Author's Note: Unedited Chapter --------------------- He stood to his feet, gathering the attention of spectators all across the arena as well as participants. -"Who do you think he will challenge?" -"Normal participants stand no chance so I'm sure they're praying not to be picked," -"Didn't he point at somewhere after winning the battle against Captain Kriv the last time?" The spectators couldn't help but speculate about who Gustav would challenge but only he and a few others knew who he had in mind. Gustav arrived before the stage and slowly moved in. It was a glacial type of battle stage. Icicles that were thousands of feet long were scattered all across the place. Gigantic ice palaces which had massive chains wrapped around them could also be seen across the air. These massive chains pierced through multiple ice structures, holding them in mid air and ran through the icy ground beneath as well. In a another area, it protruded out of the icy ground and extended high into the air, wrapping around a 'T' shaped ice rock, thousands of feet away from Gustav's position. Gustav stepped forward and soon arrived at the middle of the battle stage. All eyes were on him at this moment as he picked the planet he had in mind. The jaws of many spectators dropped as Gustav went on to pick his opponent amongst the group of twenty. Waaaaahhhh~ Chatter! Chatter! Chatter! -"Did he just challenge Captain Strum?" -"Damn are we going to finally see a battle between these two?" -"I can't believe this is happening," -"This is about to be the most intense battle since the start," The arena turned super noisy as the screens displayed who Gustav had challenged. In the Draconets Participants area, Captain Strum stood in place for a moment while shooting an intense glance at the stage. He couldn't decline the challenge since Gustav had accumulated more points than him but he didn't intend to decline in the first place. He made a low 'hmph' as he began to step forward with a dangerous aura of animosity spreading forth from his being. His teammates didn't utter a word as they remained in place with fearsome looks. Any remark could irk him and they didn't want to be on the receiving end of his fury which was slowly starting to build up. Thoooommm~ Captain Sfrum leapt upwards, causing his figure to travel across the air as he made his way towards the northeast part of the arena. His figure phased throuh the barrier Gustav was situated in as he dropped from the air. Bam! He landed a few feet ahead of Gustav and the two figures glared at each other. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂 "Brace yourself... you might not come out alive," Captain Strum stated with a tone of certainty. "What a coincidence... I was just about to say that," Gustav responded with an icy tone. < Gustav Crimson (Planet Earth) Vs Strum Xilgard (Planet Draconet) > "You harmed a friend... I will inflict ten times worse the pain you inflicted on him," Gustav said while slowly taking steps forward as his body morphed. "He was a weakling and you shall suffer the same fate Gustav Crimson," Captain Strum stated while a massive shadowy figure appeared behind him. "I won't drag this out," Captain Strum voiced with a prideful tone as the massive shadowy figure behind him conjured a massive blueish spear. "Likewise," Gustav's figure charged forward as he took the Ultimate Combination form. Silver claws protruded from the tip of his fingers as he slashed intensely at Captain Strum's direction while Captain Strum grabbed the blueish spear his encour has provided him and swung it forward with great might. The energy from Gustav's slash traveled forward, clashing heavily with the incoming spear that was four times larger than Gustav's entire body. However, the blueish spear emitted an energy that caused the wild energy from Gustav's slash to reverse and dissapear like it was never there. Fwwwhiiii~ Gustav leapt towards the side as his attack was interrupted by the incoming blueish spear. He managed to evade the spear, causing it to brush by his left. The moment Gustav successfully evaded, he sped in Captain Strum's direction. Fwwhoossshh~ He arrived before the multiple limbed Dracon instantly while slashing at his chest. This speed had no doubt taken Captain Strum by surprise but he was able to react quickly by raising two arms to block Gustav's slash. Threeeeevvvvv~ Gustav's claws smoothly, cleaved through both of Captain Strum arms causing a fountain of blood to jet upwards. "Urrghhh!" His attack was still powerfully slashing forward when two more arms from Captain Strum's body