There we are.
“Hm.”
Fran took a seat, which was in perfectly working order. As I wondered about the reason for the vacancies, the answer came sauntering up.
“What are you sitting around here for?”
“Hm?”
“Reserved seats. Get outta here, kid.”
“Our boss is coming over later, see!”
Some rowdy roughhousers were keeping these seats for themselves, scaring their fellow spectators away with threats. A quick Identify revealed them to be street thugs, strong enough to intimidate regular townsfolk into submission. But Fran was used to meaner adventurers than these. To her, they were nothing more than poorly behaved citizens. She understood that they were picking a fight, and proceeded to give them exactly what they wanted.
“Stun Bolt.”
“Gyaa!”
“Aieee!”
“Oof!”
She knocked out the three men with a single bolt and piled their unconscious bodies in the hallway. The other spectators were shocked at the sudden display of violence, their eyes turning to saucers. They looked away from the two nameless figures duking it out in the ring, and set their gaze firmly on Fran. If this went on, they might even figure out who she was.
Fran, pull your hood down more.
“Hm.”
What should we do with these guys? Just leave them here?
“Hm…Jet?”
“Arf.”
The audience panicked as Jet sprang out of Fran’s shadow. She wasn’t the least bothered and proceeded to load two of the thugs on his back. Jet lifted the third one by his collar.
“Put them away somewhere.”
“Woof.”
“That’ll do it.”
Serves them right. They were causing trouble for everyone here.
Fran sent him off and returned to her seat. The other spectators began to take the seats around her. None of them attempted to talk, having the good sense to avoid whatever she was about. Things settled down, and we were finally able to watch the match.
The thugs’ boss came looking for his lackeys a little later, but one look at Fran was enough to make him turn tail and run. The look on the leader’s face said he knew exactly who’d taken his seat, and he wanted nothing to do with her. That was the only problem we ran into, if you could even call it one.
There was one other issue, I guess. Amanda’s and Colbert’s matches ended so fast that we couldn’t learn anything about them.
Colbert was up against a mage named Akasa. He was a red-haired man decked out in flowing black robes. He certainly looked strong. A quick run through his skill sheet suggested that he used Illusion Magic to make copies of himself before taking his opponent down with a powerful Wind spell. I wouldn’t be surprised if Akasa took notes from Dias.
“Hello, Colbert,” he said, on entering the ring. “It must be my lucky day.”
“You think so?”
“My battle plan is well suited to dealing with fighters like yourself. This match is as good as mine. Victory will be sweet.”
“Heh, well, you sound confident. I just hope you’re not getting ahead of yourself.”
“I have no need to be confident. Our match is a solved equation.”
Akasa had a point. Colbert’s lack of Sense skills meant he would have a hard time against his illusions…
“Take this!”
“Urgh!”
…if only Akasa had time to cast a single spell. Within five seconds of the match’s start, Colbert closed in on the mage and landed a punch square in his gut. That was the end of it. They spent more time talking than fighting.
Akasa’s battle plan consisted of putting some distance between him and his opponent. He had no way of dealing with a faster opponent who could close in quickly. This was the problem with many mages, now that I thought about it. The restricted arena meant that melee fighters had an advantage.
This might be why there were so few mages in the tournament. That information was well worth the five seconds of the fight.
Go in fast when you’re up against mages, I suppose.
Hm!
Amanda’s fight came next, and it was even worse. We couldn’t glean anything from it. She was up against Romucchio, a half-naked man with muscles that out-bulged Elza’s.
“Ga ha ha ha! Looks like I’m fighting one hell of a beauty today!”
“Hello to you, too.”
“Oooh! You get my blood boiling, girl!”
“…”
Amanda smiled, but it soon faded as Romucchio began posing. His skin was oiled, and Amanda looked disgusted as he flexed his muscles. We could feel her intent to kill all the way from the bleachers. Romucchio totally missed the cue. The big muscleman continued his routine, grinning suggestively at Amanda.
“Baby, I’m going to put you into a hard and oily submission!”
“…”
“Then, I’ll bury you in my pecs!”
“Urp.” Amanda gagged slightly before flipping into battle mode.
The match started…
Thwack!
…and ended with a loud explosion. Romucchio was no longer in the ring. The audience didn’t have time to cheer. The big, oily man slammed into a wall with a wet thud. Even the judges needed time to process what just happened.
Amanda had cracked her whip as soon as the match began and sent him flying. The average person wouldn’t have been able to tell what happened, but it didn’t escape our notice.
And here I thought she’d put more effort into it.
“Hm…”
Amanda had been more serious during our last mock battle. I guess she had to hold back to keep from killing Romucchio. The audience laughed as the tournament officials struggled to carry his unconscious body away, but Fran and I were disappointed.
Elza and Charlotte’s fight was much more interesting. Charlotte’s dancing combat style was as artistic as it was dangerous. She literally danced circles around Elza, attacking her with her metal hoop. The large ring was designed not only to cause damage, but also to catch on an opponent’s weapon to yank it from their hands.
Charlotte continued her assault with a Water spell, creating a rainbow as it faded. Combined with her beautiful dancing, the battle looked more like a performance than an all-out brawl. You would be forgiven for thinking of it that way, if it weren’t for the loud shrieks of metal crashing into metal. The crowd loved it, but despite
