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Signboard on a merchant's stall outside the arena

People were packing into the main hall of the central arena. They formed tiny knots around the fighters they were supporting. Many were shaking hands, asking for autographs, and giving small gifts to their idols. The fans that were well off had data orbs to record an image of them posing with the more famous fighters.

Aya spotted a few people carrying baskets and quickly guessed who they were looking for. He had a busy morning and had nothing to eat. There was no way he’s going to deal with them. He quickly navigated the sea of people to avoid them, moving like a snake slithering through thick underbrush.

Making his way through the crowds, Aya kept imagining what food he was going to eat. It was more out of boredom than out of hunger that he wanted to eat. He also found that he could think more clearly if he was chewing something and tasting something in his mouth.

He only hoped that there was food left. He was late for lunch since he had some errands inside the city hospital and, afterward, he stopped by the villa of the Dolsworth students to drop off the Dragon’s Heart. He had to leave it somewhere because he wanted to eat in the arena before his first match.

He was sure that Five would not attempt to do anything stupid while he was away. The safest place for a demon spirit inside the city of Krysperium would be inside the orb. If Five dared to go out and possess someone, it would be exorcised and promptly exterminated, especially since Krysperium had the greatest concentration of priests in the empire.

It was actually quite ironic that demon spirits were living inside the orb while it was kept inside the Church’s sacred vault. Denouncing corrupted spirits while they were housing a few of them- these priests were quite funny, Aya thought.

The one that possessed the crazy assassin surely came from the orb. It probably escaped while they were using the orb to go void children hunting. The crazy assassin, having an unstable mind, was an easy target. The demon spirit most likely chose to hide itself in the assassin’s blade to avoid outright detection while slowly influencing its target and nipping away at the edges of his sanity. That might be the reason why he was somewhat insane even before he was possessed.

“Heh. Those people didn’t even know they were working with someone who’s getting slowly possessed,” Aya said while shaking his head.

Another thing that surprised Aya was that there was no hint whatsoever that the Church of the Dragon was searching for the Dragon’s Heart. He ratiocinated that the Church does not want to be embarrassed by having a relic stolen right from under their noses while a “miracle” was happening.

They kept mum about the robbery while spreading the story of the miracle far and wide. Miracles, even rumors of one, would boost the following of the Church. Losing a relic, on the other hand, was just bad publicity. Aya thought that they made the right decision. If they released the news that the relic connected to the First Dragon Emperor was lost, the public outrage would diminish the impact of the news about a miracle happening. Losing the orb that the Emperor used to win the war? There would be riots for sure.

It might be the case that the public would even doubt the authenticity of the miracle if a robbery occurred on the same day. They would think that the robbers faked the miracle as a distraction for the deed that they were doing.

Which wasn’t far from the truth. He did use the miracle as a distraction.

The miracle was also real. It’s just that it wasn’t really a miracle.

But the people thought it was. So that’s that.

Aya shrugged while thinking that he certainly made a lot of the pilgrims happy with the miracle. “That’s a good thing. I guess.”

He finally arrived at the mess hall. But his face fell at what he saw.

There was barely any food left on the long tables inside.

Nearly a couple of hundred fighters were inside, finishing the scraps of what appears to have been a sumptuous feast.

The kitchens of the arena gave their best efforts in supplying food for the few hundred fighters that were participating, as evidenced by the towering piles of empty plates, but the massive appetites of the warriors ensured the demolition of any amount of feast that they could have prepared.

He punched himself inside his head for being late. Normally, he was already inside the mess hall before the food was served.

It was a truly sad sight to behold.

Aya strode over the long tables and reached out for the few pieces of bread that were left on a large platter. He voraciously devoured them and moved on.

There were a couple of small fish sticks left on the next plate. He plopped them in his mouth.

A couple of muffins. A cinnamon roll. Three tiny triangle sandwiches.

He was systematically cleaning the last pieces of food on the plates that he could find.

Some of the warriors noticed what he was doing and began to talk amongst themselves. An old mage twisted his nose in disgust and went out of the hall. A beastmaster sitting atop her tahlran snickered behind her flagon of ale. Beside her was a lady mage carrying an expensive looking staff. She just gave Aya a look of pity. A group of young men in dashing high-quality armor sneered at him as they passed him.

Aya just went on foraging, paying them no mind at all. Free food was free food. No riches in the world could buy free food.

He came upon a platter of roasted vegetables. He paused while reaching out to try one. Only half of the platter was consumed. Obviously, it wasn’t a popular dish among the participants, a majority of which was composed by burly and tough looking warriors.

