The third day started. Excitement, gossip, and millions of dollars flew left and right as the Empire of America's most influential people watched, commented, and bet on the fights.
The tournament had its upheavals and confirmed cards. Two particular dark horses were bouncing the elites who thought they would have an easy start into the losers' bracket, guaranteeing the excitement for next week. What once was just a waste of time as most of the top four on the losers' bracket only lasted one more fight and then were trampled by the powerhouses, now it was becoming one of the most debated parts of the tournament. Which ones of the former top students would win a spot back into the main competition, and who would fade away and lose the opportunity to get a prize bestowed by the Empress herself?
The Academy was raking in the big moolahs with broadcasting rights and bookmaking. The winners would have their lives set for them. Good contracts. The best marriage proposals. Partnerships. Access to sponsorship opportunities. Access to exclusive resources.
Amanda and Robert's victories were among the most hot topics. On how Amanda managed to scald the Phoenix Queen and cook her lungs by making her breathe superheated steam. Or how Robert won with a weapons-grade fart.
However, that brief flash of silver among the pink of Life didn't evade the most observant eyes. Or the fact that Robert covered his mouth, most likely to hide what he spoke. The consensus after an overnight flame war was that he used a unique ability.
Now, the fandom was trying to figure out whether he had one or two uniques.
*
*
Robert, Amanda, and Noah conveyed to discuss the fight of the day. Not only was the time limit bigger but the size of the arenas was also enlarged. While on the first day, they had twenty-four small fighting rings, now these were condensed into one. They had much more room to maneuver and the shields were stronger now. Most contenders hadn't shown their most destructive powers yet.
Once again they discussed the fighting styles of their next opponents but also what they did and how said opponents would strategize against them. It was obvious that most stratagems would fail against the proper countermeasures. If the other students couldn't figure them out, the teachers and some think tanks who liked to do theorycraft in the comment sections surely would come up with these countermeasures.
With full essence pools, healed bodies, and fresh minds, they entered the stadium. It was crowded. This year's tournament was becoming very popular.
*
*
Robert's opponent was called the "Million Blades". He could create several clones of himself. Each clone could fight independently. Destroying a clone only opened up a slot to summon a new one, though the clones were very fragile and dealt less damage than the original. The clones also couldn't use essence.
The referee raised the shield and blew the horn. "Start!"
Robert already had his two-star haste buff. active, which reached eighty-four percent after last night's maddening training. He rushed towards the original caster as the copies appeared to block his path.
Million Blades moved through and across his copies while the copies did the same with him and one another. All the time, they taunted and jeered.
"Which one of us is real?"
"We are going to make Life Arch spaghetti today!"
"Are you dizzy yet?"
All the time, Robert kept relentless eye contact with the real one. He could see that his steadfast approach was unnerving million blades.
The copies rushed forward with only a few remaining behind with the original to keep moving across and over one another. But the copies were confident and boastful while the original was wary and unsure.
The copies reached Robert. He had the choice of striking and removing them but it would only free a spot for yet another copy to appear further away. No. It was better to leave the copies alone. Robert didn't mind taking the hits so long he got his mark. The copies talked, taunted, moved, and reacted just as if they were the original.
The mirror images had free reign to hack at him, while the original ran away. The million blades quickly figured out that Robert was onto him, as the Time Arch never took his eyes off of him even as he swapped places with his copies.
The reason was simple. The copies appeared in Robert's spatial sense as little more material than Freddy's illusions. Though they felt alive to his sense life spell. That, at least, was as fooled as his sight.
But when Million Blades ran, the gimmick became obvious. He fought alongside his copies giving the illusion that all of them were real or that none of them were real. Lacking the resources to become truly invisible, he erred on the side of caution.
Million blades fired metal darts and explosive glass shards at Robert. But with his Haste buff and foresight, it was a matter of dodging what he could and tanking what he couldn't dodge.
Robert even grabbed a copy and put it in harm's way. The flimsy construct exploded in a cloud of Ether.
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Just as he was about to catch up with Million Blades, Robert swapped his sword for the boar spear and swiped at the man's Achilles tendons.
Crippled, Million Blades fell to the ground and shouted. "I yield!"
The horn rang and the referee shouted. "Finished!" No shenanigans this time.
*
*
Amanda had little choice for this fight but to go head-on. Her opponent was a Death and Unholy Arch who was nicknamed the "critter killer." Her talent was a small-range aura that drained the life around her to grant strength. And with Unholy, she could drain even more Life to heal herself.
None of her plants would survive the aura long enough to matter. Amanda needed to develop undead plants but that was something close to impossible.
Critter killer won every fight so far by overpowering her opponents and draining them to unconsciousness.
"Begin!"
Critter killer activated her aura, causing Amanda to retch. To her druidic attunement, that aura felt wrong. Anathema.
Amanda ran towards her opponent, sword in hand. Critter killer made twin sai daggers appear in her hands. These Oriental parrying weapons were excellent for defense against other weapons. That's when she tossed her sword toward the critter killer's face.
The other girl quickly raised her weapons to block but that compromised her visibility. Amanda seized the opportunity to cast shape stone and open a hole beneath the Death Arch. Before the critter killer could get out of it, the stone closed like two hungry maws.
