Chapter 77

“Now that the pesky stick is out of the way…”

Sunshine didn’t even finish the statement, and she didn’t need to. I was sooo done. Without my staff, my chances of winning had all but disappeared. I might have trained my [Unarmed Combat] Skill, but it was nothing more than a side dish to me. For her, it was the main course. The only course.

‘You still have Mana.’

That was the second time during this fight that Clare had offered unsolicited advice. The last one had turned out badly for me, because of me, and I didn’t think this one would help as much as Clare thought it could.

But it couldn’t hurt to try.

Looking at her again, she appeared bigger, more dangerous than she had looked before. I tried to convince myself it was because I had lost my staff, but that only served to remind me that I had indeed lost my staff. Which only added to the twisted view I was having of Sunshine. There was no way I was going to win. No way.

No. no. no. Mesily, no!

And I turned tail and ran away from her.

After a few strides, I stopped. What was I doing? I wasn’t in some back alley that I had to run for my life when things got tough. No, I was in the Jibane Arena, for the finals of the Counties. And I was fighting for gold, not for my life. Gold.

I slowly turned around, only to find Sunshine staring at me with a somewhat confused expression. Honestly, I couldn’t blame her. It was easy to imagine what was going on in her head at the moment. I wondered what the MC was saying, what the spectators were doing. They booing right now. Any fans I might have garnered had surely left me now. Xan! Right, he would just find it funny.

I was surprised she hadn’t attack me when I ran away. Had our places been switched, I didn’t think I would have hesitated to take her out. But thanks to that, I had the chance to redeem myself somewhat. And there was only one way to do that; going all out, and then some more.

I gave her a weak smile. “Shall we begin.”

And I [Fast Dash]ed her.

I didn’t know how long that whole running away business had lasted; maybe seconds, minutes, hours? But one thing was clear; it was over and done with.

Did I think I was going to win the fight? Mesily no. But with that shtick I had performed, I needed to give everyone a performance they would never forget. Most of all, Sunshine.

I used the [Fast Dash] to run into her, lifting her clearly off the arena as I came out of it. I pummeled her with a [Hurtling Projectile] before she could even land, sending her to the edge of the arena. The last time I had done that to someone, it had marked the end of the fight.

With Sunshine, I knew that wouldn’t be enough. Not by a long shot.

So, I was on her with another [Fast Dash] before she could even begin to get up, punching and kicking for all I was worth. When I saw the golden glow in her eyes, I realized what was coming too late to do anything but raise a shield between us.

Just like before, the punch went through with enough leftover power that it propelled me halfway across the arena. We got up nearly at the same time, throwing Mana attacks at each other, one after another, before we realized we were so far apart that we could easily evade each other’s’ attacks. Then when we rushed each other.

For the first few seconds, we were both meeting air with our attacks, no one making an effort to actively parry the other’s attacks. On my part, I knew I couldn’t afford to do that, not when that golden glow was still in her eyes.

Then she caught my wrist, pulling me in for a sharp head butt that left a high pitched ringing in my ears, and my brain scrambled. She wrapped her arms around my head and pivoted away from me, twisting me around into a hangman’s throw that send me tumbling to the arena, knocking the breath out of me.

If I hadn’t been scrambled before, I was now. Every part of me was aching too much; from my head, down my neck, and all the way to my legs.

What I would only call my danger sense flared up, and I rolled on instinct. A trembling went through the arena, the only thing that let me know I had just avoided what could have been a life-ending attack. This is no time to be taking a break, I thought as I rolled up onto a crouch.

A good thing I hadn’t gotten fully up as Sunshine’s leg whizzed past, mere centimeters above my head.

I swept for her remaining leg, but she was already on the move, as if she had anticipated that, hopping back and throwing a Mana attack at me. I rolled to the side, throwing a [Fire Bolt] at her. Wait, what? I cursed myself for the wasted opportunity. It should have been a [Fire Ball], that was faster, covered a larger area, and had more power behind it. It was the better option altogether.

I watched mournfully, as the [Fire Bolt] sailed past Sunshine, safely between her knees. If it had been a [Fire Ball], it would have a direct hit. Assuming that she didn’t let it pass because it was small and harmless.

In my moment of regret, she moved, hitting me like a charging bull and slammed me hard on the arena. I had bawled with Artina and the Sjuma finalist enough to learn a few tricks, and thanks to that, I used our momentum to carry us into roll, bringing me on top.

