Rage and annoyance obviously started to build within Savagio, but then he calmed himself, "At least you humans are decent at banter. Can't you decrease your size a bit so I can use you for target practice like the others?"
"Oh, you cheeky monkey fuck," Savagio suddenly shouted as he had caught on to what Alistair had been doing.
Savagio's wings spread out, and a bow appeared in his hands as he took to the air with a large burst of speed. Alistair, in response, activated all his boosting skills except Cold Rage and summoned his battle spheres to shoot at the Equusari with explosive blasts. A barrier sprung up to block the incoming attack alongside a disrupter field that would prevent Alistair from teleporting too close to his opponent. Alistair teleported ahead of Savagio just outside of the field's range as the Equusari unleashed arrows of light at him, shooting perfectly circular holes into the arena floor where he had just stood.
Alistair's conceptual awareness revealed that the arrows used the light concept rather than the holy concept, which was a relief as he had experience with the former and would be able to use his Kinetic Skinguard to absorb most hits unless his opponent' put too much power in the attack or was able to weave some disruption or dispel concepts into the arrows. Dodging the arrows would be luckier than anything else. While he could follow the rapid arm movement and guess the trajectory, the arrows arrived nearly instantaneously, sometimes even too fast for his auto barrier to react. The first hit confirmed that the arrows worked like he expected, as besides a bruise, a sphere of kinetic energy sprung from his body. This immediately got the attention of Savagio, whose eyes flicked to the sphere as Alistair tried to close the gap.
Unfortunately, Savagio was a much faster flyer than Alistair. While not as nimble, it wasn't to the point where Alistair could keep up as more spheres sprung from his body. Savagio's barriers were shattered and reformed under Alistair's barrage.
"You're a scary fucker. I'll give you that," Savagio quipped before summoning a hailstorm of light arrows. Alistair had to teleport to avoid the barrage, but his teleportation was disrupted beyond the field's usual range. He quickly summoned multiple layers of barriers and used half of his stored kinetic energy to launch concentrated blasts, smashing through Savagio's arrows. Alistair cursed, stored his poleaxe, and summoned King to attack from the side. His blasts shattered several arrows before fizzling out, but his blasts weren't enough to stem the tide as his barriers quickly gave way. Pelted and pierced by arrows, Alistair used his own Warp Snare spell to prevent Savagio from teleporting.
Caught off guard by King and unable to teleport, Savagio was hit by King's powerful sonic beam, which crashed through his barriers and struck him, causing him to recoil as his furred skin got ripped and torn. He redirected his attacks to King, relieving the pressure on Alistair, who strained to keep the Equusari from teleporting and maintaining his own attacks, which proceeded to break through Savagio's barriers. Once close enough, King made a rapid flip, his large bladed tail severing one of Savagio's wings before being driven back and heavily injured by the sheer volume of attacks piercing his armored hide.
Alistair rapidly approached, channeling all his stored kinetic energy and a significant portion of his Qi reserves into one massive Kinetic Blast. When he was just a few meters from Savagio, he shouted, "Prepare to die, you equestrian shit!" The blast struck the hamstrung Savagio, whose body visibly crumpled as he was hurled into the arena dome. Losing focus, Savagio's attack spell and disruption field dissipated, and he fell seemingly unconscious. Wasting no time, Alistair immediately teleported next to the falling Equusari to deliver the coup de grâce. Just as he brought down his poleaxe, a shockwave of magic shot toward him, driving him back despite his best efforts.
But it was all in vain for Savagio as the heavily wounded King swooped in. With a roar, the large wyvern snapped his powerful jaws around Savagio's lower torso, severing it in a decisive and brutal strike. To Alistair's dismay, this still wasn't enough to kill Savagio. The Equusari's badly damaged upper torso spun around to unleash a massive arrow of light, which punched a large, perfectly circular hole through King's shoulder plate and neck, nearly severing his left wing. Seizing the window of opportunity, Alistair channeled all his mana into Temporal Combat Reflexes to speed himself up and align his blade as he decapitated Savagio, finally bringing an end to the battle.
Savagio's body and King crashed into the arena floor, and Alistair landed beside them. He was riddled with holes and bruises, his silver blood pooling at his feet. King let out a whistling gurgle, his throat heavily damaged in the attack. Blood flowed from the wyvern, merging with Alistair's pool, while the remnants of his wing hung loosely. Their suffering was brief as both were teleported out of the arena, perfectly restored. Alistair absent-mindedly spent the points from his level up while touching the spots where his opponent's attacks had punched through his body. He replayed the fight in his mind, analyzing every detail. It had been exciting and challenging, and a mistake could have cost him the victory. He petted King, taking out a large chunk of lomie meat to reward the wyvern. Alistair wasn't sure if he could have dealt with Savagio without him. It would have been a battle of attrition and chance, as a wrong move on either side could have ended the fight. He was sure they both still had more cards to play. However, Alistair felt confident that his energy management would have allowed him to outlast the Equusari if it had come down to it. Still, if he had acted too aggressively and had taken on the same blast King had, he wasn't sure there would have been enough left of him to continue the fight even after reaching grade 8.
He would need to get Nessyra to gather as much information as possible on his next fights. He had only limited information on how the System handled the brackets and if he had three two or one fights left to complete. Fortunately, there weren't many potential fighters left, and the first few Galaxy ladders had already come to a close, which should have narrowed the possibilities down enough to make an educated guess. It was as if on the queue, both Riseth and Nessyra entered the cultivation room he was in. Dexter followed beside them, and Fluffy was hanging over Nessyras shoulder, enjoying the idle scritches Nessyra gave her. They looked a bit tense, and upon seeing his expression, they relaxed, but he must have sent her contemplative vibes over his resonance based on Riseth's look. Alistair greeted the group with a wave and smile.
