With no caution Arnos jumped out of bed. He changed, did his morning duties and hopped outside. He sprinted the whole 50 laps with ease and did an extra 10. Crack, crack. He stretched his arms and legs while stretching his neck too.
After taking in some water he went to lift some weights.
'100..120...'
Arnos wiped the sweat off his forehead. The time was 8:20am.
'Let's see... A hour and half should be enough. It would be nearly 10:00 when I reach the town probably. And my match starts at 11:00. Yeah it should be fine.'
Arnos tried to remember his opponent but no image or name came to mind. He was thinking and thinking, he started getting frustrated.
'What the actual heck?! What was their name???' 'You know what. Screw it I'll just fight some random masteries. Maybe I should try Jayden's mastery. Double Wielder.'
He selected Mage Level 6 for a warm up.
He didn't expect to beat the mage so easily. He understood that it's probably because of all the experience in the arena and in the forest. Without noticing he went on to other masteries one by one.
He was Silent Walker Level 6 Beginner 12 now. Which was indeed great, he had leveled up twice. His skills were very much improving, even his Force Blast. He was finally ready to try battle the Double Wielder.
"Double Wielder Level 5 selected, match starting now."
Like always the dummy shrunk a bit but not too much and was still tall. Two blades appeared in its hand and it ran at Arnos. Arnos jumped into the air and sliced down. Barely missing his opponent. The dummy swung 1 blade around and threw it up.
He then ran at Arnos and Arnos was confused. His gut told him to use Shadow Vanish and he listened to it. Then out of no where, the blade that was once in the sky sliced down on where Arnos originally was. He broke out in sweat.
'If my instincts hadn't kicked in..' He gulped.
The dummy was not fooling around. Then it happened, the infamous dark tint of crimson in the eye. The dummy sprinted and leapt at Arnos even though he used Triple Slash. It looked like a maniac and swung the blades like crazy.
Most people looking would probably assume that it was just swinging randomly. But Arnos could tell that it was aiming for his weak and exposed areas. Arnos blinked slightly and the dummy's blade was on his neck.
"Attack processed, User may not handle attack. Double Wielder Level 5 failed."
Arnos wasn't sure why but that red tint eye thingy must've been a skill. He didn't know why he didn't check sooner.
Double Wielder Basic Skills:
Light Swing: Lightly swing your blade and an almost invisible blade blows out. Silent and deadly.
Double Sky Throw: Throw both blades into the air and run towards the enemy. Last second blades land perfectly into hands and you may proceed to attack.
One Lethal Blade Toss: Sprint towards your opponent and toss one blade up in the air. Continue to attack opponent with only one blade. Seconds later the blade in the sky will fall and drop, slicing the enemy straight through. If the enemy doesn't notice, they will perish.
Dark eye: Eye glows and turns into a dark tint of crimson. Boosts your strength, speed, agility and skill. Replenishes your energy and all injuries will not be felt.
Duration: 15 minutes.
If opponent lasts off the duration of the Dark Eye. User will feel weak and tired after the Dark Eye. It uses all the energy.
"Dark Eye... That's really over powered. If I do beat my opponent,— Gosh! I really can't remember their name?! Never mind now that I know their skills. I'm going to try again." Arnos mumbled.
The match started again and Arnos did not try to wait for anything. He used Shadow Vanish and arrived behind the dummy. He pierced his tralent into it with full strength.
"Attack processed. User may still be alive. Activating Dark Eye."
It grew insanely fast and agile. It's skills were on precision. They were well aimed and directed. Arnos slowly got cuts on his body. He was quite weary and he used Force Blast but it clearly did nothing.
One blade flew into the air and Arnos quickly dodged to the side doing a forward roll. It missing him by inches. Eventually Arnos was too tired and was about to give up when.
"Double Wielder Level 5 passed. Opponent was too tired after Dark Eye."
'Nice! I did it. Well only because I lasted through the duration. Now let me repair myself.'
His blue bracelet was still on him and he easily healed thanks to Swift Mending. Arnos took a quick shower because he smelt of pure sweat and body odor. He smelly very bad.
