I threw six beat sticks into the arena. Each of them slamming into the hard ground as I appeared in the arena. I leapt into the middle of the blades.
“Hello everyone! Today is the exhibition match. I have picked out three level 4 monsters. And my opponent, Michelle has picked out six from the ones I had captured. The remainder will be auctioned off. I will also be fighting myself,” I said to lots of cheering.
“My choices were The Implosion, Swaying Leaves, and the Singing Woman!” There were cheers as the monsters formed up behind me. My armor was made so that there were spaces for three rods to control them.
“Monster Master Michelle has elected to go with the Bulwark Shield, Refraction Cube, Ringed Hand, Summoner Spider Queen, Ethereal Toxic Spiders, and The Black Ooze!” Her team formed up in front of her platform. It was decided she would face me instead of my soldiers. They had been overwhelmed by how quickly she understood each and every monster.
I also wanted to see how well she handled a team of level 4 monsters. We each had done a blind pick, only revealing to each other our choices afterwards. The monsters on my side were just window dressing to hold back summons, which could become annoying.
Her choices were much more intriguing. The Summoner Spider Queen was a massive spider, that spewed out lower level spiders. The lower the level, the faster they were spawned and the smaller they were. The Ethereal Toxic Spiders, as a cluster of fifty spiders the size of my finger that injected corrosive venom. They were all part of one monster.
The Black Ooze, was almost like a slime. Expect that it wasn’t a ball of liquid, but a puddle. Anything that went into it, disappeared and was quickly decayed or killed. It was a literal mobile pit of death. It was also a pain to kill or deal with since attacks just went into the inky back void that was the Black Ooze. It reminded me of the void, only in monster form.
“Michelle are you ready?” she waved a green flag. “Fight!” I waited in front of my platform observing what she chose to do first, rather than acting. She was spawning baby spiders. I noted the Ringed Hand was on the Refraction Cube, with the Bulwark Shield right behind them.
The Ethereal Toxic Spiders were spreading out amongst her summons. I considered that the biggest threat. I kicked off the ground and shot across the arena. Air Burst. I dodged a weak ray attack from the hand. While I could have tanked it, taking damage was not something I was about to do. Her main defensive formation and her Summoner Spider Queen were rotating to keep the summoner protected as it spawned more level 1 spiders at an insanely fast rate.
Acid Shot x3! I aimed upwards as well. The Bulwark Shield intercepted the arched attack meant for the Summoner Spider Queen. I noted the Black Ooze was on its front. I hadn’t seen that before, since it had been facing away from me. That was a clever way to make that monster speed up faster. The other two Acid Shots hit the defense of the Refraction Cube and broke through. It began to melt slightly.
I have a very powerful attack Michelle, you need to step up your game. You can’t win playing defense. “Kiiii kiiii kiiii!” I had my Singing Woman attack, while my other monsters on my side swirled about in front of her, ready for any surprise attacks. Cutting and releasing explosions in a pattern, so nothing could come close.
All the summons collapsed. Air Burst! I moved in on the summoner and its little minions. Her defensive monsters were too slow to stop me. Acid Shot x10. The summoner was killed as well as its summons. Danger! Air Burst! I dodged a small beam attack from the hand.
The defensive formation advanced towards the center of the battlefield. She had lost one monster, but her main formation was incredibly strong. I quickly retreated and picked up a beat stick. This one is for you Naran.
As my hand closed about the blade, I quickly yanked it back as tiny spiders tried to bite me. All the blades were melting. Acid Shot x5. The Ethereal Toxic Spiders were wiped out. I killed enough of them, that I saw one I hadn’t targeted turn to dust. Their big limitation was that they couldn’t get that far from each other.
Her defensive formation was advancing in strength. I had my monsters, quickly fall back and then disperse into the air. The Implosion’s panels quickly spread out in the air to surround her defensive formation. Her hand was firing off several rays at the same time like a light show.
I commanded the Swaying Leaves to rush in at the Refraction Cube. Her defensive formation spun, but I was ready for that as the Swaying Leaves tried to zip around the Bulwark Shield. They then reversed directions, and Michelle matched them.
The Singing Woman rushed forward. Her power increased as the distance got shorter. Her wailing screams echoed outwards, but I kept the energy portion of the attack focused on Michelle’s monsters. They were struggling.
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The Singing Woman dived under the formation. The Bulwark flipped downwards, and slammed down towards her with the Black Ooze on the front. The Singing Woman was instantly dusted. But that gave a chance for the Implosion and Swaying Leaves to attack. The Implosion went after her Bulwark Shield while the Swaying Leaves attacked the Refraction Cube.
There was a couple seconds of utter chaos as all the level 4 monsters clashed together. When the dust cleared, all five had been dusted. All that was left was her hand. My monsters were gone as well, but one level 4 monster was easy enough to beat with just my Body stat.
