Perfect Avatar
Chapter 152: The Last Dance

Chapter 152: The Last Dance

Thomas removes the shirt and releases an aura sweeping the arena.

The audience reacted with an explosion of enthusiastic howls.

The winds emitted by Thomas swept across Dora who frowned as he looked at the crowd.

"I’m dying? How come I’m dying? That’s not what Candace said."

"Hey, monster," Thomas shouted, a tornado of energy surrounding him. "You see these people? They want to see what a Sin Avatar can do. You see me? I want to see the demise of a Sin Avatar. Do you understand where this is going?"

"Candace said-"

A wave of red energy erupted from the whirlpool and struck Dora, causing a phenomenal explosion and the arena to shake.

The public screams redoubled,

Thomas, in his jet of energy, had the palm of his right hand directed towards Dora.

"Leave the dean out of this, you’re alone now and if you don’t fight, you’ll..."

Before he could finish his speech, the cloud of smoke cleared, revealing Dora standing in the crater.

No burn marks, no wounds on his body, the boy was completely fine, as if the attack had never affected him.

The crowd’s cheers diminished and imperceptible words replaced them.

Dora blinked several times and patted the dust from his hair, then looked at Thomas without a word.

No word was needed anyway, nor intended. This single moment was a very effective reminder for everyone about who he was facing.

"I see... then it’s perfect."

Thomas placed his hands together, like a prayer, and suddenly his aura flared.

"Altar of the Four Elements"

Four orbs of green, blue, red, and yellow appeared around Thomas whose aura had turned white.

He leaped into the air, the red orb spinning around him.

"Fiery soul: eruption"

The orb converged on Thomas’ fingers and projected a beam of fire which hit Dora head-on and grew in volume, engulfing part of the ground.

Red smoke rose into the air, and the public’s euphoria was revived.

They cheered Thomas, encouraged him, and chanted his name.

The boy, floating in his air, observed the ground hollowed out by his attack attentively, then flinched.

The crowd cheers turned into cries of amazement and excitement as Dora emerged from the smoke, unaffected.

He observed the ground and the smoke, after which he looked at Thomas.

"Is it perhaps that the plan? I should play dead after the flash?"

Thomas’s body was frozen in the air. In his praying position, he watched the boy who delicately struck the dust off his shoulders.

The most disturbing fact for him was that Dora wasn’t showing any malice. After two attacks, he felt no damage, even worse, his clothes couldn’t be damaged, so he genuinely started to believe that Thomas was only faking.

In their room, the tall officer from Fenrir acted like a specialist and gave deductions based on every move Dora and Thomas made.

"Our data show this man is at S-rank of Ambrosia’s ranking value. Considering that he doesn’t even try to dodge, we can assume that Greed has tanking abilities."

"Even so, he is a Sin, so he isn’t obviously worried about a mother S-rank, especially from Ambrosia." An old man in a military outfit declared.

"It’s true, but Greed has been awakened not long ago, if they decided to broadcast this now, there’s a possibility that it’s his first battle. He doesn’t attack because he is experimenting with his body. I believe that he is testing his defense ."

The people in black uniform took a time to think, and one of them turning his gaze toward the silent General focused on the image of Dora.

"If he attacks, we will have the confirmation that Greed is an amalgam of all fighting styles, like Gluttony."

Back in the arena, the show had taken a different turn. Thomas bombarded Dora with a multitude of attacks, the latter absorbing them without ever suffering damage.

At some point, he remained lying on the ground but Thomas got angry and attacked him again.

The cries of joy from the audience gradually transformed into cries of euphoria, not cheering for Thomas anymore but amazed by the durability of a real Avatar.

Eryl, at the top of the arena, watched the scene in confusion.

"... Candace... Why? Why did you allow this? What is happening?"

Vixen scratched her chin and shook her head.

"This is weird, I expected the Sin to be sadistic, not masochistic."

She giggled at her own sentence, Eryl, decided to ignore her and stared straight to a central place of the stands where Candace and the others were watching.

The dean, with tense eyes, observed the numerous attacks of Thomas, gritting her teeth.

"It doesn’t work... It can’t work anymore."

The council members, with disappointed faces,, grinned with anxiety. Iris gave a slight punch to her thigh.

"Of course, it wouldn’t work... why did he attack? Now that he is free from his chains Dora’s body is tougher than any tank even without using his power, he would never get injured by this."

Sunnah glanced at her and showed incomprehension.

"Iris... what is the plan exactly?"

"Yeah, you guys have been too secretive. What doesn’t work anymore? What is the plan to control Greed?"

The council members all turned toward the row of nobles and the two ex-members of Shining Sword, next to Candace. The dean closed her eyes for a moment and sighed.

"I don’t know."

An explosion of shouts of amazement arose, muffled by the screams of the spectators.

