"Really, you guys are pampering me too much," Kojo said as he tried to get off the bed, but Koniko put a firm hand on his shoulder, preventing him from rising.
"You should be glad that we're doing this for you," Koniko said as she continued to comb his white hair. Lin and Sharone were also busy giving him a foot massage.
"Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the gesture, but do you have to do it in your underwear?" Kojo said, his face turning red.
"Hm? I thought men liked this sort of thing," Sharone said.
"Or you'd rather we take it all off?" Lin said, rising to her feet, trying to pull her bra over her head.
"No, no, it's fine," Kojo said quickly.
"Hm. Guess you're still not ready," Koniko said.
"For what?" Kojo asked.
(You're so clueless.)
Lin and Sharone finished the massage, and Lin went to discard the water. Kojo watched her go.
"Tomorrow you've got another match," Sharone said, sitting beside him and leaning on him.
Koniko stopped brushing his hair and put her arms around him. Kojo suddenly became aware of their breasts touching him, and his face reddened.
"Hey, you guys," Lin said, rushing forward and getting on Kojo's lap.
"What's.....?" Kojo began as the three of them embraced him tighter.
"We're giving you morale," Lin whispered in his ear.
Kojo's mind was suddenly brought back to reality.
"Welcome one, welcome all to the second match for the Dio'ri tournament," Zang announced as he floated over the stadium.
Kojo eyed him, annoyed that he couldn't savor the memory of what happened the night before.
The crowd cheered.
"Yesterday, we had two extraordinary matches. Who knew that Opal had such a gifted mage as their trump card?"
"I wonder who's gonna win this match," King Gorges said, taking a sip from a goblet.
"Obviously, we're going to win this match," Duke Philip said.
"You're being overconfident, brother. Though I must commend you for getting a good fighter this time, you're not going to be defeating anyone besides Cassiel."
"You think so, Vicentia?" the duke asked his sister.
"But of course. Cassiel's fighter just reflected how much of a fool he is," Vicentia said.
"Vincent!" Cassiel whined.
Vincent Listowell looked at Kojo.
"At least he's handsome. But he has no chance of defeating my champion."
"Announcing him as champion so soon?" the king asked.
"I don't blame you, but no matter. You shall soon see."
"Today's match will be between Opal and Quartza. Yesterday, this man, Atari Kojo, put on a jaw-dropping performance, ultimately defeating Mekna and shocking everyone with not only his regeneration but his ability to share that with others. What other things will the mountain breaker show us today?" Zang said.
"Mountain breaker?" Kojo thought. "Are you sure they don't know about that?"
(Focus.)
"The rising star Atariiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!!!" Zang yelled.
The crowd roared as Kojo made his way to the center of the arena.
"Kojo!" Lin shouted, waving at him.
"You can do it!" Sharone shouted after her.
"You'd better win this," the duke said. "Your life is on the line."
(Well, this is a whole lot better than your life online. Bars.)
"Focus," Kojo said, letting out a sigh.
"And, from Quartza, the province of water," Zang said. The door opposite began to slowly open. A large wave of water came rushing out. Zang floated away, but Kojo stood his ground. The wave stopped a few meters away before swirling around into a watery vortex, then suddenly bursting to reveal a young woman clad in armor and wore a battle skirt that parted at the sides. She had cyan-colored hair and eyes.
She had a bident in her hand.
"The Lordess of the Drowned, Keo," Zang announced.
Without using SKAN, Kojo could tell that Keo had a lot of power.
"This is gonna be a tough one," he said, summoning his weapons into his hands and making his battle stance. Keo just stood there and watched him with an expressionless face.
A shadowy figure stood on top of the arena. He did a hand sign and cast a spell over the arena.
"There," the figure said, sitting down as the wind blew at his cloak.
"That should deal with the problem. Let's see how he fares," he said and smiled.
Zang raised his hand.
"And now, fight!"
Kojo instinctively jumped back just as a large ice spike shot out of the ground where he was standing.
"What the hell.?"
(Seems that entrance wasn't just for show. I was wondering where all that water went. Seems she sent it underground and used it to attack when she thought your guard was lowered.)
Sysia was right. If it wasn't for Kojo's Hyper Thought, he'd have been impaled.
He landed and was about to rush forward to attack but found the bident just mere centimeters from his face.
"When did she?" Kojo wondered while his body automatically deflected it with the axe. He then made a jab at her with the sword, but she appeared behind him and swung at him. He barely blocked in time.
Kojo did a flip, adjusting himself in midair and landed facing her. He saw her slowly walk towards him. She suddenly disappeared.
SKAN.
