ShanDeRad
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Book 2: Chapter 41
🕑 Added 2024-06-10 10:42:56 +0000 UTCThe colosseum was buzzing with activity the next day, they were coming up on their last days in the tutorial and everyone was preparing as much as they could before their time was up. Like him others were pulling together what they needed from the shops to keep in their inventory, as well as pushing themselves in the dungeons to gain more levels and TE, both of which would be advantageous when they were sent back to earth. For Shaun, there was little more he could do to prepare, his levels were in a good position, he had so much TE that he didn’t think he would be encountering any issues back on Earth when it came to claiming a place as his own and he had also bought so much from the stores that he had nearly maxed out his own inventory. The only thing he had left to do in the tutorial was to finish his fights and also research into crafting techniques, specifically into rituals, something he had done only once but could not discount just how impressive the results were.
When it was time for Shaun to go to the arena and wait for his fight he was both excited and nervous. Excited because this was all nearly over, nervous as he was pretty confident he was going to have to fight another person that he considered a friend. When he arrived the others were already there waiting, apart from himself Viv and Li were sitting with each other and the fourth person, a man named Peter who was level 52.
“Shaun, we have all spoke and agreed that we won’t be fighting to the death, are you in agreeance with this?” Peter directed at him before he even had a chance to sit down. The man was clearly nervous about being paired with him, and after killing those people back in the group fight wanted to make sure that if he did get stuck fighting him that he would still be able to walk out alive.
“No issue with it. As long as you don’t try to kill me I wont kill you.”
Peter tried to hide the relief he felt at Shaun’s words but he could see the man relax slightly at hearing his words. While Shaun sat in silence, the other three started a conversation around the plan for what they would need to do once the tutorial ended. From what he gathered there was a rather large group from this tutorial that planned on grouping together and meeting up when they were back on Earth. Although they had no idea where they would end up when they got sent back, it apparently was in agreeance that they would need to form a strong hold quickly and start recruiting from other tutorials as soon as possible.
The first fighters were called and it was announced that Viv would be fighting Peter, which left him alone with Li in the waiting area, once they were alone an uncomfortable silence settled over them.
“It was unexpected, just how far the major factions went when you rejected them. It was quite the talk, most expected them to be angry after you said what you did, but to sentence you to death, to encourage everyone to kill you, it was a shock.” Li said into the silent room. She wasn’t looking at him and hadn’t said it, but what she really meant was that they now fully understood why they had done what they did, splitting up and acting as if they hated each other.
“I knew they would be furious, I even expected them to go as far as pitting people against me, but to offer the person that killed me a spot in one of their factions? I didn’t expect them to go that far. Still, all anyone can do is attack me, I am ready for it. They have no other way to hurt me except to come at me directly. No leverage they can use, no one to hold against me. People will come for me on Earth, but I will be ready for them, alone, but ready to fight.”
“I wont hold back in this fight, I am going to throw everything I have at you.” The change in topic threw him for a second, but they had both said what they needed to in their own say regarding what had occurred before this.
“I look forward to it. Although you may not like my new friends.” Shaun couldn’t help but laugh at the confused look on Li’s face when he said that he had a new friend, she had no idea what he was talking about, especially as these fights were one on one.
Shortly after they had finished talking Viv and Peter both stumbled back into the waiting room, both looking like they had taken a beating. “Looks like I will be fighting one of you tomorrow.” Viv said to both him and Li. “Good luck Li, lets show everyone what us woman are capable of.”
Both Shaun and Li moved into the arena after that, both ready to get the fight started. He had to admit that he was happy for Viv, he had been hoping she would win, not so that he could fight her but so that she would make it into the final round.
“This fight will decide who goes into the finals tomorrow, one of these two humans will get the chance to fight Vivenne Grace and see if they have what it takes to be crowned champion! But who will it be? Li Al Sal has proven herself a capable fighter, one not to be underestimated. Will she beat the rejecter Shaun? Will she be the one to take his life and be offered a position in one of the major factions? We are about to find out!” Dijuan’s speech did what it was supposed to and got the crowd riled up. “Let the fight begin!”
Neither Shaun nor Li made a move for a moment, both staring each other down waiting for someone to make the first move. Shaun decided to do just that. “So, you ready to meet one of my friends?” he yelled this loud enough that everyone could hear him, not just Li. The moment he spoke Li tried to take the advantage and three concussive blasts at him, each with enough power that he almost lost his footing. It was too late though, he had already sacrificed 5000 of his mana and summoned Spike, the name he had given his flame hound. No killing Spike, wear her down, cause some injuries, but no killing okay? As he communicated with his summoned creature he felt the agreement with it and gave it a head rub before he let it go.
The moment the hound appeared the reaction from everyone watching was rather comical to him, he heard shouting that he was cheating for using a summoned creature and others yelling about how it shouldn’t be possible at his grade. However he knew he wasn’t cheating, it was a skill and the hound was apart of him so technically it was still allowed. He hadn’t brought anyone in with him and the system had not given any notifications of him cheating.
The best reaction though was from Li, she looked from Shaun to the approaching hound trying to figure out who she should be fighting, the hound, at 5000 mana was even more impressive than at 1000. It had grown horns that curved around its head, wherever it stood it burned the ground and it even emitted a heat that would be near unbearable for anyone that didn’t have some resistance to fire. It may have been over kill to put so much mana into the summons but he wanted to show just how capable the summons was, another warning to those watching. “Spike.” He said to the hound, who tilted its head back at him, “Attack.”
