Tournament of skill (Final Part)

At the bottom of the island Fred and the guard reached jail full of human slaves. All the slaves were chained and lined up.

"Here are the slaves, Fred."

"I heard that there is a mermaid here but I haven't seen one. I always wanted to… see one in person." Fred looked around the area.

"There is indeed one mermaid but It's in another prohibited area that I don't have access to. But you could see it in less than an hour if you wait."

"Wait, what do you mean by that?" Fred asked, confused.

"The tournament I told you about, the final round involves the previous winners of the other rounds having to fight the mermaid. If one of the winners kills the mermaid they are the winner, but if the mermaid wins she gets to live."

Fred dropped his cane upon hearing that. His face was frozen from pure shock.

"You okay?"

"Um… no. How is that supposed to be fair? Mermaids are not good at fighting on land."

"Yeah, we know, that's why they're making the 'field' a bit more fair and entertaining. Why do you care?"

Fred crouched to pick up his wooden cane.

"Because that mermaid is my sister."

Before the guard could react the upper half of his head was chopped cleanly in half. He didn't even know what happened.

Fred moved so fast and sliced the guard's head with his wooden cane.

Wood can never slice anything like a metal blade would, unless they covered the piece of wood with mana and swung fast enough, otherwise they would work as a bludgeon weapon.

Fred looked at the slaves and released them from their chains. Even slicing the prison doors.

"Go, fuck shit up!" Fred urged the other prisoners and freed the remaining ones.

Fred's plan was to release all the 1,000 prisoners held captive and free them to cause chaos and a distraction while rescuing his sister, but the tournament ruined his plan and could only release a handful of weak prisoners.

'Great, so she is not here but up there and the prisoners as well. This was a waste of time.'

Fred ran with the other prisoners but noticed most of them were fighting each other and some guards.

'Are you fucking kidding me? FOCUS ON THE DAMN GUARDS YOU IDIOT HUMANS!'

Fred fought his way out of the prison, even killing some prisoners in the process.

Meanwhile…

*DING*

The sound of the bell rang throughout the island. The sixth round had concluded with the winner leaving the area.

The winner is another man but was shorter than the rest of the winners.

Jericho was happily looking at the fight and even she could not believe how much she's enjoying the gruesome fights.

"Hey." Jay sat beside her holding a violin case.

"Jay… why do you have a violin?" Jericho asked.

"I saw it on display, and I remembered the Captain mentioned how he plays the violin but he doesn't have one. So I bought one."

"Huh, I wish I had thought of that. I'm sure he'll like it."

The final winner walked in the room with the rest of the previous round winners.

Once all the five winners were in the room the fat man appeared before them.

"Alright, all the five winners are here. Could have been six but these things happen. So I'll be explaining how the final round will commence: All five of you can fight and kill each other, but you can only win if you kill the mermaid or make it give up."

"We have to kill a bloody mermaid?" One of the other winners asked.

"Yes, that is what I just said. Haven't you wondered why the rewards are terrible compared to past tournaments? It's because if you kill the mermaid you can gouge out her eyes, or you can enslave her which is harder but more rewarding, and not to mention that each of her eyes are worth 50,000,000 shells each. You all stand to gain at least 110,000,000 shells if you win. But it'll be boring if the mermaid can't fight back because mermaids can't fight well on land, I mean I've seen some fight well on land but the majority can't. So we're gonna make it a bit fair."

"How?"

"Oh, you'll see soon. The mermaid in question will have her abilities bound and her stats will be equal to yours. So you can either kill each other and let the mermaid kill you, or fight together to kill the mermaid or make it submit to one of you. Remember in this fight she is going to have an advantage but you guys have the numbers. Good luck."

The fat man left the room. A second later the winner of the fifth round, Raymond, stepped up.

"Okay, everybody, let's get to planning."

"What?" The winner of the sixth round, Desmond, asked.

"You heard him, we can only win against the mermaid if we fight together. We need to come up with a battle plan to win."

"But there can only be one winner, did you forget that? Or are you planning on stabbing us behind the back?" Rosa said.

