The rounds passed quickly now. Mud's guide had warned there would be little time to rest before the next round. Apparently, Thagi Ghul was pushing to complete the tournament as quickly as possible. Mud had no frame of reference for how long a tournament should take, but the efficiency at display was impressive. Some of the fights had dragged on long, however, and it was nearing the afternoon. Being forced to wait in place, Mud could only meditate on Ideals.

Eventually, the guide returned again. "Mud, you're up."

The golem followed behind as instructed, returning once again to that roaring arena. Emerging from the tunnel, Mud saw that the arena had been restructured; the wide-open space was dominated now by only much larger rings.

In one, Prince Cain stood opposite an elderly human with long hair, nearly to his knees. A gnarled walking cane in his hand, wearing a strangely designed silk outfit that ballooned out near the bottom. The sleeves hung wide and loose, and he wore wooden sandals on his feet, similar to Shin. The judge for the prince's fight was the stylish Cantor.

Unfortunately, Mud did not have the luxury of focusing on the upcoming battle. Entering his own ring, Mud stood on his designated spot. The judge a prim woman. Opposite stood Mud's opponent.

"EXECUTIONER MUD!" A needlessly loud voice yelled out. Suzy stood tall, one hand on her hip and the other supporting her long spear. Theatrically pointing her spear towards the golem, she continued. "We meet again! A worthy rival for The Raven!"

Mud simply waited in silence for the round to begin. A feeling of intense dissatisfaction soon flowed from Ego. Before Mud could ask her what was wrong, a voice appeared in his head. Strangely, it was his own voice. Or rather, Ego imitating his own voice.

"The Raven, how ironic that the two of us who live in the shadows of society must now fight in the light of day. It seems the invisible hand of fate has bond us together, two spirits stained in darkness, destined to oppose each other."

Suzy blocked her face with a stretched open palm and turned her head slightly away. "Indeed, perhaps it is destiny. Those with a special fate are drawn to each other." Suzy's eyes scanned the crowd. Curious what she was looking for, Mud checked too. Everyone was leaning forward in their seat, listening intently to their interaction. Those at the edge of Ego's telepathically projected voice were whispering to those outside the range, recounting his words. Or rather, Ego's words.

"I knew you were special from the day we met, so long ago." Wasn't that only three days ago? And they never actually met. "When you casually destroyed that great old-growth tree with a single spell." It was a small tree, though. "But don't think I'll let you off easy just because we're childhood friends!" We're friends!? "Judge, I'm ready!" Suzy dramatically swung down her arm. With a burst of mana, two black masses resembling wings burst forth from her back for but a moment, then faded.

A complicated expression twisted the judges face. Mechanically, she turned towards Mud. "Are you ready, fighter Mud?"

The energetic youth leaned over the barrier once again. "That's Executioner Mud!" At some point, he had painted a depiction of Mud's face on his shirt, the words 'Executioner Mud' written below in sloppy handwriting.

"My spirit burns. Finally, a worthy adversary. I'm ready." Mud had no idea what Ego was talking about. Instead, it simply readied itself for battle.

"Begin!" The judge raised her arms sharply and stepped back.

Immediately, Suzy stabbed forward with her spear, a bolt of black-rimmed white light shooting out of the tip.

Dodging to the side, Mud fired a Force Bolt towards the projectile, curious of the interaction.

On impact, the black projectile's flight path was shifted, deflecting it to the side. Additionally, the bolt shrunk slightly. When the bolt struck the floor, it diffused into the ground with no apparent effect. Mud made note of these interactions. While it had used up its first spell, this was valuable information.

By the time the bolt landed, Suzy was already stabbing again with her spear. "Hah!" Although she was still far away, the extreme length of the spear made it possible for her to attack from long distances. Mud had his own means of long-distance melee, though.

Taking his mental cue, Ego lept from her scabbard. As the sword and spear collided, Suzy grinned. A rapid wave of black light traveled up her spear, flooding into Ego.

A wave of pain came to Mud over their soul bound. Apparently that black energy could damage Ego somehow. Hastily, Mud ordered her to return. It was not acceptable for her to be damaged.

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With ego's rapid retreat, Suzy stumbled forward slightly, the counterpressure on her spear suddenly removed. Taking advantage of her awkward posture, Mud struck at her with a wave of Mind mana. Unfortunately, the Persuade skill didn't take hold as hoped. After entering her mind, the mana was resisted and dissipated, apparently without Suzy even noticing.

Ego's voice entered Mud's mind. "Of course that wouldn't work, she's completely delusional. I doubt anyone could convince her of anything." Mud was inclined to agree. "I still like her, though," added Ego. That Mud was less sure of.

