Writer’s spot: Greetings friend! You called for a bloodbath, I come here to deliver!

SO, as you guys requested, I decided to be a bit mean with these judges, so instead of simply breaking their bodies, why not break their pride? And THEN we move to their bodies? And all of this in a fairly long 3k words chapter where we get to see Yllivia in her own fighting grounds!

BESIDES, I talked about a poll yesterday, yet forgot to put it up. So I’ll put it today here…

Beep, and enjoy your story!

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The arena froze, as they saw the elf jumping down to the arena and walked until he stopped in front of the robot. He stared coldly at the wolf-like being in front of him for a moment, before turning to the crowd and saying out loudly once again.

“As I said, the participant Beepy has been found guilty of cheating, and thus his victory shall be annulled and granted towards the participant Hugger!” The man repeated in a loud and clear tone.

After hearing those words from the man, the public thawed out from their shock and started booing loudly, but were they booing the cheating robot or the man who suddenly appeared? No one could know. The man raised his arms for a moment, telling the group to calm down since there was more that he sought to speak.

But before he could speak any further, someone interrupted him.

“And what is he guilty of cheating for?” A young girl’s voice sounded as someone jumped on the arena.

Correction, two people jumped on the ring. One being a young morfian girl with red markings wearing a hoodies, the other one being a lynnian with white hair and bright yellow jacket who had eyes as cold as the glacier themselves.

The elf hesitated for a moment under the two’s furious gaze before coughing to clear his throat.

“And who might you be?” The man asked.

“It matters not.” The young morfian said, her voice sounding a lot more mature than what her small body-frame would suggest. “Tell us what the one we were cheering for has beeen charged.”

The elf blinked surprise for a brief moment, although he did consider that someone would try to question, he wouldn’t expect it to be someone who would be so upfront about it. Clearing his throat lightly, the man quickly recalled the reason he was passed.

“As you might know, the tournament is divided in classes, separated by weight and size.” He said loudly so that everyone in the arena could hear. “And as you can see, this robot is clearly on the larger size. However, we discovered that it’s weight had been faked during the examination by removing the mods.”

As his words left his mouth, the whole arena stopped once again, and some murmurs started to run amok between the spectators. It was a fairly good argument, seeing how the robot clearly was easily one of the largests ones in the class.

However, before they could start with their booing once again, a bloodthirstiness completely unlike anything they had ever felt filled the arena. All the spectators froze under it, and some of the weaker minded even felt their consciousness trying to slip away under the boiling rage that emanated from one of the girls.

But even that boiling bloodthirsty was subjugated. All it needed was a simple sigh from the hooded morfian.

And immediately after, from the boiling rage, the spectators and judge were overwhelmed by a feeling of sheer cold fright, as the girl slowly crossed her eyes along the spectators, before finally nodding and turning back to the man.

“I call bullshit.” The young sounding, but mature feeling voice said, shocking everyone present with the sheer rudeness of the words. “And you better keep your mouth shut, or else my friend here might end up getting her revenge on you.” She said briefly while pointing towards the lynnian.

Feeling the danger, the other elves slowly started to approach the group while withdrawing their pistols, letting them ready for any possible action. But before the man could give any order, the girl’s ice-cold voice went on.

“Tell me his weight when he was registered, then.” The girl said briefly. The man hesitated for a moment, opening and closing his mouth for a brief second as he tried to remember the numbers. “And then, tell me how much he weights right now. I’m also curious about it.”

“He…” The man briefly cleared his throat. “He weighted twenty nine kilos when he was first weighted, but thanks to sensors on the arena, we now know that he weighs thirty five, which is enough to be considered a Class thre…”

“Wrong.” The girl said, interrupting him. “Right now, taking in account the damage and ammo used, he weights forty two point three two five kilos.” She said briefly. “Which means that your ‘sensors’ in the arena are just plain wrong.” The man grunted, and just as he was about to use his last trump card, the girl went on. “Just to check, why don’t we weight him right here, and now?” She said with an incriminating smiled. The elf blinked surprised before smiling, to think that the girl would make the proposition herself. “Oh, and bring me three different balances, just to be sure.”

“Are you saying that you don’t trust us?” The man said in a fake indignation as so to hide his worry, he hoped that his tone would somehow entice the girl to take back her words, but…

“Yes. I am.” She said briefly. The arena froze at her bold words, the spectators not sure anymore if they came here to watch a robot fight or a girl completely humiliate a man.

The man held back on his grimace, before taking a deep breath and remembering the words that she said. Smiling mischievously, he quickly turned to the girl, who had her attention averted towards the two robots, one that laid on the floor, unable to move, and another one that looked at them amused.

“There’s no need for us to do that. You just said yourself that your robot weights more than what is allowed here.” He said triumphantly, as if he had been baiting the girl, but when she looked back at him, a small smirk appeared beneath her glacier-like eyes.

