The following fights were one-way stomped. The fight between Catalinna and the ice mage Faram was a massacre. The ice mage throws everything he can from the spell poison snow that can enter someone's body and explodes the inside, ice spears that were summoned continuously and were raining the stage, from the spell Absolute Freeze that can freeze anyone and anything in a 50-meter radius but all of that barely stopped Catalinna's rampage.
Catalinna toyed with the ice mage as she coated herself in the white fire and continuously charged toward the ice mage. Added by her speed and endurance, the ice mage was like an animal getting chased by a farmer. With humiliation, the ice mage has no choice but to concede.
The next fight was between Delia Petrov and James Meyers. As Lawrence can see from the fight, James is extremely confident in his speed. His movement art, lightning step creates a bolt of lightning that speeds up the more James run. This means that as long as he doesn't stop running, he would run faster. With a kukri in his hand, a small curved blade. He started running around the circles to gather speed as lightning crackled under his feet. What followed was simply astonishing.
Delia was standing still with her eyes closed and her hand on the pommel of her sword when James decided to attack at a speed that Lawrence can't even see him properly. When he dashed forward to attack, James only found himself falling flat on the ground. He was confused as he tried standing up only to find that both of his feet has been cleanly cut from his legs. A horrified scream escaped from his mouth as a man wearing a priestly robe arrived. With a simple spell, James's feet were connected back to his leg before healing the wound.
By that point, James was already passed out from shock and disbelief. At the same time, the spectators can't help but fear and wince from the counterattacked, it was too sudden and bloody. Lawrence glanced at Delia to find her already sheathing her sword with a calm and cold expression as if what just happened doesn't have anything to do with her. As Blood can be seen on her blade and the floor near her feet.
Lawrence knows what she did as it was described in the novel during the final match. It's the combination of her ability sword domain that creates a small invisible ring where everything can be sensed in the smallest detail and anything moving in it is basically in slow motion and the sword art technique, flash draw allows the user to draw their weapon in a split second. Creating a deadly and fast attack that the enemy can't even sense until they get hit by the sword. The most appropriate way of countering this combination is to get out of her range and start throwing projectiles and spells. So she would be forced out of the sword domain. Though, if someone doesn't know what she's doing, she would simply appear to be standing still.
The next fight was between a beastman and Luke. The beastman was in the top 5 according to Keiren but Lawrence knew that the beastman was a four-star warrior that uses the legacy of his tribe. The tribe that beastman belongs to is the pride lion tribe. The most physically talented tribe in the beastkin continent.
Most of them reach 2 to 3 meters in height with bodies covered in muscles. They used aura and their legacy which is the rampage transformation where they double in size and strength but they can't use their qi. They like fighting and killing as they usually act as mercenaries if there's a war. Basically, every one of them is a battle maniac with a taste for blood.
The beastman has no name and was a gladiator who was forced by his master to fight in this tournament. Though the beastkin representative has already killed the beastman's master upon arrival as the representative can't stomach the idea of them being inferior to humans. Though it is hidden under the representative's cheerful smile.
Every representative sitting on the peak of the coliseum is either a 7-star warrior or mage or a 6-star paragon. They are the height of power and influence across the five continents. This is why the malicious factions and cults don't dare interrupt the competition. Though the tension is quite prickling and dangerous when you put the elves and dwarfs in a single room, it's the same with humans and beastkin.
Still, it was more harmonious than usual since they have made a pact that every race and every faction can only choose one participant to join them. Of course, this doesn't count participants that have already joined a kingdom or faction. An example of this is the elves can't pick the son of heaven since he is already under the hands of the church of light.
The fight is finally starting as Luke and the beastman walked up to the stage. Luke has the same mischievous smile but the beastman has a stone-cold expression. The announcer starts the fight as Luke, surprising everyone. Decided to surrender.
"A-are you sure sir?" the announcer asked
"Hmm? Of course, I can't fight him since he's clearly stronger" Luke shrugged with a smile. The announcer, not knowing what to do decided to stop the fight despite the spectator's complaints and whining. They wanted to see the beastman fighting, not stand there as his enemy surrendered.
Luke was immediately booed and was thrown some unpleasant slurs on his way. Still, his face remains mischievous and uncaring. Some representative was confused but didn't care enough to know the reason why.
Catalinna was about to get off her chair to confront Luke but Lawrence grabbed her wrist. Catalinna slaps his hand away but Lawrence remained in his grip.
"Don't. He has a reason. Besides, losing isn't the end of it" Lawrence whispered as Catalinna simply scoffed but she stayed at her chair. She simply glared before crossing her arms. Lawrence sighed, it seems that Catalinna is still angry at him. Lawrence returned to his seat after intervening with Catalinna since she might do something unnecessary. Cain on the other hand simply smiled at the interaction.
The reason Luke surrenders is the beastman might detect that he's a beastkin that is hiding under the guise of being human and that would blow his cover. Beastkin during fighting increases their senses the longer the fight is, with a pride lion tribe. Their senses are miles ahead compared to other beastkin tribes, meaning that beastman might sense that Luke is a beastkin. Additionally, beastkin sees themselves as stronger, more superior, and more improved versions of humans. This means that any beastkin caught hiding as a human will be shamed and hunted.
Of course, Catalinna knows this but she knows that Luke won't get caught. She is confident that he can hide his identity but it was disappointing nonetheless. Though, she doesn't want to admit that what she nearly did is stupid and reckless to Lawrence. Not to him at least.