Quickly regaining her balance, Suzy fired another bolt of black energy, followed by a low sweep of the spear blade. As Mud slid away and leaped over the sword, the golem had a realization. Calling on the aid of Almanac, the black bolts were described.

So there were no tricks to it. As long as Mud avoided being struck by the bolts or spear, the fight would be simple. Both attacks had considerable reach.

Mud fired an experimental Force Bolt towards Suzy. Filling her spear again with dark energy, she struck the spell out of the air. As expected, long range combat was a poor choice. Mud needed to change tactics.

After dodging another Entropic Bolt, Mud performed its approach maneuver. Striking the sphere of its metal endoskeleton from behind while pulling itself forward with its meathooks, Mud shot rapidly towards Suzy.

"Guh!?" Suzy was surprised by the rapid assault, but her stance did not falter. Raising her spear, crackling with energy, across her chest, she readied to take the blow. But, blocking would not be a simple matter with such a thin weapon.

Unseen by Suzy, eight weapons blossomed from below Mud's robe, spreading in all directions like the pedals a blooming flower. As Mud neared Suzy, the weapons swung around his body to the front, pulled with a combination of the golem's muddy tentacles and Telekinesis.

From the bottom left and right, four razor-sharp blades. From the left and right, meat hooks. From the top left and right, fist-sized hunks of metal. And from directly above, the downward swing of a beautiful blade. And of course, the cannonball of Mud's own heavy body rocketing towards her.

Suzy's eyes grew wide at the coordinated attack. It was impossible to block in ten different directions at the same time with a spear, especially in this configuration. As the weapons neared her, Mud felt victory was imminent.

"Don't think that, brother! In a dramatic fight, that's a signal for-!" Ego's worried voice was cut off as an orb of blackness spread outwards from Suzy's body, rapidly engulfing the arena.

At that moment, Mud was frozen, suspended in midair. It could see nothing, hear nothing, and feel nothing. It couldn't move. Even thinking was difficult, thoughts moving sluggishly. Mud tried to open the Akashic Record, but was unable to. In this frozen world, it was impossible to tell how much time was passing.

The only outside sensation Mud could still feel was its soul bond with Ego Golem. Strangely, Almanac still worked.

So Mud was imprisoned in a magic zone. Even now, Suzy might be readying some attack to finish it off. Mud needed to escape as quickly as possible.

Struggling was useless; despite sending the correct mental commands to move its body, nothing happened. Physical means, it seemed, were useless.

Instead, Mud decided to try a different tactic. If it was being held by magic, perhaps it could be countered with magic. In fact, Mud already had an Ideal perfectly suited to the task.

Control of the self. If Mud could free itself from the constraints of friction and gravity, why not entropy as well? This body belongs to Mud. This is Mud's domain, and no one else can control it. Well, it would be okay if The Master did, but that's beside the point.

Mud corrupted its entire mana pool into Mind mana. It was vital to break out. Saving mana only to fail would be pointless. Without hesitation, Mud imbued all of the corrupted mana with the concept of control of the self. With a force of will, Mud unleashed the spell onto itself. And the light returned.

As light returned to the world, a spear was rapidly approached towards Mud's torso. It appeared that only a short amount of time had passed trapped within that realm of nothingness, despite seeming like an eternity. Mud was still in the air directly in front of Suzy, but the spell had arrested his momentum. Unfortunately, suspended in the air as he was, and with no remaining mana, there was no way for Mud to dodge the incoming attack. Ego was encased in a film of pure blackness, likely still trapped within the Entropy magic. She would not be able to help.

In front of him, Suzy's eyes opened wide in shock. Escaping from her spell so quickly had likely been outside her expectations. Even still, her shock seemed greater than would be expected for the situation. Her spear was not coated in that black magic she had used to deflect his spells and harm Ego.

That being the case, being stabbed wouldn't be a problem.

As the spear made contact with Mud's amorphous flesh, Mud parted itself to allow the top to pass through without resistance. Not meeting the expected counterforce to her blow, Suzy stumbled forward. At the same time, Mud pulled himself forward. Wrapping seven of his chains around Suzy and her spear for leverage, Mud swung his fist-sized lump of metal directly into the mage's head.

With a disgusting cracking noise, Suzy fell to the arena floor, unconscious. A moment later, the film around Ego vanished, and the sword bobbed low to the floor before regaining balance and returning to Mud's back.

Something was odd. The opponent, Suzy, was clearly defeated. She lay unmoving on the ground right in front of Mud. However, there was no cheering. The judge stood to the side, gapping at him instead of ending the fight. The entire arena was silent.

"Brother... you're naked."