I stared at Cerion’s unconscious body for what felt like an eternity, eyes wide in shock. Logical sense had warned me of his probable loss beforehand, but to actually see my friend lose felt like a punch to the gut. Cerion had been the first person my age that I had bonded with in what felt like forever. He was strong enough that I didn’t have to worry about him falling behind, and kind enough that I was proud to call him a friend.

Seeing him lose felt no different from losing a match myself. And yet, life would go on. Cerion was teleported to the medical bay after the end of the match, and the crowd animatedly started to discuss the spectacle they had witnessed, much to my chagrin. What would those weak fools even understand about a fight like that? Did they understand the skills that had been used? Did they know the stakes? No.

I stood up angrily and rushed out of the booth, heading towards the medical center. Unfortunately, I was denied entry when I arrived. One of the healers said that he was being healed that very moment and that I would only prove to be a distraction. The only reason I didn’t protest when I heard that was because a nurse assured me Cerion would be all healed up in ten minutes, thanks to the head-healer being a tier 5. This fact mollified me somewhat, though I still felt on edge.

I tried to put my mind off of it all and sat down in my previous spot with a huff. At least that smug aristocrat had also been sent to the medical center. I closed my eyes and attempted to calm down, though I was interrupted by the eastern monk, Gaius, before I managed to do so. He put one of his giant hands on my shoulder and regarded me with a patient smile.

“I can tell your friend’s valiant loss is causing you some distress. I would like to remind you that patience is a virtue. Undoubtedly, he will rejoin us in a matter of minutes, fully healed.”

I disregarded his non-advice and lightly pushed his hand off of my shoulder, finally calming down. There was still a chance that I would face Arcellus in the finals, in which case I could avenge my friend’s loss. However, the thought that Cerion would want to avenge himself rather than use me as a proxy sobered me somewhat.

Then, the next match’s start was announced. Emeri was facing Karon. The thought of such a one-sided battle forced a chuckle out of me. Karon was no slouch, but he was far from strong enough to beat the church’s holy maiden.

Sure enough, the moment the signal to start had been given, Karon was immediately put on the backfoot as three white illusory spears appeared in front of him and attacked him from three directions. His improvised defense was instantly annihilated the moment the spears touched the oily surface of the dome he had erected. The spread continued to pierce toward him, Emeri in tow.

The rest of the fight was equally predictable. Karon scrambled to get some solid hits in; but was harshly punished for every rash move he made instead. Even his ultimate move, where he created giant oily meteors and dropped them all over the arena, didn’t work. Well, to say that it didn’t work would be incorrect. It was more like he never got the chance to activate the skill, because Emeri stayed hot on his tail and interrupted him each time he tried. Her illusory spears shifted into new formations with each of her movements, following or counterbalancing the tactics she used at any given moment. As a result, she could either push her advantage or make up for her weaknesses when using certain skills that would otherwise leave her open to counters. It was a flawless combination of offense and defense with no openings anywhere. Only raw, dominating power could overwhelm her, in my opinion.

As Karon finally collapsed from blood-loss and was teleported away, I was left hoping she would somehow manage to beat Arcellus. If the stars aligned, I would get to beat her in the finals, though Arcellus would also make for a good opponent. First, though, I would have to defeat the nosy monk that kept trying to psycho-analyze me.

Right as I stood up to head to the waiting room to prepare for my next match, Cerion entered the booth. I greeted his bitter, defeated smile with a manly hug, if there was such a thing. When I stepped away, he looked a little cheered up, though that might have been my imagination.

“I lost…” he said morosely.

“So you did. He was a tough opponent.”

“I- I had the type advantage, too… Father will be…”

“Your father will understand. As if he’s never lost before… Besides, it’s not like type-advantage makes all that big of a difference in the first place. Any classer worth their salt can overcome type-disadvantages with ease. Not to toot Arcellus’ horn, but he’s not weak. Train, and you’ll beat him next time.”

Cerion nodded, determined.

“I will, just watch when the time comes.” he said, a glint in his eyes.

I gave him a pat on the shoulder as I left the booth, trying to place my focus on the match ahead. Gaius seemed like a good person, so I decided to fight him without relying on my affinity like last time. Something told me that wouldn't be a good habit to establish…

I was interrupted from my thoughts by a quiet surprised squeal. When I looked at its source, I found out that Emeri had been the one to make the sound. I moved to congratulate her on her victory, but her face turned red and she turned away without a word, walking quickly in the other direction.

“Wait! I just wanted to…” my voice trailed off as Emeri disappeared around a corner, unwilling to even consider hearing me out.

Something about the embarrassed look on her face told me that I must really have said something wrong that last time… Unfortunately, I still didn’t have the time to follow her and apologize, since I had a match to participate in. Gaius would gloat for decades if he managed to win because I didn’t appear on time. That would set a new record, too. A match that finished before it even started.

