--- [Vincent’s perspective]
“No more waiting, let the second match begin!” – Bob
She’s the emotionless one, huh?
I can tell…
Her expression is completely neutral; it almost looks like she’s bored…
“I don’t have time for this. Just use your specialty already.” – Chloe
She’s just going to let me use it?
Wonderful!
“You’re in for a treat!” – Vincent
A large six-sided die materializes in front of me.
It isn’t affected by gravity and is floating in front of me.
I raise my hands, and it ascends higher.
Suddenly, it starts spinning around uncontrollably in every direction.
My opponent lets out a sigh, making me take my eyes off the die, glancing over at her instead.
She isn’t even looking at it…
She’s staring right at me, completely ignoring the die.
“Are you done?” – Chloe
“Almost!” – Vincent
She sighs again…
It finally comes to a stop…
“Four… Not bad.” – Vincent
During the preliminaries I got a two.
It made winning significantly harder than it could have been, but who doesn’t love a good challenge, eh?
“You see, the outcome of the dice roll decides how strong I am. A three is my regular self, anything higher makes me stronger, and anything lower makes me weaker.” – Vincent
“Ok.” – Chloe
I can’t help but let a grin form…
Cocky types like her are just the best!
It’s going to be so much fun destroying her!
Seeing them go from unrivaled confidence to utter despair…
It’s so addicting!
And the best thing is that people like her usually tend to have some strength to back up their confidence too.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
Oh…
I can’t wait to feel her tear me apart…!
This battle is going to be so thrilling!
Unable to contain myself any longer, I dash towards her.
The look on her face is neutral, and she’s not taking any particular stance.
I can’t read her; she’s not giving away any information about her fighting style at all…
Just as I get within range, I throw my first punch of the tournament.
With one quick swipe, she parries my arm, making me stumble.
She quickly follows up with a lightning-fast blow to my chest, breaking one of my ribs, and launching me backwards.
Oh…
That felt so good…!
With no time to waste, I go back in.
I throw another punch, but she parries that just as easily.
I try again and again, but to no avail.
She’s got a way to counter everything…
I drop down, then launch myself forward, trying to tackle her.
Just before I can reach her, she knees me in the face, breaking my nose.
She tries to follow up by kicking me away, but I push through the pain, and duck under.
I use the momentum to propel myself forward, and wrap my arms around her legs.
She starts falling, but quickly hits me with an elbow to the back of the head, forcing me to let go.
As she stabilizes herself, she takes a step back to assess the situation.
I bet she thinks that attack of hers knocked me out…
Well, it didn’t!
I pick myself back up, and with a crooked nose and a bloody smile, I get ready to engage once again.
This pain…
It’s so wonderful, she should feel it too!
“Chloe seems to be taking the lead, but Vincent isn’t giving up either!” – Bob
“I really thought he was out there for a second!” – Barbara
I try rushing back in, but she completely changes up her style.
Instead of only fighting defensively, she sends a barrage of jabs at me, forcing me to keep my distance.
It’s impossible to slip through all those attacks…
Oh well!
I power through, taking dozens of jabs head on, but just about manage to grab her shirt.
She grips my hand tightly and uses all her power to crush it.
Despite that, I don’t let go…
She bombards me with blows from her fist, elbow, shin, heel, knee, and palm.
Yet none of it make me back off…
With every blow, the pleasure skyrockets.
It’s euphoric!
Now, she just needs to know what it’s like too!
I prepare to throw a punch with all my power behind it, and she raises her hand up in the air as a response.
Is she finally going to use her specialty?!
I can’t wait to see it!
Right before my attack lands, she unleashes the most devastating blow so far, finally forcing me to stop…
“I surrender.” – Chloe
“What?!” – Vincent
How could she?!
We were just about to get to the good part!
I didn’t even get to strike her once…
“Why?!” – Vincent
“Because I would have needed to use my specialty to win.” – Chloe
“And?!” – Vincent
“It’s a secret.” – Chloe
“Why would you sign up to a public event like this if you want to keep it secret? Did you think you could win with only BDM?!” – Vincent
“Yeah.” – Chloe
“…” – Vincent
This woman…
I can’t believe it…
“What about the prize money? Are you just going to give up on it like that?” – Vincent
“Stop asking so many questions. I don’t care.” – Chloe
The healers arrive and do their job.
And just like that, my body is back to normal.
She leaves the stadium altogether, and I start heading back to my designated area.
I can’t let the next fight end prematurely too…
I’ll take my time with her and savor every bit of it…
“What an unexpected outcome! The one who was in the lead suddenly surrendered, giving away her chances at the grand price!” – Bob
“I don’t think we’ve ever seen anything like that in the history of the battle festival before, Bob!” – Barbara
“I sure haven’t!” – Bob
On my way down the stairs, I see Jin getting ready to get up on stage.
I’ve actually wanted to fight him for quite a while…
He’s strong, so I’ll likely get that wish fulfilled.
He puts his hand on my shoulder…
“That was rough…” – Jin
He snickers to himself…
“Imagine if she didn’t surrender…” – Jin
“I would have still won.” – Vincent
“Oh yeah? Well then, make sure to win your next match too. I’ll see you in the semi-finals.” – Jin
“Don’t get too ahead of yourself, you need to beat that big guy first.” – Vincent
“I’ll make short work of him. Watch me.” – Jin