The forest trembled with the battle. Trees toppled like twigs before the warrior charging in fury, brandishing a scimitar wreathed in red prana flames.
With every step, the ground tore apart, trunks shattered, and the incandescent aura turned the forest into a crimson hell. Ahead of him, a slender figure cloaked in black robes moved with supernatural fluidity, releasing thick smoke that curled through the environment. It didn't seem human it was as if the very shadow had taken shape, wavering, blurred, untouchable.
With a calculated movement, the warrior hurled his shield. In midair, the circular piece opened, revealing serrated blades that expanded along its edge, transforming it into a wheel of destruction. The black disc flew nearly thirty meters, devastating everything in its path, but before reaching its target, a sphere of smoke erupted in the air, solid as an invisible wall. The shield lost momentum, fell heavily to the ground, and the metallic echo reverberated across the battlefield. The shadowy figure seized the opening and vanished into the trees, moving intangible, almost ethereal.
Black tentacles emerged from the ground, slithering like living snakes, latching onto the warrior's feet. He leaped at the last moment, narrowly escaping the ambush, but not unscathed: the corrosive smoke touched his leg armor, which disintegrated like paper in acid. Still in midair, his shield returned like a boomerang, locking onto his arm with precision. Without missing a beat, he threw it again in a devastating arc.
This time, the blade sliced through a tall tree, sending thousands of splinters flying, blanketing the battlefield like a storm. The shield continued on a straight trajectory, striking the formless silhouette. The impact was brutal — trees were pulverized, and the shadow dissolved into a cloud, dissipating like a gust of icy air.
"You damn rat of mediocre strategies! I swear I'll tear you to pieces!" — roared the warrior, but he had no time to savor victory.
As his feet hit the ground, hundreds of black thorns erupted in unison, aiming to impale him from every direction. Red prana exploded from his body, and he responded with superhuman speed. His steps were precise, a violent ballet of dodges and slashes. Each thorn he couldn't avoid, he split in half with the incandescent blade. The shield returned once more to his arm, as solid as if it were part of his body. The confrontation reached a stalemate, neither willing to yield.
It was at that moment the forest's sound changed. A shiver ran through the air, as if nature itself recognized the arrival of an even greater predator. Leaves rustled without wind. Electric energy ran along the trunks, sparking faintly. Both combatants, panting and alert, felt a different presence approaching. Then, in the blink of an eye, a new figure appeared: wild eyes glinting in the shadows, the controlled breath of a lurking beast.
"BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM"
Two bolts of electricity, one blue and one yellow, exploded colossally behind the scimitar-wielding warrior. The sound was deafening, as if the very air had been torn in half. Surprised, the warrior raised his shield reflexively, but the defense was useless. The electric current surged through his entire body, passing through every joint of his armor, scorching his skin and propelling him like a rifle bullet across the battlefield.
The impact was so violent that even the formless black-robed figure was caught off guard. The launched warrior flew like a meteor toward him, and the nebulous silhouette barely had time to dodge. Electric sparks licked the black cloak, tearing through part of the smoke and burning the skin of his arms. A groan escaped his mouth, and for the first time, his face was partially revealed through the haze twisted features, demonic, black skin, eyes, hair, and horns.
The dust took long seconds to settle. The warrior rolled on the ground, struggling to stand, still trembling from the static freezing his muscles. The black caster remained alert, eyes fixed on the explosion, the smoke around him oscillating as if on guard. Then a new presence asserted itself. Slow steps echoed, each resonating firmly against the shattered forest.
"Ah, good morning, gentlemen… mind if I join the dance?" said Glenn, arching his body in a sarcastic bow.
The two competitors exchanged glances, and almost simultaneously, in unison, they shouted:
"It's him!"
A smile spread across my face.
"Good, I'll take that as a yes. And please, don't waste my time… both of you, come at me at once."
Disbelief was written across their faces. As much as they had heard stories about me, neither ever believed that the "newly awakened" who hadn't even reached Champion rank would dare face two notorious warriors of this caliber simultaneously. It was madness. Suicide.
Well, I wasn't here to follow their rules.
I took a deep breath, let my wild aura pulse in electric waves, and stepped forward.
"Good… if you won't come… then I will."
"BOOM!!"
The ground shook, a crack split the air, and in the next instant, a colossal explosion heralded a violent two-against-one battle.
