Finn slashed with his sword, making all the blood on it fall to the ground, and then sheathed it while looking at the bleeding IronWall.
Before talking, Finn first breathed in and out a little because he had to catch his breath after he had done everything to slash the shield as fast as he possibly could.
"...From your battle royale match, I have learned about your shield's ability to deflect physical attacks. First, I thought that it would be impossible to get through your shield, but watching the replay in slow motion, I have noticed a weakness."
"…a weakness?"
IronWall looked up at Finn, as his face was starting to lose color from all the blood he was losing.
"Yes. The ability that your shield has isn't perfect, and by studying it, I noticed that it has a cooldown. The cooldown itself is negligible since it's only slightly less than a second, but if someone were to hit your shield fast enough, they would be able to break through your defenses, and that is exactly what I have done."
IronWall was speechless while looking at Finn with his eyes wide open.
"…You... You are crazy. You could have beaten me if you just used your speed to attack my back, but instead you chose to fight me by doing something like that? *COUGH*!"
He coughed out some blood and then looked at Finn with a smile.
"...Hah. But thanks to you, I now know about my shield's weakness, so you have helped me see that I shouldn't rely solely on my equipment. Thank you and…"
IronWall looked up at Dina, who was staying silent to not ruin the moment.
He then opened his mouth and shouted, trying to raise his voice as much as he could.
"I CONCEDE!"
After closing his eyes, he let his body turn into light particles and disappear.
"The winner is Chained Trickster!"
"..."
Dina shouted, but the audience remained silent.
They wanted to curse at Finn for what he had done to Olivia, but the match he had just shown them was so entertaining that they also wanted to cheer him on.
Not knowing what to do, they just stayed silent, and a minute later, Finn was teleported outside the arena, back into the waiting room.
"That will be all for today's matches! Please come watch tomorrow's matches as well to see who will become the winner!"
Dina ended the first day of the bracket tournament with that, and everyone was forced to log out.
Because the game Second Life was paused to make sure that everyone focused on the tournament and didn't try to raise their level while the top rankers were fighting, the gods logged everyone out to make sure the fighters got some rest.
Finn remained in his capsule with his eyes open, and it showed a countdown that had 4 hours remaining.
He could have left the capsule and gone to take a nap or go eat with his parents, but the system messages he saw before logging out still bugged him.
[God of Blacksmithing, Hephaestus, shows his interest in your sword.]
[God of War, Ares, shows his interest in your sword skills.]
[God of Swords, Takemikazuchi, shows his interest in your swordsmanship.]
[Goddess of Hunt, Artemis, says that she saw you first.]
[God of Speed, Mercury, shows his interest in your speed.]
[…]
It took Finn one fight, and he had already garnered the attention of multiple gods.
He could understand Hephaestus since Finn was using a sword, which he had blessed, but he didn't know why the others were interested.
"Interested in my swordsmanship? What a load of bullshit. I'm a beginner in using the sword, and the only thing I can do is attack fast, but that is not due to skill but rather to my high agility and strength, which gives me a lot of stamina."
Finn frowned while thinking about how the gods praised his skill in using the sword, even though he knew that there was nothing to praise.
'You are right in saying that you are a beginner, but all the gods know that most humans didn't grow up wielding a sword. What they are praising aren't your current skills but your potential.'
Loki explained after seeing Finn's confused look.
"My potential?"
'Yes. Since they can see that you are new to using the sword, they already assumed that you had started learning how to wield it when the game launched, but your skills have progressed quite a bit in the last week, so they are betting on you, hoping that once you master the sword, you will be a strong champion for them.'
"That might be true… But none of them have offered me the championship so far. Why is that?"
'How would I know? Do you think I am an encyclopedia or something? Figure it out yourself!'
Loki quickly muted the communication between them and continued reading his fantasy novel.
"…Fucking assho-"
Finn was in the middle of cursing Loki, who decided to ditch him, when the door of his room suddenly opened.