“Hmmm. I doubt I’ll get sick so I think it’s fine if I skip out on my veggies,” Aya said while withdrawing his hand. “Are there any pieces of meat left?”

Scanning the rest of the mess hall, he found a platter with a big juicy roasted thigh of some kind of fowl. It was on a long table at the other side of the hall. He walked briskly towards it with a happy expression on his face.

His journey towards his goal did not go unnoticed by the participants inside the mess hall. Some of them were cheering for him while others gave him a clap. A group of rough looking muscular warriors openly laughed at him while swinging their great mugs of beer.

Aya was nearing his coveted piece of meat when a giant of a man stepped in front of the table, blocking his goal.

“You wanted this piece? I wanted it as well,” the colossal man said. “I’m closer. Looks like I’m the one who gets it.” He took the large piece of meat and bit of a large chunk. He chewed noisily while looking at Aya. The large piece of meat disappeared so quickly it was as if the large man was drinking it.

The man’s face was covered by a wild growth of dark brown beard. A long, fierce, mane of hair run down his scalp. He would not look out of place in the company of barbarians except that he wore a very elegantly crafted armor. A white armor that looked familiar to Aya. It was designed to look like dragon scales covering the body. Where has he seen this before?

The man was licking the large bone. It was all that what was left of the meat that Aya wanted. He dangled the bone in front of Aya and said, “This one is for pipsqueaks. I’m larger so I get all the meat. Sounds fair right?” He threw back his head and laughed.

Everyone in the mess hall waited to see what the black robed man would do.

“Um…excuse me,” Aya called out loudly, while looking around the hall. “Are the guards here? I think they must be informed that one of the beasts for the taming competition has escaped its cage.” Aya turned around and resumed his search for more food.

The large man in white armor followed Aya. “So, you must be the BasketSlayer? Such a scary name. How many baskets have you slain?” The man laughed wildly at his own joke while keeping his eyes on Aya.

Aya was popping into his mouth several breadballs that had a sweet filling inside them. He ignored the man following him while examining the rest of the fighters. Some of them were laughing along with the white armored man. Others had annoyed expressions on their faces. Most of them just turned away and minded their own business.

“I heard you killed off a demon spirit all on your own? Load of crap, I say! I bet the city guards fought against it and you just dealt the final blow.”

“Oh, you could speak like a human. I thought they don’t use beasts with a certain level intelligence for the taming contest,” Aya said with a fishtail sticking out of his mouth.

The large man was smiling broadly at Aya although the latter was taunting him. “You’re acting big now, huh? You’re just a rookie from some foreign kingdom. Probably a penniless traveling warrior. Now that you struck a demon spirit with the help of the brave city guards you’re acting like you’re some kind of big shot heavyweight.”

Well, he got the penniless warrior part right, Aya thought while laughing inwardly.

“So you’re just going to turn your back? I thought that you were a strong fighter. Hmmm…it seems that all of those stories about you exorcising a demon spirit with one blow are just that. Stories.”

“There are really certain ethical considerations when taming beasts that can talk. I wonder why they captured this one,” Aya asked a couple of leather armored fighters who were near him. The two looked at each other, unsure of how to act.

Based on the reactions of the people around, Aya surmised that the giant warrior following him was somewhat famous, or infamous. At the least, he must be a strong warrior with some influence. The other participants were rather hesitant to speak up and tell him off for bullying a poor basket carrying warrior from the faraway kingdom of Roghinia.

“I have fought against demon spirits, so I know what it takes to kill one. ‘Bout a couple of dozen by my last count. And you, BasketSlayer, does not have what it takes.” He stooped low to Aya’s eye level and stared at him. “BasketSlayer. What kind of stupid name is that.”

Aya walked away. “Ah, I get it! It’s because this one is more intelligent than the other beasts that he was why able to escape his cage,” he exclaimed for the entire hall to hear.

The silence of the hall was peppered by a few nervous laughter.

The white armored man’s eye twitched slightly but he maintained his broad smile. He went over to the next long table where Aya was eating the last two sticks of pigminimy barbecue. He slammed his fist down on the platter, imprinting the form of his massive knuckles on the silverware.

“Do you know who I am?” The man snarled menacingly at Aya.

Aya was smiling while eating the pigminimy meat. Thank goodness there were two left! It barely satisfied his craving for meat. He could use the meager allowance that Emelie gives him to buy some meat after his fight. Wait! If he won the next fight then he will be rewarded with some money! He almost forgot about that.

The remaining food was fine anyway. He had no qualms about eating what was left. The problem was there was an entity of annoyance that was following him. Aya faced the large armored man behind him. “No. I do not know your name. Are you a named beast? You should carry a name tag around.”