Five spheres of electricity ignited above my shoulders, crackling like tiny furious suns. Before the two competitors even understood what was about to happen, I slipped through a spatial rift and reappeared behind the black mage.
He erupted into a cloud of dark smoke as soon as he noticed my presence, but the gravity around him fell like an invisible wall. In the blink of an eye, the weight increased a hundredfold, forcing the mist to crawl against the ground as if devoured by the earth itself.
The mage screamed as he fell to his knees, the sound of cracking bones echoing through the suffocating forest. At that moment, one of the spheres on my back fired a bolt. The blue beam struck him in the chest and launched him ten meters forward, tearing through his smoky defense. The majestic smoke armor surrounding him dissipated like a faint breath, reduced to something reminiscent of forgotten cigarette smoke.
The four remaining spheres roared simultaneously at the warrior. He reacted quickly, moving with speed and instinct, narrowly dodging. The bolts passed inches from his face and torso, splitting the trees behind him. By some miracle, he escaped unscathed… or so he believed.
The instant he raised his arm to hurl the shield at me, a chill ran down his spine. His eyes widened as he realized the beams that had vanished were returning. Like intelligent predators, as if they had turned around and come back for the hunt.
"Damn it!!" he roared, but it was already too late.
The lightning struck him from behind with even greater force, crushing the plates of his armor. The metallic sound of his body being pulverized and the crash of trees splitting as he was thrown echoed across the battlefield.
The mage, seeing the situation, erupted in despair. His form twisted, engulfed by a mist that expanded his body past three meters. His arms elongated grotesquely, spewing black spears in all directions. They sliced through the air like torrents of steel and death, but when they fell where they should have hit, they only struck emptiness.
The gravity around him increased again, crushing the ground, and before he could react, I was already behind him once more. The weight vanished for a moment, only to be replaced by a gravitational wave that exploded into the middle of his back.
The energy tore through him like a divine hammer, dissipating all the dark magic covering him and slamming him against a fallen tree, full of broken branches pointing skyward like spears.
The impact was brutal. The mage's body spun uncontrollably in the air like a ragdoll, thrown against the jagged trunks, blood gushing violently from his wounds.
He tried to scream, but before one of the branches could pierce his heart, his form vanished from the arena, as if sucked into another dimension.
He opened his eyes in an isolated chamber, his body covered in deep cuts, splinters embedded in his skin, and blood streaming in rivers. He was still breathing, but the pain pinned him in place, his mind in a catatonic state.
Turning his head, he found three other competitors in the same condition, as shattered as he was. Seconds later, the shield-and-scimitar warrior appeared beside him, spitting blood and gasping, his eyes still full of disbelief.
At that moment, they both understood: they had been crushed.
**
The warrior staggered, his body already consumed by burns that throbbed like living fire beneath his skin. His joints bled as if each movement tore further into his flesh. His vision was blurred, yet he could see — or thought he saw — two Glenns hurling two black mages against a broken tree.
The dry sound of bones snapping echoed through the trunks, and before he could process it, a gush of blood escaped his own mouth. With every breath, it felt as if the weight of the world pressed down on his chest.
But he still had one final card. His trump.
With a heavy, agonizing gesture, he slid his scimitar into a compartment in his shield. The rune carved into the metal ignited like liquid fire, siphoning the last spark of his prana. The warrior screamed, a roar of despair and hatred, and unleashed every ounce of power left in his weapons. When he threw the shield, the shockwave was so brutal it split the ground beneath his feet, bursting his blood vessels and sending rivulets of blood across his already shredded skin.
The shield flew like a blazing disc, spinning fast enough to slice the air and spewing flames from its blades, transformed into a fiery saw. With each rotation, the shrill sound tore through the silence of the devastated forest. He aimed at Glenn — standing still, motionless, as if daring death itself.
And then, the impossible happened.
The shield simply vanished in the instant before impact. To the warrior's clouded eyes, it seemed like a trick of his failing mind.
"What?" he shouted, confused, his voice choked with disbelief.
But the answer came from above.
A spatial rift opened like the mouth of a hungry predator, and from it, his own weapon returned — amplified by the increased gravity. The shield descended like a falling star, wreathed in flames and uncontrolled energy, smashing him with an explosion that tore through the forest. The ground shattered like brittle cookie, forming a crater tens of meters wide, while fire and smoke engulfed everything.
And thus ended one of the tournament's first battles. Quick and brutal.