"Finn! You didn't just curse at home, right?!"
His mom, Helen, barged into his room when she heard him awake from downstairs, but before she could even knock, she heard him curse someone.
"Sorry mom. I stubbed my toe while I was trying to exit the capsule, and the words kind of just flew out of my mouth."
Finn chuckled while trying to sound as apologetic as he could.
"As long as you apologize, then it's fine. The dinner is ready, so wear some clothes and come downstairs to eat."
"Okay, I will."
With that, she closed the door and went downstairs to set the table.
Finn grabbed his prepared clothes and wore them to not look like a nudist in his own house.
He then walked downstairs and ate dinner with his family.
His father asked Finn some questions about Second Life, and Finn explained that he would help them start playing once the ongoing tournament ends because they couldn't play until then.
After he finished his dinner and played a round of Monopoly with his family, it was almost time for the next round of the tournament to begin, so he entered his capsule and logged in.
"Welcome everyone once again! We will begin by looking at the upcoming matches!"
Dina shouted as she pointed at the holographic screen that showed the names of 64 players.
Suddenly, 36 of those names turned into dust and disappeared.
"Because four matches didn't end in ten minutes, both of those players were eliminated, and we now have only twenty-eight players left in the tournament! I will now let the system shuffle these names, and fourteen matches will be randomly created!"
Once Dina was finished explaining, she clapped her hands, and the remaining 28 names began to shuffle and then position themselves in such a way that everyone could see who was fighting who in the upcoming matches.
Finn, who was looking at the screen to see who he would be fighting, watched his name stop next to a player he remembered to be very strong in his previous life.
'GoldenLion huh? This is going to be a tough battle.'
He was thinking about his opponent's abilities when he suddenly saw someone coming over to him.
Tall body with a large build. He had steel armor plated with gold, and there was a picture of a roaring lion on his chest.
The man had thick, long golden hair that looked like a lion's mane, and his brown eyes had a tinge of golden color in them.
Finn knew who he was as soon as he saw him.
It was his next opponent, GoldenLion, but he didn't know why he had a pissed-off expression like he had just eaten shit.
'Did I do something? Or is he also angry because of what happened to Olivia?'
Finn didn't have to think for long, as GoldenLion soon came face to face with him and explained his reason for being angry.
"You are the bastard that killed my vice leader, forcing him to become level four, and you also killed a lot of my guildmates and stole the coins they dropped, right?"
Others may not have recognized Finn because of his mask, but GoldenLion, who was focusing on his sword, recognized him immediately.
"Haha, it's all in the past now, dude. It was self-defense, and your guildmates tried to rob me as soon as I tried to enter a dungeon and as soon as I left it."
Looking up, Finn stared into GoldenLion's eyes with a smirk.
"I don't see it as me killing them. It was more like taking out the trash."
Finn's face was covered with a mask, but GoldenLion could still hear him chuckle.
GoldenLion clenched his teeth and growled at Finn, but he didn't attack him because that would disqualify him from the tournament.
There was a rule that stated that the players were forbidden to attack each other in the waiting room.
"…You mannerless fucker! Did your parents not teach you how to talk to older people? Or maybe they are as braindead as you are, so they don't even know how to teach their own child simple things!"
GoldenLion's angry expression suddenly disappeared, and an evil smirk replaced it.
"I will cut your tongue out so you can't surrender and then slowly cut all of your limbs off as I let your shitty family watch you bleed out!"
"..."
Finn remained silent, his expression hidden under his mask.
He knew that GoldenLion would become a strong player in the future, but the current him was someone that he had a chance to defeat, so he wanted to use his upcoming fight as a training session against someone strong.
But now he changed his opinion and decided to do his absolute best.
He didn't mind GoldenLion badmouthing him, but the moment his family was mentioned, Finn snapped.
Clenching his hands into fists, Finn answered with a voice that sounded like a snake's hiss.
"There is a line that shouldn't be crossed… and you just fucking crossed it."