Zane stood in front of his opponent with his axe on his shoulder. His opponent Was a man named Iron Wall. He had dark skin covered in sweat and held a shield, but his sword had dropped on the ground. Zane stood calmly as he watched the man panting for breath with a drooped posture.
“It’s about time we ended this match,” Zane said.
Iron Wall’s face twisted after Zane finished speaking. Zane watched as he lifted his man shield and took a defensive stance. Zane gave the man a nod of respect before speaking as he approached him.
“It’s good that you have determination. It’s the most important thing to have for a person who wields a shield.”
Shrugging his axe of his shoulder, Zane delivered a quick strike to the man’s shield. The man was pushed back a step and had no time to prepare for Zane’s follow up strike. Zane used the rebound force from his first to deliver a powerful follow up blow. This attack sent Iron Wall crashing into the black sand and ended the battle. Zane received a message of his victory while Iron Wall laid on the black sand gasping for air.
After Iron Wall recovered from his exhaustion, he congratulated Zane on his victory before collecting his weapons and leaving. Iron Wall was Zane’s ninth opponent. By defeating him Zane had gained the points he would have gained for his ten wins which was 100,000 village points.
Once Iron Wall left Zane issued another challenge. Zane had finished fighting with his nine weapons, but he wanted to continue fighting to obtain the reward for the challenger quest. The challenger quest would reward him with 100,000 village points for wining after challenging ten people.
The moment Zane finished finding an opponent he sat down and activated Meditation. He needed to recover the small amount of energy he lost fighting Iron Wall and he wanted to go over the fight. There wasn’t much to go over though. Iron Wall was a human from one of the other worlds with decent combat experience. However, he focused too much on his strength, endurance and constitution stats.
Iron Wall’s attacks were powerful, and he could withstand many attacks, but he was too slow. None of his attacks managed to land on Zane. Not only was Iron Wall unable to hit Zane, but he was also unable to quickly react to Zane’s attacks. Iron Wall would always attack an area after Zane left and struggle to raise his shield to block Zane’s attack. Zane danced around Iron wall and quickly disarmed within the first two minutes of the fight. After that, Zane spent the rest of the fight hitting Iron Wall with his axe.
Thinking about the fight with Iron Wall reminded Zane of the many champions he challenged before him. The battles he had weren’t difficult, but they required much more effort than the battle with Iron Wall. However, there was one champion that was similar to Iron Wall.
Zane faced an opponent that called themselves The Ultimate Sword. The Ultimate Sword’s physical stats were more balanced than Iron Wall’s stats, but he was lacking in his mental stats. During the battle Zane used his archery skill against his opponent’s sword. Zane’s opponent had enough power and speed to knock down the arrows Zane released, but he lacked the perception needed to properly time his attacks. The battle quickly ended as Zane released his arrows and avoided any attempts for his opponent to close the distance.
The other champions Zane challenged were from his world. Each of them had better stats and combat experience than the people he faced from other worlds. Those fight were much more rewarding, but they didn’t provide him with a challenge.
As Zane reminisced about his previous fights, he felt his next opponent approaching him. He stood up to greet the person called Spartacus. Spartacus was ahead taller than Zane, dressed in full armor, wielding a sword and shield. Zane met the man’s brown eyes through his helmet and greeted him with a nod. The man responded with a nod of his own before speaking.
“I remember seeing your name at the top of the ranking list. It looks like that’s a thing of the past now.”
Zane lost his number one spot on the ranking when Shane defeated his challenger. As Zane issued multiple challenges, he saw his place on the challenger ranking list rise and his place on the champion ranking list fall. Currently Zane was at rank twenty-six on the champion list and rank eight on the challenger list. The people on the challenger list had nine victories like him while the number one spot on the champion list had fifteen victories.
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“It's fine,” Zane replied. “I’m sure I will receive some challengers soon. After that, my ranking will quickly rise.”
“Oh, you sound pretty confident in your strength?” Zane only gave a smile as his answer. “If you’re so confident then how come you’re not at the top of the rankings?”
“I was curious about that as well, but I quickly realized why. To rise in the champion ranking you need someone to challenge you, but nobody was challenging me. I was confused until I realized that people couldn’t challenge me while I was challenging other people. If you take a look at the two ranking lists, you will see that nobody is on the top ten of both of them.”
