The battle inside the massive underground arena reached a sudden and incredibly intense moment. Nishighi stood facing his opponent on the shifting golden sand, his eyes completely locked onto the ice mage. Without a single word of warning, Nishighi moved his arm with absolute speed, swinging his heavy blade through the cold air. The movement of the weapon was so fast that the spectators up in the stands could barely see the silver flash of the metal as it traveled through the space between them. The sharp edge of the blade sliced through the air over and over again, creating a repetitive hissing sound that filled the entire fighting pit. Suddenly Bellghine got cut 10 times in the blink of a single eye. The ten separate slashes landed perfectly across his physical body, cutting deep into his flesh and tearing through his form with immense physical force. The damage from the rapid attack was completely devastating, happening too fast for any normal defense to block. The physical structure of the ice mage's body could not hold itself together under the weight of such a fast and precise combination of strikes. His cut-off body fell into the floor. The various pieces of his physical form detached completely from one another and tumbled downward through the freezing mist, hitting the rough surface of the arena floor with a series of heavy, dull thuds. The severed arms, legs, and sections of his torso lay scattered across the golden sand, completely separated and motionless under the bright artificial lights of the stadium.
Just a few moments earlier in the match, the ice mage had successfully used his cold ice magic to completely repair his injuries when his head was pinned to the sand by the thrown sword. Because of that, the people watching from the high stone seats expected to see the exact same process happen again, waiting for the white frost to appear and pull the severed pieces back together into a whole human shape. But it didn't just regenerate. The scattered pieces of his cut-off body did not activate the familiar white ice magic to heal the deep wounds or mend the separated limbs. Instead, a completely unexpected and strange transformation began to occur right on the surface of the sand. The physical matter of his fallen body suddenly turned different. The cold, pale color of his skin and the frosty texture of his magic vanished entirely from every single piece lying on the ground. Bellghine suddenly turned black. A dark, pitch-black color spread rapidly across the surface of the severed limbs and torso pieces, consuming them completely until they looked like pieces of solid shadow or dark stone. Then, the solid shape of the flesh and bones collapsed completely, losing all structure. His body turned liquid. The black parts melted down into a thick, dark fluid that looked like heavy ink or dark tar pooling on the arena floor. The fluid began to bubble and ripple violently against the golden sand, and then it suddenly grew. The separate puddles of dark liquid rushed toward each other, combining into one single mass that began to expand outward and upward, rising high into the air as it gained a massive amount of height and size, turning into a giant, dark shape that towered over the arena floor.
Watching this terrifying and completely unnatural transformation take place in the very center of the fighting pit, Celdrich realized the immediate danger to the entire stadium and everyone inside it. He knew that the forces being released could cause massive destruction if they were left unchecked. He did not hesitate for a single second to protect the surroundings and the people watching. Celdrich suddenly covered the arena with his barrier magic. He extended both of his hands forward toward the center of the pit, and a massive, glowing wall of defensive energy appeared instantly around the entire perimeter of the arena floor. The magical barrier rose up rapidly from the outer edges of the golden sand, climbing higher and higher into the air until it reached the very ceiling of the building, forming a complete, solid dome that totally isolated the entire combat area from the spectator seating sections. The defensive shield was thick, stable, and completely clear, allowing the people in the stands to look through the transparent energy while keeping the physical forces inside completely locked away from the rest of the stadium.
Just as the defensive barrier was fully formed and locked securely into place around the fighting pit, the growing mass of dark liquid reached its absolute limit. Suddenly Bellghine exploded with mana. A massive, devastating eruption of raw magical energy burst outward from the dark shape, expanding in every single direction at once with incredible physical force. The explosion was not a quiet release of power; it was a loud, roaring wave of energy that slammed violently against the inner walls of Celdrich's newly created barrier. The force of the impact made the entire structure of the underground city vibrate, and the air inside the dome warped completely under the pressure. It was so violent that normal people will die if they got hit with the mana. The sheer density, pressure, and destructive nature of the raw power radiating from the center of the pit would instantly crush the physical body and life force of any ordinary human being who came into direct contact with it. The defensive barrier hummed loudly as it absorbed the immense pressure of the violent explosion, holding the deadly energy inside the arena and preventing it from tearing through the spectator stands where it would cause total destruction.
