Yeah, I came up with nothing to do. Well, nothing that I could do in the short bit of time I had between matches. So unless I came up with a new, miraculous way to strengthen someone in a dozen or so minutes, I would have to either wait or figure out a new skill. Something that gave a bonus to strength. Not that that was impossible, just unlikely.

Hell, I already had one such skill, which was odd as it was not one that I would have associated with strength. If anything, I would have thought that a short sword skill would have given a boost to something like dexterity or agility and not strength. Then there was punching and kicking, both of which gave no bonus to any stat. Not that their bonuses were useless, they just seemed weak.

Ah well, there was nothing I could do about the system right now. Maybe if I ever met the programmers, I could demand an answer or two. For now, I had to focus on the situation in front of me. A tiny, pixie-looking woman stood in her spot on the field. She was shorter than me, likely not even reaching four and a half feet. On top of that, I was pretty sure she wouldn’t break one hundred pounds soaking wet.

“Round four,” the announcer’s booming voice seemed to cause the woman to jump slightly. “Lindra Greyhound versus Kyren Vulpier.” I pulled out my sword, debating whether to charge straight in or hit her from a distance with magic. As various potential plans and ideas played out in my head, she pulled out a hammer.

I am not talking about a small hammer that is used for nails, nor even one of the larger hammers used to break concrete or other objects. I am talking about something with a head the size of my torso. The thing had to weigh more than her. Fuck, depending on what it was made of, it might even weigh more than me.

Her hands twisted and twirled the handle back and forth, moving faster and faster until I could hear the thing whistling through the air. As soon as the announcer said, “READY!”, she stopped, the hammer coming to rest in front of her. She held it in such a way that the bottom forward edge of the hammerhead hovered just over the ground. “FIGHT!”

A thunderous boom was the only warning I got as she vanished. With a fast and liberal use of my enhancement spell, I managed to dodge her first swing by a hair. As my feet dug a rut into the soft sand, I managed to turn to look at my attacker. The hammer was already lifted high into the air as she prepared for another strike.

Something about the hammer had my instincts screaming at me to run. That I would not be able to deflect a hit from it, let alone take one. Without a second’s hesitation, I lept to the side.

The hammer slid past me. The move was so fast and so forceful that the air it displaced helped me escape. Not that I was complaining. Not when the hammer hit the sand. The force of it didn’t just leave a small crater or kick up a small cloud of dust. No. It created a wave of the stuff.

Luckily, I was in the air. My body tilted slightly as the wind was still trying to shove me out of the way. This tilting was probably why one of my feet was lower than the other. Low enough to get caught in the top edge of the sand wave.

It grabbed my foot. Pulling it, and everything attached, back toward the ground. The sudden jerking movement left my brain slightly rattled and unable to react as my body slammed into the ground.

I expected the match to be over at that point. So it was a bit of a shock that, when I finally came back to my senses, I found the hammer still stuck in the sand. The head of it was practically buried, and no matter how the pixie-sized woman pulled on it, it didn’t budge.

Now, I abhorred cheaters, and there would likely be people out there who claimed I had cheated, but I also hated to look a gift horse in the mouth. With a swift strike, my sword passed through her neck, ending the match. “In a turn of luck, Kyren Vulpier has won the match.” As the announcer said this, the woman slumped to her knees, her face filled with resignation and something that looked like fear.

While it wasn’t my job or duty to stick my nose into her business, that didn’t mean I would just leave her here. Reaching forward to grab hold of her hammer, I gave it a yank. It was well and truly stuck. With a small application of mana to move the sand, I found the problem. The force of her blow managed to crack the stone below the sand. It wasn’t all that large, just long and wide enough for the edge of the hammer to get well and truly stuck.

A minute and more magic later, I had the hammer free from its imprisonment. As soon as it was free, the woman practically attacked me to get it back. I released it, not really caring that she got it. All I got in return for my work was a simple nod from her before she sprinted to the edge of the arena and out of sight.

The sudden exit had me baffled, but seeing as there was nothing else for me to do, I followed after her, stopping in the waiting room and focusing on trying to figure out what I would do after the tournament ended, whenever that was. While it felt like I had been going for a few hours now, I had no clue how long it had really been.

“You’re up again,” the woman sitting at the lone desk in the room stated. I had been in the room for less than ten minutes. So either the rounds were run concurrently, or the event was nearing the end.

Making my way into the arena, I found my opponent was a mountain of a man. Our eyes met as I walked, and he huffed. “Lookee here, little missy. You best be fixin’ to drop outta this here tournament. I ain’t gonna hit ya, but you sure as shooin’ ain’t takin’ me down neither.” I rolled my eyes. Not because he had mistaken me for a woman, nor his assumption that a girl couldn’t take him down. No. I rolled my eyes because of his damn southern drawl. For some reason, it sounded forced. As if he was faking it for some reason.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Stepping into my circle, I pulled out my Chisa Katana and prepared to show him just what I could do. His shoulders rose and fell as he let out a sigh before pulling out a tower shield nearly as tall as he was. The thing thumped into the sand with such force that I felt it.

We both stood there, silent as we stared each other down. He was likely waiting for me to drop out while I waited for the match to start. Thankfully, for both of us, the announcer’s voice filled the place before even a minute passed. “For round five. We have Kyren Vulpier versus Austin Augusta. How will a jack-of-all-trades fare against a tank?” Either the announcer was getting into the matches finally, or he was bored. “READY? FIGHT!”

