Chapter 531: Build up for the Finals

Joshua thumped down on to the mostly destroyed arena floor with a smile on his face as the crowd erupted into cheers for the relatively quick, but intense match. He was exhausted from using so much aura constantly throughout the entire fight. He had to use aura both defensively and offensively along with for the purpose of healing himself from all of the injuries that were piling up. It was incredibly taxing and he finally got the chance to take a break. Of course the moment all of the adrenalin from the match left his body and his aura died down he could feel all of the pain that he had put himself through.

Luckily before he had to start dealing with the consequences of his tactics in battle he was teleported out of the arena and back to his waiting room allowing him to sigh in relief. All of the physical pain and exhaustion faded away instantly. The only problem he was left to deal with was his own mental exhaustion. Luckily for Joshua there was always a short break in between each round and that didn't seem like it was going to change. He got up from the floor of the waiting room and made his way over to a seat in front of the screen that was showing everything that was happening in the arena.

The crowd was still cheering wildly even after Joshua had been taken away and it seemed that he had left quite the impression. It was something to be expected after dealing blows that knocked aside giant gorilla's that towered over everyone or broke through shields that no one else in the tournament had been able to deal with up to this point. In the end the match was a classic that would probably be shown time and time again on the new television platforms going around the hub city. It wasn't just his match that would be thought of that way either. From what Joshua had seen of the match between Dmitry and Madalyn he wouldn't be surprised if it was looked back on just as highly. It was a nail biter of a match as well.

Sarah came out on to the stage once more after the crowd had started to calm down and the arena started to fix itself in preparation for the final match that would be taking place in an hour's time. Both Joshua and Dmitry had fought matches that went down to the last few seconds and they both needed to recover mentally before being put against each other. The clash would be great for the crowd, so the system of the battle arena was doing everything that it possibly could to build up to it.

At first the Arena started showing off some of the most intense moments of the tournament up to this point with clashes from all of the participants. Some of the fights that were being depicted were ones that Joshua had watched along the way. At first Joshua found it a bit odd that none of the fights that were being shown were his or Dmitry's, but soon enough he had found out why. After ten minutes of showing off other matches it turned to showing off the matches that Joshua and Dmitry had fought in all throughout the tournament.

The battle arena displayed their matches in a rather interesting way that Joshua hadn't been expecting, but he could see how it would be tantalizing for an eager crowd that was waiting for the finals. Joshua's and Dmitry's matches were shown side by side on the screen. They were matched up to where the most interesting parts of each match they had gone through were being shown at the same time.

It started off from the matches where both Joshua and Dmitry were taking out there opponents swiftly with Joshua knocking them out with a punch and Dmitry strangling them until they fainted. Then it ramped up to matches where the fights were still not even, but their opponent's at least put up a struggle that was far more noticeable. These matches usually ended a bit more flashy witch got the crowd even more on the edge of their seats. Then it shifted to the matches that came in the last sixty-four man bracket. These matches had far more spectacular clashes that ranged from Joshua's interesting fight against the time manipulating wizard in Shawn, to the clash between two behemoths of men with Dmitry and the Raider's Guild Leader.

It finished by showing off the last two recent matches in their full glory side by side since they both happened so quickly. In the end it settled on the images of Joshua and Dmitry next to each other. Joshua was posed in a bit of an oppressive way. His body was covered in his blue aura while he had a giant grin on his face. Some blood could be seen on the gaps of clothing on his arms and his scale blade was being held aloft above him as he prepared to swing downward. It seemed to be the image of himself right before he slammed in to Titus from what Joshua could tell and he sighed a bit at how much it made him look like a battle maniac.

The image they put up of Dmitry was just as fear inducing. Instead of showing him in a way that looked like a normal person they had a still image of when his body was being changed by one of his skills. His hands in the image were already pitch black from the metallic transformation while his skin on everything but his head had turned to bronze. He had a crazed smile that made it look as if he was staring right at you as the bronze tone of his skin was beginning to cover his face. Two throwing daggers that looked similar to the ones the Raider's Guild Leader was using could be seen bouncing off of his skin in the image and it was quite the scene.

Both of these images stood side by side and they suddenly changed from still images to slow moving videos that showed off every little detail that was occurring in those moments. Joshua's smile grew wider and more crazy as his scale blade seemed to shine brightly when he started tearing it down towards his opponent. Dmitry's skin continued its transformation while the daggers that clashed against him started careening off out of the shot. Both of them seemed to be almost laughing in their images before they faded away from the arena and Sarah could be seen once more with the timer behind her showing that there were only ten minutes left before the match would start.

"Welcome all to the final portion of the tournament." Sarah said getting more cheers out of the audience. "It has been a great few days and we were glad to have so many people show up and witness all of the action live in person. Along with all of the people that are watching at home." For a moment she paused to let the crowd calm down once more, Joshua was surprised to hear that some of the people were actually cheering her name at this point along with the tides of random shouts. It appeared that the fighters weren't the only ones to gain some popularity throughout the tournament. Sarah gained a whole new set of followers of her own.

"It's a shame that such an exciting tournament must come to a close, but all things must end so let's end it with a bang." Sarah shouted as fireworks started going off around the arena. "We have come to our last two participants. Both powerhouses in their own rights that have fought through tough competition to make it all the way to this point. Joshua, the leader of the latest upcoming guild and member of the alliance. He has shown his skill with a blade and his unrelenting power that seems to surge from within him at any given time. Will he be the winner of this tournament?"

The crowd cheered and started chanting his name while the image of him appeared for everyone to see of him fighting against Lily and her beast companions. It took a whole minute out of the timer just for the crowd to settle down and that brought a small smile to his face.

"Dmitry the battle maniac that stormed through the competition with his strange abilities and insane martial prowess. Will he come away from the competition as the champion?" The image shifted to the scene of Dmitry smiling as he fended of Madalyn's daggers and shrugged off her poison at the start of the match. "This match will give us those answers and will hopefully be all that we're looking for. Now without further ado, I welcome Joshua and Dmitry to the battlefield. "Sarah said with bright smile as the countdown reached the last minute before the match would start.

The cheering grew even louder as fans went crazy in anticipation for the match. Joshua rose up from his seated position and gave one last glance at all his gear to make sure he was ready for the fight. He had gained more than enough rest for the upcoming confrontation and thought about all of the fights he had been through up to this point. He wondered if any of the opponents he had faced or if any of the members of the alliance would be a better match up against Dmitry. Madalyn had put up a great fight and even Adrian probably would have put up a better match if he knew more about his opponent, but all in all the only person Joshua figured would actually have an advantage against him would have been Lily with her beast companions.

In the end it was just a passing thought and it was going to come down to Joshua trying to figure out a way to work around Dmitry's abilities. He still had a couple tricks up his sleeve, but this was going to be a match that pushed him to and probably beyond his limits. Just before it was time for Joshua to be teleported to the arena he received a message from the system that came from his dad. It simply said. "Kick his ass son!"