Upon further inspection. There was one thing out of the ordinary about this man. His eyes. They looked normal, with a dark purple coloring. They did not have pupils. In the place of pupils was a giant white key. It was unnatural. His voice confirmed everyone's suspicions. It was true. He was here to enforce the second rule now that interference has occurred. Truth looks around. The little girl is on the verge of tears. The man with star pupils and Zealith are just looking at Truth, unable to move. Azarath, now with none of his arms working, just stands in shock. Truth clears his throat.

  [Truth: Now that interference has happened. I will now deliver divine punishment on those who encroach in my fights.]

  Suddenly, a spear is thrown behind Azarath. Azarath turns around to see Truth right behind him. Ready to strike.

  [SCREAM!]

  The spear releases a huge shockwave that blows Truth and Azarath in opposite directions. Truth lands on his feet and looks to the person who threw the spear. His eyes land on Harpstein. Harpstein has sweat on his face.

  *Truth: He is faster than me? No, that’s not it. He probably saw what happened and reversed the time I killed Azarath. That is going to be a pain to deal with.*

  [Harpstein: RUN AZARATH!!!] Harpstein screams with all his might.

  Azarath quickly makes it to the arena's edge and is ready to escape when he hits something.

  *Azarath: A barrier?*

  Azarath slowly turns around and goes on his knees.

  [Azarath: You wanted something like this to happen? You made a barrier where it is impossible for anyone inside to escape. You also made the barrier to let intruders in. It’s a trap?] Azarath asks in a dejected tone.

  Truth smiles sadistically.

  [Truth: You caught me. Of course, I could say that the barrier is so that the fighters can’t run mid-fight. However, the fact that it lets anyone inside it is suspicious.] Truth starts to laugh. Truth looks back at Azarath, who is extremely scared.

  [Truth: Would this form soothe you a little bit] Truth's body starts to morph into a more feminine form. Now, Truth is a female of near-unprecedented beauty. Even still, Azarath is frozen in fear.

  *Truth: I wanted to see if I could play on his attraction to women. It seems that I was wrong. Because of Harpstein, targeting Azarath will be annoying.*

  Truth’s body quickly morphs back into a man. Truth turns to the intruders. Truth sends three tendrils to the man with star eyes. He quickly dodges them and cuts them all to pieces with a short sword he holds in a reverse grip.

  [Truth: Oh? Those tendrils are supposed to be invincible. Can you cut them? Is it because of your God Eyes? Fascinating.] Truth asks multiple questions before creating more tendrils. The man just snickers and gets into a defensive position.

  He combines several tendrils into one huge hand and sends them to the girl instead of the man. As the hand approaches fast, she starts to cry.

  Slice

  The hand is cut to pieces as the man stands before the little girl.

  [???: I won’t let him hurt you, Mimiko.]

  Truth sighs.

  [Truth: I don’t want to kill you simply because I want to know more about your God Eyes. I guess I will have to dissect it from your corpse.] The man goes to shift his position for defense again.

  It was too late.

  Truth was already holding onto the man's head. His body goes limp and falls to the ground.

  *???: Huh? When did he get in front of me? Why can’t I move any of my limbs? Am I paralyzed?*

  A flurry of questions races through the man's mind as Truth lifts his foot, preparing to drive the man's head into the ground. Truth slams his foot down.

  Klank

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  A small barrier appears between the man's head and Truth's foot. Suddenly, Truth's leg pours blood and gets damaged. Truth looks over to see the little girl, presumably named Mimiko, holding her hands out and suppressing her tears.

  *Truth: No way. A barrier that can stop me? Even damage me? I didn’t notice before, but could this girl be… I will have to check.*

  Truth sends out a single tendril toward Mimiko, but an air blast diverts it. Truth notices Zealith maintaining his stance.

  [Zealith: That girl healed me. I will protect her on my pride as a demon!] Truth thinks to himself, “Why is everything so hard nowadays?” Before waving his hand and paralyzing the demon. Zealith falls to the ground while conscious like the star man.

  Truth continues what he was doing before and sends a tendril at Mimiko. The tendril pierces her chest. Mimiko spouts blood. Using the tendril in her chest, Truth picks her up and slams her into the side of the arena. Mimikos lifeless body falls to the ground, never getting back up. The man with star eyes starts screaming and crying uncontrollably. So, Truth knocks him out.

  [Truth: I guess I was wrong. It seems-] Before he can finish his sentence, flowers start covering Mimiko's entire body. The flowers start growing uncontrollably. Truth smiles.

  [Truth: Nevermind. It seems I was right after all. I can’t have you transforming right here, though.] Truth waves his hand, and a bubble appears around Mimiko’s body. Reversing the plants growing on her.

  Truth turns to Azarath, who is terrified and unable to defend himself with his injured arms. Truth begins to approach Azarath.

  A fist connects with Truth's face, sending him flying into a wall. Truth looks up to see Pax in the arena.

  [Pax: I'm gonna have to save you, Azarath! You owe me for this!] Pax is smiling. Azarath is surprised.

  *Azarath: Did he really enter knowing he won’t be able to leave? If we get out of this alive, maybe I will treat him nicer…*

  Truth attempts to rise when he feels trapped. He looks down and notices several vines entangling the lower half of his body. As he reaches out to tear them away, he realizes his hands are also attached to the wall. Truth looks at his hands.

  *Truth: Webs?*

  Selene and Peak walk into the arena.

  [Selene: Jeez, Pax, now this is a team matter.] Selene scratches her head, and Peak looks at Pax.

  [Peak: Thank god you entered. If you didn’t, I thought I would have had to fight Truth myself!] Peak is smiling ear to ear. Harpstein enters the arena a few moments later, and the three surround Truth.

  Blake is still in the audience. Bracken materializes.