“That is, indeed, true. However, I can show you that the blame does not lie with us.” She said with a proud smile. “If you want, I can, right here and now, open up Beepy and show you that any modification I would have done to bring him beneath the class three threshold yet keep being functional would leave his physical appearance far too different from the moment that we registered. This not only proves that you didn’t weight him at all, but also shows that you didn’t even care about him before this fight. Which means that our misclassification, instead of a cheat, is actually your fault.”

The man widened his eyes at her words, but he managed to hold back his growing anger as he stared at the girls.

“And why, tell me, should I trust your words?” He asked acidly.

“Then, as long as it’s not my words you will accept?” The girl asked back, making the man freeze. Without waiting for a response, she started to roam around the arena while pointing to a few persons on the way and calling them down. The spectators watched in confusion, while only the ones called down actually understood what was happening. “All of these here paid attention to us while we were on the waiting rooms.” She said briefly while looking at the crowd. “My memory isn’t perfect, but this much I can remember. Now, would you tell me, did I ever, at any moment that you all watched me, take out a single tool or even remove a single screw from Beepy’s body?” She asked them.

The spectators that she had called down all looked surprised at her. Some of them were simple spectators that had watched them in curiosity, others were competitors analyzing their opponents, others were lechers checking on beautiful women.

All of them quickly exchanged glances between themselves as they reminded themselves of what they had seen at the waiting room. Finally they all shook their heads in unison, before each quickly telling what they did see in the room.

Some mentioned how the girl would sometimes look distant, others mentioned how the robot was always laying down lazily, others commented about never seeing the robot being caged. But never, in a single statement they spoke about the robot being tampered with.

The man paled a bit as he noticed, but taking on a deeper breath, he was about to say that she bought these men words, but the girl coldly spoke before him.

“And if you still have some doubt, why not take a look at…”

“SILENCE!” The man finally snapped before turning to the judges. “Take these filthy cheaters out of my way. I care not for their excuses!” He said. The damage was already done, so there was little need to keep up with the charade for much longer.

He turned his back to the group, confident that his henchmen could take care of these two girls easily.

Yet, the first shriek of pain did not come from a girl.

Turning his attention back to the group, the elf widened his eyes in surprise for a moment.

One of the man he had been using as a judge had his pistol pressed against the lynnians back. Yet, instead of threatening her, his face was contorted in pain, as the girl’s long white tail coiled around his wrists, twisting it with scary strength as the man tried to hold back any further screams.

It took the other elves a few seconds to understand what was happening, as the lynnian stood entirely still while crushing their companion’s hand. Once one of them finally understood what was happening, he started to raise his pistol, aiming for the girl.

“…Easier than fighting robots.” The girl murmured lowly in an icy tone.

Startled, the man took one extra moment to take aim with his pistol, yet that time was enough for the lynnian to turn to him and raise her leg up high, kicking his pistol in the process before bringing it back down, smashing his face into the ground.

The other elf that stood in front of her tried to take chance of the opening, but a gunshot echoed on the arena, and he felt as blood slowly dripped from his leg. It took him almost a second to understand that the bullet only grazed his thigh, and that it came from the elf whose hand was stuck in a painful coiling tail.

The last elf who still wasn’t attacked managed to take aim with the pistol, but the moment he was about to pull the trigger, the girl turned her head towards him, her cold eyes gazing deep into his soul. Afterwards, she quickly ducked in a spinning movement, not only dodging the bullet but also doing a sweeping strike with her leg that brought both him, and his injured friend to the ground.

She finally ended the fight by quickly turning to the one that still had his hand tied by her tail and brought him down, by sweeping his legs and pulling his head down as she raised from the ground.

By the time the crowd understood what happened, the four judges were already on the ground, confused about what happened. They didn’t even have time to react to the bullets being fired, because what they saw greatly overwhelmed what they actually heard, and soon a cheering started for the girl who single-handedly managed to beat four guys.

The elf that had declared them as cheater, though, simply looked amazed by the scene, and when the girl turned her eyes to him, he sighed while shrugging.

“It seems that I will have to teach you a lesson…” He said while taking out his suit. Truth to be told, he had half expected this would end up in a fight. “Look, those four were only small fries.” He said briefly. “In here, I’m only second to the captain when it comes to fighting prowess.” He said briefly while taking a stance.

“Then, I don’t need to hold back?” The girl asked while taking a stance herself.

“Wha…?” He made a silly sound, but before he could say anything.

“WHAT IS THIS, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN? I THOUGH THIS WAS A ROBOT FIGHTING ARENA! DID I MISS SOMETHING?” The female announcer shouted.

“I’m not sure, but I sure as hell like what I am seeing!” Her partner said. “It seems that we have a martial-arts match coming next!”

