Amber Rose disappeared from the perception of most, as she reappeared behind Tori, aiming her twin daggers at his hamstrings.
What she did not expect, was the long bandages on his blade unraveling and blocking her strikes. She realized, it wasn't that his sword was covered in bandages. The bandages were the entirety of his sword.
'Tsk. Annoying.'
As she thought that, Fate subtly twisted in her favour once, as one of her strikes landed against Tori's forearm, the bandage not moving at all for a second as the blow landed.
Even the young swordsman was surprised at that, as Amber continued to attack speedily.
Amber dodged under one bandage, and went to stab Tori's liver, when she realized that the bandages around her had formed a net, one that snapped into placed as Tori pulled on the handle of his 'sword'.
Amber slipped out from an extremely small gap available to her, but one of her daggers had to be left behind.
Tori smiled as the bandages began a flurry of attacks, their edges sharp as any blade.
Amber realized that she was accumulating more and more wounds, and slowing down as the bandages seemed to bear down on her from every angle. However, every time, there was always a small opening or gap for Amber to barely slip through, not without injury.
She had an idea, and flung her dagger at Tori, who caught it with a bandage.
However, that bandage moving away allowed Amber to slip in and grab the dagger she had dropped in the net a while back, and close the distance between them.
Tori panicked and sent a few more bandages to hold her back, but Amber grabbed one, ignoring the edges cutting into her palm, and used it to tie up the others. Before Tori could remove the entanglement, Amber's blade was placed on his neck, drawing blood.
He simply sighed and conceded the match.
"Good fight." He shook hands with Amber and went to get treated.
Amber received healing as well, and returned the competitor's arena to see an overexcited Axel jumping up and down. She felt joy at his concern, but also a hint of puzzlement, "Isn't it your match now, Axel?"
Axel froze.
The announcer was still calling for Alicia's competitor, but he had simply tuned him out.
Axel quickly scrambled to get to the arena, ignoring the laughter of those in the stands as he arrived with his armour and sword.
He knew he would not win this match.
It was simply impossible to end the difference in skill between the two within just these few months. But he didn't want to put up too pathetic of a performance either.
He could hear those in the crowd, "Isn't it already impressive enough for the Rank 34 to make it till here? He doesn't even need to fight here."
"Should have just remained hidden and spared himself the embarassment."
Axel had considered these thoughts himself. But if he was going to help Alastor in his goals, he had to prove himself.
Alicia looked at her opponent as she calculated how much power she would need to win against him.
'Not even a Sword Adept, no outstanding features in combat, average battle IQ. Assessment: 30%. However, use 60% to end decisively and conserve maximum mana, as well as giving awe factor to crowd.'
As the match began, Axel knew what he had to do. He had studied Alicia's thoughts, abilities, and skills in great detail.
He immediately rolled to the side, as a gout of flame rose from the ground where had had been standing a moment ago.
He rolled away once more, as the very earth beneath him rose up and collided with the still active gout of flame.
'First step survived!' Axel thought to himself as he immediately went to the second step of his plan.
He felt himself slowing down as his metal armour froze over, but he had gotten this set because it was easy to remove fast anyway.
He discarded it, and swung his sword down, just in time for sharp ice crystals to form in front of him, shattering before they were fully made.
Alastor felt a bit of interest as he watched from the competitor's area. He had calculated that Axel would lose in the first two attacks, but he had been pleasantly surprised.
Axel immediately dropped onto the floor before a vacuum of air could form on his head, and then bounded up again as the earth opened up.
Alastor sighed, 'Well, it was a good showing. But it's over.'
His advanced sensing of mana showed what Alicia had set up.
As Axel leapt up, he felt dozens of wind blades cut into him, as flames erupted from the wounds as well, cauterizing them as well as burning him.
As Alicia turned away from the firestorm, confident of her victory, she heard a small mumble behind her.
"Must not disappoint."
She turned and saw a sword right in front of her face, Axel's burning form stuck in the middle fo the attack as she froze him in ice on reflex.
Alicia would never admit it, but for a second there, she had felt that the sword really might land on her.
Axel had to be taken into intensive care, and Amber went with him, intent on staying there until her match.
The four winners were declared and the next match ups were decided.
Karna vs Amber and Alastor against Alicia.
Amber reluctantly trudged back into the arena, as Karna waited for her.
As soon as the match started, Amber knew she had to get close and not let Karna draw his bow.
She focused on her unique skill, to erase her presence and rush behind him.
As her daggers pierced through the air, Karna dodged beforehand.
'What? Did he see me somehow? But nobody has ever managed to do that before, especially when I'm trying to hide!' Amber thought to herself.
'It's fine, I'm still to close for him to draw his bow-'
She was greeted with an arrow slamming into her arm from below and going through, red flames spreading from the point of contact.
Karna had drawn the bow with his foot, as one hand held the bow vertically, and the other grabbed her dagger wielding arm to keep it in place.
Amber decided to just give up the match and head back, considering the rest of the tournament as not worth the risk.
Karna won, and returned, but Amber got healed and went back to the intensive care unit to meet Axel.
Alastor sighed and decided it was time to discipline some bad children as he arrived in the arena.
Alicia was looking at him extremely seriously, as she contemplated her chances of victory, 'Almost nil. Mathematically, I should simply concede the match for efficiency. However.....for once in my life, I want to go against these numbers.'
As she faced Alastor, she could feel a sense of danger, as if the very air she was breathing had spears hidden in it, stabbing her lungs.
'Truly, the Rank 1 for a reason.'
As the match began, the two immediately used their strongest attacks on each other, intent on ending this match at once.