The first one is against Ari

Kiara leads me and Ari to a special entrance which is for contestants only. It is protected by the royal guard. They first want to know my name and guild so they can check if I am on the list. Once I am verified, I can go in but Kiara needs to stay outside.

“I will see your fight from the audience.” Kiara says. Then she comes in and whispers, “Win this one for me, alright?”

Kiara then waves at me and Ari and leaves.

Ari and I walk through a long corridor at the end of which we reach the arena grounds. To my right is a podium with a desk on it. That is where the judges are going to be seated. With there being three chairs, I’m guessing there will also be three judges. I am surprised at the large number of royal guards surrounding it. Would they have had issues with adventurers attacking the judges in the past?

Even further right, I see a first aid tent with some members of the Knights Hospitaller. With all their members wearing a white cloth with a red cross on it over their armor, they are easy to recognize. I guess it is logical for them to be here. For fights like these it is expected people are going to get hurt.

It is to my left however that we need to be. This is where the benches are for contestants to sit and wait their turn. A lot of the others have already gathered. So much so that the only seats left are on the back row. Guess that’s what happens when you come in late.

After we are seated, I can finally take a look around and see how many people are in the audience. The arena is almost filled with even more coming in. If the queen asks an entrance fee from all the onlookers, I can imagine her earning quite a penny every year from this tournament alone. No wonder the royals keep this tournament going.

Then the tournament starts and the judges name 2 contestants. They name them through a loudspeaker so that everybody in the arena can hear who they are and which guild they belong to. The 2 that have been named stand up and walk towards where the judges are. They hand their adventurer cards over to the guards, who then pass them on to the judges. Then the 2 contestants enter the arena. They wait until the judges give the signal and then they start fighting.

I make sure to pay a lot of attention to the fights. Each adventurer is a B rank, just like me and each is showing off their skills. Either proving just how valuable they would be to team up with or how dangerous they would be to challenge. Also, if I win this first round, I will have to face one of the other winners later. So, it is important I remember everyone’s strengths and weaknesses.

One by one the matches progress, some take a while and others are decided quickly. It takes a while for my name to get called. I guess that’s because I signed up so late.

But eventually, the judge at the loudspeaker calls out, “Darx, of the Dark Dragon guild.”

As I am heading towards the judge’s area, my opponent is being called. It turns out it is Ari. Alright, 2 Dark Dragons facing off against each other. I may actually be lucky with this. I have seen Ari fight and even sparred with her. I know both her strengths and weaknesses. Then again, she also knows all of mine.

After handing our adventurer cards to the judges, Ari and I walk over to the arena. The actual arena grounds are a bit lower than the first row to keep the audience protected. Some of the previous duels had spells and arrows miss their target and hit the wooden wall under the front row of onlookers. There are also lots of obstacles. A couple large rocks, big enough to hide behind. A fountain with water which is surrounded by sand. A brazier burning with fire, a few animal skeletons here and there. Even a large wooden log surrounded by grass. Most importantly, there are 2 marked spots that the contestants must stand on, about 20 meters apart.

Ari and I take our places in front of hundreds of people. Honestly, I am feeling kinda nervous fighting for such a large crowd. I see Ari placing her feet in a fighting position while placing her right hand on her sword. Her left hand seems to be on her sword as well, but in my sparring matches with her, I know this is a faint. She actually has a few kunai hidden there. I get into position as well, except I draw my sword. I grip it with both my hands and hold it in front of me. Then I wait for the judges to start the match.

During training I have discovered that the ever-quiet Ari is actually quite aggressive. As long as she studies her opponent, she stays on the defense. But once she’s got her target scoped, she goes for the kill. I should be ready for an attack as soon as the match begins. Then, from the judge’s area, someone hits a large gong, and my duel against Ari starts.

My first action is to run towards the fountain. With my water magic, the closer I am to water, the stronger I am. Ari is aware of this and makes a bee-line for the fountain as well. I get to the fountain first and summon water to me to cast a [Water Barrier]. Ari throws a kunai at me before my spell is complete and it gets past the barrier, but it is deflected by my armor. Shortly after, the [Water Barrier] is complete and I turn to face Ari … just in time to see her perform a flip. She jumps up, high enough to go above my head, and performs a cork. That is when she activates her [Bunshin] skill and all of a sudden, she splits into 5. Four of them land all around me, the last one continues her cork, coming straight at me and draws her sword.

