BXBX NOVEL Chapter 236: Meeting Again
As soon as they saw Hendrix in the distance, Wendy, Cole, and Rab\'s mouths hung open, their eyes also widening in shock. Nox was slightly confused by their reactions—why were they acting as if they had seen a ghost?
He inwardly pondered this before locking eyes with the masked figure, his gaze sharpening. Though he couldn\'t see the figure\'s face, Nox noticed the familiar white hair sticking out from the side of the mask and the wild, dark aura pouring from him effortlessly.
Step! Step!
For a brief moment, silence reigned, broken only by the sound of raindrops and Hendrix\'s footsteps. Tension filled the air, and the rain suddenly became more intense. A strong gust of wind swept through the surroundings, making everyone\'s clothes flutter wildly.
"How?" Nyx\'s stammering voice broke the heavy silence, filled with disbelief and confusion.
"Those sparks... I\'m very sure he was eliminated," Wendy murmured with trembling lips. She briefly wondered if her eyes were deceiving her.
Rab\'s lips quivered as he pointed out, "If he\'s here... then who did the pillar eliminate?" The memory of the massive bloody pillar descending on Hendrix, along with the deep crater it left, flashed in his mind. A wave of fear momentarily washed over Rab, and his legs began trembling slightly.
If he can survive a powerful attack like that... is he even beatable? This unsettling thought was silently shared among the four of them.
Hearing their words left Nox confused again. He turned his gaze away from Hendrix, still a few meters away, and asked his teammates in a slightly deep voice, "Did something happen when I was away?"
"Y-yes," Wendy stuttered, taking a breath to steady herself before continuing. "While you were gone, we got ambushed by the Armstrong siblings. We fought as hard as we could and managed to push them back. But then, the other teams—and Hendrix—showed up too..."
While Wendy explained to Nox, the audience outside the mysterious realm was in turmoil. The Cromwells, who had been loud just moments ago, were now silent, their faces a mixture of horror and confusion.
"How? I thought he was eliminated," one spectator voiced with disbelief.
"Damn it, I thought we\'d already won this tournament," another added with a crestfallen expression.
"Wait... now that I think about it, he never appeared on the fighting platform like the others."
"Slowpokes. I noticed that from the beginning, but I wasn\'t sure because so many people were popping out of the mysterious realm," one man muttered with narrowed eyes.
Helen, who had stayed to watch the tournament after being eliminated—mostly because of Nox—found her expression shifting as well. The overwhelming display Nox had shown earlier had sparked something within her, but seeing Hendrix unscathed changed everything.
The next moment, however, a smile crept onto her face. She eagerly awaited the showdown between Nox and Hendrix. She wasn\'t sure what trick Hendrix had used to survive, but she knew that he would be a powerful foe to overcome.
"I wonder how you\'ll fare, little Nox," she whispered with a light smile. Her other teammates, who had also stayed behind, shivered slightly as they recalled their gruesome deaths inside the mysterious realm. To them, it didn\'t matter who won this tournament, but they would appreciate if Nox suffered a death far worse than theirs to quench the resentment they held against him.
While the Cromwells looked pale and uneasy, a flicker of hope lit up the eyes of the Armstrongs. With Jared, they were confident about a comeback. With anxious faces, their hearts pounded collectively, adding to the tension that was already crackling in the air.
In the judges\' seats, their expressions remained neutral. Zarek and Briget, the vice principal of Vermilion Royal Academy, weren\'t surprised. As a judge, Briget had been closely monitoring the tournament and knew that Hendrix had never left the realm. Still, she couldn\'t help but wonder what trick he had used to avoid elimination.
Instead of surprise, excitement gleamed in Briget\'s purple eyes, and her bountiful chest rose with anticipation.
Back inside the mysterious realm, Nox had just finished listening to Wendy\'s explanation.
"Is that so?" he muttered to no one in particular as his gaze returned to Hendrix, who had stopped moving. Droplets of rain slid down his mask, and his white robe—though wet—fluttered wildly in the wind.
"Though I don\'t know what trick you used to survive and fool everyone, I\'m glad you didn\'t die," Nox said calmly, locking eyes with Hendrix. Those dark eyes gleamed as he added with a smirk, "Let me guess... the one who got eliminated was a clone of you, right?"
Hendrix made a subtle movement, a shift that didn\'t escape Nox and the others.
"I thought as much," Nox said with a slight smirk. "People with skills like yours are always annoying to deal with." He briefly recalled the incident in Snowhelm. "But don\'t worry, I know how to deal with your kind."
"You\'ve changed a lot," Hendrix eventually spoke, his voice low and rough. "And I see you\'ve taken lives." He paused, then chuckled, a sound that sent chills through the audience. Even Nox was momentarily caught off guard, but he regained composure very quickly; so fast that no one even noticed.
Hendrix clapped his hands, the sound echoing ominously. "This is great. Very great. I thought you\'d break after a few attacks from me—but here you are, standing tall. Impressive."
"But that alone won\'t save you from my wrath," he added, his voice dark and dangerous: "Let\'s not keep them waiting any longer. Show me what kind of monster you\'ve become."
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