WARNING! THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS LIGHT GORE. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

The next two fights weren’t anything impressive. Not for the lack of strength, but because of the power inequality and bad matchups. Some powers simply countered others or were at least highly effective. Because of that, there wasn’t much of a show.

The second fight of the third round was between Dragon and Warlock, both powerful individuals. Dragon was a middle aged man, who could create and control fire, while his opponent, Warlock, was able to cast spells. From what I could tell from the previous fights, he was an Emitter, who focused on aura blasts and barriers. A shame to be honest. So much wasted potential. If I were in his shoes, I would have created other spells like telekinesis, fire immunity or the like. The latter would be of great use to him, since his opponent mainly dabelled in fire. But alas, it was not to be. Still, it was a great source of inspiration and a clear example of what not to do.

The fight ended within a few minutes. Taking advantage of his vast aura reserves, Dragon created large fireballs and launched them at the magician. Feeling their speed, the mage had little choice but to create a barrier stopping the burning spheres and seeing this, the lizard simply controlled the projectiles to fly around the wall, forcing the wizard to create a spherical barrier around himself, only to be battered continuously by one surge of flames after the other. When one burst scattered on the circular barrier another would absorb it.

The sorcerer tried to retaliate by shooting aura blasts at his enemy, but they weren’t fast enough to hit the nimble opponent. Seeing that none of his measures were effective, he rapidly expanded the barrier around himself to stun the opponent, before creating another, trapping him within. If the rapidly shrinking prison wasn’t enough, several barrages of aura blasts also went through the barrier, creating a devastating attack. But alas, it didn’t work.

With a horrific burst of fire, Dragon broke through the barrier and the inferno continued to spread around the ring, only being stopped by an invisible wall, right before the tribunes. When the sense returned to me, I saw a panting man barely standing on his feet and a burned corpse, a sight I didn’t find appealing. Yet, as if bloodthirsty savages, the audience thundered with cheers.

“If you were just a few years older, I wouldn’t have stood a chance against you.” Said the man before walking down from the stage. There was no remorse in his eyes as if this was nothing abnormal.

‘Even a man as talented as him met his end in the arena… A cold and unforgiving place, filled with savages. So what would happen to me if I went in? Who knows. In any case, there is no way I’d risk my life in there. Especially when there is so much more to do, so dying is not an option.’

“Wow what a scene! I sure didn’t expect that outcome. The winner is Dragon!” Shouted the announcer as if the previous scene didn’t affect him at all.

Well it probably didn’t. After all, he didn’t even react when a few workers walked to the stage and unceremoniously bagged the corpse, not even offering the slightest respect to the dead. What irony. To be at the top of the world, only to be treated like trash the moment after and by powerless people at that…

The third fight was between the Kraken and Triclops. It was mostly uneventful. Sure, while the Octopus did sprout dozens of tentacles that crushed the concrete floors like tofu, it was not a challenge for the oh-so-familiar shonen swordsman {1}. And to top it all off, he even used a katana! Just a few sword strokes made quick work of the slimy appendages, leaving the squid bloodied and exhausted. After that, the fight was practically over.

*

Now for the last fight in the third round. Orb vs Armada. Both of them have really interesting abilities, Armada especially. Orb can manipulate a blob of conjured metal, be it shape, movement or aggregate state. Quite interesting. Armada however, has something even better. He can conjure military related objects and personnel. Be it foot soldiers, tanks or artillery, he can create anything. I am quite interested to see how the fight will play out.

With the referee’s signal, the match started.

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***

Eight figures materialized behind a man dressed in military uniform. They were all armored and equipped with all sorts of weaponry, ranging from assault rifles to light machine guns. In seconds, the unit was ready for an offensive. Expecting nothing less of his soldiers, the commander shouted: “Fire!”, as a rain of lead descended onto the figure, standing in the opposite corner.

However, the said figure didn’t stand idly. The iconic sphere that was previously floating behind him morphed into a wall, protecting its master from the onslaught, not leaving a single scratch on him.

