Virtual Tournament (2)

And then, just like that, the center of her shield that I had continuously beaten and assaulted finally cracked, crumbling into hundreds of pieces and leaving her completely vulnerable to my next set of attacks.

TING TING TING TING TING

She pulled her sword in and tried to hide her muscular body covered in thick armor behind it, but my attacks cut straight through the sword and scratched her armor.

Without a weapon or a shield, she slowly rose her hand just as I landed back on the ground and was about to slip underneath her guard again.

"I surrender… No need for me to tire myself out more. I still gotta cover for some of my raid members," She smirked, and as her body disappeared into a rising beam of light, I set down my daggers.

"Fooooo… Two more rounds," I muttered before meditating until my very next match against an interesting mage.

He didn't seem like your every other day mage who used either fire, earth, water, or wind magic but instead forest magic.

His crown of flowers that sat atop his long brown hair slowly began to bloom as he walked towards me, synchronizing with the tree roots that sprouted from the ground.

CRACK

With a solid and unwavering smile, he stepped towards me with each twitch of a muscle, sending a solid root enforced by forest magic to whip at me.

Whips were probably the hardest weapons to dodge due to their unpredictable nature, but in reality, this man was a true mage at heart.

He stood behind his attacks that continuously harassed me, but after getting the hang of the obvious pattern, I slipped through and appeared in front of him.

"A one-trick pony," I muttered before stabbing my daggers toward his throat, though he was somehow able to block them with another free root that sprouted from his collarbone.

His entire body turned into a humanoid sack of foliage that fell to the ground, but as my foot spun around towards him, a blast of fire erupted from beneath him.

As he screamed with pain as his body went up in flames, resonating with the screaming souls that came from my white fire, I lightly muttered,

"What'd I say… a one trick pony,"

Soon, the match ended, and I let myself relax against the solid white ground, feeling my mana slowly regenerate once again.

Our mana reset with every match, but the comforting feeling of such a stupendous mana regeneration was nearly intoxicating.

Fwip…

[For the final match, would you like to turn on 100% pain reaction?]

A panel silently floated in front of me, asking whether I wanted the final match of this tournament to be interesting… and of course, I agreed.

[Both sides have agreed to 100% pain reaction]

[Torture within the duel is unacceptable and will result in a permanent ban across all capsules if performed]

"You are teleporting to the final match in five… four… three… two… one…."

The counter down slowly ended as my vision faded into white, and I reappeared in the middle of a massive colosseum bustling with real-life spectators.

If anybody had a virtual reality headset, they could watch the fight in real-time just by connecting to the channel this tournament had been broadcasting to this entire time.

"On the right side of the arena, we have Helu the Assassin… and on the left side of the arena, we have Locks the Swordsman. May lady luck grants both of you an equal and exhilarating match," The same androgynous voice rang throughout the colosseum, drowning out the excited cries of the spectators.

I felt the firm dirt beneath me kick up a cloud of dust as I shifted my shoe across it, feeling just how real this place really was.

As I looked at my opponent, a respectable swordsman with long and wavy brown hair, soft and kind brown eyes, and stature befitting that of an amazing and strong swordsman, I couldn't help but walk up to him before the match even started.

He noticed me slowly approaching him and slowly walked towards me as well, meeting me at the very center of the arena.

The barrier that separated us from starting already opened up a small hole for us to shake hands, and as we stepped away to create more space, the battle swiftly began.

"Both sides! Are you ready?"

[Are you ready to proceed with the duel under such conditions?]

[1. 100% Pain Receptors]

[2. Prize of Fifty Gold]

[3. No Torture Allowed Under Any Circumstances]

.

[Yes] [No]

I quickly accepted the conditions, and the androgynous voice began to count down, with both my opponent taking a more relaxed stance and me.

He took out a long metal sword that quickly was shrouded in a vortex of sharp and bustling winds.

I, on the other hand, tilted my daggers upwards, allowing them to be coated in my screaming white flames that only sounded like a whisper due to how little I was using.

Just like my opponent and myself thought, there was no need to go all out from the very beginning…

"Five!" The voice shouted for the first time this entire event, and the crowd quickly reciprocated.

"FIVE!" They all cried out!

"Four!"

"FOUR!"

"Three!"

"THREE!"

"Two!"

"TWO!"

"One!

"ONE!"

"BEGIN!"

As the ringing of fusing screams of excitement echoed through the atmosphere, the barrier between my opponent and me disappeared into thin air.

We ran toward each other before suddenly picking up speed, and since I had the higher stat, I took control of the fight first.

The young man was at my mercy as I unleashed a flurry of attacks, though both of us were still relaxed.

His spiraling winds seemingly negated my flames, but as both of our magical powers expanded across our bodies, the man slowly pushed me back.

His sword picked up both in speed and precision, quickly pushing me back for just a bit before we split apart.

The cheers within the colosseum erupted as a rush of adrenaline shot through them, our fight being projected to a bigger monitor right above us just in case anybody couldn't see the juicy action happening below.