For several breaths, everyone stared in silence. The drawn-out battle had suddenly ended. After a moment of silence, the announcer remembered her job.
“I- I guess we have a winner?” Umi Kaldrops said hesitatingly, seeing the statue of the impaled Bercy. There had been no signs of life for minutes, but there was also no notice from the medical wing. She was about to contact management when she heard the sound of pebbles falling.
“Don't kill me off just yet,” she heard a laborious growl. She was still impaled on the spire, but the layer of stone that made it look like she was petrified crumbled, falling to the ground.
“I see now. You must have a high level of earth affinity or resistance,” the wizard said intrigued, but without surprise in his voice. “Too bad your recovery took a little too long.”
At some point, without even the audience noticing, the mud had vanished from the arena. Where did it- Before anyone could finish that thought, it was answered. There was a shadow growing faster and faster, covering the arena. Looking up, they saw where the mud had gone.
“Meteor,” the Dark Wizard of Mug said almost disinterested, as a stone the size of the arena crashed into the center of the stadium, crushing Bercy once and for all.
...
“How come he was able to cast meteor?” Mina asked surprised. There was a barrier that stopped outside intervention and harm to the audience covering the arena. How was he able to cast a meteor spell that attacked from far above, without the barrier stopping it?
“Well, he requested it beforehand,” Mary answered that question with a shrug.
“Isn't that against the rules?” Fin asked shocked.
“What rules?” Seth asked with a grin. He understood her confusion, but there were no such rules. This was why he had personally allowed this. After all, the barrier wasn't there to impede the participants. The wizard cast the spell himself, why would they block it? It was also a nice, unexpected twist, although Bercy fans would have disagreed.
“Oh~” Fin grinned knowingly.
“To begin with, these fights are supposed to be as close to real ones as can be. You can't call it a fight if we are the ones blocking the ultimate skill for them,” Monique said in agreement. If a participant relied on the protection meant for the audience and against outside intervention, it wouldn't be a realistic fight.
After taking a short break to fix up the arena, it was ready for the next fight. Next on the program was the battle between the assassin from the continent and the sparkly chosen of Balder. With the progression of the tournament, the fight kept becoming harder to predict.
Nobody knew who would end up with the upper hand, but both sides and vehement supporters raised the amount of bets despite the low quota. One could even say that the betting audience was a lot more vocal in this one, or they simply weren't drowned out by the fans of either of the parties, filling the chats with borderline inappropriate content.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Shortly after Umi declared the start of the fight, the freshly repaired arena had turned into a field of rubble and debris. The two fighters went all out from the very beginning, not giving their opponent a chance to brief.
The fact that the special marble instantly shattered under their attacks, showed how much they had been holding back in the previous fights. While the assassin used his superior speed and agility, Bartholomew shone in brute force and magic-augmented attacks. While the fists didn't seem to threaten him, Perl Woul had a hard time, dodging the explosions and beams of light fired by the chosen.
Seeing Bartholomew go all out, Seth couldn't help but think that he would have been an interesting match against Dumm Ting. the blacksmith didn't know what the champion of light did for doping, or whether he used any, but he was sure it would have been an interesting match.
His thought turning to the despicable cultivator, Seth couldn't help but hope that the invisibility cloaks they had pilfered from the Scene would be enough to successfully trail him. He did not doubt that their enemy would approach him. After reading through the report Marco had sent back, Dumm Ting would fit right in with the assortment of enemies they had on the Voracious Cloud Continent.
After his thoughts went on the slight tangent, the blacksmith looked back onto the arena, to find that the fight had taken a turn. Although it was not obvious for the normal eyes, using Theia's Vision, Seth was able to see that Perl Woul's movements had become quicker and smoother. A dangerous aura started oozing from his body.
Contrary to before, he started confronting the champion of Balder more and more often. Deflecting and countering the melee attacks, and skillfully dodging the magic power and skills, he showed superior prowess when it came to technique and reading his opponent.
It was as if he had used the previous half of the fight to observe his opponent, learn his moves, and come up with ways to counter him. Bartholomew became visibly flustered as the fight went on and he was more and more often in the defense.
“You have a mighty body, barely anything can harm you and any harm done heals quickly,” the assassin suddenly spoke in a cold voice. “I admit that I have had a hard time fighting you. Had you learned more profound techniques and didn't lack experience, I may have lost today.”
“You are talking as if you already won!” Bartholomew exclaimed with a laugh, charging at Perl Woul with a straight punch, that was accompanied by a wave of light. Just one hit would have scorched the cultivator to a piece of brisket. the strike connected, but the assassin disintegrated.
The reflection of light betrayed the next next attack, as a formation of strings started moving. The star with myriads of tips suddenly started tightening around Bartholomew's neck at the very center of the net.
“It's because I just did,” the assassin said, standing behind him. Bartholomew's neck was covered in layers upon layers of fine energy silk which all connected back to the hands of Perl Would. Grasping his murder weapon, he kicked away his opponent's legs, throwing Mathias to the ground. Holding the reigns in his hand, and pressing his foot into Bartholomew's back, he hindered him from resisting as he pulled with more and more force.
“A tough body, that heals any wounds. Slashing and cutting you is a meaningless effort, but what if I simply kill you without causing any external harm at all? Now that would be... effective,” he said calmly, watching the chosen struggle under his food. With his neck pulled back and a foot in his back, he could do little more but flail his arms and gasp helplessly. As exciting and full-throttle the battle began, as cruel and martial it seemed to end.
"Kuk, "Bartholomew pressed out as his body started jolting and glowing. Perl Woul held onto the string tightly, observing the last struggles of his opponent, when suddenly the string snapped and the man under his food exploded in blazing light.
The center of the arena was bright like a flash grenade and even Seth was barely able to see what happened. The Figure of Bartholomew exuding a tremendous amount of light grabbed Bakc, snatching the surprised assassin's foot on his back.
Pulled to the ground, into the embrace of the Champion of Balder, it was the end of the assassin. he couldn't compete with the chosen in a grappling contest. Perl Woul's body vanished from the arena before Bartholomew's light receded.
The audience was ready to praise the display of power and ingenuity of the assassin but were completely stunned by the sudden turn of events. Bartholomew Mathias didn't mind the lack of cheer in the beginning. He was smiling and waving at the people, as his victory was confirmed.
The Chosen of Balder had moved on into the quarter-finals. Under the late applause of the audience, after his victory was confirmed, he silently left the arena, making way for the fifth and last fight of this round.
The two strongest contenders of the tournament so far were scheduled to fight, Lyca and Nam. Today they would lose one of the absolute favorites for the title of champion.
But first! They needed to repair the arena, that had turned into a field of rubble.