“I see you like to tell jokes. Is that why you carry around a stupid basket?” He looked down on Aya and said, “Maurice is my name. Maurice Clayton! Remember it well foreigner. I'm a member of the Draconyx Discipulus. Zealots of the Dragon Emperor Krystfallen! Fervent warriors of the Church.”

“Hi, Maurice. Kind of weird name for a beast.”

“Be honored for knowing my name!”

“Do I get an award for knowing your name?”

Maurice picked up the deformed platter, easily folded it in half, then folded it again, and again. He threw the thrice-folded platter on the table. “People like you who don’t even know honor does not deserve to know my name.”

Aya picked up the piece of metal that was once a platter and unfolded it slowly. The creaking metal echoed through the hall. All of the people were watching them. He set down the platter that he fixed and dusted it off a bit. Looking up at the menacing man, he asked, “So why did you tell me your name?”

The barbarian lookalike seemed like he was stopping himself from exploding. He deeply inhaled and said, “The extermination of corrupted spirits is one of my duties. I made a vow to the First Emperor that I will cleanse his empire of such anomalies. I fight them to show my devotion to Paximillon. Every vanquished demon spirit is my offering to His most Holy Name! Now, you on the other hand- Hey! Come back here!”

Aya had already moved on to the next table and came upon another platter with roasted vegetables. He narrowed his eyes while examining the platter. Should he eat this? He picked one and gingerly sniffed it before putting it inside his mouth.

Not bad, he thought. Not bad at all. He should eat his veggies.

“Hey, I’m not done with you yet, pipsqueak.” Maurice stomped his metal boots while walking towards Aya. “You better not spread around rumors that you can exorcise demon spirits in one blow.”

Eating one piece after the other, Aya was steadily finishing the rest of the roasted vegetables. His shoulders heaved slightly as he held back his laughter when he finally understood why the man who looked like a beast was following him and trying to pick a fight.

Aya finally remembered where he saw the white armor with dragon scale design. Guarding the vault of the Church were four men wearing the same armor.

When Maurice told him he was a warrior of the Church, Aya’s brain instantly raced, gauging if the man following him wanted to capture him, weighing his options of escaping or attacking and then escaping, and whether he should bring food with him while escaping. He also wondered how they found him or at least suspected him of being the robber of one of their most prized relics.

All that energy wasted in thinking and mapping out all possibilities when it turned out that Maurice just had an ego problem.

He understood why the man named Maurice was angry with him. Stories about a guy that could exorcise a demon spirit with one punch certainly made them look incompetent. Admittedly, keeping the soul of the possessed intact while ripping out the demon spirit was a lot of work. Given the advanced stage of possession of the crazy assassin, they would need several priests and a long ritual to untangle the demon. Aya on the other hand just had the advantage of his unique powers.

“I do not know what witchcraft you used to kill off that demon. Understand this, you tiny foreigner. We take care of demons here since this is our land!”

After checking the other platters and confirming that there was no more food left, he turned back his attention on the angry Maurice in front of him while picking some more roasted vegetables to eat. Should he make this man angrier? Should he push him some more? Maurice did take the piece of meat that he wanted. But picking a fight was wrong. He should make peace.

Aya tried to make a peace offering. “Do you want some roasted vegetables?” he said while holding the platter. “I’m not really sure if you’re a carnivorous beast or a herbivore so forgive my ignorance.” He smiled at Maurice to show that he meant well and that the latter should not feel threatened.

The part of Maurice’s face that wasn’t covered by facial hair turned red. He swatted away the platter and pulled back his arm to ready a punch.

But the punch never came.

A hand shot out between Aya and Maurice. “Woah. What’s happening here, Maurice?”

With an eyebrow raised, Aya turned to look at the person who spoke up. He did not sense this person come near him. An ally of Maurice? Was he being set up for a trap? It would be fun if the Church already has him in their sights.

“I apologize on behalf of my friend, fellow warrior. He’s a bit a grakkin’ hothead, you see,” the man said while giving Aya a slight bow.

He was a head taller than Aya but was still shorter than Maurice. He looked like he was in his early thirties and had a very friendly and charismatic face. A strong chin and fierce eyes that somehow managed to be amiable at the same time; he looked like someone born to lead an army. This guy was surely a popular person.

“My name is Garett.” He held out his hand and gave Aya a short but firm handshake. “I’ll just take my friend here away. I’m sorry if he had caused any inconvenience.”

Surprisingly, Maurice just followed Garett silently. Aya thought that Maurice would flare up and insist on fighting. Instead, he just kept quiet and walked away. Was Garett someone high ranking among the warriors of the Church? Why were they joining the tournament?

