Chapter 579: Individual Tournament 8

The two energy waves collided in the center, exploding outward with a huge shockwave that forced those at the side to cover their faces. Panty King's sword wave was destroyed by Kiran's Qi Wave which was like a compressed air cannon. 

It then proceeded to pierce through the torso of the Mana Swordsman before he could even react, ending his life in one shot. For a brief moment, the open hole in the middle of his body let one see through to the other side. And just like that, Panty King turned into pixels. 

Kiran then calmly retracted his outstretched fist, gazing at the spot where his enemy had died with a calm face, restraining his Lineage's Internal Energy and Noble Energy. 

Eighth match winner: Gentle Lamb (Kiran)! 

The member of the Five Generals then hopped off the stage calmly and stood by the side with his arms folded behind him. He would have made for a handsome statue, were it not for Sublime Notion coming over and teasing him for taking this long. 

As for Panty King, he re-appeared at the side as well, a wry smile on his face. At least their fight had made for a good show and the Japanese were cheering loudly for him. 

Especially the ladies had enjoyed this match, as they had gotten to watch two handsome fellows duke it out. They had been so cool and suave during the battle that many had decided to become fans of one of the two on the spot! 

Some wild ladies even flashed the namesake of the losing panty of this fight, making the fellow's downcast demeanor lift instantly. 

The faces of all the members of Umbra became quite strange as Amber announced the next match. 

9th Match: Rambunctious Buttlover vs Happy Scholar! 

On the left, climbing up the stage, was a handsome fellow with light green hair that was cut short, ending just at the nape of his neck. He wore a light red archer hat with a white feather sticking out of it, like something Robinhood would be caught wearing. 

His face was a mix of angular and oval, making him handsome in a less sharp and breathtaking way like Draco and more of a suave, yet pretty way like Cobra. 

His eyes were a light brown and his skin was cream-colored. His attire was essentially a mixture of blackish-green, open-buttoned leather armor as well as some cloth armor at the joints. He had a belt with a flute and a harmonica within while on his back was a lute that was strapped on. 

The ladies who had just come down from swooning were sent off into the realm of bliss once more thanks to the nice eye candy, his username already subconsciously forgotten. 

On the right, climbing up the stage was another well-mannered and refined gentleman who was quite attractive as well. He wore a magician's robe that was slim-fitting and a gentle blue in color. There were no designs or sigils on the robe, making it rather plain. 

In his hand was a blackish-red grimoire that was open at all times, radiating a thick miasma that looked ominous. His robe was one without a hood, allowing his long and silky black air to fall down to his shoulders, which had been tied into a long ponytail. 

His face was elfin in nature, very angular and long. His jaws were gaunt while his eyes were oval and curved downward. He looked like the pretty boys from a bishounen, especially when he smiled in that gentle way of his. 

(Author's Note: Rambutt basically looks like Matsuoka Rin from 50% Off while Happy Scholar was designed based off Sasaki Kojiro/Assassin from the original F/SN.) 

When these two men with drastically different kinds of attractiveness appeared onstage, even some fellows had to clamp their legs shut and began to question their very existence. However, the members of Umbra had solemn expressions as they shuddered from the cruelty of the AI. 

It had paired two fellows who played the same trade, but in different mediums. Both of them were masters of Language, relying on it to overcome their enemies, RamButt using his voice and music while Happy Scholar used runes and writing. Literally two sides of the same coin. 

If any of these two had been paired against another, they would have a tough time dealing with their unique battle styles, but the AI had pitted them against each other. It wasn't to make things easier for the others, but simply because a battle between the two would be a grand spectacle which would enhance the quality of the entire tournament. 

They had been feeling it since the very first few fights, but the AI appeared to have set things up in a way to maximize the satisfaction of the viewers, even at the expense of contestants. It drove home how little the AI cared for them, treating every single player in the game as a chess piece for it to use as it wanted. 

It only gave preferential treatment to Draco and Eva, period. Everyone else was expandable, whether part of Umbra or not, and that was on full display for the core members of Umbra to see here. 

After allowing the audience, some time to take some pictures, Amber called for the match to begin, and the two contestants went all out from the beginning. 

Rambunctious Buttlover began by activating all of his class's passive at once, which overlaid over each other and synergized to produce crazy effects that had brought him great success during the Abyss Event specifically, where he had managed to talk a void monster into committing suicide. 

｢Deceptive Words – Passive skill 

Effect: Speak a string of lies and half-truths at all times, making all listeners subjectively feel like your words are pure truth.｣ 

｢Sweet Talker – Passive skill 

Effect: All enemies who listen to the speech of the User are slightly charmed, and their hostility reduces as they fall into a short daze.｣ 

He strummed his lute and began singing a tune, which sent a gust of wind from his feet that swirled upward, while an arrow sign pointing upwards appeared above his head. 

Rare-tier Bard skill: Lyrical Lines! 

｢Guild Local Area Announcement 

Player Rambunctious Buttlover has boosted his party's morale through music! The enemy is cowed by his lyrical might! 

