“Semi-finals!! Stage 1 has Jon and Robin, while Stage 2 has Hein and Joester! This will be an exciting evening, with the semi-finals, and the finals happening pre and post dinner break respectively. Don’t miss anything, and keep your eyes peeled!” said Nicholas

“You got this Hein. You better win!”

“You too you son of a b*tch Jon!”

…

I was against that mind-bending f*cker. I will pay him back for the nonsense he pulled on Krog.

“Hi, My name is Robin” he said as he approached me from the other side of the stage. Officially the match had already begun, but this guy was trying to play the cool dude. Fine then. Let me ruin your fake personality as you punishment.

“Hmm, you don’t seem to understand that the match has already begun!” I scorned

“Hoho, don’t be like that!” he said. By this point he was close enough that we could whisper to each other without the judge hearing. The mage was another thing in itself. “Hand over you tokens you got from the previous matches after this match ends! Also surrender right now!” he whispered

“Nope! That sad excuse for hypnoses would never work on someone with superior magic like me!” I whispered back with 3 times more arrogance than his previous remark.

He jumped back in fright, but soon steadied himself and approached me once more. Do everything I just told you or I will make your friend kill himself. He is still under my control, for your information!” he said.

“Are you threatening me?”

“No, I wouldn’t call it that, but yes!” the little sh*t said.

“Oho, no weapons for you. You will leave here broken!” I said as I formed a fight plan for him…

First, distract target with a smokescreen spell. Then block his blind jab. Counter with cross to left cheek. Discombobulate… Dazed, he'll attempt wild haymaker. Employ elbow-block. And body shot. Block feral left. Weaken right jaw… Now fracture. Break cracked ribs. Traumatize, solar-plexus. Dislocate jaw, entirely... Heel-kick to diaphragm. In summary; Ears ringing, jaw fractured, 6 ribs cracked, 14 broken, diaphragm haemorrhaging, lung collapse, aorta rupture, 17 concussions, disintegrated ego, permanent traumatic memories of bare-handed attacks. Physical recovery: 2 months with healing magic. Full psychological recovery: never. Capacity to threaten family or friends... Neutralized.

“Also, I already cleared your influence on Krog before we even began the match. So you can forget about revenge any time soon.” I said with my back faced towards him, walking towards Krog.

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“Winner of battle 51, stage 1, Jon! Total time 9 minutes!” said the judge of stage 1

It was at that moment that something caught my eye. Hein. It was Hein, who was about to begin his battle with Joester. I quickly enhanced my vision and smell, and noticed it. It was poison. F*CKING POISON! Joester was using poison tipped weapons, All of Em! I needed to stop their match somehow. So I roared at the judge and mage of Stage 2,

“STOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!!!”

…

After a brief pause, all eyes turned to me. My voice was exceptionally louder than the average yells from the crowd since I enforced it with some mana as well.

“I looked at Joester and said, he’s using poison in his weapons!”

As soon as I said that, a smile crept up on Joester’s face, as he removed his weapons according to the judge’s instructions. I knew something was wrong, but was not expecting what happened next!

“Nope. No poison here! I’ll cut myself with the weapon if you want” Said the judge of stage 1 as he continued to cut himself in the right arm. After a few minutes of nothing happening, the jusge concluded,

“There is no poison in these weapons. However, since you stopped a match under false pretences, you will be disqualified!” said the judge

As I was contemplating what happened to the poison, I noticed a similar smile on Baron Sake’s face, who was sitting inside the noble’s section.

“Ahem, I don’t think we can just disqualify such a promising individual for preventing possible injuries during the match. I think it would be better if we simply remove one of his extra tokens as punishment” said the king.

“The high king has given his order!” said another man, standing beside the king.

While I was forced to give up one of my tokens, I knew something was wrong. I could still see and smell the poison on those blades, and I could also see that it had entered the judge’s body. However, within a second, it was nullified inside his body!

“Wait” I said. “Let him test the weapon on somebody other than the judge.”

“What! Why” said Joester

“No need. My word is final in this stage. And I said that there is no poison in these weapons!” exclaimed the judge, clearly in fury. But I could see cold drops of sweat forming on his forehead.

I knew he was lying now, and that either the poison takes time to take effect, or that he had already had the antidote.

“Hmm, Baron Sake, I think that you are sponsoring Joester right? Wold you mind summing here and checking his weapons for yourself? Or are you too scared to be cut by a knife”

As soon as I said that, the Baron was put into an extremely tough spot. Either poison from one of his sponsored competitors would be revealed, or he would be labelled as a coward. Hehehe. Let’s see how you respond to that! I know that it was all your plan to poison Krog or disqualify him. Oh how the turn tides!

Thirds person point of view…

All the colour drained from his face, and what was supposed to be a one-sided beat-down of a brat and his friends, turned into a full-blown attack on his own safety and ego! He needed to do something, but what?

At this point, his attendant slipped him a syringe of a silver substance. Realising what it was, the Baron immediately struck his calf with the antidote to the poison he had personally prepared, while acting to tie his laces, under the parapet of the noble’s seating area.

“Haha, you want to challenge me? Fine then, I’ll be right there!” saying this he jumped off the 2 story high balcony and landed in the centre of the arena.

“Give me that” is what the Baron said before he snatched the knife from the judges’ hands and created a deep enough cut on his arm, that is would be visible to any of the audience members, with the sheer amount of blood leaving that wound.