"Decay!" Critter killer shouted. The rock aged and crumbled into sand.
Amanda slapped a hand over the critter killer's face and shouted the same. "Decay!"
Mold started to grow on the girl's cheek, causing some panic. But the aura killed the mold in the next minute.
"Unholy vigor!" The other girl shouted. The damage caused by Amanda's mold healed.
Next, Amanda punched with a hydraulic flex and flowing strike combo. Her limb sprang forward so hard it was impossible to evade, given the distance. Critter killer flew back several yards with a sickening crunch.
Amanda summoned massive spikes of stone to skewer the other girl. She rose seven feet up, impaled and bleeding. The Earth Arch didn't stop there. She took a second to aim and pushed a spike of stone through the critter killer's head.
When the referee didn't shout, Amanda pierced the heart. And then the head, again. The aura was still there. Amanda was sure the critter killer had bled her gallon of blood. She created an ax of stone and sliced the head off.
No declaration. Amanda quartered the corpse. The aura was still there. It was impossible. She removed the spikes and slammed two stone walls together, squirting blood in a vertical arc. Separate and crush.
Separate and crush.
It was like a nightmare. Amanda felt weak.
A nightmare? She had trained with Freddy enough to recognize issues with illusions. Unless the caster thought of all the details, you could spot an illusion by looking at stuff the illusionist forgot to elaborate on.
Like the thousands of people watching the fight. They were faceless, no more than blurs in the distance.
Amanda dipped into the Netherecho and saw the real Critter Killer, laughing on the other side.
She returned, opened her eyes, and cast a two-star shape earth. She waved her hand at the illusionary corpse.
The walls sprang and slammed faster than ever, on the laughing illusionist. Amanda heard a muted crunch, followed by frantic shouts of "yield!"
Amanda shook her head and met the desperate teacher's eyes. "I am sorry, you know very well the subjects of her hallucinations can't hear stuff in the real world."
She walked away, trying to keep her stomach from revolting over the insensate murder.
*
*
Team Actus went to their private gym to debrief the fights of the day. Also to decompress.
The students were both amazed with the stupidity of these one-trick ponies and disgusted with the carnage.
The number of deaths increased as the stakes became higher. The prizes were too good to pass.
That's why the referees didn't call the fight when the rules clearly stated that they should. It was so the contestants and the students couldn't call foul.
It also explained why every student was so desperate to sign up for a spot in a combat teacher's class. Those without a combat teacher couldn't fight in the tournament.
The ease Robert and Amanda had in spotting their opponents' tricks was twofold.
On one hand, they were ridiculously overpowered for this tournament. It was like getting a real soldier from war and putting him in a game of tag with children. Robert with all of his affinities, and Amanda with the Samson brand golden spoon.
And on the other hand, the intense combat and problem-solving exercises they did on the interspace expedition gave them a different mindset. Amanda was one of the few students who ever broke out of the critter killer's "unholy nightmare" spell and lived to tell the tale. And even in her other fights, she thought of imaginative and unique ways to defeat their opponent.
"What do you guys want to do?" Noah asked.
"If nobody needs me, I am going back to the Gurglock realm to harvest essence. I want to train some spells and improve my void heart."
Robert estimated that he needed four nights or thirty-two hours to bring his void heart to the hundred percent completion of stage one. That if his essence harvesting could maintain the same intensity of that night without severely affecting the realm's ecosystem.
Or maybe he should see if he could find other patches of ocean.
"Go," Amanda said." I will go to a gathering chamber and evolve some plants for tomorrow."
"I'll stay with you if it's not too much of a bother," Noah said.
"Thank you, professor!" Amanda cheered.
Robert used his main talent.
*
*
Fairy-Robert didn't fly over the rough stormy seas. Robert just looked at a distant landmark and dove into the true void, emerging where he envisioned moments later. It was much faster than flying there on his own.
The realm was vast. Judging by the curvature and distance to the horizon, it was at least one and a half times bigger than Earth.
And all of it belonged to Amanda. It was amazing, in a sense. The girl was nineteen years old and already owned a world.
Robert's spatial senses had already identified seven passages to other realms. Where those led to was anyone's guess.
And unless he over-hunted, there was no chance to deplete the world's Gurglock population. This planet had tens of billions of fish monsters. And the Gurglocks were all cannibals.
The area where Robert hinted was already back to its original population and more. The biomass left behind by the dead bodies was consumed and used to raise the next generation. What happened was that the population became much younger and smaller. And weaker. But that only meant the next tribe over would have more food.
Many shoals of fish swam in these waters. They came in many sizes and Robert collected a few specimens of the more decorative breeds. He knew those could fetch a good price on the market. Humanity had an obsession with new and peculiar critters. Like the Taulusians.
Keeping the ornamental fish alive was easy. Robert filled a ring with seawater and put them there to swim. He even used the opportunity to train beast bond on them.
Once he found a good-sized shoal, he let loose his drain essence curse. He cursed several Gurglocks, causing an uproar. Crude throwing weapons flew upward and landed back in the water. The fish monsters had no idea where the invisible fairy was.