160 The Might of a Gialgathen (2/2)

I shrugged, ”No one will have to.”

I pulled Iasis into the medbay. The crowd roared in approval, already on my side. The announcer pressed his fingers together, pinning the gialgathen down in his tracks. The announcer tilted his head, still having a huge ass smile on his face,

”That's not a part of the tournament's rules, now is it Alzoroth?”

The gialgathen turned his eyes towards the announcer, ”Of...of course it wasn't. It was my mistake.”

The announcer released his hands, letting the gigantic amphibian move again. I laughed, ”Damn. The announcer is a bigshot. This whole tournament's full of surprises.”

Althea leaned against me, ”Have you tried analyzing him?”

I shook my head, doing it at that moment

Kiki Mosk, The Smiling Devil(lvl 9,000) - A Speaker representing Schema on Giess. Given the responsibility of organizing fights on the planet, Kiki enjoys entertaining wide audiences. With heavy investment into charisma, he knows how to work a crowd with his uncanny charm.

If you have the will to see past his facade, he's cunning and sharp as a knife. Do not get on Kiki's bad side or else he may just ruin your reputation as fast as he'll crush your bones.

I nodded, ”Ah, he's a Speaker.”

She nodded, ”I think so too.”

The announcer clapped his hands together, ”No more of that silliness while I'm around, got it? If so, I might be forced into ensuring that such silliness cannot be done again.”

The announcer glared at Alzoroth, ”Understood?”

The gialgathen nodded, ”Assuredly.”

The announcer sighed, ”You'd better. Now, on to the next and last round of Icosah's tournament. We have two newcomers arriving to steal the top spots this year. On the one side, we have the incredibly disobedient Alzoroth!”

The crowd booed. The announcer amplified the sound, making it even louder. I laughed at that, surprised by how petty a Speaker could be. The announcer opened a hand to me,

”And Daniel Hillside, the warrior with unseen strikes.”

I jumped right back into the arena. As I landed, Alzoroth scoffed at me,

”Be glad the announcer is protecting you.”

I grinned, ”Uh huh. Keep talking.”

The announcer turned to each of us, ”Are you both ready?”

I nodded. I rolled my shoulders while the gialgathen whipped its tail back and forth. The announcer raised his hands, ”Begin!”

I put myself into my fighting stance, sliding forward. The slow crawl of movement caused the gialgathen to burst into laughter,

”Do you intend on crawling me to death?”

I ignored him, keeping myself ready. After a minute of approaching him, I got within his tail's range. He whipped it, slicing a blow straight at my left side. I leaned towards my right, shrugging my left shoulder. The blistering strike rolled up and over my shoulder, my gravitational magic helping me.

The gialgathen shook his head, ”What? How did you do that? You're so puny and minuscule.”

I kept inching forward. He whipped another tail slice at me, this time towards my right leg. I lifted my right knee up and towards his tail, checking the strike. I braced as his tail collided into my knee. I absorbed the impact, spreading the force outwards with gravity.

This stopped my gray armor from disintegrating, protecting my identity. As the gialgathen's tail shot backward, the monster's jaw went slack. I laughed, raising my hands,

”Come on big guy. Is that all you got?”

He lashed out, no longer holding back. After I deflected, blocked, and parried a dozen slashes of his tail, he got the picture. I kept inching forward, slow as a glacier. That was the problem for him though. I wasn't stuck in this arena with him.

He was stuck in here with me.