Celdrich heard the loud hum of the barrier and felt the massive pressure of the exploding power inside the dome, and he knew that the spectators were in extreme danger if the defensive shield should fail to hold the energy back. Celdrich suddenly shouted that everyone go home. His voice was incredibly loud and powerful, amplified to cut directly through the roaring sound of the exploding mana, commanding every single person sitting in the stands to leave the area immediately and go back to their homes where it was safe. The urgent warning triggered an immediate reaction from the massive crowd of spectators who had been watching the match. The people suddenly ran out of the stadium. A massive wave of panic swept through the high seating areas as hundreds of individuals jumped up from their stone seats and rushed toward the exits. They crowded into the narrow walkways, pushing past one another and running as fast as they could down the stone corridors to escape the dangerous room. The sound of their running boots and frantic voices filled the entire building as they fled, creating a chaotic scene in the hallways. But some didn't. A small number of individuals refused to leave their places. They remained standing or sitting near the front railings, keeping their eyes locked firmly on the arena floor, choosing to stay behind and watch the events unfold despite the obvious and deadly danger to their lives.
Down on the golden sand, inside the protective dome of the clear barrier, the violent explosion of raw mana slowly began to settle down, pulling back into the center of the fighting pit and consolidating into the dark form. After that, the dark figure stood up. The massive mass of black liquid had fully shaped itself into a towering, dark entity that rose to its full height on two legs. The figure was completely black from head to toe, looking like a solid shadow standing in the middle of the sand, completely separate from the person who had been fighting before. It stood perfectly straight, facing its opponent with a heavy and imposing presence. The dark figure opened its mouth, and a deep, rattling voice echoed loudly through the enclosed space of the arena, bouncing off the walls of the barrier. It suddenly said, "I am not Bellghine, I am Golhmein. I am a being far stronger than anything—" The words were clear and carried a sense of immense pride and power through the quiet air inside the shield.
The towering dark figure did not get the chance to finish its sentence or complete its statement about its power. Before the entity could even utter the final word of its claim, suddenly Nishighi punched him. Nishighi did not wait for the speech to finish, and he did not stand still to listen to the creature's boastful words. He moved forward with absolute physical speed, crossing the distance over the golden sand in a fraction of a single second and driving his solid fist straight into the face of the dark figure. The physical impact was incredibly loud, producing a sharp cracking sound that echoed violently inside the clear dome. The immense force of Nishighi's sudden strike caught the dark creature completely off guard, and he flew back. Golhmein's large, heavy body was lifted completely off the floor by the sheer power of the blow, soaring backward through the air across the entire width of the fighting pit before crashing heavily into the sand on the far side of the arena, kicking up a large cloud of dust.
The dark figure was sent flying across the arena by the massive punch, but it did not remain down on the sand for long. Golhmein suddenly flew back at Nishighi. Recovering instantly from the physical impact of the blow, the dark entity launched himself forward from the ground, flying back across the arena floor like a fast black streak of light. He closed the distance between them in an instant, arriving right back in front of Nishighi before the fighter could change his position or prepare a defensive stance. Golhmein reached out with his powerful arms, gripped Nishighi with immense physical force, and threw him into the ground. The violence of the throw drove Nishighi down hard against the solid floor of the arena, creating a loud crash as his body hit the ground and sending a large cloud of golden sand and dust flying up into the air around them, obscuring the view for a brief moment.
The impact against the hard floor was incredibly severe, enough to crush an ordinary fighter completely, but it did not have the intended effect on Nishighi. Nishighi is unscratched. He stood right back up from the golden sand immediately, his body completely free of any cuts, marks, bruises, or injuries from the violent throw. The devastating attack had failed to cause even the smallest amount of physical damage to his form, and his clothes were merely covered in a light layer of dust. He faced the towering dark entity once again with absolute focus and readiness, completely unbothered by the attack. Suddenly they kept brawling. Without a single word or any further delay, the two powerful combatants rushed directly into each other in the center of the pit. They began exchanging a rapid and relentless succession of punches, kicks, and heavy strikes, their fists hitting each other with incredible speed and power. The continuous sound of their physical combat echoed through the arena as they fought on with total intensity, completely ignoring the empty stands, the clear barrier, and everything else around them as the brutal brawl carried on across the sand.