Though I had planned on processing my emotions for a bit longer, that was no longer an option.

Austin's attacks were relentless, each one aimed for a vital area. His never-ending assault mixed in with the pinpoint accuracy were only further enhanced by his typing. My understanding of Oriv’s was not the greatest before the fight, but after exchanging several blows with him, my body was slowly beginning to adapt.

Enhanced strength was certainly not the greatest ability on paper, but in the hands of someone truly skilled, it was deadly. We broke away once from a head on collision, though the past few times showed us to be equals, Austin's edge over me was only growing larger and larger.

‘What the hell are you doing!’ Hadeon yelled at me.

I wiped the sweat off my forehead and returned to my stance once more, calming my breathing.

‘What does it look like Hadeon?’ I snapped, lunging forward, my Weaver outstretched.

I swung down hard upon arriving in front of him, the impact breaking the tiles underfoot. Austin sidestepped into a small squat before exploding upwards with a powerful uppercut.

My arms moved to block, but weren’t fully in position once the punch arrived, sending me flying upwards. Without wasting a second more, he followed me to the sky, wrapping himself around my body. We began to spin around violently upon descent, and I struggled frantically to break free.

To my fortune, I had broken free of his grasp. To my dismay, my head was already an inch through the floor. I jumped out the ground as quickly as possible, my head still spinning.

‘You were saying something Hadeon?’ I said innocently.

‘Pathetic. If he's using his abilities why are you still putting up such a puny act? Do you think that pathetic aura is enough? Use your full power! It certainly isn’t very strong, but it’s enough to take down that brat!’

Austin dashed forward, his body turned slightly as he sent a side punch straight into my stomach. I dropped my Weaver just in time, catching his fist in my hands. The impact made my insides feel like they had exploded, but I kept my grip tight.

Instead of struggling, he immediately winded up his other hand, and did something unexpected. Slamming down his fist, Austin punched into his own arm, sending shockwaves off of it.

My hands were flung off, and he quickly jumped back to heal himself. I grabbed my Weaver and did the same.

‘What power! That stupid laser?! How is that helpful!’ My breathing began to slow down once more.

‘Obviously not that you imbecile! Use your brain! If Qi is what is powering your aura, what else can it power?’ Hadeon yelled.

My stance faltered and I stood up in confusion. What else can it power? I looked down at my Weaver, and watched as my aura stopped at my hands. I thought hard about Hadeons words and began to condense my aura from my arm into my hand.

Once it had condensed I mentally pushed with all my might, trying to keep in intact while moving it. My aura slowly started to ooze off my hand, and crept up my Weaver. Before I knew it, my toothpick blade was coated in my aura.

I smiled at the discovery.

‘This is cool and all, but how does this help me?’ I asked marveling at the sight in front of me.

‘There aren’t enough synonyms for dumb that I can use against you. Who cares about coating your weapon! Enhance something useful! Your eyes! Your brain! Your insides! Stop playing defence and get on some damn fucking offence!’ He roared.

My soul nearly jumped out my body, and my eyes quickly moved to look at Austin.

‘Still recovering.’

I noted, watching him in a meditative stance. I allowed for my eyes to close and entered the same state I had upon first viewing my Heartile.

Except this time, I was feeling for something different. I felt the warmth of every vein, tissue, muscle, bone, and organ I had. I felt the beating of my heart, and the hum of my Heartile. I felt the flow of my blood, coursing through me. My aura began to retreat back into my Heartile, but immediately pounced out once more.

Only this time, I didn’t allow it to escape. The warmth of my aura began to circulate in my body, filling every nook and cranny it could find, fuelling and boosting each and every single organ to it’s max capacity, and some even beyond. The horrors of the previous day began to replay in my head, but the newly instated warmth kept the shivers at bay, healing me constantly.

As my eyes opened once more, I could feel it. My lungs were circulating oxygen like never before, my heart was pumping blood at medically alarming speeds, my brain was processing every little thing, not missing a single beat. Every little movement was picked up by my ears, and the hairs all over my body felt every little change in the surrounding air.

When Austin’s figure vanished from in front of me, he reappeared in an instant, just behind, his swift, almost graceful movements sending subtle vibrations through the ground and scattering debris in all directions. His presence was like a whisper before the storm, but I felt his approach. There was no doubt in my mind, no hesitation. I already knew what was coming.

