CH.490 The Exhibition Match

CH.490 The Exhibition Match

“Hello Brian. I hope you don’t mind the intrusion.” Was the greeting I got from who I assume to be another System Agent.

I was in the Factory just working on my smartphone and Internet, just so I had something to focus on, other than the up and coming exhibition match.

“I don’t, but I don’t think we’ve been introduced yet. I am Brian Wood, but you knew that already. Who might you be?” I asked the black haired System Agent. Gét latest novel chapters on nov(e)lbj/n(.)c/om

He looked like he might be Japanese, but that might just be my anime watching self talking.

“... Yes, I suppose we haven’t. I simply feel like we have.” The agent said. “But allow me to introduce myself. I go by Tamaki, and I used to be the System Agent of the Hero.”

... okay. So we have a high ranker here. Well, he isn’t the only one I’ve met, as I’m decently sure Sicily was the Saint’s System Support, and Joan was the Sage’s System Support.

And if that is correct, I’ve now met all the System Supports of the Hero’s party.

“But admittedly, Tamaki isn’t my original name.” Tamaki continued. “My original name was lost with my master’s Perfect Memory.”

“... good to know, but I really didn’t need to know that. You are now Tamaki and that is all that matters.” I told him. “So, what can I do for you? Another fissure? Kind of a bad timing.”

“Thankfully no. I simply wanted to have a quick chat about the Castle dungeon now that you know its true nature.”

“Sure. Though honestly I kind of suspected it for a long time. All the history books say that the Hero’s country is located where the Demon King’s fortress was. And what was that Demon King known for, well, the world didn’t know him for that, but whatever. You all always said he became the evil he is because he abused a Chaos God Dungeon. So of course his stronghold would be over the dungeon.”

“Yes. Perhaps we could have had this chat earlier.”

“... go on.”

“Simply put, because of the Chaos God Dungeon located where it is, you shouldn’t hold your ‘HomeBase’ too close to the Hero’s country. Where it is currently is already quite close, but I do understand that this is a temporary measure.”

“Yeah, it won’t be there for much longer. And if you all have some specific places where the ‘creation’ energy is piling up, just contact me and I can move HomeBase.”

“‘Creation’ energy, huh? Not a bad name for it, but it isn’t exactly accurate.”

“Better than ‘the mysterious energy the Goddess refuses to tell me much about’.”

“Apologies. I know the Goddess has said this before, but we aren’t all powerful. We aren’t Gods, not in the way you think at least. We are beings who oversee the System and the world, and try our best to keep both safe. And there are rules we have to follow while we do so.”

“... you know, the more I hear about the System, the more it sounds like a company. And it doesn’t sound like the Goddess is the CEO. So when are you going to tell me who is actually in charge?”

“... when you do something impressive enough that they agree to give you the Perfect System Support. Sorry.” Tamaki said, before his Factory avatar began to fade. “Please don’t injure my master’s great granddaughter too much.” He just got out before he escaped.

... Well, that happened. And I guess that means I know who I’ll face in the exhibition match.

We got to the arena early, as I had to be there early for the exhibition match.

There waiting for me was the priest and sage that were in Wendy’s party during the entire Seaside Paradise fissure situation. The priest helped me get ready for the match, while the sage showed my girls to a box seat that we could enjoy the tournament from. Apparently Wendy had secured it for us, so I’ll have to thank her for that.

It didn’t take me too long to get ready, after all, Storage is OP and I can just select clothes from Storage and automatically put them on. I don’t usually use that feature, because it doesn’t matter with regular clothes, but with armor, it is kind of nice.

The priest complimented me on my armor, saying it was nice and showy. He then told me that this match was supposed to just be a show, which I naturally already knew, and that I shouldn’t end it too quickly, so that the audience could have said show.

I told him not to worry, and that I knew what I was doing, before I jokingly said that I hoped Wendy also knew what she was doing.

This took the priest back a bit, as I shouldn’t have known I was facing her, but I then told him about an angel that contacted me about it. He asked why an angel would tell me something like that, and I simply told him that the angel actually had something else to talk about, and Wendy just happened to come up.

While I waited for the audience to get to their seats, I just kept chatting with the girls with our System link. And while doing that, we also tried to add Janina into the conversation. It wasn’t all that difficult, thank you Soul Magic, but it did take a bit of concentration from Janina to do so, so I promised we’d look into a magic device that will allow her to passively do so after the tournament.

Then, the time came. The priest told me to move towards one of the colosseum entrances.

While I walked, I put some mana into my armor, to really get it to shine. Not quite enough that it would cast Space Bubble, but close to it.

I then waited by the entrance, until someone would announce us. While waiting, I looked at the opposite end of the colosseum and saw Wendy there, in her golden armor. So she really was wearing the Hero’s armor. I really hope I can do something to her, despite her having that overpowered equipment.

Maybe Wendy assumed I’d go all out and summon some god monsters or something. Well, I won’t, but she doesn’t know that yet.

Eventually someone began to speak, someone whose voice I recognized. I have no idea why they made Ula the annoncer, but apparently she is diversifying her job even more. Being an espionage spy, disguised as a tour guide apparently wasn’t enough for her, now she is also an announcer.

Well, I don’t mind. I know her, she knows me. I’m sure she’ll do a good job.