The crowd all blinked in surprise for a moment, before heating up once again. The elf blinked confused for a moment, lost on what was happening, while the lynnian looked indifferent to everything that was happening around them.

“On this side, we have one of the top bodyguards of the tournament, the one who claims of cheating in this arena, he who is said to peek through the lies! THE GUILT BRINGER!” The girls said cheerfully.

“And on this side, we have the girl responsible for defeating four men in a few seconds, she who protects the robots and follows the scary girl! THE JUDGE BREAKER!” The man soon followed.

“Who shall win this extra fight that is suddenly happening?”

“Will it be the elf? Will it be the lynnian? I don’t know! We’ll have to wait and see!”

“Now, if the two of you would so kindly move to the center of the arena, we can start the duel of the night!” The girl said while dragging the lynnian.

The elf looked at the two announcers confused, but with a quick wink from the girl, and seeing her mouth form the word money, he ended up shrugging before taking his place opposite to the girl.

“We aren’t experts on martial arts, so we’ll simply go with the three two one ready, okay?” The lynnian announcer said.

“Then let’s go! Three!” The morfian said.

“Two!”

“One!”

“GO!” “GO!” they shouted together.

…

[Did… They just transform this fight into an official duel?] Gaz asked in a mix of confusion and shock.

[Seems like it.] Ruby said with a sigh while flipping a chip in her hands. [Well, on the bright side, they are still alive.]

[Can’t say that the next one will be, though.] Gaz sighed, making Ruby smile a bit awkwardly. [Still, are you alright?]

[Hmmm?] She asked confused for a moment, even stopping to play with the chip before nodding. [Yeah, I didn’t use the professor for too long, so I’m not too tired…] She let out a cute yawn as she said that, before blushing slightly. [Not too much…] She smiled wryly.

[I want to see a tired Ruby again!] Ekis said sullenly.

[Me too.] Gaz said with a nod.

[Stop it!] Ruby said embarrassed.

For a moment they watched as the two judges dragged Yllivia and the elf away, before Gaz finally gave in and asked.

[Okay, what the hell is that chip in your hands?]

[I thought you never were going to ask!] Ruby said cheerfully, while throwing it into the ground and crushing it with her foot. [That was the chip they put on robot’s cores to make them obey.] She said briefly. [It induces pain to the robots whenever they disobey. A cruel treatment made to keep them tamed.] She said sadly.

[And where the hell did you get one of those?] He asked confused.

[When I was repairing Hugger.] She said with a wide smile, shocking Gaz as he turned his head towards the robot that now had both of its legs fixed. [He isn’t at 100%, but should be working well enough to run.]

[WHEN THE HELL DID YOU DO THAT?] Gaz asked shocked.

[When Ylli was fighting the bodyguards.] She said with a shrug.

Gaz looked at her in shock for a few seconds, before looking back to Hugger, who was slowly lifting himself while looking around through its frontal camera. It took him a moment to remember the scene of Ruby dismantling the drone’s head back at the forest before he understood how scary she can be.

His attention was brought back to the duel when he heard the two announcers shouting ‘Go!’ together.

The man, already in his stance, prepared to receive Yllivia’s attack as she darted forward, a smug smile appearing in his face as he felt confident on his abilities.

Yet, when the lynnian approached him and he threw his punch, his fist met nothing but air. Years of experience made it so that he wasn’t shocked at this development, so he quickly followed with his eyes the direction where Yllivia had dodged to.

[Wrong side, buddy.] Gaz said dryly.

If it weren’t for his increased cognitive abilities as a robot, he would also have missed the moment where Yllivia feinted a dodge to one side, then ducked away towards the other. However, such a trick could only be used because she put the man’s fist as he punched to hide her body from his vision before changing the direction of her movement. She used the man’s own punch to create a blind spot.

The simplicity of such act hide a terrifying difficulty of applying it, as you had to take in consideration not only the size of his fist, but the speed of its movement, the direction and the curvature, as well as the opponents eye movement. In simpler word, what the lynnian just did was on the limits of what is humanely possible.

After the elf failed to follow her first move, he had already lost.

Yllivia rose from her ducked position by bringing her knee to the man’s guts. Shocked with the sudden impact, he didn’t even have the time to react as the lynnian proceeded with an elbow to his nape.

With the man stunned, Yllivia quickly went forward, by grabbing him by the head and sprinting forward with his body until it hit a nearby wall. Still seeing stars, the man could barely move as the girl finally pulled back her hand and formed a fist with it.

In her eyes, only a cold fury laid, and the man, sensing his death approaching by her hands, panicked.

He fainted before the fist even connected.

And besides his head, there was a small crater on the arena’s stone walls.

[Yllivia is scary!] Ruby said.

[Like you are one to say anything!] Gaz complained back before sighing. [Now, what do we do?] He asked as he still reminded himself of their mission.