by Pegaz
The man thrust his spear at John with an incredible speed, but John lifted his long sword in his right hand to block. The spear was deflected slightly, but a chip from the spearhead dropped onto the ring.
The man noticed the damage to his spear, but he continued to wield his weapon while taking the weight difference into consideration like the expert he was. John kept dodging the thrusts of the man’s spear but noticed his opponent put a new spin on each thrust, increasing their speed. A smirk appeared on the spearman’s face.
He’s planning something. I need to put it to an end before he starts.
As the man was bringing the spear back after a thrust, John slashed with his short sword and cut the spear in two. Lights flashed and John rushed forward, but at the last second his opponent raised his hands.
“I GIVE UP!”
John’s longsword froze alongside the spearman’s neck.
The spear was on the floor, in nine pieces.
“WINNER!” The referee’s voice boomed through the stadium.
Removing his weapon, John put both swords back into their sheaths. He smiled up at his opponent.
“Good match.” John tipped his head. “I saw you smiling, so I ended the match before you could use your trump card. Remember to always keep your poker face in a fight. Oh, and I’m sorry about your spear.”
With that, he walked away.
Hopefully, he can remove that tell before Sarah fights him. I want him to give her a good match.
The ring cleared and the next two fighters entered the spotlight. John took his seat alongside Sarah and focused on the people in the arena.
On the left was Contestant I. He was a tall, skinny man whose weapon was a metal bow. On his back was a quiver full of arrows with red feathers on the end. On the right was Contestant E, a short woman who wielded a greatsword. There was a handle in the centre of the blade, which she clung onto. It appeared to be a double-ended sword. Seeing this tiny woman with a blade much taller than herself made John chuckle.
“I think that woman will use the greatsword as a shield,” John commented. “But the ring is so large that her strategy might not work.”
“Unless she is faster than the man when running,” Sarah replied.
“I think it will depend on the man.” John smiled. “If he only stands there and shoots like an idiot, then his opponent will more than likely catch him and win. But if he can run while shooting, then he can wear her down.”
“I don’t see how the bowman will penetrate her shield weapon, though…” Sarah frowned. “The woman can spin on the spot to keep up with the bowman running around her.”
“Maybe he can make the arrows turn mid-flight?” John was beginning to grow excited about the match. “If he’s a great shot, he can also shoot at the opening of her handle. Then the bowman wins.”
Sarah nodded, a grunt of accordance followed.
The fight played out as John and Sarah had predicted. The bowman kept running around the ring, but when the woman caught up, the bowman gave up.
The next match brought the man John was wary of, Contestant C, into the spotlight. The other fighter was Contestant F, also a swordsman like his opponent. He used two short swords like Sarah, whereas Contestant C bore a longsword.
John and Sarah knew who would win before the referee even shouted to begin the match. The only question was how bad the damage would be. And so, within moments, Contestant C had won. Contestant F paid a hefty price, too. A chunk of his left arm was now missing, sliced off near the elbow.
The following match was between Contestant B vs G.
On the left was a man with a big axe over his shoulder. On the right was a man with a long sabre sheathed on his hip.
“Speed versus power,” John uttered. “One of the oldest fights since man first picked up a weapon. Who do you think will win?”
“No idea.” Sarah shrugged. “It depends on their fighting experience. I would say right now it’s a fifty-fifty chance because we don’t know them.”
John only nodded at her reply because the match had started.
The match lasted for over twenty minutes as both men were pretty evenly matched. Contest G’s stamina proved to last longer, and he eventually found an opening and won the match.
“For these matches”—Sarah stood up for her turn in the arena—”I will turn Scan off so I can gain more experience.”
“Good luck.” John smiled and nodded.
Sarah waved as she stepped towards the ring.
Chapter 36
Sarah vs the Ruthless Man
Sarah stood on the ring and saw her opponent: it was a man with a poleaxe across his shoulders. His arms were up and his hands were holding the poleaxe across his shoulders as he stood on the ring.
Looking at the poleaxe, it was five feet long, all made of metal, and the end on the man’s right side was an axe on the one side pointing towards the ground and a small hammer on the other end pointing towards the sky.
Sarah drew her two short swords.
The referee looked at both contestants and asked if they were ready, both said yes, so he shouted, “FIGHT!”
Both Sarah and the man charged towards the middle. The man swung the poleaxe from his right side to Sarah’s waist.
The blow wasn’t coming from above so Sarah couldn’t dodge it like she usually did, and the swing had too much power for her to block, so she dodged backwards.
When the weapon went past where she stood before dodging, Sarah rushed forward. The man stopped the poleaxe moving further left and swung it to his right side, so the hammer side was aiming towards Sarah’s waist.
Sarah was too quick, though. She got in close and ran past the man, stopping behind him. With a lethal grace, she turned around and put her right arm at the side of his neck. One of her blades edged along her opponent’s throat, and the other was on the verge of digging into his kidneys.
The referee saw this and pointed towards Sarah.
“WINNER!”
John looked at the time in his system. The match had lasted eight seconds, including the time needed to run to the middle of the ring.
