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　　"Three fights down, and a whole lot more to go! And now, it's time for the fourth match……Minise of the Rustlands versus Ekai of Abyss!" Announced Belia, as my opponent and I made our way out to the arena. 

  　　The third match had been between an Elf from Idyll and a Dwarf from Liberty, with the Elf winning the fight. 

  　　Cusnai won her first match, I'm not going to let her show me up……and besides, Shiro's watching too, so I can't afford to lose, not in the very first round! 

  　　Hm, my opponent is a tough one though, he's highly experienced and skilled, with quite the record. He was also the first to figure out how to unleash the True Anima form in recent times, I won't underestimate him. 

  　　At his full power, his power level is still less than double of mine in my base form, and nearly three times smaller than mine at my full power……but I need to forget about our power levels, it's not going to be that easy. 

  　　I can't afford a drawn-out fight either, he attacks with immense amounts of flames, which is bound to eat up the oxygen within the barrier……in other words, I need to end this fight as soon as possible, so I'll be going all out from the start…… 

  　　"Aaand, without any further ado……side note, 'ado' is such a weird word, am I right? Hehe, anyway, as I was saying……let the fourth match BEGIN!" Declared Belia enthusiastically. 

  　　Right upon her signal, I triggered my transformation, entering my Undead Mode. The wooden bands around my wrists extended and wrapped around my forearms, as a dark mist formed around me, my eyes glowing red. My pale, icy knuckles extended out into sharp, straight shards, as my fingernails extended into claws. 

  　　At the same time, Ekai was also transforming, entering his True Anima Mode, his face extending forward into a snout as golden brown fur sprouted all over his body, as streaks of flames began swirling around him. 

  　　I fired out a barrage of ice projectiles from my knuckles, which he countered by raising a wall of flames in front of himself, melting my attack. Suddenly, he raced around the flames and shot towards me, closing in on me and driving a flaming fist at my head.

  　　I swiftly moved my head out of the way, wincing slightly as I felt the tip of my ear and some of my hairs get singed, before hurriedly springing back as a wave of flames burst out all around him, crossing my arms defensively and letting out a hiss of pain as the flames struck me. 

  　　I managed to avoid taking on a major hit, before I extended out several wooden appendages from the bands wrapped around my forearms. I swung them towards him like vines as the wave of flames faded, wrapping them around his torso and raising him up high before he could react.

  　　I'll swing him down to the ground with all the force I can muster, that should trigger the safety barrier and……before I could do it, an intense shockwave of heat exploded above me, as the vines wrapped around him were burnt to ash in an instant. 

  　　As he dropped back down towards the ground, he took in a deep breath, before blasting out a massive sea of flames towards me……not good! 

  　　Guess I don't have a choice……before the flames could swallow me up, I summoned several of my monsters to form a shield in front of me, as the air around me spiked into a searing heat……damn, it hurts just to breathe. 

  　　I can't let this go on for much longer……I need to wrap this up, and quickly! As Ekai's flame breath finally petered out, having scorched nearly all the monsters I summoned to ash, I gritted my teeth as I shot forward, ignoring the embers of fire still in the air. 

  　　And as I closed in on him, I used my Banshee power to unleash an ear-splitting, devastating loud screech at the top of my lungs towards him, straining my diaphragm and vocal chords to the limit. 

  　　Having closed much of the distance between us, he had no escape from my auditory assault, his body freezing up with a stunned look on his face as he stumbled back, blood trickling out of his ears as his eyelids fluttered.

  　　He then bit down on his lower lip to keep himself from passing out, but he was too stunned to properly move, as I got in close with intense flames wrapped around my fist, while my ice knuckles were retracted, I slammed my fist onto his midsection with immense force, sending him rapidly flying back and crashing onto the wall of the barrier with a devastating impact. 

  　　As he let out a sharp gasp of pain, I fired out several ice shards at him again, and right before they could pierce him, the safety barrier activated and teleported him out, my projectiles harmlessly bouncing off the wall of the barrier.

  　　I then began coughing, as the air burned my throat, struggling desperately to try and catch my breath, but only making it worse. 

  　　"Talk about a hot battle! The winner is……Minise of the Rustlands!" 

  　　The safety barrier had faded, and the air around me was rapidly cooling down, but……I think I'm about to pass out, my vision's getting darker and darker by the second…… 

  　　———————————————————————————
　　Point-of-View: Lily Curran

  　　———————————————————————————
　　"Alrighty, let's keep this show going, time for the fifth match! It's Lily of the Rustlands versus Leora of Idyll!" 

  　　What am I even doing? I have no reason to participate in this competition……and yet, here I am. Was it just because I've got nothing better to do? Huh, actually, yeah, that might be it. 

  　　I was summoned to this world along with my five closest friends……all of whom are dead now. All their weapons have been claimed by others now……the Axe of Hephaestus, Fangs of the Basilisk, Tonbokiri, Mjolnir, and of course, Excalibur……my Poseidon's Trident is the only one that hasn't changed hands since coming to this world. 

  　　I'm the last one left……there's nothing for me to live for in this world. Avenging my friends by going after those who killed them would be meaningless……and besides, after going through countless battles and wars across two different worlds, I've had enough. 

  　　I don't want to fight anymore. All I want now, is to live my life out unremarkably and die peacefully. This tournament will be the last time I fight……I'll try to get to a top eight position and win a cash prize, to help make living an uneventful life easier. 

  　　For starters, guess I need to win this first match. My opponent's a Halfling, so I'm up against Lightning Magic, huh? Not a bad match for me, with my water-based attacks. I have no interest in prolonging this fight, let's finish it up ASAP. 

  　　"Both fighters are in the ring, ready to get started! Let's see how this match goes, aaannd……BEGIN!" Belia declared the start of the match. 

  　　Immediately, I flung my trident straight at my opponent like a javelin, which she ducked under and shot towards me, drawing out some needles and running lightning through them. 

  　　As she threw them at me, I raced off to my right to evade it while drawing my trident back towards me, grabbing it as it closed in on me before swinging it across towards my opponent, firing out a powerful water slash at her.

  　　She sprang up to jump over it, and as I fired another water slash at her while she was still in mid-air, she suddenly disappeared……must be teleportation, how annoying. I don't see her anywh……oh, she's right behind me, isn't she? 

  　　I quickly spun around and sprang back, just in time as she flung lightning-coated several needles at me. I deflected most of them with my trident, getting slightly electrocuted as I did, before wincing as two of the needles struck me, one piercing my left bicep and the other going through my right shoulder. 

  　　Before she could strike again, I used Water Magic to blast out a water bullet from my mouth, forcing her to spring back and get some distance. 

  　　Okay, this isn't working……she's way too agile and nimble for me to beat quickly with these type of attacks. In which case, I'll just use my finishing move…… 

  　　"Time to end this……Poseidon's Wrath!" I exclaimed, as I plunged my trident into the ground……and a second later, a massive wave of water burst forth, barreling towards the Halfling with no gaps to let her slip past. 

  　　And sure enough, she was teleported out before she could drown, while I used Water Magic to stand on top of the large pool of water that had filled the inside of the barrier. 

  　　"And the winner is……Lily of the Rustlands!" 

  　　_____________________________________________

  　　Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Don't forget to vote, and feel free to leave a comment, I appreciate any and all feedback and criticism!

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