Turned out I haven't any ideas to write any other of my fics or anything else. So, I will use my creativity to update this one. I will still consistently put updates on Monday, but more chapters can be released through the week
PREPARATION TIME FINISHED. DIFFICULT CHALLENGE APPROACHING. REMAINING TIME UNTIL CHALLENGER IS SUMMONED:
3:54:01 HOURS; 3:53:59 HOURS; 3:53:58…]
Alexander was nervous. He was at the arena. He felt something was amiss. This foe, whatever it was, would not be normal. His instincts told him that. It was an emotion so intense he could not doubt it.
His big time was coming. He did not know what the threat was, and he did not have much time to prepare. "Are you nervous?" Like a hawk, Sol came to his side, an unlit cigarette between her lips. Her gaze was a mystery, he could not discern the emotion behind her eyes.
She was a strange woman; one time she could be caring and kind, and in the other she would be distant and a slave driver, pushing him to his limits, disregarding tiredness and hurt. But today, she felt off, even by her standards.
She opened up a suit. It held a strange short sword. It didn't appear to be anything special. "Consider this my gift for you. Should you survive, I will get you another one, so don't die."
Alexander took the short sword immediately.
[G] Gladius: A gladius made out of steel, finely tempered and durable. A fine weapon]
It felt better than his shortsword, even if it was oversized for him, so he would swap it for now. "Thanks." Sol didn't turn around. She walked away.
(scenebreak)
Alexander entered the arena. The tickling of the "virtual" clock continued. Three other people entered with him. Two men with animal features, faunus, and one other human. They all had scars and marks of combat.
They were no slouches or people there to be killed. They felt different from the foes he faced.
Alexander scanned the area. Were they his foes?
[0:00:09 SECONDS]
He did not know, and there was little time until the challenger was summoned. It could be anyone.
[0:00:08 SECONDS]
Alexander felt cold sweat build up on his back.
[0:00:07 SECONDS]
The others were just as tense, but they seemed to know what was coming.
[0:00:06 SECONDS]
The doors to the gladitorial pit were opened, and the sound of chains rupturing came from the other side of the door.
[0:00:05 SECONDS]
The other three swalloed dry, and they readied their weapons— sword, a spear, an axe, and a shield.
[0:00:04 SECONDS]
The sound came closer to their position. The roar of a beast echoed beyond the darkness of the door.
[0:00:03 SECONDS]
Alexander saw orange eyes piercing through the darkness.
[0:00:02 SECONDS]
A beast of darkness sprung into the limelight.
[0:00:01 SECONDS]
Everyone tensed up. As the monster roared at them, the cackling of the audience echoed in the arena, even louder than the roar.
The narrator, who had been silenced until now, sparked to life with a passionate speech. "Madams, Misters, and everyone in between! Here comes a Beast of Grimm! An Alpha Beowulf against three of our better fighters!"
He shouted with all the air in his lungs and passion.
"Our superhuman rookie: Assassin Alexander!"
The crowd cheered.
"Shockwave Crusher!"
"Thunderlance-"
"..."
Alexander paid no heed to the narrator. His eyes were locked on the beast. His body nearly froze in fear in its presence. It was so overwhelming that he felt his rational brain turn off, his body and mind relying on instinct alone to deal with the threat.
No amount of rationalization and thought could deal with that thing. Alexander knew deep in his heart that the logic he followed, the composed and analytical thoughts he used for everything, would be useless against that thing.
It overwhelmed all of his senses and thoughts.
[You encountered an Alpha Grimm. 7 INS]
The three warriors advanced upon the creature. Alexander moved on his own, his body barely listening to him. He dodged instinctively. It hit all three warriors with a single swipe of its claws.
Alexander saw a type of energy shield flicked on their bodies, enduring the hits for them. Alexander slid on the arena as he stared at the beast.
The beast seemed to focus on the three warriors. Alexander pounced on it, his sword aimed at the gap between the armor plates on its ribs.
[PIERCING BLOW]
The monster didn't pay Alexander any attention. It kicked him with its foot. Alexander barely managed to protect himself from the attack. Its claws cut across his arm and chest. Blood immediately spilled from the wounds as Alexander rolled on the ground.
His chest ached as blood continued to flow out of it.
The others didn't waste time. The one with the axe and shield tried to draw its attention. He blocked its claw swipes as the grimm bade its time for a perfect chance to attack.
The one with the spear tried to call its attention alongside the axe-wielder, and the sword wielder flanked the Grimm.
With a malevolent intelligence, the grimm allowed them all to get closer.
