ShanDeRad
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Book 2: Chapter 15
🕑 Added 2024-05-15 10:28:17 +0000 UTCHe could hear people talking, he was also surprisingly comfortable. When Shaun opened his eyes he could see he was in one of the apartments, when he turned to see who was talking he saw Gabe and Eric both on the couch through the door, snuggled up with each other, Eric in Gabe’s arms. He couldn’t help but smile at them, it was a beautiful sight, and he was happy that they were so comfortable, clearly in love.
“Do you guys need the room?” Shaun said to them from where he was laying, clearly in their bed.
“Shaun! Your awake!” They both jumped up from the couch and raced across the apartment into the bedroom.
“Yeah. How did I get here?” He moved himself into a sitting position, not feeling anywhere as sore as he though he would, the last thing he remembered was laying in the dungeon, getting ripped apart by the lightning run through his body. The sheet he was covered with fell down and when he looked under it, he was even more confused. “Why am I naked? Wait is this a dream? Did I die?”
“How are you feeling? Are you hurt? Sore? Tell me! Do you need another potion?” Gabe was firing questions at him rapidly, not even giving him a chance to answer.
Rather than reply straight away he moved his body around, testing his arms, legs, chest and head. “A little stiff, but not too bad. A lot better than I thought.” Wait did I do it? He immediately pulled up the notifications he had missed due to being unconscious. There was one for completing the dungeon and getting a reward, getting an F grade on the dungeon, which really made sense, he had been in there for months, but that wasn’t what he cared about.
*Affinity Detected: Lightning*
*Lightning (Affinity): Through force of will, you have taken control of the destructive nature of lightning, and advanced element that few are capable of wielding. With it you are capable of conjuring the force of pure electricity, able to both call it forth from your body or send down a strike from the sky. +50 Dex, +50 Soul, +20% Dex, +50% Soul*
“Holy shit I did it! I fucking did it! Hahaha!” He couldn’t help but laughing, an uncontrollable sense of relief and elation overcame him when he saw the notification. He had managed to form an advanced affinity! He nearly died in the process, so many times in fact, but he lived! But how did he get here?
“Why the fuck are you laughing! You nearly died! If it wasn’t for Vivenne and I pouring health potions down your throat like it was water the past day you would be dead!” Vivenne? What did she have to do with this? And a day! Shit when am I due to fight? Have I missed it?
“When am I due to fight? Tell me I didn’t miss it?” Shaun pleaded with them.
“No, you have about an hour before you have to be at the colosseum arena. But Shaun, are you even well enough to fight?” This came from Eric, who was giving him a worried look. Although Eric had his own fight yesterday he didn’t look to bad off.
“Wait how did your fight go?” He asked him.
“It was fine, I was fighting one of the lowest ranked people here, it wasn’t too bad.” Eric gave Gabe a look, considering whether to tell him something more, both looking worried.
“What is it? What aren’t you saying?” He asked them, they both looked worried about what they had to say, nether wanting to be the one to break the news to him.
“Listen don’t get angry. You missed the soiree yesterday, you got an invite, we all did actually, but you were unconscious. We didn’t want to miss it, so we had to find someone to look after you, it was only for an hour! And Michael and Jess both volunteered to keep watch over you. We asked Viv but she also had an invite, even though she didn’t fight.”
Oh, is that it? Jeez I thought they were going to tell me something major had happened. “That’s cool, thanks for not leaving me alone. Michael and Jess huh? That must have been weird. What was the soiree like?”
“Later. We will talk later. And you will be telling us what the hell you did to yourself!” Gabe yelled at him. “But you need to get ready and get to the arena, like now.”
At that Shaun jumped up from the bed, not caring that he was naked, and looked around for clothes. “Where are my clothes? My sword? Everything!” He started running around looking for all of his things. He found his sword and weapons on the table but no clothes.
“Everything was covered in blood Shaun, grab some of my clothes and lets get moving.” Gabe and Eric were both looking at the wall away from him, and that was when he realised that he had been running around, buck ass naked, with not a care in the world.
“Ummm, woops. Sorry about the nakedness!” That caused Eric to laugh, like really laugh, while Gabe just hit him in the ribs and told him to shut up, going bright red in the process. “I am guessing there is something I have missed?”
“Later, now hurry up! Don’t want to be late.” Gabe replied, rushing him along.
It didn’t take long for him to grab some clothes and get dressed, quickly followed by putting all of his weapons back on and all of them rushing out the door. Thankfully, he felt good, in a lot of ways better that normal. The increase in his Soul and Dexterity from the lightning affinity were huge, the biggest increases he had ever gotten, and he felt it in the way he moved.
As soon as they got to the corridor leading to the waiting area they stopped, his orb had started to glow when they were moving so he was running out of time and quickly. He had gotten a lot of weird looks when he had been moving through the corridors, every time he came across someone they just openly stared at him in shock, as if they were surprised to see him. He asked Gabe and Eric what it was about but they just said they would talk about it later.
The most shocking thing was, when they arrived at the entrance to the waiting area Vivenne was waiting there as well, but she wasn’t due to fight today, so why was she here?
“You're alive. That’s good. Are you ready to fight?” She asked him.
“Ummm, yeah, why?” This is so weird, why is she here?
