Chapter 167: Stunning new Recruit

The moment the match started both sides charged towards each other at top speeds. Joshua was surprised by how fast Thomas was able to move. Although Thomas was synced with his fox he was moving at a higher speed since the squirrel was boosting him even more and that meant he would reach Joshua before his fox could. The confidence on Thomas's face told Joshua that he had away to fight Joshua close up for a period of time otherwise he wouldn't be charging in ahead of his beast companion. He held his pair of daggers at the ready while keeping his body down to the ground telling Joshua that he planned on dancing around Joshua instead of meeting head on with full force.

The moment they got close to each other Joshua had to stop his aggressive actions as several small fireballs came flying directly for him that were far too many to avoid without blinking away. Joshua used his scale blade to cut down all of the fireballs that would have hit him while letting the rest fly by without a worry. He then turned his attention to Thomas who was beneath him slashing upward with one of his daggers. Thomas's timing was great since he attacked the second after Joshua finished swinging his scale blade to cut down the fireballs. For most people, especially heavy weapons users, this would be a large opening for their opponents to take advantage of, but Joshua simply tilted his body back avoiding the blade.

Joshua kicked his leg upward knocking one of Thomas's arms up into the air catching the man off guard. Although he had created an opening Joshua was forced to dodge out of the way as a giant claw slammed down to separate him from Thomas. The giant fox had reached them and it wasn't satisfied with just defending its partner. It swung its body around whipping its large tails that were covered in flames towards Joshua. The fire spread out in a large wave that Joshua had to cut through to avoid getting trapped in one spot. The fox didn't let up as it leaped into the air and slammed its claw down at Joshua.

This time around Joshua used his scale blade to block the large claw of the creature and held it up in the air for a moment before knocking it aside and quickly cutting a deep slash across the creatures arm as it tried to leap away to avoid retaliation. With the little exchange of blows Joshua was able to get a good idea of the strengths of both Thomas and his beast companion. When it came to Thomas although he had high stats, thanks to synchronizing with his beast companion and the boost gained from the squirrel, Thomas had stats comparable to a mid-level seventies explorer that was focused on speed. The main issue Joshua could see when it came to Thomas was that he wasn't terribly skilled with daggers. Instead of using his blades to flow into several quick attacks from different angles he only got in one strike that was easy to read before Joshua was able to force him to disengage.

The large fox had a lot of versatility which made it a great beast companion. It had powerful flame magic that it could use from a distance or up close and it was extremely agile allowing it to dance around its opponents no matter its size. The fox however didn't have very high defensive capabilities. With a casual swing of his scale blade Joshua was able to leave a large gash on the creatures arm and that was without using any aura at all in his attacks. The fur on the creature wasn't really meant to protect it, the fox was a beast that depended on its evasiveness to survive close ranged encounters.

The only thing Joshua was certain of at the moment was if the squirrel had any other abilities or if Thomas's soul beast had some sort of abilities that could be used as a trump card. Joshua hadn't seen Thomas fight outside of the one match on the fourth day of the tournament so there was no way to be certain if he had any other trump cards, but for now Joshua held his scale blade at the ready as Thomas came charging over once again while the large fox followed behind as it sent over several more fireballs.

Joshua just waited as his two enemies rushed over and casually knocked aside the small fireballs that had no chance of doing any real damage to him at all. The fox stopped sending over such small attacks once it noticed they weren't doing anything and instead seemed to change its focus, but Joshua didn't get the chance to pay attention to the shift. Once Thomas got into close range of Joshua he looked as if he was going in for another exchange of blades, but the smirk on his face told Joshua that the kid was up to something. Suddenly the squirrel on Thomas's shoulder started chittering as it tail started waving.

The slight movement from Thomas's beast companion had grabbed Joshua's attention and that was all it needed. The moment Joshua glanced in its direction its tail lit up like the sun flashing a blindingly bright light that forced Joshua to close his eyes immediately. From the small pain in his eyes Joshua knew it would take a few seconds before he could see again properly and a few seconds in a match could be difference between victory and defeat. For most people the sudden loss of sight would be a game changer that could cause them to panic and leave glaring openings in one on one matches, but Joshua could clearly sense Thomas's aura come in close signaling he was preparing to go for the attack.

Before Thomas could go on the attack Joshua kicked out quickly with his foot in the direction that the aura he could sense was coming from. He could feel that his hit connected and the amount of force he used was enough to knock several other contenders out the tournament that he had come across before. Joshua knew that wasn't the case this time around since it felt like he had kicked something metallic with his armored boots. Either way the tactic had created space for Joshua and time for him to get over the blindness from the light.

When Joshua opened his eyes he could still see a few spots messing with his vision, but he was at least able to make out his slightly blurred surroundings. Looking towards Thomas he noticed that his opponent was holding up his daggers in a guarded position near his chest where Joshua's foot would have connected. The way his arms were still shaking from the impact told Joshua that if he could get ahold of the little beast tamer then the match would be ended rather quickly. He didn't have time to think about that as he noticed a great concentration of fire forming into a massive ball above the two tails of the giant fox that was glaring angrily in Joshua's direction. It looked as if it was still thinking about the injury that Joshua had given it based off of the way it was staring at him. Before Joshua could completely regain his vision the massive fire ball was sent in his direction.

In his current state Joshua knew that there was no way he could properly time an attack with the approaching fireball. His depth perception was off and if he missed his timing with cutting through the large fireball he could easily end up blasted in the face with such a powerful attack. Joshua decided to finally show off a skill in the tournament although it would be a rather basic one. His scale blade started to glow with energy before he swung it in the direction of the approaching giant ball of fire. An energy slash shot out and cut through the flames sending them crashing to the left and right of Joshua.

It was clear that the onslaught from Thomas and his beast companion wasn't done as a lance of fire came flying in soon after that Joshua avoided before twisting around and slashing his scale blade directly in the path of Thomas who was trying to catch him off guard. Thomas was forced to back away since another blade of energy shot out when Joshua swung his sword at him stopping the onslaught and giving Joshua some breathing room as his vision came back to him. Now Joshua was able to clearly see his opponent and the first thing he noticed was that Thomas had a huge grin on his face. Joshua stood ready to go on the attack again, but Thomas seemed to have some words to say before they got back to fighting.

"I've got to say I'm glad I was the first person to get you to actually use a skill. It might have just been the basic energy slash and all, but it was still a skill." Thomas said with a grin.

"That can't be all you've got in the tank?" Joshua asked looking a bit confused why Thomas decided to stop fighting.

"I'm already pushing my limits. I was hoping I might be able to get a bit more out of you with that surprise flash of light." Thomas said as he put his two daggers back in their holders on his belt. "It's also pretty clear I've got no chance in an up close confrontation while my friend here could end up getting taken down with one well aimed strike of your blade. Seems like a dumb idea to keep going about things this way."

"A bit of advice for whenever you're going up against a stronger opponent. If you have a trump card don't hold it back. That little blinding technique could have given you a large opening if you used whatever you still have left at that moment, but now you won't get that kind of opportunity again." Joshua said as he held his blade up ready to continue the fight.

"What makes you think I have another trump card?"

"I haven't seen you do a single thing that relates to abilities outside of your unique job as a beast tamer. I highly doubt you don't have some type of advantage that you get from your soul beast. I suggest you use it now and treat this like a recruitment test at this point because from now on I'm coming at you to end this match." Joshua said before dashing towards Thomas to end the fight.