CHAPTER 2004: CAP 1998: COMPLETE ANOMALY...

"[It seems one of the participants can no longer continue the fight, so I declare participant Heferíus the winner!]" (Igor)

"..." (me)

The announcement came soon after, and once again the System appeared, bringing the sphere of chains that had become Sarazar.

"What was that?" (me)

"Zenos, you need to use your power to free him!" (Lolth)

"Believe me, you don't want this, let me do it." (Xerxes)

" Decree of Insanity: Minor Paradoxical Distortion " (Xerxes)

Before anyone could do anything, Xerxes appeared beside the sphere of chains, her hands glowing with blue and red flames. She was digging inside the sphere as if it were a mound of mud. Each time she touched it, the chains reverted to their original form, organs or blood spurting out from behind her. In seconds, she pulled Sarazar out completely unharmed.

"Hinata... hungry...?" (Hinata)

"You can eat..." (me)

Before I could finish, Hinata's small body split in two and she swallowed all that damn chain stuff before her body returned to normal.

"I apologize, I performed shamefully." (Sarazar)

"No, they were prepared for the two of us, your opponent, now I know who he is, Lena told me." (Lolth)

"His name, I didn't connect it before since I only remember him by his nickname, but the way he regenerated his body..." (Urak)

"Do you both know him?" (me)

"He holds the title of Immortal Warrior, his power derives from being linked to nature itself at the Soul level, that's what Lena told me." (Lolth)

"(So this enemy also used the power of nature...)" (me)

It was becoming increasingly clear that Ayden had done his homework; he had at least two people with the power of nature to fight Lolth and had an item prepared to seal enemies, clearly prepared to deal with Sarazar.

I chose him because he's a living fortress; not even I think I would be able to defeat him, and even if defeated, he would only rise again thanks to the nourishment of Cortana's death.

That must be why they prepared a way to seal him; besides, since it was an item, it could be given to any participant chosen to face Sarazar.

"(If the individual battles are already like this, what will the group battle be like?)" (me)

"[Let's begin the third Confrontation!]" (Igor)

Ding!

"[ Hinata X Erina ]"

The spinning boxes stopped at two figures, one of them being Hinata, asleep and clinging to one of my arms.

The other person was a woman around 20 years old, seemingly of the Celestina race, with green hair and a maniacal smile.

As soon as Hinata was chosen, I approached her. Ayden's preparation against Sarazar gave me an idea of how to help Hinata. I don't have time to test things since I've never tried this before, but it should all work out.

" Summoning of the Profane Eclipse: Weapons of Chaos " (me)

Space shattered as what seemed like a universe revealed itself behind it before melting and flowing outwards, falling into my hands, forging a sword with a dagger attached to the longer hilt at the other end, my Divine Weapons already fused to the weapon.

"Take this, use it if necessary!" (Me)

"Hinata... win..." (Hinata)

Hinata takes the weapon from my hands and opens her mouth as if it were a street performance, she swallows the entire weapon as if it were nothing, but I could feel her power nourishing the sword inside her.

"[Now let's go to the random arena selection!]" (Igor)

"[Begin!]" (Igor)

Ding!

"[ Battlefield ]"

As soon as the box representing the arena environment was chosen, Hinata disappeared from my arms, and I turned my attention back to the screen.

As soon as I looked at the screen, I saw the battlefield; it was a desolate and macabre land, dismembered bodies of all kinds of races, pieces of armor and weapons ranging from the most rudimentary to the most technological, as if this battlefield had witnessed millions of battles throughout countless generations.

The ground was completely red, bones scattered everywhere, and the skies were cloudy as if they didn't want to let any light touch such a morbid place.

Hinata appeared in the middle of this battlefield and looked in all directions with her expressionless face, but her eyes shone like those of a believer inside a candy store; to her, this battlefield must look like a buffet of everything one could possibly eat.

Her opponent appeared in front of her and remained standing without even looking around; she was completely at ease, as if she were at home.

