The Spider Queen

(Planet Caorn- Rex Island)

(Grand Colosseum)

"Nunc augue ledo eum," a voice whispered softly.

Jenson jumped out of the way as an enormous fireball formed in the air around his opponent before shooting towards him.

He barely managed to dodge the enormous projectile but the intense heat radiating off the fireball managed to singe off his eyebrows.

Fuck!

He hated mages…

His opponent on the opposite side of the field raised an eyebrow and a wolfish grin flashed across her face.

She was an unusual mage.

An over six feet tall Mendolesa warrior with razor sharp claws, teeth and rippling muscles that could have only formed from working out constantly.

A far cry from the image of a nerdy scholar that most mages bore a striking resemblance to.

Jensen furrowed his brows and unsheathed his blade as he prepared to unleash his secret technique.

"See if you can dodge this one!" Astrid called out loudly as her tail wagged furiously from side to side.

The apprentice mage began to wave her claws in the air to make a series of intricate palm movements.

"Spatio ruptis laminae!" Astrid chanted slowly.

She pointed her claws at the swordsman and the space around her body began to distort and ripple.

Then without any warning several blades of disrupted space shot forward towards her opponent faster than the naked eye could grasp.

Poor Jensen swung his sword towards the distorted space but all he managed to accomplish was losing his right arm.

"Arghhhh!" Jensen cried out in pain.

He knelt to the ground and grabbed the bleeding stump that used to be his arm.

Astrid slowly approached the fallen boy but was careful to maintain a healthy distance.

This was the second to last round of the final stage and only twelve competitors were left. Everyone who remained were the best of the best.

Geniuses who had defeated countless other geniuses to ascend to the final rounds of the Inter University tournament.

Astrid may be confident in her abilities, but she was not arrogant. Most people who made it this far had a few tricks up their sleeves.

Secret Technique- Ragnarök's Curse!

Dark crimson lines began to appear on Jensen's body and the blood vessels in his eyes burst which stained his pupils with the red liquid.

He slowly got up from the ground and tilted his head to the side to avoid the ice spear that Astrid tossed at him.

Steam began to waft off his body and the sandy earth beneath his feet cracked.

He grabbed the severed arm that was lying down on the ground and reattached it to his body.

"You… bitch…" Jensen spat out as his figure blurred and then vanished from the spot.

"Locus scutum ad obstructionum impetus!" Astrid roared loudly as she crossed her arms together.

BOOM!

A fist crashed against a golden shield that covered her body and small cracks began to appear on the barrier.

Jensen raised up his hand and slammed his fist down on the barrier again and again…

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Astrid bit her lips, and a thin droplet of blood ran down the side of her chin. She focused on maintaining the barrier while using her free hand to cast another spell.

"Flamma circulo hoste devorandum!" Astrid chanted softly. Beneath Jensen's feet a line of dark flames spread out in a circle around his body.

BOOM! BOOM!

Jensen continued to the attack the barrier surrounding the mage and madness danced in his eyes.

Ragnarök's Curse was a secret body technique that allowed one to temporarily increase their physical state but at a price.

The longer the curse was in effect… the more of their sanity would be eaten away.

This would continue until they either ended the technique or ran out of qi in their dantian.

An all or nothing approach.

Astrid snapped her claws and the dark flames beneath Jensen's feet surged upwards and devoured his entire body.

The flesh on his skin started to melt and she could see exposed pieces of white bone and traces of his internal organs.

Still… he did not stop hitting the barrier.

There was a part of Astrid that admired his tenacity.

The Mendolesa girl did not know about the side effect of the secret technique that Jensen had used so she thought that he was continuing due to sheer willpower.

BOOM!

The barrier finally shattered and Jensen lunged forward in a blind rage to grab on to the mage in front of him and finally end the duel.

This was it.

The battle was over.

Once you got within striking distance of a mage they were weak to physical attacks.

Insane laughter burst out of Jensen's mouth as he cocked back his fist and slammed it directly at the Mendolesa girl.

What?

A trace of sanity returned to Jensen's eyes as he saw that his powerful fist had been caught by the mage.

Astrid grabbed on to the fist travelling towards her and the muscles on her back strained ever so slightly.

She leaned closer to the bewildered boy who could not understand what was going on and a wide grin flashed across her face.

"Why did you assume that I'm weak if you got within range of me?" Astrid hissed darkly as she lifted up the boy in the air and then flung him across the arena.

Jensen crashed to the ground with a heavy thump and the crimson lines on his body slowly faded away.

Healing mages walked towards the injured boy and began to cast gentle spells that regenerated the injuries and wounds that Astrid had inflicted.

[Winner- Astrid Lockhart!]

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(Meanwhile)

(Lovuren Island- Grand Arena)

"Come out! Come out and face me you coward!" an angry girl yelled as she reached for the plasma rifle attached to her hip.

Her finger wrapped around the weapon's trigger and then she fired off several shots into the darkness that was spreading across the arena.

Bang! Bang!

Nothing.

The darkness continued to spread and soon the girl could no longer see anything beyond three feet away from her body.

The world was completely silent.

The girl could no longer hear the sounds of the other students in the crowded stands and even the fighting coming from the arena next door seemed muffled and distorted.

She was so distracted by the sensory deprivation that she did not realise that the shadows beneath her feet began to twist and contort eerily as if they were alive.

A slender hand emerged from the darkness and grabbed the girl by her shoulder. Before she could even scream she was pulled into the shadows and disappeared.

When the darkness was lifted the other students sitting down in the stands could not believe their eyes.

The second strongest student from Atlas University was lying down on the ground with her head neatly severed from the rest of her body.

Standing over her corpse was a girl with an average looking face, dark black hair and a pair of thick glasses that covered her eyes.

She was completely unremarkable and would easily blend in the background of a crowd.

Qiana placed a bloody blade back into her pocket and then slowly made her way out of the arena.

[Winner- Qiana Abazin!]