NOVEL NEXT 132 - The Tournament: Part 2
The next few matches went by quickly. I was right there with the audience, oohing and aahing at the fantastical matches unfolding before me. I had seen Asphons fight monsters before, especially the guys from Team Nimma, but there was something different about watching them fight in an arena against each other. There was something special about two people duking it out with everything they had, striving to come out on top while still keeping it as a friendly bout. More or less, anyway. There were some pretty gruesome injuries resulting from these fights, but it was all okay since they got healed anyway!
Feeling like I might have found a new outlet for my somewhat unfortunate battle addiction, I cheered every time somebody landed a big hit. The next match that took place was between Pentera, a lightning mage from Lophan, against Gering, a mage from Kurra. Gering was pretty interesting to watch, as he specialized in some odd type of magic that could grow or shrink things. That included himself, some random pebbles he picked up from the ground, other spells he cast, or sometimes even the spells of his opponent. Interesting as it might have been, he couldn't quite deal with the speed of lightning, causing him to eventually lose out to Pentera.
Next, was another rather unfortunate match-up. For Lophan, Farin stepped into the arena. She was a massive Asphon with a fencing fighting style. Well, her fencing sword was so big, it might as well have been a lance. Still, she wielded the big weapon with grace and speed, belying its size. Amazing as it was to watch, she was no match for Garreth. The leader of Kurra himself had stepped into the ring and, to nobody's surprise, the leader of the battle-focused city had no issues dispatching his opponent. He expertly wielded his sword and shield to completely shut Farin down, slowly whittling her down before landing a decisive blow.
Finally, the last match before mine was Gifer against Pirsa. Lophan's fighter, Gifer, swung a massive war hammer around like it was a toy. Pirsa on the other hand embraced the more feral nature of the Asphons. Forced to use a weapon by the system, she used two gloves, each digit ending in a razor-sharp claw. She wasn't much for using technique, instead opting to overwhelm her opponent with raw strength. The information I had gotten on her let me know that she was using some kind of berserking skills, which meant the more damage she took or inflicted, the more powerful she got. Since Gifer failed to overpower her early on, he was eventually steamrolled by Pirsa.
And finally, finally, it was time for my fight!
Under the well-wishes of the other competitors, I left the waiting room, entering the arena for the first time. My eyes were glued to the system text floating high above, grinning from ear to ear as I read my name.
Gary vs. Kabal
A deafening cheer erupted as I stepped out of the waiting room, the asphons enthusiastically welcoming the traveler who had made all of this possible in the first place. I reveled in the feeling for a bit, my heart thumping as adrenaline pumped through me, or whatever equivalent of it that voidlings had. The excitement was almost enough to make me forget about my opponent, but I eventually remembered that I was here to fight and made my way over to the illuminated circle marking my starting point.
As soon as I stepped into the circle, the noise of the crowd got shut out. The others had mentioned this, so I wasn't entirely unprepared, but it was still an odd feeling to suddenly not hear the crowd anymore. I could still see them happily cheering away, but no sound reached my ears. My ears perked up as I picked up somebody shouting, which turned out to be my opponent. My knowledge of the asphon language was still severely lacking, but I could barely make out what he said to be some kind of taunt.
Kabal either didn't know or wasn't told that I could only understand the void language, or maybe he just didn't know how to speak it. Nimma's team was a bit special in that way, speaking tons of languages since they acted as a first contact team for travelers. I casually ignored it, choosing to seal up my ears as an added precaution.
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Interestingly enough, I could still hear the system horn declaring the start of the fight.
Both of us exploded into movement, attempting to get away from each other since both of us happened to be mages. Of course, just like with every other contestant, I had read the file on Kabal. And, knowing just what kind of mage my opponent was, I couldn't help but be a bit disappointed. In fact, as soon as I saw the bracket and that we'd get paired up, I had to laugh. Of all the possible pairings, this had to be the single most unfair match-up that could have happened. So unfair in fact, that this was a free win for me.
I watched as Kabal swung his staff, expertly conjuring a high-tier spell and I just let it happen. Apart from me, all other participants in the tournament were of the ninth tier. They had access to incredible spells that I had never seen before, and I wouldn't be able to consider myself a magical monster if I would let this chance to see high-tier magic pass me by.
Kabal seemed to be emboldened by my apparent lack of action and a big grin appeared on his face as he finished his big and scary spell. He once again threw out a taunt, presumably, as his spell matrix locked into place. My anticipation was at an all-time high as I carefully watched the spell complete, happy to get a front seat to the spectacle. My eyes widened with fascination as I watched Kabal conjure his spell, oh so confident that he had me dead to rights.
Unfortunately for him, and through no fault of his own, Kabal was a fire mage.
Behind him, the necks of three dragons made from blue fire rose from the ground, an audible roar accompanying their appearance. While I wasn't sure if the roar was an actual part of the spell or just the roaring of the superheated fire, I had to admit that it was damn cool. The three heads arched their necks and came together just above Kabal's head, working together to conjure a small ball of fire that just screamed bad news. It reminded me a bit of the ball of void mana that appeared when I used void rend.
Unlike void rend, though, this was a laser attack. Just before the spell came at me, I couldn't help but realize how inefficient the spell seemed to be. Seriously, from the fire dragons appearing to the laser firing, a whole five seconds passed. I could have done so much damage during that time, and I did not doubt that every other contestant in the tournament would have torn this guy a new one just for attempting to cast the spell. Those were my last thoughts before I was engulfed by the spell.
My vision went white for a second and I was thrown back, slamming into the arena's wall rather violently. I took some damage from the force, but all in all, I barely felt it. I dropped to the ground with a wet squelch, observing the aftermath of the spell. Half the arena was on fire, the odd stone somehow having caught on. There might be some sort of napalm effect to the blue fire, and upon closer inspection, I realized that I was indeed still on fire as well. Unfortunately for Kabal, I possessed an S-ranked passive that negated any and all heat-based damage, Heat Immunity.
Well, it was fun while it lasted. I appreciated the display of magic, but dragging this out any further would just be disrespectful. I sprung into action, leaping into the air and unfurling my wing tentacles, using the heat of the fire to glide above it all. Spotting Kabal was pretty easy as he was still framed by the three dragon heads. As soon as he spotted me, he conducted the dragons once more, but this time each head acted independently. A barrage of fire spells flew my way, as the heads worked with Kabal to shoot out a truly impressive amount of spells. The middle head even curled around Kabal, wrapping him in a protective wall of fire.
I gained a new appreciation for the spell that, while apparently forcing him to be stationary, allowed him to cast multiple spells concurrently, but also afforded him some protection. I continued ignoring the barrage of spells and quickly went through my options. While I was interested in seeing how he would defend against my more powerful spells, I had also been instructed to keep my true abilities under wraps for now. Judging that most of my poison spells would more likely than not burn up before hitting the guy, I opted for the classic.
An array of void javelins appeared above me, and I started sending them down, raining destruction upon my enemy. I made sure to not accidentally kill him, carefully missing him with every shot. The resulting explosions were more than enough to ragdoll the poor guy, and soon enough it was over. The system ruled that Kabal had no chance and credited me with the win. Kabal had to be carried out while I was able to leisurely return to the waiting room under the deafening cheers of the crowd.
While this first fight of mine might not have been terribly exciting, I was already giddily looking forward to my next.