Quick note, please comment a better chapter name here and I'll update this title and give you credit.
The next few days were extremely busy for the young crimson demon. She'd wake up, walk to the field introduced to her by YunYun, cast dozens of small spells such as Create Water and Create Earth, use a couple manalites, rinse and repeat. Occasionally she would have to go on a kill quest to be able to afford her room at the hotel she was staying in. Not having to pay Yunyun her fee, she no longer had to resort to going to a cheap motel overnight. Instead, she was able to secure herself a room in a nice hotel last second after getting back from the field the other day.
By about the 5th day of non stop casting and replenishing, Megumin was finally able to cast a normal Light of Saber. While certainly not as impressive as her initial 5 bladed one, she didn't feel the effects of mana exhaustion even after casting the spell repeatedly.
Seeing this, Megumin was overjoyed. To her this was more than being able to cast spells normally. It was her first glimmer of progress towards freeing her Kazuma. With about a week left before the tournament she would have to farm as much XP and money as she could. This artifact rewarded to the tournament's winner is just about her only hint towards what happened to Kazuma.
The Void is a topic shrouded in mystery. Although well known to have some sort of impact on the Great War between Heaven and Hell, nothing is known of the Void itself. The reason is simple enough, all souls, gods and mortal alike, who've entered the Void have only suffered one of two fates. One, never being seen again(hypothesized to be stuck within the endless Void one way or another) or 2, wound up so beyond insane that no significant information can be pulled out of them.
Anyhow, if Megumin wanted to free Kazuma, the all knowing artifact was a necessity for her. Losing the tournament will not be permitted and if raising even a single level could even slightly change the outcome of a battle positively for her, she would kill monsters for days on end.
Yet Megumin was not as gullible enough to believe everything would go perfectly for her. In the worst case scenario, she'd use her saved up money from slaying hundreds of monsters to buy the book from the winner of this tournament. But there always was a risk of the winner wanting to keep it for themselves, so she couldn't really count on that either. It seemed winning the tournament was really her only choice...
~~~
The day of the tournament arrived much quicker than expected. The tournament was being hosted in a massive dome like structure with only 1 entrance(which also served as the exit) to prevent infiltrators. Based on the structure and the granite (which was roughly painted over by a layer of marble white paint) that formed the dome, it seemed safe to assume a couple arch mages specializing in earth magic were the ones to construct the dome.
Having paid her entry fee prior to the day of the tournament, Megumin simply showed the guard who questioned her, her ticket to get in. Inside the dome was a bustle of activity. Hundreds of stands competing against others to get their merchandise purchased. Thousands of commoners, nobles, and adventurers alike rushing to get to their respective viewing locations, grabbing just about any food or drink they could get their hands on.
Within all this chaos, Megumin was busy trying to get to the billboard listing the first round of the tournament. Getting pushed, bumped into and even almost thrown once, Megumin managed to push her way through the crowd using her superior strength; which came from her unreasonably high level. Finally, she caught a glimpse of the list.
Although she didn't quite catch everything, she saw enough to determine where she was going. For where, it was stage 9 out of all 10 stages. If she weren't a competitor, she'd have to once again walk through the chaotic dome to the 2nd furtherest arena. Yet, as a competitor she gained access to the "Related Parties" teleport station located at each of the 10 arenas. Squirming her way out of the crowd once more, Megumin stepped onto the teleport pad (which was conveniently placed near the billboard).
"Arena 9"
~~~
"To the left we have MEGUMIN the legendary mage part of Satou Kazuma's DEMON KING SLAYING PARTY!!!"
To the announcer's magically amplified introduction, the audience erupted into cheers. Homemade signs and entire magical billboards all including "Megumin" got waved around for all to see. Even having gotten over her Crimson Demon antics, Megumin still reveled in all of the attention silently.
"And to the right we have MITSUGIRI!"
"Actually it's-"
"Capital's honored celebrity, leader of the harem party, slayer of the ancient dragon and THE WELDER OF THE CURSED SEORD GRAM."
