The win boosted our morale a bit but the situation quickly changed again, as another alien entered the arena.

It was brown-skinned, a bit taller than a human creature wearing a round bamboo-like hat, just the color was black, and short, dark pants. It had strange silver lines going through its whole body, and those had a strange shine to them.

He was also carrying a stack of swords cut straight out of a steel plate. They didn't even have proper hilts or guards. Just a blade and a dull fragment you could use to hold the thing. All of them were tied with a rope.

The alien threw them to the ground, untied, and started sticking in the sand around himself, keeping enough distance to move freely.

Edward used this moment to catch his breath, and turned off some of his skills. The discharges stopped jumping all over his body, but the dark clouds, with the occasional sound of thunder, remained.

When the creature was done, he threw the hat revealing his head. It was quite human-like, with pair of horns going from the sides of the forehead along with the skull to the very back. He had big, dark blue eyes, a tiny, pointy nose, thin lips, and prominent cheekbones.

- This one doesn't look scary - said somebody.

The possible discussion ended right where it could start, as the sound of a gong cut it off completely. Alien grabbed the sword and threw it with unexpected power at Edward, then grabbed two more. Each in one hand then charged.

Hill avoided the blade, that passed by his head like a train at full speed in a straight line, and got jammed in the wall surrounding the arena. He immediately went sprinting at his opponent activating the skills he turned of for a second.

It was quite obvious to me that he didn't have much more in his body, and wanted to finish the fight as fast as possible. At the very end of his charge, he accelerated even more and appeared just before the alien with a hand ready to punch. He swung it, but the creature dodged by the second and dragged one of the blades through Edward's ribs making sparks, and luring the electricity to his weapon.

The human tried to dodge, but the alien also managed to strike his back before they both, at high speed, separated from one another.

- Great technique - Nobuo pointed out.

He was right. The alien displayed incredible precision and control. He kept his moves minimal to stay close to Hill, and attack even despite the difference in speed and power.

As both of them landed and slid on the sand, the alien threw both swords at the Skullcrasher. He grabbed two new ones as he started circling around his opponent.

Edward mirrored this after dodging bot blades, and for a second it looked like they both were just running in a circle, but then they both went straight to class in the middle. Hill tried to punch and grab but he couldn't succeed, meanwhile, the alien kept avoiding and squeezing attacks here and there, creating more sparkles as his swords couldn't cut the human's skin.

The electricity was jumping all around them, hitting the swordsman who didn't really seem to mind. I noticed that the strange lines all over his body were shimmering a little. Also, his eyes seemed to get a bit brighter compared to how dark they were in the beginning.

Edward's situation didn't look good, although he was not getting damaged, at least not in a way we could see, but he was being constantly hit. He couldn't even run away, because the alien seemed to be glued to him, and followed each step.

He shouted, spreading his arms, and summoned lightning that hit him, making the swordsman run away. It was an opening Hill used immediately rushing after his opponent, and trying to grab him. He already figured out that punching is not going to work.

Alien bested him again, ducking down, dodging, cutting his leg, changing direction, and running away. There was a slight change this time, though. There still were sparks created, but also a little bit of blood was left on the sword itself.

- He is getting faster and stronger - said Nobuo. - It doesn't look good.

I noticed the same thing. I immediately connected it with the lines in the swordsman's body, and the eyes getting a bit brighter. But the reasoning behind it was still escaping me.

Edward stopped sliding on the sand and rushed again at the alien. This time, he added some of his earth magic, creating walls of stone, which emerged from the sand to block any escape routes. He cornered the swordsman and they clashed again. Hill still couldn't hit and was swinging, plowing the air around the strange creature, but also blocking other escape routes, basically trapping them both in a small place.historical

We had to get closer to the holoprojection to see from above what was going on behind the walls.

The exchange got crazy. It looked like two swirling bodies that were jumping one above the other in this crazy dance. The electricity was everywhere, jumping around, hitting walls and the ground. Alien obviously was getting faster and faster.

Hill couldn't take it anymore. He slammed the ground with his fist, and multiple lightning bolts came from the clouds above, combining into one, which hit them both creating an explosion that shook the ground, and shattered the stone walls, melting most of them.

From the cloud of shards and sand emerged two beings being thrown in opposite directions. They both caught themself while landing and slid on the sand to soon stop.

Edward was bleeding from multiple cuts all over his body. They all were shallow, but nonetheless were bleeding.

Alien on the other hand looked perfectly fine, but the lines on his body were glowing slightly and shimmering, and whatever was inside them, was flowing. It looked like liquid silver. But the biggest change was the eyes. Beaming with energy, which turned them almost white.

His weapons were gone, probably shattered or melted in the latest skirmish, but he was standing with his back straight, looking confident and proud.