Dash – Whoosh… Crash.

  A Fearsome battle ensued between the Red King and Sallow. From the side, their fight appeared to be an equal grounding, with both sides going at it with almost all their strength and neither coming out on top — however, if one was to pay attention close enough, they’d be able to notice a grand difference between the expressions made by the two clashing goblins.

  The Red King appeared nervous, unsure and even a little bit frightened, while Sallow was perfectly calm, even appearing to be bored out of his mind.

  The audience was silent, watching intently as the fight ensued.

  Jack, Greth and Araneida were also watching the fight — just from inside the arena itself. Greth appeared to be nervous and worried, while Jack and Araneida just carefully followed the movements made by the two clashers.

  “Sallow is holding back quite a lot… And yet even then he is pushing back the Red King.” Jack commented in his mind, narrowing his eyes a bit as the two goblins leapt at each other once more.

  Clang.

  Their attacks cancelled out one another. The Red King shed a cold sweat, his eyes shaking lightly as he looked towards Sallow. “He’s beyond strong… This gauntlet has been infused with five Greater Runes of Strength and yet, it is barely managing to keep up with him.” The Red King landed back onto the ground, before quickly taking a defensive position as Sallow dashed at him, throwing a powerful punch towards his guard, his eyes searing red.

  “Is this the strength he gained after becoming the new king…? If so…” The Red King let a small smile grow across his face for a second. “I must research this! I need to know how it works!”

  Sallow scoffed.

  “Don’t smile like that.” He stated, before suddenly leaping back and then up into the air, before letting out a loud roar down towards the Red King. The roar was loud, echoing through the arena — however, it also was powerful, as the sheer force he managed to exert using just the roar was enough to force the Red King to bend his knees, as well as crack and break the ground below him.

  After the roar, Sallow propelled himself off of the high cave ceiling above the arena, dashing down towards the Red King like a bomb that had been dropped by a Destroyer aeroplane. The Red King just barely managed to block the strike, using his gauntlet as a shield, however the force that Sallow exerted in his strike was great enough to force the Red King down even more, as well as crack the gauntlet, which sent a moment of shock through the Red King, as his eyes widened.

  “Abort!” He shouted. Suddenly, the gauntlet runes all lit up brightly, before the Red King pulled his left arm out of it and dashed away. Then, before Sallow could get away, the gauntlet detonated, erupting into a large explosion that sent a shockwave through the arena.

  Greth looked more concerned.

  Jack simply raised his eyebrows a bit, visibly impressed. “A Weapon rigged with a self destruction function in case of emergencies… Smart.”

  Jack then leaned against the arena wall a bit more. “Perhaps I was far too quick to judge this Red King for his intelligence.”

  As the dust settled and cleared, the imposing and daunting shadow of Sallow still remained with him slashing through the remaining dust with his claw-like hands. Once again, he looked unscathed from the explosion. The Red King shed another cold sweat. “He’s a real monster alright…”

  The goblin reached behind his back again, grabbing a small round disc from his belt, before placing it onto the top of his right hand. Then he reached for another disc, just like the first one, from the otherside of the belt and pulled it off, placing it on top of his left hand.

  Afterwards, he mumbled something to the discs – as if issuing a command.

  Runes lit up on the discs. The right one had runes that spelled out the word ‘Fire’ on it while the left one had runes that spelled out the word ‘Thunder’ on it. It seemed like the two discs were his choice of weaponry now, as a fiery blade appeared from the right discs runes, while the left discs runes formed out into a shield made of lightning.

  Jack couldn’t help but smile a bit.

  “Those look pretty durable… Shame I can’t be the one to test them.” He thought. Sallow faced the Red King, his eyes glimmering as he began to move towards him once again. “How long do you plan on dragging out this fight with those crutches of yours?”

  He asked.

  The Red King visibly shed a sweat, before smiling and laughing. “I’m not dragging out anything — just using my resources smartly.” He replied, before dashing towards Sallow, swinging his sword of flames at the Great Goblin. Sallow backed up, dodging the swings, before attempting to retaliate with a punch, however his strike was swiftly blocked by the Red King using the shield.

  Immediately, Sallow felt a rush of lightning through his arm, before suddenly being shot back by it – crashing into the arena wall far away. The crowd remained silent for a bit, before cheering for the Red King, who smiled and stood up straight.

  Jack narrowed his eyes on the lightning shield.

  [ WEAPON ]

  Lightning Protector

  Rank: B

  A shield formed using a Greater Thunder rune.

