Payback

Thomas slowly approached Simon with a smirk. He now better understood how Alex felt when he got all excited for battling and other things.

"Your move Simon," Thomas slowly closed the gap, one footstep at the time.

Simon smiled back. Thomas knew that Simon was overconfident and seemed a tad dumb if he was to be completely honest. Thomas decided to stay at a distance for now, he did not know Simon's skill set entirely.

"Come on, give me your best shot!" Thomas taunted Simon in order to analyze him and took a step back to ready his stance.

"You really think you can beat me?" Simon got angry and raised both hands then clenched his fists.

Vine whips began forming, cracking from the ground. They launched quickly towards Thomas' feet.

[Vine whips will reach you in 3 seconds]

[Take a step forward and slash diagonally downwards to your right]

[Then you have a second to deflect and sever the one to your left]

Thomas could not help but smile. His Arcane Foresight was fully functioning and he listened to every step. As soon as Thomas cut the first vine whip attack, its entire line of being connected dispersed slowly into thin air. The crowd gasped and were in shock at the sight of it.

"Wait… his weapon can nullify magic?"

"Now that is a sweet sword!"

"Are not those swords rare to come by?"

People arose from their seats applauding. Even Cassie appeared to be taken by surprise. Olivia furiously leaned over the wall separating the arena from the stands.

"Attack him at multiple fronts, he can only strike one at a time!" She yelled and Simon nodded.

Thomas already finished negating both of Simon's first attacks and from there on out a barrage of vine whips began rushing towards Thomas.

Simon was controlling multiple ones using his fingers to strike at different intervals. However what he did not realize, that only made them slow down and lose their accuracy, making it easier for the Arcane System to tell Thomas how to dodge and strike.

[Dodge left]

[Rush ahead 5 steps]

[Slice to your right]

[Block front]

[Jump]

[Thrust to your left]

They kept exchanging attacks and Thomas was nearing Simon, little by little, step by step. There was slight panic in Simon's eyes, Thomas could sense his frustration coming forward.

"Why cannot I land a single blow?!" Simon vented out.

"Is this all you got? Damn… I guess gold-crests are not special after all," Thomas taunted him with another smirk on his face.

He was closing in and it was not long before Thomas would be within a striking distance.

"Damn you!! I will not let you beat me!" Simon kept screaming and unleashing vine whips.

The Arcane System kept updating Thomas how to proceed with his every move. But something happened which Thomas did not anticipate at all. A vine whip slowly grew under ground behind him, closing in noticeably.

Simon managed to create a seperate one and faltered its speed before increasing it at the last second. The system did not detect it immediately as it was not an immediate threat to Thomas.

[Vine whip about to stab you in the back in less than a second]

"Shit!" Thomas said and turned around to cut it.

The sneak attack from the vine whip behind Thomas was successfully nullified, although another one launched against his hand. Thomas failed to parry it on time and the vine whip slapped the sword out of his hand onto the ground.

"Phew… I do not know how you managed to see that one coming from behind, but you are screwed now!" Simon smiled anticipating his victory.

Alex and Thomas stood up as they saw vine whips entangling Thomas' sword, making it unreachable.

"Come on Thomas, you can do it!" Corbin shouted.

"Yeah! Kick his ass!" Alex joined him.

Thomas smiled and talked to the system.

[Can I reach him within the remaining distance?]

[Hold… calculating route…]

[Route secured]

[You may now reach Simon]

[Success rate: 5%]

"Five percent is still greater than zero, I will take it," Thomas rushed in.

From then on out Thomas surrendered to the system in complete trust and readied all of his senses to dodge accordingly. The millisecond a message appeared Thomas reacted instantly, it was like something he had never felt before in his life. Complete unison.

"Do you really think you can reach me? Just give up already!" Simon kept launching attacks.

Upon reaching Simon to jump over the vine whips, they formed an entangling shield.

"Ah! Good try, but it is over now," Simon laughed and the shield launched frontal vine whips.

[Duck and sprint around him]

The shield grew sideways and followed the best it could to protect Simon.

[Run at full speed]

[And then diagonally slide in before the vines began to form]

Thomas listened and ran around until his speed was at its climax then slided in with the vine whips barely grazing his left cheek, opening a slight flesh wound. Once he was inside of Simon's inner defense he legsweeped him onto the ground. Simon instantly jumped back up and tried to flick his fingers to convoke more vine whips.

[Punch Simon's hands]

[Do not let his fingers freely move]

Thomas got up as well and launched two rapid punches against Simon's hands, making him unable to create more vine whips.

"Fist fight? So be it!" Simon accepted Thomas invitation now that his magic no longer was an option.

They began exchanging punches with Thomas beautifully outmaneuvering and parrying each blow. He managed to sneak a few ones in on Simon.

[Punch his throat]

Thomas punched his throat.

[Again]

He did it a second time. Simon had trouble breathing and standing upright at this point.

[Parry and leg sweep his right leg]

Simon rushed in to punch but was met with a parry, then he fell over once Thomas sweeped his right leg, causing him to lose balance.

The fall made Simon hit his head hard and coughed up blood. Thomas sat down on his chest and kept punching his face.

"Get up Simon? What the hell are you doing?!" Olivia yelled but it was already too late.

Cassie stepped in and noticed Simon was already knocked out cold. She took and raised Thomas' hand.

"Thomas is the victor!"

Olivia punched the wall and was outraged at the results of the event.

[Daily Quest Complete]

[You have gained 30 Exp]

[Experience: 50/200]

Thomas went to pick up his sword before he left to head for the stands. He felt something on his cheek and wiped it.

"Blood? Guess it must have been when I chose to slide in," Thomas said and looked ahead.

Now that Simon was down, Thomas had to fight and overcome Alex next.