Chapter 15 - 16 : Tournamen (2/2)

In this square was a stage as well, all the teachers who were seated in the previous stage came in to this square with the council members and the principal. Arthur guessed that the people who previously came first on the stage were the teachers and their average level was 75-80, it was somehow lacking but he paid it no heed. The principal soon reached the center of the biggest arena and spoke

”Congratulations for passing the first test, even though it was just checking your abilities, the second test is about to begin, this board contains your names and your opponents' names”

The academy didn't knew all of their names, except who chose to say it or the famous figures like the second prince, so when the board appeared, all the names were kind of awkward and stupid. Lucy was named 'Ice Queen' and Arthur was named 'black-robed man' it seemed funny, as their sense of naming was somewhat strange, but he soon shrugged it off since it wasn't that what seemed to concern him. He was worried about Lucy, she might fall against a powerful enemy and even if Zephir said she would pass whether she failed or not, he was afraid she would get hurt so he said:

”Lucy, please be cautious and surrender when necessary, remember that demon guy said you either way passed, so don't force yourself, okay?”

She looked at him with warm eyes and nodded before saying ”en! don't worry, even though compared to you I'm nothing ,I at least can handle myself against those people, after all I fought so many people from the holy church so how could I lose to mere nobles and rich brats”

SECTION A

Black-robed man VS Elf Zehn

Second Prince VS Jackie Beast

Ice Queen VS Huge build

Beast-man axe VS Human Archer

Priest VS Skinny Demon

'They really got no sense for naming huh?' Arthur still complained when he saw the names again, apparently, Lucy was obviously Ice Queen and that's because of her cold eyes and emotionless face, all the other names were made based on the person's appearance, except the 'elf zehn' and the second prince.

The tournament was divided into 11 sections and the winners of each section will have passed the second test, but there were also exceptions as there may be participants who pass the tests even though they lost, but that's only if they were good at fighting and had considerable strength.

Arthur looked at his opponent for a second before turning his head, because it was only a lvl38 elf who got a strong affinity with wind, which was to be expected from an elf. He was sure of his victory, but when he saw Lucy's opponent he was worried. It was a huge beastman who had a pair of one-handed axes on his back, he was almost 3 meters tall, with huge hands and a muscular body, while he was looking at this huge beastman, the beastman looked at Arthur in return, but soon turned his face towards Lucy and licked his lips excitedly, as if he was going to enjoy a meal.

His lvl was 53, so Arthur judged his strength to be quite close to the holy knight Rein, if not more, after all beastmen were famous for their enormous strength and Lucy was petite and only excelled in magic. She was indeed not bad in physical attacks, but compared to this huge beastmen folk, she was nothing.

Soon the fights began and the first fight in his section was between the skinny demon and the priest. The fight was not even 5 minutes long, the priest struggled a bit but he didn't have the power to resist the skinny demon's attack. The demon was indeed ruthless and powerful and deserved having the highest level among the participants, except Arthur of course, his use of darkness attribute and earth magic was not bad. He first attacked with a curse to weaken the priest considering he used holy magic and darkness magic was completely its opposite, and secondly he used earth attack, earth spikes and small meteors so the priest finally lost after a small struggle.

To be honest , his use of earth magic was lower than Arthur, who almost never used his, he got it from the young earth dragon and it was a [medium earth magic], he could even bind his opponents if he caught them off guard and could raise a 5 meter wall and do other various things, but compared to his dark or ancient fire magic, his skills in earth magic were considered pathetic; nonetheless, if he showed it to those people, he was sure he would get their attention, but what if he used his [hell arrow] what would they do? How would their reaction be? Arthur was excited to try that out, but of course he didn't, as it was foolish and childish.

The second fight soon began and it was the beastman with a huge axe on his back, it was the same guy who got chosen by the female beastman from the council members. Contrary to the other huge build beastman, this one had a normal body with some scars here and there, but he seemed somewhat friendly even with those scars. The fight was even quicker than the first one, as the human archer was not the beastman's match, he could only kite him for some time before he got knocked down by the axe and fell unconscious.

The conditions to win the fight were to either surrender or fall unconscious, of course Arthur noticed that in some other arena there were some ruthless opponents who would not let their enemy surrender or even fall unconscious, they mercilessly injured them purposely causing them serious damage as they seemed to enjoy doing that.

The third fight was Arthur against the elf Zehn. Arthur quickly jumped onto the arena, but didn't take any weapon, as for the elf, he took out a wooden cane and looked seriously at his opponent. Once the referee announced the start of the fight the elf started chanting to attack his enemy but he was soon struck by a dark dagger in the shoulder and wailed in pain.

