Wearing a vertical black and white striped shirt, Javier explained the rules to the two fighters. Nia still wore her ridiculous smile while Rory looked tense, with the corners of his lips twitching.
"A fighter loses if they show no signs of life, give up, can't get up within the count of ten, or their body is destroyed, so they can't continue the fight," Matt explained to the audience.
Lognar chuckled. "I love the way you said those last words, Matt! Let's see if we'll see a broken body in this match!"
"I hope the viewers have a strong stomach to see that." Matt resumed. "And one more thing that viewers should be aware of. Fighters will receive a magical barrier to protect their body if they don't wear armor. If the opponent keeps hitting that barrier, its effectiveness will decrease until it breaks."
"Then what about Nia?" The dwarf commentator pointed at the idol. "She's not wearing armor, but I'm guessing her body is mostly metal."
"You could say she is a living armor in human form, so she doesn't get a magic barrier."
At Javier's command, the two fighters took a few steps back.
"Fight!" The referee gave a signal, then the bell rang once.
Rory had already bowed to pay his respects, but Nia came straight up to that man. The warrior had to raise his shield to fend off a series of stabs from his enemy's wild ringing drill.
"You're so eager to fight, huh!?" Rory shifted to avoid the umpteenth attack. "I can understand how you feel, but don't you know the manners of fighting!? We should pay respects to each other first!"
The android idol replied with a burst of pink fire from her mouth. Rory blocked that attack with his shield again, ducked, and kicked his opponent's leg, forcing her to fall.
The light then enveloped the red-haired man's sword.
"Sorry, you have to die." He hissed and thrust the sword into Nia's chest.
The android idol widened her eyes and winced hard.
Rory pulled his weapon and backed away, inspecting the small part of his front hair that had caught fire earlier. "Sh*t."
The referee started counting. "One! Two! Three!"
"Hey, hey." Rory protested. "Why are you counting? It's obvious I stabbed her in the chest. She won't get up."
"Don't interrupt me, fighter!" The referee pointed at Rory's face. "Or I will disqualify you!"
"Alright, alright." Rory raised both hands. "Jeez, Javier, I didn't know you were like this."
"Four! Five!" Javier counted again while Rory moved to the corner of the arena.
"Nia! Nia! Nia!"
The warrior noticed some spectators calling his opponent's name, which irritated him even more. They should hail him instead. He's the hero.
"I'm not done yet!" Nia suddenly stood up, despite a vertical sword-marked hole adorning her chest. She then laughed with her mouth wide open. "You haven't felt my love drill yet!"
"What happened, ladies and gentlemen!?" Lognar hyped the audience up. "That fatal attack did not affect this young girl!"
"That's it, Lognar. As you said, she is a being made of metal. An attack like that won't take her down." Matt smiled in satisfaction. He asked Nia not to stand up immediately if she fell, and the referee counted down.
Something like that will make a match more fascinating.
The two fighters were just standing in the middle of the arena, but the cheers from the crowd still showered them.
Rory hissed. "Who exactly are you?"
"I'm an idol." Nia raised her drill, and as it spun, the crowd's screams grew even more insane. "I want to make the audience smile with my love!"
Even Matt couldn't believe they would get such a welcome from the audience at their first show.
The idol attacked yet again, and this time with more ferocity. Rory was starting to have a hard time blocking or dodging the drill. His ears were even bleeding a little because the tip of Nia's weapon hit them.
"I won't lose to someone like you!" Rory managed to counterattack by slashing his opponent's neck.
But, of course, that didn't affect Nia either. There is only a long hole showing various mechanical components in her neck. And she just got more aggressive after that.
And Nia's dominance further increased the screams of support from the audience. "Nia! Nia! Nia!"
The scars from Nia's drill decorated Rory's shield even more.
"Damn it!" When he was pushed against one side of the cage, Rory kicked Nia so hard that she fell several feet back.
That warrior was about to attack that woman, but the android idol quickly pointed her drill up.
This time, that thing managed to penetrate that shield, shattering it. Rory staggered backward because of that. His back touched the cage wall again.
And Nia did not waste the opportunity. She got up in just one second, then thrust her drill into her foe.
"Arrrghhh!!!" Rory had tried to dodge, but that drill hit his left arm joint, which was not protected by armor.
He stared in horror at the blood and bits of his arm flying through the air. Even so, with his warrior instincts, he rolled on the floor, then dashed away to the other side of the arena.
"What a brutal move!!!" Lognar amplified his voice because the boisterous crowd from the audience rained down on the arena. "I can't imagine if the attack hit his head!!!"
"Yeah, that attack just now will restrict his movements." Matt watched as the blood dripping from the warrior's hand wet the floor. "I'm quite surprised that the shield broke, even though it's made of the best metal. Maybe the attacks from Nia made it weaker and weaker."
Meanwhile, Nia didn't continue her attacks and instead bowed to the audience in each stand alternately. "Thank you! Thank you very much!"
Rory knelt with an uncontrollable breath. The voices of the spectators sounded far away in his ears, and his head began to be overcome with dizziness. Not to mention the excruciating pain in his left hand.
He wanted to die rather than continue to feel this torment.
"Are you still up to it?" The referee asked the warrior. "Or are you going to give up?"
Rory gritted his teeth. His gaze became even sharper.
The referee started the countdown.
