Chapter 9: Tournament

Empress groaned. She was still sore, even inside of the game. Her boxing sessions hadn’t been going very well. She was simply too weak. She could barely lift her boxing gloves.

She was thankful to be back inside the game. At least this way she could feel proficient at something.

Vivian wasn’t sure what she wanted to do today. She wanted to play around with her gauntlets but she didn’t know the best way to go about doing so.

She was wondering what to do when she saw a signboard on the street advertising the Northfront Coliseum.

Empress teleported towards the duel arena. It was a very obvious sight. Although DoG Online took place in modern times, the duel arena was very old-fashioned in appearance. It was reminiscent of the old school coliseums.

She sauntered up to the entrance of the arena, stopping by a man who sat at a desk out front.

“Are you here to participate in the tournament?” he asked her.

“Tournament?” Empress asked questioningly.

“Yeah,” the guy replied, “The monthly tournament is starting in a couple of days.”

Empress blinked. She had completely neglected to keep track of the date. She hadn’t seen much reason to care. Now that she knew the game had monthly tournaments, she would have to pay more attention.

“Tell me the details.”

“Well, the tournaments are divided based on level. Players levels 1-20 are in one section, 21-40 in another section, all the way up to 100.”

The man paused, “Well now that there is a starting zone, the 1-20 competition is more like levels 10-20.”

Vivian nodded her understanding.

“Do you want to participate?”

“What are the rewards?” Empress asked, a glint of greed in her eyes.

“It depends on which section you’re in,” he admitted.

“The 1-20?”

“The rewards for coming in tenth place or higher is a minor power crystal. Places 3 and higher get an average power crystal. First place gets an average power crystal and five million credits.”

Empress’s eyes went wide. The rewards were very tempting.

“Sign me up!” Empress declared.

Although she was nine levels lower than the highest level player in her section, she believed she could still make it decently far in the tournament. Most importantly, it would be a good way for her to get combat experience and to practice using her gauntlets.

“Sure thing. Fill out this form,” the man said, handing a piece of paper over to her with a smile.

Empress quickly completed the form, entering herself into the competition.

She spent the days leading up to the tournament in preparation. She went to her boxing class multiple days in a row, trying to soak up as much information as possible. Although she hadn’t improved significantly, she felt a little more confident.

Finally the day arrived.

Empress entered the coliseum and was directed towards the lobby. In the lobby she saw the other competitors whom she could potentially face. While many were cold and detached, there were many who were nervous as well.

Empress was one of the first half, holding herself with an aura of mastery. She knew that the façade of confidence was important, even if you really weren't.

Eventually, a man came by with a hat filled with scraps of paper. Matches would be determined by a draw. The people who drew numbers one and two would face each other, the players who drew numbers three and four would face each other, and so on and so forth.

There were hundreds of competitors. Empress just so happened to grab lot number 81. She would be faced against whoever had number 82.

She looked around the room in a futile attempt to discover her opponent. However, everyone held the scraps of paper closely, not wanting to reveal any information.

The competitors were called up to the stage one at a time. Empress sat in the stands while she waited, watching the fights. Luckily, super-powered fights usually didn’t last long. It would be her turn shortly.

One of the first matches was between a man who could transform in a grizzly bear and a man who could make his bones jut out of his body at will.

The fight was an intense one. The bear-man used his superior size and strength to press down upon the bone-man, almost clinching a victory. However, at the last second, the bone-man used an attack similar to a porcupine shooting out all of its quills, sending spikes of bone into the bear. The bear-man died instantly. The bone-man wasn’t much better off though, he was incredibly weakened. It would be a surprise if he managed to make it to the next round.

Empress shook her head. In a tournament like this it was important to conserve your strength. She would have to use as little energy as possible if she wanted to win.

Eventually, after numerous battles, it was her turn.

Her opponent stood across from her, a buzzing noise came from his body. He opened his mouth, causing hundreds of wasps to fly out. Empress shuddered. She had seen something similar in a movie once. It was disgusting. She was determined to kill him as fast as possible.

The judge signaled the start of the match.

Empress wasted no time. She immediately activated her teleportation, appearing in front of the man. She swung her fist forward, causing the air to tremble.

The bug-man simply bent backwards, the small of his back almost touching the floor of the arena.

His bugs flew up into the air, dashing towards a vulnerable Vivian.

Empress immediately glanced backwards and teleported, throwing up a barrier between her and the bugs.

The bugs crashed into her force field. Their fragile bodied crumpled as if they had hit a car windshield.

Empress smiled triumphantly. Unfortunately for the bug man, she countered him very well.

The bug-man frowned, calling his bugs back towards him. They entered his mouth and he swallowed them with sickening crunch.

Empress’s face scrunched in disgust.

“What the heck is he doing?”

The bug-man began to tremble from head to toe. His veins bulged, threatening to burst.

All of a sudden, he began to transform. Antennae sprouted from his head. Enormous wings emerged from his back, followed by stingers that jutted from his fingertips.

Empress frowned. Maybe the fight would be more difficult than she had originally imagined.