General Stands
"Did he just hit Brick?!" Nut was on his feet now.
"Critical hit too," the scholar noted, her academic interest fully engaged. "Targeting the kidney was smart, even Level 400 fighters feel organ strikes."
The scarred veteran laughed. "Kid's got balls, I'll give him that. Brick's gonna murder him for that, though."
"Worth it," Nut said, grinning. "At least he went down swinging."
Underground Waiting Area
In a private chamber beneath the main Colosseum, a figure watched the fight on a magical viewing screen. Liyab, the Champion, sat perfectly still, his face obscured now by a white mask carved with flame patterns.
Behind him, Bruwa shifted nervously.
"S-Shall I continue monitoring the other matches?"
"No." Liyab's voice was soft, almost gentle.
"But... his opponent is only Brick Stonefist. The match will be over in---"
"Show me," Liyab repeated, his tone unchanged but somehow more commanding.
Bruwa immediately adjusted the screen focus.
Liyab leaned forward slightly, his masked face tilting as he watched Krad scramble away from Brick's counterattack.
"Interesting," he murmured.
Arena Floor - 1 Minute Elapsed
Krad was learning something important, hitting Brick was like punching a mountain.
The counter-attack came immediately, Brick's massive hand grabbed for Krad's throat. Only desperate activation of Evade saved him, leaving an afterimage that Brick crushed into nothing with casual strength.
[ Skill Activated: Evade ]
[ Uses Remaining: 12/14 ]
"You sneaky little---" Brick's eyes narrowed. "That's an illusion technique. High-grade one too. What the hell is a Level 321 doing with that kind of skill?"
Krad didn't answer, he was too busy trying not to die.
Brick's entire body began to glow with brown earth-mana. His skin took on a genuine stone-like quality, gray and rough and clearly hardened.
[ Enemy Buff Activated: Granite Skin ]
[ Effect: +200 Defense, +50% Damage Reduction from Physical Attacks ]
[ System Alpha: Warning - Opponent has activated defensive enhancement. Physical damage efficiency reduced by approximately sixty-seven percent. ]
"Now let's see you land another cheap shot," Brick growled.
He stomped, and the entire arena floor erupted. Not just in one spot... everywhere. Stone pillars burst upward randomly, creating a deadly forest of rocky spikes that shifted and moved like living things.
Krad's world became a three-dimensional nightmare of dodging. Jump over a pillar, duck under another, twist sideways as a third tried to impale him from below. His stamina was burning, his mana dropping with each Moon Step, but he kept moving.
[ Stamina: 540/850 ]
[ Mana: 750/1000 ]
"Can't keep this up. Need to think... need to---"
A pillar caught him in the back, slamming him forward into Brick's waiting fist.
The impact lifted Krad off his feet and sent him flying backward. He crashed into the barrier dome, the magical shield preventing him from being thrown into the crowd but doing nothing to cushion the impact.
[ Damage Received: 342 ]
[ Health: 502/1000 ]
Half his health, gone... in one hit.
The crowd roared, some in excitement, some in sympathy, most just hungry for blood.
Krad slid down the barrier, tasting copper. His ribs screamed where Brick's fist had connected. The Crimson Blade combat set had absorbed some of the damage, but not enough.
"Get up," he commanded his body.
VIP Box
Hania's hands covered her mouth. "He can't survive another hit like that."
"No," Mist agreed, his voice tight. "He can't."
"Then why aren't you stopping the match?!" Aze demanded. "He's your sponsored fighter! You can call forfeit!"
"Because he hasn't asked me to," Mist said quietly. "Look at his eyes."
They looked. Even from this distance, even through the pain clearly etched on his face, Krad's golden eyes burned with determination.
"He's not done yet," Mist said.
General Stands
"One minute forty-three seconds," the scholar announced. "He's survived longer than sixty percent of Brick's opponents already."
"Barely," Nut countered. "Kid's at half health and Brick hasn't even broken a sweat."
"But he's still moving," the scarred veteran pointed out. "After a hit like that, most fighters stay down for the count. This kid's getting up."
They watched as Krad forced himself to his feet, using the barrier for support. Blood dripped from his mouth, and his breathing was ragged, but he raised his fists again.
"Crazy," Nut said.
"Brave," the scholar corrected.
"What's the difference?" the veteran asked with a grim smile.
