TOURNAMENT (6)

Well, now that everyone is ready, let the battle begin...."

...

Hearing the host, Ray decided to take the upper hand in the battle. That's why, as a proud warrior, he charged forward towards Grace in order to take her head on.

Green Room

Jack was sitting in his chair watching the battle unfolding in front of a television.

"Well, this mana is interesting. We can even see TV here by using mana..."

Step...step..

Jack turned around and saw Aurora coming towards him, and a familiar scene was happening here, but this time Jack decided to take things slowly and didn't rush towards her.

"How was your match...."

"What didn't you see... The last time I saw you, your sea-like blue eyes were fixed on me."

"Damon, don't even think of playing such a prank on me again..."

Yes, both of them were now close enough for them to call each other by name comfortably. Well, Jack always called her by her name, but now even Aurora was using his name when they were alone.

Seeing her cold look, Jack shook his head and decided to focus on the TV.

"What do you think, who will win, Froze..."

Jack asked her, and she decided to stay silent. Jack was a very patient man; he decided to wait for her reply.

"I don't know....."

'Hmmm....'

Hearing her, Jack raised his eyebrow and watched her with a confused look on his face.

"This is a war, Damon, and in a war, no one can predict what is going to happen in the future.... at some point, you think that victory is yours, but on the other hand, but some small mistake, everything you worked for could crumble and fall down. This is a war between pride and experience; it is a war between reality and delusion."

"LIONHEART family is a very prideful family even among the families who are known for their bravery. The LIONHEART family has a long history of more than 2000 years where they have fought many battles and won almost every one of them. They are also the reason why the Beast Kingdom is so strong."

"But you were so sure about me that I would win, wait a minute. Don't tell me that you really want to go on that date with me, not as a teacher giving his student a reward, but as lovers...."

Hearing him, Aurora gave Jack a deadpan look as if saying ' Really can't you be a little serious for this'.

"Well, whatever happens, I will be looking forward to it..."

Jack said with a determined look on his face. Seeing him act like that, a small smile came on Aurora's face as she also fixed her eyes on the screen with Jack.

...

Arena Hall

"Heeee..."

Seeing Ray charging forward at her with a determined look, she chuckled inwardly and thought.

'Heh, fool. Did he really think charging forward like this would help him in this situation? Fools like them are the ones who get sacrificed first in the battles.'

Ray charged at her with full speed while Grace stood there seeing him as if he was some kind of toy. Seeing that Grace wasn't moving, Ray frowned but decided to charge anyway.

But then, a fast gust of wind charged towards Ray as his senses kicked in, and he tried to dodge them, but it was too late.

Swish.....

"Aaaaaaaa...."

Ray, whose hand collided with the gust of wind, screamed with a painful voice. His hand was half cut and was right now hanging from his forearms by the skin which was left on his hand. His bones, which were sliced perfectly, could be seen coming out from his half-cut forearm. The sight was very bad that some people closed their eyes because of the amount of blood which was coming out of his hand like a fountain had opened with full force.

"That.... That's cheating, she used wind magic there...."

Someone from the crowd screamed while looking at the host.

"Yeah, she is cheating..."

"Disqualify her, she is going against the rules of this tournament...."

Slowly.. slowly, many voices could be heard from the audience.

...

Green Room

"Wait, did she really use magic against her opponent..... wasn't this illegal."

Jack said while narrowing his eyes. He didn't even put an eye on the guys who were screaming like little children there.

"No, she didn't use magic there...."

Aurora answered him with an indifferent look on her face. Hearing her, Jack narrowed his eyes.

"Then how did his hand get cut off while she was just standing there without even moving an inch.."

"No, she moved.... Well, not her body, it was her fingers which moved..."

"What..."

"Watch her hand carefully....."

Jack narrowed his eyes and then watched carefully, and then a surprised look came on his face.

"Wait, did she use that....."

...

"Aaaaaaaa..."

A painful cry could be heard in the stadium. There could be seen a guy sitting down while screaming in pain. By watching his painful look, anyone can guess how much he was hurt. While the other person was watching him with an icy cold look.

"Disqualify her right now...."

"Yeah, she has cheated....."

"Bitch.....Die....."

Many crushes could be heard through the stadium, but Grace didn't mind them and just watched Ray, who was trying his best to not scream. It was against his pride to scream like this, so he did his best to not let it bother him more.

Seeing that the host was silent and was not saying anything, he stood up, tore his shirt, and wrapped it around his half-cut hand, trying to put it in a single place.

"Everyone, keep quiet. We have confirmed it that she is not cheating. The weapon she is using is not a sword, that is true, but it's not magic, and she had got special permission from the Assassin guild to use this."

"But what is she using if she isn't using magic...."

One person from the crowd asked the host. The host looked towards the crowd and calmly replied to their curiosity.

"The weapon she is using are strings."

Metal strings, if used properly, can easily slice someone's arm or even their throat. And a string is a very good weapon as it doesn't make any noise and is hard to see through, making them perfect for Assassins.

Assassins rarely use swords because they don't get into direct conflict with their enemies, so to make this fight fair, she got the person to use one extra weapon, strings.

Ray tried to get up, but something sharp could be felt on his neck. Not only that, his every limb was tied to very thin, sharp, but strong strings. Even moving an inch caused several cuts to form on his body.

"What happened, I thought your pride would help you to win, but it seems that you can't even move. So where is your pride? Call it to save you from my grasp, because I doubt if you can get away so easily without anyone's help."

Hearing her, Ray felt humiliated. His pride didn't allow him to stay like this, but he knows that he couldn't do anything because of that. He cursed his fate.

"I..... I surrender..."

Ray said these words with his head down and his eyes empty. This was the first time in his life when he was humiliated to this degree. Tears could be seen around his eyes; his pride inside his heart started to crumble to dust. He wanted nothing more than to just run away as far as he could.

Seeing that Ray had surrendered, the host decided to announce the result of this match.

"The winner of this match is GRACE NIGHTSHADE."