Yeah! We're in the final round, now! Well, you probably know that... uh, right, Ashin here, I'm currently fighting with someone. I and Theca are, actually! Against this super muscular and tall guy, sorta intimidating, actually!
Well, due to Quenilla's and Shiro's combined efforts, they're all separated from each other! Which, is great for us, since we now have the advantage. So far, things have gone just as planned!
Well, our fight with this guy has yet to really start, but it's about to.
"Hey," A wide grin appeared on our opponent's face, taking off his large gauntlets and cracking his knuckles, "You two are pretty strong, aren't you? I can tell. I might have to use that strategy Yuu told me about, even if it's a bit unfair.
The man laughed to himself. He had short black hair, with a hint of brown in it. His eyes were brown, too, a dark brown. In contradiction with what you would believe someone of his stature would wear, he wore light armour, made of leather and added to it with some thin chainmail. He was pretty tall, way taller than me. Maybe just like, a head taller than me?
He suddenly pointed to the two of us, "What're you two's names?! I wanna know! I'm Togeshi Sato! And I'll say it now, I love fighting! Fighting is my one and true passion! Which is exactly why I'm excited to fight you two! Let's have a clean and nice fight!"
Huh! He's pretty nice, isn't he? Well, he looks all intimidating and everything, but I'd say he's quite the nice guy!
"I'm Ashin Dest! Leader of my party!" I couldn't help have a smile leave my face as I drew my straight sword from out of its sheath.
"And, I am Theca..." Theca spoke out, a tiny bit quieter than I. He took his bow from his back, placing an arrow in it in preparation.
"Hah! I like you two! I'm glad I ended up fighting you!" His grin grew bigger, continuing on, "five-letter names, eh? Too bad for you, that's my lucky number!"
With that said, he came rushing at us! No weapon, huh? Well, that's just what I expected, he just used his fist last round too... but for some reason, he just dropped his gauntlets this time. Weird!
Theca jumped back, shooting an arrow at him. He'll be focusing more on ranged attacks this time!
However, Togeshi dodged the arrow with ease, simply stepping out of the way, coming to a complete halt for a moment.
I'll take advantage of that! I was at the perfect place to attack with my sword, attacking with a vertical slice right at him!
"Speed Acceleration!" For a moment, his speed increased to a level whereas I could barely keep my eyes on him, dodging my attack and counterattacking all at the same time, kicking me in the side away from him.
Luckily, the damage wasn't bad, nor did I lose my footing, but he's seriously strong! He hit me so hard that I ended up next to Theca! Convenient placement, huh?
"You know, I have a habit of saying the skill I'm about to use! Might wanna watch out for that!" He said, running at us once again.
Well, that's useful! But, it won't do us any good if we don't know what his skills do... the names of them should clue me in, though! So, it'll be fine!
Once again, he was right in front of me, but that's exactly what I want out of him! If he's close and focused on me, Theca will have a chance to attack himself.
"Again, Speed Acceleration!" Wait, that skill again? He went for a punch this time, right for my stomach. I attempted to dodge out of the way, but he was way too fast for that!
His hit connected, but apparently, he wasn't done, "Second Blow!"
The pain of the first hit appeared, knocking me far away. However, right after, without him attacking me again, I felt the feeling of being hit once again! This time, twice as strong as before.
Geez! That really hurt. He could seriously kill somebody with his fists alone! And he took off his gauntlets, too! Imagine how much harder he would hit if he was attacking with the metal of the things... Makes me wonder why he took off the things.
At the same time, an arrow is shot at him, just barely missing as he continued forward.
I barely have enough time to barely even feel the pain from the second hit, as while I'm still in the air from the last attack, he rushes in front of me, going for another flurry of attacks right after.
"Numerous Hi-- Hey, what the hell?!" Right before he was about to activate yet another skill, he was stopped by threads attached to both his arms and the rest of his body, completely halting his movements.
Yes! Theca managed to do it! Right in time, too! The threads on his body were all now attached to the ground on one side, preventing him from moving. I land down back on the ground on my feet, basically fully recovered from his consecutive attacks.
"Good timing, Theca! That was cutting it close!"
"Yes... luckily, I was able to attach the threads from the arrows to the ground in time."
Okay, let me explain! So, I had this plan, all we have to do to get this guy out of the game is to limit his movements completely for more than ten seconds. So, if Theca shot an arrow with a bunch of threads attached, if the arrow was close enough, they would be able to then attach one side to Togeshi, and then when the arrow fell, to the ground. And, it worked!
"Now, before he's able to break the threads, I'll tie him up with more." With that said, Theca shot out a bunch of threads at Togeshi, the things wrapping around him and completely limiting his movements. Our victory is assured, now!
"Damn... you guys really got me good, huh?" he chuckled a small bit... weird. "That was a pretty smart move you pulled, but it won't be enough to hold me!"
