Master Of None

Without his swords Walker’s opponent was completely conceived he had won. He puffed up his chest showing off his strength and body covered in bruises. This was a show of his body’s toughness, no other could penetrate his skin! Throwing wide aarcs with his fists he was basically playing with Walker, he was in the spotlight and wanted all eyes on him, not others could take his attention, there were no other fights going on. 

The audience was tired of this playing and had begun to shout for an ending, their voices coming together to shake the walls yet again. Full of confidence and the taste of victory Walker’s opponent came in for a massive punch to end the fight. This was exactly what Walker wanted. 

He had prepared the earth underneath him using mana slowly to create a pair of swords, these were better than his last attempt because the floor of the arena was well made with tough stone. Now that his opponent took a massive stemp in there was no way he could adjust and dodge. Walker thrust his hands into the dust on the ground, pulling up the two swords he had made with his earth manipulation. Crossing them he pushed them in to his opponent’s chest. His heart beat stopped in surprise, he had no idea where these blades had come from. 

Using his cross slash two deep red lines were cut through his opponents tough skin, the cry of pain was loud enough to rival the cheers of the audience which were now surprised yelps as the underdog had made a comeback. After his cross slash Walker spun dodging his opponent’s massive body as it fell to the ground. Crossing his swords he placed one foot on his opponents back and placed the crossed swords by his neck. His opponent was already unconscious due to blood loss and sheer shock. Not a single person witnessing this expected this. Some yelled about magic use but were silenced as Walker had not directly attacked with it but used it to make himself a weapon. ”Victor!” Scylla pointed and shouted at Walker, he couldn’t tell if she was emotionally influenced by the result at all. Taking a glance at the King’s balcony the king was showing off his toothy grin very happy to see the results. 

The other participants were not giving Walker another look. He was walking away from a fight having drawn it out and putting heavy damage on his opponent. Looking a bit sweaty but otherwise unharmed Walker had clearly fought a wise battle. The final decisive moment was luring in a tougher opponent to create a strong battle ending blow. After collecting the two swords Walker had dropped though the battle had caused the two he created to turn back in to crumpled earth. There was nothing to be said so he returned to the wall, many eyes on him wondering just how a magic caster like him had created such a strategy using swords. Many were trying to guess his system in the stands but none were right. Medical teams had already taken care of the defeated opponents making way for the next rounds. 

Scylla had already started to decide the next battles, Su and Remey were both picked this time around. Su was cool as ever, standing with a rather skinny demi-human with very large eyes and hooked claws on his hands. Remey was bouncing side to side facing a demi-human that had a hard looking shell on the back of his arms and the back of his head and torso. This was definitely a demi-human with an armadillo trait, Remey would have a fun time wailing punch after punch on to the tough plating. She spun the wooden staff making it more convincing that she would use it in the battle to come. The crowd had already started cheering for their favorites, Walker noticed that the demi-human participant from his group with the feline trait was gaining the most attention, it would seem he was a favorite out of all the participants. 

The fighting began in an instant, Scylla showed a slight smile as she had decided on who she believed would win. Remey naturally rushed in to her armadillo trait opponent. Surprising everyone, her opponent rolled himself in to a ball somehow maintaining and gaining rolling speed. The tough armor on his body protects him while doubling as a strong offensive attack. Remey made a show of using the wood staff to vault over the rolling opponent with ease. The crowd was eating this fast paced battle up and praising her for her unique style. Her opponent may have been fast and heavily defensive but she had just the skill that could shatter his defenses. 

Remey rarely used it due to her love of punches but her armor breaking palm used a decent amount of mana to force energy in to the opponent’s body and break through tough defenses. Walker had only seen her use it once but he remembered the stance she took to prepare it. Her legs were staggered and the staff held out in one hand while her right was pulled back palm to the ground. Her armadillo-like opponent sped towards her, his speed had increased as he traveled in a straight line. He was counting on this so that he wouldn’t be able to dodge. Inches before they would collide Remey dropped the wooden staff and pushed forward with her other palm, the force stopped her opponent instantly while also causing Remmy to skid backwards. 

Seeing cracks all over the stopped opponents armor the audience had their breath taken away, Remey’s opponent unfurled and crawled on the ground, he had taken some of the most severe damage in his life, His breathing was ragged, he couldn’t even hope to stand. After just a few more moments he had passed out and medical staff rushed to him using healing magic skills to mend his inner injuries. Remey picked up the staff whistling and twirling it like nothing had happened at all. 

Su was attempting to slam her large and the smaller shield in to her opponent but every tiny movement she made was dodged, Her opponents large eyes gave him an ideal vantage of how her entire body changed while in motion. This made him able to predict where and how she would attack. Using his curved claws he was trying to land strikes after she failed to strike him but to his dismay his strikes seemed to narrowly deflect from her armor. Even more irritating for him she was able to dodge his attacks much more so than a normal defender would. 

Su was keeping her cool knowing that his techniques were causing anger to build in her opponent, she wanted exactly that. She like Walker was playing a mind game, as soon as her opponent would mess up she would end it. While she battled in this way Walker began to realize that Su could duel wield shields, why had this never occurred to him? She was using her large black scaled shield and the smaller metal once from the preparation room. What if she had two medium side shields for each arm? He watched the battle more wanting to go have two new shields made for her so she could maximize her defense and increase her attack. 

While Walker fantasized on the new formation possibilities Su had finally angered her opponent enough to get him to attack her. He was no longer watching as carefully but instead openly trying to strike the gaps in her armor. Thus she became more defensive, adding to his frustration. Her opponent jumped forward aiming at her neck, Su threw the smaller shield at him while he was in midair and unable to dodge. The force knocked him off course causing him to fall head first on to the ground right in front of Su’s waiting shield. She thrust her shield down on his head, knocking him out. The crowd was loving the brutal use of the shield, seeing a defensive gear used perfectly for offense was a welcome sight being so rare in the kingdom. 

Walker was proud to see Su execute such a well thought out plan in the midst of a battle, he wanted to head over and talk about why she chose that strategy but stopped himself, There was still one battle going on. The group he was in was completely occupied by the sight of the feline trait demi-human using massive leaps and bounds to jump and twist in the air, slashing as he did so. The agile flexibility would definitely make him the hardest to combat, on top of that he was extremely precise with a thin saber. Every slash added another wound to his opponent until it looked as if his opponent had crawled through a forest of thorns. In just a few more moves the opponent had become unable to lift their weapon being completely defeated. Without even a bead of sweat dropping the feline trait participant went back to the hall and leaned back with his eyes closed.