Even using his SKAN skill, he could barely follow her movements as she rushed at him and made a jab at his chest. He blocked again but received a high-speed punch that sent him flying into the side of the arena.
"This is weird," Sharone said.
"There's nothing weird about it," Vincent said. "My fighter is just superior."
"No, not that, it's like Kojo's power levels have been reduced somehow," Lin said.
"And do you have any proof of foul play, little girl?" Vicentia asked.
"I'm not a little girl," Lin responded politely.
"Are you now? Well, regardless of the fact that you're an elf, I've been through more and had more experience than you have, especially when it comes to men. Honestly, it surprises me that you from a noble race could stoop so low for someone like him," Vicentia said. The atmosphere suddenly became heavy, and an aura of malicious intent radiated off Lin. She gently got to her feet. But Sharone pulled her back down.
"Calm down," she said. "She's trying to provoke you." She said, glaring at the duchess.
"Even if there was foul play, a warrior can prove his worth by overcoming it," Vicentia said.
"I doubt even he would be able to get out of this one," Yuki thought, her eyes giving a soft glow as she looked up at the invisible magic circle over the arena.
"Anti-magic."
Ice spikes suddenly protruded from the ground around Kojo. He struck his weapons together to create a shockwave that broke them apart. The shards froze in midair and shot at him like bullets. He deflected them, but striking them repeatedly caused his weapons to freeze.
"Damn it," he said as the axe shattered.
He then leaned back to avoid a swing from Keo. She kicked him back.
He was on one knee, panting.
"I thought you were strong," Keo said unemotionally as she walked towards him.
"Sysia, what have you got?"
(Based on my SKAN of the perimeter, an anti-magic spell has been cast around the arena. It has however been set so that it halves the power of the target every five minutes.)
SKAN.
Kojo looked up and saw the magic circle above them.
"Let me guess, I'm the target."
(Whoever cast it doesn't want to draw attention. They probably didn't think you could see magic.)
"Can you override it?"
(Thanks to absorbing the information in the Grimoire and you becoming an Omni Magus, I can read the flow of spells as if it were code.)
"So is that a yes or?"
(Yes. Killjoy.) Sysia sighed.
Kojo could feel her pouting.
"He now that you mention it Estelle hasn't said anyone then. He blocked a swing from Keo with his sword. The bident caused a chip in the sword, and it began to slowly freeze. The sword began to crack. Keo knocked him back and attacked, forcing Kojo into the defense.
(Now's not the time to be worried about that. About the magic circle. It's been cast so that if there was an attempt to remove or destroy it, it would detonate, destroying not only the arena but going beyond the boundaries of this city.)
Kojo felt himself weaken again.
"Five minutes," he said.
"Is this really the best you've got?" she appeared behind Kojo and brought the bident down. There was a shockwave.
"It's over," Vicentia said confidently.
"I would take my own advice and wouldn't get overconfident if I were you," Philip said calmly.
The dust cloud cleared.
"What!" Vicentia exclaimed.
"That's my boy," Yuki said.
Kojo had caught the bident's sharp edge with his bare hand.
"Fine, if you want it so badly, I guess I could put in a little effort," Kojo said as flame engulfed his hand. He swung at Keo, creating a flaming arc that knocked her back. She was unable to hold her ground, spinning the bident in order to disperse the flames. Kojo dropped the hilt of the broken sword, lightning cracking around him as his claws extended, and he shot at Keo with impossible speed, creating a shockwave as his blow was blocked. Kojo held the bident with his other arm and threw her into the air and jumped after her. She threw the bident at him, but he tilted his head, dodging, and used his threads to hold her leg before throwing her into a wall, activating magic circles which released a large amount of electricity. That place froze and broke. Keo calmly walked out of the rubble, her weapon flying past Kojo into her outstretched hand. She stopped walking.
"You've decided to go all out even though your power is being siphoned away," she said.
"Oh, you noticed?" Kojo said.
"I was being considerate of that, but it seems you're strong even with it active."
"If you were as considerate as you say, you would have alerted the authorities, but you still decided to fight me."
Keo looked at him.
"I guess it can't be helped," she said as her aura flared, causing water to materialize and swirl around her.
"Just know that I'm not going to hold back," she said.
"Same," Kojo said, replying with an aura that was equally menacing.
"Let both give our best," Kojo said with a smile.
They charged at each other, shaking the arena as they exchanged blows.
"Hoh? That is interesting," the hooded man said, holding an apple.
"Even with the anti-magic spell I cast, he's still able to put up a decent fight."
The apple blackened as the life was sucked out of it, turning it to dust.
"Let's see how long you'll last, Atari Kojo."