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　　"It's the halfway point through round two! The fourth match of the round, Rain of Abyss versus Roselle of Liberty!" 

  　　So, my second opponent is a Halfling, is it? She was carrying a pair of narrow, sharp daggers, that looked like thick needles or something……she probably attacks with a lot of thrusts and drives, I'll need to avoid giving her any such openings. 

  　　Other than that, I just want to have some fun with this, because why not? My first match was pretty fun, but I didn't actually have to fight too seriously to win……here's hoping that this opponent can push me harder. Of course, I still want to win, so even if she does turn out to be weak, I won't go too easy on her…… 

  　　"Let's get the fight underway, time to……BEGIN!"

  　　As soon as she declared the start of the fight, the Halfling ran lightning through her narrow daggers and then swiftly flung them straight at me, before rapidly zipping towards me as lightning crackled around her body. 

  　　I shifted my position to evade the flung daggers, and as they whizzed past my head, she closed in on me and leapt forward, holding her hands out in front of herself. Impressive speed, but what is she……suddenly, the two daggers that she flung appeared back in her hands, and she drove them towards my throat and chest. 

  　　Woah, not good! I quickly sprang back and formed a block of ice in front of myself as fast as I could, but as the tips of her blades struck my ice, cracks spread out rapidly and shattered the block, before she cocked her wrist and flicked one of the daggers at my face. 

  　　I hurriedly tilted my head out of the way, but the blade nicked the side of my face as it flew past me, before suddenly reappearing in her hands as she regained her footing and chased after me, preventing me from getting any distance as she unleashed a barrage of drives and thrusts with her piercing daggers. 

  　　Okay, wow, she's fast, I'm just barely able to avoid getting scratched by her daggers……I deflected a thrust aimed at my throat with the back of my palm, knocking her hand away, before quickly tilting my head to the left as she drove her second dagger straight at me. 

  　　She then spun her grip around and attempted to pierce the side of my head, which I just barely ducked under, and then swiftly sprang back with a powerful flap of my wings as she flicked the other dagger at my chest, narrowing evading it as it struck the floor and pierced the tile. 

  　　Having gained a bit of distance, I quickly flew up as fast as I could, getting some height to give myself some space away from her and letting myself regain my bearings. 

  　　Okay, getting in a close range bout with her is a bad idea, her attacks are quick and hard to read, she's highly skilled at feints, and she uses a spell to teleport her blades back to her hand after she flings or drops them……right, then, ranged attacks it is. 

  　　I inhaled deeply, before blasting out a freezing cold, icy breath from my jaws, in an intense wave of frosty wind. 

  　　I then froze, no pun intended, and quickly spun around while forming an ice blade, just in time as the Halfling had teleported above me as was driving a lightning-enhanced thrust at me from above, as I barely deflected her attempted strike with the ice blade, my weapon cracking as I parried her thrust. 

  　　She then swung her second one across at my face, I quickly flew back to avoid it, but the tip of the blade scratched me across the bridge of my nose, before she teleported again as I fired out blasts of hot water from my mouth, which struck the wall of the barrier instead. 

  　　Where did she teleport to? 

  　　That's when I noticed what she was doing……she was randomly teleporting all over the place, while charging up a huge amount of lightning into her daggers……uh-oh, can't let her hit me with that, or I'm in trouble. 

  　　She's trying to confuse me right now, but two can play at that game……I then formed two ice blades in my hand, while concentrating and charging up an immense amount of steam into my mouth, slowly spreading a mist out around me. 

  　　I then closed my eyes and focused……the mist will let me know where she is, so I'll immediately know the moment she tries to teleport close in order to try and land the finishing blow. 

  　　There, behind me!

  　　I quickly spun around as she appeared behind me and drove her lightning-charged blades straight at me, the air around them crackling viciously……before I swung open my jaws and blasted out a devastating wave of compressed steam, with so much force that it propelled me backwards, and as a cry of pain echoed out from the steam cloud, I quickly fired out several ice shards, and in the next instant, she was outside the barrier, her entire body covered in steam burns. 

  　　That's gotta be really painful……I was hoping that the sheer heat of the steam would have been enough to teleport her out, guess she was too tough for that. Well, whatever, I win again, so my fun's gonna continue! 

  　　"And the winner is……," Announced Belia, as she used Restoration Magic to heal the Halfling, "Rain of Abyss!" 

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　　Point-of-View: Prato Cichudde 

  　　———————————————————————————
　　"It's time for match number five of round two, it's Prato of Abyss versus Erafira of Liberty!" 

  　　My opponent's a Halfling, she seemed reasonably skilled when I watched her in action in the first round, but she's got a lot of room for improvement. Well, I'm not going to waste my time toying with her, I'll end this as quickly as possible…… 

  　　"Aaaaand……BEGIN!" 

  　　I fired out several rapid heat beams at my opponent as the fight began, a few of them grazing her and eliciting hisses of pain as she narrowly avoided taking any of them head on. 

  　　I leapt off to the side as she fired out a couple of lightning bolts at me, dodging them before firing out a few more beams at her, which she continued to just barely avoid……there's too much distance, she has enough time to react. 

  　　In that case……I'll increase the speed and intensity of my beams, while closing the gap simultaneously. I then shot towards her at top speed while I continued firing my beams, several of them grazing her and slowing her down, before she let out a scream of pain as one of them pierced through her right shoulder, immobilizing her arm. 

  　　She then gritted her teeth as she flung a small knife at me with her left hand, which I deflected with a beam, before she shot towards me with a lightning blast charged up in her left hand. 

  　　As she closed in on me and drove the blast towards me, I evaded it and grabbed her wrist with a tight grip, pressing my thumb in firmly, causing the charged up lightning to dissipate. And then, as I further tightened my grip to keep her from slipping away, I took aim at point-blank range and fired a beam at her, teleporting her out of the barrier before she could react. 

  　　"Wow, that ended fast……ahem, the winner is, Prato of Abyss!" 

  　　———————————————————————————
　　Point-of-View: Jhin

  　　———————————————————————————
　　The last match was quite impressive, Prato ended it rather quickly and efficiently……now, let me see if I can end my match even quicker. My opponent is a normal human with no power boosts…… 

  　　"Three quarters of the way through the second round, it's match number seven, Jhin of Abyss versus Zave of the Rustlands!" 

  　　I believe he's an S-Ranked Adventurer in the Rustlands……that rank once held meaning, but has grown rather insignificant lately. 

  　　I shall begin this battle with my most powerful attack, if he managed to withstand it, then this may turn out to be an interesting fight, after all…… 

  　　"Let's see how this one goes……BEGIN!"

  　　As my opponent crouched on all fours, forming water around himself in the shape of a tiger, I raised my sword and began preparing to launch the attack.

  　　"Here I come!" He exclaimed, as he shot towards me on all fours. 

  　　Hm, reasonably decent speed, but……still far too slow. 

  　　"Withstand this if you can……Excalibur!" I exclaimed as I swung the blade down, firing out a massive, devastating slashing shockwave at him. 

  　　He halted and began to spring back in alarm, but it was futile, as the blast struck him before he could get out of its way……and teleported him out.

  　　The force of my attack shook the stadium, as the ring split in half and several cracks spread out across the safety barrier, which just barely kept from shattering apart. Hm……perhaps it's a good thing that I didn't use that attack at its full power…… 

  　　"Huh, wow, that might be the fastest match of the tournament yet. The winner is……Jhin of Abyss!" Exclaimed Belia, before adding, "And, uh, there's gonna be a small delay before the next match as we fix up the arena, so yeah." 

  　　Oh……I suppose I still overdid it…… 

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  　　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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