  [Bracken: What is da plan, big boy?]

  [Blake: Bracken. Our entire team will be killed. I will give you 90%; please save them. I won’t be able to move when I do this. So I will stay in the audience.] Bracken smiles and agrees.

  Back in the arena, Truth casually walks out of the vines and webs. Breaking them with his mere movement. Truth smiles as Pax gets in close and starts punching him with a barrage of punches. Truth doesn’t even flinch. He just takes the punches before saying.

  [Truth: Riga?] Truth smiles slightly before flinging Pax to the side with a swipe. He turns to the near-unconscious Pax to start speaking. Peak flies in from above to strike with his sword. Truth holds out his hand, and the blood-red sword shatters on impact. Peak is surprised, and Truth takes this moment to grab Peak by the head and slam him into the ground. Knocking Peak out cold.

  Selene attempts to launch multiple elemental attacks at Truth, but they disperse before they can connect. He casts a menacing glare at her, causing Selene to freeze in terror.

  [Truth: I am having a reunion right now. Don’t Interrupt it.] Truth starts walking to Pax again. Truth stops.

  Truth jumps back as Bracken appears before him.

  [Truth: Oh? You are quite strong for a familiar. Blakes, I believe?] Bracken just looks at all of the defeated people in the arena. A vein pops up on Braken's head.

  [Braken: Cause I ain't no familiar. Don matter tho, cause I am going to beat the shit out of yo goofy ass!] Bracken lunges at Truth, and they start exchanging blows.

  Multiple tendrils are sent at Bracken. Bracken dodges and blocks most of them. Bracken is able to keep up with all of Truth's attacks. Bracken unexpectedly speeds himself up and slashes Truth across the chest. Drawing blood.

  *Bracken: He can bleed! I can do this!*

  The moment Bracken turns around, his heart sinks. In Truth's hand is Blake. Blake still can’t move because of the power he gave Bracken. Truth puts his hand on Blake's neck and winks at Bracken.

  [Truth: Come on now, we wouldn’t want anything bad to happen? Still, this really is Darwin's boy, huh? Looks exactly like him.] Blake looks at Bracken.

  [Blake: Sorry…] Blake says in despair. Bracken yells [BASTARD!!!]

  A bunch of vines tackles Blake out of Truth's hands. As if on queue, Bracken comes in and cuts Truth's arm off. Truth turns to Selene.

  [Truth: Annoying.] Selene falls to the ground unconscious. Truth's arm regenerates, and he waves it at Bracken. Who promptly disappears.

  *Blake: He desummoned Bracken?!?!*

  Truth looks at Blake.

  [Blake: Nice to meet you, Old God Truth.]

  Truth puts his hand to his chin and looks back to Blake.

  [Truth: Are you sure you are Darwin's son? You seem way too polite. It is kind of creepy] Blake perks up.

  [Blake: Darwin? That is my dad's name! How do you know my dad?!?] Truth quickly knocks Blake out.

  Truth looks at all the destruction in the arena and the audience. They are all too scared to even move. Truth sighs.

  *Truth: Maybe I went a little overboard. I won’t kill anyone here. After all, I found out a bunch of interesting things.*

  Three tendrils go out and grab the star-eyed man, the little girl, and Pax. Truth then claps his hands.

  [Truth: “No one will remember anything that went on after Azarath survived Zealiths final move. Azarath Goldyn won via knockout.”]

  ____________________________________________________________________________

  Everyone claps as Azarath raises his one good arm in the air. Signifying his victory. They knocked out Zealith on the ground.

  *Azarath: I meant to kill him with that last punch. I held back too much.*

  Azarath continues to wave and blow kisses to the thrilled audience. Among the crowd, Peak is overjoyed. He glances at Selene, Harpstein, and Blake.

  [Peak: That fight was amazing! I can’t wait for my own! I want to have a brawl off like that!]

  Selen and Harpsein share faint smiles, relieved that Azarath is alright. Peak grabs for his sword but discovers only shards. In disbelief, he swiftly extracts the shards and stares at them.

  [Peak: How did this happen?!?!] Peak is on the verge of crying. Harpstein looks at the sword and pats Peak on the back.

  [Harpstein: Don’t worry. It probably just broke while you were bouncing around. We can look in the armory. I'm sure they have a sword that can take your strength.] Harpstein thinks to himself.

  *Harpstein: That was a legendary sword forged by Akon himself. It was in pristine condition as well. What did Peak do to break it?!?*

  Harpstein leads Peak over the armory. Blake looks extremely challenged.

  *Blake: I feel like I'm missing something very important. I'm glad that Azarath is fine, but something else definitely happened. I just can’t remember. Bracken?*

  Bracken's voice appears in Blake's head.

  *Bracken: Suh G.*

  *Blake: Bracken, do you remember anything out of the ordinary happening during that fight?*

  *Bracken: The fight was definitely top-tier. Ion remember anything out of the ordinary tho. Just seemed like a normal fight to me.*

  Selene glances at Blake, noticing his troubled expression. She chooses to give him space and turns to the person beside her.

  [Selene: Hey Pax.] No one is there.

  *Selene: Huh? I could have sworn Pax was just there a few moments ago. Did he have to go to the bathroom or something? Ah, whatever.*

  Selene shrugs her shoulders. She has to start getting ready for her fight soon. The announcer suddenly comes back on the broadcast.

  [Announcer: I know this seems sudden. However, Truth just informed us that the break between rounds one and two will be extended by one hour. Feel free to use that time to do whatever you want!]

  ____________________________________________________________________________

  Pax wakes up in a room. He looks around. It is all pitch black. Pax is not bound by anything, so he stands up. A voice comes out of the darkness.

  [It seems you are awake; now let us commence our reunion. Shall we?]

  To be continued…