grabbed Gustav's forearm. Captain Strum had sacrificed two of his arms to stop Gustav's attack. The moment Gustav's right arm was held back, he tried making use of his left arm to attack when Captain Strum last two hands grabbed hold of that as well. They stared at each other with hatred in their eyes as Captain Strum gathered as much power as he could Into his four functioning arms to hold Gustav down in place. Fwwwhiii~ Gustav instantly understood Captain Strum's reason for trapping him in place the moment he sensed the approaching doom. A massive blueish spear was only a few inches from colliding with his back when everyone noticed it. Thrrraazzzhhh~ Gustav and Captain Strum turned into a streak of lightning and reappeared on the southern end of the barrier instantly, atop a rocky ice structure. 'That was close,' Gustav had managed to evade the spear which had made a u-turn, coming back for him, by activating Lightning Blitz. Unfortunately, with Captain Strum clinging onto Gustav tightly, the lightning Blitz took effect on him as well. "You cannot.... fuhghh... escape! Your end is... is nigh... Gustav Crimson..." Captain Strum was still bleeding profusely from his cleaved off forearms while struggling to hold Gustav in place. Fwwhwiii~ The spear that had missed, came back around, flying at Gustav once more. It tore through multiple icy palaces which immediately turned into light particles and dissapeared upon contact. [Lightning Blitz Has Been Activated] Gustav and Captain Strum's figures turned into streaks of lightning and vanished once more as the massive spear missed for the third time. 'It's starting to affect the laws of time in the vicinity...' Gustav noticed as he realised the spear was causing things in the environment to slow down the further it closed in on them. Lightning Blitz was affected by this and took a longer time to get them to the end of the barrier on the other side. However, it was still fast enough to evade. Gustav knew this could become more of a problem if he didn't get out of the current predicament. The moment they reappeared on the other end... THRRRIIIHHH! Gustav's figure suddenly grew massive.... "Gaarrhhh!" Captain Strum struggled to hold on but Gustav's arms grew larger than he could wrap his hands around, causing him to let go. Gustav had reached a hundred feet in height, becoming a giant with Ultimate Combination still active in almost an instant. Fwwwhiii~ The massive blueish spear whistled across the air as it found its target. However, in the next instant everyone eyed widened as Captain Strum was hoisted like a piece of paper by Gustav and flung in the direction of the incoming spear. The spear was shooting across the air so swiftly that it had arrived before its creator quicker than anyone could follow. Captain Strum clenched his teeth and slapped two of his palms together hastily. Pah! Twwhiii!~ The massive blueish spear was only an inch from making contact with him when it turned into light particles that slowly scattered across the stage. Captain Strum panted intensely as he proceeded to grab two flickers of the light particles and place them on his cleaved off arms. Thrririihhh~ His arms instantly grew back like Gustav never cleaved them off in the first place. The moment Gustav noticed this, his forehead creased as he considered this to be a blunder on his part. Captain Strum should have gotten hit by his own attack but instead used it to rehabilitate himself. What Gustav didn't know was, he had just caused Captain Strum to break out in cold sweat. He had never battled an opponent like Gustav before and now he realised he had to be more careful than ever. Gustav charged forward while reducing in size since the only reason he grew this tall in the first place was to get out of Captain Strum's hold. Captain Strum clenched his teeth as his face displayed a look of annoyance. "You will not bring shame to my great planet!" He roared while charging forward as well. "I won't... but I promise, you will!" Gustav yelled back. They arrived before each other and fists were instantly exchanged. Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Ripples spread across the place as Gustav swung his arm forward repeatedly, packing the force of a thousand meteorites with every strike. He precisely aimed at different spots of Captain Strum's body, ranging from his face to his chest and abdominal region. Captain Strum was slower than Gustav but due to his six arms, he managed to keep up with Gustav's strike, dealing an almost equal amount of destructive force with each of his strikes as well.