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Chapter 73: The Honor of a Trash: Dora VS Thomas (5)

"Omega, category: physical, magical, spirit. As an amalgam of all characters, he is affiliated with each of the elements and possesses all their abilities. Hypothetically the true body, but without fully awakening Beta, any hypothesis is not substantiated. Sociability: 0/10, the awakened form of Greed, dangerous for all living beings. As for his special ability, Avarice. Like all sin, Greed has a special ability to affect any soul in contact with its pressure. Gluttony's Voracity skill allows it to eat someone's soul, and thus Greed's Avarice..."*

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Only 4 persons burned with a different desire: Candace, Eryl, and the two heirs. They knew the full extent of his power and how lucky Thomas had been to fight him at this level.

"Is he toying with him? Why isn't he using his Sin's blessing?" Moonra whispered to his sister.

"... Maybe... Maybe he can't? Is he fully awakened? It looks too weak for a Sin."

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The Dean sat in tense silence, her eyes fixed on the battle. She suddenly noticed that her hands were emitting a white light, and her irises had turned white.

"Dean! Your eyes!" exclaimed one of the teachers.

Realizing what was happening, she placed her hands on her knees, her expression increasingly terrified.

"I know... He is... He is like... like me... He's a Sin too."

"My God... We need to stop them! Thomas will get killed!"

He tried to stand up, but a fragile grip stopped him.

"D-Dean?!"

Her eyes filled with fear, she gathered her energy to formulate a clear sentence.

"We don't... We can't interfere..."

"Dean?!"

She slowly rose her head, watching the field in terror.

"We are... I am not allowed... To act... Again another..."

"Have you lost your damn mind? What are you saying?!"

"Fool!" Another teacher, imposing and bearded, stood up and pulled the young teacher by the arm to make him sit down.

"I told you to pay attention to the Code. Don't you know the last rule?!"

"Sir Gerard? What do the kingdom laws have to do with letting a student get killed? We are..."

"Listen here you indiscipline self-absorbed imbecile, the law concerns only the Kingdom, THIS kingdom, but the Code is universal for every single human, in every continent, even above religions! As part of the kingdom's authority, you should be aware of that! If we breach it, we will trigger the end of the world."

The young teacher looked around him, confused, but the facial expressions of his seniors indicated to him that the situation was very serious.

"What is... The last rule of the Code."

"The moral of the nursery rhyme we teach to children like you, the Winter Wolf."

Candace's irises shone in bright white as she frowned.

"A Sin must never go against another Sin."

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A warm energy covered the arena. The crater lit up, as the boy emerged in a white sphere, carrying him to the rim of the crater.

Thomas gritted his teeth, he had used too much energy and was starting to feel the weight of his efforts.

"... A shield?... How... How many more abilities do you have?"

The white sphere disappeared, but the energy around Dora grew stronger, however, unlike earlier, it did not carry a scent of fear, but a benevolent warmth.

Next to Zuri, Freya held the fence, her face showing more emotions in this moment than her entire life.

"This... Is this... Light magic? When? Since when does he have it?"

"Uh? Zn't he a healer too? Every healer has light magic, right?"

"Not with that amount of power! He isn't planning to heal!"

Mercy frowned, not realizing the frightened stares of the council members learning that Dora could use another branch.

Eryl's smile widened, as her eyes shone brighter.

"I've figured it out..."

Her hair slowly turned back to its purple color, Solaria looked at her out of the corner of her eye, very subtly but in this form, nothing could escape Eryl's vigilance.

"My apologies, Princess, but if he's already at this level, his fate is no longer in your hands."

"Tch... Darn, it... I thought he wasn't awakened..."

"He isn't, remember, never below the maximum level... but he is now able to use a dangerous form of Greed's blessing, so from now on, my orders have changed."

They looked at her in confusion. After so many innuendos, almost everyone was lost in this situation.

What was happening, Dora's prowess, Thomas's true feelings, and the repetition of two sins, every ingredient was gathered for a buffet of nonsense.

Proud of this chaos, Eryl rubbed her cheek.

"This is the real power of the one bearing the Sin of Greed: the ability to steal the power of an opponent."

Gazes filled with amazement were focused on the field.

Greed's ability was rather simple: when an opponent was in contact with his pressure, and unable to defend himself, he was able to progressively sip his energy in any kind of form.

Stamina, attacks, buffs, anything that was at the origin of the power of the emissaries, or rather, with more contextual terms, anything that had a skill status or that was exhaustible could be under the influence of Greed.

This phenomenon had occurred earlier in the Undead Rift, and here, Greed's ability affected Thomas in a specific way: absorbing his stamina and the powers of the attacks he used on Dora.

