"VICTORY BELONGS TO GARETH THE CRUSHER! THE LOSER, LIRIEN THE BLOOD FANG, HAS FALLEN!"
The multitude of savages howled in delight; only a few booed.
The winner, Gareth, lifted his axe high in victory as they chanted his name.
"HAH! I TOLD YOU THE BELLY WOULD CRUSH THAT TWIG!"
"Look at that arm! Blood's still spraying!"
"Crusher's axe eats twigs for breakfast!"
Dumbfounded by how quick and brutal the fight was, Darien stared at the maimed body of the fighter he had bet on.
He glanced to his side, seeing that his colleagues were happy because they had bet on Gareth.
"WHO—WHO ELSE WANTS THIS?! HRAAAHH! COME DOWN! COME DIE! CRUSHER NOT FINISHED YET! AXE STILL HUNGRY!"
In the fighting pit, Gareth's cries echoed like thunder, shocking everyone.
His hemic battle axe was raised above his head as he shouted and challenged.
"You! You! Or YOU! COME! I BREAK YOU! I BREAK ALL!"
No one could believe it. The victor was actually calling for another fight after splitting Blood Fang's arm.
Challenges like this didn't usually happen because winners often staggered out half-dead or too exhausted to even raise their weapons.
But having crushed his opponent so quickly, Gareth was still drunk with the rush of battle, so he wasn't sated yet.
Without wasting time, the referee announced: "THE VICTOR HAS ISSUED A CHALLENGE! HE HAS BUT A QUARTER HOUR!"
The crowd was filled with anxiety, horror, and excitement.
Many didn't want to face Gareth the Crusher, but they also wanted to see someone else accept the challenge.
Some ambitious Rank 2s considered it, but after seeing Gareth just stomp back to his fallen foe, they totally changed their minds.
Lirien's head was fractured in two by his killer's axe, the wet crack echoing through the pit.
Silence followed after the savagery, but it was quickly swallowed by cheers and wild laughter.
"NO ONE ACCEPTS? HAH? THEN STAY COWARDS! LET CRUSHER STAND ALONE!"
There were four types of people in the arena Gareth was challenging.
The first were those who stood no chance, and the second were those who did but didn't want to risk it.
The third were those who could definitely kill him but didn't think it was worth the effort, and the fourth were those who were noble.
Actually, there was a fifth group—the ones truly interested in slaying the Crusher. And this group consisted of just one boy.
'This oaf made me lose my bet. I guess I'll have to collect my winnings the old-fashioned way.'
Darien thought as he rose to his feet, shocking his peers.
'Besides, he's also Rank 3. Killing this guy means a lot of skill points!'
Ayn and Jakob couldn't believe that Darien wanted to answer the Crusher's challenge.
They scrambled to grab his arm in haste, but Darien slipped out of their grip easily, leaving them whisper-shouting.
"Darien! What the hell are you doing?! Are you mad?"
"Sit down, you idiot—you'll get yourself killed!"
With a grin on his face, Darien ignored his friends and made his way downward to the fighting pit.
No one noticed him at first, but he was sure they would once he was close to the pit.
"Is that mouse accepting the challenge?"
"Haha. There's no way, right?…Right?"
"Maybe he is. Why else would he walk toward death?"
By the time Darien had made it halfway down, it became obvious to them.
"THIS FOOL REALLY IS STEPPING INTO THE PIT!"
"RANK 1 NOVICE?! A DUD?! SOMEONE SHOULD TAKE THIS IMBECILE HOME!"
Hundreds of eyes stuck to the silver-haired boy descending toward the pits.
Gasps, laughter, and jeers followed him because it was basically a massacre for a Rank 1 Novice to face a Rank 3 Apprentice, especially a boy at that.
Even Vincent Velgrane recognized Darien, surprise in his eyes as he sat up in disbelief.
"WE HAVE A CONTENDER!"
Gareth turned around to see who the newcomer was.
He expected to meet a competent challenge, not a slim, angular boy in an Academy uniform.
"Crusher! Split the brat in half!"
"End it quick, Gareth! Don't waste our time!"
Gareth shifted his heavy frame, then lifted his axe and pointed it straight at his contender on the other side of the pit.
