Mom raised her sword in the air in an all so familiar strike. Seeing it come down, I blocked in an attempt to parry. This time I was able to divert a lot more energy.

 

“Good!” Mom praised before continuing to repeat the strike while I continued to block.

 

The sounds of wood hitting against each other continued to echo in the hotel room, while time began to trickle.

 

Bang.

 

Mom’s strike was sent veering off towards the side. I had finally succeeded!

 

“Good!” 

 

Just as I was excited, the next thing I noticed was a kick coming towards me, stopping an inch from my face causing my heart to pound faster.

 

“Mom!” what if I develop a foot fetish!

 

“Don’t let your guard down Xi,” Mom, took back her foot before readying her strike. Just like the last time, I successfully parried it before a kick came from my side.

 

Raising my arms to block, I was sent stumbling towards the side by a huge force, before tripping over myself.

 

“Hahaha,” Mom’s laughter sounded, causing me to feel embarrassed before getting up to resume our spar. She repeated the first two motions again, the kick sent me tripping again, however this time she didn’t stop.

 

Seeing the wooden sword slash down on me, I raised my sword before guarding, causing it to slide onto the floor. Taking the chance, I sent out a punch towards her.

 

It was the first time I’ve countered Mom!

 

Unfortunately, it was blocked. Mom didn’t continue and kept our position.

 

“How will you get out of this position?”

 

After a  thought, I thrusted my knees towards her, causing her to raise her sword. However it was a feint to free up my own. Throwing an upward slash at her sword, I used it as a leverage to slide out from under her before quickly getting up, when I saw a sword coming my way again.

 

Like this, we continued our spar until I became too exhausted to move.

Mom left me on the floor, probably off towards the kitchen. As for Little Fish, she came over, but not too close.

 

“...” Upon recovering, I grinned at her before pouncing towards her. However she dodged causing a strange feeling to well up in my chest. Getting back up, I continued to chase after her.

 

***

 

The next day, we arrived at the arena again. It was Big Brother versus Olivia for the first match. The two stood on the stage. 

 

Big Brother went for the offensive as he moved first while Olivia continued to dodge. However she didn’t counter attack.

 

The two continued their bout, when Big Brother seemingly slipped, causing him to falter. Olivia taking the chance, went in for a stab when a clang sound appeared. Big Brother had guarded before sending a slash with his other sword.

 

It’s speed was a lot quicker than previously, causing her to be unable to dodge. Raising her left dagger, she parried, yet it seemed to be incomplete, as she flinched, when a sword had ended a centimeter away from her throat.

 

The referee announced the end of the match.

 

“Big Brother got stronger! So cool!” I clapped my hand, he stopped the sword by himself, without the referee’s intervention.

 

The next match was Rin versus Lily. 

 

As usual, her opponents gave up automatically, so the 3rd round soon began.

 

Luna versus Mojun. 

 

The two stared at each other, neither were willing to attack first. Seconds trickled by before a minute passed. Although they weren’t doing anything, you were able to tell they were stressed. Probably from all the audience watching.

 

In the end, Luna couldn’t take it anymore and went forward. Unfortunately she could only use one hand, as the other was currently in a caste. Mojun parried with his fan sending her punch veering off path before a kick landed on her back, causing her to tumble forward. 

 

Blushing, she turned around before throwing kicks and punches as well, however he calmly blocked and parried everything before sending her off guard when a punch landed on her gut, sending her flying away.

 

The next match was Jake Versus Frank

 

The appeared in front of each other, Frank slashed at the staff before sending it veering off path before throwing a punch. Jake responded the same where the two took  a step back before colliding again with kicks.

 

However, throughout the process, Jake would continue to wince, as his wounds began to open up. With an enraged roar, his muscles bulged before the staff was forcibly swept horizontally. 

 

With a clang sound, Frank had guarded with his sword at the last minute, however he was sent flying away in the process.

