Genesis opened his palm and suddenly a bright yellow gem appeared on his hand.
"You have won this," Genesis said and handed the gem to Drake.
Drake nodded with a lazy look on his face. Now that the match was over, his powers had disappeared, and there was no longer any Lifeforce available for him to sustain himself.
Once he grabbed the yellow gem, the gem disappeared and appeared on the front of his crown.
Once there, Genesis finally let him leave. Drake made his way back to the group where Ning and the others congratulated him as well.
"Alright, next up is…" Genesis spoke as the 4 remaining gems in the air started spinning around very fast.
Then, a single gem fell down, which he caught gracefully.
"Here it is," he said as he opened up his palm to show the next gem.
Ning saw the blood-red gem on Genesis' hand and then turned to Derel. "It seems you are up," he said.
"It does seem so," she said as she stood up. "I'll return in a few moments, little worms."
Then, she walked to the stage.
Even as she did, Ning's eyes remained on Genesis. After all, he had noticed something interesting that would help him.
'He comes into physical contact with people that win, huh? That means I can touch him when I win,' Ning thought.
He wished he had an easy match-up.
As he watched the other group, the Lion slowly walked towards the stage as well.
"Oh, her opponent is the lion," Drake said from the side. "Wasn't he the one that kept fighting all battle for the other group?"
"Yes," Ning said. "But Derel should be fine. She killed a Midnight Phoenix. That's not something just anyone can do."
"Well, let's just watch and see," Issi said from the side.
Derel arrived on the stage and stood on the side where Drake stood. The lion appeared on the other side and waited.
"Introduce yourselves," Genesis spoke.
"Yhigach!" the Lion spoke out loud.
"Derelicia Regalian Aeon Gondra," Derel said.
"Hahaha, why does a lousy human need such big names? You should have names that match your size, little one," the lion said.
"Lit— did you just call me 'little one'?" Derel asked. ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ 𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹·𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑒·𝗇𝗲𝘁
"Yes, little one," the lion spoke. "I will be sure to make your death quick. I don't find pleasure in bullying little humans."
Derel looked shocked. She couldn't believe someone had the audacity to say such things to her.
"Now you've done it," Derel said as her face filled with rage.
"Alright, we will start in 3."
Derek's eyes narrowed as her breath deepened.
Suddenly, power returned to both of them. The lion got his Aura back, while Derel got her mana back.
As soon as she could feel her access to the mana, she decided to let go of this little body and return to her natural form.
As she did, her body started growing.
The color of her skin changed, going from back to red.
The lower half of her face extended until it the front of her face was nothing but a snout. Her yellow slitted eyes fell into place around her now red skin.
The long red hair on her head changed into manes that hung from the back of her neck.
Two massive black horns appeared from her head that had a live fire burning on them.
Her body itself got larger and wider. The red dress she wore slowly stuck to her skin and became part of it as it slowly turned into scales on her body.
Derel's wings appeared from her back that slowly got larger and larger.
As it grew, Ning and the others realized that they were wrong in assuming that it was a bat's wing.
A tail appeared from behind her as well until it was out of the stage. It slammed on the ground so hard that Ning could feel vibrations from all the way in his seat.
The lion watched in horror as Derel's real form appeared nearly 3 times his own size.
"Call me little one more time," A distorted voice spoke from what was Derel.
"Dragon, yes," Derel finished his sentence. "Are you going to call me little again?"
"3." Genesis finished speaking.
Suddenly, Derel opened her mouth and a massive fire burst out of it. A crimson red fire hit the lion before it had time to use its Aura to protect itself.
The fire lasted for a few moments, and when it finally disappeared, there was no sign of the lion anywhere.
The match had ended as soon as it had started.
"Oh, look at that, it's already over," Genesis spoke.
The four members on the other side looked in horror at the stage. Had it been any of them that had chosen the red color, it would have likely been them that got incinerated like that.
Derel changed back to her human form as her horns and tails disappeared. Her skin became dark again and the scales in her body became her red dress.
"Congratulations," Genesis said as he patted Derel's shoulders. "Here."
Derel took the red gem, which appeared on her forehead, and returned to the group.
"You're a dragon?" Drake asked with wide eyes.
"You're a freaking dragon?" Drake said again.
"I said yes," Derel said.
"Why did you not say that before?" Drake asked.
"Why should I? You didn't say who you were before either," she said.
"You seem to hate being called a little human," Issi said.
"Of course," Derel said. "That bastard dared to say it."
"And yet you call us little worms all the time. Isn't that hypocritical?" he asked.
"What's wrong with worms?" Derel asked with a confused face. "Worms are much stronger than humans. Since you are strong humans, I chose to call you worms."
Everyone looked at each other awkwardly. "Since when are small worms that wriggle in mud stronger than humans?" they asked.
"What? No, not worms. WORMS," she said.
"Isn't that the same thing?" Ning asked.
"WORMS. Goddammit, I can't say it right as a human," Derel said. She pointed her lips a little and spoke again, "WYRMS. W-Y-R-M-S, wyrms."
"OH!" Ning and Issi finally got it."
"You guys thought I would call you anything less than that?"