Aya remembered what the Fahllyrs told him. The government, especially the military, cannot join the tournament for obvious reasons. “I guess that doesn’t include them, huh.” He continued watching the backs of the two white armored warriors and noticed that the armor Garett was wearing was a different sort of white.

Aya whistled softly. “Grakking equipment. An elder dragon bone armor.”

Two hundred thousand strong, the crowds flooded the arena with their cheers as the first round of the tournament began. The trumpets sounded as eight warriors were paired off and teleported to their respective stages. High above the stages were countless data orbs projecting a close-up view of the exciting matches that was about to begin.

“Would you look at that,” Maurice said. Across him was his first opponent in the tournament.

A black-robed man with a basket.

The BasketSlayer.

Maurice sent a quick prayer to Paximillon. He thanked the God of all Existence for an opportunity to fight the man who was spreading lies about exorcising the demon spirit.

“Hey, I haven’t signed up yet for the beast-taming competition,” BasketSlayer said. “I think I’m in the wrong stage.”

If Garett had not been there to stop him in the mess hall, he would have squished this tiny man in front of him flat. Now they were on the stage to fight. No running from this one. No Garett to stop him. Maurice was calm. He wasn’t going to let himself get pulled in by the taunts of his opponent.

He assessed his surroundings. He had watched and participated in the previous tournaments for the last seven years so he knew what to expect. An open leveled field was in the middle where the fighters are teleported at the start. Several different terrains were incorporated into a wild mishmash surrounding the open field, making the stage look like another world. Rock formations, trees and foliage, dunes of sand, layers of snow, lava veins, a couple of geysers, there was even a lake at one side. All of these was put into place to ensure that all kinds of elemental essence of all variants and levels were available in abundance for the fighters to use.

But Maurice cared for none of those. The higher variants of life essence were all that he needed to fight and there was plenty of those in Krysperium as the city sat on top of the mana node. As for the different terrains, he was an experienced fighter, certainly more experienced than the BasketSlayer, so he knew how to take full advantage of his surroundings.

His fists were covered by heavy black gauntlets with thorns jutting out. Explosive runes were carved on the knuckles. It was his most favorite weapon to use. Nothing beats getting up close and personal, beating your opponent to a pulp.

Seeing that his opponent was just standing with no apparent plans of attacking, Maurice decided to make the first move. The ground he was standing on exploded as kicked off and rushed his adversary, fists held close to his chest.

Maurice swung his fists from above, gauntlet runes glowing, heading straight for the BasketSlayers’ head. Their eyes momentarily met before the BasketSlayer jumped back. Maurice missed and hit the ground excavating a deep hole with the explosion.

Dust obstructed his view but Maurice fine-tuned sense never lost track of his target. His fists cut the dust cloud as he continued to chase the BasketSlayer who kept on dodging.

Every swing of his mighty fist, waves of his force aura lashed out gouging the stage with deep gashes. As he slowly emitted more force aura, the BasketSlayer jumped back farther and farther to evade the backlash of energies. Maurice sneered as he noticed what his opponent was doing. No one can stand up trading blows with him. Those who dared take on one of his punches will be heavily punished by his force aura.

“Is running all that you can do?” It was his turn to taunt his opponent. He has seen this tactic before. Keeping their distance while waiting for an opening for a ranged attack, however, his opponents always failed in the end. According to some of the stories he heard, the BasketSlayer always evades in the beginning, then he counterattacks and wins with only one strike.

Maurice covered his head and his upper torso with the gauntlets while he chased after the BasketSlayer. The gauntlets extended past his wrists, with thick overlapping articulated metal, up to his elbows, terminating in a wicked spike. He was wary of any counterattack that his enemy might sneak in while he was raining his fists of destruction upon him.

Evading and retreating continuously, the BasketSlayer soon arrived at the edge of the flat part of the stage. The eyes of Maurice followed the BasketSlayer as the latter made a dash towards the terrain with the most obstructions, disappearing from view as he dove deep into the trees and rocks. He promptly followed his opponent.

He used his fists and arms to ram through several boulders and trees, never slowing down, closing on the BasketSlayer. The latter kept weaving through the trees and the rock formations that were growing out of the ground. Maurice rushed in a straight line, demolishing anything in his path.

His hands glowed as he charged the gauntlet. He swung them, letting lose explosive waves running to the left and the right of his opponent, hemming him in. Maurice then dug his heels to the ground, preparing to do a quick charge and follow where his opponent goes. The BasketSlayer can’t retreat sideways as the explosive waves Maurice let lose were churning up the landscape.