Much like to Megumin's introduction the audience turned into a fit of shrieks and screams (mostly from the female audience). Fan girls from all over the stadium screamed out his name in hopes of gaining their hero's attention. To this, Mitsurugi simply smiled and waved; which was enough to get some girls to start nose bleeding.(A status Kazuma would have loved to have)
"A GREATLY ANTICIPATED BATTLE BETWEEN TWO LEGENDS! NO MATTER THE RESULT THIS WILL BE A FIGHT TO REMEMBER! FIGHTERS! ON YOUR MARKS, GET SET, FIGHT!"
To those words, both the mage and the sword master sprung into battle... Is what I'd love to say. Instead, what began was a long stare down between the two. Both sides waiting for the other to make a move to respond to.
Megumin was the 1st to crack, being the less formally experienced fighter. Putting up a small barrier around herself she went in for a quick win.
"Light of Saber!"
A tendril of light flew out of the loli mage's hand and shot straight towards the sword user. Not having expected the girl to cast anything but Explosion, the Mitsurugi failed to react on time. The blade connected with his shoulder plate and the reincarnated boy was sent flying back, suffering a painful burn on his left shoulder. Yet that didn't discourage him a bit. Gritting his teeth through the pain , Mitsurugi stood up, supporting himself against the side of the dome; cursed sword shining brightly.
"AAAAAGGGGHH"
He screamed, charging at the Crimson Demon at a unreasonably high speed. His sword shone bright with every step he took, fueled by his determination. Megumin hastily formed a second barrier in front if herself, unsure if her 1st would be enough for the job. It didn't take long for her suspicions to get confirmed however, as the sword cut through both barriers like hot knife on butter, cutting a deep gash into Megumin's arm and denting blood everywhere.
Looking at her bloodied arm with horror, Megumin failed the process what happened, standing still from confusion and pain. Taking advantage of her state, Mitsurugi swung hard at the girl's head with the blunt side of his blade, knocking her down.
Feeling the hard blunt side of the Sword Master's blade Megumin snapped out of her daze.
Am I... going to lose here?
No, unacceptable. Why am I letting myself be stopped by such trivial pain when Kazuma is going through so much worse right now.
Taking a deep breathe, the Crimson Demon resolved herself. Quickly finishing the incantation in her head, Megumin setup a powerful barrier which would only last for a couple seconds. But that's all she'll need. Ever since she learnt to control her mana usage Megumin had been testing out a new technique.
Small scale explosion magic. While it's impact would certainly be lower than the explosion magic she used to use, much like casting an average advanced spell this version of Explosion would only cast a fraction of her mana and provide more than enough firepower to beat the average enemy.
Oh, blackness shrouded in light, frenzied blaze clad in night...
In the name of the crimson demons, let the collapse of thine origin manifest.
Summon before me the root of thy power hidden within the lands of the kingdom of demise!
"EXPLOSION"
~~~
The arena was filled by a brilliant red light as cool wind ruffled the audiences' hair(for those of them who had hair). When the dust cleared up, only one fighter was left standing in the arena. Megumin, standing over the unconscious body of a certain Sword Master who had failed to block the miniature version of a Demon King General- slaying spell.
"THE WINNER OF THE FIGHT IS MEGUMIN!!!"
Hi, Hoooodi here how was today's chapter? I do realize today's chapter is a lot shorter than my average chapter for this story, sitting as a measly 1400 words but I'm mid hiatus okay? Please forgive me on that.
That being said, this was my first ever actual fight scene I've written. Please give me feedback on how I could improve future fights as I know there is no way I perfected it first shot.
In another note, even during my hiatus I'm always desperate for socialization so feel free to(actually please do) leave a comment on this story(it can but just about whatever). I read every single comment and reply to those with questions or those who I believe deserve a respond. And now, I bid you all a great rest of the day(or night).
Reviews:
Between1andgirl - okay! I'll continue responding in this way.