--- [Alex’s perspective]
These D-rankers are no joke!
Even if just by a hair, she beat Shin…
When Shin gets serious, he’s terrifyingly powerful…
Yet she overcame that.
I think I’m finally starting to understand just how strong Vic and Luna are.
Last time I saw Vic was the day I left for the F-rank exam.
At the time, he was still so vastly stronger than me that I had no hope of comprehending how big the difference really was.
Despite training with Luna recently, she never showed her full power.
So, despite knowing two D-rank hunters very well, I didn’t fully understand how strong they were until now.
For some reason, I get the feeling she’s not the strongest one of them either…
“That was a fantastic first match, but it’s time to move on to the next one!” – Leanne
Just like last time, she spins the enemy wheel first…
“Representing the D-rankers in the second match will be none other than Vincent Fortuna!” – Leanne
Unlike the person before him, he gives off an entirely different aura…
He seems excited; happy even.
“And as for the D-rank candidates, it’s Rin Nox’s turn to fight!” – Leanne
--- [Rin’s perspective]
Me already, huh.
Alright, I’ll get it over with quick so I can meet back up with Jade.
I jump into the arena, and he follows right after.
“Now then, let the second round begin!” – Leanne
Just as I’m about to attack him, he lifts his arms up, indicating that he’s not going to attack.
“Wait, don’t start yet!” – Vincent
“Why?” – Rin
“Watch.” – Vincent
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
A comically large six-sided die materializes in front of him…
It doesn’t seem to be affected by gravity; it’s just floating there.
“You see, my specialty is a bit different from the ones you normally see. I can’t shoot beams, I can’t enhance my senses, and I can’t manipulate the elements. All I have is this die…” – Vincent
“Enough talking. I don’t care.” – Rin
“Wait, wait, wait! Listen!” – Vincent
“Give me one good reason.” – Rin
“Because listening might be the only way for you to beat me.” – Vincent
“If that’s the case, then why tell me whatever it is you’re about to say?” – Rin
“I’ve already been paid, and so has everyone else here. That won’t change, regardless of what the outcome of our fights are.” – Vincent
“Why not just surrender then? Why risk getting hurt if it won’t affect your pay?” – Rin
“I don’t know most of these people, so for all I know, some of them might do exactly that. My intuition is that that won’t happen though… Pride? Duty? Those are both perfectly valid reasons! For me however, it’s something entirely different… Fun. Just plain old fun. I like fighting.” – Vincent
“I see… We got a lot in common then. I’ll let you finish, but make it quick.” – Rin
“Certainly. I don’t want to stall any more than you do.” – Vicent
He takes his eyes off me, and starts inspecting the floating die in front of him.
“There are two things in life I enjoy more than anything else. Fighting, and gambling. I’m far from the only one who enjoys those two things… But I am one of the very few who get to combine them. No two fights are the same for me, and it all stems from my specialty.” – Vincent
He raises he hands up, and the die follows suit…
Suddenly, it starts unpredictably spinning around in every direction.
“Every time I fight, I can roll it once. Whatever it lands on determines my power level. If it’s a three, nothing changes. Anything higher, and I’ll get exponentially stronger. But at the same time, anything lower than a three, and I’ll get exponentially weaker. If I roll a six, nobody here except Leanne herself could beat me. If I roll a one, everyone here could beat me without breaking a sweat. It’s a gamble, but one I’ll happily take every time.” – Vincent
As he was talking, it was gradually slowing down…
Everyone is mesmerized by it…
The Emperor himself could past us, yet not a single soul would notice him.
Our eyes are glued to the die, eagerly anticipating what’s to come…
Suddenly, it comes to a complete halt.
Every single number fades away, and a new one takes their place.
It’s the same one on every side…
“A three… Alright, I can work with that.” – Vincent
A three, huh?
If I recall correctly, that means nothing changed…
That’s boring.
It’s essentially like I’m fighting somebody without a specialty then.
“Rin, I know what you’re thinking… ‘just a three? It’ll be too easy!’… I can promise you it won’t. I need to make sure I can defeat my opponents regardless of the outcome of the dice roll, so pretty much all I train is my BDM skill. I need to not only make sure my strength is as high as possible when I roll a high number, but also that I’m strong enough to defend myself when I roll a low number. Because of that, my regular self is nothing to scoff at…” – Vincent
“Hmm, alright. I believe you. I’ll still win though.” – Rin
He smiles…
“You will?” – Vincent
“Yup. It doesn’t really matter how strong you are if you can’t catch me.” – Rin
Without any warning, I blitz past him with everything I got.
With lightning coated arms, I managed to make a shallow cut to his hip.
“Woah… You weren’t lying, you are fast…” – Vincent
“I know.” – Rin
I try to do the same maneuver again, but as I run past him, he grabs my arm…
“How?!” – Rin
“You’re severely lacking experience if you don’t think speed can be overcome. I had a feeling you’d attack me the same way again, so all I had to do was hold out my arm and wait for you to run into it. If your movements can be predicted, speed is almost irrelevant.” – Vincent