The crowd was cheering, so I decided to showboat in a way I would never do in a real fight. “Give up?” I asked Michelle. She shook her head from her position across the arena on top of her platform and raised her green flag. “Only one monster left, well, let’s see how good your control truly is,” my words going to the crowd.
I rushed the hand and realized something was off as my danger sense warned me. I quickly came to a halt and retreated. There was a brief moment of silence as everyone was shocked by me stopping my advance. What had Michelle done?
She clearly had something clever in mind, since there was a growing sense of danger. I killed the summoner right off. It had been dusted, I had seen it. The little Ethereal Toxic Spiders had dusted. That had been confirmed. Her defensive formation had been dusted as well. Only the hand was left. What was going on?
The tension continued to build as people shouted as spun about, trying to pinpoint the growing sense of danger. “I won’t hold back!” Michelle shouted loudly. I spun to look at her determined face. The danger sense grew.
What combination had she come up with? She only had one monster left? I had enough energy, to trigger this trap. I rushed forward once more at the hand, ready to end it or retreat. I quickly kicked off the ground and retreated as my danger sense warned me.
I couldn’t spot anything with my energy sense. None of her monsters should have a doom aura like the Avatar. I spun around and scanned the entire arena, just me and the hand. The crowd was really confused now. I turned towards Michelle. “I stand here, ready!” I shouted loudly out, my voice carrying. She then lifted up both her arms. The entire arena began to shake.
What the hell! The ground exploded apart beneath her hand. A horde of spiders poured out. These weren’t the weak level 1 monsters either. These were level 3 monsters. If this was a real battle, I would have retreated to reassess, but this was the Monster Battle Arena. If I retreated, my credibility as Emperor would be questioned.
“SWORD!” I called out. It was technically cheating, since I was a team of one out here. But if she was going to pull this out, then I was going to pull out my emergency backup. A massive beat stick was thrown into the arena by Captain Francis.
Even with its spin, I easily caught the handle with one hand. I swung out and smashed three spider summons at the same time. This blade was made from level 5 material, Magnite, from the Forbidden City and enchanted with multiple force enchantments. It could take a beating.
I advanced into the horde of spiders, swinging and punching. Each swing from my beat stick smashed several spiders. Each punch blew another one apart. I plowed my way through towards the hole in the ground. The Summoning Spider Queen was down there, but how? I had killed it.
Moving towards it, several spiders leapt at me, and my danger sense spiked. My eyes went wide. Tiny Ethereal Toxic Spiders were riding the summoned spiders. They all leapt at me at the same time. Aqua Sphere, I used the skill for a single instant, sweeping all the monsters away around me. Acid Shot.
I killed the summoner again, which was when my foot dropped into an inky void! I felt a massive amount of energy trying to rip it apart. I knew how to fight this, I pushed up on my other foot and slammed the blade down. The Black Ooze distorted and then dusted for a second time. My left foot escaping in time.
The Ethereal Toxic Spiders had been killed by the minor death energy in Aqua Sphere. The summoned spiders had all dusted as well. My left was bleeding slightly from missing skin and muscle. I was also missing my boot. I would need a regeneration after this for sure.
I noted Michelle was waving a white flag. “Cease battle!” I called out and kicked off the ground with a wince. I landed on her platform.
This next portion would be between us. “How?” I asked her.
“It was a simple matter of exploiting your combat instincts. The Summoner Spider Queen can replace itself, if it has enough time to prepare. That was the first egg that was laid. The Black Ooze can split in two, and I dug out a hole in the ground quite rapidly.”
“That was where your hand was waiting at the end,” I replied.
“Yes covering it as the new Summoner Spider Queen prepared more summons. I purposely dusted some Ethereal Toxic Spiders to make you think they had been killed, while retreating with the rest for that final trap.”
Wow. Just wow. That was beyond impressive and incredibly scary. Anyone other than me would have had zero chance against such a combination attack. For the first time I was hesitant about giving Michelle an army of monsters.
“I am sorry, I went all out. But I warned you and you told me to not hold back,” she hurriedly said and bowed her head.
“It is fine. And it was well done. You forced me to use up my anti-summon monsters ahead of time. I should have only used one and then smashed the rest. You truly are Monster Master Michelle. So raise your head. You actually managed to wound me. I will count that as your win, so still undefeated,” I said with a grin. Before she could respond, I leapt back to the middle of the arena. I noted she had saved the hand.
Even at the very end her mind was like a strategy monster game. I shook my head with a smile. “People of Purgatory! Today you have seen the might of level 4 monsters and Monster Master Michelle’s skill. She even managed to wound me, however slightly. I will have to concede the match to her for her superior skill and strategy, since this is Monster Battle Arena, not just Arena.”