Descendants of Gibbous
Chapter 40: Fate

Chapter 40: Fate

An eerie silence crept into the stadium. Wind weaved amongst the teams like a ghostly presence, a spine-chilling motion that made Damien swallow hard.

At first, no one moved.

Then as if someone had pressed the wrong button somewhere in the stadium, a loud buzz suddenly came from the cube oblong. Damien immediately noticed how one of the tiny blue team names displayed on it turned red and dropped to the bottom of the list.

Then another buzz followed.

One after another, they filled the stadium along with screams from somewhere within the teams. Damien’s eyes widened when he saw ten or so bodies being pulled into the sky as if by an invisible force before they were disposed of somewhere in the seats.

"Five teams down in a minute! That was fast!" The commentator clapped his hands, his voice too delighted despite the now weeping disqualified students.

’Do they have to go this hard?’

"Damien look out!"

A sharp wind blew to his right. He flipped his head just in time to duck before the kick coming towards his face hit him.

WHACK!—came the impact as the kick landed on Yong instead.

"Ugh," the boy groaned touching his face.

"Are you okay?" Eden asked, glancing behind just when their attacker decided to throw another kick.

But Ambrose was ahead of him.

She pulled her dress above her legs, swiftly moving one of them and aiming straight at his groin.

WHAM!

"Fuck, my balls!" The boy Ambrose had hit screamed, flopping to the ground as he writhed in pain, touching between his legs.

Damien whistled in approval.

An echo of pained groans came from the watching crowd, soon to increase when Ambrose smacked the boy with a sharp kick to his face.

"That’ll teach you respect," she spat, angrily tugging the hem of her dress. "Tsk, if I knew we were going to fight I’d have worn trousers instead."

However, before she returned to complete the circle around Yong, someone kicked her from behind and sent her heading straight to the ground.

Damien moved on instinct.

With one swift stride, he lunged to Ambrose’s aid, bending and grabbing her by the waist with one arm before she fell face-first on the manicured lawn—a move that left him open for attack.

"Behind you Damien!" Eden cried out a second time just when another kick came his way.

’I know I’m handsome but is it necessary for all of them to attack my face?’

A tug came from Ambrose as she raised her leg. Damien groaned, trying to hold on to her. She moved with speed, her kick whooshing past Damien’s face and blocking the foot headed toward his nose effortlessly. Then she grabbed his shoulders and like a trained acrobat, used them as a pole to twist her body and rise into the air, gracefully landing behind him.

"Thanks for the save," Ambrose announced, helping Damien to stand upright before returning to her post next to Eden, covering Yong.

’She can show gratitude after all,’ Damien thought to himself, his eyes scanning the kids that were now surrounding them.

Four of them, one girl and three boys, and Damien recognized three of them in an instant.

The girl as Damien noted, was the innocent redhead from before. She was the one whose kick had almost landed on his face before Ambrose blocked it with hers. As for the boys, the plump guy from before was wearing their black shirt, and the scary muscular guy was next to him dressed in a purple jacket and black jeans. Their fourth—the only one Damien didn’t recognize—was still in pain after being hit in the balls by Ambrose, but he forced himself to stand either way.

’Must be fate.’

"Keep your guard up and don’t underestimate anyone!" Eden barked. "Damien, you’re in charge of long-range attackers since you’re the fastest among us. Amber, you and I will block the attacks that pass through Damien, okay?"

"Hmm!"

"And you feel safe blurting out your plan like that?" The redhead countered, her innocence still radiating despite the bloodlust her words carried.

"I could say the same about you, leaving your black shirt open like that," Ambrose retorted.

Her remark was good enough to make the other team circle the plump guy, giving Damien enough distraction to focus on his flow state.

BUZZ!—another elimination. The buzzing never stopped, filling the stadium with a rather irritating noise even though the war cries amongst the students were already annoying enough.

"Don’t leave the circle!"

"To your right!"

"Look out!"

With every cry that came from the students, a team got eliminated and the buzzing sound would go off once again, reducing the teams displayed on the cube oblong as the ones in blue got larger. Not to mention the flying students who got carried out of the arena.

"Fifty teams eliminated in two minutes!" The announcer’s voice echoed into the stadium just when Yong cried out:

"Guys, they’re coming!"

"I’ll fight their strongest guy," the beefy guy announced, lunging in Damien’s direction, his fist already raised.

Damien didn’t have the time to worry about his teammates. The guy in the purple jacket was already in front of him in the blink of an eye, his balled fist aiming straight for his face.

’Again with the face.’

With practiced movement, Damien stepped to the side just in time for the fist to whoosh past his ear. Then he grabbed his opponent’s arm and pulled the main body forcefully to him, aiming his knee at the beefy guy’s front. But the boy had somehow read his movement.

He grabbed Damien’s knee before it hit him and punched into it. Hard.

Damien groaned, his leg flopping to the ground weakly, but not before he returned the favor. With a flick of his hardened palm, he aimed for the guy’s inner elbow and chopped into it with as much force as he could muster.

"Ugh!" The guy groaned, clearly surprised by Damien’s counterattack.

Damien knew his arm was disabled for the moment. It worked a lot against his opponents in martial arts class at school back in the human world, but he didn’t know how long it’d last on these superhumans of Gibbous.

Taking that loose chance, he let go of the guy’s arm and jumped, flipping his torso mid-air as he performed a round kick that smacked his opponent right in the face, sending him flopping on the lawn below Damien.

’One down, three to go.’

