Arganthes: The Capital Of Dungeons 29 Chapter 16: The Tournament Of Beginnins - Part Vi - Living For The Hun

The group had surrounded them, quickly moving in to strike at Aileen. Elena simultaneously moved her arms outward from a central praying stance. Quickly slamming the ground with open palms, summoning a huge wall of dirt protecting the group. It was as if the ground shook and instantly grew a wall out of nowhere.

Some of the opponents standing on the ground that instantly rose fell to the ground on the other side as the shock made them instantly fall.

A few others jumped off instantly landing on the other side seizing the opportunity to attack.

But the moment they landed, their legs got frozen immobilizing them on the spot.

"Stay alert everyone, this isn't over yet!" Aqua said trying to put up the guard of the girls.

"I shall try to stop the ones who will jump over, whatever you do, keep that wall in place, Elena! As for Aileen... give us support wherever you can."

"Who went and made you the leader of our temporary alliance? I don't need you to tell me what to do!!"

Elena said irritated and annoyed as the group began breaking through her wall.

On the other side of the wall, others began striking at the center of the wall, following the instructions of their leader a man with red spikes hair, pointy ears, and dark blue eyes. Underneath his right eye, there was a fresh scar visible.

As the others softened the core wall with consecutive strikes he began writing runes to power his element in the air. The runes of Air, Enhancement, and Spirals.

The man began speaking as his spell.

Almighty deities of the wind, grant me the strength to obliterate the obstacles in front of me with a thousand breaths of the Sylph. Become a sphere in my hand and destroy everything in my wake.

Air Spiral!!!"

The moment their leader finished his chanting he held his hands in such a way that a sphere could form in between them. As the sphere formed the air began turning around it rapidly, allowing friction to create heat. Igniting the spiraling sphere.

His hands guided the sphere towards the wall, when both came into contact the fire ignited the wall creating a chain explosion, allowing the sphere to drill straight through the core, finally crumbling down and crus.h.i.+ng the structure.

The moment the wall came down, his men instantly rushed through the opening attacking any who they could find in their way.

Frustrated and shocked by the destruction of the wall Elena had put in such effort to create, now p.i.s.sed she slammed her hands together chanting as runes began forming on the ground.

"Oh great Deity of nature, give me the strength to pummel my foes, let them pay for what they did to this forest and all life as a whole.

Rock Shard Rain!"

As the men closed in on Elena and Aileen, Aqua quickly froze the ground underneath their opponents' feet making them slip and fall, allowing Elena to finish her chanting.

The moment she finished her spell shards of hardened earth began raining down, slamming into the men who made it through the wall. Eliminating all of the leaders' henchmen he now was the only one left between them and survival.

"Pathetic... this is... just pathetic... well, at least they should have worn you down, proofing their purpose haha."

The man walked through the now crumbled remains of the wall, his voice sparked something inside Elena as she could recognize it anywhere. Now standing on the other side of the remains a razor-toothed boar rushed towards the broad and muscled man.

Air and flames enveloped his arms ar he struck down the beast with one hit, right between the eyes and straight to the ground. Trying to shrug off the blood that now tripped from his fist Elena and his eyes met.

Now certain who it was Elena got taken over by rage, anger, and frustration. Her mind slowly clouded by it all. She rushed towards him screaming out his name.

"AKANO!!!!"

As their fist collided in a heated confrontation they both blocked every attack they could throw at each other. With a brief opening that presented itself in the form of breathing Akano ignited his fist, quickly striking down upon Elena.

Elena quickly jumped back trying to dodge the strike.

But as she dodges Akano closed in with a punch charged with air. The punch connected to her gut ripping through her clothes as if it was paper.

The strike was so powerful that she flew back several meters as her flight got halted by the impact of a tree she fell to the ground. Struggling to get up she began straining her lungs. Coughing with each movement.

*cough* *cough*

The coughing was so painful that she curled up in a ball unable to stand up. Frustrated by her weakness she began to silently sob on the ground.

*sob* "This can't be it... this can't be the end..." *sob*

Akano walked towards her with a huge grin on his face from cheek to cheek. Finally standing in front of her he began laughing. Laughing at her foolishness.

