The next two days were some of the weirdest Shaun had experienced, he continued making links and binding them to people, even doing a huge order for Viv and everyone she had managed to recruit to her cause. When people came to him in the store he had gotten a varied amount of looks ranging from straight up hostility to wishing they could be anywhere but near him, it didn’t stop any of them from coming to him to buy what they needed though. Jack had grown more hesitant letting him use his store the longer he was there and when the people coming in had dropped down he decided to call it quits on the links and leave him to his usual business. Even with only a 10% profit he had made out well in coin, he had also managed to gain 2 levels in his profession over the few days which was an added bonus.
When the morning came where they would have to spend two days battling it out to keep their place in the top 15 Shaun made his way to the arena along with everyone else. This would be the only chance for the majority of people in the tutorial to take up the offer of trying to kill him to get an offer to get an invitation into one of the major factions and he was curious to see how many, if anybody, would decide to challenge him. When he got to the arena he found the names of all of those who were in the top 15 and he was both surprised and happy at what he saw. From the people he recognised he saw Viv, Li, Gabe, Eric, Rodger and himself. The 9 others he somewhat recognised their name but wouldn’t be able to point them out in a crowd without identifying them first.
He found his spot in the arena quickly, his name was on an individual board, like everyone else in the top 15, and he stood underneath it. When he did identify everyone that he didn’t recognise he found that the levels were all pretty close together for the most part. The lowest level one of them was a woman named Tracy at level 49 and the highest was a man named Joseph at level 53. When compared to himself there was about a ten level gap, but if he thought about how many levels they would have gained in the last 3 weeks he was impressed with the speed at which they were levelling.
“Hello and welcome to all who have decided to test their strength against the current reigning winners.” Dijaun appeared as well as the audience who would be watching the battles, the reps from the major factions included. “The way this shall work is simple, for the next 10 minutes you may go up to the person who you wish to challenge and put your name down as a challenger to their place. You may choose only 3 people to challenge and once everyone has had the opportunity to place their names as challengers the order shall be randomised and the fights shall begin immediately. Unlike previous fights you will all get to watch these fights, while you wait for your own you may sit in the seats over there.” He pointed to a number of rows off to the side in the stands that had been left empty for them to sit. “I have been asked to give a reminder, anyone who manages to kill Shaun Clermont will be given an invitation to join any of the Major Factions, that includes if you kill him now in these fights. You have 30 minutes to make your choices, the time starts now!
As soon as everyone was given the go ahead some people moved quickly to the people who they wanted to challenge, having already decided upon who they wanted to fight, others were more hesitant in their approach. The people that were lower levelled held back for the most part but there was a decent number who were about even with the people already in the top 15 with Tracy seeming to get the quickest influx of people walking up to her. It took about 5 minutes before the first person came up to Shaun, they didn’t say anything to him but put their name down as a contestant, looking at his level he was at level 48. After they left it was almost as the go ahead was given for people to come up to him. The number increased pretty quickly from then on and by the time the 30 minutes had passed he had 148 people who had decided to fight him, the highest of anyone in the top 15. Shaun almost felt bad, people had signed up to fight him that had very little hope of winning, some not even at level 40 yet, they had no idea what they would be getting into, especially if they pressed him to fight to the death. Most of the other top 15 had between 15-50 challengers, and only from people that actually had a chance to win.
“And the 30 minutes is over! It seems like some of our current winners will have a rough few days fighting all of their challengers! All of our current winners will take turns fighting until they have no challengers left or until they are knocked out. If a challenger win’s they take the spot in the top 15 and will then continue fighting the challengers that are left that would have fought the original contestant. The line up has been randomised, and the first fight will be Shaun Clermont vs Valerie Jenkins!” The moment they were both alone in the arena they were asked if they were ready, which both of them agreed they were, and the fight began.
Valerie took 2 daggers and threw them both at him, each empowered with a skill. Shaun summoned a gust of wind which sent them flying off course to the side of the arena and followed up with an air strike through his sword which Valerie attempted to dodge but wasn’t quick enough. She got hit with the attack in the shoulder and got blasted backwards so quickly that she didn’t have time to stand up before Shaun used his ring and appeared standing above her, sword aimed straight down at her head. “You can’t kill me, concede now or I will show you what happens to people that try and kill me.”