The spear poked at its side while the sword wielder tried to slash away at its leg. The grimm gave them a feral snarl as it jumped forward.
It lunged at the axe wielder, its jaws clamped over him, its lower jaw biting on the shield while its upper one landed on his torso. The grimm closed its mouth, and it immediately broke through the shield and closed its mouth over a good chunk of his torso.
His aura dropped to red, but he did not flinch. He swung his axe down on the beast's shoulder, making a deep gash into it. He held the axe on the wound, trying to hold the grimm as long as possible in that position.
The spear wielder ran to the Grimm and drove his spear into the back of its head in an attempt to exploit a point without armor. The grimm noticed it. It dropped the axe wielder, but the one holding the sword came to one of its claws and slashed it multiple times.
As if it had lost its patience, it knocked the sword wielder away and focused on the one with the spear. It grabbed the spear on the back of its head and snapped it in half. Before the spear wielder could escape, the grimm plunged its claws into his body, impacting his aura.
With its other claws, he took a clean swipe at his head, another solid hit. To finish him, it took a big bite at his head and neck.
The aura shattered immediately as the grimm bit down with all of its jaw strength.
Blood spilled as the grimm threw his body near Alexander.
As for Alexander, he tried to get up as he bled out. His blood flowed down from the wounds, it was lukewarm and sticky.
He held a hand over his chest as the other gripped the gladius tightly. His pressure was dropping, and he had no way to get up and fight. It was a bloodbath.
It felt unfair, too harsh and rough and challenging for him. As his body grew colder, his vision grew weary and blurry. Was he dying? Maybe.
Maybe he was dying. Scratch that. He was dying.
Not even his regeneration skill could keep up with the damage done by the claws.
Just as his senses threatened to go away, he noticed something. A twerking body with some life left in it. He remembered the hit they took at the start of the fight.
Those three had aura.
The system rewarded him by killing people. In his blood-loss-fueled daze, Alexander thought of an idea.
Maybe, just maybe, if he managed to kill that guy, he would get his aura as a skill.
A way to fight.
Alexander crawled towards the dying spear-wielder. He pushed his body to the limit, and his survival instincts kicked into overdrive.
He dragged the gladius with him.
He dragged himself to be near the body of the spear wielder.
More blood gushed out of his chest. He felt his grip on the sword slipping.
Alexander's vision grew darker, but he plunged the sword down on the spear wielder's head.
He mercy-killed him.
[YOU KILLED THUNDER YAJU
YOU HAVE ACQUIRED
AURA (LOW: 50/50)
YOU HAVE ACQUIRED: SPEAR MASTERY (G2: 2,3/10)
YOU HAVE ACQUIRED TRAIT: NIGHT VISION
YOU AURA ALLOWS YOU TO WITHSTAND MORE DAMAGE, HEAL FASTER, AND HAVE BIGGER PHYSICAL STATS.
PHYSICAL STATS INCREASED BY 1.25X
FOR: 28 (35)
DEX: 23 (28)
TEM: 33 (41)]
YOU LEVELED UP!
LONGSWORD MASTERY LEVELED UP
SHORT SWORD MASTERY LEVELED UP
PIERCING BLOW LEVELED UP
YOU GAINED 3 LOW DEX STATS CARDS, 2 LOW STR CARDS, AND 1 MEDIUM TEM CARD]
Alexander immediately used the cards he got.
[FOR: 30 (37)
DEX: 28 (35)
TEM: 38 (47)]
Alexander felt the wound on his chest stop bleeding. He was not at his peak performance, but was not dead, nor dying. It meant he had a chance, a fair shot at winning this fight.
He got back up on his feet. The sword wielder and axe-guy still tried to fight the Alpha Beowulf. The wound on the back of his head and the wound on its shoulder were the only glaring weaknesses it had, as the cuts of the sword barely did anything to stop it from swinging its claws.
'Killing him was like popping up a pinata.' A morbid thought, but he was alive. He had no time to dwell on the bitter taste in his mouth for mercy killing that man.
He had a bigger beast to fight. He knew if he didn't fight it, it would come to finish the job.
'Fuck keeping the pretenses. If I don't go all out, I'm going to get murdered by it.' The Old Longsword got summoned to his hand. He gripped it tightly.
[BY USING TWO WEAPONS, YOU HAVE UNLOCKED DUAL WIELDING SKILL]
Alexander had no time to pay attention to the system.
He rushed towards the Alpha Beowolf. It tried to kick him again as its focus was on the "more dangerous foes", but this time, Alexander was ready. He pushed his longsword forward. It shattered immediately, but it slowed the kick a little.
