Gareth scores an easy win in his next fight. Even though it’s possible to die now, neither seems to hold back much. The fight still seems dangerous, but also like friendly sparring.
Wanderer is a petite woman using shockwaves. She uses them to attack, reposition, and mimic flying for a second or two. Sometimes she even concentrates them much like I do, but they lack the damage output required to hurt Gareth.
When Gareth wins, there is barely any sign of the fight on his body.
As I wait for Tess and Savant to enter the field, I try to figure out the system’s intent behind allowing us to die within the Arena at this point in time. Even during the start, the system said that it was impossible to die during the tournament. Does it mean the rules changed or was this always the plan? Am I just paranoid, thinking some sliver of intent from the Rulers would bother to mess with us?
Either option could be true, though it’s not hard for me to imagine the system doing this on its own to shake up the final matches. Whatever it is, it can wait as the two people enter.
Tess with a dozen javelins floating behind her back, wearing armor she got on the 3rd Floor from Edwal and had improved and fitted on the 4th. The javelins are a mixture of a few epic ones with the rest being rare. Mostly made out of endurium.
Savant is wearing a chestplate I’ve seen him wearing on a number of occasions, a light weight and well fitted scale mail cuirass. Other than that, he enters with a bracelet on his wrist, a necklace, and the damaged Sword of Aeons on his waist.
This time, Tess takes a more mobile approach and rushes to put more distance between Savant and herself. Her [Storm Crown] is already in place and she even uses [Psychokinesis] to move herself faster.
Her opponent doesn’t react and stays rooted in his starting position. The orange light is already starting to seep out around him, and he holds the Sword of Aeons in his hand.
Once she thinks she’s far enough away, Tess makes her [Declaration], the air itself vibrating as she forces the world to obey her will. What she said, I don’t know, either I lack the capacity to understand, or she’s chosen not to let anyone know, or perhaps the declaration doesn’t quite make the transition from the Arena. But the result is obvious.
The crown over her head grows in diameter, doubling in size, as the lightning lashes out at the air chaotically.
The first javelin to sail through the air is an epic grade artifact. In the blink of an eye, it reaches its target, leaving a trail of red and white lightning behind it.
Instead of piercing his chest, it slows as it gets closer, either the pressure from Savant’s domain or some unseen ability slowing it down and weakening the lightning. In the end, he grabs the javelin depleted of its lightning and, after examining it curiously, he lets it fall.
Before that javelin even touches the shallow water of the lake, five more pass through the air, each of them at different speeds and all of them focusing on the same spot.
The result is the same, the five weapons devoid of lightning falling from the sky to sink down into the water.
Seeing that, Tess sighs and drops all but one of her javelins, and all the lightning from her crown and other weapons flows into it over the next ten seconds. The javelin cracks under the amount of energy stored in and surrounding it and Tess launches it directly into the air.
Once again, Savant lets it happen. His eyes watch her like a tiger standing to the side, ready to pounce on its prey.
After a while, that javelin starts falling down like a meteor, lightning cracking all around it as it shines like a solitary star. Its falling speed is further increased by Tess’s skills.
Without even attempting to dodge, Savant’s posture straightens, and lightning starts flowing from his hand and crackling around the Sword of Aeons. Shining red and white, like the one he absorbed before. It blisters his arm, eats into his flesh, and a few bolts lash their way across his cheek, causing a burning scar. Even so, he somewhat forces it under his control and slashes at the falling javelin.
The water from the bottom of the lake explodes into the air, as the sheer force of the impact causes a large quantity of water to burst into steam. The displaced water rapidly makes its return to earth, falling like rain and rippling out across the lake. Somewhere within the area of impact, Savant remains, hidden by the cloud of vapor, a bit of red and white lightning continuing to arc through the fog.
Tess moves her arm, and the javelins in the water lift into the air again. There is no lightning crackling around them this time. But before she can attack, a javelin flies from the point of impact at a speed nearly equal to that of her last attack.
Even though Tess is not expecting to react, she sends a strong push in an attempt to stop the attack.
A single thump sounds, and shocked, Tess looks down at her chest. There she finds a huge hole piercing through her body, big enough to see through. Clearly a mortal wound.
“I forfeit,” she says, evacuating as quickly as she can while her body sways from blood loss, her eyes losing focus and becoming more and more distant.
When she appears outside, the wound is gone, and her clothes and mana are restored. Tess gasps for air.
If she had hesitated a bit longer, she would be dead.
If Savant aimed any higher, she would be dead.
That much is obvious.
So that’s how we play.
I filter out the conversation of my group and watch the next duel. Tacita against AnotherOneHere.
After the last duel, Tacita seems to share my feelings, and the moment the fight starts, she disappears.
Before her opponent can even react, he finds himself staggering back, her dagger piercing deep into his chest, slicing through his armor and ignoring any other defenses he may have had. A mercy I’m sure he knows. That dagger could’ve easily been placed in his eye and killed him before he could forfeit.
“Thanks,” he mumbles while the blood flows from his wound.
He disappears, and a new notification pops up.
