Thunderclaps roared and fountains of fire exploded out, drowning Ciae's voice. It was clear that people already had targets in their crosshairs, just waiting till they could shoot.
On the other hand, Stanis still hadn't found a single-digit number and so he drew back, moving to the edges of the arena while still searching the crowd. While 317 wasn't high up the ranking, it was still higher than 683 other ones. This was why Stanis had ice crystals revolving around himself as he moved. In case someone did attack, an ice crystal aimed at their legs usually put them off.
If it hit, well, then they could forget about this whole event as they would be disabled for the rest of it. If they managed to dodge or deflect, all the same as Stanis doubted they'd be eager to come at him after dancing with death.
While Stanis ran around the edges and searched for the 10 highest ranked people, Pete, Skint and Bear were using their newly made "friends" to good use. Pete had already established himself as the strongest between them and so the 10-man strong group followed his lead, collectively beating down anyone higher ranked than them. Their reign of terror only increased as the trio began showing off more of their skills. The trio were, at least, within the top 100 and so it made sense they would be powerhouses here.
But despite this, there were still people they avoided. These were the true powerhouses of humanity, the select few who were born to dominate. Their skills and spells caught the attention of the entire arena as all of them were grand. However, it was with ignorance and naivety that these few people flourished their skills, after all, Stanis was using these signs to find his prey.
After watching for a few minutes, Stanis got sick of searching. The ten he was hunting were apparently hiding as he couldn't even catch scent of a single one. You would think that these ranks were the most coveted and thus in the most chaotic, violent areas but that was nothing out of the ordinary here.
Initially, Stanis had thought there would be large crowds of people hunting the top ten. This had likely been most people's intentions at the start but after less than a minute, most of these people had been humbled down. In fact, this phenomenon was actually apparent while looking around. What had started out as chaotic and grand had died down, instead now small fights between two or so people with more controlled skills.
Either way, Stanis had given up on solely hunting the top ten and instead just looked around for any high ranked person. The first one he saw was rank 27 a few metres away from him, currently in the heat of battle with rank 48.
Rank 27 was a thickly built man wielding a sword similar to Bear's. He was fighting a tall woman who was using throwing knives.
Around Stanis formed several crystals, 15 in total. He waited for the right moment, just as the man dodged a knife and its arc around his head to attack. Stanis stepped forward and every single crystal shot out. The man was no stranger to danger and knew when it was looking him in the eye, immediately turning away from the woman to face the incoming barrage.
The woman was similarly infuriated by this rank 300 interrupting their battle and attacked Stanis, throwing several knives at him.
The man used his bastard-sword to cut through one of the crystals, using its body to block 3 more and then his body to take the rest of the hits. Being a front-line fighter, it made sense that he had focused his points on strength, dexterity and constitution. But to the ice crystals, those were all irrelevant numbers and each of the icy shots pierced through the man.
It wasn't so much the screams that caught the arena's attention, after all, screams were commonplace here. It was instead the sight of the man; as the people closest to him turned around, they found themselves stuck to the sight. The man was pierced through from side to side with about a dozen crystals, each the size of a palm.
It was this fear that caused people around to stop their battles and back away, half-hoping Ciae would teleport over and exterminate Stanis. However, Stanis's shots were precise enough that all they did was merely prevent the man from moving. With an added sting, of course.
The tall woman immediately recoiled after seeing her ex-opponent's state, but sadly not fast enough. A cast of Blueshot spitfire later with a hole-riddled body to prove it, Stanis walked towards the man. As he moved forward, the small crowd that had formed around him moved back.
"I'll be taking this," said Stanis as he grabbed the now-bloody medallion, throwing his own medallion onto the man. He then cast Light healing a few times on the man, patting his back before walking away. Stanis went to the woman and healed her as well. In the case they did die from his wounds, Stanis didn't doubt that he would die alongside.
He then looked to the crowd, which had already half-dispersed. He was disappointed as he realised they all had low-ranked numbers. Either way, it was fine as he was already set for the second best rewards.
In the time Stanis had gone from 317 to 27, Pete had gone from 318 to 18, with Bear on 14 and Skint on 39. Their group of lackeys had also achieved similar success, all of them at least gone up a few hundred ranks.
When on Earth, every person currently in the arena acted arrogantly and moved with confidence. It was in the arena, put up against people of similar strength, that they all suddenly realised their true strength and limit.
Bear knew 14 was his limit. Skint could go a bit higher, but at the same time there was no point in doing so as he was already within the second best reward's bracket. On the other hand, half-sober Pete, who had initially thought a rank above 50 was fine, found his opinion overruled by alcohol-poisoned Pete, whose eyes were set higher.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
****
Ciae sat by the raised seats with his eyes closed. Next to him sat an old woman. She sat with hawk-eyes wide and watching.
"There are some good seeds here, you should watch," she said.
"I can sense them either way," he replied. "Besides, their mana control and strength is more important than flair and show."
"I know, I know," she responded. "But some things can only be seen with the naked eye. How many times have I told you that?"