The eyes of Maurice glinted and his body glowed red. You’re dead, he thought. Once again, he charged at the BasketSlayer, this time with twice the speed and strength. His target had no choice but to keep running back. The charge of Maurice left several steaming craters and jagged cracks in his wake. He knew that the edge of the stage was near. He just had to keep pressing on until he corners the BasketSlayer.

Maurice kept on releasing explosive waves to box in the BasketSlayer. This was it. He could already see the slightly blue tinge of shimmering air where the shields are. His body glowed brighter and brighter as he kept on drawing in fifth tier rage essence. But he didn’t attack just yet. His adversary could still dodge up.

“I know what you’re planning. Waiting for me to do another charge and you’ll just jump over my head,” Maurice growled under his breath. Goldish-brown runes glowed at the back of his gauntlets. It was a built-in spell, Hollow Spikes. He pressed his hands on the ground and cast the spell.

Fat conical spikes erupted from under the earth, making their way to the BasketSlayer.

“And this!” Maurice released three large explosive waves, two running parallel to his target, and the last one down the center. The last wave caught the large spikes that were hollow and fragmented them, coating the area with whizzing blazing debris.

Maurice grinned as he saw the BasketSlayer jump high to escape the cluster of explosions below. “You can’t dodge in midair!” He paused for a second to wonder why his opponent’s chest and cheeks were inflated to inhuman proportions, like a balloon. Then, with a battle cry that reverberated throughout the arena, he launched himself into the air, his massive fists stretched out. He began spinning rapidly, flying towards the BasketSlayer. A red twister of furious energies and destruction.

As Maurice was nearing contact with the falling BasketSlayer, the latter looked up and forcefully exhaled upwards all the air he stored in his body. The sudden burst of air pushed him down towards the ground, leaving Maurice to pass over him harmlessly.

Maurice collided with the shields, shaking the stage. The crowds gasped and tensed up as Maurice drilled the side of the shield. Fortunately, the shields held, and Maurice dropped back to the ground.

“Grakking rat. Always running away.” Maurice saw something small coming straight for him. He caught it and examined it. A pebble.

The BasketSlayer was a few meters away, standing with an amused expression on his face and a hand full of pebbles. He threw some more pebbles at Maurice.

Maurice emitted a wave of his force aura and all the pebbles coming towards him were disintegrated. “I know what you are doing,” he said. “You’re purposely making me angry. Heh, a sly cunning bastard.” Admittedly, Maurice has a bad temper. However, it had cost him dearly in battle a few years ago. This time, when he was in battle, he didn’t let himself get angry and lose focus no matter what his opponent does. He easily gets angry, yes, but never during a fight. Not anymore. He was not going to repeat the same mistakes that he made.

Reaching inside his basket, the BasketSlayer got more pebbles and continued pelting Maurice with them. The speed of the pebbles was increasing with each throw.

Maurice just stood there. His force aura made sure that the pebbles did not even tickle him although if he was an ordinary human, the force of the pebbles would have torn his body apart. “You just pretend to clown around but you are actually analyzing your opponents. Then you probably hit them at their weakest point and win.”

The BasketSlayer reached around his basket and then turned it over. It was empty. There were no more pebbles left.

“It doesn’t matter how long you drag out this fight. I do not have any weak points. You’ll just have to overpower me,” Maurice said, folding his arms across his chest. “And I don’t see that happening. I’m not even using my real strength.”

“I’m not dragging out this fight to find your weakpoint.”

“Oho? So why are you just running away then?”

“I’m charging my basket.”

“What?”

The BasketSlayer raised his basket and pointed at it. “This is no ordinary basket. I found this basket during my travels. It was hidden deep inside an ancient tomb.”

Maurice frowned. Sounds dubious. Was he making up stories? Was this another one of his jokes? Maurice examined the basket. It looked normal.

“I see that you don’t believe me. If this was an ordinary basket then why am I carrying it during my fights? Have you thought of that?” The BasketSlayer smiled at Maurice. “During the preliminaries I carried around this basket and it was never damaged. Obviously, it’s not an ordinary basket. Could your beast brain work that out?”

Maurice scowled. What the BasketSlayer said was sensible. It was stupid to carry around a basket while fighting. Joking around has its limits. But he couldn’t sense anything from the basket! What the hell was this man thinking? Was he telling the truth or lying? Maurice said, “Is that some kind of ancient relic then?”

“Yes. It’s a very powerful talisman. The longer I place myself in danger, the more power it charges. It’s exponential, really. Then I transfer that power to my body… aaaand it’s game over.”

