Capítulo 20: Dance with me!!!
The third round commenced shortly after, allowing only a minimal rest time for the gladiators as they reset the arena blocks to their new sizes and terrains.
From 100,000 down to just 10,000 this next round promised a much more intense challenge. Or at least it was supposed to.
Icarus didn't find it any more or less difficult than the previous round, and to be honest he was quite disappointed.
He understood coming in that his B-grade potential put him far and above the normal competitors that would participate in this level of games. But he thought that with most of the sector being here there would be at least a few outliers.
Achilles aside he hadn't come up against anyone with a grade higher than D the entire time. And by the time the third round ended, Icarus was well and truly bored.
The fourth round went much the same way with the final hundred being chosen in just 7 minutes after the horn rang to begin. And now sitting on the precipice of the 5th round Icarus was almost in tears with how easy everything was.
'I am happy that I am doing so well. I have made it into the top 1000 after all, and that was the original goal, but...' Icarus began to pace back and forth within his waiting room as he wrung his hands through his hair in frustration. "I just want a good fight!!" he screamed at the ceiling. "Is that so much to ask?!" His voice echoed throughout the chamber but was ultimately met with nothing but cold silence. A reality that nearly caused Icarus to cough up blood in anger, he had never felt so stifled before and he hated it to the core of his being.
The problem with gladiators in general was that most were hotblooded maniacs who couldn't be satisfied unless their lives were on the line.
This problem was especially bad for the ambitious gladiators trying to work their way up the power ladder.
For Icarus, it was tantamount to torture to have to endure so many lack luster fights. He could almost feel his combat instincts rusting with how easy this was.
He could only hope that with the 99 other gladiators sharing his arena block, there would be at least 1, just 1, who could give him a real challenge.
The horn blasted once more signaling the beginning of the 5th round. Icarus didn't have to wait more than 30 seconds before he was ambushed by two men.
They dropped from the walls of the dilapidated fortress they were all fighting in. The arena block had shrunk enough that now the only area to fight in was the central fortress from round 1.
They had attempted to catch him off guard and skewer him with their swords but alas Icarus was never unguarded.
Rolling forward to avoid the blow Icarus came up standing with his spear gripped tightly in both hands.
Turning himself sharply to face his attackers Icarus couldn't help but begin to chuckle.
The sight of which caused his assailants to wonder about the sanity of the man they had just attacked.
"I must thank you gentlemen." Icarus began, his eyes beginning to glow brighter and brighter with his fighting spirit slowly coming to life. "For only the second time in this whole stupid game, there is now before me a real challenge."
He could feel it, both of these men were C-grade potentials who were at the peak of rank 1. And while he was theoretically twice as strong as either one of them individually, when they both worked together the effect was multiplicative. Meaning that even though they couldn't compete on a one-on-one basis, they were more than capable of giving him a run for his money together.
Icarus studied his opponents as he waited for them to make the next move. To his eyes the two men could have been twins. Brown hair, black eyes, both around 5ft 11inch tall and jacked. Their bodies were swollen with muscles but despite their size, their bodies still gave off a feeling of harmony and grace. This told Icarus that each of them had maxed out their control attributes and that their skill would be anything but superfluous.
As Icarus continued to hawkishly stare at them the tension in the air began to build as each man was waiting for the other to strike. Then without warning Icarus exploded forward aiming to injure or directly kill the man on the left, whom we will call lefty.
So forceful had been Icarus' push off the ground the bricks beneath his feet actually cracked. He reached maximum speed in a split second while the tip of his spear was aimed at lefty's neck, zeroing in on its target like a bullet.
But the two men, lefty and righty, were no slouches. Yes Icarus was fast but the men were able to react, lefty bent himself in half backwards to avoid the strike while righty thrust his sword forward to strike where Icarus would be when he reached his initial target.
Smiling at the tactics of the two he whispered, 'not bad...but naive.' Driving the tip of his spear downward Icarus used it like a pole-vault to launch himself in the air and beyond the strike of Righty, landing just a few meters behind Lefty as he stood straight once more.
Wasting no time Icarus launched himself at Lefty once more, paying close attention to how the two men would react to his continued assaults. His speed gave him a distinct advantage, one that he would utilize to its fullest.
Lefty and Righty reacted in time yet again, this time they dove forward under the plane of attack attempting to break past Icarus' guard. And again Icarus smiled as he once more thwarted their plans.
Icarus raised his right foot and with a sweeping motion that looked like a question mark was able to pin Lefty's sword to the ground. Inverting his hands and rotating his body to the left Icarus was able to sweep away Righty's attack while swinging his left leg towards Lefty's head who was stuck trying to retrieve his weapon.
Seeing the incoming blow Lefty released his grip on the weapon and rolled under the blow once more trading places with Icarus, but this time he was left weaponless, the momentum had taken a definitive swing in Icarus' direction and the two men were starting to get nervous.
They had fought B-grade potentials before many years ago, that young man was a visiting bureaucrat much like Achilles, who had joined the games just for fun. They fought their hearts out but ended up being beaten and broken on the floor while their target went on to claim the championship title.
This young man before them, while entirely different in aesthetics and style, gave them the same kind of feeling they had that day.
...Inevitability.
Icarus kicked Lefty's sword back over to him and then beckoned the two men forward. "Come on!" he said excitedly, feeling the rush of his adrenaline beginning to spike. "I haven't had a good fight yet! Make my day!"
Both men frowned being looked down on like this but they had to admit the man had the skills for it.
Deciding it was time to get serious both men activated their talents.
The moment they did so Icarus could feel a shift. They had given him only a slight pressure before but now that feeling turned slightly dangerous. Like if he wasn't careful he could really get hurt.
Talents were a rarity in gladiators, one had to have C-grade potential for even the possibility to be there. But even then 90% of C-grades had no additional talent, these men were just anomalies which is why they had enjoyed so much success over the years.
Their talents weren't flashy per se, but they were effective. It was a D-grade Talent called boost, all it did was boost their overall attributes by 15% Which may not sound like much but once again with both of them working together the change was significant.
Icarus could see the veins beneath their skin begin to pulse and coil like a pile of snakes who had just had their nest disturbed. Their eyes, when they opened them, had gone from pitch black to a dull shade of red like dying coals.
Icarus couldn't help but smile even wider at the sight. 'HAHA! YES!' He cried exuberantly within his thoughts. 'This is what I came for!'
He had all but forgotten his original plan to stick to the walls and pick off stragglers. That plan was made by a man who wasn't confident in his strength and was looking to guarantee his spot in the top 1000.
But now things were different, he had fought and killed so many this day that his confidence in himself was now very solid. He had directly fought against groups of 5 or more just to push himself but was never able to feel any real danger. Some of the groups were able to pressure him slightly but it was never truly dangerous. Also now that his spot in the top 1000 was secured his ambition had begun to be stoked.
'Why stop now?' He thought, 'The only one in here that could pose a threat to me was Achilles. But he left after the first round.' Believing that his only real competition was gone, and feeling mind-numbingly bored with the tournament it was no wonder that his blood had been set ablaze by the challenge placed before him.
It was that fire of ambition, and the need to satisfy his blood which was screaming for battle that led him to cry out in joy.
"Come on you bastiches!! Dance with me!!!"
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