I didn't pay much attention to the lower-ranked matches, but I watched the DV much closer when the next fight came up in my bracket.

The match was between Hadrain Brahmor and John Smith. Hadrian was the massive hammer wielder I ran across in the hallways before my last match. He was also my next opponent, according to the list.

When he walked up on stage, he looked even more menacing. His armor consisted of an open-faced helmet, the usual exoskeleton running down his back and limbs. Instead of the armor being more robust in the front, it looked like it had extra material in the back, including a protruding hunk of metal protecting and augmenting the back of his neck.

It made sense since he was a Labor Class, and whatever his Subclass was, the armor would be designed to help in that profession. I knew he was a formidable fighter since he made it that far. I also remembered the numerous unconscious opponents lying around him during the preliminary matches.

His weapon was, of course, his giant hammer. It was almost as big as the robot version.

I watched the match with fervor. When it started, the two opponents rushed toward each other but didn't clash. They both started trying to obtain the best position for their style of fighting. Then, Smith, the sword user, went on the offensive.

Suddenly, Hadrian turned into a whirling instrument of destruction. I understood how he had so many unconscious bodies lying around at the preliminaries. What I saw was probably even more impressive since he was using his hammer.

He used a style that belied his size, along with the heaviness of his weapon. I would have thought that someone using an immense hammer would rely on strength. Hadrian had plenty of that, but his speed and grace made it impressive.

John would thrust his blade, and Hadrian would parry with a swing and twirl around into another attack before John could recover. With every strike attempted by John, he was forced to dodge twice as much. He wasn't as good at fighting while moving so much, and I could tell.

Before long, his extended impromptu dance against Hadrian had him completely exhausted. With another whirl and swing of his hammer, Hadrian's weapon connected solidly with his opponent's chest. The force sent him flying back and skidding on the ground. His chest was lit up red from the Augmented Reality interface.

I could hear through the DV as the crowd erupted in applause and yelling. Hadrian lifted his hammer high into the air and started to wave at everyone. He seemed to be enjoying the crowd's adoration as he picked up the intensity of his waving as he walked off the stage.

I hoped that I actually fixed the problem with my interface. I needed to get as many points as possible to make it to the top three. I was doing good so far, winning my first two matches. The fight with Etherl was one of my more worrying obstacles. Hadrian was another one I had to worry about.

Still, when I thought about facing Hadrian in the ring, a smile crept up on my face. I imagined it looked similar to the one he had when we walked by each other in the hall. I realized it was the face of excitement from fighting against a powerful opponent. Especially when I didn't have to worry about dying. I never smiled like that while fighting against monsters.

The matches continued, but I only watched with passing interest. The next couple of fights were with the lower bracket. Seeing the numerous people's styles was interesting, but I had other thoughts on my mind.

I meditated while I waited for my next match, which was going to be against Hadrian. Unfortunately, I didn't witness a fight from the top fighter in my bracket. I missed it while I was meditating.

Eventually, my meditation ended as I heard a knocking on the locker room door. I instructed them to enter, and a tournament attendant escorted me to my match. I went through the same procedure as the last time, and the light was slightly different as I walked out.

When the door opened, the lights were much brighter than in my previous matches, even the ones that happened earlier in the day. I quickly discovered why it was so much brighter.

Instead of the sun lighting up the area, it was illuminated by the massive stadium's lights. The lights were sitting atop huge poles surrounding the arena. Each one had six enormous lights in two rows that beamed bright white light onto the area. They were so bright it was difficult to see the crowd in the stands.

I could still hear the crowd, though. It was even more raucous than it had been earlier. The number of people made me glad I had my mask, even though my name was now plastered all over the place. I kept seeing it flash on the giant screen, along with some highlights and low points of my other matches.

I did my best to ignore them as I walked toward the stage. There wasn't a match going on, so I walked straight up to the combat floor when instructed. I held my breath as I passed through the red Augmented Reality field. I hoped that I fixed the problem from before. If not, there was no way I could win the match.

-Warning

-Second Augmented Reality system detected.

-Launching Emergency Symbiotic Connect Wizard-

-Would you like to integrate systems? Y/N?

"Yes."

-Connecting Augmented Reality systems….

-Connection successful.

I was calm on the outside. Internally I sighed in relief that it worked. Although, I still didn't know what integrating systems would do. I prayed to the Orbs that it wouldn't be worse than deleting my weapon.

I walked up to the square that manifested a digital copy of my spear. I held out my hands, and just like the first two times, my spear appeared on my raised palms. Right when it appeared, I could already tell that it was different.

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For starters, I didn't receive a system message that it detected and then deleted the construct. Also, I could feel its weight in my hands after the spear appeared. I closed my fingers around the spear, and it felt solid. Just to make sure, I gave it a good swing.

The spear didn't fly from my hand and didn't disappear, so I stepped from the square and waited for my opponent. Hadrian walked into the arena a moment later. Just as they had shown my name and highlights of my matches on the screen, they did the same for him.

I also noticed that the announcer was talking about some of the highlights that were being shown on the screen. I hadn't heard him talking about my matches, but I wasn't paying much attention.

Hadrian ignored me as he came up on stage and stepped into the weapon-constructing square. He held out his hand, and his massive hammer started to appear piece by piece. He swung it around in a few practice swings when it was done. I thought he would be done, but I was mistaken.

In an amazing display of strength, he twirled the hammer like a baton. Then, with the heavy side down, he slammed it into the ground. A loud ringing echoed over the crowd from the force of the impact. Hadrian then faced the sky and howled.

After his howl, he finally looked at me. He held the same grin that he did in the hallway. It didn't feel me with fear like it did in the hallway, though. It filled me with excitement at the match we were about to have. Hadrian was a formidable opponent, but with my spear, I felt confident in my ability.

