Sael was a bit tense as he waited. There were far less people than previously. He wasn't sure why adventurer's would run away from a monster attack but many of the lower level ones had left.
"You nervous? I've not seen ya around. You must be a newbie." Sael was drug out of his thoughts by a huge towering man with a mustache so big it looked like someone had taken the head of a push broom and glued it under his nose. He was at least six and a half feet tall with massively over developed yet still highly defined muscles. It also looked like the mustache had taken up all his hair as he was bald as a babe. His outfit didn't give much to work with, a sleeveless open vest and loose pants. No heavy armor though and too bulky for a mage. Probably some kind of martial artist were Sael's thoughts.
"Nice moustache!" Sael couldn't help but grin.
Letting out a holler of a laugh the man grinned. "You wouldn't be mocking my pride and joy now would you?"
"If I am it's only out of jealousy! Everything I grow in is patchy as hell." Sael grinned and offered him his hand. "Names Sael. Yeah I'm new but after today everyone will know me!"
"Pretty ballsy of ya for one without even whiskers. Let's hope you can live up to it. Names Min." He clasped Sael's hand in a bone crushing grip that was returned in kind.
"You wouldn't happen to have a twin brother named Max would you?"
Min shook out his hand giving the newbie a second look over. "Ahh an Arrived." When Sael must have given him a questioning look Min responded. "I've heard that before but only from Arrived. You'd be from the gamer clan."
Laughing Sael nodded. "Yeah you could say that." He looked around at the others gathered. There were all types from slender sneaky looking to tower hulks like Min. There were even men and women in robes. "So Min you sound like you've been around. Who here should I be keeping an eye on. Besides yourself of course."
Min grinned and sat down on the bench next to Sael before leaning forward in a conspiratorial manner. "Well amongst the fighters, besides myself of of course, you should watch out for the duke's son. You can't miss him when you see him. Wearing a set of plate as gaudy as it is expensive with a huge behemoth blade. He may be a spoiled rich kid but on top of the expensive toys he has real skills. Then there is the Amazon. Keep an eye out for her too, you can't miss her. Nearly seven feet tall with muscles that would make any man jealous and she isn't shy about showing em off." Sael glanced around and spotted a few women that might fit that description, they screamed barbarian or berserker. Min seemed to notice. "Naw, she ain't here yet. Just look for one with a face that doesn't match the body."
Sael frowned but Min moved on. "Now from the magic users you gotta few to worry about. Their kind actually don't do so well in the ball. Too close range and fast paced normally. But there are two to watch out for. A set of twins, Grandkids to the guild master herself. Can't really miss em. Dark skin n sharp features. Both have one silver eye just like their granny. The boy's a supportive type so not too much to worry about. The girl though is supposed to be a pretty good blaster. Just don't give her a chance to chant and you'll be fine."
Sael nodded along. "And of course you are telling me all of this out of the goodness of your heart right?"
"Naw I'm not that nice. Just looking out for someone who knows a good stache when he sees one! Half these ingrates say it looks like a broom head." Min had such a serious angry scowl that Sael was glad he hadn't joked about just that. They chatted for a while and Sael expected Min to ask about his abilities. After all Sael was wearing just a normal shirt and pants, with no weapons or armor. But he never did, instead talking about bars in the town and things to do. They just agreed to get a drink after the day's fights ended when the brackets were revealed.
Due to the reduction in participants they'd changed the bracket slightly. The pair on the far left would have their fight first. Then the pair on the far right. The winner of the first match would fight the third challenger. Then the winner of the second their third rotating back and forth so they had one fight's duration to rest. It would mean the first two to go would have to defeat all the others in their brackets running the risk of exhaustion but also giving them more fights to show off. Sael thought it seemed a bit unfair but wasn't about to complain.
"Alright boy where are you. I'm the third fight in bracket two, see." He pointed to the name Thunder God's Fist.
Sael chuckled some while Min asked. "Oh yeah big shot what's your stage name?" Sael pointed all the way to the left end. "That's me."
"Twilight King? Meh not nearly as impressive. Still I don't know if you are lucky or unlucky getting a first slot." Min looked over. "Seems the Duke's son is first in the second bracket. Hmm. There is the Amazon. You got her fourth, assuming you make it that far. Hmm there are the twins ya got one in the fifth round and me the other in the same round. Not sure which is which." He was pointing out Silver Dawn and Silver Sunset. "Alright, Well good luck to you Twilight King. I look forward to beating you in the finals." He put a bit of mocking tone on the name.
