Only after the order did anyone present in the Fallen Colosseum finally raise their heads, and Ryuk was no exception.
The first thing he noticed was the gigantic golden wing that seemed to cover the entire sky of the arena.
When Ryuk had last seen the Half-Fallen one, her wings were around two meters in pure length, but now they had grown to almost three times that size.
As she descended, they slowly reduced in length until they returned to their former two meters.
"So they can all fold their wing length, huh?" he mused, surprised, as he watched the Fallen one float to another glass cubicle where the twelve Fallen elders had already prepared a seat right in front of theirs.
Surprisingly, even among such old and mature individuals, Ryuk noticed that every one of them, male and female, held nothing but reverence in their eyes.
They repeatedly bowed their heads with smiles as the Half-Fallen one waved at them all.
He observed how they all remained standing until the Half-Fallen one sat down on the front seat.
Only then did all of them follow her motion, also taking their seats behind her.
"With the entrance of the Fallen one, there is no better day, and no better time, than to start the final phase of the test..." Sir Juan, the golden-haired Fallen who had directed the preliminary test, called out from the top of the instructor’s podium.
His voice rang out gently yet incredibly crystal-clear to everyone in the Colosseum.
"Introducing the contestants and their arrangements for battle," he said, as the Colosseum seemed to close up at its surface, causing a bit of darkness to appear in the hall.
However, for all the people sitting, they were all powerful enough to see clearly with no problem at all.
"The first pair of contestants: Thaddeus Thunderclap of the lost family of Thunderclap Requiem and his opponent Joki Logi, one of the 20 most powerful geniuses ever recorded through the phases of this test."
Immediately, as the names were called out, a pillar of light fell on two individuals sitting in the genius seats area, making them the focus of attention in the entire arena.
The most eye-catching individual was one with short dark hair that gently bounced around his head in the advance of the wind.
Upon closer observation, one would notice the dark lightning zipping around every strand of his hair.
His eyes were a dark shade, holding an illusion of crackling lightning in their depths.
The young man rose to his feet, bowing his head in respect to the elders’ area of the Colosseum.
The second individual was a weary-looking boy with short golden hair and eyes resembling those of Quinn. He seemed to be a head shorter than Thaddeus, with a silver hue in his hair and a smile on his face.
He also bowed to the elders.
Without needing much observation, one could easily sense how the boy radiated nervousness, which he barely kept together by locking his fingers tightly.
"He is Joki, the 16th ranked genius on the genius ranking."
"I heard he is very powerful, but I’m afraid against his opponent, who is an Ultima Ten and one of the strongest ten, his chances of winning this fight are very low..." Quinn whispered to Ryuk, who had his eyebrows furrowed at Thaddeus.
From Quinn’s information in the past, Ryuk had heard Thaddeus was the 8th on the Ultima ranking.
Ryuk was undoubtedly interested in his power and wondered if perhaps he could use this match to gauge the power levels of the Ultima geniuses.
Were they as monstrous as he had heard, or were the other geniuses simply too weak at heart?
"Please, both of you, come on stage..." The golden-haired man said.
Yet before he could completely finish his words, Thaddeus was already on the battle stage.
It was as if he had simply zapped himself onto the stage, dark lightning barely trailing on the ground where he had walked.
Joki, meanwhile, slowly walked and brought himself to the stage.
"The rules are simple. Everything is allowed in the test—skills and abilities, arts, runic cards, weapons. Absolutely everything."
"You lose if you’re knocked unconscious by your opponent, or you verbally surrender by proclaiming out loud to the entire Colosseum."
"So, if you feel you can no longer go on with the battle, you are free to surrender," the man repeated. It was a rule that seemed to favor the students, but Ryuk didn’t think so.
None of the geniuses would dare to surrender!
There were elders from the twelve lost families watching this fight, dozens of instructors, and most importantly, the Half-Fallen one herself.
Surrendering would be admitting to their weakness.
How could the prideful geniuses ever do that unless they saw their own lives flash before their eyes, or their sense of helplessness completely overwhelmed them?
In the elder booth of the Colosseum...
"Thaddeus Thunderclap? Isn’t he the younger brother of the Thunderclap Requiem anomaly genius, Venom Thunderclap?" A silver-haired elder recalled amusingly as the rest of the elders turned their attention to an old man sitting in the middle.
He had long dark hair that covered his left eye but if one stared into his visible eye, the illusion of lightning roaring in their heads would force them to quickly avert thier gazes.
"Ahhhh, that is very true. Thaddeus truly is the younger brother of Venom."
"But to compare them is to compare the heavens to the earth. Their potential is vastly far apart," the old man said with a chuckle as all the elders also chuckled along.
"Still, the little boy himself is not that bad at all."
"His Fallen Lightning essence is of above-average quality. At least for a genius at this level, he should be able to earn quite a name for himself..." an elder complimented.
The old man, Hori, nodded his head. "Well. I guess we’ll all be a judge of that soon..."
And all attention settled in anticipation at the two young men who stood in the arena, calmly facing the other.
"Begin!"