Her voice also seemed to be boosted by either magic, magic item or a skill, because it was easily heard across the colosseum.

I then decided to change races again, swapping from Multi-Armed Spiritual Dragon Hearted to Multi-Armed Spiritual Bird-folk Sorcerer. With my Sorcerer race boosting my magic, I began using some low power Space Magic spells to attack Wendy, while I also used Time Magic to make myself faster.

I tried to also use Time Magic to slow down Wendy, but it feels like her armor is preventing that.

Wendy went with my flow, also changing to a more magic focused fighting style, but it quickly became apparent to me that she is a swordswoman, not a caster, as with magic, I was faster than her, and my spells were more powerful than hers.

I then did my next race swap, because I wanted to change the fight again. I kept Multi-Armed and Spiritual, but I swapped my class race to User or Rare Skills and my normal race to Cat-folk.

I landed on the ground on all six of my limbs, before I once again ramped up Flickering Step so I could approach Wendy. And while doing so, I generated four extra arms with Magical Arms, while also producing four swords with Restraining Sword Barrage. I then placed the Restraining Swords into the hands of my Magical Arms.

I slashed at Wendy with my claws first, and as she was blocking that, I brought my Magical Arms in for an attack. Sadly, Wendy’s armor was too good, and my Restraining Swords didn’t do anything. The armor probably has some sort of ‘no debuffs will affect the wearer’ enchantment, or something like that.

As I was clawing at Wendy, I had to dodge another sword slash, which forced me to a bad position, and caused me to take another shield bash.

It sent me flying back, and I dug my claws into the ground, to bring myself to a stop.

“You think that is good, Brian? I think we’ve shown enough.” Wendy called out.

“... We could stop here.” I answered. “But I can also show one more thing. A single summon.”

“So just a bit more then.” Wendy agreed, and once again charged her armor, sword and shield with mana.

While she did so, I did my last race change of the fight. Dropping Multi-Armed, I returned to being Advanced Human, but this time I took the class race of Summoner, instead of Swordsman, which I used at the start of the fight.

And now, it was time to summon something.

“Oh great wolf of the Nordic myths, appear by my side and show your might.

I summon you, Gleipnir.”

With my chant, a massive magic circle appeared next to me, and from it, my huge wolf summon appeared. Nir took up a large section of the arena, and his presence clearly intimidated not just the audience, but even Wendy herself.

But I wasn’t done. There was one more thing I wanted to do. Admittedly, I had only done this next part in the Factory, and not with anything as powerful as Nir, but I think I can manage it. ... I hope.

“Nir! Become one with me and grant me your strength!” I ordered my Fenrir. “Reverse Union!”

Nir began to glow and I felt as his entire essence, his soul, entered me and became one with me.

My race changed again, likely becoming some sort of Wolf-folk, as I felt a pair of ears growing out from the top of my head, while a wolf-tail also grew out of my tailbone. Even my skin began to grow fur. At least my face didn’t turn into a snout, so I’m not going full werewolf.

And the immense power I felt was ... It was something. It honestly felt like I would snap myself if I moved wrong, so I decided to be as careful as I could with my movements.

“... Did you just?” Wendy questioned.

“Yes!” I answered, and my voice sounded like a mix of a growl and regular speech.

I then felt Nir’s will inside my body, just begging us to charge at Wendy. And admittedly, I wanted to do so as well, so I did just that.

We left a large crater where we launched from, and we got to Wendy faster than my brain could keep up. The speed was insane. Our claws made contact with Wendy’s armor, but luckily it seemed sturdy enough to stop the strike. But still the power in that blow sent Wendy flying backwards across the arena.

I held back Nir, who wanted to charge again, instead allowing Wendy to recover and stand up again. She then seemed to chant the same buff spell as she used earlier, before she came at us.

I let Nir mostly take over, since he probably knows better how to control this strength, while I only guided him how to use a humanoid body. Nir used our claws to slash at Janina, but he clearly didn’t know how to use the mana we had, because he failed in doing things like producing Rending Claws, despite his Fenrir form being able to use something very similar to the skill.

So I decided to take over that part, while Nir pounded on Wendy. And with our stats combined, as well as the boost I get from Summoner’s Unity, the strikes Wendy is landing on us don’t really hurt that much.

Nir then got Wendy off beat and open for a strike, so he went in with a powerful hit, but I didn’t want to risk actually hurting her, so I tried to hold back. Our conflicting opinions caused the attack to weaken, but it also messed with our control a lot, and the massive power we had not only sent Wendy flying again, but also caused a massive backlash to mess up our arm.

Because of the pain, and honestly just thinking this is enough, I undid the Reverse Union with Nir, so he left my body and his Fenrir body reformed next to me.

As I lost all of that extra power, the exhaustion of doing what I did hit me full force, and I almost fell to my knees, but I luckily managed to keep myself standing.

I looked to the other end of the arena, where Wendy was also getting back up. She looked like she could continue, but I think we both knew this exhibition match has gone on for long enough.

So instead of continuing, she sheathed her sword, while I unsummoned Nir.

It took a while for the audience to realize that the fight really was over, but after Ula announced that this was the end of the exhibition match, they reacted and gave us a booming applause.