Tightening his fists, Maurice decided to believe what the BasketSlayer said. It was better to be careful than to pay for carelessness. He himself couldn’t believe that someone would carry an ordinary basket around during a serious fight. The only plausible explanation was that basket helped the BasketSlayer in some way.

There was an easy way to test what his opponent said.

Force him to use the power of this basket if it really had that kind of power.

The BasketSlayer was picking up more pebbles as Maurice was thinking about his next move. He stood up straight and jingled the basket with pebbles inside it. “Come on. I know what you’re planning to do. But there’s no way you’ll catch me.”

“Forge Spirit. Speed Aspect. D’rahg Two-horned Bulltoad,” Maurice said calmly.

“Forge Spirit?”

Maurice did not answer. He concentrated on gathering mana into one of the two beaststones he has embedded on his chest. This BasketSlayer was about to learn the meaning of real speed.

“Hey! You’re doing something I don’t know.” Tiny pebbles went flying through the air. The BasketSlayer was throwing stones again, this time trying to catch the attention of Maurice. “Why does it feel like you have a beast aura or something?”

Particles of light gathered around Maurice. There was a green aura covering his body. He looked at his opponent and said, “You think I can’t catch you, eh? And you don’t even know what I’m doing? Where have you been traveling all these time? You haven’t fought with someone that can Forge Spirit?”

The BasketSlayer stepped back as he watched the particles of light form an image of the D’rahg Two-horned Bulltoad. Then the image dispersed and was sucked inside Maurice’s body.

Two small horns grew out of head of Maurice, akin to the D’rahg Bulltoad. His eyes also changed, his pupils became horizontal slits, just like that of a frog’s.

Clapping happily, the BasketSlayer said, “See, I was right! You are a bea-”

Before the BasketSlayer could finish his sentence, Maurice was already in front of him, bounding several meters in the blink of an eye. A sly smile flitted across the BasketSlayers face as he dodged the punch. His speed was not any slower than Maurice’s speed.

Another round of chasing the BasketSlayer, Maurice thought. This guy was not lying about how fast he was. But was it true that he did not know about Forge Spirit? Almost all warriors of the Empire of Krysperia and the neighboring Supreme Republic of Vhan Garin used Forge Spirit. If he came from Roghinia then he surely passed by Vahn Garin. How could he not know about Forge Spirit? Was this guy just messing up with his head?

Ordinary people couldn’t follow their movements anymore. But there were multiple explosions on their stage, so the crowds keep stirring. Maurice kept letting loose dozens of punches, it wasn’t connecting but the shockwaves destroyed anything near them. He noticed the BasketSlayer hiding the basket beneath his robes.

“You’re channeling the speed of the D’rahg Bulltoad? That’s awesome! How are you doing that?”

“I’m using Forge Spirit! Don’t tell me you don’t know about that?” Maurice figured that he should keep his opponent talking to know what he was thinking about. He kept his concentration while engaging the BasketSlayer in conversation. “I’m using the beaststone of a D’rahg.”

“Woah!” The BasketSlayer’s face lit up. “I never knew you could do that!” He then jumped over the lake and skipped over its surface, using his great speed to prevent himself from sinking.

“Show off”, Maurice muttered. “I can do that as well.” He increased his speed and followed the BasketSlayer. He hated to admit it but he was enjoying the fight with the BasketSlayer even though all the latter did was run away.

Running backwards over the surface, the BasketSlayer called out to Maurice, “So you’re able to use special traits of the beasts that you have the stones of? Really awesome! So you’re using the D’rahg for speed?”

He seemed genuinely happy knowing about Forge Spirit. Maurice was starting to believe that the BasketSlayer really didn’t know about Forge Spirit. “Yes. I can be a lot faster than this.” Maurice accelerated and closed on the BasketSlayer who was zigzagging over the lake. His opponent also increased his speed and tried to maintain the distance between them. Maurice alternated between using normal punches and using his explosive gauntlets, keeping the BasketSlayer guessing on how far he should dodge.

Maurice kept his force aura close to his body because the BasketSlayer sometimes throws out pebbles at him. He suspected that the BasketSlayer kept throwing pebbles to make him complacent that his enemy would not attack. He leaned low and said, “Second Degree, Speed Aspect.” He doubled his speed. With an insane grin on his face, he wondered just how strong this BasketSlayer was. He was just using enough speed to keep away from Maurice.

“Using the D’rahg for speed is just brilliant! Normally, people would think about using hounds or feline beasts to channel for speed, but you actually used a toad.” The BasketSlayers eyes were sparkling in admiration for his opponent. He reached the shore and run towards the part of the stage with magma veins. “People often forget just how fast the speed of the tongue of the D’rahg Bulltoad is. Brilliant idea! Truly unconventional.”

