The Tale of Mythia

Chapter 58: Punching Shadows

A pitch black magic circle suddenly appeared at TJ's feet, and the boxer jumped away to avoid a massive hand reaching from the dark magic circle in order to attempt to grab TJ. Angelo then swiped his hand horizontally in front of him, and pitch black spikes rose up from the ground in a way that seemed to mimic the sweeping pattern with Angelo's hand. TJ barely managed to dodge the spikes, and grit his teeth. TJ found himself on the rocky terrain that was outside of the grey slab in the arena.

"The rocky terrain isn't exactly suited for a boxer, so TJ is at a disadvantage outside of the center." Nikola examined from his spot in the booth with the rest of the staff. "Maui, you trained him didn't you? Alongside Bruce?"

"'Alongside' wouldn't exactly be correct, because I didn't have either of them focus on their strengths." Maui corrected Nikola. "Bruce needed to work on offense since his technique focused solely on defense. As for TJ, he needed to work on something simple, his mobility."

TJ's shoes suddenly began an orange color, and in a flash of orange, TJ dodged of the spikes shooting out like needles towards the boxer. The shoes appeared to shoot out bursts of flames to shoot TJ in whatever direction he needed to dodge. TJ launched himself upwards this time, before the boots sent him straight towards Angelo like an asteroid. The boxer used all him momentum to deliver a powerful straight towards Angelo as he approached the ground. The straight went through Angelo's head just as TJ's feet touched the ground, but something about the punch didn't sit right with TJ. TJ used his shoes to send himself to the right, just barely dodging a slash made of pure darkness. TJ looked behind him to see Angelo was standing right behind him, holding a cross-like sword with a pitch black blade.

"I see what you did there, you made a clone of yourself and hid in the shadows of those spikes you made." TJ pointed his finger at Angelo, who planted his blade into the ground and draped his arm around it. "Also, what's the deal with the sword?"

"This is sword Hades, the very sword that impaled the first user of abyss magic and drenched itself in the user's blood." Angelo introduced Hades and a pitch black magic circle suddenly enveloped the entire gray slate. "Now, witness the abyss."

Numerous black hands rose up from the ground to attempt to grab TJ, but TJ launched himself straight up and jumped away from the middle of the arena, landing on a cliff that overlooked the arena. TJ saw that Angelo was looking straight at him, and raised Hades above his head and sent a slash of dark magic towards TJ. TJ dodged the strike by launching himself back, but Angelo jumped up the cliff, and the folds of his jacket opened up to reveal nothing but darkness on the inside. Eyes appeared in the darkness, and shot beams of condensed darkness towards TJ. TJ managed to dodge each beam, but he looked to be having trouble.

"So...who gave Angelo a sword?" Sobek pointed at Angelo, who was gripping his sword and attempted to pierce TJ from above.

"Oh, that was me." Herakles raised his hands nonchalantly. "Of our five Great war potentials: Matt, Hero, Angelo, Jack, Alice, only Jack and Hero boast having a talent, magic, and weapon. So I decided to give Alice, Matt, and Angelo all three as well."

"I also have a couple suggestions for this 'Great War Potential' list." Geppetto watched the fight whilst stroking his beard.

"Save it for later, when the tournament is over." Herakles watched as TJ dodged every swing from Angelo's sword. "I may need to amp up Angelo's swordsmanship training."

TJ ducked underneath Angelo's swing by crouching before suddenly swiftly rising up to deliver a powerful uppercut to Angelo's chin. The force of the punch was enough to send Angelo towards the edge of the cliff. TJ was breathing heavily, so he took this moment to place his hands on his knees and breathe. Meanwhile, Angelo's body began twitching as though he was possessed. Angelo gripped his longsword and stood up violently, and Jack noticed something odd. His eyes were glowing purple, and Jack noticed pitch black, skeletal wings protruding from his back. Angelo disappeared, and TJ jumped to the side to avoid a black blur heading towards him, and he used his shoes to send himself into the air to avoid the blur's sword slash. This blur revealed itself to be Angelo, and he was actually beating TJ in close quarters, forcing TJ to dodge every time he swung his sword. TJ backed away with every swing, arms raised in a defensive stance. Angelo kept on swinging until out of nowhere, TJ pulled out one of his glocks and aimed it at the magic user. He fired at Angelo, and the mage created a shield of darkness in front of himself to block the bullets, but this shield was what TJ was aiming for. TJ used his shoes to dash behind Angelo's shield in order to attempt a right hook at Angelo.

