The mood could not be any more somber, and Genesis didn’t like that at all.

”Before the fights start, I have good news for you all,” he said. “There are 3 ways of losing in the upcoming fights.”

”You lose if you die. You lose if you are sent out of this fighting platform. And finally, you lose if you die,” Genesis said.

”If you do not die in the next match, you will get to live until the end to see the winner of this whole thing. After all, what good is an award ceremony with no one to witness it?” Genesis asked.

Genesis’s attempt at brightening up the mood only had the opposite effect. He realized that too, so he stopped trying to make them happy and instead went on with the matches.

”Alright, let’s start it then,” he said and put forth his hand.

The gems that were hanging in the air started spinning fast, and a single gem fell from the spin directly onto Genesis’s hand.

Genesis propped up the gem for everyone to see.

Yellow.

”Tsk!” Drake said from beside Ning.

”It seems you are first, Drake,” Issi said.

”Good luck,” Nova said softly.

”Even though you are not using your real name, make sure you live up to it, little worm,” Derel said. After learning that Drake wasn’t actually named Drake, but was rather a nickname, the respect that Derel gave him seemed to have gone with it as well.

”Do your best,” Ning said.

”Yeah, well… let’s see who I am to fight,” he said as he walked onto the stage.

From the other side, a young man walked onto the stage as well. It was the only man in the other group.

Ning looked at the short-haired man, and then at the lousy, cloaked Drake. The difference was astounding.

’Well, he should be fine once we get our powers back,’ Ning thought.

”Stand on that circle,” Genesis said to the two men that walked on stage. Drake and the other man went to the opposite end of the stage and got ready to battle.

Drake lousily stood while Genesis started to speak again.

”Introduce yourself before you fight,” he said.

Drake rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to speak up. “I am—”

”Drake,” the other man said from the other end of the stage. “I know. I also know the name of your companions. Derel, Issi, Ning, and Nova.”

”I am Taron. Let’s just get this fight over with so I can return back to my seat,” the man said.

Drake got a little angry when he heard that. “No, that is not my name,” he said. “Drake is my nickname that only my parents and my friends get to use. You are neither one of those, so you will refer to me with my real name.”

”Oh?” Taron gave a surprised look. “And what would that be?”

”Drakula! Vladmir Drakula III, King of the Lifestealers, Ruler of Transylgard.”

Ning looked at the stage with a bit of shock and a bit of surprise on his face.

”Oh, I never realized,” he said.

”What? His name? I don’t think any of us did,” Issi said.

”No, no, not his name. But rather his species,” Ning said. “I didn’t realize he was a vampire or at least something like that.”

”Since the both of you have introduced yourself, we shall begin the fights now,” Genesis said.

”I will count to 3. On 2, I will let you use your energy in a bubble around you, on 3 you start fighting,” he said.

”1…”

Drake stopped slouching and got a little straighter.

”2…”

Suddenly, he got his Lifeforce back and he could feel the power coursing through his veins again. He looked in front of him ready to fight when he saw something crawl out of Taron’s skin.

It was silver and white and shiny at the same time. There were spots of black and blue from time to time, but mostly it was just white and silver.

Drake didn’t know what to think about it, but for some reason, he thought it looked like metal.

”3… Fight!”

Suddenly, the flowing metal covered Taron and he put up his metal-covered hands to show a circular hole at the center of his palm.

Suddenly, something bright appeared in it, and in the next moment, something fired from it.

Drake dodged to the side as quickly as he could, but he was still slow. He was hit directly on the shoulder and a portion of it was torn off and sprayed all over behind him.

Drake gave a glare and caught his left hand from slumping over and pulling the rest of the torn shoulder down with it.𝑜𝓋𝓛xt.𝗇𝓔t

”Give up, or you’ll die,” a robotic voice came from the metal-covered mask that Taron was now wearing.

”Like hell I will,” Drake shouted and dashed forward. His mouth showed fangs that were never there before while his missing shoulder slowly started to grow back, bone and all.

”Very well then,” the blasters on Taron’s palm brightened and fired once again.

Suddenly, Drake disappeared in a puff of smoke and the blasters missed him. What remained was a small bat that flew at super-speed and just before it arrived next to Taron, it changed back to Drake and gave a deafening blow to Taron’s head.

However, his fist didn’t touch Taron at all.

A portion of Taron’s helmet flew out to create a physical barrier that stopped him.

Drake immediately spun and kicked the right side of Taron, but a portion of his stomach’s covering once again came out to block the attack.

Drake turned into a bat and arrived further back to look at Taron seriously.

He barely managed to catch the smug smile that was now hidden behind the flowing metal that covered his face.

”You ready to give up yet?” Taron asked.

Drake gave a sinister look as well. “I have not even started yet.”