My spear was engulfed in bright, scarlet flames as I thrust it forward at my enemy in front of me.
Kai simply used the giant hunk of iron in his hands to block the incoming strike. He then swung his greatsword and deflected my spear, overpowering me with ease.
I didn't even try to compete with him in terms of strength.
I was a spearman and by the looks of his giant sword, he was more of a berserker.
I would lose if I tried to fight him in his own game. So I focused on the speed of my attacks instead.
I quickly pulled back my spear close to my chest and unleashed a fury of thrusts and slashes at Kai.
Cling, Cling, Cling—!!
But without fail, he managed to either deflect or block all of my strikes. Even though he was wielding such a big sword, it didn't hinder his movements at all.
Swish—!!
Just as I thrust my spear at him one more time, Kai stepped aside, letting my blade meet nothing but air.
Quickly, from my side, he unleashed an upward swing at me from his colossal sword.
Since his sword was twice as big as his own body, when he used it to perform an upward slash, his blade collided with the concrete ground.
But instead of stopping or slowing down, his sword simply dug through the ground and closed in on me from below.
I reacted swiftly and pulled my spear in time to block the incoming blow from the low position.
Clang—!!
"What the– Grghh!" However, the force of the attack flung me up in the air as if I was a paper doll.
But even then Kai didn't stop his onslaught and bent his knees. Like a spring, he then sprang skyward to strike me in mid-air.
As soon as he closed in on me, he twisted his body and used the momentum of his spin to deliver yet another blow at me.
Cling—!!
Once again I used my spear to block his greatsword, but the force behind his attack sent me crashing down on the ground below.
Thud—!!
"Arghh!" I groaned as I violently landed on the unforgiving concrete, rolling around to break the fall before quickly jumping back on my feet.
Kai landed a few steps in front of me but he didn't give me a chance to catch my breath as he rushed at me again.
Taking a deep breath, I willed strength into my legs and coated my spear in a thick layer of mana until it started to glow in an azure hue– using my Sword Qi.
In the next moment, I pushed the ground with my feet. Craters appeared on the spot I was standing on as I shot towards Kai like an arrow.
But instead of meeting him head-on, I changed my trajectory at the last possible moment and steered right.
From there, I ran around him in a circle as Kai stopped his charge and stood still, confused.
I used this chance to rush him and attack him from his left.
Clang—!
Needless to say, he blocked my attack. But I didn't stop there.
I jumped back to safety and circled him once again before attacking him from his right.
Clang—!!
He blocked me once again. But I leapt back one more time and circled him before attacking him from behind him.
Clang—!! Clang—!! Clang—!!
Like this, I attacked him again and again in rapid succession but unfortunately, my attacks were either blocked or deflected every time.
Just as I was about to attack him once again, Kai raised his sword and a dark aura began to swirl around it.
As soon as I got close enough, he brought his blade down and struck the ground with it, causing a massive shockwave to erupt which flung me back.
Thruck—!!
I performed a flip in mid-air and landed squarely on my feet.
But as soon as I looked up, I saw that Kai's sword was already only a few inches away from my face.
"....?!" My eyes widened in surprise as I quickly ducked under his blade to let it pass over my head safely.
From that low position, I shot up and thrust my blade at Kai's face. He tilted his head to avoid my spear, but as he did that, a smirk formed on my face.
"Mana burst!" I bellowed, and within moments, an azure explosion surged forth. I didn't hold back even the slightest bit this time.
The blast was akin to an entire truckload of TNT detonating, unleashing an immense shockwave that reverberated throughout the vicinity, causing the earth below us to quiver.
Smoke billowed upwards while fragments of shattered concrete soared skyward in the aftermath as a deep crater formed beneath my very feet.
However, I knew that this wasn't enough to put Kai down. And I was proven right when the dust settled and his figure came into view.
He was flung a few meters back from the explosion and his already shredded combat attire was now in an even much worse state– his upper body was completely bare while his trousers somewhat still covered the lower half.
"Tsk," he clicked his tongue as he looked at me with annoyance. "That Gift is so good. Unlike magic spells, Gifts don't take any time to activate. So being able to instantly cast an explosion in the middle of a battle is quite amazing."
"Right?" I flashed a smug grin as I raised my spear and took my stance.
"No," but Kai shook his head in response to my stance. "Come at me with everything you've got. Do not hold anything back."
"Oh? Fine," I replied as I brought my spear over my head. "Get ready!"
As soon as those words left my lips, the azure mana that had been covering my spear until now began to turn red.
The mana twisted and churned with great intensity, causing the air around my spear to crackle as sparks of red electricity appeared.