 

Jake, not giving him a chance, appeared in front of him before bashing the staff downwards at Frank who guarded in the air, causing him to slam straight into the ground.

 

Afterwards it began a beat down where Jake continued to slam the staff onto the ground while Frank continued to guard using the flat of his blade, while blood spilled out from the corners of his mouth.

 

Jake raised his hand as if releasing a final strike. The staff turned into a blur when it was sent off path. He didn’t lift the staff up for another strike, and his opponent didn’t counter.

 

It seemed that the final strike had used up all of his strength, while Frank was probably injured too heavily to continue as well, internally.

 

“Jake Versus Frank, Draw!”

 

The final match of the day began once the 2 were carried off the stage. Nayi versus Mitra.

 

When the match began, Nayi repeated what Big Brother did, although she parried using a short sword before sending a kick straight into his guts, ending the match.

 

Seeing as everything ended, we got up before returning towards the hotel where Mom would make lunch. After that we would look through the dimension monster encyclopedia before sparring and playing with little Fish for the remainder of the day.

 

***

 

The 3rd day of the rounds. The first match was Lily versus Luna, which ended in Luna’s surrender. The 2nd match of the day was Big Brother versus Frank.

 

“Why does it feel like Big Brother lucked out,” I turned to look at Mom. She was currently lazily leaning against the chair. 

 

“Isn’t that a good thing?” she turned towards me before pinching my cheeks, “Luck is also a part of one’s strength.”

 

“...” I rubbed my cheeks with my hand before turning back towards the stage. Frank was still injured, so the match had become one-sided. He couldn’t even guard correctly and soon his stance had become a mess. Big Brother sent a simple stab forward, landing in front of his throat.

 

The 3rd round was Mojun Versus Jake.

 

However his match was stifling to watch, Jake was too exhausted, and clearly not willing to charge forward, while Mojun never took the initiative.

 

Eventually, the referee cut inside and threatened to end the match in a draw if Mojun didn’t go forward. He showed a helpless look before going forward like the referee said, and the two began to fight. Or rather one listlessly attacked while the other defended before ending the match.

 

“He had already given up,” Mom said, “at this point, it’s pretty much impossible for him to advance, unless the remaining participants all get kidnapped or something, which is clearly impossible.”

 

“...” Soon, the 4th match began, Mitra and Olivia. Similar to the previous match, Mitra didn’t really place his heart into it anymore, and the match ended with Olivia winning.

 

As for the 5th match, it seemed Rin didn’t give up as he went after Nayi who stabbed the greatsword onto the stage. The kick landed onto the flat of the sword, causing a sound to reverberate, when she suddenly used the handle as a leverage to throw her entire weight onto Rin, along with the sound of broken bones, he was sent flying away, followed by a flying sword straight into his face.

 

As the match ended a lot earlier than usual, Mom brought me and Little Fish over to a park nearby to play. We ran along the grass when mom suddenly took out a ball.

 

I had a bad feeling…. If she throws it, wouldn’t it be like being shot by a cannonball?

 

Luckily Mom didn’t throw the ball with all her strength at me. After catching it, I stepped backwards a few times, when I noticed a force from the ball travel through me before being unloaded through my feet.

 

Or at least a portion of it. I looked up at Mom to find that she had left me and Little Fish to play along. Taking the ball, I threw it towards Little Fish as we began to play catch together until it was Noon. Mom took us back towards the hotel, as for our lunch, it had returned to honey roasted pork. It seems Mom was really serious about eating it for the next few weeks….

 

***

 

The next day, it was the 4th day of the rounds.

 

Jake vs Lily

Luna vs Nayi

Rin vs Mitra

Ming vs Mojun

Olivia vs Frank

 

Aside from Nayi and Lily, the rest of the contestants had pretty much lost the will to fight. While feeling a little bored, I closed my eyes to pass time. I’d rather look at my symbol than this!

 

It wasn’t until Big Brother’s turn that I was woken up. His opponent was Mojun, someone who just like him was currently undefeated.