"And I look forward to beating you out of jealousy! Maybe after I win, I'll inherit your stache!" Sael slapped him on the shoulder before heading off to get ready.
**********
Sael stepped out into the sand covered arena for the second time. Unlike the time before the arena wasn't divided up so they had a lot more room to work with. On top of that the stands were packed. It didn't take him long to spot his group as they were screaming his name and waving. Waving back he even blew a kiss only to chuckle as Beth and Ara looked to be fighting over who it was meant for. His opponent entered shortly after one of the hulking men in little more than a loin cloth. Each of his heavy footfalls sent sand erupting up as he marched his way towards his starting point. The arena was a football field sized oval covered in sand. They would start off in the middle of their half of the field.
Sizing up his opponent Sael noticed he had no weapons but that his fist and forearms were covered in heavy leather bindings. "So a brawler type. I guess I should make it an even fight. Plus I'm still dying to try out the Conri sleeves."
Many in the crowd wondered who this Twilight King was. Granite Fist was known as a brawler from the Grey mountains. Even those that didn't know him could guess from his massive size and limited dress. But his challenger, while not a small man wasn't a hulk, didn't have any armor on or even a weapon. His confident attitude while waving to the crowd only seemed to confuse people more.
"Maybe he's a mage type?"
"Dunno, Ain't they supposed to wear robes."
"Got no staff or wand neither. Not even a crystal ball. Be a shyt of a mage if he is one if he ain't even got a crystal ball."
Many other similar conversations were going on as the moderator counted down until the start.
As soon as he yelled start the huge brawler started stampeding across the arena. Sael was still waving to people in the crowd, going so far as to even turn his back on the challenger. As the distance between them rapidly shrank some people held their breaths, others yelled out their warnings, some just booed the amature that wasted their first round. Everyone was surprised when suddenly Granite was skidding face first through the sand.
Well not everyone. Sael's group wasn't surprised at all, after witnessing his last fight the man might as well have been standing still. Dinn and Sele were less than surprised as well. While the stands suddenly became quiet, save the cheers of his harem, in confusion Dinn nodded. "Did you catch that Sele?"
"Yes, It wasn't that fast. He tripped the oaf, but I doubt many know what happened. His victim included."
The two guild masters watched as the giant man hopped up spitting out sand before charging forward. He twisted his whole body swinging a blow with all his power and weight at his opponent who stood still. Suddenly, the blow stopped as it collided with Sael's raised palm. His arm not moving despite the huge billow of sand that blew out behind him from the force of the blow. With what looked like a gentle push he hurled the larger man back a dozen paces. With that the arena went wild.
**********
'This is great. Listen to those cheers. Hell yeah. Now this is what an Isekai is supposed to be like.' His opponent charged back in throwing his arms wide and picking him up in a bear hug. Iron hard muscles swelled, veins popped out, tendons snapped, the brawlers whole body flushed red with strain but Sael just hung in his arms purposefully looking bored. He let out a yawn before spines erupted from the silver furred sleeves impaling his grappler.
Sael was dropped as he expected and was preparing his snide remark about keeping one's hands to themselves expecting his opponent to be writhing in pain when instead his attacker landed a solid right hook. Out of reflex he yelled out "Ow that hurt!" and backhanded the man sending him tumbling. He touched his cheek out of habit despite the fact the attack did no damage. His combat awareness warned him and he glanced up to find his attacker rushing forward faster than before literally foaming spit and blood at the mouth.
"Oh hell he really is a berserker."
**********
Dinn and Sele both shook their heads. "He must not know much about his enemy. If he did, he wouldn't have bothered with such weak attacks against one from the Grey Mountains. All they do is feed him the pain he needs to power up." Dinn stated as if his friend didn't know that already.
"Honestly, I expected him to defeat him right away. Maybe he is trying to show off? Or test his own strength? I get the feeling he is new to his power."
"Eh maybe but he better not keep dicking around. Granite might only be level five but he's got the Mountain's Blessing. If he lets him max out his rage he can nullify any physical attack. Well maybe then we can see if he is a mage or not." Dinn was curious to see what might happen.
