Dysfunctional - An Assassin's Guide to Reincarnating in Another World

Chapter 16 - End Of Round One

"Good luck out there man!" Exclaimed Rai, as I began heading for the arena.

"Oh, uh...thanks."

"If you don't win, you'll be the only one out of the three of us who got eliminated in the first round. That'd be pretty embarrassing!" Winked Persia teasingly.

"Wow, thanks for the thoughtful encouragement," I replied sarcastically, before heading for the arena.

My opponent was already there.

It was a pretty strange experience, to be surrounded by a large crowd and having all their eyes on me. As an assassin, all my jobs involved taking out targets without being spotted, so now with the complete opposite; fighting in front of a large crowd, I was feeling slightly overwhelmed.

"There sure are a lot of first years in this tournament. I'm afraid it's not your lucky day, kid. I rank in the top forty at the Academy, my name is-!"

"Don't bother, I won't remember it. Let's get this over with, I doubt you'll be a challenge for me," I interrupted, giving him a look of disinterest.

I had no intention of underestimating this guy, but a riled up opponent tends to leave a lot more openings, make irrational decisions and was just easier to deal with than a calm and collected one.

"Tsk, cocky little shit! I'll show you!"

The barrier activated around us. I placed my left hand on my dagger and got ready to trigger Lightning Boost.

"Ready...FIGHT!"

My opponent charged up lightning in his hands and began firing a barrage of lightning bolts immediately. His firepower was pretty impressive, each bolt that he fired had enough intensity to really scorch your skin off upon impact.

However, I could still dodge his attacks pretty easily in my normal state. They may be powerful, but they were slower than normal lightning blasts.

Three bolts were homing in on me, I sidestepped out of the way of the first one, jumped to avoid the second one, and twisted my body in midair to dodge the third one.

"Not bad, kid. But try and dodge...this!"

He suddenly fired a massive barrage of lightning bolts towards me, like a giant flock of birds swooping down on their prey. Crap, if I knew he had this kind of firepower, I wouldn't have riled him up and instead would have used Lightning Boost and gone for the kill right from the very beginning.

Okay, so maybe I ended up kinda underestimating him after all.

Dodging all this would be...tough.

I activated Lightning Boost, streaming a bit extra into my eyes to give myself more reaction time.

I needed to be fully focused right now, so...I'll let my bloodlust take over.

Since coming to this world, this was only the second time I had fully immersed myself in this state, after that time down in the Goblin maze. Block out everything else, forget about the barrier and the audience, just focus on the fight.

Focus on...killing my opponent.

With my reaction time enhanced, I perceived my surroundings in a slow-motion like state, as I took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. The lightning bolts slowly crept closer and closer, as I felt my mind clear and a dark sense of calm filled my body.

There were hardly any gaps to slip through in the oncoming barrage, but...it wouldn't be a problem.

I slipped past the first few bolts, maneuvering across the arena floor as dozens of powerful electric streaks zoned in on me.