The crowd began roaring. After all, these are two of the most dangerous and powerful humans in the world.

  Claire is the first to make it out onto the sandy grounds, looking around to see what it would've been like for the other contestants.

  Takemin followed closely behind.

  As Claire and Takemin stopped in their designated areas, the Mage spoke up,

  "You both may begin when ready."

  The crowd quietened down as the two prepared themselves.

  Claire made the first move, unsheathing her sword and turning it so the end of the blade was aimed at the targets.

  She then whispered under her breath,

  "Special move, pierced wind."

  She stomped her right foot out getting enough momentum to push the end of the sword right toward the targets.

  Despite standing about ten meters away from the targets, a loud sound was heard, almost like an arrow breaking the sound barrier.

  The next thing anyone knew, all five targets were annihilated, not a trace left behind.

  The crowd began cheering once again.

  Takemin witnessed her attempt and had a cocky grin on his face.

  He then faced his five targets, grabbing his spear from his back.

  He repositioned his hand so his index finger was on the other end of his spear.

  He aimed the sharp end at the targets and threw it, using his index finger to throw it faster.

  This time, he pierced all five targets, making the exact holes each fighter in phase one was meant to create.

  Claire, after witnessing Takemin's attempt, left the field, Takemin followed her after picking up his spear.

  "Alright, now, Ladies and Gentleman we will now move into phase two of the tournament, this time both of the heroes will be participating. In this phase, we will be testing the participants power against each other, fighters will be fighting other contestants, tanks and healers will also be fighting other contestants.

  Now, this phase will be modified, healers will be able to consume others life forces from each other, therefore their opponents will need to take them down quickly while the healers attempt to dodge or parry their attacks. With that, let phase two begin. the first two contestants, please step out."

  A fighter from the first round of the first phase stepped out first, followed by a tank.

  They both went to opposite sides of the arena, facing each other, the fighter having his hand on his sword and the tank squaring up making himself look more dominant.

  "Alright contestants, whoever wins this will move onto the next round. With that, you may begin!"

  The fighter unsheathed his sword running straight at the tank while the tank ran straight toward the fighter pushing his elbow out in front of him.

  The fighter attempted to slash his side but the tank was able to grab the other end of the sword's blade and stop the attack.

  The tank then proceeded to beat the shit out of the fighter, elbowing him, kicking him, punching him.

  After he forced the fighter to lean on the wall, he grabbed the fighters sword and proceeded to slash at the fighter.

  Before the sword could hit the fighter however, it stopped, as if it was hitting an invisible force.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  "The tank wins, you pass to the next round!"

  The tournament wasn't designed to kill anyone, but rather to test others out. If someone did die, it would've been outside help.

  After the first round had concluded, Takemin and Claire finally make their way up to their seats in the colosseum after resting for a while completely missing the first round, as if they care much about it.

  After they realised they missed the first round, they quickly sat down and put all their attention to gain all the intel in the second round that they could possibly see.

  The next fights weren't exactly very close, the tanks were outdoing most fighters except for the ones that completed phase one quickly and efficiently.

  The healers didn't have a high chance at winning either and most of them got taken out pretty quickly, and then, a familiar face was seen.

  Sephra, the whip using fighter Claire thought was a decent fighter was now on the battlefield, fighting the tank from round one.

  "Alright big man, gimmi a fight I'll enjoy ok. You do that I'll make it a quick and easy loss for you."

  The Mage then spoke up,

  "Begin!"

  "Alright bitch, just try it!"

  The tank, proceeded to put his elbow in front of him once more while shouting at Sephra, in return, she just stood there as he rapidly approached her.

  Upon getting within a meter of her, Sephra had, in the tanks vision, just disappeared.

  Before he knew it, a whip was around his neck. Sephra had gone behind him.

  Claire began breathing hard and forcefully while sweat dripped onto her lap with her head down, her jaw shaking.

  She got flashbacks from when going into that abandoned town with Sam and Jacob, seeing Buldursmith seemingly speed-blitz through all his opponents almost instantly.

  Sephra forcefully use her whip to fling the tank face first into a wall, smashing his face.

  Realising what happened, the tank tried to get away but discovered the whip was still around his neck.

  Sephra tightened the whip around his neck choking him out, grabbed her daggers and stabbed him in the shoulders.

  Essentially, she didn't just want her opponent to lose. She wanted to hurt him.

  The tank, after thirty seconds of struggling, finally collapsed on the ground assuring Sephra's victory.

  As she looked at the unconscious tank, the crowd was going crazy, clapping surrounded the battlefield, people yelled, everything became a mess.

  She began to get disoriented, looked around, light-headed, and collapsed onto her knees before delivering an ear-piercing scream,

  "SHUT UPP!"

  The crowd went silent rather quickly, before Sephra could do anything, the Mage spoke up,

  "This rounds winner, Sephra! You move on to the next round. Next fighters, please step out..."

  Sephra looked around again before running out of the battlefield.

  Claire began calming down, getting much more relaxed now intrigued on why she did that, she was fine just a moment ago.

  Many more fights go by, at some point, one of the healers actually ends up winning a fight showing it was possible.

  Takemin and Claire began losing interest. They didn't think many of these contestants stood a chance against them.

  "Man, if I knew this'd take this long, I wouldn't have come. This isn't even entertaining anymore, it's just boring, not even the crowd is reacting anymore."

  Just before Claire could respond to Takemin, another familiar face appeared entering the battlefield, it was Brodie.

  His opponent entered the battlefield after, just a normal fighter.

  "Alright folks, this fight is going to be another one to watch."

  Brodie and his opponent stare into each others eyes, his opponent was flabbergasted by his determination,

  "You may begin when ready!"

  The fighter rushed forward straight at Brodie, before he knew it, he had blacked out.

  The entire audience gasped and widened their eyes, even Takemin was smiling impressed.

  In the blink of an eye, Brodie grabbed a throwing knife and threw it, shattering his opponents sword, piercing his throat, and even created a crater in the wall behind his opponent.

  Takemin's smile soon vanished learning someone as smart and powerful as him was in the tournament.

  "B - Brodie wins?! Um ok. This next round will be in fifteen minutes time. As we are preparing the final four rounds get ready, for these will be the highlight fights for this phase! The final four contestants will be heading to the final phase!"

  With that, the Mage stood up and walked straight over to Claire and Takemin,

  "I'm gonna need both of you to go and get ready for these rounds, you are both fighting a round."

  Claire and Takemin both stood up and headed toward the waiting area.

  Claire was vomiting outside the waiting area after the little panic attack she had during Sephra's fight.

  "Oh boy, this is where things get exciting, you better prepare yourself, Swords."

  Takemin's little pep talk was not working for Claire.

  "Alright ladies and gentleman, this first fight will be a legendary one, please make these fighters feel welcomed, the Hero of Swordsman vs Sephra!"

  Claire's eyes widened, trying to breathe through her nose and wash her mouth out, eventually lifting her head up and using her hand to wipe the rest of the crap from her mouth.

  "You got this Swords!"

  Takemin yelled while pushing her out onto the battlefield.

  Claire looked around at the crowd trying to calm herself down and concentrate on getting this fight over and done with.

  Looking at the other side of the battlefield she saw Sephra also enter the battlefield, biting her nails and looking at the floor.

  She looked up to see Claire, had stopped biting her nails and began smiling menacingly.

  "Hello Hero of Swords, I've been waiting for this!"