The next match had been announced and the two fighters walked into the arena. They both stood where they were supposed to as they awaited the alarm that indicated the battle's commencement.
"GLHF," Link said to Tyler.
"Huh?" Tyler asked in confusion.
"Good Luck, Have Fun? You've never heard that term?" Link asked.
"Not exactly," Tyler responded.
Link sighed before dismissing the topic and telling Tyler not to bother.
But before the battle commenced, Klaus, back at the spectator's location, noticed a few things about the two fighters.
Klaus was always aware that Tyler had tape on the top of his nose, so that was not surprising to him, but this was the first time that he had seen Tyler without a hoodie since Tyler had on a dark red T-shirt with a pair of black pants. It was possible that since Tyler relied on his physical skill as well as his flexibility and fluidity, a hoodie would hinder his movement and might cost him the game.
But what Klaus noticed from Tyler that was very outlandish was that Tyler's entire right arm was covered in bandages, from the visible parts below the T-shirt to the tip of his fingers.
For Link, Klaus noticed that he still had a hoodie on, which was not too surprising since he was more of a brainy fighter than a brawny. But Klaus also noticed a sort of metallic glove on his right hand as well.
Although these were just visual details from the fighters, Klaus knew that they both had taken their training seriously so he awaited the alarm to watch the battle unfold.
A few seconds after Klaus' analysis, the alarm rang and the battle commenced.
Immediately the battle commenced, Link instantly reached for his pocket with his left hand, pulling out what seemed to be two metallic figures. From a distance, Klaus could not tell what exactly it was, but he noticed that Link tossed both figures to the floor immediately after pulling them.
"Son esos perros?" Klaus heard Iris mutter to herself, realizing that she had possibly seen what it was.
Tyler noticed Link's action so he decided that he would rush at his opponent to not give him space to prepare any unwelcoming attacks. Tyler then proceeded at Link, but it seemed that tossing the small toy-like figures wasn't the only phase of Link's plan.
"Pixel," Link started. "Upload canine configuration."
Immediately after he completed his statement, a voice spoke to Link with what seemed like the response he had expected from his helmet.
"Uploading canine configuration. Canine configuration initiated."
And before Tyler could reach his opponent, the two figures proceeded to change shape and form, seemingly growing in size from what they were.
"Celestial metal, I assume," Shade stated at the spectator's location. "Similar to your weapons, correct Rose?"
Rose nodded her head after Shade's statement, confirming the nature of the material Link was utilizing.
The two figures continued to grow until they finally reached a certain size, revealing two large robotic dogs. Tyler stopped his approach upon seeing this for a few seconds. The dogs were completely robotic and seemed to be stationary for a second until the light behind their eyes turned on, glowing red and signaling their activation.
Immediately the light came on, both dogs growled in rage before rushing directly at Tyler.
Tyler noticed the attack from the dogs as he continued to evade them. But their nature was similar to real wild dogs and they continued to rush at him with their razor-sharp teeth and claws. Tyler knew that taking any damage from them would surely cause injuries that may end up being fatal so he tried his best to avoid and evade them. But he seemed to be having a tough time in doing so.
The dogs were extremely vicious in their attacks as they threw themselves at Tyler, and they did not seem like they were capable of getting tired since they attacked with maximum energy all through. Tyler knew that he had to do something about them fast, even if it was to attack Link.
Tyler attempted to attack in return, but the dogs continued to rush at him without any care. He managed to push one a few distances away, but the other was still present. And as he turned his attention to Link, he noticed something different about his opponent.
Link had a large text on his mask that read "Stand-by" and the game where a ball was hit back and forth by two rectangular blocks was in play.
"Is he playing Pong during their battle?" Ace asked with a giggle.
"Typical Lincoln. Can't take anything seriously," Quinn commented in frustration.
Link's action caused a slight frustration in Tyler as well as he struggled with the crazed robots in front of him while his opponent was lazying around. He then used his frustration to retaliate against the dogs after the one close to him jumped on his body while he was distracted.
The dog opened its mouth in an attempt to bite Tyler's face off, but Tyler instantly used both hands to hold the dog's mouth in place. He then forcefully attempted to open the dog's mouth even as its sharp teeth continued to bite down. This caused cuts on his fingers, but he was still persistent in pulling open the dog's mouth.
Before the other one could rush at him, he pulled open the mouth of the first robotic dog with so much force that he ripped it open from its mouth and split it into two.
