Just as the round started, I watched the fighters on the arena to see, if any of them is attacking me. To my surprise all of us stood in place like statues. I figured that the person who moved first, would be in the most danger so there wasn’t any movement for the first minute or so. In the end one of the less capable people couldn't resist the pressure and started running to his opponent.

The moment he did that, the person who he was rushing to took a defensive stance with his sword. When they clashed I also noticed one person running to me. I quickly turned around and dodged the strike to my arm. At the same moment I gathered some strength in my arm and punched him. They guy surprisingly received my strike, but it was clear that the hit caused him a lot of pain. He got back up, but I didn’t let him continue and grabbed him, and flung him away. I threw him off the stage to not waste my time.

The guy looked surprised and unwilling, but he left the arena soon after.

[One of the fighters fell off the stage, nine people remaining.](Announcer)

With his voice, people who weren’t as strong as the other three mentioned by the announcer in the first stage began to hasten their attacks. I didn’t really bother to remember their names but I at least expected them to be stronger that those people who were just fillers. The second I thought that I heard a loud clang. One of the trio blasted his opponent away and the opponent fell out of the arena and the announcer announced his defeat. I didn’t need to wait for the other people to fall off the stage as well. Now the only people who were on the stage were me, the trio and one filler who was clearly breathing roughly. I wanted to see who will rush to me this time, thankfully I didn’t have to wait for long as a guy wielding a big great sword.

[Yo black-horse, wanna fight with me? I want to test how strong you are!](Louis)

One of the trio, a big man with a brawny stature talked to me. I didn’t wait and responded.

[Sure, why not.](Satoru)

After my quickly reply I readied my swords. The guy’s stats were quite high, although not as high as mine, but I didn’t want to take him lightly. He smiled hearing my replay and approached me with a very fast speed. He swung his sword that cut the air, its direction was my shoulder. I brought my swords upwards and parried the attack while also countering. He seemed to be surprised by my actions, but he quickly stepped back. This time his expression was more excited.

[You aren’t half bad!](Louis)

He immediately rushed again but this time his horizontal slash changed to a vertical one. I sidestepped and wanted to attack him, but surprisingly the sword followed my movement. I didn’t want for the sword to hit me and blocked it with my swords. The impact was heavy but wasn’t unbearable. I pushed his sword away and moved closer to him to punch him in the stomach. Unfortunately, the push wasn’t enough to lose his balance so he sent one of his fists at mine. When our fists collided the impact sent us back.

I saw that by restricting my strength I wasn’t going to get anywhere so I took a deep breath and turned serious. The man I’m facing seemed to see my change and his expression also turned serious, but I could still see some excitement in his eyes. I smirked and dashed right at him. The man seemed surprised at my speed suddenly increasing so he barely managed to block my first strike. But I wasn’t done just yet as I continued my relentless attacks. He was being pushed back and blocked most of my strikes, but some still managed to connect. His body got wounded by the time and his movements also slowed down.

After another twenty strikes or so I noticed a chance so I quickly approached him to deal to his side. When I looked at his face while attacking I saw him fuming with rage. Just as I was about to make my move he loudly shouted.

[Don’t underestimate me!](Louis)

With his shout I could see a red aura gush out of him as he raised his blade and swung it down. At the same time I could hear loud, excited voices coming from the audience. I already knew that he possessed the berserk skill so I was ready with my counter attack. I knew that his strength was around the mark twenty thousand or so. When I moved my sword in the direction his sword was going I could see him smirk. He already knew that if his sword hits me I would be completely defeated. That’s when that happened.

Red light flickered across Satoru’s pupils and his lips formed a cold smile. In the moment his swords met his opponents sword a loud explosion resounded on the arena. One of the silhouettes was blasted off the stage and even crashed into the wall of the arena. After the loud crash was a moment of silence. Even the fight of the other two people and one filler stopped. All could see the Destroyer Louise being embedded on the wall as he seemed to have lost consciousness.

After the moment of silence voices and shouts louder than before resounded in the audience. As if released from a daze the announcer quickly said.

[D-Destroyer Louis fell off the stage, four people remaining!](Announcer)

As if he couldn't really accept the situation the announcer said that weakly. I didn’t wait anymore and ran in the direction of the filler and threw him off the stage. He couldn’t even muster any strength because of my strength points surpassing 20 thousand points. I released the strenght of berserk. After he unwillingly fell off the stage the announcer also spoke up.

[One of the participants fell off the stage. The next person who falls off the stage or loses his consciousness will be eliminated and the last two people remaining will proceed to the next stage.](Announcer)

I watched the two fighting and noticed that one of the people seemed to be losing. It was the guy with a long rapier in his hand. He couldn’t really parry the blows of the axe’s user so all he could do was avoid his hits while trying to counterattack. The axe’s user seemed to be a little angry and just as I was about to think, that it will take a while, the man suddenly brought his axe towards the ground with full strength. When the axe hit the ground a dust cloud appeared and enshrouded him. While I was wondering what was he doing, a flame suddenly burst out of the dust cloud and hit the rapier man directly. He screamed at this unexpected attack. He summoned wind magic to deal with the fire, but before he could put the fire out, the man with the axe dashed out of the dust.

The man slammed with his axe and hit the guy with the flat side of the axe. The rapier guy made a > with his body and was flung away, just like had been hit with a hammer. Although he didn’t fall off the stage, he semmed to have lost consciousness. The announcer spoke along with a roars from the audience.

[This marks the end of the seventh round of the second stage! The fighters can now either go to the audience to watch or stay in their rooms. After the second stage ends the third stage will begin.](Announcer)

After hearing that I quickly left the stage and went to the audience seats. I already knew where Lisa was so I just had to go where she was. When I arrived Lisa smiled at me before congratulating me. Looking at her I couldn't help myself and patted her head. She smiled bashfully and hugged me as I sat down. I was already used to our exchanges so I wasn’t embarrassed about it anymore. We sat like that a watched the other rounds. Lisa watched eagerly, but I wasn’t that interested so I spent my time watching her reactions while patting her head. After the tenth round the announcer spoke again.

[We will begin stage three in around 10 minutes. Those who proceeded to the next stage please arrive at the arena.](Announcer)