Ethel laughed and laughed.

It was highly annoying, and I was about to say or do something to stop her. She stopped before I finally acted out of embarrassment.

"That's why you wanted to discard weapons. You can't use it to save your life."

She once again started to laugh. I glanced up at the screen. I could see the spot where my spear was on the ground. It had flown about twenty feet to the right and was currently an equal distance between us.

I ran forward to grab it from the ground. Ethel didn't even bother to move. She must have been convinced I didn't know how to use it, so she was willing to let me retrieve it.

I ran forward while keeping one eye on the screen as I did. I stopped when I made it to the approximate spot. Before I grabbed it, I checked once again to see its exact placement so I could grab it. I looked up in time to see my body stop on the screen, then my foot hit the spear. The spear spun along the ground and right out of the arena.

I hadn't realized that the screen had a delay.

Ethel started laughing even louder. I guess I was going to have to defeat her the hard way. She might have been slightly quicker, but I was stronger. I would just have to not get cut.

She moved forward in a flash and started her attack with a swift diagonal slash. I dodged backward to keep my distance. Although, her speed placed her in front of me again with another slash.

I continued to dodge frantically as she continued to press the attack. She lunged forward with a stab at my neck, and I barely managed to pivot. I tried to use that closeness to counter her lunge.

I grabbed her arm and twisted it. I was going to try and throw her, but her other knife came soaring toward my face. I ducked and pushed her away.

She took a stumbling step but corrected her footing and turned back to me before I could make any other moves. Ethel once again shot forward to unleash a flurry of attacks. Feeling that she had the advantage, her attacks flew without hesitation.

I was barely avoiding being skewered, at least as far as I could tell. Still, I continued to duck and dip around her blades the best I could. I had about a foot of distance between her hand's end and the blade's tip. There were times when I thought that I should have been cut, but nothing happened. Since Ethel didn't react, I wasn't too worried.

Still, I hoped my system didn't interfere with the stadium's own. I didn't want to be considered a cheater. But if I got stabbed and it didn't affect me, that's what would happen. I couldn't risk it since the tournament was my only way to the capital.

The match was starting to drag, and I was getting tired. However, Ethel was feeling the strain too. She was attacking much more than I was, and I think I was in better shape. That, or my cultivation gave me an edge.

What also allowed me to continue in the fight was my DTA program. The length of the fight made the near-constant blaring of danger in my ear annoying, but it kept me moving in the safest direction. A few times, the fight would have been over without it.

Either way, her breathing was much more haggard than mine. I noticed that her attacks were also getting slower. Additionally, with more time, the DTA program started making better predictions of her movements.

More frequently, her limbs would light up with a green glow, indicating that those areas were open for attack. Unfortunately, those moments only lasted heartbeats and were rare. They were rapidly becoming more common, though.

Ethel lunged forward with a slash at my gut. Her attack was faster than the previous ones, and I was unprepared. My robot blared its warning, and I was barely able to jump back.

The roar of the crowd cut through my focus. Something important happened, but I couldn't risk a look at the screen. Thankfully, the announcer's voice filled in the details.

"That was a close one, folks. The AR sensors lit up, indicating that damage was done, but it didn't appear to be too much. With Gearwon on the ropes and Ethel finally doing damage, this match might be coming to a close.

I ignored him after that. Her attack was close, but I was far from done, and Ethel was getting tired. That last attack used a lot of her energy, and she breathed heavily. I needed to make sure she didn't have a chance to catch her breath.

I ran forward, and Ethel countered with a thrust to my gut. I moved to her inside and grabbed her arm. Her other arm came up to stab my head, but I stopped it by grabbing her bicep. I drove my knee forward to strike her abdomen, but she had the same idea. Our knees hit each other with a loud clack.

I barely felt the impact. My opponent grunted in pain. She tried to pull back, but I had her arms and didn't let her move.

I went for another knee attack. Ethel's other knee came up and parried mine before it struck. When my leg came down, I was over-extended. Ethel twisted her hip, and her wrist was ripped from my hand.

The next thing I knew, I was airborne. I sailed over her back, upside down, as I flipped. I hit the ground on my back, barely managing to keep my head from knocking into the ground.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

My DTA program warned me of an attack.

Both of Ethel's fists were descending toward my eyeballs. It looked like a double hammer blow, but I knew daggers were in her hands. I simultaneously struck out with my hand and tried to roll out of the way.

Ethel yelled as I rolled and then quickly started to get up. I made it to a crouching position before she ran toward me again. Her anger at missing the perfect attack was showing. She had a scowl on her lips, and her eyes looked as sharp as the daggers she used.

She wasn't holding back anymore as she leaned into her run. Her posture was forward as she had her weight supported by the ball of her foot. Her arms were behind her as she lunged, not taking the time to bring them up before she leaped at me.

My DTA lit up green across her whole body.

I didn't waste the moment. I sprung upward with my fist leading the way. Just before I connected, the green hue disappeared, but it was too late for her to completely get out of the way.

Her head moved in response to my attack, and I missed her jaw. Instead, my knuckles raked up the side of her face and into her eye. A spray of blood erupted from her brow as it instantly split.