Raymond looked at her for a few seconds.

"What's your name?"

"Rosa."

"Yeah, Rosa, do me a favor? Shut the fuck up!"

"Hey, don't talk to her that way." Raul stepped up and walked towards Raymond.

Both people started to argue and the argument got so intense the guards behind them were ready to intervene if they fought.

Rosa smiled inwardly as Raul was willing to protect her. She looked at Sky and he was munching on some popcorn.

'This is good popcorn.' Sky thought as the drama unfolded before his eyes.

"SHUT UP! WE NEED TO FIGHT TOGETHER TO WIN YOU IDIOT!"

"IT'S CLEAR YOU ARE GONNA BETRAY US!"

Raul raised his greatsword but the blade was taken from his hands.

"No fighting! You can kill each other later.".

One of the guards was holding onto Raul's greatsword. In a flash he ran across the room, swiped the blade from Raul's hand, and ran back to his original position, and no one saw him move.

Sky had identified the guards. Their speed, strength, and vigor stats had exceeded 10,000 while the rest were no lower than 5,000. Those three guards were some of the strongest on the island.

Even if the winners had their original stats they would be no match for a single guard.

Seeing people who are stronger than him wasn't going to surprise him anymore. He would not be surprised if sometime in the future Sky saw someone with stats over 100,000 or over a million.

*BOOM*

The entire stadium shook slightly. The rumbling noise did not stop and it was getting louder.

"Are we being attacked?" Desmond asked.

Sky turned around to the source of the noise. He saw that nearly the entire ground of the colosseum had disappeared and was filled with water. But then the entire ground was being raised.

Below it was a glass dome filled with water and it was all tall as the colosseum.

Inside the glass dome was the mermaid holding a trident trying to break out of the glass dome. But the glass dome was made out of high resistant material that no matter how hard she tried she couldn't break out.

The mermaid looked like a woman in her twenties. She was beautiful. She had sharp rows of teeth like a shark, her lower half of her body was the tail of a fish, her upper body looked like a human's, and her eyes were clear like glass.

On the area around her ribs she had gil's meant for breathing underwater.

Everyone in the colosseum was equally stunned.

The fat man entered the room.

"Does this make a bit of sense now?"

Nobody answered but now they understood how the mermaid was going to have an advantage. 

They were going to fight the mermaid on its turf, underwater.

"I hope you all know how to swim. If you fall off the glass dome you're not out if you're wondering, unless the fall kills you. Hm." He chuckled and led the winners to the colosseum.

There were metal stairs around the dome leading to the top.

"Best of luck."

With a heavy sigh Sky was the first to climb the stairs. The mermaid noticed him and she paid close attention to him.

'Well I guess fireball isn't going to work. Good thing my trident helps with my swimming speed. 

'Identify.'

{Jules Mayfeather}

{HP: 4,100/4,100}

{Mana: 2,000/2,000}

{Str: 400 Dex: 400 Spd: 400 Int: 400 Mind: 400 Vig: 400}

{Passive skill: Mermaid body: 100% movement speed on water. 100% weaker to lightning attacks. Cannot breathe on land. 100% stamina increase. Able to take the appearance of a human}

{Human transformation: An ability all mermaids are born with}

{Talent: Potion maker: Can learn potion related skills 200% faster. 100% chance to

{All skills have been bound}

{Personality: Bound}

{Loot drop: 8,600,000 exp, 12,000,000 shells}

'WHAT!' Sky cannot believe it, she has the potion-maker talent.

The one talent he's been searching for was the potion-maker talent. Ever since he saw the talent on that fishman he wanted to find another talent, but the talent she had was better than the fishman.

Sky could not afford the time to make potions himself when he has other skills he needed to improve first. That's why he really wanted someone who could join his crew with that talent.

'I was going to kill her to save me the trouble but this is even better. However, that passive skill of hers… 100% increase in movement speed on water, I guess I can't beat her with speed… or can I?'

Three winners quickly ran around the dome and began climbing the stairs with Rosa and Raul climbing together. One of the winners, Desmond, stayed behind.

