Limits

The next day, our small group went back to the Fighting Platform, in the middle of the Arena, and awaited our turns. When the crowd arrived, the announcer shouted "Welcome Ladies and Gentlemen, to the second day of the of the battles! Today, we raised the bar for our warriors, and selected stronger challengers, that will face them on the Fighting Platform!". He then shouted "What do you want to see?!", and the crowd responded "BLOOD! CARNAGE! BATTLE!".

The announcer seemed satisfied with the crowd, so he continued "The first match, will be between the Dark Traveller, and the returning warrior Sonar! Let the battle begin!". 'I was up first, and my opponent was something, I never encountered before either". As I stood up, the talkative guy Roland said "Watch out. This guy has loads of wins in the Arena. He is a Voltar, so beware". I nodded my head, and jumped onto the platform.

The creature that stood in front of me, looked like a human, with one crucial difference. 'This guy looks like, he is made from energy' I thought. The blue humanoid like creature, stood in front of me, while strands of electric energy, danced around his body. The Voltar had a body, but it was kind of transparent. 'This guy is going to be tough. I don't think, my bare hands will do much here' I thought. I also got a warning, from Roland. I wasn't sure, what I was supposed to be aware of, but I would find out soon probably.

The Voltar just stood in one place, and extended his hand. A beam of energy shot out of it, and headed straight at me. "Crackle"... "Screeech!". I evaded quickly, but because it was a surprise attack, my clothes were still scorched a bit, due to the residue of that electric attack. I felt very slight numbness in my arm as well. I took a look at the place, where that attack landed, and I noticed a scorched mark on the platform's tiles. 'This is bad. This Voltar is not only fast, he is deadly as well' I thought, and took out my bow.

When the Voltar saw this, he said "Good choice. If you tried fighting me in close combat, you would lose very quickly". I said nothing, and simply notched an arrow. He stood there confident, doing nothing. I shot one arrow after the other, but what happened next, totally stunned me. He swiped his hand, and the electric energy came out of it. My arrows that were on target, suddenly changed their directions, and flew somewhere else.

'This is even worse' I thought, and shot couple more arrows, but the same happened. 'I wonder, if it's because the arrowheads are made from metal' I thought, and decided to test something out. I rummage through my bag, and took out a few more arrows. These were not arrows with metal arrowheads, these were the arrows, with stone arrowheads. I still had some left, from the time, I fought against the army of Corpse Dogs. 'If my theory is correct, he should not be able to affect these arrows' I thought, and started shooting the Purified Steel arrows first. One volley after the other, all of them were reflected, until one hit him.

The arrow lodged itself inside his body, and he seemed shocked. I didn't wait for him to figure out how that happened, and shot more arrows. He was distracted, but still managed to get away from most of the arrows, that I shot at him. Only two more arrows, managed to hit the target. He was pissed, and started shooting electricity at me. I had to evade, because the power of his attacks, was not something I could take on lightly.

When the Voltar noticed that his attacks missed, he became even more angry, and charged at me. I shot couple more arrows, but he deflected them with his electric energy. I started running away, while he chased me. 'What am I supposed to do, against running thundercloud?' I thought. I could hear the crowd cheering, while some even called me shameless. 'I would like to see you idiots deal with him' I thought, when I heard the crowd booing.

My ice powers were no good either, there was no point in trying. My daggers would not be of much help either. The daggers were made from metal, and my bow didn't work, beside the few stone arrows I still had. 'What should I do? Can I really not win?' I thought. I tried to find a way, while running away, and evading the Voltar. The problem was, that even though I evaded the attacks, my body was still becoming more numb. My speed was starting to decrease as well. The Voltar was not slow by any means, I had to utilise everything I had, in order to escape.