Congratulations! You have placed in the top 4 of the Arena of the 5th round of the tutorial. The fights will continue immediately with the final duel happening one hour after.
Death is still possible within the Arena.
Note: The remaining competitors will not be healed by the system after the duel ends, only mana and stamina will be restored.
The duels are as follows:
Noname vs Gareth
Savant vs Tacita
Someone from the group says something, but I feel myself pulled inside and rush to find my bearings within the new Arena.
This is the 1st floor. The clearing we’ve appeared in is set under a dark sky lit by the northern lights. Blue, green, and pink, they shine vibrant in the sky. Unlike in my memories, this place is eerily quiet, not even the sound of leaves moving in the wind. Nothing is moving; as if we were frozen in time.
“Forfeit.” I give a single warning to Gareth.
“No.” He answers simply.
Both of our crowns appear at the same time, and he shoots a few of his orbs at me. They reach me quickly and expand, trapping me inside of a bubble as it tries to shrink, crumpling me up inside.
But it doesn’t move, the sheer pressure of my mana holding it at bay.
My eyes activate, and I decipher the frequency, using [Resonance] to step through the bubble.
Gareth reaches me quickly, his slim armor covering his form and dagger in hand. For a second, I grasp him with [Redistribution], add that energy to my own, and release a burst of kinetic energy from my core.
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The earth in front of me explodes, sending the man flying through the forest and breaking the trees in his path. I use the anchor I placed on him, and after creating a tricolored orb, I send it through.
Far in the distance, an explosion rocks the forest, followed by two more as I send out more orbs. Then my anchor disappears, crumpling under the amount of mana I’ve sent through and because I didn’t have time to make it stronger.
The explosions stop and a few seconds later Gareth stumbles into the clearing, his body bloody, mangled, and burned. A silver light shines around his body as it heals him and his armor surrounds him again. Huge parts of the forest behind him have been left in a state of disarray not to mention the fire.
I compress a javelin over my shoulder and fill it with thermal energy before launching it at him. As flames explode around him, I use an anchor I placed on the javelin and appear right in front of Gareth.
While he swings his silver mace at me, I absorb the flames around us and release more thermal energy from my core. That forces Gareth to stop his attack, and a shield nearly as big as him embeds itself in the ground as he blocks the attack. The golden flames slide across the barrier, scorching the earth at his side and heating up the air.
Taking a bit of black mana I created, I boost my [Resonance] and disrupt his shield, which causes him to cross his arms in front of his body to block them.
Even so, the ridiculously resilient man endures them, his armor failing in the heat and starting to melt at the edges.
Another disrupting wave powered by black mana dispels his armor, and he continues his attempts to hold the flames at bay with his body alone. His flesh melts away, leaving his bones exposed while his body continues to regenerate.
Gareth takes a step towards me.
Then another as a silver mace forms in his hand.
Before he can take a third step into the flames, a compressed javelin as thick as my leg appears behind him, I launch it at him, boosting its motion, piercing his belly, and anchoring him to the ground.
Exhausted, Gareth moves to get rid of it but then notices the javelin turning bright white.
His eyes glance from it to me.
“I forfeit,” he says with a smile and disappears before the javelin explodes.
Appearing outside, I let my replenished thermal energy flow through my body to activate my passive and heal the small wounds I have taken. As the system said, they haven’t been healed, only my energies and mana have been restored. Even so, I’m not worried about Gareth. The man will surely be able to heal wounds of that level.
I use [Focus] and force myself to calm down.
While watching the screen, I continue to work on my Flamebearer, the damaged arcane ax. It’s something I’ve been working on ever since the end of the second event. The goal is to create temporary inscriptions like I did back then. Until now, I haven’t had a reason to take it into the duels with me, but that’s about to change.
Tacita and Savant both appear in the Arena clearly modeled after the 1st floor.
The mute girl takes a deep breath, pulling out a second dagger. Both of the weapons are of epic grade. The first one is shorter and with a wider blade, made out of silver metal. The second dagger, which she’s showing off for the first time, is made of black crystal. It looks brittle as if a single attack would break it.
Releasing her held breath, Tacita blows a strand of hair from her face. All her attention is concentrated on what I guess is as quick a movement as possible.
[Dawn] surrounds Savant close to his skin, the orange light radiating like armor.
Mana coats the two daggers, and Tacita disappears.
When she appears again, she’s only holding one dagger; the black one is gone. Tacita looks at her arm which is quickly changing colors, an orange light spreading from her hand and reaching higher.
Without hesitation, she swings her dagger and removes the arm at the elbow, after that the field around her changes slightly, likely in an attempt to counter or weaken the effect the next time she attacks.
Savant is standing there, a black dagger piercing through the palm of his hand, the attack stopped before going through his eye.
Tacita went for a kill. There was no hesitation at all.
Looking at the black dagger, Savant watches as it crumbles, turning into dust. His arm starts turning black and then crystallizes, and it spreads quickly. If he doesn’t do anything, I’m sure that attack will leave his entire body like that.
He pushes at the encroaching crystal with his domain, countering the effect somewhat, and as the orange light seeps through his body, it seems to be reverting it to some extent. Aware of his reserves, he doesn’t push more to remove it and decides to save his mana; he just keeps it at bay.
