Chapter 2619: Her Trick

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Chapter 2619: Her Trick With her painstakingly constructed formation shattered, Klea found herself quickly cornered. The pressure from Heracles was overwhelming—his sheer presence pressed down like a mountain. Dust flared beneath his boots as he closed in, one step at a time, mace gripped in calloused hands. Klea retreated quickly, boots skidding across the marble arena floor. Her breaths came fast, labored, and when Heracles moved to close the distance, she suddenly threw both hands up. "WAIT!" she shouted, her voice sharp but breathless. Heracles halted mid-stride, muscles still tensed and eyes sharp as blades. His voice was gruff but curious. "Are you surrendering?" Klea forced a smile through her panting. "I heard you’re a great warrior. I’m asking if you’d allow a lady a moment to catch her breath." The crowd murmured in surprise. Heracles frowned, his brow twitched as he stared down at her, unsure how to respond. Klea didn’t give him the chance. With a sudden lift in her voice, she beamed brightly and shouted for all to hear, "YOU ARE MAGNANIMOUS INDEED! Thank you, great warrior!" Then, without another word, she dropped into a seated lotus position and closed her eyes. A soft glow pulsed beneath her robes as she began channeling her healing spell—drawing power from the elements that still shimmered faintly over the arena. Heracles blinked, utterly dumbfounded. He wasn’t stupid—far from it. He knew exactly what she was doing: manipulating him, turning his sense of honor into a leash. But with thousands of Olympians watching from every tier of the coliseum, he couldn’t strike down a defenseless opponent. With a heavy sigh, he relented. "Five minutes!" he shouted, his voice booming like a war drum. Klea didn’t open her eyes, but a sly smile tugged at her lips. "I heard you were different from your family," she murmured, just loud enough for him to hear. "It seems the rumors were true." Heracles stood still, gripping his enormous mace tightly. He glanced at the spectators and grimaced. He waited. One minute. Two. At three minutes, Klea opened her eyes. Her complexion had regained its vitality. She stood up with poise and grace, no longer appearing tired. As Heracles raised his mace, she stopped him again. "I believe I still have a minute and a half left. You wouldn’t break your words, would you?" Heracles halted his steps once again, visibly irritated. But she was already moving. With a flick of her fingers, Klea accessed her storage ring. This time, she didn’t pull out a weapon or artifact. Instead, she summoned a living being. A surge of spatial light burst beside her, and from it emerged a massive black tiger, its body sleek and muscular, cloaked in fur striped with brilliant gold. The creature landed with a heavy thud, its glowing eyes scanning the arena with regal calm. "Tivali," Klea said softly, placing a hand on the beast’s side. "I’m counting on you." The crowd stirred. Murmurs rippled through the coliseum like wind through trees. Hermes, ever the commentator, appeared in a shimmer above the arena. "A challenger summons a beast! Let us see what we have here!" A glowing sigil appeared above the arena. [Bestet King Tiger] The tiger was a legendary-class creature, but this one had been properly nurtured and advanced into the mythical realm. According to the arena’s rules, a fighter could bring a companion into battle, but only of equivalent tier. For Klea, a magus realm, she was allowed to bring mythical-level beasts. The Bestet King Tiger let out a thunderous roar that shook the ground beneath them. ROARR!! In response, Heracles laughed heartily, spinning his mace once in his hand. "Hahaha... do you know one of my other titles?" Klea met his gaze with a calm, knowing smile. "Of course. Heracles the Beast Slayer." Gasps echoed through the crowd. Indeed, his legend was well-known across Olympus and beyond. In defiance of his father, Zeus, Heracles had once undertaken twelve impossible labors—each one a battle against a mythical creature. And all of those he had completed before he broke into the magus realm. However, Klea was fully prepared. She reserved the last of her recovery time for a reason. She pulled out her lotus pen and began drawing glyphs directly onto the tiger’s fur. Emerald ink glowed as symbols flowed with precision. [Body Enhancement Formation] It was among the difficult branches of formation path—one that fused arcane arrays with living beings. The synchronization required not only precision but a deep spiritual bond between caster and creature. Klea had used a similar technique on herself during her soul duel with Morpheus. Now, she was empowering Tivali. By the end of her fifth minute, Klea stood back with her work complete. The runes across Tivali’s body lit up in emerald brilliance, each marking pulsing with wind energy. Then—ROAR! Tivali’s power surged, the force of its presence warping the very air. No longer just a mythical beast, it had crossed into a higher threshold. What the magus universe classified as a Desolate Realm Beast—a creature imbued with the strength of a thousand-year existence. The crowd gasped. Heracles, however, only grinned. "Now this... this is a bit more interesting. With a burst of wind, Tivali launched forward—its figure a blur, like a tornado with fangs. Its enhanced speed whipped up violent gales across the arena, its form vanishing and reappearing as it circled the Olympian. But Heracles was no stranger to beasts. The moment the tiger lunged in close, Heracles spun, caught Tivali mid-pounce with his bare arms, and hurled the massive creature away. The tiger crashed across the marble floor, claws digging trenches as it skidded, growling in pain. Even as a Desolate Beast, it still wasn’t enough to take down a Full Moon Magus like Heracles. But as the storm winds settled, Heracles narrowed his eyes. Something was off. The winds weren’t meant to overwhelm him—they were meant to conceal. From the dissipating gusts, another figure emerged beside Klea—a massive eagle, its wings crackling with latent thunder. Runes shimmered along its wingspan, trailing electricity like silver fire. She had been drawing on it the entire time the wind raged. As it spread its wings and shrieked toward the sky, a fresh wave of power exploded outward. The creature, too, had been uplifted—its strength climbing past the mythical realm, into Desolate class. The crowd erupted. Klea lifted a hand. "Now." At her command, two desolate-level beasts lunged at Heracles in tandem. One, a raging tempest on the ground. The other was a bolt of lightning from the heavens. Together, they crashed toward the Beast Slayer like the wrath of nature itself.

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