The gates in front of Krad began to grind open, revealing a stairway up to the arena floor. Sunlight streamed down, and with it, the thunderous sound of five thousand people either eager to see him succeed or excited to watch him get crushed.
Krad took a deep breath, using the technique Hania had taught him. In for seven, hold for four, out for eight, hold for four. His heartbeat slowed slightly. The trembling in his hands eased.
He thought of the Pure Slimes, their blue light fading as they begged for release. He thought of Hanan, brave and determined despite being so young. He thought of Kora, burning three weeks of her life so he could stand here. He thought of Dani, telling him to stay alive. He thought of Mist, training him brutally because he believed Krad could be more.
"For all of you," Krad whispered. "I won't waste this chance."
He started climbing the stairs.The arena floor was sand, rust-colored and coarse. The combat zone was marked by a circle of crystallized mana about fifty feet in diameter, plenty of room for a fight. The crowd surrounded them on all sides, a wall of faces and noise and expectation.
And across from Krad, touching his side of the combat marker, was Brick.The man was massive. Not as tall as Titan Forgeborn, but built like his name, broad, thick, and solid. His skin had a grayish tint, probably from constant use of earth magic. His hands were huge, scarred from countless fights, and when he grinned at Krad, several teeth were missing.
"They sent me a child?" Brick's voice boomed across the arena. "I asked for a warm-up, not a joke!"
The crowd laughed, and Krad felt heat rise in his cheeks.
"Match begins when both fighters touch the combat marker," the referee announced, floating above the arena on a disc of magical energy. "Fight until yield, incapacitation, or death. Acknowledge?"
"Acknowledged," Brick rumbled.
Krad swallowed hard. "Acknowledged."
"Then... begin!"
Krad touched the marker. The barrier erupted around them, a dome of shimmering energy that would contain the fight and protect the spectators. Inside the dome, it was just them, no escape.
Brick cracked his knuckles, each pop sounding like breaking wood. "I'll make this quick, kid. You seem decent enough. No reason to draw out the pain."
His hands began to glow with brown earth-mana, and the sand beneath Krad's feet started to shift.
The sand beneath Krad's feet turned to liquid. He didn't have time to think, pure instinct activated Moon Step. His body launched sideways just as the ground where he'd been standing erupted into razor-sharp stone spikes, each one as thick as his arm.
[ Skill Activated: Moon Step ]
[ Mana: 950/1000 ]
The crowd gasped at his speed.
"Ooh, quick reflexes!" Brick's grin widened. "Good! I hate when they just stand there and die!"
Krad landed in a roll, came up on his feet, and immediately had to dodge again. Three massive stone fists erupted from the arena floor, swinging at him from different angles like the world's deadliest puppets.
[ Skill Activated: Evade ]
[ Uses Remaining: 13/14 ]
His afterimage took the hit from the first fist. The real Krad slipped between the second and third, his new footwork training keeping him mobile.
In the VIP Observation Box
Mist stood with his arms crossed, his expression unreadable as he watched Krad dodge desperately around the arena. Beside him, Queen Hania gripped the railing, and Aze had somehow talked his way into joining them.
"He's surviving," Aze observed. "That's already better than most people expected."
"Surviving isn't enough," Mist said quietly. "Brick is toying with him. Those stone fists? That's Level 1 technique. He hasn't even used Granite Skin yet."
"But look at Krad's movement," Hania pointed out. "He's not panicking. Every dodge is calculated, minimal waste of energy. You taught him well."
Mist's jaw tightened. "I taught him basics in less than forty hours. That's nothing against someone with Brick's experience."
In the General Spectator Stands
A grizzled veteran Slayer with a scarred face leaned forward in his seat, eyes narrowed.
"Oi, Nut," he called to his companion. "You seeing what I'm seeing?"
His friend, a younger fighter with burn marks covering his arms, nodded slowly. "The kid's Level 321, but he's moving like someone fifty levels higher. How's that possible?"
"Intensive training," a woman behind them interjected. She wore scholar's robes marked with the Academy insignia. "And recently too, his muscle memory is fresh. See how sometimes he overcorrects? That's someone learning new patterns."
"He's still gonna lose," Nut said. "Brick's just warming up."
"Obviously," the scholar agreed. "But how he loses matters. If he can push Brick to actually try... that would be notable."
Back in the Arena
Krad's breathing was already labored. Thirty seconds into the fight, and he'd used Moon Step three times, Evade once, and dodged manually at least a dozen attacks. His stamina was draining faster than he'd anticipated.
[ Stamina: 710/850 ]
[ System Buddy: You're burning through energy way too fast! Pace yourself! ]
"Stop running!" Brick bellowed. His hands slammed together, and the entire arena floor trembled.
"Stone Bombardment!"
Chunks of earth the size of human heads tore themselves from the ground and launched at Krad like cannonballs. Not one or two, dozens of them, creating a literal storm of stone.
Krad's eyes went wide. There was no dodging this. Too many projectiles, too little space.
"Think! What did Captain Mist teach you?!"
The memory flashed through his mind, Mist's voice during hour twenty-eight of training.
"When you can't dodge everything, don't try. Dodge what kills you, tank what only hurts."
Krad's body moved on instinct. He twisted sideways, letting one stone graze his shoulder instead of crushing his skull. Another clipped his ribs, painful but not crippling. A third he actually punched with Fundamental Strike, shattering it mid-flight.
[ Damage Received: 89 ]
[ Damage Received: 67 ]
[ Health: 844/1000 ]
But he was still standing.
The crowd's noise changed, less laughter, more surprised murmurs.
Brick's grin faded slightly. "Huh. You've got some backbone after all, kid."
VIP Box
"He did it," Aze breathed. "He survived Stone Bombardment. That technique has a ninety-three percent first-hit knockout rate against fighters below Level 350."
Mist allowed himself the tiniest smile. "He remembered the lesson. Good."
"But he took damage," Hania worried. "Already down to eighty-four percent health, and Brick hasn't even gotten serious yet."
"Watch," Mist said. "The kid's about to do something stupid."
Arena Floor
Krad's mind raced. He'd survived the opening, but barely. Brick was Level 401, every technique hit like a truck, and the man had mana reserves deep enough to spam attacks for hours.
"I can't win by dodging. I'll exhaust myself before I land a single meaningful hit."
"But what if I don't need to win? What if I just need to survive long enough to frustrate him?"
No, that was loser thinking. Hanan wouldn't settle for good enough. Kora hadn't burned three weeks of her life for him to play it safe.
"I need to hurt him. Make him respect me."
Brick raised his hands again, brown mana gathering around his fists. "Alright, playtime's over. Time to crush---"
Krad charged.
The crowd actually gasped. It was suicide, closing distance with an earth magic specialist who excelled at close-range grappling.
But Krad wasn't thinking about what was smart. He was thinking about Dani's words.
"Sometimes the best way to win isn't to hit harder, but to outlast your opponent."
And you couldn't outlast someone from range when they had mana advantage.
Brick's surprise lasted exactly one second. Then his grin returned, savage and delighted.
"Now we're talking!"
His stone-encrusted fist swung at Krad's head with enough force to decapitate. Krad dropped into a slide, the new footwork training letting him flow beneath the blow. Sand sprayed up around him as he skidded past Brick's guard.
And drove his fist into the big man's kidney.
[ Fundamental Strike - Critical Hit! ]
[ Damage Dealt: 127 ]
It wasn't much. Against Brick's massive health pool, it was probably less than three percent. But it was something.
More importantly, Brick actually grunted.
The crowd's noise intensified... shock, excitement, bloodlust.