She’s getting better. Poleaxe users have a major weakness, which is their range. Get too close and they lose. They need to keep you at a certain range to win. Sarah knew this and instantly went for the kill.
As the arena cleared, the grand Elder stepped into the centre.
“The first round is over. Please come back tomorrow for the second round.”
Sarah walked to where John was sitting then they walked home together, talking about trivial things.
The next day the grand elder announced the matches.
Round 2
H vs I
G vs J
F vs B
E vs C
D vs A
The H vs I match was the poleaxe user against the bowman. The bowman was running all around the ring while all the man with the poleaxe could do was dodge them. Eventually, Contestant I won.
Next up was a match between John and the man using a sabre. John’s speed made it impossible for the sabre user to land any attacks, and John’s longsword destroyed the sabre. His opponent never stood a chance.
The match that followed put Contestant F, the man with two short swords, against Contestant B, the man with a giant axe. Contestant F outmanoeuvred the axeman, but was hit by a lucky shot and was knocked out.
Contestant E was the woman with the greatsword. She was pitted against Contestant C, the ruthless swordsman. She pushed him to the absolute breaking point, but could not deal a finishing blow. Eventually, the swordsman won out. However, the woman remained unharmed.
Contestant D went up against Sarah. The spearman took John’s advice and kept a poker face throughout the whole match, but Sarah could not be deterred. He still had his spear destroyed and was forced to give up.
At the end of round two, the score was as follows:
A, C and J in first place with 6 points.
B, E, G and I in second pla
ce with 3 points.
D, F and H in third place with 0 points.
On the following day, the grand elder announced the next round.
Round 3
J vs F
C vs H
B vs E
A vs I
D vs G
John won against Contestant F. The ruthless swordsman and Sarah each won, too. The axeman lost against the greatsword-wielding woman and the spearman won against the sabre user.
Round 4
E vs J
F vs D
G vs A
H vs B
I vs C
John, Sarah, and the ruthless swordsman each won their matches once more. The bowman had two of his fingers chopped off by the ruthless swordsman and was rushed to the medics. The man with the two short swords tried John and Sarah’s tactics to deal with the spearman but was unsuccessful, ending in his defeat by knockout.
The axeman and poleaxe user turned out to be long-time rivals—two powerful fighters who had clashed heads on multiple times. Their match lasted almost an hour before the axeman lost strength and collapsed.
Round 5
B vs I
A vs C
J vs H
D vs E
G vs F
As soon as the grand elder announced the matches of the day, John felt his stomach sink a little. He was worried that the ruthless swordsman would try something in desperation if Sarah defeated him. Sarah, on the other hand, was excited to face an opponent near her level of experience.
“Sarah.” John looked at his wife solemnly. “Be careful. This guy will try anything to win.”
“Don’t worry.” Sarah flashed a confident smile. “Even though I’ve turned Scan off, I won’t let my guard down.”
The first match was between the axeman and the bowman. The bowman won easily, as the axeman had no speed and was just a standing target. The arena cleared, and the lump of worry in John’s throat rose. He glanced over at Sarah beside him.
Sarah showed no signs of worry. She rose from her seat and calmly walked from the contestant waiting area down to the stairs leading to the ring. Inside, she was a little nervous since this was her first solo fight against a person who could actually injure her. However, her confidence shone through. She was excited.
Now standing in the ring, Sarah looked at the ruthless man’s features for the first time. The man stood at over six feet tall and looked like he was in his thirties at the most. He had black hair, but Sarah couldn’t make out the details of his face. She could see he was wearing the white Sword Sect robe and had a long sword sheath attached to his hip on the left side.
The referee walked into position. After getting confirmation that they were ready from each contestant, he shouted, “FIGHT!”
Both Sarah and the ruthless swordsman slowly stepped towards each other, drawing their weapons out once they were within sixty feet of the other. At thirty feet apart, they both picked up speed and closed the distance almost immediately.
The man had an advantage with the swords length, so Sarah had to get in closer. Her brows furled as she picked her speed up even more. When within striking range, the two fighters each swung their swords, parrying blow after blow. When needed, Sarah guarded with the pommel of the sword rather than the blade because of the molecule-sized sword’s edge. As the fight carried on, Sarah removed her excessive movements a bit at a time, making her able to swing the sword at a faster rate.
After a mere forty seconds, the ruthless man had to step back. He took a defensive stance as Sarah’s flurry of blades overwhelmed him. When the man swung downward, Sarah used her right short swords spine to redirect the sword in a circular motion to her right. Seizing her opening, she then used the left short sword to jab at the man’s neck.
At the last second, the man moved his neck to his left to dodge the thrust. However, that left his entire right side undefended and wide open, which Sarah took advantage of. She used her left knee to hit him in the side of the stomach, forcing him to collapse in pain and drop his sword. Sarah didn’t waste time placing both short swords against the man’s neck.
Seeing this, the referee pointed towards Sarah and shouted, “WINNER!”
There were a few people in the crowd who clapped since it was a good match. Sarah couldn’t help but smile and wave after putting her short swords away. Beaming with pride, she turned around and walked to the stairs to get off the ring.
