《Rumble Circuit (Sci-Fi and Fantasy Themed Progression Isekai/Fighting GameLit)》Chapter 100: The Upset
Advertisement
"I hope you don't take this personally, Gurk," Siergi said loud enough for the audience to hear. "But this is how I like to end all of my important Broadcasts!" Siergi lifted his leg, letting it dangle from the knee. He moved his foot around, feinting with a series of kicks that ended short and came in from a multitude of angles.
Gurk responded to each fake strike, moving his arms across his body in preparation in case Siergi ever followed through. He soon moved his arms to his left side to block a presumed wide kick. Siergi continued to fake him out, quickly dropping his raised foot and shifting his weight onto it with a hop. In a flash, he attacked from the opposite side using his other leg and struck Gurk with a push kick to his exposed side.
The attack was blocked at the cost of a large portion of Gurk's Guard Gauge. The audience roared once more, letting out chants of "Break his guard!" as they watched Siergi close in on the retreating crocodile. Siergi went in for another push kick, this time connecting with the back of Gurk's hands as he guarded the attack. The moment Siergi's heel connected with Gurk's block, the crocodile rolled to the side, saving the last bit of his Guard Gauge at the expense of using up his Defensive Technique.
Gurk positioned himself to Siergi's left. He reached forward with both hands and grabbed onto Siergi sideways. He pressed onto the Broadcaster's body with a tight hold, hugging him with both arms. Gurk then leaped forward, falling stomach down on the mat with Siergi still underneath him.
The viewers all moaned in unison as they watched Gurk use their favorite Broadcaster as a landing mat. Gurk's relatively large size completely covered Siergi as he lay on top of him. Siergi squirmed underneath the crocodile's hefty mass, managing to move his leg just enough to kick the ground and emit an electric shockwave. Gurk got up once he felt his opponent free his leg and flung himself away, narrowly avoiding the electric ring.
"I don't know if I can watch anymore," Janus said on the verge of trembling. His eyes were looking at the Challenge Display rather than the two combatants staring each other down. Siergi was at half Stamina. Gurk was still at one fifth. Both EV gauges had "Signature" flashing in bold letters.
Advertisement
"It really is anyone's fight," Enidri said softly, her attention remaining unbroken.
"Come on, big guy! You can do this!" Itzel said to herself as she inched closer to the mat. "You know Siergi! Use it to your advantage!"
The fighters continued to circle around once more. Gurk maintained his distance, keeping enough distance between himself and Siergi to avoid having to block another attack. Meanwhile, Siergi continued his dance of feints, keeping Gurk moving, but this time not fully committing to moving his arms for a block.
"Come Siergi! End it!"
"What's taking so long?"
"Are you going to try and win by Time Out again?"
The shouts of the crowd were apparent. Their anxiousness got to the Broadcaster, as seen by the way his squinted. He stopped his fake attacks and instead leapt forward in the air and performed another Thunder Wire. He dove down towards Gurk, smiling with confidence. As he descended, Gurk turned himself around and swung his tail around. The Tail Slash was faster than usual as well as the massive chunk of ice that engulfed the end of his tail. It ballooned to the size of a Siergi’s head.
With a shadowy blue trail following behind it, the Special Technique connected into Siergi's leg with a rising motion. The impact sent the Broadcaster's trajectory off course, making him tumble upwards in the air instead of towards Gurk. As Siergi began to fall with his flailing limbs, Gurk took in a deep breath as he raised his head upwards.
"Glacier!"
A cascade of blue gas spewed from his mouth as the area around him and his opponent become flooded with a frosty mist. Beneath the frozen cloud, Siergi could be seen tensing up as his limbs became stiff. The crowd went silent, each viewer leaning forward in their seat to try and get a glimpse of Siergi inside the mist.
"He listened!" Itzel shouted with glee. "Big guy actually listened for once!"
"Talking about his EV usage?" Janus asked.
