*Narration*
The two combatants stared at each other, they both know what they have to do.
The rules were explained to everyone who was participating when they drew lots.
You can win by either knock-out, or if the opponent surrenders. And since a level five adventurers are a commodity and valuable assets, a no killing rule is applied, but if an event where an unfortunate accident may happen, the god of the adventurer who killed the other is to pay compensation equal to the value of the slain adventurer to the other party.
The participants understood the risk of this tournament, after all, you can't necessarily hold yourself back in the heat of battle.
With Ganesha giving the signal to start, Ilta rushed at blinding speed towards the pallum, her strategy was simple and straight forward.
Attack.
This caught Loch off-guard, he didn't expect this type of rough approach from a level 5, he hastily tried to intercept her by throwing multiple daggers towards the rushing red head.
With a smirk Ilta raised her gauntlet covered hands and continued to dive straight at Loch.
'An assassin is only effective when you don't see them coming.' She thought to herself, she's already convinced of her own victory.
"Taste my FIST!" The air gave way as Ilta brought her fist down towards Loch... But her fist hit nothing.
Because there was nothing there.
The pallum who was now missing. Ilta's eyes widened at this. 'An illusion? No. He was there when I charged.' her mind raced for answers.
Ilta's hair stood as alarm bells started ringing in her head. At the corner of her eyes she saw a dagger heading straight at her.
*CLINK*
The sound of metal hitting metal covered her ear as with her reflexes she was able to block the incoming strike.
Loch saw this and turned mid air using his other hand to launch another attack. Ilta was unable to block this one, so she moved her head out of the way.
Loch dagger grazed her cheeks drawing blood, he then kicked the red-head on the abdomen in order to create space. He wasn't stupid, he knows that he stood little to no chance in a face to face confrontation against a fighter who specialized in that style of fighting. He is an assassin, and he will fight as such, using his speed and agility to his advantage while using hit and run tactics.
Ilta tried to counter with a powerful right hook but Loch was already far away from her, she saw landing on the ground and with a burst of speed the pallum rushed again.
When he was only a few more steps away from Ilta, he threw multiple daggers. The red-head smirked, she viewed the projectiles as an annoyance and they were never a threat to her.
She smacked the daggers off the air, her gauntlets clinking as it hit metals.
*Schlap*
Ilta's eyes went wide as she felt a sharp pain on her left shoulder, she looked at it and saw a dagger embedded in it as blood seeps on her clothes.
'How? I blocked everything.' she asked herself, but she has no time to think of an answer as she senses danger coming from her right side.
In her peripheral she saw another dagger heading straight for her neck, this time the dagger was filled with mana and would do significant damage if she was even grazed by it, she was startled by this and hurriedly weave mana into her gauntlet in an attempt to block the attack.
The two weapons met, sparks flew as two weapons filled with mana collided, Loch grimaced as he felt his arm going numb from the impact.
'Fuck! How strong can you be?' He was sent flying up in the air from Ilta's superior force and strength.
Ilta followed him up, the stage cracked as she charged mana on her feet and with a loud thud she jumped up.
Her gauntlets glow a red shine, like hot fire, she aims her fist towards the assassin.
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"It's over." August spoke as he watched the match from the stands. There was no way for Loch to dodge and by the looks of it Ilta is going for the win with her attack.
Almost all the people watching felt the same way, this fight was over. Everyone was convinced in Ilta's victory.
Even the gods were convinced in the red-head's victory, that they started talking about the next match on the card.
"Well old friend, your child had a good run." Thoth who was sitting besides Anubis started to console his friend. Even he believed in Ilta's victory.
Everyone in the arena was now ready for the next match... Well everyone except Anubis and his familia.
The god wearing a jackal mask smiled at Thoth revealing his canine teeth. He then answered. "Oh... I wouldn't be so sure about that."
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Ilta was in front of Loch in the air, she brought her fist down straight to his face. The pallum couldn't possibly dodge mid air, and blocking would be just prolonging the inevitable since Ilta was so much stronger than him in regards to strength. Right now his best weapon which is his speed was sealed the moment his feet left the ground.
As the punch connected the crowd gasp, Ilta's fist penetrated straight through Loch head.
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"She killed him!"
"Gods!"
"Holy shit!"
The crowd was on turmoil as they saw Ilta's fist drilling a hole on the pallums head, there was no way that he was still alive after that.
At the crowd of panicking people, Mashima Toga was smiling ear to ear. 'Well that's annoying to deal with.' he thought to himself.
Denki just saw someone punching a hole in another one's head. Right now he was in turmoil. "S-she killed him." Denki spoke looking at his captain.
"..." August didn't answer, instead he was sweating bullets as his eyes were glued at the stage. 'I want to fight him.' he right now had his whole focus on the match.
Froke on the other hand looked pale, she was on the verge of vomiting at the gruesome sight.
But the one most affected out of all the people was Ilta.
Not because of the hit, no, right now, on her fist, she can feel nothing.
The punch which should have finished the match hit nothing, her eyes went wide at that. The crowd gasps again as Loch's body slowly turns into a black mist. (Imagine Nura's power in Nurarihyon no mago.) she then felt a tug on her right leg.
