“I am glad you are all hyped! Now we are starting the individual portion of the Monster Battle Arena. Only one summoner on each side. They will send out their monsters one at a time. If they break off of combat, they must immediately send in their next monster.”

“Raw monster fighting one on one. Summoner skill will play a big roll. Knowing what monster to use against another monster is a key part of summoning battles as the previous finals have shown. While combination tactics won’t be possible, that will allow a summoner to push their skill with one monster at a time.”

“Retreating is not allowed. If a monster retreats, then it must be removed and the next monster set up. This means flying monsters must engage. They can’t fly up at a distance and out of range, now let’s get this started!”

There were a lot of people to get through, that was why four lanes were set up in the arena at the same time. Monsters rushed forward, fought, and one died. Then the next one was set out. None of the matches were that interesting on their own, but the monsters dusting and fighting in melee was quite exciting.

The slimes were quite popular, and then using opposite energy from a ranged attack to instantly kill them. Honestly this format was a lot duller than the team matches, but I felt it was necessary to have this part of the Monster Battle Arena.

As people increased the level of summons they used, individual control became more important. A level 4 monster required very fine control to make full use of it properly. This round of the tournament was meant to encourage people to develop these skills up properly to be able to control one summon at a time really well.

Hordes were good, as well as team tactics, but if an individual had a single powerful monster, they had to know how to use every portion of its ability. Monsters didn’t move like people. Slimes especially. They shifted their form to move forward.

It was not a walking motion, which didn’t make it intuitive. The same for other monsters. Just like with stats, there was a gulf of skill between a good summoner and a god tier summoner. The Ritualist was a god tier summoner with how well he could control his monsters. From the very start, his control had been phenomenal.

Watching the people fighting with their level 2 monsters, I was disappointed in what I saw. While my stats might be helping me in some way, especially the Mind and Spirit stat, a lot of the summoners were sub-par as they finished up their battles and new summoners were called out to keep things moving.

Each person would get one fight, then all the winners would be counted up after numbers were halved. Then we would probably have a second round. Samantha was sending out people to fight in a random order.

There were just too many people to do a bracket at the start. So, we had to remove people quickly to get the numbers down to a more manageable level. I made sure no one went crazy while looking for anyone with superb god tier talent. That was when I saw a young woman, using a bright red hand. It was a small level 2 monster, but it could regenerate.

The first monster was a large blue slime and she used the hand to rip off the outer membrane while her opponent tried to catch the hand. The hand even ran on top of the slime, digging in holes, jumping off the other side and repeating the process a second time.

Her next match was against an armored scorpion. She used the red hand to jump onto the monster’s face and dig out its eyes. The third monster was a vine monster. She recalled her hand and sent out a large blue slime, melting the vines and winning. Her opponent sent out a large brown slime as his fourth monster, she pulled back her large blue slime and sent in a level 1 blue slime. There was no rule against using a level 1 monster. The annihilation reaction was interesting.

Her opponent surrendered after that. She only lost a single level 1 monster, that was impressive. In the second round of elimination matches the woman once again dominated her opponent. She used the red hand to take out three monsters before she switched it out.

Once she one, I quickly moved in front of her. She startled a bit. “Your name?” I asked. She had dark hair and was dressed in gray. Unlike the people sponsored by a city who wore red.

“My name is Michelle, Emperor Michael,” she replied. I kept an eye on the matches happing behind her.

“You are very good,” I replied.

“It is just a matter of understanding types, strengths, and weaknesses. Then carefully selecting the monster that is best suited. Using a red hand at first, since it is small and regenerates. That allows me to gain an advantage. Once I have that, I can’t lose.”

“Everyone else is trash in my opinion. You are the only one who has shown any talent. I am going to give you a choice. I can change the format of the tournament and give you the chance to win a bigger prize at the end. Or we can continue normally, and you will probably win with how it is set up,” I said.

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She grew thoughtful for a moment and then nodded with determination. “I want the bigger prize,” she replied.

“Very well. I suggest you prepare yourself, once the current matches end it will get intense. If you need to summon more, do so now. You can summon as many level 2 monsters as you can, while things wrap up. Go wait by the judge’s platform,” I told her.

“Yes, Emperor Michael,” she said. I watched the last few matches play out. Samantha hurried over with a drawn up bracket.

“I won’t need that, I am changing the tournament structure,” I told her. She blinked at me and I waved her off. “Everyone! In these last matches there has been only one true talent that has impressed me. I am changing the tournament structure!” Everyone began to shout at that, cheering or just screaming in excitement as my voice echoed over the arena.

