“There are only three hundred contests left! This years tournament is getting heated up, in the literal sense in our case!”, the crowds attention was drawn towards the projected screens in the middle of the sky.

They saw red lights flashing countless of times, indicating the use of ‘Fire Attribute Magic’ in the battlefield.

“Phew, I’m really spent. Why won’t you go there and do your actual job oh ‘mister announcer’?”, the person who had announced the tournament, took a small sip from his glass of water and lied his head on his desk.

“Do I look like I’m in any position to do my job?”, his partner who was supposedly the second announcer in this event. “You were sent over here by the kingdom and you can’t even do your job? What kind of ‘Knight’ are you?”

The pitch black colored eyes sent a sharp look towards the person who had spoken, he shivered in fear. “I apologize…”

“Nah, you’re right. I was sent here, the least I could do is do my job…”, he stood from the chair, his eyes’ bags were visible to the human eye. The darkness of the bags would make you think it was a miracle that he was still up and standing.

“Why is it that a knight was sent over here? Especially when we’re talking about someone of your ‘caliber’.”, the announcer asked as the extremely tired man stretched his arms.

“Beats me. The only thing he said was. ‘Go observe things, and tell me if you find something interesting.’.”, he sat back down on the chair revitalized just from stretching his arms.

“Why did you stand up, and then sit back down?”, the announcer made idle chitchat. “Because I needed to stretch my arms, or else I’d be tired.”

The announcer inclined his head slightly in confusion, and the so called ‘Knight’ shook his head left and right. “I didn’t expect you to get it.”

“Heh? Is it something only the knights do?”, he asked with little annoyance in his voice. “Oh, no it isn’t, it’s just something personal.”

“God, then there’s no way I would get it.”, his voice sounded hopeless as he skimmed through the files of participants.

“Are there any adventurers that may have caught your eye?”, he moved his gaze towards the battlefield, his eyes that looked tired had a sharpness to it.

“This year we’ve only got two ‘S’ class adventurers and a handful of ‘A’ class and the rest is juts ‘F’ up to ‘B’ class adventurers. Though most of them are mostly ‘D’ or ‘E’ class.”

Every participant who has registered were obliged to show their guild card to participate in the tournament. The only information in their cards was the name, gender, class and specialization.

It wasn’t much information to go on, but due to the guilds policies, it wasn’t allowed to verify ones status unless truly needed to.

An example of the use to have to reveal ones status would be if you’re trying to identify a criminal that goes by a title. Once the criminals status is shown and the title that had been possibly given to the criminal appears, he’ll be arrested and sent to prison.

“The only adventurer that has almost caught my eye, is the one with the mask.”, the screen showed a masked person surrounded by flames, and adventurers who were either knocked out or possibly dead.

“Oh, maybe it’s a ‘A’ class adventurer?”, the announcer hypothesized, but the ‘Knight’ shook his head. “Its abilities are exquisite, however it is going on a mild rampage using pure skill and magic.”

“Then why is it that it caught your eye?”, the ‘Knight’ watched the masked swordsman as it parried another adversary.

“It may not be visible to anyone else, but I can see determination in its eyes.”, said the ‘Knight’, the announcer was even more confused now.

“It is fighting with reason, every move it made has a ‘reason’ behind it.”, the ‘Knight’ rose another incomprehensible answer. “And what does that mean?”

“It means it hasn’t shown it’s true power yet.”

“What is this monster….?!”, among the pile of people, spoke a person who’s voice was filled with fear.

The adventurer looked up towards the ‘monstrosity’ who was behind the slaughter, his very existence was not to be something to fear. However having him as your opponent, would strike fear within the very depths of your soul.

He had platinum armor that shone like gold, his long sword had a holy glow to it, it would make you think it was a holy sword like one of the legends. However, do not be deceived, as for that sword was coated with ‘Light Attribute Magic’.

The adventurer made the slightest movement, he felt a chill up his spine when the glow of the sun upon him could no longer be felt.

He looked behind him, to find a huge figure standing over the suns’ light. “—!”

He tried running away, but it seemed more like crawling instead. The armored adventurer dug his feet onto the back of the other adventurer.

“Agh!”, groaned the adventurer below the foot of its enemy, he looked towards the monster who had a holy sword on its hand, aiming to pierce his heart.