"Fool."

Angelo's skeletal wings moved on their own like odd blades and attempted to slash at TJ. TJ used his arms to block the spines of Angelo's wings, but the wings pierced through TJ's arms, blood began dripping down TJ's well developed arms. TJ was left completely open to Angelo grabbing TJ's neck and lifting the boxer into the air. TJ faced the sole of his foot at Angelo, and an orange explosion engulfed the man's head. TJ was sent flying back, while Angelo had his palm covering his face and his footwork was uneven. TJ landed on the ground not too far away, and he looked down at his arms. Both of them had a bullet-sized hole going straight through them. TJ looked at Angelo, and darkness was covering Angelo's face with a mask. This mask had glowing purple teeth and glowing purple skeletal eyes.

"Well, I was told not to use this unless it's an emergency." TJ took a breath in, and Jack could see steam begin to emit of TJ's body. "Overheat, kind of my last trick."

"Then I shall return the gesture with my final trick." Angelo's shadow stretched. out and shot past TJ and went into a dark cave that was behind TJ, hidden by the cliff side.

TJ's body slowly continued to emit more and more steam until his hair almost caught fire from the heat alone, and TJ dashed towards Angelo with both his hands reeled back. TJ used his shoes to launch himself towards Angelo, and fists were both reeled back. Despite the pain, TJ moved forwards until he was right in front of Angelo. TJ stomped his foot on the ground before slamming his fist into Angelo's chest. The punch sent a shockwave through Angelo's body, and an explosion came out the other side of Angelo's body. This punch was soon followed by another punch . And another. And another. After a while, TJ's onslaught became a glowing orange blur in your eyes because Jack's eyes couldn't keep up with TJ's punches, but the explosions slowly became more and more powerful with each punch to Angelo's chest. Weirdly enough, it didn't appear that Angelo was taking any damage. Instead the punches appeared to be phasing through him. TJ finished this onslaught by reeling both his fists back and delivering a powerful double straight to Angelo's chest, and a massive explosion overlooked the cliff that the two stood on, but Angelo's was unphased.

"Impressive, I felt some of that even with my abyss magic turning parts of my body into the abyss." Angelo complimented the boxer, who was breathing heavily. "Now, let me show you my trump card...Call of the Abyss."

Angelo used his wings to soar up in the sky, and the entire arena had a magic circle over it, and TJ could feel the entire arena begin to shake violently. Fissures and cracks began to appear all over the rocky arena. From these fissures, black and purple energy shot out. TJ began to sweat while looking up at Angelo, who was hovering over the arena, holding his open palm over the arena before suddenly balling up his hand into a fist. The arena's energy then came crashing out all at once. A purple and black explosion enveloped the entire arena, destroying it in the process. Meanwhile, a barrier around the arena prevented the magic from hitting the people watching the fight, but even they could feel the intensity of the attack. The sound of the buzzer went off, and the explosion died down to reveal TJ's burnt, barely concious body laying on the gray slab of the arena's middle.

"THE WINNER IS ANGELO THANATOS!"

The roars of the cheers were so loud that they could be heard within the halls, and they were indeed heard by a familiar sniper clad in all white. Walking alongside him was a familiar honey badger. Simo was carrying two hot dogs, and unlike his normal self, he only had one gun on him instead of his usual three. He left his rifle and SMG at home, and he was keeping his hand gun hidden in his pocket.

"I can believe Titania is making me get hotdogs for her..." Simo mumbled underneath his mask whilst walking alongside Jojo. "Especially when Jack can be starting any minute, and this will be his first fight in a while without having us as backup, and the first time I've seen him fight on his own too."

As Simo complained to himself, a figure clad in all black passed by Simo, almost without the marksman knowing. The only reason Simo noticed the man at all was the sudden feeling of instinctual fear in his heart, and he looked around. He saw a lone figure walking in the opposite direction of Simo. This figure wore a black cloak and had eerily dark hair. The figure noticed Simo looking at him right away, and gave a warm expression.

"Can I help you, sir?" The man asked, and despite his warm aura and simple question, Simo felt a level of fear he hasn't felt since the day he got his scar. No...this was greater.

"Sorry, y-you just caught me off guard." Simo then began walking away from the man while still carrying the hotdogs in his hands. "Come on Jojo, let's go find our seats."

While Simo walked away, the man kept his eyes glued on the sniper.