Ascension: Online

The instant the battle began, it was over.

Hina-nee closed the gap between herself and the poor man in an instant using Vanishing Shadows, before stopping right in front of him, blade mere millimeters away from his neck.

The man's eyes widened as he slowly put his hands up in the air.

"I-I forfeit."

The audience, who had been dead silent from shock, now cheered in excitement. Hina-nee smiled and moved away, walking off the stage confidently. The man fell onto his knees, supporting himself with his hands as he punched the stage's floor in shame and regret. Slowly, he pulled himself back up and retreated as well, being sent many glances of disdain and mockery on the way.

The mayor, Zhen Yuhan, awkwardly walked onto the stage and cleared his throat.

"A-Ahem… well, that was an… interesting fight," he declared loudly. "As for the next battle, it will be… 15 against 16!"

I glanced down at the small piece of paper in my hands. It read '15'. Hina-nee gently hugged me from behind.

"You got this, Kaze-kun~"

I nodded in response as she let go, and I headed for the stage. When I arrived, my opponent was already there. Both of our eyes widened as we realized who the other was.

"Y-You… you're my oppponent?!" he cried.

"Well, well… I never expected you to be my first adversary… Silver Wolf." My expression soon turned into a smirk as I took out Dokujin from my inventory.

Sweat began forming on his forehead as the audience murmured in confusion.

"Do those two know each other from before or something?"

"Why does the blond guy look scared of the other guy…?"

The Silver Wolf, Hiaki Leo, gulped nervously and took out his own sword, adopting a combat stance.

"Y-You may have beaten me last time, but I've gotten plenty stronger since then!"

I sighed, then gazed at the audience. It didn't take long for me to find who I was looking for - Hiaki Gabriel, Leo's brother. Our eyes met and he made a praying gesture to me, as if begging me not to kill Leo.

I didn't bother responding and instead patiently waited for the battle to commence.

"Both sides ready…" the mayor raised his hand into the air. "Three… two… one… go!"

The drums were struck, sending a loud ripple of noise all around us.

'Vanishing Clouds.'

In the blink of an eye, I disappeared from my original location, reappearing directly in front of Leo and striking down with my dagger. I had used the same strategy Hina-nee had used, but unfortunately, Leo wasn't as weak as the man Hina-nee had fought.

He instinctively leaped backwards, just barely managing to avoid my attack. I hadn't been using my full strength there since I didn't want to reveal all of my cards to the crowd watching, but still, I was a bit impressed he actually dodged that.

"It seems you really did get stronger," I mused, twirling Dokujin around in my hand.

"Heh… it's my turn now!" he yelled, charging at me, sword in hand. "Prepare to die!"

'Blink.'

Right before he could cut me in half with his sword, I instantly teleported behind him and placed Dokujin right on the back of his neck.

"W-Wha-"

"If you don't want to die, I suggest not moving."

He gulped in fear as he froze his actions, sword still in mid-air.

"I'll admit… you have gotten stronger, but it'll still take a long time before you can ever hope to reach my level."

With those words, I kicked him in the back, sending him crashing to the ground.

"Oof!" he groaned in pain.

I walked off the stage calmly, not sparing him a second glance. I did notice, however, that Gabriel bowed in my direction slightly, as if thanking me for not killing his brother. I snickered softly.

'Blink' had been one of the skills I obtained last night using my abundance of AP. It was similar to Vanishing Clouds, except it was a literal teleport rather than a very fast dash. The range was shorter, but it was completely impossible to react to, whereas attacks utilizing Vanishing Clouds could still be avoided like Leo had done just now. Other than this, the two skills were pretty much identical - same cooldown of 20 seconds, same skill path (Assassin), and same cost of 1 AP.

"Alright, number 15 is the winner!" the mayor announced after Leo dragged himself off the stage dejectedly. "Now, as for the next battle… 17 and 18!"

*****

The preliminaries carried on as usual after that. Lunchtime rolled around, and neither Hina-nee nor I had to fight again. The mayor announced a lunch break of one hour, where the officials would organize and tally up the results from this morning's battles. The fights would continue in the afternoon and the evening as well.

"Good job, Kaze-kun!" Hina-nee smiled warmly as we sat in a restaurant, waiting for our food.

"You too," I chuckled. "That man really got humiliated."

"Hehe, he was the one who proposed the challenge. All I did was respond to it in kind."

"True, but…" I scratched my head awkwardly.

"What is it?"

"Er… about what you said… is it true you have someone you already like? Why have I never heard of this before?" I asked curiously.

"Mhm, it's true," Hina-nee said with a mysterious smirk. "And besides, I've never told anyone about this until today, so it's natural you've never heard of this before."

"Who is it? Someone in your school?"

"Nope~" she giggled innocently, then looked out the window dreamily. "He's not in my school. Matter of fact, he's not even the same age as me - a year younger. Let's see… what else? Ah, that's right… he likes reading a lot, and I've known him ever since I was 1. Oh, and also, he has black hair… and blue eyes."

Saying that, she turned to me, staring intently into my gaze. I strategically looked away, unable to meet her beautiful black eyes.

There was no doubt about it. She was talking about me. I'm the only person a year younger than her who has known her ever since she was 1. But…

"H-Hina-nee, just for the record… you said you like this boy, as in romantic love, right?" I asked hesitantly.

She nodded happily. "Yep!"

I gulped nervously, taking a sip of water to calm down.

"U-Uh… I see," I said quietly, unsure how to respond.

Hina-nee merely continued to smile at me lovingly, wobbling her head back and forth. Aisa looked between us, unamused. Luckily, the awkward atmosphere between us didn't last for long as the food arrived soon after.

After we ate, we headed back to the center of the city. Most of the other contestants had also gathered here by now, as the lunch break was almost over.

We spent the rest of the afternoon watching the other battles. Throughout the entire day, none of the battles had been particularly eye-catching, with the exception of two. One of them was a girl around my age with long black hair and a stunning figure. She would've truly been a beauty… if it weren't for her maniacal personality.

She seemed to have… quite the thirst for battle. Wielding a massive black and pink scythe of some sort along with similarly-themed clothing, she cut down anyone who stood in her way. As a matter of fact, the first truly gruesome death of the preliminaries was caused by her, not counting the baldie from the first match. Her creepy laugh and crazed expression when fighting was really a downer on her otherwise perfect body and appearance comparable to that of even Hina-nee.

That said, her combat skills were the real thing. I didn't manage to get close enough to use Inspect, but she seemed to be a player, given her fancy equipment. She was extremely skilled with the scythe she used, and also quite fast as well. If I had to guess, her AGI stat should be similar to mine if not higher.

The other person I needed to watch out for was the hairy dude from the first fight. His single punch had sent that baldie flying, crashing straight through a solid brick wall. I doubted baldie was all that strong, but still, to pack enough force in a punch to make a human being break a stone wall…

The two would definitely prove to be powerful adversaries. One of them specialized in speed and quick takedowns, while the other specialized in raw power. I already had plans devised for beating both of them, but… whether they would work or not was another story. For all I know, they could've been holding back as well, just like Hina-nee and I.

Hopefully, I would get to see the two of them fight a couple more times before I would have to face them. Better yet, have them face against each other so I only have to deal with one of them.

Still, not everything in life would go the way I wanted it to…