After that unprovoked attempt at my life, my interest in watching the matches waned. If it wasn’t for the fact that I was sequestered in with the other participants I may have just said screw it and walked out. I was fine with testing myself against the people with a duel, but I wasn’t here to fight to the death. Earning access to the Bazaar wasn’t worth that much in my opinion. I had other places I could access if I needed to.

***

“Well… looks like that moron Henrich nearly died,” The Don stated dismissively.

“Yes, the man was always a bit of a hothead, but to try and kill someone after he lost is truly low. We will have to get rid of him, can’t go having people like that ruining our tournaments.”

The Don nodded, “want me to take care of it now or after?”

Charles Lemont rubbed his chin in thought. “Go deal with it now, he is still injured and will make less of a fuss.”

The Don nodded and was about to leave before his boss spoke up.

“The two fighters you brought in are quite something. Let's hope they make it to the end.”

“You know me, Boss, only the best.”

Charles let out a quiet chuckle from his private booth overlooking both arenas. The Don was a decent fighter but he truly excelled at picking talent and getting rid of problems. Three of the arena Champions had been picked by him. It was irksome though that Hegar had taken their generous offer of employment and spit in their face by turning it down. Now the conceited man worked for a rival casino.

There was no love lost between the casinos. If anything the animosity had only increased since the fall. Old grudges had almost broken the town apart but the real trouble makers had been dealt with and the most important thing was money still flowed in. There were still minor attacks but with no police to interfere, they happened quietly and out of sight of the general populace. Or if that couldn’t happen, they occurred as a random street fight. Nobody asked a question then.

Charles was more worried about the dream crystal influx. Drugs were fine and it wouldn’t be Sin City without them but once people even saw the reflected light of a crystal it was game over for them. Very few had the mental strength to fight against the compulsion to stare at the crystal. Even he wasn’t immune to the effect.

Charles would know, he had crystal rooms available for customers. For a hundred credits an hour, you could indulge yourself to your heart's content. The rooms were almost always booked by ten or more at a time showing just how profitable that enterprise was. It was turning into a major income earner. But the crystals had to be replaced daily as extended use would cause them to crumble to useless dust. That meant hiring people to mine the crystals at night.

It was a relatively safe profession if you got out before the sun came up and you didn’t run into the nasty creatures that now called the Canyon home.

His worry was more the illicit trade. It would only take one idiot dropping a crystal in the street during the day to cause a stampede just to get close to it. Charles was more surprised that it hadn’t happened yet but the casinos dealt with any traffickers harshly when they were caught.

***

The rest of the second round was filled with some pretty intense matches. Most of the lackluster fighters had been weeded out in the first round. I watched one match where a man carrying two wicked-looking curved daggers just walked up to his opponent and sliced him apart without the other man putting up a fight. The man looked familiar but I couldn’t quite put my finger on where I had seen him before.

Whatever ability that the dagger-wielding man had used wasn’t visible to anyone outside of his fight. I assumed it was some targeted ability. The only clue was the man’s whistling tune as he approached the unaware opponent.

Another fight I watched was between a massive man that stood almost seven feet tall and carried a Warhammer that looked more like a massive sledgehammer. The head on the weapon was easily a foot around and two feet long, yet the man maneuvered it as it weighed no more than a few pounds. And he used the weapon to devastating effect, forcing his spear-wielding opponent back with each swing.

The spearman wasn’t a pushover though, managing to sneak his razor-tipped weapon into openings to slice at his opponent. The fight was one of the closest matches I had witnessed and it ended in spectacular fashion as the giant clipped the spear-wielder on the shoulder with a strike of the hammer. If it weren’t for the magical rules enforced by duels the man would have lost his arm and a good chunk of his torso just from a glancing blow.

Both seemed spent by the end of that round and I noted that I could wear the giant down if I got paired against him.

The last match of the second round was between a mage and a stealth-based class. Immediately the man vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving the wary mage to cast a barrier, while he readied another spell to take advantage of when the man reappeared. Something tinked against the mage's barrier, causing him to spin around and unleash his spell. The noise had been a feint though as the rogue plastered the opposite side of the barrier with strips of paper that I recognized as talismans of some sort.

The mage quickly realized his error and turned back around just in time to see the other fighter stepping through a hole created by the talismans. The mage was able to fire off a few minor spells but it was too late as the rogue was already too close. It didn’t take long for the man to cut apart the mage after that, taking only minor damage from the spells.

The third round got a reshuffle, mainly because they didn’t want one person getting a bye all the way to the end. Ska got the bye for the third round and he wasn’t too happy about missing out on the opportunity for another fight.

With the reshuffle, I was placed up against Natalia, turns out her class was called Princess of Corruption and she was level nineteen. It was the highest class I had witnessed in the tournament so far. Getting close would probably not be in my interest as I watched her from across the ring. I knew she was rather slow when using her aura so I used that to my advantage, easily outpacing her as I fired Arcane Bolts at her.

