Chapter 37: Iron Dragon

Thadius watched as two men stared each other down in the arena. The competitors for the Silver tournament were ushered to the stands until the conclusion of the Gold semi-finals. After the bout was over, Thadius would make his debut.

The match was black versus red with the winner going on to face the Gold Champion later on. A rogue, dyed head to toe in crimson leather armor, stood with his face half covered by a cloth. He faced a dark warrior clad in onyx plate mail that mirrored the surroundings and matched his dark hair.

They readied their weapons and took their stances. The rogue was armed with a single dagger, and the warrior was carrying two guardless longswords. The combatants stood at the ready, and the spectators were buzzing with anticipation.

"Who's the red guy? Is he supposed to be a ninja?"

"I'm more interested in the warrior. Dude looks like he's about to deal some death."

"Not with dual longswords he's not. He looks ridiculous just holding them."

Thadius agreed with the last comment. His master had been against using two weapons of the same length.

'Well, these guys are gold semi-finalist, so this match is bound to be good regardless.'

The drums sounded for the match to begin, and all eyes watched as the dark warrior spread his arms out wide. His swords blazed in the sunlight, and with a flick of his wrists, they shattered into dozens of shards. Each shard was connected to another by razor sharp wire.

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"Bro!!"

"FUCKING CHAIN SWORDS!?"

Thadius rocked on his heels in surprise, and the entire stadium shook with excitement as the warrior twirled. The rogue wasn't impressed, and charged for him with reckless abandon.

The fight turned into a deadly game of double-dutch as the rogue ducked and jumped over the blades. He threw two hidden knives at the warrior, but they were easily dodged with perfect timing.

However, the knives were more than they seemed. Flames erupted from the blades, swelling into humanoid forms. Then two identical rogues, with matching daggers, entered the fray.

"FIRE CLONES!?" Thanks for reading on ManaNovel!

"Holy shit!!"

"That guy's a friggin' Pyromancer!! He has to be!"

The dark warrior responded immediately, sweeping the chain swords high and low to force the Pyromancer into taking defensive measures. The original rogue was caught by the high sweep, but he burst into flames as soon as the blades touched him. Having swapped places with one of his clones, he tossed a barrage of fireballs into the warrior’s lethal vortex.

The move proved ineffective as the warrior killed the flames by ripping through them. He arched the blades high and whipped them down into the balls of fire. While his response was brilliant, he failed to notice the knife that had fallen from the destroyed clone. The knife glowed an ominous red until an explosion erupted at his heels, blowing him away.

"Ah, they're at it again." a voice said from beside Thadius. The elf wore glittering armor with a helmet to conceal his face, but his pointed ears were clearly visible.

"You know those two?" Thadius asked.

"I do. They've been competing against each other for ages. Mages always want to prove that their magic is stronger."

"The warrior is a mage too!?" Thadius cried in astonishment.

"Watch..." The man said. In the arena, the warrior lay face down in the sand, struggling to get up.

"I'm surprised he wasn't incapacitated from that. Still, this match is over."

"Yep, all the Pyromancer needs to do now is finish it."

"Killing blows just makes duels so much better. No more dragged out fights."

The crimson mage walked up confidently to the dark warrior and pinned him to the ground with his knee. Then he grabbed a handful of the man's hair and jerked his head back to slit his throat.

As blood pooled on the sand, the crowd went wild. The red mage basked in the cheers with his arms raised in victory.

"The fool has completely forgotten who he's facing." The mysterious man laughed as Thadius looked down at the fight in confusion. The fight was clearly over, yet this man was waiting for something to happen.

Suddenly, the body of the warrior twitched and stood up. Blood was still gushing from his throat, and his eyes gleamed bright green. The drummers, that were about to signal the end of the match, watched in astonishment while everyone else completely lost their minds.

“NECROOOOOOO!!”

“What!?

“How’s that fair!? NO REVIVES CHEATER!!”

Thadius’ jaw nearly fell to the floor. The stranger beside him laughed at his expression.

“Remember this, friend.” he said as he turned to Thadius. “In this world, judging your opponent at first glance can get you killed. Expect anything and everything.”

“Marius!” a voice called from the stairway. It was a man in the same armor as the stranger.

“What is it? Have you found them?” Marius replied with a serious tone.

“They fled the city. Fourscore managed to pick one of them off from the outer wall, but they made it past a hill. He says he can’t hit what he can’t see.”

“Right. We’ll leave immediately. Oh,” Marius turned back to Thadius, “try not to use Pressure out of combat. I know you want to increase its strength, but you’re going about it the wrong way. Just a tip.” he said as he followed the man down the stairway.

Thadius shook his head. The man had mistaken the strength of Thadius’ Fighting Spirit as Pressure. Had he actually used the skill, the man would likely have gawked in surprise.

Out on the area floor, the Pyromancer was fighting for dear life. He had turned around in confusion from the surprised gasps of the crowd, and was caught by the blades and wire that wrapped around his neck. One tug from the Necromancer dug the blades deep into his flesh, and he helplessly spat out blood as he grasped at the wire.

With a gurgled word from the Pyromancer, the wire and blades glowed white hot. It was a final attack to try and make his torturer drop his weapon.

The Necromancer’s hand caught fire, but he didn’t loosen his grip. Then the second tug dropped the Pyromancer to his knees.

“Damn, he’s out cold.”

“Yeah, he’s as good as dead now…”

“FINISH HIM!!”

The final tug separated the Pyromancer’s head from his body while the heated blades seared the flesh. A headless man fell to the side in a smoking heap as beating drums signaled the end of the match.

Arena hands came out and cleared away the body as an organizer came and addressed Thadius and the waiting competitors.

“All Silver tourney competitors follow me please.” the man said as he descended the stairs.

More than 50 people followed him down. They were lead back to the entrance way of the coliseum and through the door that was used for gladiators. A staircase lead down into the gladiatorial compound, where huge iron wrought gates separated them from the killers on either side. The walls were lined with men sticking their hands through the gate, trying to rattle the newcomers.

“I like that robe boy! Give it to me!”

“Uh oh, that one looks like a squealer!”

“Go home back to yo’ mammy boy!”

Thadius could only smile at them as he passed. He had always wanted to experience this atmosphere. His heart pounded as each step brought him closer to the center of the coliseum, and his palms sweat with anticipation. He wanted to yell. He wanted to bellow a battle cry at the top of his lungs. But he stopped himself so that all his pent up energy could explode into a hurricane of swordplay.

With his thoughts on the battle to come, he completely lost control of his Ambient Pressure. The gladiators along the walls fell silent one by one, and the competitors all looked at the back of the man in the white robe as they stood in front of the gate leading to the arena outside.

The crowd that was usually cheering for more, was now talking in hushed tones. Something truly terrifying was about to come out of the gates below, and they all could feel it.

The organizer turned around and nearly soiled himself when he saw the devilish grin on Thadius’ face. “E-everyone! Everyone listen please!” he said nervously. “We have many competitors for the silver tournament! So we’ll be holding a battle royale until eight people remain standing! Should you wish to yield, please come back to the gate!”