Damien turned himself around to help the others but was surprised to see the girls suppressed. Ambrose by the redhead to his left, and Eden by the plump guy of all people to his right. It took that moment of surprise for his opponent to counter him and tug at his legs, making him fall head-first on the lawn. Then he sat on him, grinning.

"I like your fighting skills. Too bad only one of us can survive this battle, otherwise, I’d have loved a rematch with you." The guy’s gravely deep voice rang in Damien’s ears. He tried wriggling himself free, but the guy was sitting right by his chest and ribs.

"What are you waiting for, idiot?! Just touch the shirt five times and we get the rewards damnit! Your opponent’s easy target," The redhead shouted at her teammate who was still holding on to his balls.

"Yong Kim if you let that fragile piece of shit touch you, I’ll kill you!" Eden hissed.

"Oh, but I don’t plan on staying at this school any longer you see. I’m not cut out for this hero life—" Yong ducked away from the hand that flew above his head, "—let me finish!" He yelled at the student behind him who seemed to have noticed that he was wearing a black shirt and free.

A few of the fighting students around him seemed to have noticed too, and were already scrambling amongst themselves to see who would get to him first.

"I don’t care! Don’t mess up this chance for us—look out!"

Yong ducked from yet another hand. Damien couldn’t help but notice how smooth his slides were as he evaded the attacks. For someone who claimed they weren’t born to become a hero, his movements were already heroic.

"Grab him before the others do you son of a bitch!" The redhead yelled at her teammate.

Two people were battling with Yong now. Five touches to his team’s shirt and Damien’s dream would be over—just like that.

’No. I won’t let it end like this,’ he thought to himself, trying to wriggle away from the beefy guy’s ass.

However, the guy sitting on him increased the force he was applying to Damien’s upper body and he choked.

"Not a chance buddy," his deep voice roared. "I’m not letting you move."

"Are you sure you shouldn’t be looking after your black shirt instead of sitting on us? It’s not just ours but your guy too, predators are closing in on him," Damien warned nodding his head at the fighting students closing in behind the plump guy.

He hated the fact that he wasn’t powerful enough to just topple the guy sitting on his back, that he had to resort to such a cheap trick to be set free. But he had no choice. Every one of his team members was trapped except for the unserious Yong, who, for some reason, was still evading the attacks headed his way despite his claims.

To Damien’s surprise, the guy sitting on him laughed at his warning.

"That’s not the real shirt he’s wearing. I’m wearing our black shirt under this jersey. The rules weren’t exactly against hiding the shirts were they? As long as we wear them, we’ll be fine. Luckily, fatty there had a black shirt on and we used him as a decoy. Perfect plan ey?"

Damien was in the middle of being surprised by how smart his opponent was when Eden’s sharp scream came from where she was being held.

"Yong Kim you idiot. That’s two tags already!"

’Two what?!’

"What’ll I get from you guys if I get serious? Money?" Yong shouted, just when a second student joined in trying to tag him.

"We won’t kill you!" Ambrose yelled, drawing Damien’s attention to her legs which were stealthily bending towards the redhead’s neck.

’Damn she’s flexible,’ he thought, glancing at the guy sitting on him whose head was turning in her direction.

Damien wriggled under him again, successfully managing to draw his attention as he squeezed the boy’s hands tightly.

"I’ll be your friend again!"

Immediately after the words escaped Eden’s lips, a smirk crept up Yong’s lips.

"Promise?" He asked twisting his waist away from yet another student who aimed her hand at him. They were four now.

"I promise! So please get serious or I’ll never forgive you!"

"As you wish me’ lady," Yong replied to her.

Then in the most horrifying sight to his teammates yet, he stopped evading the attacks heading in his direction.

The four students attacking him immediately took the chance and lunged in his direction, but before they could touch him, gale-force winds suddenly erupted around him, sending his opponents flying away.

Damien and Eden gasped. Their opponents too.

A sudden scream came from Ambrose’s side and everyone turned in her direction. Damien smirked to himself. She had managed to grab the redhead’s neck with her feet.

The guy sitting on Damien shifted for a split second as if he was deciding whether to save his teammate or not, a chance Damien took with open arms. He twisted himself around, his back resting on the ground just when his opponent quickly sat on his belly.

"I said, not so fast," he warned, gripping Damien’s neck, oblivious to his feet aiming for his head.

As Ambrose had done, Damien hooked his legs around the guy’s neck, throwing him off balance from behind before sitting on him.

Eden took action too. As if hit by sudden inspiration, she bit into the hand of the plump guy gripping her neck, making him scream in pain and let her go as she flipped herself around, grabbing his wrist and locking his hands behind him.

And just like that, the tides changed. Damien and his teammates suddenly had the upper hand all of a sudden.

"A hundred and twenty-three teams have been eliminated. Get ready for a serious battle students! Only fifty teams can qualify for enrollment this year," the commentator who had been silent for a while now suddenly reminded the battling students of the fate awaiting them, much to Damien’s pleasure.

He glanced at the guy below him and smirked.

"Only one of us can survive the battle, remember?"

Then he grabbed the hem of his purple jacket and pulled it up, revealing the black shirt under it. But before he could tap on it, a sharp kick screamed through the air to his left, headed for his face. Damien moved away just in time, but not fast enough. The boot his attacker was wearing sliced past his cheek, leaving a thin line of blood in its wake.

"Oh. So the boyfriend can fight after all," a familiar voice mocked. Damien gritted his teeth.

’You’re gonna pay for that blondie.’