Magic Trick

"HERE WE ARE NOW AT THE FINAL STRETCH OF TODAY'S CLUSTER BATTLE. FOUR OUR LAST MATCH, WE HAVE HARU HOSHINO FROM THE MANHATTAN TEAM AND CHANNARONG CHAISONGKHRAM FROM BANGKOK TEAM!"

Somehow, Shamil and Furkan's voices start to grow on me. Will they be here until the end of the competition?

After some time, we all returned to the dome for the last match of the day. Currently, the standing is even between the two teams. Both have one point each, and this last match is the defining battle. 

Haru and Ellis didn't talk yet. I think it's best to have it like that for now as we don't want Haru to have more stress. Ellis won't stop talking for sure, so I had to pull him away from him.

"Fighters, please approach the ring," Jang-mi announced. 

When both fighters went on the ring, our friendly cat Beketi appeared on the screen.

"Hello, wonderful fighters! It's me again, your friendly cat, Beketi!" It then jumped out of the suitcase and pushed the handle of the slot machine. "This is gonna be exciting. It's the match we've been all waiting for!"

Three icons again appeared on each slot and Beketi explained them one by one. "Yay! For the dome slot, you got the volcano!"

All of a sudden, the area where Fei and Jia were standing, also Ton's, the commentators and Jang-mi's as well, the floors elevated to the level of the first row of the audience. Then, a gush of lava quickly filled in the surrounding area of the ring. I can feel how hot it is from here! What the hell, literally!

"Yes! Surrounding the ring is a lake of molten rock, which means you, fighters, are just going to stay inside the ring. Otherwise, if you land outside, you'll be melting easily and lose the battle," Beketi uttered. 

"For the power slot, we have here a logo of a knuckle and 'x1' beside it, meaning, you can only use the attack once. You can change your technique, but you are not allowed to repeat it. Our staff will be monitoring and recording your attacks. If you repeat an attack, you will lose. As an example, in the previous battle, Fei Xing of the Manhattan team used the power balls several times. For this round, think of all the creative ways you can defeat your opponent, but make sure you use them only once."

Wow. I'm sure Haru has a lot of tricks up his sleeve, but we're still not sure how strong Beam is. 

"Last, for the time slot, it says 30, which means, you only have 30 minutes to fight, which is by far, the longest allowed time to fight since our first battle. After 30 minutes, if both fighters are still standing or not standing at all, the match will be considered a draw. Are you ready?"

Beam and Haru didn't even say yes, so Jang-mi jumped in the match. "This is the final battle of today's match. Channarong versus Haru. Commence!"

Haru brought out pieces of folded paper in the shape of animals and grew them massively, and these attacked Beam, but Beam just stomped his feet on the ring and a tremor ran towards the paper animals and threw them out of the ring. The animals burned quickly in the lava.

"Nice one," Beam said.

"Thanks. Good thing I eliminated that attack already from you," Haru pointed at the screen and the attack was screenshot and listed. 

"How did you know I can do that?" Beam asked.

Haru just shook his head. "You don't have to know that."

"Fair enough. I know I'm gonna win this battle, anyway," Beam uttered and brought out two swords and ran towards Haru. Haru then controlled the lava and made a large wave, as if he was just controlling water. Then, he jumped so high and gestured the lava to attack Beam. Beam dodged the attack and ran to the other side of the ring, but… 

"Oh, no! Haru!" I gasped. 

The lava melted the ring and separated it in half. Now, both of them are on two different sides of the ring. Surprisingly, both parts are still floating on the lava pool. Maybe there are thermal cords that kept it afloat or something. 

"Right now, our ring was cut into two. Let's ask Jang-mi on this matter. Jang-mi, can you please let us know how we can proceed with the battle?" Shamil asked.

"Certainly, let me direct this to the council," Jang-mi replied. She went up a few rows to reach Jager Borg and the rest of the council. After a few seconds, she returned near Shamil and Furkan.

"The battle continues," Jang-mi said.

