Chapter 379 - Before the finale (Patreon)

Gareth easily wins against a member of his group. Even though it’s possible to die now, they both don’t hold back that much. The fight still seems dangerous, but also like friendly sparring.

Wanderer is a petite woman using shockwaves. She uses them to attack, to reposition, to mimic flying for a second or two. Sometimes she even concentrates them in a similar way I like to do, but they lack the damage required to hurt Gareth.

When Gareth wins, there is barely any sign of the fight on his body.

As I wait for Tess and Savant to get in, I think of the intention behind it being possible to die now within the Arena. Even during the start, the system said that it was impossible to die during the tournament. Does it mean the rules changed or it was always an intention? Am I just paranoid, thinking some intents of the Rulers are messing around and changing rules a bit?

Either of the options could be true, and I can imagine just the system allowing death in final matches. Whatever it is, it can wait as the two people enter.

Tess with a dozen javelins floating behind her back, wearing armor she got on the 3rd Floor from Edwal and that was improved and fitted to her on the 4th. The javelins are a mixture of a few epic ones with the rest being rare. Mostly made out of endurium.

Savant is wearing some sort of chestplate I saw on him multiple times. It’s not bulky and more like a chainmail but made out of scales. Other than that, there is a bracelet on his wrist, a necklace, and the damaged Sword of Aeons on his waist.

This time, Tess doesn’t stay in the same place and increases the distance between herself and Savant. Her [Storm Crown] is already over her head as she even uses [Psychokinesis] to move faster.

Her opponent doesn’t react to that and stays in the same spot he was standing on when the fight started. There is already that orange light around him, and he holds the Sword of Aeons in his hand.

Judging to have enough distance, Tess makes her [Declaration], the air itself vibrating as she forces the world to obey her will. What she said, I don’t know, either I’m unable to understand, she is not willing to let anyone know, or just the declaration doesn’t pass from the Arena. But the result is obvious.

The crown over her head grows in diameter, becoming twice as big, the lightning flickering wildly around.

The first javelin shot through the air is epic graded. In the blink of an eye, it reaches its target, the trail of red and white lightning staying behind it.

Instead of piercing his chest, it slows down as it gets closer, pressure from Savant’s domain or some other ability slowing it down and weakening the lightning. In the end, he grabs the javelin that is now without any lightning and, after examining it curiously, he lets it fall down.

Before that javelin even touches the shallow water of the lake, five more pass through the air, each of them at different speeds and all of them focusing on the same spot.

The result is the same, the five weapons devoid of their lightning falling to the water.

Seeing that, Tess sighs and drops all of her javelins other than one. All the lightning from her crown and other weapons flows into it over ten seconds. The javelin cracks under the amount of energy stored in and surrounding it and Tess shoots it directly into the air.

As before, Savant lets it happen. His eyes watch her like a tiger standing to the side, ready to pounce on its prey.

After a while, that javelin starts falling down like a meteor, lightning cracking all around it as it shines like a lonely star. Its falling speed is further increased by Tess’s skills.

Not even attempting to dodge, Savant’s posture straightens up, and from his hand, lightning starts flowing, cracking around the Sword of Aeons. That lightning is red and white, the one he absorbed before. It creates blisters on his arm, eats into his flesh, and a few cracks even slash across his cheek, causing a burning scar. Even so, he partially forces it under his control and slashes towards the falling javelin.

The water from the bottom of the lake explodes into the air, and the sheer force of impact causes a lot of water to evaporate into mist. Some droplets of that water start falling down like rain, causing more ripples. Somewhere within the area of impact, Savant is hidden by vapor, a bit of red and white lightning cracking around.

Tess moves her arm, and the javelins in the water lift into the air again. There is no lightning cracking around them this time. But before she can attack, a javelin flies from inside the point of impact at a speed nearly equal to the one her last attack was showing. 

Even though Tess is not expecting to react, she sends a strong push in an attempt to stop the attack.

A single thump sounds, and shocked, Tess looks down at her chest. There, a huge hole is created through her body, big enough to see through. That wound is clearly mortal.

“I forfeit,” she gets out quickly as her body sways, her eyes losing focus and becoming more and more distant.

When she appears outside, the wound is gone, and clothes and mana are restored. Tess grasps for the air.

If she had hesitated a bit longer, she would be dead.

If Savant aimed higher, to her head, she would be dead.

That much is obvious.

So that’s how we play.

I filter out the conversation of my group and watch the next duel. Tacita against AnotherOneHere.

After the last duel, Tacita seems to share my feelings, and the moment the fight starts, she disappears.

Before her opponent can even react, he finds himself staggering back, the dagger stabbed deep into his chest, piercing through his armor and other defenses. A mercy I’m sure he knows. That dagger could’ve easily been stabbed in his eye and killed him before he could forfeit.

“Thanks,” he mumbles while the blood flows from his wound.

He disappears, and a new notification pops up.