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"I'm sorry, Alistair. I should have researched your potential opponents. I was too busy figuring out who we would face on our ladders," Nessyra apologized, her eyes flicking back and forth as she flipped through multiple pages of information on her pad-like system.
"It's fine. With so many ladders and possible opponents, it would have likely been for nothing," Alistair reassured her.
"Yes, but with the new information we gathered and your placement within the top 10, we very likely know what's next," Nessyra said, stopping on a page.
Alistair looked at her curiously, gesturing for her to continue.
"You are almost certainly on the same ladder as Simon, and you only have one more match because you are the clan patriarch; the system tries to avoid having clan members fight each other," Nessyra explained hastily. "The only people left are you, Simon, and Marilyn Dixon, who are currently fighting. You'll face either Simon or Marilyn in the finals."
"Wait, how does that work exactly?" Alistair asked, confused.
"We have seen this pattern before and you likely received a 'Bye Round' because you were clan patriarch, like Marilyn. But Simon defeated her vampire underling and is now fighting her," Nessyra said. "But that's not important right now. Marilyn is a Vampire and an incredibly powerful one. She uses mind attacks, blood magic, and physical combat. She's very well-rounded. I know you know how to kill a Vampire, but burning her bloodcore might not be enough. Decapitate her as well and burn her remains to make sure."
Alistair thought about it. He had not expected to have only one fight left or even reach the finals. He had aimed for the top 10 and then a good rank within the universe ladder. Surprisingly, there weren't that many combat-oriented species other than the humans within the Milkey Way. Even then, he would not have expected to make it as far as he did. Perhaps he had gotten lucky, and Savagio had been matched up with the elites who would have been able to counter him.
"I've had plenty of practice fighting vampires and other regenerating foes, and fortunately, I have quite a few fire-based abilities. Simon doesn't quite have as much experience as I do, but he has his own methods for dealing with regenerating opponents. He might still win, even if he doesn't. I learn more by watching the fight," Alistair suggested.
"While we walk, I'm more curious to know what kind of opponents are left in the Andromeda ladder," he added, leading the way to the door and storing King back in his plane.
"Our galaxy is larger than yours and has a few more civilizations, so we have a few more ladders and contenders. However, the most terrifying one is from our planet, a true Demon Lord subspecies. He has crushed almost everyone with his overwhelming magic and sheer physical strength," she explained with some noticeable reverence.
"Am I hearing you right? Do you have a crush?" Alistair teased.
"Hardly," Nessyra retorted. "And since Riseth is the matriarch, I will presumably face him first if we are in the same galaxy ladder. I am not looking forward to that," She concluded with a sigh.
Alistair patted her shoulder, and Fluffy took the opportunity to slither over to him. He let her and stroked her chin as he felt her become slack over his shoulders.
As they made their way to the match, Alistair noticed that Dexter had been rather quiet and gave him an assessing glance.
"Are you alright, Dexter? You seem very quiet," Alistair inquired.
"Sorry, I'm processing things. There's a lot I don't understand," Dexter replied telepathically, his tone a bit down and contemplative.
Nessyra turned a glint of worry in her eye. "Dexter has been amazing! Without him, I would have fallen off the ladder," she said, bending down to scratch Dexter's head to mollify him.
Nessyra contacted Alistair through their link to provide an explanation. "He's feeling a bit insecure and overwhelmed by all the new things we've introduced him to. He has doubts about his intelligence and abilities."
Alistair considered this as they stepped through another portal. It wasn't the worst thing that Dexter felt a little humbled, so he wouldn't encourage coddling him but would praise him for his progress. After a short pause, Alistair decided to send the small beast a private telepathic message.
"Dexter. The fact that you feel humbled shows growth and emotional intelligence. But don't let it get to you; you're the smartest beast I know. Please keep helping Nessyra for me."
Dexter stopped in his tracks for a moment, confusing everyone as they gave him a curious glance.
Dexter quickly picked up the pace again and did not look at Alistair but sent a telepathic message in return. "I will!" the Yagans voice rang out with newfound confidence.
Alistair smiled; he was glad that Dexter had chosen to reach out to him back then. Having a powerful beast like Dexter join them was already paying its dividends. By now, everyone in the clan had some kind of summon to prevent any chance of slavery, though few of the beasts were worth the mana cost to summon and were more placeholders to be released once they found a suitable summon. Alistair had given away a bunch of the Bonguru, which he had left over from his summoning classes, though most were able to subdue or tame some low-tier beasts. They had even handed out some lomies and other beasts they considered farming as increasing their Grades might benefit them in the future. Simon had taken on a goat-like beast and a lomie, which he called Steve. Melissa had taken on a female lomie called Stacy upon Simons's insistence on the name. They had handed out six lomies total to have three higher-grade breeding pairs.
Alistair's musings were disrupted as they teleported into the arena stands, where he saw Simon desperately fighting Marilyn. A storm of half-molten obsidian shards clashed with a sea of blood, each side trying to overpower the other. Alistair watched as some tendrils of blood made it past, cutting into Simons's body and pulling the blood out of his body as Marilyn got pelted by molten stone. Simon teleported back and cauterized his own body to prevent more blood from being drawn. His wounds were already visibly healing, and Marilyn restored herself as fast as the wounds appeared.
Alistair realized Simon must have bonded with the symbiote since he had last talked to him. He knew Simon had visited Dexter but had been too busy leveling up to check on him. Observing the fight, he could tell she occasionally turned incorporeal, the sea of blood an extension of her body. Alistair cursed as he considered how he would deal with her, as Simon demonstrated how inefficient dispelling magic was against her. What annoyed him even more was how casual she was about that fight, idly filing her extending nails as the sea of blood continued to hound Simon.