Valerie was still dazed by the air strike but she managed to come to her senses long enough to concede the fight and just like that it was over. Rather than the usual cheering he got from the crowd when he won a match they booed at him. All the reps wanted him dead which meant the clans wanted him dead, him still being alive was no what they wanted to see. One down, 147 left to go.
The fights continued on the same way for most of the day, Eric was the first to finish his challengers, having the least out of anybody, followed shortly by Viv, then Viv and finally Gabe. They had won all of their matches which he was proud of. Some of the original top 15 lost though, especially as it got later in the day and they became more tired, but it was only those on the weaker side and they were unlucky enough to have to fight someone who had a decent counter to their skills. By the time his fights were done he had won 48 of his fights which left 100 for the next day. This it seemed was done on purpose as his turn had been skipped at the end to finish the fights for everyone else leaving the next day purely his.
Unlike many of the others he hadn’t used any potions to recover, not needing to with his higher stats. He also changed up the fights, going from purely magical based to straight up melee to always keep his opponents unaware of what he was going to do next. He hadn’t killed anyone, even though some of the people fighting him looked like they really wanted to kill him, he just had no need to do so, he had shown them how easy it was for him to put them down if he wanted to and always gave them the chance to concede, which they took, not wanting to give up their lives for a lost cause.
The next day he made his way back to the arena, and even though there was a lot less people needed there as most of the fights were over, it seemed that everyone wanted to attend to watch Shaun continue on with his fights. He had heard some talk around how he was not killing anyone even though there was plenty of people out to kill him, more talk around his fighting ability and what counters could be used against him. But from what he gathered people came up empty on how to actually beat him, which was funny as he hadn’t even needed to go all out in using his more dangerous skills.
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“Today will be the last day before we enter into the final fights of the tutorial where we will crown the winner! Shaun has 100 fights that he will need to make it through, no breaks, just back to back fighting! Will he make it? Or will he die!” Shaun was getting over listening to Dijaun and his commentary, the guy was more annoying than a used car salesman and he really wished he would just shut up and get on with it. “There has been a change however. The Factions have come together and offered up an alternative, which will be allowed, but only if all accept. Shaun,” Dijaun spoke directly to him, “if you agree instead of 100 one on one fights you will only need to fight once, against all one hundred challengers.” Why would I even consider doing that? “But what is in it for you? Why would you agree when you can simply go through them one at a time you may be asking yourself? Well a deal has been made, if you win you will get the choice of 11 platinum coin, 110,000,000 TE, or an assortment of natural treasures to choose from, all at least at Epic grade but a number have been put up by the factions which are higher. These natural treasures include items such as The Eye of the Storm, an orb that contains the living embodiment of a storm that could wreck destruction across a planet is unleashed. A sapling of Life, a small plant that contains the very essence of life itself. A Death Sphere, an item that has entombed the very nature of the afterlife, when used giving the user the ability to tap into the very nature of death, and that is just to name a few. If you win, you can pick and choose how your reward, lose, and you will die. What is your choice?”
The offer was enticing, the rewards for winning would go a long way in helping him with his future development, the coins would be great, but it was the TE which he would be able to use on Earth and most of all the natural treasures that he could utilise in not only his crafting but potentially his advancement with affinity. There was very little risk in fighting one on one but to fight 100 all at once meant he would need to truly delve into his affinity and skills, push himself to the limit with all three of his known affinity, air, fire and lightning. There was a decent chance he could still win against 100 challengers at once, and gaining these treasures would be a huge boon, something that he could really use during his time back on Earth. Part of him also wanted to show them, all of the clans, the reps, just who they were screwing with, and in some ways it may even make them second guess their plans for Earth. If he showed just what power he could unleash here it may give them pause, especially The Pantheon, regarding the war for his planet.
“I accept, I will fight the 100 challengers at once. But the challengers should know, I won’t hold back, if they choose to fight me as a group they risk more than loosing, they risk their lives.”
