“It's a good day to die but an even better to purge corruption from the multiverse!” The announcer exclaimed. Her voice seemed to echo and resonate through the arena even though it only rang in the fighters’ heads. “Kalighat was once a realm of great warriors. The rule of the strong led them far, but somewhere along the way, they sought strength from the wrong sources. The darkness found its way in, and then the Cursed Ones took them apart from the inside. But all hope is not lost. If the creature haunting the battlefield falls, Kalighat might just find its way back to the light.”
“Returning for her tenth match in the Death Gauntlet is the terrifying object of your desires, Jaqueline the Shredder. Her blades are indiscriminate. She has ripped, torn, and sliced through every Cursed One and hopeful candidate that’s stood in her way. She’s purged the darkness and fueled several seeds for new life.”
When the announcer moved on to Nil, he imagined pubs and cafes full of raucous watchers booing. Even though she hadn’t appeared in a film yet, and her one series appearance was in a bit role, Jaqueline had a monstrous following. Since the woman hadn’t had the opportunity to show her talent yet, most believed it was her raw sex appeal.
“Her challenger is Nil. We haven’t named him yet. The viewers of his world seem intrigued by his performance and demeanor, but they haven’t titled him either. With a name like Nil, does he need one? His defenses negate all incoming attacks. Then, he pulverizes everything when he turns on the heat. Nil is more than nothing. But the question is, does he have a chance against a rising star not only from his world but his city?
“We’re convinced they’re from warring factions. Residents of the same world usually end up facing each other in Death Gauntlet by coincidence. Shredder has eliminated several arena aspirants from her world. Nil has taken out one thus far. Are they settling duels and arguments in the arena? Or is something more at play?
“At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter. We’re here to do some good and be entertained.”
If Jaqueline had watched Nil’s previous match—which he was sure she had—she would most likely not waste any time like Pietro or Kennit. He expected her to make a beeline for the Cursed One like Alex ‘Furball’ Maher. So Nil ran as fast as safely possible, following Energy Instinct’s guidance. Every empowered stride carried Nil several meters. He relied on Expend and Toggled Supercharging to maintain his velocity. He only infused enough energy into the latter to go as fast as his Finesse would allow. He couldn’t afford to stumble and lose a second. All recordings and videos involving Jaqueline highlighted her speed. A single stumble, and she’d reach the Cursed One first.
The last arena had robbed Nil of one of his greatest advantages. Speed. The many uneven pillars forced him to adjust direction every dozen or so meters. The constant starting and stopping made it impossible to reach terminal velocity. Now, Nil shot forward so fast that the wilderness-conquered quarry seemed to blur around him. Luminous moss and bushes blossomed along the towering walls, and giant woody mushrooms with glowing caps added more light to the otherwise grey surroundings. Their blues, greens, pinks, and oranges danced on Nil’s speeding form. It reminded Nil of his days of speeding home through Piccadilly Circus. The luminous screens with constantly shifting advertisements and videos created a similar ambiance.
Scaling the sides and reaching the step-like flat sections high above was tempting. Getting the lay of the land and any tactical information would significantly increase his chances of victory. However, Nil didn’t want to allow Shredder to harvest the Cursed One.
The ground, all of a sudden, trembled. If not for Nil’s high Finnesse, he would have stumbled and face-planted. He continued to shoot forward, keeping low as he sped down the wide curving path. Except for the distribution of flora, everything appeared the same, and if not for Energy Instinct, he would’ve gotten lost. Then, landslides finally interrupted Nil’s progress.
It started with pebbles and fingernail-sized stone chips clattering down the rock faces, but then bigger rocks and boulders followed. Absorb protected Nil from the larger debris and restored the energy he spent while maintaining his speed. It wasn’t long before the cascade created blockades, forcing Nil to either ascend or find alternate paths. Since he currently had a surplus of energy, he burst through the first couple of barricades, releasing energy blasts through the Source Gauntlets just as he reached them.
The tactic didn’t work out in Nil’s favor. The second time, stones collapsed on him, forcing him to scramble and switch to Absorb. He stumbled and fell to his knees when through. Nil had to regain his velocity afterward and resorted to leaping over the natural barricades, bouncing off the walls and finding stable footing wherever they could. The fall afterward helped Nil recover energy, making it a more reliable strategy.
Tremors continued to change the arena, and water also leaked through the wall in several sections. The flow rate at some locations left Nil worried that the quarry would flood before long. Nil needed to win the battle swiftly. However, given what he knew about his opponent, that would be easier said than done.
Following the biggest tremor to strike the quarry yet, the Cursed Energy signature suddenly gained significant strength. Next, Nil sensed it moving. A thundering roar filled the arena. The entire world seemed to vibrate. Dust and pebbles seemed to levitate off the ground. Fresh landslides followed. Nil couldn’t help but wonder whether the Cursed One was behind the tremors. Then, the Cursed Energy source changed direction, and its movements increased speed.
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It's coming toward me.
The tremors didn’t cease. Instead, they grew stronger with every passing second. It was then Nil took the executive decision to stop sprinting toward his goal. Instead, he finally scaled the quarry’s side.
It was as Nil had expected. The arena was the largest of all that he had seen thus far. It rivaled the battle royale arena from the qualifiers, encompassing most of a city and having room for nearly fifty combatants. The long-gone miners of Kalighat had mined lateral snaking lines through the rocky ground, and narrow passageways connected them. Crumbling housing stood on the high dividing walls, and luminous forests glowed in the distance on either side.