Then I came up with one solution. 'This is very risky, but it's much better than running around, and losing anyway' I thought, and changed direction, to run straight at the Voltar. The guy smirked and shouted "You lose!", and shot out multiple beams of electric energy at me. Before any of his attacks reached me, I prayed that the Regenerative Formation on my coat, would work this time. I thought about activating it, and my energy started depleting at a fast rate. The attacks of the Voltar arrived, the attack exploded on me, and turned into a thunderstorm.

The Voltar stopped, and laughed "I won!". Before he became too happy, I emerged from the thunderstorm, and punched him in his laughing face, with whatever strength I had left. "BOOOM!". The Voltar flew through the air like a rag doll, and landed outside of the platform. "Haah… Haaah…", I had a hard time catching my breath. My clothes were charred, but still there. The mask fortunately survived, although it must've been charred as well.

I could barely stand. My whole body was numb and didn't want to listen to me. 'Fortunately, the Regenerative Formation worked this time. Otherwise, I might have burned to a crisp. What a Formation indeed, this guy create a nice piece of work there' I thought. The numbness started to fade after a while, and I could finally move. I went down from the platform, and sat on one of the chairs. The talkative guy Ronald said "I didn't think you will be able to pull it off. I don't know, if I could do it too. Surviving that thunderstorm, was epic man". I was tired, so I simply said "Yea". An attendant came over to me, and said "If you need to use a room, in order to treat your injuries before the next battle, follow me". I nodded, and followed after the attendant.

While we walked, he said "Your fight was truly great. We hope to see more of such battles. No one expected you to win, and so, you made great business for us". He only said the words of praise, no bonus or whatever was ever given to me. 'Well, I'm here to do a task, not collect gifts. I still need to win six more battles, hopefully my next opponent, is not that difficult' I thought.

We soon arrived at a private room, and the attendant said "Use it as much as you like, just remember to come out before your next battle". I nodded my head, and entered the room. The room had clean water, a chair and a table, but nothing else besides that. I made sure to lock the doors, and took my mask off. Fortunately my face was fine, there were no new scars on it. My hair that just recently grew back to a decent size, were protected by the hood of my coat. I was really thankful for that hood.

My body was fine in overall, only the clothes were damaged a bit. 'I will need to make that guy repair them. I also don't know, if the set is going to hold together, until the end of this whole task' I thought. Just to make sure, I drank one bottle of Vital Liquid, and ate some meat. With my energy mostly restored, I dressed up and left the room.

When I joined my other so called teammates, I noticed that one of them was missing. It was the human woman Olia. I asked Ronald "Did that Olia lose?". His face was grim, as he nodded his head. He said "Quite badly at that. She has a broken arm and leg. Her opponent was very strong. One of us might meet him in the finals". I was a bit confused, and asked "Finals?". He nodded, and replied "Yes, people who win with us, have the option to advance further. If they do, they are fighting for a bigger rewards. They can also take the reward for winning, and leave. I doubt that guy will leave though".

I asked interested "What race was that guy?". He replied with disgust "Human, just like you and me. Although, I don't like to call that type of people human. He pretty much tortured her, bastard". I nodded, and asked "Tell me more about him. I want to be more prepared, in case I meet him". Ronald replied "Sure, If this increases the chances of you breaking a few of his bones, I will gladly tell you more about him".

He then continued "The guy is called Razor. Whether that's his real name or not, I don't know. He uses two saw like swords to fight. He is very quick, as fast if not faster than you. He also possesses an Aura, I think he called it Frenzy Aura, well he is crazy after all. Look out when he uses it, you may lose more than your limbs. He is very forceful and likes to see blood, so he doesn't use many techniques. There is one, which you should take a note of". I asked "What is that?". Ronald replied "It's a technique where he connects both of his swords, and thanks to the Formation inside them, the saw like teeth start moving and vibrating. I've seen limbs fly, when he fights. Olia escaping with a broken arm and leg, is already fortunate. If he was serious, she would lose much more". I nodded my head, and said "Thanks, I will remember that". He nodded as well, and said nothing else.