The third duel was when Jack finally started to feel comfortable. He walked into the arena and the crowd cheered. The arenas he had fought in until now were much smaller and not designed to hear the crowd. Now he was in a much larger stadium that was full of spectators that he could easily hear. They cheered while he walked to his designated spot. He even waved a little as he walked. It was incredible having so many people cheer. He just looked at the crowd for a minute appreciating the moment. Then his opponent entered the ring. What the fuck?

His foe looked like a villain straight from a book. They were all sharp edges, and their armor was pitch-black. A black mask covered the face with tinted lenses making it impossible to see any of their features. They were wearing heavy-plated tactical armor that had been modified to carry a ridiculous number of blades. He started to try and count but kept losing track after 15. They all looked to be very sharp, and they were all sizes and shapes. The blades didn’t make a sound when they moved, signally most likely an enchantment of some kind. His opponent was dressed to kill and looked like they knew how to do it.

They had no obvious gun. But he was sure he was hiding one somewhere. His opponent didn’t acknowledge the crowd as they made their way to their spot. Once in their spot, they just slowly turned and stared at Jack.

Jack’s gun was strapped to his back. His sword was on his hip. He felt ready. He had finally started to gain some control of his element and couldn’t wait to show the crowd his skill. The horn sounded and the duel began.

Jack flicked his wrist and sent a small jolt zipping across the arena. The spark was small, so he easily controlled it. Just before reaching his opponent, he made it change course and fly around his foe. Jack was showing off a little with his control. His opponent hadn’t made a single move. He stood perfectly still while the small bolt flew in circles around him. Suddenly Jack signaled and it flew in right at the back of his head. His opponent made no sign of moving and took the small spark to the head. It hadn’t been intended to do much damage. More just distract his opponent and impress the crowd. If he was being honest with himself, Jack would realize he wasn’t taking the duel very seriously and only seemed to care about the crowd. When he had researched his opponent, he hadn’t been able to find much. Not even the element the student used. It was very weird. Now looking at him he had so many questions. But now was not the time. The spark barely seemed to cause an impact when it hit. A second after hitting them his opponent went into action. They started running right at him. Jack flipped his gun out and started shooting quickly toward his opponent. He was using the same shells he had used in the last match. They had worked very well and had quickly become his standard ammunition. It was expensive to use such fancy bullets, but they were worth it. Unfortunately, it turns out his opponent had absorbed the metal element and casually waved the bullets away.

“Oh shit.” It took him a moment, but then Jack dropped his gun and started building up electricity. In a few seconds, his opponent was on him. Jack drew his sword and started to slowly backpedal while continuing to build up a charge. Let’s see how you handle some electricity. It took him a moment, then he released a blast toward his foe. It was a medium-sized ball that flew fast. I got you now. Unexpectedly his opponent threw a dagger toward the blast. Upon contact, the dagger flew through the ball and seemed to absorb the electricity. Wait what? He must have prepared some special equipment for my element just like I did for my last duel. Uh oh. Jack barely had time to register what was happening before the dagger stabbed into his shoulder. Everything went white.

“Ahhh,” He yelled in pain. The safety pins they wore were designed to recognize a lethal amount of damage to teleport someone out before that happens. The knife in his shoulder was relatively small and hadn’t stabbed too deep so it wasn’t very dangerous. But it still hurt. Son of a bitch. He continued to backpedal while his opponent continued to charge at him. Jack stabbed forward with his sword, hoping he could catch his opponent by surprise, but he was slow and his foe easily evaded. Jack winced. Swinging the sword made the knife in his shoulder hurt. Fuck. He did his best to block his opponent as they began trading blows. His opponent wasn’t using their metal control at all.

