The 27th match of this arena had just ended. Apparently there were four other arenas I didn't know about conducting the same fights elsewhere to speed up the tournament. After so many matches I learned about controlling Qi and that others might have some kind of elemental version as well, but that was kinda it. I also learned both of those facts during the first half of the matches so nothing else really stood out to me.
At first I wanted to learn and see if I could memorize some of their move sets for when I came across them, but that quickly went down the drain I couldn't recall many of the previous candidate's when a new one went up.
"231 and 303 come onto the stage!..." I barely heard the elder's voice as I was in my own head.
I started becoming tired of the matches and was thinking about leaving to just go do something else before I started hearing whispers around me.
"๐-๐๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ!?!?"
"๐๐ต'๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ! ๐๐ต'๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ! ๐ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ค๐ต'๐ด ๐๐ฐ.1 ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ข๐ถ๐ต๐บ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ!"
"๐๐ด ๐ช๐ต ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ? ๐๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ?"
"๐๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ! ๐๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ! ๐๐ฆ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ธ๐ข๐บ! ๐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ค๐ญ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด!"
"๐๐ฆ๐บ ๐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ด๐ต, ๐ฃ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ง๐ง!"
The crowd of people around me seemed extremely excited about this person, some of the audience stood up to see the person and even tried pushing each other to get closer. The crowd was already rowdy at the mere sight of a single person.
'Who is this person? The sect's so called number one beauty. Surely a glace at this person won't hurt me. Just a quick peek and then I'll be out.'
*Vhoom*
A wave of Qi was sent out by the elder knocking some of the more rowdy ones down.
"QUIET"
Everyone seemed to immediately shut up about the matter and returned to their original spots while others still stay where they were for a good view. I still hadn't seen this person they were talking about, but a a few moments later a woman did appear on the stage. There wasn't too much of a outburst as I was expecting, but yet another few moments later a different woman appeared on stage. This time the men around were visibly excited while staring at her and start speaking amongst themselves once again in whispers.
"๐๐ต ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ!"
"๐๐ฉ๐ฆ'๐ด ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ข๐ถ๐ต๐ช๐ง๐ถ๐ญ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ถ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ!"
"๐'๐ฎ ๐ด๐ฐ ๐จ๐ญ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ ๐ค๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ข ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ต๐ค๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต๐ด! ๐๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐จ๐ถ๐บ๐ด ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐จ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ!"
The woman that came up second and apparently the sect's goddess was someone I knew. Yao Ya, she walked up the steps of the platform, her eyes simmering in the light as her dark hair lightly flowed behind her. Her face was fairly blank seemingly as if she had a cold demeanor.
I was a little shocked to see people call her a goddess and the sect's number one beauty as I was expecting some woman from this world. This world has plenty of things to make females appear young and beautiful, I thought the fact that they have basically magical beautifying products would do better.
To be honest I'm kinda glad there aren't any at least not here I won't be tempted by such people, but on the other hand now everyone will be looking at my childhood friend.
She walked at a steady pace over toward the opposite end of her opponent and just so happened to glace at me. Her once blank face slowly turned to a smile and quickly reach the opposite end.
"๐๐ช๐ฅ.. ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต? ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ด๐ฎ๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ!"
"๐๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ด๐ต ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ด๐ฎ๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ!"
"๐๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฃ๐ท๐ช๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด๐ญ๐บ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฆ! ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ!"
"๐๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ค๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ญ๐บ ๐ข๐ต ๐ฎ๐ฆ! ๐ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ช๐ด๐ต ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ฎ! ๐๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ต ๐ฎ๐ฆ!"
"๐๐จ๐ฉ, ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ? ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ'๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ข ๐จ๐ช๐ณ๐ญ๐ง๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ง ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ?"
"๐ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ด๐ข๐ช๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ, ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต'๐ด ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ!"
"๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ'๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ด๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ!"
With a smile still on her face and a sword she requested from the elder she looked toward her opponent who chose a saber.
"Begin!"