In contrast to the red hue surrounding me, Kai also raised his greatsword above his head as darkness began to spiral around his blade like a vortex.
We both darted towards each other and swung our weapons, hellbent on putting the other one down for good.
Cling, Clang, Clang—!!
With each clash of his sword against my spear, we were both forcefully sent flying backwards by the tremendous impact of our collision.
Whenever our weapons clashed, the ground beneath us would crack and crevices would appear, while fragments of concrete flew through the air like particles of dust.
Every time we were sent flying backwards, we would immediately charge at each other again, relentlessly swinging our weapons.
From the viewpoint of the audience, it must have looked like a trail of darkness and a bolt of scarlet lightning going in arcs and colliding with each other.
Clang—!!
Just as we clashed against one another once again, Kai used all of his strength to deflect my spear away.
Quickly following that, he grabbed the top of my head with one of his hands and jumped up to drive his knee at the base of my chin.
Thwack—!!
As his knee connected, a jarring pain shot through my jaw. But Kai didn't stop there. He landed on the ground and slammed his head against mine.
I tumbled a few steps back, concussed because of his aggressive headbutt before he thrashed his foot into my chest.
I was flung back in the air from the force of his front kick before I crashed down on the ground.
Kai used this opportunity to rush at me again. However, before he could even take a step, I muttered a spell under my breath and pointed my open palm at him.
In the blink of an eye, five brilliantly glowing lances made completely of scarlet flames materialized right above Kai's head.
"Huh?" Kai could only frown as the lances struck the ground all around him and trapped him in a circle.
KABOOOM—!!!
Before the poor guy could even do anything about it, all of them exploded like missiles with Kai in the epicenter.
I got up on my feet. Charred black smoke rose from the eruption as an agitated voice rang out from inside it, "Your explosions are getting annoying!"
In the next moment, Kai's figure appeared out of the rising smoke and dashed at me. Just as he stepped into my striking range, I swung my spear at him once again.
To counterattack, Kai also swung his greatsword at me. Only this time he was a split second too late.
My spear met his blade before his giant sword could gain enough momentum and pushed him back.
I quickly used this chance to bring my spear over my head and unleash a destructive downward slash.
Kach—!!
Kai tried to step back but the red blade of my spear brushed his face, right across his left eye, and managed to leave a deep cut.
"Arghaaa!" Kai fell down to his knees from the force of the downward slash and the pain from the wound on his face.
I did manage to leave his left eye intact but this was nowhere enough to defeat him. I pulled my spear to my side for a horizontal slash next as I slightly bent my knees.
"Nice try," I said as I took a step forward and prepared to unleash the decisive blow.
But before I could do that, Kai's body instantly vanished from my sight right in front of me!
Before I could understand what even happened, I sensed that he had reappeared behind me.
I turned my head to look at him and there he was. He was right behind me with his sword poised to strike.
"Yeah, it was indeed a nice try," with his left eye tightly shut to prevent the blood that was running down his forehead from getting into it, he said as he swung his sword at the side of my ribs.
Kwish—!!
But as soon as his sword connected with my body, like a mirage, my form wavered and disappeared into thin air.
Yes, it wasn't my real body but an illusion.
"...What?!" Kai exclaimed in surprise with his one eye wide open. He whipped his head around in search of where I was until he found me.
I was right in front of the flagpole– at least a good ten meters away from him with the flag tightly grasped in my hand.
"Wh- How?!" Kai couldn't help but believe his eye when his gaze fell onto the flag in my hand. He looked down at his waist only to find that there was nothing there.
Right after dealing the downward slash to him, I used Mirage Walk to create an illusion of myself when both of Kai's eyes were closed for a split second.
I jumped back to hide my real body behind the cover of my Illusion.
When Kai teleported right behind my illusion, I used that chance to steal the flag from him and casually walk up to the flagpole.
"How… When did you?" Kai couldn't find the right words as he confusedly stuttered, still in shock.
"I just used misdirection," I said. "Once you thought you had me, I grabbed the flag and you didn't even notice."
".....?!" Kai couldn't believe his ears when he heard my response.
After all… this was something I said to him long before the battle even began.
He didn't even try to stop me as a wide, victorious smile plastered on my face and I planted the flag on the flagpole, ending the first day's main game.
Tring, Tring, Tring—!!
Amidst the resounding chime of the victory bell, a cacophony of cheers, boos, gasps, and various other reactions erupted from the crowd.
The game master, with great enthusiasm, announced me– I mean our entire team as the winner.
"[We have our winner! Lucas Morningstar of Nero's team has planted the flag, and secured an indisputable victory for his comrades! With this, the first game has drawn to a close!]"
