Rhodos evaded the battle axe swinging past his eyes with room to spare.
The moment the heavy blade passed, he stepped forward and swung his longsword. It was a precise strike aimed at the right hand gripping the axe, but the opponent caught the blade on the shaft of his weapon. Simultaneously, the man swung with such raw power that Rhodos was nearly blown back by the impact.
"Dammit, talk about brute strength," Rhodos spat.
The man facing him wore a similarly irritated expression as he spoke. "Brute strength? That blow didn't seem to faze you at all!"
He swung his battle axe again as if to flaunt his power, but Rhodos, his previous irritation replaced by a confident smirk, replied, "Unfortunately, the guy I usually spar with has even more monstrous strength than you. When you deal with him every day, you get used to this whether you like it or not."
"Tsk, annoying brat. Fine then—here I come!"
With a roar to psych himself up, the man closed the distance. Standing well over two meters tall and rippling with muscle, his approach felt like a wall collapsing toward his opponent. Because Rhodos wasn't particularly tall himself, many in the crowd imagined a child about to be swallowed by an avalanche.
However...
(If he puts everything into one blow, I just have to strike the opening afterward!)
Rhodos was actually waiting for exactly that. This man was certainly a formidable foe, but Rhodos had been training with someone even stronger—the person who had defeated his own father, Elk, an A-Rank adventurer. He refused to lose here. Above all, his goal for this fighting tournament was to eventually defeat that very training partner.
"I can't afford to lose in a place like this!" Rhodos shouted as he watched the battle axe descend in a heavy diagonal slash.
The man had poured his entire soul into the strike; it was the sharpest blow of the match. However, Rhodos leaped far back, evading the attack entirely. The battle axe cleaved through empty air, and the momentum caused the man’s posture to crumble.
Rhodos was not so soft-hearted as to miss the opening he had been waiting for.
"Uoooooooooh!"
Kicking off the ground, he blurred toward the off-balance man. He unleashed his specialty: his all-out consecutive thrusts.
He delivered over ten thrusts in a matter of seconds. The man tried to parry them with the shaft of his battle axe, but he only succeeded in blocking the first few. Unable to recover his balance, he was left defenseless as the longsword tip wielded by Rhodos gouged into his flesh.
Judging this to be his best opportunity, Rhodos threw his weight into a final flurry.
"Haaaaaaaaah!"
Arms, legs, shoulders, and torso—each thrust found its mark. The man dropped his battle axe and collapsed onto the stage. Because Rhodos had prioritized speed over raw power, and because the man was wearing a metal half plate, the wounds were deep but not immediately fatal.
Of course, that was only true if he received treatment soon. If left alone, he would undoubtedly bleed to death. The referee, confirming that the man was incapacitated by pain, shouted loudly.
"That is it! Winner, Rhodos!"
The referee's voice echoed through the arena, and a moment later, the crowd erupted.
"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"
Simultaneously, the betting tags of those who had bet on the man with a hammer were scattered into the air. Despite being called "tags," they were actually wooden boards engraved with magic items to track the stakes, so they didn't flutter like paper but fell straight to the ground.
Watching this scene, a staple of the fighting tournament, Rhodos let out a long sigh. "Phew. I managed to win, I guess."
Across the stage, he saw his opponent being carried off and his wounds already beginning to heal.
(A tough opponent... yeah, he was definitely strong. No doubt about that. But it’s also a fact that he was only a challenge up to the point where I could handle him.)
He had felt danger during the fight, but it hadn't been the desperate, suffocating kind of danger. If anything, he felt a much greater sense of crisis whenever he stood across from Rei.
(I wonder what that says about me, though,) he thought with a wry internal smile.
As he descended from the stage, the wounds he had sustained naturally vanished. Remarking on how convenient the arena’s magic was, he sensed someone approaching. He turned to find the man he had just been fighting. There was no malice in the man's expression; if anything, he was grinning.
"You're strong. I guess I should expect nothing less from the son of the Axe of the Thunder God. Well, you beat me. I won't tell you to win the whole thing, but keep climbing. If you do well, I can tell myself I only lost because you were elite. Don't go losing my confidence for me."
"Of course. I don't know how far I'll get, but I'm aiming for the top."
Until he could fight Rei and win, Rhodos added silently. The man didn't catch the unspoken sentiment, but he grinned and slapped Rhodos on the shoulder.
"Gahahahaha! A man’s gotta have ambition. I’ll be rooting for you, so give it your best shot."
"Yeah." Rhodos nodded, and the man walked away with a final wave. Watching him go, Rhodos braced his spirit once more.
"Phew. He won, thank goodness."
In the VIP room, Min let out a sigh of relief. While she usually tried to maintain a cool distance, she was clearly worried about her son's match.
"Well, facing a battle axe user was a good matchup for him," Rei muttered, having returned from his meeting with Tang.
Rhodos grew up around Elk, one of the top battle axe users in the world. He likely knew the strengths and weaknesses of that weapon better than any average fighter.