Once those words were said the chattering around me stopped as seemingly everyone in the area coordinated to quietly observe her battle.
Yao Ya seemed completely clam while her opponent looked a little shaky. She held her sword in one hand and just smiled at her opponent. The other girl finally steadied herself and readied a strike of some kind clutching her weapon with both hands and began to advance toward Yao Ya a step at a time.
When she made it five meters Yao Ya also began to move. She did slow deliberate strides to advance toward her target at similar speeds. Once the other girl made it to the center they were five meters apart.
Yao Ya did a large leap from the ground jumping right to the other girl while elegantly spinning mid air at the same time. Her sword started glowing a little blue when she made it to the peak of her jump and came crashing down onto her opponents. The girls saber glowed a light red and as it came into contact with Yao Ya's blue sword the red aura of her saber dimmed a little while also pushing her back.
"Woohoo! Fairy Yao you're amazing!"
"Keep It up! We believe in you!"
"Beat her ass!"
The cheers of the crowd sounded out as the first strike landed. I saw as the other girls face dimed. I felt bad for her as she no one on her side as well as almost all the seating sections around cheering for the other person.
Although I did feel bad for her wasn't going to do anything. There would be way too many people against me if I did so, I'm not some kind of protagonist who basically cheats his way with bullshit into godhood, and I was good friends with the other person as well.
The girl sent dozens of fiery slashes toward Yao Ya, but Yao Ya dodged them all gracefully as if this was all merely a dance.
Distancing herself a little Yao Ya lowered and angled her body toward the other while also pointing her sword behind her before springing herself off the ground into a quick dash. Just before though she glanced towards me once again. I barely noticed that, but why would she look at me during her fight with another person.
The quick burst of speed must have startled the girl freezing her for a moment before she quickly came to her senses. Trying to send up a hasty defense some how blocking Yao Ya's dash attack although barely.
After blocking those strikes she seemed to have enough of defending and once again trying to attack. Her attacks this time were more erratic as she tried to be less and less predicable with her strikes. In the end nothing worked and she ended up tiring herself out from the uncoordinated swings.
While she was like that Yao Ya sent over a few strikes making sure she kept up her guard.
"๐ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ถ๐ด๐ถ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ช๐ค๐ฌ๐ญ๐บ, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐บ ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ต๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ?"
"๐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ณ๐บ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ช๐ต! ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ!"
"๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ'๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต, ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต'๐ด ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด!"
Looking towards those two I heard what they said 'She doesn't normally fight this long? Then why is she doing it this time?'
After hearing and giving it a little thought I looked back over at the platform to realize that Yao Ya is once again charging with her body lowered and angled towards her opponent this time though he sword shines a brighter blue and seemed to be pointed to her back right instead directly behind her.
She still strung forward, but this time her dash left a light blue following after her sword. Her dash made it past the girl and sent her flying one or two meters along with her now broken saber. When she hit the ground she still held the hilt of the weapon in her hand, but the blade flew a little farther then she did.
She just lied there looking up from the ground until an elder asked if she gave up. She did, letting Yao Ya pass and left along with her before Yao Ya completely left she looked over in my direction for a few seconds and flashed bright smile before disappearing into a side exit.
"Ok that time the smile was directly to me!"
"This shit again? I was all for me, you idiot!"
"You two dumbasses arguing about who that smile was for? I can tell you two if you want!"
"...Who is it for?"
"Yea tell us!"
"You two really want to know?" he leaned over
"YES!" they both shouted in unison
"Alright... it was... for... ME!"
"Oh hell NO, it definitely wasn't for you!!"they shouted together
"Believe it or not" the man shrugged
'That's enough, I've heard plenty I'm moving to a different spot.'
โฆ
After three to four hours of battles only around 160 people remained. Thirty-two matches happened before the end of the first round and this time considering it'll still be the same amount of matches per fight stage it'll have to be sixteen.
'I wonder who'll be first this time.'
"182 and 302 please come up!"
'...Are you serious?'