"There you go, folks. Even if our ring is cut into half, we are going to proceed with the battle with both of our fighters in their respective islas," Shamil announced.

"Speaking of isla, look at Haru's la isla bonita!" Furkan uttered. 

Using his magic, Haru placed some objects in front of him. A book, a box, a mirror, a plate, and a piece of shattered glass. Then, once he's done, he levitated all of them and one by one, he used his power to unlock several entities out of them! 

"So, he brought out five objects which he can summon something, like the woman over there. Look at the woman over there. I want her dress," Ellis commented.

"I think that's Diana from Roman Mythology," I guessed, but somehow I think I am correct. I've read about her in one of our English classes in high school.

"Diana! Now!" Haru said.

Diana then raised her hand and from up above, a bright white light shone on her. I think it was coming from the moon. Fantastic! Then, she waved her hand and suddenly…

"Look! Diana, who went out of the book, levitated the entire island!" Shamil yelled.

"So did Beam and his swords," Furkan added. 

Beam grabbed his sword and stabbed both on the ring. 

Then, the ring turned sideways! 

"I think she didn't levitate them. She controlled the gravity!" Shamil observed.

Haru scoffed. Beam was holding on to the swords. Then, he pulled himself up and he's now standing on the sword. 

Diana disappeared and so as the book where she came from. Then, Haru controlled the box and an orb went out of it. 

It moved forward and ejected a blast of lightning towards Beam. Beam, on the other hand, brought out a shield with a face of a wicked being. He used it to bounce the lightning back to the orb. Unfortunately, the orb's power backfired, so he disappeared and so did the box. 

"Black hole!" Haru called again another one who went out of the mirror. Then, below the ring opened a hole and it absorbed the ring in a matter of seconds. 

Beam sprung swiftly from the swords, grabbed them quickly, and threw the shield he was holding like a saucer and it hit the mirror, which made the black hole disappear. He then jumped on Haru's island and destroyed the other objects, which dissolved the other objects Haru prepared.

"You can't defeat me by just bringing out those things," Beam said.

"That's your opinion," Haru replied. "I beg to differ."

Beam ran towards Haru and attacked with his two swords. Haru then brought out a fountain pen and he used it to block Beam's swords. What a mighty pen!

"Right now, we only have half of the ring and the two fighters are sharing it," Furkan announced.

"Also they're using their weapons. Beam with his swords and Haru with a pen! Unbelievable choices!" Shamil added.

"Really? A pen? I think you have a better chance with the books," Beam said.

Haru then responded. "Have you not heard of the saying, 'The pen is mightier than the sword.'?"

Beam grunted and pushed the sword further, but Haru leapt backwards and opened the lid of the pen. Then, he swayed the pen and it emitted energy blasts approaching Beam. The blasts were too strong that Beam could not avoid them. He tried using his swords to slice the blasts but he was catapulted to the edge of the half-ring. 

"Told you," Haru said.

"Not quite, but it's my turn to call on a god," Beam spoke as he sat on the ring, cross-legged. Then, he slowly floated and an aura appeared behind him until it forms a shape of a giant being. Someone who is really intimidating to see.

"What the frickin' freak is that?" Ellis said.

"Please welcome Lokeshvara," Beam said as the spirit-like being behind him is already in its full form. It was like a giant Buddha with multiple arms. 

Slowly, Beam returned to the surface of the ring and stood up. Then he pierced his hand with the sword that he was holding. He groaned, as his palm is bleeding, but after a while, it stopped, and I think the pain was gone. Then, the giant spirit being behind had swords in all of its hands. 

"How on earth would Haru beat that thing with a pen?" I wondered.

"Haru, think!" Ellis shouted. "You can't be this stupid to use a pen to defeat that monster! I'm gonna kill you myself if you lose this battle!"

Ellis may be saying that, but I can feel that he's really worried about Haru. His mouth may have said ill words that translated to a cry for help, but his eyes showed anxiety. 

"Attack me then," Haru arrogantly spoke.

Of course, I only had one reaction.

Facepalm.