"What are you still doing here? Go up and fight the damn mermaid." The fat man said to Desmond.

"I can't swim. I give up."

Desmond walked out of the colosseum with his head down. The fat fat man stared at him in awe, what surprised him was not that he gave up but that he could not swim.

It wouldn't be farfetched to say that over 95% of the entire population of the entire planet is capable of swimming. To hear someone admit that they're not capable of swimming was shocking.

As Sky was climbing up the stairs many thoughts of how he was gonna beat the mermaid played out in his mind.

'So pyrokinesis won't work underwater. Cryokinesis is still too low leveled but I can probably use it. Telekinesis won't work as her strength stat suprasses my intelligence stat. Lightning eagles don't work underwater either. Water slice level is too low. My water combat is basically non-existent. But I guess I can use my curses and those other abilities.'

{Skill level up}

{Sense bloodlust: lvl 7 → 8: Sense the bloodlust of others from a 275 meter radius}

Sky stopped at the edge of the water dome. He could not stand over the edge as the mermaid would attack him.

'Curse of: Strength, weakness, blindness, hearing, touch, healing, speaking.'

{Target's damage dealt is lowered by 5%}

{Target receives 5% more damage}

{Target's vision is lowered by 5%}

{Target's hearing is lowered by 5%}

{Target's ability to handle stuff is lowered by 5%}

{Target receives 5% less healing}

{Target's ability to talk is lowered by 5%}

The mermaid felt many low level curses had befallen on her. She had never felt so many curses at once.

There are nine curses in total everyone knows, Sky knew them all but only applied seven to the mermaid. The two curses he did not apply are the 'death' curse which has a small chance to instantly kill the cursed being once their HP reaches a certain point, and the sloth curse.

He could place the sloth curse on her but not now. He wanted to get rid of the competition first.

While the mermaid was lost in thought Raymond was the first to jump on the water, followed by Raul.

Raymond thought he could take her out by himself without relying on the others as he realized no one would work together with him. Raul did not want to be bested by Raymond and also wanted to impress Rosa.

Feeling the water moving she saw the two winners were swimming towards her. She swung her trident at them but they managed to block her attacks, Raymond and Raul were no strangers in underwater combat.

The mermaid swam around the winners who could not hit her and she would sometimes be able to hit them with her trident.

Rosa and Sky noticed each other. Rosa smirked and jumped on the water.

'Good.' Sky smiled.

'Sloth. Sloth. Sloth. Sloth.'

{Target has been slowed down by 70%}

{Target has been slowed down by 70%}

{Target has been slowed down by 70%}

{Target has been slowed down by 70%}

Everyone felt a powerful slowness curse had fallen onto them.

'Dispel.' Rosa was the only one other than Sky who had the dispel curse, but it was at level seven.

Rosa realized her dispel ability did not work. The curse that was placed on her was way more powerful than she thought.

The two other winners were too focused on the mermaid, and the mermaid was too focused on killing the humans in front of her.

Sky immediately jumped on the water while holding a spear in hand. His first target was Rosa.

Rosa noticed Sky was swimming fast towards her. She handled her trident and was able to deflect 

To everyone watching it was unbelievable how Sky was going to fight her during this time.

'SHIT! I WAS GOING TO KILL THEM FIRST BUT HE BEAT ME TO IT!' Rosa thought angrily.

She covered her trident in mana in order to get an edge on Sky. She hid this ability to surprise the others. Sky could conjure mana but not apply it on other items, instead he relied on their speed difference to overpower her.

Rosa had experience fighting in underwater, Sky didn't, and the experience between them showed despite the difference in stats, but it was clear Sky was going to win as he had the skills to back it up.

She wanted to grab him in order to pilfer his mana but Sky did not let her, he already knew of that ability of hers.

Realizing she was going to lose, Rosa called out for her simp rescue her.

'RAULLLLLLL!' Rosa yelled underwater but not only did the sound not reach him, because they're underwater, but also Raul was too focused on the mermaid to notice Rosa in trouble.

