The Aftermatch

The news spread like wildfire. Aaron and Coranth didn't know how, but either Mitch or Uril told the people of their fight, resulting in Coranth's win. It was unheard of, which led to suspicion surrounding the event. It wasn't something the mass population deemed impossible, so once Coranth and Aaron exited the elevator leaving Mitch's office, they were met with looks of amazement and glares of disapproval. It was as if they were being targeted by them.

"Uril, what the hell happened?" Coranth asked Uril, who just shrugged. "The Combat Leaderboards must have updated. Each fight recorded in the fictional arena is posted to the Combat Leaderboards for people to see. Mitch was one of the top people, so it showed your face, Coranth, as the winner. If people knew about this already, they could have somehow found a way to watch the match, or they didn't, and think it's a hoax." Uril reckoned, walking towards the entrance of the building. He opened the door to see hundreds of people standing there, either yelling in anger or in absolute amazement. "Quiet!" Uril yelled, getting everyone to calm down or shut up before addressing the situation to everyone there. "Alright! I want no harassment to this child and his familiar, alright? I watched it with my own eyes! He defeated Mitch in a fight balanced towards Mitch's side since Coranth only has one familiar! Both are now S in their respective rankings, so treat them with respect!" Uril announced, drawing even more attention to the teenager standing behind Uril.

"If he's so powerful, then why doesn't he challenge me to a fight?" Some guy yelled in the background, riling them up. "Yeah! Fight us!" Another person screamed, causing Coranth to put his hands on his ears, as the noise was a little too loud for him to bear. Aaron walked forward, pressing his thumb of bones against Tsuyukagiri's guard. The crowd seemed to get denser the closer he got to it, which shocked him. "Aaron, I grant you permission to speak to the crowd," Coranth told Aaron, who nodded in acknowledgement to the command. The crowd kept screaming, and this was irritating Aaron. "Will you all shut up?!" Aaron yelled. He was making his voice known to everyone there.

Aaron unsheathed Tsuyukagiri from his sheath. "If you want a fight, I'll give you a fight! Leave Coranth, the person who summoned me, out of this. You can throw all of your familiars at me!" Aaron announced, confusing the crowd. "You heard me right! All of them! I'll take them all on at once!" Aaron confirmed, Uril throwing an arena-visualisation device at him. "Use this. I can see that you will need it much more than I will." Uril said to Aaron, causing a laugh to erupt from the skeleton's non-existent lungs. "Alright then! Come at me, you bastards!" Aaron yelled, activating the device using his mind.

An arena surrounded them. A blank, white void. However, it wasn't like that for long. An arena began to form around everyone. It was created from Aaron's memories of the Boundless Fighting Arena. It was large enough to fit everyone, but the arena walls were visible, and the sights and sounds of cheering were in the air. Coranth looked around the arena, a smile breaking out on his face. "So, this is the kind of buildings you think about? Well then, I can't blame you!" Coranth told Aaron before pointing at the people in front of them, each of them summoning their familiars. "Aaron! Bring out Soul and attack them!" Coranth commanded. Soul jumped out from Aaron's eyes, taking on their usual form as Aaron's body returned to its normal, humanoid state. "Are you ready?" Aaron asked Soul, body forming after his clothes. "Oh, you bet. I may not be as bad of a person anymore, but I do enjoy myself a good fight." Soul responded, rushing towards the summoned familiars as he went. There were many different ones, such as Inari Foxes, different colours of Scala, one single copy of Leo, along with what might have been over a thousand other familiars rushing towards Aaron and Soul.

Aaron followed after Soul, Tsuyukagiri not glowing at all. It was going to basic attacks on these familiars. After all, he didn't need extravagant abilities to take down some animals. Soul, on the other hand, treated this almost like an art. He used Boundless Corruption to spike and pierce the familiars that stood in his way. However, Soul made sure that none of the humans there were injured. After all, he didn't feel like killing some humans right now. "Noctar! Come and help me out with this!" Soul yelled, Noctar jumping out from the side of his body, making Soul slightly shorter. "Thank you for letting me out of there." Noctar thanked Soul before getting to work on brutally assaulting the animals in front of him.

Aaron ran through the crowd of familiars, slicing at them as fast as he could, making sure that he was as efficient as he could be. After all, if he was going to do this, he may as well do it with a bit of style. With a flash of lightning striking the arena, many familiars fell to the ground, paralysed. Aaron smiled in response to this. Noctar started using his Corrupted Abilities more, which consisted of a Corrupted sword and shield, along with a 'Corruption Blast'. This was a fast, damaging ball of Corruption made from his body that regenerated faster than he could throw. Hundreds of familiars fell to Soul and Noctar, even outpacing Aaron. The carnage spread all across the reality-shifted arena, shocking the people there. It was over in under five minutes.

"Now, that is what I call a fight!" Soul yelled out, walking over to Aaron's hand, grabbing it and lifting it into the air. "The winners are Aaron Stone, Soul and Noctar!" Soul announced, a smile breaking out on all of their faces. "This was exciting," Aaron admitted as Noctar nodded in response, the familiars being sucked back into the hands of the summoners. It was over, and Aaron had proven something. You do not mess with a skeleton unless you know what you're getting yourself into.