Midgard, euphoric, raised a glass of wine.

"You could have used one thousand techniques, but because it's more symbolic, you had to use a light attack. Thank you... For being such a typical idiot hero."

|Greed: 40%

|Sigma: 5%

|Gamma: 7%

|Beta: 23%

Dora held his head with one hand, black mist mixing with the light aura coming from his body.

He seemed to be in pain and gritted his teeth.

Thomas walked toward him, his eyes shaking with emotion.

"This... This feeling... Yes... This is more like it... This is the kind of warmth that I would expect from the face of the poor... You had it in you, so you really could have been a hero..."

He lowered his head, black mist appearing around his body.

"You act like a monster, but this is just a facade. I know more about you than you think, I know what you think... You're not evil, you're just like other peasants."

He took a few breaths of air, looking thoughtful before staring at Dora with a determined face.

"It would be such a waste... So... I'm going to ask you one thing, depending on your answer, I will take a decision-"

"The name."

Surprised by Dora's interruption, Thomas widened his eyes and frowned.

"... What?"

"What's her name? What's the name of this girl?"

He looked at Dora for a moment before lowering his arms, looking defeated.

"And I was about to give you a chance... Do you want to blackmail me now? This is what I don't understand... Why would you-"

"Why don't you even know her name?!"

Dora opened his eyes and put a chill on those who managed to see his face.

In front of him, Thomas froze and for the first time, a new feeling shook his legs.

Dora's eyes were black, completely black, his yellow irises shone in a black sphere severed with veins, but the most disturbing thing was what was happening in the stadium.

"D-Dean Candace!"

"... Crap, a protection field, split and put a protection field around the students! No one touches Thomas!"

The teachers vanished instantly, and the Dean clutched her knees looking down and finally muttering to herself.

"I'm sorry... I am so sorry..."

Around the arena, the students were frozen by a new phenomena, the arena landscape had completely changed.

The sky was red, the air was filled with yellow and black mist, the walls were cracked, and the ground was covered with broken weapons planted in the ground.

Beyond the arena, gigantic chains encircled the arena.

Screams of fright rose from everywhere, and Dora's aura gave off a new emotion.

"Peasant this, poor that, if you care so much about her, if you hate people insulting us, why do you keep calling us by these terms? Why don't you know her name?!"

Dora's pressure rose again, but surprisingly, Thomas was unphased by the scenery around him, a yellow spark in his eyes.

"I understand why you ask that, for you people, a name is important, it's what makes you so amazing! I know how you function, especially you... Uppercrest, does it sound familiar?"

Dora's lowered both his hands, his demons' eyes widening.

"This is the name of a certain place in the capital that you're very familiar with, aren't you? A house as close as possible to the capital center, but close to a special school with a major population of foreign students... I made an investigation on you, Dora, you're trying to buy a house for your family."

The cries of fear gradually stopped, and eyes filled with amazement, as Thomas's voice could be heard clear as crystal.

"Hope talked about you, you may act tough, but even you have people to care about... I know that you send each month half of your monthly allowance to a faraway village in the countryside, you are the only hope for your family... you are doing everything for them... For your mother, for Wendy."

After hearing this, Eryl instinctively reactivated her shield and stayed on guard.

A shock wave crossed the field and, slowly, Dora spread his arms.

"I know you, I know more about your people's lives than you imagine, I only wish to help you! I wish to fight for the poor! Don't you see how much you're putting dirt on your kind? Open your eyes for God's sake!"

"What..."

Dora's arms stopped, and the arena started to shake.

"... do you think..."

Each teacher stood at a corner of the arena and spread their aura around the students, using enough power to keep them from running away, in preparation for what was coming.

"WE ARE?!"

Dora clapped his hands and the whole arena got engulfed in light.

Midgard took a sip of wine and opened her eyes as if she was about to hug the sky.

"Welcome to my world, wonder of nature."

| Greed: 40%

|Alpha Body

A blinding explosion occurred, plunging the students into discord.

Screams of terror mixed with the fireworks.

They felt as if the ground had disappeared and they were falling, but under them their seat remained, the stadium was intact.

Immobilized by the shields, they had no other choice than to witness the battle reaching its peak.

Several meters above, Thomas was falling, but still conscious.

"... Stargazer!"

He stood up and took a quick look around before parrying a spear strike that sent him onto the ground and onto his legs.

He looked ahead, surprised, as Dora landed, a spear in his hands.

"Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! Who do you think you are?!"

He threw himself at him, delivering several blows that Thomas barely dodged.

"Why do you keep calling us poor and peasants?! You think too miserable to be considered as humans?!"

