That was quite a good fight, and I think I learned a lot about how to defend myself. I also felt that my assumption that in this world, you should be ready for almost anything, is absolutely correct. Someone else who could get past my defenses and use the same technique as he did would be quite deadly.

I was offered a break, but I declined as I was having too much fun. Of course, the next fight and her weapon promised anything but fun. She had a bow and looked like she knew how to use it. The fight was a long one as she was fast enough that I couldn’t catch her easily, and she seemed to have an endless amount of arrows.

It took longer than all the others combined, but I couldn’t be reckless as some of her arrow shots were truly deadly. I especially disliked the one that tried to bind me in vines whenever it hit my shield. Eventually, she did make a mistake as she was slowed down by her own arrows which had made the terrain a lot more difficult to move in.

I still decided to continue fighting. I just hoped that I wouldn’t have to face another long-range fighter. My next opponent I instantly didn’t like. He looked slimy, and I could see cruelty in his eyes. He was wearing medium armor and wielding a sword and dagger.

The fight began normally enough, but he was slow enough that I didn’t have to use my sword for defense. For some reason, my opponent didn't like that and he finally used some more abilities that sped him up but looked like they also exhausted him.

The moment I needed to use my sword to defend myself, his dagger launched needles into my right side rib cage. They didn’t pierce my armor, but a moment later I found out that they didn’t have to. I didn’t know exactly what he did, but I felt something attached to me that was trying to suck up my energy, but I wasn’t letting it. My energy control was strong enough to keep it from doing that, but it was also connected to my opponent who was liberally pouring energy into this thing.

I went on the offensive using my considerable strength. My first strike was aimed at his neck and was able to get past his dagger block by simply smashing through it. However, I wasn’t able to do any damage as I hit an invisible barrier just before his skin.

I continued my attack and he did his best to defend, but I soon figure out his combinations of abilities and the artifact he was wearing around his neck was a bit too strong for me to quickly smash through it. Over this time, I also sensed how the thing attached to me was growing in strength and if I let it grow for too much longer, it might actually cause damage to me.

I still wasn’t completely sure what it was, but I was quite certain it would cause an explosion of some sort and he could trigger it whenever he wanted to. I stopped my attack and backed off, which made him look at me curiously, but I could still see that need to hurt someone in his eyes. I could expose myself and smash through his defenses, but there was an easier solution. "I surrender," I announced, which made the referee incredibly confused and my opponent sneer at me.

"What, are you such a weakling that when you couldn't get past my defenses you immediately give up? You're pathetic," my opponent tried to taunt me, but I didn’t answer which finally made the referee declare my opponent the winner.

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I continued to stare at him, but nothing changed and the thing attached to me continued to gather energy. "The fight is over, end your ability or I will consider you trying to kill me," I said. That stopped his smirking. "What ability, I’m not doing anything," he answered.

The referee was confused about our conversation and then I remembered. I looked towards the referee and announced, "This fighter is using an ability outside of combat that is heavily damaging or even deadly." As soon as I finished saying, the thing attached to me immediately started to empty of energy. And the person responsible for it now looked at me quite angrily. The referee asked for more clarification and I was happy to provide it, which made my opponent look at me like he wanted to murder me slowly.

"Sorin Blackthorn, this is yet another report made against you. If you want to fight again, you will have to go through a full evaluation," the referee announced after a few more people joined him for a discussion.

Now the feeling of danger was quite palpable and there was a strange glint in his eyes which I didn’t like. I examined the spot where the needles hit once again. It was quite difficult to sense, but there was still something attached to me. "Sorin Blackthorn, remove the tracker. But don’t think that I’m afraid of you, I just don’t want to deal with you whenever you come to find me," I said.

My statement silenced everyone and this time I saw doubt in his eyes, but it was only there for a single moment. I could see his reluctance to do so, but as soon as one of the people with the referee started to raise his hands, I felt the tracker disappear.

"This is not over, I will get you back for this," Sorin said, but even before the referee could start reprimanding him, I answered. "Let me at least warn you about what will happen if you ever find me outside of an arena. There will not be a fight, I will simply crush you, but I won’t kill you the same way you like to kill your prey."

"I will not let you die fast, in fact, I will be carving pieces from you for so long that I will need to feed you to keep you alive. And as a good coincidence, I happened to have fresh meat readily available." Not just my words, but my eye contact and expression seemed to be convincing enough that his face went fully white and he took a few steps away from me.

When I took a step closer, I channeled my memories when we actually found a place during the war that was torturing people like that and I guess I was convincing enough that he thoroughly believed that I had done this to someone and was willing to do that to him.

He walked away as fast as possible and I saw other people who had joined the referee quickly follow. "I know that I lost, but I am up to fight some more," my words snapped the referee back into reality, but it took quite a while longer for a new fight to be found for me.

I hope that he will never come to try to find me, but if he does, I will just kill him as fast as possible as torture really isn’t something I enjoy doing, especially the way I explained. I still get shivers every time I remember that place. I never have understood how some humans can fall so far to do something like that to a living thing.

The last two fights have been really a damper and if things didn't pick up, I think the next one will be my last. But as soon as I saw the person I was up against, I knew that it was going to be a fun time. The rhino beastkin that I was against was taller than me and a lot wider than me. He didn't have an evil grin, just an excited one. He was wielding a two-handed battle hammer. The weapon's head was larger than my own and from the looks of it, it seemed to weigh more than a full-sized bus.

Before the fight, he had his weapon poised on his shoulder, ready to bring it down as soon as the fight began. This time, as soon as the fight was declared, I rushed in, but I wasn’t going to take any of his big attacks against my shield.

While I was certain that I could defend against it if I went all out, I was still certain it would damage my shield. So instead, I chose to dodge the overhead strike and move in for a strike of my own. I was able to do some damage, but it was just a scratch even when my weapon was heavily enhanced.

My opponent wasn't stupid. Although he was slower than I expected, he was still able to make distance by using the handle of his weapon to make quick attacks that I needed to defend with my shield, otherwise, they would hurt quite a lot.

I used my speed to my advantage and learned that I could go a lot faster than I thought when I was pushing myself. I could feel how my muscles were heating up from the constant use, but that seemed to be good news as they seemed to respond faster and move faster when they were hot.

He also had some abilities that made him move faster, but only in short bursts, but that was still dangerous enough. Every time the hammer went by me with proper speed, I felt how it pushed the air aside simply because of its mass and speed.

It was a scary weapon, and I needed to give it my all to continue to dodge. We were both pushing ourselves, but my opponent was doing so a lot more than me. It took me a little while, but I started to learn his habits which allowed me to hit him more.