"Wow, that dude was a d.i.c.k," Ryan managed after a few moments, watching Hydrus depart.
"Yeah, we got that," Griffin said dryly, looking annoyed.
"Did anyone catch their matches? I"m fairly sure Barns was the a.s.sa.s.sin player. But I"m not sure if Hydrus or Grott stood out," Eric asked.
"Grott was pretty good. He"s the guy who won before you went on in the second round. None of his opponents seemed all that good so I"m not sure how he stacks up compared to you or Jun in terms of archery," Rob replied.
"Hydrus was in group A. But I didn"t see anything special about his matches when I was watching. He used a greatsword, but that"s about all that stuck out. He seems like a major a.s.shole though," Jun added.
"Takes one to know one," Griffin muttered quietly.
"What was that Griffin?"
"I said yeah, dude"s an a.s.s," Griffin replied, causing Ryan and Rob to laugh while Eric broke out into a grin.
Glaring at Griffin, Jun turned to Eric, "You"d better not lose to that Grott guy. I don"t mind if you lose to Hydrus, cause that means I get to destroy him. But you"d better show him that some random a.s.sistant isn"t better than any of us."
"I"m winning the entire thing, there"s no need to worry about me losing to either of them," Eric said glibly
"Nah, that"s gonna be me. But feel free to take out that Hydrus douche before I beat you," said Ryan, throwing his arm over Eric"s shoulder.
Laughing amongst themselves, the group settled down on a pair of large couches, getting ready to watch the first fight.Gorin Greatarm and Mary Cloudsov put on a good fight for the opening round of the top thirty-two. Gorin"s enormous club matched up well against Mary"s short spear and shield combination, making for an exciting opening match.
Unfortunately for Cloudsov, Greatarm"s weapon allowed him an enormous reach advantage which he exploited well, allowing him to close out the fight with his victory as Cloudsov"s body was surrounded by a blue light, whisking her away to be healed.
As Gorin left the stage, returning to the viewing lounge to the crowd"s chants of "Greatarm!", Halfthur introduced the next pair of fighters to the audience.
"For the second fight, we have Hydrus Mortang, representing NRG! His opponent is Tanix Reveil, representing Fallen Kings! Fighters, to your places!"
Leaning closer, Eric sat on the edge of the couch, intent on watching every moment of Hydrus" fight with Tanix Reveil.
Tanix was a tall, college-aged man with a thick beard and a long red robe. A ring of fur around the neck of the robe gave him a cool look, which Eric was secretly somewhat envious of. As Halfthur introduced him, he held a wand aloft, revealing his status as a mage as he played to the crowd.
Observing his opponent coolly, Tanix a.s.sumed a fighting stance, readying his wand as he pointed it towards Hydrus, who was standing roughly fifty metres from him on the other side of the stage. For his part, Hydrus just stood there uninterestedly, his greatsword hanging loosely in one hand, as if unconcerned about the threat Tanix posed.
"Fighters, are you ready?" Halfthur cried.
Giving a terse nod, Tanix stared straight at Hydrus, who simply gave a bored nod in response.
"Begin!" Halfthur shouted.
Jumping backwards, Tanix instantly began casting a spell, glowing runes appearing in front of him as he moved his wand at lightning speed.
"This guy"s not bad," Eric commented to Rob, watching as Tanix completed his spell.
On stage, Tanix looked at the runes in satisfaction. With a smile, Tanix watched as a glowing sphere of flame appeared in front of him, leaving a trail of embers in its wake as it shot out towards Hydrus who had begun his charge across the stage.
"And Tanix casts a Flaming Sphere! Hydrus might be in trouble here!" Halfthur shouted excitedly.
Sneering coldly at the oncoming flame, Hydrus brought up his greatsword, cleaving the spell in two as he charged forward, his momentum not halting in the slightest.
"I don"t believe it! Hydrus has destroyed Tanix"s spell! And he didn"t slow down in the slightest, Tanix had better get out of the way, because this man means business!" Halfthur shouted after a moment, watching in amazement as Hydrus rushed towards the mage.
Paling slightly at this, Tanix backpedaled furiously, hurriedly retreating as he fired two more flaming orbs towards the oncoming fighter. Appearing one after the other, the spheres of flame left fiery afterimages in their wake as they flew.
Wielding his greatsword with an unparalleled degree of efficiency, Hydrus chopped through first one, and then the second Flaming Sphere, gaining steadily on Tanix as he charged over the stone floor of the stage.
Gulping nervously, Tanix prepared a different spell, not even stopping to admire his runes as he fired a pair of Flame Strikes towards Hydrus.
"Tanix changes up his strategy and switches to casting Flame Strike! That was some pretty fast casting, but will it be enough to stop Hydrus?" Halfthur asked, watching excitedly as Hydrus closed in on Tanix"s position.
Not bothering to block, Hydrus slid between the two spells, somehow managing to find the tiny gap between the two Flame Strikes as he leapt forward, swinging his greatsword down heavily towards Tanix who now found himself cornered at the edge of the arena.
Throwing himself to the side, Tanix managed to avoid the brunt of the blow. However, even this glancing blow caused his health to plummet, his healthbar reducing drastically as he tumbled across the ground. Rolling to his feet, he attempted to run, doing his best to put some distance between him and the terrifying fighter, but it was too late.
Activating a skill, Hydrus rushed forward, his blade glowing slightly as it descended directly onto Tanix"s head. With a scream, Tanix collapsed, his healthbar dwindling to nearly zero from only two strikes.
Looking at the audience, Hydrus grinned, giving them a thumbs up. Receiving a mighty roar, he frowned, twisting his fist to give them a thumbs down this time. Hearing an even greater roar, Hydrus smirked and raised his greatsword high. With a mighty shout, he brought it downwards in a great chopping motion, directly upon the neck of Tanix.
With a flare of blue light, Tanix disappeared, leaving Hydrus alone on the stage to exult in the cheers and shouts from the audience.
"Wow! That was certainly an amazing fight, and what an ending. Hydrus didn"t even take any damage despite Tanix"s excellent control over the Flaming Sphere spell! NRG has their first fighter through to the next round and we certainly have a new favourite to win after that!" Halfthur shouted, hyping up the crowd as Hydrus left the stage.
Eric swore, "d.a.m.nit. Why"d he have to be good?"
"Maybe Tanix was just bad?" Griffin suggested.
Eric shook his head, "No. He knew a pretty powerful spell, his casting speed was pretty quick, and his rune formations looked good. As mages go, he was definitely one of the better ones, Hydrus just gave him no chance to fight back."
Rob nodded, "Yeah. Flaming Sphere is the fire version of my Stone Sphere. It"s a pretty good spell, similar to Eric"s Wind Dart. The fact that he was able to cast two of them in quick succession shows he"s talented. And he was also able to cast Flame Strike almost instantly, which takes a fair bit of practice."
"Hydrus" movement was super clean. He didn"t waste any motions, he just advanced in the straightest line towards Tanix. Even his blocks were pretty much perfect, he took care of the spells without stopping or breaking his stride. The dude"s skills are good," Jun added with an annoyed look on his face, as if Hydrus" skill was a personal affront to everything he stood for.
"Either way, it"s not like he"s unbeatable. There"s no way that douchebag is winning this tournament," Mark said firmly.
Murmuring their agreement, the group turned back to the projection, where the next match was set to begin.