Dawn of the 13th Era

A Shocking Discovery

Looking at Rocky in front of him, Orion was shocked to see him gaining momentum with each passing second and more of the black balls were getting destroyed every passing moment. If the cycle continued, he would get overpowered and lose the challenge, but that wasn’t his concern. He was more focused on the possibilities of him being affected if all the black balls were destroyed.

Suddenly, his eyes widened when one of the black balls turned to fumes, then reformed and actually took on the green color and the shape of Rocky’s.

Before he could react, the newly transformed green ball came rushing back to his hand and in that moment all the black balls in his hand started changing color to the exact same green as the first one.

This time there was no doubt. Although the change was very small, he could feel it all over his body. His hand suddenly tensed up and the hand which was getting pushed down was being raised up with every passing moment.

While Orion was trying to figure out what was going on, Rocky was shocked at the fact that he couldn’t move Orion’s hand no matter how much he tried and thought he was only pretending and was in fact far stronger than he showed.

But although it seemed like he couldn’t shake even an inch of the hooded guy, he still kept pulling in more strength from every inch of his body, his muscles tensing. Even after all this Orion still remained unmoving, staring into his eyes with insanity in both of their gazes.

The crowd were cheering wildly with excitement as they saw the two of them with their veins stretched like iron, clearly visible from underneath their clothes, and the table croaking loudly from the increasing tension of the load placed on it, telling tales of how intense the match between the two of them was.

Among the crowd, the blonde girl who approached Orion earlier was also among them now, looking at him with surprise evident on her face. She couldn’t believe the guy she picked randomly turned out to be a monster, because only someone with an out-of-the-world strength level would be able to contend with Rocky.

While at this moment Orion felt his hand had fully transformed already, the other black balls in his shoulder were also transforming, then spreading to the rest of his body. With every passing moment he felt his body getting stronger and he wondered if things went on he could fully take on Rocky’s form.

Everything seemed like a long process, but it had barely been a few minutes since the two started the challenge and by now it had spread all over Orion’s body. The hood on his face helped a lot because no one could see his face.

At that point, he and Rocky were in a stalemate. No matter how much either of them tried they couldn’t change the balance. Orion wanted to give up the challenge and leave since he had already obtained his objective when a whisper suddenly came to him.

He felt he shouldn’t give up on a challenge this easily. He thought of the shame if he lost and he actually started feeling the thrill of it. Putting in all his strength he looked up at Rocky and saw a huge smile on the guy’s face.

Under his hood, Orion also let out a smile, the very same one as Rocky’s, and they both pushed down on each other with full force.

Orion watched everything like he was slipping out of control of his very own body. It was like he was getting pushed into a spectator mode instead of controlling his own body and the thought gave him chills all over.

Just as he was about to withdraw before losing control, and the crowd’s excitement peaked, the table creaked loudly then broke down!

The referee came to intervene and hurriedly split the two apart.

The crowd stayed still waiting for the judgment from the referee, especially those who had made bets prior to the match.

“This match has no conclusion and there is no winner, though if the two contestants wish to continue their match they are allowed to start another one.”

Listening to the obvious announcement, those who had staked bets hurriedly withdrew their bets and when they thought that was all they were surprised to see Rocky moving towards the hooded guy.

“Hello, my name’s Dave though people here like to call me Rocky.”

“Nice to meet you,” Orion replied before shaking his hand briefly and making sure he didn’t leave any traces of his identity.

“The last challenge was very exciting. I would like to propose we continue our challenge at a more suitable place.”

“No, maybe another day but not today. I have things to do,” he replied before leaving, trying to get as far away from Dave as possible.

The crowd hurriedly split, making way for him while cheering, while Orion’s heart beat rapidly at what had just happened.

He felt if things dragged on for long, he might actually lose consciousness and he would fully become another “Rocky.”

He looked at his hand and felt the green color receding. Everything still felt strange to him but one thing he was sure about was the fact that Rocky was like him or something similar to himself.

They were different from others and it seemed even Dave, as he called himself, was unaware. Trying to force himself to copy Dave resulted in his own body not being able to keep up.

A chill ran through Orion’s body.

“If this is true then, it’s either I can copy the other party or turn into something similar to a puppet instead.”

As he walked out of the club he watched the rest of the color fade out, but looking at his hand the very first one that took on the green color still remained there. It seemed that instead of displaying the usual multi-colored state it was now in a suspended green state.

“If I’m right then this little guy has Dave’s powers copied into itself forcefully and now it can’t return to its original shape again.”

And it also meant he wasn’t the only one with powers out there. Others also had it, just some might not actually realize it.

Keeping his hands in his pocket, he walked down the streets back to his lodge.