All players: 

Attack +50% 

Defense +70% 

Speed +20% 

All enemies: 

Attack -50% 

Defense -70% 

Speed -20%｣ 

At the same time, RamButt buffed himself and attempted to Debuff Happy Scholar, yet this tournament had never been turn-based. While the Umbra core member had been busy, Lorebinder's Guildmaster hadn't been idling around. 

Word of Power: Reflection! 

The word had been written in the air in a golden font, and rushed out to strike Rambunctious' debuff which was traversing over to Happy Scholar. This had the effect of negating the debuff that should have landed on Happy Scholar while also perfectly canceling out the Battle Bard's previous buff, as the negative effects had been reflected back to him. 

RamButt suffered no backlash, but this display of skills made the crowd shout in awe from the play. However, the core member was not bothered by this, instead he flashed a smile. He knew that every word or rune of Happy Scholar was only as effective as how much mana he had spent, and to reflect his skill couldn't have been cheap. 

Happy Scholar also knew this, which was why he wasn't thrilled about having gained the crowd's favor and rather frowned deeply. The use of consumables was prohibited, preventing him from drinking potions to refill his man. 

This first salvo had ended in his loss. 

However, he had no other choices as the Lyrical Lines skill was too strong, and he couldn't allow it to go through, since it would tilt the battle too much in his opponent's favor. Rambunctious though was a cruel fellow and would not stop here. 

He began strumming his flute once more as he prepared to use the Uncommon skill Lyrical Words which wasn't even half as strong as its Rare-tier counterpart, but it was enough to cause Happy Scholar trouble. 

RamButt gazed at Happy Scholar with a provocative look, daring him to reflect this one too, wasting ever more of his mana. Happy Scholar was rendered speechless by the fellow's shamelessness, but displayed a cruel expression the next moment. 

He then wrote a word in the grimoire and swiped it upwards to change up reality. 

Written Word: Silence! 

Immediately, there was a vacuum of sound in the area. RamButt's face changed as he could no longer hear his own voice and clutched his throat. However, he could tell that his voice had not been affected, but rather that the area had been emptied of sound. 

This was the main difference between Happy Scholar's two main active skills. Word of Power was a targeted skill, meaning that it was meant to strike something or be directed at something. 

On the other hand, Written Word was more of an AOE skill, meant to affect the surroundings over a person or specific thing. 

Rambunctious' face became ugly once he realized that his class skills had been rendered useless. Even worse, Happy Scholar's own power was unaffected, since he used writing as a medium. 

The one true weakness of a bard-related class had been laid bare in its full glory! From the favorite to win, RamButt suddenly found himself on the ropes, and it looked like he would soon be defeated! 

In a real battle the Battle Bard could just flee faced with such odds. Unfortunately for him, this was a tournament, once he left the arena it would count as him having forfeited the fight! 

The Written Word's area encompassed the entire arena too! It could be seen that Happy Scholar was truly meticulously and ruthless! 

While the supporters of England were excitedly cheering and roaring at Happy Scholar to use this chance to finish off RamButt, the new favorite had increased the distance, and looked warry about the other's next move. 

This shocked onlookers, but when they gazed at the core members at the side who were watching on calmly as if they had expected his reaction, they knew there had to be more to it. 

That was indeed the case. To silence such a large area and even affect a powerhouse like RamButt, Happy Scholar had invested every drop of his mana into that rune. Even if his active skills came off cooldown, he certainly could not use them again. 

Of course, like any class in Boundless, Happy Scholar was not limited to active skills. Otherwise, if all of them were on cooldown, was he supposed to stand there and watch as he was beaten to death? 

He too had a form of auto-attack, which consisted of using select runes to attack, defend or support. Simple words like 'attack', 'block', 'shield', 'heal', and the like. However, as was the norm with auto-attacks, the damage and utility was next to nothing. 

Since Happy Scholar could use them without mana, they were necessary even if they were weak. Using an attack rune on Rambutt would barely leave a cut on his skin, but he had nothing else on hand, while he waited for his MP to regenerate. 

Seeing him resort to this, it became clear why Happy Scholar had given his opponent a wide berth instead of rushing in. The other reason, was of course, because RamButt was not just an average bard, but a Legendary variant. 

His means of attack was not just limited to just his voice. This manifested itself in the sword he unsheathed from the handle of his lute, a thin rapier-like blade with a pointy tip. He then flourished it playfully for a bit before walking over noiselessly towards Happy Scholar. 

He mouthed a phrase which Happy Scholar easily read to be 'May the Gods of Booty favor you, friend, because I won't!' which made the already silenced Guildmaster even more speechless. However, he had little time to retort when RamButt suddenly burst forward with quick steps, trying to cover the distance between them. 

Happy Scholars would never allow that and used his auto-attack runes to keep the fellow at bay. However, RamButt dodged each and every rune as they crashed at him, destroying parts of the arena that they collided with. 

Even though the auto-attack was weak, Happy Scholar was at Rank 3. It would be weak if it hit RamButt who was also Rank 3, but against the environment or anyone below that Rank, it was power that was befitting of a Rank 3 powerhouse. 