“Wait, wait! I give up! I don’t want to win anymore, I want to live!!!”, the adventurer gave up on competing any further.

A magic circle appeared below the adventurer, however right at the moment it appeared the armored adventurer tried piercing him.

But he failed. The teleportation circle had already sent him away back to the stadium, and his sword has only pierced air and nothing else.

“…how boring.”, he muttered among the piles of adventurers.

Rumble

The sound of an earthquake made its self clear. “I guess things might actually get a little interesting…”, he caught a pillar of red light in the sky, if one looked into further inspection, one could detect that it was a flaming tornado.

“Here I come.”, the adventurer leaped off the small hill of bodies, like a superhero in a comic, but his actions seemed less heroic.

The masked swordsman fell down to its knees, it struck its sword on the ground used it as a means of support to help it not fall. It released heavy breaths, as rough as they seemed there was a softness to it.

‘Get up!’, it thought to itself, those words showed its determination to continue. There was nobody nearby, or rather anyone who ‘was’ is now out cold.

“Incoming…!”, a incoming human missile landed on the ground making a small crater.

“…!”, the masked swordsman dodged the shockwave of the impact, but fell on the floor due to its lack of strength to stand up.

“Are you going to die on me this soon?”, mocked the new approaching enemy.

The masked swordsman used what little strength it had to stand up and fight, it held its sword in a defensive stance.

‘I’m out of mana, this’ll be tough…’, it knew that there was no way of getting out of this situation, if it ran away he would be able to catch up quickly.

“Quite the bold, though I personally don’t mind that.”, he took out its glowing white sword, sparks of electricity spread themselves all around his body like some sort of protection.

“‘Strengthen Body’.”, he used a ‘No-Attribute Magic’ spell to strengthen his body, and gathered mana around the tip of his blade.

The two of them had their eyes locked on each other, a single movement could lead to a all out fight in just one second.

“‘Light Bullet’”, the armored adventurer moved first, by shooting multiple bullets of pure light, the masked swordsman cut through the bullets masterfully.

The accuracy and power of the bullets were frightening, but the skill of its opponent was on par. “Huff, puff…”, its breadths we’re getting worse, the air was thin due to the over use of ‘Fire Attribute Magic’.

Before the masked swordsman could react, the armored adventurer rushed forward with its sword unsheathed and mana ready for discharge.

The masked swordsman dodged the attack by a hairs breadth, and chanted a spell in quick succession. “‘Fire Ball’, ‘Fire Ball’.”, amongst the list of countless of spells, this one was the one it had chosen.

“‘Mana Barrier’.”, he casted a defensive spell over his whole body, this spell along the sparks surrounding his body would make him unrivaled.

However, the outcome he had expected came out differently. The fire balls came in contact with the barrier and exploded with tremendous force.

Anyone would think ‘this is a simple spell, it is a little bit more powerful than mana bullet, it’s no real problem’. They are correct, but depending on how much mana is casted upon the spell, the outcome may differ.

“I see, you’re increasing the input of mana in your spells thus making them more efficient.”, speculated the adventurer who now had a different look on him, his eyes were serious and the air around him had changed.

The swordsman fell to its knees, showing that it had reached its limit. It had no longer a means to fight, yes it had a sword in its grip but not the strength to wield it any longer.

“Giving up so early? Boring…”, the adventurer held his sword next to the masked swordsman neck and prepared himself to cut its head straight off.

‘Should’ve spared some reserve mana supply…’, it regretted having been careless, it knew that it couldn’t escape. Didn’t even have the strength to move.

‘No…!’, right before the adventurer had ended its life, a sudden loud voice rang throughout the ‘Reality Marble’.

“‘The Battle Royale is over! We have reached set number of remaining participants! All of you will be teleported back to the stadium.’”

A magic circle appeared below everyone’s feet once again, the armored adventurer sighed in disappointment and returned his sword back to its sheath.

“…What’s the point of a fight, if there isn’t anything at stake…”, those were his last words before returning.

The swordsman was once again alone, the teleportation spell would soon take effect.

It passed its hand on its neck and breathed out in relief. 

YeetusFeetus

I've been playing Genshin Impact recently, and that's the reason why this chap came late, nevertheless I hope all of you enjoy this new chap!