She twirled to the side, out of control from the force of my blow. I turned with her body, so I didn't lose sight of it. As she hit the ground, she rolled over a couple of times before stopping. Her back was turned toward me, and I couldn't tell if she was unconscious or not.

I looked at the screen to see if it showed her face but couldn't see anything. I continued looking at the screen to spot her knives, but I could only make out one. Even if I could get it, the dagger was too close to her for me to risk trying to get it.

I tried to move my arm into a fighting stance and found that I couldn't move it. It felt like I had slept on it, and the blood hadn't returned yet. I didn't see anything when I glanced to see what was wrong. So, I looked at the screen and found the other dagger.

Ethel's blade was sticking in my bicep. The crowd seemed to be getting a kick out of the scene. At least I knew that the stadium's Augmented Reality affected me, and I wasn't in danger of being disqualified. I used the screen to reach my hand over and pull out the knife. Once it was out, I threw it away.

I hoped taking it out would allow me to use my arm again. But the tingling sensation didn't go away. I tried to move my arm, but it was no use.

While pulling the knife out, I hoped the match would be called. Although, by the time I was done throwing the dagger away, Ethel was getting to her feet.

The left side of her face was covered in blood, and her eye was already swollen shut. Her right hand clutched the dagger that had been lying close to her. Her knuckles were white from the force of gripping her weapon. Her other hand was tightened into a fist.

"You're smarter than I thought," she said. "I was sure you would check to see if I was unconscious." She shrugged. "Oh, well. I guess we'll finish this the hard way."

I had a newfound respect for the woman. Finding anyone who rose to continue fighting after the hit she took would be difficult. Yet, there she was. Getting ready to assault me again.

I nodded. I wasn't going to mess around in the fight. She probably still had the advantage. Even if she didn't, she was still a dangerous person. I wouldn't underestimate her. Besides, she still had a knife that I couldn't see.

I wondered if she knew about my arm. I had to ensure she didn't figure it out since it was hanging limp. So, I rushed to her to stop her from learning about it.

When my DTA program blared its warning, I ducked and rushed to the side. Ethel was holding her blade on her blind spot, but instead of lunging to the open side, I moved toward the side holding the knife.

Her arm slashed over my head, and I rose on her side. Ethel didn't hesitate and slammed her elbow backward. The only thing she succeeded in doing was helping me out. I wrapped my arm around her neck and pivoted until our backs touched.

I took a knee, and using all the strength in my body, I bent over at the same time. She lifted off the ground and tumbled over my back. I let her go, and she flew through the air flipping wildly.

I didn't wait for her to land.

As soon as she hit the ground, I was on top of her, pinning her down. It didn't matter, though. When I was done, I noticed that she was unconscious. A moment later, the match was over.

The arena's medics rushed up on stage in seconds, and I got off Ethel. As soon as the match ended, the tingling sensation in my arm disappeared. Ethel wasn't so lucky.

I waved off the healers when they got to me. I didn't need anything. I watched as they administered aid to my unconscious opponent. I was worried that my last attack was too much.

I was pulled away before I could see her stir. The announcer wanted another interview. He asked similar questions to the last time, and I kept my responses vague. I was happy that he didn't mention the fumbling of my spear. I didn't have a good answer for that one. I wouldn't let that happen again, though.

To my relief, I saw Ethel beginning to move by the time the interview was done. I couldn't help significantly, so I felt the best thing I could do was get off the fighting stage.

I decided that I would have to seek Ethel out later to talk. She was a better fighter than me. If it wasn't for my cultivation, there would be zero chance for me to win.

I left the stage and headed back into the bowels of the stadium. However, for a moment, I thought I saw a flash of silver hair. Although, when I scanned the crowd closer, I didn't see anything.

I secured my spear and followed the attendant back to my locker room. I didn't waste any time when I made it back to the secluded area. I activated my robot's help menu to find out how to fix the problem with the Augmented Reality interface.

I was lucky with the first match and beyond lucky with the second. There would be no way I could win another without fixing the AR issue. Especially against the opponent that I was sure would win regardless.

While I fiddled with the setting of my robot to undo my mistake, I watched the DV, waiting for the additional matches in my bracket. I opened the help menu of my robot first. With a couple of keywords, I narrowed down the area I had to read through to find the issue.

I initially told my robot that I didn't want to link to the Augmented Reality systems, but that was the mistake. I had been worried about what would happen, but it turned out that nothing would have happened except for the slight sharing of data that would be undetectable to any but the systems that were talking.

I had to delve further into the system and unlock the administrator mode. It was something that could only be achieved with authorization. My robot took a few moments to authorize me. I had no idea how it took so long or why I had to request authorization for my own robot. But there wasn't anything I could do about it.

When I received authorization, I was able to open up administrator mode. After that, I had to drill down through the program folders until I located the Augmented Reality Subsystem menu. From there, I had to find the Control Wizard. When I opened the control wizard, it took me through a series of screens that eventually had me resetting the multi-system connection parameters.

Once I stepped back into the ring, the system should ask again if I wanted to link systems. I prayed to the Orb in the sky that it would work. Without stepping into the ring, I couldn't be sure.