"Ahahaha!! I can't believe this girl... I don't even know who you are, yet you dare to stand in my way."

He squatted down in front of her as he mocked her very existence licking his lips stopped for a second.

"Wait... Haven't I seen you before?"

Akano grabbed Elena's crown and mockingly pulled her up showing off his superiority over her.

"Let me take a look at your face girl."

Akano pushed her cheeks together with his other hand taking a good look at her frustrated and bruised face when it finally dawned on him.

"Weren't you the one with the guy that I crushed during the last round? Pfff haha, man! He was such a joke... challenging me to an all-out brawl! Haha, at least he had the b.a.l.l.s and pride to go down during the fight like a man, I have to give him that. But man... was he pathetic..."

Knowing she couldn't begin to put up a fight against him Elena wept in her weakness, the way he treated her friend broke her heart, but what could she do? And to make matters worse... she was next...

Akano pulled her higher as he clenched his fist, swiftly striking her straight in the belly, making her barf all over the ground.

*Aarghh* *Barf* *N-nooo*

Powerless Elena fell to the ground.

"You're no fun girl... you broke way too soon.

Maybe your friends can hold out longer, no?"

He turned around looking at the girls with insane fixation. The intimidation coming of his bloodl.u.s.t was almost unbearable. Trying to protect Aileen, Aqua froze Akano completely as he became a huge ice crystal.

Frozen in fear Aileen couldn't believe her eyes,

yet again her friends got hurt. Hurt because of her weakness, because they all want to protect her.

"Why does this have to happen? Why always me?"

She kept on rambling in disbelief. As her mind slowly broke in little shards. Aqua knew this was the only chance they had to get away, seizing the moment she grabbed Aileen's hand and rushed away. Getting to safety and finding someone to help their friend that was the only thing on Aqua her mind.

A few moments after they left the ice crystal began melting from inside, finally breaking in one huge ignition of flames. Akano was free...

Always enjoying the hunt he quickly found their tracks, making it easy to track them. As Aqua tan for her life with Aileen by her side the finally arrived at the center of the dome. There an insanely huge amount of contestants was fighting with others for the central position. Looking around she found that someone she knew arrived at the same time.

It was Michael, with someone she hadn't seen before? Who might that be? "That's not important right now." She said to herself trying to focus on what was.

Rus.h.i.+ng towards Michael with her last remaining energy she collapsed in front of him. Shocked Michael came to her aid.

"Aqua! How did this happen? Who did this to you?!"

This was ben suddenly a huge muscular figure showed up behind her.

"That must be me," Akano said in a friendly manner.

"I knew the bait would bring me to better prey, isn't the hunt wonderfull? He said with a wicked smile.

Anxiety filled my being as dread slowly crept in behind it. I was next...

In an instant he rushed towards me, quickly striking towards my temple. He was so fast I was unable to react sucker-punching me straight to the ground.

Blood spilled out from my head as I tried to collect my thoughts standing up. He couldn't be taken lightly, maybe even more talented than anyone present in this event. But I had a plan...

Again he rushed in towards me, this time with a punch straight to the gut. This time calculating where he would strike I was able to block it in time.

I had to react fast, not being able to activate my lighting enhancement as there was to little time.

I had to create an opening, a small opportunity for me to activated what was necessary for victory.

In the distance, people kept fighting over the center point of the dome. Even getting tossed in the air.

When one of the contestants fell in front of us, Akano couldn't care less... he even stepped on them as if they were dirt only having eyes for me.

When suddenly a huge group of people flew high up in the air, I could have sworn that those were pillars throwing them in the air. As it dawned on me I yelled his name. "GEO!"

I knew what I had to do. Looking at Aqua and the other girl, I tried to get their attention while trying to block and dodge Akano's attacks.

"Aqua!! Can you still move?

Find cover quick, I have a plan!"

Aqua listened and quickly tried to find a place out of sight, underneath a tree with brick stones placed against it.

Providing shade, shelter and most important protection against outsiders. Finally out of sight I could focus on the plan. Letting myself be hit towards the center I flew straight through the crowd hoping Akano would follow me there. I fell on the ground to the sound of someone familiar.

