The subsequent matches proceeded more smoothly.The next two matches going on simultaneously were between Reshmont and Runiel while in the other ring, air mage Deejay Kardel took on totemic druid Michael Vinas.
Copper-giant"s descendant Reshmont cut an imposing figure as he stood opposite the elf hunter Runiel. The slim and agile green-haired fighter wielded a sharp-looking rapier and looked to be highly skillful with it. However, in front of his mountain-like foe, he looked like a twig that would break with just one hit.
Reshmont displayed great power and defence. He easily withstood multiple attacks from his opponent, still grinning as he casually fended off the fierce strikes raining down on him. He even took several slas.h.i.+ng blows on his body but shrugged them off - his bronze-skinned defence was too strong to pierce even when he hadn"t yet triggered his bloodline!
Runiel began to sweat and frown under the pressure. On one hand, even his sharp sword couldn"t cut through Reshmont"s defence. While on the other, the bronze colossus" swift punches and kicks threatened to incapacitate him in just one hit!
Though Runiel also wasn"t a pushover - he still held his own, dodging left and right with unpredictable footwork. This was the reason that despite his attacks not working at all, he persevered for about 8 minutes...
Finally, he grit his teeth and his body took on a greenish tinge as he sped up.
"Haste!" He received a nearly 50% boost in his speed and darted quickly around Reshmont, striking him several times - but still to no effect.
Then he circled around Reshmont, leaving the much slower giant stumbling to keep up as Runiel kicked him in the back of his head and kept him off balance. And when Reshmont roared in anger and spun round quickly, the elf swordsman was nowhere to be seen!
"Above!!" Reshmont flung his eyes toward the sky and caught sight of a slim silhouette against the radiant rays of the sun, suspended in the air like an eagle about to swoop down on its prey!
"Sky Talon!!! FALL!!!" A blue glow mixed together with the green aura already suffusing the wood-elf"s body and began to fuse, surrounding the blade he held above his head.
Then he suddenly fell from the sky to the background of surprised cheers and gasps from the audience, and drew a sharp line that seemed to slice apart the air between himself and his herculean target!
The flas.h.i.+ng blue and green sword energies looked like a great blade of wind and force as it crashed down towards Reshmont, and the giant"s eyes widened as he prepared to face the mighty combination of sword arts and nature magic.
Then he sucked in a deep breath, his chest expanding greatly as his skin grew a darker bronze. He sucked in so much air that the crowds wondered if he was a balloon that was about to burst!
And he bellowed out in response, sending forth a blast of aura even as he coated his fist with the same metallic copper sheen and slammed a punch straight at the descending blade!
"BOOOOM!!!!" A heavy bang rocked the Gorun Stadium as a great cloud of dust, brownish energies and blue-green mana exploded outwards. The weaker spectators coughed and felt dizzy at the sudden pressure exuded from the great impact but were quickly relieved as Mr White and Mitsui led the stadium workers to raise a containment sh.e.l.l between the viewing stands and the ring.
When the dust cleared, the broken blade of a sword could be seen embedded in the ground while the wielder lay crumpled on ground, lying on his side. There were no outer signs of injury, but that did not mean he was unhurt from the heavy clash with Reshmont.
And Reshmont was still standing, albeit with his large shoulders rising and falling in big motions as he breathed heavily. He looked at his right first which had a thin red line of blood across the knuckles and lifted up one corner of his mouth in a grin.
Then he raised up that same bleeding right fist and roared at the top of his lungs.
Victory!
The crowds went wild with his celebration pose and the deafening applause was like the crash of waves upon the sh.o.r.e.
One hit!
It had taken just one clean hit from Reshmonth to knock out his masterful opponent!
"Reshmont! Reshmont! Reshmont!!!" The crowds cheered like crazy as the hot-blooded conclusion to the match filled them with pa.s.sion, excitement and antic.i.p.ation for the upcoming matches; hoping that each would be more intense than the last!
"Winner - Reshmont!" Mr White announced the result matter of factly; as the outcome was already clear.
At the same time, the match between the druid Michael Vinas and Air-element mage Deejay Kardel came to a close. Michael proved to be the bane of the offence-type Deejay and continuously weathered the literal storm of attacks through his defensive spells, healing and transformation into a grizzly bear.
Once Deejay had run out of mana to fly out of reach, all Michael had to do to win the fight was to just run him down and sit on him with his heavy b.u.t.t.
"I-I concede..." The suffocating mage gasped out as the fourth match of the first round came to a dull close.
The rest of the matches continued on with the second half of the brackets beginning. Most of the matches were one-sided results, such as the number two seeded G.o.d-blood Darius easily dispatching his opponent, knocking him out of the ring with ease after just four or five exchanges.
And very quickly, the first round was over. It was time for round two to begin!
Lars took a quick glance at his side of the bracket.
"Let"s see... Next up is Jun Marda... I didn"t get to catch his match because it was concurrent with mine, but from what I know, he"s an all-rounder. Based on his earlier results... He was ranked number 6 in the preliminaries? That"s pretty good... In comparison, Sai Kana was ranked in the 50s..."
Lars gave a cursory once-over for his upcoming opponent as he sat idle and listened to a penguin and fairy singing derogatory songs about him:
"Lars the lazy, Lars the lazy, he don"t train! He don"t learn! What the h.e.l.l"s he thinking, what the h.e.l.l"s he thinking, he"s so noob, he"s so noob!" (To the tune of "Are you sleeping, brother John?")
Then the two little demons would burst into laughter, holding their stomachs and rolling on the floor laughing as he could only seethe and try to ignore their ridiculing him.
Very quickly, one or the other of the demons would then say, "Oh, how about this one, how about this one... Kizorik had an idiot human..."
Lars gritted his teeth and told himself to ignore the childish millenniold demons and not pay any heed to their mocking as he waited for his match to start.
He didn"t have to wait long as Mr White decided that the contestants had a long enough break.
Very quickly, his name was called as Mr White announced the match.
"Ahem! May I have your attention, please! For the next matches, we will have the top-seeded Miller Knight Lars fight against Rose Knight Jun Marda, while on the second ring, Michael Vinas will fight Reshmont!"
The four youths exchanged looks with one another and smiled as they made their way over to the two circular battle arenas. Darius looked bored and yawned, but in truth was paying rapt attention. His sharp gaze flitted between Lars to Reshmont, watching them with hawk-eyes as he prepared to study the two rivals he had marked and look for weaknesses to exploit.
When the four contestants were ready and in place, Mr White once again raised his hand up in the air as the audience held their breaths in antic.i.p.ation for another thrilling set of matches.
Then he swung his hand down, marking the beginning of the new round.
"Round Two: Fight!"