And then we rolled again, and she was on top. I threw a punch at her, with a [Fire Ball] behind it, but she knocked the punch aside, the [Fire Ball] sailing harmless to the skies. I didn’t get to see how high it went as she punched me hard upside the head. I rolled with it, trying my best to wash off most of the force to avoid getting knocked out on the spot.

I raked my brain for anything that could get me out; my hands were near tied up, she was too far for me to try a head butt, and she was already throwing another punch at me. I wished the arena itself would swallow me. Then it hit me.

I tried activating [Earth Grab] as I pushed my head into the arena, and I found no resistance. I quickly panicked, bringing my head back up as fast as I could. Fortunately, the punch had already passed, leaving Sunshine momentarily distracted, and I used that distraction to twist out from under her.

By the time I was back on my feet, she was already on the attack. I tried knocking the arm off course, but it barely moved, the attempt sending unsettling shock through my arm, up my shoulder, to my teeth. The attack barely glazed my cheek, somehow knocking me to the side a little. I continued the motion, turning it into a diving side roll, and she pursued, stomping at the arena with enough force to cause tremors.

Stolen story; please report.

I tried [Earth Grab] on the foot, and for the first time I caught her. I quickly send a [Hurtling Projectile] for her knee, but she somehow managed to free her foot, throwing chunks of earth outwards in her effort and nimbly sidestepped the projectile.

I struck her right in her sternum, and she recoiled back. But with the way my arm felt, I was sure I had come out the worse for it. What is she made of? Concrete? I couldn’t understand what she had done to turn her body so tough, nor did I have the time to mull over it as she send a glowing ball of Mana at me.

She quickly followed up that with a hail of small projectiles. I danced through them as much as I could before I realized that there was just too many of them. I brought up my [Mana Shield] and the hail of projectiles stopped almost immediately, in its stead came a rolling ball of Mana that shattered my shield into smithereens.

She leapt at me as I tried to evade what was left of the Mana ball.

I tried getting away but she wouldn’t let me, hammering me left and right while Clare send me warnings of my precariously low [Health]. I couldn’t think straight, panic setting in. I activated another [Fire Ball] between us like I had done before, but it didn’t do much, only buying me a second of reprieve, maybe less. I took it, and did the only thing I could; I downed the last of my [Health] potions there and then.

It was risky as hell, she could have recovered fast enough to knock it out of my hand before I could take it. A [Fast Dash] away from her would have been the more logical choice of action, but I wasn’t in a state to make logical choices.

She jumped me, slammed me hard against the ground and roared right into my face. The roar so deafening that I momentarily lost my hearing. I sympathized with her, after all, I had taken away her chance to take me out. And I didn’t plan on letting her kill me out right.

The [Health]potion hadn’t taken full effect, I knew I had around two seconds left where I was near invincible. If they ran out and I was still pinned down, it would be game over. I activated [Enhanced Hand] and punched her in her gut with all the power I could master.

It propelled her up while pushing me hard against the arena ground. I was certain if I wasn’t under the [Health] potion, I would have lost a chunk of my [Health] then. I pushed myself up, using [Fast Dash] to get past her and transferred the Mana in my hand to my leg as I brought it down hard on her back.

The grace period ended before the leg could push fully through, but it was enough to prevent the repeat of what happened before. It still left a jarring in the leg though, so strong that I suspected I might have sustained fractures.

Her back curved like a bow from the force as she accelerated to the arena. The ground trembled with the impact, sending a small cloud of dust in the air, but she easily rolled away, spitting a goblet of red to the arena.

It was the first time I had seen such kind of injury on her. For a moment, I thought I had been a wee bit too hard on her. She has walked off way worse than that, a part of me reminded me.

Why was she so hard to kill? I found myself wondering. I had fought opponents with high [Health], but they seemed to take damage just like a normal person would. Maybe they had been a little bit tougher than normal, but it hadn’t been as obvious as it was with Sunshine.

I took the blood to mean she was running low on [Health], and checking her Status confirmed as much. I had already taken my last [Health] potion, she hadn’t. I knew if I let her take it, she would be more than guaranteed to win the fight.

I pounced on her, raining her with fists and kicks as fast as I could. She began to give ground slowly, and soon, we were rushing around the arena as I tried my best to prevent her from ever taking that last [Health] potion.