"I didn't mean that!"

Dora twirled the spear above him before hitting the ground, which Thomas avoided.

"I'm on your side! I've never mistreated the poor!"

A sword brushed his shoulder, he frowned and jumped into the air, followed by Dora, several swords forming behind him.

"Then why don't you know her name?! She opened your eyes, she was nice to you, why wasn't she worthy of knowing her name?? Why do you talk about her like an animal?! what do you take us for?"

He stretched his arm forward, twenty swords rushing towards Thomas.

"Is that that important to you?! I'm caring about her, I dedicated my life to them! Comet!"

He shot several comets on the swords, destroying them, but Dora immediately appeared above him, a huge ax on the hand.

"Damn! Damn! Damn you!"

"Great Crux!"

He hit Thomas hard, but the latter repelled the blow using his technique.

Blood began to flow from Thomas' nose.

"How are you different than them?! How are you different than the idiots who mistreat us?!"

"I'm nothing like these monsters!"

"You're talking like we were animals!"

An explosion occurred, Dora chased Thomas in the air attacking him with all kinds of weapons, and Thomas managed to deflect them, using his skills.

The spectators were frightened, looking in horror at this hunt.

Iris walked forward until the barrier stopped her. She put a hand on the shining wall, her lips trembling.

"Why?... What is he doing?"

Her eyes were more and more filled with confusion, Eryl narrowed hers and shook her head.

"I said it before, the battle was over long ago. The moment Greed's shards hit him the first time, he was doomed. He failed to defeat him before being affected by the Sin's curse, so now he's done for."

"Curse?"

Eryl's eyes narrowed, the memories of black crystals spreading on her hands in the undead rift resurfacing.

"As Envy can affect one person's emotion, making them wish for something, Greed disposes of a similar ability, and now Thomas isn't fighting for winning but for... it seems like, the greed of Dora's approval."

Black circles formed around Thomas' eyes, witness to his fatigue. He was stronger than Dora, even in this new form he could have put up a better fight, but at this moment he only burned with one desire.

"Why is it so hard to understand?! Everything I'm doing, everything I'm fighting for, is for you! For your family, for your people!"

"... Don't talk about them!"

Dora spread his arms, and Thomas landed on the ground, trying to catch his breath.

He raised his head and his jaw opened as the energy around the arena was converging around Dora.

"You are nothing special, You are a coward who couldn't help a person! If you cared about her, why are you still here? Why do you want to put your responsibility on us? She doesn't need your approval to live, she doesn't need you to eat! And we don't need your damn pity!"

The sky flashed in black and white color. Dora took the sword finger position with a yellow light on his forehead, which took the shape of an eye, meanwhile, white smoke emerged from Thomas' body on the ground.

"I'm only trying to be like you!"

"WE ARE NOTHING LIKE YOU!"

The arena was suddenly engulfed in a golden and black light, which then spread to everything around it, forming a yellow sphere striped with black.

"Aurum Serra"

The space cracked around the sphere as if the whole world was inside a broken mirror. The arena was then engulfed in a bright white light, and after a few seconds, the light disappeared.

White particles fell everywhere, like a snowy morning, but they disappeared on contact with objects.

Everyone slowly opened their eyes, frightened by this surreal experience, but they soon realized that they were back in the normal world.

They looked at the battleground and saw the unthinkable: Dora was standing in front of Thomas, who was crawling on the ground and grabbing his leg.

They watched in horror, eyes shaking, lips trembling, paralyzed.

Candace grabbed her head, still lowered, seemingly about to cry.

"... Sorry... I'm so sorry..."

Moonra fell to his knee, while Solaria seemed shocked.

Eryl dissipated her shield, eyes filled with regret.

"What a tragedy. It was very unnecessary, but I wish your legacy to be remembered."

Midgard put down her cup and closed the System screen.

She lay down on the bed, a little drunk, but with a satisfied smile.

"Thank you for your sacrifice, now you can enjoy a peaceful life, forever."

Zuri was trembling with joy, tears were flowing and her nose was running, she was crawling on the ground, morally exhausted, but next to her Hope was trembling, for another reason, tears were beading from his eyes.

He jumped from the council spot and rushed towards the battleground, screaming desperately.

Around Dora, several shiny objects floated ominously: soul stones.

Thomas looked weakly above, unable to speak, only the sound of dry breathing could be heard.

Dora wasn't exactly in the best shape, barely standing, blood pouring from his eyes and ears.

he used his anger as fuel for his strength and breathed heavily.

He raised his head, closing his eyes. His whole body was trembling, but the worst part was over.

He took one last breath and said loudly.

"I forfeit."