"Man! Do you always have to enter so dramatically? Michael!!?!" Geo helped me up seeing as I was bruised all over.

"I'm okay, but I could use your help with someone out there." "Who?" Geo asked confused.

"He should be arriving any second now, just wait."

I gently padded Geo's shoulder and pointed towards the huge fire sphere that approached us. As we jumped away, the impact struck down and blew away all other contestants present halving the selection.

The moment Akano made is the grand entrance the announcer announced something shocking, which was useful at the same time.

"Only 15 minutes remaining, the total amount of remaining contestants; 300, good luck to you all and may the G.o.ddess of victory smile upon you."

"So you're telling me we only need to hold out for 15 more minutes? I'll be giving it my all!! Thanks for the challenge, Michael!!"

Overjoyed and enthusiastic Geo readied his stance as Akano stood up from his insane crash landing.

Geo waved his hand towards himself showing he was ready for combat while taunting the big guy at the same time. Annoyed Akano jumped towards Geo.

"I will bash your skull in you f.u.c.ker!!"

The moment their arms collided they both came to a standstill... as the others watched in antic.i.p.ation of combat Akano suddenly struck towards Geo with fire in his hand. To counter this, Geo quickly covered his other arm with rocks blocking the impact.

Both slides back as the fore of the impact were too strong to withstand. As they came to a standstill once more they both raised their fists towards each other laughing an idiotically loud laugh.

"You"ve got ball kid! I like that, this should be fun!"

Akano slammed his fists together summoning a huge ball of fire as runes formed on the ground where he was standing. I couldn't make out what they stood for, but I understood the fact that this could be his ultimate technique.

The ball became bigger and bigger when he finally tossed it towards the entire group. Geo tried to s.h.i.+eld us from the impact by carrying us in a hole of dirt. Elena helped him with this? To speed up the process. Aqua, on the other hand, did what she could be summoned as much water as she could muster.

As a huge ball of water formed above her she too tossed it, as the ball went towards the other, the two collided creating an explosion of white smoke.

Fog filled the entire area making it unable for us to see, the only good thing about this was the fact that Akano couldn't see in front of him either.

Now blinded by the fog he needed to watch where he was going. Unable to see he fell in a puddle of soft sand. Moving forward he struggled to get through.

Frustrated by the fact that he couldn't move he tried to jump out, but couldn't... a feeling of fear and frustration crept in on him as he realized where he was standing in.

The puddle of soft sand... was quicksand!

Now even more frustrated than before he tried to force his way out as all attempts showed to be futile.

"f.u.c.k!! NO! This isn't how I wanted this to end!!

No, no, no, no!! Raaaaggghhh!"

As terror finally seized his heart he began hurling fireb.a.l.l.s left and right. Finally one hit the spot where he was standing sending him sky-high.

He was finally out... Landing on the ground face-first his actions didn't do his character any good as Rage, Anger and Frustration bundled up inside him. Knowing it was something Geo, Elena and Aqua worked on he instantly rushed towards Aqua. Hurling an almost invisible wind orb her way.

The moment she saw it, it was already too late, as a tiny spark ignited the orb causing a huge explosion only inches away. Aqua tried to counter the blast creating a s.h.i.+eld from ice, yet she still got hurled away by the impact slamming into the ground.

Hurt... she struggled to get up, but couldn't...

Shocked her newfound friend got so easily defeated Aileen cried out as frustration overpowered her... she let one of her friends get hurt... again...

"No... this can't be happening... please make it stop... No!!! STOP!!!"

The moment she cried out light began s.h.i.+ning around and above her, magic circles formed like it was nothing as a defined power showed itself for the first time in centuries.

"I... Will... Not stand... to let this happen again!!"

As if the movements came naturally she raised her arms waving them left and right, as her hands pa.s.sed the s.h.i.+ning light the radiant light rays turned to shape.

Slowly form crosses? No swords!

In frustration, she brushed away her tears and pointed her hands towards Akano.

"G.o.ddess of the Sacred Realm, lend me the strength to rain down on these sinners, sinners who deserve to be shown the light of retribution!!"

As she finished her incarnations the holy swords began raining down on Akano. From high and far this sacred light could be seen, leading every single contestant to the center of the stage, to behold the glory of the Sacred Realm.