When he finished speaking most everyone got excited, the reps were gambling that he wouldn’t be able to face 100 people and win, the clans were excited for the fight, the challengers for the most part just saw their chance of succeeding go up, but some realised what he had just said. He had been holding back in his fights, he wouldn’t any longer. That gave them pause, was all of this worth dying for?
“Wonderful! All those challengers willing to fight in the group battle against Shaun please move into the arena and prepare to start! Those who choose not to fight in the group will automatically concede their fight.”
By the time all of his challengers had made it into the arena, he guessed that nearly all but maybe one or two had decided to participate, it seemed that for the most part they thought they really had a chance to take him out.
“Are all participants ready?” Everyone gave their acknowledgement, the cheers were near deafening for the fight to start. “Let the match begin!”
Shaun didn’t hesitate to move, he shifted himself into a bolt of lightning and appeared in the centre of the arena, the blast sending anyone close by flying. He then shifted himself into the wind itself and flew up into the air where he reappeared on the platform of hardened air. Quickly, he started pushing mana into the air, replicating the cyclone he had created weeks earlier when he fought the sparrow. He was out of reach for the melee fighters but anyone with a ranged attack was sending them at him. He blocked what he could, either by using his gauntlet’s barrier spell or his sword. Some made it through and hit him, generally doing little damage to him, his own armour doing its job of protecting him.
It didn’t take long for his natural disaster to form, the moment it did and it hit the ground his challengers struggled to fight against the winds, it didn’t stop them from continuing their attacks though. The moment the gem in his gauntlet ran out of mana he shifted into the wind again, moving himself to a different position in the eye of the cyclone, avoiding a majority of the attacks on him. He also took that as his queue to step it up a notch. He started sending bolts of lightning out from him, he turned the arena into an electrical minefield, no one was safe, there was no cover, to be hit with one of those lightning bolts was to die. The attacks on him had lessened considerably, they were now all focusing on defence rather than attack. Shaun had turned himself into the embodiment of a natural disaster and no one was safe. He noticed a number of people concede and run from the arena, he let them go seeing no need to attack them. When he noticed no one else running though he decided to switch up his attack. He stopped drawing on lightning and switched to fire, he sent it into the winds, sustaining the flames with his mana. His cyclone had turned from a devastating wind to a deathly fire storm.
It took only seconds before he was fully surrounded by his fire, people were getting burned, unable to survive the heat, even more made a run for it. For his finishing blow he controlled all of the power he had unleashed and started to pull it all towards him, condensing it down into the most powerful fire ball he had ever created.
“This is your last chance to concede, give up and run before I send this fire down into the arena, you won’t be able to escape, you will die. This is your last chance!” He yelled throughout the arena, still up in the air looking down at everyone who had yet to run. He watched as nearly everyone ran, by the time they were done only 6 people were left in the arena, each holding their weapons and potions at the ready.
Shaun couldn’t hold back the power he was containing any longer, he couldn’t even if he tried, so he sent the fire ball down into the centre of the arena. As soon as the ball hit the ground all of the power it contained was sent rolling out obliterating anything in its path. When it hit the edges of the arena it met a resistance, stopping it from moving into the stand, protecting all of those who were simply watching. For several seconds the heat and flames were all that could be seen or felt, but when they finally dissipated all that was left in the arena was 6 charred bodies.
Shaun shifted back into air and reappeared back on the ground. There was only silence from the crowd, no booing, no cheering. He looked up at the reps who had mixed looks, most were absolutely furious, others just looked shocked that he had won. Surprisingly he got a nod of respect from Xavier, who probably appreciated the show he had put on, the devastating power he displayed. It would be in line with someone that respected war and fighting over all else.
“The winner is Shaun.” Dijaun spoke to the crowd, giving a nervous glance at where the reps all stood. “You will be able to make your choice of rewards as agreed, you can select what you like immediately in the same room as your previous meeting were in. For everyone else, we now have our top 15 contestants finalised. Tomorrow the last of the battles begin in the fight to take the crown and become champion!”
Shaun didn’t bother sticking around, he had loot to pick and he needed time to recover, he had used a lot of mana in creating those attacks and he needed some time to recover. He had done it though, fought nearly 100 people and won, that meant something, and hopefully the reps would reconsider their war on both him and Earth.