**********
Granite's attacks had a lot of power behind them but between his armor and his massive vitality stat they basically were pointless even if he didn't have Summer's Vitality. That said Sael wasn't making much headway either. 'Damn I don't want to accidentally kill him, I mean it isn't exactly against the rules but I'm no murderer. But shitI keep upping the strength behind my blows and he keeps shrugging them off.'
Currently they were trading blows that sounded like gunshots and sent sand flying from the shockwaves at an ever increasing pace. Sael was steadily increasing the power behind them but it didn't seem to be doing much. "You're a tough one. Lets see how you handle this!" Instead of incrementing his power he jumped straight to what he judged to be about three fourths of his strength. The kick caught Granite in the side of his rib cage bending his body like a u around Sael's leg before launching him across the arena. Sand was thrown up in a wake before Granite smashed into the arena wall. Stone cracked and collapsed inward forming a depression like a crater in the side of the wall. To nearly everyone's surprise, including Sael Granite bounced off the wall and charged back towards him. The only consolation for his trouble was a system message.
[Unarmed Level 9>10]
[New intermediate skill Acquired: Stone Breaker Level 1]
"Alright that sounds like the perfect skill for you Mr. Granite." Sael glanced at the skills description before dashing forward to meet Granite mid way. Just as they were about to meet Sael activated his new skill and did a forward flip dropping an axe kick right on Granite's head sending him slamming into the ground. Sand erupted in a huge fountain that rained down showing Granite laying face down in a crater. "What the hell?" Sael shook his head as Granite started to stand back up. "Stay down!" He raised his right leg high and brought it down face planting the berserker in the ground and deepening the crater.
The crowd was going wild as they watched Granite somehow miraculously rise up after each devastating kick. But by the fifth one they were mostly silent watching in a mix of awe and horror. Sael growled getting annoyed although it was lessened by hearing the chime of his new skill already reaching level two. 'I could probably end this easily if I just bought out the spear. But that would piss me off. I'm in the freaking scrub bracket, why is this guy so tough.'
Sael again shook his head as another stone breaker kick knocked the man down who immediately started to rise right away even though they were now in a crater so deep Sael was standing waist high in it. "I don't know what ability that is but I kinda want it." Granite's skin looked more like stone than flesh but under the increasing power of his intermediate attack using his full strength cracks were starting to form. "I admit you are one tough son of a bitch. But I'm done playing games. See if you can handle this one!" Sael crouched down then leapt up. The crowd watched confused until with a thunderous boom he disappeared leaving a huge wall of sand rolling away.
In the stands the girls each looked at one another. "We told him not to show his wings right?" Ara asked as if to make sure she hadn't dreamed it.
"We did." Nee said, just a hint of worry invading her calm tone.
"Well look at the bright side. He was so fast I doubt anyone could see them." Beth tried to sound positive as people started standing up in the stands shielding their eyes while looking skyward. The girls were relieved to see everyone looked confused and no one mentioned wings.
While in the VIP section Sele and Dinn were both standing as well shocked but for a different reason. "What the hell. Did you see that?" Dinn squinted trying to spot the… fairy?
"He had wings like a fairy. But how is that possible." Sele tapped her fingernail against her white teeth thinking.
"Those attacks he was using. It looked like he was actually causing damage. Were they magic?"
Sele shook her head. "That was raw power. The skill wasn't even anything special. Intermediate probably."
"Stone Breaker, yeah it's a common intermediate unarmed skill. I just thought it might be something else. It shouldn't be able to do any damage at this point but it looks like he was."
"He went by the moniker Fairy King in round one right?" Sele looked to Dinn and both thought of the wild rumor's they'd heard through the kingdom's spy network. About a human stealing a Fairy Crown.
In the arena standing in his crater Granite looked to the sky. He couldn't see his enemy but he knew he was up there. His instincts told him the fight wasn't over and that the monster disguised as a man was coming back. He braced himself and tensed his muscles to their limit compounding his defense. His skin truly turned the texture of stone as his heart roared in his chest with the thrill of battle unlike anything he'd ever imagined. He prayed to the old mountains to watch him in battle eager to have them watch him regardless if it was in glory or defeat. For amongst the Grey Mountain tribes nothing could be greater than facing such a worthy foe. Looking up suddenly he roared out. "HE COMES!"