12 Poof!

Whoosh!

The door slid upwards, which caused the sound to echo throughout the once silent apartment.

Sigh!

"I wish there was someone who would greet me whenever I came home…", said a dull-looking man.

The man simply had black hair and eyes, a rather straight nose, and somewhat brown skin. It wasn't that he looked average or anything like that, he simply had dull eyes as if it had no life.

His job required him to work all night, but allowed him free time on the day. This caused his lifestyle to change into a night owl's.

After an hour or so, he finished his breakfast or rather his dinner. With a zoom, he went into a strange looking furniture with a bed in it. Upon sliding on the furniture's surface, a series of panels materialized.

[Powering On…]

[Would You Like To Use Any Of Your Saved Shortcuts? Y/N]

This was a rather outdated version of virtual reality gears. After all, it was not as streamlined as the usual capsule-style VRGears and was more akin to a large egg.

The man shook his head and thought, 'At least I don't have to fight against kids at this time'.

With a few taps, he used a shortcut to materialize in front of the so-called [Tower of Combat].

[Welcome Back! Mr. Shadow Gale]

One glance, and you would quickly realize that different from his originally dull appearance he now looked… well, edgy as can be. His pupils turned into purple vertical slits, while his eyes themselves were simply black. His skin, pale as ice. His hair, akin to a silver wolf. As for his clothes, he wore a black light-battlesuit with neon blue accents and a mechanical mask that covered the bottom half of his face.

Upon entering the tower, he immediately went into practice mode. After warming up, a thought came to his mind; 'Should I finally go competitive mode this time?

I mean, I've fought hundreds of casual battles already and I've won over fifty percent of them. I shouldn't make the same mistakes that I did when I finished my placement matches for competitive.'

Casual mode as the name implied meant that the matches in this category had no stakes and were simply done for fun. While competitive mode meant that the players would fight to reach a higher rank, and with every win their opponent would also get stronger and stronger.

'Fortunately I won at least one of my placement matches, otherwise I could be matched up with those weak brats', with that thought Shadow Gale started matchmaking for competitive.

Ting!

[Match Found! Starting Match!]

With a whoosh, Shadow Gale found himself standing on an empty space. A panel materialized in front of him showcasing how his opponent looked and their stats.

[Name: Redfox

Rank: Unranked

Combat Style: Skill-combat

Type: Mystic

W/L/D: W1/L0/D0 ]

Shadow Gale sighed in relief as he said, "Whew! At least it ain't another one of those Mystics that have mentors". His eyes focused on his opponent's combat style as he spoke.

Generally, players that chose to use the Skill-combat style were simply ordinary people while those that chose the Mystic-combat style were people who had instructors or mentors.

At the same time, on Leo's side.

"Interesting, I'm fighting against an elementalist. I wonder if they'll fight like Vale…", he mumbled as he pondered the panel on his side.

Elementalists were long-ranged fighters, so most of the time they used their skills to distance themselves from the enemy before crushing them with destructive power. As for the person Leo mentioned, Vale was someone who best represented it as he used such tactics to the extremes. Even going as far as learning every beginner spell related to trapping or slowing down their enemies.

[Name: Shadow Gale

Rank: Warrior

Combat Style: Skill-combat

Type: Elementalist

W/L/D: W1 L8 D1 ]

As they got paired, another panel materialized.

[Please vote for the map:

1. Town of Virtua

2. Fallen Kingdom

3. Ancient Colosse… ]

Leo didn't even bat an eye as he simply chose random. A simple green dot appeared on the picture that symbolized [Random], telling the other player that he chose it.

When he saw his choice, Shadow Gale's lips curled into a smile.

"Lucky me! I get to choose the map…", is what Shadow Gale said but…

Sigh!

"I can't be bothered to start thinking even at home", with that thought he simply chose [Battle Arena].

Shoo!

A blinding light flashed before they both found themselves in another place. The sun glared at them like it was day, while hard tiles lay on the ground. With a quick glance, one would realize that this tiled ground was a hundred meters wide. Stairs of seats surrounded the tiled ground, allowing viewers to watch the fight from afar.

Shadow Gale who was used to it simply turned to Leo and shouted, "REDFOX!"

He punched the air as he shouted, "HERE'S TO AN EXCITING BATTLE!"

Different from his past reserved behaviour, his passion for combat was ignited the moment he stepped foot on the stage.

3!

Leo responded with a smile, a punch to the air, and shouted as well; "YEAH! LET'S!"

2!

Leo still felt uncomfortable about it, but it seemed like every player would shout similar words whenever the match was about to start.

'Is it some weird tradition?'

1!

Shadow Gale's eyes burst ablaze with excitement as he yelled in his mind, 'FIGHT!'

Fight!

Whoosh!

And just like that, Leo rushed forward as a strange flow of energy cycled throughout his virtual body. It felt strange at first, but he simply thought of it as some ingenious idea that allowed ordinary people to use mystic arts.

Because of how peculiar the virtual energy flowed throughout his virtual body, he took a long time getting used to it as it felt surreal. After all, he might mix the real and virtual energies together and accidentally attack in the physical reality…

Fortunately, it was a skill and was not something he could use in reality.

The cycle the virtual energy was flowing in was the one which activated the so-called [Swift Rabbit Steps] and thus focused more on his legs than his whole body. Upon completing one cycle, Leo's demeanor turned wild as his speed increased.

Seeing this, Shadow Gale immediately started chanting archaic words that almost sounded like gibberish.

There were three types of Elementalists, namely; Controllers, Spellcasters, and Rune-card users. Shadow Gale was the second one, in other words a spellcaster. Among the three it boasted the highest destructive power, but were hard to master.

Seeing this, Leo forced himself to use [Swift Rabbit Steps] in a rushed manner. This caused the energy in his body to be slightly more chaotic, but it also made him run faster and more wildly.

Once Leo was ten meters away from him, Shadow Gale released ten wind arrows and shot it at the former.

In response Leo dodged to the left, however the arrows seemed to have eyes as some still grazed past his body while one directly pierced his left thigh.

Leo immediately pulled the arrow out and activated his [Searing Hands] skill, calcinating the wounds.

Just like that, they clashed with Leo in a disadvantage.

After a minute or so, Leo felt exhausted. His exhaustion came not only from his actions, but also due to him strategizing as he thought of how to get close to his opponent.

Shadow Gale who noticed this, released a wind blade with a deeper green hue.

Whoosh!

Seeing Shadow Gale's actions, Leo smirked, "Got him".

He dodged the wind blade and made the energy circulation in his legs run frantically. With unbridled speed, he rushed towards Shadow Gale.

To Leo's shock however, the moment he was five meters away from Shadow Gale, the latter simply smirked before he chanted.

"Blast!"

Boom! Whoosh!

The air exploded from behind him, putting him face-to-face with Leo. The latter's eyes widened in surprise, 'Aren't elementalists supposed to fight from a distance?'

Once they were about to hit each other, Shadow Gale spun his body around.

"Blades!"

Pure black blades were released from his hands, aiming at each of Leo's limbs. Each blade shone with a sharp metallic sheen, expressing their extreme sharpness.

Boom!

With a wave of his hands, the air in front of him combusted propelling him sidewards but damaging his skin.

Puchi! Puchi! Puchi!

Leo's left arm was cut into three pieces, he grit his teeth in pain before he used his [Searing Hands] a second time. This time, he made a small explosion with it allowing his attack to reach great speeds.

Whoosh!

With his burning hands he chopped through the air, nearly cutting Shadow Gale in the process. The latter simply caused a small gust to his right, and spun before attacking Leo's disabled side.

Poof!