Truthfully, Arthur did not care even if he killed this elf, for that had nothing to do with him, but killing is prohibited and you would be disqualified if you did that, even if you didn't do it on purpose, so he used a dark dagger and aimed it at the elf's shoulder, of course the dagger went through the elf's shoulder and struck the ground behind him.

The elf's painful cries soon reached the teachers and council member's ears and they turned their heads in curiosity, to see why someone would scream like that. When they saw the black dagger floating next to Arthur and the wailing elf, they were stunned and tried to observe the dark dagger, especially the principal, she gazed seriously at the dark dagger but she couldn't guess what it was, she could only feel an ominous feeling coming from it, as if it was going to devour her whole.

Arthur stared coldly at the elf expecting him to surrender, but he surprisingly didn't. After screaming for some time, he stood up while shaking, it seemed he was not used to pain at all, when he stabilized himself he started chanting again, but before he could even finish the first word another dagger pierced him in his other shoulder and blood flowed endlessly.

This time his screams even reached the ears of the other participants, they stared with fear at Arthur and thanked their luck for not being in the same section as him. The elf finally surrendered after being pierced by 2 daggers and left the stage while stumbling with shaking legs, Arthur couldn't help but shake his head, to not be able to resist that much pain, what if he experienced the same situation Arthur was in and had his body created from nothing? Would he die from pain or would he go crazy?

Arthur went to his previous location where Lucy was waiting for him with a small smile on her face, to have someone wait for him made him delighted and joyful but when he thought of the next battle his thoughts quickly began to be erratic and his heart started beating faster, he was truly afraid of Lucy being hurt. She noticed his anxiousness, so she ran up to him and gave him a long hug while not minding the jealous gazes, and then she headed toward the stage.

The huge beastman was already waiting for her and you could see his eyes were burning with desire as he gazed at her body, he regarded her as an object and a toy, not as a human or a demon. That look made Lucy even more disgusted and angry, she hated those kinds of men the most, since they only thought of their desires and would do anything to achieve them.

The fight soon began and the beastman rushed towards her with great speed, but he didn't use his axes. If you looked closely, not even his hands were shaped like a fist, instead they were claws as if wanting to rip her clothes off. Of course Lucy didn't just stand still, she backed away and a dozen fireballs were fired at him, her aim was perfect and all fireballs hit him and he was sent flying a couple of meters before falling down.

He knew she was considered a wizard, but he regarded women as sexual toys and never thought of them as fighters, so being sent flying by a skill made from a women did not cause him to be angry, quite the contrary, it made him even more excited to touch her body and rip her red dress 'hahah such a ferocious girl , I wonder how she will be in bed, I'll enjoy her first, then someday I'll get my hands on that principal too haha , with that body of hers I'm sure she's perfect to satisfy me' he rushed again at her, but his speed seemed to increase nonetheless. Lucy casted a curse which slowed his speed by 10% and his strength by 5% then bombarded him with fireballs, her use of skills was really amazing and her actions were coordinated.

'boom' 'boom' the beastman was sent flying again and he had small burn marks on his fur and some other corners of his body, yet he was still grinning evilly and as he couldn't get more shameful a huge tent rose up in his lower body. Seeing this Lucy became even more contempt towards him and her attacks became even more ferocious. After 10 minutes of one-sided attacks from Lucy, the beastman grew angry; nonetheless, the tent in his lower body was still there. He took his double axes from his back and rushed at Lucy with great speed, the curse she put on him was finally over, so his speed had gone back to normal.

Lucy was quite tired, she kept hitting him with a lot of fireballs but he seemed to be extremely resistant and not damaged that much by them. Her mana pool was not like Arthur's and her fireballs costed some mana, so after launching more than a hundred of them and using some other skills like flame tornado and flame lance, her mana was almost emptied out.

She had to buy some time for her mana to regen a little, but the beastman rushed at her, so she couldn't do anything but create a desperate flame barrier. Even though flame was usually for offensive, it could also be used to form barriers but they were not that useful and would only negate a little of the incoming attack. The flame barrier formed by her was shattered and she was sent flying a dozen or so meters, her rose dress was tattered and it seemed to be ripped a little from the bottom, you could even see her thigh.

