Battle Arena

When Veil stood face to face with the bald man, she never left his eyes, this guy blocked her path earlier thinking she was easily bullied, but now, he must suffer destruction!

Battles in this arena do not allow lethal attacks, however, knocking out an opponent is allowed.

The winning conditions are either among: knocking out an opponent, when one surrenders, or when one stepped outside the stage.

The last condition of stepping out of the stage will include deliberately stepping out to run away or when a participant is sent out.

As long as a participant is standing alive and is willing to fight, the referees will not stop the fight to determine the winner.

Using external weapons undeclared on the registration is not allowed, but registering concealed weapons is allowed.

One example of concealed weapons would be an assassin Adventurer's hidden blade; it is worn under their cloaks.

The hidden blade has a mechanism that allows it to be concealed on one's arm or even sometimes, both arms.

As long as these kinds of weapons are registered, the participants will not be disqualified in the actual battle.

Skills and any fighting techniques are allowed, except skills that affect large scale factors such as time and the mental condition of the viewers and the referees.

In the world, there are rumors saying of domain skills that can affect time itself, which will totally be against the rules.

If time is suddenly disrupted in the battle and the participant on the receiving end was killed, there would be no way to restore the damages.

As for the mental oppression caused by certain skills and the like, as long as the spectators are not affected, it will not be barred and the user will not be disqualified.

The referees of each stage then explained the winning conditions to the participants before simultaneously starting the battles.

All the small crystals on the hands of the referees are crushed in their hands, which would activate the magic mirrors and recording crystals pointed on every part of the Battle Arena.

Even the spectator seats, the reaction of the people and the conversation between the participants on stage could be seen and heard.

The tall bald man threw away his top, revealing a massive body with iron like muscles and various battle scars.

It is as if he is saying 'come to me' to his opponent, who is a young girl half his size.

Veil did not mind the provocation, even if her current body is of a young girl's, her mind has been through countless trials and tribulations.

She went through everything painful imaginable: every person she interacted with has lost their memories of her; she lost her previous body due to an unknown phenomenon; she has to keep throwing away different friends she meets along the way.

Her true mind has matured already to a point that little things such as provocations and other things that could spike up her emotions do not and will not affect her anymore.

She just watched the tall man showing off, she then smirked again and gestured her hand to the man.

"?!" the man then pulled out the twin hatches on his back and dashed in anger, "You are finished!"

Veil did not move; she just sent a rapid chop imbued with mana on a vital point on the man's neck.

As the man loses his consciousness, his mind blurs and he instantly lost in a battle he did not even understand what happened.

All he knew was he was charging to wound the little girl until she cannot fight, but then now he suddenly blacked out without seeing any attack.

Adventurers signing up in this Battle Arena are far from ordinary citizens, they will not die from wounds and even getting stabbed on various parts of their body.

That is why weapons are allowed, as long as the participants would control their techniques and mana to protect various parts of their body to lessen the damage and impacts.

Lethal attacks such as cutting someone's head or neck, or stabbing the heart are the only attacks banned in the arena.

The high officials of the arena has a healing magic capable of healing any external and healing wounds, all except lethal damages, that is why they are confident to allow weapons in the rules.

Even if a participant's limbs are torn off of their body, these high officials could restore them as good as new.

Veil's stage did not receive much attention, there are still 64 other battles simultaneously happening all over the massive colosseum.

Veil climbed down back into the waiting room to wait for the next round.

She noticed that many participants have also finished their own respective battles in the first round.

All the participants have sharp looks in their eyes, but they did not dare disrespect the girl who just finished her fight, they just carried along on their own.

After a handful minutes or more, the referees called the next batch of participants to start the second round, now, 32 participants are fighting in 16 larger sized arenas.

It seems that the center area is free to be reshaped using a mechanism powered by magic crystals and other power sources.

On the first round, more stages are present, however, the sizes are not as big; but now that there are lesser stages, they also grew in size.

Veil's opponent this time is a magical class Adventurer with undiscernible skillset, the opponent's equipment is unusual.

The girl is almost as tall as her, wearing a plate armor which is unsuitable for mages and the weapon choice is a short staff.

The girl remained silent similar to Veil, they just waited patiently for the ring to start.

Each referees then restated some important rules like avoiding lethal attacks before starting the battles.

The girl waved her staff as she channels 4 different mana types.

Summon: Fire Golem!

Summon: Water Sprite!

Summon: Earthen Warrior!

Summon: Wind Wisp!

Skill: Spirit Link!

The spirit link allowed summoners to share their senses with their summoned creatures, the girl then controlled her summons to surround her opponent.

The unusual fighting style continued with quadruple casting 4 summoning spells and then the short staff glowed and turned into a sword.

Veil is surrounded but she still remained motionless, when the girl is about to slash her, she made a motion to send a chop.

But when her hand is about to hit the girl's neck, the latter suddenly swapped positions with the earthen warrior, evading the chop.

She was slightly taken aback by the fast reaction, it seems like the girl's skills allow her to avoid attacks on her main body.

That explains her unusual fighting style, what looks like a mage would fight a melee with her summons and as long as those summons are alive, the summoner will not take damage.

Veil smiled and appreciated the battle shown by the girl, however, she does not want to drag this battle further.

The girl trembled on her knees before putting her hardest to make another dash forward.

Swing!

The girl sent multiple slashes to Veil, however, to her surprise; her opponent did not even dodge or block her attacks.

"Wha…" The girl could only mutter those words.

Invisible layers of frost wrapped Veil, nullifying every single attack the other girl sent to her, she then smiled and said: "Talk to me later, I want to know what you are doing here. This place does not suit you."

After finishing her words, she swiped her hand in a horizontal sweeping motion, sending cold wave of wind towards the summons.

