49. Black Haired Girl

The next day.

Following his routine as usual, Sid arrived at the arena just before his match was decided. Before one entered rankings, they had to fight daily, trying to accumulate hundred victories under their belts.

Today was Sid's seventh battle, and could be seventh consecutive victory. Though, this was not that uncommon, after all, real tough opponents started to appear after ten consecutive victories was accomplished.

That was when these people who were continuously winning were pitted against each other. So, accumulating more that 10 consecutive victory was the threshold of being noticed, by both the audience and the higher ups. There was even a chance to be selected for direct nurturing if your potential was evaluated as high.

"Sigh... its as noisy as ever..." Sid sighed as his eyes focused on the screen above, it displayed the matching of opponents. Today, Sud was matched against another guy, giving him a bit of headache. "Dammit! What would it take for it to be a girl? Hehe... hehehe..."

[Don't act like a lecherous perv. It's affecting my awsome reputation.]

"..."

"Woahhhhhh..."

"That was so awsome. I thought he was going down today for sure..."

"F*cking awsome!"

"It was so ruthless!"

"Killing in the arena, doesn't that guy fear the punishment?"

"Hey are you new here? That's Teja... he's already won 100 matches but is still not in the rankings because everytime he ruthlessly kills his opponent."

"But, isn't that just being cowardly, and bullying the rookies? If he's such a big shot, why not go to the rankings? Killing there is allowed isn't it?"

"Ugh.. a youngster like you wouldn't understand the beauty of it all, hmph."

"But aren't you younger than me?"

.

.

.

The crowd erupted in an ear peircing cheers, as a robotic voice announced the end of the battle. Sid was readying himself to enter the arena for his turn. But after hearing the discussions, he was immediately attracted... "Teja? Hehehe..."

Sid swagged to the arena, blocking the returning figure of Teja.

"Hey, kid! Step aside... don't push it too far..." Teja glared unkindly at Sid blocking his way, as he said in a cols voice. "Just because I was a bit startled yesterday doesn't mean you can climb over my head or something. Get lost!"

"Is that sooo...." Sid couldn't help but mock at the arrogance. "Come now! Aren't we brothers? Let's talk after a good meal tonight." With that, he patted Teja's shoulder slightly, as he swaggred towards the arena.

.....

"Woah, it's that kid again!"

"What kid? Is he that famous? Why haven't I heard of him before?"

"That's because he's become famous just recently. He's been getting consecutive victories so far for the past six days."

"Is that such a big deal? Weren't there many such competitors before?"

"Well, the thing is, he just uses one sequence of moves to defeat the opponent. Not even giving them a chance to fight back."

"Heh, just a newbie trying to establish himself as some cool guy! He'll know what's what once he gets 10 consecutive victory. Lest see if he's as arrogant at that time."

"Why are you jealous because Teja isn't so cool or what?"

"What do you know newbie? Don't meddle in with me, do you wanna pick a fight or something?"

Sid stood in the arena, observing the crowd intently. Then he glanced at his opponent immediately loosing any intrest he may have. "Damn, it's just another middle aged man! Why the hell is my luck so bad? There's not even a single female opponent in the last seven days."

"Battle, begin!"

.

.

.

"Battle, over! Winner: Sid!"

With that the audience erupted once again. "It's like they are a bunch of hungry wolves, they could enjoy almost anything. Of you ask me, this battle was the most f*cking boring one in the past seven days!"

[It can't be helped! Thus place is a gathering if such people, who are easily stimulated by violence.]

"Sigh... guess you're right! Let's just head back..." Scratching his head, Sid was initially planning to return to his cell. But as he passed by the black haired girl he had seen before, his steps changed almost involuntarily.

[Where are you going? Didn't you want to return to the cell?]

"What's there in that boring old room? Let's watch the matches for a bit, before returning."

[-_-!!!]...

Sid walked towards the railing of the resting area, from where the entire battlefeild was visible.