It took me a while to realize that I was losing in the encounter. She wasn’t using the arena shattering anymore, but her attacks were way more powerful than what I was dealing.

Left with no choice, I began to enhance my hands and legs for added power, and cut down on the Skills I was using. Each strike that landed left me rattled to the bone, but I couldn’t hold back. I couldn’t determine what was the safe amount Mana to use, and I tried not to go full on, afraid that I might shatter my bones with just a single strike. With how much hardy Sunshine had proved to be, I was sure she would come out the better in such a scenario.

I cursed myself for not training the enhancement more. After the tree incident, I should have realized that I might one day need it.

I ducked low, and brought up a punch from under her. She took the blow, throwing a counter of her own that I managed to block. With the Mana enhancement, I was faring better, meeting her blow for blow, but it wasn’t enough. No, it was far from being enough.

My arms and shoulders, and legs, were aching from all the strain I was putting through them, my lungs burnt as they screamed for more air. But even as I pushed myself so, Sunshine was still getting the better of me. I wasn’t sure anymore whether I would be able knock her out before I ran out of, well, everything.

Then I found myself stumbling back from a kick to the chest. I reacted instinctively, sending a [Hurtling Projectile] at her to keep from even thinking about taking the [Health] potion.

She vaulted over it, catching it as it made to pass her and somersaulted, bringing it back around at me. I watched the world slow down as my own [Hurtling Projectile] came for me. I begged my body to move, I pleaded for all I could, but I stayed there, stuck in place.

For the first time in my life, I tasted what my own attacks felt like.

I felt my chest cave in from the impact before I hit the arena hard. For a split second, I was transported back to the bandit encounter on my early days in the Realm of Mesily, only I was the one in the bandit leader’s place, crushed against the tree.

And then I was back, only to find Sunshine about to take her [Health] potion, and before I could even think about it, a [Fire Bolt] was already racing for it. I wanted to curse myself for not going for more substantial attack, but then it hit the potion.

There was no explosion, sadly, but it did topple off her hands and began slowly falling to the ground. Sunshine reacted immediately, throwing her hand at it. I began pushing off the ground, priming [Earth Grab] for when the potion hit the arena.

The moment lasted so long that I felt like I could have used another Skill to increase my chances. It seemed like Sunshine was going faster than the dropping potion, way faster, and the closer to the ground it got, the slower the potion moved.

Then as she caught it, it touched the ground. And Earth Grab] was there for it. And Sunshine’s hand. I couldn’t tell whether she had actually caught the potion, but from previous experience, I knew that the [Earth Grab] couldn’t hold her down.

I screamed as I rushed her, not because I was angry, nor for the adrenaline rush it gave, though I did appreciate it; but because I was in so much pain. She was low on [Health], but so was I. She had whittled me down so fast I could hardly believe it. Of course being hit with my own [Hurtling Projectile] had contributed to that, not to mention my low overall [Health] to begin with.

…

Going into the finals, Boni had known that the chances of Hartie winning were low. It wasn’t that he didn’t think Hartie was good, he was. In fact, Boni thought that Hartie had to be one of those geniuses always talked about. He seemed to pick things fast; first with farming, and then with fighting. In fact, Boni had thought that Hartie was a farmer through and through, what with how fast he had taken to it, and he had also seemed to enjoy it too. Sometimes even more than his father, and that was saying something. But then Hartie had learnt of The Grand Competition, and he had taken to fighting like he was born for it.

But even with all that, his opponent was a monster in the form of an adorable young lady. He had watched a few of her fights, and even though he was a Hartie fan through and through, he was smart enough to acknowledge when an opponent outmatched him. And such was the case here.

Things started off bad, bad enough that Boni had at one point thought Hartie became so scared that he ran away.

In the viewscreen, Hartie clashed into Sunshine hard enough for the resultant thud to be heard through the speakers. For a moment, it looked like they would be tumbling through the arena. But Hartie had other ideas, he came out of the clash with her head in his hand, and he brought it down hard. The MC was drowned out by the cheer that rose in the viewroom as Sunshine’s [Health] plummeted.

Boni was rendered speechless. If that had been his head, he was sure it would be nothing more than splatter on the arena. He was beginning to think that he might have said the wrong things to Hartie.

And again, he proved why Boni thought him a genius, which in turn raised the question; if that was the case, then why had he been so low leveled when they first met? Things didn’t add up.