The other one proceeded to rush at him but since it was alone, it made it easier for him to evade and attack it. He managed to grab it by the neck with which he implemented force in twisting it, ripping the robotic dog's head off its body.
"Damn, brutal," Rose muttered at the spectator's area.
"They're robots though," Shade responded.
"I know, but still," Rose stated as they continued to watch the battle unfold.
Tyler was already slightly panting from exhaustion after battling both hellhounds. He had cuts on his fingers and some bite marks on his arm. He was already having a bad start in the fight. But his opponent had not wasted a single ounce of their energy as Link's mask now displayed the text, "OFFLINE" instead.
Tyler was already annoyed by the situation, and Link's lack of focus made him even more agitated. Link's display then finally switched off before playing a booting sequence and displaying the usual screen that showed his facial expressions.
"I see you managed to defeat them," Link said to Tyler.
Tyler's panting slightly subsided as he stared at Link in frustration.
"Well then," Link then continued. "Guess that's on to the next mini-boss."
Link stretched for his pockets once more, with intentions to retrieve another figure similar to the robotic dogs earlier. But upon noticing this action, Tyler knew that he was not going to let that happen again.
Tyler instantly rushed at Link, swinging attacks at his opponent in a rapid manner. Link had to suspend his intentions so he could evade Tyler's attacks.
"Hey, you can't just skip to the final boss," Link said while evading Tyler's attacks. "This isn't a speedrun."
Tyler ignored Link's comments and set his mind on overpowering his opponent so he continued his attacks. Link knew he had no chance to continue with his plans, so he had to switch his tactics and battle Tyler head-on.
"You wanna be a cringe speedrunner? Fine," Link said as he continued to evade Tyler's attacks.
Tyler continued to have the upper hand since he was the one who attacked and Link solely evaded. But it felt like Link knew what he was doing. As the barrages of attacks continued, Link seemed to be getting overpowered by Tyler since he started to get hit. He knew that Tyler was a better fighter than him and this was clear to everyone.
Tyler's battle sequence was beyond impressive and was well above a few of the other demigods, almost rivaling the likes of X and Lance.
"This stance," Link muttered to himself. " Pixel, scan."
"Scanning," A voice replied before instantly continuing. "This seems to be a street style of mixed martial arts."
"Download counter-evasive maneuvers," Link instantly responded.
"Downloading..." Pixel stated before continuing once more. "Counter evasive maneuvers initiated."
Immediately after these words were stated, Link proceeded to place his palm directly in front of Tyler's next swing, catching his opponent's punch before retaliating with his own.
Tyler moved back a bit before continuing to swing again, but this time, not a single attack landed. Link continued to evade with ease before switching to offense and attacking Tyler, landing every single attack. It was almost like he was a completely different person.
"What the heck just happened?" Ace asked at the spectator's location.
"He probably analyzed Tyler's moves and created a counter sequence," Quinn responded.
"What?" Ace exclaimed. "That's just not fair."
"I mean," Quinn started. "It's from his mind so I guess it technically is."
The battle instantly switched to Link's favor after his scanning and he seemed to have the upper hand. Tyler knew that he couldn't keep this up so he had to do something about it.
Then he remembered something. He also had a natural counter for upcoming attacks as well.
Link continued to wait for Tyler's attacks, but Tyler proceeded to stop on the spot.
"Getting tired, aren't we?" Link said in a different tone.
He then moved forward intending to attack Tyler as his opponent seemed to be vulnerable while standing stationary. But as he continued forward, Tyler closed his eyes and took a deep breath before instantly countering Link's attack, using his strength to lift his opponent and slam him to the ground in almost an instant.
"What?" Link expressed. "How?"
Tyler instantly placed his right arm ahead of Link's neck, pinning him down and awaiting Link's request for a forfeit.
"I guess it's over now," Tyler said to his opponent.
Link was in a state of submission and seemed like there was nothing to do so he decided to respond.
"I guess you're right," Link stated before turning his head at the spectator's area. "XVII... please upload feline configuration."
Tyler took a second before realizing what Link said. But before he could react, he heard a voice respond instantly.
"Feline configuration initiated."
Immediately, two sounds echoed from beside Link's pockets, and two other robotic creatures spawned, similar to the dogs earlier. Tyler jumped back after noticing their presence as the creatures manifested into a full-sized lion and a tiger.
The sights of the two beasts were nothing short of their original natural appearance. The mane that manifested around the lion's neck, as well as the other details on both creatures, was beyond beautiful despite being completely made of metal.