  It’s extremely durable, though on the smaller side, it reflects the damage it blocks back onto the attacker with double the power.

  The shield itself is indestructible, unless the rune fueling it is destroyed.

  [ WEAPON ]

  “Well that’s certainly quite the item to have…” Jack commented in his mind, before scratching his chin lightly.

  I suppose the Red King is a genius after all, if he managed to create something like this. Only question remains, will Sallow be able to adapt in order to overcome this unforeseen circumstance?

  Jack looked towards the dust and rubble of the wall in which Sallow had crashed into. The Great Goblin climbed out of the rubble, unmarked while looking at the Red King with a more serious gaze.

  Then, Jack let out a small exhale and smirked.

  Nah,

  He’ll be fine.

  “I’m impressed you’re still unscathed, even after taking an attack twice the power of your punch.”

  “A breeze like that can’t hope to leave a mark on a mountain.”

  “A ‘breeze’? Hahah… You’re something else if that energy output was just a ‘breeze’ for you…” The Red King took an offensive position, placing his shield in front of him, before dashing at Sallow again. The Great Goblin remained in place for a bit, before taking a single step back — looking like he was about to dash towards the Red King as well, however as the Red King drew closer, he suddenly leapt away, shattering the ground below him and tossing the rubble up into the air.

  If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

  “Huh? Why is he running…?” Greth asked, confused.

  Jack appeared impressed by Sallows clever tactic, a gentle smile growing across his face. “Clever Sallow… very clever.”

  The Red King also appeared confused, however then suddenly – Sallow kicked, punched and threw the rubble in the air at the Red King — sending them flying towards him like high speed projectiles.

  “Shit!” The Red King stopped, before quickly moving his lightning shield above him to shield himself from the incoming barrage of rubble. As each piece of the ground hit the shield, Sallow noticed something intriguing — the rubble would bounce off of the shield and fall to the ground, but it would not send back any energy. “I see..”

  Sallow landed back down, before lifting up his right leg and sending it crashing down. He smashed the ground below him, sending up large chunks of it, before rapidly grabbing them and tossing them at the Red King, which he blocked using the shield. It appeared that in order for the shield to repel the damage it received, the object that deals the initial damage needed to maintain contact with the shield, otherwise it was unable to send back any damage.

  That meant that if Sallow kept his attacks brief and quick, ensuring that his punches and kicks didn’t maintain contact with the shield for an extended period of time, he was fully able to bypass the shields main ability.

  “Even the most genius of inventions have their unknown weaknesses.” Sallow commented in his mind, before dashing towards the Red King, who braced for his strike. “Bring it—!”

  Crash.

  Sallow sent a powerful blow onto the shield, one that would have surely been devastating if he had maintained contact with it and allowed it to charge the attack back, however, as soon as he saw the lightning begin climbing, he pulled his fist back.

  And it worked.

  The shield didn’t send out a burst of energy. The Red King looked shocked. “Huh?”

  Then—

  Bam.

  He was pummeled in the face, sending him flying back in the brief moment of confusion that had been caused by his shields ability failing to activate. The crowd let out a collective gasp, while Greth appeared to be simply dumbfounded.

  “How did he…? He should have been sent flying again by a burst of energy…” She commented, unable to comprehend what she had just witnessed. Meanwhile Jack gently smirked.

  “Not bad Sallow.”

  The Red King rose back up, using the flame sword as a crutch, looking at Sallow with a pained expression while blood dripped from his mouth and down onto the ground. Sallow slowly approached the goblin, his footsteps slow and firm — each one echoing through the arena.

  “God damnit… I guess my intentions aren’t enough to face sheer power just yet.” He thought, before rising up to his feet and taking in a deep breath. “No choice left, time to use it.” The Red King retracted his flaming sword, before grabbing out what appeared to be a necklace around his neck and crushing it with his right fist.

  Then, a massive burst of energy was sent through the arena, as the Red King let out a loud, booming roar. The flow of magical energy was enough to push Sallow back, as well as send powerful gusts of wind through the arena — enough to force most spectators to take cover.

  The Red Goblin King is activating [Monarch Transformation].

  “I see— I was wondering when he’d use that.” Jack commented, his expression turning a lot more serious. It seemed like this battle was now nearing its end with the two fighters having entered the endgame.

  After the energy flow subdued, the Red King breathed heavily, while glaring at Sallow through four shining eye sockets of a crimson red helmet, with long, jagged horns. The armour now around the Red Kings body was mostly crimson red, with brighter red, almost white, lines stretching all across it, with energy pulsating and flowing through them.