"You… small thing… you really want die?"
Darien ignored the warrior's words as he walked over to Lirien's corpse and helped himself to the dead Ardent's spear-sword.
Spinning it around himself to test its weight and length, Darien prepared himself for battle against the bulky being.
The boy was too confident. Why? Because he knew that Gareth the Crusher would underestimate him and lower his guard—if he even had one.
He also wanted to test his newly evolved skills.
With
The only parts of his body that weren't susceptible were his thick arms, especially the right that wielded the battle axe.
Darien was also eager to see how he would fare in a fight against a Rank 3 being now that he had ascended, and could now master his Flow.
Generally, he accepted this challenge because of his thirst for skill points.
'Not every day a Rank 1 gets to fight a Rank 3…'
"I WELCOME YOU ALL TO A LAST BREATH DUEL!"
"READY??? BEGIN!"
DING! DING!
Darien wasn't sure how good the Crusher's perception was, but he intended to use
The roaring arena laughed and jeered when the boy was the first to launch an attack, his spear-sword held firmly in his grip.
Gareth only stood there with a smirk on his scarred face, still trying to process the boy's guts in stepping up to the challenge.
"Haha. Forget the stew and chicken! Tonight, I'll crunch this brat's bones for supper!"
Gareth roared with a chuckle, his potbelly jiggling, his axe casually over a shoulder as he waited for Darien to approach his death.
But surprisingly, his opponent reached him quicker than expected.
The warrior's grin fell immediately, but luckily for him, he reacted in time by blocking Darien's strike with the edge of his axe.
Sparks flared from the impact of both metals as both of them locked eyes.
Stronger, Gareth the Crusher overpowered Darien, swinging his weapon in a wide arc meant to split the boy in half.
But the boy was gone from his front, leaving the audience gasping as he dangerously reappeared at his side.
'Slow piece of bacon...'
Darien said to himself as he thrust the tip of the spear-sword through Gareth's side.
WOOOOOOOOHHHH!
The audience was shocked after the underdog managed to land a decisive hit on Gareth, whom Lirien wasn't able to even touch.
No one was as stunned as Gareth, who howled as saliva escaped his lips.
Anger flushed him, and with both hands, he raised his axe high to his side, transferring a lot of Flow into the swing.
The shadow of the massive weapon came down like a mountain ready to cleave young Darien in two. But he rakishly escaped, sand exploding where he once stood.
"Missed…? Hhhhaaahh—IMPOSSIBLE!"
Before Gareth could do anything else, his opponent's blade pierced through his back. In a hot, gory spray, blood gushed, maddening the arena.
"RAAAAAHHHHHH!"
The arena's champion bellowed with both rage and pain, his face already purple as he swung backward to counter and catch his assailant.
But even with the Flow buzzing through him, he was slower now because of his leaking wounds.
Darien obeyed the rules of a last breath duel by showing his enemy no mercy at all, even though he really didn't even have any true grudge towards him!
'Being an Ascended feels amazing. I feel like I have unlocked paths to my body and soul…!'
~whoosh
~ptchk!
Again, he vanished from the warrior's back, fully out of reach, and inflicted another deep wound to the opposite side of the brute's flesh.
Stumbling, the Crusher wheezed, his axe trembling as he staggered forward.
With a final thrust, the boy he wanted to eat for dinner appeared before him and drove the spear-sword straight through his chest, bursting out the man's back.
~shkkt!
[Congratulations! You slayed a Rank 3 Being]
[You get 8000 Skill Points and 5 EXP]
For a whole minute, the arena was silent before claps rained.
"VICTORY BELONGS TO DARIEN SEABORN! THE LOSER, GARETH THE CRUSHER, HAS FALLEN!"
(Item Name: Dreadpiercer)
(Type: Weapon/ Spear-Sword)
(Rank: Uncommon)
Since he had just defeated Gareth, that meant both Gareth's and Lirien's items were his property now.
Darien didn't like armor, nor did he like a battle axe, but they would still be very valuable for coin.
As for the Uncommon spear-sword, he thought Jakob might like it; if not, he'd sell it off as well.
Moving with purpose, he gathered the items while the arena prepared to have the next battle of the night.