"It’s all thanks to the rigorous training I gave him," Elk boasted.
"Hmph. The annoying part is that you’re actually right for once," Min replied.
As Elk and Daskar talked, Elk suddenly felt a gaze and glanced around. Rei felt it too. The person watching them must have realized they were noticed, as the sensation vanished instantly. The two men looked at each other and shrugged.
"Things are starting to get lively. Is this because of your notoriety, Rei?" Elk teased.
Rei averted his gaze toward the stage, where a man in his sixties was demonstrating spearwork so sharp it defied his age. His opponent was a man in his twenties wielding a giant hammer. Regardless of raw power, the spear was overwhelmingly superior in maneuverability. Every time the man tried to swing the hammer, the old man with the spear retreated just enough to stay out of range. He fought with surgical precision, keeping his opponent trapped in a one-sided struggle.
"A terrible matchup. There is a tactic where you attack the spear itself to break the rhythm... but judging by that old man’s spearwork, that would be nearly impossible," Elk muttered.
While both had survived to the main tournament, the difference in raw strength—and more importantly, combat experience—was far too great.
"Probably. In terms of basic physical ability, the man with a hammer is likely stronger, but..."
Both Rei and Elk used weapons that were notoriously difficult to master—the great scythe and the battle axe. Because of that, they understood the absolute importance of controlling range.
"Ah, you idiot. If he’d just endured a little longer, he might have found an opening to turn it around," Elk complained as the man with a hammer finally lost his patience and charged in, prepared to take a hit.
"You think? He probably realized he was going to be picked apart if he stayed at that distance. Given the difference in skill, I think he made the right choice to gamble," Rei countered, though he meant it was the better of two bad options.
"Are you kidding? That was the time to hold his ground!"
"Hmm, I get Dad's point, but I think Rei is right. When you're outclassed in skill, sometimes you just have to go for broke."
Rhodos had appeared in the VIP room seating while they were distracted. Elk smiled at his son's arrival, but when Rhodos sided with Rei, Elk pouted like a sulking child.
"Hmph. My own son has been completely corrupted by training with Rei... Ow!"
A staff cut him off before he could finish. The owner of the staff was, naturally, Min.
"Honestly, stop being so petty. You’re just trying to hide your embarrassment."
"What!?"
"Hide his embarrassment?" Rhodos tilted his head, confused.
Min gave him a small, knowing smile. "Well, as a father, I'm sure he has a lot of complicated feelings. But look—the match is over."
Min pointed her staff toward the stage. The man with a hammer had fallen, his abdomen pierced by the spear. However, the old man with the spear was not unscathed. It seemed he had been caught by his opponent's final desperate strike; the armor on his left shoulder was shattered, and his arm hung limply. It was clear at a glance that the bone was either broken or pulverized.
The old man with the spear was declared the winner, and both were taken off the stage. The spear was pulled from the man with a hammer just as they exited the platform. In the next heartbeat, the injuries of both men vanished as if they had been a dream. A collective sigh of relief swept through the arena. No matter how much the crowd loved the fighting tournament, they were there to see combat, not a slaughter.
...For most of them, at least.
"So the spear user takes it. His opponent managed a parting shot, though. In this case, who was right—Elk or Rei?" Daskar asked teasingly.
Both men found themselves at a loss for words. Elk had argued for endurance, but the man had actually succeeded in landing a blow by charging. Rei had argued the charge was the right move, but the man had ultimately lost the match. Since both were partially right and partially wrong, they stayed silent.
"...Ah, it's Veikyul," Rhodos noted, breaking the awkward silence.
Rei turned his gaze to the stage. Veikyul was indeed stepping out. Among the group, only Rei and Rhodos were truly close to her, having trained together. Elk and Min had heard about her from their son, and Daskar had read reports on her party, the Wind Dragon Fang, so her name was at least familiar to them.
Veikyul’s opponent was a man in similar light equipment. Like her, he prioritized speed and wasn't even wearing leather armor.
"Those clothes... they're likely made of something incredibly sturdy," Elk noted. To the untrained eye, they looked like ordinary garments, but to a veteran like Elk, the truth was obvious. Min nodded in agreement. This was a matter of raw experience, so Rei had no reason to doubt them.
However...
"Hey, that man... he’s emitting murderous intent," Rei muttered.
Rei didn't have Min's magic perception or Elk's decades of experience, but he could clearly feel the aura coming from Veikyul’s opponent. It wasn't the usual competitive spirit found in a match. The man facing her was projecting the cold, sharp intent of a killer. He wasn't there for a tournament; he was there for a life-and-death struggle.
Veikyul had clearly sensed it too. Her face was tight with tension as she drew her weapon.
"Begin!"
At the referee's signal, the man vanished into a blur, closing the gap instantly. His speed was elite, even for the main tournament.
...Except the dagger tip in his hand was aimed directly at Veikyul's throat.
"What!?"
Shocked voices erupted throughout the VIP room as the man went for the kill.