  The Lightning shield on his left arm grew larger, matching his new appearance with its lightning turning red, before the Red King shaped a crimson red fire sword and took a defensive position. “Show me what you can do, King of the Green Goblins.”

  “He definitely appears to have gotten stronger… Unlike before, I can now feel a greater physical power coming off from his body. His aura has changed as well, going from mild and unnoticeable, to aggressive, powerful and unmissable.” Jack commented in his mind, before stepping forward a bit, off from the wall and sliding his hands inside his pockets. This fight might take a little more effort from Sallow to end after all.

  Seeing the Monarch Transformation, Sallow grinned before leaning forward a bit. “Finally, I can unleash a bit more of my power.” He said, before an ominous aura appeared around him. A sort of ‘darkness’ covered him now, making him appear a lot more like a shadow than a physical being, with the only spot of colour, being his bright red eyes, which shone through the dark aura.

  The aura alone was enough to send shivers down Jack's spine — from the initial surprise of such an intimidating aura suddenly appearing. “The feeling I just got… It’s the same as what I felt when Sallow first used his Monarch Transformation against me in our battle…”

  The Red King narrowed his eyes, before dashing at Sallow.

  “You insult me, Green Goblin King! I showed you my Monarch Form, now show me yours!”

  “I've been doing that the entire time.” Sallow replied calmly, before appearing right up in the Red King's face, which caused a moment of shock from the Red King, before he immediately pulled his shield in front of him, blocking the powerful death blow that Sallow had thrown at him just now. The sheer force of the punch travelled around the shield, going up and putting a hole in the ceiling above — which had to be at least like thirty meters above them.

  The Red King was frozen by shock for a moment.

  Then, before he could recover, Sallow grabbed his right leg, before swinging him around and smashing him into the ground, the Red King coughing up blood through his helmet. “Wh-What is this power..?!”

  Sallows' eyes shone, as he then grabbed the lightning shield in the Red King's hands, before smashing it as well — by punching through it, grabbing the disc with the thunder rune on it and crushing it. The Red King remained frozen by shock, while Sallow continued his onslaught.

  With the next punch he threw, he easily shattered the armour around the Red King's body, before grabbing him by the head, picking him up and then once again smashing him into the ground, sending a vibration through the arena that was powerful enough to shake the entire thing.

  The audience, as well as Greth, were lost for words.

  That had barely lasted a few seconds before Sallow wiped the floor with the Red King in his Monarch Form…

  As the dust cleared, the sight of the situation came into view. The Red King, utterly defeated and covered in his own blood, the shattered pieces of his Monarch form around him, laid before Sallow, who menacingly stood over him.

  It was clear who had won the Conquerors Challenge.

  Clear as day.

  Jack grinned, exhaling and then laughing — seemingly in slight disappointment. “Nevermind… That was boring.” He commented, before walking over to Sallow, with Araneida happily following after him — the two of them leaving behind the still shaken Greth, who was trying to process what had transpired in front of her.

  As Jack and Araneida approached, Sallow turned to face them, the ominous and dark aura once covering his body subduing. Jack applauded lightly. “Not bad Sallow, you really have grown a lot stronger after evolving.”

  “You flatter me, my Lord.” Sallow bowed towards Jack.

  Cough, cough.

  Jack looked to the side. Surprisingly, the Red King was still alive, as he got back up, his entire body shaking. “God damnit…. That was embarrassing…” He said, before looking up at Sallow, Jack and Araneida, who all stood over him. Then, the Red King exhaled and raised his arms above his head. “...I lost — fair and square. I guess my brains aren't strong enough to beat sheer power just yet.”

  Jack smirked, laughing at the Red King's comment.

  The Red King rose back up to his feet, before taking out another necklace that had been under his shirt. The necklace was a small heart shaped crystal, which shattered once he took it out.

  Red Goblin King has used ‘Vitality Gem’.

  “I’ll take a guess that it’s the reason he’s still alive.” Jack thought.

  Then, the Red King exhaled and moved up to Sallow, before kneeling before him, shocking the entire crowd watching. “I have lost. King of the Green Goblins, from this day on, you are also our King. I, the Red Inventor, swear to dedicate my life to be of use to you.”

  The entire audience rose up in shock, with a wave of mixed reactions roaring through the arena. The guards lined up all ran over, seemingly about to fight, only to join the former Red Kings side and kneel before Sallow.

  Jack looked at Sallow, smiling.

  “Mission successful – the Red Goblin clan has been conquered.”