Chapter 376 - Tess vs Lily (Patreon)

I got back just in time to get summoned for the finals of my group. My opponent is Mari from WhiteWing. She uses a dagger and short sword, relying on high dexterity and high mana. She uses most of that mana to increase the damage of her weapons and her speed.

“Being in the top 32 isn't that bad,” she notes.

“There are 31 people from Hell difficulty here in the tournament.”

“You sure know how to ruin the mood.” Mari lowers her stance, and more mana floods into her weapons. At the same time, tattoo-like lights start glowing under her skin.

A short burst of mana and light flashes as she uses the sword and the dagger to hit each other. The intention is to blind me and disrupt my senses with a burst of mana.

[Perception] seems to be confused by that, so I use my primordial energies to track her heat and kinetic energy, boosting my body with normal mana.

When she stabs at me, I dodge to the side and coat my blade in resonating mana and slash down, cutting off her arm.

Mari spins on the spot, switching the way she holds the dagger, and stabs at me again while dodging my second attack.

Her dagger lets off a flash of light and disrupts mana, but expecting that much, I counter it while examining the skill. Then I send her flying with a burst of kinetic energy, followed by yellow flames that surround her.

She creates a barrier around herself and endures the flames for a while before I infuse them with [Resonance] and it breaks through her defenses.

Congratulations, you have won your 8th duel and your group! You have passed into the finals that will start one hour after every finalist is known!

This time, I move a bit further from where group 4 is so I can focus more on my training. I still watch the fights since they are interesting enough, but I did not forget the tournament will end soon, so I try to maximize my gains.

I keep my crown over my head while feeding it bits of black mana in an attempt to see when it is too much.

So far, I have learned that the crown helps me improve the control over black mana. The problem ensues when the crown turns black. Then it just starts absorbing all the mana it can touch.

My theory is that the black crown doesn’t have stronger mana-absorbing properties than black mana. The reason why its pull is so strong is because it quickly absorbed so much of my mana. An amount I never use when compressing my mana to create a black orb.

So, for example, if I use 50% of my mana to create a black orb, it will be as strong as feeding the black crown 50% of my mana.

The only difference is that the black crown bears a connection to me that allows it to empty my reservoir and makes it much more difficult to fight against it. Another difference is that the black crown will crumble earlier than the black orb.

Thankfully, there are advantages even though they are theoretical for now. The crown bears a stronger connection to me than the orb. That means it should be easier to use the mana it will contain than when it’s a black orb. Of course, only if I get through it being more difficult to control. Right now, it’s more difficult to use the black crown than the black orb.

It doesn’t make that much sense, but there is a bit of twisted logic behind it.

My goal is still to make the black crown into something that will constantly absorb mana all around me and turn that mana into mine.

It sounds straight-up broken, too strong, and for the far future, but it also sounds like something possible, so that’s why I train it here. When the tournament is over, I will train something else, maybe a way to utilize my big mana reserves more. That sounds like something important. Constantly growing my mana is nice, but I need to use it as well.

I need skills that will allow me to deal more damage quickly. Maybe a signature move that doesn’t require charging or preparation. A single target high damage would be nice too, something useful against stronger opponents.

There I pause my thoughts as one of the fights I was excited about starts. Damn, am I turning into a sports fanboy? Do I need some beer and a hotdog to eat while watching the matches? I wouldn't mind some.

The fight is for the winner of the group, Tess against Lily. I already have a winner in my mind, but it will be entertaining to see it happen.

And it starts strong.

Instead of putting a distance between them, Tess stays on the spot, which makes Lily falter in her movement as she was ready to charge after her with everything she got.

Tess can see that surprise, and it amuses her. A crown surrounded by red and white lightning forms over her head, and her blonde hair starts shining like gold as beautiful armor surrounds her body. Not too bulky and functional at the same time, with lightning cracking around the edges.

The sky over the floating island they stand on starts turning darker.

Lily lets it all happen, and the same as me, she must know why Tess is like that. It’s simple. The blonde decided to be prideful this time and show Lily, who started getting very confident lately, that she’s the leader of the group and that she’s stronger than her.

Lily is shorter than Tess. Her eyes are brown, unlike Tess’s gray, and while Tess seems to be releasing light, Lily seems to be absorbing it. That dangerous gray mana seeps out of her like a deadly smoke capable of destroying anything. A gray dagger forms out of it, and Lily’s hair starts shrinking, her waist-length hair seemingly retracting into her head until it stops at her shoulders.

And Tess simply watches as Lily sacrifices her hair, some inner organs, a bit of her flesh, and most likely some senses too.

Both of them attack at once.

Before they crash, lightning roars through the sky and hits Lily head-on, exploding her leg and burning half of her body.

Not even blinking, Lily takes a step, the wounds healed in a flash. She swings her dagger, and smoke seeps out of it, devouring the primordial lightning Tess shoots at her.

Tess moves to the side, looking more like lightning than a human, and Lily follows her with the same speed given to her by her sacrifices.

The stones are thrown at Lily, each as big as a car. Tess pulls trees up by the roots, and a constant barrage of lightning is pulled towards Lily.