Akano flinched and didn't know what to do, falling on his b.u.t.t. "Please spare me, I don't want to die!!" He cried out in absolute terror for his life.

"Imagine how many begged for their lives before you ended them with pleasure... No... there will be no mercy for you today!! It is time you paid... with your life!" Aileen screamed in frustration.

The swords kept raining down as if there would never be an end to it.

"s.h.i.+t!!"

Akano screamed in terror for his life cowering away in fear. Knowing this was the end, he realized he had become the prey... like he always wanted... he finally met his match... realizing this was the end, he calmed down falling to the ground on his back embracing his fate with open arms.

As the swords struck down on Akano, just before impact the entire area for enveloped in darkness.

Impacts of the swords. .h.i.tting the ground could be heard. *insert countless slas.h.i.+ng sounds*

As the light of the swords filled the darkness it became clear they did not hit their target.

"Where are you?! Show Yourself, COWARD!!!"

Aileen screamed out in frustration that even her trump card didn't work. When suddenly a familiar voice could be heard behind her.

"Well, well... little Aileen shows promise after all."

A white-haired young man with pink eyes revealed himself from the shadows behind her.

"Dra..."

Just before Aileen could tell out his name he struck the side of her neck knocking her unconscious.

"We can't have you beat my potential party member, I'll help him out so that he owes me, it's nothing personal.

Just then the announcer updated the list of dropped out contestants.

"Contestant #2999 knocked out! Better luck next year!"

June and her group arrived at the center as well as Raven and the rest of the summoned ones.

When finally the gong rang signaling the end of the challenge. As the round had ended the darkness faded away revealing the results of the match between Akano and Aileen. Aileen was found unconscious by Elena as Akano walked up to the center screaming his lungs out of his body.

"Oowww Yeeaaahh!!! I survived... I survived I tell you.

You over there." He yelled towards Elena.

"I know what I did against your friend, she gave me a fight worth remembering, I will be waiting for you in the finals, you have my words as a warrior."

He jumped off the hill and started walking towards the exit, stopping shortly after and turning around.

He then walked towards Aqua, helping her up as he thanked her and hoped they could fight once more in the upcoming rounds. Soon after he walked towards Elena who got put with her back against a wall, not knowing how to react because of her grudge she clenched her fist ready to strike. As soon as Akano was in the striking distance she let her fist fly...

Akano didn't even care to allow her to strike his face with the full force of the movement. His jab got fractured in an instant as blood began dripping out of his mouth.

"I know I can't atone for what I have done to your friend. I hope this evened it out a bit..."

Akano said feeling regret for his actions.

"I tend to lose myself in battle when the opponent proofs to be a real challenge, I know this isn't enough to atone, but please... find the strength to forgive me when all of this is over."

Akano kneeled in front of Elena as his final act got forgiveness.

As he stood up he said one last thing before bowing down in respect and leaving.

"You have found worthy friends you can trust,

don't let them down as I have done... I hope we can fight as equals during the finals... and... before I forget to let the little one in your arms know how precious she is to you. Not to mention how insanely strong she is!! She is a real warrior with heart and soul and I am proud to have been able to battle her here."

Tears began welling up in Elena her eyes as she realized she had neglected Aileen for far too long...

I helped Aqua up as I guided her to the medical ward to patch up for the coming rounds.

As we all left the stage, Helena, The G.o.ddess of Victory, Trading and Prosperity had one last thing to say.

"For all who made it through this round today, I want to personally congratulate you, as for the ones who've lost... your brave actions won't go unnoticed as the entire nations have been watching you all fight for survival. Guilds, Deities and more will be contacting you soon to help you prepare for the Adventurers Examination if you are willing. Please follow their guidance as this will prove most helpful.

As for the ones who won... you all have earned the right to fight in the upcoming round. This will be taking place in a few days to make sure everyone is in their best fighting condition. So rest up for now until called upon. That is all for now, I wish you all a pleasant rest, during the days we will be fully preparing for the next round. Details on this will be made available during the day of round 3.

The last round before the finals.

Helena bowed down as she took a glance at me, being too busy with my wounded friends I did not notice as we all went our separate ways for now.