Sam watched eagerly as Lao clambered down into the arena, clutching his staff. He had not possessed the weapon prior to a few days ago, but he had apparently been quite proficient with one in his life before the System had come, and he had already been able to reach the halfway mark of his weapon mastery.
Clutching his staff, he bowed at Sarge. The robot bowed back, and summoned his own staff to the area. This would be an interesting fight as Lao lacked much in the way of physical prowess. Thankfully for him, Sarge was limiting his own power to match.
The robot ran towards Lao, moving at a speed that seemed incredibly slow to Sam. Sarge whipped his staff around, sending the end hurtling towards Lao’s neck. The man planted his own staff into the ground next to him, holding it securely between his hands and the sand.The attack smashed into the staff, and almost drove Lao off his feet. However, the man held steady, and was able to redirect into the ground.
The man whipped the base of his staff around towards Sarge’s legs, but the robot blocked it, sending the strike into the sand. Lao jumped backwards, and avoided the return strike, only narrowly dodging. He swiped out at the robot’s feet, trying to flip the other fighter over. Sarge planted his own staff, but Lao swiped up his weapon, heading for Sarge’s chin.
The robot snapped out his hand and grabbed at the staff, blocking it. Sarge twisted his hand, wrenching the staff out of Eduardo’s hands, and into his own. The man danced backwards, but he quickly found himself caught between the two staffs, with one pointing at his face, and the other at his legs.
He was pressed up against the wall, and he sighed, shaking his head. He had obviously been expecting more out of himself, but now that he had matched himself up against a sufficient challenge, he found himself lacking. If he was ever caught out without any remaining power, then he would be forced to rely on his staff. However, not everyone had the same advantages that Sam had, and eventually, most fighters would need to narrow in their focus to a set number of stats.
Sam could afford to invest in all of his stats, because of his massive bonuses from his class, but most people were not so lucky, at least for now. In the future, they would be able to gain better classes, but as far as Sam could tell, the maximum that anyone save for him or Jeffrey had within his faction was an Epic class. Such a class was good, but it wouldn't give many bonuses to its bearer, at least compared to people like Sam.
In any case, Lao had invested heavily in his mental stats, as opposed to his physical ones, which were lacking for his level. However, he was a powerhouse in terms of magical abilities. The problem was, he had no relevant mastery stat for those abilities, as he had branched out into using a melee weapon, unlike Addas, who had somehow gained a magical mastery section of his stat sheet, which boosted his magic in the same way that normal weapon mastery boosted damage. However, it was in a more indirect way, seeing as it made it easier for him to hit with his magic, almost like an automatic aiming function rather than lending itself to his overall prowess. In addition, it slightly reduced the amount of mana needed to use a specific ability, as well as increased the damage that it did.
The man was getting close to upgrading to F Rank as well, which would make the effects more profound. Speaking about Addas, he was up next.
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
The man stood and walked down the side of the arena, rather than jumping down, as most of the others had. He began to glow with red light as he triggered one of his abilities, and Sarge quickly adapted to use a more magical style of combat. The staff he had been wielding disappeared, and his fists started to glow with the light of mana. He was fighting in a different manner to Addas, as he could not exactly copy his magical abilities, seeing as they were linked to a Dao and an affinity. However, he could use unaspected mana to achieve a similar effect.
The robot quickly sent a beam of light heading straight for Addas’ face, the attack blindingly bright. Addas raised one hand, and what looked like the wheel of an ancient chariot dropped down into it, like a shield. He raised the wheel, and blocked the attack, sending it reflecting back towards his opponent.
Sarge dodged to the side, and returned fire, spraying the air in front of him with a wave of small mana bolts. Each of those bolts homed in on Addas, and the man danced backwards, his shield rapidly dissipating as his mana was worn down by the barrage. Addas roared in frustration, and banished his shield, ducking under the remainder of the attack.
He quickly triggered another one of his tarot card abilities, and his body began to lengthen, bulking up with muscle, but in a way that increased his speed rather than his strength. He quickly ran forwards, moving at high speed, and planted a flaming fist into Sarge’s face. However, the robot had summoned a shield mere seconds before impact, and the attack bounced off, barely fazing the robot.
Addas danced backwards, his temporary enhancement already disappearing. The man looked a little worse for wear as well, and he seemed that he was starting to feel the fatigue from using his abilities too quickly. He closed his eyes, and two glowing blue hearts dropped out of the sky, landing in his hands. He quickly swallowed them, and he seemed to perk up, regaining some of his lost energy. Seeing as it was impossible to gain mana from spending mana, he must have had some sort of stamina related ability in reserve for an occasion like this.
Sam had simply relied on his brute strength and overpowered abilities thus far, but he knew that others had tried to game the System, creating skills that resonated with one another in ways that stretched their abilities beyond what they should have been.
Addas opened his eyes, only to take a bolt of mana straight to the face, sending him skidding backwards. He quickly righted himself, and his skin began to glow a fiery red color, and ethereal horns grew out of his head. If Sam remembered correctly, he was using the Devil tarot card, which had been his strongest move during the tournament. The man quickly charged up an attack, a ball of pure red light forming within his hands. He opened his palms a moment later, sending a beam of red light screaming towards Sarge.
The sand underneath it melted, and the attack slammed into Sarge’s abdomen, breaking up the shield. The robot was now defenseless, but Addas was too exhausted to continue, and Sarge quickly finished him off with a mere mana bolt. The robot walked up to the prone man, and lifted him to his feet, waiting for him to recover before he told him what he had done wrong.
“You have powerful abilities, Addas, but you need to find a way to limit their impact on yourself. They seemed to be extremely taxing to your body, and if you use too many within one fight, then you basically defeat yourself. Your abilities are quite impressive as well, but you should focus on consciously training your martial skills, not just letting the experience rack up over time. You might find that helpful.”
Addas nodded, and stumbled back towards the stands, allowing the next fighter to come up. This continued like this until everyone had had their go with Sarge, which ended predictably in them finding out just how inadequate they were. Rather than give up however, they all resolved to pick up their pace in the future, and continued to train.