"[I'm starting the third match!]" (Igor)

"[On one side we have the Divine Beast of Anomaly, Hinata!]" (Igor)

"[On the other side we have the Avatar of War, Erina!]" (Igor)

"[The battle begins!!!]" (Igor)

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Pov Erina (Avatar of War):

Having the battlefield in this configuration was like being home, the smell of blood and iron, the mud mixed with sweat and blood on the ground as I stepped, the hot and humid air at the same time, all of it was nostalgic.

But the only thing in my vision was the thing in front of me. I, like the others, had studied all the Heralds, Divine Beasts, and Zenos' wives, as well as his main subordinates. We knew he had a high chance of summoning one of them.

Of all those he controls, the one he least wanted to face ended up being the one standing before me now, covering his body with a cloak that seems to form a second skin, so tightly clinging to his body.

According to the reports found, this creature is a complete Anomaly, possessing no element of specialization. Its powers can vary between the power of death, ghost, both types of Anomalous power, and possibly the power of Chaos.

It possesses summoning, possession, and cursing techniques, capable of influencing the Soul, and also seems to have no weaknesses per se.

"[I'm starting the third match!]" (Igor)

"[On one side we have the Divine Beast of Anomaly, Hinata!]" (Igor)

"[On the other side we have the Avatar of War, Erina!]" (Igor)

"[The battle begins!!!]" (Igor)

I don't advance against her; on the contrary, I keep my distance. The reports clearly show that this damned thing is a weapon, a mass of energy that reshapes itself as desired without being trapped in predefined forms.

I look at her, removing the hood covering her body. The hood changes texture; what once seemed like fabric now resembles skin.

Her appearance is that of a beautiful, expressionless young woman. Her head tilts slightly to the side in confusion, her eyes focused on me.

"(The choice of battlefield was bad for you; admit defeat now.)" (War)

"I give up!!!" (Me)

I didn't understand why Guerra was making me give up like that. This had never happened before, I'd never heard of anything like this happening, asking one of his Avatars to give up without even having fought. It was so unthinkable that I obeyed out of pure instinct before really noticing what had happened.

"[That was the first withdrawal of this event!!]" (Igor)

"[Participant Erina gives up the moment the match starts, and with that... I declare participant Hinata the winner!!!]" (Igor)

I suddenly appear before Ayden. The other Avatars seem displeased with my reappearance, but Ayden doesn't take his eyes off the screen, and when I turn to face him, I see something I can no longer forget.

Zenos' Divine Beast was still in the arena, but the battlefield was no longer present. This was because the entire terrain up to where the screens showed was distorting, with repugnant things emerging from the ground and gathering into a grotesque tornado around it.

All the blood, flesh, and bone fragments had vanished; even the dried bloodstains on the ground and armor disappeared. The battlefield seemed clean and desolate, with pieces of broken or distorted metal scattered about, but not a single bloodstain anywhere.

The repugnant tornado had tentacles, eyes, teeth, and bizarre limbs as it forced its way into the young woman's small body, which opened like a devouring furnace before closing, leaving only the young woman in that clean field that soon disappeared.

"What was that!?" (me)

"As soon as she stepped off the battlefield, she absorbed it, each of her glances was like painting a target on an area, something was spreading behind the space and outside the power of reality." (Ayden)

"What you were seeing before, that young woman... was just a reflection of your true self that had become the battlefield itself." (Ayden)

"..." (me)

This doesn't make sense, she shouldn't be so strong and shouldn't be able to escape my senses like that, I wasn't underestimating her, so how could this happen?

"(It was her Concept, her interpretation of Chaos, she herself is almost an Entity, even being weaker than you in combat, her unique abilities completely surpass you.)" (Guerra)

"..." (me)

"If that's true, how are we going to fight this abomination in group battle?" (Me)

"I don't think we're unlucky enough to fall into such a perfect environment for her as we are now, so we still have someone capable of taking care of her." (Ayden)

I look back to where the tallest of us was tearing off and reattaching the arm as if it were a toy.

"That look really doesn't suit you." (Me)