Congratulations! You have placed in the top 4 of the Arena of the 5th round of the tutorial. The fights will continue immediately with the final duel happening one hour after.

Death is still possible within the Arena.

Note: The remaining competitors will not be healed by the system after the duel ends, only mana and stamina will be restored.

The duels are as follows:

Noname vs Gareth

Savant vs Tacita

Someone from the group says something, but I feel myself pulled inside and find myself inside the new Arena.

This one is the 1st floor. The clearing we appeared in, under a dark sky lit by polar lights. Blue, green, and pink polar lights shine in the sky. Unlike in my memories, this place is eerily quiet, not even the sound of leaves moving in the wind. Nothing is even moving; the place feels frozen in time.

“Forfeit.” I give a single warning to Gareth.

“No.” He answers simply.

Both of our crowns appear at the same time, and he shoots his orbs at me. They reach me quickly and expand, trapping me inside of the bubble that tries to shrink to squeeze me inside.

Instead of that, it doesn’t move, the sheer pressure of mana I release not allowing it to compress on me.

My eyes activate, and seeing through the frequency, I use [Resonance] and step outside of the bubble.

Gareth reaches me quickly, the slim armor around him and a dagger in his hand. For a second, I grasp him with [Redistribution], add that energy to my own, and release all kinetic energy from my core.

The earth in front of me explodes, sending the man flying through the forest and breaking the trees in his path. I use the anchor I placed on him, and after creating a tricolored orb, I send it through.

Far in the distance, an explosion ensues, and then two more as I send out more orbs. Then my anchor disappears, crumpling under the amount of mana sent through and because I didn’t have time to make it stronger.

The explosions stop and a few seconds later Gareth stumbles into the clearing, his body bloody, mangled, and burned. A silver light shines around as it heals him and his armor surrounds him again. Huge parts of the forest behind him destroyed and on fire.

I compress a javelin over my shoulder and fill it with thermal energy before launching it at him. As the flames explode around him, I use the anchor placed on the javelin and appear right in front of Gareth.

While he swings his silver mace at me, I absorb the flames around us and release the thermal energy from my core. That forces Gareth to stop his attack, and a shield nearly as big as him buries into the ground as he blocks the attack. The golden flames slide across, burning the spots by his sides and heating up the air.

Taking a bit of black mana I created, I boost my [Resonance] and disrupt his shield, which causes him to cross his arms in front of his body to block them.

Even so, the ridiculously resilient man endures them, his armor heating up and melting on the edges.

Another disrupting wave powered by black mana disrupts his armor, and he continues to block the flames with his bare body only. His skin melts, bones are showing while his body continues to regenerate.

Gareth takes a step towards me.

Then another while a silver mace forms in his hand.

Before he can take a third step against the flames, behind him appears a compressed javelin I boost and shoot towards him. That javelin is as thick as my leg and pierces through his belly and anchors him to the ground.

Not having enough, Gareth moves to get rid of it but then notices the javelin turning bright white.

His eyes glance at it and towards me.

“I forfeit,” he says with a smile and disappears before the javelin explodes.

Appearing outside, I let my replenished thermal energy flow through my body to activate my passive and heal the small wounds I have taken. As the system said, they aren’t healed, only my energies and mana are restored. Even so, I’m not worried about Gareth. The man will surely be able to heal wounds of that level.

I use [Focus] and force myself to calm down.

While watching the screen, I continue to work on my Flamebearer, the damaged arcane axe. It’s something I’ve been working on ever since the end of the second event. The goal is to create temporary inscriptions in a similar way I did back then. Until now, I didn’t have a reason to take it with me into the duels, but that will change.

Tacita and Savant both appear in the Arena made after the 1st floor.

The mute girl takes a deep breath, pulling out a second dagger. Both of the weapons are of epic grade. The first one is shorter and with a wider blade, made out of silver metal. The second dagger she pulls out for the first time is made of black crystal. It looks brittle as if a single attack would break it.

Blowing out the air from her mouth, Tacita blows her hair off her face. All her attention is concentrated on what I guess is as quick movement as possible.

[Dawn] surrounds Savant close to his skin, the orange light radiating like armor.

Mana coats the two daggers, and Tacita disappears.

When she appears again, she holds only one dagger; the black one is gone. Tacita looks at her arm which is quickly changing colors, an orange light spreading from her hand and reaching higher.

Without hesitation, she swings her dagger and cuts off her arm up to the elbow, after that the field around her changes slightly, most likely to try to counter or weaken that effect.

Savant is standing there, a black dagger stabbed through the palm of his hand, the attack stopped before going through his eye.

Tacita went for a kill. There was no hesitation at all.

Looking at the black dagger, Savant watches as it crumbles, turning into dust. His arm starts turning black and then crystallizing, and it spreads quickly. If he doesn’t do anything, I’m sure that attack will turn his entire body like that.

To counter, his domain activates more, and the orange light seeps through his body, pushing against the crystallization and even reverting it to some extent. Aware of his reserves, he doesn’t push more to remove it and decides to save his mana; he just keeps it at bay.

