"Alright, my turn at last," I remarked, standing up and stretching a bit, before heading out.

"Good luck, dude!" Called out Sakura as I left.

​​

Katie gave me a thumbs up as I glanced back, though it was kinda funny since her face was back to blank, having regained some of her energy. I nodded in reply, as I left the waiting room and headed for the arena.

My opponent arrived as I did, he and I entering the arena and taking our places, the announcer being too loud as always, before the Duel Field barrier activated around us and the countdown began.

", ," Chanted my opponent, manifesting two red XFE weapons in his hands, before turning his gaze to me with a smirk, "Gotta say, kid, mad props on making it this far, but the road ends here for ya!"

Oh? No snarky comments about me not being a Prodigy? I can respect that...though I gotta say, what's with his manifestations, those weapons give off some serious serial killer vibes. I mean, his Primary Manifestation is a cleaver, seriously? Higurashi, anyone?

Well, whatever, from what I've seen of him in his previous matches, he's got some decent skill, so I shouldn't underestimate him. That said, I highly doubt that he'd be able to actually defeat me, so yeah...

"Bring it," I replied, as I drew out my X-Blade handles and activated them.

The moment the countdown reached zero, I swiftly took aim and fired a shot from one of my X-Blasters, targeting his head. And a second later, he was outside the Duel Field barrier, a confused and bewildered look on his face, which quickly turned to shocked anger, as the crowd began cheering and he realized what just happened.

Prodigies have way better reaction time than regular people do, dodging a bullet is likely about the same level of difficulty as dodgeball is for normal humans...but my custom made X-Blasters' output was set to sniping mode, which is way faster than what any standard issue gun can manage, so the bullet reached him before he could even react.

But it's not gonna be that easy again..this time he'll know what to expect, and that makes a huge difference, the element of surprise is all used up, so I doubt it'll be that easy to hit him again. After all, a target that knows that they're being targeted is a lot harder to hit than a target that doesn't know that they're being targeted. Especially if that target can see where they're being targeted from and see it coming.

No matter, this should still be an easy win for me. As he re-entered the barrier and took his place, I tauntingly took aim as soon as the countdown began, earning a spiteful scowl from him, as he positioned his manifested weapons in front of himself...looks like he intends to deflect my shots. That's probably not impossible, but I'm willing to bet that it's insanely hard.

I'll give him props for having the balls to even consider that option...but I highly doubt that he can pull it off. The countdown then reached three...two...one!

The second it hit zero, I fired out a barrage of shots from my X-Blasters at him, he responded by sprinting straight towards me and deflecting my bullets with his cleaver and knife manifestations, while also moving in zig zag and random patterns.

His agility is pretty good, and he's deflecting my shots quite well, I'm impressed...but since my output is currently set to sniping mode, right now, it's set at its fastest and most penetrative setting. So while he was managing to deflect the bullets that were aimed straight at him, as well as evade some of the bullets that he couldn't deflect, any that do strike him will do some serious damage.

So far, I've only managed to graze him, but the closer he gets to me, the harder it's going to get for him to keep dodging my attacks, and with each one of my shots that land, his movements and focus are going to get sloppier and sloppier until he drops from the poisoning caused by my Dark Attribute.

Anyone who doesn't have a proper defense against my shooting is no threat to me whatsoever...and on cue, right as my opponent reached me, having been grazed by several of my shots, with a couple having pierced his right shoulder and left elbow, his eyes glossed over and he fell forward with a weak groan.

I stepped off to the left to avoid him falling onto me, as he collapsed on his front onto the ground, having failed to so much as lay a finger on me. He struggled hard just to get close to me...and by the time he managed that, I'd already inflicted enough cumulative minor damage to rack up my third win and move on to the quarter final round.

As I headed back from the arena, the crowd applauded again...though I'd noticed that whenever I won, the cheers from the crowd were a bit more scattered than with all the other fights. I'm guessing that some people, probably Prodigies, are unwilling to cheer for someone whom they think is a regular Paragon since that'd hurt their pride.

Well, whatever, I've never cared about public opinion and I doubt that I ever will. I mean, sure, I guess having fans or whatever might be cool and kinda flattering, but at the same time, not having them doesn't bother me in the slightest or anything, so yeah.

I returned to the waiting room and opened the door, before walking in and shutting the door behind me. Alright, I've officially made it into the final eight, things are going pretty well so far, if I do say so myself.

"That was so comprehensive, I kinda feel bad for that guy, he didn't stop trying till he literally passed out," Remarked Sakura, as I say back down.

"I'd feel really bad if I put in that much effort and lost so one-sidedly," Agreed Katie.

I mean, if I really wanted to, I could have won that fight in an even more one-sided manner...could've used my Square Blaster, or frozen time, or used Cut on his head-...actually, no, scratch that last one.

I don't know whether the Duel Field can respond to that and teleport my opponent out before they lose their head...in fact, I highly doubt that it would respond at all. Because even if it did, once I've recited the activation chant, there's no stopping the effect.

Ohh, I could have formed a couple of clones and had all of them fire along with me...though they don't last long if I have them use their XFE, since they only have the same amount that I use to create them, which is about five percent of my total XFE capacity. They also disappear if they sustain a certain amount of damage, or if I simply undo them, which restores any leftover XFE that was fueling the clones.

But so far, none of the opponents I've gone up against in the first three rounds were strong enough to force me to resort to my Anomaly powers,

"Well, anyway, that just leaves you, Sakura...you're the only one of us who hasn't yet made it to the quarter-final round. Think you're up for it?" I inquired with a smirk.

"Hmph, of course I am! You know what I can do, if my opponent has a more powerful manifestation, I'll just copy and improve it by fusing it with another manifestation I've copied and boom, I win," She declared confidently.

"What if it's a manifestation that costs more XFE than you can handle?" I pointed out with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, uh..."

"Can you copy Manifestation Overdrives?" Inquired Katie curiously.

"I don't know, but assuming I could, I doubt I can handle the amount of XFE it takes...I mean, you're a Prodigy and even you were completely and utterly drained after using it for just a handful of seconds," Pointed out Sakura.

"What if you-?" I began to ask.

"Not taking any more questions, at this rate I might end up giving away details about my powers that I'd rather keep to myself, you know?" She interrupted slyly.

Tch, that's exactly what I was going for, I was probing to see if she'd unlocked any new powers like I had...but guess she's smarter than that, huh. Oh, well, it was worth a try, I suppose.

"Hey, if we both make it to the final, do you think you would use your Anomaly powers against me?" Katie asked me, watching me closely as she waited for me to answer.

"If you use your Manifestation Overdrive, then yeah, I'd have no choice," I replied honestly.

"Hm...yeah, I guess that's true."

Well, doesn't matter right now, I don't have to worry about the final till I get through the quarter and semi-final rounds...which I fully intend to do...

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