'Summon Sharks.'

Three tiny sharks appeared beside Sky. They were tiny sharks the size of newborn and they were completely made out of water. Much like how lightning birds/eagles are made completely out of electricity the shark is completely made out of water.

Everyone who saw the shark recognized it and couldn't believe someone actually had that skill. It wasn't a rare skill but it was rare to see it being used in a fight.

The sharks swam fast and bit Rosa right on her hip, foot, and arm, and took out a large chunk out of her. A large portion of the water on the doom was being covered in blood. She could not even protect herself as Sky was swinging his trident at her nonstop.

{Summon: Shark: lvl 1: Damage: 400(200) HP: 600: Summon count: 1}

Thanks to Sky's summon mastery skill at max level he could summon ten at once and have their damage increased by 100% but he decided to only summon three as to not stand out much.

Rosa let go of her trident and at that moment Sky stabbed his trident right at her face killing her.

{Killed Rosa Glam}

{Received: 1,900,000 exp, 3,200,000 shells, trident of missile seeker}

{Level up}

{Sky Rouge}

{Level 164}

{Stat points: 12}

Sky smiled, he managed to get the trident he wanted.

Looking at the others the mermaid stabbed Raul right on his heart. Raul finally noticed Rosa and as the shock and anger coursed through his body, the mermaid stabbed him right on his heart.

Raymond realized he wasn't going to win so he quickly wanted to swim up to the surface. The mermaid cut off his right arm and dragged him to the bottom of the dome to let him suffocate to death.

Raymond did his best but nothing he could do could save him.

Sky swam up to the surface in order to breathe.

"*GASP*" Sky gasped heavily for air. He could hear the screams of everyone cheering for him. 

Even Jericho and Jay were cheering for him.

{Skill level up}

{Static apnea: lvl 2 → lvl 3: Hold your breath for 3 minutes}

'Neat.'

Sky dived down once again and the mermaid was still holding down Raymond.

Pointing at the mermaid the three sharks swam towards the mermaid. The mermaid realized 

Raymond wasn't going to die fast enough so she stabbed his neck and swam up.

She easily killed the three sharks and quickly swam towards Sky. Despite being slowed down her natural increased speed to swim was still active.

{Three sharks have been destroyed. Summoning more sharks}

Three more sharks appeared beside Sky.

'Super strength. Super dash. Mana grace.'

{Max mana has recovered and increased by 60% for 10 minutes}

{Strength is increased by 50% for 10 minutes}

{Speed is increased by 65% for 10 minutes}

Sky swam down and swung his trident at her and she did the same, both tridents clashed and that created a tiny shockwave on the dome.

But with his super strength Sky was able to slightly overpower her and she felt it. The pain coursing through her hands made her let go of her trident.

Sky knocked away her trident and held her by the neck and pinned her to the glass dome. She tried to fight back but Sky stabbed her right shoulder.

Using his other hand he gathered mana onto his fist and swung it right on her stomach. The impact was so powerful the dome shook slightly.

{Dealt 330 damage: 55% increased → 511 damage dealt} (5% from the weakness curse, 50% from the mana damage output increase)

{HP: 3,589/4,100}

{Jules Mayfeather has resisted falling unconscious}

{New skill learned}{Mana punch: lvl 1: Cover your hand with mana to increase its damage output by 10%}

{Mana cost: 70(100)}

Sky realized once punch wasn't enough. So he continued punching her repeatedly on the stomach with his covered clad in mana.

{Jules Mayfeather has lost consciousness}

{HP: 2567/4,100}

Sky had to punch twice more before she fell unconscious.

Sky swam up with the mermaid and as soon as he did the entire crowd was in an uproar.

*Ding*

The sweet sound of the bell rang signifying the end of the final round.

{Quest: I LOVE TOURNAMENTS: is complete}

{Reward: 40,000,000 shells, 4x red scrolls}

{Shells: 171.3m}

Edgar nodded slightly and clapped softly using his fingers only.