As I entered the waiting room, I repeated the little ritual I usually performed to calm my mind, allowing me to enter the arena fully focused ten minutes later.

Gaius was already waiting for me on the other side, hands clasped together in greeting. Funnily enough, this would be the first serious fight Gaius would have in the tournament. Yet, he didn’t look nervous at all. Did he expect an easy win? Maybe he was used to ceremonial fights like these… I was pulled out of my reverie by the announcer’s voice.

“3…2…1… start!!”

Even though I only heard the last part of his speech, I was fully prepared for his signal and drew my sword simultaneously, before using aura step to throw myself to the side as Gaius hurled a boulder in my direction. Just like Reana, Gaius was a classer that liked to control the environment. Unlike Reana, however, he preferred to attack his opponents head-on.

Knowing this, I sprinted straight towards him in a direct line, expecting him to repeat his boulder-throwing move. He did just that, but hadn’t expected me to cut straight through the hardened stone with my tier 4 sword. I ducked in between the two separated halves of the boulder and appeared before him. He had hastily covered both hands in some kind of soil, and brought them up to defend against my sword. A dull thud notified me that his earth-control was strong enough to ward off my mana-less sword, so I pulled out all the stops and erupted with overloaded mana, practically smothering the both of us.

More importantly, my sword itself now had far more power. I brought my sword down a second time, sending a concentrated wave of overloaded mana his way at the same time by using the skill [Overloaded sword]. This proved to be too much for Gaius to handle, and his improvised gauntlets broke on impact. Strangely, Gaius didn’t panic. He lifted some more earth out of the ground and repeated his previous method before my third strike landed. Like this, we clashed for several dozen seconds, his gloves turned back into dirt half as many times. I struggled to land a solid hit and hadn’t managed to draw blood, a prerequisite for leaving a curse mark.

Eventually, Gaius’ mood shifted. His gaze turned serious and he took on a well-practiced stance, both bare feet firmly on the ground and his hands raised in a strange, reactive pose.

His fists seemed just as dangerous as my sword, at that moment. Next thing I knew, Gaius charged at me and threw me for a loop with his strange martial arts. I was now the one that had to defend himself from Gaius’ quick but vicious strikes as his gloves no longer shattered when they met my blade. Every moment, Gaius became faster, stronger, more fluid. I was starting to compare him to a berserker in my head, even though I had yet to wound him, because his gradual increase in strength and speed was quickly catching up to my own.

Finally, one of his attacks struck true, hitting the side of my chest with a clang as his rocky fists crashed into my armor, denting it and breaking several of my ribs in the process. I jumped backward with Aura step and tore off the dented chunk of armor, letting my body heal.

As I held Gaius’ deadly gaze, I noticed that his cold eyes stood in stark contrast to his friendly smile, which made for a chilling view.

“So you’re actually a close-quarters fighter, huh? You sure made it a point to convince us otherwise… I thought you monks were supposed to be honest and sincere…” I taunted lazily.

He didn’t rise to my taunt, though.

“Hahaha! When facing competition as fierce as this, even a monk must keep some secrets to himself until the time is right!” he said jovially.

If he didn’t want a straightforward battle, I wouldn’t give him one, either. I smiled in resignation, before sending a dozen sword arcs his way, though he dodged every last one. I took that time to launch myself into the sky, where Gaius wouldn’t be able to reach the earth and continued to assault him with ranged skills. A few overloaded orbs caused craters to form, destabilizing Gaius and eventually leading to him being pushed back.

“Hiding in the sky? Others have tried similar tactics, and they haven’t succeeded yet!” the monk shouted from down below, before hurling more rocks in my direction. He started to pull bigger and bigger chunks of earth out of the ground, almost lifting the entire arena. Just when I thought he was trying to bring me down by knocking me out of the sky, he subverted my expectations; again. The rocks that were flying towards me instead broke into identical, round boulders, before slowly floating down to the arena’s floor, where the earth parted to bury them. The boulders formed a circle at the very edge of the arena.

I stared at the whole spectacle, confused. Then, Gaius stomped down with one foot, creating a loud bang. The wind quietened to the point that I couldn’t feel it on my skin anymore. Suddenly, the sky started to shake, and I rocketed back down to the ground. I attempted to stay in the sky with aura step, but for some reason the pulling force of gravity had become too great. As I landed with both feet on the ground, Gaius proudly started to explain what he had done.

“Using one of my skills, I can force people near my level to the ground as long as they stay in my designated area. Unfortunately for you, you can’t leave the arena! Don’t mistake it for gravity manipulation, though, it's closer to an earth-affinity domain!”

I grit my teeth in anger. I refused to lose to this monk, no matter what skills he used. Since this was already one of the semi-finals, I decided that showing my last hidden card couldn’t hurt. After all, even if they knew about it, what could they do to counter it?

Determined, I made my choice.

Gaius started, flabbergasted, as my form faded into black smoke and disappeared.