.....

"Dammit! They're taking too long just to prepare to battle." Looking down at the arena, the opponent's were still getting ready to fight, making Sid quite impatient.

In the meantime, while waiting, he decided to observe the arena seriously for the time being. "Say system, isn't it odd that the entire arena is like some ancient structure, while the rest of the colloseum is quite modern?"

[It's indeed a bit odd. Besides from the information I gathered, on the upper floors there are all artificial arenas. Only the first floor has this ancient one.]

"Upper floors huh... huh? Upper floors? Hey system! If there are floors above, how come there's an open air arena here?" Sid asked as his eyes stared at the deep blue sky overhead. It was fine if he didn't pay attention before, but now that he had, he was rather curious.

[Most likely possiblity is that this arena is some sort of mystic realm space. That is to say, it's independent of this world. This is also what makes it even more suspicious, as to why such an arena is placed in the colloseum at all? And why not the upper floors, but rather the floors for the beginners?]

"Maybe that blonde knows something? Is this why he invited us here? Could it be the task he mentioned, is related to this arena?"

[It is indeed possible. But why choose someone like you...]

"Indeed why choose someone like m... ahem, I mean, isn't it because of my awsome potential? That guy has quite the good eyesight..."

[... For now, let's focus on the task at hand. If you can't complete the test, forget about finding out about this arena's secret.]

"Yeah, you're right!"

"Alright! They're finally here! Let's look at some battles for now. Let's talk later over this topic." Sid looked at the competitors entering the arena from both sides, recieving a huge roar of the audience.

In the arena the black hair girl stood before her opponent, staring intently at him. He was a slightly skinny man, looking rather weak and malnourished. But his reputation seemed to say the opposite.

Cheers rung out everywhere. But what was the most surprising thing was that, none of the audience seemed to have cheered for the girl.

"Kill the girl!"

"Come on! Kill her!"

"Hahahaha, this'll be fun. Rapidfire Raj is fighting!"

"Who's the girl anyway?"

"Don't know haven't seen her before this!"

"Maybe some looser, hahaha..."

'Hey system! Do you know who she is? Why is her reputation worse than mine? I remember seeing her go to the battlefeild before this, so she definitely had fought before.'

[No idea! She most likely lost that battle and as such wasn't remembered by the audience.]

'Whaaat? That's so unfair though. Look at how preety she is...'

[Life is never fair ti begin with... look the match is starting...]

The girl made her move first, launching herself at her opponent at supernatural speed. Her hands formed a chop gesture as the aura enveloped her hands, making it as sharp as a knife.

She attacked her opponent ruthlessly, only to be missed by a hair's breath. The skinny man dodged at an unbelievable speed, backing down by a few steps. The air gathered around his index finger, as he pointed them towards the girl.

[Skill: Air bullets]

A series of almost invisible bullets flew out, hitting the girl in her abdomen, causing her to stagger back. The girl lost her momentum for a second unable to compose herself, as she fell down.

The skinny man seized this opportunity, as the firey red light gathered in his hands. A fist sized ball of swirling fire appeared in his hand out of nowhere. Aiming his hand at the girl, the fireball flew out, landing himself directly on her.

The girl sensed the incoming disaster, dodging the fireballs with all her efforts. But to her horror and amidst everyone's cheers, the fireballs flew out one after another, landing at her.

The girl tried to make a desperate attempt to dodge the barrage of incoming fireballs, but it was all for naught. Soon her entire figure was enveloped in the fireballs, as the cheers of the audience intensified further. Her figure fell to the ground with a dull thud.

"Sigh... no wonder she isn't remembered by anyone here, it's not that memorable of a battle to begin with. Poor girl..."

[It's not good to judge things too early. Just watch...]

"Huh? What do you mean?..." Sid was stunned by the system's response, turning around to look at the battlefeild, only for his eyes to widen in shock.