The last day of the group battles had arrived and this would decide the contestants moving on to the battle royale.
Victoria and Gideon were together in the room once again and Gideon was teaching her some techniques and give her instructions on her attacks and so on.
"Concentrate your magic in a single area to maximize damage,same thing with defending. Don't always rush in to attack, try to use ranged attacks to probe. Don't just punch as fast as you can, try and aim for areas that are difficult to defend." Gideon taught her patiently and she picked up what he taught very quickly.
Soon enough, she was called to start her match and she said a brief bye before heading to the arena.
Upon entering, the crowd cheered loudly for her. Even though there were other fights, hers so far. were the most interesting.
This time, her opponent had blue hair and eyes. He also had a pair of gauntlets and he looked at Victoria carefully. His name was Lark.
"3... 2... 1 Go."
Two spears, one made of water and the other made of fire appeared in Victoria's hands simultaneously while thin blue arcs of electricity coiled around Lark's body causing his hair to stand straight.
Victoria threw both of her spears at the same time while Lark charged at her. He ducked under the water spear while he moved to the side to dodge the fire spear. But just as it was about to pass him by.
*BOOM*
The spear exploded but Lark managed to create a lightning barrier at the last second, however he was still sent flying and Victoria used this opportunity to attack.
Just as Lark recovered from the explosion, Victoria was already in front of him and her gauntlets were bright red and we're heading towards his neck.
Lighting coiled around Lark's gauntlets as he returned his own punch.
*BANG*
Victoria took two steps backs and shook the numbness out of her arm caused by the electricity while Lark took three steps back and ignored the heat on his arm.
Victoria took a step forward and a small wave of fire erupted from her feet towards Lark who was engulfed shortly.
*FWOOSH*
Lark charged through the flames while protecting himself with lightning and immediately punched towards Victoria.
Victoria blocked the punch and slid backwards three meters before stopping and she immediately charged towards Lark again.
*BANG BANG BANG*
Unlike the previous matches, the two of them constantly exchanged heavy blows without any form of grace.
Victoria felt her blood boil as the fight went on, she could be classified as a brawler and she loved fights of raw power like this one, she she became excited and started holding back less.
"Dragon fist!" She yelled and punched forward with both fists and a roaring water and fire dragon head formed on on them.
"Thunder claw!" Lark also yelled and made a clawing movement with his hands which were then covered in blue claws of electricity.
*BOOM*
The biggest clash of the tournament occurred as a loud explosion rocked the arena and filled it with dust causing the audience to be unable to see.
"Was that the deciding clash?" The commentator asked no one but everybody had a similar thought. But the were wrong.
*BANG BANG BANG*
Even with the dust, the audience could still see blue red and electric blue flashes colliding with each other along with numerous sounds of explosions.
However, even though it seemed like they were evenly matched, the stronger people in the arena already knew what the outcome would be.
"Ha, ha..." The two of them separated once again, but Lark was panting heavily as sweat covered his face.
Even though they seemed equal strength wise, an unarguable fact about fights like these was that if the opponents seemed equal, it would be a game of who would last longer. And clearly, Victoria had a much larger amount of astral energy compared to her opponent.
"Do you still want to continue?" Victoria said without much emotion, but one could tell from the depths of her tone that she was telling him to surrender.
"I- I can still go on." Lark said with determination as lighting crackled around his body once again. But it was clearly less than when the fight started.
Victoria sighed as she looked at him before her gaze turned firm, she was gonna end this.
Once again, they charged at each other and got ready to end the fight. Once they were close, they swung their fists at the same time.
*BANG*
Their fists passed by each other and the sound of impact was heard. The two of them stayed with the fists still outstretched before Lark suddenly collapsed. He got hit before he could hit her and lost consciousness.
The crowd was silent for a moment before erupting in cheers. That was by far the most exhilarating match since the start of the tournament. At the same time, people had a lot of respect for Lark. To them, if he had more astral energy, then maybe he could have one.
Though the truth of the matter was that he would've still lost, one still had to acknowledge his strength.
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"Tch, just because he lacked energy." Conrad, the person who had come to congratulate Victoria's father (the first chapter) all those years ago clicked his tongue when he saw his son loose.
"Wrong, even if he still had energy, he would still loose." Sarah said in a matter of fact tone.
"How would you know." Conrad said with an annoyed expression and Sarah glanced at him.
"She was holding back." Sarah said in a low voice but everyone in the room heard it clearly.
"What!?! But she's already showed combat prowess at the peak of the iron rank, wouldn't that mean..." Gideon's guild master said and even though he didn't finish his sentence, everyone knew where he was going. She was already at the black iron rank, and at such a young age.
"Hmph, don't compare your trashes to my child." Sarah said disdainfully.
*DOOOOM*
Numerous peak golden rank auras erupted in the VIP booth and everyone inside the arena felt a suffocating and terrifying pressure like a mountain press on them causing them to be unable to move.
Sweat covered Gideon's head when he felt the auras, even though he could move, that didn't make it less terrifying.
'I just need to reach level 70 and I'll be at the gold rank.' He thought to assure himself, but then.
*CRACK*
The whole arena was pressed a few feet into the ground, the aura easily dwarfed the previous ones and if not for the person deciding not to target the audience, everyone would've been crushed into meat paste. This aura was at the rose gold rank.
Apart from Gideon's guild master who didn't do anything, the others sucked in a cold breath.
"You- when did you advance?!?" Conrad pretty much yelled as he retracted his aura in shock along with everyone else.
"Why do you think I keep disappearing every few weeks, to play?" Sarah said mockingly before retracting her aura as well before sitting back down.
Gideon looked at the booth and clenched his fists.
'I will make you see what you did wrong even if I have to beat it into you.' He shouted in his mind before sitting and calming himself. He would get there, and no one would stop him
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I'll post another chapter today as an apology for not posting yesterday. I had mental fatigue.