RamButt kept closing the distance while running with his upper body bent forward and his sword held behind him. Happy Scholar tsked and jumped back, beginning to move while throwing out auto-attack runes in an effort to kite RamButt until his mana recovered enough to use a proper skill. 

The Battle Bard did not entertain the fellow, rather than dodging the runes, he blazed through them by cutting those that he came in contact with and shrugging off their further weakened effects. 

Happy Scholar paled when he saw RamButt appear before him like a loosened arrow, his held back rapier striking forward like a snake about to bite into the throat of its prey. He could only fumble to dodge and cast a shield rune at the same time. 

RamButt naturally shattered the shield in one hit and with ease, but it had bought enough time for Happy Scholar to make a piss poor dodge roll that was completely ungraceful. 

He tried to extend the gap between them, but as someone who had invested all his stats in Int, his speed would beat out the core member. RamButt had split his between Dexterity for his melee combat and Charisma for his Bard skills, which was obviously why he was so fast and agile to dodge all those runes in the first place. 

Immediately, RamButt grabbed the fellow by his collar because Happy Scholar had inadvertently appeared near the edge of the arena and was about to fall off. He pulled him back as falling off would be too much of an embarrassing end. After all, the Lorebinders guild was still an affiliate of Umbra. 

As such, he tossed the fellow back onto the stage. Happy Scholar rolled on the ground back to his feet and opened his grimoire once more, getting ready to use what little mana he had to cast a skill and give himself some breathing room. 

However, he had to stop when he saw the tip of RamButt's rapier pressing against his adam's apple. With a sigh, Happy Scholar closed his grimoire and bowed respectfully to RamButt who reciprocated in kind. 

Amber took the cue to declare  RamButt as the winner, and the silence that had been placed over the arena was dispelled as both contestants were sent off the stage. 

The crowd inevitably cheered for the battle, as regardless of who they were rooting for, both sides had given it their best. The girls who were in love with the elegant Happy Scholar were sad, but clapped with appreciation while the ones who preferred the ruffian and vagabond-ish type hooted for RamButt, loving his shameless and unscrupulous nature. 

The core members on the side also clapped. Sublime even told Happy Scholar that he could select two free Epic items that could assist with boosting his mana capacity and regeneration from the guild's coffers after the tournament. 

When Joker complained about favoritism, she rolled her eyes and gave him a promise that he could also do same. Despite having put her fangs in the pretty boy whose arm she was grabbing on to, she was just a girl as well, and had been put in a good mood after watching two beautiful men fight it out. 

Ninth match winner: Rambunctious Buttlover! 

The next match was another interesting one, because it was a slight mismatch. It featured a battle between two parties that were complete opposites in fighting style, nature, and class. 

10th Match: Noble Soul vs Slight Breeze! 

From the left came Noble Soul, who was a tall and buff fellow that looked like an MMA fighter. His face was perpetually locked into an expression of determination, as if the world was after his life and he would fight back as a one-man army without conceding. 

He wore a set of medium armor that was now custom-designed instead of the previous plain one as he had upgraded into an Epic set. The armor set was a blood-red color, gleaming with a slight that made all onlookers shudder for an inexplicable reason. 

A huge greatsword was strapped across his back, almost half the size of the average human. He looked like one of those ridiculous anime protagonists wielding large swords, only that Noble Soul's demeanor added a layer of solemnity to it. 

His skin was reddish-yellow and he had a thin mustache as well as a stubble on his chin. His light brown eyes burned with might, while his auburn hair - which was cut into a fade - was neatly combed into a straight stand. 

He flourished his greatsword when he came on stage and plunged its tip into the arena, shaking the entire place and cracking the area where he stood as he glared at his opponent with battle intent. 

On the other side, Slight Breeze actually turned out to be a tall woman with elfin features. Her face was soft and creamy, with a rosy hint to it. He had thick eyelashes covering his light green eyes, as well as a small nose and pinkish rosebud lips. 

Her light brown hair was tied into a normal bun, and apart from her soft smile that showed her gentle nature, there was nothing else remarkable about her. She wore a set of greenish-blue robes and wielding no staff that one could see. 

If we were talking about entrances though, hers was no weaker than Noble Soul's. Not because it was eye-catching due to its loudness or fierceness, but its uniqueness and charm. 

Slight Breeze was floating! She was like a graceful fairy that hovered onto the stage and posed elegantly while hovering in mid-air, a windy draft hovering below her feet that kept her airborne. 

It was different from how Eva levitated wherever she went. Eva did so in an imperious manner, like a Goddess who was above the mortal world who would not deign the touch the earth of the lower world. 

One could even go so far as to say that the ground didn't dare raise itself to touch Eva's feet. For Slight Breeze though, she was like a kite flowing with the wind, not fighting back against the world but rather merging with it and following its direction. 

(Author's Note: Noble Soul is like a buff version of Asuma from Naruto and Slight Breeze is similar to Leafa from SAO.)