Although the strike was ferocious, it lacked any kind of finesse. The guy swung it with full might, and yet timidly backed away from the swing as if he was afraid of hitting himself.
I easily dodged out of the way, taking the opportunity to close the gap and slide up towards him. The sword passed over my head, slamming into the ground in a spray of holographic sand. I shunted out a leg, kicking the sword as hard as I could. The sword flew from his grip, leaving him defenseless and my leg in a surprising amount of pain.
The man reacted rather quickly, punching out at me. Unfortunately for him, it seemed as though no one had ever taught him to punch correctly. He had his whole fist wrapped tightly around his thumb. I met his punch with my elbow and heard a crack followed by a yelp. Since I only hit a bot synced with his movements, I didn't actually break his thumb, but I knew from experience it still sent jolts of electricity that imitated the pain. He winced back, trying to put some distance, but it was already too late.
I lanced forward with my dagger which was already close to his neck from my elbow strike. The dagger easily hit his neck, slicing through the skin as holographic blood sprayed everywhere. The arena flashed red as the bot slumped to the ground.
“Winner, Moon!” The announcer cried. The fake crowds in the stands went ballistic with cheers for a few moments before a spot in the arena lit up green.
I headed for it, and the man, after picking up his sword, walked to his own spot. He eyed me as the announcer came back. “Round two, fight!”
This time, Whino played far more cautiously. I once more fired the crossbow only to find out that the second delay was very much an intentional design. Probably some kind of balancing. He easily dodged the bolt again, though I made a note to start pulling before I actually lined up the shot next time. It wouldn’t be nearly as good of a learning experience as I thought it’d be, but at least I could still get used to fighting point blank.
He moved forward as I reloaded, though didn’t make a slash. Instead, he rushed me with a shoulder check. By the time I registered Insight’s warning, I was too focused on reloading to fully get out of the way. The blow hit me hard in the chest, knocking the crossbow out of my hands as I tumbled back. A shock of electricity jolted up my side, settling right where one of my ribs was as if it were broken.
The guy’s footing was extremely unstable, causing him to fall alongside me as we hit the ground. I rammed my dagger into his side roughly, watching a spray of holographic blood erupt like a volcano. Unfortunately, that was as far as I got.
He used his sword as a cane, pushing it down to lever himself up. Unfortunately for me, I happened to be exactly where he pushed his sword down. The sword pressed on my chest right around my lungs as electricity arced all through my body, knocking the breath out of me.
The arena flashed red. “Winner, xXx_whino_xXx!”
We reset once more, both heading back to our starting spots. I picked up and pulled back the string of the hand crossbow, sliding the bolt back into place.
“Round three!”
I didn’t hesitate this time around. The past few times I was a bit timid with firing a shot off. This time, I pulled the trigger before I even raised my arm and shot before the announcer's echo finished. The sudden shot took the guy by surprise, hitting him in the shoulder. The rubber bolt bounced off and sunk into the floor. A holographic one popped up where I hit him as if it were stuck in his shoulder. I reloaded fully as he flinched back, a shudder going through his arm as electricity tased him.
While he was down, I shot one more time, hitting him right in the eye. He hit the ground hard as his body convulsed. “Winner, Moon!”
It took a while for the guy to get back up. His hologram shot me a glare as the guy supported himself with his sword. He growled out at me as he backed up to his position. “Just you wait.”
“I’m waiting.” I brushed off my shoulder.
”Round four!”
The man moved even before the announcer finished speaking. He lunged out with his sword in a massive horizontal sweep that cleaved through my stomach. Or, at least the cold from Insight did. Before he even fully got into his swing, I moved into position with my dagger. I tried to block the attack. Emphasis on tried. Then the full weight of the blow caught onto my dagger, making me stumble as I nearly lost control of the weapon. Only a split second decision to crouch down and slide under the deadly strike and go with the momentum saved me from losing the dagger, though my wrist twinged with pain.
The blow barely deflected, I had a second of free movement before he could get his sword back up to contest me. With my crossbow, I smacked forward toward the guy’s face. I clocked his jaw with the bow limb, jolting his head as he staggered backward. I followed through with a knee to the groin. He dropped like a log as I brought the crossbow back point blank and pulled the trigger. He had just enough time to open his eyes before the arena flashed red.
”Winner! Moon!” The hologram of the guy faded as the robot he was synced with returned to the gate leading into the coliseum. A moment later, the announcer roared from the emperor’s box. “Would you like to face another contender?!” The crowd nearly shattered my eardrums with their screams.
”Uh- sure. Can I get more bolts?” I looked around, but the rubber ones I’d shot off were nowhere in sight. I don’t know if something retrieved them while I was distracted, or if they were just lost in the sand hologram covering the floor.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Next to my starting zone, a pillar rose out of the ground. Exactly five bolts sat on it. I slid four into the quiver at my hip and loaded the last one. I did some light stretches as I waited.
Honestly… it was kinda fun. Maybe since I won? To be honest, fighting was pretty easy. At least, when there weren't any guns. I could probably take ten of that guy on. Granted, not all at once, but it wouldn’t be too hard. The arena was good at building my confidence if nothing else.
The gate on the other side of the arena opened. This time around, the bot didn’t mechanically move to its location. Instead, as the holoprojectors kicked on, holographic warriors popped up all around, sending heavy blows to the bot.
The bot’s hologram kicked on, overlaying it with a woman in badass black armor. Gold dragons twined around the armor, the scales seeming to glimmer with power. The woman held two weird weapons in her hands. They were swords, but like, hooked? I dunno. First time I’d ever seen such a sword.
