The Champion

-R'aul port area-

"Boss w-what do we do?."

Rashid yelps at the top of his lungs as the hero approaches him along with the guards, knowing that he couldn't hope to win against.

"We?, you mean you

You shall do nothing. You're just fodder." He says coolly

"Necrosis activate your domain."

Necrosis growls as the docks is engulfed in a dark mist, I cover my face coughing before long the environment changes into that of a wasteland.

"Welcome to the underworld hero."

Skeletal spikes emerge from the ground impaling Ozwald's men

"W-whats happening to me, Boss help I-I've been loyal no!!."

"Aaaagh."

"Aaaagh"

The men cry out in despair and agony as their lives are stolen , leaving nothing but husks of their former selves.

The zombified men hungry for souls their sights fixed on little old me .

"This looked less creepy back in the real world." This is as real as it gets.

"Get him." V eyes glint a purple glow as he ordered the guards.

"This is bad, I don't think this place is *cough* is hapitable for my kind." The living that is, the mana Salamander gave me can get me by , but the question is

how long can my body handle this suffocating environment.

And can i really harm those not so innocent men?

Aaargh!!, No use contemplating things , its either me or them besides they're already...uhh? Dead?

I take a stance preparing for the 30 or more horde

Armed with swords the now undead guards launch themselves forward storming me from all direction.

"Aaa!." They wail as they swing their swords at me

I block one leap back premptively stabbing the one behind me before he'd swing , I hit the former undead my other spear before backing away leaving them to give chase.

"Aaa!." Three swing to where I went , i roll back and thrust one of them in the head

3 down 27 or more to go.

Like a ballerina in a ballet studio our play is one of absolute Agility(AGT) . Thrusting when the need arises and retreating to avoid a swarm.

a hulking guard leaps striking with his bastard sword I gracefully sidestep his attack thrusting two of my spears in his chest and head.

Before long the guards are down 20

Our dance continues into the night , the attacks don't let up and V looks on amused before ordering Necrosis

"It appears that you've charged enough Necrosis, unleash your breath!."

"*cough* i can barely breathe, this isn't a good look." Thanks captain obvious(me)

Magic circles surrounds Necrosis a ghastly purple smoke slips from them, Necrosis inhales the toxic fumes and exhaling them at once.

-meanwhile in the arena-

Glen and Ruen face off against one another, Ruen spreads his right leg forward, his left one back holding onto the hilt of his sword.

"Haaagh!." Glenn committing to a first attack swings at Ruen.

Ruen calmly halfway removes his sword from the hilt intercepting Glenn's.

"Not bad , not bad at all still sword."

"you talk too much." Ruen said deflecting his opponents sword sideways.

Leaving out an opening he completely insheaths his sword , to his surprise Glenn puts up his shield blicking his slash attack.

"I apologize, who wouldn't be excited when meeting an idol!." He said backing away.

The battle takes a different turn as Ruen moves this time around meticulously striking his opponent and improvising in between when the need arises.

"Haaah!."

"Hyaaah!."

Glen strikes are parried, Ruen's are blocked a stalement have been reached. Spurred on by the cheers Glen losee focus his mistake proves fatal.

He strikes haphazardly leaving too many openings narrowly attempting to block almost emboldened, Ruen found it insulting , howoever he isn't the type to point out his opponents fault unless it was 'him' he thinks smiling.

Sheathing Ruen leaps back a few yards

"What are you doing?"

Ruen lets out a breath

"Still sword 1st technique! Reaper's blade."

Ruen figure vanishes , suddenly reappearing behind Glenn his back turned as he sheathes his sword.

"Uugh?." Glenn starts bleeding from the abdomen , his armor completely crumbled he looks back at his idol Ruen shocked as he falls unconscious.

"AND THE WINNER OF THE FIRST ROUND IS...

THE STILL SWORD RUEN!."

"Now onto the next battle!."

Ursula the non-aligned elven takes to the arena armed with her staff staring down at her opponent Sara.

"You're alot younger than I expected" said the Elven woman

"Exprience over everything." She says coolly unsheathing her dual swords , her opponent is just a means to an end

"Well aren't you a cold one."

Ursula uses her staff to propel her self in air , channeling wind she sends fierce gales towards Sara.

"Is this all you can do."

Sara attempts a leap towards Ursula however she gets a push back. Ursula manipulating the wind gives het a clear advantage on maneuverability.

"Why are you smiling ?." She asks

"Nothing, I'm reminded by my childhood. It was a chilly night." She says enjoying the breeze.

Gathering mana onto her left arm , she throws one of her swords, the sword now enchanted with earth element pierces through the air field, Ursula evades the sword within a hairs breath.

She laughs as her magic precipitated , freefalling to the ground she resigns her fate to a melee brawl.