She quickly stood up while some blood came up from her pretty lips, even though she had good physical strength, she couldn't withstand a powerful attack from a beastman who excelled in strength and was 9 levels higher than her. You must know that even the difference of one level was considered a lot, so 9 levels was like heaven and earth, it was already excellent that she could hold up until now, but she didn't want to admit defeat, since he was a man like those who raped her, was he going to win again? Doesn't that mean even if she got the chance to face those who used her, she wouldn't win and would end up in the same situation? Soon all those memories and tragic days passed in that room came to her, she remembered when those guys came in everyday to use her body as they pleased and would laugh at her and her stupidity.

The beastman noticed she was lost in thought and grinned while licking his lips again and his tent never stopped from getting bigger, he rushed toward the girl with extreme speed and slashed with his axes toward her chest area. Lucy, sensing danger, quickly snapped out of her daze and tried to dodge, but it was too late as the axe had already torn off half of the top of her dress. Some of her chest was now exposed and she wasn't wearing anything under the dress except panties, since the dress was long enough to cover her, but now that she was almost naked.

A deep fear came to her and she covered her exposed chest with her hand, she was trembling and her eyes had fear in them, but it was not fear of the beastman in front of her, but she was reminded of those days and the suffering, and seemed to experience those memories again. It was as if she was back in the past, defenseless and bound while those men played with her. The beastman laughed and put his axes behind his back while stretching his left hand and grabbed Lucy's free hand which was not covering her exposed chest, but just as he touched her hand, he felt cold and 'poof' his stretched hand fell onto the ground and blood flowed endlessly from his shoulder, 'poof' the tent in his lower body was also chopped off and his 'thing' fell onto the floor.

Arthur was watching the fight with great anxiety, he was very worried for Lucy, and seeing her struggle against this lunatic made him even more helpless, he saw the beastman sent flying several times but got up like nothing happened, so it got him even more anxious as he thought of stopping the fight, but when he glanced at the principal at the others, he saw them all focusing on the fight between Lucy and the beastman, especially the principal and Zephir, who seemed to be assessing Lucy's skill.

As time passed, Arthur saw the tent on the beastman's lower body and his killing intent rose up, the air around him turned cold and his hands twitching. He really wanted to kill this bastard right now, but he didn't want to be disqualified or let Lucy be disqualified. After all, he was considered her companion and him helping her out would be considered her fault, even though she was already accepted to the academy, his actions may not please the principal and she might not accept her.

The fight continued and he noticed she was starting to slow down at attacking and seemed exhausted, so he judged her mana pool to be almost empty. His face was distorted and he was barely holding himself back from interfering, and when he saw the beastman tear her dress, he decided he was going to kill him and ignored the consequences, but before he did that he noticed the eyes of Lucy, they were unwilling to lose and full of determination. It seemed she was fighting her past memories and wanted to get past them, so him interfering was like not letting her have a chance to overcome her tragic past, so he just stood there with an aching heart while looking at her with a worried look.

Arthur's mind went blank when he saw the beast man tear the top area of her dress and expose her chest. Even though she quickly covered it, the beastman grinned and held her hand forcefully, so Arthur couldn't control his emotions anymore, he didn't care about either the principal or anything else, he loved her, he wanted to protect her, so her being this humiliated was unforgivable and he would not tolerate it.

He teleported in front of her and immediately created a dark sword and chopped the beastman's hand and 'thing' off, without hesitation he then kicked him in the stomach with full strength and you could even hear the beastman's bones shattering completely.

He was sent flying across the stage until he hit a wall which was where the spectators were watching. The wall was also destroyed by the force of the impact and there laid the beastman who was coughing blood non-stop and his screams of pain resounded through all of the big square.

Everyone looked at what happened with disbelief, even the principal didn't expect someone to interfere, she didn't like what the beastman did, but she had no right to interfere, as this war a 1 on 1 fight and she personally set a rule that anyone who interfered would be disqualified, no matter who it was.

Arthur quickly retrieved a white cloth from his storage and wrapped it around Lucy, who was still shaking. His heart really ached and he couldn't control his emotions anymore, he hugged her tightly and said

”Don't worry Lucy, I'm with you, did you already forget that I said I was going to be with you forever?'

Lucy, sensing someone hugging her, came back to her senses and looked at Arthur who was smiling back at her.

Tears flowed uncontrollably from her eyes and she buried her face in his chest

”Arthur, I couldn't do it, I couldn't do it....”

