But what part of me to get it stuck into? My right side had more pathways unlocked, but my arms couldn’t reach the hilt from there.

I goaded him into a downward strike dodged it slightly before putting my foot on it’s hilt with all the force I could muster.

“You little-“

He yelled fighting against me to pull his axe out. Why didn’t he let go of his axe and come at me?

I imbued my sword with condensed aura on its edge and swung down but I made too thin of a strike and just barely made it through the inner core.

He actually used some of his brain and grabbed my shirt and threw me off of it. I didn’t put too much of a fight up though and landed right before the boundary.

He lifted up the axe without any apparent concern and I saw why, as long as there was that material in both sides, his mana could fill in the gap to connect it. It seems like I’d have to pick a part of me to do it.

With him being that raged that he stopped talking in common and was now just yelling at me in Egathi, it should be easy to get him to hit me. I just hope it didn’t go all the way through.

After making it around a few more of his strikes, he got more and more desperate, and his moves were repetitive. At this point would I even need to have it lodged if I could predict his swings?

After I blocked and then through off his cross strike, I sheathed my sword. Next should be a downward strike. I imbued my leg with aura and as it came down, I side stepped and swung into it with all my might. My aura was condensed, as much as I could, over my toes.

The fact that I succeeded in making a dent in it angered him even more. His attacks became more frenzied but kept the same order. Left diagonal downward, and a step forward into the exact opposite then a cross strike and if I took enough steps away, he’d do a downward strike.

I dodged and punched each time, for as long as I could with slow improvement in my dents before he was fully enraged. He moved faster than I was expecting and landed his axe in my shoulder. It didn’t go all the way through luckily.

Now that it was already in my shoulder, I wouldn’t get to pick the body part so I grabbed onto the back of it before he could pull it out. I had to keep it there.

With him pulling against it and me pushing down just enough to stop him, it didn’t go any further.

I then repeatedly smashed into it with my other hand condensing my aura even more each time I swung. It got easier the more I did it consistently. Quickly that dent turned into a large crack.

He was stunned in a moment in disbelief and stopped pulling on his axe. I took the chance and let go with my other hand. I gripped the bottom on both sides of the crack and pulled in opposite directions.

The crack widened as I strained and soon the axe head split in half. With half in my shoulder and the other half in his hands I grabbed the other half with my left hand and pulled myself towards him past the head.

I swung downwards with the side of a flattened hand on the other wound I had made to the axe and the hilt snapped and the axe dropped to the ground eliciting a roar from the crowd.

“What an amazing end to the match!”

I looked at the beastkin who hadn’t moved an inch just staring at his broken axe, but the guy wasn’t harmed. Did that mean I was out?

“Who would’ve thought, that after losing an arm last match, he’d just use a hit like that to win! And after such a pathetic showing from his opponent who has practically given up now that his weapon is gone, how couldn’t we let him win?!”

The crowd roared in agreement which made my opponent snap out of it.

“What?!”

He took a swing at me but was frozen in an instant.

“Don’t take it out on him, it’s your own fault for being so attached to your weapon that losing it blinded you.”

For a second it sounded like more of a threat than a taunt and the sky darkened ever so slightly, and the crowd was silenced.

“You depended on a mithril weapon to fight an aura user I can’t think of anything more pathetic, and the crowd hates it when pathetic people are the ones that win. What is a coliseum for, if not entertainment?!”

With that the beastkin was teleported. The sky lightened and the crowd was audible again.

“What an exciting match to lead up to the finals! Let’s get him healed up and into his next match, shall we?!”

It was like I blacked out for a moment because I didn’t leave for the waiting room. My sight darkened and then all the pain and sensation of the axe in my shoulder was gone. Then I could see, and I was back in the arena, but it was already repaired.

“This couldn’t be a better match up! Two hand-to-hand fighters yet again, but this time in the final! Their fierceness and utter lack of elegance in their fighting styles is sure to make an exciting final! Let’s bring in the other challenger!”

Infront of me appeared another beastkin, he wasn’t ancestral and had small, rounded ears and a long thin tail which were black, with grey freckles. His hands were wrapped nicely, and I could see markings on the bandages.

“On the left we have an idiot who took an axe to his shoulder in order to destroy it!”

The beast kin stifled a laugh covering his mouth with his hand.

“And on the right, we have a nimble beastkin with a solid foundation! I don’t care who wins but it’s sure to be entertaining, Cheser get out there!”

“Can you wait till Cheser leaves?”

I asked this time.

“Sure, also did you really take an axe to your shoulder?”