"I knew you were talented though not to this extent." She says in irritation as she trades blows with Sara

"I appreciate compliments that are genuine, yours however is shallow." She replies back.

"Have it your way then."

Angered by her opponent's antics Ursula jabs her opponent relentlessly , Sara dodging the strikes jumps on the staff using it to lever herself across the field. She moves onto grab the sword that she threw.

"With pleasure." She says launching herself to face her opponents with renewed vigor.

Ursula has reach albeit an advantage it means nothing when facing the dual sword wielder opponent , Ursula strikes a verticle strike to which Sara responds with crossing swords she grins to herself as her opponent looks in disbelief as she scissored her staff in two using her sword.

Now disarmed Sara ends the match with a kick to the abdomen

"AND THE WINNER OF THIS ROUND , IS OUR VERY OWN SARA THE DUAL SWORDS MISTRESS!."

"Your highness I never knew battles could be this exciting." Says Kayla eyes sparkling

"Neither do I, but hmm.. Sultan why do you look disinterested."

The crowd roars in fevered excitement at the spectacle, the Sultan however gives Sara a cold stare.

"Pathetic." He says to himself rather than Reifa.

"Will the 3rd pair please come to the stand!." Says the announcer

"On the left we have Rostoff the nomadic Dragonkin and on the right we have Otto one of the three Oasis champions!."

Rostoff takes to the stand holding no arms, Otto follows soon after and snickers at his audacity

"No weapons?." He asks

"I do." Rostoff replies conjuring an otherworldly sword

Otto flinches at the spectacle a sword being summoned from a rupture in the air.

"A space and time elemental , to think I'm fighting a mage of all people. No matter I'd crush you and your silly sword."

"Hah, I give you 20 seconds." He emphasizes

"What for? for your sake I hope ya aren't putting a tough act here." He replies aura oozing

"ARE OUR CONTESTS READY?."

The announcer asks to which they both nod

"FIGHT!"

"I'll go first, here's a crushing blow for ya mage!."

Otto's body glows in his signature yellow mana.

Rostoff deflects the strikes responding with eerily speed and precision

"You're one lousy lout."

Rostoff says provoking a reaction from Otto

"You're no mage nor a mere vagabond, none of the lot of them South of the plains have used advance magic." Said Otto emphasizing

"You elitists are all the same, I'm nothing but a mere vagabond from a tribe that no longer exists." He says looking whistfully "and you an elite at the top of the echelon struggle against a no name like you. Does your Sultan look pleased, knowing you're about to lose oh so badly to myself."

"Say that again." Otto smiles expressing madness.

"Your 20 seconds are up, this is your chance." He says disarming his sword vanishing "beat me whilst I'm down you lout."

"Oh yer going to regret this, ya lizard."

Otto glows bright his flail's morningstar grows three times its original size glowing a yellow hue.

Otto throws his flail toward Rostoff , the impact of the ball grinding against the floor brings about a storm of dust and following it...

*booom!* a massive explosion

"WHAT HAPPENED HERE!."

The crowd gasped as the dust covered the arena revealing.. none other than Rostoff walking off the stage and a defeating Otto kneeling and heavily injured.

"You're no lout after all." He says with a respectful tone before leaving the field.

"How is this possible?." Kayla says

"Otto has..." reifa too astonished to finish her sentence

"Lost." The Sultan flatly fills in the blank

The crowd cheers for the mysterious dragonkin as the announcer stutters to announce the results

"A-and the winner is ROSTOFF THE DRAGONKIN!."

The matches go on as predicted, without upsets for the next 4 rounds

Keith the unaligned elven swordsman narrowly wins against Reiner the club wielding barbarian from bloodhaven. Calvin a fellow non-aligned halfman brawler sniped by Djovak the bloodhaven archer. George the non-aligened the axe wielding bear beastman crushes Gina the bloodhaven mage within seconds securing a victory. Jackal the non-aligned dual knife wielder along with Freid the Bloodhaven swordsman fought a bloody battle in what almost appeared to be a stalement that was until Jackal got the upperhand ending their bout.

"Onto the next round , ladies and gentlemen. On my right we have an unknown variable a mysterious member of the non-aligned Erwin the elven archer!!

And on my left, I present to you a long awaited champion of Oraia please give a warm welcome to Hubert the councilman !."

*silence*

"Uhhh, sir they aren't reacting to him at all." The staff member takes to the announcers side whispering

"Shhhh, he's an obvious nobody ofcourse they wouldn't at best he's a placeholder." The announcer whispers back

Hubert takes to the stand holding a rose in his mouth wearing an expensive white suit, he flips his hair back and starts posing with his body before speaking

"YOUR HIGHNESS!, I DEDICATE THIS WIN TO YOU!."

