24 - Tournament part 3

This time, the whole entire sparring grounds were used for the final match. 4 of us were seperated into the 4 corners and the 5th participant was set right in the middle. After all the previous matches were over, the spectators got to vote for which participant gets in the middle, in other words most of the spectators are confident enough to think that the middle participant will win, that they would put him or her in a disadvantaged position.

Sitting in the middle was James who wore a high-class white buttoned shirt along with an elegant belt that held his suit trousers together. At the north east corner, there was Jessald with her light blue ponytail, she had a long red velvet skirt along with a casual light blue top that matched her hair. At the north west corner was Zaltria in an edgy black buttoned shirt and a grey hoodie along with some grey jeans. At the south east corner was Fez and her grey shoulder length hair that matched the moon, she had a short grey skirt and a white shirt along with a brown vest that matched the 'high school girl' stereotype. Lastly, I was in the south west corner, I had my signature pale white dress and purple cardigan.

Ha~ you must be kidding me, they must really underestimate me to place James straight in the middle. But what if... Just what if everyone bombarded him at the start and he survives? I don't know much about the light element, but along with the dark element's theme of debuff, the light element should be able to do self-buffs. This meant that James would be decently strong and could pose a threat alone.

In other words, if the heir of the Light element great family has been in the middle of the sparring ground for generations due to their so-called supreme strength in their blood and getting voted everytime, they may as well have refined a technique to fit the role and absorb attacks at the start of the match, this meant that I should conserve my skills and mana.

Sure enough, he doesn't seem so frightened, he even has enough confidence to smile at the spectators. Looking over at Fez, she nodded and gave a wicked grin. So she understands as well huh~ Does she think I'm asking her to attack and will waste my mana? Looking at everyone's stats, all of them were in their level 60s which is decently high to fight me. Considering these humans have tier-A classes that boost their stats quite a bit, I have to careful or my strength and level gap won't be enough.

The moment the referee gave the "OK" for the match to start, huge chunks of steel and countless water blades shot towards James as he whispers under his mouth. "[Sustenance barrier]" (James)

An enourmous magic circle with a radius of 10 metres spread out from under James feet. Every attack sent at the start disintegrated in the magic circle. I couldn't hear what the name of his spell was, but I could roughly mouth out barrier. For now I need to be careful and stay out of the circle before going in. Looking to the side, Jessald has panicked and started attacking Fez, well that wasn't my problem. No, my problem was over here, where large blades of metal are literally raining down on me.

Using [manipulate shadow], I formed a barrier over my head. My senses were triggered by the blades, causing my body to preemptively roll to the side. Looking back at my barrier, it was full of holes. Tch, how do I deal with someone with this much piercing power. Raising his hand in a cool fashion, blades rose out of the ground towards me.

Tch you shouldn't underestimate me! Activating [Stealth] and [Illusion], I use [acrobatics] to dodge the pikes rising out of the ground. First and foremost, I am an assassin. A fight with me won't be so simple. Using my speed, I shot forth towards Zaltria leaving a shockwave in my wake. In less than a second before he could react, I ran my right leg into the ground, creating a massive creator a quarter the size of the sparring ground. Twisting my torso and neck, I implanted my left leg into the ground and my right leg flew back into the air, pushing all momentum into my right fist, I struck at Zaltria's back. Zaltria turned around in time to see the shock wave and pulled up a metal barrier knowing I was about to attack. Too bad, my fist went through the steel wall like paper, reducing the force by a lot, the resulting shockwave only pushed Zaltria ontu the ground.

But that opening was enough. Using [Manipulate shadow] to form a temporary dagger, I reversed my grip and stabbed into Zaltria's knee as he was about to stand. Zaltria endured the pain and tried to stand up with his other leg. Shit, I need to deal more damage in order to sent him out. Using [Flame wave] by channeling my mana and activating it on my dagger, everything above his waist flew off as his legs exploded. The flame burned away every part of his legs, leaving ashes on the ground, presumably the remains of his bones.

With that display, the audienced were roused with shock that the 3 way battle at the other side of the sparring ground was also interrupted. Jessald was almost defeated by James and Fez was just dodging and looking for a moment to strike James. "Defeat that monster!! Who let that commoner in here!!" (Spectators)

Oh so we're going there now. Just you wait, when I take control of the great families, you will be lynched... Turning back to the match, James was rushing over with hatred in his expression, was Zaltria his friend? Whatever, it will make this match easier. The problem was that the barrier of some sort follows him around. I have to find the properties of the barrier quick. Using [manipulate shadow] , I threw shadow daggers at James and observed with [Mana detection].

Damn, that barrier absorbs mana from the surroundings, constantly recharging James' mana pool at an extremely fast rate. This was how it dispersed all the magical attacks. Meaning that I have to make physical contact to fight, and it doesn't seem like that was easy either. James had lot's of self-buffs on for a physical fight, I need to be careful.

In the distance... Jessald had suddenly launched a counter attack at the surrounding area. "Fez! I know you're here! I'll pinpoint you with [mana detection]!"(Jessald) . Extremely high pressure water explodes outwards from Jessald in the shape of spears. Multiple dark barriers appear around the area, barely blocking the water. "[Liquid sense]! There!", Jessald made a rather smart move of using a 6th sense that wasn't affected by stealth.

"[Abyss fall]!!!"(Fez) , an illusion of dark wings sprout out of Fez's back, the feathers extending and penetrating the ground to keep her in the air, followed by a giant black beam of destruction that erased the water spear storm and headed for Jessald. By luck, Jessald escaped with her life when she was sent out of the barrierr with everything above her waist gone. Another large crater is embedded into the sparring ground, as if a war had taken place.