The chamber was humid with a familiar stink of sweat. The lighting rune was hanging on the wall, in reach of her arm; the woman with brown hair did not bother to activate it. She enjoyed this little darkness before all the applauses and glory. She had her spine leaning against the couch like she was paralyzed. Her neck was propped on the top of the couch back, and the top of her head was touching the black stone bricks. She made a sigh. The bricks were used to be light grey when she was a kid.
The voice of the host went through the iron gate, which was an entire wall in the chamber, "The first challenger of tonight was the Giant Serpent Cripatra Leo! The second youngest Scolk fighter in the whole Surt! Tonight was his second fight after defeating the Devastating Storm."
The gate lowered into the rectangular socket on the ground. During the slow descending of the gate, the host began the introduction of the woman, "His opponent, the youngest fighter ever and the youngest champion ever, was, of course, The True Fighter Brawner WalKaya!" The woman picked up the armet next to her. The helmet had two pairs of golden strips nailed on the top and tiny quatrefoils punctured on the visor. Brawner glanced at her opponent. Cripatra wore a black padded doublet, white braies, and a pair of hosen, just like Brawners. She then moved her eyes to the helmet in her hands. The only thing that differentiated the two was that old and dull armet on Cripatra's head.
"Fuck it," Walkaya put on her champion armet, covering the letter "W" on her left cheek. She sauntered slowly out of her dark chamber with a pace of confidence. Her opponent was yelling vulgar words at the auditorium. He ceased his arrogance immediately as Walkaya approached.
It would be an absolute lie if Cripatra claimed to be unafraid. However, he was a tough man. He was tough enough to admit and face his own fear. He bit his teeth hard to avoid them from shaking; he bounced in anxiousness after raising his fists and arms before his face.
The arena was made of a ring-shaped auditorium and a stage in the center. The stair structure of the auditorium was made of stone bricks. The wooden benches were only placed in the rows closer to the stage. People on the cheaper, outer rows had to stand.
Soft soil made up the ground of the stage so that the damage to the ground could be easily prepared. Such consideration was also put into the use of the double-layered wall. The circular wall that surrounded the entire stage was three meters high, with a layer of wooden planks before the steel wall. Wooden scaffolds were placed between the two layers to bolster the planks. Nevertheless, they always broke with the planks.
The two fighters stood before each other with about ten meters between them and a pair of arming swords and long spears standing in the center of the stage. The lighting runes on the dome ceiling had the whole arena brighter than a sunny noon. Cripatra had all his attention concentrated on the monster before him. He could not hear the host calling his name through the speaker rune.
"Cripatra! Cripatra!"
"Hm?"
"Well, it seems like someone was seduced before the battle. Am I right, my fellow Surtians?" The host's slight mockery filled the whole arena, giving Cripatra the opportunity to perform an exaggerated reaction.
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"Oh, come on! I can think about nothing else than destroying her!" The Great Serpent comically scolded with his hands waving in the air, then pointing at Walkaya.
"Aye! My friend. Let's see what The True Fighter has to say about this."
"I," Brawner said and paused, leaking some of her fatigue and carelessness. "Will Crush him!" The True Fighter shouted with her loudest volume and lowest tone.
"Okay! It seems like our contestants are equally hyped as the rest of us! So! Let! The! Brawl! Begin!"
Cripatra cried "Twirl" and charged to the four weapons at the exact moment the word "Begin" was finished while Brawner hid her left hand at her back and retreated backward. Seeing his opponent having no intention of taking any weapon, Cripatra, for a second, suspected she was just shaming him. He grasped the very front part of the spears. As the host made meaningless comments on Brawner's weird action, Cripatra snapped the two speartips off the pole simultaneously. The smart challenger's plan was to break the spears and take the swords. He did not want to leave a weapon to Brawner.
A part of him felt the plan was cheeky and brazen. The other part told himself he had to take every opportunity.
Before Cripatra could pull out the swords, Walkaya swung her previously hidden hand toward him. More than thirty glowing, red crescents formed in front of her. The crescents densely formed a web, crossed each other, lay in all directions, and overlapped. The scarlet web was immediately launched after appearing. Flitting through the air, the crescents spread farther away from each other, widening the web. They were only as fast as arrows, which Cripatra could easily dodge. However, the short instant of shock and the broadening range eliminated all the chances of escaping.
Magic Protection! Cripatra stretched his hands forward, forming a blue square before him. The crescents that touched the square entirely were completely dissolved into a transient red smoke. Those that partially hit the square had their remaining parts flying past Cripatra. Two segments of the wooden wall were slashed into chunks of smooth pieces. With several layers of translucent smoke before Cripatra, Brawner charged toward Cripatra after a light murmur of "Twirl."
The man had stopped casting Magic Protection immediately after blocking the web to save his magic reserve. This logical decision left Brawner a moment to strike. Dashing out of the scarlet smoke, Brawner Walkaya kicked Cripatra in the abdomen, bursting his stomach. Cripatra fell to the ground, sliding away for three meters.
The host called with the roaring audience, "What a surprise! Our greatest and youngest champion just invented a new move before anyone could counter her previous invention!" Even Akki quietly expressed his admiration for that red web since he had no idea how it was made. Roal, also impressed, realized the trick in the feat right away.
"Slash is a hex that requires drawing a 'z' to release a crescent. What she did was just quivering her hand to draw multiple 'z's so that she could shoot multiple Slashes at the same time," Ranith quickly explained to Akki while staring at the stage.
Cripatra smashed his left palm on the ground to his right and pressed his feet against the ground, pushing himself back up. Meanwhile, Brawner picked up the two swords that Cripatra had never had a chance to use. She tossed one sword up and hurled it out as she caught it in the air. During the throw, her body had merely moved except for her arm, and the blade flitted at Cripatra. Although without his stomach, he dodged it without doubt and punched toward his opponent. Burst Fire. A giant blast of flame was pumped out of his fist. The blast was thicker than a warrior's waist and twice longer than Akki's Burst Fire.
By holding her thumb inside her fist, Brawner cast Hex Negation. The great wave of blaze devoured the woman but did not hurt a bit due to her immunity given by Hex Negation. Running in the useless storm of fire, Brawner swung her sword. Cripatra backpedaled and leaned backward, but his fists were loosened. Brawner took the chance, cutting off about two phalanges from his middle finger.
There was a short instant between Brawner finishing her cut and Cripatra's phalanges detached his finger. It was the only window of time for Cripatra to fight back. He forcefully bolstered one foot on the ground and kicked with the other leg. The only problem here was that Cripatra underestimated the youngest champion.
Brawner swung the sword in the opposite direction from the opposite position, reversing the first slash. This time, she gashed off his entire shin. Giving Cripatra no time to cry or slump, she leaped forward and inserted the blade into his chest, specifically his heart.