They were designed like golden dragons, the tails being the end of the hooks. The pommels, a rectangular piece that looked a bit like brass knuckles, acted as the heads of the dragons. A dagger-like spike jutted out of the bottom side of the sword, looking like a dragon’s breath.
The holographic warriors charged the bot, and the bot slaughtered its way through without even an issue as it arrived at the starting point. Then, all the fanfare faded as the movements turned more natural and the woman seemed to take control. Very flashy… and quite intimidating. This woman must’ve spent a shit ton of money on the cosmetic store.
[Match: 1v1 best of 5. Unrated.
Contender: Rí Dao
Skill Estimate: Moon <<<<< Rí Dao]
Oh… well that seems fair- not. Five arrows? I know I talked a big game, but like, this- this was a bit much, no? Whatever happened to fair matchmaking? Not only was I out-skilled; I was massively out-skilled. I barely won my first match-
Okay, okay, okay… calm down, Shiro. It wasn’t like this was real anyway. This was just- just a great learning opportunity! Right, a learning opportunity…
”Round one, fight!”
“Jīa yóu.” The woman bowed deeply as she took off her helmet, showing off her flexibility. No idea what she said though. Could be a death curse for all I knew, though the polite smile she gave looked like that might be wrong.
I bowed back, imitating her posture as I took off my mask. I didn’t actually grab anything since the mask was entirely holographic, though that didn’t matter too much as the arena’s system read my intent. My bow was a bit amateurish, but I managed to get the same feat of flexibility. Fox’s Grace improving my body, although gradual, wasn’t all for nothing. I gave off the most radiant smile I could. “Good luck!”
The eastern woman’s cheeks turned rosy, though she quickly tossed on her helmet to hide the look. And then she took up a stance and I felt the entire atmosphere change. She had the aura of a master, sending a bucket of ice straight down my back.
I fired a bolt, more of a testing shot than anything, and backpedaled to put up some space. I was already reloading before the bolt even hit the woman, watching it fly through the air directly into the gap of her-
The sharp spike on the bottom part of her hook sword shot up, deflecting the rubber bolt to the side. Or, at least that’s what actually happened. The hologram had a different look to it though. It covered the bolt, hiding its true shape as it bounced off. The hologram instead showed the blade cleanly slicing straight through the middle of the bolt, causing two clean halves to fly off and impale into the sand.
”Damn.” I fired another shot as the woman approached like a ghost using some fancy movement technique. She easily slid under it as the bolt passed over her head. I slashed with the dagger as she closed in, to which the woman used the pommel to catch my weapon and shift it to the side.
A cold cut, slicing through my body diagonally from shoulder to waist, turned my entire body icy. I pushed on my dagger with both arms, pushing her back slightly as I ducked under her arm to dodge the strike.
Before the cold could even fully vanish, a second bolt of ice wrapped around my ankle. I tried to kick off and back away, but it was far too late. I felt the hook of her sword wrap around my ankle and pull, sending electricity throughout my leg as if my tendon had just been severed.
That wasn’t the worst of it though. She pulled my leg out from under me and hit me with a shoulder bash, turning my world horizontal. Before I could even hit the ground, the dagger-like spike on the bottom side of her pommel slammed into my neck.
“Winner, Rí Dao!” The arena turned red as red fireworks shot off, filling the sky with sparks resembling dragons. I hit the ground hard, grasping at my neck as I struggled to breathe for several moments. The strike hadn’t hit nearly as hard as it should’ve, probably a safety mechanism built into the bot she controlled, but it hit hard enough to turn me into a coughing mess.
Once I could breathe again without seeing black dots, I started to push myself up off the ground. A hand gently grabbed my shoulder, helping me up. The woman patted me on the back a couple of times before turning back and heading for the starting spot. “Zhēn bàoqiàn…”
I rubbed at my throat and headed back over to my spot, reloading the crossbow as I went. Yeah, it would definitely bruise. As would several spots from my first duel now that I think about it. It’s a good thing I had Quick Healing.
“Round two, fight!”
I saved my shot this time around as she approached. Insight saved me from catching a spike to the chest as she rushed me, though it didn’t save me from the second one hitting right over my heart as she caught my dodge. The tasing effect went off, though it wasn’t as serious since she hit me in the ‘armor’.
I pressed forward, deciding to go all in as I threw a slash right at her neck, simultaneously pulling up my crossbow to fire. She dodged back, avoiding my strike as her hook sword curled around my crossbow-wielding wrist like a vine. She sharply pulled, sending electrical jolts up my arm like she cut it off.
Just as smoothly, her second sword swung around into a horizontal cleave that caught me on the hip. I felt Insight’s chill a moment before impact, but the sharp pull on my arm already ruined my balance, so I couldn’t react in time other than a feeble attempt to block it with my dagger. It hit hard, turning the entire arena red as fireworks went off once more.
”Winner, Rí Dao!”
We both backed up, returning to our spots as if she hadn’t just one-sidedly slaughtered me. I’d hate to even think how poorly everything would’ve turned out if I actually met this Rí Dao in the real world.
”Round three, fight!”
I went straight offensive, rushing her this time. My movements weren’t nearly as clean as her technique since, though it didn’t matter too much as we closed the gap. I barely got out a strike before she got around my guard and lightly caught my neck with the hook of her blade. It didn’t hurt me in the slightest, though the shock that came right after did some damage as the arena decided the strike was enough to count as a decapitation.
“Winner, Rí Dao!” Once more, the Arena turned red, though this time the hologram faded as the bot went back the way it came. “Would you like to fight another contender?!”
“Sure.” I rubbed lightly at my neck as I returned to my spot. I was here for the experience, and that had been quite the experience. At humbling, that is. I had a long, long way to go. If nothing else, at least this was a good workout while I waited.