Twin fists shot toward my head from either side, but I ducked, evading the blows in a single fluid motion. As I crouched, I spun, sweeping my leg out in an arc behind me, aiming to take him down. But Austin was much faster than that. In a blur, he flipped over me, his feet barely touching the ground.

The moment he landed, his foot came crashing down, intent on pinning me. Reacting instantly, I shot my hand up, catching his foot midair, gripping it tightly as I stood up.

With a sharp grunt, Austin propelled himself into the air again, his other foot slicing toward my head like a missile. I saw the strike coming and thrust my Weaver into it, the blade piercing through his skin. He yelped, recoiling from the sudden burst of pain, but his attempt to retreat was in vain.

Before he could fully regain his stance, I slammed my elbow down into his trapped leg with all my strength, feeling the satisfying crunch of bone beneath my arm as it shattered. Austin’s healing abilities were impressive, almost on par with mine, but even his rapid recovery wouldn’t save him now. His legs began to knit themselves together almost immediately, but the damage had been done.

I lunged forward, capitalizing on the opening. My knee crashed into his face, the force of the blow sending him sprawling backward across the battlefield. Not letting him catch his breath, I surged after him, leaping high into the air, my legs tucked beneath me. Time seemed to slow as I descended, every muscle coiled and ready to strike.

Before Austin could scramble to his feet, my knees smashed into his face once more, slamming him into the ground with a resounding thud. The impact sent dust and debris flying as his body sank deeper into the dirt, a trail of blood marking where my knees had connected.

Jumping out of the newly created crater, I closed my eyes and focused my aura on my knees, helping them recover from the two consecutive attacks. When my eyes opened once more, a referee-knight was standing over Austin's unconscious body and staring at me with a horrified expression.

I shrugged my shoulders and sat down to begin recovering my energy. The referee announced my victory and quickly brought people over to rush Austin to an infirmary.

I did feel a bit bad about going that far, but there was no time for me to allow personal relationships to drag me down.

It wasn’t long before my next opponent came, a person whose name I had no intention of learning. If Austin, with his background and training was dealt with that easily from the boost my new method of using aura was giving me, then other than that other monster, and maybe Saiba, I was confident in no one being my match.

My next opponent was a small woman, short pink hair and light brown skin. She seemed nothing like a fighter, well almost nothing, except for two black eyes she was proudly showing off. How she passed the first round, I had no idea. She wasted no time in beginning the fight, her aura blazing to life as chunks of the battlefield were pulled from the ground and flung towards me.

A Dica.

I raised my Weaver swiftly, shattering the first chunk of stone flung at me into a spray of jagged shards. But the second piece shot toward me with too much speed to deflect, forcing me to duck and roll, barely evading its brutal impact. The woman, perched on a floating block of earth, hovered above me, with two more chunks orbiting her like sentinels, ready to strike.

Her stance was commanding, her control over the chunks absolute, but even her stone guardians had weaknesses. I scanned the scene, searching for the moment to disrupt her rhythm, to pull those hovering chunks away from their protective post. Without hesitation, I surged forward, my Weaver raised high, a bold display of aggression that I knew would draw her into action.

She laughed—sharp and dismissive, underestimating me. In response, she clapped the two chunks together, the booming collision echoing across the battlefield before sending them hurtling in my direction. How predictable.

Just before they crashed into me, I dropped low, letting my momentum carry me in a crouch, then used every ounce of power in my legs to explode upward. I launched myself off the massive chunk of stone, springing into the air with the precision of a hawk in flight, god I’ve had a lot of air time today. Above, the woman hesitated, convinced she had me cornered. Her arrogance slowed her response, her next set of chunks manifesting too late.

I soared higher, my eyes locked on her as I angled my descent, an arrow fired from the heavens. Time seemed to stretch as I plummeted, my Weaver pointed like a blade, ready to strike. She scrambled, throwing up a mid-sized chunk as a shield between us—a panicked, desperate move. But my speed and force were unstoppable.

I crashed through the stone with a deafening crack, my Weaver slicing through the debris and plunging straight into her abdomen. She gasped, her eyes wide with shock and pain. One last, feeble attempt at a punch flickered from her, but I swatted it and her away with ease, her strength drained and her confidence shattered.

Victory was once again mine.

Two fights over, two more to go? I couldn’t remember, but I knew there weren’t many. I actually had a shot at winning this whole thing.

“Hopefully you don’t treat me as roughly as Austin.” My third opponent arrived at the sorry excuse of a battlefield, Saiba.

