[Alfheim Online, New Aincrad, Floor 1 Coliseum]
[Malzeno's POV]
Fireworks erupted above us, seeing the arena barely filled after yesterday's gathering of players was a strange feeling, the type that makes the palms sweaty and the body buzz with energy. From my count, twenty players were present for the start of the second day of the United Duelling Tournament.
"I wonder how this'll work with twenty players..." Sinon murmured next to me, my head nodding on reaction.
"We'd be left with five, but I heard from Argo that come this point in the UDT, the officials are given free reign to implement whatever style of bracket they want," Effectively, so long as it got the approval of both the audience and the players, it was allowed. My smile grew, though not out of confidence. "What manner of horrors await us unlucky few...?"
A mic cleared, ~Okay, good morning everybody both here in Alfheim Online, the outside world, and other games! Who's ready to kick off the quarter finals!?~ Cliffheart gave her radiant, infectious greeting that set the crowd off again, almost drowns out the scornful glares I was receiving.
~I'm your returning host, Cliffheart, and with me is Thinker!~
~A pleasure to be here as always~ As modest as ever that man was.
~Mmhm! Before we start, you all might be wondering. 'Cliffheart, how can the tournament work with 20 Players when it's usually meant to be 16?'~ That was a question most people had, yes. ~Well! For those new to how the UDT works, we officials get to make the rules, so, based on feedback you, the audience, have provided us, and our own personal biases, some of you may have your work cut out for you with multiple fights today, so buckle up, it's gonna be a rough one!~
That earned a massive applause from the violence-starved crowd, and I felt my smile growing. I knew placing those bets was worth the extra Yrd.
~So, after some reconfiguring, here are your head-to-head battles leading to the semi-finals! Place your bets, folks!~ Cliffheart then brought up a projection before us and the whole arena from every angle, many giving cries of astonishment and excitement at the line-up.
Seeing the names made me uncontrollably sneeze, hiding my laugh with my hand. "Who's name is 'Tescobag'?" I wheezed, keeping myself steady with one hand on Sinon, herself standing firm but was clearly trembling to supress her laughter, even her lips twitched against her restrain. "Oh God, I really hope I beat the Salamander general, I'm then have the face 'TheCrayonConsumer', haahaahahaha!"
"You guys got all the fun ones, I'm stuck with a guy who didn't even put in his username, what's with that?" Yuuki, on the other hand, just pouted at us, looking annoyed she wasn't against some of the more 'fearsome' names on the board.
"It ain't much, but when you win, I'll give you a good fight," To the rescue was Sinon, nodding with a fearsome stare to challenge Yuuki.
Sighing, the purplette perked up with her usual, beautiful grin. "That's a promise then, just you wait and see!"
"Looking forward to it," Sinon smiled a little, she's been doing that a lot lately, that's good. If only I could see the look on Eugene's face right now, but my eyes were drowned in tears of laughter.
Exiting the arena floor, the matches began strong with Kirito against Aza, a claw user. The close-quarters kept Kirito on the defence for a bit before he got the pattern down, likely due to watching Argo at work for years. Kirito passed with flying colours. This 3rd Round seemed to working from left-down, right-down from the outside, so the two unknowns, Tescobag and Maidenless, a twin-dagger and scythe user respectively, duked it out.
Much like a maidenless man would be, his power was unrivalled, dominating Tescobag within minutes, exhausting all the nimble player's tricks. I guess when one cannot obtain his namesake, it would lead one down a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural.
Heading into the arena for my own match, Yuuki stood at the side since she would be up next, though, she looked a little worried for a moment but quickly dispelled the expression when I caught her red gaze. "It'll be fiiiine, I'm only going up against the second-most powerful Salamander in the game,"
Was I stressed? No... no, definitely not. I fixed a tense smile to my cheeks. "It'll be fine, It'll be fine, no biggie, keeps the joints from going stiff, polishes off any rust in my skills-nice warm-up routin-"
My words died in my throat when Yuuki huffed a breath, not losing her smile as she approached me, and... I felt her breath against my right cheek, then the soft, warm touch of her lips to my skin. It only lasted a second or two, but it stretched for an eternity in my eyes, igniting a fire deep in my chest when she pulled away, her reddened cheeks mirroring my own.