Arena Floor - 1 Minute 50 Seconds Elapsed
"You've got heart, kid," Brick said, and he actually sounded respectful. "More than most, but heart doesn't beat skill and power. This is over."
"Not... yet," Krad gasped.
His mind was racing. Granite Skin made physical attacks useless. He didn't have the mana for sustained Moon Eater techniques, and even if he did, that was his emergency reserve. Dani and Mist had drilled that into him.
Think. Brick specializes in earth magic. What did System Alpha say his weaknesses were?
Speed-based opponents, check, Krad was fast but clearly not fast enough.
Lightning magic, didn't have it.
Sustained damage, couldn't deliver enough damage to sustain.
Wait...
Sustained damage.
The Crimson Blade set. Bleeding Edge bonus. Critical hits had a fifteen percent chance to cause bleeding.
If he could land enough critical hits, the bleeding damage might stack. It wouldn't be much, but it would bypass defense. Bleeding was a debuff, not direct damage.
It was a long shot. Actually, it was a ridiculous shot. He'd need to land multiple criticals against someone who could kill him in two hits while he was already at half health. But it was the only shot he had.
"Okay then."
Krad activated the Breath of the Ancient World technique Hania had taught him. Seven count in, four hold, eight count out. His health didn't regenerate, healing didn't work that fast, but the pain dulled slightly, and his mind cleared.
[ Natural Recovery Active ]
[ Regeneration: +12% ]
[ Health: 514/1000 ]
Twelve points. Barely anything, but it was twelve points he wouldn't have had otherwise.
"Alright," Krad said, his voice steady despite everything. "Round two."
Brick laughed, genuine amusement in the sound. "I like you, kid. You remind me of me when I was starting out. Stupid, brave, and too dumb to quit."
His hands came together again. "But this is a tournament, not a practice match. Time to end it."
"Earth Prison!"
The sand around Krad's feet solidified instantly, locking him in place. Stone walls erupted on all sides, creating a box barely larger than his body. The ceiling began descending, a literal stone crusher.
This was Brick's signature move, trap the opponent, then slowly compact the prison until their bones shattered.
The crowd went wild. This was what they'd come to see.
VIP Box
"No!" Hania surged forward as if to jump into the arena herself. Mist caught her arm.
"Wait," he said.
"Wait?! He's trapped! That technique will---"
"I know what it will do," Mist interrupted, his eyes never leaving the arena. "But watch. The kid's not panicking."
Inside the Earth Prison
Krad's mind went perfectly calm.
He was trapped. The walls were solid stone reinforced with earth magic. The ceiling was descending at a steady rate, maybe fifteen seconds before it crushed him.
He couldn't break through stone walls with Fundamental Strike. Even at critical hit, he didn't have that much power.
But he didn't need to break through the walls.
He needed to break through the floor.
Krad dropped to his knees, ignoring the descending ceiling. His fist, glowing faintly with the determination burning in his chest, slammed into the sand beneath him.
[ Fundamental Strike! ]
[ Damage: 54 ]
Nothing. The floor was as solid as the walls.
Ten seconds left.
[ Fundamental Strike! ]
[ Critical Hit! ]
[ Damage: 108 ]
A tiny crack appeared.
Eight seconds.
"Come on, come on!"
[ Fundamental Strike! ]
[ Damage: 56 ]
The crack widened microscopically.
Six seconds.
Krad could feel the stone ceiling touching his hair now.
[ Fundamental Strike! ]
[ Critical Hit! ]
[ Damage: 112 ]
[ Crimson Blade Set Bonus Activated: Bleeding Edge ]
[ Status Effect Applied to Earth Prison: Bleeding (Minor) ]
The stone began to weep, not blood, but mana. The magical reinforcement was compromised.
Four seconds.
"Break!" Krad roared, pouring everything he had into one final strike.
[ Fundamental Strike! ]
[ Critical Hit! ]
[ Damage: 115 ]
The floor shattered.
Krad dropped through, landing hard in the network of tunnels Brick's earlier attacks had created beneath the arena. The Earth Prison collapsed where he'd been, stone grinding against stone with terrible finality.
For a moment, silence.
Then the crowd exploded into shocked cheers.
Arena Floor - Surface
Brick stared at his collapsed Earth Prison in disbelief.
