Chapter XLVIII - Tournament of Phantoms III

Syrenis smirked as the smoke lifted up around her as the axe blade came crashing down towards her, just as it was about to make contact with her head she had disappeared and the Axe crashed into the ground leaving a small zone of crushed rocks and pebbles before the dwarf fell forward as Syrenis had scored another double critical hit on the Dwarf taking out the Warrior.

"Syrenis with the flashy finish!!!!" Marcus shouted out loud! The crowd went wild thinking that the Dwarf might have had this but at the last second Syrenis pulled out a massive victory!

The two remaining fights resulted in a Thief and surprisingly a Knight advancing to the Quarterfinals when the last match was about to begin as Marcus called for Ishani and an Archer took their places in the sparring grounds.

"Two long range classes, this will be a very flashy match everyone!" Marcus announced and as the duel was about to begin Ishani and the other elven Archer stared each other down. As the duel started, the archer immediately activated his skill [Double Shot] as he shot his arrow and it split into two mid-air as they flew towards Ishani. She merely repositioned between the two of them as she launched her own [Wind Bolt] towards the Archer who answered in kind and side-stepped to avoid it.

Ishani immediately began chanting her next spell as the Archer simply shot off another arrow disrupting the casting. This continued and the crowd began to get annoyed as the match was a stalemate. Ishani squinted her eyes towards the Archer and decided enough was enough and decided to bring out a big gun.

She began chanting and casting her spell. The Archer once again shot off an arrow to disrupt her huffing as he couldn't believe how much mana she had. However, this time she didn't move and took the shot losing a decent amount of health launching her spell [Ignition Flame Bullet] as a small red orb appeared in her hand and was released at a blinding speed as a small trail of flame flew behind it before taking out the Archer in one shot, which created a stupefied, quiet group around the arena as everyone's jaws dropped at the appearance of the fourth school Ishani could cast spells from.

"And the winner of Group Eight.... Ishani!" Marcus yelled emphasizing the last two words in his announcement, as he had really started to get into the commentator role. His words snapped the crowd back into reality and the deafening roar rose into the air even more. The nearby royals were really hating their new rowdy neighbors...

"And now we have made it to the quarterfinals!!!!" Marcus announced. "Just three more wins and anyone can come out on top and take the first place prize!" Everyone roared in excitement of the upcoming quarterfinals.

Once again a short intermission was granted as everyone recuperated their resource pools and began preparing for the upcoming fights. Marcus was disappointed as Mete and Wrex were going to be facing off against each other in the Quarterfinals which meant that whoever won would have quite the easy path towards the finals but alas nothing could be done about it now.

Marcus was busy with his chat and Lisa had went over to speak with Ishani about their elemental affinities.

Raia was standing slightly behind Marcus staring at him talking to himself and was slightly startled when he spoke up and asked her a question.

"I'm going to need someone help with the management of the guild. I'm not very adept in the day to day running of the guild. I'm more of a hands on player and want to be out in the thick of things. Think I can rely on you to help?" Marcus said.

Raia was caught a little off guard by this "I can give it a shot! I'm currently in the process of finishing my MBA so maybe that can translate over." Marcus nodded, and left it at that.

Afterwards the quarterfinals was ready to begin. Marcus was beaming as he gathered everyone's attention.

"And now we have two who have dominated every match leading up to now!!! First is Mete!!!! The Warlock who has still yet to take a single hit, will he continue to dominate? Or will Wrex finally land a hit and take the victory??? I don't know about you guys but it's about to go down!!! Let's hear your support for these two dominating forces!!!" Marcus yelled out to the audience receiving thunderous cheers and hoots from people as they began to chant for Mete and others were cheering for Wrex.

Mete and Wrex entered the sparring grounds and stared each other down. Wrex grinned and pointed his broadsword towards Mete and yelled "Summon your minion!"

Wrex stuck his sword into the ground and stared down Mete as he gripped the long handle and remained still as the duel started.

Mete immediately started by summoning his imp. As the imp materialized Wrex stayed his position and pulled his huge sword out of the ground and entered his combat stance as the blade was pointed directly at Mete.

The imp began to charge as Mete began chanting as his grimoire began to glow. As the imp approached, Wrex unleashed his [Lion's Pride] roar as his blade began to glow once more.

Before the imp arrived at Wrex, Mete launched his [Eldritch Bolt] towards him. Wrex grinned and roared once more as swung his blade in a massive arc unleashing his skill [Full Impact] as the blade was enveloped in a brilliant blinding light destroying the the nether fireball and killing the imp both in one go.

Mete flinched back and immediately followed up by casting [Binding Tendrils] as Wrex unleashed [Buster Stinger] as his feet slid along the ground as his blade flew towards Mete as a red aura flew off the massive sword.

Just before Wrex's sword landed against Mete, the spell had finished casting and the ooze immediately spread out and the black tentacles wrapped up Wrex. In a defiant battle of tug of war, Wrex's skill was still going as he was held in place. Mete immediately followed up with a different spell [Mark of Weakening] and retreated as he unleashed another debuff [Cursed Mark].

Wrex unleashed a mighty roar and flexed his massive muscles and broke free of the bind. He roared and swung his sword slashing away the remaining tendrils and turned towards Mete.

Mete had just finished casting [Summon Imp] returning his companion to the battlefield. He sent the imp in to distract his opponent once more as he shot off a series of [Nether Bolt] spells in quick succession.

Wrex slashed at every spell flung his way as he slowly walked towards Mete to close the distant. He completely ignored the imp as the damage it was dealing was negligible against his massive health pool.

The entire crowd was sitting at the edges of their metaphorical seats and was in awe at the combat prowess being shown by these two competitors.

Marcus had been hyping up this fight in his chat the entire stream and was frantically commentating every move being made as fierce counter after never before seen skills were being negated by each competitor. This truly was a fight that should have been in the finals.

Mete lifted the book in the air and it began to float as it unleashed a dark aura. He pulled back both of his hands as two orbs of blackish purple and green flames began to form and grow. Wrex squinted his eyes and glared at the sight wondering what other tricks this Warlock had.

The imp fell back and began to channel it's own fireball as aether continually flowed around it. Wrex swung his sword into the ground and a golden aura began to envelop his body. If he wanted to win he had to use his last trump card.

Mete shouted as both of his hands threw the two orbs as they were launched into the air unleashing his strongest spell [Eldritch Lord's Blast] as they floated each one shattered into a dozen smaller flames that grew in size and began firing off against Wrex. The imp behind him threw a normal fireball in the air that also bursted into a dozen smaller fragments that homed in onto the beastman.

Wrex roared loudly as his golden aura around him grew brighter and the red aura around his blade merged he lifted his sword up as the light combined into his blade. "I shall not fall here!" He shouted as the light blasted outward from his sword and the light began to form a mystical barrier around him.

Unfortunately for the proud Leonin, the debuffs from Mete were still active and his skills were not at full power and the barrier couldn't withstand the power barrage from the 36 shards of fire and brimstone and shattered as the remaining half penetrated and exploded around him.

After what felt like a lifetime the smoke that was enveloping Wrex began to dissipate as a standing vague shadow could be hardly be seen…