When Tacita attacks again, targeting his head, he barely manages to parry the strike with the Sword of Aeons, and Tacita reappears further away.
It takes a huge toll on him, I can see, but for really short moments Savant is almost capable of matching her speed. Almost.
Once again, Tacita´s body is poisoned by his domain. Each clash costs her, even the short exchange they just had was enough to leave her affected. Not showing any hesitation, she charges again, attacking from the side, her arm becoming a blur.
Savant barely covers his vitals, and the dagger stabs him three times: striking his arm, his knee, and the right side of his chest.
Tacita pays a high price for the exchange though. Blisters form all over her body, and her breaths are quicker and shallower. One of her eyes seems to lose its sight.
“You will die if you don’t forfeit,” Savant says as he shifts his weight on a different leg.
A bit of mana glows at the tip of Tacita´s dagger, and she swings it, creating an image in the air just from the afterimage of the glowing mana.
乁(ツ゚)ㄏ
A crazed smile climbs its way onto Tacita’s lips, and more mana seeps into the dagger, its surface vibrating visibly, cracks forming across the surface of the weapon. Her feet bury themselves in the ground, and she lowers her body. The mana poisoning reaches further, blinding her other eye as well, and she just closes her eyelids.
The orange light of his domain dances across Savant’s skin, flickering like flames.
Tacita reaches him in a blink and nearly severs his arm, the bone serving to stop the slash that was meant to separate his head from his neck.
I can see how much it surprises Tacita that his bone stopped her attack. She tries to dash back but finds herself unable to. She falls to the ground, her chest barely moving. Her skin starts shivering, and some of her hair falls out as her limbs thrash as they cramp.
Savant watches her. He doesn’t attack, but he doesn’t take down his domain and Tacita is slowly being poisoned to death.
Then she forfeits and disappears.
For some reason, I realize that I'm about to stand up, grab Lily, and teleport somewhere. It's a surprising reaction for multiple reasons, but I stop myself and wait.
The reaction I expected to happen comes quickly.
“Nat, we need to help her!” Lily shouts, grabbing my shoulder and shaking me.
“We need to?” I ask curiously.
“Yes, we need to!”
“She is unstable and dangerous. She could kill any one of you at any moment, so I don’t think we need to.”
“Nat?” Lily cries, shocked.
“Yes?”
“I thought you were friends, I thought you…”
“Lily, I’ve only known her for a few days. Don't misunderstand, I care about our group only and I will kill anyone who tries to hurt us. As for Tacita, I don’t mind being neutral with her, but we aren’t friends, and she doesn’t belong to this group.” These words are meant as much for me as they are for Lily.
“Please...” she whimpers.
I look at her. Lily is almost crying.
“Even though you don’t know her?” I ask with interest. It's a question I want to ask myself as well.
“Please. She’s dying. I don’t think anyone’s going to help her.”
“Okay then if that’s what you really want.” I put my hand on her shoulder and teleport to Tacita’s lair. It’s deep in the forest, a small hideout built around a fallen tree.
There, hidden inside, lies Tacita, curled up, shaking, and clearly dying.
I watch as Lily rushes towards her, immediately using [Sacrifice] and sending a burst of healing through the girl.
I don’t mind helping Lily. She’s a member of my group, someone who’s helped me over and over again. Someone I want to call a friend in the future.
But Tacita? There are things I like about her, but there’s a lot I don’t. And I know she wouldn’t hesitate to kill me or anyone from group 4 if she thought it was necessary.
Why would I want to help such a person? Out of some sense of petty sympathy? Because of pity?
“I can’t help her fully, Savant’s poisoning is too deep. I can’t use [Disintegration]; I would probably kill her.” Lily is desperate, and her constant healing is the only thing keeping Tacita alive. The mute girl is on the brink of death because of what [Dawn] did.
With a sigh, I concentrate my mana through [Focus] and force it into the shape of a small black nail. I lower my head and pass under the fallen tree.
In this tiny hideout, a single large blanket full of holes lies, most likely an item from Earth, judging by the design. A few stolen items are strewn about as well, some of them are even ours, Earth food I bought that disappeared. In the corner of this small place, a few daggers lie, all of them extremely clean and well taken care of. Laid out and organized like treasures.
Lowering my hand, I pierce the black nail into Tacita’s chest, and for a moment, she opens her eyes that are already healed by Lily. They meet mine, and I can see the stubbornness in her gaze. A strong will clinging to life.
"It wasn't my idea. It was hers." I gesture at Lily.
The black nail starts absorbing the mana that’s poisoning her and some of Tacita´s own as well. I try to control it so it absorbs only Savant’s and I succeed only partially, but it’s the best I can do.
When all of the mana poisoning is gone, I remove the nail and turn it into an orb. I will need to get rid of this somewhere.
Lily touches Tacita again and starts healing her. Tacita’s breathing steadies, her convulsions subside, and color gradually returns to her face.
The entire time Tacita holds a dagger in her shaking hand. Even in the state she is in she is ready to fight back. It's something I'm sure Lily didn't notice.