CHAPTER 558: FLOODED ARENA

The entire room breathed a sigh of relief as the dust cloud dispersed and Lucy stood upon a hill of overturned dirt. A wide grin spread across her face as she held Death’s head by the hair.

The crowd went wild in the bleachers, and soon a chant echoed through the entire Colosseum... "Reaper! Reaper! Reaper!"

However, many of the cheers died down as the drones broadcasted closeups of Lucy’s face. She still looked pale, but her hair grew out, reaching the ground like a black waterfall.

What stumped everyone was the Reaper’s eyes. Once black now, they gently glowed in dark green colors, like the misty substance she summoned was now locked inside her irises.

"Well, I guess her Evolution was a success," said Kim, while stroking her fiancé’s head, who watched the fight from the snake-woman’s lap. "I hope my own fight will be easy just like Lucy’s!"

The others nodded around the room, agreeing with Kim’s statement. Lucy’s fight lasted close to a minute, but until the last moment she was basically playing with her food.

With that maneuver she performed, she could’ve easily started with that and ended the fight much sooner...

"That bloodlusted fool! I told her to get it done clean and fast—" said Sera, but suddenly stopped and facepalmed herself. "No... I’m the fucking fool... Why did I even believe she would listen to me... Ah, whatever! She won that’s all that matters!"

Her friends chuckled, while on the holo-screen Lucy walked to the platform and began descending. Thankfully, she left Death’s head behind... she tossed it into the bleachers...

Soon cheers and congratulations resounded in the lounge room as they threw a miniature party for the Reaper.

Back in the Colosseum, the female announcer’s voice echoed...

"Thank you for attending and cheering! Tomorrow’s schedule is already available! The portals will open at 9 for half an hour, and the first match will start at 10! Thank you again for everyone’s presence and hope to see you tomorrow!"

A few seconds of silence passed, but soon the male announcer’s commanding voice echoed inside the arena...

"Today’s matches are over! I ask everyone to leave through their designated portals in slow lines without causing issues! You’ll have an hour to leave the premises, otherwise you’ll be banned from attending!"

The message repeated a few more times as the spectators stood up and walked towards the exits.

The different sections only had portals related to the people seated there. For example, humans could only exit into Angelic Order city-states, while the Valkyries and Einherjers could only enter Asgard’s portal.

Vicky also kept her eyes on everybody inside the Colosseum, making sure nobody tried infiltrating the Angelic Order’s portals.

She mostly focused on the Immortal Warriors, angels, demons and Soldiers of Heaven. If any of these went near humans, they weren’t questioned or teleported away... Faith simply executed them...

Sera didn’t take chances, and none of these soldiers were stupid. If they went towards the human portals, then they had ill intentions.

In reality, with the Runes active, Faith could only kill people who wanted to cause trouble. This didn’t mean the clueless could escape with their lives, though...

They simply got taken into Faith’s shadow, and she brought them outside of the arena, where the Runes couldn’t protect them. Stupidity didn’t excuse anyone from punishment, and sadly, in war, Sera didn’t have the luxury of taking chances.

The night went by fast. Sera and Bea returned home and changed shifts with Agnes and Damien, so they could be child-free for a few hours. The others stayed below the arena and partied while listening to the holo-screen.

Many channels played replays of Lucy’s fight, while others gave in-depth analyzes about every battle that went down the previous day.

These continued until early morning, when they began discussing the future fights. At 9, Sera and Bea returned to the lounge room, where most of their group slept on the couches and armchairs.

The only people awake were Will and Lucy, who chatted and giggled together. Will’s arms firmly wrapped around Lucy’s waist as the new Stellar sat in her partner’s lap, straddling him.

They were just about to kiss when Sera stopped beside them, leaned in and whispered into their ears... "Get a room!"

Both Lucy and Will yelped in surprise and jumped to their feet in confusion. Their hearts beat fast as literally everyone inside the room glanced towards the source of the sudden noise.

Their faces burned red as a few giggles resounded from their friends’ mouths. Lucy then punched Sera’s shoulder in annoyance. It was meant to be a light, friendly hit, but her Stellar strength was still unfamiliar.

Sera also expected something similar, so she didn’t defend or braced herself... A big mistake...

The moment Lucy’s fist connected, her arm and ribs broke into fragments, while she flew across the room and landed in a cloud of pristine white feathers.

There wasn’t a single uncracked bone in her body. A pool of blood grew on the ground from the dozens of open wounds caused by the sharp bones piercing her skin.