Itzel gave him a nod without turning her head away from the match. "Yep. Siergi's frozen stiff! Gurk is about to land a big damage combo!"
Advertisement
Gurk lifted Siergi between his teeth, hoisting his head back as if here were about to swallow his opponent like a pill. Siergi's legs still flailed as his captor clenched his jaws tighter. The crocodile then slammed his victim's legs into the ground before turning his head to the other side and repeating the motion but on the opposite side. Siergi was slammed twice more as Gurk continued his Enhanced Variant of his Ravenous Maw Special Technique. After being slammed into the ground three times, Siergi was released from Gurk's clutches. He landed on his knees, hunched over and in front of the crocodile.
Gurk attacked with a downwards slash of his right claw that Siergi parried with his forearm while still on his knees. Gurk's other hand followed suit from the opposite direction and was met with the same result. With the Broadcaster still down, Gurk leaned forward and bent his neck back, pointing his nose straight up. His metal mask glistened from the ceiling lights of the studio before he dropped the front of his face down like a hammer onto Siergi. With a look of shock, Siergi kept his arms up, bracing for the impending impact. The front of his mask cut through the air, driving into Siergi's arms. There was a loud clang. Siergi's arms flew to the side. He groaned while leaving his entire front vulnerable.
The crocodile lowered his head once more, this time angling the top of his skull towards his defenseless opponent. He then propelled himself forward with one leg, keeping his head straight. Gurk rammed into Siergi, the top of his metal mask driving straight into his stomach. The impact of iron against flesh made a resonating smack. Siergi was pushed backwards, landing on his side. He remained huddled into a ball as the sound of bells ringing resonated throughout the studio air. The crocodile quickly shook his head back and forth as he regained his senses. With a puzzle gaze he slowly turned around and looked at the crowd. They were all bewildered, staring in silent awe as Gurk looked back at them. In front of the viewers was the Challenge Display. K.O.! flashed in bold letters. Only the portraits of the Labrisson Slayers lit up, accompanied by the word "Winners."
"You did it big guy! You did it!" Itzel ran towards Gurk first, stretching her arms straight as she zeroed in for a hug. Janus ran behind her while Enidri strolled onto the mat at a leisurely pace, keeping a short grin as she did so. Itzel wrapped her arms as far as she could around Gurk's waist. "You actually listened! See what happens when you follow my advice?" Itzel said, hugging Gurk as tightly as her relatively small arms could.
"Yeah," Gurk replied while giving Itzel a few pats on her back.
"That was quite the comeback you performed!" Janus said, nudging Gurk in the arm with the elbow. "You had me on the edge of my seat the entire fight!"
"Was rough."
Itzel released Gurk from her hug and then buried her face inside her hands. "We actually won! In front of over two hundred thousand viewers!" She stretched out her arms again, this time walking towards Janus. "Come on. You're getting one too."
"Oh... I..." Janus said nervously. His face turned red as Itzel squeezed him tight.
"And you thought you didn't have what it takes to make it in Rumble Circuit!"
"To be fair, I did have two teammates to help carry me."
"True. Even though you beat Maluk, you did manage to give all that free EV to Arva. But!" Itzel ended her embrace and straightened out her jacket vest with a brief tug. "We can go over the replays some other time! Just enjoy the moment of your first Ranked Rumble Circuit win."
Janus smiled, showing off every single one of his teeth to Itzel and then at Gurk. "Don't you mean... our win?"
Advertisement
- In Serial86 Chapters
Soulmonger
Tom's baby-momma died, and now her past is coming back to bite him. He's broke, The cops are out to get him, the babysitter is pure evil, and he's got a limited time to dig himself out before her world collides with his own.