"One! Two! Three!" "Is this the end for Rory!?" Lognar leaned forward in excitement. "Are we going to see the greatest hero of Etna, Universe 4900, collapse!?" "You forgot something, Lognar." Matt hissed. "He didn't suddenly become a hero. He went through hundreds of grueling fights. That's why Etna's god put him by his side." Rory took a deep breath. He asked himself. Why was he being this emotional in a fight? Was he like this when he was at war? Could this be because he's rusty for too long without fighting? He forced himself to get up, though with incredible difficulty. "Eight! Nine! Te…" The referee stopped counting when finally that warrior could stand on two legs. This time the audience not only cheered but also applauded the red-haired man. "You are also an excellent warrior, Miss Nia." Rory finally caught his breath. "I was blinded by your appearance and way of fighting, so I looked down on you. I'm sorry." Nia
"I didn't expect that this show would be this exciting." A male spectator in the upper stands commented. "I regret not buying the front-row ticket." "We'll see if this continues." Another man next to him replied. "Maybe that match just happened to be good. We don't know what their fighters will be like after this." While they continued chatting, a slightly pale-skinned woman stood behind them, keeping her eyes on the arena, which was being cleaned of blood. Even though her long silver hair should stand out because it was so shiny and her face looked like the finest artist had sculpted it, people seemed oblivious to her presence. A single tear slipped from her eye. *** Lognar burped after taking a large gulp of water. "Just the first game, and my throat is dry." he chuckled. "I hope you can endure to the end." Matt also drank water from a bottle. "The next battle will also be interesting." Matt signaled to Vivianne, who
{The day before the fight} With a torch stuck in the ground as a light source, Shori used a knife to carve some tribe letters into a tree, knelt before it, then closed her eyes and clasped her hands together. "I don't know if my prayers will reach you, oh my goddess." She whispered. "And I don't know if you really chose me to be the fighter here." That woman choked up. "I just want to go home, your majesty. I want to be with my friends, my family, and my people. I still have to protect them." On that silent night, she sobbed. "Help me, protect me, give me the strength to go through all this, O my goddess." *** Norug had to look up to meet the 6'2" tall woman's face. "A plain club, huh?" The dwarf glanced at his opponent's weapon. "No spikes or other sharp objects. It seems you have the same taste as me, preferring to feel the sensation of crushing the enemy's bones rather than stabbing or slashin
The stadium was silent. Shori could only lower her chin, unable to believe what she just heard. Lognar laughed hard. "Amazing!!! Again, something shocking!!!" Matt didn't know what to say. "What did you say?" Shori gritted her teeth and stood up. "Are you out of your mind? We barely know each other!" "Trust me, sweety." Norug wore a broad smile. "We will be a perfect match. But I will prove that I am the strongest by defeating you. That way, you will know that I am worthy of you." "You f*cking sh*t!" Shori snapped. "I wouldn't want to be with you! And I'd beat you so I could go home!" "We will see!!!" Norug laughed again. "I'll show you a move I've never used before!!! You will be amazed and will fall in love with me!!!" "Errr…." Lognar scratched his hair. "I don't think that's how to attract a woman, Norug." Instead of attacking his opponent, Norug pounded the floor with his hammer. "I can feel an earthquake, M
{A week before the show}The long-haired girl jumped onto a large tree branch, slid down using her enhanced electrical roller skate, then used the power of the wheels in those things to jump higher. She arched her body in the air as she raised her hands, almost forming a C shape.With the tight dark gray bodysuit, every flex of her muscles was clearly visible.After performing several maneuvers in the air, she jumps from one tree to another at high speed, occasionally sliding on rocks or ground. Even though those surfaces are not completely flat, the intricate system in her rolling skates will keep her stable.Matt could only stand in silence, fascinated by those elegant movements. But at the same time, he could feel some ferocity from the rolling skate motor's roars.She did a whirl in the air like a ballerina, then landed a few feet in front of the president."Training, huh?" Matt approached the woman with a
Behind the entrance curtain, Salvia took a deep breath. The hustle and bustle of the people outside made her heart rate crawl up. Her last experience in front of many people was at her high school graduation. They called her to receive the certificate on the stage. Even then, she did it in turns with the other students. So, it's natural that she almost freaked out now. A crew member was standing not far from her, wearing a large headset and ready to give a signal. As the speakers fired hip-hop music with a vibrant synth melody, the crew gave a thumbs up, and Salvia pushed aside the curtain. The female rapper's singing filled the stadium. "In the techno city, she ready to strike." "A cyberpunk queen, out at midnight." "In the crime-ridden area, she still has dreams." "A future knight, she did it to the extreme." She slides with her roller s
Shin's body exploded into smoke and turned into a piece of wood with a paper seal attached. "What happened, ladies and gentlemen!?" Lognar points to that thing. "He transformed!!!" However, Salvia twisted her body backward. Shin's sword and the wheels on Salvia's skates collided, setting off sparks and a loud clang, sending the audience into a frenzy. This time the ninja was more aggressive in attacking. He pushed his opponent by continuing to swing his sword. Salvia had a hard time dodging the attacks and was forced to use her arms to block. It continued to reduce Salvia's magic barrier. "She can do nothing, Matt!" Lognar hit the commentator's desk. "And now she's in the cage's corner, no way out!!!" “Come on, Salvia.” Matt hissed. Shin kept slashing at the woman. But Salvia did not give up. She began to spin like a ballerina again but at a much faster speed. Unlike before, where she used the momentum of her ju
{A few days after the ritual of summoning fighters} Jun Tokuma performed a punch combination on a training dummy made of sacks. His bare upper body displayed prominent muscles, though his stature was not overly bulky. The morning sun reflected off his flowing sweat. He's been doing that long enough today. "Arrrghhh!!!" The undercut-haired young man dealt a hard final blow to that dummy, sending it crashing down. He paused, looking at the broken wooden peg, the torn sack, and the scattered sand. Then, he crouched down, scooping the sand into the sack using his hands. His mind was dazed, so he forgot to hold back his strength in the final blow. Since coming to that place, he kept thinking of ways to save those fighters. He will not bow before evil. "You don't have to do that, you know?" Vivianne came up to the man with her hands behind her back. "Let our staff take care of it. You are a special per