Like an unstoppable nightmare, Lily passes through it all. Her flesh keeps healing with terrifying speed. [Disintegration] devours lightning as if it’s nothing, and she nimbly dodges the too-big projectiles or cuts through them with ease.

I can see the surprise in her eyes as Tess stops dodging and instead crashes against Lily head on, her lightning zapping Lily and making her freeze for a moment.

Lightning spears from behind Tess’s back pierce through the black-haired healer, and Tess's armor disappears, turned into a spear made of red and white lightning that stabs through Lily’s neck.

Yet, the healer doesn’t turn into shiny particles.

Gray mana explodes around her, devouring everything: air, lightning, Tess’s leg, and the ground she stands on. A big chunk of the area around her disappears, leaving a smooth surface.

Lily stands there, her wounds fully healed and hair even shorter, even one of her arms gone, sacrificed.

Once again, a gray dagger forms in her hand, but before she can take a step, two stones as big as buses crash against her from the sides, squishing her in between.

Still, Lily almost dodges the hit, only her lower body destroyed in between the stones. Lily swings her arm, cutting herself off from what remains of her body. Then she stumbles as her body regrows there, one of her eyes disappearing, and she seems to have gone deaf, sacrificing her hearing.

Tess, standing on a single leg, still dodges Lily, using a lightning-like prosthesis instead of her leg to move. She destroys Lily’s leg and dodges the gray mana dagger and other attacks. 

Lily charges her, letting go of the dagger, instead strengthening her body, but the last lightning falls from the sky, damaging her even further. Lily´s wounds this time heals much slower because of her almost empty reserves.

Tess hasn’t even used her [Declaration] and even decided to fight close, giving a huge advantage to Lily. Yet, now her barrage of projectiles and spears hits Lily for the last time, and the black-haired girl turns into shiny particles while constantly sacrificing her body parts and trying to heal.

Under the still dark sky, the lightning crown over Tess’s head finally flickers and disappears. Even tired, wounded and with her golden hair sticking to her face Tess exudes an air of authority.

She then disappears and is teleported by the system back to the roof where group 4 is.

Lily and Tess, fully healed, now face each other, but before anything is said, Maya jumps on Lily from behind, hugging her and calling her terminator. Tess also smiles and compliments Lily, giving out a few pointers. Lily doesn't seem too happy about it, but she can use it as fuel for her determination to improve.

The next fight is Brainiac versus Adam. The tall redheaded boy beats Adam quite easily. Both clearly know each other’s skills, and Brainiac shows surprising skill not fitting his nosy and extremely cheery personality.

He fights cleverly, using ranged attacks that are clearly better than during the second event. As per my advice, they are smaller, sharper, and contain less mana, making them hard for Adam to track.

Brainiac fights from a distance, shooting them through the trees even as they pierce easily, leaving finger-thick holes. Gradually, he tires out the older man, emptying his reserves, and wins.

Biscuit is in the finals against Aaron. The best doggo of the tournament floor shows no mercy from the start, bombarding Aaron with mental attacks and tentacles that extend a great distance.

Aaron is quick, often leaving very convincing afterimages of himself that even contain mana, heat, and the feeling of weight.

For Biscuit, they are easy to destroy, but it takes some of his reserves while Aaron moves around, blending with his surroundings by using [Sensory Deception] and [Haste] to move quickly.

That way of fighting got him far, easily dealing with hard difficulty and even one guy from Hell difficulty. He can also use mental attacks, but they do not seem to work that well on Biscuit, who answers by shouting louder the moment someone tries to connect to his mind.

In last-ditch attempts, Aaron dodges all the tentacles and mana projectiles and reaches Biscuit, only for it to be revealed as his projection, and the real one attacks from the side, a dagger in his hand.

Even so, Biscuit shows a fast reaction and grabs him with his purple tentacles.

The gentle corgi then shakes Aaron until the boy forfeits, Aaron surrenders to escape and to avoid throwing up from all the shaking before appearing outside. There, he curses under his breath while Biscuit leaves my lap, wobbles up to him, and nudges Aaron with his small head until the boy pets him.

Gareth faces Dennis in the finals, the second twin having the same way of fighting as his brother.

I think it’s great they got so far, only losing against strong opponents. But both of the twins are much stronger when fighting together. When they fight alone, it’s like most of their skills can’t be used properly. It's a weakness they should work on.

Gareth, knowing Dennis a bit, acts gentle but firm and allows some attacks to hit that do not damage him at all before changing his armor, moving quickly, and defeating the second twin.

A minute later Sophie disappears, and the two women face each other on the floating island.

The common area for a moment becomes eerily quiet before the conversations resume at a much quicker pace. People bet as quickly as possible and guess the winner of the fight.

Sophie has a terrible reputation as a mind manipulator, and Tacita is a crazed girl, barely a young woman who kills people if they get too close.

Tacita’s nonchalant bearing changes one second after the duel starts. Before she even moves, blood seeps out of her ears and eyes, and her arm moves. Tacita stabs towards her own neck, only at the last moment redirecting the dagger and burying it just over her collarbone.

It becomes quiet once again as Sophie’s green eyes shine coldly and dozens of mana constructs like a swarm surround her.

***

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