Chapter 87: speed limit

Of the 204-2nd rank high-grade soldiers, 13 soldiers survived to this last round. After the first round, 102 soldiers survived to the next round. After the 2nd round, 51 soldiers were left. 50 of them had to fight, and one lucky soldier among them was allowed to advance directly to the next round without battling.

After the 3rd round, 26 soldiers survived. Then after the 4th round, these 13 soldiers were left alive. These 13 soldiers are then going to fight for the last opportunity, to survive.

The battles quickly began, as the cream of the crop of the initial 204 soldiers fight for a chance to survive. After 2 weeks of constant battles, today is a battle between the flexible master and exterminator.

Emily got prepared, as Clark and Henry encouraged her to be calm and try her best. The commentator was not waiting for them to finish their word of advice, as he announced.

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is the 3rd battle of the 5th round of this tournament. The flexible master and exterminator, welcome them with a round of applause as they come onstage to show their prowess and skill”.

She stood up, as she walked steadily to the cage. On reaching there, she looked back for the last time, cleared her emotions before entering. She already steeled her mind for whatever will come, she was prepared for the worst. Bam!! The gates slammed shut, as she walked straight ahead.

The exterminator is one of the few gladiators who don’t use the common weapons like a spear or a sword, he used a double-edged sword as his weapon. It’s also known as a glaive.

This round there are no weak gladiators, so she didn’t dare underestimate her opponent as she opted for the safer option of advancing slowly, while calculating her opponent’s pace. Her opponent finally picked up his heavy weapon, as he advanced with speed towards her.

Boom!! He attacked first as he stabbed with his weapon. She ducked without hesitation, as her 2 light swords stabbed forward also. Clang!! Despite his weapon being heavy, the exterminator wielded it like a normal sword as he parried her stabs.

Whoosh!! Whoosh!! He started spinning his weapon with speed, as he quickly started executing his battle art without hesitation, “The force of terror”.

This battle art is one of the few rare ones, clearly made to improve strength only. Battle arts that increase only one aspect are rare, but some people prefer them. As the boost when using it, is greater than other battle arts that increase other aspects as well.

She immediately recognized the danger she was in, as she leapt up doing back flips repeatedly. She narrowly dodged her opponent’s weapon, as she quickly executed her battle art mid-air.

This move was already acknowledged by all as her trademark move, as she dived back down after her legs hit the top of the cage.

But unlike last time, her opponent is fully alert, as he swung his weapon up to meet her dive. His move was nice and well planned, but humans are not robots, we improve every day. She was ready to shock her opponent this time.

Boom!! She landed, as her 2 swords hacked at her opponent’s weapon. The Exterminator is a hefty man, but he still staggered backwards as the force from her strike left him surprised.

After so many battles against similar ranked opponents, she already started noticing some flaws in her battle style. Soldiers of her caliber, improve faster when they duel with opponents of the same caliber. She lacked a forceful method to attack her opponents, to help her disrupt their tempo.

So, for the past months, she has been training to cover up this flaw. It seems she finally succeeded, as she was very satisfied with the result of her attack. She didn’t linger in one place after landing, as she attacked, taking advantage of her opponent’s staggering posture.

Ptui!! Ptui!! Her opponent reacted fast but he was still a step late, as he sustained 2 cuts on his abdomen and right leg. She advanced forward imperiously, as she tried to further magnify her advantage, her confidence already started solidifying.

Her opponent was still clear headed though. Despite the tight frown now on his face, he leapt back a little while his weapon was already coming down with force.

Boom!! The metal floor caved in, as his heavy weapon impacted it. She jumped back in alarm, but the shockwave from the strike still hit her, disorienting her a bit.

Clang!! Clang!! Bam!! He attacked fast, taking hold of this opportunity as she parried with her swords. The force from each blow was astronomical, but she steadied her steps, using a special defensive stance.

After the third blow, her legs couldn’t take it again, as the force from the strike slammed her into the metal floor.

A wave of dizziness came, as she started seeing double. As a high-grade soldier, her eyes cleared in not more than a second, but a sharp object was already slashing down at her.

Instinct kicked in, as she reacted fast by rolling to the side. Even as she rolled, the weapon still arrived fast as she received a deep cut to her abdomen.

Ahhh!! She screamed in pain, while forcing herself to roll further away. Blood gushed out of the deep cut in waves, as she quickly stood up gritting her teeth in pain.