"J-just relax and have fun like you always do," She managed to speak without much issue, hands behind her back.
She kissed my cheek. A beautiful girl just did that. My face felt hotter and hotter the longer the concept-no, the very action lingered in my brain, dissolving any and all doubts or worries I had accumulated leading up to this fated battle. "A-a-ah... ahahaha, yes! You're absolutely right! As expected of my beau-amazing leader! Yep, lov-like the mentality, you'll see, I can win my bets and win this game, no sweat!"
Waving my arm widely, I heard her angelic giggle as she tried not to make eye-contact with me. "Then do your best," Yuuki squeaked out, watching me march on quickly before I said something to make my embarrassment worse, pumping my fist high for her.
"Oh God, she actually did that. Why did she do that? Does she like me for real? Impossible! Impossible. But could it...? No, no, no, no, that's impossible. Impossible! Why?" It felt... really freakin' good too, like my whole body just got a shot of caffeine without the crash. Maybe Sinon was right... maybe it was possible...
Stopping for moment, I slapped my cheeks to throw my thoughts on the matter aside. "No, stop overthinking. A cute girl you may or may not be crushing on just kissed your cheek for good luck, this stuff can happen... I think; what matters is the task at hand, she's given her confidence to you, don't screw it up," Then I stared blankly into space. "...And now I'm talking to myself, okay, that's better,"
Taking the buzz to my system in stride, I headed out to the 'adoring' crowd, almost everyone betted against me, though, I can't honestly blame them. That was what I would've thought, but now, there was no denial, they had all made a grave mistake yet again.
~Seems the Salamanders have it in for the infamous archer in this tournament. The General of the Salamanders, Eugene!~Cliffheart wasted no time with her announcements, my eyes meeting with the firm expression of a man fixated on the battle, silently judging my character. ~And the crack-shot Spriggan of the Sleeping Knights, Malzeno!~
I hopped from one foot to the other, limbering up with that fire kindling in my chest, I had my bow, and a kiss on the cheek, I was pumped! "Alright-alright-alright, let's see whatcha got, General!" Drawing No Turning Back, I nocked three arrows.
"I'll admit, you have decent skill with a bow, Shinku made the mistake of underestimating you," Eugene commented with that deep, intimidating voice of his, drawing out that annoying legendary sword of his. A crimson blade comparable to that of Excalibur, not to mention his armour was without question the best there was for a tank. You could say this match is easily decided the second we stepped into the ring.
"Oh? Lemme guess, you're not gonna do that? Man, there goes my trump card," I shook my shoulders in dismay, only for him to huff a laugh, drawing my eyes.
"You've gotten by with your skills, but this sense of superiority you wield will be your downfall," Oh, like all of his guildmates don't do the same. "I'll make this quick," He said this ominous warning as the countdown began.
"Hah, it's me who should be saying that," Now, that stupid smirk on his face was dwarfed by mine, eyes gleaming in the sunlight. "I've got one hell of a motivation right now. And with so much money against me, payday's just through the ten-tons of fun in front of me! So quit with the bullshit moral high ground!"
His scowl appeared, myself making my mockery to his very image. "'General' my ass, you got bested by a swordsman who's leagues above you, and I'm about to do the same with a bow and arrow! I'll use every dirty trick I've earned, I'll run your name and your stuck-up pride through the mud if I have to! Wanna beat me, then prove it by actually swinging that hunk of metal you call a sword and take my head off!"
{BEGIN!}
Eugene took acceptance to that, and his sword swung down, phasing through all three of my arrows, nearly slashing my chest had I not expanded my wings to fly backward, hovering in the air when he came straight for me."Demonic Sword Gram. Unique Skill; Ethereal Shift, allows the blade to phase through weapons and shields, can only be activated after a brief cooldown, so rapid succession isn't possible,"
His sword took on a deep red glow, thrusting it toward me like a drill as I dove into a backwards dive, twirling around to fire Blast Scale, the arrow was deflected but that caused it to explode, gotta love that twin impact. When Eugene flew down through the smoke, I had already charged back a deep blue arrowhead. Thunder Crash went sailing by his shoulder, blade cast in teal.