Austin’s eyes tracked me as I slowly moved from side to side. I was trying to see which side might hold the best chance at taking the guy down. I was fairly sure neither was better as he swapped the shield from one side to the other when I moved too far in one direction. I muttered, “Fuck it,” just as I decided to go with a simple, if stupid, plan.

My mana poured from me and into my sword. As I did so, a shimmering metallic-looking liquid traveled up the blade. By the end of the ten-second activation time, the blade would be covered by mana, becoming sharper and able to cut any spell. Or at least I hoped it would be able to cut spells. That was one of my original reasons for getting that skill.

Not that any of that mattered now. Now, I just had to focus on my opponent. His eyebrows were lifted as he watched the mana coat my blade. Seeing as he wanted to watch it, I moved to give him an up-close and personal view.

Sand exploded behind me as I boosted my body and shot forward. Getting into my sword’s range just as the skill finished. My mana-coated blade sliced into the edge of his shield, cutting a good ten inches into it before coming to a stop.

While it was a bit of a surprise to have my blade stopped, my focus was centered on the arm behind the shield. I had hit it. Or at least I was pretty sure I had. Too bad his arm looked none the worse for it. Yanking my sword out, I hacked at the shield a second time. The blade made it less than six inches through before stopping as well.

“See?” his accented voice taunted me. “What did I tell you? Save yourself some embarrassment and drop out. There ain't no shame in it.” In response, I activated another of my sword skills. Aiming for the unblemished edge of the shield as it activated.

My sword seemed to stick into the air behind me. My muscles strained as they worked to get the sword unstuck from whatever was holding me back. Without warning, the blade was released. A shiny, silvery streak sliced up in an arc. The Crescent Moon Strike skill, coupled with the Mana Blade, sliced through the shield like it wasn’t even there.

As the top half of the shield thumped into the ground, Austin simply shrugged, dropping the other half to the side as he lifted his hands up in a boxing pose. Given his size, I would die if I even tried to box with him, so that wasn’t happening. Instead, I tried activating my Crescent Moon Strike again.

Nothing happened. I tried a second time, but still, the skill didn’t work. It wasn’t due to a lack of mana, despite using over a quarter of it, I still had more than enough to power the skill.

As I thought through all the reasons I couldn’t use a skill, the metallic sheen on my blade drained away. And, as with the Crescent Moon Strike, the Mana Blade skill refused to activate. Seeing no other option, I gave up on using those skills. Maybe after the fight, I could figure out their issue, but now was not the time.

As I moved in to attack, a muted tan glow covered his skin. It gave the guy a decent-looking tan, but otherwise looked like it did nothing. My blade made contact with his forearm and found no purchase, instead skidding to the side as if he were wrapped in armor.

I figured that whatever the glow on his skin was, it had to be either a spell or skill that strengthened his body. It wasn’t something a new skill or such. Many other games had similar skills. The problem I had was figuring out what type of skill it was. Was it one that gave immunity or lessened damage for a set amount of time, or was it one that took a set amount of damage before disappearing?

As there was only one way to find out, I attacked him in earnest. Striking at every part I could reach. Balls of fire slammed into him from behind as I tried to do as much damage as I could. Finally, a sound of shattering glass filled the area as the glow broke into particles of light. Based on his uplifted eyebrows, he hadn't expected this to happen, which likely meant it wasn’t a timed skill.

Moving in to gut my opponent, I found he started to glow again. This time a muted red color. My sword made contact and I saw nothing but fire as I was flung back. Something around my neck audibly shattered. The pieces of which traveled down my dress and got stuck between it and my skin at various points.

“While this jack-of-all-trades managed to do what no one else in the competition has done, they were still unable to break through the wall that is Austin Augusta. Give it up for our semi-finalist.” As soon as I heard the announcer’s voice, I gave up trying to get up. The round was over. I had lost.

“Not too, shabby, darlin’,” Austin’s drawl caused me to open my eyes. He was crouched next to my prone body. “Ya had me sweatin’ bullets for a sec, with you breakin’ that first shield.”

“What was with that damn shield?” I asked, returning my sword to my inventory before sitting up.

“Talkin’ ‘bout the first one or the second one?”

“Second.”

He helped me up to my feet before continuing as we walked out of the arena. “Kinda my last-ditch defense, y’know. It takes a hit and gives it right back, with a lil’ somethin’ extra.”

“Sounds overpowered if it can reflect any hit.”

“Any single hit,” his drawl stressed the word single. “After that, it’s on cooldown. Now, tell me, what in tarnation did you do to your sword to make it bust up my shield like that?”

“Mana Blade. Before you ask, I have no clue what exactly the skill does. The description is quite vague.” As we stepped out of the tunnel and into the waiting room, the woman sitting at the desk held her hand out to me. It took me a second before I remembered that I needed to return the used-up protection item.

Pulling the leather over my head, I found that the stone was shattered into tiny fragments. She took the leather but ignored the stone fragments in my hand. While she placed it into the box next to her, she spoke to Austin. “Your next match is in approximately ten minutes. I would recommend you rest and recuperate.”

“Thank ya, ma’am.” Austin nodded his head before finding a seat. He gestured to the bench on the other side for me to take, but the woman coughed catching my attention.

As soon as her eyes locked on mine, she said, “and I recommend you return to the seating area. The only people allowed in this room are people still in the tournament.”

I sighed. She did not like me, but to kick me out like this, just what had I done to her? But, instead of arguing, I nodded and started for the door on the other side of the room. Waving back at Austin as I made my way out.