Rise of the Devourer
Book 4: Chapter 23 — Tournament Pt. 10

The arena had never felt more electric as Noah made his way through the tunnel toward the semifinal match. The crowd's energy was palpable—twenty thousand voices creating a wall of sound that seemed to vibrate through the stone itself. This was what the tournament had been building toward, and everyone knew it.

"Semifinal match one!" the announcer's voice boomed across the colosseum. "Noah Brown, the Void Walker, versus Neal Harth , Master of the Impossible!"

Noah emerged into the blazing afternoon sun, his mind focused despite the overwhelming noise. Across the arena, Neal walked out with that same easy confidence he'd displayed in every previous match, spinning his wooden staff like it was a toy rather than a weapon.

But there was something different about Neal today. The calculating intelligence behind his friendly facade seemed more pronounced, and when he looked at Noah, there was a predatory gleam in his eyes that made Noah's instincts scream warnings.

They met at the center for the traditional acknowledgment, and Noah was struck by how calm Neal appeared. There was no nervousness, no uncertainty—just the focused attention of someone who'd been planning for this moment.

"Well, well," Neal said with his characteristic grin. "The famous Void Walker. I've been looking forward to this."

"Likewise," Noah replied, though his unease was growing. "Your chaos magic is... unusual."

"Oh, it's much more than unusual," Neal said, his smile widening. "But you'll find that out soon enough."

They separated to their starting positions. Noah summoned his spear while Neal simply stood with his staff, magical energy already beginning to warp the air around him in ways that hurt to look at directly.

Noah settled into his stance, feeling his various abilities humming beneath his skin. His anchor point was set, Wyrmblood was keeping him at peak condition, and Void Annihilation pulsed with dark energy.

"Begin!"

Neal moved first, and reality immediately began to shift in subtle ways.

His staff struck the arena floor, and the stone rippled like water. But it wasn't just an illusion—Noah could feel the ground becoming genuinely unstable beneath his feet, solid matter following rules that simply shouldn't exist.

"Chaos magic is really more about perspective," Neal said conversationally as Noah tried to maintain his footing. "Reality is just a consensus opinion, and I happen to be very persuasive."

Noah teleported to what looked like solid ground, but found that where he'd appeared, gravity was pulling him sideways instead of down. He rolled with it, using Arcane Step again to escape the localized anomaly, but Neal was already creating new impossibilities with calm efficiency.

The chaos mage gestured, and Noah's spear suddenly became impossibly heavy. Not through magic—through the simple reality that Noah's weapon now weighed far more than it should, despite looking exactly the same.

"Much more elegant than brute force," Neal observed, easily sidestepping Noah's increasingly awkward attacks.

Noah tried Void Annihilation, but the void-lightning that emerged from his hands transformed into harmless light before dispersing. The crowd murmured in confusion, but Neal simply looked pleased with the demonstration.

"Void magic operates on some fascinating principles," he continued, avoiding Noah's desperate strikes with movements that seemed to bend space around him. "But chaos magic doesn't care about principles. It cares about what makes for a more interesting story."

The fight was becoming increasingly surreal. Every ability Noah tried was altered in ways that made it harmless or useless. His teleportation started depositing him in predictable locations that Neal was always ready for. His fire magic became gentle warmth. Even his enhanced physical capabilities kept fluctuating according to Neal's whims.

"You're fighting the concept that reality should be consistent," Neal explained as he deflected another spear thrust with casual ease. "And I find that concept rather limiting."

The crowd was watching with growing unease as Noah was systematically outmaneuvered. Unlike his previous matches where adaptation had been key, here his opponent was rewriting the rules faster than Noah could adjust to them.

"The interesting thing about void magic," Neal continued, somehow spinning his staff in ways that created optical illusions, "is that it assumes there's an underlying structure to disrupt. But what happens when the structure itself is negotiable?"

Noah found himself slowing down despite his best efforts. Not from fatigue, but because Neal had apparently convinced reality that Noah should move through something thicker than air. The chaos mage remained perfectly comfortable in the same space.

"You know," Neal said thoughtfully, "I'm curious about something. Your magical signature is genuinely unusual—void magic shouldn't integrate well with draconic abilities, yet somehow it does. How did you manage that?"

Noah tried to respond, but found that his voice had become too quiet to hear. Neal nodded as if this was exactly what he'd expected.

"Rhetorical question, I suppose. Though I do appreciate the opportunity to study such an interesting anomaly in person."

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That's when Noah realized he was losing more than just the match. Neal's reality distortions were affecting his body directly now, his health dropping as basic biological functions began to fail under the assault of impossible physics.

He was going to lose consciousness soon, and unlike the arena's normal safety systems, Noah had the disturbing feeling that Neal's influence might prevent his rescue.

That's when salvation came from an unexpected source.

Abyssal Fusion has Upgraded to Elite.

The notification appeared just as Noah was about to collapse, and with it came a familiar presence flooding back into his consciousness.

"Master!" The voice was clear and distinct in Noah's mind, no longer the vague emotional impressions he'd grown used to.

"Tony?" Noah gasped, shock cutting through his pain. He could hear actual words now, not just feelings and images.

"Yes! Tony is back! And Tony can talk now! Master is in big trouble!" The voice carried excitement mixed with urgent concern. "The not-chaos-mage is very dangerous. Reality is bending around him like wet cloth. Master needs help!"

Noah felt a surge of hope despite his dire situation. "I thought you could only talk in dreams."