He says throwing the rose in the rose in the air in an exaggerated

The crowd looks into this spectacle confusion written on their expression, Reifa facepalms herself meanwhile Kayla mouth gaped from shock.

"Is this your champion girl?." The Sultan addresses Reifa

"I-I'm speechless, I didn't think he'd make a mockery of himself here of all places." Says Reifa's as her eyebrows twitch from annoyance.

"L-lets assume the best of his intentions your highness." She says convincing herself rather than Reifa

"Huh?, why are you looking at me like that your highness." Hubert says

"Hahahaha, she obviously facepalmed at you, a councilman of Oraia acting the fool in a fighting tournament." Erwin a handsome blonde elf says approaching Hubert

Hubert looked taken aback for a moment before regaining his composure.

"Good sir, I suggest you take back the insult." He says flames appearing in his eyes

"Or what you'd sing me praises." Erwin bites back as he slings a few shots of his arrow

"Praise? On you commoner? , the only worthy thing you have is the bow. And I'll make sure you'd never shoot with that again." Hubert takes out his wand preparing a catalogue of spells

The announcer comes in between them holding a magical voice amplifier to his mouth,he looks at both the contests and asks

"Are you two ready?."

"The readiest I've ever been." Said Hubert

"I'm more than ready." Erwin says taking a stance

He nods and gives out the signal

"FIGHT!."

"Lets see how you'd make it out of this councilman!." Erwin shoots wind enchanted arrows

Hubert stands muttering to himself, not bothering to move away from the attack

The arena turns cold as Hubert glows wand glows a pale blue and his iris glowing the same color as well, the arrows froze and shattered in response to the freezing weather. Erwin eyes glued on Hubert trembling in fear.

"You called me a fool, you dared to interfere in my entrance. Now I shall freeze that smug face of yours!."

"W-wait, I give up . I gi-." He says backing away

Too late Hubert thinks having already chanted the spell

"Zero field!."

The battle ends with Erwin frozen in ice and Hubert holding a sculptured rose in hand.

"And the winner is...

Hubert the champion of Oria."

The crowd cheers feverishly for the unannounced contestant, Hubert in turn reciprocates their cheers with exaggerated bows.

Reifa looks on unsure, Kayla mouth gaped and the Sultan chuckled at the display.

-Port Area-

Necrosis exhales his ghastly breath aiming it directly at me. I look around frantically for a place to hide and come accross a beam some few metres away from me. I hid behind the pillar coughing

"M-my lungs." I say voice resembling that of a chainsmoker

"For how long can you survive here hero until you give out completely, an hour or perhaps minutes?"

"And your point is?."

"You feign ignorance knowing that there is no escape, for i'm contracted by death."

Just as he said I can't escape this, the reanimated corpses now nothing but bones start coming my way.

He's contracted by death so what, I died long ago. I'm not better than those zombies in anyway.

'might as well dig himself a ditch cuz he's dead to me.' Like he said I might dig my own grave and put up my tombstone.

"Hahahahahaha." I'm laughing at my own self the goofball that I was, still am admittedly.

The mana Salamander left me fused to my core , I can survive this given the circumstances.

"There's no escape you're right V, but let me tell you something."

"I'm not escaping, I was bidding my time."

"Impossible!. Stop him now!."

I engulf myself in Salamanders mana now fully encased. I take a step towards the zombies , I take a stance with my spears.

And charge!

"Take this!."

"Necrosis devouring flames now!."

Like a speeding train i move piercing through all my opposition, reaching Necrosis who switches to a ghastly purple flames i jump through the air avoiding his attack, he switches fast to where I'm at ,now in midair his energy clashes with my own.

"Finish him now." V says impatiently

Cracks appear Necrosis domain cracks from both of our combined energies, the moon appearing from the opening, followed It didn't take much for Necrosis domain to collapse from sheer pressure which sent in Necrosis, V and myself flying in opposite directions

"Aaargh!." I yell in pain as my back hits against warehouse walls

"Tch, you're one persistent lizard. I thought I'd get to kill you but again this was never the primary goal of my plan." V says removing dust off his cloak.

"Plan?." I don't get him at all

My thoughts were soundly interrupted as an ethereal red glow appeared from the arena.

"Hahaha, IX shall owe me a favor for this."

"You mean, all this time you were stalling me"

He leaps on top of necrosis and chuckles

"You fell the moment you came here for that simple distress call. Farewell hero lets not meet again."

He says his parting ways as Necrosis flew him out.

He played me like a fiddle throughout the evening, then their goal must be....

"Reifa's in trouble." My heart sank in despair at the thought of her gruesome death, he was right infront of me and I didn't realize it.

Exhaustion seeps in making me fall to mg knees, just when I wanted to move the most my body done gave up

To be continued.