Chapter 27: Joshua takes the Stage

After Adrian's awkward greeting to the two girls Joshua started to notice a lot more of his guild members showing up in the room. For the most part they all seemed excited about the matches they had with only a few looking a bit frustrated from losing. Joshua knew that it was going to be impossible for them to win every match with some of the large guilds starting to put members of their guild in the arena. All of the Fenrir Guild members had won at least three matches in a row, but at that point the arena system started putting them against people that were designed to take them out.

Ivan was a good example of this. During his first two matches he was easily able to win. The first match was against a spear user that attempted to fight him from a distance, but Ivan was just well out of the poor guy's league. The second match was against another heavy sword user, but Ivan was still the stronger of the two even though their levels were fairly close. Ivan was clearly better at sword play which got him the win after a long drawn out battle.

It was when they got into the third and fourth matches that things started getting difficult for him. In his third match Ivan came across a mage that made things difficult for him by using long range fire spells. With his slow movements and with the lack of a gap closer he was basically pelted with fireballs for the entire match. If it wasn't for energy slash and the new skill that Joshua had given him he would have eventually lost the match. His next match however was his last as a mage that was more versatile came up and not only used earth magic to slow him down, but also used fire magic to hurt him even more while melting the rocks around him. Eventually Ivan lost that match.

Similar situations occurred with other members in the group, but there were a few members that never came across anyone that was able to give them a hard enough time. Amy had an easy time against everyone she faced since all of the long ranged fighters and mages couldn't keep up with her speed and were easily taken out after she closed the distance. When it came to the couple of mages she faced they ended up getting the worse of it since one powerful punch was enough to take them out.

Aito also had a fairly easy time in the arena. The most interesting match he had was actually his second match against another gun user. All of the other matches were extremely one sided. The mages were taken down with powerful shots before they could even channel their more powerful spells, while the tanks were slowly whittled down until their bodies finally gave in. The only reason the match against the other gun user was interesting was because the man had a variety of weapons just like Aito, but eventually lost due to Aito's talent. Joshua was saddened that the other gun user was already in a guild.

Lilly was the other person that one every single one of her matches and it was fairly obvious why that was the case. Nobody she came across could so much as put a scratch on Cinder. For the final match the arena system actually put her against a fairly strong water mage in an attempt to go against Cinder's weakness, but the giant arachnid just shifted to her ice form and froze all of the mage's spells. Through all of the matches Lilly didn't even have to get off of Cinder's back.

There were also situations where members of the guild were put up against each other since they were all at higher levels than most of the people that were entering the arena. They all stuck to the plan that Joshua had laid out for them. The person who had the longer win streak got to keep going while the other person would end up giving up the match.

When everyone returned to the room they started introducing themselves to the new members that Joshua had just invited. The Asawa sisters fit in with the group right away which wasn't too much of a surprise to Joshua. Katsumi and Amy hit things off fairly well since their personalities were rather similar. Natsumi seemed to get along with Julia and Monika a bit more than anyone else, but the two sisters still hung out with each other most of the time.

"So anyone else going to go out and fight some more, or have all of you guys finished for the day?" Joshua asked the group to see what they were planning. The matches in the arena were getting more and more streamlined with people of higher levels facing each other more often as more people got involved. Joshua felt like it was a fairly good time for him to go up himself to get in the rest of his fights for the day.

"I might go out and do some double matches with Henry for my last two matches." Adrian said with a smile after taking his attention away from the fight on the main stage. No one else spoke up so Joshua assumed they all planned on calling it quits for the day. They had already been at the stadium for hours and Joshua knew they were there before he even came.

"Well then I guess I'll go and finish my four matches. If there's any type of betting system in place already you guys should bet on my victory to make some quick system points." Joshua said with a confident grin before standing up and starting to set up his entrance into the one on one fights.

"It's a shame that's not ready yet otherwise I would have been betting on people from our guild a long time ago." Henry said with a sigh like he had truly been saddened that he couldn't take advantage of the situation.