After showering, the time was 9:57am. He took of his bracelet and slipped it into his void pouch. He didn't want it to break or get lost. He then took off.
Shorty lately he arrived at the Arena and soon realized that he hadn't eaten breakfast yet.
'If I eat too much now. I'll surely get a stitch.'
He went to a nearby place and ordered some food. It was a small platter and he devoured it all in seconds. He gulped down some water had a quick bathroom break and left. It was 10:35am. He still had almost 30 minutes left. He stretched and did a quick jog through town. If bystanders saw him, well they probably didn't. His understanding of a jog was like a 100 meter sprint to bystanders.
He circled around the town many times before he checked the time. Luckily he did because there was only 2 minutes left. Now he sprinted and no one saw him, just felt a gush of wind. He arrived and sat down just in time.
The speakers boomed,
"Welcome back everyone! Hope everyone's excited for the Semi Finales! The round where we'll get to know who competes in the Finale! Now. Please welcome up SILENT USER AND MASON FREY!!!"
The crowd cheered and applauded. Some shouted Arnos's name while others shouted Mason Frey. There was doubled the amount of spectators even though it was only a small town.
Now Arnos remembered his opponent but of course he hadn't seen his match which would've helped a lot. The boy standing in front of him was a young man.
He looked about Arnos's age. Maybe even younger. He had blonde hair that was neatly tied into a ponytail. He looked kinda arrogant but then again also looked like the type that most people would be friends with. He wore a vest and special made pants and a long sleeved shirt. In his both hands held a sword unbelievably big. It was both long and sharp.
The boy didn't look like he had muscles but now that Arnos looked closer. He could see that Mason had a lot of muscle that was hard to notice but easy if he flexed his arms.
The match began and Arnos had no clue what Mason's mastery was. Surely it's wasn't a knight. Knights have great stature but wouldn't normally wield swords that are like twice their size.
Mason didn't run towards Arnos but carefully walked towards him. Arnos didn't pay attention and appeared behind Mason and tried to penetrate him. With a flick of the wrist Mason's blade flipped around and easily deflected the tralent with ease.
'This guy whatever mastery he is in. He is definitely a Master Swordsman. His skills are on par with the greatest of knights.'
Arnos was just a tad bit jealous. After all he had always wanted to be a great knight.
'Focus. Arnos focus!'
He used wall dash and Mason frowned. And then used Leap and used Triple Slash. He missed two of them but one of them hit. It made a deep cut. Clearly Mason was wearing very thin and light material. It must have been to reduce the weight since his sword must weight at least 50kg.
It bled and Mason wasn't too happy. He activated one of his skills. He leaped at least 100 meters up in the air. And crashed down kinda like Iron Blake in the first round except he had leaped much higher. BOOM! The noise was deafening. The audience covered their ears. The ground trembled and shock waves echoed through out the whole arena.
Arnos was caught off balanced and was sent flying. Before he could hit the wall he used Wall Dash and safely didn't get hurt. Mason has a surprised face and so did the audience. They didn't notice the trickle of blood from Arnos's mouth.
He quickly looked under his gear. There was a nasty scar. Of course no one else knew this. A few skilled people noticed though and shook their head at how powerful the attack was.
Arnos ran at Mason while using Shadow Vanish. He used Force Blast and pushed Mason back. He did not take any damage at all! He had used his sword as a shield.
Slowly Mason was gaining the upper hand. Every now and then Arnos would groan and cough out some blood.
'It's over.. Unless.. Wait he has an opening!'
Without thinking twice he used full speed and thrust his tralent. It hit his point and got lodged in his chest.
"AhhhhhHHH!" Mason yelled out, he freaked out a bit that a knife was lodged into him.
Arnos pulled out his tralent and used Triple Slash. Mason was in pain, like Arnos he didn't care about the prize. He wanted experience.
"I surrender! I surrender."
The medics came in and took him away. On the way out Arnos thanked him for opening his eyes. Mason didn't quite understand and just smiled and said nice match.
He realized he still wasn't strong enough.
Arnos was in the Finale. He stayed back and watched Jayden's battle. He of course knew what the outcome would be already.