And the Competition Begins... Part II

"Oh look! She's there" The trio finally spotted their friend in the arena.

"Yeah... Looks like her opponent isn't here yet. Did he get scared~?" Penelope joked around like usual.

"Say Pen, are you close with Darcy?" Isabelle asked. Count Edberg ruled the land belonging to Penelope's father, Duke Zarda.

"Well... I was once, to be honest. We often used to play together before I met you guys. But... she changed. She devoted more and more into her training to gain the Count's favour."

Darcy was the daughter of a concubine in Count's house so she was often ignored. As a result, she devoted herself to training everyday, and later became a renowned assassin among her peers.

The Princess and Isabelle also met her sometimes while visiting Penelope.

Penelope had no doubt she would win her match easily today. She even believed she had the potential to win the whole tournament.

"I don't think her opponent has any chance. Let's just hope he doesn't die" Penelope said in a confident tone.

Just then, Princess Violet who had a bored expression on her face the whole time, exclaimed in joy as if her long wait had finally ended.

"Oh look! He is finally here."

Penelope looked towards the one who entered the arena but no matter how many times she blinked, she couldn't believe her eyes.

Grey hair, deep golden eyes, a handsome face and a well built body. The boy walked into the arena as if he was not used to this much attention.

After scanning the audience for a second, his eyes also landed on her. He looked devastated for a second, but soon calmed himself and looked towards his opponent.

"What? Someone you know?"

She didn't reply to the Princess, still in a state of shock. After some time, she started laughing loudly as if she finally understood something.

"Oh my god! It's so funny. I can't believe we all got fooled. Yes, he is someone I met once before. It's nothing special."

"Your reaction doesn't seem like it is something so simple. Did something happen?" The Princess enquired.

Shaking her head in denial, she replied to the Princess with a slight smile on her face.

"No, really. It's nothing important. It's just... I don't think this match will end that quickly."

***

Today, I decided to arrive just before the given time as I don't want to get bored while waiting for my turn.

'What the... Why are so many people here today? Huh!...'

I noticed there were many people in the audience today. But what seemed more strange was that instead of looking at me or my opponent, most of them were looking and pointing in some other direction.

I traced their gazes, and there, I saw it. Three beautiful young ladies, surrounded by guards. They look so elegant and pretty that anyone would want to stare at them for hours.

Well, except for me. For me it was nothing but trouble.

'What the hell is she doing here?'

Sitting among the three ladies, there was a black haired girl staring at me intently. She looked as if she was doubting her own eyes.

And of course, she was the same girl I pulled 'the great King Johnathan de Graham Serendipity III's son' card in the market the other day.

'No, no... Let's not think about it now. Not now...'

I calmed myself and looked at my opponent.

She was a girl with a petite figure and tanned skin. Her eyes looked like that of a hunter waiting for its prey.

I also got myself in position and soon the sound of the horn could be heard, indicating the start of the match.

Just as I was about to dash towards her holding the 'Fluid of Despair', something happened out of my expectations.

'What? She vanished? '

Heokkk!!

The girl vanished and appeared right before me in the blink of an eye. I blocked her dagger aiming for my neck at the last moment.

'What the hell is this? Is everyone from here onwards this strong? Or am I just simply too unlucky to meet such a monster this early?'

I had no idea what sort of technique she was using so it seemed more dangerous to me. Just when she stopped in one position, I tried to get close to her but she backed off quickly and vanished again.

She appeared just before my eyes again in almost no time.

I kept on blocking her somehow but I was not in a good position to proceed forward.

'I am going to lose at this rate. I need to think of something. '

{Mana Borrow}

And luckily, I already made many plans on how to proceed in case I was at a disadvantage. I couldn't do anything except mana manipulation these three days, but that doesn't mean I didn't prepare at all.

The match progressed but my position didn't change. She was faster than my sword so she could avoid it and I was barely defending against her strikes.

But one thing changed, the number of times she vanished during the match gradually decreased.

If it was a skill, it would have its limit. There's also the problem with mana.

I didn't know whether it was a skill or not, but I knew it used a great amount of mana.

'Because I can feel how the mana is changing around me.'

And after using Mana Borrow, I was more certain about my guess as I could feel it more clearly. There's a massive release of mana from her legs to the surroundings every time she vanished.

'It's not that she can vanish or jump through space. She increases the speed of her legs to such an extent that it is very difficult to see her with naked eyes.'

I could only manage to follow her path by sensing the mana near me.

Fortunately, it's only applicable to her legs as her attacks are not that fast. Although I was pushed, I was able to defend against them.

As time progressed more, the number of vanishing decreased considerably.

And this was the time for me to start my attack.

I dashed towards her and swung my sword but she backed off again using her speed. My sword didn't hit anything other than the thin air.

{Fireball}

I put a great amount of mana that was absorbed using Mana Borrow into the fireball. It was much larger than my usual fireball but sadly its attack power couldn't be increased much as it was just a 1 star spell.

Her eyes widened a little as she didn't expect it and tried to back off. But instead of hitting her, the fireball hit the ground right in front of her and a massive flame rose up.

It was a distraction.

'Now! '

I held my breath and dashed right into the fire. Arriving right in front of her, I swung my sword.

Caught off guard, she tried to back off quickly. She didn't use the vanishing skill as she believed she could avoid it and more than that, she wanted to use it to attack her opponent.

And considering her speed, she would have succeeded in her attempt to avoid it under normal circumstances.

Under normal circumstances, that is.

Just before the moment the sword was about to miss her by a centimetre, something strange happened.

{Stretch}

The length of the sword increased by a foot and left a deep wound on the side of her torso. She staggered and fell down on her knees.

I immediately pointed lifted my sword and struck down right towards her face. She lifted the dagger to stop it but the dagger couldn't handle the weight of the sword.

{Iron Will}

Crash!

The dagger was broken into pieces by the weight of my sword and she was bleeding down her left torso.

"Please surrender. You can't win now."

Biting her lips, she vanished again and stood a little further, creating a distance.

'Why is she being so persistent? '

For a second, I thought killing her would be the fastest way to end this. But then I saw her face properly.

The girl was limping, one of her hands was pressing down the torso trying to stop the bleeding. But more importantly, she was crying.

At that moment I realized I wasn't the only one for whom this tournament was important. Some people came here as their life depended on it. People who never wanted to kill someone in their whole life were forced to kill.

Right here.

Such were the circumstances and reality here.

The girl looked at me, her eyes were saying that she was tired now. She wanted to rest.

She reluctantly took out another dagger from her dimensional ring, vanished and jumped at me again.

I sighed and I put my sword back into the ring. And instead, I caught her dagger by my bare hand this time.

Her attacks were much slower by then. More than that, she has already lost a lot of blood. She was not in a condition to even walk properly, let alone defeat me.

Blood dripped down my left hand as I looked at her and opened my mouth.

"Brace yourself. It's gonna hurt. "

The mana gathered on my right hand as I formed a fist and a loud punch connected to her nose.

The dagger dropped out of her hand and she slowly closed her eyes.

Thud!

She passed out and fell to the ground.

"The winner of Arena No. 1 is Marcel Mistmer."

The match ended and the announcement was made. And despite having this many audiences today, no one was clapping.

Their face was grim but no one out there thought that it was my fault.

But still, no one was happy.

I was not happy.