Her opponent pressed forward, as he rushed to engage her again. Her brain worked fast, as she calculated. Judging her situation rapidly, she immediately came out with a solution.

She threw her 2 swords up, as she quickly tore her shirt apart. She tied herself, wrapping up her injury in not more than a second as she caught her suspended swords.

Ahhh!! She screamed to let out a breath and gather strength, as she launched herself upwards. She started rotating in mid-air, as her 2 swords waved around menacingly.

Her opponent was prepared though, as he quickly got into a defensive stance. Whoosh!! Clang!! The air vibrated in protest, as her 2 swords moved fast, hitting her opponent’s weapon.

The Exterminator was once again astonished, for the second time in this battle. He couldn’t stand his ground against this female gladiator, who excelled in speed and evasive maneuvers. And force was his main strength.

He felt humiliated and infuriated, as his eyes gradually reddened in anger. He prepared to mindlessly charge at her, after staggering back 2 steps.

Well, losing his concentration for a second there was his greatest mistake, as he heard slashing sounds. He reflexively raised his weapon to parry, as he quickly cleared his mind of every distraction.

Pu! Pu! Pu! Pu! He failed to dodge the first slash, as he received a deep cut on his lap. More consecutive stabs came, as his right leg quickly became partly incapacitated.

Awwn!! He groaned in pain, as he retreated backwards while swinging his weapon horizontally to deter his opponent from any follow-ups.

He calculated wrong again, as his opponent used the unique strength of her battle art. She jumped, dodging the horizontal slash as she suspended herself horizontally in the air.

Ptui!! Ptui!! She released another 2 slashes, aiming at her opponent’s throat. This time, he reacted fast as he hurriedly retreated back. He couldn’t dodge them fully still, as blood slowly seeped out of his neck. But at least, he avoided losing his head.

He became more and more alarmed, as he didn’t expect this sort of dominance from his opponent, immediately after he gave her a deep injury. Emily’s calculated plan, was to increase the pace of the battle to the limit she could reach.

No matter how fast the exterminator used his weapon, her swords were still faster. And this advantage can be further magnified, if the pace of the battle is further increased.

If possible, she was trying to end the battle fast, as the injury she received was bleeding faster than she could take. Her cloth was already soaked with blood.

Pu! Pu! Pu! Pu! She continued her fast offensive as her opponent was being suppressed. Hmmm, her alarm bells suddenly screamed danger, as she noticed a change in her opponent’s demeanor.

She tried retreating, but her opponent attacked faster. “The tyrant’s strikes,” she suddenly blurted out in shock. Everybody was shocked, every spectator was on the edge of their seats, as The Exterminator activated a new battle art.

As Clark practiced 2 battle arts, other soldiers can practice it also. This guy did a good job, in hiding his trump card for so long.

“He hid his real strength for so long,” was the thought on everyone’s mind. Is that correct, or he never found a worthy opponent to reveal this? Another question surfaced.

Whoosh!! Whoosh!! Whoosh!! He struck repeatedly with his weapon, as his opponent’s tempo was completely disrupted. The tyrant’s strike is a battle art that boosts every attribute of the human body comprehensively, but it mostly focuses on improving speed.

Emily sustained another 3 injuries, receiving 2 deep cuts on her right hand. She was just lucky, that the strike didn’t directly remove her hand.

She faltered only for a moment due to the change in tempo, before diving back into the battle, trying as much as possible to increase her speed. She knew that delaying was not an option, as she’ll only bleed to death.

She decided to just gamble everything in this heroic counter attack, using speed. The battle became very fast paced, as her injuries continued stacking, decreasing her chance of winning. While her opponent continued releasing accurate, calculated strikes.

She lost herself completely in her pursuit for speed, the only thing on her mind now was how to strike faster, faster and even faster. The battle quickly came to a climax, as her opponent’s next strike completely detached her left leg from her body.

She staggered while gritting her teeth in pain, before quickly recovering herself on one leg, ignoring the overflowing blood from her body. She was able to support herself with one leg, as she continued her goal of striking faster, her center of gravity was completely in her control.

Whoosh!! Ptui!! Her opponent ruthlessly struck again, disabling her by removing her last leg. Some spectators felt pity for a gladiator, for the first time, as her sorry state evoked a strong sense of pity.

Maybe, they felt pity because of her beauty. But no one doubted, that she was in a desperate situation.

She didn’t care about the spectator’s pity for her though. All she knew was that, she has not achieved her goal so she was not resigned for death.

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