She had a shield that absorbed the bolts but that was fine, I was only using them to wear her down. When the shield finally fell, she was forced to turn off her aura, in order to avoid my attacks. Even then she wasn’t all that fast on her feet and I used the opportunity to test something. I Overcharged Orb of Darkness and left it floating in the air as I rushed away. She avoided the obvious trap by skirting around and coming after me. As soon as the spell was out of her line of sight I commanded it to fly at her.

Once the spell movement was activated, I couldn’t change its direction but it didn’t matter I had estimated her position accurately and the ball smashed against her back, sending her stumbling forward.

Curse of Sloth applied target suffers -4 agility due to overcharge

I could hear the woman curse as she slowly got to her feet. If I had to guess, her agility was now below ten. From then it was easy as I pelted her with ranged spells while dodging the few she threw my way. I could have ended the round by using Energy Lance or Annihilator Sphere but I chose not to play those cards.

She did manage to hit me once with a green-ray that made me feel sick to my stomach. It bypassed my armor shield but the inherent magic resistance of my armor absorbed most of the spell. It was probably good that it had, if not I would probably be doubled over, unable to keep the contents of my stomach in.

She wasn’t too happy about losing but at least she shook my hand.

“It’s been some time since I have been beaten so thoroughly. Maybe you have what it takes to knock Hegar off his pedestal?” she said with a wink.

She was an attractive woman, but she gave off the feeling of a spider, waiting to pounce on unsuspecting prey and I shuddered at the implied wink.

The third round ended day one of the tournament and the participants were allowed to return to private rooms for the evening. Only fourteen participants remained out of the original one hundred. You were allowed to mingle with the other participants if you chose to do so but most kept to their quarters. Ska did come over to grumble about missing out on a fight. I would have offered to spar with him, but any fighting outside of the arena was prohibited, or you would be disqualified.

I did use the time to inspect his claws and fix any damage to the runes that had occurred. It was something that needed to be done about once a month but if there was a large amount of fighting, I did it more often.

Ska fell asleep while I was working and I was tempted to slap him awake and send him back to his room but I left him to sleep. I wasn’t able to sleep anyway, seeing as I was in an unfamiliar room surrounded by potentially deadly people.

***

The night was uneventful and at one point I had actually fallen asleep. It was only for an hour but I felt rested enough, seeing as I didn’t need much sleep anymore thanks to my high Endurance.

The casinos were pulling out all the best to wine and dine the remaining contestants. It made sense, considering the strength of the remaining people. I indulged in the delicious food but decided to steer clear of the alcohol. Not that I couldn’t drink an entire bottle of wine and not feel even slightly buzzed, but best to avoid the possibility.

I only ate a minimal breakfast. I didn’t want an entire stomach full of food only to throw it up mid-fight if I got hit in the gut.

The fourth round saw a change in the layout of the arena. Gone were the two open areas covered in a layer of sand. Now both arenas had been combined and all kinds of obstacles from stone towers to rock arches and even a broken down two-story building dominated the area. The sand was mostly replaced by dirt, grass, and rock. And in the center was a small pond.

“Well that’s new,” one of the remaining contestants mumbled.

A PA system crackled to life as the announcer spoke. “Welcome to the ninth Tournament of Champions! This month we bring you many new faces as well as some celebrated contenders and even the current Champion Hegar!”

The crowd roared in approval as the champion's name was called.

“For this month we have decided to change up the arena for the final matches. As you can see below the terrain is diverse, allowing for the contestants to utilize whatever they see to their advantage! In order to spectate all of the action, we have managed to restore a number of cameras as well as the jumbo screens!”

The crowd roared again as four massive screens unfolded from the tall roof.

“We expect this month's tournament to be spectacular. Our sponsors would like to remind you to please enjoy the show! Without further ado, let the first match BEGIN!”

While I was able to watch the screens fold down the displays were not visible from our location within the exterior of the arena. It also made it nearly impossible to see the fights anymore due to the obstructions.

The promoters definitely knew what they were doing. Hyping up the show while also making it more unpredictable. The remaining contestants were also ushered into private waiting areas. So you didn’t even know where they would come out from. Sure it gave the stealthy types a considerable advantage, but that was fine. I had a few advantages of my own to employ.

I was only able to follow the first fight by tracking the sounds of combat and explosions of magic. Going by the cheers of the crowd it was a wild match.

There was no announcement of who won the first match but I could tell by the chanting who was up next.

“Hegar!”

“Hegar!”

“HEGAR!”

It just kept increasing in volume until it drowned out any other noise. That was until there was a deafening boom followed by a ton of debris falling from the sky.

There was no doubt who won that match, and it had been a quick one. The crowd continued their chant for Hegar.