Ciae sighed, one that seemed to take all the air out of him and leave his body sunken.
"Lay off my case. Just tell me if you see any particularly good seeds,"
"What do you think I was telling you about, you senile fool?" she responded, chuckling afterwards.
"You know what I mean, you bumbling idiot. Any with skill higher than our Chosen,"
She chuckled at that, too.
"I can see a few--"
"Really?!" he said while opening his eyes, searching the arena.
"Let me finish. But they're going to need good luck if they're going to carry us higher."
"Of course they're going to need a lot of luck. But given our period of bad luck, I'm certain it's about fucking time we were given some good luck,"
"So, which ones do you think are good?" she asked.
Ciae stared wide-eyed for a few more seconds, before laying back into his seat with eyes closed. "The top ten all look nice. A few others as well, but none as special as those,"
"That would be but I can see a few other special ones. Were you lying about watching them with your mana?" she asked accusationaly.
Ciae felt a sweat drip down his bald head. "I'm old, I'm allowed rests."
"As am I," she responded. "You would be stronger than you are right now if you hadn't been so lazy early on. They said you'd get better as you got older. I wonder what they think now!"
He grumbled under his breath and opened his eyes once more, casting a high focus mana search. His eyes widened as he saw the results seconds later.
"There's 3 with weirdly clean circuits, one with an almost perfect circuit…"
"Maybe you were right about it being time we got some good luck." she ended.
****
Stanis grinned as he saw his prey in sight. Currently standing still with an extremely sharp aura was an African man, above his head a small number 7. There was no one attacking the man but it made sense considering the aura he was giving off, it was simply not the level the rest of people here could deal with. But Stanis wasn't one of them. Nor was he going to play fair.
Stanis backed away from the man and began forming Ice crystals in the distance, stopping once he had 20 revolving around him. This wasn't his limit but nor was Ice crystals his only skill. He frontloaded his sword and cuirass with the rest of his mana, using Destructive mana recharge straight afterwards.
He had made quite the scene by now proven by the people around backing away, watching the crystals with squinted eyes. But worse than the spinning, floating crystals was his sword and cuirass, the lightning coming off them shocking and scaring people. They were used to deadly skills and spells, but equipment?
Stanis took a deep breath in, his body loosening before growing tight.
He exploded from his spot, heading towards the African man with his sword struck. The man opened his eyes and glared at Stanis, moving into a defensive stance. His aura grew and he began activating several skills, growing in size as his outer skin began to expand and harden.
The ice crystals were shot out, slicing through the air as they took different paths towards the man. The man roared but didn't even attempt to dodge, instead taking all the crystals standing still. The splatters of blood both dismayed him but also made him more eager, more bloodthirsty.
There was a glint previously unseen in the man's eyes as he moved towards Stanis, his fist the size of a small boulder. Perhaps this would have scared others but not Stanis, not after fighting and killing hundreds of Rashkars. Instead he laughed, his cackles joining his sword's crackles as blade met fist.
*CRKKKST*
The sword cut into the fist but stopped half-way the bone. The man activated another skill while moving back, his body growing darker and more menacing as the crimson coloured blood turned murky-purple. He then ran forwards, clashing with Stanis once more. This time, however, he roared in Stanis's face, purple coloured smoke gushing out.
Stanis screamed as the acidic cloud ate away at his skin. He attempted to retreat but failed as the man caught up to him, giving him a helping hand as he roundhouse kicked Stanis's stomach, driving the air out of his body.
Breathless and now in burning pain, Stanis hit the floor and rebounded back up, the man already in place the whack him into the ground once more. His fist smashed into the cuirass and he screamed, quickly retreating back.
Stanis was disorientated and so lay there, casting Light healing over himself in hope that it would help. As his senses came back to him, so did a terrible anger which raged inside of his mind and took control.
He stood up, pouring even more mana into his sword. What was crackling before now thunder clapped, his striking body small against the bolts released from the sword.
His lungs released a beast-like growl as he sprinted forwards, the African man trying to dodge but failing as Stanis followed him like a wolf, his eyes solely on his prey. In a bid to knock the hound off his ankles, the man cast a skill that summoned Goblins behind him. These Goblins didn't live long as they were shredded through as Stanis simultaneously cast two Blueshot spitfires, pain flaring up in response.
Not that he cared.
Knowing he could no longer run, the man turned around and high-kicked towards Stanis's head. If hit, it wouldn't be a surprise if Stanis's head went flying. And so it was a pity as Stanis ducked before copying the man, his foot like lightning as it struck the man into the sky.
Stanis squatted before leaping higher than the man, draining his entire mana pool into the sword as he came down. Out of the sword came a single lightning bolt, one triple the size of Stanis's body, one that lit up the whole arena as every single head turned towards the thunderstorm.
The African man's transformation ended, the unnatural darkness leaving his skin. His wounds bled red once more, his face one of utmost terror as he fell through the air, his head facing up towards the God about to smite him.
He deserved his place in the top ten, he was truly one of the strongest in the arena. And this was the reason why he already knew the outcome of this battle. This was to be his grave…