Maurice can’t help but smile as the BasketSlayer showered him with praises. He was proud of being able to think of using the D’rahg for speed. He reminisced about how he came about using the D’rahg stone. His body could only tolerate two beaststone. He preferred the stronger stone, the one for boosting power, to be an A-rank beast. The other stone could only be from a high C-rank at the most. All C ranks known for their speed were just not good enough. Then he remembered that the D’rahg has an exceedingly fast tongue even though the giant toad does not move from its hunting spot. Even Garett was surprised with his idea and praised him!

“Are you sure that you really don’t know about Forge Spirit?” Maurice asked the BasketSlayer. “Anyway, I thank for your praises. Not many people could have thought abou-”

The BasketSlayer was no longer in front of him!

His eyes widened as he realized that the BasketSlayer was below him. Aiming for the gap between his armored arms that were held close to his large muscular chest. A powerful punch bore through his force aura, colliding with the armor and crumpling it. Maurice felt the power of the punch spread throughout his body. His chest was compressed and he was sure that a few ribs were cracked by the impact.

He only had a split second to think about what happened before he was sent flying with blood sputtering out of his mouth.

“Dimwad! Don’t get flattered too much!” BasketSlayer called out after him.

As Maurice was flying up, he glowed green due to the healing spells that he was using. He was regenerating at a rapid rate. Inside his head, he was cursing himself up for giving his opponent an opening just like that. Amazingly embarrassing performance. Was Garett watching? Damn it. Grakking stupid mistake!

“Grakk it!” he screamed, venting out his rage. He immediately tried to calm himself down.

He looked up and saw that the roof of the shield dome was rushing up close. He twisted himself around in mid-air. He was now looking below. His feet hit the inside part of the top of the shield hard. His knees bent and absorbed the impact.

He can see the tiny face of the BasketSlayer stupidly smiling at him. Damn that guy. “Third Degree. Speed Aspect.” Maurice’s face contorted in rage as he resolved to use the other beaststone. “Forge Spirit. Strength Aspect. Terebro Bear!”

A reddish golden aura enveloped Maurice. Light particles formed the image of the Terebro Bear which was greedily sucked by his body.

The muscles in his legs bulged, coiling in anticipation, gathering the power of the Terebro Bear and the speed of the D’rahg Bulltoad. His feet pushed back hard against the ceiling, propelling himself down on the BasketSlayer who was waving his basket up at him. A meteorite descending, bringing carnage.

The entire shield dome was filled with fire, dust, smoke, and explosions.

The ground shuddered mightily as Maurice unleashed his rage on the stage. Trees were incinerated, boulders pulverized, magma veins broke upon and spewed out molten rocks, the lake was emptied by the shockwaves. Mages flew closer toward their stage, checking the shield for damage, preparing to block explosions that could potentially spill out if the shield failed.

A third of the stage was eaten by a smoldering crater.

Debris was raining down all over the stage.

Maurice stood at the center of the deep crater that he created. His gauntlets were glowing hot red. Cracks marred the surface of his favorite weapon. The explosive runes collapsed upon themselves and disappeared. He shouldn’t have pushed his weapon too hard, he thought while regretting his actions. He wondered if it was still possible to fix it. He slowly removed them with a smile on his face.

He suddenly began to laugh. He laughed and laughed. Tears were coming out of his eyes. He never laughed like this before. “Seems like I underestimated you little man.”

Someone joined Maurice in laughing.

Behind Maurice stood the BasketSlayer. Back to back, the two combatants stood laughing, while stage crumbled around them.

The BasketSlayer said, “That was quite fun.”

“Fun? You took on my attack as if it was nothing,” Maurice replied. “But yes, it was fun. And I admit that I underestimated you.”

“You now believe that this basket is an ancient talisman?”

“Was that the pure raging elemental energy that I sensed from you?" Maurice did not quite see what the BasketSlayer did before their attacks collided. But he did sense a fearsome energy gather around his opponents fist. For a split second before their collision, Maurice saw a large hand, glowing exceedingly bright, reached out to cover his descending fist.

His attack was greatly reduced by whatever it was that reached out towards him. He overloaded his prized gauntlets and used both of his beaststones at the same time. He used the highest degree that he could squeeze out of the D'rahg stone while he used the first degree of the Terebro stone. Should he have gone full Terebro? If he did that, could he have at least forced his opponent use his full strength?

"Yes, I was transferring the energy from my basket. It will wear off after awhile but I can charge it again."

Both of them turned to face each other. "You are more powerful than I initially thought. Forgive me for insulting you earlier."