She looked down and saw Loch standing in the middle of the stage, his hand holding something, as the light of the sun shone bright it revealed a metal strings that was tied on Ilta's right leg.
"Shit!" Ilta could only curse at the sight. She didn't know anything about his ability which made her take him for granted as just another assassin.
Even more so since Loch Rojo was a mystery to everyone since Anubis familia was just a small familia in Orario, with only 4 members so not much is known about him.
She got arrogant by this fact, she underestimated her opponent.
With a smirk on his face Loch pulled down yanking the red-head to the ground and slamming her hard.
That knocked the wind out of her as her body bounced at the hard floor of the stage.
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Anubis who was watching along with the other gods had a huge smile on his face. He was proud of his child and right now everyone will know his name.
Denki was flabbergasted, he really thought that he saw the end of the fight, he never expected that to happen. He looked at his captain and saw that vicious smile he had whenever he was excited. "Did you saw that?" he asked.
August answered. "No... I have to apologize to that guy, he had proven me wrong."
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Ilta had no time to rest, she had received significant damage, she tried to stand but found it hard to do so. Loch had tied the string right at the joint of her ankle, when he tugged the string hard he broke her ankle, effectively taking away its use.
And she didn't have the luxury to asses the full damage on her body as she saw the pallum going in for the finish.
Gritting her teeth she willed herself to stand as she prepared herself to exchange blows with the assassin.
But even when injured Loch didn't take her lightly, he moved towards her right side, towards her injured side making her a tad bit slow on reacting to the attack as putting her weight on her bum ankle cause her so much pain.
Multiple cuts appeared on her body as Loch keeps going right. She couldn't keep up with his speed, even more so because of her injury.
'I need to hold on.' she thought to herself.
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The other fighters saw Ilta fighting defensively, trying as much as she can to avoid a lethal blow that may stop the fight in favor of Loch.
'She's waiting for something.' everyone of them realized it, she was waiting for her ankle to go numb up. And when it does, she will be able to use it to a minimum extent.
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And if everyone realized it, Loch who was fighting her surely did so as well.
'I'll end this before that happens!' he turned the tempo up even more, he's moving blurry to the eyes of the average mortal, even to some adventurers he was moving so blindingly fast for them to see.
And with every move, a new cut appears on Ilta's body making her lose more blood. Yet she was still holding on, avoiding the strikes that would surely send her down.
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Shakti was watching on the sideline, she clenched her fist at sight of her friend being riddled with wounds as she bleed all over.
"Ilta..." she called her name softly, she wanted her to go down, she wanted the punishment to end. But deep down, she knew that her friend would fight to the end.
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The crowd was amazed by her resilience that they started to cheer for her, they admired her guts, her determination, and her fire to win.
They can see it in her eyes, she refuses to lose.
"Go the fuck down!!!" Loch was getting frustrated at the red-head. He charged his dagger with mana making it glow a dark purple hue. He ran straight towards her.
Amidst his frustration he committed a grave mistake, a rookie one for an assassin to make, and it was never to charge head on.
Ilta saw this and smiled. Finally he was right in front of her.
With a burst of her own mana she stomped her right foot to the ground, an audible crack was heard making the crowd wince in pain, her foot broke completely but she didn't care, this was her chance, and she knew that this was the only one she'll get. Even if her right ankle completely numbed up, she knew that she still couldn't keep up with his speed and with that magic of his that seemingly made him vanish out of thin air.
She will stake everything on this chance, the air suddenly grew a few degrees hotter as her fist glowed a fiery radiant red.
Loch's eyes widened at this, he realized his mistake, he should have stuck with his plan, but he got frustrated and he rushed it.
An assassin should always keep their emotions in check, yet he broke that rule as well as charging head first towards the enemy.
And her timing was perfect. He has no way to dodge it, and he can't use his magic to get out of this situation. He needed to concentrate for that, to focus, and right now, he didn't have the time or the luxury for it.
Seeing no other way than to face it head on, Loch willed every speck of mana in his body towards his weapon. "ARGHHH!!!" He released a feral scream.
Ilta smiled at this development, this was her specialty, a head on confrontation. She even earned her alias because of this.
This sort of wild confrontation made her the fighter that she was, and she marveled at these moments. "BRING IT ON!!!" She answered with a roar of her own.
The two made their mana run wild as it clashed right down the middle, as purple meets red, their mana battled for dominance.
The crowd was completely mesmerized by the two fighters, they were giving it their all.
August eyes were focused on the two. "Amazing!" he couldn't help but mutter at the two. 'this will be close.' he couldn't tell who would win.
Dagger vs Gauntlet, speed vs timing, it was too close to tell. But everyone here knew. This was the moment of truth.
Whoever lands first will win.
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***
Chapter 49 is done now, how do you guys like the story so far?
Please leave a comment, a review and feedback so I can improve on writing this fanfic. every little thing helps as it allows me to see your preference on things and would help me write a better fanfic for you all to enjoy.
thanks for picking up this fanfic. hope you guys like it.
good day, love y'all.