The summoned creatures stopped in motion as they slowly turn into ice sculptures; however, as Veil's respect to the girl, she absorbed the mana of the creatures and sent it back to the girl.

The girl then surrendered to the referee, making Veil the winner.

The two climbed down together back to the waiting room, unlike unconscious participants who are sent to another room to be treated, just like the tall bald man earlier.

"What is your name and what is your purpose for joining this arena?" Veil took the initiative to converse.

"I am Fiona. I wish to climb up in the arena so that I could be granted an audience with the Archangel…" Fiona, the summoner girl answered in a trembling voice.

"Why do you want to meet the Archangel?" Veil asked again as she patted Fiona's back.

"I… I wish to have him treat my twin sister's unknown disease. She just suddenly got it when she used a certain Lunarian magic." Fiona teared up when she remembers her sister.

"Where is she now?" Veil remembered the memory of the late Daybreak's Stix, who can use Lunarian skills.

"She is back on our home city, called Satella, where the people of Lunari reside. In truth, I am a Lunari." Fiona wiped her tears off.

"A Lunari?" Veil fell into deep thought when she tries to remember the words, but to no avail.

"It is natural that you do not know of us, the Lunari. We are blessed by the Moon God, so we are technically different from other humans. We can use Lunarian magic; however, my sister fell into a deep slumber when she tried using it." Fiona explained.

"Very well, I will go with you once I finish all my battles today. Do not worry Fiona, I am very strong." Veil smiled brightly with a reassuring tone.

[…]

All the participants then gathered again at the waiting room, now, only 16 remain, their battles will now be fiercer for the quarter finals.

More eyes will also be able to focus on their battles, since that there are only 8 stages for this round.

The main referee then shuffled the lineup for the fights and he rang the bell to call up the participants on their respective stages.

The magic plates on the waiting room glowed and showed which participants are fighting who.

Veil is going to fight a masked assassin named Yiarno; she remained calm as she climbs up her stage.

Yiarno similarly arrived on stage and awaits for the referee to start the signal.

Crack!

Swooosh~

Yiarno instantly disappeared on sight the moment he heard the referees crush the crystals on their hands.

He is moving on 4 limbs like a monkey, he momentarily disappears and reappears on another corner of the stage.

Skill: Mirage Maneuver!

Now, afterimages of Yiarno's movements appear, making the stage more confusing.

The chaos in the stage persisted, as if Yiarno's goal is to inflict paranoia on his target, especially when she is a girl.

However, after even dashing around for 5 minutes, his target still remains static, which she then spoke, "When are you going to make your move? I am getting inpatient here."

"!?" Yiarno then sprang again into action; this time, blades appeared on all 4 of his limbs, the bandages wrapped around him tearing one by one.

Skill: Brutal Sweep!

When the blades are about to touch her, Veil grabbed Yiarno's bladed leg and smashed him around like a sack of sand.

Boom! Boom!! Boom!!! Crack!

Yiarno felt like vomiting every time he smashes into the floor, his opponent did not stop after only the 4th time.

Veil then let go of Yiarno's leg as she wrapped her wounded hand with a layer of mana.

Silence descended on the spectator seats when the magic mirror timely showed the moment Veil grabbed the assassin and swung him around helplessly.

Even the referee assigned on Veil's stage gulped down saliva for the girl's extreme ways of dealing with her opponents.

First, she sent a massive man twice her size on the dreamland with a single attack, next, she made her opponent surrender by deliberately receiving her attacks and showing no damage, and now, she turned her opponent into a toy.

Veil's battle was the last one to finish, thus, all the recording crystals and magic mirrors broadcasted that moment.

When she returned down to the waiting room, the remaining participants grew wary of her existence, not wanting to receive the same beating.

They just came here to stretch their bones and enjoy the battles; they did not expect a variable like Veil.

In the semifinals, Veil's opponent is a swordsman, similar to her class; however, the guy chickened out and surrendered even before lifting a finger.

As for the finals, Veil is facing a melee fighter with no weapons; he reached this stage with fists alone.

He is a tanned man with long hair stretching down to his waist; his name is displayed as Darion.

When the referee reminded one last time of the rules and crushed the crystal, Darion's entire body glowed like lava.

Mana Expansion: Molten Abyss!

Various lines that look like fissures appeared all over his body, he is not wearing a top and only a short cloth pants so the lines are greatly visible.

The fissures glow with lava like hue as he looks like a fire God descending on the human world.

He is truly a perfect match for an icy cold and calm warrior like Veil, who is displaying her name as Runa.

Veil did not respond with her own Mana Expansion, instead, she finally unsheathed her sword after not using it until this final round.

Gasps of astonishment and amazement came out from the mouths of the spectators; even the referee on one corner of the big fighting stage is similarly dazed.

The beautiful aquamarine sword is a total contrast to the terrifying vermillion man.

GAHHHHH!

Skill: Molten Fury!

Darion shouted as he clenched his fists and flew like a fiery cannonball towards Veil, the floor he passed through melted like ice.

Veil tightened the grip of both of her hands on Rosalia and raised it straight over her head.

Skill: Eternal Rose's Bloom!

This is the first time she used a skill with the Rosalia, she only used it for her Mana Expansion to freeze the surroundings.

As if time slightly slowed down, red aura and blue on the other clashed in the stage.

Darion's right hand is glowing with lava clashing against Veil's Rosalia; melt one or freeze the other.

Whoever succeeds will reach the top and emerge victorious.

Mana in the form of blue roses rained down on the sky slowly, the beautiful flowers filled the stage.

Darion suddenly reminisced his happy childhood days when his mother is still alive, he stared into the blue roses coming out of the sky.

As he loses his strength on his right hand, the lava turned into steam as he gets frozen in place; the referee interfered as he stopped Veil and declared the result.

The winner: Runa!