Tournament Struggles and Matches

I was really bitter after the match that day. It wasn't the type of win I wanted, but it was the reality here.

Even more so, what really made me question this tournament was my next match.

'Why the hell was he so weak?'

My second match was against a guy who started by rushing very recklessly towards me, right from the start, leaving a large number of openings.

I thought he would use a skill so I avoided his sword and tried to finish him quickly.

But no, he neither used a skill, nor did he avoid my sword. He just stood there with a face that found it hard to believe what was going on.

'No, how can they expect me to realize that he was this weak after fighting the girl named Darcy? She was a menace compared to this'

If fighting Darcy was as hard as fighting a group of Minotaurs, fighting this guy was like killing a goblin.

'I don't even know how he came this far into the competition.'

My third match was against a guy who could fly.

Some kind of large wings appeared on his back, and then he flew upwards and started laughing like he was already the victor.

For this guy though, I can slightly understand how he reached this far. There were very few people with the ability to fight against air borne enemies.

But unfortunately for him, I was a terrible match up.

Twang!

My arrows rained down, piercing his body and wings several times, until he fell down to the ground. He might have been able to defend against normal archery techniques, but Memories of Silence was different... and deadly.

Although Memories of Silence was less effective when the enemies were aware, but that was when compared to Memories of Silence itself.

I could have killed him much instantly but I purposefully missed his vital spots. There's no reason to go that far in a match with my guaranteed victory.

And right now, I was in my fourth match. My opponent looked much more intimidating than me. He was about two metres tall and his big muscles were bulging out.

But, I was more worried about something else.

'Why are they always here? '

Out there in the audience, three beautiful girls surrounded by guards were also eagerly waiting for the start of this match.

One of them had black hair and dark brown eyes, smiling playfully while looking in my direction. On her right side, was a girl with crimson hair signifying the Royal Blood. And the last one though, was the real centre of attraction. With blonde hair and ocean green eyes, the girl looked as pretty as an angel.

'Why are they so interested in my boring matches? They even watched all my previous fights, and because of them more and more people are coming to watch my matches.'

Due to the large number of participants in this Competition, there were many battles that happened simultaneously in different arenas.

But the size of the audience in my arena was twice as big as others.

Hooonk!

The match started and both of us dashed towards each other. I had my 'Fluid of Despair' in my hands and he was.... barehanded?

He formed a fist and punched towards my sword trying to block it. Of course, there was no way someone could stop a sword with a single punch.

But he did it.

And not only that, as soon as my sword hit his fist, my whole hand went numb.

'What??'

I increased the weight of my sword to the maximum but to no avail. He didn't even flinch.

I jumped back right away and created some distance. He came running towards me to like a bull but I avoided him and swung my heavy sword as hard as I could hitting his legs.

'Oh Gods! What is he made of?'

As soon as I failed in my attempt to injure him, he lifted his leg and kicked right into my face. I brought my sword in between to defend, but of course, there was no way it could stop it.

Blood started dripping down my nose.

'...He hits as hard as a Minotaur. This bull... '

I continued to avoid and defend against him trying to come up with a solution. I poured more and more mana into the sword and due to that he looked a little hurt, but still, it was me who was getting his ass beaten right now.

'His body is too hard for my sword to deal any damage. The mana did a little work but it's not much. Maybe the Mana Arrow can break through his defense? But there's no way he will stand still until I load my arrow. Maybe the sword...'

After all this time of analysis in this battle, I was fairly certain that Mana Arrow could break through his hard defensive body. But I don't have time to use my bow in the middle of the battle.

That left me with only one option - Replicate the sharpness of the Mana Arrows with my sword.

{Mana Borrow}

With the sudden surge of mana into my plexus, I attempted to pour more and more into the tip of the sword and it slightly glowed in ethereal light.

I dashed forward and ducked down. He tried to punch me but missed slightly and at the same time I plunged at him from below and thrust the sword into his stomach.

However, before I could proceed further or even try to back off, a heavy punch from his tall body hit me again from upwards throwing me to the ground.

My head started ringing loudly and I had a hard time breathing just from a single punch. But, I knew exactly what kind of face I was making right now.

I was smiling.

Because I succeeded.

The giant body was holding his hand on his stomach, trying to stop the bleeding. My sword successfully broke through his defense.

And at least now, I was one step closer to my victory.

'Still it's not enough. If I try the same technique every time, it will be easy for him to hit me too. And now that he has faced my attack once, he will be more prepared next time.'

And if it goes like this, I would be the first one to fall.

'If only the tip is not enough, I need to make use of the whole sword. But how? The whole sword can't pierce through his defense like the tip. I need something else.'

The first thing that came to my mind was using a spear. Although, I still have to make use of only the tip like I did with the sword, but considering the long length of the spear, I would be much safer.

And the attack power would also be much more than the sword.

Then suddenly my eyes widened as I thought of something better.

It was not only the sharpness of the tip that broke through his defense. The first time he looked hurt was when I spread more and more mana in the sword.

And when I finally succeed in condensing them to the tip of the sword, it was able to severely injure him.

What was more important than the pointed spear was the mana. The precision of the mana.

The perfect harmony of mana and sharpness- that was the key.

'Why didn't I think of that before? I don't know why I am making so many mistakes today.'

The giant rushed towards me with great speed. He looked like he didn't want to drag this on after revealing one of his weaknesses.

I put my 'Fluid of Despair' back to my ring as if I had given up.

The people here could already see the end of this match.

But just as the giant was about to reach me, a bright silver jian with a dark brown handle appeared in my hands.

{Mana-Assault}

Slice!

Moving slightly towards the right, my sword cut him in his right chest.

My attack momentarily stopped there as I had to immediately dodge and roll on the ground. Hoping immediately to his back, my swing connected behind his feet and I could feel the tendons in his heel tearing apart.

And even before he could fall down or look back, my sword finally entered his chest from behind, missing his heart just by an inch.

My last attack connected to the giant's body three times. But everything was so fast that it happened in less than a second.

Thud!

"Woaaaaahhhhhh!"

Clap, clap, clap, clap!!!

The giant body fell to the ground, and the audience started to cheer out loud. Contrary to other predictable matches, it was something out of their expectations.

And this time, their attraction was directed to the centre of the arena instead of some other places.

Holding 'A Sword that cuts' in one hand that was still emitting an ethereal glow of mana, amidst the beautiful bloodied arena, with a pair of golden eyes that seemed deeper as usual and long grey hair that flowed like waves in the wind, I was standing at the centre with a slight smile.

[The winner of Arena no. 9 is Marcel Mistmer]

***

That night, I fell asleep quite early. I was completely exhausted from today's match.

But it was the next morning when the real problem started.

'Why is the time passing so slowly? '

I woke up a little earlier than usual and found out, I, once again, had nothing to do. I felt like I was about to die from boredom.

After thinking deeply about how to spend my day, I decided to go to the tournament even though I didn't have a match today. Reaching there, I looked for a match with a little less audience and soon found one.

But, just when the match was about to start, the guy sitting next to me kept staring at me with his red eyes. He had a shocked but excited kind of expression on his face.

He then leaned towards me slightly and said in a low voice.

"You... You have the blood of a God? "