Desolate Mage: A Legend Reborn! 114 Round Two: Fight! 3

However, this match did not garner much attention - and rightly so, for it was a dull and boring match of two towers of muscle clashing against each other in a battle of brute strength! Though, the result was also clear after just the first 10 seconds - even in his grizzly bear form and with a Bull's Strength and Blessing of Nature empowering him, Michael Vinas was easily tossed out of the ring!

When he hit the floor outside of the arena, he bounced on the floor heavily before rolling to a stop and quickly returned to his human form, clutching his head and moaning in pain.

"The winner: Reshmont!" Mr White announced loudly without any expression on his face.

An easy victory for the inhumanly strong Reshmont!

With both the upper bracket matches completed, it was on to the next set of fights, and Mr White announced that they would be heading to a 10 minute break.

* * * * *

10 minutes later and after the break, Mr White punctually returned to the stage and drew the pairings for the next round.

While this was happening, a father and daughter pair were watching with mild interest. The father because he was obliged to be here with the Duke, the daughter because she was obliged to be here as the "last boss" in the grand finals.

Yusof Jamal and Vignis Jamal, his daughter!

"Dear daughter... What do you think of the matches so far...? Do you see any formidable challengers...?"

Yusof Jamal spoke to his beloved daughter, Vignis who sat at his side. Apart from Vignis, he also had 2 older sons who had moved to other cities in order to pursue their dreams; one to be a writer and the other an adventurer.

Vignis who was sitting comfortably ensconced in her plush armchair thought about his question for awhile before she shrugged.

"I guess it's just like the seedings show... That young boy Lars looks pretty tough to face with his large repertoire of sword skills and spells, while it seems Darius hasn't even shown any of his true abilities yet... To be honest, I'm more wary of that god-blooded descendant... I doubt he's even displayed half of his real powers during the illusion array tests!" Vignis' face took on an academic and intelligent look as she spoke and analysed her opponents.

Yet Yusof Jamal only smiled enigmatically and seemed not to fully agree with her answer.

The man with a refined moustache and tanned skin was pretty much fully recovered by now from the vital force he had lost fighting Gaius Trenel and the Devil Lords. The curses and the wounds had sapped him of alot of strength, causing him to be bedridden for 2 full days. However, he was now quite fresh and back to his sharp-minded self, managing the family businesses once more with a clear mind.

He folded his fingers together and leaned forward as he faced the arena field, elbows on his thighs as he considered whether to tell her or not.

In the end he decided to share some of his thoughts with his proud daughter who would likely not heed his words at all. He shrugged, "All part of growing up, I guess...?'

Though he himself had not had that same luxury of being rebellious, seeking his own whims and desires or pursuing his selfish interests. Yusof was a hard man due to the circumstances of his youth when he was forced to take on the lead of the family for nearly 2 years while awaiting the return of his uncle, the current Patriarch who had taken over from his late father!

And of course, he understood that for Vignis, as a royal child of pedigreed lineage from her mother's side, she had been born with a silver spoon... No, a golden spoon in her mouth from the first breath she had taken!

Whether it was runes, bloodline activation from the Sarouneh's, cultivation materials, books on skills and arts, instructors or even the recently popular gene-advancement fluids imported from off-planet, Vignis had not lacked even one bit!

In fact, sometimes Yusof himself felt jealous of the luxurious gifted lavished onto his own daughter, courtesy of his father-in-law, Tyrant Soron of the Wiarno Kingdom! Which, in truth, Yusof just wished he could sell off instead of wasting it on a kid who couldn't even use the items properly...

He was also glad that Vignis had returned safely through the case of the devil invasion - it would have been his head on the chopping block if anything happened to one of King Soron's favourite grandchildren!

So Yusof kept a mysterious smile on his face as he looked at Vignis and asked, "Do you really think so...?"

"Huh...?" Vignis looked surprised and gazed over at her dad, then narrowed her eyes in suspicion. Was he in one of his know-it-all moods again...?

"Yes dad... Just come out and say what you mean... You have some secret you want to oh-so-dramatically unveil, right...?" She looked at him with a deadpan expression on her face.

Yusof was stunned for awhile and had to consciously force his gaping mouth shut. He felt shy when he realised his daughter knew him so well that she could guess his antics, but tried to maintain his poker face as he coughed in embarrassment.

"Eh, ahem, yes... Yes, I think you'll be surprised about the results in the next few rounds of matches..." He raised his brows and layed on thick the drama as he tried to play the mystery card.

Vignis just looked at him with bored eyes and yawned, then looked back to the fight that was about to start - between an unknown who had finished as exactly number 64 in the preliminaries, just barely making it through to the finals by the skin of his neck.