The BasketSlayer shrugged and said, "Sure. I'm not a man that holds grudges."

"It would be presumptuous of me and I don't have any right to ask you this," Maurice said, "but, I challenge you to a boxing match with no dodging." He really wanted to measure his pure strength against the BasketSlayer. But he could not go full Terebro if the BasketSlayer kept on dodging. He knew he will lose the fight if it dragged on but at least he would learn something from this fight. He felt no shame in losing against a stronger opponent.

"That's fine with me. Use all of your strength."

Maurice couldn't believe that the BasketSlayer actually agreed with his request! "Release Forge Spirit D'rahg Two-horned Bulltoad. Third Degree. Strength Aspect. Terebro Bear." He could feel the rush and adrenaline has his muscles borrowed the strength of the Terebro. He was glowing a fierce red with golden lightning spiking around him. His offence and defence was significantly enhanced. He walked towards the BasketSlayer.

"You have until this basket reaches the ground." The BasketSlayer threw his basket upwards.

Maurice raised a brow. The BasketSlayer probably thought that he was going to drag on their fistfight until the energy that was transferred to him by the basket has worn off and then knock him out. Maurice was not that kind of fighter, but the BasketSlayer had the right to be suspicious.

As soon as the basket left the fingertips of his opponent, Maurice swung his right fist. It collided with the head of the BasketSlayer. His fist was larger than BasketSlayer’s head but it couldn’t wipe the grin off the latter’s face.

The BasketSlayer punched both of his sides. His armor cracked but held. The muscles inside his body were strengthened by the Terebro spirit, minimizing the shock.

Maurice, having the height advantage, kept on hammering at the BasketSlayer’s head, whipping it back and forth, straining his neck muscles. The Basketslayer kept on grinning as he punched the stomach of Maurice continuously, tearing up the armor.

Without the speed boost of the D’rahg, the BasketSlayer was able to unleash punches in double, even triple, the amount that Maurice could.

His armor was torn away. He thanked Paximillon for that the defence aura of the Terebro Bear was keeping his body together. He also activated a few healing spells with the mana that he could spare. He noticed that his opponent was not using any spells at all! But he could feel that the BasketSlayer was very strong. He couldn’t quite explain it.

The basket gently tapped the ceiling of the shield and started falling down.

Seeing this, Maurice roared and used all of his strength to dish out as much damage as possible. He punched the chest of the BasketSlayer, but it was barely able to budge his target. There was a mad look in Maurice’s eyes, his mouth formed a wild grin to match the BasketSlayer’s. They were two madmen punching each other in the middle of a crater.

The BasketSlayer suddenly jumped back to catch his basket.

Panting, Maurice held up his fists. “I can still go on! I still haven’t seen your true strength.”

“That’s already enough I think? Surprising that you’re still standi- oh, there we go,” the BasketSlayer said as Maurice collapsed. “You entertained me, so I forgive you for taking that piece of meat. I should get my reward money so that I can buy some food."

Both of them were teleported off as the crowds cheered.

“Come on! Wave your baskets higher!” Felixia was excitedly jumping up and down the seats, throwing baskets to the people watching the match. “Get your baskets and support the BasketSlayer!”

Felix was busy carrying all the baskets that they bought outside to the stands to distribute to the people. It was all Felixia’s idea. He indulged his sister since he was sort of ignoring her the last couple of days because he was focused on studying the designs that they stole.

Money was no problem for them so they bought a hundred baskets. Felix was happy seeing his sister enjoying the task of giving out baskets.

All the people were watching the projections above the arena. All of the data orbs were projecting different angles of the fight between Maurice and the BasketSlayer. Because the BasketSlayer was just running away from Maurice in the beginning, their fight got prolonged. The other three matches were already over.

The people watched with bated breath as two powerful warriors stood their ground in the center of a blazing crater and exchanged blows with each other that made the ground quake with each impact.

The two fighters disengaged as the BasketSlayer caught the basket that he threw upwards. Maurice was saying something, then the BasketSlayer just walked away.

The people watching did not quite understand what has happened. Maurice dropped down on his knees and fell on his face.

One of the fighters that was predicted to rank high was defeated on the first round!

Felix shook his head in disbelief at the scene. He turned to look at Felixia who was also stunned. They knew that Aileen’s “boyfriend” was strong while being a bit touched in the head but they didn’t know that he was this strong!

“Felixia! You’re supposed to do your job!”

“Wha- Oh yeah!” Felixia, with a basket in each hand, turned to the people behind her. “Come on people! Let’s do a basket wave!”

“GOOOO BASKETSLAYERRRR!”