While Arima and Night were on their way to the coliseum, a kid suddenly appeared on the side of the street, and charged, screaming, at Night with a wooden stick in his hand.The protagonist pair looked blankly until then stick struck Night"s front leg and snapped.
Arima blinked and looked at the boy "Well. There was no "For my family!", but there is not that much of a difference. Honestly, I never thought it would really happen, I think I need to believe there is a flag G.o.d now"
"Why?! That"s bulls.h.i.t! I"m not even in my original form!" Night roared and the kid jumped in fright and fell on his b.u.t.tocks and began to cry.
"See, you made him cry already" Arima uttered
"I..." Night looked conflicted "Hey brat why did you attack me?" And finally asked
The kid stopped crying for a moment "M-Mommy said that b-bad guys will attack soon and I need to be strong" He said with tears in his eyes "Y-you look like a baddie! So, I"ll beat you!" He said the last sentence with some conviction.
Arima snickered. Night glared at him. He took a deep breath "Listen, boy, I"m not bad. You see that mark on my sc fur, that means I"m a go- not a bad guy. I"m sure your mom knows that too" He said gently.
"R-Really?" The boy stood up slowly and weakly asked
"Yes"
The boy nodded "Mh, I"ll believe you. I"ll ask mommy, if you lied, I"ll come back!" He ran back
Night"s eye twitched with impatience. "Yeah. Do that" He sighed and looked at his left "Let"s go..." He stared at the empty s.p.a.ce where a certain someone should be "Hey!" He kicked the ground and ran to catch up to Arima who was already 50 meters ahead.
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When they arrived, a lot of the remaining people in the capital gathered in front of the coliseum. There were at least ten thousand people around the place. Only the entrance had a clear path.
"Why are there so many people around here" Night asked
"If I"m not wrong, the tournament is projected to the outside with recording crystals, because being inside is dangerous for the public. Sometimes, the fights in there are too intense. Just think of our fight last time"
"I see" Night nodded and they walked to the entrance, they were allowed to enter when their ident.i.ties were confirmed. It took a bit of time for Night though. But as a soul beast, he was allowed to pa.s.s.
Inside, Arima met the suit guy who registered him. The latter almost wanted to flee. Little did he know that Arima stayed silent in the meeting with him because he didn"t have anything to say, he also thought that the aura was a test, so he didn"t do anything and he asked if killing someone was prohibited just because it would be awkward to be disqualified by mistake.
Unfortunately for him, he didn"t know that and had to lead Arima to the arena he was a.s.signed to. They used a circular corridor that goes around the whole coliseum.
The place has four separate areas. Basically, A, B, C and D. This tournament"s first round works as a battle royal, fifty people in each block. The battle continues until there are only four people left in each block, the rest of the game takes place as a regular "one vs one" compet.i.tion with sixteen partic.i.p.ants.
Arima was led to the block B. When he arrived at the said place, he looked around. A 200*200 meters stone arena with an open roof. Arima also detected a magic array protecting the surroundings.
Some partic.i.p.ants were already waiting in the middle. They spared a glance to Arima for a second and two seconds for Night.
In conclusion "I feel like I am less important than you in the eyes of others" Arima said but Night didn"t respond.
They waited an hour after arriving until everyone was there. Once everyone was ready, a voice suddenly spread around the entire coliseum.
"Alright, ladies and gentleman, the fight in each block will begin at my signal, are you ready!?"
"Why do I feel so uncomfortable?" Night asked with a strange expression
"3"
"Maybe because I feel the same" Arima answered
"2"
"What do you mean?"
"1"
"Because I feel like this kind of commentary don"t go well in this world"
"Fight!"
At that signal, every block became a battlefield. No one used strong abilities and began the fight with basic magic and close combat skills.
Arima was attacked too. A man with a double handed sword slashed at him from the side. Arima just crouched and although it was very fast it felt like he took his time.
"[Sunt robore]" Arima stood up in less than a second and sent a back fist to the jaw of the guy. The latter flew for ten meters before landing with difficulty while holding his jaw.
"(Like I thought, those guys are stronger, this one was at least a veteran B rank level... That won"t do. I"ll finish this quickly)" Arima suddenly released a shock wave with his aura and struck the ones near him "[Lunam gradus]" Arima jumped a few times in the air until he was left standing 10 meters above the ground.
At that point, some partic.i.p.ants couldn"t help but look at him in wonder "What is he doing?" was their common thought.