He couldn’t stop his laughter this time.

“It wasn’t on purpose.”

I don’t know why but I avoided eye contact and felt my cheeks get heated.

Cheser came out into the ring and looked at me nodding his head slowly before standing in between us the flag up.

I took off my sheath and darted to the side putting it down before coming back.

“Alright! 3… 2… 1!”

The flag was dropped, and Cheser turned and sprinted out. It didn’t look out of fear though.

“He’s a good kid, if you give him enough time, he gets out quick enough.”

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I nodded in agreement and then he put his hands up and spread his feet in a stance. I just barely learned starting forms, since all my Akulai-E lessons were after I lost my sword to Alrick, so I just stood awkwardly across from him, not overly sure what to do with my hands, and starting my aura flow.

With my sight on I could see his mana pathways clearly, and also saw the markings on his wrappings glowing. If by saying he had strong foundation the announcer meant that he outmatched me in skill I might have to try and cut off his pathways.

I don’t think Thran thought I’d be able to do it any time soon, but I couldn’t not try especially since this was the perfect chance to do it.

He came at me pulsing mana through his legs adding force to his steps. I braced myself with my left leg slightly behind me and both of them spaced out a bit more.

His first right swing came, and I blocked it with my arm.

I pushed his right off with my left and swung my leg into his side as his left connected with my jaw.

We both took a step back, but he came back at me quicker. I took a kick to my side and blocked one to my head.

I stepped into him slamming a hit to his chest throwing him back.

I had to get to him quickly. With a step, ignoring the ground giving way I pushed off took two to catch up and swept his feet.

He fell back but before I could land a hit with my left where I thought he’d land he pushed off from his hand and flipped back onto his feet.

I took his left foot to my face throwing me away.

Even if I could get close enough and condense my aura enough to mess with his pathways, he still beat me in speed.

He was on me again and I spent the next string of hits doing my best to block and dodge each one that I could. I took more hits than I managed to fend off but that fire in my gut from this fight burned brighter and brighter.

Soon the hits that I couldn’t see coming seemed slower than they had been. Either he was slowing down or I was getting faster at reading and countering.

I switched my hand grips, and dodged his hit but put my hand on the inside of his arm bringing me close to his torso and landed a solid hit with my first knuckle into his shoulder joint.

Nothing happened though, I didn’t condense my aura enough.

He took a step back and threw a solid kick into my head.

I slammed into the ground but got up and tackled him lodging my shoulder into his stomach. He didn’t go down though, simply took a step back and slammed both of his hands into my back.

I didn’t let go and picked him up, pulled him over me and I bent backwards slamming him down into the ground.

I let go turned and he had already gotten up grinning. I felt myself grin too and he came at me with a series of kicks.

I blocked the first and the second but the third threw me back a few steps.

I got back to him quickly landing my fist into his jaw. I threw two more that landed took the brief moment he was distracted to land another more accurate hit into his shoulder.

I saw a slight dimming in his mana path, but it lit back up quickly.

Damn, not enough.

My arm was still near him, and he grabbed it throwing his elbow into my own.

The back of his fist slammed into my jaw, and he let me go, coming at me again with a kick.

I lunged towards him taking the hit to get close. Condensed as much as I possibly could and aimed for the same spot again.

This time I managed it. The glimmer dimmed instantly. He stepped away from me grabbing his shoulder, shocked.

I took the opportunity of his distraction to land a kick to his side throwing him away from me. I looked at him away from me and the pathway remained dim.

Good, even if I couldn’t get another one of those with one arm without the defense of his mana I could crush it easily with my own force.

His fighting style switched to mostly kicks and he tried to keep me at a distance.

I just needed to catch his leg and get another point.

My first attempt failed.

The second I grabbed it he jumped up with his other leg and I took a knee to my jaw.

I stepped backwards and reacted just barely to defend against a heel to the top of my head.

I threw the left arm I blocked with back towards him trying to throw him off balance, but he was flexible.

That same leg seemed to bounce back and come down at me again.

I dodged it this time and blindly aimed for a point in the side of his leg as it came down past me.

I surprised myself that I managed to make contact at all, but I missed the point.

He spun back around, his other heel coming at me. I dodged though and put all my force into hitting the backside of his knee.

Pathway point or not, that was a weak point on anyone. This hit finally landed him flat on his back.

He was a bit slower than he had been to recover, but I guess losing a pathway would do that to you.

I took this chance to study his points again. There was one for each of his joints, but if I aimed for near his core, I could knock out one half of his body.