“With risk comes reward. Michelle has shown herself to be the absolute best in my opinion, but I know people doubt this. Therefore, the new tournament structure will be continuous battles. One after another against her, no breaks from the remaining twenty people in the tournament. The one who beats her will take the prize, if she wins…” I trailed off as excitement built.

“If she wins. A great prize beyond any other will be bestowed upon her. Samantha send them out in the order you had them on the brackets once we start! She can reuse monsters with each person, but only six monsters per person. She loses six monsters she sends out, she is done. Her only advantage is being allowed to summon more than six. But no breaks. Will my judgement be proven right? Can she defeat 20 opponents, 120 monsters in a row?”

“How many can she get through? Let us see. Let’s give fifteen minutes before the immediate finals!” I declared.” Michelle was busy summoning another monster, so I let her be. I could tell her opponents were all looking at her team. How far can you go?

She could win against ten monsters in a row. But twenty? Fifty? It would be much harder as her monsters got worn down. But you couldn’t train that kind of innate talent. One of the benefits of being Emperor I decided the rules and Michelle interested me.

Even with her low stats and using level 2 monsters, her talent was no less than the Ritualist in my opinion and slightly above mine. Every monster’s movement was crisp and precise. I didn’t go back up to talk to Clarissa. I knew she had questions, but I considered this suitable punishment for testing the airships without me.

I had wanted to do that. It was annoying that I had missed the testing. I would make her wonder what I was up to with this change in tournament structure. I could tell everyone was scrambling with the change in format. But it would be much more interesting than the current sub-par battles.

The fifteen minutes was up. “Alright, time is up. Let’s get things started. Michelle, take your position. Samantha, send out the first challenger!” A city sponsored individual came out. I noted Michelle instantly evaluating his team composition and was doing another summoning. Oh, how bold of her, I approved.

The bright red hand went out first. Her opponent sent out a blue slime. Apparently, he hadn’t seen her earlier matches. She easily defeated the large blue slime. The next monster was a summoner ant. She instantly switched to a large blue slime and killed the summoner by having the slime leap into the air.

Her opponent sent out floating gray rock. Michelle switched out to giant black spider. It dodged the beam attacks and webbed up the monster, and then bit. It quickly decayed and turned to dust. Her opponent sent out a living armor. She kept her spider out there, webbed it up and killed it. I noted that none of her monsters were taking damage.

She switched them decisively to win, taking into account her opponent’s remaining team. It was a masterclass in summoning matchups. One after another she defeated each and every monster sent against her. The bright red hand was kept in reserve for tricky opponents or monsters she wasn’t sure about in some way. Her control over it was exquisite.

She hadn’t stopped summoning more monsters during each match. The crowd soon started chanting the number of monsters she had defeated after each one.

“FORTY ONE!” the crowd roared. The excitement was building. I could tell her opponents were quickly getting stressed out and making mistakes in their control from all the focus on them. She kept her cool with each match.

I had expected her to do well, but not this well. Even the Ritualist would have to give her a nod of respect. Every aspect of her battle judgement was absolutely perfect. I knew she was taking advantage of the fact that I made her opponents send out their first monster ahead of her. That allowed her to win her first match and then the select the perfect counter for the remaining match ups.

“SEVENTY SEVEN!” the crowd roared even louder as she defeated a purple eye with her bright red hand monster. Honestly it was over at this point in my opinion. She was just hammering the final nails into the coffins of her opponents.

Her next opponent stepped out. He had a warrior ant. That wasn’t a crystal summoning but a skill summoning. But he sent out another monster instead as his first one. They traded down with her coming out ahead. He then sent out his ant and then she sent out the bright red hand.

“Death Shot!” the man used a skill and activated it through his summon. The red hand, flipped up and to the side as the attack missed. It was aimed at the ground. The red hand raced forward and quickly killed the monster. That had been interesting. “EIGHTY FOUR!” the crowd roared out.

The man let out a sigh and left as the next competitor stepped up to face Michelle. She kept winning, never losing a single monster.

“ONE HUNDRED TWENTY!”

The entire arena was going wild at this. I could imagine that many people had bet on her and some idiots had offered long odds. Well, that was their loss and my gain. It was time for her reward. Her skill was leagues beyond everyone else. Even the Ritualist hadn’t been that good in type matchups only his control.

This insight was beyond anything else. She was a Monster Master. There was no question about that. She was Monster Master Michelle.