8 176 - In Serial236 Chapters
Monsters and Maidens
A school-bus gets sucked into a dark forest. Deadly monsters lurk around every corner. They look almost human, but they are anything but. Humanity struggles for survival. What dangers and secrets await our stranded protagonists? Chapters are posted daily. Warnings: This is a slow-burn story, answers and explanations aren't given right away. The setting is grim-dark. And our protagonists are as human as they can get. No superpowers. No easy trips. Heroes must earn their glory. Villains must earn their strength. There are 4 main characters around which the story orbits, each having their own narrative and perspective to the setting/events. AN: For anyone interested in reading ahead, I post the chapters 2-4 weeks in advance over at my Patreon. [participant in the Royal Road Writathon challenge]
8 470 - In Serial33 Chapters
The Dark Lands: A Villainess’s Guide to Settling into Her New Home
Born into House Vesely, the third most powerful family within the Kingdom of Ranislava, fourteen year old Lady Iskra had it all and more. She had command over a large number of servants that answered her every beck and call, whatever she wished for she got without issue and her friends served a purpose in inflating her ego and bolstered her social standing and she was poised to become the next queen once her betrothed, the Crown Prince, ascended the royal throne. Life for the young woman was good. That, however, all came to a crashing end when she discovered the rumors surrounding her soon to be husband and a low ranking barons daughter to be true. In a blind rage, she had nearly murdered the girl but was quickly subdued and tried. In a strange twist of fate, she has been stripped of everything she once held dear and exiled into the Ranislava’s most dangerous and untamed duchy, Voldigrov. A land rich in volcanoes and home to roving armies of orcs, goblins, trolls and other foul and hideous creatures that prey upon those who are stupid enough to enter the cursed domain. Now, alongside two of her former family’s most trusted servants as well as a levy of unwashed and untrained peasants, she must traverse into the mysterious realm and cling to a sliver of hope that the gods of fate don’t bring further ruination upon her.
8 188 - In Serial8 Chapters
The Game of Petty Gods
They woke up in nothingness and knew two things: They knew who they were. They knew why they were there. The world before this one was hazy and meaningless but their identities, if not its details, were still in-tact. They were there to play the God's Game. What that meant was different for each of them but all had the same goal: to Win.
8 145 - In Serial28 Chapters
Pasted Gunner
John is ordinary highschooler at not so ordinary highschool. His favourite time-killing activity is to make fun of everything, classmates, officers, stupidity of others...All in all, he lives comfortable life, ok, not so comfortable in comparsion with normal highscools, but still. And then it happened. He was at trainig (read: slothing around) with his class when some egoistic entity copied his body and pasted it into some weird world. "Nah, at least better than learnig." thought John. He usually analyze the situation well, ufortunately, this wasn't that case. And so his adventurous (read: screwed) life begun. Tags: Guns, magic, chemistry, more chemistry, insulting assholes, etc. Warning: this is my first attemp to write something. And I don't have much time so at least one chapter per month. Warning No2: These content warnings aren't here just for fun. Warning No3: My English is far from perfect, so please, repair me and have some patience with me.
8 187 - In Serial60 Chapters
A Lonely Spiral
Rye wakes up with a toad in her mouth. From the first day the world is out to make her life miserable as she struggles through living without a sun, through graves and grave threats in the form of man or monster, or even just her innermost doubts and insecurities. Join her as she explores a dark, dark world and slowly, but surely finds her place in it. Or will she? What if the world has no place for a small, weak and uncertain person like her? How will she adapt, if at all, to ever worsening circumstances? (Features a slow-burning progression, many setbacks and a thousand ways to suffer in the age of darkness with a slice of humor to finish it off. Expect the dark-souls of adventure stories. Early chapters are a bit of a mess, but it gets better. If you want to skip forward, I can recommend chapters 19, 26, or 34 as starting points.) Heyo, YJarex here, the Y is silent. This is my first story so please be kind, but don't hesitate to point out flaws or ask questions if things are unclear. I fully intend to continue writing this until it is done some time in the far future. Cover art is a commission by the wonderful hou_jae04. Check them out on Instagram here. Schedule is Tuesday and Thursday with a chance of bonus chapters on Saturday. [participant in the Royal Road Writathon challenge] Done!
8 552