When Tacita attacks again, he barely blocks her attack against his head with the Sword of Aeons, and Tacita appears further away. It takes a huge toll on him, I can see, but for really short moments he is almost capable of matching her speed.

Once again, Tacita´s body is poisoned by his domain. Each clash costs her, even the short exchange enough for her to be affected.

Not showing any hesitation, she charges again, attacking from the side, her arm turned into a blur.

Savant barely covers his vitals, and the dagger stabs him three times: into his arm, his knee, and the right side of his chest.

The cost for Tacita is high as well. Blisters all over her body, and her breaths are quicker and shallower. One of her eyes seems to lose its sight.

“You will die if you don’t forfeit,” Savant says as he shifts his weight on a different leg.

A bit of mana glows at the tip of her dagger, and she swings it, creating an image in the air just from the afterimage of the glowing mana.

乁(ツ゚)ㄏ

A crazed smile climbs on Tacita’s lips, and more mana seeps into the dagger, its surface vibrating visibly, cracks forming on the weapon. Her feet bury into the ground, and she lowers her body. The mana poisoning reaches further, blinding her other eye as well, and she just closes her eyelids.

From Savant, like flames on his skin, the orange light of his domain dances.

Tacia reaches him in a blink and his arm is nearly cut through, the bone of his forearm stopping the slash that was meant to separate his head from his neck.

I can see how much it surprises Tacita that his bone stopped her attack. She tries to dash back but finds herself unable to. She falls to the ground, her chest barely moving. Her skin starts shivering, and some of her hair falls out as her limbs thrash in cramps.

Savant watches her. He doesn’t attack, but he doesn’t take down his domain and Tacita is slowly poisoned to death.

Then she forfeits and disappears.

For some reason, I find out that I'm about to stand up, grab Lily, and teleport somewhere. It's an unexpected reaction for multiple reasons. But I stop myself and wait. The reaction I expected comes quickly.

“Nat, we need to help her!” Lily grabs my shoulder, shaking me.

“We need to?” I ask curiously.

“Yes, we need to!”

“She is unstable and dangerous. She could kill any of you at any moment, so I don’t think we need to.”

“Nat?” Lily seems to be shocked.

“Yes?”

“I thought you were friendly with her, I thought you…”

“Lily, I know her for a few days only. Don't misunderstand, I care about our group only. I will fuck up anyone who tries to hurt us or bears ill will towards us. As for Tacita, I don’t mind being friendly with her, but we are no friends, and she doesn’t belong to this group.” These words are meant as much for Lily as they are meant for me.

“Please...” the voice she lets out is weak.

I look at her. Lily is almost crying.

“You don’t know her,” I ask with interest.

“Please. She is dying. I don’t think anyone will try to help her.”

“Okay then if you really want it.” I put my hand on her shoulder and teleport to where I know Tacita likes to stay.

It’s deep in the forest, a small hideout built around a fallen tree.

There, hidden inside Tacita is lying, curled up, shaking, and clearly dying.

I watch as Lily rushes towards her, immediately using [Sacrifice] and sending a burst of healing through the girl.

Helping Lily is something I don’t mind. She is a member of my group, someone who helped me over and over again. Someone I want to call a friend in the future.

But Tacita? There are things I like about her, but also plenty I dislike. And I know she wouldn’t hesitate to kill me or anyone from group 4 if needed. What would be the reason to want to help such a person? Because of a bit of sympathy? Because of pity?

“I can’t help her fully, Savant’s poisoning is too deep. I can’t use [Disintegration]; I would probably kill her.” Lily is desperate, and only her constant healing keeps Tacita alive, the girl on the brink of death because of what [Dawn] did.

With a sigh, I concentrate my mana through [Focus] and force it into the shape of a small black dagger. I lower my head and pass under the fallen tree.

In this tiny hideout, a single big blanket full of holes lies, most likely an item from Earth. A few stolen items are there as well, some of them even ours, Earth’s food I bought that disappeared. In the corner of this small place, a few daggers lie, all of them extremely clean and well taken care of. Put there like treasures.

Lowering my hand, I stab the black dagger into Tacita’s chest, and for a moment, she opens her eyes that Lily already healed. They meet mine, and I can see a stubbornness there. A strong will clinging to life.

"It wasn't my idea. It was hers." I gesture at Lily.

The black dagger starts absorbing mana that is poisoning her and some of Tacita´s own as well. I try to control it so it absorbs only Savant’s and I succeed only partially, but it’s fine for now.

When all of the mana poisoning is gone, I pull out the dagger and turn it into an orb. I will need to get rid of it somewhere.

Lily touches Tacita again and starts healing her. Tacita’s breathing steadies, her convulsions subside, and color gradually returns to her face.

The entire time Tacita holds a dagger in her shaking hand. Even in the state she is in she is ready to fight back. It's something I'm sure Lily didn't notice.

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