She has used [Bunshin] during training before, so I know how this skill works. It is not an illusion spell where only one of her is real. The real Ari is moving between her 5 version so fast that each of them is the real Ari and if they hit me, I can get hurt for real. But these Ari clones are very fragile and as soon as they get touched, they disappear until only 1 remains. My only saving grace here is that she can’t use her other skills while this one is active.

The Ari clones are coming in too fast for me to cast a spell against them. I need to use my sword. I block that attack from above and one Ari clone disappears. But the one on my left manages to damage my [Water Barrier]. Fortunately, that causes her to disappear as well, though there are still 3 more. I can block the attack from the one to my right, but the ones behind me and to my front both strike at the same time. As a result, [Water Barrier] takes too much damage and the spell dissipates. For my benefit, this means all the Ari clones are gone now and only one Ari remains. In her benefit, she can now start using her other skills.

I fully expect Ari to use [Blind Mind] now. A skill which, if it hits, I can’t cast spells for a full minute. If she can make that happen, this could be the end of the tournament for me. But I have my [Dual Strike].

When I activate my sword skill, everything slows down. This enables me to quickly strike her sword and **** it out of her hands. Rather than hit her with my blade, I raise the handle of my sword and strike her in the forehead. After that blow, everything moves in normal speed again and Ari stumbles back, her [Blind Mind] interrupted.

She corrects herself by performing a backwards roll. I chase after her and strike with my sword again. After her roll, Ari finds stability on her knees and raises both her hands, a kunai in each, to defend from my attack. Immediately after, she throws a smoke bomb and both of us are surrounded is dark grey smoke.

This is bad. Ari has a skill called [Zero Shadow]. She can use that to perfectly hide in anything that obscures vision, like this smoke. Hence the reason she carries at least one smoke bomb on her everywhere she goes. Another thing this ability grants her is to see through this smoke as clearly as if it wasn’t there, while I can’t. I need to get out of here.

I head back to the fountain where I am strongest, but not before Ari throws two kunai at me. One of them even makes a cut in my leg. One I am back at the fountain, I look back at the cloud of smoke. Ari is still in there, coming up with a plan of attack. What should I do? Do a counter attack, or wait and defend? Summon my water elemental? If I so I will show the other contestants what they can expect from me in future battles. No, I am not yet **** so I should keep my skills secret.

I decide to use one of my new spells, [Wave]. I had to train this spell at the moat surrounding the guildhall so I have some experience in it. I aim my hand to the water in the fountain and cast the spell. Water flushes out of the fountain in a big wave and I guide it towards the cloud of smoke. Just as the wave is about to hit the smoke, I see Ari attempt to burst from there, short sword in hand. The large amount of water pushes Ari back and also causes the smoke to disperse, yet I still see another 2 Ari’s appear from the left of the cloud and another 2 from the right. She must have used [Bunshin] again.

I finally realize I can’t win this without my water elemental’s help. I summon her while falling back at the same time. The summoning finishes only just in time and the elemental quickly attacks 2 of the Ari clones, making them disappear. Then the last 2 Ari’s are on me and I need to defend against their attacks. Blocking the first attack makes the last Ari clone disappear. But then Ari immediately uses [Kassatsu]. This skill allows her to perform an 8-hit combo and can penetrate both physical and magical defenses. I can block a few blows, but a good couple of them get past my sword and hit my brigandine. The steel parts hiding under the leather do a good job at preventing me from getting cut, but damn those blows come in hard. I am totally going to have bruises.

Before Ari can perform her next attack, the elemental throws herself onto Ari and captures her inside her liquid body. I can see Ari struggle while surrounded by all that water and I quickly tell my elemental to allow Ari to breathe. The elemental lets her head merge with the rest of her body and then pushes Ari up so my guildmate’s head replaces the elemental’s head. This allows Ari to breath while the rest of her body is trapped in water.

“I’m afraid this is it, Ari.” I tell my opponent. “I win.”

Ari nods, then raises her head and yells “YIELD!”

The gong that started the match goes again, this time followed by a judge shouting through the loudspeaker, “Ari yields! The winner is Darx!”

The audience starts applauding and it makes me feel quite great about myself. I unsummon the water elemental and help Ari collect her kunai. Then we both return to the contestant’s area.

“You know, if you had used [Blind Mind] on me, you totally would have won.” I tell Ari.

“Would have used it.” Ari replies. “But then you hit me on the head with your sword handle.”

We get our adventurer cards returned to us and then head back to where the other contestants are waiting, both the ones that already won and some that still have to fight. Most of the adventurers that lost have a tendency to leave, but Ari wants to stick around and watch more fights.

Though, as I am returning to those benches, there is a contestant waiting for me.