Mia versus Chen Lu

I hear Url’s name get called, but the next name is not mine. I guess that means when the second B rank fight happens it’ll be me and Monica. That should be an interesting fight.

The duel between Url and the other guy is also quite interesting. Url’s opponent is a Mage who used both fire and **** magic. In previous fights, he focused a lot on reanimating the bodies that had been spread across the arena and does so again this time. With him making so much use of the undead, people have been calling him a necromancer.

Unfortunately, Url is powerful enough to swat the undead minions aside with his huge shield and massive sword. Even the fire spells simply bounce off of Url’s plate armor and the mage has to yield. That means Url has made it into the finals. Either against myself, or Monica.

The next duel is for the C ranks and Mia is the first to get called. The second participant is a woman called Chen Lu from a guild called [The Kirin of Niancheng]. She is from the Oido province. The same region Shalia and Ari are from. Apparently, she is from a local guild over there and is only here because of a quest to keep a caravan to Riledo safe. Looks like she decided to join the tournament out of convenience. But I am impressed that she got this far. I am also impressed by her Asian dress style and how stylish her long black hair is.

As Mia and Chen get into positions, I start feeling nervous again. It is similar to last time I saw Mia duel. My thoughts start drifting to the letter she gave me this morning. To what she wrote in the unsent letter. Her first intent was to come clean. To let me know. She even wrote an offer to help set me up with a different girl because she felt so guilty. It also helps that Kiara told me she must have gone through a lot of emotional pain before she cheated. I don’t know if this makes me a bad person, but the idea that Mia had to suffer a breakdown before cheating on me kind of makes me feel a bit better. It makes me feel like I was not an easy person for her to get over.

The sound of the gong signifying the start of the duel wakes me up from my thoughts. I see Mia quickly going into a crouch and placing a hand on the ground in front of her. She is doing the thing with the [Fire Glyph] spell again. Just like in her last duel, she places 8 glyphs on the ground around her. If Chen wants to approach her, which she has to do since she’s a melee class, she will have to disturb the glyphs and thus activate these fire spells.

Chen doesn’t seem to be worried about Mia’s tactic, however. She patiently waits for Mia to place the glyphs, then casually walks up to her. She must have seen Mia use this tactic yesterday and come up with a plan to deal with it. When Chen is ready, she goes into a stance.

Ryul, who is sitting in front of me, notices it too and says, “Oh, that’s [Praying Mantis Stance]!”

While in this stance, Chen reaches into one of her pockets and pulls a handful of small rocks from it. She then throws these rocks to the ground in front of Mia, disturbing the [Fire Glyphs] that were placed there. As soon as the rocks hit the ground, fire bursts from the glyphs and they were disabled. When the fire from the glyph’s goes down, Chen reacts faster than Mia and lunges forward incredibly quickly and performs a [True Strike] on Mia’s belly with the palm of her hand. I remember hearing from Ryul that [True Strike] hits the opponents center of gravity, so it is no surprise that Mia loses her balance. She stumbles back and tries to try and regain her balance, but accidentally triggers the [Fire Glyph] she herself placed behind her. Fire erupts from the glyph and for a moment she gets surrounded by fire while she falls.

Because Mia is falling, she is not in the fire long enough for it to harm her much. She quickly gets back up, but Chen Lu doesn’t plan on giving Mia a break. While Mia is still getting up, Chen gets close to her and in a crouching position. Suddenly, Chen switches from a crouching position to a standing one and kicks Mia with her right leg. Mia takes the kick to her face and falls back down. That’s gone leave a mark.

Again, Chen presses her ****, not letting Mia get a break. Mia tries to defend by raising her sword. Chen swiftly swats at it with her vambrace protected wrist. I am surprised at how quick Chen is. But when Chen’s vambrace connects with Mia’s sword, fire bursts from the blade. I get it. Mia must have touched her blade while it was hidden under her body and placed a [Fire Glyph] on it. This way Chen couldn’t have known she’d trigger a glyph.

With this, Mia can take the initiative and charges as Chen. She performs a [Dual Strike] and slashes at Chen two times. But Chen is too quick for her and dodges both of Mia’s attacks. Then she grabs Mia’s sword arm with both her hands and starts rotating on the spot, forcing Mia to run circles around her. The movement becomes faster and faster, all the while not letting go of Mia’s arm, until Mia’s legs can’t keep up any more and she falls. As soon as Mia goes down, Chen follows her and holds Mia’s arm in a lock. From there, Chen grabs Mia’s sword and throws it away. At this rate, the only thing there is left for Mia to do is scream in pain until she yields. Hopefully she won’t be so stubborn that Chen needs to dislocate her shoulder before she gives up.

I see Mia raise her other arm and aim it at Chen. A last-ditch attempt at fighting back. But then a large amount of fire erupts from Mia’s hand. It starts thin, but quickly spreads out and surrounds Chen’s upper body. This makes Chen scream and she let’s go of Mia while walking away. Some of Chen Lu’s clothes have caught fire, so she drops to the ground and rolls. A good way to get the fire out.

Mia is not done with Chen though. She walks up to the monk, grabs one of her two pony tails and pulls on it. Then Mia punches Chen in the face two times. I can see Mia’s mouth move. She says something to Chen but the only thing Chen Lu does is look angry at her opponent. Mia then gives Chen another few punches, but Chen never yields. Eventually Mia let’s go and Chen just drops. She doesn’t even try to get up any more.

Mia waves to the Knights Hospitaller members on the side of the arena. A few of them walk over and check on Chen Lu. One of them then brings out a white card and holds it up for the judges to see. The gong goes and the judges declare that Chen Lu has lost consciousness. Mia wins the semifinals.

Lots of people in the audience cheer. Including some of my fellow Dark Dragon members. I don’t quite feel the need to cheer, but I do feel it is right to stand up and applaud. So, I do.

While Mia walks over to the judges to get her adventurer card back, I see her looking over at me. There is a stream of blood coming from her lower lip. I guess that must have been because of Chen Lu’s kick. When Mia sees me applauding, she smiles.

“All friends with Mia again?” Kiara asks.

“No, we’re not there yet.” I answer. “But I’m getting past the pain she left me. Having her apologize this morning actually helped. And having a wonderful girlfriend comforting me also works wonders.”

My words make Kiara smile and I can notice her blushing.

“Girlfriend? Did I just hear Darx say the G-word?”

Kiara and I both look behind and we see Helena with a big smile on her face. She then reaches over with a finger and starts playing with my hair while continuing her questioning.

“Soooo, who did you give the D to? Is it someone from the guild? Or is it someone from the audience who got impressed by how well you’re doing in the tournament? Is she pretty, Darx? Can I have some fun with her too?”

Kiara saves me by pulling Helena’s hand away from me and saying, “It’s me, Helena. I am his girlfriend. And no, I haven’t gotten the D yet. Not all women are like you.”

“Aww, too bad.” Helena replies. “You should really go for a ride on his. They can be a lot of fun.”

Even now, I still cannot believe my mother was friends with someone like this.