She kept repeating the same words, Arthur knew that by those words she meant that she couldn't forget about her past and overcome her fears, he didn't really know what to say to her, so he just did something that even he didn't expect to do. He kissed her on the forehead and kept hugging her while saying

”It's okay, if you couldn't do it, I'm here so I'll do it for you”

She seemed shocked by his kiss but she stopped saying those words and just sobbed silently in his embrace. Time passed, but no one interfered, the beastman was still screaming from the pain and the spectators were confused as to what was happening right now.

”Lucy, do you want to kill this man or should I kill him for you?”

Arthur asked her gently while still embracing her, she stopped crying and just stayed there silently, when she heard his question, she didn't say anything for a while before replying with a shaky but somewhat relieved voice

”It doesn't matter. I'm you and you are me, I'm happy as long as you are by my side.”

She paused a second then resumed with a low voice

”.... but next time I'll be the one to save you, hmpf!”

just when she finished speaking, with her soft and charming lips she gave him a small kiss on the cheek, it seemed insignificant to others, but to him, it was like he was in heaven.

He was dazed for sometime while he thought of that kiss, that pitch black loving gaze of hers was so charming as to cause the fall of cities and the lovely smell of the fragrance that came from her made him feel like he was dreaming, but he didn't dare think anything strange and after hugging her again he finally let go of her. After adjusting her clothes, he held her hand and looked at screaming beastman not far away.

He advanced slowly with Lucy beside him, he didn't let go of her hand as he approached the beastman.

The principal was seriously astonished, she didn't even see him run into the arena, so how could he have appeared out of nowhere? Is his speed that fast? No way, even if it was someone with the extreme speed they wouldn't be like that, that was an instant movement! Teleportation!

”Who is he? To be able to use teleportation, and this fast too, he is not someone normal”

She looked at him chop that beastman's arm and 'thing' off without hesitation and with but a kick he sent him flying out of the arena, that was not a strength a simple participant would have.

She then observed him as he covered the girl who was still shaking and then hugged her and seemed to tell her something, she guessed they must be lovers or family, for he seemed to really care for her a lot, after some time had passed he let go of the girl and headed slowly toward the crying beastman, while accompanied by the demon girl.

Truthfully the principal was quite angry because someone dared to interfere and not only that, he injured the enemy that much in front of her face, at least other people would pretend this was an accident, but this man didn't care and ruthlessly chopped his opponent's hand off, he also seemed to want something else from him as he walked towards him.

”Stop right there! Not only did you break the rules by interfering in the fight, you also seriously injured a participant”

The female Beastman from the council shouted at Arthur, even though what that beastman did was shameless, he was still someone from her race. So seeing him suffer like that didn't seem right to her, especially when he already got what he deserved and had his arm and 'thing' cut off.

Arthur completely ignored her and continued walking towards the beastman, no matter who it was, even if god himself tried to stop him, he wouldn't stop. This man dared do those things to Lucy, the most precious thing he had, so how could he forgive him, death was a way out for this beastman, but he didn't care and was determined to kill him.

Soon he was finally in front of the beastman who turned to look at Arthur with extreme fear and rage. He believed he was only sneak attacked and in a normal fight he would have won, but now he couldn't fight, so he just stared hatefully at this black-robed man.

Arthur used his free hand and grip the beastman around the neck and with great strength lifted him high up in the air while increasing the force he was exerting on the neck. The beastman first tried to struggle with his remaining hand but after a couple of seconds he began to suffocate and breathe heavily, his face turned red and he began to wriggle as he was unable to breathe.

The female beastman was angered as she rushed towards Arthur with great speed, she was a member of the council and she shouldn't use her power to bully the weak, but she also couldn't stand someone from her race being brutally killed like this Her speed was incredible, but to Arthur not that much, as she was closing in he put a little more strength and 'poof' the head of the beastman was separated from his body and both his head and headless corpse fell to the ground.

The female beastman was full of rage as she made a fist and struck toward Arthur's head intending to kill him instantly. But he didn't move, for he had confidence in his defense, after all, he got the dragon's defense and his new body gained a lot too, so he didn't even bother creating a dark barrier.

The punch landed on his head which was covered with the black-robe and the female felt as if she had hit a mountain, cracks could be heard as some of the bones in her hand broke, she retracted her fist and backed away while having a mix of astonishment and rage in her eyes, she stared at Arthur while saying ”Who are y...!”

Before she could finish, there was a loud shout and a strong wave of energy came out of nowhere pressuring everyone on the stage except the council members and Arthur. He could feel that it was a kind of a skill, if one was skilled in mana manipulation, they could use it to pressure enemies and that was what happened now.

”ENOUGH” The principal stood up and stared angrily at Arthur...