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But as accurate as the creatures were in appearance, their ferocity did not fall short. Instantly, both creatures pounced at Tyler with the intent of dealing massive damage to their prey.
Link dusted his hoodie as he got up from the floor, wondering how Tyler was able to get him off guard with his ability.
"Pixel, replay the last thirty seconds," Link then said before the display on his screen changed, displaying the text "Please Wait..."
Link took a few seconds before finally reverting to his usual display and continuing.
"I see," he started. "He seemed to have used the strange ability that allowed him to instinctively counter his opponent based on their intent. For the sake of the audience, let's just call this ability, Instinctive Judgment."
"Booooo," a voice from the spectator's area, revealed to be Ace, then sounded loud.
"Shut up," Link then responded after turning his head to Ace's location. "It's a work in progress."
After his statement, Link's attention was instantly brought back to the fight after realizing that Tyler had already destroyed the robotic tiger and was easily evading the lion that was attacking him, and without any noticeable damage as well.
Link knew that due to Tyler's ability being active, any more of his robotic creatures would be pointless since the creatures are programmed with the intent to cause tremendous harm, making Tyler's abilities even stronger.
"Pixel," Link started after a few seconds of thought. "I think it may be time."
"On your command," the voice assumed to be Pixel responded.
And as Tyler managed to destroy the second creature, he turned his attention back to his opponent as Link had his right arm stretched forward.
"Initiate project Z," Link said as a voice responded immediately after.
"Project NPCs initiated."
And as all the demigods had their attention on Link, the metallic glove that he had on suddenly proceeded to move around, before finally splitting itself into almost molecular pieces, revealing its true nature. The glove was also revealed to have reached to his shoulder as the right sleeve of the hoodie he had on instantly ripped to pieces after the tiny parts of the glove split.
"Nanobots?" Quinn stated at the spectator's area as she stared at the battle with a slight shock on her face. "But how's that possible."
The pieces of the glove were so tiny that they could not be seen clearly. However, due to the number of them that were present, they appeared as if they were shards of metal flowing around his arm.
"Nanobots that are about the size of a grain of salt," Link then stated. "But they definitely won't season your food."
A few seconds of silence elapsed before Link continued.
"Damn, tough crowd."
"How?" Tyler asked Link as he stared at what was occurring with understandable confusion.
"I'm glad you asked," Link responded. "Celestial metal truly was a blessing to me. When I explained its nature during Rose's battle, I mentioned that it was metal that could be compressed and morphed without having to lose its properties. But I also mentioned that it had a lot of unfamiliar properties as well."
Everyone waited as Link took a dramatic pause before continuing.
"It possesses the ability to be controlled without wiring and altering."
The demigods, as well as Tyler, seemed to be confused by Link's statement and didn't understand what he meant. Link then noticed this before continuing to elaborate.
"Unlike my old drones that needed wiring and an ideal build to be functional, all I need to do with this metal is to create the exterior of a drone and it would function without any wires or chips."
"So you can control the metal itself at your free will," Tyler asked.
Link displayed a smile on his mask before responding with, "Precisely."
"Of course, he reveals the nature of his ability so nonchalantly," Klaus stated at the spectator's area after placing his palm on his head and sighing.
"So like nanobots," Tyler then asked Link.
"Yes, but this is different," Link stated before clenching his right fist which was still facing Tyler.
Immediately, the metallic pieces instantly moved together before forming what seemed to be a right fist that was clenched and facing Tyler.
"I call this the Nano-Particle Cerebral swarm, or NPCs for short."
As Link said this, he instantly turned his head to the spectator's area, possibly waiting to see if anyone had any complaints about the name. As the silence continued, he then returned his focus to Tyler and smiled before continuing.
"Yeah, NPCs."
As Link finished his dramatic statement, he then dropped his right hand back to its usual spot. Immediately, the particles proceeded to instantly rush at Tyler at a tremendous speed. The speed was so quick that Tyler only barely managed to evade the attack. The particles then turned back and continued to rush at Tyler once again. Tyler proceeded to evade them, but he knew that he couldn't do this for long.
While evading, a few of the particles managed to touch Tyler, but these small metallic pieces were able to rip through his clothes and cause deep wounds on Tyler's skin. It was almost as deadly as, if not more than, the claws of the creatures he had previously fought.
Tyler knew that he had to rely on his Instinctive Judgment ability once more, so as the particles continued, he attempted to activate it.
