“Azure…… CRAAAAAAAAAASHHHHHH!” The blonde young man bellowed, seeming to throw every ounce of air in his lungs behind the yell. Randidly put his chin in his hand as he watched. Somehow, that same ridiculous guy who had leapt out and been defeated by Fenlin during his initial speech had made it to the top 32 teams.

But he truly was rather weak at the start. Randidly narrowed his eyes as he followed the action on the arena. The blonde young man’s entire arm was wreathed in azure flames and seemed to serve as a rocket, propelling him forward. But this tournament has thrown him against capable individuals and pushed his image to its limits. Everyone participating is developing their images rapidly while fighting. Heh, if I would have known the result would be this good, I would have hosted a tournament a long time ago.

The only problem is my carefully considered bracket is starting to have some unexciting matches because the duos are improving at different rates. But I’m sorry, idiot, this time… you aren’t on the dominant side.

Hank Howard smoothly drew his repeater and fired a Mana Bullet at the domineering blue missile arm. The motion was casual and assured. Compared to the bright illumination of the fire, the bullet was quickly lost in the churn of heat and energy. But when the two attacks met one another, the result was immediately clear.

Clang!

The flames were blasted away and the young man was sent spinning across the arena. He crashed painfully into the ground and bounced several times, leaving a dribbling trail of blood on the ground from a broken nose after he face planted on the sturdy Donnyton marble. He skidded to a stop as he encountered the far wall with a thump.

Hank scratched the area above his ear with the barrel of his revolver and used his other hand to adjust his hat. “I’m tellin’ ya, Ancho is just a horse. Don’t keep attackin’ him, or I won’t stay civil.”

Using the slight distraction, the young man’s partner pounced toward Hank’s back. He wore spiked gloves and seemed quite confident in his own strength; the fool attempted to grapple Hank Howard. Without batting an eye, Hank stepped to the side and slammed the butt of his gun into the partner’s face. Before the kid could even recognize what happened, Hank spun around and brought his heel into the partner’s temple.

The kick was sharp; it barely seemed to brush the victim as it passed. And afterward, there was a moment where his body swayed in place. Then he fell backward, stunned and bleeding.

Hank spat to the side.

“Heh, do you I think this is enough to stop me…? My name is Skyler Ross, and I promise-”

Bang!

Skyler raised his hand and once more erupted in azure flames. His tiger image raised its head and roared. Its shoulders and forelegs were thick with muscles, to the point that Randidly found the image somewhat ridiculous. Those powerful legs rushed forward, empowering Skyler’s attack further.

But even with all of his strength gathered into one point, Hank’s bullet smashed into him and annihilated his image. Skyler was launched backward as though he had been blasted from a cannon, slamming with much more force this time into the far wall of the arena. The Donnyton Marble shuddered but withstood the pressure without cracking.

Which also means that his body endured most of the force himself. Probably broke his ribs… Randidly mused.

Hank sighed and shrugged. “Kids these days…”

Ancho neighed in agreement.

*****

“Who do you think will win?” Donny asked casually as he popped fat, purple grapes into his mouth.

Mrs. Hamilton glanced sideways at the leader of their Village. “You are altogether too pleased with having made it to the top 16. You realize that it isn’t even because of you, right? Glendel’s abilities are almost cheating against small numbers of foes.”

Donny just chuckled. His expression was extremely self-satisfied. Mrs. Hamilton shook her head with amusement and turned back to the stage. The Huangs assumed their typical positions, with Huang Shou sitting on a small stool at the back of the stage while Huang Li drew his wo dao and walked casually forward. Opposite them were the Cortez siblings, Isabella with her arms covered by her two long elongated oval shields and Pan making his daggers spin across his fingers.

“...I honestly believe it will be close. This Huang Li… Zone 7 sure has been hiding deeply. Or more like…” Mrs. Hamilton’s eyes glittered as she sipped her tea.

“...every time he fights, his image and Skills are being refined. At a ridiculous pace. If we had more people in Donnyton with that sort of improvement rate...” Donny’s expression also turned serious as he looked down at the Zone 7 representatives. “Randidly was too fucking accurate with the brackets, at least in Block C. Every fight has been dangerously close.”

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

“The sort of danger that can stir growth… but still, our Cortez siblings aren’t slouches either.” Mrs. Hamilton said primly. Her eyes were on the light reflected off of Huang Li’s wo dao.

Out on the arena, the Order Ducis member raised his hand. “Begin!”

Mrs. Hamilton’s hair was stirred by the sudden arrival of a breeze as Huang Li launched himself forward. An enormous maelstrom of invisible air began to stir around him and around the arena. And when Mrs. Hamilton didn’t look at the effect directly, she saw the flash of a scaled dragon slowly constricting in the area.

At least in terms of size, his image is monstrous...