Then, Nil saw movement. He spotted Jaqueline the Shredder first. It wasn’t hard to spot her. He had watched enough of the woman’s recordings to know what to look for. She wore a garish crimson cocktail dress. It was so low-cut that the neckline almost came down to the navel. The straps holding up the outfit were so thin they might as well have been dental floss, and the side slit came all the way up to her leg. It provided no protection and made her stand out, removing any chance of stealth. Giant, semi-transparent sawblades stuck to the outside of her lower legs. The teeth dug into the stone as they spun, propelling her forward. She moved like a roller skater, racing not on the ground but along the quarry’s walls. Shredder wasn’t fleeing the Cursed One. The woman was in pursuit.
Nil didn’t plan on letting Meatball out in Death Gauntlet, let alone in the arena, until she grew and ascended to the Bronze Realm. However, he needed her to see the specimen before them, so Nil ejected her from his core. A surprised squeak burst from the whelp when she saw the sight before them.
The Cursed One moved like a bowling ball and, while curled into a ball, it was as taller than a double-decker bus. Instead of Meatball’s many spikes, it only had two. They came out of its sides, extending and retracting to change direction. Whenever sharp corners approached, the creature dug a spike into a nearby surface, letting it make turns without losing much speed.
“You can stick around and watch, but no getting involved,” Nil said. “Alright?”
Meatball squeaked before rolling away. Nil could only hope she would obey his instructions and not hurt herself. However, if he died, she would perish too. If released from his core, she would have a chance of survival and could possibly find a place for her as Kalighat recovered. Nil regretted not letting her free during the match against Kennit. He didn’t need her to get involved. Observing the battle alone would net her a bunch of useful experiences.
Nil lay low, holding on for dear life as the monster passed. Focused on chasing her mark and flinging hand-sized blades, Jaqueline the Shredder overlooked him. Each of her blades took large chunks out of the Cursed One’s armor, and Nil noticed patches of black tar-like sludge in the monster’s trail. Jaqueline the Shredder hadn’t just beaten him to the Cursed One. It was her attacks that triggered the tremors by injuring the armored monster. She was graceful, deadly, and powerful.
The woman and beast appeared faster than Nil. However, moving along the top of the walls meant Nil didn’t have to deal with barricades, the twisting paths, or the constant cascades caused by the speeding Cursed One. He only had to deal with the intense trembling. So, as long as Nil maintained his footing, he had no trouble catching up to the speedier pair. Soon afterward, he overtook them.
The initial plan had been to kill the Cursed One first, but Nil needed to wing it. He grabbed stones as big as his head while running and flinging them at Jaqueline. Expend gave him the necessary power, but it took over a dozen throws before he successfully nailed the woman.
An angry scream burst from Jaqueline. She lost her balance and fell into the still-falling rubble. Nil immediately turned his attention to the Cursed One. It felt silly to turn his back on Jaqueline. However, Nil’s strategy won him the previous match, and he needed the tremors to stop to concentrate on his human opponent. There was also the chance of the monster turning around once he and Shredder were distracted. It was perhaps not the best decision, but he had his mind made up.
Nil combined gravity and Expend to land the most powerful blow he could, blowing through everything in his store. He bounced off it, landing in the beast’s trail. He activated Absorb to ensure the landing didn’t result in injury and swiftly regained a third of his energy.
The attack had its intended effect. It caved in a chunk of the monster’s armor and disrupted its rhythm. The spikes retracted, and it pinballed between the walls before coming to a complete stop. It unfurled, revealing a dinosaur-like appearance. Dense, segmented armor also covered the beast’s underside. It wasn’t rocky like the outer carapace.
Nil’s appreciation for Energy Instinct grew whenever he faced a Cursed One. It helped him almost instantly pinpoint their heart. The beast had landed on its side. He charged it and used all the force he could muster to knock it onto its back. Nil then jumped on the Cursed One’s stomach, found the heart, and squatted over it. He held on for dear life as the creature thrashed and took aim.
Much like Nil’s first Death Gauntlet match, a calmness filled Nil. He knew what he needed to do. The cultivation techniques finally saw practical use. Nil accumulated all of the energy he could muster in his right hand’s middle and index finger. He held them just over the Cursed One’s heart and followed up with everything he had learned from the manuals and Watcher. The Expended energy burst forth in a narrow stream.
A barrage of sawblades struck, almost making Nil jump out of his skin. Most missed him, but one grazed his left shoulder, slicing off a big chunk of muscle. It looked like someone had attacked him with an old meat slicer. A scream burst from his lips, ruining his focus and disrupting the unification of techniques. Another sawblade struck Nil’s gauntlet, throwing off his aim. The projection lost its focus and opened a monstrous gouge in the Cursed One’s chest but failed to reach the heart.
Nil had no choice but to flee with blood pouring down his arm. Absorb protected him from the continued barrage. He leaped off the monster and slipped behind cover. Expend from and around the move cauterized Nil’s injury. When he peeked out from the boulder that hid him, he spotted Jaqueline where he had stood seconds ago. She grinned, sticking a long crimson knife into the wound Nil had created and harvested the Cursed One’s energy.