The moment he gave the order, making sure that it knew that it wasn’t to kill, it pounced at Li who put up a shield of magic in front of it. It only took 2 swipes for the hound to break it and continue and during that time Li had sent several attacks at it that barely did any damage to the overall amount of mana he had used in the summons. The fight started to follow a routine of sorts, Li would throw up a shield and send out attacks and Spike would continue to destroy them and close the distance to Li. He knew that Li would start to run out of mana after a while and would need to change things up before she was left with nothing to attack with, and he had been right. When she put up her next shield, instead of attacking the hound she attempted to attack Shaun directly. He saw it coming and simply shifted into the air for a few seconds to dodge her attack, glad that he did as where Li’s attack landed left a crater in the arena. It had been one of the strongest magical attacks he had seen from anyone in the tutorial and he was impressed by the output she was capable of. It had cost her though, she looked visibly drained after it, like she had used nearly all her remaining mana in the attack.
It had also been her biggest mistake in the fight. The hadn’t gained nay distance from the hound and when it broke through her shield it was on her in less than a second. Li didn’t have time to summon a shield and she was taken to the ground by a swipe from the hound, inflicting both physical and magical damage. Spike stood over her on the ground and growled menacing right in her face. Shaun took this opportunity to slowly walk up to her, and when he reached Spike’s side gave him a rub on the back. “Who’s a good boy? You are Spike.” The hound loved the affection, and the menacing growl changed instantly to a quite bark, its long pointed tail wagging behind it. He looked down at Li, who was looking between him and Spike like they were both insane. “Do you concede? Or do you want to see Spike here go all out?” Spike timed his growl at Li perfectly, leaving no room for anything but a concession.
“I concede.” Li said, barely loud enough to be heard, not wanting to make any sudden loud noices with Spike still standing over her.
*Round 9 Winner declared as Shaun Clermont*
5,486,012 TE awarded to winner for beating opponent in two on one battle. You may now leave the arena.
He felt bad, having taken half of her TE like that, but he didn’t really have much of a choice, it was done automatically as soon as he won the battle. He gave Spike a final pat on the head before finishing the ability and sending it away. He didn’t wait in the arena any longer and just walked out, leaving Dijaun speaking to the crowd as he went. He had no interest in hearing the Jinn speak, and he also wanted to get out before he was forced into some conversation with the reps. Tomorrow he would fight Viv, the final fight he had left in the tutorial, and after it would be time to go home, back to Earth.
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Viv, Eric and Gabe had all been waiting for Li to finish her fight, they knew that Shaun would be the one to win, but they also knew that losing a fight, even knowing it was going to happen before the fight even began, was a hard thing to go through.
They first saw Shaun leave the arena, he didn’t have a scratch on him and walked in the direction of his room without even looking their way, It still stung, seeing him around and not being able to speak to him, but after what had happened with the reps, the proclamation that he would be hunted down and killed, the hate that was sent his way, it finally sunk in just how much danger they would have been in if they were still close to him in the public eye.
When Li finally appeared she looked as pale as a ghost, she didn’t look to hurt, just a scratch from what looked like a monster, but the look on her face said that what happened in the arena was more than just a simple sword fight like Eric got.
“You don’t look great Li, what happened in there?” Viv was the first to meet her and gave her a hug, trying to comfort the small woman who looked close to crying.
“God, he is terrifying to fight and I didn’t even really fight him!” Li whispered into Viv’s shoulder, hugging her back so hard that if Viv wasn’t as strong as she was, she would have suffocated.
“I don’t understand, what do you mean you didn’t really fight him?” Viv pulled Li along walking back to her own room with the others following. Li didn’t speak again until they were safely inside, and the moment they were Li pulled herself into a ball on the couch.
“I think he has a new skill, or some weird item. It felt more like a skill though. He summoned some creature, some kind of fire dog, or something. It was terrifying, I threw everything I had at it and it broke through my shield like they were paper! It stood above me and I swear it would kill me with a single bite!” Li was getting more worked up as she spoke, barely holding it together. “And Shaun, he was patting it! He called it Spike! Like a pet! That dog was more powerful than any monster we have fought and it was his pet! It scratched me, once, but I knew that if Shuan wanted it to it would have torn me to pieces in seconds.”
There was a few moments of silence while they all processed what Li had said, The more Li spoke the more Viv was coming to the same conclusion, she had no hope of winning tomorrow and there was no way that Shaun could throw the match to let her win without the reps setting their sights on her as a potential way to get to him. They had all witnessed how brutal they were, especially when it came to Shaun. When she had witnessed everything that went down at that meeting she had been scared for him, but she was even more relieved that he had seen it coming and forced them all to cut ties before it had gotten to the point where they would be included as targets of the reps.
“Nothing has changed, we need to continue to prepare for the tutorial to end, Viv will fight Shaun tomorrow but after that we have to keep focused 100% on gaining back our TE and getting stronger. We need to continue coordinating our plan for Earth as well.” Li took a deep breath and stood from the couch. “Shaun could have killed me today, but he didn’t, we knew he wouldn’t. I was barely hurt in there and I think he did what he did with the creature on purpose. Not to scare me but to send a message to everyone else. He won’t go down easily on Earth, no matter what the reps try, and with the new skill, he is no longer alone.”
Comments
Jayhester12
Thank you for the chapter it was amazing!
