Sam groaned and the man lying next to him laughed.

“Your little friend isn't looking so good right now, eh?”

“Shut up, Kane. Nobody wants to hear your voice. You had your chance, but you're done now. I’m on top.” These words incensed the other man, and he tried to get out of his bed to attack Sam, but he let out a cry of pain as he tried to lever himself up. Sam scoffed and went back to watching the screen.

“Now, for the final battle of the winners’ bracket, we have Starchild versus Solitaire!”

Sam had never really heard of the two before, and only knew that they were quite powerful. As the two walked up onto the arena, Sam got a better look. He had seen them briefly at the start of the finals, and had wondered who exactly they were. Perhaps he would find out now. As the match commenced, Sam leaned forwards a little bit to see the screen better. It was frustratingly small, perhaps designed for more powerful cultivators who had superhuman eyesight. Sam had much better eyesight than he had possessed before, but it was still only a little bit better than that of a normal human.

Solitaire was some sort of ranged fighter, one that used cards as their main method of attack, which was pretty obvious given their name.They threw cards that had tarot symbols on them, and each of them appeared to have a specific effect. As they threw the first one, a card with the image of the sun, it turned into a fireball midair, flying towards Starchild.

The woman raised one hand, and a gentle light appeared in front of it, coalescing into the shape of a tiny star. The orb of soft light flattened out into a shield, one that sparkled with a facsimile galaxy on it formed out of little specks of light. She braced herself, and the fireball struck the shield, driving the woman back a step. The shield began to leech energy out of the fireball, feeding it into the woman holding it. She directed that energy to her other hand, causing it to glow. Pointing it at the other fighter, she created a spear of light that traveled faster than Sam could see.

A card drifted out of Solitaire’s clothing unbidden, one with the image of a flexed bicep on it. As it appeared, Solitaire bulked up, gaining 50 pounds of solid muscle in an instant. The spear hit, lancing into the fighter’s abdomen, but not penetrating deep enough to cause lasting harm. The card drifted to the ground where it crumbled into ash, and Solitaire returned to normal. He, for Solitaire was most clearly a man from the way that his physique bulged out, drew another card as Starchild began to run towards him. It was painted with a depiction of a chariot, and a bright light appeared around Solitaire as he drew it.

He pushed off the ground, and his legs blurred as he ran towards Starchild. The woman had not been ready for such a turn of speed, and she was clotheslined by Solitaire, the momentum of his attack sending her flying. The light faded away and Solitaire panted heavily for a moment before regaining his energy. Drawing another card out of his sleeve, the man threw it at Starchild. The sight of a vaguely religious figure, sitting on a throne, confused Sam as he saw it, but the effect was soon made clear. A fist appeared above Starchild, as if the judgment of a god, and slammed down on her. She was flattened into the sand, and then the fist vanished, revealing her bloodied form.

Starchild got up slowly and clasped a hand to her wounds, healing herself with an injection of energy. Solitaire was bent over double, trying to recover before Starchild attacked again. That particular card had taken a lot out of him, and Sam did not know if he would be able to sustain another such attack. Starchild was proving to be quite a resilient fighter, despite her lower position on the leaderboards than Solitaire.

She started running forwards, a jet of light appearing behind her that propelled her body at high speeds. She grasped something out of the air, making her fist glow with the light of a nascent star, and she planted her hand into Solitaire’s stomach. The man coughed up blood as he fell backwards, and rolled along the sand for a good few feet. He must have had very low durability as when he got up, the shape of his torso showed that multiple ribs had been completely shattered. He spluttered and then grabbed a card out of the air, one with a heart of it. Popping it into his mouth, Solitaire let out a relieved sigh as his wounds were healed.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Starchild backed up as she saw this, and started to retreat. Solitaire drew two cards at the same time, his body starting to twitch as he did so. The hand that he held the cards in broke, but he still was able to use them. A grinning devil appeared behind Solitaire, causing him to glow with a red light. He thrust out the remaining card, which was also glowing, and a beam of white light shot out towards Starchild. It was corrupted with veins of scarlet, and as it neared the woman, it altered its trajectory to follow her attempt at a dodge. A moment later it had struck her, and then the light vanished, revealing a foot wide hole in the woman’s torso, which was completely see through. She was teleported away and Solitaire raised his hand in victory.

The man walked off the sands and back into the waiting area, to deafening applause. That had been quite an enjoyable fight to watch, thanks to the man’s unconventional moveset. The use of tarot cards had been a novel way to fight, and had engendered interest in the audience. Sam clapped briefly and then felt a tug on his stomach as he was teleported back to the waiting room, next to Eduardo. The man had healed from his injuries and gave Sam a smile as he saw that he had recovered.

“How does it feel being the second strongest human on the planet?” Eduardo asked.

“Pretty good, but doing so at the expense of Rodney Kane felt even better.”

Eduardo chuckled at that. They both had strong feelings about Rodney Kane, none of which were very positive. As they sat there, the System began to speak.

“That brings an end to the first section of the finals. Congratulations to all who passed into the next segment, but there is still hope for the losers. Because of the nature of the matches, it has been decided to have a battle royale between all the competitors to determine the next matchups. After all, it is not exactly fair for a weaker fighter to move on while a stronger one does not simply because the matches are not randomized. In this battle royale, the losers will be under the effect of heavy penalties, in order to favor those who were able to win. The last 8 standing will move on to the quarter finals. This will begin when everyone is fully healed.”

Sam gave Eduardo a worried look. This could be bad, if Sam didn't keep on his toes. It was very likely that the Overlord would be gunning for him, seeing as Sam was now directly below his place on the leaderboards. If Sam had been in the other man’s place, he would have done the same thing. There was also the possibility of others teaming up against them. In any case, he and his allies should support each other at all costs. Sam quickly explained this to Eduardo.

“When Lao comes back, we need to tell him to follow this plan. If we are all to make it to the latter stages of the match, we will have to stay together,” Sam said, thinking hard on what was the best course of action. Eduardo nodded in response.

“Good idea. We will be able to keep each other safe in the event that our worst predictions come to pass.”

“Let's hope that they don’t,” Sam said afterwards.

“Amen.”

Sam gave the other man a look.

“What? Anything can be a prayer if the intent is honest.”

“So you figured out your faith in the face of the System?” Sam asked, intrigued.

Eduardo nodded.

“There has to have been a creator somewhere, and why can that creator not be God? In any case, it will be a while before I find out the truth anyway.”

Sam nodded. He was somewhat envious of the man’s ability to comfort himself with his belief in a higher power. Sam had always been too cynical to find any sort of religion, and it was far too late now. The only other option was the System Church, and he had no intention of joining that, not only because of his possibly heretical heritage, but also because they sounded like a bunch of assholes. One day Sam would stand in front of the gates of the Church’s most sacred sanctum and he would tear the entire corrupt edifice down from the top all the way to the bottom. He did not know when that would be, but it would happen. That he was sure of. The sense of conviction that his Dao implanted into him supplanted common sense, and the fact that he was unlikely to live until Tantalos came to collect his due, and let alone past that, did not register.