"He escaped? How did---"
Movement to his left. Krad erupted from another hole in the arena floor, sand spraying around him as he charged.
The kid looked terrible, blood streaming from his mouth, favoring his left side where ribs were clearly cracked, breathing like he'd run a marathon.
But his eyes burned with unshakeable determination.
And Brick saw something he hadn't expected to see in this match.
"He's adapting."
VIP Box
"He's Insane!" Aze shouted, jumping up and down. "He broke through the floor! Through Brick's earth magic!"
"The Bleeding Edge bonus," Mist said, understanding dawning. "He applied bleed status to the prison itself, weakened the magical reinforcement, then concentrated all his remaining strength on one structural point."
Hania was laughing and crying at the same time. "That's my technique he used for recovery. And your training for the strike accuracy. And Dani's lessons about finding weaknesses!"
"He's using everything we taught him," Mist said, and pride colored his voice for the first time. "Every single lesson, all at once."
General Stands
The entire crowd was on their feet now.
"Two minutes twelve seconds!" someone shouted.
"He survived the opening pressure!"
"Brick's actually trying now!"
"Did you see that?!" Nut grabbed the scholar's arm. "He didn't overpower the technique, he outsmarted it!"
The scholar was scribbling notes frantically. "This is unprecedented. Level 321 fighters don't have the tactical depth to counter Earth Prison. The technique requires either overwhelming power or..."
"Or creativity and desperation," the scarred veteran finished. "Kid's running on pure spite at this point."
Underground Chamber
Liyab had leaned so far forward he was almost off his seat.
"Replay that," he commanded.
Bruwa nervously rewound the magical recording, showing again how Krad had systematically broken through the Earth Prison from the inside.
"He's been trained very recently," Liyab observed. "See how his muscle memory occasionally conflicts with his instincts? Someone drilled new techniques into him in an impossibly short time."
"Mist's work?" Bruwa suggested.
"Perhaps. But teaching is one thing. Having the will to actually execute under pressure..." Liyab's fingers drummed against his armrest. "That comes from somewhere else. Tell me, what is this boy's story? Why did Mist sponsor him?"
The attendant pulled up records. "Information is limited. He appeared in the Hidden Realm days ago. Has connections to the Green Kingdom refugees. Fought alongside Mist against... oh my."
"What?"
"Against the Cursed Queen Han. And survived."
Liyab went very still.
"The Cursed Queen is dead?"
"According to Mist's report, yes. Defeated three days ago in the Kingdom of Darkness ruins."
"And this boy participated in that battle."
"More than participated. According to Crimson Guild accounts, he landed the killing blow."
Liyab sat back slowly, his masked face tilting upward as if seeing something beyond the ceiling.
"A Level 321 fighter who helped kill a Level 5000 domain user." His voice carried something that might have been amusement. "No wonder Mist sponsored him. The boy is either blessed by fate or cursed by it."
"Should I continue monitoring his match?"
"Yes," Liyab said. "I want to see how this ends."
Arena Floor - 2 Minutes 30 Seconds Elapsed
Krad's charge brought him within striking range, and he unleashed everything he'd learned in forty hours of brutal training.
Fundamental Strike to Brick's solar plexus, blocked by Granite Skin, but the impact made Brick step back.
Footwork pivot, creating an angle. Strike to the kidney again, partially deflected, but partially wasn't completely.
[ Damage Dealt: 43 ]
[ Critical Hit! ]
[ Bleeding Edge Activated! ]
[ Status Effect: Bleeding (Minor) applied to Brick Stonefist ]
Moon Step to create distance before Brick could counter-grapple.
Land, breathe, analyze.
Brick's movements had changed subtly. He was favoring his left side ever so slightly. The kidney hits were accumulating.
And now he was bleeding.
[ Enemy Status: Bleeding (Minor) ]
[ Effect: -5 HP per second ]
Five points per second wasn't much against Brick's massive health pool. But it was something. And something was better than nothing.
"You little pest!" Brick's composure was cracking now. The respectful amusement was giving way to genuine frustration. "Stand still and fight like a man!"
"I'm sixteen!" Krad shot back, dodging another massive fist. "I'm not a man yet!"
Despite everything, the pain, the exhaustion, the fear... he was grinning.
Because he was doing it. Against all odds, against someone eighty levels higher, he was fighting.