Chapter 82: the magician

Today, was the day of another highly anticipated battle, between the Stranded dragon and the mad man. The mad man, Clark had no idea why he gave himself such a name, but he was prepared to put in his all to win this battle.

It may be that his opponent was trying to use the name, as a form of reverse psychology manipulation. But he didn’t care, as long as he was strong enough, no obstacle was unsurmountable.

“Ladies and gentlemen, today is the first day that we’ll witness one of the best performers in training, fight his first gladiator battle”. The commentator started his job, as his projection appeared above the gladiator cage, with his usual trade mark smile planted on his face.

“Today’s battle will be featuring, The Stranded dragon and the mad man”. The crowd cheered wildly, as the 2 gladiators both entered the cage without any fanfare or talk. It’s not like, they had any reason to.

Clark was wielding a normal reinforced steel sword and a reinforced steel shield, while his opponent, the mad man was wielding a pair of daggers. He advanced forward steadily, while calculating the fastest way to win the battle.

Unlike him, his opponent didn’t do that as he started retreating backwards, blatantly displaying his decision to not fight a direct battle. He was at first surprised at his opponent’s unusual actions, but he quickly calmed his fleeting thoughts as he calmly advanced.

The battle gradually progressed, deviating from the normal way, becoming a game of hide and seek, as he advanced while his opponent retreated. This continued for some time, before the spectators quickly started booing at them.

No one had the patience to look at such a prolonged battle, all the spectators came to see blood and death. Its like a drug to them, they came to get high, from the surge of adrenaline the battle will give them. Not to fall asleep, from watching a boring dragged-out battle.

Clark behaved like he didn’t hear all these, as he kept his tempo pursuing his opponent steadily. The spectators came to watch them as entertainment, while most of them, the gladiators that were here, were forced to be here, it was not of their own volition.

They would surely fight for their survival, but they would definitely not fight in a specific way to entertain their spectators. After another 5 minutes of calm observation, he finally made a decision as he picked up the pace, sprinting at his opponent with full speed.

It seems like his opponent expected this, as he also turned, running towards him immediately, with even greater speed. As they came very close to each other, he suddenly slowed down again, returning to his steady tempo and speed.

It seems that his opponent was finally caught off-guard from this unexpected move, as he stopped for a moment in hesitation, before he continued running towards him.

Boom!! At this moment, he finally let loose, displaying his usual decisiveness, as he suddenly bolted forward with speed. The air shook fiercely, protesting from the enormous friction kinetic energy generated from the sudden charge.

Clang!! His sword was already at his opponent’s neck, but this mad man was surprisingly very fast, as he blocked the strike.

Bam!! Bam!! Clang!! The mad man also erupted with speed, as he suddenly executed a battle art, “Convergence of a thousand knives”. During his trainings, he frequently used his implant to learn more about battle arts, so he recognized this rare battle art used by his opponent immediately.

He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry on seeing this. According to analysis, this fight was going to be the fastest, as the mad man was one of the weakest in the whole fleet.

According to analysis, they said it was a miracle that he became a 2nd rank high-grade soldier. They deduced that he had a poor foundation, and that he has probably not learned a battle art. Well, this guy was simply an expert at disguise, as he successfully fooled all the analysts, but it was unfortunate that he met him.

High-grade soldiers having weak and poor foundations sounded ridiculous, but this was when he was compared to other soldiers of the same rank as he was. Him becoming a 2nd rank high-grade soldier, already displayed his talent. But in a battle of 2nd rank high-grade soldiers, he was at the bottom, according to the analysis.

A flurry of knife strikes quickly flew his way with speed, as he calmly blocked with his shield, while adjusting his stance. Clang!! Clang! Metallic sounds reverberated, as his opponent attacked with his daggers, while he blocked with his shield.

Whoosh!! He suddenly thrust his sword forward, with speed. Clang!! His opponent blocked it, but he already expected that he would block it, as he quickly rotated the sword in his hand with impeccable control. Another metallic sound reverberated, as the sharp edge of his sword rotated while sliding very fast to his opponent’s dagger’s handle.

Ahh!! His opponent cried in pain while trying to retreat backwards, as his short display of skill successfully removed his opponent’s wrist from his right hand.

His opponent tried retreating, but his sword was faster. Whoosh!! Ptui!! Ptui!! His sword stabbed his neck, while he dragged it to the right and then to the left with inhuman speed. His opponent’s head flew off from his body, as blood spurted out of his neck.

He blocked with his shield, to prevent the blood from soiling him, as he turned to walk away. The spectators were slow to react, it took some time before they finally understood what happened. The whole stadium erupted in cheers, as the commentator talked rapidly, with so much vigor and surprise.

“Damn, this is just a piece of magic,” he said as a projection was quickly displayed, to replay that magical moment.

The whole spectators erupted again in cheers after re-watching it, as someone started chanting, Magician! Magician! The other spectators quickly picked up the line, as magician, magician, became the only sound now echoing around the ship.

On returning, Clark was overwhelmed with praise from his 2 new friends. Emily and henry practically became his fans, as they both blabbered on, about how incredible he was during the last moments of the battle.

“You didn’t even use a battle art,” they clamored. He preferred being reserved, but he still secretly felt proud of himself as they both continued. He went back to train shortly after, as he didn’t sustain any injury.

…

Somewhere else in the ship, The Emperor sat, as he watched the replay of the last moments of Clark’s fight. “I didn’t know you were this skilled,” he commented with a smile on his face.

“Good, you’re my last obstacle to qualify. And I like the skilled ones better as stepping stones, the more skilled, the better,” he said with a grin.

As the tournament progressed, a lot of people who performed poorly in the training revealed their true strength during this elimination phase, as dark horses kept on appearing, surprising their opponents. A lot of others who performed well in the training, also died this phase, as the gladiator’s arena was simply a nightmare to ranged specialists.

This was an obvious loop hole in the rules of the tournament, as this practice was a huge disadvantage to ranged specialists, who only practiced battle arts designed for guns.

Despite this, no one cared, as the organizers of this tournament were the only ones with the power to decide. The gladiator event prohibited the use of guns and other gadgets, as they tried to make it as medieval as possible.

As they fought and killed, unknown to them, the Captain of this fleet secretly took note of the exceptional ones in the elimination phase.

“This stranded dragon and Emperor are really something,” he muttered to himself silently. He didn’t linger too long there though, as he had other priorities, he opened to look at the 3rd rank high-grade soldier’s battle.

That day, as Clark trained, he couldn’t help but think of the Sparta republic. “I wonder how everything is at home,” he soliloquized in a nostalgic mood.

It was already more than a year, going to 2 years, since he was captured, he was now already 20 years old. “Oh man, how time flies,” he sighed.

[Thank you for reading this chapter, I really appreciate. If you love this book, please leave your power stones behind to support it.]