"(I don"t want to kill anyone so I"ll use wind, that"ll do the job)" Arima thought
"What the h.e.l.l is he doing?" Night too was unaware. He was just lying there. People that tried to attack him would just hit a magic shield and they couldn"t break it. In this form, Night did not possess a really strong body and his magic was also not at his peak but it was still on another level.
"[Spaera](Sphere)" Arima chanted. A blue sphere with a two-meter radius, formed in front of him "[Ventus iniectio]" Inside the sphere, some changes occurred, at first it was really faint but in just a few seconds, a sort of wind tornado was already blowing inside.
The others felt something was wrong and decided to attack him. The first was a warrior who jumped and swung his sword. But he b.u.mped against a shield before he could do anything.
Night was already beside Arima and protected him on a whim "What are you doing?" He asked
"Something I wanted to try but didn"t on our fight because it takes too much time" Arima answered
"Too much time?" Night was surprised and was still blocking magic and physical attacks. He was going to say something else when one of his shields was broken "Seems like a strong guy decided to attack" He said and looked down. He spotted a guy aiming a bow at him "(He broke my shield with an arrow?)" He was a bit impressed.
"[Sp.i.s.satio]" On the other side, Arima chanted. The big sphere began to shrink slowly ("Mh, it"ll take ten seconds, I think. Like I thought, it"s not really a good magic for a dynamic fight. But it"s worth it if I use thunder or fire with much more density. And it"s not like I can"t fight when I"m doing this") He a.n.a.lyzed his magic.
"Hey, Arima. That guy over there with the bow, he"s not that strong but I don"t think I can beat him in this form, he has some kind of penetration magic, and I can"t use fire magic like this. Do I change back?" Night asked
"Nah it"s okay, it"s finished anyway" Arima turned to look at Night while playing with a blue marble.
"What"s th Ah" Before Night could finish Arima dropped the marble. It fell right in the middle of the arena.
"[Lacero](Break)" Arima snapped his fingers and a strange sound followed. Before anyone could say anything. A gray sphere expanded to cover all the stage, that sphere seemed to be made of dense wind. A lot of people fainted directly and were sent flying before crashing on the walls of the coliseum. Those who resisted the shock and remained inside the sphere still fainted because of the chaotic movement of wind inside. Arima and Night jumped more in the sky to avoid being caught inside.
From the outside, it looked like a great dome covering the whole place "Mh, I miscalculated. I messed up the duration of the decompression and I touched the walls outside the arena... Oh well" Arima casually said
When the wind disappeared only 3 people remained unscathed glaring at Arima, one of them was the bow guy. Every other partic.i.p.ant lied on the ground. Some were still awake and gritting their teeth but they were injured and didn"t have a chance to advance to the next round.
"Hey, that"s four, that"s cool" Arima remarked after counting and landing on the almost destroyed arena.
"...Not him again" A voice sounded at that moment. That was the guy who gave the signal to begin and it was also the suit guy who registered Arima. When he realized his complaint was heard by everyone, he faked a cough and continued his job "I announce to you all that the battle of the block B is over!"
The audience outside the coliseum cheered at Arima and the partic.i.p.ants of other blocks froze. They wondered how the battle finished so quickly.
"Well, that settles it" Arima walked to the exit calmly. The three other partic.i.p.ants followed silently with heavy steps. One was a big muscled guy with an axe as a weapon, there was a tall guy with a scimitar and the last one was the archer.
When they left the arena, a woman was waiting for them, they were automatically qualified for the next round the next day. They could go home or spectacle the other blocks by going to the top of the outer walls. Arima decided to go watch. The three guys following him left the coliseum.
On the top of the wall, Arima looked down to the three blocks remaining. He observed for an hour or so and three people were marked by him.
The first one was a man wearing a silver armor, a sword and a shield, the first time Arima saw him, he compared him to a Paladin. This guy had a very strong defense and his offense couldn"t be ignored.
The second one was a mage/summoner/tamer, this guy had some diversity, he used a tamed beast to protect him, summoned others to attack while using magic to support. The tamed beast looked like a bear and seemed to be around the high cla.s.s of level 5. He was showing signs of mana control, he must be on the verge of a breakthrough to become a magical beast.
Beasts and monsters can obviously become stronger like humans do if they train. In theory, a level 1 beast have the possibility to become a level 10 beast, but that depends on the talent and the genes of the creature.
And finally, the last one is Aria, as expected, she was strong, she could beat anyone with a swing of her spear, and she seemed to be proficient in water magic. When Arima was looking at her, Night noticed something.
"Arima, this girl, she has a soul beast"