Uh oh, that's not good... he might just activate another skill!
"Theca, let go of the strings!" I shouted out to them, but before they could...
"Mana Steal!" Before either of us could react, Togeshi activated another skill, but stealing Mana? I've never heard of that before!
Uh oh again, Theca just collapsed to the floor! Was all of their mana drained out of them or something?
"Yuu told me something pretty interesting when a person is drained of mana at too fast of a pace, their body can't keep up, causing them to faint and even take some damage from the recoil! Apparently, this is why people can't put too much mana into a spell at one time, but he told me I could apply that same principle to my Mana Steal skill. Once I'm in contact with a person or something they're touching, I can steal their mana at a rapid pace! Pretty cool, right?" He smirked, looking at me directly.
"And, another thing, Yuu told me once a person has lost consciousness or have been weakened, their lingering skills will become weaker!" Saying that he broke the threads surrounding him just in time.
Oh, shoot, this just completely turned around! We might just lose... wait, Theca is-- oh, that gives me an idea!
"Geez, that's super powerful!" I agreed with him, nodding while slowly walking closer.
"Yeah! I know, right? But that's not all, with all this mana I've got now..." Wait, what? He started casting a spell, don't tell me he's also super strong when it comes to magic! "Attributeless Magic: Concentrated Mana Shot!"
From his hand started to appear was a giant sharpened looking oval thing, a light blue in colour. He can manipulate mana without changing its attribute, seriously? Attributeless Magic? I've never even heard of that before! That spell also looks super dangerous, there's a ton of mana packed into it!
Okay, looks like I only have one choice here... I activate Focused Eyes, a skill which greatly enhances my reaction time and focus, as the name would imply... and run at him at full speed!
"I like your determination, Ashin! Let's see if you can withstand this!" He shot the huge thing at me, and damn, was it fast!
Okay, I can do this! It's a simple projectile type spell! All I have to do is dodge it, and I'm home free!
Before I knew it, it was right in my face while I was in the movement of dodging. It hadn't hit me yet, but it might just hit me at this pace!
... but, something different from what I was completely expecting happened. These strings appeared on the side of my body, pulling me away from the spell just in time. Right then, I heard Togeshi speak.
"No way, again? These threads... shouldn't you have still been unconscious?!"
Yes! Theca did it! Before this, I noticed Theca was still awake, just barely. I knew that all I had to do was have his attention on me, and he could tie up Togeshi again.
Now, with all of this, and Togeshi once again tied up, all I have to do is prevent him from breaking the threads for ten seconds!
"You two... really are super strong!" Despite his situation, his smile was still plastered on his face.
I rushed up right to him as fast as I could. He struggled to break the threads, but while he was attempting to, Theca was adding even more layers. And, I was right in front of him, the perfect place to trip him, which I did! With his arms and legs unable to move, he was defenceless.
While he was tripping to the ground, I punched him as hard as I could in the stomach, knocking him down onto the ground! It hurt a lot, considering how high his defence must have been, but I did it!
Now, he was on the ground. I got on top of him as fast as I could, using my body weight as a way to prevent him from moving even more! Even so, that doesn't mean he was any less strong. He attempted to shake me off of him, but I was pretty much stuck on top of him!
Three more seconds, that's all the time I needed to have him out. However, he managed to get me off of him! This is bad, he might just be able to get out of the layers and layers of threads--
But before I knew it, the announcer spoke.
"Togeshi has been unable to escape for ten seconds! He is now out! Please leave the arena and return to the waiting room!"
We... we had won! We did it! Just in time, too! Gods, that was cutting it close! Phew!
"Heh..." Even though he had just lost his battle, his smile was still present, "That... was a fantastic fight! You two are amazing! But, could you maybe get me out of this string stuff?"
"Oh... of course, my apologies," Theca spoke, quickly unravelling the threads allowing for Togeshi to escape from the threads.
"Alright! I've gotta say, I'm super glad I got to fight you two, even if I ended up losing! That's one of the best fights I've ever had, honestly! And that's saying something!" Saying that, he stuck his fist out in front of us... what?
"Yeah! It was a super fun fight! But, one question... what are you doing?" I asked him, extremely confused still.
"Oh, uh, right, you guys wouldn't have this here... haha, that's pretty funny, huh? It's called a fist bump! You know, like, a handshake or high five? Nevermind... anyway, good luck! You might just be able to win! You know, depending on whether Yuu and Akane lose, which they probably won't!" He spoke those final words, waving us goodbye as he left.
"Well, interesting man, no?" Theca said, looking my way.
"Yeah! But, do you think we should go help the others?"
"Probably, but... I believe the ice wall will work to our disadvantage."
"Oh... right. Darn. Hopefully, they win their fights too."
-Side chapter, end.-