"Upgrade changed everything! Tony is much stronger now, much smarter. Can think in words, can help Master think faster too. But first—Master is about to die if Tony doesn't help!"

Noah could feel the symbiote's enhanced presence throughout his body, no longer just in his arm but integrated into every cell. It was like having a brilliant tactical advisor living in his nervous system.

"Tony has new shapes for Master's body now," the symbiote continued rapidly. "Can focus on different parts—make Constitution super strong for healing, or Power super strong for hitting, or Agility for speed, or Mystic for magic. Each one makes the focus attribute huge while others get normal boost."

"Constitution," Noah said immediately as Neal prepared what looked like a reality-ending attack. "I need to survive this."

"Yes! Constitution mode activating! Hold tight, Master!"

The transformation was immediate and dramatic. Noah felt his body reshaping itself as Tony's enhanced abilities kicked in, his Constitution skyrocketing beyond anything he'd ever experienced. Wounds began healing instantly, his vitality surged, and the reality distortions that had been slowly killing him suddenly became manageable.

Neal's eyes widened as he saw Noah straighten up, fully healed and radiating power.

"Impossible," he said, his confidence wavering for the first time. "My reality distortions should have—"

"New rules," Noah interrupted, his voice carrying a strength that made the arena floor vibrate.

"Master should switch to Power mode now," Tony advised, his mental voice carrying tactical analysis. "The not-chaos-mage's reality bending works by convincing the world that his version is more interesting. But raw physical force is very simple—hard to make interesting when it's just 'hit things really hard.'"

"Switch me to Power mode," Noah said.

"Switching! And Tony will help Master think faster too! Watch how slow everything becomes!"

The change was instantaneous on two levels. Noah's Constitution dropped back to enhanced levels while his Power attribute exploded upward, but more importantly, his thought processes accelerated dramatically. Tony's enhanced intelligence merged with his own, creating a bullet-time effect where he could see and analyze everything with perfect clarity.

The world seemed to slow around him. He could see Neal's staff moving through the air, track the reality distortions rippling outward, even observe the crowd's expressions changing frame by frame.

"There!" Tony pointed out through their shared consciousness. "The not-chaos-mage needs concentration for big reality changes. His eyes track left before he makes gravity sideways, his staff glows before matter becomes liquid. Master can predict and counter!"

Noah teleported directly into Neal's guard, and this time the spatial movement worked perfectly. Tony had identified the exact moment when Neal's attention was divided between multiple reality alterations.

"Strike now! His defensive reality bubble is weakest at—"

Noah's spear thrust came with enough power behind it to shatter stone, guided by Tony's tactical analysis to find the perfect angle and timing. Neal barely managed to get his staff up in time to block.

The impact sent shockwaves across the arena and drove Neal sliding backward. For the first time in the match, he looked genuinely concerned.

"This isn't possible," Neal said, his reality distortions flickering as his concentration wavered under Tony's analytical assault. "You can't just ignore fundamental alterations to—"

"He's preparing a big reality change—Master should interrupt with maximum force!" Tony warned.

Noah's follow-up strike came faster than Neal could finish his sentence, guided by his enhanced processing speed to arrive at the exact moment when the chaos mage was most vulnerable.

"Your tricks work on normal opponents," Noah said, pressing his attack with relentless fury guided by Tony's real-time tactical advice. "But I'm not fighting alone anymore."

The crowd was going wild as they watched the reversal. Noah, who had been systematically outmaneuvered for most of the match, was now successfully predicting and countering an opponent who had seemed untouchable.

Neal continued to adapt his techniques, trying to eliminate the tells that Tony was reading, but the symbiote's enhanced pattern recognition was staying ahead of his attempts to mask them.

"Impressive adaptation," Neal observed as he parried another perfectly timed strike. "You're learning my patterns faster than I can modify them."

The end came when Noah managed to predict a particularly complex reality alteration, teleporting to exactly the right position to interrupt Neal's concentration at the critical moment. His enhanced strength drove his spear forward, and Neal, caught mid-technique, couldn't defend effectively.

They hit the ground together, Noah's spear point resting against Neal's throat.

"Yield," Noah said quietly.

Neal looked up at him with genuine interest rather than frustration. After a moment, he nodded thoughtfully.

"I yield," he said. "Most educational match I've had in some time."

The arena erupted in the loudest cheers Noah had ever heard as the protective barriers lowered. The impossible had happened—the reality-bending chaos mage had been defeated through pure, overwhelming force.

As Noah helped Neal to his feet, the defeated fighter leaned close enough to whisper: "Enjoy your victory while it lasts."

Then he walked away without another word, leaving Noah alone in the center of the arena as the crowd's cheers washed over him. As he made his way back to the viewing box, Noah found his friends waiting with expressions of amazement and relief.

"That was incredible," Aurelia said. "When you started healing and getting stronger... what happened?"

"Tony woke up," Noah said simply. "With some new capabilities."

"Well, thank the gods for small miracles," Vion said. "For a while there, it looked like Neal was going to tear you apart."

Noah nodded, settling into his chair as the arena was prepared for the second semifinal. Neal's true nature was still a mystery, but whatever he was, he was connected to larger forces that Noah didn't understand.

But that was a problem for tomorrow. Tonight, he needed to focus on the finals and the prospect of facing Vion's evolving draconic abilities.

The tournament's climax awaited, and Noah had never been more ready for a challenge.