"Wait, calm down. It’s not exactly that I don’t know; it’s more like I don’t know Thomas’s real goal. When we talked after the debate, his logic wasn’t so ridiculous. If we use Dora’s life memory, we might just create another Greed. The idea here is to turn Greed into a new Greed."

"By challenging him in a death battle?!" Maxim asked.

"This was a condition asked by Thomas himself, he wants to trigger Greed’s instinct by using his fear or pain, he didn’t explain much but... Hm... I..."

She turned silent, her gaze back on the field where Thomas combined the red and green orb and created a firestorm ravaging the ground.

The public, protected by an energy shield, redoubled their emotion, but Hope kept his eyes on Candace.

(... You allowed that? You allowed him to do that, knowing that he can’t defeat him?... What’s going on here?)

He looked at the field again, Dora was thrown into the air and fell into a blue orb struck by a formidable green lightning bolt.

He was toyed around and used as a puppet to showcase Thomas’s skills, but something was sending chills to Hope.

Dora’s eyes were almost closed and his mouth was slightly opened. It was not the face of a victim, but a bored child.

(You agreed to this because he discovered the weaknesses in your plan and you didn’t know what else to do.)

He wanted to stand up and yell at her, he wanted to point out her mistake, but that part of him had been drowned out for a long time.

"Thomas... What was your plan?... What did you see?"

He wondered, but this question was shared by the council members, the nobles, and the dean.

A fight to the death? Against an invincible monster? Nothing made sense here, the action of the young man, the joy of the crowd witnessing a massacre, and even the monster itself being thrown everywhere.

But every time his feet touched the ground, he stood up and looked at Thomas.

Thomas landed on the ground, his gaze tense. Dora tilted his head to the right and for once showed another expression, worried.

"I feel like you hate me too... I really want to stop this now, I don’t want to kill anyone and I need to live to become the hero Candace wants."

Thomas looked at his perfect body without any injury for a few seconds, with a small laugh.

"Wow... What a wonderful performance, well done." He applauds happily.

The crowd slowly reduced its cheers, and his voice soon became almost audible.

"It’s amazing, it’s great, congratulations, you’re the best. It’s the same as the first time, but this time the roles are reversed: you want to be a hero, and I want you to be a monster. It’s so ironic... especially coming from a monster like you.

"That’s what I don’t understand."

"... Hm?"

Dora frowned, his fists clenched.

"Why are you insulting me but expecting me to help you? I don’t understand. I want to help Candace, but all of you... why are you always so harsh? You want me to help you, but all of you are looking at me so eagerly... I don’t understand! Why am I in a battle to the death? I don’t want to kill any of you, I want to help you so why are you so against me? !"

His voice echoed in the arena. Everyone stood frozen for a moment. Vixen laughed, her eyes glued to the situation, while Eryl lowered her head.

The murmurs rose and gradually transformed into grunts, then insults and angry cries.

"What did you say? Bastard, don’t play innocent!!!"

"Thomas, kill him!!!"

The insults and shouts multiplied, filling the arena. The council members looked around and lowered their heads helplessly.

Mercy’s hands were shaking, Freya glanced at the seats to her left where Marie and Lilith were, tears in their eyes burning with rage.

Candace, remaining impassive, looking at Dora’s back in the distance, calmed her breathing, remembering Thomas’ words just a few hours ago.

"Believe in me, I know how to fool him, just play dumb for now, please. This fight will save the world."

She closed her eyes, head bowed.

"I’m sorry, Malia."

A jet of energy emerged from Thomas, elemental orbs spinning around him.

"Listen, Avatar, what do you think of my power?

The boy, without a word, stared at him, making him smile.

"What? Cat got your tongue? Or maybe you don’t like it? Don’t worry... I have something more interesting."

He folded his hands in prayer and a white veil covered the ground.

Dora, at first indifferent, opened his eyes wide at the changing landscape around Thomas.

"... What is this?"

Around Thomas, the energies converged into a single whole, spreading threads of energy that took the form of an angelic landscape, a blue sky, and bubbles of light flying delicately in all directions, all culminating in a divine figure of a woman with horns and a face slightly similar to that of a doe.

"This is the culmination of my training with the dean, Greed, meet the Garden of Beginning."

A delicate wave of energy spread across the arena, returning the ground to its original state and clearing the dust in the air.

The audience watched in amazement, while on the field, Dora held his breath.

"There are three ways to unleash the monster that you are: hurting you, to force you to defend yourself; threatening you, hoping that you would change because of fear, and the last..."

The council raised their heads in fear, the screams of the audience increased, and everyone who understood the dimension of the Sin Avatars widened their eyes.

"... Showing you a skill you would want, Sin of Greed."

Dora’s eyes turned yellow.