‘I apologize I truly do, I apologize for what I’m about to do.’, I kneeled on the floor as if I was begging to god, though I was apologizing instead.

‘I’m sorry Gray, truly. But, I have to win this.’, I continued my prayers, as the door suddenly opened.

“Uhm… contestant Shiro, it is almost time for you to be on the arena.”, an employee warned me about the little time I had left to prepare myself.

I was in the waiting room about to prepare myself to fight against Gray, I spent my small break which was about thirty minutes with Willow and the others, except for Athena.

‘Where is she though…’, I still questioned her whereabouts, but as of right now I can’t spend time idly chatting to myself.

“Yes, I’ll be right there.”, I answered her, she left the room and closed the door, I let out a weighty sigh. I inspected my swords, I placed my hand on the flat surface of the blade.

“At this rate they’re going to brake…”, I passed my finger by the small cracks and gaps on my sword, if I had to guess it will only survive a couple of more blows.

“I really don’t want to replace them, they’re the first ones I made.”, I remembered the days I spent with Willow making swords, like nostalgia flowing back into me.

“Well, it’s time for me to go.”, I left the now empty room and headed towards the arena, it was a open space big enough for a small stadium to fit in. It could even be said to fit perfectly for the occasion. Around the arena were the people watching excitedly, the first two challenges raised their hopes up considerably.

“Now for our first match, we have in one side of the arena the D class Adventurer, Gray!”, the crowd cheered his arrival upon the stage, he blushed slightly flustered by the rain of cheers.

Being a ‘D’ class adventurer was quite a deal, though it is one of the lowest classes, it is the most average one can reach. Some people even stayed in E class for years without ever reaching any higher.

“On the other side we have a Adventurer who has done something quite impossible considering his class. His name is Shiro, a F class adventurer who defeated a ‘B’ ranked monster!”

‘These guys sure know their stuff.’, The crowds cheers were even louder this time, they even started talking about it amongst each other.

“So he was the one?”, one said in amazement. “Probably just got lucky, that’s all.”, another one gossiped and so on.

By tomorrow, a bunch of rumors were bound to spread, not that I cared.

‘This is where my special ability will come in place, ignorance.’, my special ability was ignorance, some may think of it as a curse, but depending on how you use it, it may be your best weapon at hand.

Back on earth (god this sentence feels weird) I didn’t really care about my public image, that doesn’t mean that I did anything I wanted without restraint as for I have at the very least a considerate amount of common sense.

This ability of mine helped me in numerous situations, like the stress that you receive when you know you have an exam tomorrow, sometimes both thinking about it helps.

Though nowadays I try to care about things as possible.

I looked over to Gray and our eyes met, he immediately averted contact and made a depressed expression.

‘I understand it very well, to have to fight your own friend must be hard. However…’

“There’s something at stake here, so I can’t afford to lose.”, I muttered to myself as a way of encouragement one could say.

“Alright the match will start in three.”

“Two”

“One”

“‘Fire Ball’.”, Gray instantly casted a spell, and a fire ball was sent right towards me.

“‘Barrier.’”, I set up the imperfect barrier I made, and it broke down into fragments of light.

‘What the hell?! Does he actually want to kill me?’, at first I had thought he would be hesitant to attack me, but this showed that he was actually aiming for me all along.

“Hey Gray, what the hell!”, Gray charged right towards me with his sword out aiming towards my body.

I took out my twin blades and parried his attack. “Do you really want to kill me or what?”, I asked him right in the face, whilst pushing him back with my swords.

“You know Shiro, I too came here to win. After all, I lost all my money while gambling, and now I’m flat out broke!”

“‘Flaming Blade’.”, his sword gushed out bright red flames, and charged once again.

“Hey, I have my reasons too.”, I held my swords in a defensive stance, and took his attack head on. “You mean the slaves right?! I bet you already chose them out and everything!”

“No it’s not like that! I swear let me explain!”, we clashed our swords multiple times, his movements were crude, but not bad in comparison to most swordsmen.