Seeing that his attacks weren’t effective, Armada stopped his soldiers and shouted:

“I, Friderick Wagner, declare war on the individual known as Orb!”

And as soon as the declaration left his mouth, the aura around him spiked and illusory artillery weapons appeared next to the now invigorated soldiers. Without wasting any time, they took their positions and started shooting the massive canons.

In reaction, the youngster shot forward with incredible speeds, moving the wall along with him. However, his charge was stopped by the heavy shells hitting the shield. He couldn't advance forward! Left with no other choice, he leaped high into the air and punched at the wall in front of him. Parts of it turned liquid and from the puddles, a dozen needles emerged, shooting at the soldiers hiding behind the steel protectors. But even the thick steel was proven useless as the senbon {2} pierced it, together with the soldiers’ heads.

With the death of his troops, Armada’s aura noticeably decreased. Gritting his teeth, he shouted another declaration:

“Men, we are under great threat. Instead of succumbing under pressure, it is now that we must stand united. We are one! We will overcome this trial!”

This time, not only had his aura surged, the artillery weapons became less transparent, before disappearing.

Making use of the opening, Orb shot a barrage of nails towards the commander, before leaping at him himself. The shield transformed into a cloth, intending to wrap around the opponent, squeezing him to death. However, at the last second, the chair on top of which sat Armada ejected up into the air, saving him from the attack.

Not wanting to waste this opportunity, the cloaked young man jumped after his target, only to see a rocket flying at him. With a hint of panic visible in his eyes, he transformed the metal cloth behind him into a gas, moved it in front of him and solidified it, just in time to block the rocket. With a massive explosion, the shield shattered and many pieces of shrapnel hit the youngster, before the shockwaves slammed him into the ground, cracking it in the process.

His mind was dazed from the impact and he was unable to breathe from the shock. Using this opportunity, his opponent acted.

Turrets slowly started materializing at the four corners of the ring, armed with high caliber machine guns! In less than half a minute, they started firing at the seemingly helpless figure between them.

But the figure wasn’t as helpless as it seemed. Four towering pillars were erected, blocking the terrifying onslaught. But even the hard pillars couldn’t last long, as not even 20 seconds later, they would be ripped to shreds.

Taking a deep breath, Orb made up his mind and used his full force to punch the air five times, but nothing visibly changed. Unless one used [GYO]! 4 invisible metal pikes were heading for the turrets and the last one was heading towards the commander, Armada!

Sensing the danger, the unlucky man tried to retreat but it was already too late! In the last possible moment, he was able to dodge to the side, making the spike hit his shoulder.

An agonizing roar was heard, together with a cracking sound, as the man’s shoulder was grinded to dust from the impact. But instead of piercing a hole and leaving from the other side, the spear turned liquid and started encasing the limp arm. Left with no other choice, he redirected his aura towards the liquid metal, stopping its spread.

With a grunt, words started to leave his mouth once again.

“Soldiers… Th-this war was demanding and I see no other chance in vi- victory. Given that, I *cough* allow the use of extreme… measures -s!”.

Unlike the last two times, his aura didn’t increase. On the contrary, it seemed to have drastically decreased, on the verge of drying up. But that proved to be a small price to pay, as an ethereal construct, reminiscent of a plane slowly flew over the ring, releasing dozens of metal cylinders. Within a second, they hit the newly formed cocoon as deafening explosions resounded.

Even the audience grew panicked, as they saw countless ripples appearing at the invisible barrier, which stood as the final guard, protecting them from countless scraps of metal, threatening to rip them apart.

The cacophony of booms and echoes lasted for nearly a minute, before the smoke cleared, revealing a battered figure and a general proudly standing over the defeated opponent.

“Armada wins!” shouted the announcer, before deafening cheers silenced him.

{1} I have mastered the art of artistic incompetence! Just create a cliche scenario and blame it on shonen logic.

{2} senbon - metal needles pointed on both sides, seen in Asia. If you watched Naruto, you know what I am talking about.