Meanwhile, the next fight has already started and it's closer than before. It was between a half-elf mage and a human mage. Both of them started throwing spells such as lightning balls and water restrict. The half-elf mage is a water spell user while the human mage is a lightning spell user. The human mage is faster but the half-elf can heal herself and remove the paralysis debuff from the lightning strikes. Though, after a grueling battle. The half-elf mage won as she nearly drowned the human mage in a water bubble. She has insane mana reserves compared to the human mage who is recklessly wasting his mana on big and destructive lightning spells.
The next match was between a spear user Jin Mokusei, a third-star warrior against an axe user Jagnar who hails from the cold northern parts of the continent. A barbarian that follows the ways of the undying barbarian hero.
Meanwhile, Jin Mokusei is a talented spear user from the Mokusei family. The third son of the current head of the Mokusei Family. The Mokusei Family was able to remain their title as the strongest family for the simple fact that they regularly have a spear saint every generation while some of them enter the order of spear to grow stronger. When it comes to spear arts, they have the most disastrous and strongest arts available in the Kingdom.
The fight has officially started as Jin slams his spear on the floor. When suddenly, spearheads started emerging from the floor as Jagnar dodged and side-stepped to avoid the incoming spears flying from the floor only to look up to find that a myriad of spears is raining from the sky. This made dodging nearly impossible as Jin simply looked forward at his enemy who is desperately dodging and making his way to Jin. Frustrated, Jagnar roared to the sky as the roar vibrated the walls of the coliseum and shook Jin to the core. It was an aura spell that is called the lion's roar, a destabilizing spell that creates a roar that would destroy any spells that are currently cast by disrupting their senses. It was the same spell that Keiren used against Lawrence that stopped him from getting away.
Jin stumbles for a second but that was enough as every spear on the ground and sky vanishes. Taking this chance, Jagnar throws his axe forward. As Jin was forced to block the attack as his senses is still messed up. The strength behind the throw nearly broke Jin's arms but he still succeeded. What Jin didn't think is that Jagnar can call the weapon back as he throws it again. Angered by this, Jin stabs forward as the spear he is holding extended at speeds that Jagnar didn't expect as it punctured his shoulder. As the axe is spinning dangerously, Jin summoned another spear from his space ring as he used it to parry the axe to the side but this resulted in his bones cracking from the impact. Gritting his teeth, he touched his necklace as it healed his bones back to normal. It was clearly a healing necklace but he decided to use it this early. For his next spear arts to work, it requires wielding two spears.
Jagnar saw this as he gripped the spear that is stuck on his shoulder before breaking it into two. This enraged Jin who sees spears as something more valuable than anything in the world. Jin stayed silent for a second before letting the broken spear on the floor. He summoned his last spear as he dual-wielded his spears which is unique even to Mokusei Family.
Black lightning started cracking from both spears as he scream in anger and started charging forward. Jagnar, as a barbarian saw this as a challenge to his strength and pride. He summoned a black double-sided axe from nowhere as it dwarfed even Jagnar. It was the same length as a human and 3 meters wide. It created a terrifying picture of a barbarian who wields axes larger than their body.
Both of them charged as Jin saw the massive axe barreling toward his stomach as he created an x-shape using both of his spears. Blocking the attack from Jagnar but he swung his axe again but Jin stabbed forward as one of the spears extended and stabs Jagnar in the chest before black lightning coursed through the spear into Jagnar's chest. Still, this barely stopped Jagnar's attack as he slams his massive axe for Jin to parry it to the side easily only for it to vanish like an illusion. Jin looked up only to find the axe already centimetres away from his shoulder but luckily, someone from the Mokusei Family stopped the attack by pressing his finger forward and meeting the axe. The axe stopped in its tracks despite Jagnar swinging it with full force. The man in question was the next heir of the Mokusei Family. Kai Mokusei, the wind spear knight.
Seeing this, Jin sighed a breath of relief while Jagnar snorted. The announcer finally snapped from his astonished expression to announce that Jagnar won. It was definitely the most exciting match yet as the spectators cheered for both of the fighters. The head of the Mokusei Family simply sneered at his son's display of incompetence.
Lawrence in the meantime was amazed by Jagnar, the fact that a barbarian can use illusion spells was already amazing but hiding it and only using it in the most opportune moment was impressive. Jin was assured that the axe that he is about to parry was a real one only to get hit by the reality that one can't judge someone easily.
Still, Jagnar was forced to reveal a very important trump card and it's his ability to create the illusion of his attacks. He's definitely a dangerous enemy to fight against as no one would know if his next axe attack is real or not. Also, Jin has impressive spear arts, especially the last one. The last one seems to increase his strength and speed to another level. Additionally, the black lightning might have given some kind of ailments if it hits the enemy.
The problem is that not a single spear art used by Jin was described in the novel. Despite each use of aura spells being more impactful and strong. Lawrence has no idea what each one does. It means that if he wanted powerful arts and spells, he has to scour not only the ruins and dungeons but also the coffins, libraries, and safes of the wealthy and strong. He doesn't have a system that awards him stronger art and spells each time and he barely has any money compared to those people sitting at the peak. So he can only hope that his luck would finally turn around.
Lawrence glanced at Catalinna to find her briefly staring at him before looking away. He wanted to ask what she wants to say but Cain is in the middle of them. Luckily, his arrogant words stopped coming from his mouth but he still stayed silent even though Cain tried to get his attention during the majority of the fights. Angering Cain might result in him being accused as a villain by the system and it isn't beneficial in any way. Quests would be targeted against him and Cain would be more willing to kill Lawrence. For now, he has to grow stronger or get swept by the coming tides.