“I don’t wanna hear it! Tell me later when I win the prize!”, he was so full of himself that he didn’t listen to reason, or maybe he wanted to win that badly.

“I’ll apologize in advance Shiro, but I really want to win.”, we clashed swords one more time, sparks flew all over the field. From afar flashes of light could be seen clash each other in union, like a light show in a festival.

“‘Barrier’.”, I went on the defensive and erected another barrier, which was immediately broken by his sword.

‘Understood Gray, I’ll finish this quick.’, I gave up on defending and finally attacked, by aiming multiple ‘Mana Shot’s at his body.

He nearly escaped most of them, but the rest hit him spot on. This, sending him back quite a huge distance.

‘His strength stat isn’t as high as mine, but it’s considerably high considering his class’, I took advantage of the small amount of time I bought to inspect my opponent.

“Kuh! Damn it, am I really this pathetic. I haven’t even landed as much as a single hit on you.”, Gray stood up from the ground, using his sword as a support.

I clashed my swords against his one more time, my sword cracked a little further. He retreated back, but I would not let him.

“‘Mana Bullet’.”, the white bullets impact broke his stability, thus making an opening for me to attack.

“I’m sorry, but this is over.”, I used ‘Flame Manipulation’ to coat my fist in a veil of black fire, and punched him in the stomach.

The force brutally threw him off the arena like a rag doll, his body hit against the wall and fell to the ground.

‘I’ll pay you a dinner for this.’, I left the arena and headed back to the waiting room.

“The winner of this match is Shiro!”, the announcer declared. “He’ll move on to the next match.”

“Good job there, boy.”, Willow congratulated me, he pated a empty seat next to him, saying that I should take a seat.

“Thanks.”, I responded and sat down on the chair, and released a small sigh. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I just had to fight my friend, that is all.”, I felt mentally exhausted by everything that happened today, sitting down on this chair and be an onlooker made me incredibly relieved.

“You mean the guy that was sent to the infirmary, you sure didn’t go easy on him.”

“I did, or well. I tried to, but he was tough up to some extent.”, I moved my sight at the panel to see who the next opponents were about to fight.

“Hey Master! You were incredible, the guy was sent flying like woooshh!!”, Azure shared her thoughts about my match.

“I guess you weren’t bad.”, Alice shared her thoughts as well, though it didn’t feel like she was praising me.

“Thanks.”, I replied the same answer, I didn’t want to use my brain cells to think up another answer which would’ve led to the same thing.

“How did they make these high tech stuff for their age?”, I mentioned the huge panel hanging from the sky, that had caught my interest.

“I heard that they’re projecting something that already exists, like they’re doing an illusion, mirage or a projection.”, Willow shared his thoughts.

“What about their microphone?”, I asked about the thing which looked like a microphone. “Eh? That’s what it’s called? Well, from what I can tell they use a ‘Wind Attribute Magic’ spell to augment their voices.”

“Eh, you sure do know a lot about it.”, I praised his knowledge, but he shook his head. “Nah, it’s just what I heard, you know a lot of stuff when your as old as me.”

I nodded to his remark, and set my attention to the arena, as for the match was about to begin.

“Ladies and gentlemen, on our next match we have two well known adventurers. One of them who’s title is not very friendly, but heard across all land. The A class the ‘Berserker’!”

My interest was suddenly caught, my eyes were targeted towards the single entity upon the stage, his smile which seemed less frightening was still plain to see.

His sword glowed with holy light, despite the person wielding it seeming the least worthy to carry it.

The sword was not a holy one, it was simply coated with ‘Light Attribute Magic’ nothing more. Compared to the actual one, which was made by the gods themselves, or so it rumored to be.

“On the other side, we have a fearsome opponent, he’s been making a name for himself for quite some time. A round of applause for the S class adventurer, Nessa.”, the enthusiastic announcer revealed the last contestant.

A man in light armor approached the arena, he took out a blood red spear, it’s length equivalent to a human body, and the tip of the spear coated in mana.