Alexander grabbed the Alpha Beowolf's paw and used it as leverage to jump over its shoulder. The Grimm tried to turn its head to stare at him, to gauge the situation, but Alexander was faster.
He grabbed the broken shaft of the spear and pushed it forward, locking the Beowolf's head in place. It roared in an attempt to shrug Alexander off, but he held on to one of its spine spikes for dear life.
"This is our chance!" Shouted the sword wielder. He attacked the Alpha Beowolf's unarmored leg portions. He drove the sword into it and hacked from there, almost cutting the leg off. The beowolf lost its balance and kneeled on the ground, refusing to fall.
The beowolf roared again. This time, he grabbed the man with both of its claws with great strength, and it drove its claws into his aura. Before the man could scream for help or react, the beowolf chomped on his head, biting it clean off.
The axe wielder gritted his teeth and drove his axe over the Grimm's shoulder, he put all of his strength into it. Cleaved into the smoky flesh of the Grimm, making its arm hang out by a thread connected to its shoulder
Alexander climbed up its back. Still with fight left in it, the beowolf moved its elbow, a spike attempted to pierce straight through Alexander's ribs. He felt something soften the blow. It gave him a chance to attack.
[AURA: 20/50]
The Alpha Beowolf placed more strength in its attack. This time, it shattered Alexander's newfound aura and drove straight through one of his lungs. Alexander coughed blood, and as his breathing started to collapse, he did not stop.
[FRENZIED BLOW] [PIERCING BLOW]
He drove his gladius into the back of its skull. He drove it all of his strength. The grimm stopped, its form vanished. Alexander fell on the ground, and the only thing remaining of the grimm was its skull.
His body felt colder again. He was bleeding out. Breathing was hard. He felt his vision darkening. He wanted to sleep, just to close his eyes a little. He tried to breathe, but he choked on blood.
He relaxed his grip on the gladius. Maybe he could take a little nap.
Accept things as they are.
But he remembered the strange dream he had. The one where he saw again his long-lost friend. All the insanity he had to endure because of this system.
He could not stop now. He should not stop. He forced his eyes open, despite the blurry vision that could no longer see anything.
He gripped the gladius with all his strength. He did not want to die. He would not accept death here.
As if sensing he still had the will to live, the system popped up.
[YOU DEFEATED THE CHALLENGER. YOU HAVE BEEN AWARDED A BIG REWARD
YOU HAVE LEVELED UP
BY YOUR UNRELENTING KILLING INTENT AND STUBBORNESS, TEM HAS BEEN INCREASED BY 10, STR AND DEX BY 5.
YOU HAVE GAINED 5 MEDIUM UNIVERSAL STATS CARD
FOR DEFEATING THE GRIMM, YOUR AURA HAS BEEN INCREASED BY 30 POINTS.
FOR DEALING THE KILLING BLOW, ALL YOUR MASTERIES WENT UP BY ONE LEVEL. YOUR AURA IS INCREASED BY A FURTHER 30 POINTS.
YOU GAINED AN ALPHA GRIMM SKULL (B) AND LOWLY-NIGHTMARE ESSENCE 2x (B)
YOUR WILL TO LIVE WAS GRANTED YOU THE CHANCE TO SURVIVE THIS EVENT. CONGRATULATIONS]
(scenebreak)
Sol stared at Alexander. He was tubed but alive. Somehow, recovering from what would be fatal wounds to a grown-up man, much less a child. Yet he was there, healing. "The boy earned a few grands with his display. Everyone was pleased with the show. It is not every time the fighters manage to down an Alpha Grimm."
Lazuli spoke. A pleased expression on her face. "He will make some waves, should he survive this." Sol resisted the urge to pick a cigarette.
She knew it was a death sentence to him once she knew it was a grimm he would fight. She never expected him to survive, much less win.
She tried her best to just soothe him before he faced inevitable death. "He is an anomaly." Sol didn't know how to feel about him.
She was sure the watches of that bloody game were happy, but the ones that sent the boy there wouldn't be happy.
"He will be left here to rot. You know that, right?" Lazuli asked Sol, who shrugged. "I'm done with this," Sol remembered how she treated the boy. She was not a bad person to him, but she could not keep this up for long.
She would not get attached. She thought he was going to die, and he didn't, this was her tell-tale to get out of this as soon as possible.
Lazuli opened a smile. "Well, even if you get out, I will still support him until the higher-ups decide to deal with him permanently. He made too much money with this last show."
Sol sighed. 'Sorry, kid, there won't be a gift for when you wake up.'
Well, that is it. Until next time.