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Why are they not using their element? If they wanted with their amount of blades, they could have easily overwhelmed me. Instead, they just seemed to be using melee skill. I’m completely outmatched. It was embarrassing. Jack was doing his best to parry and riposte. But his attacks were clearly predicted and his opponent would dodge with little effort. But Jack didn’t give up. He continued to fight. Just like he has done his entire life. Fuck this. He began swinging harder. He was angry. This person was making a fool of him. He wanted to impress the crowd, but he just looked like a fool. His harder swings made it tougher for his opponent to parry, but it made Jack’s movements that much more obvious. Fighting angry was not good. Gant had taught Jack that. But it’s hard to keep your head cool in a fight. Jack had lost his cool and was beginning to just swing randomly. But with his anger, he also began to release electricity. He had no plan or technique. He just realized he had been subconsciously holding back the power because it was so dangerous.

Now he stopped holding it back. He started to let it flow like it wanted. He had experienced something like this a few times now. His body became fully charged and the hair on his body was standing up. Every time he swung his sword a static aura would remain for a moment. The static electricity in the arena slowly built up to a point where small sparks were bouncing across the ground. It felt good. To just let the power, do whatever it wanted. His opponent had quickly backed off. Now Jack was the aggressor. He was swinging with a wild grin on his face. “What’s the matter?” Jack teased. He had never talked dirt before, but it felt good. His opponent had been embarrassing him and now he was making them look dumb. This feels so good. Jack continued to force his opponent back across the arena. But then his leg began to hurt. Oh no. In his anger, he had completely let go of his mana reserves. He was exhausted. And just like that, the tides turned back against him. He still hasn’t used his powers. Jack was frustrated. To be completely outmatched. Unfortunately, that frustration has cost him. He had completely wasted his mana.

Son of a bitch. I really hoped I wouldn’t need to use this. He had created an emergency backup for a situation just like this. Unfortunately, it would take time. I need to stall. Jack began slowly backpedaling while he started to count. 1, 2, 3. Slowly he stepped. It felt like forever counting to 20. Eventually, it came. 18, 19, 20. And his cyber pad buzzed it was ready. He didn’t waste any time. Jack activated the button on his bracer and prayed. He didn’t really have time to test his invention before now. He had only finished charging it this morning. He had built a small power storage crystal into his armor. Unfortunately, the design took 20 seconds to activate. He looked down at his hands in surprise. It works! He barely had a moment to appreciate before his opponent was on him.

Let’s do this. He parried his opponents’ strike with newfound strength. The thrill of his idea working gave him life. Finally, his opponent seemed to be getting mad. They started to utilize their element more. The blades on their body began floating off their body and swirling around them. They slowly became a swirling mass of blades. But Jack was not deterred, he continued to fight. This is fun. Truly going all out tans battling like this was exhilarating. Now blades began flying all around Jack. It became easily reminiscent of dodgeball class. Except much more deadly. Multiple times it was only mana shielding that kept Jack in the bout. But he was running on reserves and his backup was almost out. This is my last shot. His opponent paused and that’s when Jack did his last-ditch effort to win. He kicked his boot at his opponent’s face. Then he quickly followed it up with a second boot. The first hit a blade and was deflected, but the second caught him right in the face. When he winced, Jack lunged. He slid under his opponent’s sword and stabbed. Suddenly Jack was standing in a small room with a nurse. The nurse jumped with surprise and then quickly scurried over to check Jack’s wounds. “Wait what? Again? What happened this time?”

The nurse didn’t have an answer for him. It was only a minute or two later when an official walked into the room. It was eerily similar to when the squad had failed their duel. But this can’t be right. I was still in the duel. I was about to win.

“Mr. Warwick.” The official said. “You did well. You placed 307th in the solo tournament.”

“What? How? How did they get me?”

“Hmm? Oh, you don’t know how you lost your duel.”

“NO!? what the hell? I almost had him!”

“Hmmm. I guess you were not paying very close attention. Unfortunately, your opponent was way out of your league. He is predicted to be the number one first year.

“Who are they? I couldn’t find anything on them when I did my research. Not even a name. “

“Ah. There is a reason for that I’m afraid. A reason I am not at liberty to say. But I can tell you his first name. His name is Artemis.”