“Good. When you come back we are going to have a chat, I want to know what you did in that dungeon, how you almost died, and why you weren’t even hurt when we washed you in that shower!” She washed me in a shower, what the hell happened yesterday! “Don’t talk just listen. You owe me. I used my best health potion on you, I helped carry you through this damn colosseum! And just so you are aware you weigh a ton! And I want to know why I had to do any of that in the first place! I felt the power you were giving off when you appeared out of that dungeon and I want to know why!”
“I…..” He tried to speak, ask questions, he was so confused in that moment and he wanted answers just as much as she did.
“No talking! Go, fight and win. Then we will all be having a chat. Understood?”
“Understood!” She is scary when she wants to be, and if half of what she said is true it seems I owe her.
With that she made shoeing gestures for him to get on with it and move into the waiting area, Gabe and Eric smiled at him and gave him a nod. When he looked past them another crowd had formed, not close by, but it was obvious why they were there. It seemed they wanted to listen in on them and find out exactly what had happened to him. Not that he would be announcing it to the world.
He moved into the waiting area where there was about 10 people present, including him. He was the last fight of the day so they would need to go through everyone else here before it has his turn. He saw Trevor sitting on one side of the room, giving him a look that, if it was possible, would kill him. He didn’t talk to anyone present, and they all seemed to be in deep concentration, preparing for their fight.
There wasn’t much for him to prepare, physically anyway, what he did do was slip into mediation and inspect his new affinity. As soon as he got his first look he couldn’t help but stare in wonder, the bright glow of the lightning affinity completely overshadowed the others, its power was just so much more impressive, it was everything he could have dreamed of. He tapped into it, only for a second, and he felt his whole body tingle with the power, it was almost overwhelming, but at the same time completely intoxicating.
There was something he needed to consider though, in these fights he might be able to get away with just using his gauntlet and sword to fight, but there was also a chance that he might have to expose one of his affinity in battle and if he did that he should only ever use one of them in all the fights, giving the illusion he only had the one affinity. He could cover most of it up with the gauntlet but not lightning.
With that he decided that he would go as long as he could with not using any of his affinity, hopefully he would make it through the first few fights without any, but if he did need to use one, he figured that fire was going to be his best bet. Sure, it would be impressive, having an affinity so early, but it was probably best to cover up having an advanced affinity, something that should not even be done until one was in the late E grade, more likely D grade, and just show a basic one.
With that decided he returned his attention to the room, the only ones left were himself and Trevor. He didn’t have to wait long until both their names were called up and they both moved through the last of the corridor and into the arena. When he looked around the entire colosseum was packed, just as busy as the first day, but some of the chairs for the major representatives were empty, or they were until he had made his way further into the arena where each and every one that was missing appeared.
They had all decided that they wanted to be here to see him fight, not bothering with sitting and watching all day and only choosing who they would come and watch, apparently having better things to do.
“Shaun Clermont, Trevor Rule, welcome to your first fight in the arena!” With the introduction done by Dijaun, the crowd seemed to cheer, excited for the fight about to occur. “You know the rules, you must fight and to win your opponent must concede before the fight starts, state they give up during the fight, be rendered unconscious or be killed. All weapons are allowed to be used, items and potions can also be utilised during the fight.” Dijaun let that all sink in before moving on. “Now is your chance to either ask any questions or concede!”
Shaun looked at Trevor, checking to see what his level was. He had made it to level 27, a good jump in the three days since he last identified him, but still nowhere near close enough to win the fight. “Concede Trevor, you aren’t going to be able to win this and you know it.” If he could avoid the fight he would, he had decided he would give all of his opponents the chance.
Trevor just laughed at him, as if what he said was a joke, Shaun had tried to give him an out, that’s what mattered. “You think I can’t win? We all saw you yesterday, covered in blood, practically dead on the ground! And from what? An F ranked dungeon! You can’t even fight F rank monsters without getting hurt, your nothing but a fraud! A soon to be dead one at that.”
“Concede Trevor. This is your last chance.” He gave it one more try, he knew that it wouldn’t matter, they were going to have to fight, but for his own sanity he had to try again.
“No.” As soon as the man spoke, the entire colosseum fell into silence. Shaun looked up at the man who had just spoke, it was Xavier Barshen, the representative from The Empire, the faction that focused on fighting and war. “Your opponent has made his intention clear, he wishes to fight to the death. And I say we give him what he wants.” Turning to the other representatives beside him and then projecting his voice to the entire arena he continued. “This fight is now to the death, that shall be the only way one will win. It has been stated by the contestant and I agree with it. There will be no conceding, only one person shall walk out of the arena from this fight!”
The arena cheered for this, they wanted to see someone die. Shaun couldn’t help the disgust that he felt in that moment, it was sick, cheering for someone’s death. The only ones that looked like they didn’t agree with this decision was the Life rep as well as the crafter and merchant, but none spoke up.
“See, now you have no choice but to die!” Trevor yelled at him. You idiot! You just signed your own death sentence!
Comments
Dylan Suomela
|| The most chocking thing was…|| shocking* || Your alive. That’s good.|| you’re*
Felix Richards
I like the story but the Mcs tough in some areas and a wuss in others.
