The instant the red gem is swallowed by my opponent, his eyes begin to glow the same crimson shade.
Next, the static yellow energy that surrounds his body shifts to the same shade of red.
It looks extremely disturbing, and even intimidating, but the odd thing is that I can't sense any extra mana coming off of it.
However, with Ember's warning fresh in my ear, now isn't the time to question whether it's dangerous or not to continue fighting him.
I jump back and avoid the red arcs of electricity that start to grow and pulse out of Trax.
A devious grin comes across his face, and when his mouth opens up all that can be heard is a mind bending shriek.
It doesn't even sound human. His body still holds the same form, but the red light coursing through it makes his skin ripple and vibrate.
I yell out while putting my hands in the air, continuing with my original plan while listening to Embers warning.
"That's it. I surrender! Match over! Get me out of here—"
It's hard to make out exactly what they're saying, as the dense golden soul energy around me acts as a noise and energy suppressor.
All I can do is wait and watch the red energy bursting out of Trax wear down and stop after about 90 seconds pass.
Once it does, he collapses onto the arena floor, and the two A-Class hunters glide upward while taking away the golden soul energy barriers.
They float back up and out of the large hole in the top of the blue dome, then the opening in the black box allows them to go back inside.
The dangerous golden eyes I felt before aren't there. Whatever was watching the match with such intensity before has lost interest.
The doors shut, and Rodrigo yells out like nothing out of the ordinary happened.
"The winner by verbal submission of this match is Trax, from the Apex Region! Congratulations, you will be moving on to fight Mack the battle healer in the next semi-final round! However, we will have a quick intermission while our shielding dome is repaired."
I watch Trax cough and shake while he pushes himself up off the ground slowly.
There are small wisps of red light coming from his mouth and eyes, but it dissipates quickly, and it's clear that all the power from that display has left his body. His movements and mana control aura feel human again.
Then, I feel the respawn item around my neck begin to rattle and pulse with energy.
Moments later, after a flash of white light, I find myself in a white room with 15 other people.
There's clear mana reinforced glass in front of me, and about 200 meters away, looking down from above the makeshift stadium, I see exactly where I was just fighting.
On the other side of the ring, I see another box similar to this one with about 40 other applicants in it; they all look down on the match too with similar looks of awe.
Dane's voice hits my ear as I watch Trax walk back to his room in the ring.
"I thought you had him there. I've never seen a fight like that!"
The wind user from the Silca Region walks up next to me with his arms crossed, and I turn around to see all of the other applicants in the top 20 ranking that were eliminated out of the tournament in earlier rounds behind him.
Marcie's eyes meet mine, and we both give each other a nod, but I turn back to the fight ring and reply to Dane.
"Yeah... You're right. I haven't seen anything like that either..."
The violent display of red lightning repeats in my mind over and over, and the feeling I felt when one of the attacks nearly collided with me continues to eat away at the back of my mind...
Somehow, the attacks that came out of that gem reacted with my divine limiter. I'm not sure how or why... but one thing is for sure, I want to figure out what that red gem was that Trax ate to give him all this power.
I even witnessed the red lightning bolts pierce through soul energy barriers dozens of times more powerful than any mana attacks he was throwing during that match.
The A-Class hunters that came to control the situation didn't look bothered by the display at all either.
Whatever this power is, it isn't foreign to the higher-ups of the Apex Region.
The only conclusion I come to while staring down at the arena as the dome is completely mended is that somehow, that crystal allowed Trax to tap into some kind of Divine Energy.
It was hardly controllable, and from the state I still see him in, shivering and curled up in a ball on the floor of his private room; it was definitely not safe for him to consume.
After the second lightning bolt he threw, the hunter turned into a ball of incoherent rage. The A-Class hunters that glided down to stop the match didn't even attempt to talk with him, they just let him use up all of the red substance that coursed through his body.
So many things still don't make sense about all of this, but Rodrigo's voice echoes through the ring to make me concentrate on the immediate task at hand again.
"Thank you all for waiting! As you know, all cursed items and hidden powers are permitted in these fights. We only intervene to provide safety when an applicant surrenders his right to fight back."
Many other Regional Directors and their subordinates are in awe of the display that was just shown.
At these words, the fighters step out into the arena.
I open up two telepathy links, sending messages into Ember and Natalie's minds, then the fight clock above the arena begins counting down.