brain worked at full speed when he felt the magnified punch, completely covered in lightning energy.
Guess this is the end of the battle...
"Prismatic Barrier..."
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In and Out_SnowySmoos.