In the arena,
Slash!
[5000 points acquired]
[Harem: 6193]
"Loe Dri wins the third round!" Kritz announces in a loud voice.
Retracting her claws, Loe let out a scream of victory, raising her fisted hands in the air.
|Raw carnage level~26% +6%|
[Death×6]
Hisha let out a disappointed sigh, seeing it was merely a 1% for each death of his harem during the duels that Loe had participated in.
[What's wrong, host?]
'Even the book considers their death as cannon fodder!' Hisha let out a chuckle.
Sigh!
[Duel: 4]
[Number of possible harems participating: 28]
[Victories: 3]
[Points accumulated during the tournament: 15000]
There was a brief silence as they all awaited the next pick from the cup.
Draegul dips his hand into the hovering silver cup, and pulls out seven pieces of paper, handing it over to Kritz.
"Palmyra Nottley, Ine Tindall, Joslin Swale, Macy Lea, Althea Marlowe, Surie Holt, Silvia Fisc," Kritz announces.
'More and more strange names.' Hisha wipes down his face, shaking his head.
[How many do you personally remember?]
HTC teases its host with a smirking emoji.
'Let's not go down that lane, HTC.'
If he could choose between their floating meretrix code name and their names, he would gladly go with code names.
[There must be a reason you wouldn't wish to know, host]
'What is the need, if the majority are going to die anyways? I refuse to get emotionally attached to those who are weak in comparison to others.'
[...]
Leaning his cheeks on his palm, Hisha observes the new set of ladies competing.
[You've gotten rather cold over the past few months.
Do note, I am not complaining, it makes you think more rationally and it's a good thing]
'I care about those I have formed a bond with and those who have managed to strike a chord with me.'
Rolling his eyes, he looks over to Mich and Wae, they had been eerily quiet and made no move to get on his nerves.
'The blood contract is doing wonders!' Hisha jokes to elevate his bad mood.
His concentration was drawn back to the ladies below.
Ine's face looked like she was going to cry. She didn't want to fight anyone else because she knew that they were strong enough to beat her easily–given her Dhampir characteristics.
But the only way for them to win is if they fought each other.
Her black hair tumbled down her back, with a few strands dancing in the wind. Her red eyes stared straight ahead, as though looking at something she could not see.
Jumping a few times on her feet, she took a deep breath and turned around to look at everyone surrounding her.
She had finally made up her mind. It was now or never.
"Five strikes and that was it." She reminds herself, trying to push away the fear creeping inside her mind.
'This is my last chance to prove myself,' she thought, clenching her wrapped fingers.
Dispersing, all seven took their positions on a makeshift circular wooden platform.
Joslin stood next to two other girls–Palmyra and Silvia. They were wearing helmets with a small mesh to peer through.
Given the condition they were faced with, those with body armor were given only two strikes they were allowed to sustain to either be dead or out.
However, there were three other ladies without any protection on their bodies.
One of them was Althea, who was wearing shorts and a tank top. She had trained under the same instructors as her sister who cheered among the others, but she lacked the endurance needed to compete against the other contestants.
Macy Lea, the girl standing right beside her, was very well-built and had long blonde hair tied in a ponytail. She wore a green knee-length skirt and a black tunic.
The last contestant was Surie Holt who stood behind the other three. Unlike the others, she had thick, dark silver armor which she wore like a crop top directly under her bust and arms.
The armor had strange markings drawn on them with two sapphire stones embedded in the arms of her armor. Which also matches the sapphire stone in the brown belt of her shorts.
Best
Her armor and calmness posed a threat to all as they couldn't identify what could be the significance of such little body armor.
Her long white hair blew in the breeze, her glowing yellow eyes narrowed as she focused on her two targets–Palmyra, Joslin and Silvia who wore body armor.
If she could start with them with just a two-strike hit, it would be easier to take down the competition.
Seeing their opponents, Palmyra gives a smirk directed at Surie.
"What's wrong?" She asks, slightly raising an eyebrow. "Don't you think I'm good enough to defeat you?"
Whoosh!
Covering the distance between them in a blink of an eye, Surie grabs a hold of Palmyra's neck.
Gasp!
The rest all stare in shock as the wind blows on them at the speed used by Surie.
Hisha's attention was instantly won over as he was the only one who could get a clear glimpse of how Surie moved.
'HTC, character status!' He orders with a grin, leaning forward to have clearer visuals.
[Name: Surie Holt]
[Height: 171cm]
[Position: Slaepnir–Safah princess]
'That would explain the golden tiara on her head.' Hisha jokes.
He had wondered why this lady was one of the first to wear such ornaments to a tournament.
Given her tribe's name, that was of great importance. Corking a brow in question as he asks, 'what are those?'
[Slaepnir are a mystic horse tribe that possesses super-strength, speed, durability, and endurance. They also possess the ability to fly, and have a running speed of up to light speed once they have fully evolved]
Hisha's grin only broadens at the information. This was going to be a lot more interesting than he had realized.
Surie tilts her head, blowing on the dust that rose in the air.
'I must have used more speed than intended.' She thought with a sigh.
"I don't care how good you are," Surie growls. "But if you aren't fast enough, then it's your loss!"
Palmyra's eyes bulge in shock at being held and raised above the ground with relative ease.
This made her understand that it would be to her detriment if she would get two strikes from her opponent.
Palmyra tried to throw her off with a kick to her stomach to secure a strike, but Surie held onto her neck tightly, choking the air out of her.
Raising her hand, she brings it down hard on the top of Palmyra's leg.
Ccrk!
"I'd let you watch!" Surie hisses as she lets go of Palmyra's neck.
Thud!
With the heightened pain receptors, Palmyra grunts in pain as she falls to the ground, screaming in terror from the broken and bleeding leg.
Whoosh
Running towards Silvia who was engaging Joslin.
Silvia raises her armored hand to block Surie's attack but is pushed aside.
Joslin was holding her sword, swinging it wildly to keep the two ladies away from her.
Surie gives a roundhouse kick, destroying the blade with a hit.
'This won't work!' Joslin thinks in a panic.
Doing several backflips, Joslin avoids any contact with the two as she sticks to the walls, waiting out what Surie plans on doing with Silvia.
Before Silvia could even land a hit in retaliation, Surie kicked the back of her head and sent her flying across the arena, landing flat on her back.
|Raw carnage level~32%+5%|
[Destruction]
Draegul watches in amazement as Silvia's body twitches for a while before settling and falling.
Before she could make a collision with the floor, Surie raises her leg to give a hard kick.
Boom!
[5000 points acquired]
[Harem: 6192]
Joslin blew on the air as the cloud of dust rose once more.
Cough!
Cough!
Once it had settled, her eyes bulged in shock at what she witnessed.
*****
A/N
¶ Any idea on what Joslin could have witnessed after the dust had cleared?
¶ Monthly goal
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A pictorial illustration of the Surie is shown in my discord server.
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