NOVEL WEB Chapter 30: Death Match
"Ladies and Gentlemen, the moment you've all been waiting for, the low power level death match!" The lich announcer said.
"Death match?" I said to Victoria.
"It's a trick name. You still aren't allowed to kill your opponent directly, but lethal techniques are allowed. Also, every thirty seconds a new element can get added to the fight. These include but are not limited to death traps. Most of the traps are medium level lethal, but to you they shouldn't be a big problem," Victoria said.
The woman who took my name and put the power limiting bracelet on me for the free-for-all, came up to me and removed my bracelet. "All bets are off now honey!"
Oh shit. I'd risked my life many times over already, but there was something about the idea of a 'death match' that made a shiver run down my spine. I don't think in all of my brushes with death, have I ever been actually afraid until now.
It was something about the concept of a death match where one wrong move could mean your death that gave me the creeps. And then there was the reigning champion. The existence of a reigning champion made the chance of me winning not in my favor.
Besides all that, I would make it out of this, I told myself. I was just psyching myself out. It wouldn't be nearly as dangerous or nerve wracking when I actually got out there.
The woman led me back down into the pit. A wall opened and an anthropomorphic fox with a katana strapped to its waist walked into the arena. A kitsune. Kitsune were fox 'spirits' with magical abilities. They weren't actually spirits. They were just called that because of their abilities.
Now, I only knew of their ability to shapeshift. They could appear as foxes, humans, or anthropomorphic foxes, like the one I was about to face. I knew they had other abilities, but I didn't know what they were.
"Victoria! Sword!" I yelled out. She hurled my sword "Muramasa's Blood Fiend" down into the pit at me and I caught it. I strapped it to my waist.
"The rules are simple. Defeat your opponent through any means necessary but do not kill them directly. If a trap kills them then that doesn't count. A coin toss will happen every thirty seconds that will determine if a new element will be added to the fight," The announcer said. "Now, begin!"
I stared at the kitsune with my hand on my sword hilt. I didn't try to use Daze for the obvious reason that it wasn't human. I noticed it only had two tails. That was good. That meant it was still fairly low in power. Kitsune grew more tails as they got stronger. They could have up to nine tails in total. Since this one only had two, I had a fighting chance.
The kitsune drew its sword and began walking towards me, so I did the same. We clashed swords. We were fairly evenly matched. I wasn't as skilled at the sword, but with my Vi enhanced senses I was able to keep up.
It occurred to me that I wasn't using the Vi in my body to its full potential. My entire combat system should be infused with Vi, not just my body. As we were fighting, I pushed Vi into my sword. It began to vibrate like it was pleased to receive the Vi.
The Vi spread throughout the sword and my sword clashes became stronger, more powerful. I started knocking the kitsune's sword away with my strikes. It had to struggle to get its sword back in position after every blow.
"It's time for the first coin toss! This will determine if we add electric walls!" The announcer said. He tossed a coin into the air.
As the announcer tossed the coin, I noticed the kitsune aim its hand towards the announcer.
"It's heads!" The announcer said. "Electric walls are being added."
After the coin toss finished, the kitsune brought its hand back down. It must have done something to the coin toss. Was it determining the result of the coin toss somehow? That was the only conclusion I could come to.
The kitsune rushed at me, driving me back towards the wall. I kept knocking its sword back with my blows but it kept the pressure on and I wasn't able to push back. Its skill with the sword was too great.
It pushed me against a wall and I felt electricity surge into my muscles shocking me and causing my muscles to jerk and contract.
The kitsune gained a brief advantage during this time. It broke through my defenses a few times. It slashed across my knee, which caused me to drop slightly. After that, it slashed across my hand, severing a few of my fingers.
This caused me to have to wield my sword in one hand while I waited for my fingers to grow back. My sword strikes weren't as strong or responsive with only one hand. The kitsune used this opportunity to stab me on the inside of my shoulder.
It tried to move the blade inwards from there. I pressed against its sword with my blade with one hand but it was a losing battle. Its sword was getting closer to my heart by the second.
I knew that if it hit my heart, I would drop. It wouldn't kill me, but it would probably count as a knock out. The kitsune likely knew that as well. It wasn't trying to kill me, just beat me.
The electricity shocking my back didn't make this any easier. If I could only stop the electricity, then I might have a fighting chance. It occurred to me I might be able to use Vi to repel it. The electricity was violent and erratic. I would have to tap into its frequency to push it out of my body with Vi.
Once I had tapped into the frequency of the electricity, I was able to slowly push it out of my body. Then I layered my skin with Vi, and the electricity no longer affected me, since it was just bouncing off the layer of Vi I had protecting me.
By this point my fingers had grown back. I put my other hand back on my sword. The advantages of strength and the electricity that the kitsune had over me were eliminated. Now it was my turn to fight back and show it what I was made of.