Chapter 26: The Free For All
“Weapons, check! Hair, check! Clothing, check! It looks like you’re all ready!” Thoth says to me before patting my back.
I had no idea why, but she suddenly wanted to ‘gear me up’ herself. She brought several sets of clothes and began making me try on different things. Apparently, it’s to make my appearance to the crowd more ‘attractive.’ I don’t know if this will work, but I hope it’ll work. A bad reputation’s never a good thing, it makes things more complicated in the future if everyone fears you.
In the end, I ended up wearing the same style of clothing as usual; a t-shirt with shorts. Except these pants were far shorter than they should be, and I was given some sort of jacket made of denim. She even gave me some fingerless gloves that were black and red. After dressing me as she liked, she finally lets me leave the room and head towards the [Arena].
I walk through one of the four main entrances into the colosseum, Thoth following from behind. As soon as we make our appearance, the crowd cheers out loud. The crowd must truly love Thoth if they’re cheering this much. She’s a very charming person, after all. Our positions were truly in reverse, people believing that I’m a creation of destruction, while she’s the people’s hero.
“Everyone, the biggest individual event that you are all expecting, is finally here! With only three minutes to spare, every participant has to kill as many other combatants as they possibly can, and anyone surviving at the end will gain an extra 50 points for being alive! Be careful though, each of you only has one life. Once you die, you’re out of the event. There are 166 participants in total, more than the [King of the Hill] from yesterday! The top three people who killed the most combatants will gain bonus points!” The announcer tells us the rules, just like yesterday during the beginning of [King of the Hill] event.
Prior to joining the event, Thoth and I made an agreement that instead of fighting each other, we’ll make it a contest to see who obtains the most kills. We had to be careful though, because this time, Zellaroth was in this event. I heard that Pyrion was as well, but I still don’t know who he is, so that means I have to keep an eye out for a sudden attack from him.
I pull on my gloves, tightening them. It felt kind of strange, having my fingers exposed while wearing gloves, but the nostalgic feeling of wearing some made me think of my past life. Unholstering the gun in my right hand, and unsheathing my dagger in my left, I take a deep breath, preparing to cover myself in blood again.
The battlegrounds for the event was a dried wasteland, with large rocks here and there. I can make use of those to my advantage, but it will probably be quite the painful death for the victims. I feel Thoth’s [Aura of Annihilation] being released from behind me, and I also release my own. Everyone in the arena turns towards our direction, intimidated by our auras. Right after, the announcer starts the event.
“Now, then let us begin the event of chaos, the [Free For All]!” No countdown this time, the bell rung right away after he said that.
Several combatants shout out war cries as the battle starts, immediately charging at the closest fighter. No one approached Thoth and I, though, probably too scared of us. So instead, I immediately dash to the largest cluster of fighters that I can find, and dive right into the center of it, and immediately start the killing.
As I literally dive into the center of the cluster, I stab my dagger into the first man I see, right in the throat. Probably because he had a higher HP pool than average, and everything in this world is subjected to status, he didn’t die right away. I solve that problem right away by pulling out the knife and stabbing the left side of his chest, at his heart.
With my other hand, I raise the barrel to knock away an attacker’s weapon, before firing it right under his jaw at point blank range. I kick his body away into someone behind me, the force knocking him over. When he falls to the ground, I stomp on his head, aiming at his cranium. Feeling the top of his skull cave in, I refocus my attention to deflecting people trying to surprise attack me.
With one hand, I knock away the attackers’ weapons, and I kill with the other, switching back and forth between the [Magnum] and [White Edge]. Soon enough, my body begins to turn red as the blood of my victims cover me. The huge cluster that was once here is now turning into a small field of bodies. Surprisingly, I still haven’t encountered anyone who could’ve potentially been Pyrion, and Zellaroth was on the opposite side of the arena, also wiping out a cluster.
I continue to slaughter the opponents around me, and got far too into the chaos and switched to my old combat habit. The battle becoming too intense, I holster my [Magnum] and threw my knife at a ranged target, piercing one of his eyes and penetrating deep enough to kill him instantly. I dodge a spear thrust and grab it by the handle, forcing it out of the wielder’s hands and taking it from him. Using it against him, I make an underhand swing and strike right at his groin area. Ending the pain of having his manhood crushed, I stab his heart with the head of the spear.
I continue fighting this way, stealing other combatant’s weapons and using it against them. Whenever I stole a sharp, long weapon like a sword, limbs would go flying. When I stole blunt weapons like a hammer, bones were crushed. When I stole a long weapon like a spear, blood is sprayed everywhere as I dance with it. I display my prowess as a master of weapons, using and throwing them away casually whenever they broke or I couldn't pull it out of a corpse.
Eventually, I stop doing this, and start just beating the people down around me with my bare fists. Breaking a jaw with an uppercut, smashing a skull with a downward strike, smashing my fist right through someone’s chest all the way through the other side, I completely massacre the people around me. I brutally kill everyone around me, much more worst than I usually would with any kind of weapon. Although most of them died in a single strike, that doesn't mean that the method of death wasn't painful. Slamming their bodies into rocks, shattering their bones, having their limbs torn with my raw strength, these kinds of deaths seemed very painful.