Hadrian walked over to his side of the stage, and we both sized each other up. He wore armor in addition to his robot since he was a Labor Class. It was wise to supplement his defense. It meant that he was an opponent to take seriously. Eventually, I would have the funds to do the same.

Even though it was his non-robot hammer and a construct of the Augmented Reality system, the massive hunk of metal at the end made me nervous. I remembered how he fought in the match I saw. Staying out of the way of the hammer would be difficult, and any hit from it would likely take me out of the fight.

I didn't have any more time than that to analyze him. The counter to the start of the match ended, and I could hear the crowd roar as our match officially started. I held my ground to let him come to me. My best bet at winning the fight was to stay out of his reach and strike with short bursts. That was going to be difficult with his long arms coupled with the length of his hammer.

It seemed Hadrian had the opposite plan. He strode forward with his long, purposeful steps. His hammer was already prepared to swing. Before he reached either of our optimal striking distances, he was swinging in a wide, horizontal arc.

His speed was impressive for his large stature as I could barely dodge back from the powerful swing. Based on the fighting style I observed while watching him on the DV, I expected him to use his momentum to swing around all the way around. I jumped forward to take advantage of the moment he would be turned away from me.

That moment never came. Instead of spinning around, Hadrian angled his hammer up, and in one fluid motion, he brought it back down in a vertical attack. I don't know how I managed to get out of the way in time.

I had already over-committed to my attack and was in the perfect spot for him. I turned with as much force as I could muster, and it was barely enough. The hammer's head narrowly passed by me. I tumbled to the side as the hammer slammed into the ground. I was sure that it would have destroyed the stage we were fighting on if it was a real hammer.

I scrambled back to a defensive position and moved outside his range. I wasn't focusing on his face, but I could see a huge grin split to display his white teeth. Before I could do anything, my opponent moved toward me again.

I was prepared for that assault, though, and I made sure to be more cautious. His attacks were a blur of motion, but they weren't anything I couldn't handle. Clearly, he still relied on his strength more than his speed. I just had to ensure I wasn't hit because if his strength was greater than his speed, one hit would definitely take me out of the fight.

As Hadrian's hammer repeatedly struck at me, I continuously countered him. His skill was terrific, as he also used his hammer as a defensive tool. As I dodged and countered, he managed to turn away all my attacks. He still had his armor protecting him too, but I wasn't able to test its durability.

Our back-and-forth attacks became tiring, and I found myself breathing hard. Thank the Orbs, I wasn't the only one. It appeared that my opponent was in even worse shape than me. When we separated after a flurry of blows, he didn't reengage right away, which hadn't been his style in the fight.

I didn't want to let him rest, so I pressed the attack.

It was clear that he had two distinct disadvantages fighting against me. First, his endurance wasn't as good as mine, which was apparent by how tired he looked. Second, his hammer was ineffective at close range. He had been working hard to keep me outside of his personal space.

Unfortunately for me, I also shared a similar disadvantage. My spear was good at range, but anything closer and it was almost useless. To me, the uselessness of the spear or the hammer at close range all depended on what one could do with it.

A hammer would have fewer options because of its weight and unbalanced make. A spear was lighter and could be shifted around quicker without worrying about its weight throwing it off. I had a plan; I just needed to wait for the right time.

Hadrian's weapon whistled by my head as I paused from rushing forward to dodge. I struck out quickly with a flurry of straight stabs aimed at his head. He swung the head of the hammer around in time to block the attacks he couldn't dodge.

His first attack would have been perfect for me to enact my plan, but I wasn't sure what angle he would attack from. My DTA program was a little too slow in informing me, so I would have to move him to make the attack I wanted.

I continued to pepper him with quick, harrying attacks from multiple angles. He was forced to continue to block and move, which also forced him to be unable to rest. He began to get angry, and every chance he had, he retaliated with an attack. I was almost taken out numerous times, but I still managed to maintain my pace.

Finally, after what seemed like a solid hour of fighting, at least to my arms, I saw him rear his arm back for the attack I wanted him to make. I rushed forward with as much speed as I could gather in the few steps I had to make.

My DTA began blaring its siren and flashing its lights, but I ignored the outburst since it was what I wanted. His hammer approached the spot I was going to be in a wide horizontal arc. A split second before hitting me, I dropped and slid forward.

Whenever he attacked in that manner, I noticed Hadrian adopted a wide stance. My slide was aimed right at that spot. The ground was also sufficiently smooth to make the slide easy. I was sure to still have a large bruise later from such an impactful blow, but it wasn't something I even considered.

I slid feet first and belly up underneath my opponent's swing and inside his weapon's effective zone. I was still in a perilous position. Before my slide was complete I was thrust up with my spear, aimed at the soft spot under his chin.

If my spear connected the way I wanted, it would go up through his jaw and to his head. I had a quick thought about how the Augmented Reality system would affect his brain. It didn't seem to feel good when his other opponent was struck in the chest. I didn't have time for much other than that since I was committed to my attack.

At the last moment, Hadrian lifted his head and backpedaled to avoid the impaling. I heard as he yelled and cursed at the unexpected attack. But, I saw as he lifted his hammer high in preparation for bringing it down on me.

I hooked my right foot behind his leg, lifted my left and kicked him as hard as possible before he could bring his weapon down. He grunted in pain as a small flash of red appeared at the impact point. It was the first attack that connected in our fight.

He was pushed back at the force of my kick, and his leg caught on mine. He started to topple backward with his arms flailing wide. I didn't waste a moment as I sat up to get ready and leap upon him once he fell.

That was when something heavy hit my head with a loud ring. The world went black and red. My thoughts scrambled, and I couldn't do anything but grit my teeth in pain.