Tournament of the Strongest, II

"That was it for my performance," I said as I bowed once more after the unique conclusion to our match.

Everything was quiet for a good minute until the audience cracked like glass unable to withstand pressure anymore.

"Whoa! What just happened, everyone?! I don't remember feeling like this for a good decade of watching over the tournament matches. Will this one be different than the rest? It sure seems to be so after Helis Rodgray's magnificent performance for the audience itself."

"And now, once more, the winner is Helis Roadgray from the Magic Academy of Rora!"

The commentator announced my victory while the crowd of people was still full of hype.

In the meanwhile, I made my way towards Lorn's unconscious body, taking hold of his all-black katana, which included the blade and the hilt.

"Huh?" I felt mana being drained off of me, or rather, sucked from the sword in my hand.

"Now this is interesting," I smirked after what seemed to be lines that made up a rhombus begin to light up in an eye-catching amethyst and so did the back of the blade.

"I'll be taking this, Worn Down," I called him by the nickname I named him earlier and began making my way outside the arena.

After getting back inside the Colosseum I was met with a hyper Selica and two guys excited guys to hear about my spell.

"Yahoo! Helis, you were amazing!" Selica jumped at me, wrapping me in her arms.

I held her, returning the gesture, "Thank you, Selica." I smiled.

"You… I didn't know you were going to act so much like a psycho, but it was enjoyable. The audience was bound to be riled after witnessing such a performance." Luke nodded, his green eyes darting around.

"Well, to make something enjoyable you have to become crazy at times, you know?" I raised my shoulders in a shrug as I smiled.

"But still, that spell of you…" Sean marked, "What exactly was it?"

"Oh, that? It's a bit of a long story but I can explain it shortly." I took a breath and thought of how to word my next sentence.

"Do you remember when that guy was shooting me with fire swords or whatever?" I asked, receiving three nods instantly, "Well, it may have seemed like I was just running around from the attacks, but I went at five different spots across the arena while marking the ground spots."

"Marking the ground spots?" Selica repeated after me.

"Yes, you could say I was making this type of magic circle to encase me and him in the same space. As for the rest, I used this special spell I found out about recently where it forms threads across the targets in my marked space."

"Oh, so that's why you chanted like, "Threads of Death!" While acting like a crazy guy with your hands and stuff." Selica spoke of the climax in a comical way, making fun of my posing.

"Yeah, yeah, shut up now," I said flatly and continue, "And those threads cut him up. Don't worry, I didn't strengthen them enough to sever his limbs or him altogether." I looked up at my brows while shifting my head to the left and right.

"Erm… damn, that's kind of terrifying, strings are very dangerous if you think about it…" Selica's expression took that of a disgruntled one.

"Yeah, it's a very risky spell, but thankfully I managed to learn it before the tournament." I nodded in contentment.

"Hmmm," Sean had a finger to his lips, he was probably thinking about my match. "Seeing the wounds caused on him really makes me nervous about the battle ahead for me," Sean smiled, worry visible on his face.

"Sean," I called out to him, "You have nothing to worry about, you were trained personally by me, after all," I assured him with a glistening smirk.

"Yeah, that's true."

I noticed my body had relaxed, "I'm about to head home for the day. You all are coming or are you going to watch the matches?" I asked with raised brows.

"Yeah, I'm staying, I want to gauge the others' power levels." Sean informed me, "My match is the first one tomorrow, after all."

"Yeah, I'm staying here too." Selica nodded with seriousness written across her face.

"My match is in ten to twenty minutes, so I can't go home either way." Luke declared.

"Oh, for real? Why didn't you say so earlier then? Am going to take a shit– I mean snacks and be right back at the stands for your fight, okay?"

"Yeah, go take a shit first." Sean voiced to my ear, "I don't want you farting when I'm eating snacks or anything."

"Hmph, are you approaching me with this tone, Sean Dayward?" I bent my body back like the characters from MoJo's.

Wait, Sean has gotten quite talkative lately. I wonder if he sees us as his true friends now.

I understand him, I really do.

You just can't get yourself to talk openly and joke with npc-s whom you can't consider close friends otherwise everything gets awkward quickly.

But since he can fluently talk to us without stuttering or anything, I'm proud of his progress.

I wiped a tear comically.

It's like I've become his mother.

Well, that aside, I did go and take a shit to relieve myself after that sweat I broke during the fight.

While I was tensing my stomach to quickly finish my crap, I studied the sword.

"Why did I not notice such a light when Lorn was using it?" I asked out loud, seeing how this katana gleamed a beautiful amethyst.

"So if I fully place my hand on the hilt, covering the rhombus lines on both sides, it consumes my mana." I was getting to learn about it.

"I wonder if it chose me as its owner–" Wait, I don't have time to waste in here.

Luke's match should've begun by now.

I quickly cleaned myself and made my way outside a gate to the stands.

When I got there, I didn't even have to seat myself, "Huh?" I was filled with disbelief.

A bloodied Luke was slumped unconsciously outside the arena itself.

"What transpired here…?"