Approximately 50 bodies were around me as I finish wiping out the rest of the combatants. I search around for any other enemies around me with [Enhanced Detection], but there was no one else. I see Thoth slaying another group of combatants, nearly finished. Zellaroth just crushed a man's chest by stomping on it, which looked brutal. He still had a bit to go to finish his group.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
As I continue to watch the other battles happening around me, Then, I hear a familiar sound that I’ve gotten used to hearing from constant use of a certain weapon. I immediately step right and turn my body, a fast projectile whizzing right by my cheek. It was a bullet.
Several more gunshots were heard, and several tens of bullets are being rained onto me. Reacting faster than ever, I unholster and raise my [Magnum], firing an [Air Burst Bullet], a projectile that fires a heavy burst of wind to stop other projectiles. Fortunately, this was enough to stop normal bullets, so all of them were immediately blown away. After the bullet storm was taken down, I was able to clearly see the enemy.
“As I thought, you’re extremely strong.” He spoke out to me.
“The state of destruction you left that room in, the amount of people you killed yesterday, the amount of strength you possess is absurd.” The calm, intellectual looking boy from yesterday stood around 25 meters away, speaking to me.
In his left hand, was a submachine gun, one that I recognized. [Wheldin POS] was the name, a submachine gun that had the slowest firing rate, but also had the highest amount of power and mana consumption. He was a [Marksman] as well, it seemed, and one with a very high mana pool if he can afford to fire out barrages of bullets like that. Automatic weapons tend to be the least used weapon type, since the mana cost for using them is extremely high.
“Your name is Aria Brynhildr, correct?” I nod in reply to this, not lowering my guard.
“My name is Pyrion Genada, as you know. Please, listen to me before you become hostile towards me.” He lowers his gun onto the ground, and slowly walks to me with his hands raised.
I keep my guard up, my [Magnum] still aimed at his head in case he tries anything. When he reaches 10 meters of me, I motion at him to stop, and he does. Suddenly, he bends forward with his head down, and arms straight. I nearly pulled the trigger in reaction to this, but he suddenly shouts out loud;
“Aria Brynhildr, will you please be my lover!?”
I freeze upon hearing this, the [Magnum] slowly slipping out of my hand. Processing what he just said to me, I think of every possible meaning that he could have meant, but only came with one conclusion. After registering this into my head, my mind becomes blank, and I just stand there, shocked at what just happened.
“…ah, uh, er, nng!” As I stutter and panic to try and reply to him, I bite my tongue before I even say a proper word to him.
“…uuu…” I moan quietly in pain, covering my mouth. When I look up to see if he was still waiting, it seems that he lifted his head back up, and staring at me with a red face. Soon after, blood came out from his nose. Did I seem that unsightly?
Instantly, with speed so fast that I wasn't even able to see an afterimage, his face was buried into a nearby rock. Thoth was right next of him with her hand on the back of his head. She let out intense bloodlust, with a fiery look in her eyes, she lifts his head up and slams it back into the ground over and over.
“What. The. Hell. Are. You. Trying. To. Do. To. Aria. You. Pedophile. Piece. Of. SH–” I ignore the final word she says, watching her continue slamming his head in after every word until he’s neck deep into the rock, dead.
After killing him, she stands up, turns to me, and runs over. Slightly scared of her, I unconsciously brace myself for whatever’s going to happen, but she only grabs my shoulders and looks at me right in the eyes.
“Are you okay Aria? That guy didn’t do anything strange to you, right? You don’t need to mind someone like him, he’s just a weird pervert that you shouldn’t interact with.” She shakes me as she says this, and I grab her wrists to stop her.
“...i’m fine…” I whisper to her.
This was never a situation I have ever been in, so it completely caught me off guard. Perhaps he was trying to make use of that moment to attack me with a hidden weapon? If Thoth didn’t come in time, I probably would’ve been killed right there. During times like these, I really feel thankful that Thoth is my friend. She really looks out for me and covers me when I need it. The bell rings, signaling the end of the event.
The loud cheers of the crowd can finally be heard, the silence in the arena being broken immediately. It seems like there’s a spell that’s supposed to block off all other sounds outside of the arena, which wasn’t used during the unique event yesterday. The announcer begins talking again, announcing the conclusion before the [1 v 1] events coming up next.
“And folks, that’s the end of it! In the arena, only 3 people stand alive! For the most kills during this event, third place surprisingly goes to Zellaroth, with 44 kills!” The crowd yells out in cheers at the large man, who’s currently holding the corpse of the previous person he just killed by breaking his neck.
“In second place, the monster who had slain over one hundred other combatants yesterday, is the [Angel of Annihilation], Aria! She has slain 56 people!” The crowd erupts at this, and I was quite surprised that Thoth was able to beat me in terms of kills. Guess I can’t win in everything.
“And in first place, the one that lost to the [Angel of Annihilation], but won by that very last kill she took from Aria, Thoth Farlite, with 57 people killed!”
…what? Seriously? The final kill was on the man that took me in surprise? Wait, so did Thoth really come to help me, or did she come to obtain that final kill to beat me? I turn my head stiffly to her, who had a look of surprise on her face. When she noticed me staring at her with eyes of doubt, she put a look of apology on her face. Then, with a smile on her face, she stuck her tongue out, tilted her head slightly and raised her fist to her temple before saying;
“…teehee?” I’ll be ignoring her for a while.
–––––––
Author’s note: I lost the second half of this chapter due to iPad problems I won’t bother to explain. The second half was originally supposed to be the [1 v 1] events, but it looks like I won’t be able to upload it with this chapter. I’ll try to retype it and upload it tomorrow as chapter 27.
Sorry for screwing up! >.<