In two horizontal spins, the first nearly disarmed me, and the second left a deep gash through my stomach, with that swing from Blast alone I was sent spiralling toward the earth, health cleaved for over twenty percent right off the bat. Seems this fight really might end quickly...
Looking around wouldn't matter, I'd likely be met with lofty smirks at my downfall, everyone looked down on players like me, it's a natural thing for most to do when you make them all your enemy, or at the very least, antagonize the right people to spread the bad rep around. So, when someone like me gains a following, it's because they understand where I stand, and still are crazy enough to stand by me.
Funny thing friendship is.
Curling forward, I managed to throw my feet at the ground, bouncing once to rise straight toward Eugene who was descending at a harrowing velocity, blade cast in amber. Nocking three arrows, Buckshot stung the spot spots of his armour, clearly focused on outright offence, good. I braced for my gamble, then, threw NTB high, straight over the big oaf's head, making his eyes instinctively follow its direction.
I kicked my wings into overdrive, lunging with my body tucked tightly, gliding past his vibrating greatsword, likely Avalanche, then punctured his hips with two arrows clasped in each hand, seeing the broke shield icon appear. His vertical swing slashed my right leg, cleaving my gauge into the pale green but that's fine. Using his own body as a springboard, I slammed both feet against his stomach, turning us around for me to catch NTB as it fell, quickly drawing back an arrow while his blade slowly rose from his right, eyes glowering up at me.
With some strain in my fingers, I seethed the name, "Fail-Not!" The burning orange arrow's aim was true, and it was parried by Gram, Eugene thrown back by the recoil. He swung his sword where I once was, now swooping under to his back, ten arrows strained against my hands and river.
Deluge let off a mesh of purple as the arrows sunk through his armour, and with that Defence Down debuff, their damage showed, bringing his health into the same net as mine. Eugene didn't let up, as expected of the General, using the skill momentum of Gram to nearly cleave my head off diagonally, Lightning then traced a lightning bolt, each swing effortlessly evaded, granting me all the time needed to fly forward and twist my hips, boot cast in green when I struck him across the neck with a snap-kick, courtesy of Water Moon.
That crackling blow made him reel, hooking my boot around his neck to pull him backward, eyes caught to an arrowhead whisked into an emerald flurry. "GG," Clicking my tongue, Threaded Needle sunk though that sweet critical spot between his eyes, and Eugene's health, while not completely depleted, plunged into the red, that extra puncture damage doing most of the work.
He crumbled to the ground a few feet below, myself landing with a dramatic bow at the mixture of cheers and sobs among the crowd. I eyed the entrance I came from, seeing my friends and guild above applauding my match, and to the tunnel, Yuuki wearing a dorky smile that she realized I noticed and quickly shook off with a bashful one. I snickered a bit regardless.
~What. A. Battle! Malzeno completely annihilated Eugene with some of the craziest acrobatics I've seen in the last two days! Malzeno wins!~ Cliffheart was overjoyed.
~What a stunning display, well done, both combatants~ Thinker applauded us.
"Told ya I should've said it, General," I crouched down, removing the arrow before it killed him, hearing him grunt in response. "Sure gave them a good show, think it'll keep the bad blood brewing?"
"If they learn to improve, then yes," Eugene's response made me smile devilishly. "Now get lost before I have them question what we're talking about,"
Placing a hand on my heart, I feigned ignorance. "You wound me, and here I thought our lovely heart-to-heart at the barbeque put the spite to rest,"
"Hmph, to those outside, it was a mutual truce, and temporary at that, you will still be hunted," He warned, so I got up with a shrug, eyeing that demonic sword embedded in the dirt nearby. "Good luck,"
"Ain't that how I always get by?" With a curt bow, I left Eugene to lick his wounds. Then, I fist pumped with a giggle. "Now I get my chance to fight the almighty CrayonConsumer, hahaha, I love this game..."
[To Be Continued...]
[Author's Notes]
I had an image of the tournament list, but sadly, can't add it here. But I swear, one of the good things in every game are the usernames. Anyway, a short explosive fight, love's a hell of a motivation.
I hope you enjoyed, I appreciate the support as always; see ya in the next chapter!