His name was Quagmire Jameson - whether Quagmire was his real name or just a nickname, she didn't know and didn't care. After all, his matches were deadly dull and boring.

Quagmire or Jameson looked to be not very strong. His fighting skills, strength, speed, mana, blood energy etc. were all pretty pathetic. Instead, he had advanced to this stage based on his self-named ability, Quagmire. This ability, or so it seemed, slowed down and weakened his opponent enough so that even his weak stats and skills were enough to overwhelm his enemy.

But this also made the fight he had earlier incredibly boring, so dull that Vignis had zoned it out completely!

'And it looks like this round is more of the same once again...' She shifted her eyes over and watched the cool and handsome Darius instead.

* * * * *

He was controlling the fight entirely against his opponent whose name she couldn't remember. Barely 15 seconds in, Darius had already broken down his defences with some casual martial moves, chopping and kicking to beat him foe out of the ring. Even before the clock had struck 30 seconds, the match was over - Darius had obtained an perfunctory victory once more.

He made it a point to send a pointed glare in Lars direction, shooting forth daggers from his eyes as if though he were saying, "Let me see you beat that!"

But Lars just lifted up a hand and used his little finger to dig his ear.

Darius' face slowly turned darker and darker as he disregarded the cheers of the crowd. His turned into a deep scowl and the wrinkles on his handsome face were revealed as he turned furious.

'H-how dare he!! How dare that scoundrel human from a low-class bloodline look down on me like that! I'll kill him, kill him! I swear!!' Darius grinded his teeth as he stepped off the stage and refused to look at Lars again.

However, when he was about to walk past Lars, he stopped in his tracks and declared loudly, "Just you wait! I'll show you who's the best in the final match! And don't dream of advancing once you meet me in the ring! It'll be me who's going to the grand finals, and I who will triumph over all!"

Then Darius' face loosened up as he smiled in self-confidence.

"...And don't worry. I'll make sure to bring Gorun City great glory...! You can just watch from the sidelines as I conquer even the national and continent-level tournaments! Hahahaha!" He laughed loudly as he walked off, maintaining his straight back and cocky attitude.

All the while, Lars was chuckling on the inside as he felt the boy was quite entertaining. He enjoyed toying with the overly-serious kid. What was the point of doing all this challenging, trash talk or having such a rivalry anyway...? Weren't they going to face each other in the ring soon enough? Wouldn't that be good enough to determine who was the better fighter between the two?

And was he really serious that he was confident enough to take on and defeat all the monsters and peerless geniuses on the national and continent-level stage...? Lars smirked; even the hidden bloodline in the boy's body didn't seem like it would be enough to warrant such a high estimation of himself!

Either Darius was delusional or...

'Does he really have some hidden backing or trump card up his sleeve...?' Lars rubbed his chin as he considered the possibilities and waited for the next round to begin.

* * * * *

The next round was one which held the most anticipated fight so far in the tournament: Round three, match number 1 - Lars vs. Reshmont!

This was the most hyped up match and the most interesting fighter's pairing apart from the finals where everyone expected it to be Lars vs. Darius or perhaps, with the slimmest of chances it would be Reshmont vs. Darius!

Pure power vs. versatility; titanic strength vs. expert sword skills; impregnable defence vs. piercing attacks - it was one end of the spectrum against the other in this, the first match between two seeded contestants!

And as the slim boy Lars stood facing his opponent Reshmont, even his supporters in the audience began to feel intimidated.

Would he try a tactic similar to what the air mage Deejay Kardel had used - and failed with - against the druid Michael Vinas with his solid defences?

Or would he attempt a head on clash, sword and steel against fist and skin like the brave but fallen swordsman Runiel...?

Whichever it was, the audience cheered on their favourite fighter as they waited in great expectation for the fight to begin!

"Reshmont! Reshmont! Reshmont! Reshmont!"/ "Lars Lars Lars Lars Lars Lars Lars Lars!!!"

The two names being chanted mixed together into an unintelligible roar of white noise as the two groups of fans tried to drown each other out. But there were also two more groups who were silent; one, the neutrals and the other those who supported god-child Darius!

Lars stood about 10 metres away from Reshmont on the wide stage and looked up to meet eyes with him. Reshmont returned the gaze respectfully and, as if on cue, the two boys who were about to become men bowed to one another.

Mr White looked on and smiled in approval as he saw that they were ready. He held up his hands and once more declared the beginning of a new fight.

"Lars vs. Reshmont! May the best fighter prevail! Round Three: FIGHT!!!"

Chapter end