But as he did so, he noticed that nothing had happened and the particles continued to rush at him, causing even more damage by ripping parts of his skin alongside his shirt and bandage on his right arm. It then occurred to him that since Link was just swaying the metallic parts and deliberately not using any unjust intent, unlike the robotic creatures, his ability would not have any effect at that moment.
Tyler continued his attempt to evade, but he knew that there was nothing else he could do. Link had completely bested him.
So he knew that he was left with one more option.
Link continued to sway the particles at him and he found it difficult to continue evading, so Tyler knew that he had to do what he initially did not want to. Since this was the first battle, Tyler did not plan to reveal all his capabilities unless he was driven to a corner, and judging by the cuts he had, he knew that he had to.
As Tyler managed to get an opening from the swarm, he instantly reached for the bandage that enveloped his right arm, ripping it off from the cuts created by the nano-swarm.
As he ripped out the bandages completely, he revealed to the demigods what seemed to be a tattoo of a snake that wrapped around his right arm and spiraled to the top of his bicep. The tattoo was extremely alluring from the details of the scales, to its vicious glare, and having its fangs out.
"Damn, sick tattoo," Link said after stopping his attacks to take his time and absorb the sight.
Tyler then clenched his fists before taking a deep breath and focusing back on the battle. but before anything else could happen, Link noticed that Tyler's well-done tattoo appeared to be glowing a bright orange color.
"What?" Link mumbled after coming across this strange sight.
All the demigods spectated looking in confusion as to what was happening but knew that this was Tyler's doing due to his lack of shock. And after a few seconds, Tyler proceeded to dart toward Link.
Link noticed his opponent's movements and he instantly reactivated his control over the NPCs. He swayed the particles at Tyler so he could halt his opponent from reaching him since he was unaware of how strong Tyler was after unsheathing his new weapon.
Tyler continued to evade the swarm, needing to halt his advancing motion a few times to fully evade without getting hurt. But this didn't stop him from continuing at his opponent.
"Strange," Link worded to himself after a realization. "He doesn't seem to be much stronger or faster than before."
Tyler still felt the same, which made Link wonder what the tattoo did in the first place. Regardless, he continued to control the particles at Tyler and even managed to land a few more hits on his opponent. Yet, Tyler never stopped rushing at him.
Tyler, at this point, had already closed the noticeable gap between them and was about to reach Link. Link knew there may still be more to the ability, potentially an increase in offensive strength rather than defensive, so he decided to make sure not to allow Tyler to reach him.
Tyler jumped at Link with his right fist clenched, swinging a punch at his opponent. He had already closed the gap and his attack had already reached Link. However, before the punch could connect, Link had transformed the swarm into an arm similar to before and used it to grab Tyler, as Tyler's arm was already extremely close to him.
In a desperate attempt, Tyler stretched his fists forward, but only his fingers could connect with Link's chest as the hand made by the swarm immediately pulled him away from his opponent.
Link used the NPCs to bind Tyler as the arm gripped his opponent in the air. There was nothing left for Tyler to do anymore.
"Seems there's nothing left to do," Link said to Tyler.
"There's always a way," Tyler then responded to Link.
Link knew that Tyler was just trying to keep his pride so he tried to wrap up everything. He then used some remnants of the NPCs to create a needle-like object and pointed it at Tyler's chest.
"Please just surrender before you make me do something I don't want to," Link then said to Tyler.
"I'm sorry," Tyler responded. "But I would rather die in battle than forfeit."
"This pointless bravado, I respect it, "Link then said to Tyler before taking a pause and continuing. "But GG, I guess."
Link took a second before finally bringing himself to hurl the needle directly at Tyler's chest to eliminate him. And sure enough, the needle went through Tyler, dealing significant damage to him.
"What is going on now?" Ace asked in evident confusion as he spectated the battle alongside the other demigods.
The spectators had just witnessed Link launch a needle at Tyler, however, the outcome was not what people had expected.
Immediately the needle passed through Tyler, Link's mask proceeded to change. The screen proceeded to constantly change the display, mimicking what seemed like a malfunction. This action confused everyone who witnessed the battle as Link's control over the NPCs also stopped as they all fell to the ground like sand, releasing Tyler from his bound state.
Link then fell to his knees as the malfunction eventually stopped, finally displaying what seemed to be a battery logo flashing, similar to a phone without any charge. And after this, Link fell to the ground, before blood proceeded to drip from underneath his hoodie.
"Wait," Quinn said in realization. "He's dead."