The group stood still for a moment. The audience was finally being acknowledged by them and they were asking for blood.
All 5 of them took an extremely deep breath, absorbing as much mana as they could to replenish themselves. After that, with just a nod from Mathias, the group advanced.
Mathias weaved a somewhat simple spell. Smashing his foot on the ground he separated the 15 enemy fighters in groups of 3 by creating lines of rocks on the ground. Each boy went to a group alone.
Kaki was the first one to engage. His group consisted of one spearman and two swordsmen with short swords and small shields. The two swordsmen tried to block Kaki’s path as he was moving in a straight line toward but once he got near enough the two men he slid between them, hitting their legs, and bringing them to the ground along the way. The spearman tried to pin Kaki down as he slid forward but as the man stabbed the ground, Kaki accelerated, appearing behind the spearman in a moment. Once Kaki was behind everyone, 3 simple stabs finished his group.
Moon was the next one. His group had the last mage along with two pure swordsmen. The mage unloaded a torrent of pure mana projectiles in Moon’s direction but he simply made a few small compact shields of darkness using a spell to defend himself. The projectiles didn’t have any variation so repositioning them wasn’t a problem for Moon. Once the projectiles stopped, Moon launched his shields in the direction of his enemies faces, blinding them for just a moment, but it was more than enough time for him to stab all 3 of them in the neck as he dashed forward. His enemies were too terrified and blind to defend themselves.
Luminus’ group was a strange group of 3 with two handed battle axes, 2 men and maybe a woman. He couldn’t really tell. One of the men and the not identifiable one rushed towards Luminus, their cultivation showing as mana visibly flooded out of their bodies. Luminus quickly covered his weapons in psychic energy and blocked the two attacks coming his way. Once their weapons were in close contact, Luminus coated them in his power for just a moment and moved them back with a push, somewhat hurting the two attacking him. The men disengage and the one that stayed behind them began to heal him. Luminus didn’t feel like he had caused much damage if any but he might not be fully aware of the power difference.
The not identifiable one jumped back and immediately dashed forward towards Luminus. They clashed again but this time Luminus couldn’t take control of the enemy’s weapon. The other men dashed forward, joining the fray, and tried to take Luminus by surprise. Luminus, with a sigh, sent a burst of power that activated something on the men that stayed behind, making him fly towards Luminus. In the confusion the other 2 fighters got extremely confused as they didn’t know what to do. Once they all crashed into each other, Luminus just walked towards them and stabbed them in the head.
Klaws found himself with a group of only women. One had a war hammer and the other two had daggers as they seem to have lost their main weapons. The one with a hammer jumped as the other two tried to surround him. Klaws tensed for a moment as he felt the energy of the 3 women but then he relaxed a little. The woman with the war hammer fell on top of him but Klaws simply grabbed the hammer. The other two tried to attack at the same time but Klaws simply swung the woman along with the hammer, hitting the other two. With a face that almost said ‘sorry’, the women cried in pain as Klaws had to hit their faces to finish his fight.
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Mathias was the last one to engage. His group was special. It had the 100th fighter. He was always the strongest person sent by the arena even if he wasn’t all that strong all things considered. The 100th fighter was a big man, over two meters tall, lots of muscle but not in a strange way, not like a bodybuilder but someone who trained to cause damage. He used gauntlets and greaves. Mathias advanced, slashing the two men that stood in his way, eliminating them, and clashed with the big man. Mathias by all accounts was way weaker than the last fighter but their clash was even, to the man’s surprise.
Upon processing that information, the man advanced, sending a punch in Mathias direction with his full power behind it. Everyone watching the fight from the outside was already ready to applaud Mathias for the good run but Mathias took the punch head on, in his face, and stopped it to everyone’s shock, In the moment, with a scream of rage, Mathias slashed the man in the chest in just a way that he wasn’t eliminated but was badly hurt. His chest was basically open now.
“How!? How are you able to resist me!?” The man shouted and asked.
“I have…We have way bigger fears than you.” Mathias calmly explained as he walked towards the man.
The people in charge of the arena were running around like headless chickens trying to understand what was happening. The boys were supposed to lose, they made sure to do everything they could to guarantee that happened. The organizers had a lot of money in the fight, they even suppressed the last fighter so he could participate.
“I have an idea, it is in our rules so we can do it.” One of them said.
“What is it?” Another one asked. The first one quickly ran towards the place where the announcer was speaking.
“The blood round is now in effect. The fighters may now fight with all their power! Prizes are tripled!” The man shouted into the mic.
Everyone fighting stopped for a moment. Mathias, Luminus and Kaki looked at the man who just announced the blood round both in surprise and with a lot of rage.
“Your luck ran out, boys!” The last fighter said as he removed two small bracelets from his gauntlets. His mana began to quickly flow around him, sending waves of power towards everyone in the arena. His wound quickly began to close and he advanced.
“Fuck!” Mathias said as the man dashed towards him at high speeds. Mathias put his sword in front of his face and braced himself for the impact. Once he was hit, he was sent flying backwards until he hit the arena’s wall.
“Die!” Klaws shouted as he tried to cut the man’s neck from behind. The last fighter just tanked the attack and kicked Klaws, sending him to the wall too.
“What the fuck! How strong is that bastard?” Kaki asked, somewhat afraid.
“Core Creation Stage…” Luminus and Moon said almost at the same time. The weight of what they said dawning on the boys.
“Alright you bastard! You want to fight!? I will give you one!” Mathias said very angrily as he got up, coughing a little blood.
“I refuse to lose!” Klaws also said angrily as he got up. The other boys all shared the sentiment. The fighter wasn’t even in the top 10 of the strongest people they had fought, much less the people they had to win against. They would win, they just have to beat it into the man.