I felt my aura help propel me forward as I dashed at him.

With both my hands in the newer grip I started aiming for the point under his core. That one lead to his legs.

Since his core was placed to the right of his chest, it was closer to the already blocked path he couldn’t easily defend it unless he wanted to get a solid injury to his arm.

He still tried to keep his distance from me with his legs, but I took hits instead of dodging just to lower the distance between us.

I managed three hits that all missed the point before he changed his tactics.

The next time I was going to land a hit he grabbed my arm, stepped onto my leg and half climbed half pulled his way to being on my shoulders.

His legs wrapped under my armpits and anchored his feet onto my back.

He then did his best to shower my head with hits.

I had aura in my head it’s gotta be able to defend. Even if I managed to use it (and just couldn’t tell), it still hurt.

I took a hold of his shirt and tried to use that to force him off my shoulders, but I couldn’t get him off. Instead, I just grabbed onto his legs and fell backwards slamming him with me into the ground.

That shocked him enough for his grip to loosen. I rolled onto my side quickly and managed to land solid directed hit at his lower pathway.

I saw it flicker and die out and got up panting.

He only had one arm left now, but I was tired. Back to back fights, with only my wounds healed, really took up my stamina. My aura was probably getting exhausted soon too, I had to at least block his last pathway before I couldn’t use it anymore.

At least blocking that one, was just landing a solid hit in his shoulder.

He got up, took a breath and solidified his stance. This was much different than my last fight, he didn’t get angry. That fire in my gut burned even more, another spar with him would be fun.

With a breath he moved his mana out of his arm fully. If he didn’t use mana, there was no reason for me to try and block his pathway.

An interesting choice. And in a spar, I would’ve stopped using my aura, but it’s not that.

I dashed towards him before he finished his breath. He was ready when I got there though.

I dodged his fist and threw my shin into his side.

He took a swing with his left at me. I grabbed his hand and squeezed down. I didn’t put any condensed aura in my hands, but I felt it collapse under my grip.

He yelled out.

I kept my grip with my right pulled and turned so his arm was closer to my side and I swung down on it with my other elbow forcing it to bend at the wrong angle.

I was surprisingly sturdy on one leg but let go so I could stand normally again.

A bone was now poking out of under his skin, and he clutched at the upper part of his arm as the lower part dangled.

The match wasn’t signaled to be over though, so I put all my strength into a sweeping kick and felt his legs give up during my swing and he fell to the ground.

“That’s the brutality we wanted right!”

The crowd cheered.

Mortal injuries, loss of consciousness or the loss of someone’s will to fight seemed to be the parameters for the match to end.

I panted and watched as my gravely injured opponent was teleported away.

“Three runs later and he has finally won the finals! What an amazing competitor, it’s amazing that he won but what a shame it is to lose such a source of entertainment. Let’s give him a hand everyone!”

I was exhausted, I could do with a good sleep, but I needed to stay awake. If I slept now who knew if they’d try to jib me from my rewards ‘cause I couldn’t pick them up.

I heard the cheers as I was teleported away and then I was finally in silence. I stood in a stone room, a vault door set in the wall in front of me.

For the first time in a while, I saw a banner appear in front of me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Congratulations on beating the 20th floor.

Rewards are being calculated.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It didn’t take too long for that to happen, and then the door made some noises before it swung open towards me.

I went in, the room was well lit but empty except for a table in the center with a few pieces of equipment.

Other than a new bag with a couple of sets of clothes, there were two bandage wraps with symbols written on them and some new boots.

“What’s with these rewards?!”

Why couldn’t I get a single piece of armor or something? I mean it might get in the way of fighting or cutting off my limbs but still it’d be nice to have.

I changed into the new clothes, threw my old clothes into the bag (they could be used for bandages) and threw the wrappings in too (whatever they were for). I then took my old shoes off and put the new ones on.

They fit me well and tightly. They were much more comfortable than my old ones. I mean they were good rewards, but were they really worth all the effort I put into this floor?

A door appeared in front of me.

Well, the training itself was a great bonus, I did as much as I did without any special equipment anyway.

I stepped through the door and was back in the room I was in with Mypheryn.

He was nowhere to be seen though. Mezu was still asleep in the corner and Alcoroth was nowhere to be seen either.

If Mezu woke up before me he’d be hungry, my arm was still feeling weird from when the floor healed it so I lopped it off and set it down on the floor a bit in front of him.

I took this as a chance to take a nap, so I went over to Mezu, picked him up so he was asleep in my arms and then sat against the wall.

I fell asleep without even trying to.