"Well wish me luck." Joshua said before disappearing into the waiting room. This time he was on his own in the quiet space and it was taking the system much longer on deciding who he should fight against. Joshua wasn't surprised that the arena system avoided throwing him into a match right away. After all he had already fought in one match and the way he showed his strength was making the system take him seriously. It would avoid pitting him against someone that was of lower level.

After a few minutes of waiting he was whisked away into the arena where the crowd started cheering excitedly the moment they saw him. This time around Joshua made sure to put his guild name and guild leader status available so that everyone watching would know exactly who he was. His high level had already gained the attention of everyone that was watching, but his guild leader status got the attention of people that were looking for a guild to join of their own. The seats in the stadium were filled to the brim since this seemed to be the main arena area that just about everyone was tuning into.

When Joshua saw the countdown appear for the match to start he turned his attention to see exactly who his opponent was. This time around he was up against a martial artist which surprised him a bit. The arena system clearly didn't take into consideration the type of legacy his family had. When Joshua saw the martial artist he recognized him as a member of his father's gym. He was young man, but he had been training consistently at his father's gym whenever he wasn't out exploring with his guild.

Looking at the man's level he was already level sixty- six which was fairly high for a member of a mid-sized guild. The man recognized Joshua and smiled before getting in his ready stance. He had seen Joshua spar against his dad at the gym so he knew Joshua was out of his league. Even so he still planned on giving it his all to represent his guild. Joshua smiled in return and took up a similar fighting position without bringing out any of his weapons. He left them all in his inventory for this match and planned on going in with hand to hand combat. This seemed to surprise the crowd since they all thought he was a heavy swordsman based off of the large scale blade he had used earlier.

Once the countdown came to an end Joshua stood his ground as his opponent lunged towards him. The man had good explosive power with his fist and he used his full body when he punched out towards Joshua showing good technique. Many martial artist that Joshua had seen fight in the arena so far seemed self-taught to some extent and they relied too much on their stats and their small control over aura. His opponent was fighting like a true martial artist with proper foot work and positioning.

Even so Joshua had no trouble avoiding and blocking all of his attacks. After all Joshua had been trained under his father for most of his life. A few years of training wouldn't be able to hold up to what Joshua could do. As the match went on Joshua continued to lead his opponent through tougher and tougher scenarios. Joshua noticed that the martial artist was starting to inject aura into his blows in an attempt to break through his guard, but Joshua could easily tell which blows he could block and which attacks he should avoid.

Through the entire fight Joshua avoided using any aura whatsoever to make things more even matched. His stats were just all around higher than his opponent's already so using aura would just make things even more unfair. When Joshua had seen enough of his opponent's skills he started to up the tempo of the clash until the poor martial artist couldn't keep up anymore. At one point Joshua forced him into making a mistake and caught hold of one of his arms before flipping him over his shoulder and slamming him so hard into the concrete floor that a small crater was formed. The martial artist coughed up a lot of blood before disappearing in a flash of white light signifying the end of the match.

After the fight had concluded the crowd erupted into a loud ruckus as they cheered Joshua on. They were surprised that he was not only good with a heavy sword, but also good in hand to hand combat. Joshua just waved back at the crowd and was encouraging them to try to build up the excitement for the next match. After a minute a new countdown started as his next opponent was brought into the arena. This time Joshua was up against a mage of some sort that seemed to back away the second the match started as he created all sorts of sand traps on the floor along with some golems that he was preparing to send after Joshua the moment the countdown ended.

Joshua sighed when he saw what was laid out before him and didn't feel like dealing with a long drawn out fight. He also wasn't worried about testing out his opponent's abilities since he was already affiliated with a guild and had nothing to do with his father's gym. The only reason Joshua allowed the martial artist to show off a bit was because he represented his father's gym. There was nothing keeping him from ending this fight quickly.

The moment the countdown ended the mage started channeling another powerful spell while he sent his golems forward to hold Joshua off. He was expecting to be able to buy himself sometime, but fate didn't seem to be in his favor. Joshua quickly took out his scale blade and used and aura blast to propel himself past all of the traps so fast that they weren't able to go off. He then used an energy slash to cut down the golems in his way before lunging at the mage and bisecting him and the earthen wall he put up for defense in two within seconds. The crowd was stunned silent before it once again erupted into cheers.