The imagery of white-hot Qi energy rushing from my core into my sword repeats over and over in my mind as I stare up at the Wyvern dripping blood in circles above me.
It continues to throw intimidation attacks down at me over and over, and they seem to be getting stronger with every time it sends one.
My MP is full after recharging from the Dome's outer wall, so I manage to boost my mental strength with buffs, fending off the psychic bombardment.
However, it gets to a point much more powerful than last time, and a light blue glow begins to form around the outside of the hovering creature. Every pulse of energy it sends out starts to become tainted with this blue energy, and the temperature inside the dome begins to rise.
I realize it's activating its buff, but have no idea what it's going to do.
The blue light around it starts to flicker, then begins to grow in size, and in a matter of seconds, it envelops its entire body igniting into a bright blue display of flames.
I start to sweat as the ring gets hotter and hotter.
The flames in this monster's buff are significantly more intense than the advanced fire magic it was using earlier, potentially more powerful than my own.
However, using my All-Seeing Eye, I can tell it's a 100% mana-based attack. I can still use my trump card and break through any attack it throws at me.
The Wyvern swoops down, and I brace myself, waiting for it to come.
I control my breathing, activate my swordsmanship skill, and allow a wave of Qi to flow from my stomach to my sword.
A crimson red string twists around in the sky leading to the Wyvern's front side, so I air-step upwards following the path of least resistance.
All I hear are the whooshing sounds from my feet, crackling flames around my body, and the crashing wave flashing through my sword.
The Blue Wyvern screeches and erupts into an enormous ball of blue flames as we collide.
As predicted, the magic fire is hotter than my own, and the intense concentrated mana embedded in its attack sears through my own flames and eats away at my mana shielding. My arms, legs, and joints where the shielding is the weakest instantly feel like a bucket of lava was poured on them.
My gaze is focused on my sword attack, though.
Even with a buff over twice as powerful as its previous flames, the black blade infused with Qi slices through without a hint of resistance. Its fluorescent blue flames are pushed to the side like leaves in the wind. Its shielding is melted through in the same fashion.
Without any doubts or breaks in concentration, I land a much deeper cut this time, severing its right wing almost all the way off its body and making a large X across its chest to match the previous hit.
The moment my blade leaves its flesh, I purposefully allow the Qi to release, making both of our mana shields become disrupted, and another explosion of red and blue flames throws both of us backward.
What felt like buckets of lava on my limbs before, now feels like I'm diving straight into a volcano as my body is enveloped in its blue flames.
I let out a yell and push all my buffs to the max while summoning layers of ice magic and pure pink mana to put out the flames even before I hit the dome's wall behind me.
The Wyvern, on the other hand, is having a much more difficult time.
As the fires in the rings begin to disperse, it stands up on its two back legs, realizing with a severed right wing and an injured left, its time in the sky is over.
It's still flickering with blue fire from its buff, and sending weak waves of intimidation my way, but its last dive bomb took a lot out of it.
I hit the ground and don't take a moment to waste. If my enemy is weak, this is no time to relax.
Using earth magic to move the ground to my liking and wind to propel me forward faster, I activate swordsmanship again, and replicate my Qi-infused strike without having to force it.
After just 3 tries, and the help of my swordsmanship skill, it feels almost as instinctual as throwing a punch.
There isn't even a single sound as my sword slices the helpless monster in half.
Its two sides fall to the floor, and a barrage of notifications hit my ear from both the system and my wristband.
[Level Up]
[Level Up]
[Use Absorption]
Skill: Intimidation
Upgrade: Legendary
[YES][NO]
[Use Absorption]
MCP: 930,645
[YES][NO]
[Use Absorption]
Proficiency Points(PP): 1
[YES][NO]
[Congratulations! 1.37x bet won on Fighter: The Flame Emperor]
[Your 30 Platinum Base Bet has been returned to your account.]
[11.1 Platinum Credits have been added to your account.]
[Stage 6 Fight Victory: Reward: 439.8955 Gold Credits]
[439.8955 Gold Credits have been added to your account.]
[Total Account balance: 47.7251 Platinum]
I accept every notification given, and soon after, the magic residue in the air starts to clear. My eyes scan the text boxes and I get excited to see a proficiency point was finally absorbed from my opponent.
This is a special trait from my legendary absorption skill, allowing a 5% chance for me to absorb 1 PP from opponents at a higher level than my own. Although it's not much, and I have the ability to upgrade skills if I just find a monster with the same one using absorption, more PP will come in handy if there are unique skills that other monsters don't have.
I smirk, looking forward to reading the perks of my upgraded Legendary Intimidation skill once I have a moment alone, but I don't want to open my status screen in front of so many people and recording devices.
The flames finally dissipate, and the Announcer yells to the crowd as they erupt into cheers. I give a thumbs up to allow them to move onto stage 7 while using plunderer to absorb any remaining MP in the air to bring myself up to full before the next round starts.
I'm on about 85% HP and have a few burns from the blue flames of that final attack, but don't want to take an HP potion and be accused of cheating. Technically I could argue that my spatial magic skill is not a storage item, but would not like to expose the fact that I have this skill unnecessarily.
I feel fine, but my breathing is a bit heavy. I take a slow lap around the arena while the timer counts down and the betting odds show up for my next fight.
As the timer reaches the final 10 seconds, my winning payout is 1.55x. It's nowhere near the massive 5x+ wins I had available to me last night, but I'll be betting more on myself this time around, so I don't mind.
To play things safe and leave my balance full, but still make a killing if I win, I throw another 30 Platinum on myself, and the 7th Stage begins.
The audience is chanting my name, and the ground rumbles with the excitement from the crowd.
A bright white light flashes at the far side of the arena, and a level 688 Ghoul appears with a long silver sword, no skills, and the same buff at the bottom of its status [Curse Mark of The Lich King].
Standing just over 2.5 meters tall, slowly exuding an orange aura, its eyes lock with mine, and immediately charges at me with incredible speed, far quicker than the Wyvern I just faced.
I activate all my buffs and raise my sword, then allow swordsmanship and Qi infusion to take over my subconscious.
No more than 2 seconds after the Ghoul teleported into the ring, my blade clashes with its silver sword.
The moment they clash, I visibly see the orange energy around the monster slash directly against my Qi-infused sword. It feels just like when my fist clashes against Monk's when we trained this morning. However, a new sensation comes over me as I feel the Ghoul's Soul energy begin to seep into my sword.
Before my eyes, the white-hot Qi in my blade begins to disintegrate into thin air.
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Author's Note:
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There's custom chapter art for every new daily upload too!
Thanks for reading:)
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