“Now, that I’ve introduced our fighters, without a further ado, let’s begin the match in three!”

They readied their weapons.

“Two”

Their expressions unchanging

“One”

“‘Consecutive Flame Spears’.”, the adventurer Nessa, launches multiple blood red spears towards his opponent.

The spears pierced him right on, and exploded leaving nothing behind but dust and debris, however his body remained unscarred.

“What! He’s still standing!?”, the announcer commented, the crowd showed signs of shock and surprise upon the outcome of the attack.

‘These people seem far more excited for this fight than mine with Gray…’, my self esteem lowered ever so slightly.

“Hey Shiro, wasn’t that the guy who almost made you lose the previous challenge?”, Alice noticed the guy smiling amidst the battle.

“Yeah that’s him.”, I answered her question. “I see, if he wins this round you’ll fight against him in your next match.”

‘And that’s what I don’t want to let happen, but at this point it’s inevitable.’, I wanted to say, but my attention was drawn towards the arena.

The smoke was gone from the place where the ‘Berserker’ stood, there were scorch marks on the ground, but nowhere to be seen on its target.

“You're harder than what I expected, but don’t go ahead and think that such cheap tricks will work on me.”, the spearman swung his spear at nothing.

However, the sound of metal rubbing on each other could be heard. “Interesting, you saw me even though I was invisible.”, his opponent suddenly appeared right next to him.

“Whaaat?! He used a ‘Light Attribute Magic’ spell to make himself invisible, and was still discovered by his opponent!?”, the crowds excitement level increased.

‘Is it me, or is the Mr. announcer more impressive in this match?’, my curiosity was peaked by the announcer more than the person in question.

The two clashed their weapon, red and white sparks spread across the whole battlefield, with every impact the air shimmered.

“Even though he’s just A class, he’s holding his ground like a pro!”, the announcer speculated.

The two leaped back in retaliation. “Not bad, most people use swords because spears are too complex for them, but you’re quite talented!”, the ‘Berserker’ praises his spearmanship.

“What are you getting at?”, he seemed suspicious of his opponent. “Nowhere, it’s just that you’ve risen my hopes now.”

“‘Transcend Limits’.”, his speed increased at a frightening rate, he almost seemed as fast as light for instances.

However the lancer would not stand still and do nothing. “‘Earth Conjure: Spear’.”, multiple spears sprouted forth from the ground like spikes aiming solely for his opponent.

However, he span his sword in an arch and liberated his path of any obstacle in his way.

Nessa held his spear in a defensive stance, aiming to take the attack head on.

The ‘Berserker’s grin increased. “‘Surpass Limits: Berserker’!”, he activated another limit surpassing skill, and he suddenly disappeared.

“Heh?! Where is he? Nothing happened?!”, the announcer commented everyone’s thoughts in a single sentence.

The battlefield was dead silent, up until a thunderous impact was heard and the whole field was covered in smoke almost in an instant.

“What happened?!”, the announcer seemed extremely emerged within the fight, to the point where the smallest event could surprise him.

The smoke was suddenly cleared out, the source was a swing of a sword that had cleared all the smoke away.

The spearman was nowhere to be seen, and the ‘Berserker’ was standing amidst the arena without.

The lancer was found crushed outside the arena, his body was in tatters and scorch marks all over his body.

“The winner is the ‘Berserker’, he’ll move into the next match!”, the announcer almost forgot his job, but still succeeded in announcing the winner.

The crowd was surprised, their astonishment was incredible. Even the people next me whom I didn't know started talking about the course of events.

However, there was one thing I was able to capture. Everyone would’ve seen it as a coincidence, but it was loud and clear to me.

The ‘Berserkers’ attention aimed at me.

YeetusFeetus

Hope all of you enjoyed this chap, it was supposed to be uploaded yesterday but my mind was like 'NO', and so this chapter was delayed for today, if I am lucky I might be able to upload another chapter tomorrow.

Anyways, hope all of you enjoyed this chap!