In comparison to Austin and quite frankly everyone else I knew, Saiba was the one person I truly respected. He was straightforward and genuine, he was a good man. Which I guess the same could be said about Goblin, but only god knows what he’s up to.

I smiled, but once again offered no words in exchange.

My confidence faltered a bit, but only because I knew Saiba would not be an easy opponent. I let out a long sigh and hooked my finger, a provocation. Saiba offered a similar smile in return, and instantly his entire body became coated in a metal suit of armour.

“Tch.” My expression soured.

I understand he was a Mech typing, but the suit of armour had truly become the bane of my existence, and I’ve had a very short existence. The suit itself wasn’t as fancy as I expected, no cybernetic doohickeys, no over the top reactors or pulsing beams.

He kind’ve just looked like a human wearing a cyborg. It was a bit creepy.

We both lunged forward, the tension between us crackling in the air. This fight wouldn’t be won by clever tricks or calculated deception—no, this was going to be a brutal, unrelenting slugfest. Pure strength against strength.

We collided in the centre of the battlefield with a thunderous crash. His right fist smashed into my face, sending a shockwave of pain through my skull, while his left pummelled into my ribs, forcing a mouthful of blood up my throat. But I didn’t slow down, not for a second. Ignoring the pain, I thrust my Weaver forward, aiming straight for his chest plate.

At the same time, I swung my right leg into the side of his thigh, kicking him down with all the force I could muster.

The blowback from his armour stopped my Weaver from hitting anything vital, and kicking solid metal felt like smashing my leg against a wall, but it worked. His knees buckled under the pressure, and suddenly, there was my opening.

I dropped my Weaver and grabbed his helmeted head, gripping it tight in both hands. Without hesitation, I slammed my knee toward his skull, a move that seemed brilliant in my mind, but the instant impact told me otherwise. Pain shot up my leg as my knee connected with solid steel, the vibration rattling my bones. But it wasn’t all in vain; a small section of his helmet tore apart, exposing a glimpse of his face beneath.

The metal was already beginning to patch itself, but it gave me hope. If I hit hard enough, I could break through his defences.

In one smooth motion, I picked up my Weaver and spun, bringing it down hard where Saiba stood. But with an almost effortless move, he blocked the strike with his forearm and ,damn him, stole my own technique.

His leg swung out, crashing into my thigh before he spun again, sending another kick toward my head. I blocked it with my arms and tried to push off the ground, only to be slammed down, then thrown across the battlefield like a rag doll.

I staggered to my feet, my body aching, now halfway across the field. Gritting my teeth, I regained focus. Saiba was charging at me, and I had only seconds to figure out how to get past that damn armour. If he had been a mindless brute in a metal suit, I could’ve just aimed for his weak spots over and over.

But Saiba wasn’t an idiot—he was far too smart for that to work.

As he launched into the air for a flying punch, I dashed under his descending body and grabbed his legs from behind. Gripping them tight against my chest, I slammed both of us backward into the ground. The impact rattled my bones, but I pushed through the pain. I couldn’t let up.

Saiba began to recover, but I was already on him, leaping onto his chest, pinning him beneath my weight. My aura flared to life, condensing around me, crackling with energy as I braced for what came next. This was going to hurt. Badly.

With every ounce of strength I had, I unleashed a flurry of punches, raining them down onto his exposed face. Metal chips and shards of my own skin scattered around us with each brutal impact. Saiba tried to push me off, his limbs flailing, but my feet were locked onto him. No amount of force would dislodge me now.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity of smashing my fists into steel and flesh, the last layer of his defences shattered. His movements slowed, then stopped altogether. A few more powerful hits were all it took to completely immobilize him, leaving Saiba utterly defeated beneath me.

The blood on my hands terrified me, but I stood nonetheless and held them up in triumph. As the referee arrived once more, I helped Saiba stand and passed him over to them.

“This brat and the kid that other freak pummeled will fight it out for third and fourth place. Maybe if you didn’t nearly hospitalize the other two opponents, some of us would’ve won our bets.” The referee sneered. “You’re in the finals with that monster, I hope you don’t die.” His expression flickered to a smile before he walked away.

That wasn’t incredibly reassuring, nor did my nerves settle knowing who I’d be facing in the finals, but I couldn’t allow myself to be shaken. No matter what, I could not give up.

I had to win.