"Sir, do you still want to give him the reward?" The man beside him asked. Sometimes Edgar doesn't reward the winner if he is not entertained.

"I was entertained. Let him have the mermaid and the other rewards."

The man bowed and left. And at that moment another man walked beside him.

"Sir, we have a problem. Someone posed as a slave trader, and sneaked into the prison and let out the prisoners."

"And you're here instead of there?" Edgar rose from his seat.

"Sir, we already solved the problem. Some prisoners and guards died, but the main culprit has been detained. He is a mermaid, or a merman to be precise. He was insanely strong but he has been detained."

"Oh? A merman? Looks like we already know what the next reward for next year's tournament is going to be. That is if he doesn't want to be at tonight's dinner."

Edgar walked off the seating area feeling happy. He got to see a good fight, and now a merman has walked right into his doorstep saving him the trouble of hunting for another.

Sky climbed down the stairs where the fat man was waiting for him. There were two women beside him in skimpy outfits, one was holding a towel and the other one was holding a card.

But the crowd closest to him was throwing him flowers, especially roses.

They handed Sky the towel which he used to dry his face.

"Congratulations, Sky Rouge… weird name. Here is your reward, give it to him."

The woman handed him two cards, one had money, the second had the scrolls inside.

"We included the prizes from the second and third place because… everyone else is fucking dead, and the other guy gave up before the battle even started. So you get to have 11,100,000 shells, two red scrolls and three green scrolls."

"Woah." Sky smiled.

"And this is yours. Sign here." The man handed him a paper written in the Dead language as well as a pen.

Sky read the paper and the paper was the slave contract for the mermaid.

Sky signed it and a notification popped up.

{You have signed: Slave contract}

{Jules Mayfeather is now bound to you}

"Great… now if you can follow me I'll lead you straight to the mermaid." The fat man led Sky inside the colosseum where they had new clothes prepared for him.

The glass dome was being lowered to the ground. A minute later the entire colosseum floor was back to normal.

"Trust me kid, wear these clothes if you don't want to attract attention. Some winners get killed after leaving the colosseum."

Sky took his advice and wore the clothes over his own.

"Once you leave the colosseum you're on your own, kid. Oh, here she comes."

A guard was dragging Jules in chains. She was wearing plain green clothes and a hat that covered her face meant to hide her appearance from the public eye.

Jules Mayfeather was taller than Sky. Her blonde hair reached all the way to her waist. And if looks could kill she would have killed everyone present already.

She was understandably angry and tried to escape from the guard but with her stats bound there is no way she could escape.

"As her master she'll do anything you say."

Sky nodded and walked up to her and said, "from now on you follow me obediently. Don't cause a scene and don't try to escape."

Jules did not answer back but she stopped trying to escape.

"Release her from the chains." Sky said.

The guard looked at the fat man for confirmation and he nodded. The chains from Jules' hands fell and she massaged the area around her wrists and abdomen.

The sound of people leaving the colosseum was getting louder and hordes of people left the colosseum feeling satisfied.

Sky quickly grabbed Jules wrist and dragged her to the crowd hoping to blend in with everyone and make it to his ship.

"Keep your face hidden." Sky said to Jules.

"That was a good tournament, didn't you think so?" The fat man asked the guard.

"Yeah, hopefully he shows up at the next tournament."

Through the crowd nobody expected to see Sky and the mermaid was blending among them. In almost no time Sky had arrived at his ship feeling glad that he managed to make it out.

"Access chat: Jericho Haydie and Jay Press: Hey guys, I'm at the ship. Meet me here."

"We're already here." Jericho and Jay had just arrived at the ship.

Both were shocked to see the mermaid Sky had fought was beside him. They did not expect him to take her as a slave because it wasn't a part of the reward on the posters.

They were not shocked that Sky owned a slave. In fact it was weird Sky hadn't owned any slaves until now. Slaves in this world are a very common appearance and the majority of people have come to accept it as a part of life.

"They let you keep the mermaid?" Jericho asked.

"They did, but first, Jericho, set sail before someone sees us."

Jericho nodded and the ship sailed away.