Spartacus checked the ranking list before speaking again. “Yeah, well, you have an excuse for not being at the top of the champion list, but you don’t have an excuse for not being at the top of the challenger list.”
“You’re right, but I will be at the top after I beat you.”
“I think we talked long enough.”
Spartacus’ eyes blazed with fighting spirit. He readied his weapons and took up a battle stance. Zane was happy to see his opponent full of fighting spirit. However, Zane realized he had a problem. He didn’t know what weapon to use.
I already used the nine weapons that I initially planned to use, Zane thought to himself. I could use one of those weapons again, but O don’t really feel like doing that. I guess I can use a new weapon, but which one should I pick. Should I use the scythe? The staff is also a good choice.
“Hey, are we fighting or what?”
“Of course, but I’m having trouble deciding what weapon I should fight with.” Zane carelessly answered Spartacus’ question while he was thinking to himself.
“Let me guess,” Spartacus scoffed. “You’re some kind of pro at using different weapons. I don’t care what weapon use, just hurry up and pick one. Oh, and you better not look down on me and fight me without one.”
“Why wouldn’t I use a weapon?” Zane asked. He found Spartacus’ words very amusing. He always used a weapon when he fought. The only time he didn’t use a weapon was when he sparred. However, they were having a proper battle and it would be disrespectful if Zane didn’t use a proper weapon.
“Don’t think I don’t know how this goes. First you pretend to have a hard time finding a weapon. Then you say since you can’t decide what to use, you’ll fight without one. Or maybe you’ll say that I’m so weak you won’t even need a weapon to defeat me. Oh, you might also say that your body is the best weapon, so you don’t need to rely on external weapons.”
At first, Zane smiled as he listened to Spartacus’ ridiculous ideas about him not using a weapon, but his expression changed when he heard the final idea. Zane’s body froze as he felt a jolt flow through his mind. His pupils contracted and mouth hung open.
The idea of being one with a weapon wasn’t unfamiliar to Zane. In fact, Zane believed that each weapon had a unique will that he should strive to connect with. However, he never thought of his body as a weapon before. But he did now. Zane’s mind exploded and his body started to shake with excitement as he thought about this new concept. But Spartacus’ voice startled him awake.
“Judging by your expression, I’m guessing I was right.” He wore a cocky grin as he looked at Zane.
Zane smiled and replied to him. “It doesn’t matter if you were right. What matters is the weapon I will be using and that weapon is my body.”
“Bullshit! Take out your weapon and fight me.”
“If you want me to use a weapon then you can force me to do so with your own abilities.”
The moment Zane finished speaking he charged toward Spartacus. The idea of treating his body as a weapon had Zane excited and he didn’t hesitate to test out this idea on the opponent in front of him. Zane could see how pissed off Spartacus was by his decision as he closed the distance between. Spartacus raised his sword and shield while glaring at Zane through his helmet, but Zane didn’t care. In fact, he became more excited about the upcoming battle.
Once Zane was in close range Spartacus didn’t rush to attack. Instead, he raised his shield and waited patiently for Zane’s attack. It was a smart decision. After all, flesh wasn’t able to harm metal. However, Zane wasn’t focused on how hard Spartacus’ shield was. He was focused on being a weapon.
Zane thought a hammer would be the best weapon he could use to get past Spartacus’ shield and armor. Therefore, he focused on being a hammer. Zane balled up his fist and placed them close together. He planted his left foot right in front of Spartacus, twisted his body, called on the internal energy within himself and swung his two fist the same way he would swing a war hammer.
Spartacus was sent stumbling back with a shocked look in his eye. The shock increased when he saw Zane closely followed him. Zane repeated his actions from before. Only this time, his attack was delivered directly to Spartacus’ armor. The blow sent Spartacus crashing into the black sand.
The blow didn’t physically harm Spartacus, but it did knock the wind out of him. While he struggled to rise, he saw Zane approaching him. He mustered his strength and tried to use his sword to strike Zane. Zane easily dodged the weak swipe of Spartacus’ sword as he further closed the already short distance between them. Once again, with the thought of being a hammer, Zane swung down at the Spartacus. The attack hit his head and sent him back toward the black sand.
Looking at Spartacus sprawled out on the sand Zane decided to stop being a hammer. Instead, he wanted to be an axe. Zane raised his leg and he focused on sending energy toward it. Less than a second later he brought it down. Focusing on the spot between Zane’s helmet and armor.