Isabella Cortez moved with just as much explosiveness, not to be outdone by her opponent. Her image was one of immense weight, a prowling beast that launched itself forward with deadly intent. They met in the middle of the arena and Isabella whipped her shield horizontally toward Li’s temple. The man practically vanished, ducking and slashing at Isabella’s legs.

Dragon and beast brushed past each other, just out of reach. The two images sizzled as both of their users tried to dominate the surrounding area with their own influence.

Isabella caught the slash with her shield, but the slightly large piece of metal blocked her sight so she missed Li’s powerful leg that smashed into her shield and send her stumbling backward. That caught Mrs. Hamilton’s attention; he had enough raw force to overpower the prodigiously strong Isabella.

And then, with trails of wind swirling about him, Li twisted and shot toward Pan.

Pan’s hands blurred into several strange seals and then he split into seven clones of himself, each raising their daggers and rushing toward Li with significant bloodlust. The wind dragon’s influence waned as it so quickly faced off against another image.

At least that was true for the area by the stage. The breeze teasing Mrs. Hamilton’s hair intensified.

Li planted his foot and shot to the left so that he was no longer facing several of the clones at once; they got in each other’s way after he repositioned himself. Then he continued his charge, utilizing his longer sword to bisect the clones with only a single deadly slash each.

Donny shook his head at the rapid death of the clones. “Pan still doesn’t have enough Control to fight effectively with that many bodes.” Mrs. Hamilton nodded in agreement.

However, after Li had dispersed five of the clones into puffs of smoke that were quickly whisked away by his aura of wind, Pan was able to manage two clones quite efficiently. They worked with the implicit understanding that came from being controlled by a single mind. The split Pan avoided Huang Li’s attacks and inflicted a shallow cut on his shoulder.

With Isabella recovering and rushing toward his back, Huang Li’s expression turned dark. “Dragon’s… Dance!”

The wind in the surrounding area intensified. Even the clouds above the arena trembled. Huang Li’s sword began to glow. He feinted forward and Pan bit hard, both clones raising their daggers and lowering their stances to defend. But Huang Li’s steps were suddenly so light he seemed to be a man-made of folded paper. He was less a human being than a leaf drifting on the wind. With a single step, he changed direction and rushed to Isabella Cortez. Without missing a beat, he unleashed a powerful downward slash.

But with her feet on the ground, Isabella rapidly drew strength from the stones beneath her feet. The beast bristled with indignation. Her shields whipped out with enough force to shatter Huang Li’s image and sword in the same strike.

Yet Li’s Agility while under the influence of this most recent Skill left Mrs. Hamilton incredulous. His slash seemed to slide sideways through the air and turned into a thrust. This was also dealt with by the decisive action of Isabella, but Li spun away and attacked from another angle. They were only a small distance apart, but they didn’t touch at all. It looked like they were dancing together.

After hesitating for a second, Pan split up his two clones. One carefully approaching Huang Li from his blind spot, while the other rushed toward Huang Shou with his daggers raised.

Mrs. Hamilton sighed at the action below. “Pan gets too hotheaded while fighting still.”

“Better to finish off the one foe in front of them before dragging a second into the mix,” Donny agreed.

Huang Shou slowly raised his head as Pan rushed toward him. Isabella raised her shields and brought them crashing down, making the stage shudder. Huang Li floated backward, skimming across the stage like a dragonfly over a pond. His quick moves kept Pan’s clone from getting in a good spot for an ambush. But from Huang Li’s deep breathing, it was clear that he was reaching the end of his Stamina.

But he did not hesitate, despite his dwindling resources; Huang Li lowered his shoulders and charged back toward Isabella. Swimming amongst the clouds above, the dragon roared. She smiled and raised her shields, her eyes blazing with fighting spirit. As the two once more resumed their lightning-fast attacks and dodges, Pan Cortez arrived before Huang Shou.

“I apologize for this, sir,” Pan said quickly, before unleashing a cross slash at the sitting old man.

Huang Shou shook his head. “This old man certainly isn’t as young as he used to be… but it is too much to ask me to stay still in this case. Boy, Sleep.”

“Wha-” Pan’s attack faltered as his eyelids flickered for a half-second. But he quickly shook off the foreign influence just in time for his eyes to widen as Huang Shou smashed his temple with the cane in his hand. Pan fell to the ground, boneless.

“Pan!” Isabella bellowed. Her attacks became even more furious toward Huang Li. But without the assistance of Pan’s bloodlust, the beast was quickly losing ground to the image of the true dragon floating in the sky.

“He probably wouldn’t have interfered at all if he hadn’t been attacked, no matter how much he wanted to. His pride wouldn’t let him.” Mrs. Hamilton took another sip of her tea. “Pan played right into their hands.

Huang Shou sat back down, not even bothering to look at the unconscious body sprawled only a meter away from him. “I trust you can handle the rest?”

Huang Li’s shoulder rose and fell. He wiped his hand across his lips as he considered the growling Isabella. “...yes grandfather.”