Everyone became silent in shock as Bea immediately appeared at her lover’s side. Lucy also rushed towards her with a terrified expression. However, before either could’ve said or done anything, Sera climbed to her feet while chuckling.

"Damn... I didn’t think my statement was so hurtful! I guess you can’t take jokes after Evolving! Good to know!" she said while stretching her limbs and glancing around in confusion.

Suddenly, realization hit Sera, and she laughed again. All those wounds spreading across her body healed within less than a second, without Bea’s help... This was quite unusual for a Transcended, so much so that it shocked every single person, including Bea herself...

"Are... Are you okay?" asked Lucy in a trembling voice, while Sera’s golden flames burned away any remnants of her blood. She also repaired the bent Angelic Metal wall, and soon the room looked anew.

Sera chuckled in embarrassment and said, "Yeah, I guess I grew a bit stronger in the past months... Anyway, don’t worry about it. I’m not hurt or anything!"

The others continued staring at Sera in shock, while Lucy pulled the Angel into a firm hug and apologized, which Sera dismissed. There was no need to apologize for a tiny, dumb mistake.

A few minutes later, everybody seemed to forget about this minor incident as they listened to the female announcer’s opening...

"Good morning, ladies, gentlemen and everything in-between! Today will be special, as you’ve seen on the schedule! Every fighter who will be participating today has abilities related to water, so we made some changes in the arena!"

’Some change’ didn’t quite do justice to the enormous, water-filled Colosseum. Using a special Rune, they could easily fill the entire structure with water in a few hours!

Not to mention Vicky could simply open a portal in the middle of the ocean... However, that would cause many sea creatures to enter with the water, so instead Odin suggested this solution...

He wrote the Rune during the night, so now it was ready for the first fighters!

The bleachers filled completely as many more people came to watch the fights. It seemed that after seeing the safety measures the previous day, everybody grew more confident.

Only ten minutes passed, and the portals needed to be closed prematurely. The arena could only hold a few million people, and since they were at full capacity, many people walked away from the portals disappointed.

"Uh... When did the arena flood?" asked Sam while Kim glanced towards Astrid with a sly grin. "Did you forget to stop the water while running your bath?"

Astrid rolled her eyes, while Kim chuckled... "That only happened once! And I wouldn’t use this much water, unlike a certain individual!" she said, while gazing accusingly at her partner, Yvonne.

However, the shameless woman just shrugged and grinned at the giant Valkyrie... "What can I say, I love taking long baths! And as I recall, you also love watching me when—"

Astrid’s massive palm quickly covered up Yvonne’s mouth, while her a heavy blush appeared on her embarrassed face. Her friends chuckled at the flushed giantess, and Sera quickly saved the remnants of Astrid’s self-esteem.

"So nobody paid attention to my conversation with Odin yesterday? I explicitly talked to him about flooding the arena for Will’s upcoming fight!... I even announced it, and everybody nodded in acknowledgement!"

A disappointed sigh escaped Sera’s lips as she fell back onto the couch. She laid her head on Bea’s thighs, while everyone else looked away, ashamed. Bea just giggled and played with her partner’s hair.

"To be fair... We’re more interested in winning the bets, then today’s plans!" said Cass with little to no shame and a wide grin.

"Yeah, exactly! You can’t expect us to pay attention while watching an exciting fight!" said Will, and a moment later Lucy smacked his head. This time, she paid attention, so her lover didn’t faceplant on the floor.

"You idiot! It’s your fight today! Pay attention, for fuck’s sake!" shouted Lucy, but Will just smirked and, while rubbing the back of his head, said, "Oh yeah? Did you remember the announcement, or were you surprised by the water-filled arena?"

The Reaper blushed lightly, which looked even more prominent on her pale face... "Shut up!" she shouted, causing her partner and a few others to giggle.

Another day of betting began. Wukong and Amaterasu also joined them, and kept making more and more ridiculous wagers.

At first, it was dancing in the middle of the room, but by the day’s end, when Amaterasu lost, Wukong said, "Make the daytime last longer by two hours!"

Everybody thought it was a joke, but when the Queen of the Sun rolled her eyes and agreed, Sera had to intervene. She quickly made a rule, so people can only bet themselves and their own stuff! Most of all, changing the planet’s cosmic state wasn’t allowed!

Wukong called the Angel boring and instead made Amaterasu stay in a handstand throughout the rest of the day.