As she approached the stairs, rage overcame her opponent. With all the stealth and speed of an assassin, the man rushed at her with his sword aimed at her back. Sarah didn’t even see the attack coming. Just as the sword was an inch away from Sarah’s back, it came to a complete stop.
John stood in the arena, his bare hand wrapped around the blade, preventing it from piercing into Sarah’s flesh. The arena grew dead silent.
Inside the VIP room, Frank leapt to his feet. He unsheathed his sword and sped to the ring as fast as he could, a swear slipping passed his lips.
“OH SHIT!”
Chapter 37
Light Punishment
John didn’t care he had shown everybody his “speed” by using the teleport skill. He didn’t care whether they would punish him after this. He didn’t care who this man was or which family backed this man up.
As soon as he saw how close the sword tip was to Sarah’s back, John knew this man had to die.
His brain racing to process what could have happened, John clamped down with his right hand and the sword cracked. Releasing his killing intent directed at the man, he pushed Toxin Power into his right upper arm, elbow, forearm, wrist, hand and fingers, causing the skin to split and heal. He felt no pain as his anger was clouding his judgement.
The extra strength from the Toxin Power shattered the sword into many tiny pieces.
The killing intent dropped the temperature around John. The crowd couldn’t feel the temperature drop, but they could feel the bloodlust mixed with the killing intent John was emitting towards the man. Everybody who felt it knew that John would kill anybody who got in his way. Some people in the crowd were frozen in fear, others had cold sweats all down their backs. No one moved an inch.
Even Frank who was flying on his sword had stopped mid-flight. He recalled the report about John’s killing intent, but reading about it and feeling the real thing was different.
In the VIP area, Alisha had her mouth open from shock. She had also read the report from the grand elders thanks to their alliance, but this bloodlust was new. She looked at her palms and noticed they were shaking a little.
On the surface of the ring near John, the entire floor surface was frozen from the killing intent. Ice even generated onto the man’s feet and after less than a second, his boots were covered by the ice. John dashed towards the man and used his left elbow to hit his chest dead centre but at an upward angle.
The boots the man wore were inside the ice still but were now empty.
Sarah felt the killing intent, the temperature drop, and the vibrations of air from when the sword shattered that happened in a span of a second. She turned around just in time to see John attacking the man. Her eyes widened in shock as John’s attack launched the man backwards. He was travelling fast while he was going higher in the air, the man screaming out in pain.
John teleported again into the air where the man being thrust towards and did an axe kick, hitting the man on the shoulder. The sudden change in direction made the man’s breath hitch, and the screams ceased. With the force of the kick, the man tumbled downward like a meteor, crashing into the ring.
But it wasn’t over. John followed him, descended at incredible speeds. He broke the speed of sound and used both feet to stomp on the man’s stomach. John’s attacks had caved in the man’s shoulder, chest, and stomach. The man was having a hard time breathing—any other mortal would have been dead three times over at this point.
John bent down, grabbed the man’s neck with his left hand, and lifted him into the air. John still being enraged p
ushed Toxin Power into the tips of his right hand’s fingernails, creating Explosion attacks ready to be deployed. He thrust his hand forward, going for the man’s eyes with his black nails.
The nails were only millimetres away from the man’s eyes when somebody grabbed both of John’s arms. John was suddenly unable to move either arm; he couldn’t even use his left hand’s grip to crush the man’s neck.
Turning his head slightly to his right, he saw it was Frank that had stopped him. He was standing on John’s right side, his left hand holding onto John’s left arm, which was holding the man by the neck. Frank’s right hand was restraining John’s right arm, preventing the attack.
John turned his head further to glare at Frank, and when he did, Frank felt a shiver down his spine. The skeleton mask had black eyes and a yellow iris usually, but now the colours of John’s right eye got magnified. Looking into the black part of the eye made Frank feel like he was staring at the darkest abyss in the universe.
With a snarl, John turned his body to the right as much as he could with Frank holding onto his arms. John was still grasping the man by the neck, but he had moved just enough for his left knee to hit Frank’s right hip. He went for the attack.
Frank felt the hit, but it was like a child hitting a grown man. Since he was a Rank 8 Level 5, all the cells in his body were already strengthened so that normal attacks from anybody below Rank 7 were ineffective. However, John kept throwing the same knee attack, trying futilely to get Frank to let go so he could kill his opponent.
“ENOUGH!” Frank bellowed, frustration brimming in his voice. He gripped John’s arms harder, trying to make him let go of the man. “Calm down!”
But John didn’t listen. Instead, he twisted his body to the left so that his back was up against Frank’s chest. John’s arms were bent out of shape to do this but he felt no pain. He tried to use the momentum to launch Frank over his shoulders, but Frank didn’t budge.
It was at this point that Sarah had rushed over and shouted his name.
Hearing her voice shouting his name, John snapped out of the anger driven frenzy. Standing up straight, he stared daggers at the man he was holding by the neck while his arms healed. Frank saw John glaring and watched as the right eye began to revert to its normal shade of black and yellow colours.