Chapter 519: The Second Round is full of Close Matches Part 1

Once Joshua got back to his waiting room he could feel that his body was fully healed even if the mental exhaustion was still there. He no longer had the pain in his lungs from the final punch that Amy had given him to the chest. He had been holding the blood back in his mouth so that it wouldn't come off as if he was injured deeply by Amy's punch. Knowing his little sister it was a certainty that if he had looked injured while trying to restrain her she would have probably let him break her arm just so that she'd still have some sort of chance to fight. If Joshua was a normal fighter that might have worked to some degree, but with his aura even is internal injuries would have healed up at some point.

If it was a true life or death battle Joshua would have used aura hardening to disperse even more of the force from Amy's powerful strike, but in a situation where he didn't really have to worry about anything more than losing a tournament there was no way he was going to let such an easy chance to end the match go by. If he had used his aura hardening there was no way that Joshua was going to be able to catch ahold of Amy before she used her speed to get away. Joshua was the one with an injured leg at the time and he would have had to wait for it to heal up before he could chase her down once more. The longer the match went on the more chances Amy would have had to heal up and try some other tactic to try to take Joshua down. He didn't want to end up showing off more skills than he already had, so he took the opportunity given to him.

Now that the match had ended Joshua decided it was time to sit back and watch the other matches to see who he might have to fight in the next round. He already knew that Lily was a possibility and was the one he'd like to avoid the most in the entire tournament since it would be such a pain in the ass to try to take her down. Now it was time to see who else was going to be making it to the third round along with him and Lily. The next match after his was an interesting one between Natalie and Charles. Although Natalie had a bad history with the World Government Guild there wasn't any real bad blood between the two of them. They both each casually nodded to each other as they prepared for the upcoming match.

Natalie backed away to create some space as she took out her bow preparing for the upcoming match. There was no way she was going to be able to hold back against someone like Charles. On the other hand Charles just held his blade at the ready while having his shot gun out ready to start the match. Both sides waited for the countdown to begin, both avoided wasting time with traps and other preparations. Once the countdown ended Charles leaped forward and used his shot gun to send himself careening towards Natalie. Of course she didn't just stand there and wait for Charles to come to her as she shot off a few arrows while running to the side.

Charles cut the arrows down when they got close, but he was smart on which arrows he decided to cut through. He avoided the explosive arrows with a last second blast from his shot gun to send him flying out of the way while at the same time cutting down any of the poisoned arrows. It was easy to tell the difference between the arrows so he wasn't going to fall for the same mistakes that past opponents had with Natalie.

Natalie wasn't able to stay ahead of Charles for long with the speed he was able to move at, so for the very first time Natalie started using some of her soul beast abilities to keep Charles from getting in to close and being able to dominate in a close ranged fight. Natalie used her telekinesis to rip out portions of the arena floor to block Charles's attempts to get close to her. She then started curving arrows through the wasteland that she had created to keep Charles away from her. Some of the arrows would explode before they even reached Charles causing all of the floor pieces to fly all over the place forcing Charles to either destroy pieces that came close to him with rail shots or cut through them with his blade. Forcing Charles to defend himself allowed Natalie to get more shots at him and control the battle for the most part.

It was when Charles decided to change things up that Joshua truly started to focus on him. He put his sword back into the sheath on his waist before taking out a large spear from his inventory. There was something odd about the spear as it seemed to be filled to the brim with energy. Seeing Charles take out a spear told Joshua that he might be able to use more than two different types of weapons at a high level. He wasn't surprised that Charles expertly used the spear to cut down some of the pieces of floor that Natalie was sending his way while avoiding all of her arrows. With a spear he was able to clear out all of the madness around him much easier, but that didn't seem to be the reason why he brought out the spear.

After clearing out a small pathway between himself and Natalie, Charles hefted the spear and tossed it at full force directly at her. She was surprised by the sudden long range attack and by the speed of the spear as it aimed directly for her. She lunged out of the way as the spear slammed into the arena digging deep into the ground and forming cracks all over the area. Natalie had just gotten out of the way and was prepared to keep up the attack, but suddenly the spear lit up shooting out several waves of electricity that shocked Natalie and stunned her in place. She wasn't able to move as Charles blasted himself forward directly in front of her after the storm of electricity faded and stabbed her through the chest while she was immobilized. With that the match came to an end with that surprising show of ability.

Joshua felt a bit bad for Natalie, but the match up wasn't to her advantage at all. Charles was able to move around to fast and had good enough reflexes to cut down Natalie's arrows even when she was able to control them to turn in the air directly for him. The next match was one with similar circumstances and Joshua had the feeling that his longtime friend in Aito was going to have a hard time trying to take down Madalyn. Once the match between the two started Aito had already got a short distance between the two of them as he started firing off with his pistols. He was using a similar strategy to the one that he used against Seven, but he had to deal with the added threat of poison becoming an issue that he would be a problem.

Madalyn on the other hand knew exactly why she had an advantage in the fight and had no problem using it. Before she even charged in she tossed a couple canisters of poison into the air and they exploded after a timer on them went off. The two cans dispersed a massive amount of poison that covered the entire arena. The light green poison cloud was incredibly thin since it was pouring over such a large area, but for Madalyn to go out of her way to use it at the start of the match it must have been something that would further her advantage even more.

Aito saw the poison falling down to the arena and immediately pulled out a light gas mask that covered his nose and mouth. It had a filter on it that would hold up for a while, but Joshua doubted it could handle filtering to much poison so that already put a timer for how long Aito had to try to finish the match. The mask also did nothing to protect Aito from the poison on Madalyn's weapons. The other issue Aito was having with the turn of events was that the light green shade that the poison was giving to the air around the arena made it hard to see from a distance. That made it impossible for Aito to use his advantage at long range for very long. He was trapped in a situation where he had to get closer to Madalyn just so he could see her and be able to go on the attack.

With one quick move Madalyn had already expanded her advantage in so many ways. She didn't let up either as she pulled out her daggers and started heading towards Aito in a zig zag pattern at high speeds. Aito got off a few shots at her with rail bullets, but Madalyn either dodged them with a sudden shift in her speed that allowed her to either slow down and dodge the bullet or speed up and get past where Aito was aiming. Occasionally Aito was able to get in a good shot, but Madalyn would block it with her daggers and only be knocked back slightly. Within seconds Madalyn was on Aito and he was forced to block her daggers with his pistols and was locked into a close ranged fight that everyone knew wouldn't go in his favor.

The fight with Seven had prepared Aito for such a situation, but Madalyn didn't use the exact same approach. Instead of constantly trying to get behind Aito she attacked him from head on while getting in so close that Aito wasn't even able to extend his arms out fully. It put Aito in a position where it was hard to even use his pistols to attack at all while also not having the time to switch to his shotgun without giving Madalyn the opening she was looking for. She smiled as she kept up the pressure and took in a deep breath before blowing out more poison directly in front of Aito. This poison was much thicker and blocked the fight from view.

The audience could still here the clash of daggers along with the occasional shots fired off, but they couldn't see anything for the time being. Eventually thanks grew quiet as the poison gas dispersed and everyone was able to get a clear look at the two contestants Madalyn and Aito were stuck in a deadlock with their weapons tied up, but Madalyn had the biggest smile on her face as a small knife was currently lodged in Aito's shoulder. All it took was one little opening and Madalyn was able to poison Aito. It wasn't a large amount, but it was more than potent enough for Aito to lose his strength. Soon enough he wasn't able to hold off Madalyn any longer as the poison took root and she was able to stab him fully with her daggers sending him vanishing from the arena.